Abstract
Background: Learner performance in literacy in the primary education sector is in a state of crisis in South Africa. Whilst many more learners have physical access to education post-1994, the quality of education remains polarised along socio-economic lines. This article sets out to engage with current literature on literacy interventions implemented in South Africa in order to develop an understanding of the key features of interventions, which affect positive change.Aim: This review provides an overview of the scope and type of primary school-level literacy interventions embarked upon in the last 15 years in South Africa. An analysis of some of the key findings on the impact of these interventions is provided.Method: A systematic review was conducted using the key words ‘literacy intervention’ and ‘reading intervention’. The selection of articles was further refined with a specific focus on primary school interventions in South Africa.Results: The review focuses on specific literacy interventions where ‘intervention’ is defined as active and purposeful engagement to improve decoding, vocabulary, fluency and/or comprehension of primary school learners. This article reviews the documented literacy interventions and draws out some of the key features of successful interventions. It also makes broader reflective comments about what this exercise reveals about the state of literacy interventions in South Africa.Conclusion: Interventions have generally been ad hoc and uncoordinated and have not wrought systemic change. Moving forward in a coordinated manner must be based amongst other things on learning from interventions that have been reviewed here.
Highlights
A key schooling challenge in South Africa is how to concurrently address the two problems of deep socio-economic inequality and poor overall performance in literacy learning. Fleisch, Pather and Motilal (2017a) usefully identified three waves of research on the literacy crisis in South Africa since 1994
This review considers selected published work on literacy interventions in primary schools in South Africa
The 230 articles were filtered by reading the title and/or abstract of each article to ensure that they met the following inclusion criteria: English-medium http://www.sajce.co.za articles published between 2005 and 2020, with a content focus on South African literacy interventions at primary school level
Summary
A key schooling challenge in South Africa is how to concurrently address the two problems of deep socio-economic inequality and poor overall performance in literacy learning. The second wave turned attention to factors in post-apartheid schools and classrooms that underpinned the dual problem of inequality and underachievement (e.g. Taylor, Van der Berg & Mabogoane 2013). The final wave attempts to understand underachievement by exploring the relationship between learners, teachers and resources. Literacy interventions implemented over the past 15 years have sought to strengthen the relationship and interface between learners, teachers and resources. Learner performance in literacy in the primary education sector is in a state of crisis in South Africa. This article sets out to engage with current literature on literacy interventions implemented in South Africa in order to develop an understanding of the key features of interventions, which affect positive change
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