The social dimension of reading literacy development in South Africa: Bridging inequalities among the various language groups
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Naomi Boakye
Abstract
It is widely acknowledged that different communities, such as language groups and socio-economic status (SES) families, practice literacy in different ways. Certain language communities of low SES observe literacy interactions differently from the traditional “schooled literacy”, which may influence learners’ reading literacy. However, the link between language communities, SES and reading literacy has not been extensively researched, especially in the South African context where there are 11 official languages and wide socio-economic disparities. This article examines students’ social literacy in relation to their reading literacy levels, and reveals that the literacy gap between indigenous South African language (ISAL) speakers, a number of whom are from low SES families, and speakers of English and Afrikaans is further widened at the tertiary level due to the mismatch between the social literacy practices of the different language groups and the education system that operates in the country. Recommendations are made on how educators could employ strategies such as social relevance and culturally sensitive teaching to bridge the academic literacy gap among the language groups.
Appendix
Questionnaire on social literacy
For office use
Respondent number
Please tick (using a X) the number that best reflects your opinion accurately
| Past experiences with reading | Strongly agree | Agree | Uncertain | Disagree | Strongly disagree | |
| 1. When I was a child I was often taken to the library | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V1 | |
| 2. Members of my family used to read to me | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V2 |
| 3. There have always been books in my family’s home | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V3 |
| 4. Attention was given to developing reading skills in my high school | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V4 |
| 5. There was a library in my primary school | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V5 |
| 6. There are 20 or more books in my home | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V6 |
| Literacy interactions | ||||||
| 7. My siblings read a lot | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V7 |
| 8. My parents read a lot | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V8 |
| 9. My friends like reading so they read a lot | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V9 |
| 10. My friends and I discuss books that we read | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V10 |
| 11. I know people who read all kinds of texts | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V11 |
| Reading habits | ||||||
| 12. I read one novel each week/month during holidays | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V12 |
| 13. I read one novel each week/month during school term | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V13 |
| 14. I often read | ||||||
| i. newspapers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V14i |
| ii. magazines | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V14ii |
| iii. novels | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V14iii |
| iv. academic books | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V14iv |
| v. any other (e.g. motivational, plays, etc) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V14v |
| 15. I read books/magazines/newspapers in my mother-tongue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V15 |
| 16. Newspapers are bought daily/weekly in my home | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V16 |
| Personal information | ||||||
| 17. Gender | F | M | V67 | |||
| 19. Literacy level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | V68 |
| 20. Mother tongue | Eng | Afr | SA African | Other African | Other | V69 |
| Student number | ||||||
Thank you for filling in the questionnaire
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©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Identity negotiation in a super-diverse community: The fuzzy languaging logic of high school students in Soweto
- Odonymic changes in Central Pretoria: Representation, identity and textual construction of place
- Failure to launch: matching language policy with literacy accomplishment in South African schools
- “Amaphi ama-subjects eniwa-enjoy-ayo esikolweni?”: Code-switching and language practices among bilingual learners in the Eastern Cape
- Investigating literacy narratives among ethno-linguistically diverse South African students
- Translanguaging practices in complex multilingual spaces: A discontinuous continuity in post-independent South Africa
- The social dimension of reading literacy development in South Africa: Bridging inequalities among the various language groups
- Book Review
- Pol Cuvelier, Theodorus Du Plessis, Michael Meeuwis, Reinhild Vandekerckhove and Vic Webb: Multilingualism for empowerment
- Small Languages and Small Language Communities 79
- An ethnography of the standardization reform: A case of policy-making in the context of the Upper Perené Arawak community of Peru
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Identity negotiation in a super-diverse community: The fuzzy languaging logic of high school students in Soweto
- Odonymic changes in Central Pretoria: Representation, identity and textual construction of place
- Failure to launch: matching language policy with literacy accomplishment in South African schools
- “Amaphi ama-subjects eniwa-enjoy-ayo esikolweni?”: Code-switching and language practices among bilingual learners in the Eastern Cape
- Investigating literacy narratives among ethno-linguistically diverse South African students
- Translanguaging practices in complex multilingual spaces: A discontinuous continuity in post-independent South Africa
- The social dimension of reading literacy development in South Africa: Bridging inequalities among the various language groups
- Book Review
- Pol Cuvelier, Theodorus Du Plessis, Michael Meeuwis, Reinhild Vandekerckhove and Vic Webb: Multilingualism for empowerment
- Small Languages and Small Language Communities 79
- An ethnography of the standardization reform: A case of policy-making in the context of the Upper Perené Arawak community of Peru
