Investigation of Learners’ Reading Skills in English First Additional Language Grade 11 Classroom

Abstract

The study sought to reveal the causes, challenges experienced by learners when engaged in reading and to determine intervention strategies that could be used to improve reading skills among grade 11 learners.The study adopted grounded theory design, which is qualitative research design, to develop a theory from the reading experiences of learners. The purposive non-probability sample was used to sample 10 learners from grade 11 learners and five English First Additional Language(EFAL) teachersat a rural public junior secondary school in Maleboho Central Circuit, Capricorn District, Limpopo province, South Africa.Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and data was analysed thematically. The findings indicated that learners lack vocabulary skill to express themselves effortlessly and struggle with reading of words within a sentence which makes it difficult for them to understand what they read. Thus, the study recommends that teachers should be skilled through a workshop about various reading strategies and the application in the EFAL classroom to instil the love of reading among learners and to teach learners to integrate different reading strategies to improve their reading skill.