United International Journal for Research & Technology

Volume 05, Issue 01, 2023 | Open Access | ISSN: 2582-6832

Literary SOS: The Interventions of Teachers to

Struggling Readers
Jason E. Cartoneros1 and Lilibeth S. Galvez2
1
Baganga National High School, Department of Education, Baganga, Davao Oriental
2
Davao Oriental State University, Commission on Higher Education, Mati City
Email: [email protected]

Abstract— The aim of this study was to determine the challenges, interventions, and needs of the reading specialists with
their struggling readers. A transcendental phenomenological study was used to explore 11 reading specialists’ collective
experiences with their struggling readers during the School Year 2022-2023 at Baganga National High School. The
reading specialists identified main challenges such as lack of reading resources, absence of training, deficiency of students
in grapheme-phoneme correspondence, polysyllabic, and reading comprehension. They shared interventions in teaching
reading, like providing media-aided pronunciation, adopting code-switching or translation, utilizing picture
comprehension, using paired reading strategy, and teaching grapheme-phoneme correspondence. They also identified
their needs in teaching reading such as the provision of reading resources and literacy training. Addressing the challenges
and needs of reading specialists is vital for the reading development of struggling readers and applying interventions to
reading helped improve the reading readiness of struggling readers.

Keywords— challenges in teaching reading, reading specialists.

INTRODUCTION 2022 revealed that junior high school students had

One of the foundational skills of learning is reading inadequate reading proficiency. Only 15% of the 2,873
comprehension. However, in many nations, some students tested for reading proficiency in English were
secondary school students performed below grade level categorized as independent readers. On the other hand,
in this competency (OECD, 2019). According to recent the frustration level is represented by 1,216 students.
studies, education systems with lower reading These results showed that these students were struggling
achievement rates account for 53% of all participating with reading. They demonstrated poor comprehension
students in participating economies and countries and decoding skills and read below grade level. To
(n=78) in the Programme for International Student increase readers' understanding, an intervention must be
Assessment in 2018 (OECD, 2019). Evidence also created to fill this gap (Biancarosa & Snow, as cited in
suggests that lower achievers appear to have struggled Cantrell, Almasi, Carter, Rintamaa & Madden, 2010).
with reading comprehension throughout their secondary
school years (Edmonds, Vaughn, Wexler, Reutebuch, The Baganga National High School was chosen as the
Cable, & Tackett, 2009; Potocki, Magnan, & Ecalle, study’s locale because it is the most populated high
2015). school in District 1, with 42% struggling readers, and
categorized as a mega school in the province of Davao
Despite initiatives to improve students' reading abilities, Oriental. With this, determining the lived experiences of
such as the Every Child A Reader Program (ECARP), a reading specialists in conducting reading is necessary to
nationwide initiative that aims to make every child a address the pressing issue of reading to fill this gap
reader of the Department of Education (DepEd) (Baye, Inns, Lake, & Slavin, 2019).
(Enclosure to DepEd No. 70, s. 2011); and the annual
celebration of National Reading Month every MATERIALS AND METHODS
November, the Reading Intensification for Sustainable The study employed a transcendental phenomenological
Education (RISE) project of Schools Division of Davao approach to qualitative research because the
Oriental as a reading intervention that can address the phenomenon being investigated focuses on the shared
reading problem of the struggling readers, many significance of the challenges in teaching reading,
students still struggle in reading. intervention, and needs of 11 Grade 9 reading specialists
with struggling readers at Baganga National High
The most recent reading assessment results patterned School (Creswell, 2013). A phenomenological approach
from the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil- allowed for a more thorough description of "what" was
IRI) at Baganga National High School in September experienced and "how" the participants experienced it,

All rights are reserved by UIJRT.COM. 14

 United International Journal for Research & Technology
Volume 05, Issue 01, 2023 | Open Access | ISSN: 2582-6832

whereas using a qualitative design allowed the 2013), which included getting everyone's consent before
researcher to use inductive and emerging procedures the recording. To keep the conversation with the
shaped by the collection and analysis of data (Creswell, participants on topic, the researcher employed the
2013). questions from the semi-structured interview protocol.
During every interview, he also took notes (Creswell,
The design was meant to encourage the analysis of the 2013).
common and specific phenomena of reading and to
comprehend how their lived experiences have impacted Research Procedure
their reactions to reading. In order to meet this In the conduct of the study, the researcher sent a copy of
requirement, the researcher chose participants from the the endorsement letter from the Head of the Graduate
school where he is now teaching. School of Davao Oriental State University. Then,
another communication letter was given to the Schools
The study's transcendental phenomenological design Division Superintendent, the Public Schools Division
necessitated the incorporation of the participants’ Supervisors, and the School Heads of the school, asking
personal reading experiences. These experiences were permission to conduct the study.
recorded through semi-structured individual interviews
in which participants expound on their comments in a When it was approved, the researcher began selecting
comfortable and non-threatening atmosphere. participants by handing a letter of permission to 11
reading specialists who were suspected of meeting the
This transcendental phenomenological design was also requirements.
appropriate because of the epoché process of isolating
the researcher from the participants (Cresswell & Poth, The researcher's identity, a declaration of the study's
2018). objective, a description of the research and its processes,
confidentiality, and risks and benefits were all included
Although his assumptions were obvious, careful in the letter. The questionnaire was validated by the
treatment of the data collected mitigated bias and experts.
subjectivity by bracketing recurring themes, and this
study was designed to provide an opportunity for 11 Next, he used grand-tour queries without any specific
Grade 9 reading specialists to share their lived direction and floating cues. Participants talked more
experiences and feelings about reading. when given prompts, and grand-tour questions that
focused on the study's research topics – the challenges
Research Instrument of reading specialists in giving intervention to struggling
A heterogeneous group of three or four participants to readers, the interventions used in the teaching of
ten or fifteen participants is typically used in reading, and the needs of these reading specialists
phenomenological research (Cresswell & Poth, 2018). brought the discussion to a head (Leech, 2002).
According to literature cited by Moustakas (1994),
interviews with five to 25 participants are encouraged. All interviews were audio recorded in order to catch
Data collection methods for this study on transcendental verbatim language and voice inflections, and all
phenomenology included teacher interviews. recordings were transcribed afterward to ensure the
highest quality digital recordings.
Interview. The researcher moved through the interviews
in a logical manner, asked the same questions to all After transcribing the audio-recorded data, the
participants in the same order, and applied preset probes researcher organized them using tables. He then started
by using the validated semi-structured interview that reading the transcribed data to get acquainted with them.
was validated by the esteemed doctors in the English Then, he started coding by clustering the generated text.
language of Davao Oriental State University. After that, he combined several codes through their
Participants answered the questions and probes in a brackets to create a theme.
semi-free manner while using semi-structured interview
questions (Morse, 2015). Moreover, he constantly reviewed the terminology used
to come up with a more accurate phrase about the
The individual interviews were allotted 60 minutes or challenges, interventions, needs, and joys of reading
so. The researcher followed the proper process for specialists in teaching reading to struggling readers.
conducting interviews and recording sessions (Creswell,

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 United International Journal for Research & Technology
Volume 05, Issue 01, 2023 | Open Access | ISSN: 2582-6832

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Fig. 1 shows the four major themes of the study.

Fig 1. Four Major Themes – Essences of the Experiences

Based on the figure, what emerged as essential to the Four themes that emerged as the meaning of the
ongoing intervention program for struggling readers was essences of the experiences shared by teachers in their
that the participants determined the challenges in experiences with struggling readers were: (a) challenges
teaching reading such as lack of reading resources, in teaching reading, (b) interventions in teaching
absence of training, deficiency of students in grapheme- reading, (c) needs in teaching reading, and (d) joys in
phoneme correspondence, polysyllabic, and reading teaching reading.
comprehension. Despite that, participants found
interventions to address the challenges such as the CONCLUSIONS
provision of media-aided pronunciation, adoption of Reading specialists in this study were under-resourced
code-switching, utilization of picture comprehension, with regard to the supply and provision of support
use of paired reading strategy, and teaching of materials. This would have a greater impact on the
grapheme-phoneme correspondence to help aid their teaching of reading, as teachers would lack resources to
struggling readers. The participants aired out their plea assist them in reading and preparing their work
to provide them with reading resources and literacy thoroughly. The study also revealed that, despite being
training to effectively and efficiently deliver the reading reading specialists at Baganga National High School,
instruction. these teachers were not trained to teach reading. In
addition, the school did not provide any form of in-
Despite all the challenges, participants found joy in what service training or literacy instruction.
they had done for the betterment of the struggling
readers, these accounts were according to the The deficiency of grapheme-phoneme correspondence
participants' experiences with struggling readers is also a challenge in teaching reading among struggling
(Moustakas, 1994). The teachers shared the same readers. Therefore, the issue arises that students lack
literacy viewpoint in that they understood the value of adequate knowledge and grapheme-phoneme awareness
reading interventions for these high school students, before reading instruction is taught to them. Students
which led to noticeable improvements in their literacy with persisting reading difficulties are often particularly
levels. Additionally, each teacher mentioned how these challenged by multisyllabic words. This difficulty is
students' lives had been impacted in some way, leading exacerbated by the fact that the overwhelming majority
to literacy growth. of English words are multisyllabic and account for an

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 United International Journal for Research & Technology
Volume 05, Issue 01, 2023 | Open Access | ISSN: 2582-6832

increasing proportion of the language's vocabulary RECOMMENDATIONS

because of their length. This study on the challenges of teaching reading to
students with struggling readers has highlighted
Some students were able to read but lacked potential suggestions that could inspire future research.
comprehension. From letter and word recognition to
comprehending meaning at the phrase, sentence, and Since the study discovered that non-English reading
paragraph levels, reading is a complex process. It was specialists were not trained to teach reading, I
also revealed in the study that the participants used recommend focusing future research on the teaching of
media-aided pronunciation such as YouTube videos and reading on teacher training. The findings of such a study
the use of speech app Speechify to help struggling could be crucial for enhancing the literacy instruction of
readers with their grapheme-phoneme correspondence non-English reading specialists.
difficulties. The study found out also that specialists
used code-switching or mother-tongue translation Since the study was primarily concerned with the
approaches to reading comprehension. The more teaching of reading to ninth graders at Baganga National
exposed a student is to the language he uses, the easier High School, it would be ideal if it were extended to
it is for him to express himself and reply to teachers' other institutions in Davao Oriental Province. Such a
study could be fruitful if it examines how reading
inquiries during class discussions, according to the
reading specialists. The study showed that participants instruction could be implemented effectively in other
used picture comprehension to elicit comprehension institutions.
from students. Pictures are regarded as the best teaching
It is necessary to evaluate the efficacy of capacity-
tools for teaching reading since they can clearly
building programs. A comparison could be made
illustrate the connected issues in texts for students,
between the perspectives of rural and urban reading
explain what is happening, and clarify what the
specialists regarding the challenges encountered in
characters in the book are discussing.
teaching reading and the interventions used for
struggling readers.
Reading comprehension and word recognition are
significantly improved when less proficient readers are
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
paired with more proficient readers, according to the
He begins by acknowledging and thanking God for all
literature. Therefore, the learner reader gains decoding
the blessings He has showered on him and his MAEd
and fluency strategies as they read together with a more
journey. He did not think this thesis was possible, but
proficient reader in paired reading.
God made it possible with the help of the Almighty
The study highlighted that specialists felt a sense of Father.
happiness in conducting a reading intervention program.
Consummatum Est! His thoughtful thanks to Dr.
When teachers see their students’ decoding and
Lilibeth S. Galvez, who is kindhearted, patient, and
comprehension skills improve, it makes them extremely
understanding with her thesis advisee. He has come to
happy and satisfied.
witness a great deal of growth from her ideas and
These teachers revealed their amazing tale of converting feedback. Working with her has provided a wonderful
non-readers into readers. The testimonies of the teachers and unforgettable opportunity to grow both personally
indicate that it is a gradual procedure that necessitates a and professionally during some trying times of this
lot of modeling. thesis.

Over the course of the academic year, they watch slowly To Dr. Nelson S. Pastolero, the chairperson of the thesis
as struggling readers go from being non-readers to advisory committee, Dr. Leorisyl D. Siarot, and Dr.
readers. Romeo J. Redulla, committee members, for all the
constructive suggestions, imparted knowledge, and
Lastly, based on the teachers’ narratives, specialists felt continual support. Your wisdom and extensive
a sense of fulfillment in conducting a reading knowledge of the phenomenological approach helped
intervention program. The reading interventionists put a him accomplish a worthy manuscript.
high focus on feeling satisfied with their work since they
were so driven to see these struggling readers succeed in He would like to express his sincere appreciation and
becoming independent readers. heartfelt gratitude to all the participants who made this

All rights are reserved by UIJRT.COM. 17

 United International Journal for Research & Technology
Volume 05, Issue 01, 2023 | Open Access | ISSN: 2582-6832

study a success. To his family, relatives, friends, and

especially to MAN, you know how grateful he is for
your all-out support in all aspects. He is thankful for
your financial, moral, and emotional support.

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