Availability of books as a factor in reading, teaching and learning behaviour in twenty disadvantaged primary schools in South Africa

Nassimbeni, Mary; Desmond, Snoeks

doi:10.7553/77-2-52

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…It was interesting that a number of studies pointed to the need to address gaps in teacher training, for example Gouws (2007), Nompula (2012) and Todd and Mason (2005) which all highlighted the need to change teacher training. The book study conducted by Nassimbeni and Desmond (2011) found that even when materials become available to teachers, teachers cannot be expected to use them effectively without intensive training. It was difficult to find research papers that grappled with what it means to learn in a discipline and how the nature of teaching and learning is understood in different disciplinary contexts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Findings about the importance of resources emerged from a study by Nassimbeni and Desmond (2011) who investigated the availability of books as a factor in promoting reading and learning in twenty disadvantaged primary schools. The intervention was a direct result of a donation of books to these schools, and researchers attributed the positive changes that they documented to the training that supported the implementation.…”

Section: Socio-economic Conditions Affecting Learning and Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Systematic review of trends in teaching and learning research in South African schools

Dison¹,

Kearney²

2021

Systematic Reviews of Research in Basic Education in South Africa

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Despite the persistence of poor learner performance in an inequitable schooling system in South Africa, there is a surprising lack of extensive research that examines teaching and learning practices in the classroom. Hoadley (2012), in a presentation to a Carnegie conference, based on a review of South African primary schools, highlighted the strengths and limitations of teaching and learning studies in terms of their methodologies and consistency of findings. This chapter builds on these insights by reporting on the findings of a systematic review of studies on teaching and learning in Basic Education and Training (BET) and Further Education and Training (FET) in South Africa over the past twenty-five years in order to discern and expand the existing knowledge base. This systematic review aims to contribute to an understanding of what we know about learning and teaching in South African schools as well as provide a conceptual framework for critiquing the assumptions and criteria used by researchers to select their sources of evidence. Drawing out emergent themes, the review identifies the key aspects of learning that are most researched as well as gaps in the nature of student engagement and participation in pedagogical processes. The purpose of this systematic review is to gain an understanding of what research on learning has been conducted at the BET and FET levels in South Africa in the past twenty years. Drawing out emergent themes, the systematic review identifies the key aspects of learning that are most researched and highlights important gaps in the research. This will contribute to a more nuanced and complex understanding of what is known about learning in South African schools.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Socio-economic Conditions Affecting Learning and Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic review of trends in teaching and learning research in South African schools

Dison¹,

Kearney²

2021

Systematic Reviews of Research in Basic Education in South Africa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Majority of the students cannot read at grade level and more significantly they cannot read in their mother tongue. Studies by Nassimbeni and Desmond (2011) and Van der Berg et al (2011) revealed that pupils from schools where books and libraries were available scored better than those at schools without those resources, emphasizing the link between disadvantage and poor performance. In addition majority of the parents and guardians are not literate and this diminishes their level of involvement in their children's education.…”

Section: Conclusion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring reading habits and academic success in rural Kenya

Mugambi

2015

IFLA Journal

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This study explores the relationship between reading habits and reading materials, and academic success of primary school students in the Ontulili community of Kenya. The study revealed high levels of satisfaction and contentment among the participants with respect to the availability of resources, reading abilities, educational performance, and overall preparedness for further education; yet, the data pointed to severe scarcity of learning materials, low reading skills, poor infrastructure, below average educational performance, and low preparedness for further education. It was concluded that lack of exposure to relevant reading materials, educational resources, and opportunities leads to subtle contentment alongside individual inability to excel as manifested by low test scores in the national examinations. In order to realize academic success in the study area and other comparable communities, well-designed interventions such as promotion of reading across the school curriculum and establishment of fully equipped libraries consistent with the rigors of modern academic demands, must be created.

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“…For underprivileged learners, the school library is the only source for accessing reading resources, but some schools do not have a library. Sadly, both international (Neuman & Celano 2001;Smith, Constantino & Krashen 1997) and local (Equal Education 2011;Nassimbeni & Desmond 2011) studies show that school libraries are largely dysfunctional and lack appropriate reading resources. For example, of the 5669 schools in the Eastern Cape, only 167 have functioning libraries (Equal Education 2011), leaving learners with little or no exposure to meaningful reading material.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The benefits of an extensive reading programme implemented in two Foundation Phase classrooms in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Nkomo

2021

Reading & Writing

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Background: This article reports on a responsive extensive reading programme (ERP), involving Grade 3 learners at two primary schools in the Eastern Cape over a duration of 20 weeks.Objectives: The sociocultural perspective of learning guided the implementation of the ERP which aimed at providing learners with opportunities to read books for pleasure in their preferred language.Method: Learners had a choice to talk about their reading in isiXhosa, their home language, or English, which is their first additional language. In supporting the long-term goal of being bilingual, learners were encouraged to see themselves as emergent bilinguals who have reasons to use both languages as young scholars and in future.Results: Data collected through a post-intervention questionnaire, learners’ reading logs and observations illuminated interesting findings which show that learners benefited from the ERP.Conclusion: The benefits of participating in the ERP were observed in the learners’ acquisition of new knowledge (cognitive benefits), transformation in their attitude towards reading (affective benefits), and they began to take agency of their reading (social benefits).Contribution: This study demonstrates the cognitive, affective, and social benefits of introducing learners to reading for pleasure as early as in the Foundation Phase.

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Availability of books as a factor in reading, teaching and learning behaviour in twenty disadvantaged primary schools in South Africa

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

A Systematic review of trends in teaching and learning research in South African schools

A Systematic review of trends in teaching and learning research in South African schools

Exploring reading habits and academic success in rural Kenya

The benefits of an extensive reading programme implemented in two Foundation Phase classrooms in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

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