Abstract:

Many learners continue to struggle with acquiring the necessary skills to become successful readers since they are unable to read with comprehension. Learners may be able to read fluently without understanding hence they show difficulties with constructing meaning from texts. The study focused on strategies for improving reading comprehension and writing skills at Grade 9 level through story writing using collaborative strategy in one secondary school in the East London Education District. Vygotskian cognitive learning theory formed the theoretical framework for this study, aligned with language theories as relevant literature for this study. This study used qualitative approach with a case study as a method of inquiry which is underpinned and framed by the interpretive paradigm that guided the researcher as she generated the data. The comparison of the pre and post- assessment was applied as a means to validate and consolidate the argument that collaborative strategy using story writing impacted positively with the Grade 9(a) the intervention group in this particular school. Observation and interviews were employed using document analysis. Semi-structured interviews with the two Grade 9 English teachers and one Grade 8 English teacher were administered during break time in their offices on separate occasions that lasted for 40-50 minutes using interview protocol. The interviews were conducted in English since it was the language all the interviewees were comfortable with. The researcher recorded the responses for documentation. The teachers’ experiences were transcribed by the researcher verbatim in order to give the study more credibility. The teacher’s semi- structured interviews shaped this study insight fully as the researcher created themes that were presented and analysed. Involvement of the grade 8 teacher is relevant to determine the voice from a Grade 8 teacher as an informed voice, which filtered into understanding how and why Grade 9 learners are unable to read and write with understanding in their present grade. Data was generated from 15 Grade 9 learners who were selected from 3 Grade 9 classes using convenience sampling, comprising of five learners from Grade 9(a) intervention group, five learners from Grade 9(b) and five learners from Grade 9(c) non-intervention group who were selected for this study. All the learners were given a specific activity as a pre-assessment without intervention strategy. Grade 9(a) used story writing strategy as a collaborative intervention strategy. The findings revealed that five grade 9(a) learners, demonstrated significant improvement in the intervention activities they were given. Grade 9(b) and Grade 9(c) showed difficulty in the post-assessment as they were the non-intervention group. It was concluded that Grade 9(a) learners performed better in the post-assessment. This could be attributed to the use of story writing as collaborative intervention strategy to improve English reading comprehension and writing skills in Grade 9.

Keywords:

Intervention, reading, comprehension.