Phonological Awareness as a Predictor of Reading Fluency and Oral Proficiency among Senior High School Students: Basis for an Intervention Program

This study examined whether phonological awareness predicted reading fluency and oral proficiency among Grade 12 Strengthened Senior High School students and used the findings to develop a proposed intervention program. A quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive-correlational design with comparative and predictive components was employed among 196 students selected through stratified random sampling from Las Piñas City National Senior High School–Doña Josefa Campus. Researcher-developed assessments measured phonological awareness, oral reading, and speaking performance; data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, group comparisons, Pearson correlation, and separate simple linear regressions. Phonological awareness was rated high (M = 20.79), although phoneme segmentation was the weakest component. Reading accuracy was strong (M = 96.39%), whereas prosodic reading remained developing (M = 2.29). Overall oral proficiency was developing (M = 2.24), with communicative strategies scoring lowest. Significant differences emerged across sex, section, track, and elective cluster. Phonological awareness correlated positively with reading fluency (r = .4425) and oral proficiency (r = .4642), explaining approximately 20% and 22% of their respective variance in separate regression models (p < .001). These results identify phonological awareness as a significant but noncausal statistical predictor of both outcomes. A pilot of the proposed SOUND TO SPEECH program is recommended to address phoneme segmentation, prosody, interaction, coherence, and communication strategies. The single-school, non-experimental design and researcher-developed instruments limit generalizability and causal inference. By identifying interconnected language-learning needs, the study offers school-based evidence for targeted instruction and advances SDG 4 through its potential contribution to equitable, sustainable literacy and communication development.