The Covid-19 global pandemic has resulted in many countries moving teaching and learning online. South Africa is a country with major inequalities in terms of access to electricity, internet and information technologies, which have created considerable problems for online learning at institutions of higher learning in the country. In this paper, we analyse student feedback from two large undergraduate English courses at a school of Education of a major South African university. We specifically focus on two qualitative questions which asked students about the challenges they faced and the skills they developed in online learning. Results are considered through the lens of critical digital pedagogies and decolonisation. Our findings indicate that a lack of access and resources, disruptive home environments and unfamiliarity with online learning methods were significant obstacles for students. In addition, many students indicated developing computer skills and learning how to use online resources during the courses. The study suggests that online teaching and learning in South Africa and similar contexts exacerbates inequalities, and must be accompanied by rigorous support structures for students who are vulnerable in these contexts.

A variety of academic literacy interventions are used at higher education institutions to address the low level of academic literacy with which many students enter these institutions. Considering the increasingly resource-scarce higher education environment, it is becoming crucial for those who are responsible for such interventions to provide evidence of their impact on student success. The aim of the current study is to provide a broad overview and critique of studies conducted thus far that attempt to assess the impact of various academic literacy interventions. This study proceeds by identifying instruments that are commonly used when assessing the impact of these interventions. From the literature surveyed, it would seem that there are two broad aspects that are considered when evaluating impact, namely students' improved academic literacy levels between the onset and the completion of the course, and the extent to which these acquired academic literacy abilities are transferred to students' other subjects. The next step in this research project will be to propose a comprehensive evaluation design that could be used by a range of academic literacy interventions.

Distance education is generally seen as a very isolating experience for students, but one often forgets that it can be an equally isolating experience for teaching staff who oftentimes work in isolation from colleagues. This study examines the experiences of nine tutors at the Reading and Writing Centres of one of the 10 biggest universities in the world, Universtiy of South Africa (Unisa). The tutors work at different Regional Offices across South Africa. This study examines both quantitative data (closed-ended questions) and qualitative data (open-ended questions) obtained from questionnaires. This study seeks to determine to what extent administrative support, professional development support, and colleague support influence tutors' feelings of isolation. This paper takes the position that if feelings of isolation are curbed, staff retention will be improved, which means that the university can retain valuable experience. Findings show that contact with and collaboration between and among colleagues significantly decrease feelings of isolation. Other important methods of curbing isolation are regular training and continuous administrative support.

This paper describes a study which explored whether attending tutorials facilitated by senior students improves tertiary students' marks in an academic literacy course. Data were drawn from the academic literacy test marks and essay assignment marks of students who took a yearlong academic literacy course at the University of Pretoria. A statistical analysis was done to determine whether there was any improvement in the test marks and the essay assignments of students who attended tutorials at least 10 times, in addition to regular lectures. Findings suggest that attending extra academic literacy tutorials has little effect on students' TALL (Test of Academic Literacy Levels) marks, but it does seem to have an influence on students' writing ability. Because of the number of problems encountered in doing the research, it also illustrates the complex and problematic nature of research into language performance.

Considering the vast array of academic literacy interventions that are presented both nationally and internationally, and the resources required to present these interventions, it is becoming increasingly important for those who are responsible for these interventions to provide evidence of their impact. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of instruments that are commonly used to assess impact, and to discuss guidelines regarding the use of these instruments, their strengths and their weaknesses. The instruments are divided into two broad categories, namely those that measure the observable improvement in students' academic literacy abilities between the onset and the completion of an intervention, and those that measure the extent to which these abilities are necessary and applied in students' content subjects. A conceptual evaluation design is then proposed that could be used in evaluating the impact of a range of academic literacy interventions. Avenues to explore in future include testing the design in the South African context. Keywords: academic literacy, programme evaluation, impact measurement, effect, interventions IntroductionDue to a variety of reasons, the foremost of which is possibly inadequate secondary education, the implementation of academic literacy interventions in South African universities has become commonplace (Davies 2010: xi; Cliff 2014: 322; Sebolai 2014: 52). What is still largely lacking, though, is evidence of the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of such interventions, and the Fouché, Van Dyk and Butlerhttp://spil.journals.ac.za 110 extent of the impact they have (Holder, Jones, Robinson and Krass 1999: 20; Carstens and Fletcher 2009a: 319; Storch and Tapper 2009: 218; Terraschke and Wahid 2011: 174; Butler 2013: 80; Sebolai 2014: 52). For the purposes of the current study, impact (or effect) is defined as "1) the observable improvement in academic literacy abilities between the onset and the completion of an academic literacy intervention and 2) the extent to which these abilities are necessary and applied in students' content subjects" (Fouché 2015: 3). The terms "impact" and "effect" are used synonymously for the purposes of the current study.According to Hatry and Newcomer (2010: 678), two reasons for evaluating interventions are firstly to provide accountability to stakeholders in the intervention, and secondly to improve the effectiveness of such programmes. As discussed in Fouché (2015), even though some attempts to assess the impact of academic literacy interventions have been made, the type and variety of research instruments used have rarely been sufficient to validly and reliably determine firstly, whether these interventions have an impact, and secondly, what the degree of this impact might be. Reasons for this include that, typically, too few instruments have been used in most studies conducted thus far to make valid conclusions regarding the impact of modules, that instruments used thus far have been varying to such a degree that it might be diffic...