English academic writing convergence for academically weaker senior secondary school students: Possibility or pipe- dream? Tracey Millin a, * , Mark Millin b a University of Stellenbosch, School of General Linguistics, Private Bag X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa b University of Otago, Department of Economics, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand article info Article history: Received 9 February 2017 Received in revised form 20 October 2017 Accepted 7 December 2017 Keywords: Academic literacy Academic writing Reading to learn English for academic purposes Scaffolded learning Academic convergence abstract This paper discusses key findings of a study which sought to assess the impact of the Reading to Learn (RtL) literacy intervention on individual student performance as applied to senior secondary school students at two schools in the Western Cape of South Africa. The RtL intervention was implemented against a backdrop of serious concerns about the state of literacy development in schools in South Africa, especially amongst non-native English-speaking students from low socioeconomic communities as well as migrant communities. By taking each student's written pieces of work, submitted at various stages throughout the academic school year, each piece of writing was assessed and codified, which allowed for a detailed examination of various patterns using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The salient finding was that students, who were shown to be academically weaker pre-intervention, generally exhibited a greater overall improvement in their respective English writing skills throughout the intervention. Thus, with an appropriately targeted intervention (like RtL) a convergence or ‘catch-up’ effect might likely occur for classes with large cohorts of non-native English-speaking students, who are immersed in English medium-of-instruction schools. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Higher education in The Republic of South Africa has shifted from elitism to mass production, resulting in a range of students, with diverse skills, from varied ethnic backgrounds, being given access to university (Fraser & Killen, 2003). The number of students exiting the secondary schooling system with a Bachelor's pass, a pass which provides entrance to uni- versity, has grown steadily over the past number of years. For example, according to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in South Africa, the percentage of matriculants who qualified to study towards a Bachelor's degree was 14% in 2000, but has generallygrown as follows in subsequent years: 20.1% in 2008; 19.9% in 2009; 23.5% in 2010; 24.3% in 2011; 26.6% in 2012; 30.6% in 2013; 28.3% in 2014; 20.8% in 2015, and 24.8% in 2016. However, entry into university carries with it the tacit Abbreviations: ANA, Annual National Assessment; DBE, Department of Basic Education; FET, further education and training; NBTs, National Benchmark Tests; PIRLS, Progress in International Reading Literacy Study; RtL, Reading to Learn; SACMEQ, Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality; SES, socioeconomic status. * Corresponding author. Current: University of Otago, Higher Education Development Centre, 65/67 Union Place West, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand. E-mail addresses: millintracey@gmail.com (T. Millin), markmillin@gmail.com (M. Millin). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of English for Academic Purposes journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jeap https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.12.002 1475-1585/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 31 (2018) 1e17