The exploration of a performative space to nurture EAL international students' writer identities at a South African university

• Main Author: Hunma, Aditi
• Other Authors: Thesen, Lucia
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2015
• Subjects: Education
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/11494

Includes abstract. === Includes bibliographical references. === This study is located within the internalisation context at the University of Cape Town (UCT). As an internationalising university, UCT aims among other things to promote the ideals of 'Equity and Institutional culture' for all its students (UCT policy on internationalisation, 2009). The reality on the ground suggests that this may unwittingly reproduce the centre-periphery divide which characterises global knowledge transactions, within UCT's own institutional structures especially for students from developing African nations, the focus here being on Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations. The tension brought about at the institutional level may be partly due to the lack of specific support structures for international students, and partly due to the latter's misguided perceptions of the faculties' expectations. I argue that gradually, this tension begins to permeate students' texts, their production strategies and motivations.