© FEB 2023 | IRE Journals | Volume 6 Issue 8 | ISSN: 2456-8880

Teaching Reading Strategies in Phonics

NINA REA D. GUZMAN1, VIRGINIA PINCA-ATUTUBO2
1, 2
Sorsogon State University

Abstract- This study aimed to determine the complicated skill in reading. This is also a need to
teaching reading strategies in phonics in Donsol enhance the use of Marungko as their main strategy
East I District, Schools Division of Sorsogon, school in teaching reading; School heads may facilitate
years 2022-2023. The respondents of this study were regular by means of local monitoring, feedback,
20 pupils and 5 teachers. The descriptive method coaching, and evaluation activities.
was used in the study. Documentary analysis of pre
and post-test results on phonics and performance Indexed Terms- Marungko, Phonics, and strategy.
along with an unstructured interview and the guide
questions provided the data on teaching reading I. INTRODUCTION
strategies used by teachers in improving the
performance of learners in Phonics, and Reading is a fundamental skill that must be mastered
experiences of the teachers in the use of teaching for better learning of other macro skills. But, this key
reading strategies. The findings revealed that the skill has been a challenge among educators. Long
results of the pretest of the learners under letter before the pandemic, the poor reading performance
naming uppercase got 26.35%, interpreted as of learners all around the world was already evident
slightly mastered, while letter naming lowercase got and brought effects on the continued progression of
24.81%, letter sounding uppercase got 14.42, and one country.
letter sounding lowercase got 16.15% and
interpreted as unmastered respectively; the most Thus, this health crisis has exposed educational
common teaching reading strategy used was performance to many inadequacies and inequities in
Marungko; the performance level in the post-test in the education systems worldwide. It has gotten
phonics under letter naming uppercase got 48.65% worsened from face-to-face to access to the
and letter naming lowercase got 40.20% were broadband and computers needed for online
slightly mastered respectively while the performance education, and the supportive environments needed to
level in letter sounding both uppercase and focus on learning, up to the misalignment between
lowercase was 23.85% and 21.84%, unmastered resources and needs (Suppasri,2021).
respectively; there is a significant difference
between the pre and post-test results of the pupils in Since 2015, the Program International Student
letter naming and sounding for uppercase and Assessment (PISA) released its stand on the literacy
lowercase and lack of training, insufficient performance of pupils worldwide and noted a drastic
materials, and poor study habits were identified and decline in literacy skills while in 2018, the scores in
ranked experiences by the teachers in teaching reading did not show a significant rise over the years,
reading in phonics. It was concluded that the despite heavy investment in education systems in
respondents had difficulty in phonics, both in some countries. It was highly mentioned in the
naming and sounding. Marungko is the most used report that there were countries that occupied the top
teaching reading strategy in phonics. There is an ranking in reading such as China, Singapore, Macao,
increase in performance level but did not reach to Hongkong, Estonia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, South
achieve mastery level in phonics. Lack of training in Korea, and Poland (PISA,2019). In this case,
teaching Reading, and poor study were the leading Educational Agencies around the world advise every
experiences of the teachers in teaching reading school must do more to increase reading proficiency
specifically in phonics. It was recommended that and foster a natural interest in reading.
teachers need to focus on teaching phonics to
ensure the learner’s readiness for a more

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However, in the 2014 United Nation Educational, these basic reading competencies then consequently,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) the rippling problematic effects may be seen (Bolton
report as mentioned in Global Education Monitoring and Ramos, 2021).
Report (2020), one in four young people from the
175 million youth in developing countries is unable Furthermore, in the Philippines, the Department of
to read a single sentence. These children who did not Education (DepEd) launches several programs that
attain reading skills at the primary level were on a mandate them to improve the reading performance of
lifetime trajectory of limited educational progress and every pupil. One of its issuances is the DepEd
therefore limited economic and developmental Memorandum No. 173, s. 2019, known as Hamon:
growth. Bawat Bata Bumabasa/3BS Initiatives which aims to
strengthen the Every Child A Reader Program
For Southeast Asian countries importantly (ECARP). Its goal is to equip learners with reading
understood that Reading is a fundamental skill to skills to make them proficient and independent
fully engage in many areas of life, from education to readers in their grade level; Capacitate teachers to
employment and civics. There is strong evidence to become effective reading teachers; and Nurture a
show that the early acquisition of reading skills is one culture of reading in schools, communities, and
of the best predictors of later educational success that various levels of governance in the DepEd-central
the essential processes need to identify in reading for office, regional offices, and school’s division offices.
beginners involved learning the alphabetic system, All schools are strongly encouraged to respond to it
including, letter-sound correspondences and spelling by intensifying their advocacy for reading and by
patterns, and learning how to apply this knowledge in pledging commitment to make every learner a reader
their reading(Evans & Hares, 2021 as mentioned in at their grade level which means every school has to
SEA-PLM, 2019). It is wise to concentrate on the create and align its programs towards the promotion
development of the key skills so that other skills in of the culture of reading as a key step in closing
reading have to be taught smoothly. Furthermore, achievement gaps (DepEd Memorandum series of
teaching struggling readers who missed the key skills 2019_173-1).In Region V (Bicol Region), there were
must be exposed to Phonics instruction which is a series of tests on the Philippine Informal Reading
effective for struggling readers in the early grades Inventory (Phil-IRI) administered and revealed that
(Gilbas, 2000). The fact that there is a need to master the learners are considered “struggling readers” only
a key skill such as phonics for every learner where all after taking both English and Filipino tests among
development of more complex skills emanates from, 18,143 of those in Grade 3 to 6. This data is an
cannot be denied. Young children at risk of reading alarming reflection of the reading performance of the
difficulty encounter impediments in understanding learners.
and using foundational skills such as phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and This study aims to identify the root cause of poor
comprehension (Lara,2019). performance in reading specifically in phonics and
identify the teaching reading strategies that would
The need to get to the root cause of reading partake in providing solutions to the difficulties and
difficulties to fully analyze the situation is highly problems encountered among reading teachers in
determined. Educators must revisit the traces of making the learners read and comprehend.
developing reading comprehension skills for their
learners down to the beginning reading stage. For it is II. METHODS
believed that the vital element in the acquisition of
this useful and advance information is the ability to  Research Design
decode and comprehend this information starting This study determined the different teaching reading
from the most basic reading competencies such as the strategies in phonics for SY 2022-2023. Descriptive
ability to identify letter name, identify letter sound, research was used to describe the responses of the
discriminate initial sound, read familiar words and respondents to the questions raised in this study. A
read oral passage. Since without truly developing

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combination of qualitative and quantitative methods questions, and the last was the concluding statement.
was also utilized. This was submitted to the thesis adviser for
establishing the direction of the questions. Panel
The primary source of data was the answers of the members made some suggestions for the instruments.
respondents in the unstructured interview. In The Dean of the Graduate School approved to
determining, the common answers from the teachers, conduct the unstructured interview.
an interview schedule was used. The respondents
who are currently teaching reading from Grades 4 The guide questions underwent a dry run in order to
within Donsol East District 1. The data were gathered determine the weaknesses and strengths of the
and analyzed through the appropriate statistical tools questions. This was conducted on some reading
such as frequency, weighted mean, percentage, and teachers in other schools in Donsol East I District
ranking used for the interpretation of results. who are not identified as teacher-respondents, in the
last week of 1st week of October after the approval of
 The Sample this proposal. After determining the content of the
There were 25 respondents comprising 5 teachers, questions, the revision was done. The interview
and 20 struggling readers of Donsol East I District schedule was utilized by the researcher in gathering
who are currently teaching and enrolled in SY 2022- the data.
2023 respectively. The teacher-respondents were
currently teaching reading specifically phonics, four  Data Gathering Procedures
of them were new in the service while the other one A letter of permission was constructed by the
is a seasoned teacher. researcher for her to access the pre and post-test
A total enumeration was adopted by the researcher results in the District Office of Donsol East I. It was
for the reason that she is currently teaching in the addressed to the Public-School District Supervisor
Donsol East District since she is presently residing and sent on October 4, 2022. After securing approval
support was easy to establish with the respondents. from the PSDS, the researcher was permitted to scan
The interview schedule was used to gather data on and review the requested files.
teaching reading strategies in phonics and the
experiences of teachers in teaching reading. The combined data from the District office and the
structured interview and the interview schedule were
 The Instrument organized, tabulated, and consolidated. After which it
The instruments used in this study were the pre and was analyzed, and finally interpreted.
post-test results of the Donsol East District in reading
by the pupil-respondents, SY 2022-2023. These were  Data Analysis Procedures
aided by the use of the teacher-made guide questions The data gathered were treated using frequency
to solicit the different teaching reading strategies and count, percentage, and ranking to analyze and
experiences of the teachers. interpret the strategies in teaching reading and the
experiences of teachers in using these strategies.
Also, he modified the Catch Them Early Tool (CTE)
was used to get the pre and post-test results. It is III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
composed of 26 items per sub-skill in phonics such as
letter naming and sounding both upper and lower 1. Result of the Pre-test of Learners in Phonics. The
case. results of the pre-test in phonics are revealed in
table 1
The interview schedule on the other hand had been Table 1 shows the scores of the learners in phonics
used to determine the responses of the teachers in the under the letter naming in upper and lower case in
identification of strategies and their experiences in Pre-test. The letter naming uppercase got 26.35 %
teaching reading. The interview schedule was used. It interpreted as slightly mastered while the letter
has three important parts, the opening statement to set naming lowercase got 24.81% unmastered.
the mood of the interview, followed by a series of

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Table 1
LETTER NAMING AND SOUNDING UPPER AND LOWERCASE

The data means that the learners did not master the in teaching phonics. It shows that Marungko ranked
letter naming in uppercase and lowercase considering 1st as the preferred phonics by the teachers, and other
their grade level it is expected that they already have which is conventional strategy ranked 2nd. The data
mastered the letter names since it is a foundational means that Marungko is a viable strategy for teachers
skill in reading. Also, when the teachers did not give in the improvement of mastery in phonics. In the
proper attention to the development of this skill it general interview, according to the teacher-
may be a strong indication that learners may have respondents, Marungko is the most convenient
struggled in reading. On the other hand, the mastery strategy for them where learners can easily
of letter naming in lowercase is as vital as the familiarize the sounds of the letters or words.
uppercase. Although, in this result, the letter name in
the upper case of learners got a higher score than the 3. Performance level of the learners in the Post-test
lower case. This goes to show that the result signifies in Phonics. The results were reflected in table 2.
the different backgrounds of the learners, as well as
the absence of their knowledge in decoding learning Table 2 presents the performance of the learners in
the letter naming upper and lower cases which is a the post-test of letter naming uppercase in phonics
strong predictor of success in reading. got 48.65 % while lowercase got 40.20 % and
interpreted as slightly mastered respectively. able 2
2. Teaching Reading Strategy employed to improve presents the performance of the learners in the post-
the level of Performance of learners in Phonics. test of letter naming uppercase in phonics got 48.65
% while lowercase got 40.20 % and interpreted as
The result of the unstructured interview shows the slightly mastered respectively.
common teaching reading strategies used by teachers
Table 2
LETTER NAMING AND SOUNDING UPPER AND LOWER CASES

This data means that learners were able to have a developed their initial understanding of the symbolic
little increase in their knowledge of letter naming in nature of the Also, despite the increase in
both upper and lower case after the conduct of the performance of the learners in letter naming
intervention. Although, there was an increase but still uppercase still they did not meet the mastery.
slightly mastered which means that the learners Although there were learners who manifest mastery

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under this skill, the result did not pull up their overall 4. Difference between the results of the Pre and
performance. Likewise, the researcher observed Postests.
common lapses and gaps among learners during the
application of the intervention such as having Table 3 presents the difference between the pre and
unfamiliarity with letters and sounds that resulted in post-tests results of the pupils in letter naming and
their difficulty in naming letters in uppercase. But letter sounding for uppercase and lowercase. It can be
given the fact that there were learners that were able gleaned from the table that the computed t in letter
to achieve mastery, this means that the strategy used naming for uppercase is 8.08. This value is greater
was effective but needs to be improved and enhanced than the tabular value of 2.021 when the degree of
in some manners. freedom is 38 at a .05 level of significance.

Table 3
Difference Between the Pre-test and Post-test results of the Pupils

Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected, and therefore, undergone reading-related training but it was a
there is a significant difference between the pre and decade ago, and most of them were not able to
post-tests results of the pupils in letter naming for attend any reading-related training, especially in
uppercase. This means that the use of Marungko as a phonics.The data means that teachers’ difficulty
teaching reading strategy in phonics, and letter in teaching reading resulted in learners' difficulty
naming uppercase is effective. Likewise, the in identifying sounds which has bearing on their
computed t in letter naming for lowercase is 7.05. lack of training in phonics. The results imply that
This value is also greater than the tabular value of teachers may show their initiative by providing
2.021 when the degree of freedom is 38 at .05 level themselves with pre or in-service training on
of significance. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected, Marungko or other strategies that may help
and therefore, there is a significant difference learners confident in developing the learners’
between the pre and post-tests results of the pupils in retention of sounds and naming letters and words.
letter naming in terms of lowercase.
 Insufficient materials. Instructional materials
5. Experiences of teachers in the use of teaching serve as a guide in sounding out the letters since it
reading strategies. is their top unmastered key skill.

Thisreveals the teachers’ experiences during the  Poor study habits. Another on the list of teachers’
implementation of teaching reading strategies. experiences was the poor study habits of the
learners, most of them experience this gap. One of
 Lack of training. Teaching reading is the top the respondents sighs with disappointment, they
concern of teachers. Only one (1) of them had said “I know I have done my part, on day 1 teach

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the lesson learners to know it but when the days REFERENCES

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