PROJECT DARE: (DIRECT ACTIVE READING ENGAGEMENT)

THE ALTERNATIVE THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION ON THE READING

PROBLEMS OF THE GRADE FOUR PUPILS OF MCES DURING SCHOOL YEAR
2017-2018.

I. Abstract

The target of this research is to give possible solution and intervention on the
reading problems of the Grade IV pupils of Mendez Crossing Elementary School, S.Y.
2017-2018. The respondents of the study were 36 selected Grade four pupils of MCES.
The researcher used convenience survey sampling techniques in determining its
respondents. The study used descriptive quantitative design of research. Data were
gathered through the use of self- conducted- questionnaires. The statistical model
used were weighted mean, frequency, ranking and chi- square to determine whether
there is a significant relationship between two categorical variables. It was concluded
that the 36 selected pupils from Grade IV class who are included in the and remediation
of the reading problems after 6 months which undergone the project DARE. The
proponent recommended the said projects needs to pursue and to implement the
reading comprehension. Hence, continuously developed more reading capability of the
pupils involved with high comprehension and fluency. The Therapeutic intervention
program should be done everyday after lunch time to maintain their good habit on Direct
Active Reading Engagement until they become fluent and good reader with
comprehension.

II. Context and Rationale

a. Introduction

Reading is the key to skillful learning. The learners who read well develop better

understanding. When the learners understand what they read of coarse, they could

identify, classify, build, organize, synthesize, make adjustments and arrived at proper

decisions. Some said that “The more you read, the more you learn” therefore Reading

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is very important to everyone and it is one of the potent areas where the learners must

be placed under and where an appropriate design may be addressed or utilized to

assure the learners to learn effectively especially the basic skills in reading.

Poor reading performance is one of the various problems that a teacher

encountered as she teaches. While such problems could be attributed to some causes

such as social, economic, environmental or psychological factors. It is then a vital task

of all concerned especially the teachers to improve the quality of instruction to help the

slow readers to acquire the basic knowledge and skills in reading which could be

utilized as avenues to undertake other subject areas prescribed in the curriculum. The

quality of education acquired by the pupils depend largely upon the pupil s’ know how to

read with comprehension and interpret printed materials adequately; and without such

abilities they are barred practically from learning effectively and meaningfully to the

other subjects in the curriculum.

Project DARE was designed to help and develop the performance of the grade

four pupils on reading with comprehension especially during remedial time. The twelve

O’clock habit on reading and DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) help pupils too on

Direct Active Reading Engagement (DARE) so, It would then be expected that every

pupils should come up with high performance on reading. That is one way of knowing

and meeting the needs of the pupils. It is through the use and help of the said program

which will highly develop their capabilities to read well and to achieve better reading

skills and comprehension. When pupils are given time, assistance, encouragement and

challenges that intends to improve their performance. With that, they will be inspired to

study that would enable them to perform better than they ordinarily do.

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b. Review on Related Literature

A. Reading
In acquiring English, the students have to be able to master the

four basic skills of English which consists of speaking, listening, reading

and writing. From those four basic skills, reading is considered as the

main important skill. It has received more attention than any other aspects

of education. Reading can be categorized into receptive skill, like listening.

This means it involves responding to text, rather than producing it.

1. Definition of Reading

Reading has different definition based on different people.

According to Sutari “reading is a process of getting the meaning of

something written of printed by interpreting its characters or symbols.

Reading is a second language that defined as process of grasping full

linguistics meaning in the new language through the symbol used to

represent it.”

On the other hand, Harris said that “reading is the meaningful

interpretation of printed of written verbal symbols which also involves

sensing, perceiving, achieving meaning, learning reacting in variety of

ways.” From these definitions, it can be said that reading is an effort

from the

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 students to get or transfer the meaning and information from the text

by understanding, grasping, translating, and giving meaning to the

written form. Therefore, it can be concluded that reading is not only

looking at word in the form of graphic symbols but also getting

meaning from word to word to understand the content of a text and to

get information from the text.

2. The Importance of Reading

Reading skill becomes very important in the world of education.

By reading, students may get beneficial information that is not given by

teachers in the classroom. Furthermore, almost 50 percent of the

national final examination items consist of reading skill. Therefore, the

students should be trained in order to have good reading skill. Harmer

states that, reading is useful for language acquisition, because it is

needed for career, for study purposes, or simply for pleasure. Reading

and understanding are the important things that we need to use in our

day life. Hudson explains that:

Only by reading, the people can acquire the speed and skill
he will need for practical purpose when he leaves the school.
In our literate society, it is so hard to imagine any skilled work
that does not require the ability to read”.4

In other word, reading skill is very crucial to be mastered by

language learners, especially for the junior high school students

because it will be useful for them when they decide to continue their

study.

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B. Understanding the Reading Text

Oberholzer stated that “understanding the reading text is far

more important than knowing the mechanical skill of reading. Without

comprehension, reading would serve no purpose.” It means that

understanding the text is very important to be achieved by the students

because reading is not simply about mechanical skill. It helps the

readers to understand the world, learn about the past and plan for the

future.

In order to understand text, Westwood argues that readers must

use information they already possess to filter, interpret, organize and

reflect upon the incoming information they get from the text. He thinks

that efficient interpretation of text involves a combination of word

recognition skills, linking of new information to prior knowledge, and

application of appropriate strategies such as locating the main idea,

making connections, questioning, inferring and predicting. Therefore,

understanding the text is not an easy thing, so that is why there are

many students find difficulties in understanding the text.

Moreover, Kuswidyastutik said that “someone’s understanding

of a thing can be measured by whether or not he was in answering

questions related to it and the difficulty can be seen from the mistakes

he did while working on the questions.” Since the common questions

on the text are primarily about the main ideas, finding reference,

understanding the structure and an inference that can be drawn from

the passages, the researcher considers that those questions are the
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basic difficulties faced by the students in understanding the text.

Below, the researcher shows the possible difficulties faced by the

students while understanding the text.

a. Extracting main ideas (skimming)

The main idea is a statement that tells the author’s point

about the topic. The main idea provides the message of a given

paragraph or the argument that is being made about the topic.

According to Vener identifying main idea is important because it is

included in the overall idea of the paragraph. Furthermore, she

argued that the author should locate the main idea in different

places within a paragraph. The main idea is usually a sentence, it is

usually the first sentence but it can be in the middle or in the last

sentence. Therefore, this can make the main idea more difficult to

find. The students may get confused to see what the main idea of a

passage is, and where the main idea is located.

b. Reading for specific information (scanning)

Brown stated that “scanning is quickly searching for some

particular piece or pieces of information in a text”. Furthermore,

Kahayanto argues that when scanning the reader lets his or her

eyes wander over the text until he or she is looking for, whether it is

name of place, a kind of food, specific word, or specific information.

However, He thinks that to enable the student to scan

effectively is not easy, he or she should know what kinds of

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 information he or she needs; also, he or she should have the strong

belief where he or she will find such information needed from the

text. Therefore, sometimes it is difficult for a student to see and

distinguish between important and unimportant information in the

text in order to find specific piece of information such as name,

date, word or phrases, and references in the text.

c. Understanding text structure

According to Hess, Text structure is the organizational

structures used within paragraphs or longer texts, appropriate to

genre and purpose. She continues describe the examples of text

description, time order/chronology, proposition/support,

compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect,

inductive/deductive, and investigation.

1. Sequence (process): This pattern shows step or phases of a

process or project of something in the text.

2. Description: This pattern covers a larger piece of writing which

states the topic and facilitates the listing or elaboration of

important descriptions, characteristics, or attributes.

3. Time order/chronology: This pattern reveal events from

beginning to end. It is usually found in most narrative texts.

4. Proposition-support: This text structure begins by taking a side

of a position on a topic and then supports the idea with

examples or facts.

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5. Compare-contrast structure: This pattern explains the likeness

(comparison) and /or differences (contrast) among events or

ideas.

6. Problem-solution structure: This pattern takes a problem and

explains it thoroughly. Then the essay offers several solutions

to the problem.

7. Cause-effect structure: This pattern illustrates the causes of an

event or fact and how it affects other events, facts, situations,

etc (the effects).

8. Inductive/deductive structure: A deductive structure presents a

generalization/definition and then follows it with specific

examples. While, an inductive structure presents illustration and

examples and then moves the reader to draw a conclusion from

the examples.

9. Investigation: This pattern uses a set of criteria to evaluate

information or ideas that have been presented.

Furthermore, Barber said that each text structure is

associated with different signal words. The signal words link ideas

together, show relationships, and indicate transitions from one idea

to the next. Below the text structure signal word:

a. cause–effect: therefore, as a result, leads to, so, because of, thus,

in order

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 b. Problem–solution: fortunately, unfortunately, therefore,

however, like, unlike and in contrast.

c. time–order: first, next, then, last, finally, meanwhile, following,

before, after

d. description: for example, for instance, in addition, also, too,

some, most, all, other

e. question–answer: what, where, why, who, how, when, does

Based on the explanation above, students may sometimes

have trouble in seeing how a passage is organized or structured

because they have to know and find the signals to recognize how

sentences are joined together to make paragraphs and how

paragraphs are combined into text.

d. Dealing with unfamiliar words

One of the common problems facing by the student is simply

not being able to understand a word or expression in the text. The

reader will find the difficulty in neither understanding the text,

because he is not familiar with the text. A written text may be

difficult to understand because it contains many words that are

unknown to the student. It may be because the students are lack of

vocabulary or background knowledge about the word. If students

find many unfamiliar words in the text, even though the students are

allowed to open the dictionary, it is still so hard for students to

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 comprehend the text. Therefore, unfamiliar key words about the text

need to be taught to students before reading the material so that

they can be easily understand the material.

C. Causes of Difficulty in Understanding Text

Many different factors contribute as the cause of students’

difficulties in understanding text. Some of those factors are located

within the learner’s background, some within the teaching technique,

and some within the learner’s environment.

Learner’s Background

The learner’s background means something which comes

from the learners themselves. It was related with the learner

attitude toward reading, such as interest and motivation in reading

and the prior knowledge that the learner have known before.

a. Interest

Interest is being one of the important factors in order to

increase the students’ achievement in reading. Shalahuddin

stated that “interest is a concern that contains elements of

feeling. It can motivate the students to be active in their job or

their activity.” Furthermore, De Bortoli argued that having an

interest in and enjoying a subject affects not only the intensity,

quality and persistence in specific learning situations but can

also affect engagement in learning situations in general and

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 enhances motivation. Therefore, if the readers have interest to

read, it will be easier for them to understand what they read. On

the other side, if the readers have no any interest to read, it will

be difficult for them to understand it.

b. Motivation

Motivation plays an important role in understanding the

text. Motivation is an important factor that may contribute to

success at school and to lifelong learning. Motivation is some

kind of internal drive, which pushes someone to do things in

order to achieve something. As Brown points out, motivation

includes factors such as the need of exploration, activity,

stimulation, new knowledge, and ego enhancement.

Furthermore, in line with the explanation of interest and

motivation above, motivation and interest are interconnected.

Ilmu said that “students’ interest will be higher if students have

higher motivation.” Therefore, it can be concluded that the good

interest and motivation result the good achievement of the

students. It will be easier for the students to achieve something

if they have interest and motivation to learn it. As well as it will

be easier for them understand text, if they have interest and

motivation to read the text.

c. Learners’ prior knowledge

Mellon stated that “students usually come into the class

with the prior knowledge gained from the class or outside the

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 class. It influences how they filter and interpret what they are

learning.” Furthermore, Jacobovits believes that the student’s

prior knowledge influences the student’s ability in learning a

foreign language. Students who have a lot of knowledge will be

easier to learn the new lesson. It means that students with a lot

of knowledge about reading will quickly understand about

something they read. On the other hand, students who have

little knowledge (grammar or vocabulary) may have some

difficulties in understanding something they read. For an

example, a student who never knows and hears about what is

the word famous, and in some occasions dealing with it will find

the story hard to follow, so he must have prior knowledge that

enables him to bring personal meaning to the events and

feelings in the story.

2. Teaching Technique

Teacher is one of school environmental factors who has

important role to increase students learning achievement. Teacher

is a subject in education who has duty to transfer the knowledge to

the students. A teacher is an important person in teaching learning

process, especially for teaching reading, because the teacher also

determines whether their students to be good readers or not.

Teacher also will become source of learning difficulties if he/she

does cannot choose the right technique to teach the material. Wang

argued that although teachers are very knowledgeable about the

subject they are teaching, they often rely on one teaching technique

to impart this information. They sometimes do not realize that the

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 techniques they use are not in accordance with the subject matter

they convey. Therefore, the teacher should be careful in choosing

the technique to teach because it related to the students’

understanding of the material.

3. Learner’s Environment

The environment factors also can influence the students in

mastering and in learning English. According to Finocchiaro:

“Someone who lives in environmental with the society that

has high educational and has good attitude toward
reading will support her ability to master reading that has
been learned at school can be applied functionally outside
school.”

Therefore, someone who lives in an environment that has

reading habits will be supported by her environment indirectly. And

it happens not only in learning reading but also in learning English,

without practice and applied it outside school he will not

understand English perfectly.

Home and school are the two kinds of learners’

environment that can influence their learning reading achievement.

a. Home condition

It cannot be neglected that parents play important role

in the home. Every student needs attention from her/his

parents to reach her/his learning achievement. Since learning

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 English is not the same as learning Indonesian, children need

parents’ guidance to learn about English especially reading

English text because they will read something with different

sound, vocabulary and structure from that of Indonesia.

Learning reading without parents’ guidance will make students

feel difficult in learning. They will difficulties in understanding

something they read or they will misunderstand about the

texts they read.

b. School condition

The school condition also can be the cause of students’

learning difficulties. School which lack of learning media, such

as English books will influence the students’ ability in learning

reading. The lack of learning media such as English books,

magazines or newspapers makes the learning reading

process become ineffective and will be hamper students’

understanding about the material.

From all of the explanations above, teachers need to be able

to identify the difficulties experienced by their students and also the

cause of the difficulties. By knowing these problems, teachers can

reorganize teaching reading in the next semester or in the next

class in order to provide better English lesson.

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D. Descriptive text

Descriptive text is one of the texts taught in junior high school

besides procedure, recount, narrative, and report text. Based on

English Curriculum for Junior high School, descriptive text is defined as

a text which describes something, someone, or place in details. The

purpose this text is to tell the reader what the writer feels. According to

Depdiknas the components of descriptive text are.

1. The generic structure of descriptive text:

a. Identification

It identifies things, person, or something to be described.

b. Description

It describes the characteristic of thing, person, or place.

2. Language feature

a. Using specific nouns

The noun is something that will be described in the text.

For example: my home, teacher, cat, etc.

b. Using simple present tense

c. Using detailed noun phrase

It is use to give detail information about the subject. For

example:

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 it has large open rowboat.

d. Using many kinds of adjective

It is used to describe, number, and classify an object. For

example:

two strong hand, a smart girl, etc.

e. Using relating verbs

It is used to give information about the subject. For

example: my sister is very beautiful.

f. Using action verbs

It is used to tell the condition clearly. For example: my dog

licks my foot.

g. Using thinking verbs and feeling verbs

They are used to express the writer’s personal view of the

subject.

For example: I think he is a kind boy.

h. Using figurative language

Descriptive used figurative speech such as, simile,

metaphor. For example: the young lady is white as a chalk.

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 i. Using adverbials

It is used to give additional information. For example: at the

big house.

Isern explains that reading a descriptive text is like drawing a

picture for the readers because the writer’s purpose is to paint a picture

in words. Therefore, in reading descriptive text, the readers should be

able to close their eyes and imagine what the picture described in the

text, and what the picture looks like through reading the text. However,

in fact, it is very difficult to imagine something which is not real. The

students have to understand the whole content of

the text in order to get the point and be able to answer the question

from the text. Therefore, there are many students who have difficulties

in understanding descriptive text.

E. Previous Studies

In this part, the researcher will review some previous studies

related to this research.

1. The first research is come Albader with his research entitled

“Difficulties in Second Language Reading”. This research focused

on the learners’ reading comprehension skill in TOEFL exam. In this

research Albader mentions the difficulties that someone faces in

reading in a second or foreign language. The difficulties cover all

aspects of linguistics, such as grammar (syntax), pronunciation

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 (phonetics), and meaning of words (semantics). Moreover, he

concludes that it is difficult for the students to read so many

technical and scientific terms in a very short time in TOEFL exam.

2. The second research is done by McNamara entitle “Understanding

the Fourth-Grade Slump: Comprehension Difficulties as a Function
of Reader Aptitudes and Text Genre”. The goal of this research is to
develop a better understanding of young readers’ difficulties in
comprehending text, and how those difficulties vary as a function of
reader aptitudes and text genre. The results of this study highlight
the importance of text genre and reader knowledge when
examining reading comprehension abilities and difficulties.

3. The third research was done by Ade with her title “A Study on
Students’

Difficulties in Comprehending Recount Text; A Case Study at

SMAN 1 Gangga on First Grade Academic Year 2012/2013”. This
research was proposed to discover the ability of students and types of
difficulties faced by students in comprehending recount text. The
result of this study showed that there are several common problems or
difficulties faced by students such as: analyzing the text content,
allocating their time to study English outside the school because they
prefer doing other activities and understanding the meaning of
sentences and words caused lack of vocabularies mastery and word
power.

4. Another research was done by Sasmita with her title “Identifying

Students’

Abilities in Understanding English Reading Texts: A Case Study

at The Second Year Students of Smkn 1 Gangga in Academic Year
2012/2013”.34 This study was aimed to find out the students’ level of
abilities in understanding English reading texts and the factors may
make the students

had difficulties in understanding English reading texts. Based on the

research findings the factors that may make the students have

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 difficulties in understanding English reading texts were related to

vocabulary, grammar knowledge, and reading interest.

From the previous studies above, the researcher can conclude

that difficulties in understanding the reading text are very important to

be known by the students and the teacher. Since every student

probably has different difficulties in understanding the reading text, the

researcher got an inspiration to do a research based on this topic.

However, the problems faced by the students in one school

might be different from the other schools. This research will differ from

all of those previous researches from some aspects. First, in this

research the researcher emphasized on the difficulties in

understanding reading text faced by junior high school students. This is

important to help the teachers be aware of the problems and

consequently try to solve the problems in the earlier level of study and

improve the students’ reading competence. Second, this research will

focus on the students’ difficulties in understanding descriptive texts.

This was based on the preliminary study result that there are many

students who still face difficulty in understanding the descriptive text.

Moreover, the differences are also about data collection technique and

the data analysis used in this research.

III. Research Questions

This action research aimed to improve the reading abilities of slow readers

and readers-at-risk in Grade IV of Mendez Crossing E/S for the school year

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2017-2018 through phonics approach. This will provide the necessary remedial

measures to correct and improve the reading potentials of these pupils.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following question: What are the strategies

done to help the slow readers and readers-at-risk relative to the identified reading

difficulties?

1. What is the recognition level of each group of pupils after the phonics

approach is used?

2. Is there any significant difference between the pre-test and post-test

scores in word recognition of the pupils?

3. What are the remediation and interventions used to improve the reading

skills and comprehension of the selected Grade Four pupils?

IV. Scope and Limitation

The action research focused on Project DARE as a reading intervention for

identified Grade IV pupils who were classified as frustration level in Silent and Oral

Reading in the PHIL-IRI Pre-Test last July 2017. The study was conducted among

Grade IV pupils in Mendez Crossing Elementary School.

V. Methodology

This part presents the methods and procedure used in this study. Included herein

are the sampling technique, data collection, and ethical issues as well as the data

analysis.

Research Design

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 This action research relied chiefly on the results of the different oral

reading tests (recognition level) conducted during the period of the program. The

descriptive method of research was used in the study to find out the reading

performance of the pupils. The data gathered were tabulated, evaluated and

analyzed using percentages to identify the reading levels of the pupils. Moreover, t-

test is used to determine significant correlation between the pretest and posttest

results in reading, specifically in word recognition.

a. Sampling

Samples were selected using the purposive sampling technique of the total

population of Grade IV pupils who were classified as frustration level in Silent and

Oral Reading in the PHIL-IRI Pretest last July 2017 enrolled in Mendez Crossing

Elementary School.

b. Data Collection

The researcher asked permission from the school principal, class adviser, and

parents of the Grade IV pupils to conduct the study and to analyze the result of the

Silent and the Oral Reading in the PHIL-IRI Pre Test and Post Test.

c. Ethical Issues

Ethical issues arise throughout any piece of social research, and we would
encourage you to include a discussion of ethical issues as and when they arise.
Ethical issues often shade into political ones, and there are also close links between
ethical concerns and issues around participation. Ethical issues also shade into
questions of trust: since 'the researcher is the research instrument' in some
important ways, the reader and/or user of qualitative research needs to be able to
trust the researcher to have followed the appropriate procedures.

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Ethical Considerations in research are critical. Ethics are the norms or standards for
conduct that distinguish between right and wrong. They help to determine the
difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. One of the most
important ethical considerations in research is the use of human subjects that is why
the researcher seeks consent to the parents’ respondents to ensure smoothness on
the administration of questionnaires. Proper orientation to parents were conducted,
explaining the objectives of this action research. These principles are followed to
guarantee that all human subjects are choosing to participate of their own free will
and that they have been fully informed regarding the procedures of the research any
potentials risks. Ethical standards also protect the confidentiality and anonymity of
the subjects. Citations to authors were made to avoid act of plagiarism.

d. Data Analysis

This study presented Project DARE as a reading intervention for Grade IV pupils
who were classified as frustration level in Silent and Oral Reading in the PHIL-IRI
Pre- Test last July 2017. In order to analyze the effectiveness of Project DARE
frequency count and weighted mean were used to determine the pupils’ reading level
before and after exposing Project DARE. The same descriptive statistics were also
used to determine the factors affecting the reading ability of the Grade IV pupils.

VI. Results and Discussion

The following problems were answered in this research:

1. What is the recognition level of each group of pupils after the phonics

approach is used?

The following were the findings revealed in the implementation of the action

research. Thirty-six (36) pupils in Grade IV belonging to the frustration level of

recognition were covered by the study. They were grouped as a. slow readers, b.

syllable readers, and c. readers-at-risk. Six tables on oral reading tests were

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presented, evaluated, analyzed and interpreted: 1. Phil.IRI Pre-Test, 2. Common

Reading Miscues, 3. Progress Test, 4. Phil.IRI Post Test, 5. Table of Reading

Difficulties, and 6. Results of the t-test of Difference between the Mean Pre-test and

Post-test Scores in Word Recognition. They were all conducted in different schedule

by the school coordinator in English, the Master Teacher of the school and the

remedial reading teacher.

2. Is there any significant difference between the pre-test and post-test

scores in word recognition of the pupils?

1. Phil. IRI Oral Reading Test (Pre-Test)

Table 1 shows that there were 36 Grade IV pupils tested in word

recognition during the pre test. Two (2) or 6% are independent; one (1) or

2% fall under instructional level, while thirty-three (33) or 63% belong to

frustration level in word recognition. The table further reveals that

recognition level of the Grade IV pupils ranged from at-risk to independent

readers.

Among the pupils under frustration level in word recognition, twenty

(20) or 64% are slow, nine (9) or 27% read by syllable, while three (3) or

9% are readers-at-risk.

Table 1
Phil.IRI Oral Reading Test Results
(Pre test)

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 WORD RECOGNITION LEVEL No. %

Independent 2 6%

Instructional 1 2%

Frustration 33 92%

 Slow 21 64%

 Syllable 9 27%

 At-risk 3 9%

TOTAL 36 100%

The above data revealed that 64% of these pupils need

thorough assistance and remediation to improve their reading capabilities

and skills, and develop reasonable self-confidence. They were the main

subject of the study.

2. Common Reading Miscues of Grade IV Under Frustration Level of

Word Recognition

Different types of miscues in word recognition were also

identified in order to group the pupils under frustration level, specifically,

the slow and syllable readers with common errors for intensive remedial

teaching. Their common miscues were mispronunciation, substitution,

reversal, repetition, omission and refusal to pronounce within 3 seconds.

Table 2 shows the frequency and percentage of slow and

syllable readers based on their common miscues.

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 Table 2

Common Miscues Among Slow Readers

and Syllable Readers in Grade IV

No. of
COMMON MISCUES %
Pupils
Mispronunciation 34 94%

Substitution 30 83%

Omission 29 81%

Refusal to read over 3 seconds 28 78%

Insertion 27 75%

25 69%
Reversal

The above table shows that mispronunciation is the most

common miscue of all (94%) the slow readers and syllable readers in

Grade IV. Majority of them make substitution (83%) and omission (81%),

while seventeen (27) or 75% of them are making insertions. The least

(69%) are making reversals.

3. Progress Oral Reading Test (Pupils Under Frustration Level in Word

Recognition)

Based on the progress test conducted by the researcher, a

greater improvement in the number of pupils belonging to frustration level

took place compared to the initial test results which is 33 or 63% to 15 or

41% as shown in Table 3. This means that effective remedial reading

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program is built for intensive administration of reading instruction regularly

so that reading difficulties will be corrected.

Table 3

Progress Oral Reading Test Results in Grade IV

RECOGNITION Pre-test Progress Test Change

LEVEL No. % No. % No.
1 12% 11 31% 4
Independent
2 25% 10 27% 6
Instructional
33 63% 15 42% 10
Frustration

 Slow 21 64% 10 67% 6

 Syllable 9 27% 3 20% 3

 At-risk 3 9% 2 13% 1

TOTAL 36 100% 36 100%

The above table shows that considerable progress of the pupil’s

reading skills particularly the pupils under the frustration level of

recognition which is 15 or 42% compared to 33 or 63% last July 2017.

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 4. Reading Difficulties

Table 4

Number of Slow Readers Across Various Reading Miscues

As They Diminished Over the Given Period

NO. OF PUPILS
READING
MISCUES AUGUST NOVEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY

Mispronunciation 30 23 23 20

Substitution 28 23 12 12

Omission 27 23 17 15

Refusal to read 18 11 7 5
over 3 seconds
Insertion 17 15 2 2

Reversal 13 11 7 6

TOTAL 133 106 68 60

The table indicates the number of pupils belonging to frustration

level of word recognition affected by the identified reading difficulties of the four

months of testing. It could be gleaned from this data that the number of pupils

affected, are reduced in every testing period. This result was made possible

through the remedial measures employed during the full implementation of the

program.

27
5. Phil. IRI Oral Reading Test (Post Test)

The final Phil. IRI oral reading test conducted by the school

coordinator in English and the Master Teacher of the school shows the

final decreased of pupils under frustration level of word recognition from 33

or 63% to 20 or 38% as of February 8, 2015. Table 5 shows the Phil.IRI

Oral Reading Test (Word Recognition) pre-test and post test results.

Table 5
Phil.IRI Oral Reading Test Results in Grade IV
(Pre - test and Post - test)
WORD Pre -Test Post Test Change
RECOGNITION
No. % No. % No.
LEVEL
Independent 1 2.7% 11 31% 4

Instructional 2 5.5% 10 28% 6

Frustration 33 91.8% 15 41% 10

 Slow 21 64% 10 67% 6

 Syllable 9 27% 3 20% 3

 At-risk 3 9% 2 13% 1

TOTAL 36 100% 36 100%

The table reveals that out of 33 pupils under frustration level of

word recognition 10 or 67% are slow readers; 3 or 20% are syllable

readers, while 2 or 13% is still at-risk.

Further, it shows that 11 slow readers went to the next higher level

of recognition; 6 syllable readers became slow readers while 2 readers-at

risk became syllable readers.

28
 6. Comparison of the Pre-test and Post-test Mean Scores of Pupils in

Word Recognition

Table 6
Results of the t-test of Difference between the Mean Pre-test
and Post-test Scores in Word Recognition
Paired Samples Statistics Paired Samples Correlation
Pair I Mean N S.D. Standard Correlation Significant
Error
Mean
Pre 37.45 33 12.86 2.24 Pre
Test Test
Score and .68 0
Post 47.42 33 8.99 1.57 Post
Test Test
Score
Paired Differences
Pair I Pre Mean N Standard 95% Confidence t df Sig.
Test Error Interval of the (2-
and Mean Difference tailed)
Post Upper Lower
Test -9.99 N 1.65 -13.33 -6.61 -6.046 32 .o
Score
Conclusion of Results:

There is a statistically significant mean score gain from the pre-scores to post-
scores. T (32) = -6.046, p < .05.

It can be deduced from the table that the obtained difference is -

10.81818 between the pre-test score and the post-test scores of the pupils in word

recognition is significant, as indicated by the t-value which is -6.285 with probability

29
less than .05 level of significance. This means that the post-test mean score is

significantly higher than the pre-test mean score.

This implies that the pupils improved significantly in word recognition

after using the intervention program in reading using the phonics approach.

3. What are the remediation and interventions used to improve the reading

skills and comprehension of the selected Grade Four pupils?

Table 7. Result of Therapeutic Interventions Used to Improve Reading

Skills and Comprehension.

Therapeutic Frequency Percentage Rank

Interventions
Used to Improve
Reading Skills
and
Comprehension
Practiced reading 30 83% 4.5
phonics, DOLCH
basic sight words,
cvc patterns and
used story books
and supplementary
reading materials
during reading
time.
Group reading 34 94% 2
using the
multimedia inside
the classroom.
Follow up reading 22 61% 7
habits at home.
Assigning the slow 28 77% 6
reader pupils to
designated
teachers for
reading
developmental
activities.
Feeding program 35 97% 1

30
 to those pupils
undergone to the
reading
developmental
program.
Conduct silent and 33 92% 3
oral reading
practices during
vacant time.
Partnership of 30 83% 4.5
pupils spent about
20 minutes with
their excelling
classmates.

In this table it manifested that 97% or 35 out of 36 pupils underwent in

Feeding program to improve their reading skills and comprehension. And the last

rank was follow up reading habits at home that showed 22 out of 36 pupils or 61% of

the total number of respondents.

VII. Summary

 This action research was conducted for two quarters during the school year

2017-2018. The intervention/remedial reading program was conducted daily @ 12:30

to 1:00 pm.

This action research relied chiefly on the results of the different oral reading

tests (recognition level) conducted during the period of the program. The descriptive

method of research was used in the study to find out the reading performance of the

pupils. The data gathered were tabulated, evaluated and analyzed using

percentages to identify the reading levels of the pupils. The pre-test and post-test

scores of the pupils in word recognition were statistically treated and analyzed using

the paired-samples t-test to answer the problems posed in this study.

31
 The post-test mean score of the pupils in word recognition is

significantly higher than the pre-test mean score with corresponding t-value of

-6.285 with probability less than .05 level of significance.

VIII. Conclusions

On the basis of findings obtained through the analysis of data

gathered, the following conclusions were arrived at:

1. There was significant improvement in reading abilities of slow readers

and readers at-risk in Grade IV.

2. Phonics approach in reading is effective in improving the abilities of

slow readers and readers at-risk in word recognition.

3. There were reading difficulties which were prevalent among pupils at

the start of the study.

4. Continuous evaluation of pupil’s performance enable the teachers

apply varied remediation techniques to help pupils improve their

abilities especially in reading.

5. Daily remedial instruction and proper guidance make pupils feel that

they are important. It also builds proper attitudes and provides them

desirable experiences that make learning meaningful.

IX. Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions made, the following

recommendations are suggested:

1. Since phonics approach in reading had been found effective in

teaching reading, teachers are encouraged to use this method in

remedial reading instructions.

32
 2. Pupils should be grouped according to their abilities and level of

difficulties to facilitate assessment and evaluation of pupils’ reading

abilities.

3. Activities of pupils with reading difficulties must be followed up and

intensified at home and in the next grade level based on their identified

reading abilities and difficulties.

X. References

A. Books

Dechant, E.V. and Henry P. Smith. 1977. Psychology in Teaching

Reading. 2nd Edition.Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall.

Miranda, Benita N. 2008. English For You And Me (Reading) 4

NPSBE. Book Wise Publishing House, Inc.

Punsalan, Twila G. and Gabriel G. Uriarte. 1997. Statistics, A

Simplified Approach. Rex Printing Company, Inc.

Villamin, Araceli M. and Villamin, Chita R. 2005. Remedial Reading.

A Handbook for Teachers and Students.Phoenix Publishing

House.

B. Unpublished Materials

Effective Reading Intervention Programs | eHow.com

C. Internet Sites

http://www.ehow.com/about_5426892_effective-reading-intervention-

programs.html#ixzz1bkKMWMnZ

http://digilib.uinsby.ac.id/701/3/Bab%202.pdf

33
XI. APPENDICES

a. COST ESTIMATES
TIME FRAME ACTIVITIES ESTIMATED PROPONENT
COST AGENCY
June 2017 Project Proposal 1,000Php DepEd
Editor
Food and
Transportation
Pre-evaluation of 1,000Php DepEd
Project proposal
Food and
Transportation
Final Evaluation of 1,600Php DepEd
project proposal
Food and
transportation
Preparation of 1,700Php DepEd
Testing Tool
Typist
Editor
Review/ checking 300Php DepEd
the tools conduct
study
June- March Conduct the study 800Php DepEd
2018 Observation/
recording
assessing
Monitoring
progress
February 2018 Monitoring 1,200Php DepEd
progress
Interpreting data
Review of the
output study
Preparing
recommendation
Final Presentation 900Php DepEd
of Action
Research
Reproduction of 500Php DepEd
papers
Distributing 600Php DepEd
sharing the
outcomes impact
of the study.

TOTAL 9,600Php

34
35