General Education Teachers' Perspectives about Their Practices when Teaching Reading Skills to Students with and at Risk of Learning Disabilities in the Primary Classrooms

Abstract

General Education Teachers' Perspectives about Their Practices when Teaching Reading Skills to Students with and at Risk of Learning Disabilities in the Primary Classrooms Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify the perspectives of classrooms’ teachers at the primary grade levels (first, second and third grades) in Makkah about their practices when teaching reading skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension) for classes that involved both students with learning disabilities and at risk of it. Therefore, the researchers designed a questionnaire consisting of 29 items. A total of 39 teachers responded to the questionnaire. The results showed that teachers focused on teaching reading skills in the following order: (1) fluency, (2) comprehension, (3) vocabulary, (4) phonics, and (5) and phonemic Awareness. The results also showed that there are no statistically significant differences among teachers that can be explained by their academic majors, and the number of students with and at risk of learning disabilities in their classes. However, the results showed that there were statistically significant differences among teachers of different grade levels as the first-grade teachers were focusing on teaching the phonics skill. Keywords: Teaching reading, reading skills, students with and at risk of learning disabilities