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Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region IV-B MIMAROPA
DIVISION OF ORIENTAL MINDORO
MACATOC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The Reading Difficulties of Grade One Pupils

in Macatoc Elementary School,

School Year 2016-2017

An Action Research

Conducted By:

KAMILLE KAY Q. TAMOR

Master Teacher I, Macatoc E/S
March, 2017
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I. ABSTRACT

Teaching reading comprehension to non-readers and

frustration level readers today is different from the past.
Teachers need to focus on extensive comprehension instruction
with all students, not just successful readers.

This action research investigated sixty three grade one

pupils of the two classes of grade one. They have undergone
reading assessment test to know their level of reading
performance.

This action research discusses the causes and reasons of

reading difficulties of non-readers and frustration level
readers. It also presents multiple strategies that have proved to
be successful in a first grade classroom, as well as strategies
used and found to be successful by other teachers and
researchers. As new best practices in reading instruction are
developed and researched, teaching strategies need to evolve as
well.

II. INTRODUCTION

Proficient reading and writing skills are critical to

success. If students are not competent readers, they are at

risk for academic, behavioral, social and emotional

difficulties. Students with reading disabilities have the

potential to be unsuccessful academically and socially.

(MacInnis, 2004). Children with reading difficulties

throughout school and into adulthood, said how embarrassing

and devastating it was to read with difficulty in front of

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peers and teachers, and to demonstrate this weakness on a

daily basis. It is clear that this type of failure affects

children negatively earlier than we thought. By the end of

first grade, children having difficulty learning to read

begin to feel less positive about their abilities than when

they started school (Reid Lyon, 2003).

Researchers have made considerable progress in

understanding all types of reading disabilities (Fletcher,

et.al. 2007). For purposes of research, "reading impaired"

children may be all those who score below the 30th

percentile in basic reading skill. Among all of those poor

readers, about 70-80 percent have trouble with accurate and

fluent word recognition that originates with weaknesses in

phonological processing, often in combination with fluency

and comprehension problems. These students have obvious

trouble learning sound-symbol correspondence, sounding out

words, and spelling.

Most pupils in grade one experience difficulty in

learning how to read. They have difficulty in learning

phonetics, syllables and words. Some of them are scared to

attend classes when reading lessons started. Due to this

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situation, some of them drop out from school and do not

continue until the next school year begins.

The Department of Education from the national level

down to the school level launched different programs to

solve the problem in reading. One of such is the Project

READ (Reading Empowerment for Academic Development) of the

Division of Oriental Mindoro and Project Reach for the STAR

(Strive Toward Achievement in Reading) of the District of

Victoria on the same Division. Project READ is a five year

program aimed to reduce the frustration readers by 20% every

school year starting S.Y. 2014-2015 to 2018-2019 (D.O. No.

16, S. 2014). Project Reach for the STAR is designed to

address the problem of non-readers and readers under

frustration level in the whole district. It aims to improve

reading fluency, reading skills and comprehension skills of

the pupils both in English and Filipino. Currently, it has

been implementing and all hoped that the objectives will be

achieved after its implementation and will solve the

problems in reading.

The aforementioned situations above triggered the

researcher to conduct an action research on the reading

difficulties of grade one pupils in Macatoc Elementary

School.
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III. METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This action research used the descriptive correlational

method of research.

Descriptive research involves description, recoding,

analysis and interpretation of conditions that currently exist.
The main aims are to describe the nature of a condition as it
exists at the time of the study and to explore the causes of the
particular situation.

This action research utilized triangulation method as a data

gathering procedure through survey questionnaire, observation,
interview and field notes.

Respondents of the Study

This study involved sixty three (63) grade one pupils of

Macatoc Elementary School. The respondents attended kindergarten
class during the previous school year and had undergone the Early
Childhood Education Curriculum Program (ECECP).

Table A. Distribution of the Respondents in Grade One

SECTION/CLASS Pupil
Respondents

Grade One - Lotus 31

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Grade One - Orchids 32

TOTAL 63

Research Locale

This study will be conducted in Macatoc Elementary School.

The school is on the District of Victoria, Division of Oriental
Mindoro, Region IV-B MIMAROPA. It is located at Macatoc,
Victoria, oriental Mindoro.

Research Instrument

A self-prepared questionnaire with four major parts will

serve as the data gathering instrument in this action research.

Part I will deal with the profile of the respondents. Part

II will deal on items that will measure the level of reading
performance of the respondents. Part III will deal with the
difficulties the pupil respondents have in learning how to read.
Part IV will deal on items that exhibits the reasons why the
pupil respondents were on non-reader and frustration level.

IV. FINDINGS

1. Profile of the Pupil Respondents

I. Profile of the respondents in terms of age

The graph presents the profile of the respondents in terms

of age. It can be gleaned that 72.63% of the respondents belonged
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to 5 to 6 years old. This was followed by 7 to 8 years old which

consisted 24.21%. Respondents who were 9 to 10 years old
represented 3.16% of the total sample.

According to the graph, the youngest age of the

respondents was 5 and the eldest was 10. The graph also shows
that the mean age of the respondents was 6.37. This implies
that majority of the parents of the grade one pupils of
entered their child in the school at an early age.

II. Profile of the respondents in terms of Gender

The graph 1.2 reveals that 54.59% of the respondents

were male 45.61% were female. It can be gleaned that male
outnumbered the female probably because much number of the
enrolees for S.Y. 2016-2017 were male. This may be because
the large number of birth rate from 2004 up to present was
boys.

III. Profile of the Respondents in terms of Nutritional

Status

As shown on graph 1.3, majority of the respondents’

nutritional status were beyond the normal status which
consisted 65.61% and was the highest. Probably the reason
was that most of the pupil respondents’ weight and height
corresponds normally with their age and they were healthy
enough in entering school.

Nearly one percent or 0.70% belonged to the overweight

status which was the lowest. This may be respondents who
belong to the families that have the highest monthly income.

It can be gleaned that majority of the respondents

belonged to poor families of Barangay Macatoc with monthly
income that ranged below 8,000 which means that most of
parents can’t provide all the necessary basic needs of their
children.
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2. Level of Reading Performance of the Respondents

Table 1 shows the level of reading performance of the

respondents. Specifically out of 63 grade one pupils, 35 or

56% of the respondents were on the non-reader level and 16

or 25% of them were on frustration level.

This implies that almost all of the respondents were

having problems in reading or experiencing difficulty in

learning to read.

Table 1: Level of Reading Performance of the Respondents

Level Frequency (%)

1. Non-reader 35 56%

2. Frustration 16 25%

3. Instructional 8 13%

4. Independent 4 0.06%

1. Even though I taught certain letter 58 92.06%

patterns, she isn't able to recognize
them when reading words.

2.2 Reading Difficulty in Terms of Vocabulary

As presented on the table 3.3.1, reading difficulty in terms

of vocabulary is one of the reasons for reading difficulty

experience by the respondents which got the mean percentage of

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88.89% from the pupil’s perspective. This result was supported by

the teacher’s perspective who got the same mean percentage.

This denotes that the respondents have difficulty in

understanding words to communicate effectively. This implies that

the pupils had a hard time to find the words that they need to

know to understand what they read. This also implies that a

reader cannot understand a text without knowing what most of the

words mean.

Table 3.3.1 Reason for Reading Difficulty in Terms of Vocabulary

Pupil’s Perspective

Reading Difficulty Frequency Percentage

Pupil’s Perspective
I. Vocabulary 56 88.89%
1. I heard my friend tell what happened in 57 90.47%
the movie but I didn't really
understand what he said about it.
2. I feel like I just use the same words 55 87.30%
over and over again in my writing.
3. I don't like to read on my own because 55 87.30%
I don't understand lots of the words in
the book.

2.3 Reading Difficulty in Terms of Fluency

Table 3.4.1 presents that fluency is one of the reading

difficulties that the respondents experience in learning how

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to read. As presented on the table, the reading difficulty in

terms of fluency got a mean percentage of 95.24% or sixty of

the respondents. The pupil’s perspective also relates with

that of the teacher’s perspective which got the same mean

percentage of 95.24% as shown on table 3.4.2.

This implies that pupil respondents have difficulty to

read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. They were

not confident in reading aloud or silently do not read

smoothly and has no proper expression.

V. SOLUTIONS

1. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

 With the help of parents and teachers, kids can learn

strategies to cope with phonological and/or phonemic

awareness problems that affect his or her reading.

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2. Parents can do to help at home

 For a younger reader, help your child learn the letters and

sounds of the alphabet. Occasionally point to letters and

ask your child to name them.

2 What teachers can do to help at school

 Have students sort pictures and objects by the sound you're

teaching. At each stage, have children say the letter sound

over and over again.

3. Vocabulary

With the help of parents and teachers, kids can overcome

vocabulary limitations that affect their reading. Below are

some tips and specific things to do.

4. What pupils can do to help themselves

Find books to read on your own. The more you read, the

more new words you'll see, and the more you'll learn about

the words.
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5. Fluency

With the help of parents and teachers, kids can learn

strategies to cope with fluency issues that affect his or

her reading. Below are some tips and specific things to do.

6.Comprehension

With the help of parents and teachers, kids can learn

strategies to cope with comprehension problems that affect

his or her reading. Below are some tips and specific things

to do.