Learners are hard at work enjoying various phonological awareness activities

Prof Mia le Roux, Prof Salomé Geertsema, and Dr Carmen Milton from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology launched a literacy enhancement project in primary schools in Gauteng. Currently, the project has been rolled out at a primary school in the Pretoria Central Business District (CBD). This project was facilitated by the technological input of Sun Books, an affiliate of the World Literacy Foundation, both non-profit organisations. Sun Books seeks to merge literacy with technology. Hence, this exciting collaborative project aims to enhance literacy by providing technical educational resources.

Many children worldwide are taught in classrooms with no Internet and limited access to educational resources. To contribute to addressing the dearth of educational resources, Sun Books provided tablets preloaded with the Sun Books app. The app contains an e-library of content available offline and/or through other devices. This innovative technological tool includes literacy enhancement activities based on localised educational resources for children in remote locations. Sun Books believes that the incorporation of local cultural content, stories, sounds, images, and the active participation of the community in which they are working is the key to educational success. The materials include e-books with age-appropriate stories, phonological awareness skills, phonics, and spelling activities, inter alia. In addition to the material available in the Sun Books app, the researchers got permission from HearBuilder^® to use a free trial of their award-winning app for the duration of the current research project. HearBuilder^® is an online software program for students PreK–5 that focuses on improving listening, auditory comprehension, and memory retrieval skills. HearBuilder^® consists of four sections: Following Directions, Phonological Awareness, Auditory Memory, and Sequencing. The activities in each of these sections help children build a strong foundation for literacy and reading.

The researchers undertook this opportunity to engage in community engagement and literacy enhancement as a research project that aims to determine if the implementation of the electronic materials and tools will enhance the literacy skills of grade 3 English second-language learners.

In March 2024, the researchers and a team of students from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology visited the school to do hearing screening and assessment of literacy skills—including early literacy skills. The group of students assessed the participants as a pre-test procedure. Teachers were trained to use the electronic materials. The materials will be used with an experimental group of participants to determine whether they increase the group’s literacy skills. Post-test assessment is planned for the end of the year. The participating students benefited from their involvement in that they gained practical experience in a resource-limited community.