An Investigation into the Impact of an Extensive Reading Programme on the Reading Proficiency and Reading Motivation of a Class of Grade 9 Learners

Abstract

Although more than twenty years have passed since South Africa became a democracy and one education department was established, learners from poor socio-economic backgrounds still do not achieve good results in their matric examination. Despite the fact that educational opportunities should be equal for all learners, previously disadvantaged learners perform extremely poorly in national and international reading assessments. And because reading is a gateway skill, poor reading proficiency impacts negatively on learning across the curriculum. This contributes to major dropout rates and reinforces social problems such as unemployment. The literature on reading proficiency and reading motivation suggests that extensive reading programmes are successful both in developing and improving learners" reading proficiency and in motivating learners to adopt regular reading as a habit. Regular reading could also incidentally improve learners writing and verbal skills.