A survey of Grade 8 English first additional language learners’ online reading preferences and challenges

Abstract

While well-resourced schools have the advantage of better equipping their learners for online learning, which includes online reading, learners in rural and township schools are at a disadvantage, resulting in the academic exclusion of many learners. In 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst to promote and accelerate the online reading process, which is currently emerging as the predominant reading behavior among learners in South Africa and the rest of the world. The aim of this paper is thus to investigate and understand the online reading preferences and challenges of Grade 8 English First Additional Language (EFAL) learners from three schools in an underdeveloped and under-resourced township located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The paper was quantitative in nature. A survey questionnaire was used to obtain data from the purposively selected research sample that consisted of 303 Grade 8 EFAL learners, and the data were analyzed quantitatively. The findings indicated that most of the learners access online texts through their mobile phones, owing to the absence of computers both at home and at school. Furthermore, the findings showed that most of the learners experienced challenges concerning online reading in English. Subsequently, almost half of the learners who participated in the study indicated that they needed assistance when they engaged in online reading in English for academic purposes.