Researchers at the CSIR’s Natural Language Processing group aim to expand the capabilities of their technology-driven pilot project to include all official South African languages.
This is according to Dr Laurette Marais, senior researcher at the CSIR and lead on the home language-focused pilot project, called Ngiyaqonda, which is isiZulu for ‘I understand’.
Marais recently joined ITWeb TV to discuss Ngiyaqonda and projects facilitated by the research group, as well as delve into SA’s home language literacy crisis, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Ngiyaqonda, which kicked-off in 2023, was prompted by the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which uncovered that 81% of South African grade four learners cannot read for basic meaning in any of the 11 official languages.
The study, conducted in children's home languages, shows the 2021 figure is up from the 78% recorded in the 2016 study, indicating the problem is worsening.
The 2030 Reading Panel has warned SA is not on track to ensure all children can read by 2030, with the current trajectory of improvement showing the country will only reach 95% of grade four learners reading for meaning in 80 years’ time (the year 2098).
President Cyril Ramaphosa also highlighted the literacy challenge in his State of the Nation Address, saying early childhood development centres will be formalised and focus on implementing mother tongue, bilingual education to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes.
Broader reach
To enhance SA’s home language literacy with technology-tailored solutions, the CSIR researchers introduced Ngiyaqonda − an Android app integrated into tablet devices to guide learners to compose sentences in their home language, as well as in English.
To start, they introduced it to isiZulu-speaking grade three learners at a school in Soweto and Sepedi-speaking grade three learners at a school in Mamelodi, Pretoria.
The reason for this target market is that children are taught in their home language from grades one to three, and from grade four onwards the medium of instruction switches to English, explains Marais.
The researchers have since managed to include Afrikaans and English as well, she states. “We've got four languages covered out of the 11 spoken official languages, but we need to include them all in the end.
“We really want to expand to all the languages. We are targeting a few new ones…so hopefully, we can take this forward in some way, to include all the languages in SA within the next few years. It’s important to reach all the children in SA, and the Constitution mandates that we treat our languages equitably, and so that's really the reason why we must do this.”
The CSIR’s technology pilot aims to bridge the gap between oral and written language proficiency using text-to-speech and speech-to-text technologies, she adds.
“Learners listen to sentences spoken by a synthetic (computer-generated) voice and then compose sentences using guidance from a grammatically-reliable text-generation engine.
“The app also allows learners to read sentences aloud and receive feedback on their fluency and pronunciation based on an automatic speech scoring system developed specifically for children’s voices.”
Commenting on the 2021 PIRLS, Marais notes the study benchmarks South African learners’ reading ability in each of SA’s official spoken languages, and found that 81% of learners did not reach the lowest benchmark.
“That means, they cannot answer simple questions about basic facts about the text, and that’s in their home language. One of the things that was disturbing about this statistic is that it showed a decline from the 2016 study.
“We must acknowledge that COVID-19 had a big impact on that. I think in the next study, it will be interesting to see whether the interventions that have been made work, but it’s very clear that things have gotten worse from 2016 up to now.”
Ngiyaqonda is funded by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and incorporates artefacts developed in previous projects funded by the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources. The technologies behind the application are being developed by the CSIR’s Natural Language Processing group.
According to Marais, even though the application is currently configured to serve foundation phase learners, it has the potential to be used up to tertiary level to assist in learning the African languages.
Extended use can include using the tool as a means of researching the fundamental questions about the different languages in the country.
The application has also served as a diagnostic tool, helping teachers identify specific learners’ needs, Marais reveals.
Among these was identifying that a learner was struggling to hold a pencil, rather than exhibiting an inability to construct the right sentences. In another case, the teacher was able to identify a child with hearing problems, because she found the child’s interaction was different with the application than when she was talking in class.
“She used her intuition, knowledge and experience to essentially determine that this child might have hearing problems. There is a diagnostic element that’s been happening…because it’s a different mode of learning, and that has helped teachers.
“The teachers have also said the children are certainly learning something and can see the difference.”
To view the full ITWeb TV interview, click here.
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