Research-based Instructional Reading Strategies to Enhance

© Kamla-Raj 2014 Int J Edu Sci, 7(3): 429-438 (2014)

Research-based Instructional Reading Strategies to EnhanceReading Ability in Learners: A Compelling Case

Ndileleni P. Mudzielwana

University of Venda, Department of Early Childhood Education,Thohoyandou, 0950, South Africa

KEYWORDS Shared Reading. Guided Reading. Read Aloud. Independent Reading. Foundation Phase

ABSTRACT Teaching reading skills is the core business of every teacher especially during foundation phase(primary schools). A teaching and learning agenda that informs teaching and learning in the university should bemeticulously designed. In this concept paper the researcher interrogates key considerations in the teaching ofreading in foundation phase. The researcher begins by examining- What actually reading is? Philosophical under-pinnings that inform about teaching of reading skills should inform the basis for a teaching and learning agenda. Inthis paper, the researcher interrogates key instructional reading strategies that should taken into account whiledeveloping reading skills in children. The researcher argues that in order to meaningfully develop reading abilitythere is a need to be thoroughly grounded in theories related to teaching reading skills. Such theories informpractice and are considered within the broad context of the purpose of foundation phase in the given context.

INTRODUCTION

The core business of any foundation phase(FP) teacher involves teaching learners to read.The issue of learners who cannot read and un-derstand a text is a major challenge in SouthAfrica (PIRLS 2006; Govender 2004; Child 2012).A large number of learners who cannot read andunderstand the text are mostly in the foundationphase. This situation is a cause of concern sincethe foundation phase is the beginning of educa-tion. Therefore, if the foundation is not strongenough, the learners will not be able to furthertheir studies.

Moats (1999:5) states:Low reading achievement, more than any

other factor, is the root cause of chronicallylow performing schools, which harm studentsand contribute to the loss of public confidencein our school system. When many children don’tlearn to read, the public schools cannot andwill not be regarded as successful-and effortsto dismantle them will proceed.

In order to rectify this situation, studies byMoats (2000:7) on reading, indicate that althoughsome children will learn to read in spite of inci-dental teaching, others never learn unless theyare taught in an organised, systematic, efficientway by a knowledgeable teacher using a well-designed instructional approach. This impliesthat educational measures are critical to teachlearners how to read the text proficiently, withunderstanding.

The instructional reading strategies areshared reading, read aloud, guided reading, andindependent reading activities. These activities,if executed effectively in the classrooms, mayhelp teachers to teach the learners how to un-lock the code of written text with ease. In thefollowing section, the research-based instruc-tional reading strategies are presented as identi-fied. These reading strategies are relevant asthose can be used within any context and if em-ployed correctly, may be effective in teachingreading to foundation phase learners.

What is Reading?

Teaching reading is a complex and requireshighly skilled professional teachers. It seems thatreading is an indefinable concept given the con-troversy surrounding definitions by variousscholars. Reading is regarded as the fundamen-tal skill upon which all formal education depends(Moats 2000: 5). Bouwer (2000: 89) describesreading as a communicative act that includesthe interaction of mutually informative process.The interaction and combination of these pro-cesses add constantly to the readers understand-ing and thinking about the communication con-veyed through the text. Burns et al. (1992) referto reading as a life skill that combines nine as-pects of the reading process to facilitate read-ing; these aspects include sensory, perceptual,sequential, experiential, thinking, learning, as-sociational, affective and constructive. Theseaspects are critical in the reading process.

430 NDILELENI P. MUDZIELWANA

Reading is considered to be the foundationof literacy skills. It requires mastery of the al-phabetic principle (letter sound relationships),rapid word recognition, wide vocabulary knowl-edge, and arrange of strategies to engage deep-ly with text meaning (Clay 1991; Leipzig 2001;Moats 2009; Pang et al. 2003).

Clay (1991: 6) defines reading as: a messagegetting, problem-solving activity which increas-es in power and flexibility the more it is prac-ticed; and a process by which children can, onthe run, extract a sequence of cues from printedtexts and relate these, one to the other, so thatthey understand the message of the text.

Curriculum Council of Western Australia(CCWA 2008: 54) states;

Reading is the act of understanding fromprinted material that draws on a repertoire ofsocial, cultural and cognitive resources. It iscompleted in different ways, for different pur-poses, in a variety of public and domestic set-tings. Reading is therefore a cultural, econom-ic, ideological, political and psychological act.The issue of whether readers find a message, orengage in interpretation to generate a newmeaning is subject to debate in literary circlesCurriculum.

Reading is both an interactive and intra-ac-tive mode of communication. Intra-active as thereader is constantly making use of interactionsbetween his or her own abilities, experiences,knowledge and skills to facilitate internal com-munication, understanding (semantic and per-sonal meaning of what is being read).

During the reading process the reader is con-ducting dialogue with the text in an endeavourto process the sense intended by the authorand uses the information of the printed text toconstruct meaning (Bouwer and Jordaan 2002:134).

To show the importance of reading in thelearners lives Leipzig (2001: 1) states:

Reading is a multifaceted process involv-ing word recognition, comprehension, fluency,and motivation. Reading is making meaningfrom print. It requires that we identify the wordsin print-process called recognition; constructan understanding from tem-a process calledcomprehension; coordinate identifying wordsand making meaning so that reading is auto-matic and accurate-an achievement calledfluency.

Hellekjaer (2007: 23) states:Reading comprises decoding of the written

text on the one hand, and efficiently processingthe information gained. This implies that inorder to process information gathered, thatteachers must encourage learners to becomeactively involved in their own learning.

Snow et al. (1998: 15) provide a more expand-ed definition:

Reading is a complex developmental chal-lenge that we know to be intertwined with manyother developmental accomplishments: atten-tion, memory, language, and motivation, forexample. Reading is not only a cognitive psy-cholinguistic activity but also a social activity.

Hobbs (2005), Malloy et al. (2010) and Mes-saris (2005) note that the concept of reading hasbeen broadened to include visual, analytical, andtechnological skills necessary to acquire infor-mation from digital video, handheld data assis-tants, computers, wireless reading devices, cellphones, or other technological learning devices

N’Namdi (2005: 13) states that the teacher’srole is to employ various behavioural and teach-ing strategies to promote learners’ motivation. Ifchildren are motivated to learn to read, they willtry to learn to read, and continue to do so, evenwhen faced with obstacles. The teacher is re-sponsible for creating an environment that mo-tivates children to read.

Teachers are directly responsible for creat-ing and applying various techniques and strate-gies that lead to reading comprehension. Theyshould, therefore, be aware of the factors andstages of reading development that affect achild’s ability to read.

What is Reading Strategy?

DoE (2008: 16) states:Reading strategies are ways of solving prob-

lems that learner may come across while read-ing. For example, they might not know the mean-ing of a word, or they might find a section of thetext difficult to understand. When these situa-tions arise, learners should have strategy forknowing what to do.

‘A strategy is a plan; you are to be thought-ful when you do it, and often adjust the plan asyou go along to fit the situation. Therefore, goodreaders use many strategies’. For example, pre-dictions, question generating and question an-swering (Duffy 2002, 2003). This enables them

RESEARCH-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL READING STRATEGIES 431

to independently understand, discuss the textand to relate it to other situations.

Afflerbach et al. (2008: 368), define read-ing strategies as specific, deliberate mental pro-cesses or behaviours, which control and modifythe reader’s efforts to decode a text, understandwords and construct the meaning of a text. Ac-cording to Anderson (1991), what is important isthat readers should know what are the strate-gies and how and when to use them. In addition,the reader must also know how to apply the strat-egy successfully in different contexts.

What is the Purpose of Teaching Readingat Foundation Phase?

The purpose of teaching reading in the foun-dation phase should be looked at in the broadercontext of the ‘knowledge economy.’ Brown(1996: 119) argues that being able to read is notsufficient; it is the active use of reading that isimportant, as it is this competence that enableschildren to function in school and in literate so-ciety. Some authors indicate that readings havecognitive, social, emotional and cultural values.

Cognitive Value: Piaget (1968) believes thatchildren should learn to read because of its adap-tive value. This implies that through the readingprocess the learner encountered problems andwill be required to resolve them through normalassimilation and accommodation.

Social Value: Through reading learners canlearn about life and how to deal with challenges.This implies that reading is a life skill that isnecessary in one’s life. Therefore reading hassocial value because it can influence a person’ssocial development. Learners can learn how wellthey can adapt to the environment and becomegood members of the society. Learners can learnhow to express themselves in an acceptable wayin different contexts.

Emotional Value: Reading involves emo-tion and thought of human beings. Therefore itmay include both positive and negative emo-tions, thoughts and needs. For example the needfor security, the need to belong and to be ac-cepted, the need to be loved and love, the needto achieve and to feel worthy; the need for beauty,order and harmony.

Cultural Value: Culture and language areinterrelated. Language serves a variety of pur-poses and therefore fulfils a cultural value (DoE2002). This implies that through reading learn-

ers can understand their culture as well as themeaning of heritage days.

According to Machado (1999: 226),Reading not only educates the head but the

heart as well. It promotes empathy and invitesreaders to adopt new perspectives. It offers op-portunities for children to learn to recognizeour similarities, value our differences, and re-spect our common humanity. In an importantsense, then, children need literature that servesas a window onto lives and experiences differ-ent from their own, and literature that serve asa mirror reflecting themselves and their cultur-al values, attitudes, and behaviours.

This implies that it is imperative for founda-tion phase teachers to have the theoretical knowl-edge about what research based instructionalstrategies for teaching reading are. This knowl-edge will assist them to teach learners with thenecessary skills to become competent readersin the changing world.

The Reading Acquisition Process

There are six stages of how reading is ac-quired, namely, pre-reader, emergent reader, ear-ly reader, developing reader, early fluent readerand independent reader (DOE 2008: 10-11).

The responsibility of the teacher is to en-courage reading interest with enjoyable experi-ences and activities, with an emphasis on oralexpression. The principal goal at this stage is toensure that the learner is socially, mentally, emo-tionally and physically ready to learn to read.Spatial development is important at this stage(N’Namdi 2005). During the pre-reader stage, thelearner is expected to hold the book and turnspages correctly, recognise the beginning andthe end of the page, listen and respond to sto-ries, interpret the pictures, pretend to read loud-ly and silently, know some letters and show in-terest in print and point at them whenever theysee signs and labels, and create stories out ofpictures (DOE 2008: 10-11).

The emergent readers use pictures to tell sto-ries, know some sounds and some letters thatcan make a sound, are aware that there are read-ing strategies from left to right, like to join some-one who is reading, recognise some words, andread some familiar books (DOE 2008: 10-11). Atthis stage of development, the learner must ac-quire an ability to recognize letters of the alpha-bet, but not to memorize them. This is accom-


plished by varying the types of techniques usedto teach the alphabet (N’Namdi 2005: 16).

The early fluent reader knows some lettersounds and names, recognises some commonwords, can retell a story, uses pictures to makemeaning of the written text, reads aloud whenreading to self, reads word for word loudly, readsearly readers and picture books with pattern,repetition and rhyme (DOE 2008: 10-11; N’Namdi2005: 16).The developing reader uses picturesto make reading, uses knowledge of sentencestructure, uses phonics to decode words, com-bines words into phrases, retells the beginning,the middle and the end of the story, can alsogive some details of the story, use punctuationmarks, reads silently, corrects himself/herself,reads books with large prints (DOE 2008: 10-11).

N’Namdi (2005: 18) states:At this stage of development the pupil is

prepared to identify word that he or she cannotpronounce and the pronunciation done inde-pendently, read simple stories and feel comfort-ably learning new concepts

During the fluent reader stage, learners movefrom learning to read, to reading to learn. In thisstage, the reader builds up a substantial back-ground of knowledge of spelling. The learnerrecognises most familiar words on sight, readsfluently- at least 60 words per minute, uses punc-tuation to enhance comprehension, stops at allfull stops, and begins to understand impliedmeaning (DOE 2008: 10-11; N’Namdi 2005).

Learners in the independent reader stage readfluently and read more advanced books. Theyread and understand the implied meaning of thetext.

Philosophical Underpinnings of TeachingReading

Reading involves a number of different read-ing activities, purposes, and strategies. The dy-namic, complex, and interrelating correlation be-tween the cognitive and the interactive process-es may be defined as follows: ‘Reading compris-es decoding of the written text on the one handand efficiently processing the information gainedon the other’ (Hellekjaer 2007: 23). This defini-tion obtains substantial support from other schol-ars (August et al. 2008: 144; Grabe 2002: 18; Dayand Bamford 1998: 12). The many facets thatconstitute the reading activity are closely inter-

twined, defining this activity may require a mul-tiple approach.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget (1968) has provided one of themost comprehensive descriptions of children’scognitive capabilities and development. Piag-et’s theory is based on a number of assump-tions, which underpin the way in which he be-lieved children learn (Kail 2001: 150-152). Hemaintained that children use schemes to organ-ise, categorise and understand the world. Aschildren grow older, these strategies become in-creasingly abstract as new experiences are as-similated into the existing plans. Piaget in (Lie-berman et al. 1992: 392) used the term ‘accom-modation’ to refer to the process of reorganis-ing existing schemes to improve the new infor-mation so that equilibrium is achieved. If accom-modation does not occur, then disequilibriumoccurs and children have to organise their ef-forts to achieve equilibrium. Piaget (1968) statesthat experiences and interaction with the envi-ronment, and not only maturation, that facilitatethe development of cognitive structures. Ac-cording to Piaget, children’s cognitive develop-ment progresses sequentially through a seriesof stages which are linked to certain age ranges.The transition from the sensory motor stagethrough the preoperational, concrete operation-al and formal operational stages can be seen asa continuum on which children move fromsubjective to objective realisation (Gage and Berliner1992: 105-116).

For Piaget (1968) learning is a process of in-ternal construction. Learners must constructknowledge in their own minds through the guid-ance of experts into the area. In the context ofthe study, teachers must teach learners to ac-quire self-regulatory competence by observingand hearing their explanations, for example, whenthe teacher is demonstrating the use of the strat-egy, guiding and giving constructive feedbackthe learners use the self-directing, self-pacingand self-correcting strategy and learn how toadjust their skill to change personal, behaviouraland contextual conditions to optimise their ownlearning during reading.

For this study, attention is given to the con-crete operational stage lasting from seven toeleven years of age as promoted by Piaget. Dur-ing this stage, children start to use logical


thought processes, such as reversal of con-cepts, multiple classifications and mental order-ing, to begin to solve problems limited to real,observable objects. Centralisation is no longerpresent during this stage as children begin torealise that there are many sides to a particularproblem (Mwamwenda 2004: 95-100; Biehler andSnowman 1993: 61-66; Vasta Haith and Miller1992: 35).

Piaget’s theory has implications for teach-ing reading, as each individual child’s currentstage of cognition development must be takeninto account when the teacher plans learningactivities. The theory helps teachers to under-stand that learners at this level have reached anew level of self-development that allows themto understand some of the ways in which theyare related to people. Through interaction withthe teacher and other persons, and during play,learners become able to understand the physi-cal and the social world. Here, during readingcomprehension, realistic fiction may encouragelearners to interact with characters who are in-volved in a conflict situation. Knowledge aboutthis stage will assist the teacher to understandthat the learners are ready to listen to storiesand to read about real-life heroes and storieswhich move between the past and present, suchas legends.

The knowledgeable teacher is aware thatlearners in this stage begin to apply logic toconcrete experience, so that they begin to movebeyond one-dimensional thinking. Concerningreading, this enables learners to relate one eventto a system of interrelated parts. They graduallystart perceiving an event from the beginning tothe end and from the conclusion to the begin-ning. It is therefore important that the environ-ment should be rich to encourage learners tolearn and reason about what they read. Learnersat this stage have the ability to understand pic-ture storybooks, folk tales, and books writtenfor bibliotherapy. It is critical for the teacher toguide learners on which strategies to use, show-ing them when and why and how to apply eachstrategy correctly.

Piaget’s theory relates to this study becausereading text should match the developmentalstages of learners. Learners should constructthe meaning of the text and be able to use it incontexts other than the classroom. Learning ac-tivities should match the level of the conceptualdevelopment of the learners. The teacher must

use the stages as a way to gauge and monitorlearners’ pace of learning. Piaget’s view is thatlearners must be self-initiated and actively in-volved in learning. In reading comprehension,teachers must be able to model good behaviourof reading with understanding so that learnerswill ultimately take responsibility for their ownlearning. Piaget also emphasises the importanceof the environment in learning, particularly inthe social environment. In reading comprehen-sion, the comprehension development may beinfluenced by interactions with others. The learn-ers see and hear the teachers and peers readingand then internalise and model what they ob-serve and hear. The following section, the re-searcher reports on the theory of Vygotsky andhow does it relate to this essay.

Vygotsky’s Socio-Historical Theory ofCognitive Development

Lev Vygotsky (1978) attributed cognitivedevelopment to the social environment of thechild. He noted that children begin learning fromthe behaviours, attitudes, values and skills ofthe people around them. The social world andone’s culture determine which stimuli occur andare attended to. Vygotsky emphasised the roleof adults in influencing the cognitive develop-ment of children. Development is enhanced whenchildren work cooperatively or collaborativelywith adults and other children. Cognitive devel-opment proceeds from behaviours regulated byothers to self-regulated behaviour (Zimmerman1998). To help children move from a social to apersonal psychological form of knowledge,adults should determine the child’s actual de-velopment level by learning about his capacityto solve problems when working with or with-out adult help.

According to Vygotsky, when a child is work-ing independently, we see the actual develop-ment level of the child. When the child is work-ing with an adult, we see the potential develop-ment of the child, under optimal circumstances,while learning with a competent nurturing medi-ator. The difference between these two levels offunctioning is referred to as the Zone of Proxi-mal Development (ZPD) (Biehler and Snowman1993: 63; Gage and Berliner 1992: 122-123). Inregard to the importance of the ZPD, Vygotsky(1998: 137-138) emphasised:


Everything that the child cannot do inde-pendently, but which he can be taught or whichhe can do with direction or cooperation or withthe help of leading questions, we will includein the sphere of imitation... Thus, in studyingwhat the child is capable of doing indepen-dently, we study yesterday’s development. Study-ing what the child is capable of doing cooper-atively, we ascertain tomorrow’s development.

When children face challenging situations,they can seek help from their teachers and peers,which is termed ‘scaffolding’ (Woolfolk 1995:50).

Vygotsky believed that language is an im-portant tool because it is internalised by the childto affect thinking and problem-solving (Bukat-ko and Daehner 2001: 27; Shaffer 1996: 279). Therole of the adult is to assist children to acquirelanguage in ways that enable them to take con-trol of their own learning (Engelbrecht and Green2001: 84). Teachers can focus on effective com-munication, meaning, comprehension and re-spect for language in the classroom. Vygotsky’stheory has implications for teaching readingcomprehension because in facilitating learning,the teacher must take the cultural context of thelearners into consideration as it influences theirthinking and actions. Learners can be given prob-lem-solving activities with instructions, for thetask of reading comprehension. Thereafter, thelearner should work independently using his orher own knowledge and skills with the guidancereceived from the teacher. Two approaches arepertinent to teaching reading comprehension,based on the views of Vygotsky, namely recip-rocal teaching and scaffolded support.

Research –Based Instructional ReadingSessions for Teaching Reading

The most important task of the primary teach-ers is to develop readers and writers. Childrenlearn best when teachers employ a variety ofstrategies to model and demonstrate readingknowledge, strategy and skills. These are strat-egies such as shared reading, reading aloud, oralreading, guided reading and individual or inde-pendent reading.

Children must be introduced to books andstories straight away, letting children play withbooks and discover what books and written lan-guage are about. Readers learn about writtenlanguage while playing and working with real

books (Flanagan 1995: 16). This implies that theteacher must be aware of the instructional activ-ities that should be used during reading.

Moats (1999: 10) states:Learning to read is not natural or easy for

most children. Reading is an acquired skill.This implies that classroom instruction is very

important for the development of teaching read-ing skills. Teachers should help and encouragethe students to read effectively in the class. Toperform the job, teachers have to design effec-tive activities for teaching reading in the class,because, a successful teaching of reading in theclass depends largely on the proper planning ofreading lessons. Teaching techniques shouldbe designed according to the level of the per-ception of the students. An experienced and ef-ficient teacher knows well when a particular tech-nique should be followed and in what manner.

According to Moats (1999: 16),Learning to read is not natural or easy for

most children. Reading is an acquired skill,unlike, unlike spoken language, which islearned with almost any kind of contextual ex-posure. If learning to read were as natural asacquiring spoken language, many more soci-eties would have written languages; human be-ings would have invented writing systems manythousands of years before we did; and every-one would learn reading as easily as duckslearn to swim…..thus teachers must be reflec-tive and knowledgeable about the content theyare teaching, that is, symbol system itself andits relationship to meaning.

Shared Reading

In a shared reading session, the teacher readswith the class or group using a large storybookthat has big, bold print (DoE 2008). Learnersshare the reading task with the teacher and grad-ually learners take over the task of reading (DoE2008).

Shared reading involves a child and teacheror other adult reading together, in one-to-oneinteraction, from a book. It is a practice frequentlyused in early year’s classrooms and it is a prac-tice commonly used by many parents at home.

In Shared Reading the teacher works withthe whole class. Shared Reading generally oc-curs two to four days a week using a single,enlarged text for the whole class such as BigBooks, posters and pictures or a text on an over-


head transparency or individual fiction and non-fiction texts for each child. Although there willnormally be only one text used per week, thetexts selected for each grade should be in-creased in length and complexity across the yearand across the grades.

Children should be introduced to a range ofstories, poems, rhymes and plays as well as in-formation and graphical texts.

Department of Basic Education (DBE CAPS2011: 11-12) states: Each Shared Reading ses-sion will have a learning focus from the follow-ing: concepts of print, text features, phonics,language patterns, word identification strategiesand comprehension at a range of levels (for ex-ample, literal, reorganization, inferential, evalua-tion and appreciation questions). The first ses-sion focuses on the enjoyment and first ‘look’ atthe text, with the children giving a personal re-sponse to the text. In the next session the sametext is used and the focus shifts to more involve-ment in the reading with the teacher using thediscussions that take place to develop vocabu-lary, comprehension, decoding skills and textstructures (grammar, punctuation). On the third,and possibly the fourth day, children read thetext themselves and engage in oral, practical andwritten activities based on the text. Some textsmight only be used over a day or two, especiallyin Grade 2 and Grade 3.

The purpose of shared reading is explainedas follows: ‘Shared Reading’ has become a rec-ognised strategy for teaching reading in whichpupils and teacher read a text together with afocus on a specific aspect. Through experienc-ing a variety of texts, fiction and non-fiction,children will become aware of the range of strat-egies required when reading for different pur-poses (Dole 2000).

In shared reading, the teacher models read-ing strategies to learners using Big Books andaddressing specific skills in reading. During thelesson, the teacher leads a discussion about thecover and some of the illustrations in the book.This places the text within the context of learn-ers’ prior knowledge, and encourages learnersto predict what will happen in the story. Theteacher reads using a pointer to point at thewords as she/he reads. After reading, the teach-er checks the learners’ understanding of the textthrough discussion or questions. The benefitsof shared reading are that the teacher modelsdifferent reading comprehension strategies for

the learners. The planned activities should caterfor different learners’ abilities by allowing themto join in wherever they can. The environmentmust be non-threatening for learners to experi-ence success.

During shared reading the teacher is expect-ed to teach learners while they read certain kindsof texts. The teacher models how they read thetext, the expression and intonation (tone of voice)suited to the text. The teacher is expected toteach a variety of reading strategies and pro-mote comprehension through differentiatedquestioning and discussion (DoE 2008).

N’Namdi (2005: 48) states:Shared reading follows the same format as

reading aloud, only the teacher reads the textwith the pupils. The reading includes pupilsidentifying key words, either by circling or un-derlining the words and phrases that theyknow. This practice is continued on numerousoccasions, until the learner can read more andmore of the text independently. This may bedone individually, with the pupil using a taperecorder with the story being read by the teach-er on the cassette. This can also be classified asan independent reading activity.

Group Guided Reading

Group guided reading is regarded as one ofthe key components of a balanced language pro-gramme (Hornsby 2000; Cunningham and Al-ington 1999; Pressley 2002) and is a teacher-directed activity (DoE 2008). It involves usingcarefully selected books at the learners’ instruc-tional level.

Department of Basic Education (DBE CAPS2011: 11) states:

This is an ability-group reading teachingstrategy where all the members in the groupread the same text under the direction of theteacher and should take place every day. Guid-ed reading involves the teacher in a sessionwith a group of between 6 and 10 children. Theteacher plans the lessons to include a range ofword-attack strategies that children will learnto apply when meeting challenges in texts. The‘text talk’ between teacher and children (andchildren with each other) is central to this ap-proach. During this time the teacher shouldnot be interrupted by other children who aredoing independent activities. Each group ses-sion should be between 10 and 15 minutes long


with two groups reading with the teacher ev-ery day (approximately half an hour per day intotal).

In group guided sessions, the learners canbe grouped according to their reading abilities.The benefits are that it gives the teacher theopportunity to observe reading behaviours, iden-tify areas of need and allow learners to developmore independence and confidence as they prac-tice and consolidate reading behaviours andskills. During the process, the role of the teacheris to bring learners to a higher level by demon-strating, modelling, explaining and encouraginglearners during reading (Opitz and Ford 2001).

The steps of the guided reading can belinked to the theory of Bruner’s scaffolding pro-cess leading to independence. Teachers prepareahead of time. Before reading starts, the teacherhas to spend some time talking about compre-hension strategies, introducing difficult wordsthat are contained in the text and assisting indi-vidual learners to practice strategies for com-prehending the text (Fountas and Pinnel 2001).It provides opportunities for the teacher to inte-grate learners’ growing knowledge of the con-ventions of print, letter-sound relationships andother foundational skills in context.

During guided reading learners are exposedto reading aloud and shared reading. Simulta-neously, the teacher is able to teach learnershow to construct meaning from the text by us-ing strategies to self-pace, self-direct and self-monitor under the teacher’s guidance. This kindof support is linked to Vygotsky’s (1978, 1986)view that learners learn more as they get sup-port from knowledgeable others. The South Af-rican government regards it as the solution tothe low level of literacy. However, a study on anevaluation of guided reading in three primaryschools in the Western Cape, Kruizinga (2010)found that teachers had a superficial understand-ing of guided reading and that it was difficult forteachers to implement the steps for guided read-ing in their classrooms. Therefore, the purposeof guided reading is to assist learners to becomeindependent readers who can read the text forenjoyment and be able to get the meaning fromthe text.

Paired Reading

The Department of Basic Education (CAPS2011: 14) states:

Paired and Independent Reading provideschildren with reading practice and encourag-es reading for enjoyment.

Children can reread their class or group read-ers, or they can read simple ‘fun’ books or sup-plementary readers. The text should be at a low-er level than that used for Shared and GroupGuided Reading. Paired reading can take placeat anytime, anywhere, as a class reading activi-ty. Children can sit in pairs inside or outside ofthe classroom to read together or take turns toread or two children who have completed theirtasks can read together while other children com-plete their work.

If children read books on their own they alsodevelop fluency, provided that the books areeasy enough for the children to read withouthelp. Short, simple books with predictable textand colourful illustrations are ideal. Some teach-ers like to give children individual reading to doat home. This home reading should consist ofre-reading the group reading book or readingsimple, ‘fun’ books. This extra reading practice,done on a regular basis every day, plays an im-portant role in learning reading.

N’Namdi (2005: 48) states:Children work in pairs and assist each oth-

er in reading and comprehending the text. Thisactivity must be guided by the teacher by giv-ing the pair questions to answer based on thetext information. It may be beneficial to haveolder (but still close in age) learners work withthe younger ones. This opportunity is providedin multi-grade classes.

Independent Reading

Independent reading is important in readingcomprehension. During this activity, learnerslearn to apply the comprehension strategies in-dependently that they were taught during guid-ed reading (Biddulph 2000).

According to DoE (2008), independent read-ing is a purposeful planned activity. The teacherhas a structured daily time during which learn-ers associate themselves with books. Learnerschoose their own books according to their owninterest and ability. However, learners should beguided to choose the texts that they can readwith a high degree of success. During this ses-sion, the teacher should listen, observe and gath-er information about learners’ reading behav-iour. Learners are able to listen to themselves as


they read and cross-check while they practicethe strategies (Fountas and Pinnell 1999). Foun-tas and Pinnell (1996) and Zimmerman (1998)support the view that learners learn best whenthey are responsible for their own learning. Thegoal of teaching reading comprehension strate-gies is for the learners to become self-managedreaders who can take over the process them-selves. However, Taberski (2000) argued thatduring independent reading, frustrated learnersdo not sustain their reading long enough to prac-tice the skill. This is because they are unable todecode the words and do not understand thetext. However, independent reading could proveto be a meaningless exercise.

N’Namdi (2005: 48) states:Independent reading is a good opportunity

for pupils to utilize a learning centre.If there is a learning centre in the classroom,

the students may go to that area and select areading activity of their choice, and begin read-ing and working on comprehension exercises. Ifit is time for leisurely reading, then the pupilsmay want to bring in an appropriate book fromhome once a week or once a month to read dur-ing independent reading (otherwise, the bookscan come from the school library).

Learners can also make and exchange read-ing materials. This builds their home librariesand thereby encourages reading at home. It alsoprovides an opportunity for pupils to share whatis learned.

Reading Aloud

Reading aloud is another approach that canhave a positive effect on the development ofreading comprehension (Lane and Wright 2007).Read-aloud times should be a well-planned ac-tivity and not impromptu (Sipe 2008). The teach-er should be well prepared, read to the wholeclass or to a small group, using material that is atthe listening comprehension level of the learn-ers (Teale 2003). Reading aloud is regarded asthe best motivator for instilling the desire to readin learners. In read-aloud sessions, the teacherreads to the whole class or to small group usingmaterial that is at listening comprehension levelof the learners. The benefit of this approach tothe learners is that it helps them to develop alove of literature, motivates them to read vari-ous kinds of texts on their own and increasestheir vocabulary (Lane and Wright 2007). The

speaking skills of the learners are enhanced byhearing good pronunciation and language use,as well as their thinking skills through their com-prehension of the text and experience with causeand effect including logical sequencing.

According to the DoE (2008), reading aloudshould occur every day to stimulate learners’interest in the written text. Several key activitiestake place before, during and after reading. Withregard to the teaching of reading comprehen-sion, the DoE (2008) emphasises that teachersshould keep a close check on learners to ensurethat they are not barking at print, but readingwith understanding. They must also be able toand interpret what they read in various situa-tions. Involving learners interactively while read-ing aloud help to improve comprehension where-as after-reading discussions encourage learn-ers to link the story events to their personal ex-periences (Sipe 2008).

CONCLUSION

All learning theories are rooted in the philo-sophical, social and political context of time andinfluence the way we teach contemporary chil-dren. The theories may assist teachers to con-sciously plan and teach learners how to usestrategies independently and to understand thatlearners at this level touch a new level of self-development that allows them to understandmultiple ways in which they are related to peo-ple. The aim of reading strategies at foundationphase is that learners should be able to mastertheir own learning. This paper suggests that, asa cardinal requirement, teachers should have indepth theoretical information in teaching andtraining the reading skills.

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Research-based Instructional Reading Strategies to Enhance