Evaluating Early Reading Challenges and Their Influence on Phonological and Linguistic Awareness in Elementary Students in DKI Jakarta

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine and describe early reading difficulties (ERD) of the elementary school children in DKI Jakarta with its phonological and linguistic awareness. Adopting a descriptive quantitative design, the performance of 65 children between the ages of 7 and 11 years (2nd to 5th grades) on measures of letter identification, syllable and word reading, phonological awareness, and linguistic awareness was tested. There was a broadly variable distribution of students' reading difficulties across the three reading difficulty levels: 43% independent, 22% instructional, and 35% frustration. The overwhelming majority of the children had difficulty blending phonemes to form syllables and words, rather than identifying individual letters, suggesting that children had not developed phonological awareness. External influences such as quality of teaching and environment for learning, were found to be major contributory factors. The results are discussed about the need for interventions that target skills in areas of phonological blending, syllable decoding, and language comprehension as opposed solely to letter identification. The study also underscores the importance of teacher training and the cumulative effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on early literacy acquisition. Such insights can then be used by educators and policy makers to develop more effective, research-based reading programs that are designed to address individually the needs of students and result in improved academic and lifelong skills.