Phonological awareness as a linguistic foundation in reading instruction for children with learning disabilities: A case study in rural Indonesian communities

Abstract

Phonological awareness plays a vital role in supporting reading development, particularly for children with learning difficulties. This qualitative case study explores the impact of targeted phonological awareness training on 30 educators, consisting of 15 female and 15 male participants from three rural regions in Indonesia. The participants included elementary school teachers, early childhood educators, community tutors, and education facilitators, with teaching experience ranging from 3 to 25 years (average 12.4 years). Data were collected through classroom observations, interviews, written reflections, and document analysis, and analyzed using the constant comparative method, which included open, axial, and selective coding. Educators in these areas face a range of systemic challenges, including limited teaching resources, limited access to professional development, unreliable electricity and internet, low parental involvement, large class sizes, and differences between the language spoken at home and the language used in schools. Before the training, most participants struggled to explicitly teach sound-letter relationships. The training helped address this issue by introducing practical and context-based strategies that could be applied in daily classroom settings. After the intervention, teachers reported feeling more confident and demonstrated better approaches in teaching phoneme-grapheme connections. While many structural barriers remain, this study shows that professional growth is possible when educators receive the right support. The findings highlight the need for continuous teacher development, locally relevant materials, and supportive policies to improve literacy outcomes for children with learning challenges in rural contexts.