READING DIFFICULTIES AND EARLY LITERACY LEVELS OF GRADE 1 LEARNERS AT CATEEL CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, DAVAO ORIENTAL DIVISION: BASIS FOR AN EARLY LITERACY INTERVENTION PROGRAM

Educational Management

Reading and literacy are among the most important foundations of learning because they enable learners to understand lessons, communicate ideas, and participate meaningfully in classroom activities. This study determined the reading difficulties and early literacy levels of Grade 1 learners at Cateel Central Elementary School, Davao Oriental Division, as basis for an Early Literacy Intervention Program. The study employed descriptive quantitative design and used End-of-Schoolyear CRLA results of 28 Grade 1 learners. The learners were assessed in letter sounds mastery, syllable blending, word formation and reading, rhymes and word patterns, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Frequency, percentage, mean, and ranking were used to analyze the data. Results showed that most learners had already acquired basic reading skills, with 17 learners (60.71%) classified as Reading at Grade Level, 9 learners (32.14%) as Transitioning Readers, and 2 learners (7.14%) as Low Emerging Readers. The learners obtained 84.29% in letter sound recognition, 84.62% in sentence reading, 86.15% in reading fluency, and 80.00% in reading comprehension, with an average of 43.08 words per minute indicating developing fluency. The findings also revealed that reading comprehension was the area needing the most instructional support, followed by letter sound recognition and sentence reading. Based on these results, the study proposed an Early Literacy Intervention Program that emphasizes phonics, guided blending, repeated reading, comprehension activities, and learner grouping according to reading profile. The study concludes that early, targeted, and structured intervention is necessary to help Grade 1 learners become fluent and independent readers.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.