Measures of improvement in academic literacy

Abstract

This article considers the analysis of the results of a re-administration of a test of academic literacy, specifically with a view to determining whether this analysis yields insight into the improvement of levels of academic literacy over time. The article postulates that, if improvement occurs, the level of improvement will be uneven across different categories of ability, and across different levels of academic literacy as measured by various sub-tests. An attempt is made to offer explanations for the kinds of improvement that are evident, as well as to identify factors that may play a role in such improvement, such as the time of being exposed to a compulsory academic literacy development intervention, the mother tongue of the testee, and the initial level of academic literacy.

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2008, 26(3): 363–378