CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT
1.8 O UTLINE OF THE T HESIS
Relevant literature is reviewed in Chapters 2 and 3 of this thesis. Chapter 2 considers the literature relating to reading and learning to read in general, tightly interwoven with theoretical perspectives, whereas Chapter 3 focuses on literature pertaining to this in South Africa.
There is a very large field of literature regarding reading and learning to read, dominated by the USA, and reflecting various disciplinary perspectives. The literature review begins by presenting broad paradigmatic views of the reading process and considering their methodological implications (dominant educational practices and dominant instructional materials used). In the process, two chasms of understanding about reading are elucidated:
the first chasm to be examined is the so-called ―Great Debate‖ about whether literacy is
essentially about translating graphic symbols into speech with an assumption that meaning will follow, an approach which leads to an emphasis on phonics instruction in learning to read (Bond & Dykstra, 1967; Chall, 1967), or whether literacy is fundamentally a meaning- making activity, an approach which emphasises treating phonics as but one kind of cue used in the process of reading and writing (K. S. Goodman, 2003, first published 1967; F Smith, 1994, first published 1971). The ―balanced‖ or ―integrated‖ approach, which attempts to bring together these opposing perspectives by arguing that reading proceeds both from the smallest units of language to meaning and from meaning to smaller units, is also presented (Cambourne, 2002; Freppon & Dahl, 1998). The second area of debate is the so-called ―Great Divide‖ in which the view of literacy as an autonomous activity (Ong, 1982) has been challenged by a view of it as socially situated practice (Street, 2003).
My own position in relation to these debates should be made transparent from the start: In my view reading is essentially a meaning-making activity and should be taught as such from the beginning. While the social dimension of literacy is an interesting aspect of study it remains uncontested that school literacy, a particular form of social practice, is about learning to read and to write for the purpose of finding and sharing information throughout life.
Having presented theories about the reading process, Chapter 2 goes on to focus on the theme of this dissertation, teaching reading for meaning. It considers research precedents regarding developing reading comprehension, vocabulary, general knowledge, fluency and other factors which contribute to reading for meaning. While I present the findings of recent large-scale, government-sponsored reviews of the teaching of early reading conducted in the USA (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000, otherwise known as the Report of the National Reading Panel or NRP), England (J. Rose, 2006) and Australia (Australian Government, 2005), I offer a critique of the consensus reached by these reviews and consider various other components of instruction which literature points to as important and which I consider to be of particular relevance to the data which this case has produced.
Chapter 2 then considers a number of debates and issues regarding the teaching of beginning reading which informed my analysis of the data in this research. The final section of Chapter 2 then considers how teachers‘ personal theories about reading are seen to relate to their practices (de Ford, 1985; Pajares, 1992; Wray, Medwell, Poulson, & Fox, 2002). This section is important to this study as it provides theoretical background and the conclusions of existing
research for a key aspect of the research: the link between theory and practice as evidenced in teachers‘ declarative knowledge and practice.
Chapter 3 contextualises the study in South Africa and South African research. Having considered evidence of a ―reading crisis‖ in South Africa, I review literature dealing with the learning and teaching of reading in the first 4 years of formal schooling in South Africa, published between 2000 and 2009 in peer-reviewed journals (for example, Condy, 2008;
Dixon, Place, & Kholowa, 2008; Hoadley, 2008; Lessing & De Witt, 2002; E. J. Pretorius &
Machet, 2004; M. Prinsloo & Stein, 2004). While I do not claim that this review is entirely comprehensive, every effort was made to find and review appropriate journal articles published in journals of educational research. A typology is developed which indicates the theoretical view of reading espoused by each writer, the key questions investigated, the method of investigation, the nature of the sample investigated and conclusions drawn. The extent to which this literature focuses on meaning in the reading process is drawn out. This review reveals large gaps in South African research about this crucial level of schooling.
The curriculum in operation in South Africa at the time of this research is then examined and related to the theoretical perspectives identified in the previous sections, in terms of key concepts, emphasis and guidance provided in terms of methodology. The positioning of attention to meaning in the curriculum and in other relevant policy documents at the time is addressed in this section.
Details of the research design and implementation are presented in Chapter 4. This study could broadly be described as an interpretative, qualitatively dominant case study. Chapter 4 begins with a justification for the research as a case study, bounded by category (the pedagogy of teaching reading), space (Grade 1 classrooms in one particular mainstream school in KwaZulu-Natal), time (2006) and theme (how meaning is positioned in the pedagogy studied). The case (or the unit of analysis) is the teaching of reading in Grade 1 at one particular school. The research paradigm and methodology, are related to the epistemology and ontology of the research. The study is a qualitatively dominant mixed methods investigation, influenced by ethnography and by participatory research. The study is intrinsic, and is designed to develop the case‘s own ―thick description‖ (i.e. issues, contexts and interpretations). Data was collected in 2006, using participatory techniques, classroom observation, text analysis, interviewing, questionnaires and children‘s drawings. Details of
research instruments and procedures are given in Chapter 4 and in the appendices. The chapter details ethical issues taken into account in the research and concludes by considering the trustworthiness of the data and the limitations of the research.
A challenge in designing this research was how to uncover how teachers teach reading in this case without being present in the classrooms throughout the year. I anticipated that the pedagogy of teaching reading could be clarified through examination of texts present in the classroom. Thus two of the research questions relate to an evaluation of this aspect of the methodology. Findings and conclusions in this regard can be found in Chapters 5 and 6.
The research findings are presented and analysed in Chapter 5. Findings are presented in terms of the research questions which guided the study, and according to the methods of data collection. However, holistic descriptions are provided in the form of three representative Vignettes of the teaching of reading and through syntheses of the findings. A number of photographs have been included in this chapter to illustrate the texts used in teaching reading as well as examples of children‘s drawings of their Literacy classrooms. The findings are then analysed with reference to the theories about reading and learning to read reported in Chapter 2. The dissertation concludes in Chapter 6 by drawing conclusions about each research question and considering implications for theory, policy and practice. The Appendices and References follow.