Investigating English First Additional Language educators’ reading comprehension practices in selected schools in Gauteng, South Africa

Educators’ reading comprehension instructional practices have been identified as 1 of the factors that contribute to learners’ poor reading comprehension performance. To this end, several studies were conducted to identify and analyse educators’ practices while teaching reading comprehension. As a r...

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Main Authors: Tilla Olifant, MP Cekiso, Naomi Boakye
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Education Association of South Africa 2022-11-01
Series:South African Journal of Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sajournalofeducation.co.za/index.php/saje/article/view/2094/1215
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author Tilla Olifant
MP Cekiso
Naomi Boakye
author_facet Tilla Olifant
MP Cekiso
Naomi Boakye
author_sort Tilla Olifant
collection DOAJ
description Educators’ reading comprehension instructional practices have been identified as 1 of the factors that contribute to learners’ poor reading comprehension performance. To this end, several studies were conducted to identify and analyse educators’ practices while teaching reading comprehension. As a result, the aim of the study reported on here was to investigate educators’ teaching practices when teaching reading comprehension in order to diagnose challenges and then make recommendations. The study was qualitative in nature with a case study design. For the purpose of data collection, 3 Grade 9 English First Additional Language (FAL) educators were purposively chosen. The observation data collection method was followed and content analysis was used to analyse data. With regard to the choice of reading comprehension strategies, the findings reveal that the educators did not appear to have a thorough knowledge of reading comprehension strategies. In the observed lessons, the reading comprehension strategies were neither applied explicitly nor implicitly. Educators tended to change the reading lessons into vocabulary lessons. The findings further reveal that the educators relied on traditional questioning techniques that did not engage learners with the text. Thus, the reading comprehension support, motivation and feedback from educators were limited. The main recommendation is for teacher training institutions and universities to play a more active role in developing both pre-service and in-service educators’ reading comprehension instructional practices.
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spelling doaj-art-2a28b9a0c6b946d7bb9ddce5d67f0ca52025-08-20T03:31:47ZengEducation Association of South AfricaSouth African Journal of Education0256-01002076-34332022-11-0142411010.15700/saje.v42n4a2094Investigating English First Additional Language educators’ reading comprehension practices in selected schools in Gauteng, South AfricaTilla Olifant0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2579-931XMP Cekiso1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7681-077XNaomi Boakye2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7578-8424Department of Applied Languages, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South AfricaDepartment of Applied Languages, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South AfricaUnit for Academic Literacy, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South AfricaEducators’ reading comprehension instructional practices have been identified as 1 of the factors that contribute to learners’ poor reading comprehension performance. To this end, several studies were conducted to identify and analyse educators’ practices while teaching reading comprehension. As a result, the aim of the study reported on here was to investigate educators’ teaching practices when teaching reading comprehension in order to diagnose challenges and then make recommendations. The study was qualitative in nature with a case study design. For the purpose of data collection, 3 Grade 9 English First Additional Language (FAL) educators were purposively chosen. The observation data collection method was followed and content analysis was used to analyse data. With regard to the choice of reading comprehension strategies, the findings reveal that the educators did not appear to have a thorough knowledge of reading comprehension strategies. In the observed lessons, the reading comprehension strategies were neither applied explicitly nor implicitly. Educators tended to change the reading lessons into vocabulary lessons. The findings further reveal that the educators relied on traditional questioning techniques that did not engage learners with the text. Thus, the reading comprehension support, motivation and feedback from educators were limited. The main recommendation is for teacher training institutions and universities to play a more active role in developing both pre-service and in-service educators’ reading comprehension instructional practices.http://www.sajournalofeducation.co.za/index.php/saje/article/view/2094/1215educatorsenglish first additional language classroomsreading comprehensionreading comprehension instructional practices
spellingShingle Tilla Olifant
MP Cekiso
Naomi Boakye
Investigating English First Additional Language educators’ reading comprehension practices in selected schools in Gauteng, South Africa
South African Journal of Education
educators
english first additional language classrooms
reading comprehension
reading comprehension instructional practices
title Investigating English First Additional Language educators’ reading comprehension practices in selected schools in Gauteng, South Africa
title_full Investigating English First Additional Language educators’ reading comprehension practices in selected schools in Gauteng, South Africa
title_fullStr Investigating English First Additional Language educators’ reading comprehension practices in selected schools in Gauteng, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Investigating English First Additional Language educators’ reading comprehension practices in selected schools in Gauteng, South Africa
title_short Investigating English First Additional Language educators’ reading comprehension practices in selected schools in Gauteng, South Africa
title_sort investigating english first additional language educators reading comprehension practices in selected schools in gauteng south africa
topic educators
english first additional language classrooms
reading comprehension
reading comprehension instructional practices
url http://www.sajournalofeducation.co.za/index.php/saje/article/view/2094/1215
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AT mpcekiso investigatingenglishfirstadditionallanguageeducatorsreadingcomprehensionpracticesinselectedschoolsingautengsouthafrica
AT naomiboakye investigatingenglishfirstadditionallanguageeducatorsreadingcomprehensionpracticesinselectedschoolsingautengsouthafrica