Currently I am in the beautiful town of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. I’m with a friend Deb Avery, a trainer of note, who is conducting a Reading to Learn training with some of the local teachers. I am assisting her in whatever way I can, and am learning at the same time! This methodology has had enormous success all over the world - Australia, Europe and a number of African countries to name but a few. In this post I thought I would outline some of the great things I have discovered about Reading to Learn.
1. 'Reading to Learn' is a programme for teaching reading and writing
The Reading to Learn (RtL) programme for teaching reading and writing was developed in a long-term action research project with teachers in Australia at all levels of education, from early primary through to secondary and tertiary study, across curriculum areas. The methodology was originally developed in response to the urgent needs of marginalised learners to rapidly improve reading and writing for educational access and success.
2. Reading to Learn is based on well-accepted learning theories
Reading to Learn draws on findings of the several important theories. These are Vygotsky's theory of seeing learning as a social process,. Halliday’s model of language as text in social context, and Bernstein’s model of education as pedagogic discourse. The concepts from these theories have been integrated into a set of teaching strategies that especially benefit diverse classroom settings. Teachers can use these strategies very effectively in their classrooms. Reading to Learn is a highly scaffolded methodology which helps learners to unpack text and repack it into writing.
3. The 'Reading to Learn' programme is proving to be very effective
The strategies have been independently evaluated as four times as effective as other literacy approaches at accelerating reading and writing development. The programme is capable of improving learners’reading ability from junior primary to secondary levels within one year (McCrae et al 2000). These strategies are currently being applied in primary, secondary and tertiary contexts in Australia, Indonesia, Africa (South Africa, Kenya, Uganda,) Afghanistan, Sweden and other parts of Europe, Asia and Latin America, with learners from a wide spectrum of language, cultural and educational backgrounds. Reading to Learn South Africa has been involved in the training of teachers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania for the past three years to support the rollout of the methodology in over 1000 schools in those countries. The methodology is being used across a range of different languages.
4. Reading to Learn can be applied across the curriculum
Reading to Learn is not only a way of conducting reading lessons. It can be used across the curriculum and across the grades. It can be used at any level where reading needs to be accelerated. Reading to Learn is not just a methodology for accelerating reading an writing in English. It can also be used in different languages. The methodology does not require expensive resources.
5. South African teachers need to do a Reading to Learn course!
In South Africa our reading statistics are very unsatisfactory. We only need to look at the Pirls results to realise we have a crisis on our hands. The well-known researcher, Nic Spraull writes an interesting blog post entitled 'The unfolding reading crisis: The new PIRLS 2016 results…' http://bit.ly/2MJYvDM. Basically, 78% of South African Grade 4 children cannot read for meaning in any language. Nic Spaull says," SA lags far behind other countries: While 78% of SA Grade 4 kids cannot read, in America this is only 4% and in England, just 3% cannot read. However, the study also included middle-income countries. In Iran, only 35% of Grade 4 students could not read for meaning and in Chile, it was only 13% (PIRLS report page 55)." 8 of 10 SA children cannot read! These findings are no surprise in South Africa! Our ANA results consistently show that comprehension is a huge lack. Our current University dropout and failure rate confirms that something needs to be done.
One answer to this crisis is for teachers to be trained in the Reading to Learn course. In February 2011, Reading to Learn SA was registered as a PBO. The course is registered with SACE as an accredited Professional Development Course. Please visit the Reading to Learn website for South Africa, found at https://readingtolearnsouthafrica.weebly.com/ to find out more.
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| A group of Grahamstown teachers enjoying the Reaing to Learn training |
Let's be proactive and turn around our reading statistics in South Africa!
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