The significance of reading skills in modern society cannot be over emphasised. In their publication, “The Voice of Evidence in Reading Research,” McCardle and Chhabra (2004, p.3) indicated that:
The ability to read is both necessary and crucial for children’s academic success. The importance of success in reading for lifelong achievement must not be underestimated; how well a child learns to read may determine future opportunities, including not only career possibilities but also, his or her ability to accomplish the basic activities of daily life such as reading a newspaper, obtaining a driver’s license, identification card and paying bills.
The importance of reading in education has been studied, analysed and evaluated by multiple scholars across disciplines. What can be stated without much contradiction is that if children do not learn to decode or read in early years and grades, they would have difficulties succeeding in education and later in life (Lyons, 2001). It is impossible for an illiterate learner to accomplish meaningful and desirable results in academic subjects at school. Furthermore, failure to learn to read by learners in schools reflects an educational and public health hazard for a country. “Children who do not learn to read have a much harder time succeeding in school and in the workplace, which, in turn, affects emotional health, economic and social security and overall wellbeing” (Hearing on Measuring Success: Using Assessments and Accountability to Raise Student Achievements, 2001). Sweet (2004, p.13) reported that “it goes without saying that failure to learn to read places children’s future and lives at risk for highly deleterious outcomes.” This is further supported by Olson (1977) who contended that “the acquisition of initial reading skills by early grade learners is one of the most important abilities as it is a precursor to learner’s academic success in all subjects at school”. “A child’s success in school and throughout life depends in large part on the ability to read” (Early Reading Strategy: The Report of the Expert Panel on Early Reading in Ontario, 2003, p.1). In practice, the inability of Zambian children to read is an indication that they will have difficulties succeeding in other subject areas at school. Reading skills need to be developed early in children for them to succeed well in education. The reading skill is also important in the social lives of Zambians and other literates because it helps them better their lives. Silavwe et al., (2019) reported that functional literacy is the application of reading and writing skills in people’s social lives. Silavwe et al., furthermore noted that;
the daily activities that constitute the application of functional literacy include tasks such as reading street signs, reading maps, writing a grocery budget, reading newspapers, reading labels on medicine bottles, reading the Bible verses, writing letters, filling in forms, applying for jobs, practicing the language skills verbally and in written form, reading for pleasure and purposive writing (p. 3).
Silavwe et al.’s quotation suggests that knowing how to read and write is important for Zambians as they will have multiple sources of information through spoken and written form; when casting a vote, they can read on candidates they want to vote for, literate farmers and agriculturalists may have better yield as they would follow instructions on field chemical bottles, mothers may have a health family by following medical writings and prescriptions. These points signify that having literate Zambian citizens may improve their social lives.
Newman, Copple and Bredekamp (2000) observed that the development of reading skills is more active and prominent in early childhood years especially those in early grades because that is the period when children’s memories are highly active. It is in early grades where teachers are expected to teach all the components of reading as their curriculum demands such as phonemic awareness and phonics (McCardle & Chhabra, 2004). It is ascertained through research that comprehensive teaching of these skills produces effective reading achievements among learners in early grades.
Unlike human spoken language which is acquired naturally, reading and writing skills are not naturally acquired (Lyon, 1998). The human brain is designed to speak language, it is not naturally wired to read and write. Honig, Diamond and Gutlohn (2018, p. 4) contended that “the left hemisphere of the brain is associated with speech, language processing and reading”. This means that reading and writing skills must be taught artificially to humans for them to develop, they must be practiced. Learning to read proficiently requires deliberate and systematic effort both on the part of novice readers and their teachers (National Reading Panel, 2000). As a result, depending on the quality of reading instructions offered and the learners’ innate predispositions (Pennington & Olson, 2005), some beginning readers attain proficiency effortlessly, while others face significant challenges along the way (National Research Council, 1998).
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