HOME – BASED PARENT AND CHILD READING INTERVENTION: IN IMPROVING

THE READING PERFORMANCE OF GRADE 5 PUPILS

Rexmel Ragasa

Lalaine Opsima

Lhiza Flor Patubo

Bachelor of Elementary Education

Cagayan State University

 I. INTRODUCTION

Reading is defined as a cognitive process that involves decoding symbols

to arrive at meaning. It is an active process of constructing meanings of words. Although

the reasons for reading may vary, the primary purpose of reading is to understand the

text. It allows the reader to use what he or she may already know, also called prior

knowledge. During this processing of information, the reader uses strategies to

understand what they are reading, uses themes to organize ideas, and uses textual

clues to find the meanings of new words. It is therefore, reading is the foundation of

learning.

As a result of the International Millennium Development Goals

commitments, there has been a significant increase in school enrolment globally, yet

approximately 250 million primary-aged children cannot read, write, or do basic

Math despite more than half having attended at least four years of school. This global

learning crisis has triggered a narrower focus on education access to include enhanced

quality of learning. We are focused on improving the quality of learning outcomes by

enhancing the science of reading, while developing solutions for the global learning

crisis. (American Institure for Research) 

The ECARP (Every Child a Reader Program) is a National program that

addresses the thrust of the Department of Education to make every Filipino child a

reader at his/her own level. It is designed to equip elementary pupils with strategic

reading and writing skills to make them independent young readers and writers. It also
provides a year – long training for teachers to make them multi – literate and

independent problem solvers.

In line with the K to 12 Program and the goal of making every child should

be a reader, the Department of Education is strengthening its reading program through

the implementation of the Early Language, Literacy, and Numeracy Program.

The Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) is an initiative of the

Bureau of Learning Delivery, Department of Education that directly addresses its thrust

to make every Filipino child a reader. It is anchored on the flagship program of the

Department: “Every Child A Reader Program,” which aims to make every Filipino child a

reader and a writer at his/her grade level.

The researchers found out that during the conduct of Phil-IRI pre-test last

school year 2019 – 2020 at Batangan Elementary School, it was found out that there

were pupils in Grades 4, now in Grade 5 who were identified under frustration level.

Out of thirty- three (33) pupils fifteen (15) of them are at risk. This situation of the

learners who were identified to be under the frustration level will continue to become a

burden of teachers in Grades 5 and 6 if it will not be given proper attention and action.

On the other hand, COVID19 Pandemic has contributed much burden to

the educational system in the country. It caused a lot of frustration not only on the

delivery of learning to the learners but also the significance of attention given by

teachers to each diverse pupils in terms of their academic performance, specifically, in

their reading, which is known to be the foundation of their learning. Much more that the

approved learning delivery modality is printed modular, teachers can no longer monitor
the reading progress of each child because Face-to-Face interaction is not allowed

because of the COVID19 Pandemic. To at least give alternative intervention on reading,

it is very timely to initiate an innovation to help the struggling pupils with the guidance

and support of the parents at the comfort of their homes. This prompted the researcher

to conduct a research in improving the reading performance of Grade 5 pupils thru the

Home – Based Parent and Child Reading Intervention.

II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. READING COMPREHENSION

Reading ability, regardless of the purpose of reading, requires

readers to extract information from the text and connect it with information and

expectations they already have. As a result, reading is a process of meaning

construction that requires interaction between text and reader. During reading,

readers attempt to interact with the material unconsciously in order to

comprehend the text. However, because readers approach a text in this

interaction with various baseline information, interests, motives, abilities, and

strategies, they arrive at different interpretations of the same text.

Reading is also a problem-solving habit in which the reader actively

participates in the process of deriving and assigning meaning. Readers must

draw on contextual information that comprises syntactic, semantic, and discourse

limitations that affect their perception of the piece throughout this problem-solving
task (Rivers, 1988, 11 p.71). The word order and the language's syntactic rules

establish syntactic constraints. The distribution of meaning within a certain

language and culture is an example of a semantic constraint. Discourse

constraints are those imposed by the text's topic and development. These

constraints, according to Chastain (1988, p.26), make reading comprehension a

highly cognitively demanding skill that requires careful attention, memory,

perceptual processes, and comprehension processes. Understanding words,

sentences, or even texts is also included, as is a complex combination of prior

knowledge, language proficiency, and metacognitive strategies.

Learners may experience a variety of difficulties with reading

comprehension. Some people may struggle with phonological abilities, while

others may struggle with word recognition. Most, on the other hand, struggle in

more than one area. Of course, reading difficulties can be caused by a variety of

reasons such as cognitive, affective, and so on, and determining the causes is

never easy. Improving reading abilities helps children overcome reading

difficulties and become competent readers. Another key aspect that influences

pupils' reading aptitude is their understanding of various reading strategies (see

Chastain, 1988; Rivers & Temperley, 1978). Beginners have fewer strategies and

are less skilled than more seasoned readers. Good readers try to make sense of

what they're reading, which raises their anticipation of what's to come.

According to Rivers (1990, p. 30), children can develop in reading if

they learn the language orally first, as this is the sequence in which the mother

tongue is learned. As a result, readers will find it easier to recognize what they
already know orally in its pictorial version. Oral reading fluency has received a lot

of attention as a potentially reliable predictor of reading ability (Kame'enui &

Simmons, 2001, p. 208). Reading aloud practice might be regarded a

prerequisite for both reading and writing. Before pupils can perform either well,

they must recognize the relationship between the sound and its written

symbol(s), because competent reading involves enough attention to the meaning

of the word while focused on its sound. As a result, when a word is

misinterpreted, excellent readers are more likely to notice the error because it

makes no sense in context. Children are unlikely to succeed in a regular

language lesson where all language abilities are stressed unless they have this

information.

Many reading specialists (e.g., Chodkieiwicz, 2001; Hadley, 2003;

Rivers, 1990; Wallace, 2001) emphasize the necessity of using authentic

resources to teach and measure reading comprehension without worrying about

new structures and language. Children should be encouraged to use their

knowledge of syntax while working on reading comprehension activities that

preserve authenticity by paraphrasing, simplifying, avoiding, and even inferring

from rules they know in the new language. When performed by the readers

themselves, simplifying an authentic reading passage can improve

understanding of the passage. However, simplifying writings for publication

eliminates the inherent redundancy of the texts, which may make them more

difficult to read. As a result, authentic materials should be presented to readers in

their original form, if feasible, to allow them to understand meaning using non-
linguistic cues. Reading comprehension tests require authenticity as well.

Reading comprehension tests should be designed to reflect how people read

texts in everyday life. "Because most test procedures are unusual in real-life

reading, the objective for which readers on tests read, or potentially the manner

in which they read, may differ from the ways they regularly read such materials"

(Alderson, 2000, p. 248). In other words, there is a risk that the test will not

accurately reflect how pupils will interpret the text in the actual world. One

answer to this problem could be to use test procedures that are likely to mirror

how users read in the actual world.

Reading comprehension abilities are also enhanced when students

are exposed to reading materials of the appropriate difficulty level. Many reading

specialists have underlined this (e.g., Nassaji, 2003; Nunan, 1989; Soranastapon

& Chuedoung, 1999; Widdowson 1990; Willis & Willis 2001). The degree of

structural and lexical complexity of the language employed determines the

difficulty level of a reading passage. It should be appropriate for the readers'

present level of competence and allow pupils to decode the structure and

language of the piece in order to comprehend it. The process of decoding a

passage involves both syntactic and semantic processes. Except when the

meaning is unclear, fluent readers depend more on semantic than syntactic

information (Rivers, 1988, p.73). Readers must perceive meaningful structural

linkages within phrases during syntactic processing. They should be able to

identify the lexical meaning of words and try to develop a broader meaning for

these words within the settings of phrase, sentence, and conversation during
semantic processing. However, due of the presence of complex words, this

semantic processing can become more problematic. The length of the words is

one criterion for determining their difficulty level. According to Bernhardt (1984, p.

39), longer or multi-syllable words in a passage are considered as difficult

because they do require considerable processing attention.

Learners should develop and strengthen three unique reading

abilities that lead to proficient reading: (a) recognizing familiar written words, (b)

employing phonic skills to pronounce novel words, and (c) understanding what is

read (Funnel & Morgan, 1995, p. 46). Because these three abilities are, to a large

extent, independent of one another, readers may rely heavily on one and rarely

employ the others. Preparing appropriate materials in the form of reading

comprehension assignments and passages that are fascinating, relevant, and at

an acceptable degree of difficulty is one strategy to assist these students in

applying all of these abilities (Dobrenow, 1981, p. www). Materials should also

meet the learners' objectives, put them in control of their learning, be socio-

culturally suitable, based on societal norms, gender sensitive, age appropriate,

match the students' ability, be up to date and authentic, well-structured and

simple to use, and facilitate interaction among learners. Appropriate reading

materials can significantly improve readers' comprehension of textbook

assignments, exam instructions, homework assignments, job applications, or

questionnaires. They can also assist pupils comprehend the discourse structure

and organization of the reading passage if they clarify the function, general

argumentative organization, rhetorical structure, usage of cohesive devices, and

 comprehension of inter - sentential links (Hadley, 2003, p. 198). Students'

comprehension is also improved if they are familiar with several sorts of reading

materials and if such materials are related to understanding the plain facts as

well as the implications, suppositions, and evaluations of the text (Grabe &

Stoller, 2001, p.l93).

B. HOME READING RELATED ACTIVITIES

Theories of parental involvement in children's learning differentiate

between home-based involvement (parental activities with children at home) and

school-based involvement (parents partnering with a kindergarten or school)

(Pomerantz etal. 2007). The Home Literacy model (Sénéchal and LeFevre 2002)

divides home-based parental engagement into two categories: "informal reading

activities at home" and "formal reading-related activities at home." Informal

reading-related activities are associated with the environment that parents

establish at home, such as the number of children's books or reading to the kid,

whereas formal reading-related activities refer to exposing a child to print in

general, such as when teaching the child.

A large number of previous research have looked into the influence

of parents in the development of children's reading skills. However, the results

are still inconclusive (see Pomerantz et al. 2007). According to certain research,

parental involvement in reading-related activities helps a child's reading

development (Grolnick and Slowiaczek 1994; Hood et al. 2008; Sénéchal and

LeFevre 2002). 
 Families are pivotal in terms of facilitating children’s language

development, including their ability to read (Elish, 2017). The development of

children's language and literacy is intrinsically tied to their home-based language

and literacy experiences (Dearing, Kreider, Simpkins, & Weiss, 2006). Reading

to children has been regarded as one of the most important early literacy

behaviors that parents may engage in to help their children improve their literacy

skills (Early & Baker, 2016).

Reading to and with children has received extensive investigation,

producing evidence for the good assistance that at-home reading may bring

(Edwards, 2016; Huntsinger, Jose, & Luo, 2016). As a result, teachers require

guidance and support in developing at-home activities. According to some study,

experienced teachers appear to develop sensitivity to family requirements and

may adjust homework assignments and provide materials to help ensure

children's success (Nicholas, 2018).

To give teachers insights on how to support home-based learning.

Brown, Rosenthal, and Dynega (2018) performed research to discover more

about how often families read to and with their children. The types of books

chosen for shared reading, as well as the elements impacting families' at-home

reading activities, such as shared reading and homework assistance. When the

average reading frequency for families was examined by family income level, the

average reading frequency for families was just over twice per week, and while

most families were reading appropriately difficult, high interest texts intended to

facilitate literacy growth, many were reading texts that children could and should
be reading independently. Regardless of economic level, the majority of

respondents were likely to use books from their personal collection. The findings

reveal a discrepancy between teachers' intended prescribed literacy tasks and

the actual at-home practices that occur.

Drawing on a similar premise that supporting parent-school

relationships promote literacy engagement at home. Reading in the context of

the family and everyday family life is explored by Hall, Levy, and Preece (2018).

In-depth interviews with 29 parents of pre-school children were conducted to

study common reading behaviors in a socially and culturally diverse sample.

Families are vital in reading because they play a significant role in at-home

reading practices (Ozturk & Ohi, 2018). Hall, Levy, and Preece (2018) discovered

a recursive relationship between shared reading activities and family practices.

Exploring reading in this manner revealed that, just as families are vital to

reading, reading practices are significant in family life, particularly in terms of

family routines and interactions.

Similarly, Jackson and Doell (2017) propose that a solution to the

commonly documented study discrepancy between home and how schools

support reading practices and values consists of unidirectional approaches that

teach or train parents in the school's literacy practices and goals (Jackson &

Doell, 2017). Intervention centered on the formation of an alliance between the

researcher and the parents of struggling readers can be useful to youngsters.

Effective reading coaching and modeling can change parents' attitudes toward

home-based literacy teaching. Reframing the relationship as an alliance in a

partnership approach emphasizes the necessity to develop connections where

educators and parents have equal standing to favorably impact the partnership's

productivity (McConnochie & Mangual, 2017).

According to the Learning First Alliance (1998, 2000), (as cited in

Resetar, Noell, & Pellegrin, 2006, p. 242) tutoring and home reading are two

crucial components needed to produce an effective environment for reading

development for at-risk readers. However, Torgeson (as cited in Hindin &

Paratore, 2007) stated, studies indicate although intervention programs make

noteworthy gains in word reading and comprehension, they often fail to help

students achieve sufficient rates of accuracy and fluency (p. 308). Allington (as

cited in Hindin & Paratore, 2007, p.309) noted the intractability of reading

difficulties can be partially explained by evidence that children who struggle with

reading generally receive more skill-based and decontextualized literacy

instruction than their peers. These children also receive substantially fewer

opportunities to engage in reading connected text. In 1988, a study by Hewison,

found increased parent involvement to be more effective in increasing reading

performance than small group reading instruction by a reading specialist (as cited

in Resetar, Noell, & Pellegrin, 2006, p.242). According to

Lonigan and Whitehurst (as cited in Sylva, Scott, Tatsiki, Ereky-Stevens, &

Crook, 2008) home based programs in terms of children’s language and literacy

development, can be more effective than classroom interventions (p.437). Sylva,

et al. further went on to quote Lonigan and Whitehurst in saying a: Home

environment can be the most powerful platform because dialogic (shared)

 reading ‘targets expressive language skills through the use of probing, practice,

teaching, feedback, and repetition’, and in the one-on-one context rather than

small group settings, parents’ use of questions and feedback can be tailored

more suitably to each child and situation” (p. 437).

III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The aim of this research is to determine the effectiveness of a home-

based parent and child reading intervention in improving the reading performance of

grade 5 pupils.

More specifically, this research will provide answers to the following

questions:

1. What are the pre-test and post-test reading comprehension scores of the

pupils at risk in grades 5?

2. Is there a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test reading

comprehension scores of the pupils at risk in grades 5?

3. I there a significant relationship between the weekly comprehension scores

and the post-test comprehension scores of the pupils?

4. What is the effect size of the Home-Based Reading Intervention to the

reading performance of the pupils at risk in grades 5?

IV. METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this research is to determine the effectiveness of a

home-based parent and child reading intervention in improving grade 5 pupils'

reading performance. This chapter describes the research method and design,

as well as the setting, participants, and instrumentation used. This chapter also

describes the data sources, data collection method, ethical considerations, and

data analysis plan that will be used in the study. In the research, the descriptive

pre-experimental design will be used.

A. Proposed Intervention

The researcher will use the teacher – modified Home – Based

Reading Intervention Materials. The said intervention consists of materials taken

the Phil – IRI reading materials but with some modifications for easier mastery in

word recognition. The reading materials consist of short stories with

comprehension questions. The intervention materials will be brought home by the

pupils and used as supplemental reading materials at home with their parents to

monitor them and checked their progress in reading. The Pre – Reading Test

Materials will be given to the pupils and the result will be recorded as their pre-

test scores. Then, sets of teacher – modified Home – Based Reading

Intervention Materials will be given to each the pupils for a weekly reading activity
with their parents. The proponent will schedule a home-visit monitoring of the

said intervention once in each week for the 4-week duration of the said

intervention. Other option for the delivery of the intervention can be done by

other platforms like phone calls, video call, or audio recording. The proponent

will check their answers in school to verify if the intervention is really done at

home. Parents will affix their signature below the reading material given to each

pupil as verification that the material is read. The duration of the said intervention

will be done in four consecutive weeks. Then, a post reading test will be

administered. The scores of the pupils during the pre-test and post-test will be

recorded and analyzed.

B. Sources of Data

This study will be conducted during the Second Quarter of the

school year 2021 - 2022.

The 15 Grade 5 pupils at risk in reading of Batangan Elementary

School will be the respondents of the study. A pre – test and a post test will be

administered. Their scores will be recorded, analyzed and interpreted.

C. Data Gathering Method

 The result of the Phil – IRI will be used as basis in identifying the

pupils under frustration level.

A pre-test reading set will be given to the pupils. Their scores will

be recorded. Then a weekly home-based reading intervention materials will be

given to them. The proponent will check and record their comprehension scores

in weekly basis. After the four-week reading intervention, a post-test reading set

will be given. The post-test scores of the pupils will also be recorded.

D. Plan for Data Analysis

1. The mean and the standard deviation will be computed from the pre-test

and post-test scores of the pupils.

2. The paired sample t-test will be used to test the significant difference

between the pre-test and post-test scores of the respondents at .05 level of

significance.

3. Chi2 will be used to determine the significant relationship of the weekly

reading comprehension scores of the pupils to their post- test reading

comprehension scores.

4. The Crammers–V Coefficient will be used to determine the impact of the

H-BPCRI to the reading performance of the pupils.