Riau Malay culture-based literacy education in elementary schools: a mixed-methods structural equation modeling study of literacy habits, character values, cultural interest, and learning needs

<title>Abstract</title> <p>This study examined how elementary school students' literacy habits, understanding of character values, interest in local culture, and learning needs shape their readiness for Riau Malay culture-based literacy education. The study addresses a practical problem in Indonesian elementary schools: many students enjoy reading and recognize moral lessons in stories, yet classroom literacy activities do not consistently draw on local cultural narratives. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used. In the quantitative phase, 67 students from elementary schools in two regencies and two municipalities in Riau Province completed a Likert-scale questionnaire. The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews explored students' reading preferences, cultural knowledge, and interpretations of character values. The structural model showed acceptable fit (chi-square/df = 1.04, CFI = 0.983, TLI = 0.975, RMSEA = 0.021, SRMR = 0.034). Literacy habits had the strongest effect on readiness for Riau Malay culture-based literacy education (beta = .45, p &lt; .001), followed by understanding of character values (beta = .32, p &lt; .01), learning needs (beta = .31, p &lt; .01), and interest in local culture (beta = .28, p &lt; .05). Interview data showed that students preferred folklore, legends, comics, historical stories, and familiar cultural narratives such as Putri Tujuh and Malin Kundang. They associated these readings with honesty, responsibility, courage, discipline, helpfulness, and respect for parents. The findings suggest that Riau Malay cultural narratives can serve as pedagogical bridges between reading engagement, moral formation, and local cultural identity in elementary literacy education.</p>