Reading crisis

Growing up I was always under the impression that the entire continent of Africa was considered third world. However, that is not the case. There are many beautiful places throughout Africa and there are places where schooling is common and children do have access to education. However, there are still issues within the education system. South African is currently having a reading comprehension crisis. As I was reading about this issue it said that the teachers were teaching the children how to read “orally” They believe that reading is an “oral performance” which explains why the comprehension levels are low. If children are taught to focus on how they sound and their actual pronunciation of every thing then they will not stop to think about the information they are receiving. Peter Rule’s article “South Africa has a Reading Crisis” explained, “In our research, my colleague Sandra Land and I describe this as “oratorical reading”. The emphasis is on reading aloud, fluency, accuracy and correct pronunciation. There is very little emphasis on reading comprehension and actually making sense of the written word.” Often times, when I am reading something out loud I stop and think to myself “I have no idea what I just read” and that seems to be the case for these children as well. Here in America we strive to score high on test such as the International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). South America’s fourth graders scored below the lowest level. In the United states studies show that reading comprehension  skills have not increased in over 20 years. However, it then goes to say that a lot of reading comprehension is based of basic sets of skills as well as prior knowledge. This causes me to wonder if this is the same case in South Africa. Maybe the kids are testing low because they do not have any prior knowledge to the subjects discussed in the text they are reading. I think that can be argued because teacher’s were interviewed and explained that they teach the same way they were taught as children meaning nothing has been corrected nor improved. I noticed that everything seems to be oral in terms of reading in South Africa which is odd because I always thought of reading and writing going hand in hand. If students are forced to write about a text they read then that would mean they have to reflect on what they read which will lead to better comprehension.

Sources:

Rule, Peter. “South Africa Has a Reading Crisis: Why, and What Can Be Done about It.” The Conversation, 13 Dec. 2018, theconversation.com/south-africa-has-a-reading-crisis-why-and-what-can-be-done-about-it-88711.

Wexler, Natalie. “Why American Students Haven’t Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 13 Apr. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/04/-american-students-reading/557915/.