In this article, we report on a study that examined the active and receptive English vocabulary of two different groups of Grade 3 learners in South African township schools. The groups consisted of English Home Language (HL) learners in the Western Cape and Xhosa HL and English First Additional Language (FAL) learners in the Eastern Cape. The purpose was to document their different vocabulary trajectories during Grade 3. The Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey was used to measure the active vocabulary levels of 118 learners at the beginning and the end of the school year. Another 284 learners from the same eight Grade 3 classes participated in a receptive vocabulary test at the end of the year. This test assessed their knowledge of the 60 most frequent words that occur in South Africa Grade 4 English textbooks. Results showed that although the HL learners knew almost double the number of words their English FAL peers did, both groups of learners increased their active word knowledge through the year by about 9%. Regarding their receptive vocabulary, the English FAL learners on average only knew 27% of the most frequent words at the end of their Grade 3. No significant gender differences were found. Learners in both language groups who were above their grade age had significantly lower scores than their younger peers. This confirms findings that children who start school with weak language skills tend to stay weak. Finally, initial active vocabulary knowledge was found to be a strong predictor of vocabulary development during the school year.
This study reports on a conceptual model that provides insight into the relationship between English reading proficiency and academic performance of firstyear science and mathematics university students in Ghana, and an empirical test of that model. Longitudinal data were acquired from a sample of 133 students. Using three different mediation analyses, the study demonstrated significant medium-sized effects of English reading proficiency on students' grade point average (GPA) by the end of year 1 and a small but significant indirect relationship between reading proficiency and the final GPA scores by the end of year 4, mediated by the GPA scores after year 1. These findings show that the academic English reading proficiency of students in a non-western multilingual academic context is important for their academic achievement. It also found that academic results obtained by students in their first-year at University were a sound predictor for success at the end of their studies. Results from this study confirm the need for universities in multilingual settings to invest in L2 students' English reading proficiency at the start of their academic programs. Instructional recommendations are made, along with suggestions for further study.Keywords English reading proficiency . English second language (ESL) . Multilingualism . Science-and mathematics education . Scientific literacy Int J of Sci and Math Educ
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