Some of the problems in first year students’ academic writing in some SADC Universities

Abstract

There are many problems that confront English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in academic writing in some Southern African Development Community (SADC) universities. Some observers and commentators have noted that most graduates from Historically Black Universities (HBUs) exhibit poor performance in English when compared to neighbouring countries like Lesotho and Swaziland. One of these problems is the low proficiency which manifests itself in numerous syntactic errors and inappropriate lexical selection in their use of the target language. The forms or varieties are simply mistakes or errors which can be eradicated by teaching. The learners need to learn and understand the structure and nature of the English language. The deviations and innovations arise owing to a number of processes which are sketched out in the paper. This article also argues that the problem stems from the fact that the burden has been placed on departments of English which seem not to want to abandon the literary tradition. It presents some of the problems that African learners of English in HBUs seem to exhibit in academic writing when they enter university education. It discusses what is done and what needs to be done for first-year students when they enter university in HBUs. In HBUs English language programmes are not mandatory or do not exist, as is the case with most SADC universities and some Historically White Universities (HWUs). The conclusion suggests that it becomes necessary to mount similar English language programmes at first year level in institutions which do not have these programmes. It is hoped that this would improve learners’ language proficiency and hopefully competence as well as the way students acquire their education.

Keywords: Students; academic writing; universities, SADC