Abstract
Diagnostic assessment tests for students entering elementary school were conducted once, focusing solely on letter reading. However, teachers did not assess syllable, word, paragraph, or reading comprehension, leading to ongoing issues in early reading ability among students. This study aimed to describe the early reading ability of the first-grade students at SDN 014 Tarakan through diagnostic assessment in terms of five key aspects: reading letters, reading syllables, reading words, reading paragraphs, and comprehending information from reading. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed in this study. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation. The findings revealed that in the letter reading aspect, 34 out of 55 students were fluent, while 21 were not. In the syllable reading aspect, 27 students were fluent, and 28 were not. In the word reading aspect, 21 students read fluently, while 34 did not. In the paragraph reading aspect, 15 students read fluently, and 40 struggled. In the comprehension aspect, 16 students could understand the content, whereas 39 had difficulties with comprehension. The study also identified several challenges faced by students with reading difficulties. These included poor memorization of letter shapes, frequent errors such as changing, omitting, or misplacing letters, difficulty with long words, limited vocabulary, and lack of concentration while reading.
