READ’s Home Language Materials and Methodologies Proven to Deliver Results in the Classroom.
READ’s New Heights Home Language Core Reading Programme, available in Zulu, Xhosa and Sesotho, was recently evaluated by Rhodes University’s Professor Sarah Murray and was found to be ‘world class’ and to improve results in the pilot classrooms by ten percent.
Considerable research in South Africa reveals the lack of relevant home language materials for teaching and learning. This is reflected in the poor literacy levels and the low levels of the acquisition of English that prevails in classrooms countrywide.
READ secured funding from the Zenex Foundation for the development of Xhosa and Zulu Grade 1 literacy materials and for training Grade 1 teachers on the use of these materials.
The use and training of home language materials were piloted in 100 Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal primary schools in 2006.
Two aspects of the pilot project were evaluated:
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The home language materials (Professor Sarah Murray, Rhodes University)
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The efficacy of the training using these materials in the classroom (JET Education Services)
The findings revealed that schools which were trained directly, which received school visits and classroom support as well as carefully selected resources (all elements of READ's methodology) demonstrated much greater progress than schools in which one or more of these elements were missing.
Within just eight months of the project implementation, pilot school learners:
- Scored 5 percent better in pre-reading skills
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Scored 9 percent better in tests requiring learners to identify letters of the alphabet (phonics)
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Achieved 13 percent higher scores on word identification.
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Scored 12 percent higher on vocabulary tests
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Scored 5 percent better on a test measuring the understanding of words
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Achieved 16 percent better results on sentence production tests and could therefore write much better than their control group peers.
The JET report revealed that the project schools consistently performed better than the control schools. The control schools had respectively received normal instruction in reading and language, and cascade training in the absence of resources. Project schools achieved a mean score of 67 percent. Normal instruction schools performed worst with a mean score of 57 percent after eight months.
This suggests that the READ programme is having a positive effect on schools which have had exposure to this intervention.
More Detail
Click on the following links to read verbatim comments from the evaluation report regarding the materials and their impact:
Click on the link below to read findings of the impact of the materials and training on learners:
Click on the link below to read findings of the impact of the materials and training in the classroom:
Did the project meet its objectives?
| Comment |
| International best practice and high-quality product
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A world-class, book-based language and literacy programme in Xhosa and Zulu for Grade 1 was achieved.
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| Affordability |
The developed materials have been piloted in a group of schools in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal and would be available to other schools at a low price.
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| Improved teaching
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The 75-100 teachers in the pilot group are able to use the materials to teach language and literacy effectively in either Xhosa or Zulu.
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| All Grade 1 assessment standards achieved by learners
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Approximately 4000 learners in the pilot group attained the entire Grade 1 NCS Home Language Assessment standards in their home language in all the learning outcomes set for language.
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| Grade 1 learners are able to read with meaning
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Learners are able to read all 20 books in the programme and can interpret the text and pictures in a meaningful way.
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| Learners’ language abilities improve by 10 percent
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Learners showed a 10 percent improvement regarding language ability as defined by the NCS.
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