'Barking’ at texts in Sepedi oral reading fluency: Implications for edumetric interventions in African languages

Abstract

Reading development in African languages remains under-researched and under-theorised to date despite a cornucopia of studies showing that successful acquisition of reading is vital for cognitive processes such as attention and memory, which predict academic success in higher grades. In this study, we investigated oral reading fluency (ORF) among 57 Grade 4-7 Sepedi readers in four rural schools. The results showed that the readers’ ORF in their home language is at a basal stage, equivalent to Grade 1-3 level. One-way ANOVA analysis further revealed that the differences between grade levels scores were not statistically significant (p>0.5). Using both the Working Memory and Automaticity models, we argue that the lack of automated orthographic-phonological mapping prevents the readers from gaining reading competence as they progress to higher grades. At the end, useful recommendations for curriculum-based measurements (CBM) and edumetric processes of screening, diagnosis, progress monitoring are drawn for adaptations in African language literacy classes.