Interdisciplinary Seminar:
Education for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
Convener: Kathy Mumford, Australia

Helping on the Long Walk to Academic Literacy: The role of a writing consultant in the new South Africa
Shirley Churms, South African Association of University Women

In South Africa today there is a multiracial society in which the disparities in level and quality of education that existed between different sectors of the population during the years of apartheid have still not been totally eradicated in the few years that have elapsed since the transition to democracy. Consequently, universities have instituted various programmes to assist the many students embarking on tertiary education from a disadvantaged primary and secondary educational system to “bridge the gap”. Since 1994 some South African universities have instituted writing centres with the objective of addressing a particularly serious problem: the difficulties experienced by such students in acquiring academic literacy – the writing and reasoning skills required to produce the essays and reports that are a necessary part of any university study curriculum and will be needed in the students’ future professional careers. This paper, which is based on the author's experience as a writing consultant at the University of Cape Town, describes some of the problems encountered and the approaches adopted in helping the students to overcome them. It also discusses important findings regarding the remedial effects of such interventions on not only linguistic shortcomings but also students’ cognitive difficulties in mastering the concepts underlying the writing task. These learning outcomes have proved to be particularly significant in scientific writing.

Dr Shirley Churms graduated PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cape Town and continued research at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London thanks to an IFUW Fellowship. During her subsequent UCT research career, she became involved in helping postgraduate students overcome difficulties in writing dissertations and she then became active in the Writing Centre, established to improve the academic literacy of the many students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds entering the university post-apartheid. An Honorary Life Member of the South African Association of Women Graduates.