An intervention to improve reading comprehension for grade 8 learners

Since the official opening of ex-model C (previously whites only) schools to learners of all races, cultures and languages, there has been an influx of black learners into these schools. Reasons for this are that many black parents believe the quality of education and resources available at these ex model C schools is better than those available in township schools (De Klerk, 2000). Parents also believe sending their children to English medium schools enables them to compete and be marketable in the global world of work. This dissertation describes a qualitative case study of grade 8 learners who took part in a six week intervention conducted at a school in the Eastern Cape where they learn through an additional language (English). The purpose of the intervention was to equip these learners with skills to enable them to improve their reading and comprehension in this language. Participation in the intervention was voluntarily, based on a selection conducted of learners who wrote a baseline English assessment test. Assessments done during the intervention suggest that isiXhosa home language learners fare academically weaker than their English and Afrikaans counterparts who learn through the medium of English. This correlates with findings done nationally and internationally with regard to South African learners’ literacy levels. This dissertation looks at the affective and cognitive effects of the intervention on its participants. Literature on how additional language learning should be done is examined, as well as the Language in Education policy of South Africa (1997). Findings from the research suggest the importance of establishing a ‘safe’ teaching and learning environment for learning to take place optimally and indicate that interventions to improve English reading can produce positive results. Furthermore the research provides evidence that explicitly teaching reading strategies can improve the participants’ comprehension and overall language competence. While English, as the language of technology and economics is acknowledged, it is argued in this dissertation that due to a lack of information to make informed choices, parents and learners become victims of the ‘straight for English’ phenomenon, and learners are robbed of an opportunity to reach their academic potential. However, if additional language learning takes place under the ideal conditions, learners can be enabled to become academically equipped to deal with the demands of learning through an additional language. What is essential for the afore-mentioned to materialize is that learners need to be equipped with reading and comprehension skills in their home language first, for these skills to be effective in attaining the ‘other’ language. Also, learners need to be aware of the fact that they carry knowledge in their own language that can and should be used to learn (in) the additional languag