Teaching to Read: The Insights and Voices of Reading Teachers

This qualitative research examined the strategies and challenges faced by ten private high school English teachers in the Schools Division Office (SDO) of Candon City, Ilocos Sur, during the 2023-2024 school year, using audio-recorded interviews and analyzed through thematic analysis.The findings of this study revealed that the private school English teachers of the SDO of Candon City, Ilocos Sur, applied six (6) strategies in teaching reading, namely technology integration (ICT), game-based instruction, reading connections, probing strategies, contemplative, and collaborative reading.Moreover, the challenges they have encountered include Fluency in Reading, Comprehension Activities, Lexical Skill Development, Demotivating Mindset, and Reading Instructional Strategies.The thematic analysis of this study can help teachers provide a vast amount of knowledge on effective teaching strategies to address the language needs of their learners.Based on the findings and conclusions arrived at, the following actions are recommended: English teachers should apply these teaching strategies more often in their reading class to address the language barriers and deficiencies of the learners.School administrators may endorse the institutionalization of using these strategies to sustain them in teaching reading.Further studies should be conducted to generate other strategies for teaching reading.A similar study can be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the strategies using other disciplines and different participants.