CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

In our present age, which is characterized by knowledge explosions and rapid

changes brought about by science and technology, the importance of being able to
decode printed words cannot be taken for granted.

Nowadays, the ability to read is very crucial. Over the years, there had been a
tremendous increase in reading materials since most of man’s ideas, findings and
knowledge are recorded on the printed matters multiply in great numbers and are
passed on through time and across continents in a minimal time.

They reach even the farthest shore of an islet in our land. Their variety and
complexity of topics make new demands on the reading competence of pupils who gain
access to these materials. Reading has now become a paramount routine of the
students whether he is in or outside the classroom.

Since reading is a tool in all subjects, a student encounters difficulty in all subject
areas when he is deficient in it. In the high school, not all the students are able to
perfectly decode the printed page. In school, they are expected to have developed a
good number of basic reading skills. While these, they are ready to take reading lessons
of multiple levels of reading materials. Unless the student knows how to read and
interpret these materials, he is practically barred from learning effectively.

It has been known fact that many approaches in teaching-learning situation have
been introduced, hence the high school students have to develop reading skills needed
for successful learning of Mathematics, English, Science and other subjects in the
curriculum.
Statement of the problem

This research attempted to analyze the reading comprehension status of

Section A first year students in Odiongan National High School.
This study is further aimed at finding out the factors that affect their reading
comprehension. Specifically, this research sought to answer the following questions:
1. What is the reading comprehension of the pupils on the following reading
skills?
A. Literal Comprehension
B. Inferential Comprehension
C. Critical Thinking
D. Creative Reading
E. Vocabulary Building
2. What are the factors that affect the reading comprehension?

Significance of the Study

Freshmen students encountered reading problems of any sort reading involves

materials ranging from the simplest to the most complicated ones. The group of the
reading materials depends largely on the skills which one has developed. With this in
mind, the researchers believed that this investigation would remarkably benefit the
pupils. They would become aware of their abilities and disabilities in reading. Knowing
their weaknesses would encourage them to strive for improvement.
Furthermore, they could develop skills which would properly harness them to
face the reading task.
On the part of the teacher, knowledge of the pupils’ reading comprehension
level would provide a good basis in selecting the reading materials that are suited to
them. Besides, one would be able to determined other reading skills which are needed
to be developed and mastered.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study is limited to Section A first year students of the Odiongan National
High School, Tamlas, Romblon during the school year 2019-2020.
Definition of Terms

The following are defined as they are used in the study.

COMPREHENSION – it is the understanding and interpreting of what one gets from

reading.
CONCEPTUALIZATION – pertaining to mental conception.
CREATIVE READING – poses questions that will make the individual go out on his own
beyond author’s text to seek out or express new idea to gain additional insights, to find
answers to questions and solutions to life-long problems.
CRITICAL THINKING – it is concerned with the skill of evaluation where the readers
passes personal judgment on the quality, the value, the accuracy and the truthfulness of
what is being read.
ILLITERATE – a person who is unable to read and write.
INFERENTIALCOMPREHENSION - it is the ability of the pupil to explore and take a
position in relation to the facts and related details of the selection.
INTELLIGENCE – it is the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.
LITERATE – a person who is able to read and write.
LITERAL COMPREHENSION – it involves the skills of recognizing and recalling what
has been read.
PRINTED MATERIALS – these are the reading materials which contain printed words
that broaden a person’s vocabulary and knowledge.
READING – it is acquiring knowledge from the printed page.
VISUAL AIDS – they are pictures that tend to enhance the reader’s interest in reading.
VOCABULARY BUILDING – it is the ability of the readers to identify the meaning of
given words.
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

It is an important fact that the modern curriculum, with its changes, call for a
larger amount of reading for understanding for locating and utilizing needed information,
for securing data to solve problem and for increasing technical skills (Groyn,1959).

Goodman (1985) claimed that readers construct meaning as they read a test.
Instead of absorbing on elusive “one right meaning from a test,” readers rely on their
own background knowledge and create unique meaning.

Romero (1993) explained that sound reading instruction eaters to comprehension

focus curriculum. For the past fifteen years or so, reading comprehension received
more attention than in previous decades. It can be said that researchers’ ability in
reading can help identify teaching practices that are considered effective. She also
emphasized that reading instruction is viewed both as a process and product.

Past reading instructions have focused much on comprehension of a product.

Thus, in a reading class, it was a common practice to have students responds to set of
post reading question as a way of developing or checking comprehension. A model of
what is actually happening when a reader comprehends is needed. Perhaps, it is
understood how students can be taught of comprehending.

Reading comprehension refers to the act of thinking and constructing meaning

before, during, and after reading by integrating information from the author with the
reader’s background knowledge (Saider,1988).

The ability to active one’s prior knowledge about the topic, self-question, identify
main ideas and supporting details, paraphrase, and summarize are critical skills of
effective comprehension development. Thus, the development and use of effective
strategies before, during, and after the reading process to faster reading comprehension
skills is one of the most significant goals of educators (Mestropien and Scruggs, 1997,
Pressley et al, 1995).
 Comprehension monitoring involves (a) understanding the purpose for reading,
(b) distinguishing important information, (c) engaging in self-questioning about what is
being read, and (d) recognizing and correcting problem when comprehension is
inadequate (Baker and Brown, 1984).

Text comprehension involves the reader’s ability to understand how the reading
material is structured (Meyer and Rice, 1984) and to recognize and remember important
information. Text structure refers to cueing system about the way ideas are interrelated
and about the subordination of some ideas to others to convey meaning to readers
(Weaver and Kintseh, 1991).

Balesario (1993) revealed that being able to read is not enough gauge to be
literate in reading. But to be liberate in reading, one must know how to apply, and how
to synthesize what he reads.

Irwin’s (1986) model of processes in reading attempts to “show” that the model
may not be the perfect replication of the comprehension in a way that is instructionally
useful to reading. It is based on models given by cognitive psychologist and integrates
research findings of leading educators. The model includes basic comprehension, which
fit in one unitary act. These are micro processed, integrative process and metacognitive
process. This processes proceed simultaneously during reading.

Langer et al., (1990) argue that reading is temporal in nature, as readers

construct meaning that is fluid and change during the act of reading. Reading begins by
being out of stepping into their environment of the text. They then move through this
environment often stepping back and rethinking their previous understanding. Finally,
they step out of the environment and react to the reading experiences.

Several reading skills are needed in order to understand and react to the
selection. Skills like getting the main idea, cause-effect relationship, determining
sequence, predicting outcomes, noting details, retelling the stories, outlining,
summarizing and many others are needed in order to fully comprehend and grasp the
message of the text.
 A very appropriate test of good comprehension is the student’s activity to
organize and integrate concepts, ideas and information taken from the text. And the
best, if it is a very effective way of developing comprehension, is the use of graphic
organizers.

Rowel and Natches (1994) defined reading disability that is significantly below
that would be expected based on the child’s age and intelligence. Reading disabilities
can have a variety of causes – neurological disfunctions or inefficiency, physical and
emotional problems, family background, or educational difficulties (teacher, method,
school). A reading disability rarely can be attributed to a single cause, it usually results
from several interacting causes.

American case study reports, from 1922 to the present, show that regular
classroom instruction frequently fails to provide adequately for pupils who encounter
unusual difficulties in reading, which are to be found in the Reading Diagnosis Sheet for
individual reader. These difficulties could be compounded among Filipino readers using
English, a second or even a third language as their medium of instruction. The teacher
may use a check for its item indicating recognized difficulty by using the letter
representing reading difficulty for a more accurate appraisal.

Reading should be considered not as a children’s preparation for living. It is, in

itself, an experiment for him or hatred of his reading difficulties could be changed to a
desire for power to explore the avenues of life through the printed materials. Thus, his
feelings of love and awe and respect for his parents or for other children will be an open
part of his reading curricula, and is a worthy exploration for his becoming aware of the
world’s abstract knowledge.
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH DESIGN

This chapter describes how the research will be conducted. It will include the
instrumentation and statistical treatment.

Methods used

The descriptive-evaluative method was used in the conduct of this study. This
method is also called one-shot survey or the non-experimental design because the data
are collected only one. In this method, the researchers were able to determine the
reading comprehension level of section Bonifacio first year students at the Mauricio
Fabito National High School during the school year 2019-2020.

Sampling Procedure

In order to obtain a representative sample of the population, the researchers

used the simple random sampling method. In First Year class, only the section
Bonifacio students which is composed of 33 students were selected as the
representative sample or the respondents in the conduct of this research.

Data Gathering Instrument

Before the prepared test question and questionnaire was distributed, at first the
researchers secured permission from the teacher who is in charge of the class for the
conduct of the study. Upon the approval, a two-page test questions to identify the
reading skills and to determine the level of reading comprehension was distributed to
the respondents during their English class. Before they were allowed to read and
answer the test, they were reminded first of the rules to be observed in silent reading.
 At some other time, the respondents were given another set of questionnaire.
This contains statements that will help identify the factors that affect the reading
comprehension of the reader.

Treatment of Data

In the treatment of data, the researchers used measures of simple statistics

using the following formula.

To obtain the percentage, the formula used was:

P = F *100
T
where P = Percentage
F = Frequency of respondents
T = Total number of respondents