摘要：This study explored Primary One students’ reading skills at the beginning of the national academic schooling in Malaysia. The objectives of this study were to identify the students’ ability to read syllables of the Malay language and to compare this ability in terms of gender, the type of kindergarten attended, and the length of time spent in these kindergartens. The respondents were 17 boys and 18 girls from the three major ethnicities in Malaysia, namely Malays, Chinese, and Indians. The respondents’ reading skills were ranged from weak to medium to high. The instrument used was a progress chart on reading syllable patterns of the Malay language. The respondents were assessed individually in a comfortable setting. The findings suggested that the length of time spent in kindergarten may have a relationship with the ability to read syllables and words. The findings from this research were also used to classify the syllable patterns into three groups: weak, medium, and high.
