Do current approaches to teaching English as a second language work? A DFID Education research study carried out by the University of Reading in Malawi and Zambia describes and analyses classroom approaches to reading in both countries. The study compared students’ abilities to read and understand in English and in a local language. Findings confirmed that for many primary school pupils, levels of reading skills in English are too low to allow learning to take place. How can English teaching programmes be improved to get over this threshold? The answers may be relevant to other comparable developing countries looking to raise standards of reading in local languages and in English among primary school pupils.