ABSTRACT
This qualitative-phenomenological study was conducted to find out the practices of four (4) Junior High School English teachers and eight (8) peer-readers in the conduct of School-based Literacy Project as bases in the conduct of enhancement program. Emergent themes drawn from the practices of English teachers in terms of selection were: automatic selection of English teachers, teachers currently doing remedial reading classes, and teacher with struggling readers in the advisory class; while for peer-readers, they were: top in the class or with honors, Special Program student, and who passed the Qualifying Examination. The practices of English teachers in terms of training needs were: Learning Action Cell, informational videos, and project orientation; while those of peer-readers in terms of training needs were orientation and monitoring and demonstration workshop. The practices of English teachers in terms of project support were: supplies from the school, support from the LGU and support from other stakeholders; while those peer-readers, were provision of materials and certificates of recognition.
Keywords: School-based Literacy Project, Practices, English Teachers, Peer-reader, Enhancement Program
INTRODUCTION
Every child must be given the opportunity to learn in his full competence and it can only be achieved if a child is able to read and comprehend written texts presented to him. Hence, reading must be developed at the early age of children for them to improve their communication and language skills for a wide variety of human activities that will provide them a broader understanding of the word and the world.
However, it is alarming that according to the Philippine Business for Education (PBED, 2022), learning crisis worsened during the pandemic and that in 2022, the World Bank found that 91% of Filipino 10 year-old learners were found to be lacking basic reading skills (Worldbank 2022; in PBED, 2022) as also reflected in the 2022 Division of Iloilo Data on Reading and Numeracy Test.
With the current educational landscape, to promote and address quality education, intervention activities and other innovative approaches come into play to make sure that maximum daily learning will take place, hence, Literacy Project was conceived and implemented starting January 23, 2023 in the hope to collectively improve performance on literacy.
In the opening of classes, upon enrollment, English teachers of Igbaras National High School administered a reading comprehension test to learners using the Revised Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) assessment.
The result of Phil- IRI identified struggling readers that was included in the conduct of the Literacy Project of the school which is a Remedial Reading Intervention. The Junior High School English teachers are in-charge of handling the said project. They are assisted by peer-readers who are trained special program learners to do reading exercises.
The researcher believed that undertaking this study would lead to the improvement of the conduct of the School-based Literacy Project to help teachers, peer-readers, school heads, and others who are concerned.
Furthermore, intervention and enhancement program must be done to address delivery problems and to provide unified activities that would directly impact literacy related issues and concerns.
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