Exploring how the Reading to Learn pedagogy can support Grade 4 learners’ reading comprehension in Life Skills.

Abstract

Reading comprehension is an important skill that facilitates the growth of many academic activities for students. Reading comprehension assists students in decoding written information, analysing, explaining, and expressing their own thoughts. The aim of this action research study was to explore how the Reading to Learn (R2L) pedagogy can support Grade 4 learners’ reading comprehension in the teaching of Life Skills. This study aimed first to examine how R2L can help learners with reading comprehension; specifically, how R2L encourages active learning and participation from students. Its second aim was to understand what the implications of R2L are on my literacy teaching. The study adopted a critical paradigm as its purpose was to improve my own teaching. Participants in this study were selected purposively as they were the learners in my class, and the aim of the action research project was to improve my classroom practices. Data was generated through pre- and post-tests, lesson observations using video recordings, and reflective journals written by me. The study's data collection period began in May 2021 and concluded in October 2021. The study’s qualitative research employed thematic analysis. Additionally, quantitative data were described using a descriptive statistic. The research is underpinned by Vygotsky's Social Learning Theory. The findings indicated that the use of R2L intervention (Scaffolded Literacy Strategies) was highly helpful to this group of Grade 4 learners, as it assisted them to read with understanding. Most learners in the R2L Group improved their test results in the reading comprehension post-test. This could be attributed to the R2L intervention because a comparable increase was not noticed in the control group post-test scores. During my implementation of the R2L intervention learner participation improved. More learners raised their hands and wanted to give answers; during sentence construction, there was interaction among the learners, as they cut out words in jumbled sentences and rearranged them correctly. On the other hand, in the class that were not taught using R2L, learners were not engaged in class discussion, with only two learners raising their hands and answering, while the rest were just listening to me and not responding to my questions. My teaching practice was enhanced by learning the scaffolding method to support my Grade 4 learners’ reading for meaning, while I guided them in all the stages of R2L intervention. R2L taught me that every learner can learn if teachers are able to scaffold their learning.