The effect of orthography on learning to read in Xitsonga language

Introduction Xitsonga is recognized as an official language in South Africa together with 11 languages: English, Afrikaans, South African Sign Language, Sesotho languages (Sepedi, Setswana, Sesotho), Nguni languages (isiSwati, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, and isiZulu), and Tshivenda. Although these languages are recognized for official usage in the South African Constitution, each language uses its unique phonological, morphological and orthographical features. Some, such as Xitsonga are transparent (using a one-to-one grapheme-phoneme correspondence) and agglutinating, whereby affixes and word stems are glued together to form new meanings (Ardington et al., 2020). Others in the case of Indo-European languages such as English are analytic (using word order and auxiliary words such as prepositions and articles to convey grammatical relationships between the words in a sentence) and opaque with one letter representing more than one sound, e.g., tough, though, bough, or cough. (Ziegler, Stone & Jacobs, 1997). Given the one-to-one bidirectional mappings between graphemes and phonemes, learning to read in African Indigenous languages seems easier for children. However, research has shown that learners can still perform poorly in reading despite their languages, using transparent orthographic systems (Spaull, Pretorius & Mohohlwane, 2020). Several studies (e.g., McClung, 2012; Borleffs et al., 2019; Hayes-Harb & Barrios, 2021; Hofmeyer et al., 2023) which measured the association of reading performance with orthographic systems of various languages have been conducted. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the relationship between the orthographic systems of Xitsonga and the ability to learn to read. Objective and research question To close the gap highlighted above, the study aims to: • Investigate the effect of orthography on learning to read, using Xitsonga Grade 1 learners’ performance on word reading (accuracy) and oral reading fluency measures. The aim is addressed by the following research question: • How does the orthographic system affect learning to read in Xitsonga? Methodology A quantitative approach was used to assess 75 Grade 1 learners’ accuracy and fluency in reading out-of-context and in-context words. The systematic random sampling technique was used to select 75 Grade 1 learners aged between 6 and 8 years in five different schools categorized according to the quintile system, per the South African National Curriculum Policy. For example, School A is categorized under quintile 4 representing well-resourced schools, while the four other schools (Schools B, C, D, and E) are quintile 2, representing under-resourced schools. I worked with intact Grade 1 groups in these schools. Within the groups, 15 learners were selected through systematic random sampling. For example, from a classroom of 62 learners, a sample of 15 learners was required; therefore, every fifth learner was selected from the class list. The learners were assessed in Term 1 (March 2018) and again in Term 3 (September 2018) across the five early reading measures (phonological and phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, word reading, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension) in Xitsonga. Data from testing learners was analyzed descriptively and inferentially by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software, Version 29. Results The accuracy tasks (Regu_W, GPC_W, and SC_W) showed low mean scores, with a high percentage of floor effects, especially for syllable complexity accuracy at 78.7%. The fluency tasks (Regu_F, GPC_F, and SC_F) showed variations, with a substantial percentage of floor effects (Regu_F: 37.3%, GPC_F: 52%, and SC_F: 53.3%). Learners could not even attempt reading a single word fluently across the tasks at the 25th percentile. Discussion The findings demonstrated poor performance on both reading tasks (i.e., at the accuracy and fluency levels), with a high percentage (78.7%) of zero scores in reading out-of-context words with complex syllables, which has negative implications for attaining fluency. These findings align with Hofmeyer et al.’s findings (2023), which demonstrated a high percentage of zero scores in reading Tshivenda complex consonant blends. Xitsonga like other African agglutinative languages, has a rich morphological system with complex consonant blends. Therefore, children whose decoding skills have not been developed adequately through practising these complex clusters may struggle to read words accurately and fluently, explaining the high percentage of the floor effects mentioned above. Conclusion The findings revealed that while the orthographic structures and features of Xitsonga have implications for reading development, its complex features, for example, digraphs (pf), trigraphs (tlh), 4-letter (ntsh) and 5-letter (ndzhw) consonant blends) pose challenges for early reading development. These findings emphasize the need for targeted instructional strategies to address orthographic complexities during early learning. The study contributes to understanding orthographic structures and features of Xitsonga, guiding teachers in fostering effective early reading instructions. 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