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Educational Benefits

Need for level appropriate African language reading materials.

The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) found that 81% of Grade 4 South African learners cannot read for meaning.

The poor results for African languages in particular can be attributed to a range of factors including a shortage of level appropriate and engaging reading materials in African languages. Additionally, books that do exist often do not reflect the realities of the majority of South African children, or are translated in ways that are linguistically age inappropriate.

Benefits of Ulwazi Lwethu reading resources

The Zenex Foundation’s Ulwazi Lwethu Project is instrumental in providing important learning materials for beginning readers in South Africa. The project has developed decodable graded readers (or texts) in nine African languages, and storybooks in 11 languages, adding English and isiMpondo to the 9 indigenous languages. This project meets a need for more high-quality materials in the African languages for Foundation Phase learners

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Carefully levelled readers in African languages are essential for classrooms as they are the primary materials used in group guided reading to provide children with texts that are ‘just-right’ in order to build up children’s fluency. When children are provided with texts which they can mostly read, their sense of control and autonomy increase, leading to improved self-efficacy.
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Ulwazi Lwethu material has been developed to provide a systematic and sequential introduction of phonic structures and relevant high frequency words.
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Texts are phonically regular and easily decodable within the context of meaningful, original stories supported by detailed, interesting illustrations, and linked directly to curriculum content.
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Each graded reader has an accompanying worksheet. This will provide learners with an opportunity and motivation to reread the text to construct meaning of what they read.
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The various classroom libraries on offer provide accessible options of carefully selected reading books for use in the classroom and at the home. The more the children read, the more their reading improves and the more they want to read.
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Fiction and non-fiction storybooks have been developed with increasing levels of difficulty starting with First Words for new readers becoming more complex up to First Paragraphs for more capable readers. Designed to be fun and engaging, these books help children learn how to read and encourage a love of reading.
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Written and illustrated by African authors and artists, the broad range of topics and CAPS-aligned Life Skills curriculum themes provide learners with genuine and original material that resonates with all South African people’s heritages and histories.

Addressing learning backlogs

These learning materials are more important than ever as the COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures, emphasising the importance of materials that teachers and students can leverage in remote settings, classroom settings and mixed learning environments. The learning backlogs as a result of the pandemic are ongoing.

The Ulwazi Lwethu readers offer up to five different reading levels for each Grade in the Foundation Phase. This levelling framework helps teachers to select the appropriate reading level book to meet the reading skill level that a learner is at. This allows for an enabling classroom that facilitates differentiation in the teaching of reading.

For example:

  • A capable learner in Grade 0 could read a Grade 1, Level 1 book, OR
  • An age-appropriate learner entering Grade 1, Term 1 would be ready to read a Grade 1, Level 1 book, OR
  • A Learner in Grade 2 or 3 who is struggling to read could be offered a Grade 1, Level 1 or 2 book to meet their reading level and build their confidence as they tackle more difficult levels.