Securing South African students a place in a science community constructivist affirmative assessment

Abstract

Upon first entering the programme, Bachelor of Science (BSc) students are expected to adapt to a discipline-specific environment within a given university discourse community. Thus, writing within a scientific discourse convention becomes an important field of interest, especially for students who register for a BSc degree for the first time at a health science university in South Africa. However, language lecturers can approach assessment strategically to benefit science students. To this end, some assessment types can be used to assess integrated science subjects and language. That strategy would be ideal because it could determine students’ proficiency levels. Therefore, this paper discusses the results of a laboratory report-writing test written by students first entering HSU against this background. This paper is embedded in a study about the assessment of students’ laboratory report-writing skills upon first entering their courses. The study followed a quantitative approach with an exploratory research design. Purposive sampling was employed to select students who sat for a confirmative laboratory report writing criterion-referenced test before instruction could commence at the university. The students’ written laboratory reports were marked and analysed following a marking guide regarding the aim, approach, method and findings of an experiment conducted in Grade 12. The study found that the students performed poorly in the laboratory report-writing test.