No Read?

Madusmog kaw nan dako na A! This was the usual words teachers of our generation utter when one cannot read. We were then compelled to read the basic sight words and in Grade 2, this writer could read those words well without batting an eyelash.

Inquirer.net reported that more than 70,000 elementary students in Bicol cannot read in both English and Filipino, according to the Department of Education (DepEd), citing initial results of a 2019 study. Of this number, 18,143 are pupils in Grades 3 to 6, data released by Grace Rabelas, education supervisor for curriculum and learning management division of DepEd Bicol, showed.

Rabelas said the rest of what she called “nonreaders” were in Grades 1 to 2. The data were based on results of pretests administered by the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) between July and August 2019, the report continued.

The news stirred the academic community which even prompted the secretary of education to have a press conference explaining the details of the data. She mentioned that the result did not say that interventions were nil. This was just the pre-test results and the DepEd is doing everything to raise the quality of learning via Sulong Edukalidad.

Before we proceed to our discourse on one’s inability to read, let us first know what good readers do. According to Beers (2003), good readers recognize that reading is done for a purpose, to get meaning, and that this involves the reader actively participating. They use a variety of comprehension strategies such as predicting, summarizing, questioning and visualizing the text. They make inferences about the text. They use prior knowledge about their lives and their world to inform their understanding of a text. They monitor their understanding of a text, identify what is challenging, and have strategies to improve their understanding. They evaluate their enjoyment of a text and why it did or did not appeal to them. They know many vocabulary words and how to use the context, word parts, and roots to help understand new words. They recognize most words automatically, read fluently, vary their reading rate, and “hear” the text as they read.

But do these indicators manifest even to our high school students? Result of the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) revealed Filipino students ranked last among the 79 countries assessed for reading comprehension.

There are various factors that lead to reading failure, including impoverished exposure to language and early literacy activities, lack of adequate instruction, and/or more biologically based risk factors. While there are ongoing research efforts in all three areas, the most critical are: instruction and markers for at-risk readers (Cutting, 2018).

The K-12 curriculum dictates the standards and competencies for reading and comprehension. Yet there are other macro skills and strands for the learners to master since reading has this complex range to reach the level of arriving towards comprehension. In short the curriculum is jam-packed with other competencies that the teachers’ instructions are congested as well. There is a need to slim down the competencies and focus on the basics. This, too, is being considered by the department with the launching of the Sulong Edukalidad.

What about markers for at-risk readers? Cutting continued that poor phonological awareness, which can be tested long before children enter school, is one marker. Another concerning sign is if children are struggling with learning sound-symbol relationships when they begin to read. Finally, one of the best predictors we know of for future reading problems is if one or more relatives, particularly parents, struggled with reading themselves.

Family orientation is a great influence since how could the learners have these follow-up episodes when nary a trace of reading material can be found in their houses? We can still remember the times when the parents of the older generations invest on buying those humongous encyclopedias for their children’s reference and reading materials. Most of the parents these days are either influenced by what they see on social media or immature ones thriving on their own selfish needs than their children’s well-being.

Parent involvement in early literacy is directly connected to academic achievement. Children need parents to be their reading role models with daily practice in order to navigate successfully through beginning literacy skills (Evans, Shaw, Bell, 2000).

Educators and parents play key roles in reading. This skill is the backbone of one’s competence and literacy. What would happen to the world if people could not predict outcomes? Worse, what if no one can follow a simple direction?

Let us invest on the minds of the young. Let them devour the contents of the books we can buy, borrow or lend.