Three themes were identified after analysing the data. The first theme described classroom strategies that teachers used to manage reading and spelling difficulties in the foundation phase. The second theme highlighted the challenges teachers encounter when addressing these difficulties. Lastly, the third theme focused on teachers’ awareness of the role of SLTs and potential areas for collaboration.
Theme 1: Classroom strategies used by teachers to manage reading and spelling difficulties
Teachers described a range of methods and strategies that they implement to teach reading, spelling and comprehension in the foundation phase. Most teachers reported relying predominantly on phonics-based instruction and using letter-sound association activities to develop learners’ literacy skills:
‘Phonics sounds are taught daily in the foundation phase. Learners are encouraged to unite to write their sentences. The use of a dictionary is taught as well, and sight words are flashed.’ (33-year-old, Grade 1, English, 11 years exp [BEd])
Teachers engage learners in phonological awareness tasks, including segmenting words into individual sounds, blending phonemes, identifying rhyming patterns and manipulating sounds to form new words:
‘I teach learners how to sound words phonetically as well as the use pictures for understanding and prompt learners with questions.’ (43-year-old, Grade 1, English, 10 years exp [BEd])
Teachers reported that they employ various strategies to facilitate reading, spelling and comprehension skills in the classroom. They frequently used flashcards, group reading activities, sentence construction exercises, repetitions, daily morning drills and homework tasks to reinforce reading and spelling:
‘I use Flashcards, phonics, and big books for the entire class, sight words are flashed.’ (33-year-old, Grade 1, English, 11 years exp [BEd])
To support comprehension, teachers incorporated guided comprehension practices, listening activities and visual stimuli:
‘Listening comprehensions are done before written comprehension. The learners are given a sequence of instructions to see if they can follow instructions. Written comprehensions are read to learners.’ (40-year-old, English, 9 years exp [BEd])
‘Use pictures to assist with knowledge and comprehension of what the passage/story is about.’ (40-year-old, Grade 1, English, 18 years exp [Dipl])
Data collected showed that teachers used a range of methods to evaluate learners’ progress in reading and spelling. They conduct continuous assessments that include frequent spelling tests, reading comprehension activities and both individual and group assessments. Teachers reported that they systematically monitored learners’ performance through observations and recorded progress using tools such as record sheets and mark books. The evaluation was performed daily or weekly using a combination of oral and written tasks:
‘On a class list with specific headings for each spelling/skill/reader.’ (40-year-old, Grade 1, English, 18 years exp [Dipl])
‘In the foundation phase, we have weekly spelling test.’ (43-year-old, Grade 1, English, 10 years exp [BEd])
Learners with reading and/or spelling difficulties were identified through classroom observations, the use of informal and formal assessments and analysis of learners’ performance in classroom tasks:
‘I observe learners in the classroom and learners who cannot recognise letters of the alphabet.’ (Age unknown, Grade, R, isiZulu, 10 years exp, [BEd])
To manage and support these learners, teachers implemented targeted remediation, grouping based on learners’ needs, and differentiated instruction:
‘learners are grouped together, and the concept is re-taught, and more one-on-one time is given.’ (40-year-old, Grade 1, English, 18 years exp [Dipl])
‘Differentiated instruction, small group intervention, provide different tasks & regular feedback.’ (28-year-old, Grade 3, English, 3 years exp [BEd])
Additionally, support for learners was provided outside of regular class hours, where they utilised supplementary resources and were encouraged to engage in peer-assisted learning. Furthermore, they reinforced learning through regular practice, assigned homework and encouraged parental involvement to extend support beyond the classroom environment:
‘We use lunch times and after school to provide individual assistance.’ (40-year-old, Grade 2, isiZulu, 5 years exp [BEd])
‘Assist learners during breaks or any spare time.’ (29-year-old, Grade 2, English, 7 years exp [BEd])
Strategies used to manage reading and spelling difficulties
This study’s findings show that the instructional approaches used are consistent with the findings of previous studies (Hugo 2021; Mtshali & Mashiya 2022; Pretorius & Klapwijk 2016; Venketsamy & Sibanda 2021), which have highlighted the effectiveness of phonics in the South African context, where systematic teaching of letter-sound correspondence forms a cornerstone of literacy development. There is value in systemic, explicit phonics instruction, as documented in the literature. Ehri, Johnston & Thompson (2011) emphasised that structured phonics instruction supports learners’ ability to decode unfamiliar words and build spelling accuracy. Supporting this, Connelly et al. (2001) found that children who were instructed in phonics produced more contextually appropriate errors that retained more correct letters in their spelling than those who were not instructed in phonics. However, research by Fesi et al. (2020) identified inconsistencies in the application of phonics methods in South Africa, with some teachers demonstrating limited proficiency in implementing phonics-based strategies effectively. This inconsistency highlights a training gap and underscores the need for targeted professional development to strengthen teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, ensuring consistent, evidence-based literacy instruction is delivered across diverse learning contexts and classrooms (Schaffler, Nel & Booysen 2019).
Research, however, recommends that phonics be embedded in a balanced literacy framework that also facilitates comprehension strategies (Hugo 2021; Riddle 2015; Venketsamy & Sibanda 2021). This understanding, therefore, shows that the effectiveness of phonics-based instruction depends on the integration of other reading strategies. Research has shown that vocabulary knowledge is critical when supporting comprehension. Snowling, Hulme and Nation (2020) argue that learners require not only familiarity with the words they are taught but also a depth of knowledge, which encompasses not only how well the words are understood but also how flexibly they can be applied in different contexts. A rich vocabulary base facilitates the activation of background knowledge and the construction of meaning during reading tasks, both of which are essential for comprehension. Learners with under-developed language structures, particularly those whose LoLT differs from their home language, may struggle to integrate meaning during reading tasks, which can prevent them from drawing inferences, connecting ideas and fully engaging in academic text. Additionally, limited background knowledge further impedes reading success. This difficulty happens when learners are unable to connect information to prior knowledge or activate relevant semantic networks during reading (Zhang, Morshedi & Jiang 2024).
The use of flashcards and sight word drills has been supported by literature for rapid vocabulary development (Stoffelsma 2019). Most teachers utilise this method to expose learners to a broader vocabulary base. According to Pretorius and Klapwijk (2016), there is an increasing consensus that specialised knowledge is necessary for teaching literacy skills, and a need remains for more focused capacity-building and teacher development programmes aligned with CAPS (Maharajh, Nkosi & Mkhize 2016).
Evaluation methods used to monitor progress
A range of national and international assessments has been used in South Africa to evaluate literacy performance across grades, although some have been discontinued. As presented by Govender and Hugo (2020), these include Systemic Evaluation (SE), ANA, Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), the Southern and East Africa Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) and the PIRLS. These assessments are introduced at various times and points with the intention of monitoring and improving literacy development, informing educational policy and enhancing learner outcomes. However, the effectiveness of some has been compromised by inconsistencies in its implementation, limited validity and insufficient alignment with the linguistic and curricular context of South African classrooms (Spaull 2013).
Despite these limitations, literacy assessment remains a critical component of the educational system. Literacy assessment tools provide data that the education department can use to monitor learner progress, inform instructional planning and evaluate the effectiveness of national policies. Importantly, they serve as a valuable resource for identifying learners needing targeted intervention and support (Pretorius & Spaull 2016). Beyond the system-level monitoring, these assessments can showcase the instructional efforts of teachers. When assessments are properly designed, they can accurately reflect the impact of classroom-based strategies, highlight areas of teacher success and draw attention to pedagogical challenges that require systemic support. In this way, assessment outcomes can be crucial in supporting teachers, ensuring accountability, while advocating for professional development and resource allocation where needed.
Theme 2: Challenges and barriers encountered by teachers when managing reading and spelling in the foundation phase
This theme explored challenges and barriers that teachers experience when managing reading and spelling in the foundation phase. Three challenges emerged from the data, highlighting language differences, poor phonological awareness skills and the lack of exposure prior to Grade R formal schooling. Findings also revealed a barrier related to the learner’s motivation, whereby boys were reported to be unwilling to work on these skills.
Most teachers found that the language difference was a factor affecting learners’ ability to learn how to read and spell. Learners were reported to struggle with learning reading and spelling skills because of the difference between their home language and the language used for learning and teaching:
‘It is difficult for learners as English is not their first language, they understand the subject better if it is taught in their home language.’ Age unknown, Grade, R, isiZulu, 10 years exp [BEd])
The discrepancy between the home language and the language of teaching and learning affected how learners appreciate their subjects. Learners were reported to enjoy and understand isiZulu because it was taught in their home language:
‘Learners enjoy isiZulu subject because it’s their home language.’ (33-year-old, Grade 1, English, 11 years exp [BEd])
The study’s findings also showed that a lack of exposure to literacy before starting formal schooling and outside of the school environment contributed to children’s reading and spelling difficulties:
‘They have no prior English language skills, and some have not attended grade R.’ (40-year-old, Grade 1, English, 18 years exp [Dipl])
Notably, teachers observed that most learners begin or are enrolled in school with under-developed phonological awareness skills, which hinder their ability to acquire foundational literacy skills:
‘Learners’ lack foundation, because they were not previously exposed to books/reading at home, resulting in learning gaps because the children lack understanding.’ (28-year-old, Grade 3, English, 3 years exp [BEd])
The home environment was reported as not supporting the development of these skills:
‘Most learners do not get enough practice outside of school, at home in the language used at school.’ (37-year-old, Grade R, English, 3 years exp [BEd])
Learners were reported by teachers to have difficulties mastering phonological awareness skills, which are important for reading and spelling development. Learners struggled with identifying letters, reported having poor letter-sound memory and decoding skills and had difficulty breaking down words into syllables:
‘The learners’ letter-sound relationship-memory is poor, as a result, they are unable to spell sight words.’ (28-year-old, Grade 3, English, 3 years exp [BEd])
‘Learners write letters backwards, unable to identify sounds and cannot blend syllables, learners cannot break down words.’ (53-year-old, Grade 3, English, 3 years exp [BEd])
Language of learning and teaching
This study found that the language of instruction affects teaching and the acquisition of reading and spelling skills in the foundation phase. Most learners who are EL2 experienced difficulties acquiring the skills necessary to learn to read and spell because they did not understand the instructions in the language of learning and teaching. Language barriers remain a significant challenge in the acquisition of literacy skills. The findings of this study contribute to the existing body of literature that highlights the mismatch between learners’ home language and LoLT (Dreyer 2017; Naidoo et al. 2014; Snyder & Fenner 2021; Venketsamy & Sibanda 2021). The use of English as a medium of instruction in the classroom has been shown to impede comprehension among foundation phase learners in a multilingual township school in South Africa (Sibanda & Tshehla 2025). However, this challenge is not unique only in the South African context. Linguistic discordance is a widespread concern across many African countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is increasingly recognised as a global issue (Alkateb-Chami 2024). Teachers often struggle to manage classroom discourse, provide meaningful feedback and implement interactive teaching strategies because of the linguistic disconnect that exists between themselves and their learners.
The global dominance of English in education has significant implications for language policies across Africa. The transition from English to the mother tongue presents practical challenges that policymakers and teachers cannot overlook (Sibanda & Tshela 2025). While the pedagogical benefits of mother tongue in the early years are well established, there is, however, a need for a balanced and phased approach. An approach that combines the cognitive and academic advantages of early literacy in the mother tongue with a structured and well-supported transition to English as a LoLT. Achieving this will require not only political will but also public awareness, investments in curriculum development and the training of teachers to enable them to deliver instructions in multiple languages. Equally important, parents need to be educated on supporting this transition at home by creating a language-rich environment that exposes the learner to the LoLT.
Home environment and exposure to learning opportunities
Limited exposure to reading prior to formal schooling can impact the development of essential pre-reading skills (Schaefer & Kotze 2019; Tlale 2021). The literature consistently highlights the critical role of both schools and the home environment in developing literacy skills. Rao et al. (2017) and Silinskas et al. (2021) emphasise that schools alone cannot bear the sole responsibility for building fundamental literacy skills. Instead, parental support is essential in creating an emotionally supportive environment that complements school-based efforts to help learners acquire reading skills. This sentiment is echoed by Malo (2024), who argues that while schools are responsible for developing children’s reading and spelling skills, parents and the home learning environments they create may be equally important in their development. Therefore, a collaborative approach that integrates schools’ initiatives with strong parental engagement and early literacy exposure is needed to improve literacy outcomes.
Research has shown the importance of home environment and parent involvement in reinforcing literacy outside school hours (Naidoo et al. 2014). The acquisition of literacy skills does not occur in isolation, meaning only at school but it is also influenced by the extent to which children are exposed to language-rich interactions in their home environment. The success of parental involvement is contingent upon access to literacy resources and their understanding of how to support literacy development at home. However, socio-demographic factors further limit parental involvement. In this study, the findings indicated that teachers view parents’ involvement as valuable support, yet recognise that socio-economic factors may hinder the capacity of some parents to actively support literacy at home.
Similar to previous findings, phonological awareness skills form foundational components of literacy development and play a crucial role in supporting the learner’s ability to decode words (Castles et al. 2018; Smith et al. 2021). Evidently, when these skills are under-developed, particularly in the learner’s home language, and are not aligned with the LoLT, learners are likely to encounter significant challenges that can impede their literacy acquisition (Pretorius & Currin 2010).
Theme 3: Teachers’ awareness of the speech-language therapist role and potential areas of collaboration
This theme explores teachers’ awareness of the role of SLTs and identifies potential areas for collaboration in supporting learners with reading and spelling difficulties.
The findings showed that teachers are generally aware of the SLT’s role in school and described SLTs as a profession responsible for providing individualised support to learners, particularly in areas such as articulation, pronunciation and speech clarity:
‘They provide support and care to learners with communication difficulties.’ (31-year-old, Grade 1, English, 6 years exp [BEd])
‘Speech therapy boosts learners’ ability to identify, recall and retrieve sounds to link them with written language.’ (43-year-old, Grade 1, English, 10 years exp [BEd])
The teachers reported that SLTs occasionally visited the classroom and requested to see individual learners, but often did not provide feedback on the learners’ progress:
‘I am not sure because SLTs come, but they do not report on the learner’s progress or explain their role.’ (40-year-old, Grade 2, isiZulu, 5 years exp [BEd])
Differentiated instruction was identified as a strategy where both the teacher and the SLT could tailor resources and learning activities to meet the needs of learners with these difficulties:
‘They can be great help and give these learners individual attention that they need.’ (40-year-old, Grade 2, isiZulu, 5 years exp [BEd])
Awareness of the speech-language therapist’s role and collaboration in managing reading and spelling difficulties
In this study, teachers recognised that SLTs enhance learners’ confidence in their communication abilities. However, teachers’ understanding of the SLT’s role did not extend to how SLTs can collaborate with them to support the development of literacy skills in children. Neither did it mention the broader role that SLT can play in supporting language development, skills that underpin reading and writing. Despite the teacher’s limited interaction with the SLT, they identified potential areas for collaboration, particularly in tailoring resources and designing learning activities for learners with these difficulties.
The literature identifies multiple factors that may explain teachers’ limited awareness of the SLT’s role within the school context. One common reason is that SLTs are primarily perceived as health professionals employed within the health sector (Wium & Louw 2013). The limited presence of SLTs in mainstream schools also contributes to this lack of awareness. Furthermore, the divergent nature of SLT and teacher training pathways does not structure opportunities for interdisciplinary learning (Dockrell & Lindsay 2001; Kathard et al. 2011; Wilson, McNeill & Gillon 2017). According to Wium and Louw (2013), SLTs can collaborate with teachers in multiple ways, including identifying literacy problems, screening and assessing children at risk, providing intervention, monitoring outcomes and supporting effective literacy practices within the classroom. Furthermore, SLTs play a vital role in assisting parents and advocating for systematic practices that strengthen literacy development (Ebbels et al. 2019; Snow 2020).
This study’s findings highlight a clear gap in collaboration between teachers and SLTs. Only two teachers reported having previously worked with an SLT, and both described this collaboration as limited. The lack of structured follow-up contributes to the perception that SLTs are not integral collaborators in supporting literacy development within the classroom context. There is a clear need to move from the pull-out model towards a more integrated service delivery approach. Adopt a model that combines direct, classroom-based support and intervention strategies embedded within daily teaching practices (Snowling et al. 2020). Such an approach would help teachers to apply evidence-based language and literacy strategies more consistently.
This finding aligns with the evidence showing that collaboration between these professions in South Africa remains constrained by human resource shortages and training pathways (Giacovazzi et al. 2021). Limited opportunities for interprofessional education at the undergraduate level further restrict teachers’ and SLTs’ capacity and confidence to engage in effective interprofessional practice. McLean, Snow and Serry (2021) argues that the difference in professional knowledge bases and epistemological perspectives between teachers and SLTs can create misunderstandings about how to collaboratively support language and literacy development.