In South Africa learners do not achieve as well as their international counterparts on
tests of literacy, and language proficiency is often blamed for their poor academic
performance. In this study, the relationship between English language proficiency,
reading ability and the academic performance of Grade 7 students in submersion
contexts was investigated using quantitative methods. The participants of the study
were Grade 7 students based in a former Model C school in the South African city of
Johannesburg. Their English language proficiency and reading ability were measured
by means of The Proficiency test English Second Language: Intermediate level and
the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability tests respectively. The students’ performance
on these tests was correlated with the students’ average summative assessment
results using the Pearson-product moment correlation. Results showed that both
English language proficiency and reading ability were significantly correlated with
academic performance, with language proficiency having the most robust correlation.
These findings indicate that teachers should aim at improving language proficiency
by using multilingual teaching strategies that support home language as a cognitive
tool. / English Studies / M. A. (TESOL)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/19009 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Lendrum, Julie-Ann |
| Contributors | Nchindila, Bernard Mwansa |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (xvi, 236 leaves) : illustrations (some color), application/pdf |
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