The Teacher's Role in Developing Beginning Reading Skills through Picture Storybooks in Elementary School

Abstract

Beginning reading is a foundational competence that supports children's access to classroom texts and later learning, yet third-grade students may still display heterogeneous profiles in word recognition, fluency, prosody, comprehension, and reading confidence. Previous studies often examine reading performance, learner factors, or instructional media separately. This study analyzes these dimensions together by examining students' beginning reading profiles, the internal and external factors associated with those profiles, and the teacher's roles when picture storybooks are used as instructional support. A qualitative descriptive design was conducted in a third-grade class at SDN Ciganjur 01 Pagi, South Jakarta. One classroom teacher and ten purposively selected students representing varied reading profiles participated. Data were collected through non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews, reading observations, and documentation, and were analyzed through data condensation, display, and conclusion verification. The findings show differentiated needs in decoding, accuracy, fluency, prosody, comprehension, and confidence. The teacher acted as planner, facilitator, reading model, motivator, guide, and evaluator. Picture storybooks functioned most effectively as visual scaffolds when teacher questioning, text evidence, repeated reading, and differentiated follow-up were integrated.