Significant Difference in Reading Comprehension between Senior High: Wattpad Readers

and Non-Wattpad Readers of STI College San Pablo

Chapter 1

Introduction

Background of the Study

Wattpad is a writing community in which users can post everything from articles and

original stories to fan fiction and poems, through mobile or desktop. Founded in 2006 by two

engineers with a love for reading, the service has become the go-to place for avid readers and

writers alike.

There are lots of people whose attracted in reading wattpad, resulting to have a rapid

popularity. Jandra Sutton (2017), mention that wattpad is growing rapidly. As the platform seeks

new ways to expand, more and more readers are being attracted to the platform on a regular

basis. This is a huge emerging market to connect with readers instantaneously, and start building

valuable relationships.

Reading Comprehension is very important on students on their everyday school life, and it

helps them to develop their academic performance. Keyser (2018), once mention that reading

comprehension is the significant link to effective reading which is necessary for a rich academic,

professional and personal life. WETA Public Broadcasting (2019), supported this claim by

stating that a major goal of reading comprehension is to help students develop the knowledge,

skills and experience they must have if they are to become competent and enthusiastic readers.

People read wattpad for leisure, and entertainment. It also helps them to stay calm, focused,

and educate them. According to the article “The Rise of E-Reading” (2012), those who talked

about quiet entertainment tended toward phrases like “a stress-free escape,” “a nice way to

1
relax,” “I read because it’s not work,” “diverting, entertaining and educational,” and “It draws

me away from reality.” That was echoed by a respondent who said reading “takes you away, like

a movie in your head”, “because it helps me with my temper and relaxes me.”

Some reasons hinders a person to read wattpad. According to Esther Lombardi in his article

“Why We Don’t Read” (2019), people do not read because: they do not have enough time,

money, experience; too tiring, it is hard to read and its not a hobbit.

The researchers conducted a pre-survey in STI College-San Pablo consisting of Senior high

school students with a population of 249. In the said pre-survey, 107 are wattpad readers which

is 43% of the total population and 142 are non-wattpad readers which is 57% of the total

population.

With this claims and observations, the researchers conducted a study which seek to find out

if there is a significant difference in reading comprehension between senior high school wattpad

and non-wattpad reader in STI College San Pablo.

Statement of the Problem

This study entitled Significant Difference in Reading Comprehension between Senior

High Student: Wattpad Readers and Non-Wattpad Readers of STI College San Pablo seeks

to answer the following questions:

1. What is the significant difference in reading comprehension between:

a) Wattpad Readers ; and

b) Non-Wattpad Readers

2
Research Paradigm

Wattpad Reading Non Wattpad

Reader Comprehensio Reader
n

Hypothesis

There is no significant difference in reading comprehension between Senior High: Wattpad

Readers and Non Wattpad Readers.

Significance of the Study

This study entitled Reading Comprehension between Senior High School Student: Wattpad

Reader and Non-Wattpad Reader of STI College San Pablo is of great significance to the

following:

Students - this study can help them to know the importance of reading and on how they

discipline their child when it comes to reading and understanding of what they read.

Writers - this research can motivate writers to write more stories to improve the reader’s

comprehension.

School - this can help schools to use some stories that can be used to check students

comprehension.

Future Researchers - this may help them to provide information for their study.

Delimitation of the Study

3
 This study entitled Level of Reading Comprehension between Wattpad Reader and

Non-Wattpad Reader has the following delimitations:

1. Respondents- the respondents of the study is limited to:

a) Senior High School 50 wattpad readers of STI College San Pablo enrolled during the S.Y.

2019-2020

b) Senior High School 50 non wattpad readers of STI College San Pablo enrolled during the

S.Y. 2019-2020

2. Site- the site of the research is only within Senior High School of STI College San Pablo.

Definition Of Terms

The term used in this study were limited to the following definitions:

Reading Comprehension- the ability to understand a text and answer questions about what has

been read.

Wattpad- stories which includes but not limited to: wattpad stories from the site, published

books, internet post, etc.

Wattpad Readers - a person who reads wattpad stories.

Chapter 2

4
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

FOREIGN LITERATURE

According to Combs (1997), describes reading as a high-speed, automatic, simultaneous

operation of complex linguistic and cognitive process. Generally, reading is defined simply as

understanding the printed word. It is a process where in multitasking occurs.

Goodman (1998), defines reading as a receptive language process. There is an essential

interaction between language and thought in reading. The writer encodes thought as a language

and the reader decodes as a thought. It only say that when we read the interaction between the

reader and writer occur. The language that connect them make them understand each other.

Romero (1994), mention that the reading comprehension takes place when there is

communication between the reader and the author. It means that when the reader understand

what the author wants to convey to the readers then you have a good reading comprehension.

In addition, Goodman in Majdi Abdullah Ahmad (2010), defines reading as a receptive

process of written communication. According to him reading begins with a linguistic surface

expression encoded by a writer and ends with meaning in which the reader decoded.

On the other hand, Grebe (2010), states that reading is not merely a receptive process of

picking up information from the page in a verbatim manner but it is a selective process which is

characterized as an active process of comprehending.

Reading is a receptive and decoding skill in which the reader receives the writer’s message

and tries to recreate the writer’s message to the extent possible (Chastain, 1988). When a person

read, the process of encoding and decoding of information occur. The writer, write down their

information about something the process of encoding occur, and when the reader interpret the

information, the process of decoding occur. Which the information will help the reader to

5
develop her comprehension.

According to Nima Farzaneh & Dariush Nejadansari (2014), reading is one of the four basic

skills in language learning. Reading provides the learners with a source of comprehensible input

and serves to facilitate communicative fluency in other language skills. Furthermore, reading

ability has always been viewed as critical to academic success. Reading have a big impact on the

development of one’s comprehension. Reading help a person to understand one’s opinions with

the help of communicating with understandable language. When a person read it help to develop

their vocabulary and also help to be fluent in speaking.

People who have read can comprehend written messages. According to Krashen (2008),

there are several strategies for improving one's comprehension. It is by reading any kind of text,

for about 5-15 minutes every day and refer a year for significant improvements to be seen.

According to Raudenbush (2006), In “Readicide,” English teacher and literacy consultant

Kelly Gallagher warned educators about literacy practices that he felt killed student motivation

to read. In “Deeper Reading,” he describes what effective reading instruction looks like. He

tackles methods for getting students to tackle difficult books such as “Romeo and Juliet” and

“All Quiet on the Western Front.” Challenging material, Gallagher explains, usually requires

more than one reading. He outlines plans for what he calls “first-draft readings” and “second-

draft readings.” Gallagher encourages readers to work through the confusing parts of their books

and to reread passages to find new ideas they did not see in the first reading. In 1997, Ellin

Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann, partners at the Denver-based Public Education and

Business Coalition, published “Mosaic of Thought,” which explained how good readers use

thinking strategies to build comprehension. Zimmermann followed with “Seven Keys to

Comprehension,” a work designed to give parents and teachers practical advice on teaching

6
children to read strategically. She explains how readers use their background knowledge and

imagination to visualize what they read. Zimmermann also reveals how children can learn to ask

themselves questions to help them find important details and make key inferences. Finally, she

shows how readers can put ideas together to form a complete understanding of what they have

been trying to comprehend." At first, it explains that a person who reads complicated books

needs to reread it for the person to understand the book, it requires a time for a person to have a

better understanding.

Belloni and Jongsma’s (1978) study stated that, students comprehend better when they are

interested in what they are reading.

Duke and Kays, (1998) suggested that considering three features when choosing nonfictions

texts. The three features are visual emphasis, accuracy, and engaging writing. Good nonfiction

books are “clear and coherent”. It is important that the information being presented to students is

clear, accurate and engaging, in order to help their comprehension abilities.

LOCAL LITERATURE

According to Dela Cruz (1993), reading occupies a high place of significance in the child's

development. It is his/her basic tool in both his/her learning process and personal growth, the

key to other personal skills, being the means in acquisition of more complex skills. There is an

impact on a person's learning process when reading.

According to Tadena (1987), comprehending a spoken word or printed paragraph involves a

very complex mental operation which is far more than and far different from merely picking up

or taking over a definite idea or set of ideas. Comprehension is always partial, incomplete and

highly personal in character. It is highly selective activity. An individual may listen or read at

7
different times for quite different purpose. When a person read a book or article the

comprehension that they can get are not actually complete.

Carole (2002), called reading a behavior, as he stressed that reading must be defined in the

context of a proper understanding of the nature of language and its actualization is spoken as

written messages. Meaning, the behavior that we call reading may be described as the perception

and comprehension characteristic of language.

According to Alderson (2000), the reading goal is to read for meaning or to recreate the

writer’s meaning. By definition, reading involves comprehension. When readers do not

comprehend, they are not reading. Scholars of reading believe that reading is a dynamic process

which is varied from reader to reader and from text to text and that the key factor in

understanding this process is the interaction between readers and text variables. Reading-related

research has been commonly divided into two different factors: the reader and the text. Reader’s

knowledge constitutes one highly significant reader variable. The nature of the knowledge

brought to the reading process by the reader affects the way the text is processed and understood

to a great extent. Moreover, the reader’s linguistic knowledge, especially, vocabulary size and

metalinguistic knowledge are important factors. Schema theory has been developed in order to

determine to what extend readers’ knowledge affects what they understand. In according to what

Anderson says the reader and text interaction must always present in developing one’s

comprehension.

According to Presley (2002), a god text comprehension emerges if a reader is able to predict

what the text may be about, relates information in the text to background knowledge, asks

questions while reading, monitors the understanding of the text, and summarizes what is being

read. For these meta cognitive processes, or reading strategies, to be used during text

8
comprehension, meta cognitive knowledge of reading is an important prerequisite. The current

study focused on the relations between meta cognitive knowledge about reading, or knowledge

of reading strategies, and reading comprehension. In says that, the good text comprehension is

better when the reader’s can relate information to their own knowledge, a good text

comprehension is good when the reader’s can summarize what they been read. They can also ask

some questions to their self while they are reading some literary piece. In this situation, the

reading comprehension can develop.

Reading occupies a great importance in child's development. It is a basic skill to be a

successful student in school or studies (Scribd, 2019). It means that reading can develop one’s

comprehension.

According to Henry (2005), there is a strategy for improving reading comprehension.

Reading is a question of employing the proper strategy; the readers have different means by

which accomplish comprehension.

Pascual (2000), there is a study of difficulties in reading. Therefore, the researchers

conclude that the readers are tend to be more competent than those who are not wattpad readers,

their performance has different areas to comprehension skills.

According to Nirmala (2017), reading is one of four important language skills that should be

mastered by students. It is one of the ways for getting knowledge that can not be separated from

every learning process and it does not only happen in educational field but also in our daily life.

For getting knowledge and information, people read books, magazines,newspapers,

advertisement and etc. Nation states that reading is a source of learning and enjoyment.It can

help students learn a new vocabulary and grammar. It also makes them enjoy the reading. They

can learn more and more by reading. According to Richard, reading means perceiving a written

9
text in order to understand its contents. This can be done silently (silent reading). It is a

particular way in which the readers understand texts, passages, paragraphs even books and an

ability to understand and find out the information presented in the form of written text. In

addition, Goodman in Majdi Abdullah Ahmad defines reading as a receptive process of written

communication. According to him reading begins with a linguistic surface expression encoded

by a writer and ends with meaning in which the reader decoded. On the other hand, Grebe states

that reading is not merely a receptive process of picking up information from the page in a

verbatim manner but it is a selective process which is characterized as an active process of

comprehending. Reading is important because this is where information are gathered, it is not

used only in educational filed but also in daily life of a person. Reading is not just gathering

information, it is a process where in comprehending occurs.

Student’s interaction with print prior to reading is called emergent literacy. Emergent

literacy skills can start as early as birth and is the interaction that children have with print and

adults. These “pre-reading skills” consist of retelling known stories, reading from left to right,

book handling skills, reading pictures to make meaning from text, etc. These are skills students

need to acquire before being able to comprehend texts while reading independently. A student’s

ability to read with accuracy and fluency will also impact their ability to comprehend both

fiction and nonfiction.

Maloch and Bomer (2013), stated that students need to explore all kinds of texts in order to

understand text structures and comprehend. However, studies are finding that students are not

getting enough exposure to these types of text. The lack of exposure is the number one reason

students are having difficult time comprehending non fiction texts.

Chapter III

10
 Research Methodology

This chapter presents the descriptions of research design, the research locale and sample,

research procedure, the research instruments used and the statistical treatment of data.

Research Design

The research design that the researcher used was comparative method. The comparative

method is an investigation (as ethnological phenomena) based on comparison, it is used to

describe the difference between the two independent variables. This was used by respondents to

know if there will be an effect of reading wattpad to the reading comprehension of a person.

The specific method that was used in the study was quantitative comparative method. A

quantitative comparative method is much more frequently pursued than qualitative, and on this

is seen by the majority of comparative studies which use quantitative data. The general method

of comparing things is the same for comparative research as it is an our everyday practice of

comparison. This utilized to determine the difference of the reading comprehension of wattpad

reader and non wattpad reader.

Research Procedure

The researchers will conduct a pre survey to know if there is enough respondents for

wattpad reader. 100 randomly selected respondents will be chosen from STI College San Pablo

Senior High Students, 50 wattpad readers and 50 non-wattpad readers. The researchers will find

a piece of literary story that will be read by the respondents. From this story that the respondents

read, the researchers will make another questionnaire to test the respondents’ reading

comprehension.

11
 Once the research instrument was checked and approved, the researchers will secure

permission to Mrs. Guillerma I. Tajao (Assistant Principal) and Mr. Joseph Luna (Dean) through

permission letter.

After the permit was approved the collection of data will begin. The researchers will use the

Pearson Correlation, it is a measure of the linear correlation between two variables X and Y in

identifying statistical treatment.

The researchers therefore conclude that, there is a significance difference in reading

comprehension between Senior High Students: Wattpad Readers and Non-Wattpad Readers of

STI College San Pablo.

Locale of Study

The researchers attempted to find wether a wattpad reader have a difference in reading

comprehension from non- wattpad reader in STI College San Pablo Senior High School, Lim

Chok Bldg. Lopez Jaena St. Brgy VII-B San Pablo City. The researchers also considered the

comprehension of a non wattpad reader to find if it has a difference in the reading

comprehension.

Population or Sample of the Study

The total population of Senior High School students in STI College San Pablo is 484. The

researchers randomly selected 50 students who reads wattpad and 50 non wattpad readers, (a

total of 100 Senior High students) as the subject of the study.

Research Instruments

12
 The main instrument of the study is a researcher made structured questionnaire. The

questionnaire was divided into to two (2) parts. The first part is a 20 item examination or test

that will be given to the respondents after they read the chosen piece of literature. The second

part is assessed by using likert scale; it is to find out if there is a significant difference in the

reading comprehension of Senior High Student: Wattpad Reader and Non Wattpad Reader in STI

College San Pablo. The data was gathered and further analyzed by the researchers.

13