Bilingual and scientific text reading: An eye gaze study of South African township learners

Abstract

Background: South African township learners are known to perform poorly in international tests, including reading and science. Language is a complicating variable as English, the learners’ second language (L2), is generally the language of learning and teaching, including for reading science texts.

Aim: The study’s objectives were to determine the factors limiting South African township learners’ comprehension of science texts so as to inform intervention efforts.

Setting: This study used eye-tracking equipment to measure higher-achieving South African township learners’ reading speeds, fixation durations and fixations per word for Sesotho (L1), English (L2) and science texts at various difficulty levels.

Methods: Reading gaze metrics were compared between languages and difficulty levels and against benchmarking levels and comprehension tests were administered.

Results: Learners were found to read very slowly, particularly for science texts. The number of fixations per word was typical of reading; there were few regressions and long fixation durations.

Conclusion: Results suggest that reading is not automated, even for L2, but rather that learners struggled to decode all texts. Longer fixations and higher comprehension scores for the Sesotho (L1) texts suggest that this decoding struggle was more thoroughly engaged in the vernacular L1. The number and length of fixations, with few regressions, may indicate minimal attempts at comprehension.

Contribution: The most basic aspects of decoding limit reading comprehension in both L1 and L2, and therefore, these should be the first skills targeted in the quest to improve science performance.