Abstract:
Academic literacy programs have become an inherent feature of South African universities. They are
a form of intervention aimed at helping first-year students boost their levels of academic literacy so that their
chance of success at the university is enhanced. It is important therefore, that such programs are investigated for
the impact they can make. In the present paper, a pre-post research design was employed to measure the impact
of a course of academic literacy among students who were not simultaneously enrolled in any university course that
could lead to them achieving incidental growth in academic literacy. In other words, at the time the study was
conducted, the participants took this academic literacy course only. The results showed that there was a difference
in the levels of academic literacy levels of these students after they had attended the course.
