Prospective Elementary School Teachers’ Reading Literacy Profile Based on Minimum Competency Assessment with the Implementation of the Discovery Learning Model

Abstract

Every student needs to have learning and innovation skills, media, information, and technology literacy, as well as life skills so they can work and survive in the 21st century. Reading literacy skill is required for developing 21st-century life skills. According to empirical data from the PIRLS test in 2011 and the PISA test in 2018, Indonesian students’ reading literacy skill is still subpar worldwide. High reading literacy skill is required of prospective elementary school teachers. Utilizing a discovery learning approach that strengthens prospective elementary school teachers and students reading literacy skills can help reduce these issues. The two main objectives of this study are: 1) to profile the reading literacy skill of prospective elementary school teachers based on the Minimum Competency Assessment and 2) to analyze the effectiveness of implementing the discovery learning model on prospective elementary school teachers’ reading literacy skill. The research method used is a mixed method with a sequential explanatory design that sequentially combines quantitative and qualitative research methods. The results showed that: 1) based on the Minimum Competency Assessment, prospective elementary school teachers’ reading literacy profile was still relatively low (i.e., average score: 54.03, average score for each indicator—finding information, understanding, evaluating and reflecting: 48, 51.8, and of 56.3 respectively); 2) based on the average score of the prospective elementary school teachers’ reading literacy skill before and after the implementation of discovery learning model (54.03 and 72.18 respectively), the implementation of the discovery learning model is effective in improving the reading literacy skills of prospective elementary school teachers who are included under the moderate criteria. This outcome is a result of the integration of the discovery learning model of each syntax training with reading literacy activities, which stimulates students’ reading literacy skills.