Early reading skills related to Grade 1 English Second Language literacy in rural South African schools

Abstract

In the South African curriculum, instruction in English as a second language (ESL) is referred to as English as First Additional Language because English is not necessarily a second language for most learners. However, to align with international literature, we will use the term ESL when referring to English as First Additional Language.Background: Many South African children attend African language medium of instruction (MOI) schools, learn English as an additional language and switch to English MOI three years later. There is still much to be researched about how a child's first and second language literacy develops over time in South Africa.Aim: This study aims to outline the first and second language skills at the start of Grade 1, which are associated with English Second Language literacy at the end of Grade 1 through the use of a longitudinal design.Setting: Data was collected from 80 predominantly rural no-fee isiZulu and Siswati MOI schools in Mpumalanga.Methods: A total of 1347 learners were randomly selected from these schools and were individually assessed on various first language (isiZulu or Siswati) and English skills at the start and end of Grade 1. Results:The data show that learners begin school with varying first and second language oral language proficiency levels, and most learners are pre-literate. Decoding skills improved over the year, but 45.7% and 35% of learners were still unable to read a first language or English word correctly in 1 min. Conclusion:The data confirm the importance of first language phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge for later word-reading abilities in isiZulu, Siswati and English, as well as their importance for English spelling. The study highlights the importance of the systematic development of English oral proficiency during the Foundation Phase especially for rural children who are not exposed to English in their communities.

Phonological awareness and learning to read in Afrikaans: The role of working memory

“…Moreover, an untimed reading comprehension passage may involve less WM skills than timed tasks as the time limit constitutes a greater cognitive load (Peng et al 2018). Finally, the correlation of fair strength can be explained by Schaefer and Kotzé (2019), who pointed out that children will find it difficult to associate a phoneme with its corresponding grapheme if items cannot be held in memory (Schaefer & Kotzé 2019) (see Table 4).…”

Beyond classroom walls: The role of a co-curricular English club in supporting second language learning

“…The language profile of 51.7 million South Africans indicates, as Howie et al (2017) have noted, that 24% speak isiZulu, 16% speak isiXhosa, and 14% speak Afrikaans, while only 10% speak English. In other words, most learners are English second language speakers but are taught their subjects in English as noted by Schaefer and Kotzé (2019). Literacy studies conducted with South African English Second Language learners reveal poor literacy scores.…”

“…Pretorius and Spaull (2016) have recommended that interventions are needed to enhance English Second Language learners' literacy skills, in light of the various contextual challenges they face, especially in schools with poor or no resources and with large numbers in classes, and the fact that many of these learners have no access to English resources at home. In addition, learners in South African rural areas are not usually exposed to English in their communities where they speak their home language as Schaefer and Kotzé (2019) have pointed out. This is the context of the school cited in this study.…”

A linguistic analysis of spelling errors in Grade 3 isiXhosa home-language learners

“…An understanding of the linguistic literacy skills that contribute to reading success in these languages can assist in developing pedagogically sound curricula and teaching practices. The current article reports on an investigation into a largely neglected variable in the understanding of reading development, which is that of spelling (Fleisch, Pather & Motilal 2017;Schaefer & Kotzé 2019;Treiman 2017). Specifically, the main purpose is to explore the nature of spelling in isiXhosa by identifying the patterns of spelling errors made by isiXhosa home-language Grade 3 learners.…”