RIME (Reading Letters in its Correct Sound Made Easier): Strategy in Teaching Phonemic Awareness of Grade-I Pupils

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Poor readers are often unable to segment words into their phonological constituents and may have other phonological deficiencies as well. In Tina Central Elementary School, reading ability of Grade -I pupils has been a serious issue particularly to the third section of the said school. At the beginning of school year, most of the pupils could not decode words, could not identify letters, and could not even produce the sound of the letters of the Mother Tongue alphabet which causes them not to comprehend well, resulting to poor learning achievement and academic performance. This revelation of such situation challenged the researcher to take necessary action and make strategic intervention to aid these terrifying number of non-reader pupils.

METHODS

A quantitative method of research is used in this study. It sought to provide data on the reading performance and reading profile of the pupils under this study based on the pre-test and post-test results in Early Grade Reading Assessment Tool. After gathering the accurate information, data were organized, analyzed, and properly interpreted. The participants of the study were the third section of Grade –I, out of 3 sections in Tina Central Elementary School, in which 27 pupils are under this study.

RESULTS

Reading performance of the Grade-I pupils was seriously low and needs intervention to aid such reading problem. It was found out that letters which are commonly unrecognized by the Grade-I pupils are Dd, Ng, Ww, and Yy. These letters have the least number of correct responses based on the data gathered. It was revealed that, "RIME" strategy had contributed much in addressing the reading difficulty specifically on the phonemic awareness of the pupils under this study. As such, it increased the number of pupils from 55% who were not able to recognize letters from the pre-test to 81% who remarkably increased their reading ability on phonemic awareness.

DISCUSSIONS

Grade-I teachers shall apply "RIME" (Reading Letters in Its Correct Sounds Made Easier) which is a strategy designed in teaching phonemic awareness using varied instructional materials and differentiated instruction. By such, pupils could not only enjoy learning through play but as well as they could also develop their reading ability, particularly on its reading foundation, and that patience and passion in teaching pupils in Grade-I having difficulty in reading is a must especially that it is quite difficult handling these kind of learners.