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The University of the Free State’s Bloemfontein campus played host to the English Academy of Southern Africa’s (EASA) annual international conference on 7-8 December 2023. Attracting 35 delegates from Canada, the UK, Nigeria, Botswana, and South Africa, the two-day conference delved into the theme, “Ways of Reading: Literature and Literacy,” with a diverse group seeking to unravel the intricate relationship between literature and literacy.
The proceedings were inaugurated by Prof Vasu Reddy, emphasising the importance of exploring how literacy shapes our modes of attention, both culturally and socially. He expressed his faith that the conference would be “generatively disruptive,” noting that “where there is disruption, there is also growth.”
Featuring two eminent keynote speakers, the conference saw Prof David Attwell, Emeritus Professor at the University of York (UK), discussing the connection between translingualism and creativity in a lecture titled, “A Ventriloquial Literature: The Art of ‘Throwing the Voice’ in the South African Canon. On the second day, Dr Karen Jennings, author of the Booker Prize longlisted novel An Island, reflected on “how place and identity are crucial to the act of creation,” with her talk whimsically titled, “Bums in the Ground.”
Delegates approached the conference theme in various ways, with some exploring how specific writers or critical movements have shaped scholarly reading habits. Others highlighted the significance of literacy for social justice. This diversity extended to the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, bringing together scholars working in language practice, literary studies and even the medical humanities.
Convened by Dr Rick de Villiers, a senior lecturer in the Department of English and the regional vice-president of EASA, the conference delighted in attracting scholars from different backgrounds and stages of their careers. “We had a wonderful mix of established and early-career scholars. The atmosphere was rigorous and robust but collegial throughout.”
Speaking on behalf of EASA, Dr De Villiers extended gratitude for the financial and administrative support from the UFS, particularly the Department of English.
A huge student turnout for NBT
2010-02-24
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Ms Babongile Bomela (seated, left) and Mr Riekie Vickers (seated, right) with some of the first-year students who wrote the NBT's. They both acted as invigilators for the tests.
Photo: Mangaliso Radebe |
More than 5 000 first-year students at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently wrote the National Benchmark Tests (NBT).
These tests are used to complement first-year students’ Grade 12 results and provide a profile of student competencies that the university can use to improve the quality of teaching and learning to enhance student success.
This was the first time that the UFS had made use of the NBTs, which were thoroughly piloted at several South African universities during 2009.
“A total of 5 449 students from the Main, South and Qwaqwa Campuses participated in this very ambitious testing process,” said Ms Merridy Wilson-Strydom from the Centre for Higher Education Studies and Development (CHESD) at the UFS.
“Altogether 7 687 test papers were completed. This is an excellent turn-out and highlights our students’ commitment to their studies.”
It was compulsory for all students (excluding those from the Faculty of Health Sciences) to write the Academic and Quantitative Literacy Test (AQL). Students from the Faculties of Economic and Management Sciences as well as Natural and Agricultural Sciences also wrote the Mathematics Tests.
“AQL targets students’ capacity to engage successfully with the demands of academic study in the medium of instruction, and the ability to manage situations or solve problems in a real context that is relevant to higher education study, using basic qualitative information that may be presented verbally, graphically, in tabular or symbolic form,” she explained.
“The Mathematics Test targets students’ ability with regard to mathematical concepts that are formally regarded as part of the school curriculum and tested in the Mathematics Examination Papers 1 and 2.”
The NBTs have been developed with inputs from over 300 academics from all the 23 universities in the country. They are available in English and Afrikaans.
Data integrity is quality-assured by the Assessment Systems Corporation in Michigan, USA, and further interrogated by the Education Testing Services in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
The NBT results of UFS students will be available by the middle of March 2010. First-year students who do not perform at the required proficiency level in the academic literacy domain will be required to complete a language development module. This module is offered in both English and Afrikaans, depending on the chosen medium of instruction of the student.
Media Release:
Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
2 March 2010