Abstract

STOFFELSMA, Lieke; WILSENACH, Carien  and  MUTEMA, Fungai. Perspectives on oral reading fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension in bilingual learners from Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Reading & Writing [online]. 2026, vol.17, n.1, pp.1-14. ISSN 2308-1422.  https://doi.org/10.4102/rw.v17i1.583.

BACKGROUND: While oral reading fluency (ORF) is linked to reading comprehension (RC) in African languages, the role of vocabulary remains underexplored. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the relative contributions of ORF and vocabulary to RC in the first and second languages of three bilingual groups: Akan-English in Ghana, isiZulu-English in South Africa, and Shona-English in Zimbabwe and examined the ORF rate needed for 80% comprehension in each language. METHOD: A quantitative correlational design was used. Learners in Ghana (n = 158), South Africa (n =104), and Zimbabwe (n = 122) were assessed through convenience sampling. Constructs measured included: ORF, RC and receptive vocabulary tests. RESULTS: Oral reading fluency was a strong predictor of RC in first and second languages. Learners needed to read between 89 and 109 words correct per minute (WCPM) in English to achieve 80% comprehension. For African languages ORF thresholds ranged from 47 WCPM (isiZulu) to 55 WCPM (Akan CONCLUSION: Oral reading fluency emerged as a critical prerequisite for RC across bilingual populations. Without adequate ORF skills, vocabulary knowledge cannot support comprehension. CONTRIBUTION: This study provides novel data on reading fluency and comprehension in under-researched African languages, particularly Akan and Shona. It proposes preliminary ORF benchmarks for Ghana and Zimbabwe and validates existing benchmarks for South Africa.

Keywords : oral reading fluency; vocabulary; RC; ORF benchmarks; bilingualism.

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