English Reading Difficulties and Strategies for Improvement at Primary Level: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

English is an alien language. The teachers and students are facing difficulties in reading competency regarding, comprehension, speed, shyness, stuttering and stammering, jerks, fluency, pronunciation, accent intonation, and stress. The purpose of the study is to explore the difficulties in English reading competency and to develop strategies for the improvement of reading competency at the primary level. The key objectives of the study were to explore the difficulties in reading competency and to develop strategies for the improvement of reading competency of 5^th-grade students at the primary level. These research questions were framed. What are the difficulties in reading competency faced by 5^th-grade students? What strategies are needed to develop the reading competency of 5^th-grade students? The study was qualitative and phenomenological in nature. The study was carried out through interviews with primary-level teachers and 5^th-grade students. The sample was 12 participants, 6 were teachers and 6 were 5^th-grade students. The analysis of the gathered data was made with the thematic analysis of Clarke and Braun (2019). Major findings were that students’ lack of interest, mal-recruitment of engineers, MBA degree holders and lack of relevant educational background, adhocism, contract appointment and hiring teachers’ trend, poor and uneducated parents and incompetency of teachers in the subject of English were the key difficulties in reading competency. These strategies were recommended. The teachers may be recruited who have Master's degrees in English with educational qualifications like B.Ed., M.Ed., MPhil, and Ph.D. in English or education. It was recommended that English Language teachers must provide basic reading skills to students to equip themselves with reading strategies for improvement in reading skills. It is also suggested that teachers may be given refresher programs through English experts for the improvement of reading competency.