The role of a Writing Centre in a South African university of technology (UOT)

Academic development, pedagogical growth, and curriculum expansion remain an ongoing process at institutions of higher education in South Africa. The prospects of expanding educational opportunities to a larger number of hopeful students in South Africa have resulted in the creation of facilities that extend the growth of academic literacies such as the writing centre. These centres have contributed to opening opportunities to not only a larger number of students in scientific and technical fields but also to giving an opportunity to less-advantaged students by offering one-on-one services to grow and nurture their academic literacy capabilities. The focus of this paper is to investigate the role of a writing centre in a South African university of technology with the aim to understand what role this facility plays in the academic development of the students affiliated with such institutions and to unpack the effect of such a centre on the development of curricular and academic literacy. This paper presents findings that were gathered from a PhD study that used a mixed-method approach to investigate how facilities such as a writing centre impact the academic development of students in a university of technology. The study examined the power relations among the tutor (in the writing centre) and tutee (the students using the writing centre) and analysed these relationships by means of critical discourse analysis theory to focus on the intangible assets of the student. Using mixed-methods analysis, the researcher was to be able to understand the perceptions, views, expectations and experiences of students using the writing centre to explore the different ontologies and epistemologies associated with curriculum development, and how this defined the role of the writing centre.