Dithakga Tša Gobala: A Collaborative Book Creation Project

A 2018 survey (Statistics South Africa, n.d.) reported that almost half of South African children aged four years had never read a book with their parents. In light of the current literacy crisis that South Africa is experiencing, providing appropriate materials to encourage and aid reading and storytelling activities is increasingly important but remains a challenge. Wordless picturebooks are an under researched literary genre in the South African context but, we argue, they can be used to spark a culture and love of reading because they can be enjoyed by readers of various backgrounds, language preferences, and literacy levels. Using participative research, the Dithakga Tsa Gobala project investigated whether and how the development of wordless picturebooks in local communities could help parents engage in cognitively stimulating activities such as shared reading and storytelling. Stories sourced from two communities were used to create a series of wordless picturebooks that were then circulated in the communities. Initial results indicated that not only did the project have a positive impact on the participants' self-concept and their relationship with reading, but that the books were also positively received by the wider community. Results indicated that the books were easy to use, created positive parent-child experiences, encouraged imagination, and that the content of the books was relatable. Challenges that arose included issues of authorship and misunderstandings between authors and illustrators. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that wordless picturebooks are a valuable genre in the South African reading landscape and that a participatory model for creating relevant, local content for reading is not only viable but also beneficial for communities and other stakeholders.

Can Youssef Write?

On the heels of research in the 1970s by Briton and others at the University of London, where they discovered that classrooms were disturbingly teacher-centered, the article Why Johnny Cant Write? , appeared in Newsweek in 1975 and set the academic world on a path of reform. Briton is credited with labeling the subsequent pedagogical movement that promoted writing as a means to engage students in the process of knowledge formation as 'writing across the curriculum' (WAC). The literary crisis the Newsweek article generated resulted in WAC programs being implemented in more than 50% of institutions Of higher education in the US by the late 1980s (Kemper, 2013). The assumption that writing is not just a means of expressing what was learned but is, in fact, an integral part of the learning process is the central thesis of this essay. The essay explores how writing has played a major role in the learning process in tertiary programs in the Western world and how WAC is beginning to inform learning at the tertiary level internationally. The paper argues that if such extraordinary measures were taken in a native-speaker context to avert a perceived literacy crisis, then a context, such as the University Of Balamand, where English is a second or even third language, should also put equally extraordinary measures into practice for the benefit of students.

How can speech-language therapists and audiologists enhance language and literacy outcomes in South Africa? (And why we urgently need to)

Basic education in South Africa faces a crisis as learners fail to achieve the necessary outcomes in the related areas of language and literacy. The aims of this paper are twofold. Firstly, we aim to describe and discuss the education crisis by outlining the educational landscape, relevant policy imperatives and implementation challenges in post-apartheid education. The systemic factors contributing to the literacy crisis are emphasised. Secondly, we argue that speech language therapists and audiologists (SLTAs) have a role to play in supporting basic education in South Africa through developing language and literacy. It is suggested that the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology must be socially responsive and population-focused in order to make meaningful contributions to development in South Africa. The potential roles of SLTAs are discussed with suggestions for further actions required by the professions to enable a contextually relevant practice in a resource-constrained environment.

Adolescent Literacy: Putting the Crisis in Context

In this article, Vicki Jacobs argues that as the nation strives to improve the literacy achievement of U.S. adolescents, educators must reframe the current "crisis" as a critical point on a continuum of historical efforts to address the particular challenges of postprimary-grade reading. Specifically, Jacobs examines the definition of adolescent literacy in the context of reading stages, which explain the contiguous and continuous relationship between primary-grade and later reading. She also discusses how historical relationships between skill and process instruction and between reading specialists and content-area faculty have contributed to the issues we face at this particular point on the continuum. Jacobs concludes by highlighting the opportunities ahead for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who are positioned to respond to the adolescent literacy crisis and improve adolescent literacy achievement.