English first additional language teachers' understanding and implementation of reading strategies in senior classes of Mthatha District : South Africa

Reading is a skill that teachers have to enthusiastically teach to encourage learning of complex set of reading skills, knowledge and understanding. Teaching of reading strategies to students to improve their reading ability is very important. However, surveys conducted in South Africa during 2001 and 2004 by the Department of Basic Education to establish literacy and numeracy levels in primary schools showed shockingly low levels of reading ability across the country. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to ascertain English First Additional Language teachers’ understanding and implementation of reading strategies. Obtaining teachers’ perceptions and challenges on reading strategies was vital for this study as a way of establishing their competency towards teaching reading. Four research questions were sought to determine namely; reading strategies currently adopted by teachers in their classes, teachers’ perceptions of reading strategies, reading problems or challenges that teachers were facing. A mixed method research was chosen for this study which involves both the qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study followed a survey research design and a case study research design. A purposive sampling was used to select 126 teachers from which questionnaires were administered to collect data and 10 teachers were randomly drawn from the sample to be interviewed and observed in class. Both qualitative and quantitative data were analysed concurrently using coding and categorization of themes for qualitative data and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for quantitative data. The results indicated that a majority of teachers seemed not to understand and implement certain reading strategies and there were few teachers who asserted to the understanding and implementation of these strategies. The teachers mentioned that they were not trained continuously on reading strategies and the schools had no libraries. A majority of teachers highlighted that there were indeed problematic reading strategies and they simply did away with the strategies that were not suitable for their learners and would try the ones they found relevant or suitable. The study presents a proposed reading enhancement model to assist teachers in the teaching of reading. English First Additional Language teachers may benefit from the model and incorporate some or all of the aspects to develop their reading strategy use programmes

Reading strategies used by Grade 9 English Second Language learners in a selected school

Knowledge of the reading strategies used by English Second Language learners can help teachers to plan appropriate lessons and apply relevant methods of teaching reading in order to enhance learners’ reading comprehension. The main objective of this study was to investigate the reading strategies used by Grade 9 English Second Language (ESL) learners and also to establish if there was any significant difference between perceived strategy use and gender. The respondents (192) were all ESL learners in Grade 9 in 2011 in a selected school. The study employed a quantitative research method. The study used convenience sampling on a group of 192 Grade 9 learners. The data collected through questionnaires was analysed by means of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The findings revealed that the learners did not employ a wide range of reading strategies. The results further indicated that there was no significant difference between boys and girls in terms of strategy use. Based on the above findings several suggestions were made to help teachers improve their teaching and help learners improve their reading comprehension and also about possible areas for future research

Analysing English First Additional Language teachers’ understanding and implementation of reading strategies

Despite the fact that comprehension plays an important role in the reading process, the literature in a South African context reveals that learners continue to struggle with it and teachers continue to neglect it in their teaching. The literature has further shown that teachers’ neglect of comprehension in their reading lessons could be attributed to various reasons, including the fact that teachers seemingly are not taught how to teach reading during their teaching training years. This paper analyses the English First Additional Language teachers’ understanding and their implementation of reading strategies in their classrooms to develop teachers’ understanding and awareness of the important role played by reading strategies in the reading process. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were followed and a survey design was used. Purposive sampling was used to select 126 teachers, to whom questionnaires were administered. Statistical Package for Social Sciences software was used to analyse the quantitative data and the qualitative data were analysed thematically. The results indicated that the majority of teachers seemed not to understand certain reading strategies and, therefore, implemented only a few that they understood, greatly limiting learners’ potential to explore other reading strategies. The study also established that some teachers only paid attention to traditional reading strategies that did not facilitate comprehension. The study recommended that teachers should be trained on how to teach reading strategies so that they are exposed to a wide range of reading strategies in order to assist learners improve their literacy

Use of mobile phones as supplementary teaching and learning tools to learners in South Africa

One of the major challenges in teaching English to speakers of other languages is the issue of inadequate contact time between teachers and learners and between learners and comprehensible English language input. This paper emanated from a burning desire to help learners in South African educational institutions, especially those in remote areas, increase the opportunity for learner-teacher-content contact. The deployment of mobile phones, as tools to supplement teaching and learning off-campus and after school hours, is presumed in this study to be one attempt to increase contact time for learners. A qualitative research methodology, which is interpretive in nature, was used. The study used a descriptive case study research design. It used a sample of 44 learners, drawn from Grade 9 English First Additional Language learners in one school in the Eastern Cape. The participants were sampled, using purposive and volunteer sampling techniques. Mobile phones were used to collect data, which was in the form of short message services (SMSs) and Mxit messages. A questionnaire with open-ended questions was also used to collect data about learners’ perceptions of the use of these devices in the educational process. The data were analysed by incorporating elements of both content analysis and discourse analysis. Despite the fact that some participants were of the view that SMS would corrupt their language and spelling, findings indicate that most SMS and Mxit texts produced by participants displayed full sentences, punctuation marks, correct spelling of most words, acceptable grammar and proper sentence use. Further, findings indicated that while SMS and Mxit communication were largely characterised by short hand and informal writing, when learners were aware that they were using these platforms for learning purposes, the traditional rules of formal writing applied. We conclude that mobile devices can improve the language acquisition of second language learners. We recommend consideration of the official inclusion of mobile devices as supplementary learning tools in the learning programme in South Africa

Investigating reading comprehension strategies used by teachers during English First Additional Language reading instruction

Since the purpose of reading is comprehension, the major goal of reading comprehension instruction is to help learners develop knowledge, skills, and strategies so that they become strategic readers who read for comprehension. Language teachers use reading comprehension strategies as an instruction tool to assist learners to develop into strategic readers. However, the range of strategies used by teachers is crucial. This paper presents classroom observations of reading comprehension strategy instruction used by four purposively selected English First Additional Language (FAL) teachers. The study was qualitative in nature and a case study design was chosen. The findings of the study reveal that teachers did not provide opportunity to support learners’ independent comprehension strategy use. Furthermore, the study has disclosed that the teachers’ inability to engage learners in reading comprehension strategies might signify the teachers’ lack of knowledge of how to incorporate reading comprehension strategies as an instructional tool during reading comprehension lessons. The authors recommend that the Department of Basic Education institute interventions to empower teachers on how to teach reading comprehension strategies

Investigating reading comprehension strategies used by teachers during English First Additional Language reading instruction

Since the purpose of reading is comprehension, the major goal of reading comprehension instruction is to help learners develop knowledge, skills, and strategies so that they become strategic readers who read for comprehension. Language teachers use reading comprehension strategies as an instruction tool to assist learners to develop into strategic readers. However, the range of strategies used by teachers is crucial. This paper presents classroom observations of reading comprehension strategy instruction used by four purposively selected English First Additional Language (FAL) teachers. The study was qualitative in nature and a case study design was chosen. The findings of the study reveal that teachers did not provide opportunity to support learners’ independent comprehension strategy use. Furthermore, the study has disclosed that the teachers’ inability to engage learners in reading comprehension strategies might signify the teachers’ lack of knowledge of how to incorporate reading comprehension strategies as an instructional tool during reading comprehension lessons. The authors recommend that the Department of Basic Education institute interventions to empower teachers on how to teach reading comprehension strategieshttps://www.ajol.info//index.php/jlthj2021Unit for Academic Literac