Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Do young people have any news interest? Which subjects interest them most and what is their medium of preference? In order to answer these questions, research was done on news reading trends of young people – both nationally and internationally. A questionnaire was completed by 180 grade 11 scholars from the Western Cape, the Free State and Gauteng. The results of the different provinces are compared in this study to monitor newstrends nationally. The child’s cognitive development phase has an influence on nurturing healthy (news)reading habits. In this study the correlation is explored by using Jean Piaget’s (1896-1980) theory of cognitive development stages. From interviews with the JIP supplement editors (Beeld, Burger and Volksblad), as well as the cell phone companies (MTN, Vodacom en Cell C) the biggest obstacles and possible strategies to draw young readers were identified. In this work the public’s need for media, as well as the influence of the media on the society (especially the youth) is discussed by looking at Fourie’s (2001) model of short term and long term influences of media on the society. The study showed that the majority of young people see one news bulletin (newspaper, television and/or radio) per week as sufficient. Research results indicated that the medium of preference for news headlines among young people is SMS. Just less than half of the respondents are willing to pay for such a service. The second medium of preference to receive news is noted as youth newspapers. The main news subjects amongst the youth is entertainment, followed by sport and sosial issues. Political and international news seems to be less popular amongs this group.

M.A (Library & Information Science) / Response to literature is a subject that has received much attention in research during the past decade. Important contributions to our knowledge of reader response have been made by the literary theorists. The approach in this study is from the point of view of Readership Studies, a branch of study that has developed in South Africa as a discipline of Library and Information Science. The study is an investigation of reader response as one critical moment, or happening in a chain of happenings which constitutes the reading event. To be able to read, a person must first decide to read, he must then select or procure a text, then he performs a reading act on the text which causes him to respond; the text may further have effects on the reader's attitudes, values and even behavior. Factors concerning the text, like bibliographic form, genre, content and availability, will have an influence on the above mentioned critical moments. The factors concerning the reader are as important; for instance attitude, interest, motivation, reading ability, and knowledge of literature. These are called his predispositions. The text and the reader are mutually responsible for the response which ensues from the reading act.

Thesis (M.A. (English Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2016 / Local and international assessments on reading have shown over the past years that South African primary schools learners fail to perform at the expected levels in comparison to their counterparts in other parts of the world. However, efforts by the Department of Education to improve the situation through the introduction of intervention programmes, like the Foundations for Learning do not seem to yield the expected results. This was evident in the Annual National Assessment reports which provided a gloomy picture despite the FFL’ s declared intention to improve reading performance to nothing less than 50%. This study therefore, sought to evaluate the implementation of the FFL reading guidelines. This study followed a qualitative research approach wherein observations and interviews were used to engage teachers in four selected Grade 6 rural schools. The resultant data was further corroborated by document analysis that confirmed the findings arrived at. The main finding emerging from this study was that schools treated the FFL reading guidelines as optional. Other findings were that the participating schools found it difficult to integrate the prescribed time allocated to reading activities into their school time tables without interfering with times allocated to other subjects. They therefore, resorted to their own discretion on how best to use the available time to engage learners in reading activities. The implications of the findings are that the reading guidelines were differently and partially implemented by the schools. The other implication was that the reading instruction conducted by the participating schools focused more on reading for assessment than on reading for pleasure. The ultimate goal of reading, which is to develop learners into independent readers, was therefore compromised.

Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There is a sharp decrease in the reading habits of learners in the senior secondary school phase. Interest in Afrikaans literature is decreasing amongst both high school learners and the broader public. From an early age, readers prefer to read English. This thesis examines the reading culture of young adults. The literature study takes a look at the nature and the extent of young adult literature, with specific focus on the characteristics unique to young adult literature, the value of young adult literature and the role played by popular literature. The reading world of young adults is examined with reference to their reading habits, reading preferences and the reasons why they do not read. The factors that playa role in the reading habits of this target group are also discussed. This includes reading needs, disinclination to read, eagerness to read, reader guidance, the library, parents, the peer group, free time, age, the media, the cover, the title, the author, cost of books, literature education, the availability and obtainability of books, gender, reading pleasure, socially disadvantaged communities, culture and geographical position. The questionnaire involved 308 16- and 17-year-old young adults and focused on their reading habits, reading milieu, free time expenditure, language and book preferences and aversions. The reading habits are analysed on the basis of criteria such as how often the respondents read books, how many books they had read in the previous month and how often they visit the library. The reading milieu refers to the book, newspaper and magazine reading habits of the parents of the respondents and to the visits to the library by the respondents in their earlier youth. The role of variables such as gender, geographic position and population group is also examined. The results of the questionnaire examination confirm the hypotheses stated in this study: There is not an established reading culture among Afrikaans-speaking young adults (16- and 17 year aids). Afrikaans-speaking young adults prefer to rather read English than to read Afrikaans. In conclusion, a summary of proposals is provided that, if implemented successfully, could promote the reading habit and establish a positive attitude towards Afrikaans literature. There is a specific look at proposals with regard to literature education, the role that is played by libraries, parents, authors and the peer group, as well as marketing, book sales and projects that promote the culture of reading. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Daar 'n skerp afname in die leesgewoontes van leerders in die senior sekondêre skoolfase. Belangstelling in die Afrikaanse letterkunde is aan die afneem onder sowel hoërskoolleerders as die breë publiek. Lesers verkies reeds vanaf 'n vroeë ouderdom om Engels te lees. Hierdie tesis ondersoek die leeskultuur van jong volwassenes. In die literatuurstudie word gekyk na die aard en omvang van jongvolwasseneliteratuur met spesifieke fokus op die kenmerke eie aan jongvolwasseneliteratuur, die waarde van jong volwasseneliteratuur en die rol wat populêre literatuur speel. Die leeswêreld van jong volwassenes word ondersoek met verwysing na hul leesgewoontes, leesvoorkeure en redes waarom hulle nie lees nie. Die faktore wat 'n rol speel in die leesgewoontes van hierdie teikengroep word ook bespreek. Dit sluit in leesbehoeftes, leestraagheid, leesywer, leserleiding, die biblioteek, ouers, die portuurgroep, vrye tyd, ouderdom, die media, die omslag, die titel, die skrywer, boekkoste, literatuuronderrig, die beskikbaarheid en bekombaarheid van boeke, geslag, leesgenot, sosiaal-benadeelde gemeenskappe, kultuur en geografiese ligging. Die vraelysondersoek het 308 16- en 17-jarige jong volwassenes betrek en fokus op hul leesgewoontes, leesmilieu, vrye tydsbesteding, taal- en boekvoorkeure en -afkeure. Die leesgewoonte word ontleed aan die hand van kriteria soos hoe gereeld die respondente boeke lees, hoeveel boeke hulle die voorafgaande maand gelees het en hoe gereeld hulle die biblioteek besoek. Die leesmilieu verwys na die ouers van respondente se boek-, koerant- en tydskrifleesgewoontes en na die respondente se besoek aan die biblioteek kleintyd. Die rol van veranderlikes soos geslag, geografiese ligging en bevolkingsgroep word ook ondersoek. Die resultate van hierdie vraelysondersoek bevestig die hipoteses gestel in hierdie studie: Daar is nie 'n gevestigde leeskultuur by Afrikaanssprekende jong volwassenes (16- en 17-jariges) nie. Afrikaanssprekende jong volwassenes verkies om liewer Engels te lees as Afrikaans. Ten slotte word daar 'n samevatting van voorstelle gegee wat, indien suksesvol geïmplementeer, die leesgewoonte bevorder en 'n positiewe houding teenoor Afrikaanse literatuur vestig. Daar word spesifiek gekyk na voorstelle ten opsigte van literatuuronderrig, die rol wat biblioteke, ouers, skrywers en die portuurgroep speel, en ook na bemarking, boekverkope en projekte wat die leeskultuur bevorder.

This case study examines the pedagogy of early reading in one mainstream (numerical norm) South African school. Existing research shows that there is reason for grave concern in South Africa regarding the reading achievements of a large proportion of children in the Foundation Phase of schooling. The impact of poor reading achievement in the early years not only remains largely unmitigated throughout schooling, but also affects adult illiteracy rates and academic achievement in institutions of higher learning. The implications for individuals and for society as a whole are profound. However, the acquisition of reading competence in the Foundation Phase at school in South Africa is surprisingly under-researched and has tended to focus on the language of instruction (the "mother tongue debate") or on broader sociological explanations for the generally poor reading performance of South African school children who do not attend elite schools. Explanations relate to the web of widespread poverty, poor health conditions, and early childhood learning experiences at home and in ECD centres which inadequately prepare children for the demands of schooling, and lack of access to resources such as books in the home. Little of the existing literature directly addresses how pedagogies of early literacy influence the "reading crisis". This study contributes to understanding poor reading achievement by providing a rare rich description of three Grade 1 literacy classrooms in one South African township school, seeking pedagogical explanations for the continued low reading achievement of South African school children. This interpretative, qualitatively dominant, theory-seeking case study is bounded by category (the pedagogy of teaching reading), space (Grade 1 classrooms in one particular mainstream school in KwaZulu-Natal), time (2006/2007) and theme (How meaning is positioned in the teaching of reading). It captures the understandings and practices of Grade 1 teachers with respect to the initial teaching of reading through an additional language in a typically mainstream school in South Africa. The positioning of reading as a meaning-making activity and the kind of "literate subject" produced by this positioning are foci of investigation and analysis. Data are examined from the perspective of reading theory. Data were gathered from a transect walk through classrooms, extensive classroom observations, teacher interviews, participatory artefact analysis, questionnaires and children‘s drawings. Findings were that these teachers, though fully qualified, have neither coherent understandings of how literacy develops nor appropriate pedagogical knowledge to inform their practice. The dominant instructional practice in these Grade 1 classrooms is whole class recitation of lists of words and of short and mostly unconnected text with restricted meaning and function. Teachers do not consciously help learners to develop the ability to manipulate and play with sounds. Scant attention is paid to the development of concepts about print in these Grade 1 classrooms, in spite of the literacy-poor backgrounds from which most learners come. There is effectively no access to books in the classroom, visits to the school library are irregular and teachers do not read aloud regularly to learners. Learners are not significantly exposed to extended text in the first year of schooling. The almost exclusive use of phonic decoding does not develop learning strategies for word recognition and comprehension, and is inappropriate for proficient reading in English. Most importantly, teachers and learners do not approach reading or writing as a meaning making activity. In the light of international research, it is argued that these practices prevent children from coming to an early understanding of the functions of text and from developing a range of strategies for comprehension. It is argued that this lack of focus on meaning and on ways of constructing meaning in reading are factors contributing to the poor performance of learners in standardised reading tests. Explanations for these pedagogical practices involve a complex interplay of personal experience of reading, outdated initial teacher education and inadequate continuing teacher education. Recommendations are made regarding initial and continuing teacher education for Foundation Phase teachers. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Adverse criticism regarding the quantity and quality of children's books in South Africa appear in such respected sources as The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature and The Companion to South African English Literature, the authors of which are of the opinion that South African children are dependent solely upon Eurocentric literature for their reading material. In recent years however, local publishers have attempted to redress this imbalance by offering prizes for unpublished works. These prizes have acted as incentives for aspiring writers, many of whom have had novels published specifically for children in the post-developmental reading stage. This study critically examines some of these prizewinning works of fantasy and contemporary realism, in an effort to gauge their literary worth within the context of accepted criteria for judging children's literature. Accolades from adults are not however a guarantee that the prizewinning books will be received with equal acclaim by the children for whom they are written. For this reason, five children in the post-developmental reading stage were asked to pass their opinions and non-literary judgments on the books. Although the critical evaluation of the indigenous works proves them to be eminently worthy of the prizes which they received on publication, the children did not rate them as highly as certain imported works. The works of fantasy by Marguerite Poland rated poorly in terms of their popularity despite the fact that the children said that in a non-circumscribed context, they choose fantasy in preference to contemporary realism. Within the context of the indigenous literature which they read for this study though, they preferred the works of contemporary realism as they were able to identify with particular aspects of the novels. Indigenous literature for children in the post-developmental reading stage is a comparatively new phenomenon which needs to be nurtured if it is to attain any lasting status. The onus rests upon the teachers of literature and librarians to introduce the literature and make the books more accessible to young readers. Publishers need perhaps to engage the views and opinions of the audience for whom the books are written in an effort to publish books which, without in any way detracting from their literary worth, will deal with subjects favoured by young readers.

Literacy does not develop in a vacuum. Reading is taught and learnt within a social context. The school and teachers are a central part of this context, Pretorius and Machet (2003). The purpose of this study was to investigate the strategies to improve reading in an Eastern Cape community. To realise this aim, I first looked for strategies that are currently used by teachers. Then I focussed on additional strategies that could be of use in improving reading levels. This study observed the practices and accessed perceptions of teachers in two primary schools regarding literacy accomplishments in order to come up with relevant strategies to improve reading levels. My study is a qualitative case study focussed on Foundation and Intermediate Phase literacy. The two schools used in this study have different language policies. The one uses English as the language of learning and teaching and the other school uses isiXhosa. The home language of most of the learners in both schools is isiXhosa. I observed and interviewed teachers to get deeper understanding of the problem in the two schools. The Four Resources Model of Freebody and Luke (1990) proved to be a strategy that could be used to support the development of reading from the early years and on into the high school years. This model was found to articulate well with the official school literacy curriculum. In-school reading strategies could be well supplemented by assisting learners to engage with the four roles of Code Breaker, Text Participant, Text User and Text Analyst. In my investigation I found out that there is a problem in our schools in both home and additional language contexts. There is a great need for both in-school and out-of-school strategies to improve the situation. An Asset Mapping strategy revealed the range of existing and potential strategies available to a particular Eastern Cape community to raise reading levels and thereby improve learning.

Includes bibliography. / The focal point of this study emanates from both personal observations formed in public library branch work and questions raised in the subject literature to the effect that tension appears to exist between the wants of the majority of users and the perception of the dominant goals of the public library by their staff, resulting in differing views as to the book selection policy of this institution. Book selection policies have been taken to reflect the attitudes of library staff towards users' wants in terms of their adherence to the tenets of Anglo-American public library objectives.

This study is part of a larger research programme that seeks to contribute towards an understanding of South Africa's complex literacy landscape and formulate strategies that may address these particularly in the Foundation Phase. It is a case study of one public primary school in Grahamstown where isiXhosa is used as a medium of instruction until Grade 3, after which the medium of instruction changes to English. This transition is not helped by the little reading that happens in the language at the FP. The learners under study are Grade 3 isiXhosa first language speakers, learning English as a First Additional Language (FAL) with limited exposure to the language. Through a qualitative participatory action research process, the study investigated the extent to which a reading club in general and a responsive reading programme in particular, might develop learners' English vocabulary at this particular school. The value of reading clubs as a vehicle for second language learning as well as the importance of considering learner needs in the development of the reading programme are key contributions this study makes. The study draws on social constructivism as a theoretical framework based on the principle that learning is a social acitvity. Vygotsky (1978) states that language learning (LL) takes place through interactions in meaningful events, rather that through isolated language activities. The process is seen as holistic, that is, each mode of language supoorts and enhances overall language development. Furthermore, LL develops in relation to the context in which it is used, that is, it develops according to the situation, the topic under discussion and the relationship betwwen participants. Language also develops through active engagement of the learners. The role of the teacher or a more competent other is then seen as that of a facilitator in a learning context in which learners are viewed as equally capable of contributing to their learning through learning from and with each other (Holt and Willard-Holt, 2000). Vygotsky's theory of social interaction has been influential in highlighting the important role of social and cultural contexts in extending children's learning. The preliminary results of this study point toward the importance of the learning environment, particularly an informal environment in second language development. The results also highlight the need for learners (a) to be provided with opportunities to engage with meaningful and authentic texts, (b) to be allowed to make their own book choices, (c) to participate in large group, small group and individual activities to enable them to engage with a variety of texts, and (d) to confront vocabulary in a variety of ways through multiple texts and genres.

D.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The general preference for English as language of teaching and learning (LoLT) poses a formidable learning barrier to many English Second Language (ESL) learners in South African schools. Addressing this barrier is the responsibility of the whole-school with the support of the Department of Education. In particular, school based support teams (SBST) are tasked with the support of learners who experience reading barriers in an inclusive mainstream school. This thesis concerns the implementation of a whole-school intervention at a primary school in a disadvantaged community in Gauteng, South Africa, where ESL learners experience severe barriers to reading acquisition. The aim was to provide support to the whole-school to address reading barriers in an inclusive environment. Objectives were to identify the elements of whole-school reading; to develop and implement an integrated whole-school reading intervention; to train educators to address learners' reading barriers; and to provide guidelines to the Inclusion and Special Schools Unit (provincial level), District Based Support Team (DBST) and the school, to address reading barriers in future. A literature study reviewed themes regarding inclusion, support structures and whole-school development. Literature dealing with essential elements of wholeschool reading, approaches and strategies provided a theoretical framework for the implementation of whole-school reading. A qualitative study within an interpretive paradigm using practitioner action research was conducted. The research site was a primary school in a disadvantaged area in Gauteng, which had referred ESL learners to the local Inclusion and Special Schools Unit for support. Action research was selected because of its fundamental principle of participant empowerment through participation, collaboration, acquisition of knowledge and social change. Data was gathered from staff and learners and analysed during the phases of the action research process. Data collection included learner and educator questionnaires, discussions, observations, field notes, pre- and post baseline scholastic assessment, focus group interviews and the researcher's reflections. Findings indicated that SBST's need support in order to address reading barriers. ESL learners do not receive sufficient exposure to English to develop reading skills. Intermediate phase educators have not been trained to teach learners to read and improve their reading skills. Whole-school reading intervention was thus valuable in providing training and support structures for the school to address reading difficulties.