Reading the script: How the scripts and writing systems of Ethiopian languages relate to letter and word identification

ABSTRACT

Reading research suggests that script type and writing systems have a relationship with children’s ability to recognise letters, syllables and words. In Ethiopia, the scripts used for writing language differ by visual complexity and the psycholinguistic grain size of the script. The Ge’ez-script languages have alphasyllabic-based writing systems, while the Latin-script languages have phoneme-based writing systems. These differences in script and the differences in aspects of the writing system influence early reading acquisition. We exploited a large, regionally representative data set assessing a variety of early reading tasks in six Ethiopian languages to estimate the impact of script and aspects of writing system differences on early reading outcomes in the areas of letter identification, word reading, non-word decoding and story reading. We made comparisons between language outcomes using Ge’ez and Latin scripts, controlling for student background and school socio-economic status (SES). Additional analyses compared across-script and writing system differences within regions and gender. We found that Ethiopian script and writing system differences have implications for instructional methods for letter identification and word decoding.

KEYWORDS:

• Script
• Writing systems
• Ethiopia
• Latin
• Ethiopic
• Reading
• Literacy

Acknowledgements

The data set examined in this study came from an Early Grade Reading Assessment administered in eight regions of Ethiopia in May and June 2010. One of the authors was involved in the study and wishes to express appreciation for the efforts of various groups. The assessment was a collaboration involving the Ministry of Education, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), RTI International, the Education and Training Quality Assurance Agency (ETQAA), and the Improving Quality in Primary Education Program (IQPEP), among others. USAID/Washington and USAID/Ethiopia provided joint funding through task orders of the Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) project, led by RTI International. The authors’ views are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of RTI International, USAID or the US Government.

Disclosure statement

The lead author was the lead researcher on the 2010 Ethiopia Early Grade Reading Assessment funded by USAID.

Notes on contributors

Benjamin Piper is the Senior Director, Africa Education, for RTI International; he is based in Nairobi. Dr Piper provides technical support to RTI’s work across sub-Saharan Africa and supervises Tusome, the national literacy programme of Kenya, funded by USAID and the British Department for International Development; and the Tayari early childhood development (ECD) programme, sponsored by the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. Tusome is being implemented in all public primary schools across Kenya, and Dr Piper served as the Chief of Party from Tusome’s 2014 inception until 2016. Dr Piper led the Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) Initiative, the National Tablet Programme and the PRIMR Rural Expansion Programme from 2011 to 2015. PRIMR tested low-cost, scalable approaches to improving literacy and numeracy. His research investigated the impact of Ethiopian in-service programmes on teacher and student outcomes. He worked with RTI, World Bank, DFID, UNICEF and Save the Children.

Agatha J. van Ginkel is a Senior Multilingual Education Expert. She has worked in the areas of literacy and languages, and aspects of first, second and foreign language acquisition, applying this knowledge in formal and non-formal education. During the past decade, much of her attention has been focused on multilingual education and literacy in Africa and Asia. She has been involved in planning, monitoring and evaluating mother tongue-based multilingual education programmes in over 50 languages. Her research interests include factors that influence transfer of reading skills across languages and scripts and measuring of reading performance in different languages. She received a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Leeds Metropolitan University (UK), an MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from University of Reading (UK), a BA in Teaching English from Windesheim University (NL) and a BA and MA in Special Education Needs from Fontys University of Applied Science and Free University of Amsterdam (NL).

Notes

1 The Regional State Education Bureaus (RSEBs) were aware of their responsibility to adapt the federal syllabi to the specifics of their languages. However, it is not clear that the RSEBs had the personnel on staff to do the complex linguistic and curriculum analysis necessary for this process, particularly for the languages with less written material available. However, the RSEBs recently adapted the revised mother-tongue curriculum to their specific languages under the READ Technical Assistance programme (RTI International, 2015).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Professional Development Award issued internally by RTI International. The 2010 EGRA data collection was funded by the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment, United States Agency for International Development [Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) project, Task Order No. EHC-E-07-04-00004-00]. Additional qualitative inputs courtesy of the Reading for Ethiopia's Achievement Developed Technical Assistance (READ TA) programme, USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-663-A-12-0013.