Xhosa-speaking learners reading comprehension in English first additional language : a reading intervention at a township high school

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the effect of a reading strategy instruction research intervention on Grade 8 isiXhosa-speaking learners' comprehension of English reading texts at a township high school.Throughout the years, South Africans have become increasingly aware of the poor literacy levels of the learners. Results from National Assessment Studies e.g., Annual National Assessments and Systemic Evaluation Assessment, performed annually by the Department of Education, as well as International Assessment Studies e.g., Southern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ III, 2007 and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2006), confirm that our learners cannot read for meaning and therefore reading comprehension, is a severe concern. The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS, 2011) places reading under three phases (pre-reading, reading and post-reading), however, it fails to place explicit focus on training teachers to instruct reading comprehension. With English becoming increasingly the language of instruction for non-English first language speakers (as in the case of the isiXhosa-speaking learners at the research school), there is a growing need to provide learners with techniques that will equip them to construct meaning from texts.This study, therefore, addresses the need for reading comprehension through the use of pre-selected, research-based reading strategies, that can be taught to the learners to improve their meaning-making efforts during the reading process. The reading strategies together with selected reading instruction activities aim to provide learners and teachers alike with sufficient guidance for implementing reading strategies and in the case of teachers, to encourage a sustained change in their comprehension instruction.This study applies a mixed-method methodology for gathering both quantitative and qualitative data. The purpose of the quantitative data is firstly to provide baseline data of reading-related abilities for learners before the implementation of the intervention, and secondly, to provide comparative data of strategy transfer after the intervention. The qualitative data is gathered through observations of the implementation of the reading strategies during the intervention, participants' journals and through samples of participants' work. The data aim to provide rich, in-depth data about how the participants in the research took on reading strategy instruction and the factors that influenced them.This study identified a number of issues: [1] participants' understanding of the content of the presented English reading texts during the intervention, [2] participants' low literacy levels, [3] participants' uptake of the concept of dealing with the different strategies while engaging with a text and [4] the school as a research site that affect reading strategy instruction to Grade 8 isiXhosa-speaking learners in a multilingual environment, but also highlighted the importance of continued implementation of reading instruction as crucial to its success.The findings of this study created a platform for teachers to instruct reading comprehension in different content subjects and provide learners with a selection of reading strategies that they can apply in making meaning of texts they encounter in different subject areas.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University