In Zambia, as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the ability to read in English is not only of economic use to the country, but also of educational importance to individuals, since it is the medium for almost all primary and secondary schooling. Pupils have to move very quickly from a position of learning to read in English, to one of reading English to learn.
It is widely recognised that the primary school system in Zambia, the foundation of formal education for the few, and the only formal education for the great majority, is in a far from satisfactory condition. The problems are amply documented in Focus on Learning (MOE, 1992). There have been indications for some years that levels of literacy in English are unsatisfactory (see Sharma, 1973; Serpell, 1978; Chikalanga, 1991, reported in section 7.4). While this lack of literacy means that some school leavers may be inadequately prepared for life outside school, it also means that many have already lost opportunities, in that reading in English is the very skill which they are supposed to have deployed in school to gain knowledge in other fields.
This project report is an attempt to document how reading in English is taught in primary schools in Zambia and how well the pupils read in English. Because of time constraints, it is a descriptive survey based on five schools and not on a national sample. There is however, no reason to believe that the schools were atypical. The results may serve as a contribution to the information base of those who are developing strategies to provide a better educational foundation for Zambian schoolchildren.
