Gender effects on phonological processing and reading development in Northern Sotho children learning to read in English: A case study of Grade 3 learners

Carien Wilsenach,Patricia Makaure

doi:10.4102/sajce.v8i1.546

Carien Wilsenach, Patricia Makaure

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v8i1.546

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Abstract

Gender differences in reading development are a global phenomenon, with girls typically performing better than boys. Some studies have reported gender differences favouring girls in reading comprehension in South Africa, but little systematic evidence exists about gender differences in the cognitive-linguistic abilities that underlie reading development. This study investigated the effect of gender on phonological processing and reading development in Northern Sotho–English bilingual children. Grade 3 learners who received their literacy instruction in English were tested on various phonological processing and reading measures. Phonological awareness was assessed using phoneme isolation and elision tasks. Phonological working memory was assessed using memory for digits and non-word repetition tests while rapid automatised naming was tested using rapid letter, rapid digit, rapid object and rapid colour naming tasks. Reading achievement was assessed with various word reading tasks and with a fluent reading task. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that gender had a significant effect on the phonological processing and reading abilities of Northern Sotho– English bilingual children. Girls performed significantly better than boys on all the reading measures, as well as on some aspects of phonological processing. The findings provide behavioural evidence in support of biological theories of gender differences, in that girls seemed to have developed some of the cognitive-linguistic skills associated with reading before boys. The girls also coped better with tasks that required increased cognitive processing. This study suggests that sex differences in reading development cannot be ignored in South Africa and need to be addressed in future curriculum development.

Highlights

Gender differences in reading attainment is a well-documented phenomenon, with several recent reports indicating that boys’ underachievement in reading, relative to girls, is an issue of concern (Krizman, Skoe & Kraus 2011:595; Limbrick, Wheldall & Madelaine 2011:3; Martino & Kehler 2007:407; Rutter et al 2004:1; USAID 2013:1)
The first question which guided this study was: Does gender affect phonological processing abilities and reading development in Northern Sotho –English bilingual children? A multivariate analysis indicated that gender affected learners’ performance on various phonological processing and reading tasks, with girls performing significantly better on some of the phonological processing tasks and on all the reading tasks
Girls performed significantly better than boys in regular word reading, exception word reading, non-word reading and fluent reading

Summary

Introduction

Gender differences in reading attainment is a well-documented phenomenon, with several recent reports indicating that boys’ underachievement in reading, relative to girls, is an issue of concern (Krizman, Skoe & Kraus 2011:595; Limbrick, Wheldall & Madelaine 2011:3; Martino & Kehler 2007:407; Rutter et al 2004:1; USAID 2013:1). Gender differences are typically reported in reading comprehension (Mullis et al 2003, 2007), reading motivation, attitude and self-efficacy (Logan & Johnston 2010:176; McGeown et al 2012:333). It seems fair to conclude that a gender gap in reading achievement exists globally, regardless of learning environment or socio-economic status – a situation which has been referred to as the ‘boy crisis’ and which has been debated extensively (Fairlie 2016:59; Loveless 2015:9)

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