Poor literacy in South Africa is usually associated with historical disadvantages, poor socio- economic conditions and socio-cultural issues. These barriers to literacy have been discussed (but not overcome) ad nauseam in research articles and research papers, by the National Education Department and in Government circles (e.g. Baatjes 2003; De Waal 2004; Karlsson 1996; Machet & Olën 1997; PIRLS 2006 2007; SAHRC 2006; South Africa. Department of
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Education 2005a; South Africa. Department of Education 2008). I touch on some of the myriad of issues and problems, in this chapter and in Chapter 3.
According to Lyster et al. (2007:40) most families in South Africa are poor, intergenerational, extended, often not related and headed by single parents or caregivers, mostly women. Parents and caregivers have low literacy levels and find it difficult to understand and help with the tasks their children have to do (South Africa. Department of Education 2008:9). This means that the majority of school-going children function at home in an oral society which is not text- orientated. Reading is not perceived to be important except for study purposes, and not for enjoyment or for enrichment (Machet & Wessels 2006:58). Because of these low literacy figures and economic factors very few books are found in most homes. Concomitant problems are language issues, insufficient publications in indigenous languages and a lack of bookshops, especially in townships (Hofmeyr 2005; South Africa. Department of Education 2008:9-10; Wafawarowa 2006). It takes three generations of library readers to create a new generation of book buyers (Jordan 2007:8) and many South African children lack both access to libraries and bookshops.
Some of the organisations concerned with reading and especially making reading enjoyable are the Centre for the Book, Biblionef, the South African Children‟s Book Forum (SACBF) and the non-governmental organisation READ. Biblionef South Africa is a book donation agency that commissions the reprinting and publication of children‟s books in African languages and donates new storybooks to disadvantaged children (Williams 2006:79). The SACBF is the South African section of IBBY and an independent organisation which supports and publishes quality books for South African children (IBBY SA n.d.). READ is involved in the improvement of language and learning competencies as well as the publication of children‟s books through their publishing company READing Matters (Sailors, Hoffman & Matthee 2007:372). The Centre for the Book is a specialist unit of the National Library of South Africa which publishes First Words in Print books. These books are written, illustrated and published by South Africans in African languages (Centre for the Book n.d.). Too few children‟s books are published, especially in African languages, despite commendable efforts by the above-mentioned organisations, various authors and publishers.
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In addition to limiting home environments, schools are hampered by poor facilities and infrastructure, lack of textbooks and other learning resources, too many learners in classes, too few teachers, poor leadership, discipline issues and poor safety in and around schools (e.g. Jansen 2008; SAHRC 2006; South Africa. Department of Education 2005a). The accessibility of texts is reflected in and exacerbated by too few and poorly resourced public and school libraries (De Jager, Nassimbeni & Underwood 2007:136; Hart & Zinn 2007:91). There are approximately 1800 public libraries which serve a population of more than 47 million people and 9416 school libraries which serve more than 12 million learners (South Africa yearbook 2006/07 2007). I discuss the status quo of school libraries in more detail in section 3.6.
Unfortunately the social landscape at grass roots level has changed little since studies done by authors such as Karlsson (1996) and Machet and Olën (1997) mentioned these issues. Of more concern is the continuation with literacy efforts despite the given barriers.
2.5 READING AND LITERACY PRACTICES IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS
There are more than 12 million learners enrolled in South African public schools (Hart & Zinn 2007:90). Many of these learners come to school unprepared for the learning environment and with poor pre-literacy skills (e.g. Menkveld & Pepler 2004:47; Ntuli & Pretorius 2005:91-92). Unfortunately it is specifically in schools in disadvantaged areas where learners usually have inadequate teachers, lack books at school and at home and have minimal pre-literacy experiences. This results in the cumulative „Matthew effects‟ concept that the rich-get-richer and the poor-gets-poorer and is based on findings that children who had advantageous early education continue to perform well in school and in their personal lives (Stanovich 1986:381). This analogy is also used in reading performance where the better readers read more with greater understanding and better vocabularies, and the poor readers spend their time just trying to achieve basic reading skills (Pretorius & Mampuru 2007:54; Stanovich 1986:381).
The Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 (RNCS) (South Africa. Department of Education 2002:20) lists the outcomes for the Language Learning Area as:
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1. Listening: The learner is able to listen for information and enjoyment, and respond appropriately and critically in a wide range of situations.
2. Speaking: The learner is able to communicate confidently and effectively in a spoken language in a wide range of situations.
3. Reading and viewing: The learner is able to read and view for information and enjoyment, and respond critically to the aesthetic, cultural and emotional values in text.
4. Writing: The learner is able to write different kinds of factual and imaginative texts for a wide range of purposes.
5. Thinking and reasoning: The learner is able to use language to think and reason, and access, process and use information for learning.
6. Language structure and use: The learner knows and is able to use the sounds, words and grammar of a language to create and interpret texts.
These outcomes imply the continuous promotion of reading activities, to facilitate learners‟ ability to read with comprehension, and knowledge of information literacy skills. However, teachers interpret and act upon these outcomes according to their diverse training, experiences and contexts. Many teachers are reluctant to change and tend to continue to keep to familiar routines and to use old methods of teaching such as memorisation and rote learning (e.g. Du Toit 2008:85; Hoskins 2006:65; NEEDU 2009:59). School days are mostly taken up by procedures such as “cleaning, praying, writing, corrections and taking dictation” (SAHRC 2006:27) and time-on-task for teaching is limited. The high-order literacy expectations as defined by PISA in section 2.2 such as „reflect on written texts‟ is noticeably absent in these outcomes as well as in the seven critical outcomes in section 3.3. NEEDU (2009:25) came to the conclusion that the majority of teachers do not have the ability to reflect on their own teaching practices, abilities and competencies. How would they then be able to direct learners towards effective reflection?
The National Reading Strategy regards reading as a “foundational skill for all learning” (South Africa. Department of Education 2008:11). Baatjes (2003:5) says that in schools with good teaching practices, literacy education is seen as integral to schooling, but that reading is mostly encouraged in the primary grades. Although many learners have not acquired basic literacy competencies by Grades 3 or 4, little reading instruction and reading facilitation are provided in the higher grades (Baatjes 2003:5; Menkveld & Pepler 2004:46). Reading activities should continue throughout the school years and should not be abruptly discarded after the Foundation Phase. According to Menkveld and Pepler (2004:46) the Revised National Curriculum Statement
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stresses the importance of language development especially in the primary grades, but does not provide guidelines on how to teach and facilitate literacy acquisition at this level. It seems as if primary schools pay too little attention to developing reading skills.
Baatjes (2003:2, 4) advocates an official reading policy with standards that “defines reading competence in relation to educational levels”. The Department of Education has responded to various surveys on poor reading levels in South African schools such as the aforementioned, not with a policy, but with a National Reading Strategy. It acknowledges in this document (South Africa. Department of Education 2008:8) that
Many teachers in South Africa have an under-developed understanding of teaching literacy, reading and writing. Many teachers simply don‟t know how to teach reading. Too often, teachers know only one method of teaching reading, which may not suit the learning style of all learners. Teachers don‟t know how to stimulate reading inside, and outside, the classroom.
The two main approaches to teaching early reading is phonics and whole language. A combination of these approaches called the balanced or interactive approach, helps to create an interest in words in learners and can help to develop a love of reading (Menkveld & Pepler 2004:50). This is also the preferred approach stipulated by the Revised National Curriculum Statement for Languages. According to the National Reading Strategy (South Africa. Department of Education 2008:8) many teachers misinterpreted the outcomes-based education (OBE) curriculum and believe that learners will learn by themselves how to read with teachers as passive facilitators only. Reading, however, is a skill that must be taught (Machet & Pretorius 2003:41).Teachers are not trained to teach reading, cannot help learners who have reading problems and rely on rote learning (South Africa. Department of Education 2008:8). Teachers are also not capable of developing their own reading programmes and reading material as the OBE curriculum requires. PIRLS 2006 (2007:9) reports that in South Africa textbooks are still used as the only foundation of reading instruction.
The combination of lack of reading material and poor teaching of mastering reading suggests inter alia that learners do not reach any level of successful independent reading. This is essential in terms of promoting independent or self-regulated learning. The ideal would be if the basic
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principles of self-regulated learning can be adopted to fit the context of self-regulated reading. De Waal (2004:65) has found that teachers regard the poor reading levels of learners from historically disadvantaged backgrounds as a serious inhibiting factor to the successful implementation of the OBE curriculum. According to De Waal (2004:65-68) these learners struggle to work independently and lack the capacity to understand and utilise OBE principles of learning. There is a possibility of a causal connection between the problems learners experience with OBE and a lack of reading comprehension. Two main components of reading are decoding and comprehension (Machet & Pretorius 2003:8). Decoding is the process of recognising the abstract symbols on the page and translating them into language. Neuman and Celano (2006:180) state that learners who are efficient decoders can concentrate on the meaning of the text. Comprehension is the process of understanding what is being read and to derive meaning from the text. This process is partly a matter of vocabulary and requires practice. However, reading teaching in many South African schools appears to focus primarily on decoding and not on comprehension (Pretorius 2002:172).
It is accepted in education that literate individuals, who have learned how to learn, becoming information literate and lifelong learners in the process, will ultimately succeed. There seems to be an awareness in Higher Education circles of the importance of information literacy as reflected in various projects and research reports, noticeably the „Senn Breivik report‟ as discussed by Underwood (2002). On the other hand research into information literacy in South African schools is limited, despite the opportunities created by the OBE curriculum (Zinn in UNESCO/IFLA 2007:150). Library science and education literature suggest that information literacy should be integrated in the school curriculum. The basic literacy skills of reading and writing are insufficient in today‟s world; learners also need to be able to determine when they need information, know how to find it, evaluate it and use it effectively to solve problems.
However, as Hart (2000) points out, information literacy in South African schools “takes place in contexts different from those described in much of the international literature” which imply the existence and availability of well-stocked school libraries, skilled school librarians and other learning resources. Her research in primary schools shows that principals and teachers have limited frames of reference and theories of teaching and learning and they do not understand the
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need to teach information literacy. This creates a vacuum in the learning process. Information literacy outcomes should be part of the curriculum and must be indicated explicitly in outcomes- based textbooks to support and guide teachers (Boekhorst & Britz 2004:63; Hart 2000).
In her doctoral thesis Olën (1993:369) warns that less than 25% of South African teachers are library users and understand the value of information literacy skills. Information literacy is not a new concept in South Africa and has been promoted by educators such as Bester (1981:44) since the seventies and eighties, but the political dispensation at the time excluded most of the school and student population from these benefits.