Improving Literacy in Africa: Changes Needed in Initial Reading in African Languages, and in Learning English as a Second Language

Solutions are sought for the low level of literacy in Africa, e.g., in Malawi and South Africa, where international tests indicate that 80% of African children cannot read with understanding at the end of Grade 4, not in the home language (HL) or in English second language (ESL). Two crucial pedagogic causes are not mentioned in the literature: Firstly, the phonics approach to reading is prescribed, but African children cannot say some letter-sounds the way Europeans do, unless they learnt good English early. The syllabic approach to reading is more suited to Africa's syllabic languages. Secondly, children are taught reading in two languages simultaneously, confusing them with two sets of letter-sounds. It is due to teachers’ manuals for ESL in Grade 1, e.g., SA’s untried _Lesson Plan_, which contradicts the Government’s policy of reading only in the HL in Grade 1 while learning ESL orally. The _Lesson Plan_ prescribes much WRITTEN ESL from early in Grade 1, depriving children in two ways: confusion adds to reading problems, and they cannot acquire sufficient English from the written words, so that they fail to understand what they later read or memorise in English. Regarding the last issue, this paper also reviews empirical research on teaching ESL. It is concluded that there is a need for more research and for new approaches to teaching in Grade 1, both the teaching of initial reading and the teaching of ESL.