Lessons learnt: Observation of Grade 4 reading comprehension teaching in South African schools across the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 achievement spectrum

Lisa Zimmerman

doi:10.4102/rw.v5i1.48

Abstract

The evidence of the huge challenges of literacy development faced by South African learners is primarily gleaned from the results of learners’ external assessments. There is little research which explores, in-depth, the strategies used by teachers to teach reading literacy and reading comprehension specifically. Questions remain about what is going wrong and, most importantly,what can be changed to rectify the poor outcomes of learners. To gain insight into the poor achievement of Grade 4 learners, in South Africa in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006, six case studies were undertaken. Each school case had a different class average achievement profile ranging from low to high on the PIRLS achievement scale.This article presents findings from the observation of Grade 4 reading comprehension lessons in six schools. The comparison of observations of teaching practices aligned to higher achieving schools, against those of lower performing schools, indicates the discrepancies in the quality of teaching reading comprehension across the schools, and reveals potential foci for teacher development. The value of comparative lesson observation for these purposes is highlighted.

Highlights

The majority of the evidence of South African learners’ poor development in reading literacy comes from learners’ results in primary level national (Department of Education [DoE] 2005), regional (Moloi & Chetty 2010) and international tests of reading literacy
South African learners participated for a second time in 2011
Using additional South African benchmarks, of 175 and 325 and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 low (400), intermediate (475) and high (550) international benchmarks, seven educational profiles were identified for the first phase secondary analysis, and defined by average class performance on the benchmarks and class language (i.e. EFL and English as an Additional Language (EAL) 175, EFL and EAL 325, EFL 400, EFL 475 and EFL 550) (Zimmerman 2011)

Summary

Introduction

The majority of the evidence of South African learners’ poor development in reading literacy comes from learners’ results in primary level national (Department of Education [DoE] 2005), regional (Moloi & Chetty 2010) and international tests of reading literacy. The selected class observation data from the purposively selected qualitative cases, which are reported in this article, were aimed at providing insights into the South African low achievement profile for PIRLS 2006 This is pertinent given that the teacher questionnaire data yielded limited insight into classroom practices (Zimmerman 2011). Using additional South African benchmarks, of 175 and 325 and the PIRLS 2006 low (400), intermediate (475) and high (550) international benchmarks, seven educational profiles were identified for the first phase secondary analysis, and defined by average class performance on the benchmarks and class language (i.e. EFL and EAL 175, EFL and EAL 325, EFL 400, EFL 475 and EFL 550) (Zimmerman 2011) Each of these seven profile samples, for the first phase, provided the sampling frame for case selections in the second phase. Location School pseudonym Private or public Teacher’s years of teaching experience

A Independent

Findings

Discussion and conclusions