Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Reading Difficulties of Grade III Pu
The Reading Difficulties of Grade III Pu
______________________
A THESIS
Presented to
The Faculty of the Graduate Studies and Research
Philippine College of Health Sciences, Inc.
Manila, Philippines
___________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts in Education (MAEd)
Major in English
__________________
by
MELANIE P. UMALI
July 2016
Chapter I
Introduction
an important gateway to the other disciplines. It has been said that reading is the
education and the foundation of lifelong learning. It unlocks the unknown and
carries the reader to new discoveries and learning. It equips the person with
varieties of knowledge which he can use in his daily living. A person who loves to
read understands any phenomenon easily. He is well-informed, educated and well-
Reading”, reading was defined as “imagining, thinking and feeling about ideas and
thoughts made from past experiences that are suggested by perception of printed
words. ” (p.9) Reading, as asserted by the author, is an activity that requires the
different capabilities of the mind, as the reader processes words and their
meanings.
subjects.
explains. It can also help in the improvement of relationships with other people
across interests and cultures, as readers come across books that “put on into the life
and feelings and experiences of men and women of all occupations” (p.303).
the minds of young individuals, developing their “capacity for focused attention”
as well as their “imaginative growth” (p.699). Past research has shown a positive
relationship between people’s reading habits and their active involvement in other
endeavors.
literature and “scholar of reading”. Aikat stated that “the act of reading is a
dynamic ‘transaction’ between the reader and the text” (p.700), an idea taken from
reading for leisure, called Aesthetic Reading, and Efferent Reading in order to gain
information. Efferent readers read for the purpose of the facts they will learn,
while aesthetic readers read for the reading experience, making it easier for them to
discover basic knowledge about the world he lives in. Reading is not just however,
an innate thing that originates with the child. It is a set of skills that gradually
A child who fails to develop his reading skills at a certain level of his
children are not independent readers by the end of the third grade, it is unlikely that
they will be able to be successful in the middle grades and beyond and most likely
they rarely able to “catch up” with their peers. This phenomenon of reading failure
makes the child inattentive, irritable and passive. Therefore, his failure in this area
hampers him to achieve academically in other content area subjects. This may even
ECARP or Every Child a Reader Program which aims to mobilize national goal of
salient features is the additional time allotted to the development of the basic 3Rs:
reading, writing and arithmetic in the lower grades. This effort aims to alleviate
In line with this effort, the DepEd made the Communication Arts period
longer in terms of contact hours in which reading is integrated. In the case of the
enough time for the development and acquisition of the basic reading skills.
developed fully from the primarygrades to the more shaped intermediate pupils
where taught reading skills should have been learned. And it is also in this grade
level that reading difficulties are apparent where there is still time for remediation
and correction. The following traits are associated with children in the third grade
level: (1) acquiring a wholesome concept of self (2) beginning to have separate
concepts required for daily living (4) developing personal independence and (5)
developing new skills and refining acquired ones (McInerney and McInerney,
1994)
Hence, if third graders fail to develop the pre-requisite skills, they cannot be
expected to work independently with third grade reading materials. Hence, this
pupils of the six public elementary schools in District IV, Division of Manila.
Conceptual Framework
reading difficulties among grade three pupils as perceived by the reading teachers
who are mainly the respondents in this research. The four reading skill categories
This study starts with the theories that are relevant to the problems under
scrutiny. These theories form the basis or the foundation of the study.
The teachers with the help of the theories can create a learning atmosphere.
their socio-economic status and teaching experiences. The teaching processes they
employ can create positive or negative outputs to the pupils. Negative outputs are
bythe teachers. Teachers who establish the learning environment have the
opportunities to see how each pupil perform. On the other hand, the pupils who
learn certain skills can evaluate themselves to what degree each skill is acquired.
As shown in the diagram, the teachers and pupils are open systems which
receive inputs from the environment around them. These inputs affect the
atmosphere of teaching and learning. They affect how the theories are utilized by
learning process of the pupils.The pupils and teachers eventually identify the
learning of the pupils. Learning that are minimal in nature, can produce skills that
are not totally developed by the pupils so they need attention for re-teaching and
With the set-up mentioned above, both teachers and pupils can come up with
instruction program.
Vocabulary
Skills
Figure 1.The Related Skills and Characteristics of Effective Reading Practice. Based on the specific skills as
indicated in the reading curriculum, this figure represents the coherent system for teaching reading and the related
a) age
b) gender
c) civil status
Hypothesis
Grade 3 pupils from the different public elementary schools in District IV suchas ;
IV,Division of Manila during the school year,2016-2017. The focus of this study
was on the reading difficulties of the Grade 3 pupils. 450 pupils were selected by
classes were the respondents from the different public elementary schools in
District IV. These teachers were also assigned as teachers to handle to reading
on Oral Reading Difficulties was administered to the reading teachers which were
Research Locale
The result of this study will be great help to teachers, pupils, parents,
Teachers. The result of this study may provide teachers with basic
information that all instruction involves continued on-going evaluation of the child.
The giving of the pencil and paper test must be based on thorough diagnosis which
is the most essential procedure in treating disability. The results will likewise help
them improve as well as to modify the behavior problems of their pupils through
proper understanding of the causes of the pupils reading disability and through
discovered earlier as reading retardates. Their being identified early in the school
year may help them overcome traumatic or embarrassing situations in the
children.
home environment.
Administrators. The results may help the researcher understand better her
role and the behavior of pupils with reading disabilities that would be serve as
Definitions Of Terms
reading purposes.
fully what they read. The following types which have direct bearing on this study
are:
passage. The skills involved are the ability to restate the author’s material. This is a
the process of deriving ideas that are implied rather than directly stated.
situations.
Hesitation. This is the reading difficulty, in which the child hesitates to
and which, rather exhaustively, catalogs the things, events, and processes of
human experiences.
aesthetic part of printed language. This is clearly illustrated in poems, stories, verse
and others.
Oral reading ability. This refers to the reading skills acquired and
Reading. Experts in reading instruction around the world agree upon the
common sense proposition that there are two major acts to be performed in the
reading process: (1) recognizing the printed word on the page and (2)
Skills, Comprehension Skills, Literary Appreciation and Work Study Skills. Based
directed his attention to theend of the word, thus the word is read in the reverse
order.
repeats the first syllable of the word or even more, before reading the next syllable
Substitution. This refers to the reading difficulty wherein the reader the
child changes a word with another word, or sometimes a mere guessing because of
which the person can use independently. The ability of the person to use these
vocabulary skills.
(1) Recognition vocabulary is a word for which the reader has general
(3) The vocabulary word with multiple meanings which the reader can use
(4) The vocabulary word to which the reader can give a deeper semantic
long pause between words due to non-recognition of the next word at a glance.
independent study and work. They are concretized in the capacity of the child to
This chapter presents some relevant literature and studies which are closely
problems and hypotheses based from the studies herein cited which are supported
Moreover, this part also presents the concepts of reading and literacy, the
Sources and past studies related to this research study, which seeks to determine
the reading difficulties of learners, will be cited and discussed.The areas of concern
are the different reading skills namely: vocabulary skills, comprehension skills,
Related Literature
The 1992 survey on the achievement rates of Elementary School education
revealed that the low achievement rates of 60% of elementary school pupils was
below the desired 75% achievement rate. These figures imply that there was a
Population and Housing (CPH) showed that of the 71.5 million individuals who are
10 years old and above, 97.5 percent or 69.8 million were literate or could read and
write. This is higher compared to the literacy rate of 92.3 percent recorded in the
2000 CPH. The 97.5% literacy rate is quite an impressive figure but if we will take
a look at the result of the National Achievement Test (NAT) ON 2012, Grade 3
Comprehension and 58.61% in Filipino. This figures shows that 3rd grade Filipino
children are considered as average readers in general. It also shows that Filipino
3rd grade students have problem understanding what she/he is reading whether the
According to Juan Miguel Cruz (2007), despite our supposedly high literacy
rate, many Filipinos can barely read and write. This is true especially of those
living in remote areas as well as the slum areas of the country. Someone once
remarked that we are not a nation of readers; we are a nation of storytellers. Ours is
a culture of oral history passed on by word of mouth not through the written word.
Many educators believe that failure of the child in formal education can be
traced to his reading difficulties. These difficulties hinder him to succeed in school
work requiring the reading process. This problem prompted researchers to conduct
studies in reading.
Reading, reading was defined as “imagining, thinking and feeling about ideas and
thoughts made from past experiences that are suggested by perception of printed
words" (p.9).
On the other hand, Aikat (2007) stated that “the act of reading is a dynamic
‘transaction’ between the reader and the text” (p.700), an idea taken from Louise
M. Rosenblatt’s 1978 book, The Reader, The Text, The Poem. According to the
aforementioned book, there are two kinds of reading—reading for leisure, called
readers read for the purpose of the facts they will learn, while aesthetic readers
read for the reading experience, making it easier for them to “connect emotionally”
to the text. In order for readers to attain this connection and fully comprehend the
text they read, Dolch (1951) asserted that the process of reading requires the
different capabilities of the mind, as the reader processes words and their
meanings.
This processing of words and text can also be defined as "literacy" or as
into everyday life” (p.697). The authors asserted that through this cognitive
process of reading, readers learn to apply the meanings of the words and sentences
Castello and Charlton posited that readers can then incorporate and evaluate
the content of these readings to their own lives and experiences, as well as use the
text as basis for future actions. The readers can then incorporate and evaluate the
content of these readings to their own lives and experiences, as well as use the text
“a better understanding of the text” (p.698), which is often useful in college, where
Reading fluency though, is not only beneficial in terms of academics but is also
useful in the readers’ social understanding and communication, assert Castello and
Charlton(2007).
They also state that young women often use literature “to cope with critical
life situations” (p.699) and are more motivated when it comes to reading than
young men. In fact, according to Aikat(2007), past research has shown a positive
relationship between people’s reading habits and their active involvement in other
endeavors. Aikat also states that reading plays a very important role in enhancing
the minds of young individuals, developing their “capacity for focused attention”
few of the benefits of reading and literacy. Another possible benefit may be the
explained the relationship between reading and writing, stating that they are two
skills that are “so interrelated that one cannot be understood without the
other”(p.618) so that students are able to “draw on their skills in one to develop the
oral language, taken from the theories of Michael Halliday in the 1970’s, which
compared the two and stated that they were both “social” forms of communication.
Aside from these assertions, Stewart went on to say that literacy and reading in
language arts, mathematics, the sciences, the arts and computer technology.
Krueger , who asserted that “reading, writing, and mathematics are, or should be,
“most reading and thinking strategies should be taught in the content areas, rather
In general, the findings of the study show that there is in fact a relationship
their 2006 work on Literacy, which regarded the “acquisition of reading and
The issue of low levels in this development in literacy has been a large concern in
the past, according to Miller and Moores, causing conflicts known as the “reading
addressing the problem of literacy among students, the first being the “top-down”
model, the second being the “bottom-up” model, and the “interactive” model as the
of “look-and-say” (p.792) instruction that focuses more on the text and its content
and meaning, and less on the technical aspects such as subject-verb agreement,
spelling and punctuation. On the other hand, the opposite “bottom-up” model
emphasized “phonics” and the technical aspects of writing and reading, explained
Miller and Moores. The third “interactive” model unites both models. According
to Miller and Moores, the interactive model is built on the fact that writing
involves bout the “bottom up (text based) and top-down (cognitively based)
Miller and Moores (2006) stated that in teaching real children, it has been
“widely reported” that teachers “tend to utilize elements of both top-down and
(p.792).
On the other hand, these two models by Miller and Moores(2006) do not
take into consideration other possible factors that may influence a students’ or
The importance and subject matter of this study was clearly explained
other institutions that might not be effective, such as Mountain Crest High Utah's
"MC Story Night' which involves thrice-a-year reading sessions between high
school and elementary students. On the other hand, the researchers also cited other
programs that could be beneficial regarding the study, such as Valerie Lee's
research programs based on "The SSR" handbook, which mentions multiple factors
subject, without knowing how to read the pupil cannot learn and progress in other
subjects like mathematics, science, social studies and etc. Reading therefore, is
Likewise, the pupil will progress in other fields of endeavor if he knows how to
read. He will be able to deal with his environment and perform his daily activities
in life. As a result, this will enable him to adjust emotionally and socially to
different situations making him a useful and productive citizen of his country.
learning. The child who has not learned to read well in the elementary school runs
the risks of becoming an adult handicapped in the many phases of living (Gray,
1993).
He used the term “congenital word blindness”, to describe a 14-year old boy who
began in Europe regarding these problems but these attracted relatively little notice
The same author reported the first report, published in the United States in
Like other neurologists, Samuel Orton (as cited by Harris and Sipay, 1995)
studied the causes of delays in learning to read but he was mainly interested in the
initiated remedial reading programs after World War II when they became aware
of a large number of illiterates in the military forces (Harris and Sipay, 1995).
educational handicaps that may be seen in poor readers and have tended to favor a
a little doubt that the great majority of children with reading disabilities who come
problems.
emotional problems cause reading disability or the result of it. Most of these
theories believed that reading disability was a symptom of some underlying defect
youngsters spend more time teaching reading than any of the academic areas
reading disabilities so that they can best understood for their destructive
personality and needs. These characteristics provide the basis for understanding
their educational needs. These common characteristics are: (a) Repeated failure
experiences. Pupils with reading disabilities have had repeated failure experiences
in their educational pursuits which negatively affect future learning. Many of these
children have failed so often that they are convinced that they cannot learn
regardless of how hard they might try. (b) Physical and environmental limitations.
experiences the child with reading disability tends lack interests, drive and
these children. (e) Erratic behavior. They tend to demonstrate erratic in most
learning situations.
strength and weaknesses with normal or superior performance in other areas. (f)
disturbed” where little or no attempt has been made to thoroughly evaluate and
understand their specific learning problems and needs (g) Inadequate education.
The overwhelming majority of children with reading disabilities have not been
properly educated. A common characteristic found among this group in the lack of
any attempt at special education. Many of these pupils have also been the victims
Grant (1992) reported a study on main stress approaches which answer some
A mainstream child lives in poor homes, broken homes, and homes with
ineffective parents. These children go to school but they are not able to interact
well with others not prepared to grow and learn, and do not meet the expectation of
Grant (1992) cited that the analyst in New HavenSchool suggested that the
encourage bonding in the school. Their task is to create a strategy that understands
the child’s development, and enable them to improve relationship with parents.
and adult caretakers. There were social workers, psychologists and SPED
teachers. It has a mental health team that work together and had a representatives
on the management team. They shared their knowledge with the teaching staff.
came to realize that the only difference between children and the children of the
middle income families is that the latter received at home what is necessary to
succeed at school. Out of the realization came the program called Social Skills
Curriculum for the Inner City children and, as a result, the school ranked first and
1992).
Local Literature.
reading material and trains teachers to use it can have a significant effect on the
language. Teacher guides and learner materials (which are usually soft copy) are
all written in English and the burden of translating it into the language /dialect of
the local community is left to teachers. There are no available language books from
kinder-grade IV. Language books which will expose children to written texts are
not available.
any child. Generally speaking the common responses of reading disabled children
especially when the tool subjects like reading, writing and arithmetic are so
inadequate that they are unusable for purposes of daily living. More importantly,
As reading-disabled students attempt to learn, and fail, they also cannot meet
their own expectations for achievement. This lowers their expectation for failure
success until a generalized fear of failure dominates their attitudes and behaviors.
into four, namely: physical, external, intelligence, and educational: (a) Physical
speech, and glandular disturbances and general health. Visual deficiencies and
hyperopia, myopia and astigmatism. Binocular difficulties occur when the visual
image of words and objects are blurred and when more serious two images of
words and objects are blurred and when more serious two images are seen. The
which is indicated by unsteady handling of book, and defective way of turning the
thyroids, tendency to lose weights, fatigue, and irritability; (b) External factors.
maladjusted disabled readers are those who show symptoms in the form of shyness
understanding which may cause a child to feel that he is not loved or not wanted,
apparent indifference on the part of the parent or over concern which may cause
which are not favorable may result in reading disability while favorable attitudes
foster progress in learning to read; (c) Low intelligence is not a direct cause of
reading disability. It may only indirectly lead to reading disability when the
reading material during the early years is not adapted to a slow learners’ needs; (d)
readiness where in the child is plunged right away to standard reading program
before he has acquired the readiness which important to his success in classroom
Related Studies
explain this process. Brief discussion of some theories are presented as theoretical
background of this study. The theories to be discussed are bottom-ups theory, top-
psycholinguistic theory.
The Reading Theories
Bottom-up theory, Top-down theory, Schema theory, Interactive theory, Sub skills
The elements in the whole framework are the reading theories, pupils
learning reading, teachers teaching reading, perceived reading difficulties and the
reading instruction.
The reading theories are the vehicles that can be used by the teachers in her
reading instruction and activities of the students. This mainly depends upon the
speech during oral or silent reading. Here are the basic features of this theory. The
learner reads text by building from sound-system units to words meaning. Word-
(Hayes, 1991).
fundamental feature is that it is at the schema- end of the continuum. The following
are among its primary tenets: Meaning is vested in the reader not in the text per se.
proceeds basically from the whole to its parts and not from parts to a whole.
and Simington, 1991). According to this model, the reader plays an active role and
supplies more information than the printed page does (Hayes. 1991).
top-down theories. This model believes that different processes are thought to be
determine the most appropriate interpretation of the printed page, Hayes (1991).
Rumelhart (1997) has developed an interactive model which suggests that, at least
suggests that knowledge and experiences act to facilitate the acquisition of new
before reading rather than fixing up understanding after reading, (Hayes 1991).
Sub skills Theory. It believes that reading is a set of sub skills that children
must master integrate. This theory explains that good readers have learned and
integrated these skills and they use them automatically. Teaching these skills until
they become automatic and smoothly integrated makes reading meaningful (Burns,
Ross, Roe, 1992). “One of the hallmarks of the reader who learned the sub skills
rapidly is that he was least aware of them at the time, and therefore now he has
little memory of them as separate sub skills” (La Berge and Samuels). This model
illustrates the process by which students master smaller before larger ones and
phonological cues.
language works from his knowledge of oral language, a reader already knows
something about how words are ordered and what kinds of meaning words possess
the concepts which generate a search for the data or words to confirm these
comprehension as making sense out of what you read by using what you know, or
both the skills and psycholinguistic theories of reading comprehension is the use of
down and bottom-up processing concepts into his interactive theory of reading
spelling pat terns, etc., at the same time he or she is also attending to general
context, syntax, and the semantic and syntactic environment in which the words
These practices are sometimes used by schools, educators, and parents when
a young child developmentally lags behind his or her peers. The young child’s
knowledge and skills needed to perform at the level of his or her peers. It is based
reader’s ability to anticipate the material she has read. (Goodman 1993). Its salient
features are the following: Learning to read does not require memorization of letter
child relying upon instruction because the essential skills of reading cannot be
taught (F. Smith, 1998) Smith, like other psycholinguistics, believes that children
learn to read as they learn to speak, by generating and testing hypotheses about the
Vocabulary Skills
allows him to transmit his ideas with precision and imagination. Vocabulary
knowledge especially those who have not learned techniques and strategies for
Vocabulary skills are rapidly developed during the child’s elementary school
years. It has been estimated that the typical child increases his or her vocabulary
words that are in one’s understanding but one does not recognize in print (2)
learning new meanings for known words by adding new shades of meanings to
words partly known (3) recognizing new words that represent new concepts (40
In the light of the impact that pupils’ vocabulary has on reading success,
teachers set aside time for general vocabulary development. Rouke (1994), as
reported by Hayes (1991), asserted that vocabulary instruction has typically been
after third grade is the amount of independent reading students do. Anderson and
Freebody (1993) stated that when reading independently for 25 minutes per school
day, an average pupil would encounter tens of thousands of words that she or he
Grambell, Wilson and Gatt (1998) conducted a study using fourth graders.
They found out that while high-ability readers encounter only one unknown word
between vocabulary and comprehension. Measure were obtained from 504 second-
grade pupils. A cross-logged panel analysis was used to test for such a pattern.
Comprehension Skills
involving three factors: the reader, the text and the context in which the text is
read.
construction of schema that accounts for the meaning in the text. It is an outline of
mental process that cannot be observed or studied directly, Heilman, Blair and
Rupley (1996). This notion brings out the idea of mental model. This is an
inclusive theory of comprehension which can handle both scripted and unscripted
activities. Two mental models are briefly described. The working mental model is
the construction of present events in the story and the passage mental model is the
fully what they read. The following types are: the literal comprehension which
the passage read; and the application which is to read beyond the lines.
found out that among the seven sub skills he identified, four of which were
differentiated as separate sub skills. These skills are recalling word meanings,
passage. It was further stressed that although the four skills are distinguishable,
only vocabulary skill is the best differentiated. This supports the category of skills
this study is using. Vocabulary has been solely separated from comprehension.
not suffer from a general comprehension deficit when pictures are accompanied
further defined that poor readers who read slow and can not decode words create
according to graphic structure. Liberman and Shank (1999) suggested that inability
decoding skills and its impact to comprehension. The result showed that reading
was difficult.
child to realize this fact by reading stories and poems to the child and setting aside
a regular time to pleasure reading during which many good books of appropriate
difficulty levels for each child and on many different interest areas are readily
available.
Recreational reading skill helps carry out the enhancement of other reading
skills. Yet, a child cannot read independently when his vocabulary and
manipulate his skills and prior knowledge without much pressure from the outside
fosters positive attitude towards reading can influence his interests to read. This is
the neighborhood. Cutts (1994), said that the more recreational reading done, the
With the different kinds of materials the researcher read, unfortunately, there
Work-Study Skills
information from a variety of text and media source for differing purposes and
uses. In other words, a person who has mastered study skills knows how to review
and read different kinds of texts and knows what information is important for the
Hayes (1991) stressed that study skills are especially important for students
who are having difficulty learning to read. These skills help pupils improve their
for this difficulty are the lack of systematic instruction in study skills, difficulty
level of many content material in terms of vocabulary and concepts and lack of
transfer of skills from the basic reading program to study-type materials Heilman,
Many study skills are only given passing mention and attention in schools.
However, everyone needs systematic, planned instruction and practice to meet the
life. Askov, E.N. and Kann, (1992), recommended that study skills be taught as
part of content area studies to ensure transfer of skills be taught as part of content
study skills instruction into content area studies also helps students learn the
content subject.
Pescosolido, Schell and Laurent (1990) emphasize the need of study skills
direct fashion. If a specific skill is directly taught by the teacher, transfer of the
skill to content area materials will be automatic on the part of the students.
Teachers must not assume students know and can apply the various reading skills
in content areas.
references like dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, maps and globes, etc. The
implication of this work skill is that the child is responsible for his own learning
interesting and varied practice to ensure mastery and application of particular skill.
There are three factors identified to have great influence on the reading
difficulty of the children as specified in the perceived data. These factors are sex,
conducted to answer this question, Lingele (1999) What influences, the child’s
performance?
factors that have an impact on the performance of the child. In his study using
economic status of teachers, and economic status of the school. The economic
Klingele when the identified in his study some social factors like economic status
of pupils and teachers. Pupils economic status played a vital role in skill
development.
Halsted and Klengele(2009) study can support this study in the aspects of
the child is the teacher. Spache (1993) as reported by Hayes commented on the
of the teacher and the kinds of teacher-pupil interaction are important determinants
of pupil achievement.
that the ability of the teacher to talk to each students beyond class session and
status and pleasant personality makes learning effective and lasting. Johnson
program for young teachers with the help of the experienced one.
Robeck and Wilson (1994) gave another three classifications or reading
difficulties: (a) lack of word attack skills. It showed simple lack of word analysis
skills when reading orally form context. Fluency errors with stops and
accumulated, with substitution and refusal; (b) extreme tension associated with
These are stops after a mistake and make multiple repetitions of the parts of the
sentences they felt sure of. There is nervousness and the rapid deterioration of the
error ratio when committing mistakes; (c) lack of motivation for reading. They
are the reluctant readers, careless readers and active avoiders. A reluctant reader
reads very little; a careless reader is a very poor reader who does not seem to care
Typically, pupils who lack motivation for reading read in monotonous voice,
are very careless about word endings; sometimes they make up their own phrases
and are not concerned about mistakes; sometimes they correct themselves but not
always correctly and do not really try (Robeck and Wilson, 1994).
Juhoven and Bear (1992) examined the social adjustment of 46 children with
friend, and more than half had a friendship with a classmate without learning
negative nominations and were the least preferred. Group comparison of socially
adjusted and non-adjusted children with and learning disabilities to be less socially
The results of the study showed that the children with learning disabilities were
generally well socially integrated in the Team Approach Mastery Classroom, 83%
(38 of 46) receive positive nominations (as compared with 87% (38 of 46)
learning disabilities), 67% (37 of 46) had at least one reciprocal positive
nomination with a classmate without learning disability. The results of the study
suggests that children with learning disabilities, particularly boys, are well socially
function which is severe enough to be handicap. It does not imply a particular kind
of impairment but merely indicated a relative inability to learn and retain. Inability
competent teacher. Every teacher should consider the nature of reading disability.
A child may be unable to learn by one method but may not be disabled if a
different method is used. Children with reading disability do not all have the same
basis, degree or some of type of impairment, though these are some characteristics
disabilities: organic and biological, genetic, and environmental: (a) Organic and
neurological evidence was far from convincing defected children were frequently
“brain injury” often carries with it a note of finality. Often teachers have used the
label a reason not to teach a child. Using learning disabled does not carry with it
connotations of performance.
was the cause of reading disabilities. According to the theory “mixedness reflects
all, or most, learning disabled children have brain damage a causal factor in
learning disabilities Bent Feingold as chief emeritus of the Department of Allergy
limits children’s intake of artificial food flavoring and coloring. The few well
controlled studies have known that all best there may be a small subgroup of
hyperactive who respond favorably to the special diet. The studies of Halverson
and Woldrop show that there is a tendency for hyperactive children to possess a
more minor physical anomalies (fine “electric” hair, low seated ears, abnormal
head circumference, webbing of the two middle toss) than normal, such anomalies,
are often associated with congenital defects as Down’s syndrome. The possibility
that some hyperactive children may have some kind of subtle chromosomal
(b) Genetic factors. Learning disabilities tend to “run in families”. Whether this
factors. The children who are environmentally disadvantaged are more prone to
teachers were better prepared to handle the special learning problems of children in
well academically come from low SES families. Low SES pupils are likely to
experience learning problems; and when they do develop learning difficulties their
academic prognosis is worse than for middle and upper SES student with the same
environment. It’s with verbal labels that reading disabled children have enormous
an impoverished of both verbal receptive and expressive labels and failure to learn
sight words, arithmetic facts, sound symbol associations, spelling words, counting,
(a) Mental factors. Specific reading disability may be found among pupils with
low, average, or superior intelligence, and slow learning affects all academic
subjects; (b) Psychological factors. Paul Witty and David Kopel concluded that
auditory factors appear to be related to reading only in individual cases where the
defect is great, reasons for poor reader’s deficient phonetic skills may be traced to
speech defects or hearing loss experienced during the earliest years of reading
instruction. Other types of neurological disorders like the brain damage and mixed
has indicated that emotional difficulties are found among retarded readers but
research has failed to define the extent to which personality maladjustment may be
cause or result of reading retardation. Some writers believe that reading disability
Personality traits that have been suggested as causes of reading failure are:
those conditions; (d) Environmental and social factors. One of the most
significant findings of Robinson’s study was that maladaptive homes and poor
intra-family relationships existed in 54.5% of the cases. Robinson noted that as the
number of books in the home increases, the percentage of good readers most often
from homes where have reached higher levels of education; (e) Educational causes.
background to perform the reading task set, (2) failure to master the early elements
on which later abilities are based, (3) confusions resulting from instruction not
correctly adjusted to the level and learning rate of the child, and (4) the acquisition
The cultural and economic deprivation and lack of early opportunity to learn
the English language may prevent the child from learning to read. Failure in
(Gentile, 1995).
George and Spacher (1997) research with first graders shows that
intelligence test results are not highly predictive of early reading success. If the
pupils are arranged on the order of their reading test scores after a period of
training does not neatly parallel a ranking on their intelligence quotient only the
ranks of very superior and mentally retarded pupils to agree in reading and
intelligence.
According to Pryor (1995), perhaps the first step toward solving a child’s academic
problem is to change his self-confidence tend to get good readers while poor
According to Katz (1998), the idea that children should feel about
ago, praise was withhold from children for fear that youngsters might become
someone interpersonal situation to another. The parents should help a child cope
concept is measured on certain criteria within the family. Whatever criteria you
have in your family support your child’s effort to meet them: (a) Socio-economic
factors. Robinson (as cited by Katz, 1998) reported that maladjustment homes
contributed to 54.5 percent of her cases. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
(1991) reported that from 50 to 70 percent of Mexican and black students in the
fourth, eight, and twelfth grades read below the grade level to which they are
student learning are important. Effective teachers are good classroom managers.
Effective teachers are do not waste time, they provide a maximum amount of
Another three causative factors of reading disabilities are given by Bond and
following: (1) in relatively small proportion of the cases, children are emotionally
upset and maladjusted when they arrive at school. The origin of their personality
The children have formed well-adjusted personalities before they arrive at school.
The frustration from failure to learn to read results in some degree of personality
read may then become a handicap to further learning. A vicious cycle is formed,
disability, (4) The personal and social maladjustment is due to reading and tends to
disappear in most cases when the child becomes a successful reader; (b)
Intelligence.
intelligence, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say that while low
intelligence in itself is not a direct cause, it may lead indirectly to reading
disability. This occurs when reading instruction of the slow learners during the
early school years is not adapted to their needs. The dull child is not ready to read
as soon as the one with normal intelligence and he must of necessity proceed at a
In the regular classroom situation the slow learner is likely not to learn
enough at each lesson for effective handling of the next assignment. He drops
farther and farther behind as time goes on in the development program; (c)
ineffective teaching, or his acquisition of faulty learning may block later progress.
Factors which may bring this about maybe such things as too rapid progress in the
reading from other class activities, the wrong kind of emphasis upon a technique or
these factors are involved, and sometimes a physical deficiency as well. In many
cases, the disability arises because the instructional program has failed to maintain
environmental and genetic: (a) Environmental factors are classified into two:
biological and sociological risk factors. The biological risk factors are prenatal
large family size and low socioeconomic status: (b) Genetic factors run in the
family, reading disability frequently assumes a family type. There are number of
instances of more than one member of the family being affected, and the mother
often volunteers the statement that she herself was unable to read, although she had
every opportunity.
Various writers believe that most disability cases are created and not
predisposing conditions within the child, but for the most part, they are caused by
element of the child, but for the most part, they are caused by element of the
or without proper instruction given at the right time, the will fail to acquire the
internal and some external (Manalo, 2008). The more precise the description, the
more likely it is to lead to effective provision. In the view of many experts, most
difficulties is the process by which a word is broken into individual phonemes and
recognized based on those phonemes. Someone who has difficulty decoding and
has difficulty in reading easily may not hear and differentiate the phonemes. Signs
of decoding difficulty are trouble in sounding out words or recognizing words out
Because their efforts to grasp individual words are exhausting, they have no
what is written. This task relies on high level cognitive skills including memory
As pupils progress through grade levels, they are expected to retain more
and more of what they read. It is then with the aforementioned concepts that the
revealed that the low achievement rates of 60% of elementary school pupils was
below the desired 75% achievement rate. These figures imply that there was a
Many educators believe that failure of the child in formal education can be
traced to his reading difficulties. These difficulties hinder him to succeed in school
work requiring the reading process. This problem prompted researchers to conduct
studies in reading.
Pangasinan. She found out that reading deficiencies caused by the conditions in the
home was grave. These factors are: poor study conditions, negative motivation and
hostility of parents.
showed that teachers with teaching experiences were more aware of the reading
Sex Factor. Sex is a factor considered for the pupil respondents. A study on
relationship between sex and intelligence variables with reading interest of the high
to sex and reading achievement. The t-test as his instrument revealed significant
sex difference. Girls preferred mystery, humor, adventure, biography, and animal
behavior disorders.
between the perceptions of teachers and student teachers for each of the four
school districts in Antique. A questionnaire was used to gather data. The statistical
tool used to analyze the data was the Pearson r. The results indicated that the pupil
year high school students. The instruments used were the Standardized Oral
Reading Paragraphs to determine the reading level and the Robert Dehaan’s
eight months by the investigator who taught and observed the retarded readers.
The findings showed that retarded readers are slow learners and underachievers
increase them.
Gandeza (1999), used 583 public elementary school teachers in the Division
of Guimaras for the school year 1998-1999 for her study. Sixty percent of her
respondents were handling primary grades and 40 percent were teaching in the
intermediate level. The study revealed that the disciplinary practices frequently
used by the elementary school teachers in controlling behavior problems in school
training through repeated correct practice by the child, restructuring the situation,
and looking at without talking. It is apparent that the same practices were used
done by Suma (1998). She identified the social and emotional problems of the
guidance procedures to minimize and solve the problems. She used the “Philippine
Personality Inventory Test” the feedback of which she verified by her own
observational studies. Her findings indicated that the common emotional and
social adjustment problems among the fifth grade pupils were dominance,
He concluded that the possible causes of these problem were: (a) parents’
(b) children’s lack of time and concentration to study because of home and school
problems which made them submissive and introverted, (c) children’s truancy
which parents did not keep track of the activities with their peer groups and later
withdrawal from the group, and (e) broken homes or bad home conditions caused
Taneza (1997) conducted a study to find out the problems of the pupils in
the District of Dolores, Division of Abra. The problems were related to teaching-
learning situations, discipline, home and family life, health and physical
development, money and finance, and social relationships. The findings showed
that the problems were traceable directly to adverse conditions obtained in the
homes, such as: Parents’ poor disciplinary methods, parental neglect and lack of
parents’ vices and quarrels, an poor conditions of life. The problems are also
guidance services, poor class management, difficult lessons and inadequate school
Macrohon (1993), in his study on the problems of grade seven boys of two
that the problem area considered by the subjects as the most common was on the
area of school. These problems were: (1) not interested in certain subjects, (2) not
spending enough time in study, and (3) worried about grades. It is a significant
that while the subjects exhibited lack of interest in school work, they did not
disregard the positive value of study and the interest of their parents.
integrated and reviewed 320 theses and six were on behavior problems.Findings
gambling, smoking, stealing and use of obscene language. The generally favored
children were shy and timid or those manifesting withdrawal tendencies brought
about by rigid conformity to standards sets of adults. The only marked difference
between the ratings of the mental hygienists and those of the teachers was the
most serious impact to mental hygienist while teachers rated it as the least serious.
Having temper tantrum was at the bottom of the teachers’ list: The mental
There was a relatively close agreement between the ratings of the groups,
items rated serious by teachers were regarded fairly serious by the mental
hygienists. Both groups placed disobedience, tardiness, cheating, lying, irregular
attendance and inflicting pain practically on the same level. All other problems at
the head of the teachers’ list such as drinking, gambling, stealing and vandalism
and sitting positions, walking to and fro, chatting with classmates, truancy,
uneasiness when sitting, teasing others and making fun of them, whispering
unpleasantly, discourtesy, tossing pieces of paper and habitual trips to the window
and spitting. She also found that pupils who were truants were also inattentive and
showed lack of interest in schoolwork. The majority of the maladjusted pupils had
situations. They showed fear and uncertainly when given tasks to perform.
intermediate grade pupils in Kalibo Pilot Elementary School, that the behavior
problems reported by parents, as exhibited by more than 20% of the pupils were,
269 inattentiveness, 132 timidity, 176 cutting classes, 143, sensitivity, 131 cheating
The foregoing chapter discusses various literature and studies related to the
present study. This relation dwells on the fact that these literature and studies
that the problem area considered by the subjects as the most common was on the
area of school
The present study would make teachers aware of the learning characteristics
by the conduct problem and withdrawn children. Thus, teachers must be keen
disabilities with the schoollocation, sex, behavioral problems, family size and
sibling rank while the present study concentrated on the relationship of the reading
and other factors affecting reading and behavior problems like family size, sibling
rank, and location of school and gender have been included as an springboard to
have shown that there is a significant relationship between emotional problems and
reading disability. This study will likewise include other factors like sibling rank,
RESEARCH DESIGN
This study utilized the descriptive method of research which identified the
Division of Manila.
This study considered forthis study are the 450 Grade 3 pupils and nine
subjects and respondents of the study. The Grade 3 pupils were the ones enrolled
at the time of the study. The teachers were those who were actually teaching
Reading in Grade 3.
Each school operates with its philosophy and set of objectives which direct
all teaching learning processes. Reading as part of the curriculum was also taught
with deep concern on the achievement of the school’s philosophy and objectives.
Table 1
Table 2
Research Instrument
checklist form and would be converted into a rating scale to have an objective
each school mentioned above to establish the validity of the questionnaire. The
pre-tested samples were included in the data being analyzed since the
The contents in the questionnaire were taken from related books, teaching
guides, curriculum guides that contain the scope and sequence of reading in Grade
3. The four main areas in the questionnaire were the vocabulary skills,
teaching experiences.
Part II consists of the different reading skills categorized under the following
work-study skills.
Research Procedure
schools of District IV. The survey shall be distributed after given permission by
proper authorities of the DepEd in the district. The teacher respondents will be
The data shall be tabulated and interpreted based on the four major skill categories
Statistical Measures
This study shall utilize the descriptive analysis that would make use of the
P = Part x 100
Whole
The Weighted Mean (x). The mean is point on the score scale that is equal to
the sum of the scores divided by the total number of scores. The mean is the index
Variance was used .This method is most appropriate to use with three (3) or more
groups of respondents. Yule and Kendall, as cited by Cannu (1999), echoed that
group.
The procedure for obtaining the level of significance to be used for all
instruments. To compare the obtained t-test or F-value, as the case maybe, with a
accepted or rejected depending upon the value that was obtained, less or greater