Republic of the Philippines

University of Eastern Philippines

Laoang Campus
Laoang, Northern Samar

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

MODULES IN MAJOR 5/EL 107A

(Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills)

ARLENE A. PADILLA,MALT
Subject Professor

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

 MODULE 5
The Receptive Macro Skills – Reading
Overview: This module discusses the differentiated learning tasks in teaching reading based on
the learning needs of the students. This will tackle the lessons on the nature and purposes of
reading, reading comprehension and sub-skills in reading, reading techniques and strategies,
approaches in teaching reading (bottom-up, top-down, interactive), goddell’s reading skills
ladder and stages of reading, reading program and the good reader, and lesson design in
teaching reading.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of these lessons, you will be able to:

a. Select differentiated learning tasks in teaching reading to suit learners’ gender, needs,
strengths interests, and experiences.
b. Demonstrate how to provide timely, accurate, and constructive feedback to improve
learner performance in the different tasks in reading through simulations.
c. Craft a learning plan according to the English curricula that is developed from
research-based knowledge and principles of reading and the theoretical bases, principles,
methods, and strategies in teaching these components.

Let’s Talk About It

Becoming A Good Reader

Reading is another important skill that you ought to learn very well. This is so because
reading is the key that unlocks the door to the world of enlightenment and enjoyment, and the
basic tool for learning in the content field (Villamin, 1994).
In our daily lives, 80 percent of the things we do involve reading. We read street signs
and advertisements, menus in restaurants, recipes from cookbooks, how to do things, etc. To
know more about people, places, and things, we read periodicals and nonfiction books. For our
relaxation, we read fiction, comics, and light humorous stories. When we study, we do a lot of
reading.
Several years ago, reading was regarded as a leisure time activity, largely for
enjoyment. Nowadays, with the rapid changes such as the knowledge explosion and the
tremendous advances in science and technology call for efficient reading.
To develop your reading ability to the fullest and become an efficient reader, you need to
have adequate practice in reading. In case you already have well developed skills in re4ading,
you still need to practice your reading skills.

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

What Reading Means

Reading experts define reading in many ways. Their views about reading can be
summarized in the following paragraphs.
William Gray (1950), known as the Father of Reading, defines reading as a four-step
process:
1. Perception of the word
2. Comprehension of its meaning
3. Reaction to the meaning in terms of prior knowledge
4. Integration of the idea into one’s background of experience

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1976) describes reading as reasoning. He believes that “power
and speed of reading” can adequately explain the act of reading. Power of reading means the
power to read, comprehend, and apply relatively difficult textbook material. It included the ability
to grasp the central thought and the details, to get an idea that is expressed in several
sentences, and to interpret content and draw inferences, all from single-text paragraphs. Speed
of reading denotes the rate of comprehension on fiction and factual materials.
According to Kenneth Goodman (1982), reading is a problem in language processing, a
psycholinguistic guessing game. The reader selects enough cues from the printed page and
predicts what word preceded or follows another word to trigger his/her own appropriate
language experiences. These may be graphic cues wherein the shape and size of letters that
form words and the length of the word itself help in decoding it. This is also done with the aid of
sounding or use of phonic clues. Word order, or syntax, and word meaning, or semantic cues,
greatly help in comprehending the printed passage. Goodman believes that reading involves an
“interaction between language and thought.” He says that reading processes are cycles of
sampling, predicting, testing, and confirming.
Smith (1978) described two types of information necessary in reading, namely, visual
information, which is taken from the printed page, and nonvisual information, which includes our
understanding of the relevant language, our familiarity with the subject matter, our general
ability in reading, and our knowledge of the word. The more nonvisual information we have
when we read, the less visual information we need, and vice versa. According to Smith, “Skill in
reading actually depends on using the eyes as little as possible…” as we become fluent readers
we learn to rely more on what we already know, on what is behind the eyeballs, and less on the
page in front of us.”

Some Current Theories about Reading

Reading and Cognitive Development

Researches conducted by jean Piaget and Lev S. Vygotsky (1981) have shown that
language and thought interact with and compliment each other, and that children go through five
stages of development.

Stage 1: Sensorimotor Period (birth to 2 years). Children learn by adaptation to the

environment. For example, a child learns that it is impossible to go from one room to another if
the door is closed --- unless someone opens the door. Children are interested in picture books
at this readiness stage.
Stage 2: Preoperation or Preconceptual Period (2 to 4 years). This is an active,
exploratory period when children explore the world around them, experiment with things in their

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

environment, and imitate adults in the use of things. They begin to develop concepts and
associate words with pictures and images. Reading interests involve a growing visual
discrimination of objects and symbols.
Stage 3: Intuitive Thought Period (4 to 7 years). Children are introduced to concepts
of number, weight, length, and height. They enjoy listening to rhymes and reading and reciting
poems. They begin to identify sounds and associate these with letters and symbols; these skills
are classified as reading readiness skills. Children can read simple words, phrases and
sentences at ages 4 to 5. At this stage, they are still preoccupied with questions about the world
of things around them, with discovering new relationships, and with classifying or categorizing
things. At ages 6 to 7, most children can read preprimers and basal readers.
Stage 4: Concrete Operational Period (8 to 11 years). Children at this age are
capable about actions which they previously were able to carry out only at a sensorimotor level.
Actions have become internalized. They can do a lot of reading with meaning, retell stories
read, pick out key words or topic sentences that give the main idea, note supporting details,
determine cause-and-effect relationships, and make inferences. This stage coincides with the
periods of rapid growth in reading and in the use of the reading tool.
Stage 5: Formal Operations Period (11 to 14 years). At this final stage, preteeners are
already capable of dealing with hypotheses and propositions. They are no longer tied to
concrete reality and are capable of establishing and manipulating relations between things.
They can cope with higher level critical reading skills such as drawing conclusions, making
judgments, and evaluating plot and author’s style. For the bright pupils, reading has become
truly analytic, interactive, constructive, and strategic. This stage is also the beginning of the
period of refinement and wide reading.

Subtrata Factor Theory

Holmes (1953) theorized that “a multiplicity of skills and processes underlie speed and
power of reading.” The reader organizes them into working systems according to his/her
purposes and the demands of the task. Holmes view explains why different methods of reading
instruction work. Each emphasizes one or more subsystems necessary for effective reading.

Whole-to-Part or Schema Theory

Researches by Weir (1962) and Brown (1964) suggest that language/reading of

children moves from whole to part; that is, they perceive general schema before details.
Intonation patterns of the native language tend to emerge before lexicalization, offering a clue
that the word-sentence probably appears before the word. Oftentimes the child knows a word in
a speech, writing, and reading context and yet not know the word in isolation. It also suggests
that the teacher must help the children in interrelating newly acquired concepts with already
existing or prior knowledge to help achieve the whole-part concept.

“Mathemagenic” Behavior

Rothkoff (1870) found that learning is stimulated by such adjunct aids as directions
given to the reader, questions embedded in texts, purposes and goals, means for achieving
goals in the form of text information, and assessment of goal achievement based upon this
information. Knowledge is integrated in four areas: (1) concept of reading as interaction
between the reader and the text, (2) learning theory and principles, (3) criterion-referenced
measurement, and (4) role of adjunct aids or instruction.

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

 Comprehension as Interaction

Research findings of Rumelhart (1976) and Singer (1983) revealed that comprehension
is the result of interaction between reader sources and text data. Readers allocate attention
among their knowledge sources and go back and forth from their knowledge to the data base of
the text. One resource that a reader brings to the text is world knowledge. Writers usually
assume that the reader already knows whatever is common knowledge. An example is. “The
cigarettes caused the forest fire.” A particular type or world knowledge that readers bring is the
sequence of events in everyday situations, such as procedures in a restaurant or supermarket.
Schank and Abelson (1977) call this type of knowledge scripts. They concluded that the reader
mobilizes a script or set of schemata for assimilating and recalling information. However,
readers vary in how their knowledge is structured and their perspectives for interpreting stories.
To apply the interaction theory, we have to take the reader into account when we assess
comprehension.
Hayes (1979) showed that analogies embedded in the text helps students extend their
knowledge structure which they can use to comprehend new information. Thus from the
interaction concept of reading comprehension, the teacher must:

1. teach students the necessary knowledge structures, scripts, and cognitive framework
for comprehending texts in the content areas of science, literature, mathematics,
social studies, arts, and music;
2. consider that different cultural backgrounds will result in various kinds of
interpretation; and
3. teach students to activate prior knowledge and integrate it with new information.

Theory on Text Data

The theory on text data states that texts have objective properties. Gary and Leary
(1935) were the first to find that word frequency and sentence length are determinants of text
difficulty. To make texts easier to comprehend, one should use higher frequency words and
shorter sentences. Note, however, that some complex sentences are easier to understand when
they show clearly the causal relationships.
Van Dyk and Kintoch (1977) found out that texts which were logically organized could
be processed more rapidly even by average readers. These texts contain the following features:
1. Cohesion – a means of tying sentences together with the use of connectors and
conjunctions
2. Staging – a way of featuring information in the text
3. Content analysis – separation of content into events (participants and episodes)
and movements, setting, background, and evaluation

*Implications for teaching suggest that teachers must:

1. select texts that are well organized and precisely elaborated with causal explanations;
2. use devices such as analogies for bridging prior and new knowledge; and
3. teach students to recognize and use the texts, organizational features, and content
categories in processing and recalling information.

Metacognition

John Flavell (1976) defines metacognition as an awareness of and an ability to

capitalize on one’s knowledge and thought processes as they are applied to some specific task.

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

It is that general knowledge that guides readers in monitoring their comprehension processes by
selecting specific strategies to achieve goals.
Baker and Brown (1984) divided metacognitive activities into two different clusters:
1. Student’s awareness of any incompatibility between available knowledge and the
task to be done
2. Active self-monitoring of cognitive processes while reading. The choice of strategies
varies according to goals: to read for meaning (monitoring comprehension), for
remembering (studying), or for organizing important information in preparing for a
test (e.g. self-checking and understanding of the material).

Psycholinguistic Theory and Model

Goodman, Smith, and Coady (1982) summarized their psycholinguistic model of

reading as follows:
1. Readers approach a text with expectations based on their knowledge of the subject.
2. They use only a minimal sampling of the text in deriving meaning by relying on their
knowledge of the language, the subject, and the background as a substitute for all
the redundant features of the text.
3. Based on the sampling, they make predictions as to what message they expect to
get from the text
4. They test their predictions as they progress into the material. They confirm or revise
these and make more predictions based on what they have been reading.
5. They create a replica of the textual message by using orthographic, syntactic, and
semantic clues.
6. They test its accuracy against previous information.
7. If the reconstruction agrees with their previous knowledge, they begin again the cycle
of sampling.
8. If inaccuracy or inconsistency occurs, they will adopt some compensatory strategy
such as rereading.

According to this model, efficient reading is possible because the fluent reader does not
read word for word but in meaningful units. By looking at a sample of the text, s/he can predict
the meaning of a larger part of it based on his/her sampling and prior knowledge of the subject
at hand. S/He then looks at another part of the text to confirm his/her prediction. The efficient
reader is one who guesses correctly with minimal text sampling.

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

 Let’s Do It

Directions: Read the selection below and answer the questions that follow.

Landscapes of Feeling
Danton Remoto

Oas is a strange town. It is famous for the number of priests it produces while on
the next town sits Polangui, Albay’s endless source of the best bailarinas (dancehall girls)
in the country.
But aside from this, Oas also sports food that can do any small town proud. It has
white bagoong which, when mixed with calamansi juice, tastes like no other in the country.
I was there one Holy Week a decade ago.
For ten hours we travelled, two families cramped in a green Fiera. Dust had trailed
us all the way to Albay. We know the typical layout for the town plaza; the hedges (usually
the hardy santan) bordered by the municipal hall, the church, and the houses of the
principalia made of brick, stone, and hardwood. My auntie lives several streets away from
the plaza, but no matter: She is the kindest among my mother’s sisters.
When we arrived, my grandfather was already there, still tall but thinner than I
remember him. He stood by the gate and we waved at him. My parents, aunt and uncle
walked over to him and kissed his hand. They were beginning to make small noises about
the trip when suddenly, my grandfather burst into tears. This was not the stern
grandfather of memory --- the teacher who asked his stubborn students to kneel on mongo
seeds if they could not --- they would not --- slave over the square root of something or
another.
At the edge of the town, ringed by rice fields and a river, stood the graveyard.
Moss slept on its walls, and its arch was covered with a skin of grime.
After we have thrown our bags into the rooms and eaten the brown glutinous rice
cakes called binasuso, we threaded our way to the cemetery. Here it is a custom to honor
the beloved dead, to tell them you are back, if only briefly. We lit two tall candles before
my grandmother’s tomb.
My relatives prayed for my maternal grandmother, Lola Socorro, who died when I
was seven years old and 600 kilometers away. The morning after she died, my other
grandmother Lola Juana (who had stayed behind to keep us company), found me asleep on
the floor. This was strange, since before she had turned in for the night, she made sure I
was already asleep beside her, on her bed. Then the housemaids said the ghost of my
grandmother must have pulled my feet and left me right there on the living room. When
you are seven years old, this could strike a terrible fear in your heart.

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

 Now my eyes shifted to the left, beside my grandmother’s tomb. The words on the
face of the tomb spelt the name of a man who died at the age of 106. Beside it, a tomb of
a boy who was dead at 16. Later, my cousin would tell me the boy was his classmate, who
had drowned at sea one bright summer day.
When we walked home, the sun was beginning to set, streaking blood on the sky.
The last light left shadows in the rice fields. Later, there would only be the sound of the
river and the chanting of the cicadas.
Morning. The sky in the province is bluer, vaster than the one in the city. And
Mayon is there, breathing like a breast.
My cousins and I roamed all around the town on our bikes. We pedalled past the
wooden houses until we reached the marketplace. We stopped in front of a halu-halo stand.
Kuskos (Halu-halo) in Oas is a wonder: a bowl (not mere glass) brimming with watermelon,
beans, gulaman at sago, crushed custard, and young coconut meat so tender it literally
melts in your mouth. And all for 1.50. After they had husked the floor and fed the
chickens, the young boys would hang out in the Kuskos stall. Here they talked about the J-
S prom, compared their crushes, poked fun at their teachers, dreamt of college.
In the afternoon, my cousins and I would climb the trees in an uncle’s yard. Leaning
on the branches, we would eat the magoes and macopas so sweet, ripened by the sun.
Beside these stood the old stone house of my grandfather’s brother. And then I
remembered my mother’s story about an aunt who visited home after years of living in
Toronto. One day, she was wiping the stairs with rags when suddenly, a sharp memory tore
her --- perhaps the memory of my departed aunt framed by the window --- and she wept.
Holy Week in Oas resolves around the procession of the heirloom images on Good
Friday. It was my grandfather’s turn to sponsor the family’s procession, and that was why
we all had to go home. It was a tradition, and nobody says “no” to tradition --- not even
bored city kids who had begun to become smart-ass and “talk back” (actually, reason with)
their parents.
Early morning on Good Friday, my cousins and I would brush the cobwebs from my
grandfather’s caro (cart in Bikolano). Then we would cut vines of morning glory and garland
the caro with the pink flowers. From its niche on the living-room wall, my grandfather
would bring down the image of Christ on the Cross, holding it gently, then placing it atop
the cart. One story is that this image has been shrinking with the years. It does look
smaller, but perhaps it is because I have grown bigger?
By four o’clock my grandfather in his well-pressed white polo shirt would ask the
children to pull the caro out of the garage. Us older grandchildren in our best clothed
would follow the caro; by virtue of age, we had been exempted from the task. Our eyes
should be alert: there were a thousand relatives whose hands you had to kiss, there were
some good looking boys and girls from Manila, also here for a brief visit.
Only thirty heirloom images joined this year’s procession. In front stood the image
of Saint Peter with a large key in one hand and a rooster in the other. The Virgin Mary was
also there, face calm as a lake. Then much later, Jesus Christ reclining inside a glass tomb,

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

frozen in temporary defeat. And in the tail-end of the procession, the Christ of the
Resurrection, bathed in brilliant light.
Everything ends in the plaza. In the darkness we would heed for home, where warm
soup and food waited for us. Now how did I spend Black Saturday?
I rummaged through the room of my grandfather’s house (motes of dust, smell of
mothballs, old receipts and class records) and found a hardbound first edition of Gilda
Cordero-Fernando’s The Butcher, the Candlestick Maker (Benipayo Press, 1962). How could
anyone forget a title like that? And could anyone forget those short stories? I lay down on
the bench in the verandah, and read and read until my eyes ached. In the comatose heat of
the Holy Week in Albay, Gilda’s stories were like dippers of water, leaving the skin cool and
refreshed.
That night, we went to the Easter dance. For the dance, the plaza bloomed with
light bulbs of many colors. You could see the church from the plaza. First built in 1605 by
the Franciscans, the church in Oas is like many other old Philippine churches. My teacher
calls them “earthquake baroque,” the curvilinear designs impressed on the massive stone
walls. By day, the church looks revolting: coats of white paint had been slapped on the
façade. The old parish priest called it “restoration.”
Yes, the dance. My cousins and I ate boiled peanuts and ogled our uncles and their
partners. With the typical arrogance of city creatures, we thumbed our noses at the old
songs (You can ring my be-ee-el, ring my bell…).
I broke away from my cousins and walked to the fringed of the plaza. I sat on a
bench and looked at the flat darkness that was the sky. Suddenly it was back, this ache I
would feel even amidst people I love. I will write even after college, I told myself. I had
just shifted from Business Management to a Humanities course. My parents were drifting
to sleep when I knocked on their door, walked into the darkness, and in a firm but polite
tone told them about my decision. I could hear my father’s sigh. Then: “It’s alright, son.
You yourself will know whether the fruits will be bitter or not.” It was one of my father’s
moods, what I called his metaphorical mood. “I am at the sunset of my life and you are not
yet a high noon. Therefore ---“
After the Sunday Mass, I accompanied my grandfather to the central elementary
school. There would be a reunion of Class 1937 (1937!). My grandfather was not in that
batch --- he was their teacher in Grade VII.
Lunch was great: gabi leaves simmered in coconut milk, with shreds of pork fat and
shrimps; soft, hot rice with the aroma of fragrant pandan; and pots of pork and chicken
adobo. Then the stories about the war: how my grandfather brought his old Olympia from
one guerrilla hideout to another, writing down words for the resistance movement; how my
grandfather’s students survived the war by eating boiled banana stalks, then roasted rats
and geckos, and finally, snakes.
It was four o’clock in the morning when my sister knocked on the door of the
basement room I shared with my three cousins. I lifted the mosquito net and opened the
door. The raw air of dawn stole into our room.

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

 After taking our breakfast and loading our bags into the Fiera, we walked to our
grandfather to say goodbye. One by one, as if in the procession, my aunts, uncles and
cousins kissed him. He was bundled up in a brown sweater, a bright blue bonnet on his head.
I held his hands. They were full of veins. He leaned forward. I kissed his face rivered with
lines.
By the gate he stood. After promising him we would be back next year, we all
boarded the Fiera began to move farther and farther from my grandfather by the gate,
until his figure became one with the darkness.
We did not go home Holy Week of next year. Two years later, he would be in
Manila, to stay here permanently. But he missed his hometown. He only stayed for three
months in the city. He died on a Sunday, when I was watching a sexy Brocka movie in
Cubao. He had been asking for me, but I was busy the whole week and I thought I could
drop by the hospital on Monday afternoon. Monday morning at work, my mother called me
up to tell me I should go to the funeral parlor because my grandfather was there. “To visit
somebody?” I wanted to ask. When everything dawned on me I went to the bathroom, and
dissolved into tears. Then I roamed round and round the city and went to his wake only
late in the afternoon. Indeed, he was there, his brown casket aureoled with flowers.
We brought him home in a rickety train and buried him in the land he loved, beside
my grandmother’s bones. The sepulturero (gravedigger) broke my grandmother’s tomb with
strong blows from his sledgehammer. One, two, three, four…The wooden brown coffin had
rotten and splintered.
First we saw my grandmother’s black leather shoes. Then the bones of her legs, her
kneecaps and her thighbones. And then her St. Christopher’s medal resting on the shreds
of blue dress round her ribcage. Finally, the sockets like black windows, and strands of
brown-black hair on her skull.
Then a cry came. It was my auntie, my grandmother’s youngest daughter. Her sobs
tore the very air, and I shivered. I shivered and felt very sad, knowing she was weeping
not only for my grandmother but for all of us, the living, the dying, and the dead.

Source: Danton Remoto, Seduction and Solitude Essays (Manila: Anvil Publishing, 1995)
Questions:

1. How does the title of the selection define its contents? Cite some lines. (10 pts.)
2. What is the message that the author wants to convey to the readers through the
selection? Why do you say so? (10 pts.)
3. Extract one meaning of “reading” from the discussion above that best describes this
activity. Justify your answer. (10 pts.)
4. What theory did you apply in reading the selection above? Explain your answer. (20 pts.)

Let’s Say Something

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

 How do you find the activity? Is it challenging? Why do you say so? (Write your answer
on a piece of paper.)

Let’s Take Note

You have encountered new terms as you read through the text, right? As a learner, it is
your duty to scribble them on your notebooks and take note of their meanings. You
might be meeting same words as we move on to the next modules, at least, you already
understand them.

Suggested Reading/s:
 McCowan, Richard J. and Shiela C. McCowan. (1999). Item analysis for criterion-
referenced tests. New York: Center for Human Development Services.

Visit:
 http://www.bsc-cdhs.org.
 https://www.slidehare.net
 www.education.gov.pg.
 https://www.kau.edu.sa
 https://www.academia.edu.

Reference/s:
Cabagui, G. M. M. (2012). Enhancing reading and writing. Manila: Rex Printing Company,
Inc.

Diaz, R. H. (2004). Speech and oral communication. Manila: Melbros Printing Center.

Go, Mildred B. and Ofelia T. Posecion. (2010). English Language and Literature
Assessment:
A Comprehensive Guide. Manila: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/esl/listening.cfm.

https://www.tesol.org/docs/books/bk_ELTD_Listening_004.

Heaton, J. B. (1988). Writing English language test. Hongkong: Longman Group, Ltd.

Pascasio, E. M., et. al. (1997). Basic English for college. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila
University Press.

Robles, F. C. (1985). Developing English proficiency in college. Manila: Goodwill Trading

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

 Corp., Inc.

Serrano, J. B. and E. A. Bello. (1998). Better English for college. Quezon City: Phoenix
Press,
Inc.

Tejero, E. G. (2008). Doorways to English language proficiency. Navotas City: Navotas

Press.

Tiongson, M. M.A. and M. R. C. Rodriguez. (2016). Reading and writing skills. Quezon City:
Rex Printing Company.

Villamin, A. M., et. al. (1998). Innovative strategies in communication arts. Quezon City:
Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.

Go, Mildred B. and Ofelia T. Posecion. (2010). English Language and Literature
Assessment: A Comprehensive Guide. Manila: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Tayao, M. L. G., et. al. (1997). Applied linguistics for communication arts. Quezon City:
Office
of Academic Support and Instructional Services.

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT

Module 5 in Teaching and Assessment of the Macroskills Arlene A. Padilla,MALT