THE ROLE of READING in ENHANCING ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING of ORDINARY LEVEL LEARNERS in NAMIBIA By
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THE ROLE OF READING IN ENHANCING ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING OF ORDINARY LEVEL LEARNERS IN NAMIBIA By Sylvia Ndapewa Ithindi Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree PHILOSOPHIAE DOCTOR Faculty of Education Department of Humanities Education University of Pretoria SUPERVISOR: Dr A. Engelbrecht CO-SUPERVISOR: Dr L.J. de Jager August 2019 Declaration of authorship I, Sylvia Ndapewa Ithindi, hereby declare that this thesis entitled, The role of reading in enhancing English Second Language learning in Namibia, which I hereby submit for the degree Philosophiae Doctor in Humanities Education, at the University of Pretoria, is my own work and has not previously been submitted by me for a degree at this or any other tertiary institution. i Ethics certificate ii Language editor Cell: 083 455 3723 Address: 9 Tiger Road Monument Park 0181 PRETORIA E-mail: [email protected] To whom it may concern This is to confirm that I, MJ de Jager, edited the language in the PhD dissertation, The role of reading in enhancing English second language learning in Namibia, by Sylvia Ndapewa Ithindi. The onus was on the author to attend to all my suggested changes and queries. Furthermore, I do not take responsibility for any changes effected in the document after the fact. MJ DE JAGER 5 October 2019 iii Dedication This study is dedicated to my children, Aino Ndamana Tangi Matheus, Simon Nanyooshili Tangeni Matheus, and my nephew Samuel Kalitheni Shiindi, in the hope that they will all complete their studies and lead successful independent, career lives. iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who love and supported me and made my long, yet fruitful journey, worth completing. Firstly, I would like to thank the Lord Almighty for seeing me through my research journey and for giving me the wisdom to complete this study. Lord, you are always wonderful and to you I give my praise. To God be the Glory. Secondly, special thanks are given to Dr Alta Engelbrecht and Dr Lizette de Jager, my supervisors, for their professional, constructive criticism, guidance, support, and encouragement. Thank you for never giving up on me. You always saw the best in me, even when I doubted myself, and had it not been for you, this study would not have been completed successfully. I will forever be grateful for being under your supervision. I am also extremely grateful to Theresia Nepolo-Mushaandja for scrutinising this study as my critical friend – our hard work has finally paid off. I wish to thank the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and in particular the Khomas and Oshana educational regions, for granting me permission to undertake this study. My utmost gratitude goes to the principals, teachers, and learners whose participation in this study contributed to its success. My sincere gratitude goes to my mother, Klaudia Jafeth, for her endless love and always believing in me. Johannes Natangwe Uushona, for his sacrifice, motivation, and moral support. To my cousins, Klaudia Andreas, Wilka Andreas, Toini Shipanga, and Morning Angala, for making sure that my kids got everything they needed when I was not there for them. Samuel Kambonde, you are such an inspiration. Had it not been for you, I wouldn’t have undertaken this journey. Dr Jafeth Nelongo, Dr Hamakali Hafeni, Elizabeth Kangoya, Miryam Mbango, Wilbard Mbeeli, Herman Angala, Julia Ndjambula and Josef Amuthenu, thank you for sharing this journey with me. Last but not least, I register my appreciation to the University of Pretoria and the NSFAF for financing my study. v Abstract Reading is regarded as one of the most important, but also most complex skills utilised to attain fluency (Snyman, 2016). In this study I argue that Namibians have not yet adopted reading as part of their culture, and this is believed to have contributed immensely to the high failure rate of learners and students in primary, secondary, and tertiary education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution that reading can make towards ESL learning at Ordinary Level (OL) in Namibian Senior Secondary Schools. The research focused on the challenges pertaining to reading by contemplating the nature of the reading culture of OL learners, how the curriculum and textbooks model reading for OL learners, and how ESL teachers expose OL learners to reading in the classroom. This research was informed by the principles of the multiliteracies pedagogy of the New London Group (NLG) (1999), the work on social constructivism of Lev Vygotsky (1978), Stephen Krashen’s (1985) Input Hypothesis, as well as Jim Cummins’ (1984) distinction between BICS and CALP. Following a qualitative approach, a descriptive case study design was employed to explore why OL learners lack analytical and critical reading skills that would enable them to learn English from their engagement with the texts they read. Four purposively selected ESL teachers and eight stratified randomly selected learners from four Secondary Schools in the Khomas education region, Windhoek, participated in the study. Data were collected using open- ended surveys, non-participant classroom observation, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. Using qualitative content analysis, five themes on the role of reading in ESL emerged from the raw data: reading experience, access to reading materials, inadequate curriculum, inadequate infrastructure, and the use of textbooks to enhance reading. The findings indicate that reading is not developed as a culture for the majority of OL learners, as OL learners indicated that they only read for school purposes, as opposed to reading for fun. The OL curriculum was found not to support reading, because reading is not part of the OL syllabus. As opposed to the Higher Level (HL), there are no prescribed reading materials for OL and the OL syllabus lacks proper guidance regarding integration of reading in ESL lessons. The study concludes that a great deal needs to be done to instil the love of reading in OL learners for them to reach the same level as HL learners. Keywords: English as a second language learning, Namibia, ordinary level, pedagogy of multiliteracies, qualitative content analysis, reading culture, textbooks, vi List of abbreviations ADL Actual Development Level BICS Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills CALPS Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency CEDME Cape Education Department Matriculation Examination CIE Cambridge International General Examinations CLA Communicative Language Approach CUP Common Underlying Proficiency EFL English as a Foreign Language ESL English as a Second Language ER Extensive Reading FAL First Additional Language HL Higher Level H/IGCSE Higher and International General Certificate of Secondary examinations IR Intensive Reading LoLT Language of Learning and Teaching MoE Ministry of Education NAMCOL Namibian College of Open Learning NLG New London Group NSSCH/O Namibian Senior Secondary Certificate Higher/Ordinary Level NPH Namibia Publishing House OL Ordinary Level PDL Potential Development Level PIRLS Progress in International Reading Literacy RO Regional Office SACMEQ Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality SLA Second Language Acquisition SSCE Senior School Certificate Examinations UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation ZPD Zone of Proximal Development vii Definitions of terms ESL is an abbreviation for English as a second language. For the purposes of this study, ESL refers to a scenario where an individual learns English after they have learnt their mother tongue (Richards & Schmidt, 2002:180) Literacy is defined in a number of ways, and these definitions are continually evolving. The term “literacy” sometimes refers only to reading, sometimes to reading and writing, and sometimes, more rarely, to reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The National Literacy Trust (2012) defines literacy as the ability to read, write, speak, and listen well. A literate person is able to communicate effectively with others and to understand written information. The Pedagogy of multiliteracies was originally proposed in 1996 by the New London Group. The manifesto is a comprehensive framework for understanding the key principles of literacy education. The two overarching components of this theory are that the scope of literacy education needs to be extended to account for cultural and linguistic diversity. The second principle recognises the importance of teaching to the extensive array of text forms that serve as modes of communication in our digitally rich environments (MacKay, 2014). The Readathon in Namibia is a week-long reading and book festival held annually in schools, culminating in the National Readathon Day on the Friday of that specific week, in an effort to nurture a book culture in Namibia (Tötemeyer, 2001) . Reading is making meaning from print. It requires that we identify the words in print (a process called word recognition); construct an understanding from them (a process called comprehension); and coordinate identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic and accurate (an achievement referred to as fluency) (Awe, 2014). Reading culture refers to a way of life characterised by the habit of reading intensively and extensively (Nalusiba, 2010). viii Table of contents CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................