In Europe and the western countries, children who have reading difficulties receive mediation from professionals who specializes in teaching reading strategies. They employ reading specialists in every school because of varied student achievements in classrooms with various physical, emotional, and educational needs.
Remedial reading teacher, goes by many names in the United States such as but no limited to reading specialist, reading supervisor, reading consultant, reading coordinator, director of reading, and the like. Though their titles are varied across the states their responsibilities are similar.
According to Robinson (1958), remedial reading teachers are responsible in the diagnosis, teaching, and consulting of struggling learners. These are professionals with advanced preparation and experience in reading whose duties mainly caters to the literacy performance of readers in general and struggling readers in particular (Bean, 2009). These remedial teachers are not the regular teachers in the classroom. They are specifically hired for the purpose of intervention to struggling readers where their expertise are certified by Standards for Reading Professionals in the U.S
Meanwhile in the Philippines, Remedial, as defined in DepEd Order No. 013, s. 2018, is any form of organized instructional interventions given to a learner during summer class to address his or her learning gaps or subject area deficiency. The remedial can be made in a form of tutorial, mentoring, coaching, or other ways of delivering the organized learning experiences. Thus, remedial teachers can be defined based on the given definition by the DepEd. Batan (2016) revealed that although the DepEd provides trainings for remedial reading teachers, the agency does not have any uniform, clear and organized guidelines as to how remedial reading instruction should be done in schools.
Moreover, Gatcha & Bautista (2019) reiterated the unclear policies on the identities, roles, challenges, and needs of remedial teachers. In addition to that, the regular teachers are also the remedial teachers of struggling learners. Although remedial class is a separate subject and not integrated in the regular reading class, without role distinctions, it affects teachers in doing their jobs effectively. Their roles are usually broad and thus, they are forced to perform tasks which in the first place should not have been theirs.
As to struggling readers, several studies revealed that reading problems in the Philippines have consistently remain persistent (PISA, 2018; Umali, 2016; Celestino, 2014; Habagat & Rizon, 2012; Montalban, 2010; Miguel, 2007; Dela Cruz, et.al, 2006; Lalunio, 1994).
In Bicol Region, Department of Education (DepEd) Region V, through series of tests by Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI), revealed that around 40, 000 students are considered as “struggling readers” after taking both English and Filipino tests. Around 18,143 of those are in Grade levels 3 to 6. While in the Cordillera Region, of the 53,372 grade levels 4-6 who took the English post test in SY 2018-2019, 9,391 were identified as struggling readers which consist of 9,091 frustration readers, and 301 non- readers. Whereas in Filipino subject, of the 39,655 pupils of grade level 4-6, there were 11,826 struggling readers composed of 11,521 frustration readers and 305 non- readers.
Consequently, certain issues influencing struggling readers were identified, as Manaog (2020) attributed it to a string of factors, namely: the lack of study habits among our pupils; the lack of contact hours in teaching; the effects of technology, internet and the social media; and the effects of even the Department of Education’s Child Protection Policy (DepEd Order 40, series of 2012).
In addition to that, Chandler, et. Al (1999) found that children who are read by their parents or guardian to three or more times per week are more likely to know their letters, count to 20 or higher, write their own names, and actually read when they enter school. Additionally, Juel (1988) reports that by the end of 1st grade, students proficient at reading will have seen an average of 18,681 words of running text, whereas those who are struggling will have only seen 9,975. It is no wonder that, given half as much practice as their more proficient peers, struggling readers lost ground in decoding, automaticity, fluency, and vocabulary growth. The problem was not that the children were not developing skills—they were—but rather that they had fallen behind their classmates and were never able to catch up. By high school, many of these students will have fallen behind their peers by as much as four years (Shaywitz, 2003).
It is also important to note that the educational background and economic status of the parents, guardians, or immediate caregiver of the learners were among the factors most strongly associated with reading frequency: 74 percent of children living in poverty were read to by family members before entering kindergarten, as compared to 87 percent of children from more affluent background (Yarosz and Barnett, 2001).
With the abovementioned issues influencing reading developments of learners, Balong Elementary School could be patterned to such since Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS), conducted in 2015, revealed that 48 percent or 9,980 households in Tabuk City experienced at least one deprivation. Balong, a barangay in Tabuk City, indicated that out of the 326 number of children below 5 years old, 25 were malnourished. Of the 42 barangays in the city, Barangay Balong ranked 3rd when it comes to malnourished children, ranked 3rd of the 10 bottom barangays with informal settlers, ranked 10th of the 10 bottom barangays with children 12-15 years old not attending high school, and high level of children 6-15 years old not attending school. As to households with Income Below the Poverty Threshold, Below the Food Threshold, and Unemployment Rate, these provided a high-level indicator. Therefore, data provided gives information on what to expect on the reading levels of learners of Balong Elementary School.
In the implementation of reading mediations conducted by Adapon & Mangila (2020), certain factors, resembling Balong Elementary School issues, were encountered. With these, ten suggested solutions were included in the duration of study. Using data analysis, it revealed that involving parents and other stakeholders in planning and conducting activities ranked first, followed by budget allocation in the procurement of books, other reading materials, and teaching aids, then trainings and seminar-workshops for the remedial teachers came third. Moreover, said results were found to be consistent with the findings made by Gündoğmuş (2018) that parents’ educational background, collaboration with the parents, carrying out suitable activities for students, consideration of students’ readiness level, and improvement of physical conditions are doable solutions to the problems encountered by remedial reading teachers. Moreover, the said results were supported by Kasran, Toran, and Amin (2012) who found that training of remedial teachers, reducing their workload, and providing financial assistance for infrastructure and teaching aids are doable solutions to the problems they encountered in implementing a reading program.
Hence, for remedial teachers and struggling readers in Balong Elementary School to be able to achieve quality education, cooperation between the school and parents and other stakeholders, the community, and the barangay officials is necessary. Generally, government funding should also be considered in the allotment of reading and teaching materials for struggling readers, trainings and workshops for remedial teachers, separation of responsibilities to that of a regular classroom teacher and a certifying body, like that of Standards for Reading Professionals in the U.S to recognize ones expertise.
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