The relationship between Grade 4 learners' reading literacy achievement and parental involvement in Mpumalanga

Abstract

My study aimed to examine the extent to which parents’ involvement is associated with Grade 4 learners reading literacy achievement in Mpumalanga. The Progress International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 report found that 78% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning (Howie. et al., 2017a). I used selected variables from the PIRLS 2016 home and school questionnaires to measure the extent of the relationship between learner reading achievement in Grade 4 and parental involvement. In addition, I conducted interviews with parents of Grade 4 children in Mpumalanga to gain a deeper understanding of parental involvement in their child’s education in terms of reading literacy. My study was guided by Epstein’s framework for six types of parental involvement created to help schools communicate with parents about their children's academic progress. I used a sequential explanatory mixed-method design based on the pragmatism paradigm. The quantitative data (1,025 Grade 4 learners with their parents in Mpumalanga) was gathered before the qualitative data (ten interviews with parents). For the quantitative data, multilevel analysis using HLM software showed that parents who read books with their child before the child went to primary school, parents who participated in their child’s reading outside school hours and parents being included in their child’s education by the school are the best predictors of Grade 4 reading literacy achievement. For the qualitative data, the findings indicated that parents understand that promoting English as first additional language is of great importance; however, they lack the skills and resources to teach English reading at home effectively. My study suggests that more research should be conducted on effective parenting strategies at home to teach their children to read.

Keywords: Parental involvement, reading literacy, PIRLS 2016, Grade 4 learners