Mastery of Reading Skills in Malay Language among Preschool Children during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges for Teachers

The new norms of education during the COVID-19 pandemic caused many to worry that year one children would not be able to master reading skills. This study aims to identify the mastery of Malay language reading skills among preschool children from the perception of teachers and explore the challenges faced by preschool teachers when conducting teaching and facilitation at home (TFH). This qualitative study uses a case study method by interviewing four participants consisting of preschool teachers and teachers teaching year one pupils. The research participants were selected using the purposive sampling method. The interview protocol was self -administered by the researcher and data were collected through audio recording equipment by telephone conversations. Interview transcripts were analyzed thematically. The results of the analysis found that the majority of six-year-old children in preschool have not yet mastered reading skills in preparation for year one of primary school. Teachers have no satisfaction in teaching online and face many challenges to apply reading skills among children. The challenge is that teachers find it difficult to teach children in a ‘one to one’ manner and the children’s constant absence in class made it difficult to help them. Teachers had to allocate a large amount of time and had to seek the cooperation of parents to overcome this problem. This study also suggests that there are appropriate methods, books or equipment that can help engage children in learning to read.