Summary

Literacy levels in South Africa are still reason for great concern, as confirmed by assessments conducted nationally and internationally. There seems to be an emphasis on teaching decoding skills with limited development of comprehension skills in the lower grades. Thus learners struggle to cope as they progress to higher grades where they are expected to read for meaning and read to learn. These problems may be associated with the inadequate training and limited knowledge of teaching reading of many South African teachers. This book tells the stories of three South African rural school teachers' reading experiences and development, and the challenges they encounter when developing their learners' reading skills. The manner in which the teachers who participated in this study learnt to read at home before starting school, in Primary and High School, how they were trained to teach reading, the challenges they encounter when teaching reading and their readiness to implement the CAPS was examined. By exploring the participants' experiences of learning to read, their training to teach reading, and current classroom practices, the effects of the former two were visible on the latter.