Not scraping the bottom of the barrel: Disadvantage, diversity and deficit as rich points

First-year students’ literacy deficits are not the problem. They are emblematic of an overall skill set which can be scaffolded from the first year of university study. If we treat literacy deficits as contingent upon other items of motivation, and as an element of Academic Motivational Literacy, we can usually also see these deficits as ‘rich points’ (Agar (2000) Border lessons: linguistic “rich points” and evaluative understanding. New Directions for Evaluation 2000: 93–109.). That is, in many cases, students have a desire to succeed, and we can typically build from one or more literacies to greater motivation and success in other areas. Or, to put it another way, a deficit might be a problem, but it is also an opportunity. This concept, of targeting weaknesses to build overall confidence, underpins the approach taken in a first-year subject for a cohort of students who are particularly disadvantaged, diverse and underconfident. This paper will present examples of programs undertaken in this course over the space of six years which addressed each need as an opportunity, and it will provide evidence to show that success, in student retention, in overall grade distributions, and in student satisfaction, was the result.