The feasibility of a morphology-based approach to teaching reading in the African languages

Background: This investigation is necessitated by some stakeholders who believe that reading should be taught using a morphology-based approach. The endorsement of a morphology-centred approach to teaching reading is probably fuelled by desperation, invoked by the continuous poor reading performance of South African learners in Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the pronouncement that learners cannot read for meaning. Aim: This article investigates the feasibility of teaching decoding in isiZulu and the other African languages using a morphology-based approach. It furthermore considers the overall role morphology plays in all the components of reading. Setting: This research considers the insistence of stakeholders in early literacy across South Africa who believe that young children can be taught to read using a morphology-centred approach. Methods: The investigation is based on both linguistic and pedagogical considerations for teaching reading in the African languages using a morphology-based approach. Results: Young learners have no, or very limited, innate knowledge of morphemes; moreover, the identification and semantic specification of isiZulu morphemes are complicated by inter alia, the fusional nature and a lack of clear morpheme boundaries. While a morphological approach is inappropriate for teaching beginning reading, morphology has an impact on reading comprehension and language comprehension, with less influence on vocabulary building and reading fluency. Conclusion: Like all languages using an alphabetic writing system, the orthography of isiZulu and the other African languages is based on the relationship between phonemes and graphemes, and morphology plays no role in the orthography; hence, it does not play any role in decoding either. Contribution: This article contributes to the discussion on the use of morphology to teach early reading and the true role morphology plays in the learner’s reading development.