Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M. Bibl. in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, 1997. / The study was prompted by the lack of a reading culture observed at schools in Umlazi area. An overview of the literature on Black family life and its possible influence on reading, pointed to various factors which could have a negative influence on Black pupils' reading, for example, poor home conditions, lack of parent models, oral culture and difficulties with regard to the language of available reading material. Home background was identified as a major factor in preparing children for leisure reading The respondents in the survey on reading interests and habits of pupils at three Umlazi schools, and their parents, represented a cross section of families, i.e. from unemployed to professional parents. Nearly half (47%) had an income of less than R 1 799,00 per month. The majority of the parents (66.7%) came from a rural background in which the oral culture is still predominant. Based on the research conducted for this study, it was concluded that parents, regardless of their cultural and socio-economic and geographical backgrounds were readers, providing their children with positive role models to copy. Parents stimulated the reading habit through pre-school story reading (52.5%) and story telling (77.5%), purchasing of reading material (61.7%), and encouragement of public library use (78.7%). The findings also indicated that factors such as TV watching, listening to the radio, lack of public libraries, inadequately trained teacher-librarians, and lack of encouragement from teachers to use the school library had a negative influence on pupils' reading habit. The results of the survey can however not be regarded as conclusive. With face-to-face contact with respondents and in-depth interviewing different results might be obtained.

This study was prompted by the reading crisis prevailing in South African schools. The aim of the study is to investigate how primary schools promote and manage a reading culture in selected primary schools in the Limpopo Province. A purposive, qualitative research approach was used with the aim of understanding and developing a holistic picture of how School Management Teams (SMTs) support, promote, develop and manage a reading culture. A multiple case study design was used in three primary schools in one circuit (Sekgosese East Circuit). Eighteen participants took part in semi-structured interviews. Documents were analysed. Artefacts in the classroom were viewed with the intention of establishing how a reading culture can be propagated. The findings indicate that SMTs monitor reading progress by using class visits and by motivating team language teachers. Learners are encouraged to participate in reading competitions. It has also been highlighted that a lack of parental support in the promotion of a reading culture is an impediment to development. Challenges such as overcrowded classes, and shortage of reading material in the classrooms and libraries are experienced; some of these are beyond the control of the school as an organisation. It is important to determine the role played by teachers in planning, organising, leading and controlling matters related to a reading culture at their schools. Heads of Department have to take leadership in this matter by preparing, together with their teaching and library staff, policies and guidelines related to reading activities in the school. In this manner an appropriate environment will promote a reading culture in schools. A reading culture can be described as the creation of conditions that are favourable for ongoing reading. Such conditions require sufficient reading material, space and time for the support, development and nurturing of reading practices. How best can the school manage the situation without compromising a reading culture and the quality of reading and writing? A reading culture has to be sustainable. One of the primary aims is to promote enthusiasm for reading in the school and in the community. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate responses to New Africa Book&rsquo / s Siyagruva Series among six enthusiastic teenage readers (ages 10 -16), at Eersterivier Public Library in Cape Town. The series aims to provide a series of popular books accessible to second language English readers. The question that underlies the research project is whether they fill a gap in the South African teenage reading market. There are several motives behind this study besides the fact that South African learners read very little:</p> <p><br /> &bull / The need to investigate reading preferences and choices among South African teenagers<br /> &bull / To find out factors which affect reading choices of South African teenagers<br /> &bull / The need to encourage reading culture in South Africa.</p> <p><br /> The qualitative case study of reading response tries to answer the research question through face to face interviews with selected readers. The nature of the small-scale case study means that it can make no generalised statements about all South African teenagers. It explores the views of only six teenagers.</p>

The aim of my thesis is to investigate three different reading projects, which have been set up to promote reading among school children in Zambia. I have used my field study together with some general observations to draw some lessons on the obstacles and challenges present in Zambia in relating literacy to culture among young people. In identifying these lessons, I have drawn on a theoretical framework which relates literacy to a cultural meaning system, addresses the importance of social interaction, as well as distinguishing between experienced and instrumental reading. My methods have been observations and semi-structured interviews with organisers, teachers and students involved in the three projects. The interviews have been based on four research questions. These have been used to solicit the opinions about the reading projects, what challenges they have confronted, what the participating children actually read, and the views and attitudes towards reading as reflected within the projects. In my study I found that two of the projects had adopted an approach in which social interaction was an essential element to promote reading. My study revealed that an instrumental attitude dominated towards reading, partly explained by what books were being supplied. I further concluded that one important obstacle for promoting literacy was related to the use of foreign language as an educational tool, and hence seen as providing a “social ladder”, as compared to the vernacular language.

The aim of our thesis is to study the two concepts “reading culture” and “literacy” in the context of Uganda. We base our study on the project the Children’s Reading Tent. We examine these two concepts in relation to the people working with the Children’s Reading Tent and the participating children. Moreover, we look at what needs the children have according to the adult informants and how these needs can be met. The methods used are semi-structured interviews and observations of the Children’s Reading Tent. We interviewed ten of the project’s organisers, twenty of the participating children and conducted six observations. We applied the sociocultural approach to literacy in our study and used Street’s view on literacy as a social and cultural practise and Serpell’s concept “bicultural mediation”. We concluded that the participating children come in contact with one culture in school and one at home. The adult informants connect these two cultures through including both literacy practices from school, such as reading and writing, and indigenous literacy practises such as storytelling into the concept literacy. This is due to the fact that children need to learn from the familiar, which in this case is the culture at home. This need can be met through mediation between the two cultures. A reading culture in Uganda implies having the habit of reading in your everyday life and not simply for school purposes. This is believed to be difficult to accomplish since reading is mostly connected with the culture in school. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Following a growing concern among education stakeholders about the lack of a reading culture and low literacy levels among Rwandans in general and university students in particular, the aim of this thesis is to increase the awareness of Rwandans about the development of a reading culture and early literacy. To achieve this aim, four studies with participants representing different experiences related to reading culture were performed. These qualitative studies draw on different perspectives on the development of a reading culture and emergent literacy by using open-ended questionnaires and interviews. The thesis takes sociocultural and emergent literacy theories as points of departure. The first study investigates students’ reflections on their previous reading experiences, and discuss ways to develop literacy and a reading culture in Rwanda. The next one sheds light on parents’ involvement in literacy practices at home and the third study concerns what literacy knowledge teachers expect from their pupils when they start nursery and lower primary school. An example of a literacy event (storytelling) is given in the fourth study where children’s narratives of fairy tales are followed by their discussions on gender issues, which in turn can develop the children’s interest in reading. This can also help them relate texts to their life and teach them to think critically. In sum, the studies show that there is a limited reading culture in Rwanda. That is attributed to the colonial and post-colonial education system, reliance on verbal communication, limited access to reading materials, and ultimately the low status of the mother tongue Kinyarwanda within the sociolinguistic configuration of Rwanda. Also, the participating students and teachers point out the necessity of involving parents more in the creation of an environment that nurtures children’s emergent literacy development so that it becomes a shared responsibility translated into a teacherparent partnership for children’s success at school. Hence, the findings inform the use of this thesis which is to promote literacy and a reading culture in Rwanda by engaging the whole nation in a national effort to build a sustainable culture of reading. To paraphrase the old African saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, I want to conclude by saying that it takes a nation to develop a culture of reading.

<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate responses to New Africa Book&rsquo / s Siyagruva Series among six enthusiastic teenage readers (ages 10 -16), at Eersterivier Public Library in Cape Town. The series aims to provide a series of popular books accessible to second language English readers. The question that underlies the research project is whether they fill a gap in the South African teenage reading market. There are several motives behind this study besides the fact that South African learners read very little:</p> <p><br /> &bull / The need to investigate reading preferences and choices among South African teenagers<br /> &bull / To find out factors which affect reading choices of South African teenagers<br /> &bull / The need to encourage reading culture in South Africa.</p> <p><br /> The qualitative case study of reading response tries to answer the research question through face to face interviews with selected readers. The nature of the small-scale case study means that it can make no generalised statements about all South African teenagers. It explores the views of only six teenagers.</p>

The aim of this study was to explore ways in which ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers introduce different forms of literary writing such as poems, plays, fiction, genres and fantasy in the ESL classroom. The main method used was semi-structured interviews with six upper secondary ESL teachers in the South of Sweden. The interview questions were analyzed taking into account current research within the area, and further based on our own experience. The benefits of using the fantasy genre in teaching was one of the main focuses for this study. The compiled results showed varying strategies to teaching fiction in general. Only fifty percent of the interviewed teachers would actively have chosen the fantasy genre in their teaching practice. However, the interviewees saw potential beneficial outcomes from using the fantasy genre. All but one would consider incorporating the fantasy genre in their future teaching. Despite the negative view on fantasy being an unhealthy escapism, the positive effects outweigh the negative. In conclusion, the results and the analysis are in line with the established author Lloyd Alexander who states the following: “Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.”

Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBibl / The purpose of this study is to investigate responses to New Africa Book’s Siyagruva Series among six enthusiastic teenage readers (ages 10 -16), at Eersterivier Public Library in Cape Town. The series aims to provide a series of popular books accessible to second language English readers. The question that underlies the research project is whether they fill a gap in the South African teenage reading market. There are several motives behind this study besides the fact that South African learners read very little: • The need to investigate reading preferences and choices among South African teenagers • To find out factors which affect reading choices of South African teenagers • The need to encourage reading culture in South Africa. The qualitative case study of reading response tries to answer the research question through face to face interviews with selected readers. The nature of the small-scale case study means that it can make no generalised statements about all South African teenagers. It explores the views of only six teenagers. The study finds that the books do fulfil a need in the readers to read about “real” issues and situations that reflect their own lives. The participants like the idea of a series of books with the same characters whom they like and identify with. They find the appearance and style of the books appealing. They now wish to read all the books in the series. This investigation will be of interest to various role players like: • publishers, who wish to be in touch with their teenage market • booksellers, who wish to stock saleable books • librarians and school educators who wish to provide young people with appealing books • the Centre for the Book and NGOs who wish to promote a reading culture. / South Africa

The purpose of this qualitative, participatory action research study was to explore and describe the nature of a reading culture in a rural secondary school before and after a literacy intervention. Themes of reading culture were investigated within the framework of systems theory and with interpretivism as epistemological paradigm. A secondary rural school was conveniently selected as part of ongoing FLY and STAR1 studies on resilience and rural schools. Language teachers (n=6, male=1, female=5) were purposively selected to participate in the literacy intervention. The literacy intervention was developed with phonetic acquisition as basis to develop reading skills. The intervention was implemented in two two-day phases, with a three-month gap in between. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected by means of three focus-group interviews with the teacher-participants. These interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis. In addition, the school site (classrooms, notice boards) was observed (documented by means of field notes, visual data, and researcher journals). Textual documents (minutes of staff management team meetings) were analysed to investigate the nature of the reading culture at the school pre- and post-intervention. The following themes emerged from thematic analysis: the reading culture in (i) the learners’ system, (ii) classroom system, and (iii) school system in the rural secondary school. Subsequent to a literacy intervention, changes in the reading culture were evident. It was found that the reading culture in a rural secondary school may be affected negatively by the following systemic factors: learners enter this education phase without adequate reading capacity, the language of learning and teaching is an additional language for both learners and teachers, secondary school teachers are not trained to teach (secondary school) learners to read, and the isolated and scarce-resourced nature of a rural school also compounds the difficulties of nurturing a reading culture. Nonetheless, certain systemic factors contributed to enriching the reading culture in the rural secondary school. In the teacher system, the literacy intervention programme addressed teachers’ need for training to help secondary school learners to learn to read. At post-intervention in the learner system, learners received the required learning support to read, their participation in classroom activities in the classroom system improved, and they read more and with greater confidence. In the school system, effective management and use of the library contributed to the reading-culture post-intervention. The role of leadership to implement reading initiatives was another contributing factor at the school-system level. Education-system support by the Department of Education in the form of reading resources and the introduction of a policy providing for a reading period also proved valuable to enriching the reading culture. In terms of the community system, the reading-culture initiative led to collaborative networking with neighbouring primary schools in fostering joint capacity development in the literacy intervention. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted