Collaborative Approaches in Teaching Reading to Enhance Language Proficiency among Grade 4 Pupils in English: Towards Best Practices

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Reading is said to be the training of the mind and the means to attain a deeper meaning of reality. The ability to read is one determinant of students' success or failure. They must form the habit of reading to perform well in all subjects. This study was conducted to: a) adhere poor performance in reading skill; and b) make struggling readers and non-readers read on the use of collaborative approaches in teaching reading in order to develop best practices.

METHODS

A descriptive survey method was used to obtain data from the respondents. The researcher used this method because a qualitative description of the collaborative approaches in enhancing the language proficiency level among pupils is appropriate. The descriptive method was used in this study to describe the pre-test and post-test score of the pupils based on the PHIL-IRI results.

RESULTS

Collaboration among the teachers, parents, and the pupils themselves was found useful in the enhancement of reading skills of the pupils. Findings revealed that there was a significant difference in the performance of the students before and after use of collaborative approaches in teaching reading. The scores were assessed in terms of phonological awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The performance of the pupils during the pre-test significantly increased in the post-test due to the collaborative approaches in teaching reading.

DISCUSSIONS

Best practices on collaborative approaches in teaching reading were designed to enhance the language proficiency level of the pupils. Based on the findings of the study, collaborative approaches were utilized in enhancing the language proficiency level among pupils in the elementary level.