Challenges in the teaching of reading in English, to grade 3 Venda speaking learners in rural areas of Soutpansberg east circuit
Learners in the Soutpansberg East District struggle with reading in English, as the first home language. This affects their understanding of other subjects. This study aimed to investigate the challenges in the teaching of reading in English, to Grade 3 Venda-speaking learners in rural areas of Soutpansberg East Circuit. One of the main objectives was to further find out what strategies teachers in the area were using to teach learners how to read, while also looking at what factors affected the academic performance of these learners. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers, each from a rural school in the Soutpansberg East Circuit. This type of data collection method was used to ensure that the study utilised raw data from the participants to ensure it is accurate and relevant. Interview discussions were taped, transcribed, analysed and data categorised into themes. The findings revealed that teachers had a limited understanding of reading comprehension strategies. They regarded teaching reading as a challenge as they do not know what reading strategies are and how to apply them. Additionally, they are stressed, confused and frustrated because learners cannot read and understand the texts. The responses also showed that teachers have identified additional social and environmental factors that negatively affected the academic performance of their learners. This study recommends that teachers should be provided with extra support that would help them to teach learners to read. More in-service training workshops and monitoring could assist teachers. Rural schools should also be provided with reading books and libraries and if need be, mobile libraries should be offered to these schools.
English reading, Grade 3 Learners, Venda speaking, rural areas
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