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Second language (L2) reading research suggests that there is a complex interplay between L2 proficiency, first language (L1) reading and L2 reading. However, not much is known about the effect of L1 proficiency on L1 reading, and of L1 reading on L2 reading, or vice versa, in bilingual settings when readers have few opportunities for extensive reading in their L1. The relationships between L1 (Northern Sotho) and L2 (English) proficiency and L1 and L2 reading were examined in Grade 7 learners attending a high-poverty primary school in South Africa, during the course of a year when a reading intervention programme was implemented. The effect that attention to reading and accessibility of books had on the learners' reading proficiency in both languages was examined, and the factors that predicted academic performance were analysed. When the learners were engaged in more reading, L2 reading contributed more variance to L1 reading than L1 proficiency. Reading in both languages also contributed significantly to academic performance. The study highlights the need for more cross-linguistic reading research in different educational settings.One of the central issues in second language (L2) reading research, first articulated by Alderson (1984), revolves round the question: to what extent is L2 reading a language or a reading problem? The African continent is characterised by linguistic diversity but due to its colonial past, the majority of learners in Sub-Saharan Africa do not do their schooling in their home language but through the medium of a former colonial language. If schooling does occur in the home language, it does so for a few years only, before switching to the former colonial language. Schooling in Africa tends therefore to be characterised by literacy acquisition in an L2, or by some form of bilingual schooling where initial literacy is acquired in the home language and a switch is later made to L2 literacy. Africa thus offers an ideal setting for studying the language/reading questions that preoccupy much of L2 reading research. Yet surprisingly little research has emerged from this rich context.In this article, we examine these language/reading questions from an African perspective, using data from a high-poverty primary school in an urban South African setting.

Much research exists about South

Background: Reading development in agglutinating African languages is a relatively under-researched area. While numerous studies highlight the low comprehension levels among learners reading in African languages in South Africa, little has been done to probe beneath this ‘comprehension iceberg’ in terms of decoding skills.Aim: As a tentative step towards benchmarking in African languages, we analyse the sub-components of reading across three languages (Northern Sotho, Xitsonga and isiZulu), to better understand the nature of alphabetic knowledge, word reading and fluency in these languages, how these relate to one another, and how accuracy and speed relate to comprehension.Setting: Data was obtained from 785 Grade 3 learners across three African languages in three provinces in South Africa.Methods: The early grade reading assessment (EGRA) framework was adapted to the written features of the three languages to assess letter-sounds, single-word reading, non-word reading, oral reading fluency (ORF) and oral comprehension.Results: We present results on fluency, accuracy and comprehension and their interrelationships in these morphologically rich languages. While differences emerged between the conjunctive and disjunctive orthographies, strong relations occurred across the languages between letter-sound knowledge and word reading, word reading and oral reading fluency, and ORF and reading comprehension. Results suggest minimum thresholds of accuracy and ORF in each language, below which it is virtually impossible to read for meaning.Conclusion: There is a strong need for language-specific norms and benchmarks for African languages. Preliminary minimum decoding thresholds for comprehension found in these three languages serve as a move in that direction.