Teachers’ Views and Suggested Solutions Regarding Students’ Reading and Writing Difficulties

While recent advancements in information technology are expected to promote equal educational opportunities, fundamental instructional challenges remain unresolved, particularly for students residing in disadvantaged regions. Disparities between children from high and low socio-cultural backgrounds emerge as early as primary school, creating foundational gaps that become increasingly difficult to bridge. These disparities frequently manifest in the first grade during early literacy instruction. Consequently, some students in disadvantaged regions fail to fully acquire literacy skills even by the second, third, or fourth grades, and this problem occasionally persists into middle school. In this context, the present study aims to identify the challenges teachers face when instructing students who have advanced to upper grades without acquiring foundational literacy skills in the first grade, and to propose viable solutions. To this end, a qualitative research design was employed, using a semi-structured interview form to collect the data. The participants comprised 30 in-service primary school teachers instructing second, third, and fourth grades who had non-literate students in their classrooms. The data were collected through three open-ended questions, analyzed using inductive content analysis, and a literature-based main code list was established. The findings revealed that the lack of parental involvement was a primary challenge encountered by teachers. Furthermore, the study suggests that encouraging student engagement, providing financial support to low-income families, and reducing class sizes are essential remedial strategies.