Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School

ANALYSIS ON THE READING COMPREHENSION LEVEL OF GRADE 11

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Presented to the Faculty of the School of Basic Education

Divine Word College of Calapan

Senior High School Department

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Academic Strand

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

DAGOS, ANNA LEA

JARDIN, JAN CHARLOTTE

LARACAS, LEZEL

MACARAIG, JOHN WESLEY

March 2020
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
ANALYSIS ON THE READING COMPREHENSION LEVEL OF GRADE 11 SENIOR

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Introduction

English is an international language. Most of people or even nations

use this language in international communication. Many fields of human life, such

as in politic, economic, education, cannot be separated from it. Based on the fact

above, it becomes one foreign language, which has to be mastered by all people

in the world. That is why English has to be taught in all levels of education.

Mastering English language is very important for a student nowadays, because

the language itself aside from being useful is always used language in the

Philippines especially in school. Secondary school students need effective English

language to function properly or perform better especially the senior high school

students who are preparing for college it will be necessary for them to study

English thoroughly because they will need it in the future,

Thus, words are an integral part of a language, vocabulary

knowledge has been widely considered one of fundamental contributors to the

comprehension of a text. Indeed, it has long been held that vocabulary knowledge

is one of the most significant predictors of text difficulty. Many researchers

believe that assisting language learners in the development of their reading skills

is a crucial step in leading them to refine and master other language skills (Haupt,

2015). Language and reading is always connected in a way or two in a way that

they both make each other more interesting.

Furthermore, language is also needed in developing one’s reading

and comprehension skills because it is the main components of reading that

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
makes it more interesting for the readers, therefore analyzing such word helps

them comprehend the words that they read.

Moreover, there are four language skills. They are reading, listening,

speaking, and writing. Reading is one of four language skills that must be

mastered by people who study English. Reading as an important and interesting

activity, people usually say that reading is the way to conquer the world, because

by reading people can get more information widely and it can increase knowledge

without going anywhere. It is also a very important skill that the students must

master, because the reading cannot be separated in the process of teaching and

learning and is the most important activity in any class, not only as a source of

information, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s idea and

knowledge of language.

Also, reading is fundamental to the development of full second

language competence. Many people across the world develop some listening and

speaking abilities in a second language through contacts with target language

speakers or television or movies, but reading is necessary to use a language for

academic purposes or professional purposes. Reading can provide a wide range

of language input unavailable to learners in other ways.

In addition, reading cannot be separated from comprehension.

Wherein reading comprehension is an activity aimed to understand the messages

of a particular text. That is why there appear a lot of problems dealing with reading

comprehension. Many English learners find it difficult to understand the English

text. Very often, they get stuck because of some problems, such as unfamiliar

words, their inability in understanding the context. Because it is an interactive

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
process that requires using prior knowledge in combination with the printed

material.

Thus, improving a student’s reading comprehension skills is also a

must especially in the Philippines because according to the global survey of

reading comprehension Filipino students ranked last among 79 countries.

In a school environment, it is crucial children have excellent comprehension skills.

It is not always about knowing how to read but also about knowing how to

understand the text that a person is reading. Because reading is really different in

reading with comprehension and what the students need is the latter one.

Whereas, the reading comprehension of a student can be improved

through the use of reading materials because it can also develop learners’

language skills and bring the culture to the educational environment.

Furthermore, the researchers conducted this study because it will be

much better if they improve their vocabulary earlier, especially the way they read

and comprehend what they are reading because the students will need it in

college which is the most important phase of schooling the students need to

overcome. Being mentioned earlier this research study focuses on identifying the

students’ level of comprehending texts and such it investigates on knowing if the

students reading and comprehension skills is compatible on its school level.

However, this research also encourages teachers to thoroughly give attention in

developing students’ reading comprehension.

The study focuses on measuring the extent correlation of the different

independent variable (Reading Errors, Reading Comprehension and Reading

Materials) to the Reading Comprehension level of senior high school students.

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
This research will be beneficial to the teachers because teachers will

be able to know that they also need to focus on their students’ reading

comprehension. This study will also be beneficial to all the students because it

will be much better if they are able to know the level of their reading

comprehension and if it is compatible to the grade level they were in, and

students will also have time to improve their reading comprehension earlier.

Objectives of the Study

This paper aims to analyze the reading comprehension level of grade

11 senior high school students.

More specifically, this paper seeks to answer the following objectives:

to analyze the reading comprehension level of senior high school students; to

identify the 1.1 reading comprehension, 1.2 Reading Errors, 1.3 reading materials

of the selected senior high school students

Null Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between the reading

comprehension and the reading comprehension level of SHS students, the

reading error and the reading comprehension level of SHS students, the reading

materials and the reading comprehension level of SHS students.

Review of Related Literature

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is one of the pillars of the act of reading. When a

person reads a text, he engages in a complex array of cognitive processes. He is

simultaneously using his awareness and understanding of phonemes (individual

sound “pieces” in language), phonics (connection between letters and sounds and
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
the relationship between sounds, letters and words) and ability to comprehend or

construct meaning from the text (Charles, 2018). As also stated by Roberts et.al,

(2009), reading comprehension is an essential skill in life throughout childhood

and adulthood, necessary for employment opportunities and higher education

success. However, by middle school, very little reading instruction takes place as

school becomes focused on reading to learn, not learning to read. Reading

comprehension is also a key feature of reading skill (Gough, 2018). Since reading

comprehension is associated with higher level language comprehension skills

(e.g. inference-making), children can have good word reading and cognitive skills

while having poor reading comprehension (Oakhill, 2011).

According to Edmonds et.al, (2010), difficulties in decoding accuracy and

fluency become less of a limiting factor for reading comprehension as basic

decoding and fluency skills develop to levels sufficient to support the

comprehension as basic decoding and fluency kills develop to levels sufficient to

support the comprehension of grade-appropriate text. In addition, Chaufan (2018)

stated, no matter what exam you are going to take, a good and speedy reading of

comprehension is something that is going to play an important role in giving you

an edge over other candidates. Still, the reader must bring considerable

preexisting knowledge to the reading comprehension process (Brewer, 2010).

However, some adolescents still struggle with basic word-level reading

skills, and a significant proportion of these also have difficulties with language

comprehension. Hence, those adolescents with lower levels of decoding and

language comprehension will be severely disadvantaged when it comes to

reading comprehension. In fact, the implications are that adequate decoding

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
cannot be taken for granted in adolescent students and may present significant

constraints on reading comprehension for a minority of the adolescent school

population. Definitely, it is important to note that even when adolescent students

have word decoding problems, interventions that focus solely on word-level skills

yield relatively modest effect sizes on reading comprehension in comparison to

interventions that explicitly focus on the teaching of reading comprehension (Santi

and Reed, 2015).

Furthermore, some strategies that have been proven to increase reading

comprehension are: monitoring comprehension, connecting to prior knowledge,

predicting, recognizing text structure, asking questions, answering questions,

constructing mental images, and summarizing. Along with assessing the issue of

student comprehension, there are some fundamental factors to consider: the

reader (Is the student a good reader?), the text (Is it appropriate for the student?),

and the related activity (How cognitively demanding is the task?), all within the

context of the student’s life (Hongi et.al, 2013).

According to Neumann et.al, (2014), Comprehension is an important

element during all states of literacy development. Students who read more fluently

are able to focus on meaning, hold more of the information in their working

memory, and incorporate their own background knowledge with what they have

read. Particularly, reading with accuracy and effective speed allows the reader to

focus on the meaning of the words. The first point to consider is largely

problematic. When we attempt to define the term we need to make clear that, in

this instance, we are referring to reading comprehension: the comprehension of

written text – not spoken language. Clearly, spoken language comprehension is

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
important to reading, as acknowledged by the simple view of reading (Tennent,

2015).

According to Cain (2010), when we talk to someone and when we read, we

use many similar processes, but they are not exactly the same. When we read we

access information via the eye, when we listen we access information via the ear;

writing is permanent, speech is transient; when we read we cannot seek

clarification, when we talk we can; when we read each individual word is spaced

separately, when we listen the words tend to run each other with no breaks. For

these reasons our comprehension of oral and written texts may not be the same,

even if the content is. So reading comprehension requires reference to written

texts.

According to Grabe (2010), Comprehending a text, or main-idea

comprehension, requires the ability to identify main ideas in the text, integrate

them into a text model of reading, and develop an appropriate situation model of

reader interpretation. Applegate et al. (2010) relate the tale of a frustrated

graduate student who had completed a school-based reading assessment with a

strong reader. The student was concerned that although the child in question was

able to decode a presented text fluently, she appeared to have difficulty in

understanding it. The student was encouraged to discuss this with the child’s

teacher, and apparently the teacher stated the following: ‘’Oh, she’s my best

reader, for sure. She’s just not a good comprehender” (Applegate et.al, 2009).

In addition, many students have difficulty comprehending what they read. All

schools need to have some sort of remedial reading program provided to help

struggling students. In fact, low reading skills affect both reading fluency and
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
comprehension for elementary school students. To clarify this, reading skills are

foundational building blocks at this age and the earlier students with low reading

skills receive interventions, the greater the interventions will impact the students’

reading careers (Hausheer et.al, 2011).

What scientists have discovered, however, is that “skills” are far less

important to comprehension than the amount of knowledge the reader has about

the topic. As with the science behind phonics, most teachers are unaware of that

finding. And, just as many teachers have been cautioned that “too much” phonics

will kill a child’s love of reading, they’ve been trained to believe it’s a bad idea to

directly impart information to students—when in fact it’s often a necessary

foundation for building knowledge (Wexler, 2019). Including nearly all adults have

trouble comprehending technical expository text at deep levels even though they

are skilled readers.

Furthermore, deep comprehension of technical text is a difficult challenge,

because the reader has minimal knowledge of the technical terms, key

conceptualizations, mental models, and other forms of background knowledge.

Even those with high relevant background knowledge and general reading skills

can struggle (McNamara, 2009). Besides of that, understanding text, learning from

it, and enjoying reading are the ultimate goals of learning to read. Although

fundamental skills such as phonics and fluency are important building blocks of

reading,, reading comprehension is the “sine qua non of reading” (Beck, 2011).

Knowing how to read words has ultimately little value if the student is unable to

construct meaning from text. In general, reading comprehension is the process thet

include word reading, word and world knowledge, and fluency (Oakhill et.al, 2013).
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
More of that, according to Tennent (2015), perhaps the easiest way to

unpack the components of comprehension is to consider how various theorists

have conceptualized it. By this, we mean the kind of theoretical framework that

has been developed through which the construct of comprehension can be

analysed. To clarify, as believed by, Wyse (2013), a common way of

conceptualising comprehension is to think of it in terms of levels. A simple

example of this is comprehension on two levels: literal, where an understanding of

the text is gained ‘at a surface level’, and inferential, which requires he reader to

engage with the ‘surface’ features that will involve accessing their knowledge of

vocabulary and sentence structure. So, vocabulary and sentence structure are

likely to be two key components of comprehension (Wyse et.al, 2013)

As said by Tagupa (2020), when we talk of reading, it doesn’t just mean

routinely looking at words and sentences, or scanning the page for tidbits we like.

To read is to take the time to understand the material, to recognize our own

opinions about it, and to seek more content that might affirm or challenge it.

Moreover, according to Anderson et.al (2011), if comprehension gained

through reading can be considered a form of expertise, then it is relatable to

general work in cognitive science. This work distinguishes the strong problem-

solving processes of experts that are highly knowledge based and automatic from

the weak strategies of novices having minimal knowledge that may range from

heuristics to trial-and-error search. On the word of Niedelman, (2016), within the

context of reading comprehension, use of the prior content (or world) knowledge

that students bring to reading tasks can be considered to serve as weak problem-

solving strategies (i.e., as metacognitive or heuristic tools) that, when well

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
developed, become automatic.in reading comprehension tasks, such strong and

weak processes presumably operate in a complementary fashion at a level of

automaticity for expert readers in both general and reading comprehension

learning tasks (Niedelman, 2016).

As reported by Trabasso and Bouchard (2017), the use of multiple-strategy

instruction taught through dialogue-rich teacher modelling/guidance was a

powerful approach for improving student reading comprehension proficiency. In

identifying directions for future research, they emphasized the importance of

conducting reading comprehension strategy research in content-area instruction

and focusing such research on the issue of enhancing the transferability of

reading comprehension strategies. Background knowledge also helps students

draw inferences, which develops critical thinking skills and makes reading more

enjoyable. When they can grasp the material and link it back to their own

experiences or existing knowledge, they are more likely to build a lifelong reading

habit (Terada, 2019).

Besides, according to Pearson et.al (2011), the process of text

comprehension has always provoked exasperated but nonetheless enthusiastic

inquiry within the research community. Comprehension, or “understanding”, by its

very nature, is a phenomenon that can only be observed indirectly.

In a series of surveys done by Edscoop (2019), focus groups and

interviews, 43 percent of students reported reduced feelings of anxiety when

reading books in large print. How students feel about reading is critical because

even some students who reported enjoying reading in their free time said they

didn’t like reading in the classroom because it felt like work. A small typeface is
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
less welcoming and may overwhelm students, particularly those who are

struggling with reading, In grades 6-8, 60 percent of students said they thought

large print made it easier to focus and not lose their place from distractions.

Among students in grades 3-12, 54 percent said they thought reading in school

would be more enjoyable if all books were made available in large print (Edscoop,

2019).

Additionally, Mellard, Fall, and Woods (2010) investigated how different

reading components associated with each other and contributed to the reading

ability of adults with low literacy. The sample consisted of 174 adults attending a

adult literacy program. These participants had a fifth grade equivalent reading

comprehension and word reading abilities, less than a third grade equivalent

decoding ability, and poor auditory working memory and oral language

comprehension abilities. They tested a model revolving around decoding, word

reading, language comprehension, working memory, speed of processing, and

reading fluency.

As stated by Duke and Pearson (2014) make similar claims, saying that

good readers are active readers who: use pre-reading strategies, differentiate

between important and superfluous information, connect the reading to prior

knowledge, use different strategies, summarize the text, and assess

understanding after reading the text. Although fluency and other reading

measures (word identification, vocabulary) have been positively linked with

reading comprehension, the influence of motivation on reading comprehension is

less understood for students, especially in the middle school years and little to no
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
studies have been published regarding the role of motivation with students who

have lower reading ability (Logan, Medford, & Hughes, 2011).

However, few studies have explored the contribution of motivation

simultaneously with fluency skills in relation to reading comprehension for

struggling readers in middle school, and how these relationships may differ for

English Language Learners. (Cummins, 2011). Also, students’ reading

comprehension may be affected by motivation through different pathways. It has

been hypothesized that students who are more curious or interested in reading

tend to exhibit higher amounts of reading engagement pointing to the influence of

intrinsic motivation. Consequently, the amount of reading in which students

engage may facilitate reading development (Mol and Bus, 2011).

With the opinion by Coleen (2016), reading fluency is understood to be the

rate and accuracy of that which is being read and comprehension is the

understanding of what has been read. Many studies support the concept that

fluency skills support reading comprehension. In most cases, many students with

specific learning disabilities lack the fluency skills needed for successful reading

comprehension. In order for students to become competent readers, they must

make speedy growth and the one goal they will all have is to read appropriate

level text with comprehension and fluency (Kuhn, Rasinski, and Zimmerman,

(2014). To measured, with excellent fluency instruction or interventions, students

may demonstrate fluency growth of up to two words per week according to

Swanson and Vaughn, (2010).

Moreover, as mentioned by Santi et.al (2013), we have to be aware that a

reading comprehension test that provides word and world knowledge is going to
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
tell us something different about comprehension from tests that do not have

design features if word and world knowledge are integral components of

comprehension. On the report of Kendeou and Trevors (2012), defining the

understanding a passage of text is the process which a human uses to recover

some notion of meaning when reading a passage is not well understood

computationally.

Furthermore, using natural language questions to test comprehension of

natural language text seems like an obvious choice: the meaning of arbitrary

opendomain text goes beyond any possible formalism. There are various

attempts, such as open information extraction (Etzioni et al., 2011) and abstract

meaning representations (Banarescu et al., 2013), to try to capture broad, open

domain semantics and the meaning of entire sentences. However, leaving aside

the difficulties in training annotators and collecting annotations for these

formalisms, any attempt to normalize meaning across disparate surface forms will

necessarily lose information that was present in the natural language. The

flexibility inherent in natural language as an annotation and query format is

necessary in order to test deep understanding of arbitrary passages.

On the report given by Gardner et.al (2019), they define machine reading

comprehension to be a task aimed at understanding a single coherent passage of

text, where a system is given a single passage and a single question about that

passage, and must produce an answer. Our definition of “single coherent

passage” is somewhat loose; we consider anything longer than, e.g., a typical

Wikipedia page to be too long and not a single coherent passage, while single

sentences are generally too short. This means that, while they are certainly
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
relevant, we are not including in this strict definition tasks that involve retrieving

paragraphs or answering multiple consecutive questions, as they require

additional capabilities.

In the Philippines, according to PhilStar (2019), Among 79 participating

countries and economies, the Philippines scored the lowest in reading

comprehension in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment

(PISA), according to the results released. However, outside the country,

Mississippi received high praise this fall for the state’s results on a national

assessment that measures fourth- and eighth-grade students’ proficiency in

reading and math. While the rest of the country stagnated or declined in reading

proficiency, Mississippi was the only state to see improvement. In addition, As

students come to see themselves as writers, they will be interested in models they

can use to make their own words sing.  Students think more critically and

creatively about new books when they explore them together, and “writing in

response to text has been shown to have a positive effect on reading

comprehension” (Graham and Hebert 2011).

Reading comprehension is the act of combining information in a passage

with prior knowledge in order to construct meaning. In addition, reading

comprehension can be defined as a thinking process through which readers

become aware of an idea, understand it in terms of their experiential background,

and interpret it in relation to their own needs and purposes (Khoiriya, 2010).

In addition, comprehension is the process of generating meaning from

varied sources-directly observing phenomena, reading, looking at a sign, cartoon,

painting, listening to a lecture or discussion, viewing a film (Robert, 2011).

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
Again, comprehension is the process of building a connection between what

the reader knows and what he or she doesn’t know, between the new and the old.

Comprehension is an envolving process, often beginning before a book is

opened, changing as the material is read, and continuing to change even after the

book is completed. Comprehension is constructing meaning from the printed

material (Wilma, 2012). It is an interactive process that requires using prior

knowledge in combination with the printed material. The developmental nature of

comprehension is enhanced when the child interacts with others about aspects of

the material after it has been read.

According to Smith and Johnson (2013) states that reading comprehension

means the understanding, evaluating utilizing of information and gained through

the interaction between reader and author. Reading comprehension means

understanding what has or have been read. Reading is a complex process in

which the reader uses mental content to contain the meaning from written

materials it means that the reader is supposed to recognize the meaning of

printed words. It can be said that reading comprehension is the capability to

understand or grasp it ideas of one passage. Reading comprehension refers to

reading with comprehension. Reading comprehension is a complex process which

comprises the successful or unsuccessful use of many abilities .When we read,

we should be able to recall information afterwards. Meanwhile, according to

Jannette Klingner “Reading comparison is the process of constructing meaning by

coordinating a number of complex processes that include word reading, word and

word knowledge, and fluency. The RRSG define reading comprehension as the
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through

interaction and involvement with written language (Chaterin, 2010).

Reading Materials

Reading is an important part of a person's English language proficiency. In

the academic context, reading is considered one of the most important skills that

English as Foreign Language (EFL) students need to acquire because the ability

to read English texts greatly affects students’ academic performance, particularly

in cases where they have to read for their own specialist subject (Bastug, 2014).

But, reading is a complex process (Harwood, 2010). Readers must be able to use

a variety of reading strategies appropriately, access the meaning of vocabulary

accurately, access their knowledge of English grammar, and draw upon their

background knowledge and relate it to the materials they are reading. Therefore,

reading instructors face the challenge of teaching the students the skills needed to

be successful readers. Especially, they need to develop appropriate materials for

teaching reading because instructional materials serve as the basis of the

language input and language practice for the students. Materials contain the

content that students will use to achieve learning objectives (Dick et al., 2010). In

addition, numbers of research publications in various countries show the power of

instructional materials in facilitating students in language learning (Tomlinson &

Masuhara, 2010).

Moreover, most portion of the time in each class is spent on reading.

However, many e- learners can’t do the reading tasks successfully because they

can’t recognize connections among sentences in a text (Yeh, Yang, & Wong,

2010). It stem from the fact that many e-learners do not paly active role to
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
manage learning for effectiveness. The problem here is with the procedures,

activities, and materials adopted for the purpose of commercially publishing

materials (Saraceni, 2011).

. Furthemore, in that way the educators can help learners be equipped with

reading skill. As the results, one can expect to enhance their learning via reading.

In other words, they will be encouraged to use the online materials (Tomlinson,

2012).

Thus, as J. C Richards (2010) argues the core source in any language

program is the learning material. It is to ensure ourselves that the designed

materials best suit learners’ interest is to consider these strategies and techniques

while undertaking the material development (Brown, 2011).

In addition, the emergence of electronic media, books, research periodicals,

journals, magazines, news-papers and so many other reading materials were

transformed into electronic text. The expenses of paper and allied materials used

in the printing of books and other reading materials were considered wastage of

materials, money and human energy, that is why in the United States of America

the purchase of e-books have surpassed the printed books and magazines today

(Jones & Brown , 2011). E-reading materials and convergence of printed reading

materials into electronic format have not only increased the access opportunities

throughout the world for readers but also have reduced the expenses. There are

evidences for the support of e-reading materials particularly in term of access,

quality, beauty, effectiveness and learning for students and general people (Korat

& Shamir, 2010). Readers’ attitude towards e-reading and printed reading

materials is crucial in term of understanding and retention. Learners’ reading

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
experiences influence their beliefs about the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of

reading materials. A reader who is habitual of printed reading materials and

haven’t got any practice of reading from e-materials would not be able to benefit

from e-materials (Jones & Brown , 2011).

Whereas, Barrot (2016) mentioned that research surrounding teaching

English reading focuses on the type of text or materials used in English classes

and the strategies that ESL teacher utilize to facilitate teaching and learning of

English reading. These strategies are influenced by many factors including but not

limited to age, gender, English proficiency level, and the learning styles. In other

words, research around English reading strategies is essential in identifying the

most effective and beneficial methods and techniques that can be used with

language learners.

Furthermore, taking into consideration the element of interest, e-reading

materials are attractive and invitational in nature, but most of the time readers are

unable to focus and concentrate on some specific materials which negatively 409

affect readers’ comprehension (Hui, & Sue-Chan, 2013). As far as flexibility is

concerned, they are flexible in nature as compare to the printed materials as a

reader can read it anywhere anytime through his tablet, mobile phone or laptop;

however, all these equipments are electronic and areas where we are short of

power, these opportunities cannot be availed to the fullest. Lastly, according to

Robert and Barber (2013) the time expenditure on reading in these reading format

are also different. Reading from printed documents takes less time as compared

to reading from non-printed documents. It is also a notable fact the readers can

read a book, magazine, newspaper or book in printed form for a long time and
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
they don’t feel boredom/hesitation as compare to reading in electronic form which

most of the time affects their concentration.

Reading comprehension itself is an advanced level of reading and / or

reading skills. At least there are two levels of reading; the initial level and level of

reading comprehension. The initial level is teaching reading where the teacher

introduces to students orthographic writing in separate alphabetical order. At this

point, the teacher generally teaches students some basic English vocabulary to

contextualize phonemic knowledge of letters. Meanwhile, reading comprehension

is a higher reading skill level. Students must be able to use their cognitive skills to

understand the interrelated conditions between written and oral communication

where basically these types of communication differ from each other (Oakhill,

Cain, &Elbro, 2015).

In addition, Roberts and Barber (2013) viewed reading format as one of the

factor that affect student’s comprehension. Readings from e-reading and printed

reading have no significant differences in the comprehension of independent

readers. Studies organized by National Reading Panal have studied different

aspects of research in reading regarding the format of reading materials and also

recommended further studies in this context.

Moreover, it is often, that during teaching reading for comprehension

emphasize is given to the ends of the activity (product) while process is ignored

which is very important. However, the process of comprehension includes two

approaches, monitoring approach where the reader is monitored and corrected on

the spot; readers’ monitoring identify weak areas of learners’ reading which may

include words, sentences and para reading and sometimes it also includes the
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
logical sequence of reading materials which not only make the learner a

competent reader but also a good writer. The second approach concentrates on

the creative aspect of reading where the reader is informed with clues of reading

materials; they are sensitized for evaluating, criticizing and hypothesizing the

reading materials. This approach also familiarized the reader with summarization

and conclusive comments on the text. Readers’ reading skills, their

comprehension and retention power is strongly affected by the nature of the

reading materials. The nature of reading materials-that is essay, poetry, novel,

report or news and striking words usage or the different styles of writing; apart

from these the printed and non-printed (electronic style) of reading materials are

also significant in affecting readers’ comprehension and retention capacity

(Collins, Smith, & Beranek, 2011).

According to the learning laws presented by famous US psychologist

Edward Thorndike, the effects of learning remain strong if it is based on the

interest of the learner. He basically presented three basic laws of learning; law of

readiness, law of exercise and law of effect. To generalize these laws to learners’

readings, if learners are provided the type of reading materials in which they take

interest; they would be ready to stick to the reading materials for a long time which

will lead for a stronger effect because time matters.

Use of material is an effective tool to develop learners’ language skills and

bring the culture to the educational environment (Chandrasene Premawardhena &

Jayasundara, 2012). The purpose of foreign language education is not only to

teach grammar and vocabulary but also to embody, make permanent and use the

information that is taught in a fluent and relevant way. Thus, teachers need to use
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
a variety of tools and equipment. Textbooks are used at all levels of education as

a basic educational material when foreign language education is handled as a

whole system (Tarakçıoğlu, 2012).

Instructional materials (textbook etc.) should not be distant from real life. For

example, if one of the topics in the lesson is fruit, real fruits can be brought to the

classroom. If this is impossible, picture cards can be used (Hanbay, 2013). New

methods and techniques should be used to attract the interest of learners,

facilitate assimilation of materials and make the lesson more attractive (Ioana-

Claudia, 2013). Objects used in the material should have features that can be

comprehended immediately. Selecting instruction material from the immediate

environment and adhering to teaching principles are crucial steps to transform the

unknown into the known and to make the unknown meaningful for learners

(Bağçeci & Kılıç, 2012).

Işık (2013) states that studies in foreign languages will be easier if the

learner already knows the content. Thus, he adds that it will be useful to

remember the information that is relevant to the subjects studied. In this context,

the materials to be used in accordance with the content should be arranged in an

understandable manner. Defending that images in textbooks should not be foreign

to the learners’ culture, Greimas Bozkurt Anşın (2013), suggests that the image

should be first understood by learners, and that only materials and items equipped

with cultural commonality should be used.

Even before the addition of an electronic format, students’ reading

comprehension has been found to be influenced by factors such as a language

mismatch between the reader/author, an inability to fully integrate the information

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
presented, a misunderstood text organization, and/or an unengaged reader (Barr,

2011). Educators want students to become life-long learners and readers as

students who have reading success will comprehend what they read, enjoy the

experience of reading, and apply the information gained from reading (Graves,

Juel, & Graves, 2011). If the additional features in interactive electronic books are

determined to increase enthusiasm and engagement in reading, then student

comprehension may increase as well (Grimshaw et al., 2011).

Many reading specialists (Wallace, 2010) emphasize the importance of

selecting authentic materials for the purpose of both teaching and testing reading

comprehension without having to worry about unfamiliar structures and

vocabulary. During working on reading comprehension tasks that preserve

authenticity, students should be encouraged to use their knowledge of the syntax

by paraphrasing, simplifying, avoiding, and even inferring from rules they know in

the new language. Simplifying an authentic reading passage can improve

understanding of the passage if it is performed by the readers themselves.

However, simplifying texts for the purpose of publication reduces the texts' natural

redundancy which might actually make them more difficult to read. Therefore,

authentic materials should be presented to students, if possible, in their original

form, to allow them to use non-linguistic cues to interpret meaning. Authenticity is

also important in testing reading comprehension. Reading comprehension tests

ought to be constructed in relation to the ways people read texts in normal life.

"Since most test methods are unusual in real-life reading, the purpose for which

readers on tests read, or possibly the manner in which they read, may not

correspond to the ways they normally read such texts" (Alderson, 2012). In other
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
words, the danger is that the test may not reflect how students would understand

the passage in the real world. One resolution to this problem may be employing

test methods that most probably reflect the ways in which readers read in the real

world.

Reading comprehension skills are also improved if learners are exposed to

reading materials that are at the right difficulty level. This has been emphasized

by many reading experts (Nassaji, 2013). The difficulty level of a reading passage

depends on the degree of structural and lexical complexity of the language used.

It should be in accordance with the readers' current level of competence and

permit students to decode the passage's structure and its lexicon in other to

understand it. Decoding a passage consists of both syntactic and semantic

processes. Fluent readers rely more on semantic than syntactic information

except when the meaning is not clear (Rivers, 2012). During syntactic processing,

readers have to recognize meaningful structural relationships within the

sentences. During semantic processing, they should be able to identify the lexical

meaning of words and try to create a broader meaning for these words within the

contexts of phrase, sentence, and discourse. However, sometimes this semantic

processing becomes more complicated because of the existence of 13 difficult

words. One criterion for deciding about the difficulty level of the words is the

length. According to Bernhardt (2012), longer or multi-syllable words in a passage

are considered as difficult because they do require considerable processing

attention.

Reading Errors

The ability to read is crucial for children’s future academic, economic, and
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
social success. A majority of children are able to learn to read with ease, and

have average reading ability, characterized by fluent word identification and

adequate comprehension. However, 10% to 15% of English-speaking school-

aged children have reading difficulties, and 2% to 4% of children are diagnosed

with dyslexia. Children with reading difficulties perform poorly on measures of

word reading and reading comprehension in ways that cannot be attributed to

sensory impairments, lack of intellectual ability, or poor reading instruction

(Shaywitz, 2010).

Epidemiological research has shown that reading ability and reading

difficulties occur on a continuum. Typically achieving readers and poor readers

tend to maintain their relative positions along this continuum over time. Children

with severe reading difficulties continue to struggle in reading as they mature,

demonstrating that at least some reading difficulties are persistent and chronic

conditions. Children with reading difficulties are less likely to graduate from high

school and are at a greater risk for future unemployment, underemployment.

Therefore, providing appropriate and early interventions to these children is

essential to their future outcomes and can change their overall trajectories

(Norton & Wolf, 2012).

The students having reading difficulties pass their classes; yet, they

cannot perform reading at the level expected of their grade; hence, they

experience various problems such as anxiety and depression throughout their

schooling. They are usually tagged as unsuccessful students throughout their

education. Moreover, they cannot get the help needed to resolve their problems

and they experience adaptation problems in their classes (Bender, 2012).

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
The students having reading difficulties are observed to distract their

attention and feel anxious during reading. The main goal of reading is

comprehension. As reading difficulties increase the anxiety of individuals, they

make reading comprehension more difficult; hence, such have more limited

reading experience and this hinders the development of vocabulary knowledge

and information accumulation (Lyon & Shywitz, 2013).

Furthermore, in accordance of the National Institute of Child Health and

Human Development (2016), there are lots of types of disorders that particularly

causes reading errors, one of those is Dyslexia. Dyslexia is a reading and

language-based learning disability, usually result from specific differences in the

way the brain processes language. Although the disorder varies from person to

person, common characteristics among people with dyslexia are difficulty with

phonological processing (the manipulation of sounds), spelling, and/or rapid

visual-verbal responding.

In addition, there are many specific types of reading disorders, (1) Word

decoding -people who have difficulty sounding out written words; matching the

letters to sounds to be able to read a word. (2) Lack of fluency -people who lack

fluency have difficulty reading quickly, accurately, and with proper expression (if

reading aloud). (3) Poor reading comprehension -people with poor reading

comprehension have trouble understanding what they read.(NIH, 2016).

A previous study was conducted by Natour, et. al (2016) to explore the

patterns of morphological reading errors among Emirati first-grade students. The

current study focused on second grade students and its aim was also directed to

explore the patterns of reading errors in the second-grade school children. The
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
effects of factors of age, level of difficulty, and lexical category on the patterns of

reading errors were investigated. Thus, this study had the same aim of the

previous one; however, it differed in the target population which was the Emeriti

secondgrade students.

In another study, Ghaemi (2010) posited that improving students’ reading

skills is possible with morphological training. He also indicated that the impact of

phonological awareness and morphological awareness is interactive on reading

ability. However, the most common reading error patterns across all lexical

categories and difficulty levels were inability to read the word, omission of a letter

or a syllable in the sampled word, the substitution of a letter or a syllable with

another presented in the word, adding of a letter or a syllable to the word, and

reading the geminated letter as ingeminated or vice versa. (Sartawi et.al, 2019)

Maybe in the young age as stated by Waxmann et.al (2013), A possible

explanation may be that teachers may tend to over emphasize teaching verbs

because of their misconception that children are more able to utilize nouns than

verbs; as such teaching verbs may be more important at this stage. Another

speculation is that growing interest of second graders in action concepts (verbs)

may stem from their need to move around and conduct action, thus better write

words that express concepts of action than concepts. Some researchers have

attributed this difference in acquisition to the underlying concepts of nouns and

verbs, where nouns infer concepts of objects (nouns) are perceptually and

conceptually more acquired, than concepts of actions (Natour, et al, 2016).

Moreover, as report by Serrano, (2013), when conducting research analysis,

the results of errors demonstrated that learners fail to recognize prepositions as

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
part of multiword expressions; she also concluded that her investigation proved

that students performed better in the task that tested their perceptive knowledge

of prepositions than the one that tried their productive skills.

Methods

Research Design

This research will be utilizing a descriptive-correlational quantitative

approach of research. According to Metler (2014), the purpose of descriptive

studies is to describe and interpret the current status of individuals, settings,

conditions or events, the researcher is also simply studying the phenomenon

of interests as it exists naturally, no attempt is made to manipulate the

individuals, conditions or events.

Research Locale

The study focuses on the reading comprehension level of Grade 11

Senior High School students. The study will be conducted in one of the

department’s classroom where the chosen students will answer the survey

questionnaires given by the researchers.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of this study are Grade 11 students of Science,

Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Strand. The researchers chose the

Grade 11 students as responsible because as grade 11 students they need to

know if the level of their reading comprehension suits their grade level, they

will be also needing it the most because knowing the level of their reading

comprehension earlier will help them in college exams and such.

Research Instruments
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
For the purpose of this study, the researcher made use of structured

questions to save the respondent’s time and gather necessary data. The

questionnaires are made up questions that are related to the main topic of the

study.

Data Gathering Procedures

The researchers will be using the simple random sampling method. The

method is going to select or identify who will be the respondents.

Data Analysis Procedure

A descriptive method will be used to analyze the reading comprehension

level of Grade 11 STEM students through the gathered answers from the

given questionnaire. The researchers will then summarize and interpret the

answer given by the respondents to form a hypothesis.

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Data

This chapter presents the analysis and interpretations of the data gathered from

the respondents through questionnaires about the variables raised in the study.

The response of the respondents was formulated through a 4-point numerical

scale. Each statements used got the corresponding variable.

Numerical Statistical Verbal

Scale Limit Interpretation

4 3.50 – 4.00 Strongly Agree
3 2.50 – 3.49 Agree
2 1.50 – 2.49 Disagree
1 1.00 – 1.49 Strongly Disagree

Results and Discussion

Weighted Verbal
No. Items Rank
Mean Interpretation

1 . I grasp the main idea of the 2.89 1 Agree

material while reading English.
I am not bothered with the
2 grammatical structure of sentences 2.69 3 Agree
while reading in English.

3 I predict the main idea of the whole 2.71 2 Agree

passage from its title or subtitles.
I guess the meaning of new words
4 by analyzing their roots or prefixes 2.63 4 Agree
or suffixes.
5 . When I read English articles, I skip 2.34 5 Disagree
the words that are new to me.
  Composite Mean 2.652   Agree
1.1 Reading comprehension

The Table 1.1 shows the weighted mean of the statements, their ranks and

verbal interpretation concerning the Reading Comprehension of STEM Students

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
in Divine Word College of Calapan. This table has a overall composite mean of

2.652 and verbally interpreted as agree.

From 35 respondents, the highest accumulated data is the statement “I

grasp the main idea of the material while reading English”, where it has a

weighted mean of 2.89 and verbally interpreted as Agree. The second to the

highest is the statement, “I predict the main idea of the whole passage from its

title or subtitles. It has a weighted mean of 2.71 and verbally interpreted as

Agree. Next one is the statement,“I am not bothered with the grammatical

structure of sentences while reading in English”, which it has a weighted mean of

2.69 and verbally interpreted as Agree. Followed by the statement, “I guess the

meaning of new words by analyzing their roots or prefixes or suffixes that has

2.63 weighted mean and verbally interpreted as Agree also. The lowest

accumulated statement with a weighted mean of 2.34 is the statement, “When I

read English articles, I skip the words that are new to me. Unlike other

statements, this statement is verbally interpreted as Disagree.

These are the findings of our worked survey questionnaire; though most of

the respondents; the STEM Students of DWCC disagreed with the statement no.

5, the researchers found out that to be able to understand the whole statements

of every material they encounter, they are much eager to learn new words that

are unfamiliar to them. Aside from that, we found out that they are seems in

control of every details and idea of English materials and clearly apprehend

every English terminologies. In addition, not by arriving in an uncertain

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
conclusion, they tend to perceive directly the true definition of unrecognizable

words.

Moreover, as the researchers relate to the information stated by Rutzler

(2020), without proper comprehension skills, students lack the ability to

understand what they read. So that’s why being a Senior High School and STEM

(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Students, they tend on

pursuing a more-fluent-English-reading and understanding for the course they

took and to be suitable for they age. The point of reading isn’t make sounds in

your brain or out loud, but rather, to understand important lessons, stories and

arguments.

Item No. Statement Weighted Rank Verbal

Mean Interpretation
1 Reading academic materials 2.94 1 Agree
improves my learning ability.

2 I find it easier to learn by heart 2.54 4 Agree

and not to try to understand the
whole issue whenever I use
reading materials.
3 There are many advantages 2.86 2 Agree
while using academic materials
in improving my reading
comprehension.
4 In my leisure time I look for 2.51 5 Agree
further information in reference
books.
5 I think it is enough to have 2.71 3 Agree
minimal basic understandings in
the material
Composite Mean= 2.712 Agree
Table 1.2 Reading materials
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
Table 1.2 shows the mean status of the grade 11 STEM C respondents in

terms of reading materials through weighted mean statement and their verbal

interpretation.

On the table above it was found out that item number 1 “Reading academic

materials improved my learning ability. “ rank as the highest among all statements

in the second variable with the weighted mean of 2.51 that is describe as agree. It

was followed by item number 3”There are many advantages while using academic

materials in improving my reading comprehension. “, which was also described as

agree and has the weighted mean of 2.86. The third in line is item number 5" I

think it is enough to have minimal basic understandings in the material. ” and has

the weighted mean of 2.71 that is also described as agree. On the other hand with

the weighted mean of 2.54, item number 2 was ranked as the fourth “I find it

easier to learn by heart and not to try to understand the whole issue whenever I

use reading materials” and it was interpreted as agree. Item number 4 was the

last one with the weighted mean of 2.51 and was described as agree.

Findings showed that most of the statements in this variable falls uner the

decision agree. Therefore, the usage of reading materials helps improve reading

comprehension and it can also help analyze the reading comprehension level of

Grade 11 STEM students. The results also showed that students shows interest

not only in increasing their performance in school but also in the usage of reading

materials. Also, the students have enough knowledge that reading materials can

help them a lot in such many ways.

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
The above findings are best supported by readers must be able to use a

variety of reading strategies appropriately, access the meaning of vocabulary

accurately, access their knowledge of English grammar, and draw upon their

background knowledge and relate it to the materials they are reading. Therefore,

reading instructors face the challenge of teaching the students the skills needed to

be successful readers. Especially, they need to develop appropriate materials for

teaching reading because instructional materials serve as the basis of the

language input and language practice for the students. Materials contain the

content that students will use to achieve learning objectives (Dick et al., 2010).

Thus, as J. C Richards (2010) argues the core source in any language program is

the learning material. It is to ensure ourselves that the designed materials best

suit learners’ interest is to consider these strategies and techniques while

undertaking the material development (Brown, 2011).

No Weighted Verbal
Items Rank
. Mean Interpretation

1 I have difficulties in 2.6 1.5 Agree

pronouncing new words.
I have difficulties in
2 pronouncing words that I 2.31 5 Disagree
already know.
I find it hard to continue
reading a text If I don’t
3 2.6 1.5 Agree
understand it due to some
unfamiliar words in it.

4 It is hard to pronounce some 2.42 3 Agree

English sounds.
I find it hard to understand
5 what I have read when 2.37 4 Disagree
reading aloud.
  Composite Mean 2.46   Disagree
1.3 Reading Errors
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
The Table 1.3 shows the weighted mean of the statements, their ranks

and verbal interpretation concerning the Reading Errors of STEM Students in

Divine Word College of Calapan. This table has a overall composite mean of

2.46 and verbally interpreted as disagree.

From 35 respondents, there were tied statements that have highest

accumulated data for the weighted mean of 2.6; the statement “I have difficulties

in pronouncing new words” and the statement “I find it hard to continue reading a

text if I don’t understand it due to some unfamiliar words in it’’. These statements

are verbally interpreted as agree. Followed by the statement “It is hard to

pronounce some English sounds” with the weighted mean of 2.42 and verbally

interpreted as agree also. Next is the statement “I find it hard to understand what

I have read when reading aloud” with weighted mean of 2.37 and verbally

interpreted as disagree. The lowest accumulated data is the statement, “I have

difficulties in pronouncing words that I already know” with a weighted mean of

2.31 and verbally interpreted as Disagree.

From the accumulated data on conducting surveys regarding in reading

errors of STEM students, the researchers found out that most of the STEM

Students have difficulties on pronouncing new words and hard to continue

reading text that contained deepen unfamiliar words.. Most of the respondents’

also hard to pronounce English sounds that seems to have desire on coming up

with rather Native American, British accents or just to speak with natural English

fluency. However, It is not so hard for them to pronounce the words that they
 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
already knew and they are not distracted on understanding an English material

when reading it aloud.

According to Cicerchia and Freeman (2019), sometimes there may be an

undiagnosed learning difficulty to blame. Not every student acquires reading

skills at the same rate. Reading begins with mastering pre-literacy skills,

including learning the alphabet and enhancing phonemic awareness. In

understanding and Assessing Fluency, according to Solomon (2010), by using

valid and reliable assessment to establish the English as Additional Language

learner’s current proficiency in English language, alongside other background

information, schools can provide individually tailored targets and support

strategies for teaching and learning , ultimately allowing learners to develop their

language skills and fully access the curriculum as well as achieve an inclusive

school.

Profile Variables t-score p-values Interrelationship Decision

Reading comprehension 3.38 .0009 Significant Reject
Reading materials 3.47 .0007 Significant Reject
Reading Errors 3.14 .0002 Significant Reject
Table 2 Significant Differences among the Responses of the Participants in
Analyzing Reading Comprehension Level

Table 2 shows the significant differences among the responses of

participants in analyzing the reading comprehension level with the help of three

variables presented above, the reading comprehension, reading materials and

reading errors in 34 degrees of freedom. In conclusion, the hypothesis of this

study is rejected therefore; there is a significant relationship between the reading

comprehension and the reading comprehension level of SHS students, the

 Divine Word College of Calapan Senior High School
reading error and the reading comprehension level of SHS students, the reading

materials and the reading comprehension level of SHS students.