Understanding voices from the margins: social injustice and agency in first-year students’ literacy narratives

Stories from the margins: Working-class graduates’ narrative accounts of completion in South African higher education

“…We embraced qualitative research methodology, given the suitability of the approach for those who seek to describe and illuminate key dimensions of participants' varied and shared experiences, beliefs and perspectives (Silverman, 2013). Although valuable insights can be drawn from quantitative studies, in this study, we chose to give voice and audience to narratives from the margins that often go unheard (Angu, 2018).…”

“…In this way, a narrative enquiry approach becomes an ideal means by which we can study participants' stories, as told by them and in a manner that challenges traditional and positivist views of truth, reality and knowledge (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Thirdly, narrative inquiry enables a space for voices to be heard, voices often overlooked and unheard (Goodson & Sikes, 2001), thereby enabling the researcher to understand marginalised experiences through voices from the margins (Angu, 2018). Clandinin (2006) lists key features of narrative inquiry that distinguish the approach from other qualitative methodologies:…”

What counts as disciplinary literacy instructional approaches in teacher education?

“…This dissatisfaction led to a shift in second-language learning contexts where academic literacy is currently understood as a sociocultural process (Cummins 2008) and a social justice practice (Angu 2019) by which students utilise disciplinary discourses to negotiate meaning and being in the world (Boughey & McKenna 2016). Drawn from an orientation in New Literacy Studies, academic literacy has come to be understood as including language skills, culture, social and cultural practices (Butler 2013).…”

“…This means that academic literacy is understood within a particular context and embedded in the rhetorical realities of a context (e.g. a disciplinary community of practice) (Angu 2019;Boughey & McKenna 2016). To add credence to this viewpoint, Cummins (2008) highlights that there is a need to understand academic language literacy as socialisation into disciplinary communities by offering students opportunities to interact, share and collaborate with experienced members in the field of study.…”

“…It is likewise apparent from the insights of the theorists discussed above that there is a symbiotic interplay in the use of language and disciplinary identity, socialisation and context. This relationship is beyond mere verbal utterances that are recognised by members of the same community, as they embed a sociocultural disposition that births belonging, social affinity and identity (Angu 2019;Boughey & McKenna 2016). Each discipline has agreed conventions, practices and modes that give guidance on the way knowledge is constructed, critiqued and communicated (Airey 2012;Shanahan & Shanahan 2012).…”