‘It's like a compass which I use to find direction’: Findings and learning from an evaluation of an App designed to support the teaching of reading comprehension in rural and township schools in South Africa

South Africa has low literacy levels and teachers face multiple challenges in their endeavours to elevate levels of literacy. This is especially prevalent in rural and township schools where teachers face the additional challenges of isolation, limited resources and access to professional developmen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Literacy (Oxford, England) England), 2024-05, Vol.58 (2), p.178-189
Main Authors: Carter, Jane, Pillay, Pravina, Podpadec, Tessa, Gina, Jethro, Khumalo, Nontobeko, Knight, Ben, Matthews, Paul, Mthethwa, Lindiwe, Vickers‐Hulse, Karan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collaboration
Independent Reading
Literacy
mobile App
Preservice teachers
Professional development
Reading comprehension
Reading Instruction
Teaching
teaching and learning
Teaching Methods
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:South Africa has low literacy levels and teachers face multiple challenges in their endeavours to elevate levels of literacy. This is especially prevalent in rural and township schools where teachers face the additional challenges of isolation, limited resources and access to professional development. This article reports on the findings and learning from a preliminary research study which piloted a handheld mobile phone App. This collaborative project, between a university in KwaZulu‐Natal and one in England, aimed to support in‐service and preservice teachers in rural and township settings to use the App to assess and match books to learners' (aged 9–12) stage of reading development in order to facilitate their independent reading and provide teachers with a range of strategies for teaching comprehension that could supplement other professional development available. In‐service teachers (n = 120) and preservice teachers (n = 93) took part in this mixed‐methods study. The main finding from the study was that whilst participants were positive about the App, many did not access the App independently. This article discusses the broader issues, including participants' foundational knowledge and literacy research participation considerations, that may have underpinned this finding in this collaborative Global North and South research.
ISSN:1741-4350
1741-4369
DOI:10.1111/lit.12361