Chapter I

The Background of the Study

One of the most important aims in education is the students’ reading comprehension

to be developed. Seemingly, the goal of the curriculum emphasis on students’ constructing

knowledge, higher order thinking skills and information processing skills (Tavera & Casinillo,

2020). Hence, to improve the learners’ academic achievement, students should be exposed

to a particular form of teaching strategy or intervention (Adewale, 2014; Casinillo & Guarte,

2018; Suarez & Casinillo, 2020).

Mohamad (1999) states that there are three main levels or strands of

comprehension-literal, interpretive and critical comprehension. The levels are: (1) Literal

comprehension. Comprehension at this level involves surface meanings. At this level,

teachers or lecturers can ask students to find information and ideas that are explicitly stated

in the text. also,ddition, it is also appropriate to test vocabulary; (2) Interpretive or

referential comprehension. At this level, students go beyond what is said and read for

deeper meanings. They must be able to read critically and analyze carefully what they have

read. Students need to be able to see relationship among ideas, for example how ideas go

together and see the implied meanings of these ideas. It is also obvious that before our

students can do this, they have to first understand the ideas that are stated (literal

comprehension). Interpretive or referential comprehension includes thinking processes such

as drawing conclusions, generalizing, and predicting outcomes. At this level, teachers can

ask more challenging questions such as asking students to do the following: (a) Re-arrange

the ideas or topics discussed in the text; (b) Explain the author’s purpose of writing the

text; (c) Summarize the main idea when this is not explicitly stated in the text; and (d)

Select conclusions which can be deduced from the text they have read; and (3) Critical
reading. The third level of comprehension is critical reading whereby ideas and information

are evaluated. Critical evaluation occurs only after our students have understood the ideas

and information that the writer has presented. At this level, students can be tested on the

following skills: (a) The ability to differentiate between facts and opinions; (b) The ability to

recognize persuasive statements; and (c) The ability to judge the accuracy of the

information given in the text. Teaching reading comprehension to English Foreign Language

(EFL) students is not an easy way.

According to Nuttal (1982: 21), “the aim of teaching reading comprehension is to

develop the students’ ability to extract the message from the content. In teaching reading

comprehension, the teachers are trying to put something in the students’ mind to take the

information by them.” In teaching reading, the teacher or lecturer should make the students

develop the ability to read by themselves. An independent reader must be able to overcome

the text that he/she has never seen before. The reading teachers or lecturers must facilitate

the students to do so. The teachers’ role in reading is not to remain the students but to

make the students have their own ability to read.

” Context clue in the exam is important to do since it will improve the students’

reading skill. Obviously, students do not have dictionary in the exam so there are likely to

be a lot of words from the reading text that they do not understand, and they cannot check.

If they come across a word they do not understand, then they cannot spend a lot of time

working out its meaning because they have a very limited time for reading. Therefore,

context clue is necessary. Using context clues in word recognition means figuring out the

meaning of a word based on clues in the surrounding context. These clues could be found

in the sentence with the word, in the sentences before, or in the sentences following the

word (Hancock, 1987: 2). Hancock (1987: 2) states that context clues will be easier if the
readers are familiar with some kinds of clues often found in sentences. There are some

common kinds of clues, they are: (1) Restatement, Hancock (1987: 2) states that

“restatement is merely stating the word in another way, usually in simpler term. A

restatement clue is usually set off by commas.” (2) Synonyms, Hancock (1987: 2) states

that “a synonym is one of two or more words that have the same or similar meaning. When

an author uses a difficult word, he often will also use a more familiar word to make it easy

to understand.” (3) Antonyms, Hancock (1987: 2) states that “an antonym is a word of

opposite meaning.” (4) Definitions. (5) Explanation. (6) Relationships.

Indeed, the Department of Education (DepEd) in the Philippines provides a standard

tool to measure and describe students’ reading performance in a classroom-based

assessment, that is, Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI). Phil-IRI refers to the

revised assessment tool composed of a set of graded passage administered to the whole

class and to individual students, which was designed to determine a student’s reading level.

In any school, the information gathered from Phil-IRI will be an aid for school leaders and

policy makers in education for appropriate reading activities and to improve the student

learning achievement. Based on the result of the Phil-IRI, the identified problem in any

school is the poor reading comprehension of the students (Luciano, 2019). Hence, teachers

were trying to understand the knowledge acquisition and looking for the best techniques

and strategies for the students to learn effectively particularly in reading comprehension

(Tavera & Casinillo, 2020). Lots of strategies and techniques were introduced and practiced

in the classroom, but there are few that could give more relaxing and enjoyable for both the

teacher and learners to learn effectively.

The use of context clues is one of the most effective ways in developing and

enhancing reading comprehension because it helps the reader to figure out the meaning of
 unknown words and strengthens learners’ vocabulary (İlter, 2019; Mauliza et al., 2019; Putri

& Fitrawati, 2019). The use of context clues was highly related to overall reading

effectiveness (Putri & Fitrawati, 2019). Context clues are the words and sentences that

surround a word and help explain the words meaning. It also helps the reader figure out the

meaning of an unknown word. Antonyms, synonyms, stated examples, contrasts and

restatements all function as context clues (Humes, 1978). Context clues are hugely

important because their comprehension and effective usage leads to academic success.

They can strengthen the learner’s vocabulary, reading comprehension and make learners a

better writer (Al Jumaily, 2021). In the elementary schools of San Ricardo District,

Philippines, it is found out that the results of the Phil-IRI for Grade 4 students’ reading

performance was below par. Seemingly, the Department of Education (DepEd) emphasized

that low students’ reading comprehension skills is a main factor in failure rate of students in

mathematics and science that impends global competitiveness.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the efficacy of using context clues in Reading

Comprehension of the Grade 7 Students of Panuran National High School for S.Y 2023 –

2024.

Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. Is there a significant difference in learning context clues in reading comprehension.

2. Is there significant difference in the level of learners’ effectiveness in learning context clues

when classified according to their sex, age and grade level?

3. Is there a significant relationship in learning context clues in reading and their level of

effectiveness in comprehension?
 Hypothesis

Based on the above-mentioned questions, the following hypotheses were formed:

1. There is a significant difference in learning context clues in reading

comprehension.

2. There is significant difference in the level of learners’ effectiveness in learning

context clues when classified according to their sex, age, and grade level.

3. There is a significant relationship in learning context clues in reading and their

level of effectiveness in comprehension?

Significance of the Study

This study has a huge help to the stakeholders, school administration, student,

teacher, readers, and future researchers. This study is deemed significant to the following:

School Administration: This study is beneficial to the school. They would be informed

about this study, and it could help them implement programs that could remedy the

problem that hinder the learning of the student and beneficial to everybody.

Teachers: The language teachers would greatly benefit from this study. This would help

them determine of the understanding of their students in reading and comprehension. The

results of the study would give them a thorough picture of instruction and supervision in

teaching context clues.

Students/Readers: The students would be the ultimate beneficiaries of this study

because it could enhance their vocabulary and skills in comprehension.

Stakeholders: The parents would benefit from this study. They would be informed about

the difficulty encountered by their child, and they could encourage them to study well so

that they can enhance their understanding.

Researchers: Finally, future researchers would benefit from the findings of the study. They

could make use of this as source of information regarding their related study.

Definition of Terms

Reading Comprehension – is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to

integrate with what the reader already knows.

In this study reading comprehension is what the students’ need to develop and

enhance.

Efficacy – the ability to produce a desired or intended result.

In this study the efficacy uses as biological effect tend to observe under ideal study

conditions.

Context clues – are hints found within a sentence, paragraph, or passage that reader can

use to understand the meanings of new or unfamiliar words.

In this study context clues are ways in helping respondents to answer a particular

question.
 Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study aims to determine the Efficacy of using Context clues in Reading Comprehension

of Panuran National High School Learners.

Descriptive method will be used in the study using descriptive-correlational research

design.

The total number of respondents will be identified using Slovin’ formula. Two-stage

random sampling designed was used to obtain the desired number of respondents from the

total population.

Researcher-made instruments will be used to gather data on the extent of

effectiveness of using context clues in reading comprehension. The questionnaires will

undergo content validation by a panel of jurors using the Fraenkel and Wallen Content-

Related Criteria tool. The reliability test of the questionnaires will also be conducted to 30

Grade 7 students.

Both the descriptive and inferential statistics will be used in the study. For

descriptive statistics, the frequency count, percentage, and mean will be used. For

inferential statistics, t-test and Chi-square will be used and set at .05 level of significance.

The statistical computations will be processed through the Statistical Package for

Social Science (SPSS) Software.

 Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

This chapter reviews some concepts and research literature relevant to this study. It

presents information regarding the effectiveness of using context clues in reading

comprehension. Theoretical and conceptual frameworks are also presented to give clear

understanding about the present study.

Effective Reader

A crucial part of becoming an effective reader is developing an extensive vocabulary

(Nash & Snowling, 2006,p. 335). Successful readers can acquire vocabulary from reading

and allow it to strengthen their understanding of a text (Greenwood & Flanigan, 2007, Nash

& Snowling, 2006). Students in elementary school may be exposed to thousands of words

within a school year. One predictor of future success in terms of reading is the ability to

comprehend and use new vocabulary in a variety of contexts (Nash & Snowling, 2006).

Teachers provide vocabulary instruction for just this reason. Explicitly teaching vocabulary is

a great way to help students acquire new words. An extensive vocabulary is great for any

student, but what does it mean for the comprehension of nonfiction text? With Common

Core State Standard shift such as an increased emphasis on academic language, students

must not only be prepared to acquire new words through vocabulary instruction but must

be equipped to determine the meaning of words on their own (National Governors

Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). Using

context clues, students should be able to determine the meaning of words for themselves

within a given text. This is a skill that must be explicitly taught to execute properly (Wood,

Harmon, & Taylor, 2011). There are many beliefs as to how new words are learned best

(Wood, Harmon, & Taylor, 2011). Although the effectiveness of certain methods for
vocabulary instruction could be argued, the ability to determine words from their context is

a skill that every student will rely on at some point in their development as readers. This

literature review will provide the purpose for teaching context clues as well as the effects

they have on vocabulary development as well as several ways to teach context clues in a

meaningful and effective way.

Why Teach Context Clues?

Students with strong vocabulary skills perform better in terms of fluency and

comprehension. Students who have poor vocabulary skills are more at risk to perform poorly

in terms of language development and reading comprehension (Nash & Snowling, 2006,

p. 335). It is shown that immersing a child with poor vocabulary skills in a rich “language-

learning environment”, can drastically improve their vocabulary knowledge (Nash &

Snowling, 2006, p. 336). The appeal for teaching context clues is that it is a way for

students to derive meaning from words while reading with no help from the teacher

(Mart, 2012, p. 177). In addition to having the appeal of being practiced as an independent

skill, learning vocabulary from context has been proven as an effective approach by many

studies conducted by reportable linguists (Mart, 2012, p. 178).

Vocabulary knowledge is typically measured as being receptive or expressive (Nash

& Snowling, 2006, p. 336). Receptive measures require students to choose a meaning from

given options, while expressive measure require a given definition of a word. Students will

be required to partake in both types of measures throughout their schooling. For students

who struggle with providing the meaning of vocabulary words in an expressive manner,

teaching words through context clues can be especially beneficial. Context based learning

encompasses the skills that students need to be successful readers. For students to
permanently acquire and retain vocabulary words, they must be presented and practiced

within context several times opposed to rote memorization or in isolation (Mart, 2012,

p. 178). Using context clues while reading can not only help students figure out the

meaning of new unknown words but can also help them master and practice the words they

were taught explicitly within context.

Context Clues Effect on Vocabulary Development

Students can learn 300 to 500 words a year through direct vocabulary instruction,

but their actual vocabulary rate of growth is about 2,700 to 3,000 words (Parault,

Haverback, & Parkinson, 2014, p. 2). “Vocabulary teaching and learning is not a task

isolated from other dimensions of instruction. Rather, the act of promoting vocabulary

literacy is multidimensional and involves making the connection between vocabulary and

comprehension using all aspects of literacy: writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visual

representing.” (Wood, Harmon, & Taylor, 2011, p.57). Vocabulary development is an

indicator of success in terms of literacy. When teaching, teachers must realize the

importance of the ability to acquire and understand new language, especially for those

students with limited language abilities and vocabulary development. One way to approach

teaching the acquisition of new vocabulary within context is by teaching students to note

external and internal text features (Wood, et al., 2011, p. 62). External features of a

nonfiction text such as a glossary, sidebar definition, captions, etc. can help students take

note of new content specific new words as well as determine their meanings to understand

the text more deeply (Wood, et al., 2011, p.62). Internal features, such as the ways that

the author uses language to communicate the central message, could be more difficult to

grasp for students, especially struggling readers (Wood, et al., 2011, p.62). Being able to
identify the difference between these types of contexts can help readers pinpoint where are

how they may need to use clues to increase their content specific vocabulary.

One way teachers may approach the presentation of context clues in a way that can

majorly impact the amount of words a student is able to acquire independently is through

morphologic instruction (Goodwin & Perkins, 2015, p. 510). When students come to an

unknown word, they can use their morphologic knowledge to determine the meaning.

Morphologic instruction requires students to focus their attention to the root word and

affixes that a word may be composed of (Goodwin & Perkins, 2015, p. 510). This method of

instruction is effective because according to Goodwin and Perkins (2015), “Sixty percent of

words can be figured out using the knowledge of the units of meaning” (p.511). Using this

type of instruction, students can substantially increase their word knowledge and ability to

decipher the meanings of unknown words.

Types of Context Clues and How They Should be Taught.

As described in the previous section, morphologic instruction can have a heavy

impact on students’ ability to use context clues for vocabulary expansion. In 1966, Ames

divided the types of context clues into fourteen categories. These types of context clues

include Association, Cause and Effect, Comparison or Contrast, Definition or Description,

Language Experiences or Familiar Expression, Main Idea or Support Details, Modifying

Phrases or Clauses, Non-restrictive Clauses or Appositive Phrases, Prepositional Phrase,

Questions and Answer, Referral Clue, Synonym, Tone/Setting/Mood, and Words Connected

in a Series (Parault, 2010, 34). Although Ames’ work is fifty years old, his categories are still

relevant and are referenced in most contemporary vocabulary instruction research work.
 There are several approaches to context clues instruction. This Master’s Curriculum

Research Project will focus on the ways context clues can improve the comprehension of

nonfiction text. Therefore, this review will focus on findings concerning the effective method

of context clues instruction regarding nonfiction texts. To strengthen comprehension of

expository texts, students need to know how to gain vocabulary using external context clues

(Randall & Ryder, 1986, p 61). First, teachers must begin instruction by presenting

information in a concrete manner before moving to more abstract concepts (Randall &

Ryder, 1986, p. 62). Teachers must also use familiar texts to teach context clues. Students

should not struggle through texts while learning to define words within context because

student mastery varies with text difficulties (Randall & Ryder, 1896, p. 62). There are three

stages in which context clues should be taught. In the first stage, students learn through

using visual context clues. In the second stage, students use sentence context to acquire

new words. The last stage is learning words through paragraph context (Randall &

Ryder, 1896, p. 62).

Limitations.

Although context clue instruction is said to be effective, there are few studies that

prove its effectiveness (Kuhn & Stahl, 1998, p. 135). Another limitation is that although

students may be receptive to context clue instruction, it is not certain they will use context

clues as a strategy while independently reading (Kuhn & Stahl, 1998, p. 135). Lastly, only 5-

10% of words are learned through a single exposure within text (Greenwood &

Flanigan, 2007, p. 249). This means that although teaching context clues might help

students comprehend a text, they may not acquire the unknown words from the text

permanently.
 Conclusion.

Students can strengthen their comprehension of texts using both external and

internal context clues. Context clues promotes not only comprehension but also vocabulary

development as well. With shifts in common core and the current emphasis on academic

and content specific vocabulary, the ability to define vocabulary through context is more

important than ever. By knowing the types of context clues as well as the different phases

in which they should be taught, teachers can ensure that students are able to decipher the

meanings of unknown words when they need to. Because students learn so many more

words from context rather than through explicit vocabulary instruction, teachers must see

the importance of teaching this useful comprehension strategy.

Theoretical Framework

This study is based on the Effectiveness of Context Clues in Reading Comprehension in the

Face to Face classes.

The independent variables in this study are the respondents’ age categorized into

young and old; and sex categorized into male and female.

The dependent variable is Efficacy of Context Clues

in Reading Comprehension of Panuran National High School Learners.

Learners’ effectiveness in learning context clues will be determined whether Very

Highly Effective, Highly Effective, Moderately Effective, Less Effective, and Not Effective.
 The relationship among these study variables is diagrammatically presented in Figure

1.

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

Age
Efficacy of Context Clues
 Young in Reading Comprehension of
Panuran National High School
Learners
 Old
 Very highly effective
Sex
 Highly effective
 Moderately effective
 Male
 Less effective
 Female  Not Effective

Figure 1. Schematic diagram showing the relationship between the independent

and dependent variables of the study.

 Chapter 3

Methodology

This chapter presents the research methods, research design, respondents of the

study, sampling design, data gathering procedure, research instrument, data analysis and

statistical tools that were used in analyzing and interpreting data in the study.

Research Method

Descriptive method will be used in this study. Descriptive method according to

Fraenkel and Wallen (2007), is used to describe a given situation as fully and carefully as

possible. The gathered data could determine the Efficacy of Using Context Clues in Reading

Comprehension of Panuran National High School Learners.

Research Design

The study used the descriptive research design. The descriptive survey research

method was used in this study. Harris (1992) defines this method as a design which

describes the situation as it exists at the time of the study and explores the cause of

phenomena.

This research design is appropriate to this study based on the fact that its main goal

is to look into the efficacy of using context clues in reading comprehension.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study are the thirty (30) randomly selected grade 7 students

of Panuran National High School in the S.Y. 2023 – 2024.

 These students are classified according to age and sex. As to age, they will group

into two: young and old. As to sex, they will be categorized as male and female.

Table 1 shows the distribution of respondents according to independent variables.

Profile of the Students

Distribution of the No. of Respondents Percentage

Respondents

Entire Group 30 100

Age

Young

12 to 13 25 80

Old

14 and above 5 20

Sex

Male 15 50

Female 15 50

Sampling Design

The randomly sampling design will be used to obtain the desired number of

respondents from the total population. After the sample size will be computed using the

slovin’s formula, simple random sampling will be employed.

 Simple random sampling (David, 2005) is a process of selecting sample cases of

subset of sample cases from a population, giving all the sampling units equal chances of

being included in the sample.

Data-Gathering Procedures

Permission to conduct the study will be secured from the principal of the school.

Once the permission will be granted, the researcher will personally conduct and start

the distribution and administration of the questionnaires to the respondents. The researcher

will solicit the cooperation and understanding of the respondents to ensure easy retrieval

and gathering of the questionnaires. Compliance to research ethics protocol will also be

done through the signed informed consent to insure the dignity of the respondents.

Research Instruments

In order to collect the quantitative data and answer the research question, the

instruments employ in this study are the pre – test on students’ vocabulary knowledge and

reading comprehension ability before the treatment, the experiment and the post – test on

students’ vocabulary retention and reading comprehension ability after the treatment.

Pre – Test

It is a self – constructed test consisting of two parts to be administered by the

teacher (researcher). In the first part, the researcher designs 20 short sentences based on

the contextual clues. The first ten questions are in the form of multiple choices. There are

four options for them to choose the meaning of the words from A to D. however, for the

last ten, they are required to write down the meanings of the words by themselves. In the
second part, two reading selections with ten multiple – choice questions in total will be

given to the participants. The two reading texts are selected from the Internet – Based Test

(IBT).

Experiment

The experiment is one of the steps in conducting the experimental research. During

the experiment, researchers must endeavor to follow tested and agreed – on procedures

(Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2007). In this study, for the teaching procedure of the

experimental group, there are five different reading selections in the Reading 4. For each

topic, the teacher will introduce a list of vocabulary taken from the reading selection to

students in advance. The responsibility of the students in this group is to put a check mark

next to the words they had already known. To the unknown words, they will not permit to

use dictionary to find their meanings. Instead, students will be instructed the strategy of

guessing meaning from contextual clues. Also, they had a chance to practice this strategy

by doing some vocabulary and reading tasks. Finally, they work hard with the reading

selection and then apply this strategy to do some tasks related to reading including

exploring the topic, the main idea and answering information questions. One of the tasks

students required to do is guessing the meanings of the unknown words from the list of

vocabulary introduced at the beginning of the lesson. For the control group, they have

similar learning procedures; however, the only difference is that instead of being instructed

with the contextual clue strategy, they use dictionary to look up the meanings of the words

in the vocabulary list before reading.

Post Test

The post – test is similar to the pre – test in terms of format, types of tasks and

numbers of tasks with 20 questions for guessing meanings of words from the contextual

clues and two reading selections with 10 questions.

Data Analysis

The study will be conducted in fourteen weeks. On the first week, a pre - test will be

conducted to examine students’ vocabulary reading level before starting the treatment.

From week two to twelve, the instructor (also the researcher) instructs the reading module

for two groups, but the experimental group will receive no treatment. At the end of the

module, both groups took the post – test to find out whether there were differences

between the two groups. All in all after the above steps had ended, the results will be

analyzed by using the software SPSS via tools of Descriptive Statistics, Independent

Samples T – Test and Pair Samples Test.

 References

Alderson, J. Charles. (2000). Assessing Reading. United Kingdom: Cambridge University

Press.

Apriliyanti, et.al. (2018). ImprovingStudents’ Reading Comprehension through Context Clues

Strategy at The Eight Grade of SMP Dharma Wanita Medan. Kairos ELT Journal, 2 (3), 166.

Ary, Donald, et.al. (2010). Introduction to Research in Education. Wadsworth: Cengage

Learning. Creswell, John W. (2012). Eduacational Research: Planning, Conducting and

Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. University of Nebraska Lincoln: Pearson.

McNamara,Danielle S. (2007) .Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories, Interventions,

and Technologies.Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence ErlbaumAssociates.

Bamberg, R. 1975. Promoting the Reading Habit. France: Enesco Press.

Brown, D. H. 2004. Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New York:

Pearson Education.

Brown, D. H. 1999. Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Janiuay Campus
Graduate School

EFFICACY OF CONTENT IN READING COMPREHENSION OF PANURAN NATIONAL

HIGH SCHOOL GRADE 7 LEARNERS

A Research Proposal

Presented to the Faculty of West Visayas State University-Janiuay Campus

Graduate School Department

Janiuay, Iloilo

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement

for FND (504) Academic Writing in Research

By:

ANALIE A. LORAÑA