Difficulties of Grade 1 Teachers in Teaching Beginning Reading
Keywords:
Difficulties of Grade 1 teachers , Teaching , ReadingAbstract
This study aimed to determine the difficulties of Grade 1 teachers in teaching beginning reading in District V in a highly urbanized city in Central Philippines for the School Year 2023-2024. Data needed for this study was collected from 40 Grade 1 teachers using a self-made data-gathering instrument that has hurdled the rigorous tests of validity and reliability. The results showed that grade one learners who struggled with teaching beginning reading were typically handled by older respondents, who had lower educational attainment, and had received more literacy training, and had taught longer. Further analysis showed that Grade 1 teachers faced moderate challenges across all areas of teaching, beginning reading, with varying levels of difficulty. Among these areas, phonemic awareness was the least challenging, indicating that teachers were relatively more adept at helping students recognize and manipulate sounds in words. Phonics presented a moderate level of difficulty, suggesting that while teachers could teach students to connect sounds to letters and blend them, it remained a notable challenge. Fluency also fell into the moderate difficulty category, with teachers finding it somewhat challenging to help students read smoothly and with expression. Vocabulary instruction was similarly moderately difficult, as teachers worked to introduce and contextualize new words for their students. However, comprehension was identified as the area with the highest level of difficulty, reflecting the complex nature of helping early readers understand and interpret text. Moreover, no significant difference was found in the level of difficulty faced by Grade 1 teachers in teaching beginning reading in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension when grouped and compared according to the variables. It suggested that teachers, regardless of their age, educational background, experience level, or training, faced similar challenges, implying that other factors could have contributed to their difficulties.
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