PIRLS 2011Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2011

SUMMARY REPORT

SOUTH AFRICAN CHILDRENSREADING LITERACY ACHIEVEMENT

Sarah Howie

Surette van Staden

Mishack Tshele

Cilla Dowse

Lisa Zimmerman

2011

PIRLS SA

2011

PIRLS SA

SOUTH AFRICAN CHILDRENS READING LITERACY ACHIEVEMENT

PIRLS 2011

Sarah HowieSurette van Staden

Mishack TsheleCilla Dowse

Lisa Zimmerman

This project has been funded by the National Research Foundation, ZENEX Foundation and the South Africa-Netherlands Research Programme

on Alternatives in Development

2011

PIRLS SA

2012 Centre for Evaluation and Assessment, University of Pretoria

PIRLS 2011: South African Childrens Reading Literacy Achievement Report

Sarah Howie, Surette van Staden, Mishack Tshele, Cilla Dowse and Lisa Zimmerman

Publisher:Centre for Evaluation and AssessmentUniversity of Pretoria0002

Cover design by Hendrik LabuschagneLanguage editing by Andrew GrahamTechnical editing by Hendrik Labuschagne

ISBN 978-1-77592-023-6

Printed in South Africa

IPIRLS SA 2011

Table of Contents

TAbLe of ConTenTS

PRefACe..........................................................................................................xI

exeCuTIve SummARy ..................................................................................xv

i Key findings ........................................................................................................xv

i.i Learner Achievement Internationally and Nationally ..........................................XV

i.ii Supportive Home Environment Promotes Reading Literacy Achievement ......XVI

i.iii Classroom and Teacher Factors .....................................................................XVI

i.iv Under-Resourced Schools hampering Effective Reading ..............................XVII

ii InitialReflections ............................................................................................xvIII

CHAPTeR 1 bACKGRounD ........................................................................... 1

1.1 TheSouthAfricanEducationLandscape ........................................................ 1

1.2 BackgroundtothePIRLS2011ProjectinSouthAfrica ................................. 5

1.3 OverviewoftheInternationalResearchDesignfor PIRLS 2011 .................... 7

1.4 StructureoftheReport ...................................................................................... 8

CHAPTeR 2 LAnGuAGe AnD LITeRACy In SouTH AfRICAn SCHooLS .......................................................................... 9

2.1 LanguageProfilesinSouthAfrica ................................................................... 9

2.2 LanguageinEducationPolicy ........................................................................ 10

2.3 LanguageCurriculaandReadinginthePrimarySchoolupto2011 .......... 12

2.4 CurriculumAssessmentPolicyStatement(CAPS)forLanguage .............. 14

2.5 ReadingPolicyasof2012 .............................................................................. 15

2.6 ImpactofPIRLS2006andInterventionssince2006 .................................... 15

2.7 Summary........................................................................................................... 16

CHAPTeR 3 ReSeARCH DeSIGn AnD meTHoDS uSeD In prePIRLSAnD PIRLS 2011 ............................................................. 19

3.1 ConceptualFramework:prePIRLSandPIRLS2011 .................................... 19

3.2 ResearchObjectives........................................................................................ 21

3.3 StudyDesignandMethods ............................................................................. 22

IIPIRLS SA 2011

3.3.1 Population and Sampling: prePIRLS and PIRLS 2011 ................................. 22

3.3.2 Assessment Instruments: prePIRLS and PIRLS 2011 ................................. 23

3.3.3 Background Questionnaires: prePIRLS and PIRLS 2011 ............................ 24

3.3.4 Translation of Instruments in South Africa .................................................... 24

3.3.5 Data Collection ............................................................................................. 25

3.3.6 Scoring ......................................................................................................... 25

3.3.7 Data Capture and Processing ...................................................................... 26

3.3.8 Quality Assurance ....................................................................................... 26

3.4 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 26

CHAPTeR 4 SouTH AfRICAn LeARneR PeRfoRmAnCe In ReADInG LITeRACy ...................................................................................... 27

4.1 SouthAfricanGrade4ResultsforprePIRLS ................................................ 27

4.1.1 South African Grade 4 prePIRLS 2011 Overall Results ............................... 27

4.1.2 South African Grade 4 prePIRLS 2011 Performance by Gender ................. 28

4.1.3 South African Grade 4 prePIRLS 2011 Performance for each of the 11 Languages ............................................................................................... 29

4.1.4 South African Grade 4 prePIRLS 2011 Results by Test Language and Home Language .......................................................................................... 30

4.1.5 prePIRLS 2011 Relative Average Achievement in Reading Purposes ......... 33

4.2 SouthAfricasOverallPIRLS2011Achievement ......................................... 35

4.2.1 South African Grade 5 PIRLS 2011 Overall Results Compared to Other Benchmarking Participants .......................................................................... 35

4.2.2 South African Grade 5 PIRLS 2011 Overall Results Compared to Reference Countries ................................................................................... 36

4.2.3 South African Grade 5 PIRLS 2011 Performance by Gender ...................... 37

4.2.4 South African Grade 5 PIRLS 2011 Performance By Test Language .......... 37

4.2.5 South African Grade 5 PIRLS 2011 Average Achievement for Reading Purposes ...................................................................................................... 40

4.3 PIRLS2011PerformanceComparedtoPIRLS2006 ..................................... 41

4.3.1 Trends In Overall Reading Achievement (PIRLS 2006 - PIRLS 2011) ....... 41

4.3.2 Trends in Reading Achievement by Gender ................................................ 42

4.4 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 43

IIIPIRLS SA 2011

Table of Contents

CHAPTeR 5 PeRfoRmAnCe AT THe InTeRnATIonAL benCHmARKS of ReADInG ACHIevemenT ............................................. 45

5.1 IntroductiontoInternationalBenchmarks ................................................... 45

5.2 SouthAfricanGrade4LearnerPerformanceonprePIRLS 2011 InternationalBenchmarks ............................................................................. 47

5.2.1 South African Grade 4 prePIRLS 2011 Overall Benchmark Performance .............................................................................................. 47

5.2.2 South African Grade 4 prePIRLS 2011 Benchmark Performance by Language ........................................................................... 48

5.2.3 South African Grade 4 prePIRLS 2011 Benchmark Performance by Gender .................................................................................................... 49

5.3 SouthAfricanGrade5LearnersPerformanceonPIRLS2011International Benchmarks .................................................................................................... 49

5.3.1 South African Grade 5 Learner Performance on PIRLS 2011 International Benchmarks Overall and by Language ................................... 50

5.3.2 South African Grade 5 Learner Performance on PIRLS 2011 International Benchmarks by Gender .......................................................... 50

5.3.3 Trends in South African Grade 5 Learners Performance on PIRLS 2011 International Benchmarks Overall ............................................................... 51

5.3.4 Trends In South African Grade 5 Learners Performance on PIRLS 2011 International Benchmarks by Gender .......................................................... 52

5.4 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 53

CHAPTeR 6 LeARneRS AnD THeIR Home envIRonmenT SuPPoRT foR ReADInG ACHIevemenT ................................................... 55

6.1 ProfileoftheGrade4LearnersinprePIRLS ................................................. 55

6.2 prePIRLS2011LearnerAttitudesandBehaviourtoReading ..................... 56

6.2.1 prePIRLS 2011 Learner Reports on Enjoying Reading ................................ 56

6.2.2 prePIRLS 2011 Learner Motivation to Read ................................................. 58

6.2.3 prePIRLS2011LearnerConfidenceinReading .......................................... 59

6.3 prePIRLS2011HomeSupportforLearners ..........