M.Ed. / The research question which is addressed in this study is the lack of functional reading and writing skills in a content subject such as Geography. The research was conducted with the assumption that most black students are lacking in the advanced literacy skills to learn Geography successfully. The rationale for the research is that if our education system wishes to improve learning skills and especially literacy amongst most black students the curriculum should put into practice effective reading and writing programmes in the teacher training colleges so that these skills are taught from the pre-primary schools up to matric as an on-going activity. The findings show that there is a large amount of rote learning without understanding of the learning content in the research sample, that they have limited vocabulary that contributes to poor self-expression and that some teachers are not well trained in the teaching of reading and writing skills across the curriculum.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies