Promoting Cognitive Development in Children from Minority Language Groups

Schroeder, Leila

doi:10.18848/1447-9494/cgp/v14i07/45396

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“…Comprehension includes the ability to use prior knowledge to derive meaning from what is read (Hudson, ). Literature that reflects the linguistic and social contexts with which the readers are familiar will help them develop comprehension skills from the moment they enter school (Schroeder, ).…”

Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, implementation of this language policy is inconsistent in Kenyan classrooms for a variety of reasons; instead, instruction is given primarily in English (Trudell & Piper, ). Kenya's colonial history and the current economic influence of English in sub‐Saharan Africa have given the English language a perceived value, which increases incentives for English to be used in classrooms, although English skills are quite limited in many parts of Kenya (Nyaga, ; Schroeder, ; Trudell & Piper, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Oral reading fluency and comprehension in Kenya: reading acquisition in a multilingual environment

Piper¹,

Schroeder²,

Trudell³

2015

Journal Research in Reading

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102

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Reading research has shown that variable relationships exist between measures of oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, depending on whether the language of the text is the reader's first language or an additional language. This paper explores this phenomenon, using reading assessment data for 2,000 Kenyan children in two or three languages: English, Kiswahili and one of two mother tongues, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The assessment data allowed us to compare reading and comprehension rates across languages. The data indicated that many children could read English words more easily than words in Kiswahili or their mother tongue; nevertheless, their reading comprehension was significantly lower in English than in Kiswahili, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The paper concludes that emphasising English reading fluency is an inefficient route to gaining reading comprehension skills because pupils are actually attaining minimal oral reading fluency in English and only modest comprehension skills in their own languages. The evidence also demonstrates that Kenya's national language policy of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the early primary grades is consistently ignored in practice.

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Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%