Exploring transition pedagogy at the tertiary level: a case study of newly enrolled first year education students’ experience in writing and thinking within the genre of the persuasive essay in a comparative analysis of literacy pedagogy

Exploring transition pedagogy at the tertiary level: a case study of newly enrolled first year education students’ experience in writing and thinking within the genre of the persuasive essay in a comparative analysis of literacy pedagogy

The widespread policy of inclusion in higher education institutions in the western world has enabled an increasingly wide range of entrants to gain access to university. Many of these entrants come from backgrounds where they would not have had preparation for the culture and demands of university study. One of the areas much foregrounded is their supposed lack of appropriate linguistic skills. In the case of Australia that implies English language skills. It is often assumed by academics that poor language skills mean that they do not have the necessary intellectual and thinking skills either. A case study was designed in which a sample of first year education student writing and interviews was analysed according to the taxonomy of higher order thinking skills developed by Marzano and Kendall, and Costa. Integrative Research, strongly influenced by the principles of bricolage, was used to provide a theoretical framework for the study. The higher order thinking and academic literacy skills they used were identified and conclusions drawn based on this analysis. It is argued in this thesis that if that information is used in curriculum planning in the future that Higher Education progression statistics could be enhanced.