Teaching reading in Setswana foundation phase classrooms: How much phonics is too much?

Abstract

Background: Teaching reading in African languages has been challenging in the South African context, given the poor performance of South African learners in international literacy assessments such as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study PIRLS and, more recently, in the 2025 Funda Uphumelele National Survey (FUNS) by the Department of Basic Education. The continuous poor results are a serious call to action to address the reading crisis in South Africa. We argue that investigating teachers’ pedagogical practices can provide insights into how they teach initial reading in African languages.
Objectives: Using the active view of reading as a theoretical lens, the study explores the preparedness of four foundation phase Setswana teachers to teach reading in Setswana in Gauteng.
Method: The study employed a generic qualitative approach, with a case study design. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations with a sample of four Setswana foundation phase teachers. The data were analysed thematically to derive the themes.
Results: The data analysis revealed that teachers spent more time teaching phonics and oral language activities in Grades 2 and 3. Less time was spent on teaching language comprehension skills that support reading comprehension.
Conclusion: This finding highlights the problematic nature of overly teaching decoding skills at the expense of language comprehension skills.
Contribution: The contribution of this study is to highlight the awareness of teacher readiness, training and the importance of both word recognition and language comprehension skills for the development of skilled reading.