Abstract

STEINKE, Kellie  and  WILDSMITH-CROMARTY, Rosemary. Added benefits: Is additional training sufficient to maximize effectiveness for teachers of reading?. IJTL [online]. 2021, vol.16, n.2, pp.37-56. ISSN 2519-5670.

Research in South Africa indicates that the current pre-service teacher-training syllabus is inadequate to prepare teachers to effectively teach reading in the earlier grades. This lack of preparedness results in teachers who continue to use outdated, traditional teaching methods with their learners. As a result, additional, in-service teacher training becomes important. As part of a larger research project, observing and recording detailed classroom practice in the Midlands area of KwaZulu-Natal between 2015 and 2017, involving two schools and eight teachers, this paper reports on whether additional training in the teaching of reading was sufficient to enable teachers to lead learners from decoding to comprehension across grades 3 and 4. Findings were that, in light of inadequate teacher preparation in initial teacher training institutions, additional training for teachers of reading is necessary yet insufficient to change entrenched, embedded teaching styles. It is recommended that mentoring, in the form of coaching, be considered in addition to training.

Keywords : coaching; literacy; mentoring; pedagogy; teaching of reading; teacher training.

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