Vula Bula

Vula Bula is the trademark name of a number of openly licensed and representative reading resources,^[1] that were iteratively developed by the R&D Unit at the Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy over a period of 50 years.^[2]

In South Africa, English and Afrikaans are still the dominant languages,^[3] despite 12 languages that have been given official status.^[4] Only a small percentage of commercially published children's books are authored in South Africa's other languages.^[5] This failure to cater for vernacular language speakers reading needs is notable contributory factor ^[6] to South Africa's reading crisis.^[7]

Foundational reading skills are lacking, and the phonics programmes necessary for reading fluency are in short supply.^[8] Vula Bula isintended to teach early reading in South Africa's nine official African languages, the Zenex Foundation partially funded the licensing of these works as an Open Education Resources under a CC-BY-NC-ND license.^[9]

Vula Bula's phonically leveled readers take into consideration the respective orthography of each language. Using the CC-BY-NC-ND license and the Molteno Trust platform, the Vula Bula readers have won numerous accolades and are used regularly for teaching reading in public schools.^[10]

Vula Bula now belongs to Halala! Education, since Molteno closed down at the end of 2023.

^ Haese, Adrie (2023). "Illustrating for the Common Good: South African Illustrator Perceptions of Book Creation Initiatives and Open Licensing". Information, Medium, and Society: Journal of Publishing Studies. 22 (1): 1–18. doi:10.18848/2691-1507/cgp/v22i01/1-18. hdl:2263/93699. ISSN 2691-1507.
^ Nuttall, Charles; Langhan, David (1997), Swain, Merrill; Johnson, Robert Keith (eds.), "The Molteno Project: A case study of immersion for English-medium instruction in South Africa", Immersion Education, Cambridge Applied Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 210–238, ISBN 978-0-521-58655-9, retrieved 2025-02-26
^ Davis, Rebecca (2012-10-22). "SA's shifting language landscape". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
^ Alexander, Mary (2024-11-20). "The languages of South Africa". South Africa Gateway. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
^ Parker, Elize (2025-02-02). "World Read Aloud Day: Why it matters". Pretoria Rekord. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
^ van der Berg, Servaas. (2015). What the Annual National Assessments can tell us about learning deficits over the education system and the school career. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 5(2), 28-43. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-76822015000200003&lng=en&tlng=en
^ Jansen-Thomas, Leanne (2023-05-23). "Joint statement: The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) results confirm a schooling system in crisis and the extent of learning losses created by COVID-19". Equal Education. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
^ Vaz, Maria K. "10-year-olds reading for meaning? A study of Sesotho Grade 4 learners' foundational reading skills". South African Journal of Childhood Education. 14 (1): 1573. doi:10.4102/sajce.v14i1.1573.
^ https://trialogueknowledgehub.co.za/molteno-institute-for-language-and-literacy-npc/
^ https://ngoconnectsa.org/vula-bula-graded-readers-improve-childrens-reading-skills/

[1] Haese, Adrie (2023). "Illustrating for the Common Good: South African Illustrator Perceptions of Book Creation Initiatives and Open Licensing". Information, Medium, and Society: Journal of Publishing Studies. 22 (1): 1–18. doi:10.18848/2691-1507/cgp/v22i01/1-18. hdl:2263/93699. ISSN 2691-1507.

[2] Nuttall, Charles; Langhan, David (1997), Swain, Merrill; Johnson, Robert Keith (eds.), "The Molteno Project: A case study of immersion for English-medium instruction in South Africa", Immersion Education, Cambridge Applied Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 210–238, ISBN 978-0-521-58655-9, retrieved 2025-02-26

[3] Davis, Rebecca (2012-10-22). "SA's shifting language landscape". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2025-02-27.

[4] Alexander, Mary (2024-11-20). "The languages of South Africa". South Africa Gateway. Retrieved 2025-02-27.

[5] Parker, Elize (2025-02-02). "World Read Aloud Day: Why it matters". Pretoria Rekord. Retrieved 2025-02-27.

[6] van der Berg, Servaas. (2015). What the Annual National Assessments can tell us about learning deficits over the education system and the school career. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 5(2), 28-43. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-76822015000200003&lng=en&tlng=en

[7] Jansen-Thomas, Leanne (2023-05-23). "Joint statement: The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) results confirm a schooling system in crisis and the extent of learning losses created by COVID-19". Equal Education. Retrieved 2025-02-27.

[8] Vaz, Maria K. "10-year-olds reading for meaning? A study of Sesotho Grade 4 learners' foundational reading skills". South African Journal of Childhood Education. 14 (1): 1573. doi:10.4102/sajce.v14i1.1573.

[9] ttps://trialogueknowledgehub.co.za/molteno-institute-for-language-and-literacy-npc/

[10] ttps://ngoconnectsa.org/vula-bula-graded-readers-improve-childrens-reading-skills/

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