Reading between the Lines: Contributing Factors that Affect Grade 5 Student Reading

This paper reports on the results of a study which purpose was to identify and explain relationships between some major factors associated with successful reading at Grade 5 level in South African primary schools. In South Africa, grave concerns with regards to low levels of student achievement pervade research initiatives and educational debates. Despite considerable investments in educational inputs (such as policy and resources) and processes (such as curriculum provision and teacher support), outcomes (such as student achievement) remain disappointingly low. The South African population is characterized by great diversity and variation. With 11 official languages, current educational policy in South Africa advocates an additive bilingualism model and students in Grade 1 to 3 are taught in their mother tongue. Thereafter, when these students progress to Grade 4, the language of learning and teaching changes to a second language, which in most cases is English. At this key developmental stage students are also expected to advance from learning to read to a stage where they can use reading in order to learn. With this complexity of issues in mind, Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to determine the effect of a number of explanatory variables at studentand school level on reading achievement as outcome variable, while controlling for language using the South African PIRLS 2006 data. Utilizing Creemers’ Comprehensive Model of Educational Effectiveness as theoretical point of departure, this paper will focus on the results of an overall South African model with studentand school level variables.