| Summary: | The report by the National Reading Panel (2002) in the USA and Department of
Basic Education identified critical components of reading skills learners should
master should they wish to progress from preschool non–readers to competent
readers by the end of Grade 3. These components are phonological awareness,
fluency, vocabulary, decoding and comprehension. Reading literacy profiles
combine information from tests of the above–mentioned reading components to give
an overview of a learner’s strengths and needs with regard to reading for purposes
of teaching intervention and support.
A reading programme cannot be successful without continuous assessment,
because the effectiveness of teaching and learning needs to be measured.
Assessment not only enables teachers to determine to which extent objectives are
met, but this process also identifies learners who need additional support and who
can possibly even benefit from alternative teaching methods. Furthermore, it is
important for teachers to differentiate regarding learners’ reading abilities and to
group them accordingly, to identify the shortcomings in the reading programme and
to improve it, and finally, to ensure that each learner masters the skills required for
successful reading.
This research was aimed at determining the reading literacy profile of Grade 3
learners regarding phonological awareness, reading fluency, vocabulary and reading
comprehension and also to determine the relationship between phonological
awareness, reading fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. In addition, an
attempt was made to establish what the best predictor of reading comprehension is,
as well as what the implications of these results are for teaching support and
progress monitoring of grade 3 learners.
Data collection was characterised by the use of screening assessments that were
developed as part of the international SANPAD project. Pearson product moment
Inhoudsopgawe correlations were used to determine the relationship between phonological
awareness, reading fluency, vocabulary, word recognition and reading
comprehension, ANOVA was used to establish whether three or more means of
classes in schools were statistically different from one another. A post hoc Tukey
test was done to determine where the differences between the different classes
were. Multiple and stepwise regression analyses were used to determine the best
predictor of reading comprehension.
The results indicated that the profiles of the Grade 3 learners were divers with
particularly differences in schools. The profiles showed learners’ achievement in
reading comprehension and fluency was not up to standard. The Grade 3 learners
also had difficulty with decoding and vocabulary. The results showed that the best
indicators of reading comprehension of Grade 3 learners are fluency and vocabulary.
By using the assessment information correctly, teachers can adapt teaching and
assessment based on each learner’s unique reading profile and make adaptations
accordingly, which will immediately benefit learning and progress. === Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.
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