AN INVESTIGATION ON THE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES FOLLOWED BY TEACHERS ON CHILDREN WITH READING DIFFICULTIES IN PRIMARY CLASSES

Abstract

Reading is the most important skill in an individuals' life, which enriches the skills and abilities to develop and plays a crucial role in academic achievements. This study was to investigate the instructional practices of school settings on identification and reading instructions on children with reading difficulties (CRD) in primary classes. A survey research method was carried out in Zonal Education in Puttalam district, 70 primary teachers and 20 principals participated in this study, an open-ended questionnaire, formal interview, and classroom observations were carried out for data collection. Descriptive Statistical methods were used to analyze the quantitative data with the SPSS Ver. 20 software and content analysis method were used to analyze the qualitative data. The results show that the identification of children with reading difficulties was carried out by 71.4% of schools by reading exams or observations. However, there is no valid instrument nor criteria used to identify the children with reading difficulties. The class size is significantly related to the number of students with reading difficulties. 94% of the teachers facilitate the reading and teach the students to read for 1-2 periods per week at the beginning of the year and later they carry out usual classroom teaching as usual. Moreover, these study findings conclude the identification and instructional practices of CRD are low in the Puttalam district, and principals of study do not know what is going on in the classroom, no school-level plans are executed for the literacy or reading developments.