Early Grade Reading Study II: Evidence one year after the end of implementation

• In Event: Lesson from 10 years of the Early Grade Reading Studies series: learning to read in South Africa

Proposal

The Second Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS) was designed also designed as a randomised control trial and focused on strengthening the teaching of English as a First Additional Language in the Foundation Phase. This followed evidence from the first EGRS on the efficacy of the the coaching intervention. This second study provided an opportunity to test this intervention in a different context and in a different language. Similar to EGRS I, the intervention was a structured pedagogy programme consisting of lesson plans with integrated teaching materials, teacher training and ongoing coaching. The learners who were assessed as part of the study were tracked from Grade 1 through to Grade 4, with the Grade 4 assessment allowing for the evaluation of the sustainability of the initial impacts one year after the learners were not exposed to the intervention anymore.

The study evaluated two different delivery models – the first being the traditional model of paper-based lesson plans and regular in-person coaching visits, and the second exploring the role that technology can play through the provision of the lesson plans on tablets and regular support to the teachers via a ‘virtual coach’. The tablets provided in the second intervention were preloaded with the same lesson plans as in the first intervention, but also included audio and video clips to help teachers better understand the English phonic sounds and the teaching methodologies. The virtual coach was a specialist reading coach, similar to the coaches doing the in-person visits, but communicated with the teachers regularly via WhatsApp and phone calls.

The latest results are from the fifth wave of data, collected amongst Grade 4 learners at the end of 2020. This, however, was the year during which the COVID-pandemic disrupted schooling severely globally. Similar to what was seen in the first Early Grade Reading Study in the North West province, the latest results show that the on-site coaching intervention had a sustained impact. In EGRS II the sustained impact was seen on learners’ linguistic comprehension skills such as listening and reading comprehension, as well as English vocabulary. There was, however, some fade-out of the magnitude of the impact, with an 18% - 24% decrease in the impact on listening and reading comprehension. The small impact that was seen on the decoding skills in Grade 3 were not sustained one year later. Similarly, no evidence was found of any impact for the virtual coaching
intervention in Grade 4. The negative spillover effects that were seen on the Home Language outcomes at the end of Grade 3 however, were still evident one year later.

Author

• Kolosa Nonkenge, Department of Basic Education