Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introducton
Reading is the ability to recognize words and its corresponding sounds. Unlike speaking, reading is not something that every individual learns to do. A huge amount of time, money, and effort should be spent in teaching reading (Nunan !!"#. Reading is a conscious and unconscious thinking process. $he reader applies many strategies to reconstruct the meaning that the author is assumed to have intended (%ikulecky, !!. Reading is one of the basic skills one should master' it is a prereuisite for one to gain higher skills. )omprehension on the other hand is an act of or capacity for grasping with the intellect (*ebster +ictionary#.*hile most students recognize some letters, words, and sounds, most of them fail to grasp the message of words they are reading. $his was noted by $ytler $ytler (!!# if the reading material is written in a language which the student is in the process of learning, his comprehension will be limited. limited. -f the knowledge of the vocabulary is is only basic and he speaks in a halting manner, it will have a negative effect on his comprehension of reading material. $his is the primary problem language teachers encounter with their students, especially in the public schools. schools. /ilipino /ilipino students as 0econd12anguag 0econd12anguagee 3nglish 3nglish learners learners should gain proficiency proficiency in 3nglish to become more competitive. Advocat Advocates es of a strong strong 3nglis 3nglish1a h1as1m s1medi edium um of instru instructi ction on policy policy have have propos proposed ed that that /ilipinos will best gain 3nglish proficiency if the formal educational system uses 3nglish as the e4clusi e4clusive ve languag languagee of instr instructi uction on for all sub5ec sub5ects, ts, or learni learning ng areas, areas, e4cept e4cept for /ilipi /ilipino no (6ernardo, !!"#. 1
According to %aruez (!!"#, reading is viewed as speech. $hus, a child must possess both the aural skills and oral vocabulary to read successfully. successfully. 7e further stated that schools shou should ld view view a more more behav behavio iori rist st view view of langu languag agee than than that that of a const constru ruct ctiv ivis istt appr approa oach ch (%aruez, !!"#. /urthermore, $ytler (!!# stated that a student should first be fluent in the spoken language before he attempts to understand any but very basic literature. $he department of 3ducation implemented the 8 to curriculum, which is line with the United Nations %illennium +evelopment 9oals, which is to promote achievement of universal primary education through 3ducation for All (3/A# movement and global literacy, implemented plenty of programs that will help the learner develop their reading skills. skills. 0ummer reading camp and pro5ect +.3.A.R. are programs implemented by +epartment of 3ducation to strengthen strengthen the reading reading skills of the students and to remediate remediate the slow readers. readers. $he :hilippines signed the United Nations1sponsored %illennium +evelopment 9oals (%+9#. $hese goals are targets which are to be met by !;. /or education, the %+9 is that every child completes elementary education (9rade <#. $he :hilippines is not meeting this goal. 0adly, it is not even making any progress at all. /or every !! students enrolled in 9rade , to meet the %+9, !! students should graduate from 9rade <. -n !!!, only << students of the original !! graduated from 9rade < (7oneyman, !=#. According to the United Nations, there are > million youth globally which (aged ; to =# lack basic reading and writing skills. 0i4ty one per cent of them are young women (UN ?rganization, !>#. $he situation of the private schools, specifically, those which are located in the province are not e4empted on this alarming situation. $eachers too, e4perience and encounter difficulties in the teaching of the second language, despite the effort e4erted to match strategies to learning 2
According to %aruez (!!"#, reading is viewed as speech. $hus, a child must possess both the aural skills and oral vocabulary to read successfully. successfully. 7e further stated that schools shou should ld view view a more more behav behavio iori rist st view view of langu languag agee than than that that of a const constru ruct ctiv ivis istt appr approa oach ch (%aruez, !!"#. /urthermore, $ytler (!!# stated that a student should first be fluent in the spoken language before he attempts to understand any but very basic literature. $he department of 3ducation implemented the 8 to curriculum, which is line with the United Nations %illennium +evelopment 9oals, which is to promote achievement of universal primary education through 3ducation for All (3/A# movement and global literacy, implemented plenty of programs that will help the learner develop their reading skills. skills. 0ummer reading camp and pro5ect +.3.A.R. are programs implemented by +epartment of 3ducation to strengthen strengthen the reading reading skills of the students and to remediate remediate the slow readers. readers. $he :hilippines signed the United Nations1sponsored %illennium +evelopment 9oals (%+9#. $hese goals are targets which are to be met by !;. /or education, the %+9 is that every child completes elementary education (9rade <#. $he :hilippines is not meeting this goal. 0adly, it is not even making any progress at all. /or every !! students enrolled in 9rade , to meet the %+9, !! students should graduate from 9rade <. -n !!!, only << students of the original !! graduated from 9rade < (7oneyman, !=#. According to the United Nations, there are > million youth globally which (aged ; to =# lack basic reading and writing skills. 0i4ty one per cent of them are young women (UN ?rganization, !>#. $he situation of the private schools, specifically, those which are located in the province are not e4empted on this alarming situation. $eachers too, e4perience and encounter difficulties in the teaching of the second language, despite the effort e4erted to match strategies to learning 2
styles of students. $o find out the gap and reasons for this, the researcher prompted to conduct an investigation on the reading competency of the 9rade ! students of ?ur %other of :erpetual 0uccor Academy, one of the private schools in the :rovince of %arinduue, and 0enior 7igh 0chool :rovider.
State!ent o" the Pro#$e!
$his study aimed to determine the competencies in reading and its effect on the academic achievement in 3nglish of the 9rade ! students in ?ur %other of :erpetual 0uccor Academy for the 0chool 0 chool @ear @ear !=1!;. 0pecifically it sought answer the following uestions . *hat is the the reading reading competency competency of the the 9rade ! students students in terms terms of the followin following g a. noting details b. getting the main idea c. organizing idea d. outlining e. summarizing
. *hat are the levels of the academic acade mic achievements of the respondents as to the followingB a. "!1above
1 Advance (A#
b. &;1&"
1 :roficient (:#
c. &!1&=
1 Approaching :roficiency (A:#
d. C;1C"
1 +eveloping (+#
e. C=1b C=1bel elow ow
1 6egi 6eginn nniing( ng(6#
3
>. -s there a significant relationship between the students academic achievement in 3nglish and their reading competenciesB
Scope and De$!taton o" the Stud%
$his study primarily focused on the reading competencies 9rade ! students and its effect on the academic achievement in 3nglish. $he study covered the ; 9rade ! students official enrolled at ?%:0A. $he reading competencies of the respondents would be measure in terms of Noting +etails, 9etting the %ain -dea, ?rganizing -dea, ?utlining, and 0ummarizing. $he research would use the respondents form >& A to measure their academic achievement in the 3nglish sub5ect. $his research did not generalize or represent the academic achievement of the students in all sub5ects but limited only in the 3nglish sub5ect. $he competency measured was limited only in the reading skill in the 3nglish sub5ect and would not be the basis for the comprehension in our core sub5ects where 3nglish competency is the foundation skill for comprehension. 2ikewise, this research did not touch other skills of 3nglish such a s speaking, writing, and listening.
S&n"cance o" the Stud%
$he researcher believes that this study would not only yield a data that may be helpful to her likewise to the following groups of people in the field of instruction and even the schools partners and stakeholders. Schoo$' D('on Superntendent $he findings may serve as a guide for 0chools
+ivision 0uperintendent in planning a reading program that may help the schools with low performance in reading comprehension.
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Super('or') Results of this research may serve a basis for the supervisors to conduct
seminars that would enhance the reading performance. -t may also serve as a guide to develop an effective reading program and resources. Ad!n'trator' . $he finding of the study may serve as a guide for administrators in
planning activities that may help improve the students performance in reading and in the 3ntry Assessment $est. -t may also as guide them in procuring reading materials that may be effective in developing the students reading skills. Teacher') /indings of this study may greatly help the teacher in preparing activities to
suit the students need in developing their reading skills, and this would also help the teacher in formulating an approach in handling the slow1readersDnon1readers. Schoo$ Readn& Coordnator) /indings of this study may serve as a guide in choosing
the proper reading materials that may help the developing readers in becoming an independent reader' this may also serve as a guide in formulating an effective approach in reading remediation. Student') $his study may provide clues in understanding the obstacles that hinder the
students from becoming an effective reader, and would serve as a guide in developing their least mastered skill. Parent') $he result of this study may give the parents an understanding of the learners
reading development, help them in assisting the students needs in developing their reading skills, and foster a strong teacher1parent cooperation. Loca$ Go(ern!ent Unt . $he findings of this study may serve as a guide in allotment of
budget for the procurement of materials that may greatly help the students reading skills.
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*uture Re'earcher') $he findings of this research may guide the future researchers on
the linguistic problems that individual students encounter in reading, and may pave way for more researches on the field of applied linguistics and sociolinguistics and its direct effect on the understanding of the language and its te4t.
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Chapter + THE RE,IE- O* RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
$his chapter presents a review of literature and related studies that have bearing on the present study and are important in understanding the variables investigated in the study.
The Nature o" Readn&
Reading is about noting details, getting the main idea, organizing idea, outlining, and summarizing. Noting +etails is finding out what the te4t is about (%ikulecky,!! and e4tract some important information. Anh (!!# argues that teachers must focus mostly on noting details in reading material in order to provide significant information about the te4t. -t is concluded in her research that the respondents got the lowest points in noting details. -t means that they had some difficulties in noting details. ?utlining is an effective tool in teaching reading. -t was noted that there was significant difference in grade of reading test achieved by the students after they had been taught by using outlining techniue. 6ased on the result, the use of outlining could be an effective techniue to improve students reading comprehension (:erpus, !#. 0ummarizing is the process of shortening a material by retaining and re1stating main ideas and leaving out details(%ikulecky,!!. 0tudents with low reading comprehension do not spend enough time on writing the summary. Analyzed in terms of Erelating to the sub5ectF, student summaries were found not to appropriately capture the main concepts and ideas of the te4t (8irmizi G Akkaya, !#.
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/urthermore 8irmizi and Akkaya (!# stated that in their research, when the summaries were evaluated in terms of the code Erewriting the main idea in students own wordsF it was found that the main idea paragraph at the end of the te4t was not e4pressed properly. -t may thus be concluded that the students were not competent in identifying the main idea of the te4t. $his competence indeed lies at the heart of te4t comprehension.
The Nature o" Learnn& the En&$'h Lan&ua&e
3nglish has always been a part of our educational curriculum, students are trained to be competitive in the global market. $he academics, policy makers, and policy implementers are trying to involve themselves in both drafting and implementation of language related policies, they recognize the importance of 3nglish in the /ilipino society (6orlongan, !#. -ntrinsic motivation is one way that could affect the students learning and language skill development, especially on reading (2ucas, et al., !#.$hey noted that freshman students are intrinsically motivated to learn specific language skills such as reading and speaking in 0econd 2anguage, because they use it in conversation with their peers or as a reuirement in a classroom. -ntrinsically motivated students appreciate learning 3nglish as a 0econd 2anguage as it would be their key to success in possible future employment (2ucas, et.al., !#. -n the study conducted by %o5ica (!#, she concluded that gender plays a vital role in the usage of language, particularly /ilipino. %ales are associated with indecent languages and females are identified with $aglish ($agalog13nglish# language. Rivera (!!# refuted this claim. According to her, gender and educational attainment of parents do not affect the reading comprehension skills of the students. /urthermore, Rivera (!!# stated that its the attitude towards reading, language preference among respondents, the parental follow1up and teachers
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characteristics are important factors in enhancing the reading comprehension of the students As a /ilipino we are immersed by different languages. According to %c/arland (!!"#, there are over one hundred distinct languages in the :hilippines. /urthermore he adds that the variations of these languages are so different from one another that the speaker of one language does not understand communication in one of the other languages. %edia and society play a vital role in vocabulary learning, which is basic in reading comprehension -n the study conducted by %iciano (!#, -t was observed that /ilipino 0tudents are good at reading for details but poor in reading for main ideas. Reading for details is a lower skill because details are e4plicit in the te4t and is not a challenge in the readers imagination and cognition. /urthermore, %iciano (!#, stated that the students weakness in identifying the main idea suggests they do not have enough knowledge in abstraction or in e4pressing them.
The Ln. o" Lan&ua&e and Readn&
2earning a language is one of the comple4 processes a human has to undergo, it is a systematic set of sounds with a set of rules, for the purpose of creating meaning and communicating (Neuliep, !!. Upon the acuisition of language, one should also develop a reading skill. Reading is a prereuisite to different language skills. 6eing an effective reader, one should comprehend the te4t heDshe is reading. Reading comprehension reuires many different skills. -t involves understanding of the words, seeing relationships among words and concepts, organizing ideas, evaluating the conte4t, and making 5udgment of the message ()aballero, !>#. According to Nunan (!!"#, conte4t plays a very important role to reading, it helps the reader in predicting the meaning of an upcoming word. /urthermore he stated that readers who
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are reading for meaning generate miscues that make sense semantically. A reader would substitute a particular word without damaging the whole ideas of the sentence. /or e4ample, a person might read -t was a hot, sunny day, when the original te4t -t was bright, sunny day. -n a research conducted by )homchaiya and +unworth (!!, the connection between reading and the development of 3nglish language proficiency more generally was one which was freuently observed, and appeared to be a factor that motivated their desire to read. 0tudents appreciate reading if they can relate the conte4t of the te4t to their e4perience. /urthermore they pointed out that participants felt discouraged when confronted by te4ts which contained too much vocabulary that was unfamiliar or had not been internalized, even if it had been previously presented to them in their classes.
Re'earche' on Readn& Co!prehen'on
According to a research conducted by )ekiso (!# he pointed out that a well1developed reading strategy instruction programme can have a strong positive effect on the 302 learners reading comprehension and reading strategies development. -n other words, a readers reading comprehension skill can greatly improve if a proper intervention is conducted. $he learners in the e4perimental group improved their performance in the comprehension test significantly after the intervention, whereas the learners in the control group did not improve their performance on the comprehension test. $he results of the research indicate that reading strategy instruction can and does make a contribution in increasing the reading comprehension and reading strategy choice. 9illispie (!! argued that children with specific read ing comprehension deficit (0R)+# have higher level processing deficits, specifically semantic processing deficits. And according to
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%oges (!# students vocabulary and grammar knowledge were seen as serious factors that cause comprehension problem. 2imited vocabulary knowledge is more likely to affect students comprehension. Unless one has strong word power, heDshe is likely to be limited in understanding te4ts. %iddendorf (!># acknowledge the powerful effect of midline crossing towards the development of the childrens reading skill. 0he stated that being able to cross the midline of ones own body (perform a cross lateral# is an important developmental milestone. %ost children who cannot effortlessly cross the midline of their body with an arm or leg from the other side of the body will struggle with learning to read. Reading is a comple4 process that involves seamless communication between both hemispheres of the brain. $he left hemisphere decodes words and the right puts meaning and emotions into it. %iddendorf (!># pointed that efficient readers must visually cross the midline of the page as they track from left to right and from top to bottom. A child who is unable to cross e4tremities of his or her body over the midline will very likely struggle with tracking print. 0lavin, et al. (!!"# stated in his studies that metacognition is important in treading. $he use of metacognitive strategies is related to age and e4perience. 6y middle school, successful readers will have developed enough background knowledge, vocabulary, and e4perience with both narrative and e4pository te4t to take the ne4t step in their reading development. 0killed readers develop the thinking skills necessary to grapple with the difficult te4t presented in content1area classes, and to acuire the study skills needed to store, retrieve, and use information after they achieve comprehension. 3rten and Razi (!!"# acknowledge the positive effect of background knowledge and cultural familiarity on reading comprehension. $hey maintained that that the students who read
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the nativized version of the story possessed relevant cultural background knowledge, which reduced the cognitive load imposed by the comple4 reading procedures.
0tudents
can
comprehend well if they can relate their cultural background to a reading selection. /urthermore, they pointed out that the students find it difficult to create mental representations of the unfamiliar conte4t, which prevented the econo mical use of attentional resources.
Readn& a' S.$$
Reading is a very important macro skill in 3nglish but according to 2ucas et.al. (!#, it is also the most neglected skill by our students among the macro skills. 6ut a lot of /ilipino students are still interested in reading. 0ocial Networks such as /acebook, $witter, multiply, and my space can stimulate their desire to read and can be a helpful tool that might motivate the students to read and use 3nglish as communicative language (2ucas, et al., !#. )ayubit (!#, argued that reading has two components, vocabulary and reading comprehension. -t is also a valid and reliable instrument that can measure reading skills. )ayubit (!# also stated that /ilipino readers can do more if the items are in /ilipino. -n a study conducted by Abeberese, et al., (!#. -ncentive can be a powerful factor that motivate the children to read, students under the 0isikat sa aklat Reading :rogram were given an incentive to read through the >1day Read1A1$hon. +uring the read1a1thon, the program significantly increases the propensity of children to read, causing ! percent more children to have read a book in the last week at school and increasing the number of books read by .> in the last week and C. in the last month. $he program also increased students scores on a reading assessment, causing students scores to improve by !.> standard deviations immediately after the program.
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$abudlong, et. al (!# argued that students who perform well in a cognitive test will also perform well in a reading comprehension test. /urthermore, in her study, respondents who were high scorers in the cognitive skills test continued to be high scorers in the reading comprehension test, those << who were middle scorers in the cognitive skills test continued to be middle scorers in the reading comprehension test and those who were low scorers in the cognitive skills test continued to be low scorers in the reading comprehension test. %eaning, there is high consistency in the respondents performances in the two tests. According to Auino (!#, in teaching 3nglish as a second language, one should not disregard the influence in the bilingual literacy. 6ilingual 2iteracy is promoted by +ep3d through the %other $ongue 6ase1%ulti12ingual 34perience(%$61%23#.$he bilingual literacy program used in her study is only one of the many ways by which such a program can be implemented. $he two1day a week e4posure to each language (i.e., /ilipino on %onday and $uesday, 3nglish on *ednesday and $hursday# apparently is not an effective way to implement a bilingual program 5udging by the relatively unremarkable performance of the 62 group compared to that of the two monolingual groups. Results suggest a need to provide students daily instruction in both languages for bilingual instruction to be effective. /urthermore Auino (!# encouraged the policy1makers and educators to invest in mother tongue based instruction.
The Ta/ono!% o" Readn& Co!prehen'on
As cited by $izon (!!#, +r. $homas ). 6arrette developed a ta4onomy now popularly known as E$he 6arrette $a4onomy of Reading )omprehensionF to meet the needs of teachers and instructional materials developers who wanted a systematic and structural approach to teaching reading skills.
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$he 6arrette $a4onomy of Reading )omprehension classifies skills and orders to the degree of comple4ity.
-n order words, the ta4onomy consists of four categories, each one
designed to identify a discrete subset of skills as follows # 2iteral recognition or recall such as recognition or recall of details, recognition or recall of main ideas, recognition or recall of seuence recognition or recall of comparisons, recognition or recall of cause1and effect relationship, recognition or recall of character traits' # -nference such as inferring supporting details, inferring the main ideas, inferring seuences, inferring comparisons, inferring cause and effect relationships, inferring character traits, inferring about figurative language, predicting outcomes' ># 3valuation as 5udgment of reality or fantasy, 5udgments of facts or opinions, 5udgments of adeuacy or validity, 5udgments of appropriateness, 5udgment of worth, d esirability or acceptability' =# Appreciation such as emotional response to plot or theme, identification of characters and incidents, reactions to the speaker s use of language and imagery. A poor comprehension performance of the sub5ect of the study was attributed largely to lack of prior knowledge.
-mplicitly, it was worsened by teachers lack of training as to
application of study skills and knowledge about recent findings on comprehension research. 2ack of reading facilities and materials and a well1planned reading program in the elementary and secondary levels could considerably contribute to the failure of ma5ority of the sub5ects in the comprehension test. $he constructivist theory states that learning comes about as a conseuence of the learners e4perience and interaction with the world (ReiseG +empsey, !!' $izon, !!#. $he individual interacts with the world surrounding him and this e4perience leads to an increased ability to perform in a particular way. Recent surveys reveal poor performance of students especially in public schools. 0econdary teachers complain that there are still non1readers among
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their high school students.
$his uestion arises about what could be e4pected of their
performance when they go to college. )onseuently, education that is aimed for may not yield the uality desired. %ost often teachers are blamed for the low performance of the learners. $eacher1factor is said to be a reason because a teacher has a great influence on the achievement level of students. 6ut it is not the whole thing. $here are other factors that contribute to the achievement level of the students. $he home, which is considered the foundation of a child, has a great influence on the capacity of the learners to achieve something. :arents are the first teachers. A great number of /ilipinos which sadly includes teachers and learners failed to really grasp the total effect of reading in their day to day lives. :hilippines brag about having the highest literacy rate in 0outheast Asia and yet the country cannot overcome the increasing number of illiterate /ilipinos especially those who fail when it comes to understanding what they read ($abudlong, !#. Hones (!!# enumerates the factors that affect comprehension. According to him, one of the main factors that can affect reading comprehension is en5oyment of the material. %ost people find their comprehension level going down if the material they are reading is boring to them, similarly, if the sub5ect is amusing or interesting enough but the te4t is so dry that reading becomes a chore, comprehension goes down again.
?n the other hand, when someone is
reading, something he finds very interesting, his comprehension level goes up because he is paying closer attention to what it is being written, even if the material is not written that well. Another factor that can affect reading comprehension is overall reading ability. %ost people who read well, also do better with comprehension. ?ne reason for this is because they are able to focus almost e4clusively on what is being conveyed, rather than on trying to get
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through the words that are being used to convey the point. /or those that have trouble with reading, trying to dig the meaning out of the words can become a chore so difficult that all or most of their energy is devoted to simply getting the words to appear in their head, and then to understand individual words or sentences rather than whole concepts. Also, attention span or ability can affect a persons ability to fully comprehend what they are reading. $hus, even of someone is at least mildly interested in what he is reading about, if he finds after a few minutes that his mind is drifting elsewhere and he has to continually tug his mind back to the te4t, there is likely to be little sinking in. -t can be construed as a low level of reading comprehension when it is, in fact 5ust a matter of being able to stay focused on the task at hand. And finally, due to the innate differences between people, some are simply going to be better able to comprehend what they are reading than others, even when given the same background and amount of prior reading. *hile this may or may not be a sing of differences in intelligence, it is generally considered to be as such when those people are tested on a material that has been read. 0o a poor comprehension performance of the sub5ect was attributed largely to lack of prior knowledge. -mplicitly, it was aggravated by teachers lack of training in the application of study skills and knowledge about recent findings on comprehension research. 2ack of reading facilities and materials and a well1planned reading program in the elementary and secondary levels could considerably contribute to the failure of ma5ority of the sub5ects in the comprehension test ($izon, !!#. 6or5a (!!"# bemoaned that a decline in reading comprehension is a decline in many other areas. 6eyond the 5ob market, poor reading comprehension also has implications on an
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individuals level of participation in society. $hose who read more tend to involve themselves more on current issues, cultural, political and public affairs. :roficient readers are also more included to be active in community and charity work. $hey engage themselves in noble causes and make better informed decisions. A decline in reading comprehension also affects a persons performance in mathematics and sciences. $o understand comple4 formulas and theories, one should be able to read properly first. -n short, reading well spurs a person to do and achieve more, far beyond getting higher scores in scholastic e4ams. :roficiency in reading comprehension means proficiency in other disciplines. Hohnson (!!># pointed out that comprehension can be improved by teaching students to use specific cognitive strategies when they encounter barriers to understanding what they are reading.
7e added that comprehension monitoring, cooperative learning using graphic and
semantic organizers such as story maps, answering uestions, generating uestions, structuring a story and integrating ideas and generalizing from the te4t are specific pedagogical techniues that have been found to be highly effective in enhancing student learning comprehension. $eaching a combination of these techniues is effective. $he importance of reading comprehension is emphasized in the education community, however, everyone may not realize how important reading actually is. Although strong reading skills can help students do well in language arts and reading class, that is only the beginning. 0tudents have to use reading skills in every single sub5ect they ever study and in almost every aspect of life. -t is so sad to note that students who struggle with reading comprehension may fall so far behind ins school that they have limited opportunities as an adult ($izon, !!#.
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$he 8 to 6asic 3ducation :rogram adheres to the idea that 3nglish is one of the learning areas that develop the learners confidence and ability to use the language to have effective communication and critical thinking. $his crucial tool sub5ect develops macro skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking of pupils. $his study was envisioned to help solve the perennial problems on poor reading comprehension so that in a little way, it would help in the attainment of improved achievement and performance of the students of ?ur %other of :erpetual 0uccor Academy.
Conceptua$ *ra!e0or.
$he ob5ective of this study was to find out the relationship between a students reading competency level and the academic performance in 3nglish, if reading competency plays a big factor in the students academic performance. $he researcher believed that not all students who belong to the beginning level are slow readers as the 3nglish language is divided into different competency. -n the 8 to curriculum, 3nglish language is divided into the following competencies, reading, speaking, listening, writing, literature, grammar, and viewing. 2anguage reading comprehension can be a problematic process and that many learners e4perience considerable difficulties in developing their e4pertise in reading. $he reasons for this are numerous and include issues with first language reading ability, low level decoding skills, lack of cultural knowledge of the material, lack of motivation to learn, lack of diversity in teaching materials, over1 dependence on the teacher and a concomitant lack of learner autonomy, lack of opportunities to read and inadeuate e4posure to reading materials.
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)lassroom pedagogies can also impact on reading ()homchaiya G +unworth, !!. $he student needs e4perience in an area, before he can fully grasp the significance of an article or book on a specific topic ($ytler, !!#. -n a !!C interview about the reason for Ebelow mastery levelsF in the National Achievement $est (NA$#, +r. @olanda Iui5ano, head of the +ep3ds 6ureau of 3lementary 3ducation, attributed Ereading problems as the main culprit for the poor performance of some students in the NA$F($he :hilippine 0tar, !!#. $he :hilippines is among the many nations that have reformed their curricula to improve basic education and to meet the challenges of the st century (:lata, !#. $hough we are one of the best 3nglish1speakers in Asia, but 3nglish is only used as a second language and hence, according to %ickulecky (!!. $he reader applies many strategies to reconstruct the meaning that the author is assumed to have intended.
$he reader does this by comparing Readers first language and mental
schemata, however, determine what they notice in a te4t a nd how they apply the mental schemata to that information, and second language readers mental schemata are based on their first language and cultural background. $his means that what second1language readers notice in the te4t and how they interpret it will vary due to differing e4pectations about language structure and cultural attitudes toward literacy (%ikulecky, !!. -ndependent Jariables
+ependent Jariables a. "!1above b. &;1&" c. &!1&=
Readn& Co!petence'
Noting details 9etting the main idea ?rganizing idea ?utlining 0ummarizing
Figure 1. The Research Paradigm
1 Advance (A# 1 :roficient (:# 1 Approaching :roficiency (A:# d. C;1C" 1 +eveloping (+# e. C=1below 1 6eginning(6#
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/igure shows the research paradigm of the study. $he first frame contains the independent variables of the study which include the reading competencies of the 9rade ! students such as noting details, getting the main idea, organizing idea, outlining, and summarizing. $he second frame presents the dependent variables of the study which include the achievement rating of the 9rade ! students in the 3nglish sub5ect generated from the schools /orm >& or progress report card that made use of the descriptive and numerical grades. $he arrow that points from the first frame to the second frame connotes the significant difference between the variables being investigated.
Re'earch H%pothe'e'
$he research hypotheses tested in this study include 7a $here is a significant difference between the reading competencies and the academic achievement of the 9rade ! students in the 3nglish sub5ect' 7o $here is no significant difference between the reading competencies and the academic achievement of the 9rade ! students in the 3nglish sub5ect.
De"nton o" Ter!'
$he following terms are defined either conceptually or operationally as the case may be Academic Achievement it refers to the grade obtained by the 9rade ! students in their 3nglish sub5ect either descriptive or numerical as reflected in the schools /orm >& or progress report card.
Grade 10 students they refer to the respondents of the study, whose reading competency and academic achievement in the 3nglish sub5ect were measured. 20
Reading Competencies as used in this study, refer to the measurement of different reading comprehension skills such as noting details, getting the main idea, organizing idea, outlining, and summarizing.
)hapter > METHODOLOG 21
$his chapter discusses the research design, the research locale, sampling procedure, research instrument, data gathering procedure, and the statistical treatment of the data.
Re'earch De'&n
$he study utilized the descriptive method of research in order in obtaining valuable data from the respondents. $he descriptive method deals with what is designed for investigation to gather information about the present conditions, status, or trend, and dealing with what are prevailing (Adanza, et.al. !!"#.
Re'earch Loca$e
$he study was conducted in %arinduue, specifically in $orri5os :oblacion, where ?ur %other of :erpetual 0uccor Academy, a private school is located.
Sa!p$n& Procedure
$his study made use of total enumeration as sampling procedure of the study. $he researcher covered the entire population of the 9rade ! class at ?ur %other of :erpetual 0uccor Academy. $he researcher believed that the number of the respondents was enough to gather the needed data of the study.
Re'earch In'tru!ent
$he researcher utilized a close1ended uestionnaire adapted from the uestionnaire of )opino (!!# on measuring the reading comprehension of the respondents.
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$he first uestionnaire a reading comprehension test, it consist of =& items in which the following reading skills are measured noting details (! items#, getting the main idea (! items#, organizing idea (! items#, outlining (! items# and summarizing (! items# -n measuring the students academic achievement, the researcher secured a copy of the respondents form >& A through the permission of the school principal and the respondents classroom adviser.
Data Gathern& Procedure
A letter of permission was handed to /r. )hristian Regencia, the +irector of ?ur %other of :erpetual 0uccor Academy (?%:0A#, %rs. Rosalinda 0. +iaz, 0chool :rincipal, upon gathering the data and the usage of the classroom where the test was conducted. $he researcher sought the permission of the classroom adviser to allow the 9rade ! student to take the test. Upon the approval, the researcher gathered the responde nts in a particular room then discussed the procedure in answering the uestionnaire. $he uestionnaire was administered for an hour. Answer sheets were provided by the researcher. -t was retrieved and collected afterwards. $he data gathered were checked, tallied, tabulated, organized, and analyzed. -n measuring the students level of academic achievement, the researcher obtained a copy of form >&A by asking permission from the principal, the respondents classroom adviser. +ata were analysed and interpreted. Stat'tca$ Treat!ent o" the Stud%
According to )opino (!!#, 0tatement of the :roblem No. could be answered by computing the mean scores. $he scores in each area would be converted to mean percentage
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scores by dividing the mean by the total number of items. $he results would be placed in a scale of five with twenty intervals from e4cellent to poor. 2evels of competence
0core -nterval
34cellent 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111&K1!!K Above Average 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111<K1&!K Average 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111=K1
0tatement of the :roblem No. could be answered by getting the average mean of 9rade ! pupils total academic achievement from first grading to fourth grading in the 3nglish sub5ect. $heir grade would be ranked based to the guidelines given by the +epartment of 3ducation. "!1above
1 Advanced (A#
&;1&"
1 :roficient (:#
&!1&=
1 Approaching :roficiency (A:#
C;1C"
1 +eveloping (+#
C=1below
1 6eginning (6#
Chapter 2 PRESENTATION3 ANALSIS3 AND INTERPRETATION O* DATA
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$his chapter presents the data gathered, organized, and processed statistically, and then carefully interpreted to obtain information that would answer the problem raised in )hapter . /or organization purposes, tables are arranged according to the statement of the problems. 3ach one immediately followed by analysis, discussion.
$able Reading Competency of the Grade 10 Students
Reading Competency Noting etails Getting t(e Main )dea -rgani.ing )dea -utlining Summari.ing
Mean !"#$$ !*#*+ !1#00 !0#00 1#00
Grade 10 Students Mean Percentage Score $%#!& &+& +!#00 +0#00 *#00
Adjectival Equivalent E'cellent A,ove Average Average /elo Average /elo Average
2egend3 +0#014"0#00 5$141006 7 E'cellent *0#014+0#00 5%14$06 4 A,ove Average !0#014*0#00 5+14%06 4 Average
!0#01 7 *0#00 5+14%064 /elo Average 00410#00 5!0 and ,elo6 Poor
$able presents the reading competency of the 9rade ! students in the 3nglish sub5ect. /indings revealed that students score high in Enoting detailsF with a recorded mean of ;.&& or &<.CK, interpreted as e4cellent, followed by Egetting the main ideaF with >.>= or CC.=CK described as above average, ne4t is Eorganizing idea with .!! or =.!!K, with ad5ectival euivalent of EaverageF, then EoutliningF with !.!! or =!K and EsummarizingF with ".!! or >".!!K described as below average respectively. +ata showed that among the listed reading competency, students e4celled in Enoting detailsF and were above average in Egetting the main ideaF whereas below average in both summarizing and outlining. Results revealed that the reading competencies of the 9rade ! students were not fully developed despite the fact that they were already in the last year of their
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Hunior 7igh 0chool level. +ata implied that students got hard time organizing and summarizing thoughts or ideals as skills because they lack in analzying thoughts, and thus they are not analytical or critical thinker. -t took time for them to analyze data and information precisely because the understanding of the reading te4t was very shallow. %ost of the 9rade ! students could not read beyond the lines. /indings suggest that students should be given lots of reading materials that test their analytical and critical thinking skills to be able to them to learn how to organize and summarize information. ?n the other hand, data implied that most of the 9rade ! readers are literal readers and with developing comprehension skills, hence they scored e4cellent and above average in noting details and getting the main idea. Nevertheless, understanding how organizing ideas was evident among them. $able Academic Achievement in English
Academic Grade 04a,ove $"4$ $04$+ &"4& &+ and ,elo :otal
8requency 10 *0 %0 !" 0 1!"
Grade 10 Students Percentage $#00 !+#00 +$#00 !0#00 0#00 100#00
Adjectival Equivalent Advanced 5A6 Pro9icient 5P6 Approac(ing Pro9iciency 5AP6 eveloping 56 /eginning 5/6
$able displays the academic achievement in 3nglish of the 9rade ! students. /indings revealed that most of =&K of the respondents were within EApproaching :roficiency (A:#' followed by =K E:roficientF and the least was &K within the EAdvancedF level.
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Results were attributed to the scores obtained in reading competencies of the respondents. $he biggest percentage and responses were the 9rade ! who were Ee4cellentF and Eabove averageF in the first two reading competencies, these results were also associated with the =K respondents belong to Eproficient level.F )onversely, below average results in summarizing and outlining, were attributed to !K students under developing. %eanwhile, none from the ; respondents fall under Ebeginning.F
$able > 0ignificant +ifference between the variables
Reading Competencies Noting etails Getting t(e Main )dea -rgani.ing )dea -utlining Summari.ing
Mean !"#$$ !*#*+ !1#00 !0#00 1#00
Grade 10 Students :4;alue 0#0+ 0#0* 0#0! 0#01 0#01
Adjectival Equivalent Signi9icant Signi9icant Signi9icant Signi9icant Signi9icant
Signi9icant di99erence set to 0#0"
$able > shows the significant difference between the variable investigated. /indings revealed that all reading competencies were significant to the scores obtained in the respondents academic achievement in the 3nglish sub5ect. $hus, the affirmative hypothesis set in this investigation is hereby accepted.
Chapter 4 SUMMAR O* *INDINGS3 CONCLUSIONS3 AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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$his chapter intends to present the summary of findings as answers to the problems posted in )hapter . $he conclusions that have been drawn from the findings are also presented in the same way and immediately followed by the recommendations.
Su!!ar% o" *ndn&'
$his study attempted to describe the reading competencies and its effect on the academic achievement of the students in the 3nglish sub5ect. -t made use of the descriptive type of research to describe the present condition of the variables investigated. -t was conducted in $orri5os, %arnduue, where the research locale, ?ur %other of :erpetual 0uccor Academy is located. $his research used total enumeration in determining the respondents of the study and utilized a closed1ended uestionnaire. +escriptive statistics such as mean, freuency, and percentage were employed to describe the results. /indings showed the following results . $he ability to note details was e4cellent' similarly, the skill in getting the main idea was above average. %eanwhile, the competency in organizing idea was average. -n contrast outlining and summarizing skills were both below average level. . $he academic achievement of the most 9rade ! students was Approaching :roficiency (A:#. >. $he reading competencies of the 9rade ! students were all significant to their academic achievement in the 3nglish sub5ect.
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Conc$u'on'
-n the light of the findings, this study concludes that reading competencies are the bases of academic achievement of the 9rade ! students in the 3nglish sub5ect. Although this sub5ect is comprised of different macro skills, a bigger part of this involves reading comprehension competencies. $hus, the null hypothesis set in this study is re5ected and accepts the affirmative hypothesis.
Reco!!endaton'
-n the light of the findings, the following recommendations are offered Depart!ent o" Educaton Pro&ra! Super('or' and Authort% n the Acade!e3
findings may be helpful in redesigning effective reading program that may help schools with poor readers and poor academic achievement in 3nglish improve competencies and achievement' 0chool Ad!n'trator , results of the study may serve as an input in planning seminars, enhancement trainings and programs that would help improved students reading competencies, especially at 9rade C, to make them prepare to higher order thinking skills as they go the higher grade level'
Teacher'3 findings of this study may greatly help them in the designing their activities to
suit the students need in developing reading skills. 2ikewise, this may guide them to give
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special attention to the reading skills that need remediation and enhancement as it is deemed important to develop the analytical and critical thinking skills of the students' Schoo$ Readn& Coordnator3 results of this study may serve as a guide in choosing the
appropriate reading materials that may help in developing readers to become an independent reader, this may also serve as a guide in formulating an effective approach in reading remediation. 2ikewise, school reading coordinator, may opt to make use of the so1called Activities for 6etter Reading )omprehension (A6R)# which has been proven effective in developing the reading competencies of students specifically in summarizing and outlining skills. $he students are the primary beneficiaries of the study, results may provide help for them to develop a passion for reading' /uture researchers are encouraged to conduct similar study treated hereto and results of this may become their bases.
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