Textbook

• Academic Literacy


  A book on developing academic skills for higher education
• Litha Beekman, Cecilia Dube, Herman Potgieter, Jenni Underhill

  Authors of the book Academic Literacy
• First published


  2011
• Second Edition published


  2016
• Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

  Publisher of the book Academic Literacy
• ISBN


  • 978 1 48511 179 5 (Parent)
  • 978 1 48511 793 3 (Web PDF)
• No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher
• Subject to any applicable licensing terms and conditions in the case of electronically supplied publications, a person may engage in fair dealing with a copy of this publication for his or her personal or private use, or his or her research or private study
• The author and the publisher believe on the strength of due diligence exercised that this work does not contain any material that is the subject of copyright held by another person
• In the alternative, they believe that any protected pre-existing material that may be comprised in it has been used with appropriate authority or has been used in circumstances that make such use permissible under the law
• The authors and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce copyright material in this book
• Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders, but if any copyright infringements have been made, the publisher would be grateful for information that would enable any omissions or errors to be corrected in subsequent impressions
• Figures and adapted content

  • The learning spiral
  • Freeing the additional time you need
  • Finding additional study time
• Academic skills are important for success in both higher education and in the workplace
• Academic skills


  Foundational skills (reading and writing) and general skills (thinking and communicating)
• Academic tasks at higher-education level require thinking skills such as identification of problems and issues, analysis of issues, reasoning different points of an argument, evaluating and weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of each point, coming to a logical conclusion, making recommendations and writing critical reports
• These skills are also essential life skills to manage your personal life and career, and they are basic skills that all employers expect from employees
• Academia/Academy


  The community of students who engage in higher education on an advanced level of thinking as they investigate issues and put forward viewpoints in all the various subject fields
• Purpose of higher education


  To provide training and produce a skilled workforce to strengthen a nation's enterprises, services and infrastructure
• Reasons for embarking on further study

  • To obtain a qualification
  • To expand my horizons
  • To acquire the key skills that employers expect graduates to have
• Student responsibilities in higher education

  • Exploring your needs for personal growth, vocational and career development, and academic development
  • Seeking out and engaging in activities that provide the learning you need
  • Monitoring the progress in your own studies
  • Reviewing the effectiveness of your studying
  • Demonstrating your knowledge and skills
  • Planning the next stage of your continuing learning and development
• These responsibilities include more than just using intellectual skills (cognition) to learn subject content and having good study techniques and studying to pass examinations
• They entail a willingness to engage with academic study, to investigate, to search for information and meaning, and to have the intellectual perseverance to work through difficult study material
• The responsibilities include reflection (meta-cognition) on your own learning process
• Academic tasks and feedback


  Reviewing the effectiveness of your studying through the successful completion of modules or courses, and reviewing the extent to which you have satisfied your personal, career and academic needs
• Demonstrating knowledge and skills


  Applying what you have learned
• Planning continuing learning and development


  As part of your lifelong career management, and keeping up to date with technology and development in your study field
• Responsibilities of academic study

  • More than just using intellectual skills (cognition) to learn subject content
  • More than just having good study techniques and studying to pass examinations
  • Entail a willingness to engage with academic study, to investigate, to search for information and meaning, and to have the intellectual perseverance to work through difficult study material
  • Include reflection (meta-cognition), which means looking backward to become aware of what you have done correctly, what you have done incorrectly and what you need to do to improve the next time you are in a similar situation
• Taking responsibility for your own learning

  • Requires motivation, commitment and dedication
  • Implies searching for learning opportunities and experiences both in and out of the classroom
• Higher (or tertiary) education study


  • Differs from secondary-school study
  • Involves less frequent contact with lecturers
  • Larger classes
  • Less frequent but longer and more in-depth assignments
  • Independent and wide reading
  • Referencing skills to acknowledge all sources of information in assignments
  • Individual time management for attending lectures and studying
  • Critical thinking and academic writing
• Higher-education study requires students to be independent and self-directed, to be aware of their own personal, career and academic needs, and to take responsibility for their own success
• Changes in information and communication technology (ICT) and social networking


  • Altered the way in which people communicate, learn and work
  • Information used to be entirely locked up in books and journals in libraries, it is now at the fingertips of everyone and accessible through a variety of digital devices
  • Knowledge – in the form of new information, insights and ideas – is shared freely around the clock
  • Moved from the information era, when people gained access to personal computers, to the knowledge era, when the World Wide Web opened up the sharing of knowledge across the globe
  • Now live in an era of knowledge explosion, in a globalised world where competition is rife in all areas of our lives, work and careers
• Knowledge navigation through information and communication technology (ICT)

  • Coping with the abundance of knowledge available by finding, identifying and evaluating it critically
  • Integrating this knowledge into life, career and studies to solve problems and address issues
• Knowledge innovation through creative thinking

  • Inventing knowledge through generating novel ideas e.g. change or re-use an existing idea
  • Applying technology innovatively to create new ideas and to share new knowledge with others to increase the knowledge base
• Learning at a higher-education level requires that you engage actively with new learning content collected from various information sources, such as textbooks, learner guides, DVDs, the Internet and other digital resources, and from lecturers and fellow students
• Curiosity and inquiring mind


  Searching for answers to problems
• Skills to navigate through the abundance of information with the use of ICT

  • Linking new information to what you already know (prior knowledge)
  • Analysing information with an open mind
  • Seeking out new experiences
  • Developing new perspectives
  • Creating new ways of acting through innovative thinking
• Academic skills required


  • Cognitive (intellectual) skills
  • Meta-cognitive (reflection) skills
  • Attitude that values knowledge acquisition through higher-order thinking
• Knowledge of the subject field

  Studying the prescribed books and journal articles thoroughly to acquire theoretical knowledge of the basic concepts of the subject field, and the application of these concepts to the subject field and the world of work
• Thinking and learning style

  • The way you perceive information
  • The way you process information
  • The way you organise and present information