Exploring Preschool Teachers’ Obstacles in Helping Children Teaching Malay Reading Skills

Abstract

Reading problems among preschool children are not a new thing for preschool teachers. This article discusses the constraints and difficulties when helping preschool children master reading skills. This study used a qualitative method design involving 12 preschool teachers who teach in 12 National Schools in 7 states in Malaysia. The criteria of the non-random sampling selection were based on employment in the preschool field, having eight years of teaching experience, and being a Principal Trainer (JU) in the preschool field. Analysis by the interview method was conducted online. Each interview conducted was recorded. The NVivo software has been used to facilitate the data management and analysis. The research design used Grounded Theory to obtain the findings. The results of this study show that there are 11 factors representing the constraints and difficulties related to helping preschool children master reading skills. Among them are different levels of mastery, being forgetful or having a poor memory, being unable to recognise the alphabet, getting lost or lacking focus, diverse mastery, a lack of family support, limited time, background differences, a lack of interest in reading, the differentiation of the methods used or applied, and also the attitude or maturity of the preschool children. Preschool teachers also use various methods that can stimulate the children's interest and increase their confidence by having fun lessons to help them focus during the reading process, whether in the classroom or at home. This is because the practice of reading is not only focused on school but also elsewhere. In conclusion, the teacher's presentation plays an important role and effective methods need to be taken into account in order to attract children's interest to be involve in the learning session and subsequently increasing the level of mastery in reading. The importance of mastery of reading skills among children is emphasised in relation to their age. This is because reading is an important activity in human life, and because it is a basic skill of self-development related to gaining knowledge.