A research study conducted by Dr Surette van Staden, lecturer in the Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education at UP, aims to identify factors that predict reading literacy achievement among Grade 4 learners in South Africa.

An article about the research, co-authored by a leading school effectiveness expert, Prof Roel Bosker from the Rijks Universiteit, Groningen in the Netherlands, has been accepted for publication in the South African Journal of Education.

The study draws on the preProgress in International Reading Literacy Study (prePIRLS) 2011 data, which places the results of South African Grade 4 learners substantially below the international centre point of 500 at 461 (SE=3.7). Selected items from the prePIRLS 2011 learner, parent and teacher questionnaires were used in a two-level model to determine the effect of learner aptitude, opportunity to learn and quality of instructional events on reading literacy achievement.

According to Dr Van Staden, the results point to the statistical significance of engaged reading and cultivating motivation for reading among learners from an early age, specifically through parental involvement in introducing early literacy activities as foundation of reading literacy by schoolgoing age. Other results provide evidence for the importance of the value of reading across the curriculum which is not confined to formal reading lessons only.

Dr Van Staden notes, “The teaching of reading comprehension skills and strategies is identified as a significant predictor of reading literacy achievement, instruction of which should vorm an integral part of teaching reading in the classroom.”

The results of the data indicate that these reading skills and strategies should be introduced in Grade 1 for learners to achieve improved reading skills and, ultimately, higher reading achievement scores in studies, such as prePIRLS 2011. The data also provides evidence that even when skills and strategies are entrenched as part of the national curriculum, these still do not receive emphasis. In this regard, schools play a pivotal role in ensuring the implementation of the curriculum to ensure that learners have the best chance at sustained success and mastery.

She adds that, together, parents and schools have the responsibility of laying the foundations for reading in the first year of schooling. “When both these interventions are in place, ie schools starting early with all seven Grade 1 reading skills and strategies, and parents conducting early home literacy activities with their child, then the learner will have a better chance at mastering reading skills that are pivotal for later learning.”