SA grade 4 learners amongst the worst readers in the world

According to the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2021), a staggering 81 percent of the country’s grade 4’s lack the ability to read for meaning in any of the official languages.

12 426 grade 4’s were tested and compared to other learners in 42 different countries. South Africa did not fair very well, as they scored 288 compared to the international average of 500. Egypt was ranked as the second worst performing country, however their score of 378, leaves them well above South Africa.

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LACK OF READING CAPABILITIES

Basic education minister Angie Motsekga, heeded that the poor performance can be attributed to the fact that reading instruction often focuses solely on oral performance.

“In many South African primary schools, reading instruction often focuses solely on oral performance, neglecting reading comprehension and making sense of written words. This approach hinders learners’ ability to answer passages in assessments like PIRLS”, says Motsekga.

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“While pronunciation, accuracy, and fluency are important, they hold no value without comprehension” she added.

In 2016, the study found that 78% of South African children in Grade 4 could not read for meaning in any language. All 11 official languages were used in the assessment. South Africa has participated in four PIRLS assessments since 2006.

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“By age 10, children should be able to comprehend various types of texts, both fiction and non-fiction, while utilising critical thinking skills to interpret the information presented,” said Motsekga.

EFFECTS OF COVID-19

A major concern for South Africa is that its achievement score has dropped significantly from the PIRLS 2016 study, where South Africa reported that 78% of children in Grade 4 could not read for meaning in any language.

However, researchers noted that 21 of the 32 countries with trend data noticed a drop, with the Covid-19 pandemic having a major effect on teaching hours globally.

“While it is true that South Africa had challenges in reading performance even before the pandemic, the decline in our PIRLS results can largely be attributed to the disruptions caused by COVID-19.”

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“This disappointing outcome does not reflect a deterioration in the overall functioning of our basic education system but rather the unprecedented and catastrophic impact of the pandemic on the education of an entire generation of children,” says the Minister.

In the 2021 study, Singapore (587), Hong Kong (573), the Russian Federation (567), England (588), and Finland (549) had the highest overall scores.

This article was originally published by Aphiwe Ngwenya.