Title:
CREATING A READING RURAL PRIMARY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT IN ZIMBABWE: POSSIBILITIES FOR ENGLISH (L2) LANGUAGE

Authors:
Stephen Kanyimo and Emmanuel Chinamasa ,Zimbabwe

Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to find possible ways of creating a reading environment for English (L2) language in a rural primary school in Zimbabwe. This report is a second part of the rural primary school clusters Action research. It was motivated by the observation that, there are limited English reading materials for primary school children in Zimbabwe’s rural primary schools. A pragmatist philosophy facilitated the exploring of the possible solutions to finding what works. Data were gathered through a questionnaire responded to by a purposive sample of 47 primary school teachers and three (3)teacher focus group discussions. Visits to five rural primary schools in Makonde district facilitated observations of school environment and their classrooms. The study found that, the exterior of the classrooms were starved of labelling. Classrooms had nature corner with several collections, shop corner, agriculture corner with a collection of crops and tools. Very few of these were labelled. None of the classes had a library corner. Classrooms were neither print-rich nor literacy-rich. They are devoid of reading materials and labels. Focus group discussions, surveys and interviews with teachers recommended a possible creation of a reading rural primary school environment by: labelling in different colours; all buildings, doors, chairs, roads, playgrounds, items in the nature, shop and agriculture corner. These labels need to be changed weekly to maintain interest. Pupils can rotate the task of issuing out exercise-books in class to promote name reading. Teachers can be trained to create picture books using pictures from old news-papers and magazines. Children’s drawings and compositions are good sources. Pictures of school events such as sports and prize giving days can be accompanied by words and sentences used for reading. Mobile phone can be used for reading. Children can write words describing the events. Establishing a news and book clubs promote both reading and writing