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Parts, Wholes and Context in reading: a triple dissociation

Elegant research study which found that the proportion of the three components of fluent reading are 62% phonic decoding, 16% whole (high frequency) word recognition, and 22% contextual clues. Each reading process always contributes the same number of words per minute, regardless of whether the other processes are operating.

The remarkable inefficiency of word recognition

Looks at the whether objects are recognized by parts or as wholes and looks specifically at word recognition, finding that a word is unreadable unless its letters are separately identifiable and that we never in fact learn to see a word as a whole feature. Our identification of a word is mediated by independent detection of components that are a letter or less.

Pitfalls and possibilities in literacy research. A review of South African literacy studies, 2004-2018 Pitfalls and possibilities in literacy research. A review of South African literacy studies, 2004-2018

This article evaluates South African research from two annotated bibliographies on reading in African languages at home language level (2004–2017) and South African research on teaching reading in English as a first additional language (2007–2018). It also aims to provide guidelines for addressing the weaknesses in this research. While this article is not intended to be a comprehensive guide, it would be useful to supervisors, postgraduate students and early career researchers currently undertaking, or planning to undertake, literacy research and to writing for publication.

Supporting transition or playing catch-up in Grade 4? Implications for standards in education and training Supporting transition or playing catch-up in Grade 4? Implications for standards in education and training

Description of an intervention programme designed to support the transition to English as the medium of instruction in Grade 4 in a township school, using a pre- and post-test design. Because the pre-tests revealed very poor literacy levels in both Zulu home language and English, the intervention programme was modified in an attempt to fast-track the learners to literacy levels more appropriate to their grade. The paper briefly considers some of the reasons for the initial poor literacy performance and provides a model for literacy development in high-poverty contexts in order to minimise the need to play catch-up in the Intermediate Phase.

Reading in African languages - an Annotated Bibliography Reading in African languages - an Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography was compiled by Professor Lilli Pretorius of UNISA as part of the Primary Teacher Education Project (PrimTEd). It gives a summary account of research that has been done on reading in African languages from 2004 to 2017, more specifically on languages belonging mainly to the family of Southern African Bantu languages. It comprises over 40 annotated entries, mainly research articles from accredited journals, chapters from books and postgraduate dissertations or theses, and also lists several other sources closely related to reading in the African languages. Originally compiled in 2017, it is designed in such a way that new entries can be added to it as new research emerges, and it will be regularly updated.

The DBE’s workbooks as a curriculum tool The DBE’s workbooks as a curriculum tool

A brief evaluation of the Department of Basic Education’s workbooks which found them a welcome intervention that was well aligned to the key CAPS content areas and are a useful practice tool which could also be used for monitoring student progress. It did however find that they were not an effective tool for assessment.

Teaching Reading (and Writing) in the Foundation Phase: a concept note Teaching Reading (and Writing) in the Foundation Phase: a concept note

Provides a detailed outline of a potential Foundation Phase teacher training course on how to teach reading. After providing some information on the state of reading in South Africa and the need for the proposed course, the Concept Note outlines (1) what such a course should entail as far as content is concerned, (2) how the course should be structured, delivered (modality) and assessed, (3) how it could be accredited, and (4) how it should be evaluated.

Finding the plot in South African reading education

This article argues that we have lost the plot in South African reading education. To find it, we need to move beyond the predominant mode of reading as oral performance, where the emphasis is on accuracy and pronunciation, to reading as comprehension of meaning in text. While reading research in South Africa has been conducted mainly in school contexts, this case study is of a school and Adult Basic Education and Training Centre in a rural KwaZulu-Natal community near Pietermaritzburg. It found that an oratorical approach to reading dominated in both settings. It suggests that developing the way in which teachers understand the teaching of reading and transforming the teaching practices of those who teach as they were taught in the education system of the apartheid era are key to improving the teaching of reading.

The Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World The Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World

This statement, made by the participants in the Salzburg Global Seminar’s session on Springboard for Talent: Language Learning and Integration in a Globalized World (12–17 December 2017), calls for policies that value and uphold multilingualism and language rights. It has been translated into all South African official languages.

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