Some reading problems encountered by Ciskeian second language English readers in subject content areas, with special reference to geography at the Standard Six level

Abstract

Since in our educational system a great deal of learning is supposedly dependant upon a child's ability to read and assimilate information from textbooks, this study investigated what reading skills are required by a second language reader of English to read textbooks with comprehension and understanding in relation to the reading skills of a competent reader and how Ciskeian Standard 6 pupils perform in relation to a Geography text prescribed at that level. A test, designed to measure eight reading comprehension skills, was given to a sample of 250 children from four schools in Zwelitsha, Ciskei, to establish whether the subjects are able to: a) give the literal meaning of words; b) derive the appropriate meaning of an ambiguous word from the context in which it appears; c) find answers to questions by making direct reference to the text; d) identify the major points and details in a text; e) use the information in the text to predict what the writer is going to talk about next; f) find the referent for anaphoric terms; g) use discourse markers to predict information/meaning to come, and see the relationships between what they have just read and what they are about to read; h) activate and use the background knowledge and schemata that they have to understand the text topic.The results of this study indicate that these children are: a) unfamiliar with the structure of expository texts; b) linguistically bound to a text and that they fail to use linguistic and contextual clues even when they are explicit in the text. The study also shows that the ability to make inferences and predictions is determined to a large extent by the prior knowledge and background experience that a pupil brings with him to the text and by his ability to activate that background knowledge. The findings suggest that in the English classroom, in an English as a second language (L2) medium situation, the L2 teacher has a responsibility to prepare the child for the study, which includes reading, writing, listening and speaking, of all subjects across the curriculum through the second language, which is the medium of instruction