Literacy Instruction

Sutherland (1992) notes that once a child starts formal schooling, reading becomes the most important cognitive challenge. The nature of this challenge has been characterized in different ways, but social constructivism has been quite influential. According to this paradigm, learning to read involves the child in repeatedly interacting with text. The child must not simply decode mechanically - representing the written text orally - but he or she must bring to bear knowledge of the world and an emerging capacity to handle text in order to interpret its meaning. Getting meaning from text always involves interacting with it in order to draw inferences. Through repeated experiences with text, and with guidance from the teacher, the child gradually internalises the reading process. In a similar vein, Gadotti (1994) notes that for Freire,

the process of literacy is an act of creation of knowledge. . . . It is essential that the pupil assume the position of someone who is concretely apprehending the object in order to learn the object. There will be no significant learning if the pupil fails to establish a relationship with the object (p24).

Such sociocultural understandings of the reading process have influenced literacy instruction. Citing Hickman (1985), Sutherland (1992) notes that Vygotskian principles underlie instructional approaches used in children’s early reading programmes such as picture reading, in which the reader draws inferences from illustrations and later uses them in comprehending

40 text, and the language experience approach, in which children generate texts based on their experience and the teacher writes them.

In order to learn to read, children have to be taught directly. The American National Reading Panel (NRP) presents a research synthesis on the five skills that children need to be taught in order to master the rudiments of reading: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Comprehension and Vocabulary (Adu-Yeboah, 2011; Akeampong et al, 2011; NRP, 2000). Akyeanmpong et al. (2011) assert that

. . . these five reading skills are soon orchestrated simultaneously, working together in a causal relationship . . . although there is some difference of agreement among experts in terms of emphasis (p24).

It is important to note that the NRP report was based on teaching reading to children with English as their first language. There is however a consensus in the literature (Dubeck et al, 2012; Akyeampong et al, 2011) that the principles espoused in this report for effective literacy instruction are applicable to the African context if children learn to read in a language they know. They are also relevant for teaching children to read a second language that they are learning. However, learning to read that second language is more efficient if children have already learned how to read in their own language.

Various strategies are recommended for effective literacy instruction. Some way of teaching children to produce the oral version of what appears on the page is an essential element. Alternatives include phonics (learning the relationship between letters and sounds, and ways of blending them in order to “sound out” print) and look and say, also called whole word (acquiring knowledge of individual words, especially such “sight words” as those English words that cannot be sounded out, such as the and sight). Whole word language instruction encourages students to select their own reading material and emphasizes recognizing words in context. It is not uncommon to find teachers using a combination of these approaches in classrooms.

Dubeck et al. (2012:49), however, note that

the most effective beginning reading instruction includes phonics [and] emphasizes meaning, language, and connected text. This practice is sometimes called a balanced approach

O’Sullivan (2003) notes that the current trend seems to be the use of an eclectic approach, encompassing a variety of strategies within “bottom-up and top-down” approaches. The

41 former focuses on developing children’s word recognition skills, using mainly look-and-say and phonics strategies while the latter consists of extended reading utilising context and pictures (O’Sullivan, 2003). Children need to have knowledge of phonics to enable them develop skills to tackle new words and decode them accordingly. There is a strong relationship between children and individual’s ability to decipher phonemes and syllables and the ability to read words and extended sentences. The look and say approach to reading has also been seen to be relevant and expedient in teaching words as they occur in sentences and on their own. However, this approach is more useful when children are learning to read in their own language and so are familiar with the words and how they are used. Equally important in this regard is the enlargement of children’s vocabulary through oral practice which eventually leads to children being able to comprehend texts. In addition to teaching sound-to-symbol relationships and vocabulary, teaching phonological awareness and comprehension strategies, as well as encouraging fluent reading have been shown to reduce reading difficulties and increase reading achievement in the United States (NRP, 2000). As managers of the curriculum, teachers have options as to which approaches they use in literacy instruction. A number of factors come into play when teachers decide how to teach literacy. These may depend on the interests of the teacher, the teacher’s familiarity with the approaches, the official policy or mandate, or the most convenient method (Dubeck et al., 2012).

Teachers who understand the way reading develops can offer explicit and systematic instruction to their students. Explicit means that the concept is directly taught and modeled so the student does not have to infer what the teacher means. Systematic instruction progresses in a sequence moving from easiest to most difficult. Although a balanced approach to literacy instruction is recommended, one component of it— teaching the relationship between sounds and symbols (i.e. letters)—is essential for preventing reading difficulties (Dubeck et al., 2012: 49).

A critical point that needs to be emphasised is the role of language in literacy instruction and acquisition. There is consensus in the literature that the key determinant of learning to read is mastery over the language of instruction and the learner’s repertoire of vocabulary in the language of instruction that will assist in the construction of meaning. Regardless of the strategy used, if the learner does not have sufficient mastery of the language of literacy it will be difficult for literacy instruction to achieve its purpose (Dubeck et al, 2012; Akyeampong et al, 2011; Dickinson et al., 2010; Pearson and Herbert, 2010; Trudell, 2009). Language thus becomes an underlying factor. It is both the essence of text and the medium through which

42 literacy is acquired (Dickinson et al., 2010). The implication of this assertion for multilingual African classrooms is that literacy instruction should be delivered in the local or first language of the learner. When children acquire literacy in their own language, it is then possible to transfer essential literacy skills to the second or foreign language. There is evidence that children cannot be satisfactorily taught to read in two languages at the same time. They will be better English readers if they learn to speak that language first and are taught to read it after they have mastered reading skills in their mother tongue (Dubeck et al, 2012; Akyeampong et al, 2011; Trudell, 2009). Hawes (1979) asserts that

Mastery of the code of reading is intimately bound up with oral competence in a language. Once the code is mastered it is relatively easy to transfer the skill to another language. But to learn to read in a language where the spoken word is not well understood is to invite pseudo-literacy of the kind so painfully apparent in many countries (79-81).

In the previous section, it was noted that the lack of a clear and effective language of instruction policy that prioritises the use of local languages has obvious implication for the teaching and acquisition of literacy across Africa. The lack of a coherent local language policy coupled with limited access to print or reading materials and ineffective teacher training all account for the low literacy levels being reported across Sub-Saharan Africa (Dubeck et al, 2012; O’Sullivan, 2003).

The above language and literacy issues are all relevant to the current study particularly because it is suggested that one of the important characteristics of the SfL programme is its local language literacy instruction (Casely-Hayford and Adom Ghartey, 2007; Hartwell; 2007). Equally important is the fact that one of the core objectives of the formal school curriculum is children acquiring literacy (GoG, 2008; GES, 2007a). The study thus discusses how literacy instruction is developed and delivered in SfL compared to the formal school; how local literacy skills assist SfL graduates to perform in formal school; and the lessons that can be learned from SfL to impact on formal school literacy instruction.