READING PROBLEMS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 1

Reading Problems in Elementary Schools

What strategies would you use to overcome the problems of Reading in Elementary Schools?
Mavaega Ronnie Fuimaono
Argosy University
READING PROBLEMS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 2

Abstract:

Although reading has become the most common problems in elementary schools today, there are

ways or strategies that could be put into place to overcome these problems. The main aim of this

is to identify ways to overcome poor reading. This research project was implemented with

students from three various elementary schools around the country. Many educators both in

American Samoa and around the world believe that the implementation and monitoring of these

strategies would break that learning barrier and allows success in our children.

Dyslexia is a difficult language problem. It has to do with the way the brain works, not how you

see it. It involves not being able to break a word down into the sounds that make it up, and not

being able to write and think about the sounds in a word. University of Michigan further believes

that dyslexia is the most common learning disability where 80% of students with learning

disabilities have dyslexia and it affects more boys than girls.

Qualitative method style has been recommended in order for all information to be revealed and

in depth-interviewing has been selected as the method of collecting data. It is expected that the

researcher or interviewer will do most of the talking rather than asking questions, to keep the

conversation going.

Introduction:

To earn a better job in the future, you need to be successful in school. You need to

achieve higher grades and score good marks. One of the most common problems in elementary

schools today which is also identified as a barrier to learning is poor reading or not able to read

and understand what is being read. These reading problems could cause an individual to be
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unsuccessful in life. Students have problems reading because they lack specific skills necessary

for skillful reading. Children with such problems are said to have dyslexia.

According to the University of Michigan Health System electronic hand out on YOUR

CHILD, Dyslexia is a complex language problem. It has to do with the way the brain works, not

with vision. It involves not being able to break a word down into the sounds that make it up, and

not being able to write and think about the sounds in a word. Children with dyslexia have brains

that work differently to process language. They have problems translating language to thought

(in listening or reading) and thought to language (in writing or speaking). They have difficulty

learning to read due to one or more information processing problems such as visual perceptual or

auditory perceptual deficits (Myers, 1999). Many but not all children with dyslexia have

difficulty with reversals of numbers, letters or words.

University of Michigan further believes that dyslexia is the most common learning

disability where 80% of students with LDS have dyslexia and it affects more boys than girls.

When a student has reading problems, you need to identify where specific deficiencies exist. An

informal reading evaluation can provide valuable information to help you determine possible

gaps in necessary reading skills. After you identify missing skills you can then target instruction

to directly help your student build necessary skills.

Purpose:

The main purpose of this research is to find strategies or ways that could be used to

overcome the reading problems that are found in elementary schools. Furthermore, to investigate

how these strategies could help develop or boost the morale of these students.
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Participants background:

This research was carried out using six participants. They were selected from

friend/teachers who teach in their respective schools mainly in the elementary level Two of

whom are school principals who have been teaching for more than 15 years. The other three have

been in the field of teaching for over 5 years and one participant is only 2nd years of teaching

majoring in English.

Participant #1 Principal Pavaiai Elementary School

Participant #2 Principal Lupelele Elementary School

Participant #3 Teacher 8 years, Manulele Tausala Elementary School

Participant #4 Teacher 6 years, Tafuna Elementary School

Participant #5 Teacher 9 years, Matafao Elementary School

Participant #6 PA Teacher 2 years, Aua Elementary School

Literature Review:

Many primary school students face a lot of difficulties in reading. Many of whom would

not be able to pronounce the words correctly or at all. They would forever get stuck at a word

and drive their attention away. The best strategy to overcome such problem is to get students to

try and pronounce the words from their spelling using phonics (Gagen, 2007). It says that if the

student does not sound out words and instead relies on visual what the word looks like or whole
READING PROBLEMS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 5

word recognition approaches they are reading the wrong way. To read proficiently, the student

must read by converting print to sound.

Margo (2011) emphasizes problems in comprehension which are often difficult to detect

or notice. Students with this reading difficulty may read fluently but they do not comprehend

what they read. There are a number of strategies suggested by Margo which include

summarizing. He suggested asking students to read one page and then summarize it. Struggling

readers need to be taught that to summarize means to tell the important parts of a story, page or

sentence in chronological order. Once students can summarize one page (and at first they may

need guidance from you through questioning and/or directing them to the illustrations) then

move on to one section of the book and so forth. The teacher however needs to be patient when

doing this.

In addition, Margo (2011) further suggest another strategy to overcome such

comprehension reading problem as visualization. This is when the readers concentrate so much

on reading the words that they are not creating the pictures to go with them. The reader needs to

slow down, take a breath at commas and periods and think about what they read. When first

practicing visualization, get students to illustrate what they think is happening in the story and

what they see. Draw it on paper so students can see if the pictures in their heads match yours.

A research conducted at the Nursing School of the University of Colima using 13 nursing

students revealed 10 suggestions of solving reading in the English language. The study was

based on students with different learning abilities. One major suggestion acquired from this

research was that to teach students the relation between one sentence to the next to help them

understand the meaning as a whole not as separate idea.

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The study further suggests that reading comprehension should not be separated from

other skills i.e. it is difficult to have listening without speaking or writing without reading.

Reading with eyes only as normally heard in the Samoan classrooms those days seems to be out

dated. Lastly from the University of Colima, use texts that are suitable for the level of English of

your students. Too long or too difficult it becomes stressful, too short or easy and it becomes

boring. Make sure you find the perfect match.

Furthermore, Lillie (2013) in her Learning to solve problems through reading and

writing. It says that many students are lacking the necessary skills to solve mathematical word

problems. They also have troubles seeing the critical link between the applications of math skills

to real life situations. Besides lacking problem solving skills, most students also lack the

motivation to learn the skills. MacGregor (1993) suggests that writing activities in mathematics

that focus on concept development engage students in a process that requires higher level

thinking and students in a process that requires higher level thinking and active construction of

the meaning of that concepts. The process of writing helps makes the content of the problem

clearer to students.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS:

Participants 1 and 2 are principals of two different schools who have served and taught

English for close to 20 years. They both have related responses. Both principals have referred to

the results of SPELL 1 and SPELL 2 covering 2007 to 2009. Please find the following results

National at Risk Percentage by Gender 2007-2009.

Spell 1 English Samoa Math

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(YR 4) n
Year 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009
Boys 17 20 43 25 31 36 32 31 27
Girls 9 20 26 13 15 19 21 21 16
Spell 2 English Samoa Math

n
(YR 6)
Year 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009
Boys 67 73 71 18 22 18 67 66 56
Girls 45 47 41 6 8 9 51 50 39

SPELL ONE: YEAR 4

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2007 2008 2009

ENGISH SAMOAN MATH

SPELL ONE graph shows gender performance in all sub tests. Compared to 2008, SPELL 1

English 2009 boys at risk in percentage is increased by 23% and the girls by only 6%. Gagana

Samoa shows a slight increase in % at risk in both genders. The boys improved the at risk

percentage by 5% and the girls by 4%. It also shows a significant drop is revealed in Numeracy.

The boys dropped by 4% and the girls by 5%.

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SPELL TWO: YEAR 6

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
2007 2008 2009

ENGLISH SAMOAN MATH

SPELL TWO graphs show English as a slight decrease in the at risk percentage. The boys

at 2% and the girls by 6% for the last three years. Currently, the boys at risks dropped by 4% in

Gagana Samoa compared to 2008 and are consistently in line with the previous year’s results. A

significant improvement is shows in Numeracy. The percentage of boys at risks is reduced by

10% and the girls by 11%. Although an improvement is reflected, the at risk percentages for

English and Numeracy are far too high. There is a great need of assistance for these students who

are now in Year 7 classes while getting prepared for Year 8. Participants 3,4,5 and 6 have the

following results after analyzing their questionnaires:

Most of these participants stated that most of their students do not concentrate during

their reading sessions and that getting them to pay attention on their reading would be the best
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reaction. Asked whether the students like reading, all of them all said no, all their students do not

like reading and that they become very distractive in class. Not only that, they tend to do what

they feel like doing and throwing things around, flicking pens and writing on desks. Some said

that close supervision must be reinforced while one other said that corporal punishment must be

brought back as a means of punishment. Two other teachers have suggested visualization and

decoding which will surely assist the students in their reading. One on one where the teacher

spends more time on one particular student is highly suggested to be working in this situation.

Dyslexia is a complex language problem, and it has to do with the way the brain works,

not with the vision. Asked whether they see or find dyslexia in their students and all of them said

YES.

Most students
don't concentrate
during reading
sessions
Most become Flicking pens,
very distractive throwing things
and tend to do around and
what they wish writing on desks

Dyslexia is
found in
all
students
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Methodology: Qualitative

Qualitative method allows access to a much deeper and richer understanding of people’s lives

and behaviors. Another qualitative research technique could be called narrative inquiry, life

histories or case studies (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Yin, 2002) which is a very brief method

where most information would be revealed. This method has been recommended to make sure all

information relating to the READING problem would be spelt out and nothing would be hidden.

This would surely produce a solid and a quality piece of research.

Method of data collection:

In depth- Interviewing

This is an informal or unstructured interview. It has been chosen because this allows the

interviewer and interviewee to interact more closely and effectively. Such setting will bring out

the most effective answers to the questions.

Procedures:

The data was collected mainly by the questionnaire as I thought would be the best way to

collect information for the topic. In addition, general observations were on hand to assist and

further clarify any points in doubt. Interview questions were prepared based on the Research

Topic as mentioned at the beginning and when the target group of 6 participants were selected

from teachers who teach at various elementary schools of my choice. Each questionnaire was

given to the participants for at least three working days, and was collected to be analyzed.
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When needed, extra questions for more clarifications of points were asked. The

questionnaire was collected in advance and were analyzed thoroughly. All responses to all

questions were analyzed and compared and I found that most answers were on the same track

finding slightly differently ways suggested by different participants to tackle the reading

problems as arose in the respective elementary schools they teach at. The two school principals

who have both used the SPELL 1 and SPELL 2 results from 2007-2009 to comment on, clearly

show the increase in percentage by gender of at risk students in all three subjected that were sat

namely; English, Samoan and Numeracy (Mathematics).

Conclusion:

Reading problems occur in students when they don’t have specific skills necessary for

skillful reading. In addition, these also occur when they don’t feel like reading but become

distractive in the classroom and turn around to do what they feel like doing. Students with these

problems would play around, writing on desks, look outside and even do not concentrate on the

reading on the reading session. However, the teacher or tutor would be highly recommended to

be patient at all times and try and draw the attention of these disruptive students to the session.

There is quite a slightly increase in the at risk students in reading English, Samoan and

Numeracy by studying the SPELL 1 and SPELL 2 20070209. There is always a step forward in

all three years consecutively.

Dyslexia is a difficult language problem which has to do with the way the brain works,

but now how the child sees it. It involves the inability of the child to read. University of

Michigan also confirms that children with dyslexia affect way more boys than girls. There are

many strategies being suggested by different literature believers which include (1) students must
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read by converting print to sound (2) summarizing (3) visualization. Furthermore, other ways

such as decoding, working one on one, qualitative proves to be the most effective ways of doing

this research because there is a belief this is where an unstructured interview would take place

and more constructive responses would be given out, thus more truth comes out.

Recommendations:

After the long process of carrying out this research both in theory and practical, a lot has

been observed that could need my personal voice as recommendations. After collecting the data

and analyzing the information, I personally see that the reading problems started from the early

ages as far as the early childhood education. Unfortunately, the problem is not discussed there, it

is opened up at the elementary level for discussion, which I believe is a bit too late. Reading

Problems are being identified in all three areas, English, Mathematics and Samoan; therefore, the

emphasis should not be placed on reading English only. It is all about the study of LITERACY

which must include all three from the beginning. Getting the child at an early age to try and

sound a word helps a lot in his years of grown up. I strongly recommend this to be practices at

home with the child’s first ever teachers, his/her parents.

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References

Margo M., (2011). Strategies for Reading Comprehension for Struggling Readers. Hillsdale New

Jersey.

Gagen. M., (2007). Common Reading Problems: How to Identify Common Reading Problems

and Target Instruction to Help Struggling Readers Develop Necessary Skills. Retrieved

from http://www.righttrackreading.com/readproblem.html

University of Michigan Health System., (2012) Your Child- Dyslexia and Reading Problems.

Public Relations & Marketing Communications. Michigan, United States of America.

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Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (in press). Narrative and story in practice and research. In D.

Schon (Ed.), The Reflective turn:C ase studies of reflective practice. New York: Teachers

College Press.

Albert, L. R. (2013, May). Learning to Solve Problems through Reading and Writing: Challenges

and pressures. Presentation at Kangwon National University, Seoul, South Korea.

Myer (1999). Keeping Parents informed on child development, child psychology, parenting,

health and learning. Child Development Institute, United Kingdom.

Questions:

1. What are barriers encounter by students when they read?

2. How can students be encouraged to continue reading and writing?

One of the major problems being identified as one of the barriers in learning in most elementary

school children is reading. The majority of students could barely read a sentence. To make it

worse, some are not able to say or pronounce simple words. Poor reading or not able to read

simply means the student does not understand the literal meaning of what the instruction wants

him/her to do, or has no idea at all of what the sentence or passage is about.
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