A Linguistic Analysis of Oral Reading Miscues and Difficulties Towards Designing an Innovative Reading Program
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69569/jip.2026.440Keywords:
Linguistic analysis, Oral reading miscues, Phonological and orthographic processing, Reading difficulties, Reading intervention programAbstract
Oral reading miscues reveal how learners coordinate sounds, printed forms, and meaning while reading. However, the linguistic processes underlying these miscues remain insufficiently examined among Filipino adolescent second-language readers. This sequential mixed-methods descriptive study with qualitative priority investigated the oral reading miscues and difficulties of Grade 7 struggling readers in a public secondary school. Of the 144 learners who met the eligibility criteria based on their Philippine Informal Reading Inventory Group Screening Test scores, 120 completed an audio-recorded oral reading assessment using a Grade 5 Phil-IRI passage. Frequencies, percentages, and rankings identified the three most prevalent miscue types and the five most frequently miscued words within each type. These words were examined according to their phonological, orthographic, and lexical features. Ten learners with the highest number of miscues participated in one-on-one interviews, and their responses were analyzed thematically. Integration occurred when the assessment results guided the selection of miscues, words, and interview participants, while the linguistic and interview findings were combined during interpretation. A total of 754 miscue instances were recorded. Mispronunciation was the most frequent at 51.33%, followed by repetition at 26.92% and substitution at 21.75%. Mispronunciations were associated with cross-linguistic phonological differences, complex consonant clusters, and weak phoneme-grapheme correspondence. Repetitions reflected irregular spelling patterns, incomplete orthographic mapping, and attempts at self-correction, while substitutions were linked to limited vocabulary, weak morphological awareness, and reliance on familiar lexical forms. Interviews further revealed difficulties in letter-sound recognition, word familiarity, and exposure to English vocabulary. The findings support Goodman’s view of reading as a meaning-making process and demonstrate how phonological, orthographic, and lexical constraints interact in producing oral reading miscues. The integrated findings informed a localized reading program designed to strengthen decoding accuracy, orthographic mapping, vocabulary knowledge, and oral reading confidence.
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