An analysis of the results of literacy assessments conducted in South African primary schools (original) (raw)
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2011
are to be thanked for their accessibility and unwavering provision of knowledge and expertise. Tjeerd Plomp and Roel Bosker, our partners on the SANPAD PIRLS project, gave unstintingly of their time to guide and assist the PIRLS team when needed. We are very grateful to them as wise critical friends. Local participants were also involved in the research process: The international quality assurance monitor, Janet Condy, visited schools and conducted quality assurance of the national study in South Africa. Dilicom undertook coordination of the translations and completed one of the most difficult jobs in the study, translating 18 test instruments and two questionnaires into 10 languages, resulting in 210 different versions (176 for prePIRLS and 34 for PIRLS) of the instruments. Consulta worked in the field collecting data and Datanet captured it.
2017
The Structure of the Report CHAPTER 2: LANGUAGE AND LITERACY IN SOUTH AFRICA 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Language in South Africa 2.3 Reading Theory in PIRLS 2.4 Curriculum and Assessment Policy 2.5 Assessment of Cognitive Levels for Comprehension in CAPS and PIRLS 2.5.1 Focus on and Retrieve Explicitly Stated Information 2.5.2 Make Straightforward Inferences 2.5.3 Interpret and Integrate Ideas and Information 2.5.4 Evaluate and Examine Content, Language and Textual Elements 2.6 Conclusion CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS IN PIRLS 2016 3.1 PIRLS SA 2016 II PIRLS SA 2016 II 3.4.4 Translation of Instruments in South Africa 3.4.5 Formatting and preparation of instruments 3.4.6 Contacting Schools, obtaining Class Lists and confirming Participation 3.4.7 Field Trial 3.4.8 Data Collection Main Study 3.4.8.1 Packaging the materials 3.4.8.2 Training of Test Administrators (fieldworkers) 3.4.8.3 Procedures 3.4.8.4 Challenges During Data Collection 3.4.9 Scoring 3.4.10 Data Capturing and Processing 3.4.11 Quality Assurance in the PIRLS Study 3.4.12 PIRLS Data and Analysis 3.5 National Implementation of PIRLS for benchmark participation 3.6 Conclusion CHAPTER 4: LEARNER PERFORMANCE IN READING IN 2016 4.1
PIRLS Literacy 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2016: South African Children’s Reading Literacy Achievement, 2017
Grade 4 is a pivotal turning point in the South African school system. In Grade 4, learners must transition from learning how to read, to reading for meaning and learning. An added complication is that in African language schools, learners are taught in the African language from Grade 1 to Grade 3, and then in Grade 4 must switch to English as medium of instruction. Therefore, participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 provided much needed insight into whether South African learners can read at the appropriate level. The international study included 50 countries and the 2016 round was the third cycle in which South Africa participated. A random, stratified sample of schools and classes were selected to represent all 11 official languages as well as the nine provinces. Learners wrote the reading comprehension test in their language of instruction, to which they had been exposed in Grade 1 to 3. In the 2016 participation, a total of 12 810 Grade 4 learners were assessed with the PIRLS instruments. The main findings included that the majority of the South African learners (78%) cannot read for meaning at the end of Grade 4. South Africa placed last out of the 50 countries participating in the study at fourth grade level. The study also revealed that there was no significant progress nationally since the last report in 2011 for the overall average score. Good news included that between 2011 and 2016 there was a significant improvement in reading literacy achievement for isiNdebele, Sepedi, Sesotho, Tshivenda and Xitsonga. The five language had the lowest performance in the 2011 participation. Learners attending schools in remote rural areas, small towns and townships had the lowest reading literacy achievement. Boys also performed significantly lower than girls in each cycle of PIRLS. The PIRLS 2016 report offers important findings with regards to classroom, school and home factors that are associated with reading achievement as well as recommendations as to how the South African reading crises can be addressed.
Still Falling at the First Hurdle: Examining Early Grade Reading in South Africa
South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality
This chapter provides an overview of what we know about reading outcomes in South Africa. After an initial survey of some foundational tenets of reading research we show that while reading outcomes in South Africa improved between 2006 and 2011 they have stagnated between 2011 and 2016. The most recent PIRLS study (2016) showed that 78% of Grade 4 children cannot read for meaning in any language. There is nothing inevitable about these results. The knowledge and instructional practices required to teach children to read-as well as the resources needed to do it-are known and well understood internationally, even in highpoverty contexts. We argue that the inequalities evident in the schooling system have their roots in unequal life chances doled out at birth and consolidated through differential reading trajectories. Moving beyond the 'comprehension iceberg' we document what lies beneath these dire results. The majority of children have not mastered the basics of decoding in their home language in Grade 1 or 2 making reading for meaning or pleasure unlikely. We advocate for an approach focusing on early reading success and ensuring that teachers know how to teach reading, that that they have the materials to do so, that children have ready access to books and that reading outcomes are assessed annually. * The title Falling at the first hurdle was that of a research report by Taylor (1989) on literacy in South African schools. That we face similar challenges with similar diagnoses 30 years on is reason enough to reproduce Taylor's incisive title, with a slight modification.
A review of South African primary school literacy interventions from 2005 to 2020
South African Journal of Childhood Education, 2021
Background: Learner performance in literacy in the primary education sector is in a state of crisis in South Africa. Whilst many more learners have physical access to education post-1994, the quality of education remains polarised along socioeconomic lines. This article sets out to engage with current literature on literacy interventions implemented in South Africa in order to develop an understanding of the key features of interventions, which affect positive change. Aim: This review provides an overview of the scope and type of primary school-level literacy interventions embarked upon in the last 15 years in South Africa. An analysis of some of the key findings on the impact of these interventions is provided. Method: A systematic review was conducted using the key words 'literacy intervention' and 'reading intervention'. The selection of articles was further refined with a specific focus on primary school interventions in South Africa. Results: The review focuses on specific literacy interventions where 'intervention' is defined as active and purposeful engagement to improve decoding, vocabulary, fluency and/or comprehension of primary school learners. This article reviews the documented literacy interventions and draws out some of the key features of successful interventions. It also makes broader reflective comments about what this exercise reveals about the state of literacy interventions in South Africa. Conclusion: Interventions have generally been ad hoc and uncoordinated and have not wrought systemic change. Moving forward in a coordinated manner must be based amongst other things on learning from interventions that have been reviewed here.
Reading & Writing
This article evaluates South African research from two annotated bibliographies on reading in African languages at home language level (2004-2017) and South African research on teaching reading in English as a first additional language (2007-2018). It also aims to provide guidelines for addressing these weaknesses. Methods: Examples of 70 quantitative and qualitative research studies from the annotated bibliographies were critically analysed, identifying key weaknesses in the research as a whole and examples of excellent quality. Results: Weaknesses evident in the research reviewed, suggested greater consideration is needed to lay sound methodological foundations for quality literacy research. Three methodological issues underlying local literacy research that require greater attention are research design, selection and use of literature and research rigour. High-quality research examples are referenced but, for ethical reasons, examples of what we consider to be flawed research are described generally. Guidelines are offered for addressing these pitfalls that, in our view, contribute to research of limited quality. Since many universities require submission of a journal article as a requirement for postgraduate students, preparation for such an article is considered. Conclusion: While this article is not intended to be a comprehensive guide, we hope it is useful to supervisors, postgraduate students and early career researchers currently undertaking, or planning to undertake, literacy research and to writing for publication.
Educational Research and Evaluation, 2012
This paper reports on the South African results of a study to identify and explain relationships between some major factors associated with successful reading at Grade 5. With 11 official languages, educational policy in South Africa advocates an additive bilingualism model and students in Grade 1 to 3 are taught in their mother tongue. Thereafter, the language of learning and teaching changes to a second language, which in most cases is English. With this complexity of issues, Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to determine the effect of a number of explanatory variables at student-and school level on reading achievement as outcome variable, while controlling for language using the South African PIRLS 2006 data. Utilizing Creemers' Comprehensive Model of Educational Effectiveness (Creemers and Reezigt, 1999) as theoretical point of departure, this paper will focus on the results of an overall South African model with student-and school level variables.
This research explores the challenges and dynamic interplay between literacy instruction, first and second language instruction, and language of teaching and learning in 12 KwaZulu-Natal primary school classrooms using direct observation, and teacher and principal interviews. This research suggests that South African learners who speak an African language at home but learn in English, even if from Grade 4, likely have a harder time learning and growing their literacy skills in the new language because they have not built a solid base of literacy skills in their home language; and, without those literacy skills or a significant vocabulary in the second language, they will have a hard time learning the knowledge and skills that are meant to be learned through official curriculum. In the South African context, this is exacerbated by the fact that teachers are under-prepared for the task of teaching English as a second language or even literacy in the home language.