Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

While resourced schools have the advantage of better equipping their learners for online learning, which includes online reading, the learners in rural and township schools are at a disadvantage, resulting in the academic exclusion of many learners. In 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst to promote and accelerate the online reading process, which is currently emerging as the new reading behaviour among learners in South Africa. The aim of this paper is thus to investigate and understand the online reading preferences and challenges of Grade 8 English FAL learners from three schools in an underdeveloped and under-resourced Township located in the Gauteng province in South Africa. The study used the Socio-cultural theory of literacy framework, coupled with a quantitative research approach. A survey questionnaire was used to obtain data from the purposively selected research sample that consisted of 300 Grade 8 English FAL learners and The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS), was used to analysed the questionnaire obtained data. The findings indicated many learners access online facilities through their mobile phones, due to the absence of computer facilities both at home and at school. Furthermore, the findings showed that most of the learners agreed that they find online reading in English to be difficult, and subsequently almost half the number of learners who participated in the study indicated that they need assistance when they engage in academic online reading in English.