CSIR Launches 'Ngiyaqonda!' App To Address Literacy Challenges In South African Children

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Wednesday launched the Ngiyaqonda! literacy app to help South African children improve their reading comprehension in their home language.

A recent international study found that eight out of 10 Grade four students in South Africa struggle to read for basic understanding in their home language.

The app uses content that follows the curriculum and incorporates the CSIR's local language text and speech technologies to create thousands of sentences for young learners to practice with.

"Without this essential skill, South African children are deprived of the opportunity to fulfill their true potential, with the impact being the most devastating for those from disadvantaged communities," the scientific and technology research organization said, SA News reported.

The CSIR recognizes that many different factors contribute to the literacy problem and believes it's important to explore various solutions to tackle the issue. The CSIR's Natural Language Processing Research Group has started a project called Ngiyaqonda!, which means "I understand" in IsiZulu.

The app, funded by the Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture, includes resources from earlier projects supported by the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR). The main goal of the app is to combine speech and text technologies into an Android app that helps learners create sentences in both their home language and English.

The app provides students with an interactive digital learning experience in both their home language and English. While children are taught in their home language from grades one to three, English becomes the main language of instruction starting in grade four.

The CSIR explained that the app helps students by having them listen to sentences spoken by a computer-generated voice and then create their sentences using a reliable text-generation engine for guidance.

The application also allows learners to read sentences out loud and get feedback on their fluency and pronunciation through an automatic speech-scoring system designed for children's voices.

It has been tested with grade three IsiZulu-speaking learners in Soweto and Sepedi-speaking learners in Mamelodi, Pretoria, during 2023 and 2024. The app uses translanguaging principles, like translating between the home language and English, to help students understand what they are reading.

Though designed for young learners, the app could also be used at the tertiary level to assist in learning African languages, according to CSIR senior researcher Laurette Marais.

The current project focuses on IsiZulu, Sepedi, English, and Afrikaans, with plans to include more languages in the future. The CSIR researchers are dedicated to using their skills to create an innovative solution that could help all South African children and support their future success.