Local newsNews

SA grade 4 learners last in reading skills

While the Russian Federation and Singapore were the top achievers, South Africa placed last out of the 50 countries participating in the study at the fourth-grade level.

December 15, 2017
Thato Mahlangu 3 minutes read
A preschooler reads. Photo: Telling Tales Festival.

Eight out of 10 learners at grade four level still cannot read properly, a fact recently revealed in a study by University of Pretoria (UP) researchers.

The progress in international reading literacy study (PIRLS) 2016 report has painted a disturbing picture of primary school reading literacy in South Africa, with no significant progress nationally since the last report in 2011.

While the Russian Federation and Singapore were the top achievers, South Africa placed last out of the 50 countries participating in the study at the fourth-grade level.

This is according to the international comparative reading assessment conducted by the university’s researchers at the centre for evaluation and assessment.

ALSO READ: How to prepare your child for Grade 1

The South African findings were published in the global study on reading literacy published recently.

More than 319 000 learners participated in the 2016 study worldwide, said the university.

“This third South African PIRLS national report builds on 10 years of rigorous research in reading literacy. Although national performance is generally very low, there is a glimmer of hope,” the university said.

ALSO READ: Smartboard technology in the pre-school classroom

Between PIRLS 2011 and PIRLS 2016, there has been an improvement in performance for five African languages (out of the 11 languages tested) at grade 4 level, despite the fact that these were the lowest performing languages in the 2011 study.

“Being able to read is the key to academic and future success,” said Celeste Combrinck, acting director at the centre for evaluation and assessment (CEA).

“If you can’t read, your opportunities in school or after school will be limited, which is why reading should start at a very young age.”

Combrinck said what was troubling is that this is true across all languages in South Africa, as less than a quarter of learners overall reached the lowest international benchmark.

ALSO READ: Activating the minds of future leaders

“While less than half of the learners who wrote the tests in English and Afrikaans could read, 80 percent of those learning in one of the other nine official languages effectively cannot read at all,” she said.

The CEA works closely with international research organisations and associations in countries such as Canada, USA and Germany to co-ordinate and collaborate on the PIRLS study across the globe.

At the end of 2015, the CEA tested the reading comprehension skills of 12 810 grade 4 learners in all 11 official languages across South Africa.

“More than 5 000 grade 5 learners were tested in Afrikaans, English and isiZulu. This data was processed and analysed by the international research group and then returned to the CEA,” UP said.

The study was supported by the South African department of basic education (DBE) through partial funding and limited logistical support.

The results, which are carefully validated internationally and reviewed nationally to ensure accuracy, suggest that almost 80 percent of South African grade 4 learners fall below the lowest internationally recognised level of reading literacy.

According to Professor Sarah Howie, national research co-ordinator for PIRLS 2016 South Africa, this suggested that the majority of learners cannot read well enough to succeed in subjects across the curriculum in grade 4 and higher grades.

 

The report shows that the Western Cape, Free State and Gauteng performed best of all the provinces, and that reading achievement in Sepedi, isiXhosa, Setswana and Tshivenda was the weakest.

“Boys also performed worse than girls with 84 percent of boys not being able to reach the lowest benchmark, in comparison to 72 percent of girls. The gender gap is an international trend that is reflected in South Africa.”

Combrinck suggested that part of the problem may stem from two difficult transitions in the fourth year of school.

“Learners must transition from learning to read to reading to learn, in other words, they are expected to understand the language of learning well enough to study textbooks and other written material,” she said.

At the same time in South Africa, learners at African language schools transition from being taught in an African language to being taught in English.

“This situation is almost certain to have a negative impact on grade 4 reading literacy.”

CEA researchers also investigated more 1 000 other factors in the school, classroom and home environment to find potential reasons for the reading problems they observed and to better understand the South African learning environment.

“The groups most at risk are those in deep rural areas and townships, those learning in African languages, and boys,” she said.

 

Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:

Rekord East

Rekord North

Rekord Centurion

Rekord Moot

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram

 

 

At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
December 15, 2017
Thato Mahlangu 3 minutes read

Support local journalism

Add The Citizen as a preferred source to see more from Rekord in Google News and Top Stories.

Add as a preferred source on Google
Follow on Google News
Back to top button