Following the release of the 2023 Reading Panel report, we have been reminded once again of the dire reading competence in our schools.
One Twitter headline “shouts” that first graders don’t know the letters of the alphabet. One must wonder how knowing the name of the letter helps new readers to get acquainted with the “squiggles” on the page, which is how the neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene shows the words on the page for pre-literate children? How do these little “squiggles” relate to the sounds of language that children know? How to learn to associate sounds in words with letters on the page?
I don’t think knowing the names of the alphabet is much help at the beginning of a child’s reading journey, although it is useful when the child is learning to write and when the teacher talks about spelling. In one school in Johannesburg, teachers do not use letter names until the fourth grade. In the schools in Soweto where we did most of our research, letter names are usually spoken in English and not in the home language. Does this mean that people can learn to read Setswana, using English letter names? I don’t think that would be the best choice.
“Letter names” can even become obstructive when children begin to associate sounds with letters. In several studies at our university, we found that learning to read requires, first of all, the child to be able to see/pay attention to individual letters (or pairs and threes) and learn the sounds they represent – not their “names”.
Although the sound is only one sound, it can be represented by several letters at the same time. Single sounds are known as “phonemes” in the teaching community. And letters (or groups of letters together), representing one sound, are known as “graphemes”.
So, when children learn to associate a single sound with a written pair, they take an important step in their reading journey – they begin to decode written language. And gradually, through many exercises and repetitions, new readers learn to recognize strings of letters (graphemes) and say them aloud as “phonemes”.
They begin to “see” the written language differently and associate it with the sounds of their language – and then – finally, the words of their language. Knowing the meaning of words that can be decoded enables them to read sentences, learn the meaning of other words and finally write their language and read with understanding.
So, what is wrong when a small child does not learn to read (always with meaning, if it cannot be considered as “reading” properly)? What happens in the foundation phase classroom that makes it difficult for young children to learn to read in their home language?
The curriculum is well laid out and if it is implemented systematically it can work well. Admittedly, it is very difficult for teachers to teach early reading in large classes, where individual interaction between students and teachers is minimal and “chorus”-responses are typical. In addition, teachers attend several professional development workshops each year. Well-intentioned, workshop training is often confusing.
Also, the “scripted lessons” provided to teach beginner reading may or may not be helpful. For inexperienced teachers, these lesson plans can be a useful tool. However, experienced teachers often find that this limits their teaching.
Another common phenomenon in foundation phase classrooms is a notice board that displays alphabet charts in upper and lower case letters, plus pictures of objects. It seems to be a good idea. I’m not sure if it’s for a six-year-old; “busy” walls detract from the act of learning the moment. In the first few weeks of learning to read, children should listen to how the teacher pronounces the phonemes and stay focused on specific graphemes that represent sounds – not the entire alphabet.
We know that the day-to-day work of an early grade teacher is much more than teaching early reading. Along with teaching all other subjects, he has a heavy administrative burden. Although teaching assistants have been helpful, they have not been trained and have no experience working in crowded classrooms, where a lot happens in a day.
An example of the complexity of teaching children to read is expressed in the doctoral research of Fikile Simelane, who studied reading competence and reading teaching in schools where isiZulu is the medium of instruction. The children come from isiZulu-speaking homes. In a random sample of 287 of 1198 elementary students, they evaluated reading, using an instrument, also called The Reading Panel 23 – Early Grades Reading Assessment (EGRA). It is evident that very few of the 287 students in the sample read at par with the benchmark for the Nguni language. Comprehension of the text read is limited.
Simelane also observed lessons for two months and conducted interviews with 24 foundation phase teachers. The teachers indicated that they knew little about the “science of reading”. Education and training have focused on methods and techniques, but do not understand what happens in the child’s vision, listening, and mentally processing the information given by the teacher.
When teachers feel unsure of the technique they are using, they simply switch to another technique. In one class, the “phoneme of the week” was mixed with several other phonemes and the teacher admitted that she and others felt “flooded” – not only by teaching a large class, but by the mixed messages they received about how to teach. . He wants to know more about the science of reading and wants to know why they use certain methods or materials.
When he finished his study, he recommended a model of teaching first graders to read in isiZulu in the first week of the year. He proposed a rather radical teaching model, focusing on the sounds of language – referred to in educational circles as “phonological awareness” training.
He recommends the optimal use of audio recordings to sharpen listening and clear enunciation. At some point, around the third week, he suggests starting to connect individual sounds (phonemes) to graphemic pairs. From there, typical phonics lessons can be continued. He also recommends using letter names only if students can decode them successfully.
Perhaps many other teachers have similar experiences to Simelane’s. In our recently published book, we contributed a chapter on the science of reading in the elementary teacher’s toolkit. Her PhD studies open a window for not only more research, but also for teacher development programs that can be useful for teachers to understand the psychology of learning to read.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official policy or position Mail & Guardians.