Examining reading and writing approaches used in the teaching of reading and writing abilities in South Africa.

Abstract

The education-specific policy on language in South Africa lays emphasis on teaching, use and promotion of all official languages, through what is described as additive multilingualism. Mother tongue is universally acknowledged as the most effective way to function both cognitively and socially. The focus of the paper is on the methods used to teach reading and writing in Grade One. The study was conducted at four different Primary Schools where Sepedi is the Language of Teaching and Learning (LOLT). Observations, interviews and document analysis were used for data collection. The findings was that teachers resort to two to three methods i.e. whole class reading, paired reading and reading aloud of which does not yield good results. There are also challenges which contribute to the abovementioned issue: lack of resources, lack of parental involvement and overcrowded classes to name a few. The aim of this study was to establish how reading and writing in Sepedi as the home language was taught in Grade One in Mpumalanga Province primary schools in rural areas. A qualitative approach utilising an interpretive design was used. The findings indicated that teachers resorted to few and same strategies for teaching reading. In addition, findings support the notion that there are challenges in teaching reading in Grade One.