The Lived Experiences of High School Non-readers in the Care for the Non-readers Program: Help Seeking in Focus

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Help seeking is an important strategy that learners use to deal with difficulties especially in high school when students are no longer expected to learn to read but read to learn. The help seeking strategies of 6 non-readers in Dilangalen National High School led them to be the pioneer recipients of the Care for the Non-readers (CNR) Program of the Department of Education Region XII. We conducted this phenomenological study to describe and understand the lived experiences of high school non-readers in the light of their help seeking strategies. We also aimed to find insights of the high school non-readers from their lived experiences and to explore the effective teaching and learning strategies in the light of help seeking strategies drawn from the participants' narration.

METHODS

Purposive sampling technique yielded 6 participants for the focus group discussion in Dilangalen National High School, Midsayap, Cotabato. We adhered to research ethics protocol and used thematic analysis to let various themes emerge from this phenomenological study.

RESULT

For the Lived Experiences of High School Non-readers in the Light of their Help Seeking Strategies, the themes were Interdisciplinary Reading Difficulties, Adaptive and Non-adaptive Help Seeking from People, Concepts of Help and Fear from the Text and Learned to Read from the CNR Teacher. Students' insights from their lived experiences include Happiness in the CNR Clinic, Nervousness with the CNR Teacher, and Independent Reading. Effective Teaching and Learning Strategies in the Light of Help Seeking Drawn from the Participants' Narration comprise CNR Service and MaterialsEnhancement.

DISCUSSION

The participants experienced reading difficulties across disciplines which made them struggle with academic tasks. Their non-adaptive help seeking from their classmates led to dependence while their adaptive help seeking from their subject teachers and from the Care for the Non-readers (CNR) teacher led to their independent learning. Participants affirmed that the CNR program has helped them to read independently especially in Filipino language. However, they did not know how to apply what they have learned from the books to real life which showed that they are at the literal or lowest level of reading comprehension. Hence, the CNR teacher must use intervention to raise the participants' reading comprehension level and to develop their self-efficacy as well as consider the participants' suggestions for improving intervention.