Die ontwikkeling van riglyne vir die onderrig van leesbegrip

Abstract

Statistics from the PIRLS and provincial systemic assessments paints a picture of a reading crisis in the South-African education system. More specifically, a crisis in reading comprehension across the curriculum. In 2021, the PIRLS results showed a decline and 81%of grade 4 learners and 56% of Grade 6 learners could not read with understanding. The 2024WCED systemic results for Languages showed an improvement in the grade 3 and 6 results and a decline in grade 9, but the reality is that in all three grades, 50% of the learners are stillnot able to read with understanding. Intervention and sustainable support are still crucially important to improve learners’ reading comprehension. The aim of this study is to develop comprehensive guidelines to teach reading comprehension in the Senior phase. These guidelines were developed from existing South-African research. The research methodology is a qualitative interprevist document analysis with Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis was used for the final data analysis. The selected documents include the National Senior phase policy document, three approved grade 8 learner books, and the accompanying teacher guides. Guidelines were compiled from the findings of South-African research and the principles of social constructivism. Together this formed the lens through which the selected documents were analysed .This study sought to determine if the guidelines from the research and the principles from the theory, were reflected in the selected resources used in South African Home Language classrooms. From this analysis, a set of guidelines were compiled to effectively teach reading comprehension.The analysis showed a void in the resources used in the grade 8 classroom and there for lacking in the areas which the research and theory concluded were best practices for the teaching of reading comprehension. The guidelines compiled from this analysis are listed as recommendations for teachers, curriculum developers and textbook writers.