Music as an intervention strategy to address reading difficulties of grade 2 learners

Abstract

Reading is one of the most important skills (although a complex cognitive activity) a learner has to master during the early years of schooling. The reading process involves elements of a learner’s psychological, physical, linguistic, cognitive, emotional and social worlds. Despite the fact that all learners have to be able to read, there is an increasing awareness among professionals of the developmental and educational implications of reading difficulties with school-going learners world wide. Reading is a critical tool for the mastery of all other subjects a learner will meet and one of the best predictors of long-term learning achievement. Therefore, the need for support must be considered a priority area. After a thorough investigation and literary study, it is evident that the effective identification of learning difficulties needs a thorough understanding. Educators must realise that a given learner, who responds favourably to one instructional system, may respond very unfavourably to another, because learners are all unique individuals. To be able to combine speech sounds in a way that recipients can understand the message, learners have to be ready to develop an understanding of phonology, morphology and syntax, therefore maturation must always precede learning and, in the context of this study, emergent literacy must precede reading. Maturation is characterised by a fixed order of progression wherein the pace may vary, but not the sequence. The creative use of language is entirely dependent on the ability to assemble simple building blocks of sound into the complex structure we call sentences.It is widely accepted that music may be used to promote language development and the most crucial aspect in both music and language development is the perception of sound and the core in music and language are the ability to listen. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of music and related activities as part of an intervention strategy to improve reading skills, such as phonics, of learners who have reading difficulties. The researcher proved that a wellplanned intervention method and learning strategy through music activities may be used to develop the reading skills in learners who have reading difficulties.