The teaching of reading in grade 4 English home language

Abstract

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021, an international assessment that tests reading comprehension, revealed that 81% of South African Grade 4 learners could not identify explicit information or generate required information from a text. Reading ability is a crucial skill needed to acquire information and continue learning. The purpose of this study was first to determine how teachers teach reading in Grade 4 English Home Language. Second, the study aimed to identify the guidelines offered by policymakers on how to teach reading. The research also focused on the challenges teachers experience when teaching reading in Grade 4 English Home Language. Last, it aimed to find out how teachers assisted struggling readers. This study employed a qualitative approach and an interpretive paradigm was used to investigate how teachers taught reading. The study was conducted at two schools in the Western Cape, a public school in the Metropolitan North District of Cape Town (School A) and a former Model C school in the Metropolitan South District in the Western Cape (School B). The participants selected for this study were four teachers in Grade 4 English Home Language from each school. Data were collected by means of document analysis, classroom observations, and semi-structured individual interviews. The researcher received ethical clearance from both the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). The study aimed to provide guidelines on how to teach reading and recommended reading strategies. The findings revealed that the teachers were qualified professionals, although they had not received specific training on how to teach reading. Furthermore, teachers applied various teaching strategies when teaching reading, some of which were recommended by policymakers in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement and Adjusted Teaching Plan. However, despite the use of these strategies, teachers experienced challenges when teaching learners how to read in Grade 4 English Home Language, the main issue being that English was not the learners’ mother tongue as learners came from backgrounds where they were more exposed to Afrikaans or isiXhosa at home. Teachers identified struggling readers through baseline assessments at the beginning of the year and offered intervention programmes after school hours to aid in improving learners’ reading ability.