Not just another story – Digital narratives as pedagogical intervention

Abstract

With the push to widen access to higher education (HE), the face of our student population has changed radically. So-called ‘non-traditional students’ are often first-generation HE students from a disadvantaged or disrupted educational background and a lower socioeconomic status. They struggle with English as medium of instruction and encounter complex challenges with regard to conceptual development, academic language proficiency, approaches to learning, subject knowledge and so on (Scott, Yeld & Hendry 2007). This study focuses on a cohort of first-year human resource management (HRM) students in the extended curriculum programme (ECP) at a university of technology in the Western Cape; these students battle to meet the demands of traditional literacy, which are central in entry-level subjects such as business communication skills, personnel management and business management. One part of traditional literacy is academic writing, which is key to student success in this programme (Van Schalkwyk, Blitzer & Van der Walt 2009).