ENHANCING LITERACY SKILLS OF OUT OF SCHOOL YOUTH USING DRAW APPROACH

This paper explored the importance and acceptability of Digital Reading and Writing (DRAW) Approach to the improvement of literacy skills of the Out-of-School Youth (OSY) in Asingan, Pangasinan. The three-month intervention involved the use of video based teaching, Power-Point presentations, vodcasts and digital assessment tools. The findings of 61 respondents indicated that there was a significant improvement in the average literacy levels- 12.13 to 18.90. The majority of participants (59) were aged 1824 and had been out of school 02 years (60.6) most likely because of financial reasons (68.9). The most available learning tool and used to design the program was cellphones (80.3%). Although the digital accessibility was rated down, survey results indicated that the DRAW Approach was supported overall. The outcomes of ANCOVA proved the existence of the improvements by demographic groups, in particular, English-speaking participants. It is also important to note that people who dropped out because of academic struggles also registered improvements. On the basis of these results, a community-based project, the 3-Wheeled Classroom, was suggested, which would take DRAW to poorly served youth so that they can develop localised literacy together.