“THE READING COMPREHENSION LEVEL OF GRADE 7 STUDENTS OF

ANDARAYAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL:

A BASIS FOR READING PROGRAM”

A Research Proposal Presented

to the Faculty of Graduate School

St. Paul University Philippines

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan 3500

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Advance Research

Doctor of Philosophy- Rhetoric and Linguistics

JEFF ROBEN D. AGBISIT

September 2017
 CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE

Background of the Study

In the school curriculum, reading is the basic tool in

learning. It is the process of getting the meaning and of

interpreting symbols drawn from the printed page and

experiencing the image, idea passion or experience of the

author. It is one of the most important skills a person can

acquire. Through reading, an individual can get information

concerning problems or issues that affect one’s life.

Men rely upon reading for enjoyment, for information, in

decision making, in forming opinions, and ideals, for strength

and power. Reading is also needed pleasures of human beings

recreational and educational agencies. Reading is admittedly an

act that involves perception, the dynamic organizing process

through which an individual works out a meaningful relationship

with his environment [Robles].

Thus, reading is one of the great and satisfying pleasures

of human beings. The person who reads well is an individual who

thinks well. He wins the respect and good opinion of others

[Serrano, 1994]

Ouano [1990], in her study on “Proposed Reading Program in

English for First Year High School Students of Cagayan State

University Sanchez Mira”, emphasizes the importance of the study

for reasons that for the past thirteen years that she has been

teaching English, she found out and actually observed and

encountered reading problems of students, and has felt the need

or strong reading program.

It is important then, that the school put emphasis on

communication rather than delivery of knowledge. The reading

program in secondary school ought to consider ‘…a vast array of

skills and attitudes forming an intertwined network throughout

the disciplines represented in a school curriculum…’

Reading requires the need for effective skills in order to

develop the ability of an individual to grow intellectually.

The importance of reading was emphasized in the following

quotation: Leave a child unexposed to printed page materials

and unable to read and he will be likened to some extent, to

blind man groping in the dark”.

The ability to read with high comprehension is an asset for

good performance in school or out of school or in any field of

endeavor.

A one sided reader may be produced if a child may be given a

general instruction leaving the development of reading skills to

chance. Reading good of what is read should go hand in hand, for

one contributes to the other specific reading abilities.

Reading effectively is reading with both speed and

comprehension. Further, efficient reading demands the ability to

concentrate the use of intellectual curiosity, and visualization

as we read so that images come to life and on extra dimensions.

Perhaps, most important of all, efficient reading involves

organizing, retaining ideas and impressions gained from the

printed page.

Furthermore, success in reading does not depend entirely on

word recognition. Unless the reader comprehends what is recorded

in the page, reading does not take place. Reading with

comprehension means getting meaning from what is perceived in

writing. In fact, reading without understanding should not be

called reading if does not necessarily involve comprehension.

Comprehension should be described as a general ability.

Poor comprehension in reading however, is a world problem.

It is not only true in the Philippines, but even in the entire

world. This is corroborated by report that even in the U.S. many

students cannot read with comprehension. Even today a large

number of high school students find difficulty in preparing

their assignments because of failure to understand what they

read. Many youth, some in school, and other school drop outs
could not read, because they fail to read meaningfully in school

or the school failed to teach them to read successfully.

Obviously, one cause of dissatisfaction in school is

reading failures on the part of students. Their inability to

read often results in their dropping out of school which hampers

their enjoyment to a full human and social life. A person who is

not given the opportunity to function well, he cannot function

in a proper way. In his life, He cannot live a full human that

enjoyed by those who are exposed to the world of printed page.

He is deprive from his human right to further education, the

access to one of the most valuable instruments for learning and

thus for living [ StaigEr, 1985].

Review Related Literature

Reading

In the old maxim, men relies in reading, that reading

makes men wise, meaningful and colorful. According to Trailer

[1984], reading underlies all teaching in school, and has the

most pervasive influence in the student’s success in school and

adjustment in leaving.

Besides, reading is the ingredient of success in man’s life

and according to McKee, reading is not only an intellectual

experience, but it is also appreciation, happiness, excitement,

ambition, fear action, even illness and certainly hunger.

The aim of the teacher, therefore, is to guide the students

to understand and enjoy what they are reading. The teacher does

this by a careful development of reading lessons, whose

effectiveness depend largely upon the kind of enrichment

materials the teacher will use.

Correlates of Comprehension

Relating the reading comprehension of students to some

studies, they give different findings and emphasis to both

success and failures of students while in schools.

According to Marasigan [1984], he conducted a study to find out

the types of selections, if mental abilities of students affect

the comprehension abilities of students such skills as noting

details, drawing inferences and getting the main ideas. The

study revealed that types of selection and mental ability of

students affect comprehension. He found out that the respondents

performed better on noting details than on drawing conclusions

and better than on getting main ideas.

Level of Reading Performance

 Further, in many instances teachers rely so much on the

reading readiness of students in their classroom. They cannot

proceed to next level of reading performance if students are

still in the frustration level of reading comprehension. In the

study of Villaflor [1993],she investigated on the reading

performance level of the Freshmen College Teacher Education of

Northern Philippines University, school year 1992-1993. Her

major findings indicated that the reading speed of the freshmen

students was very good. On the other hand, their level of

reading performance in getting the main idea of the paragraph

and drawing conclusion was good. She stresses that there is no

relationship between the reading comprehension ability of

students and sex, parents’ educational attainment and materials

read at home.

Importance of Teaching Reading

Teaching reading is life, it exemplifies the life

experiences of a learner in the class and makes them socially

interactive in any learning episode. In the study conducted by

Sibayan [1992], he pointed out that teaching of reading is so

important that a child who fails to read will also fail in

being educated the rest of his life

Reading disability is an important cause of school failure.

Various reading materials that will promote growth and

development of the learners should be utilized by the teachers.

In doing so, the learners will appreciate reading better.

Poor Reading Ability

In most cases, inability to read in the class leads

academic failure. It correlates many factors that influence the

reading performance of the students in the school. In the

research Adler [1982], found out that young girls and boys read

little. The rank of their reading in and out of school is so

light and poorest sort. Worst, when they are out of school, they

tend to lock their books.

Their reading habit has no doubt directly affected, so that

many of them do not enjoy reading. Undoubtedly, children who

look forward to a lifelong learning through reading, after

graduation end up as half-cooked candidates for continuing

education and shun education like a plague.

Low Level of Comprehension

In consonance to the institutionalization of the

remediation program of students with low level of reading

comprehension paved a way to improve reading performance of the

child. In this way, some schools organize colloquium classes to

further enhance the reading skill and abilities of the English

classes. The former DepEd secretary, Honorable Andrew Gonzales

[1992], remarkably emphasized that one of the failures of the

Philippine Education that it is geared to expect failure rather

than success. Besides, the “drop out” rates, the other area of

failure are the number of non readers in school. Fourth Year

High School graduates who barely communicate in English-taught

educational system.

There are many who seemingly can read but cannots

comprehend meaningless and resort memorizing facts. To motivate

learners to read, it is necessary that reading materials be

suited to their abilities and needs. Research studies are

unanimous in their findings that today’s children have a low

level of reading comprehension and so far, very little have been

done to make pupils understand what they read.

Teachers are envisioned to translate learning into

meaningful actions through communication. Their ability to craft

minds and to re-engineer learning habits, demands a greater

emphasis in the language world. In the study Olboc [1992], he

suggested that content area teachers can do a great deal to help

corrective readers understand their assignments and as by-

products to improve their reading skills. Providing instruction

and reading assistance for corrective readers is an important

responsibility, indeed for administrators, teachers and reading

specialist. A little writing, a little reading, a little of this

and that will not really solve our problem in the English
program. Quality time and dedicated efforts should be given to

teaching, be it basal, functional, individualized, critical and

creative, recreational or remedial reading teaching.

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

Reading is one of the fundamental R,s of man’s life. As a

basic tool for education, serious attention should be given to

it.

Learning to read and comprehend English is of great

importance in the Philippines because English is the language of

the government. The educated citizens must know how to read

signs, ballots, documents, letters and business forms in

English. The educated citizens depends to great extent on his

ability to read English to learn new happenings, current trends

and developments not only in the Philippines but throughout the

world especially in nation’s objective for global

competitiveness. In fact, anyone who wishes to pursue higher

education will depend largely on his ability to read and

understand the English language.

But so far, our students have not proficiently developed

reading skills. A learner therefore who lack necessary skills in

reading is not likely to be productive because he finds

difficulty in acquiring knowledge and may eventually become an

inordinate inferior or superior personality.

With the fast pace of communication technology, effective

reading is a demand one has to cope with in order to be properly

adjusted to his social and intellectual life.

Paradigm of the Study

As shown in the paradigm, the level of literary reading

skills of respondents serve as independent variable. And the

independent variable of which measures their level of reading

comprehension on skills such as noting details, sequencing

events and following precise direction through test based on a

short story and vocabulary skills, getting the main idea and

predicting outcomes by means of tests based on a poem.

Paradigm of the Study

Dependent Variables Independent Variables

-Noting Details
Short Story
-Sequencing
Events
- Following
Precise
Direction
Level of Literary
Comprehension
Skills of Grade 7
students
-Vocabulary
Poem skills

-Getting the
main idea

-Predicting
/outcomes

Paradigm of the Study showing the hypothesized relationship

between the dependent and independent variables.
Statement of the Problem.

Students who are experiencing reading disabilities are a

disadvantage in school and in later life. In school, they find

that reading is often frustrating, it is something to avoid. As

a result, those students who do poorly in other learning areas

and may demonstrate behavioral problems [Rupley and Blair,

1987].

All men, literate, or semi literate, need to become

effective readers for it cannot be denied that reading is the

primary key to all knowledge.

It is important then, that in order for students to cope

with their studies/courses, there is a need for them to acquire

all the comprehension skills in reading.

Such skill should be developed in the students, for if not,

it would be impossible for them to make their assignments and

prepare their lessons in other subjects aside from English, lest

they may not be able also to participate actively in any

classroom activity, and most especially, they may not be able to

make.
 This study seek to assess the reading comprehension level

of High School Freshmen students of Andarayan National High

School at Solana, Cagayan.

Specifically it will answer the following questions;

1) What is the profile of respondents in terms of:

a. age

b. gender

c. parents highest educational attainment

d. parents’ monthly income

2. What is the performance of the respondents in the following

reading comprehension skills:

a. noting details

b. sequencing event

c. following precise directions

d. vocabulary skills

e. getting the main idea

3. Is there significance reading comprehension skills of high

school freshmen when grouped according to:

a.sex
 b. parents’ educational attainment

Hypotheses

The following hypothesis will be tested in the study.

There is no significant difference in the comprehension

level of freshmen students when grouped according to gender,

monthly family income, level of interest in reading and parents

highest educational attainment.

Scope and Delimitation

This study delimited to the English Grade 7 students of

Andarayan National High School, to find out the profile of the

respondents in terms of their level of interest in reading and

their parents’ highest educational attainment. It is also tried

to establish the level or extent to which the English grade 7

display the reading comprehension skills specifically on noting

details, sequencing events, and following precise directions and

particularly on vocabulary skills, getting the main idea and

predicting outcomes.

Moreover, it determined if there is significance difference

in reading comprehension skills of the student-respondents when

grouped according to gender, parents’ educational attainment and

monthly family income

Significance of the Study

This, study may be important to students knowing their

reading abilities; they have the opportunity to improve their

reading comprehension skills and plan for a better instructional

strategies to improve their reading disabilities. It is also

important to teachers, since through the findings they could

give priority concern to the improvement of reading abilities of

their students as well as their strategies.

Curriculum planners may also consider the felt need in the

secondary schools of the establishment of a reading program that

is realistic. It is hoped that they will set new guidelines to

improve to meet the reading needs of first year high school

students today.

Further, school administrators may gain insight on the

problems affecting the reading skills of the students and for

them and the teachers to make logical plans in the improvement

of their student’s reading skills.

This study may serve as a related study for future

researchers in English especially in reading.

Definition of Terms

The following were defined to guide and help the readers

understand the study.

Comprehension is the act of understanding the meaning of

printed or spoken language as contrasted with the ability to

perceive and pronounce words without reference to their meaning.

Following Precise Direction is the skills in reading that

involves the doing of things in a guided way step by step.

Getting the Main Idea is a skill that requires the students to

provide the main idea, general significance, theme or moral

lesson that is not explicitly stated in the selection. It

depends on the reader’s mastery of the mechanics on reading,

breadth of vocabulary and concepts, and background attitude.

Noting Details is a skill in reading that involves recognizing

facts stated in the text. This is identifying such elements as

names and descriptions of character in the story, or the place

where events took place.

Reading, through which the reader attempts to reconstruct

meaning from the writer. is an interaction between the reader

and the written language

Reading Skill means an ability that is essential to successful

performance in reading such as word recognition, organization

comprehension and remembrance. It is also the ability to decode,

print, understand and interpret what is read and use the ability

as a basic tool for further learning.

Sequencing Events is a skill in reading that requires the

ability to recognize first thing events or events as coming

before others. This calls for the ability to locate or identify

the order of incidents or actions stated in the selection. The

activity involved here are rearranging sentences based on

sequence of occurrence.

Vocabulary is a stock of words in a language used by an

individual who has skill in recognizing and interpreting meaning

using phonic keys.

Chapter II: Methods and Procedures

RESEARCH DESIGN

In this study the researcher will use descriptive

correlational design.

According to Fox (1969), this study is designed to help

researchers determine the extent to which different variables

relate to each other in the population of interest. The critical

distinguishing characteristic is the effort to estimate

relationship, as distinguished for simple description. Through

this study, one can ascertain how much variation is caused by

one variable in relation with the variation caused by another

variable. Measures of correlation will be used to determine the

magnitude and direction of relationship. In this study, one

collect one or two more sets of score on a sample of

participants and the relationship between these sets will be

computed.

The general purpose of this study was to explore where

related variables are identified.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of this study will be the Grade 7 students

of Andarayan National High School for the school year 2017-2018.

Sample and Sampling Techniques

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

The researcher will be employed random sampling method in

selecting samples for the study. To give fairness and chances of

others, drawing of lots will be use. Each of them will be asked

to draw from the box, a properly folded piece of paper. On some

of these pieces of paper were numerals needed to participate in

the test. All students who drew out a number were asked to

participate in the test. The formula will be used in obtaining

the 114 respondents is :

N
n= -------
(1+ Ne2)

Where:s

n- a sample size

N- Population size

e- desired margin of error

Research Instruments

To obtain the necessary information, the researcher will

utilize a questionnaire which will be subject to content

validation of experts.
Data Gathering Procedure

For fear that the researcher might disturb the classes; the

questioner will be carried out at vacant time of the students

the questionnaire will be floated to the students of the

respondent school, the Andarayan National High School at Solana,

Cagayan ,through the help of the adviser. The researcher will

also ask the permission of the School

Principal to float the questioner to the students by giving a

transmittal letter signed by the researcher.

Based from the selection they read, questions were

extracted for the comprehension test to gauge the students’

level of literal comprehension skills particularly on ‘nothing

details’, ‘sequencing events’, and ‘following precise

directions’. After the test on the literal comprehension skills,

a poem followed after which tests on inferential comprehension

skills were given specifically on ‘vocabulary skills’, ‘getting

the main idea’ and ‘predicting outcomes’. The test will be

reviewed by the English teacher of the school.

Data Analysis

To enable the researcher to present, analyze, summarize and

interpret the data gathered, the percentage was used in finding

the answer to problem No. 1 which is identifying the profile of

the respondents in terms of level of interests in reading and

parents’ highest educational attainment. The Mean is used in

finding the answer to problems No. 2 and 3 which is identifying

the reading comprehension level of the respondents in each

comprehension skill and finding out which of the following

skills tested is the most difficult and the easiest.

To determine whether the level of interests in reading

and parents’ highest educational attainment significantly affect

the level of reading comprehension ability of the respondents,

the One-Way Analysis Of Variance was used and the T-test was

uses to determine the reading comprehension level of

respondents.

Their reading comprehension skills were measured based on the

following levels:

Independent or Free Reading Level. This is the point at which

the student understands 97-100% of the vocabulary and

comprehends 75-90% of the main ideas. In a five-item test, the

student should be able to get five correct answers.

Instructional or Teaching Level. This is the point at which the

student knows and understands 90-96% of the vocabulary and

comprehends 60-90% of the main ideas. A student should be able

to get three or four correct answers out if five-item test.

Frustration Level. This is the point at which the student

recognizes and knows less than 90% of the vocabulary and

comprehends less than 60% of the main ideas. This level is true

when the child gets only two or less correct answers in a five-

item test.

A 3-point scale is used to determine their level of reading

comprehension as follows:

READING COMPREHENSION LEVELS RANGE

Independent or Free Reading Level 5.0

Instructional or teaching Level 3.0-4.99

Frustrational Level 1.0-2.99

References:

Adler,Mortimer J. How to Read a Book: New York Simon and

Schuster, Rockefeller Center,
 Bagasol, Venelyn, Massters Thesis,CSU, Sanchez Mira Cagayan

Gonzales Andrew, ICS, The Philippine Journal of education

Volume LXX. No. 8(1992)

Marasigan, Rosario C.,The Reading Comprehension Level of

Freshmen of Laguna College.

Olboc, Robert L., The Philippine Journal of Education Volume

No. LXXI, No.6 September 1992

Ouano, Narcitas b. Proposed Reading Program in English First

Year High School Students of CSU Sanchez Mira. Unpublished
Master’s Thesis, St. Paul University, Tuguegarao, Cagayan,1996.

http://www.rhlschool.com/read1n3.htm

http://englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading-
Comprehension.htm