ABSTRACT

South Africa and Namibia like many other African countries, face challenges in literacy and this
state of affairs compromises the learners’ academic successes in schools. From the reports of the
Standardised Assessment Tests (SATs) in Namibia and Annual National Assessments (ANAs)in
South Africa and Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality
(SAQMEQ) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)which are normally
conducted in the country to evaluate the literacy (and numeracy) skills of learners emerges a
picture that the Namibian and South African learners always perform worst. The study therefore
sought to explore and enhance their literacy skills through an interventionist approach using the
RtL pedagogy as a platform that enables this enhancement. The data generation tool used were
three research reports from three teachers who carried out interventions applying the Reading to
Learn pedagogy in their classes after having been trained in the pedagogy during an in-service
programme in both South Africa and Namibia. From the research reports sprung a realisation
that the RtL pedagogy can, to some extent, positively impact the learners’ literacy development.
The factors that enabled and constrained such developments were discussed. However, what
emerged from the findings is that some notable developments in the reading and writing skills
were realised in learners. The conclusion of the study is that the learners’ skills of reading and
writing can be enriched through the RtL pedagogy implementation, and a suggestion on the
limitations of the study for better improvement was provided.

Key words: Reading to Learn, SACMEQ, PIRLS, SATs, ANAs, Interventionist, pedagogy