Pre-school teachers preparedness in beginning reading instruction: A case study

• Main Author: Ledesma, Melissa Dorothy
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2005
• Subjects: Preparatory school teachers; Preschool teaching; Reading (Preschool)
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3359
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study examined four pre-school teachers preparedness in beginning reading instruction based on their education, training, knowledge, beliefs and classroom practices. It specifically sought to answer the following questions: (1) What knowledge do the teachers hold about reading development and reading process, concepts of print and word recognition, storybook reading and comprehension?; (2) What instructional strategies and assessment measures do the teachers employ and do these reflect their knowledge in the aforementioned areas? This case study employed the use of direct observation of classes, teacher interviews and documents and artifacts as sources of evidence. The participants of this study were four pre-school teachers who come from two different schools in Iloilo City. The findings obtained indicate that all the teachers believe children should develop a love for reading, and one of the means by which this can be achieved is through storybook reading. The teachers believe that children's language development has an impact on their acquisition of reading skills, thus the variety of language activities in the classroom. The teachers believe that it is important for children to be engaged in authentic and meaningful literacy experiences and that children's pre-conventional reading and writing behaviors are part of their development in reading. Furthermore, they all believe in the importance of phonics and phonemic awareness. The pedagogical strategies that teachers use reflect the importance that they place on discrete skills, concepts of print and word recognition. The teachers, however, need to know the word attack strategies appropriate for Filipino and English. Though they believe in the importance of developing children's concepts of print, the teachers provide children with writing activities that are limited to copying and tracing. Also, the teachers greatly need to provide more storybook reading in their classrooms, and they need to give children chances to read storybooks independently. As a whole, very little authentic and play-like activities are evident in the teachers classrooms. All the teachers use observations and teacher-guided or copied exercises in notebooks and workbooks in assessing the children's progress, which do not accurately reflect the children's abilities. The assessment measures that teachers use reflect their limited knowledge about ways of assessing children's progress. The study concludes that the four pre-school teachers need more preparation in beginning reading instruction.