This paper will examine what research has revealed about reading and learning in the areas of word recognition, scaffolding to develop understanding, metacognition and application of new knowledge in real world situations. The study then will go on to link what is known about learning to strategies that have already been developed by secondary teachers to increase critical reading skills.

This thesis focused on the use of a computerized reading assessment program called Star Reading. Reading has been one of the most difficult areas across the curriculum to assess. Reading asssessment differs widely from teacher to teacher, and has traditionally been very subjective.

M. Tech. Education / The intention of this study was to establish the use of the Annual National Assessment (ANA) results in improving learner performance in schools and to further establish the understanding and interpretation of the national assessment policy at school level and at circuit/district level in General Education and Training (GET) settings of Casteel schools, Bohlabela district. The literature supported the fact that available ANA results have identified certain challenges which require specific interventions to improve current skills in Literacy and Numeracy. Despite these concerns and the fact that the results do not achieve the set target of ensuring that 60 percent of learners achieve a pass mark of 50 percent, the results of the study indicated that the primary teachers, principals and circuit/district officials remained generally positive in their perception of turning the situation around.

Thesis (DPhil (General Linguistics))—University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Addressing the low literacy rates in South Africa poses a mountainous challenge. However, identifying children at risk for reading difficulties and providing timely and preventative intervention might be a good starting point to addressing this challenge. This study aimed at making a contribution to the existing body of literature on emergent literacy skills of learners who are educated in a second or additional language. The study investigated English Language Learners’ (ELLs) emergent literacy skills prior to entering Grade 1 and evaluated the effectiveness of an evidence-based stimulation program in the South African context. The main research question this study attempted to answer was: “What is the effect of a stimulation program for emergent literacy skills in Grade R on the development of literacy of English Language Learners in Grade 1?” In a quasiexperimental design, ELLs’ emergent literacy skills were assessed with an adapted version of the Emergent Literacy Assessment battery (Willenberg 2004) and were compared to those of English first language (L1) and of ELL control groups, both prior to and after an 8-week purpose-designed stimulation program. Results indicated that while learners showed significant improvement on six out of the eight subtests, the particular intervention program did not significantly improve ELLs’ emergent literacy skills (those pertaining to alphabet knowledge, phoneme awareness, print awareness and oral language skills, amongst others) when compared to learners in the respective control groups. When controlling for receptive language abilities, English L1 learners did not perform any better than their L2 peers on any of the eight measures of emergent literacy prior to intervention. Furthermore, upon entering Grade 1, there was no statistical significant difference in the performance of the English L1 learners and ELLs on any of the eight subtests after intervention. Possible independent variables contributing to the dearth of intervention effect included socio-economic status, learners’ L1, and teacher and classroom specific characteristics. These variables were addressed, and clinical implications for speech-language therapists with regards to assessment, intervention, service delivery and outcome measures were highlighted. / AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Die aanspreek van Suid-Afrika se geletterdheidsvraagstuk is ‘n reuse uitdaging. Die vroeë identifisering van kinders met ‘n hoë risiko vir leesprobleme en die verskaffing van tydige en voorkomende intervensie mag egter ‘n goeie beginpunt wees in die aanspreek van hierdie uitdaging. Hierdie studie het gepoog om ‘n bydrae te lewer tot die bestaande literatuur oor ontluikende geletterdheidsvaardighede van kinders wat in ‘n tweede of addisionele taal onderrig word. Die studie het die ontluikende geletterheidsvaardighede ondersoek van Graad R-leerders wat in Engels onderrig word, maar vir wie Engels nie hul eerste taal is nie, asook die effektiwiteit van ‘n navorsingsgebaseerde stimulasieprogram binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Die hoof navorsingsvraag van die studie was: “Wat is die effek van ‘n stimulasieprogram vir ontluikende geletterheidsvaardighede in Graad R op die ontwikkeling van geletterdheid van Engels tweede taal (T2)-leerders in Graad 1?” In ‘n kwasieksperimentele ontwerp is Engels T2-leerders se ontluikende geletterheidsvaardighede met ‘n aangepaste weergawe van die Emergent Literacy Assessment Battery (Willenberg 2004) geëvalueer, en voor en na ‘n 8-week doelgerigte stimulasieprogram vergelyk met die vaardighede van kontrolegroepe wat bestaan het uit Engels eerste taal (T1)-leerders en Engels T2-leerders onderskeidelik. Alhoewel leerders ‘n beduidende verbetering in ses van die agt subtoetse getoon het, het die spesifieke intervensieprogram nie T2-leerders in die eksperimentele groepe se ontluikende geletterdheidsvaardighede beduidend verbeter in vergelyking met leerders in die twee kontrole groepe nie (dit sluit in onder andere alfabetkennis, foneembewustheid, drukbewustheid en orale taalvaardighede). Wanneer daar vir reseptiewe taalvaardighede gekontroleer is, het die T1-leerders nie beduidend beter gevaar as hul T2-portuurgroep op enige van die agt subtoetse van ontluikende geletterdheid nie, en met toetrede tot Graad 1 was daar gevolglik geen statisties beduidende verskil tussen die T1- en T2-groepe ten opsigte van enige van die agt subtoetse nie. Moontlike onafhanklike veranderlikes wat tot hierdie gebrek aan intervensie-effek kon bydra, sluit sosio-ekonomiese status, leerders se T1 en onderwyseren klaskamer-spesifieke eienskappe in. Hierdie veranderlikes is aangespreek, en die kliniese implikasies vir spraak-taalterapeute met betrekking tot evaluasie, intervensie, dienslewering en die noukeurige meting van uitkomste is toegelig.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Includes bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: According to the results of the Annual National Assessment (ANA) of 2011 in South African schools, approximately 53% of learners in grade 3 and 70% of learners in grade 6 did not reach a partially achieved level of reading. As a result of the reading difficulties, these learners have varying degrees of learning and behavioural difficulties and also experience psychological and emotional challenges. This figure indicates that a high number of people are parenting a child identified as having reading difficulties. Bronfenbrenner’s theory of the ecology of human development indicated the importance of interconnections between school, home, and community settings in order to foster children’s learning. Parents may be better supported and empowered to assist their child by collaboration among teachers and families. This collaboration may be strengthened by utilising knowledge gained from parents’ lived experiences of parenting a child identified as having reading difficulties. The primary research question guiding this phenomenological study involved understanding the experiences of parents with children identified as having reading difficulties. The study’s research methodology can be described as basic qualitative research which is embedded within an interpretive paradigm. Purposive sampling was used to select three parents as research participants. Three methods of data collection were employed, namely written reflective notes, structured individual interviews and observations. Furthermore, qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The analysis revealed that four interconnected contexts emerged concerning parents’ lived experiences, namely their relationship with their identified child, their relationships with other family members, their interactions with teachers and the child’s school, and their perception of social support in raising their child. The study found that parents experienced a variety of dismaying emotions regarding their child’s reading difficulties and that parents adopted roles such as caretaker, motivator and advocate in order to obtain the intervention and educational services needed for their child. The findings of this study inform and encourage educators and other support personnel to support parents and promote collaboration with parents of children identified as having reading difficulties, potentially enabling those parents to better support their identified child. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Na aanleiding van die uitslae van die Jaarlikse Nasionale Assessering (ANA) van 2011 in Suid- Afrikaanse skole, het ongeveer 53% van leerders in graad 3 en 70% van leerders in graad 6 nie ‘n gedeeltelik bereikte vlak van lees behaal nie. As gevolg van die struikelblokke met lees, ervaar hierdie leerders verskeie grade van leer- en gedragsuitdagings, asook sielkundige en emosionele uitdagings. Hierdie syfers dui aan dat ‘n beduidende hoeveelheid mense in die rol staan van die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke. Bronfenbrenner se teorie van die ekologie van menslike ontwikkeling dui op die belangrikheid van interkonneksies tussen die leerder se skool, tuiste en die konteks van sy gemeenskap vir die bevordering van leer. Ouers kan moontlik meer effektief ondersteun en bemagtig word om hul kind meer effektief te ondersteun, indien ‘n medewerking tussen ouers en onderwysers bewerkstellig kan word. Hierdie medewerking kan versterk word deur kennis aan te wend aangaande ouers se ervaringe in hul rol as die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke. Die navorsingsvraag wat hierdie fenomenologiese studie lei, handel oor ’n begrip van die ervaringe van ouers van kinders wat met leesstruikelblokke geïdentifiseer is. Die navorsingsmetodologie wat in hierdie studie gebruik is, kan beskryf word as basiese kwalitatiewe navorsing binne ’n interpretivistiese paradigma. ’n Doelgerigte steekproef is gebruik om drie ouers as deelnemers te identifiseer. Drie metodes van data insameling is gebruik, naamlik geskrewe, reflektiewe notas; gestruktureerde, individuele onderhoude en waarnemings. Verder is kwalitatiewe inhoudsanalise gebruik om die data te analiseer. Die data analise het aan die lig gebring dat vier kontekste wat telkens met mekaar verband hou, na vore gekom het rakende ouers se ervaringe as die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke, naamlik die ouers se verhouding met hul kind, die ouers se verhoudinge met ander lede van die gesin, die ouers se interaksies met die kind se onderwysers en skool asook die ouers se persepsie van die sosiale ondersteuning wat hulle ontvang in hul rol as ouers. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie het aangetoon dat ouers verskeie ontmoedigende emosies ervaar rakende hul kind se leesstruikelblokke en dat ouers in die rol van versorger, motiveerder en advokaat optree om sodoende die nodige intervensie en opvoedkundige dienste wat hul kind benodig, te bekom. Die bevindinge het ten doel om opvoeders en ander ondersteuningspersoneel in te lig en aan te moedig om ouers te ondersteun en medewerking tussen opvoeders en ouers van kinders met leesstruikelblokke te bevorder. Sodanige medewerking kan ouers in staat stel om hul kinders meer effektief te ondersteun.

This study compares the effect of the objectives-based test collections of the Instructional Objectives Exchange on reading comprehension and word-attack skills of fifth-grade students in a basal reader program. The IOX, a non-profit educational organization, was established in the late 1960's to provide educators with instructional materials such as criterion-referenced tests to allow realistic assessment of students in reference to specific instructional objectives. IOX Director James Popham states the Exchange's purpose as encouraging educators throughout the country to use criterion-referenced instructional procedures. The study compares gains in reading comprehension and word-attack skills of a research group with the gains of a control group, using the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test for both pre-test and post-test. The IOX criterion-referenced tests were added to the reading program for the research group but were not given the control group.

Reading is the key to knowledge and learning and by implication, life success. Most South African children „learn to read‟ in their home languages (HL), such as isiXhosa in the Eastern Cape, and then at the beginning of Grade 4 are expected to make two significant transitions: they must begin to „read to learn‟ and they must do so in an additional language (usually English). The research evidence is damning: Intermediate Phase children are failing to read and failing to learn. This study is concerned with two of the possible, and often conflicting, reasons for the reading problem: 1) that too little time is spent developing learners‟ English language proficiency and 2) that the development of learners‟ reading comprehension skills in the HL is neglected, preventing the transfer of skills to reading in English additional language (EAL). This thesis explores the relations between English Language Proficiency (ELP) and isiXhosa Reading Comprehension (XRC), and between ELP and English Reading Comprehension (ERC), in a unique, additive bilingual context in the rural Eastern Cape, where isiXhosa is maintained as part-LoLT (language of learning and teaching) to the end of Grade 6. The Linguistic Threshold and Linguistic Interdependence Hypotheses constitute the theoretical framework of the study. The design of the research is exploratory and descriptive. The Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey was used to measure the language proficiency (English relative to isiXhosa) of the sixteen Grade 6 learners in the study, while two sample, expository passages from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (2006) were used to measure the reading comprehension abilities of learners, in both isiXhosa and English. A questionnaire provided additional information – about the learners‟ perceptions of reading– which assisted in the interpretation of the statistical data. „Mean scores‟ and „standard deviations‟ were used to describe the ELP (relative to the isiXhosa language proficiency) of the participants, while „frequency‟ was used to describe the reading comprehension scores. Correlational statistics were then employed to test the strength of the relationships between the variables, while regression analyses were used to predict the relative contribution of each of ELP and XRC to ERC. The study reveals that while the learners‟ isiXhosa language proficiency far exceeded their English language abilities, their reading comprehension scores in both languages were equally poor. ELP correlated significantly with ERC; and XRC and ERC were also covaried, thus corroborating the findings of international research: that in this particular context, second language (L2) reading is a consequence of both ELP and first language(L1) reading ability. The regression analyses showed that while the potential for reading comprehension transfer in the direction L1 to L2 existed, this possibility was short circuited, both by learners‟ poor ELP and their poor L1 reading skills.

A lack of research in adult literacy for both native speakers and speakers of English as a second language led to the development of the Test of Affixes in Syntactic Structures (TASS) for use in a pilot study (Dogger, January 1978) in which knowledge of derivational morphology was tested to determine its possible relationship with reading for English as a second language students. Test construction was followed by a thorough verification procedure which is the purpose of this study. In September 1978 the following measures of test strength were established: construct validity, content validity, item difficulty, item discrimination, internal consistency, rational equivalence, and concurrent validity. The degree of relationship between reading proficiency, as demonstrated by subject performance on the Iowa Silent Reading Test, Level III (ISRT,III), and knowledge of derivational affixes, as demonstrated by subject performance on TASS, was also established. Results show that successful performance on the ISRT, III includes reading strategies beyond those required for successful performance on TASS. In other words, mastery of language structures as represented by English orthography is necessary but not sufficient for college-level reading proficiency.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Language Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The main purpose of this study was to determine challenges that are faced by Grade 8 learners when reading short stories with understanding using EFAL. The study made use of a research approach which is qualitative in nature to explore the reading challenges. It also used an interpretive paradigm. Schema Reading Theory was employed as the guide to which the study followed. This theory advocates that learners read a text having prior knowledge, which assists them to interpret it better. This chosen theory is relevant to the study as the study seeks to understand why learners cannot read. Therefore the theory assisted in determining whether learners have the necessary prior knowledge of the text they read in the classroom. The main findings of the study has indicated that learners have challenges to reading. There are recommendations addressed to learners, parents, teachers and department of education. In conclusion, teachers assured to initiate reading programmes such as focused, independent and guided reading, with the hope to curb challenges towards reading.

Thesis (PhD (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The attainment of literacy is crucial for survival in a modern industrialised, knowledge-driven society. Children with poor language skills are at risk for academic failure because of the differences between oral language used in daily interactions and the language skills needed to succeed in a formal school environment. The impact of poorly developed oral language skills on the successful acquisition of reading skills, particularly reading comprehension, is often underestimated in the education of young learners in South Africa. Narrative skills form the bridge between oral language and literacy by providing experience in using the extended and decontextualized discourse units that children will encounter in written language. This study investigated the relationship between narrative skills and reading comprehension skills in young learners who are developing literacy. Specific linguistic markers of literacy in the narratives of a group of Grade 3 learners from communities with low socio-economic status were examined. The main research questions this study attempted to answer were: “How do linguistic deficits of learners with poor reading comprehension and specific reading comprehension deficits manifest in their oral narratives?” and “Are there linguistic markers that decisively distinguish between learners with specific reading comprehension deficits and learners with general poor reading skills as compared to learners with normal reading comprehension?” In a quasi-experimental research design, the Grade 3 participants in this study were assigned to three groups: Readers who are competent at word level and comprehension (good reading comprehension group), readers who are competent at word level but poor at comprehension (specific comprehension disorder group) and readers who are poor at both word level and comprehension (poor reading comprehension group). Measurement protocols were used to assess the linguistic variables of interest, namely vocabulary, narrative micro- and macrostructure structure, cohesion, coherence and other aspects of oral language. The results of this study confirmed the relationships between language skills and reading comprehension. It was found that readers with general poor reading skills performed significantly poorer on a variety of linguistic measures than readers with good reading comprehension. The group identified as readers with specific reading comprehension disorders were, in general, not significantly different from the other two groups. This study therefore did not provide clear evidence that readers with specific reading comprehension disorders presented with linguistic markers that could differentiate them from the other groups. The clinical implications for speech-language therapists and educators with regards to assessment and intervention were highlighted. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die behaling van geletterdheid is noodsaaklik om te oorleef in ‘n moderne, geïndustrialiseerde en kennisgedrewe samelewing. Kinders met swak taalvaardighede loop die risiko om akademies te faal weens die verskille tussen die orale taal wat alledaags gebruik word en die taalvaardighede wat vereis word om sukses in formele skoolomgewings te behaal. Die impak van swak orale taalvaardighede op die suksesvolle aanleer van leesvaardighede, spesifiek leesbegrip, word dikwels onderskat in die onderrig van jong Suid-Afrikaanse leerders. Narratiefvaardighede vorm die oorgang tussen orale taal en geletterdheid omdat narratiewe ondervinding verskaf in die gebruik van uitgebreide en gedekontekstualiseerde diskoerseenhede wat kinders in skryftaal teëkom. Hierdie studie het die verband tussen narratiefvaardighede en leesbegrip in jong kinders wat besig is om gelettedheid te ontwikkel, ondersoek. Spesifieke linguistiese merkers vir geletterdheid in die narratiewe van ‘n groep Graad 3 leerders van lae sosio-ekonomiese status, is ondersoek. Die hoof navorsingsvrae van die studie was: “Hoe manifesteer die linguistiese gebreke van leerders met swak leesbegrip en spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme in hul orale narratiewe?” en “Is daar linguistiese merkers wat afdoende onderskei tussen leerders met spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme en leerders met algemene swak leesvaardighede?” In ‘n kwasieksperimentele ontwerp is die deelnemers aan hierdie studie toegeken aan drie groepe: Lesers wat bevoeg is op woordvlak en begripsvlak (groep met goeie leesbegrip), lesers wat bevoeg is op woordvlak, maar met swak begrip (groep met spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme) en lesers wat onbevoeg is op woordvlak en begripsvlak (groep met algemene swak leesvaardighede). Protokolle is gebruik om die linguistiese veranderlikes, naamlik woordeskat, narratief mikro- en makrostruktuur, kohesie, koherensie en ander aspekte van verbale taal, te meet. Die resultate van hierdie studie het die verband tussen taalvaardighede en leesbegrip bevestig. Daar is gevind dat lesers met algemene swak leesvaardighede, in vergelyking met lesers met goeie leesbegrip, beduidend swakker presteer het op verskeie linguistiese metings. Die groep wat geïdentifiseer is as lesers met spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme het, oor die algemeen, nie beduidend van die ander twee groepe verskil nie. Hierdie studie het dus nie duidelike bewyse gevind dat lesers met spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme linguistiese merkers vertoon het wat hulle van die ander twee groepe kon onderskei nie. Die kliniese implikasies vir spraak-taalterapeute en opvoeders met betrekking tot assessering en intervensie is toegelig.