Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Reading is being able to interpret written symbols and

understand printed material. Like walking and talking, learning to read

does not happen all at once but happens gradually through continuous

experiences with printed material and reading-related activities.

Parents can help their children learn to read by presenting and

reinforcing these printed materials and reading-related activities

(Johnson, 2017).

The reading program is classified into goals like development or

instructional, functional, recreational, or independent reading programs

(Lozada, 2019).

Phil-IRI refers to the revised assessment tool composed of a set

of graded passages administered to the whole class and to individual

students, which designed to determine a student's reading level

(Teacherph, 2018)

For this order, the following terms are defined and understood:

Phil-IRI Group Screening Test (GST) is a 20-item group-administered

reading comprehension test for each grade level covering Grade 3 to

Grade 6 in Filipino and Grade 4 to Grade 6 in English. The objective of

the GST is to identify students who need further testing (Teacherph,

2018).

Phil-IRI Graded Passages refer to informal assessment tools

used to record individual students' performance in oral reading, silent

reading, and listening comprehension. There are four sets (Sets A, B,

C, and D) of passages for Filipino and English spanning Kindergarten to

Grade 7 levels that can be used for both pretesting and post-testing

(Teacherph, 2018).

The Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) was

created to provide classroom teachers with a tool for measuring and

describing reading performance. It is an assessment tool composed of

graded passages designed to determine a student's reading level. It is

important to note that the Phil-IRI only provides an approximation of

the learner's abilities and may be used in combination with other

reliable assessment material. One of the assessment tools used is

called Philippine Informal Reading Inventory. It measures the reading

proficiency of pupils through word recognition and reading

comprehension of pupils in English and Filipino, precisely, by getting

the percentage of word recognition accuracy and percentage of correct

answers to comprehension questions based on the set of criteria for

reading levels (Teacherph, 2018).

According to (Quimbo, 2021), the Department of Education has

introduced numerous intervention and remediation programs to

address the reading needs of learners. Despite these, data showed that

the majority of the learners still have reading problems when they

reach higher grade levels. Henceforth, the study experimented on

innovation.
 The percentage in their pre and post conduct of PHIL-IRI

reflected the knowledge, precisely comprehension level. The

diagrammatic presentation was enhanced. The high percentage of

Frustration level in the pre-conduct and meager percentage of

Independent level of PHIL-IRI was direct evidence that pupils have

feeble comprehension. Because of regular engagement of the

intervention, the low result during the pre-conduct of PHIL-IRI was

improved and given additional inputs. The high percentage of results

during the post-conduct of PHIL-IRI could be credited to the RAISE ME

UP, and intervention was applied to enhance the comprehension level

of pupils in Grade VI-Rizal (Ortiz, 2019).

The Every Child a Reader Program (ECARP) Dep-Ed Order no.

50 Series of 2012 is a national program that supports the thrust of the

Department of Education (DepEd) to make every child a reader and

writer at his/her grade level. It supports the Education for All (EFA)

target of universal school participation and elimination of dropouts and

repetition in the first three- grades. According to the Phil-IRI scale, the

students categorized into four categories: non-reader, frustrated,

instructional, and independent. A pupil under the frustration reading

level tends to withdraw from reading by refusing it. The pupil can only

read when being guided on the instructional reading level. At the

independent reading level, the pupil can read alone with ease without

the assistance of a teacher (DepEd, 2018).

 ECARP is implemented through the following components: a)

design, implementation and monitoring, and evaluation of early reading

interventions; and b) development, administration of reading

assessments and treatment and reporting of data (DepEd, 2012).

ECARP funds utilized to carry out the two (2) components of

ECARP implementation specifically to implement specific activities

under each compon6ent:

Implementation. Effective and sustained implementation of any

intervention necessitates fund support. ECARP funds will be

downloaded to the regions to support the Acquisition of Children's

Story Books, Training of Implementers, Setting up a School Reading

Center, and Advocacy (DepEd, 2012).

In support of the implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education

Program, the Department of Education (DepEd) is continuously fulfilling

its mandate to produce productive and responsible citizens equipped

with essential competencies and skills for lifelong learning. To make

every learner a good reader, schools across the country are tasked to

help learners develop their reading skills. However, such initiatives are

still not enough based on the recent national assessments for student

learning (DepEd, 2012).

To attain this goal, DepEd shall strengthen the Every Child A

Reader Program (ECARP) with the aims of a equip learners with

reading skills to make them proficient and independent readers in their

grade level, b. Capacitate teachers to become effective reading

teachers; and c. Nurture a culture of reading in schools, communities,

and various levels of governance in DepEd-central office (CO), regional

offices (ROs), and schools division offices (SDOs). Although there is

evidence to suggest that parent involvement (PI) in children's

education positively affects their academic success, the mechanisms of

this effect are less well studied. One potential mechanism is a set of

student-level motivational and behavioral factors labeled approaches to

learning (ATL).

The purpose of the current study was to utilize a rigorous

longitudinal methodology to evaluate whether ATL mediates the

relationship between PI and student academic achievement. Three sets

of analyses focus on three different types of PI (home-based

involvement, school-based involvement, and home–school

communication) (DepEd, 2012). With the use of a large sample drawn

from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort

(ECLS-K).

Longitudinal mediation analyses indicated that only school-based

involvement and home-to-school communication predicted student

reading achievement and that ATL only mediated this relationship for

school-based involvement. These findings contribute to the literature

base on PI and represent a methodological advance to addressing

these crucial mediational questions. How a child reads at home,

whether independently, being read to, or reading to someone, does not

significantly affect the growth of an emergent reader. Although, when

students revealed independent reading as one form of reading at

home, students are more likely to increase reading levels during a

shorter period. In conclusion, parent involvement has a positive effect

on the growth of emergent readers and the speed at which they grow

as learners (Johnson, 2018).

Goodall's (2020) literature review showed that parents' actions

make a difference for students' home learning; even showing interest

in their children's homework communicates the value of the lesson.

Clausen et al. (2020) surveyed US teachers during Covid-19,

focusing on communication with students (aged 12–18) and parents.

Theoretical Framework

The study supports Bottom-Up Theory, Top-Down Theory, Schema

Theory, and Interactive Theory. The Bottom-up Theory involves a step-

by-step method of teaching proficiency of reading components that

allow the student to become literate. This theory involves specific and

direct instruction in a building-block approach using the five reading

segments during early childhood education: phonics, phonemic

awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

The word "bottom-up" applies directly to how this reading process

works. Early literacy's primary focus is to develop the basic,

foundational skills needed for mastery in reading. Reading activities in

the bottom-up theory include students learning to read from the

bottom foundation up to concepts like phonics and phonemic

awareness. It means that children are first taught the basics to build a

solid foundation, and it is advanced to learn vocabulary, fluency, and

comprehension Lynch, (2021).

The bottom-up theory is used widely worldwide due to the

sequential approach. It perceives that reading is a developmental

process best learned from the bottom foundation up, growing in

complexity as a student's reading and understanding proficiency is

developed.

The reading assessment will become better because of this theory

in reading. It is one of the strategies to help the learners understand a

text. Since, naturally, learners can acquire reading skills, the facilitator

has less time to teach them.

Theeuwes (2018) has argued that top-down control is much less

common than typically assumed and that a third mechanism selection

history plays an underappreciated role in guiding visual attention.

Although Theeuwes has made a strong case for the importance of

selection history, his arguments for a limit of top-down mechanisms

involve conflating the terms "top-down" and "voluntary." Cognitive

psychologists typically use the term "top-down" processing to refer to

any perceptual phenomenon influenced by context, learning, or

expectation, including selection history. This highlights a broad problem

in attention capture research: The terms used to describe attentional

control are often poorly defined, and much current debate seems to be

related to the meaning of words.

It is the same as a bottom-up theory where Top-down processing

of language happens when someone uses background information to

predict the meaning of the language they are going to listen to or read.

Rather than relying first on the actual words or sounds, it is also easier

for the learners to understand the text.

According to Jin (2019), English reading is essential for English

majors. It is created to help students improve their English level and

broaden their knowledge through much reading. However, the teaching

mode of English reading courses in Chifeng University is far from

achieving the requirements of the applied talent-training goal. In

teaching contents, teaching methods, teaching means, assessment

methods, and teacher construction, there are certain hysteresis

phenomena. This paper mainly discusses using modern schema

theories to realize the reform of English reading courses to strengthen

training applied talents.

Efficient comprehension requires the ability to relate textual

material to one's knowledge. According to Seymour (2017),

comprehending a text is an interactive process between the readers'

background knowledge and the text in the schema theory. Readers

consciously or unconsciously use the processing interchangeably to

construct comprehension. Schema theory guides the readers as they

make sense of new experiences and for them to be able to make

predictions about what they might expect to experience in a given

context.

The interactive theory of reading postulates that reading combines

two types of processes: the top-down or reader-based, approach, and

the bottom-up or text-based approach. This theory states that both

these approaches interact to give the reader a hypothesis or prediction

about the text. (Staff Writer, 2020).

This theory also postulates that the reader eventually settles

upon an interpretation of a text using a combination of lower-level

comprehension skills and a variety of higher-level comprehension skills.

On the other hand, the interactive theory of reading claims that

readers automatically recognize words and ideas that tap into their

lower-level comprehension processing but eventually bring in the logic

and knowledge of the topic and the world that tap into their higher-

level comprehension processing. It means readers must have the

ability to use context clues to understand unfamiliar words and

background knowledge on a topic to get the full effect of the text. The

interactive theory of reading assumes that these processes work

 parallel with each other, and failure to use both procedures results in

the reader not having the ability to be fully understood.

Conceptual Paradigm

The study will use the IV-DV model. The Independent Variable is

the profile of the teachers in Don Felipe Maramba Elementary School,

Urdaneta I Central School, San Jose Elementary, and Lananpin

Elementary School along with areas of highest educational attainment,

major/minor field of specialization, no. of years teaching, and related

seminars and training attended. The Dependent Variable is The

Challenges of Elementary teachers in Reading Assessment.

The paradigm of the study showing the independent and

dependent variables. The paradigm of the study is shown below.

Independent Variable Dependent

Variable

1. The profile of the

teachers along areas

a. highest educational

attainment Challenges o

b. major/minor field of Teachers

specialization Asses

c. no. of years teaching

d. related seminars and

 Figure 1. The conceptual paradigm of the study showed the relationship

between the independent and dependent variables.

Statement of the problem

This study aims to determine the Challenges of Elementary

Teachers in Reading Assessment.

Specifically, the study seeks answers to the following questions:

1. the profile of the respondents along areas of:

a. Teacher

a.1. sex;

a.2 age;

a.3 highest educational attainment;

a.2 number of years in service;

a.3 academic rank; and

a.4 related seminars and training attended?

b. Parents
 b.1 name;

b.2 age;

b.3 number of children; and

b.4 highest educational attainment

2. What is the extent of challenges incurred by teachers in reading

assessment?

3. What is the extent of the problems encountered by teachers in

reading assessment?

4. What are the interventions employed by parents to assist their

child in reading assessment?

5. Is there a significant relationship between the challenges of

elementary teachers in reading assessment across their profile

variable?

Null Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between the challenges of

elementary teachers in reading assessment across the profile of the

respondents.

Significance of the Study

The study will bring the relevance to clarify the challenges in

reading. The result of this study would be valuable to the following:

Administrators. The study would bring about a clear

understanding of administrators on how to help the teachers the

positive effect of pedagogical approaches on reading difficulties of the

learners.

Future Researchers. This study may have provided pertinent

data in pedagogical approaches on learning reading. Hence, this can be

credible related study for the future researchers.

Learners. This study would help the learning reading learners to

discover the unseen factors that may serve as a barrier in the study.

Teachers. This study will serve as a guide that can use by the

future elementary teachers and help enhance their knowledge about

Divergent pedagogical approach and Reading Assessment.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study will focus on the challenges of elementary teachers in

reading assessment. The respondents of the study will be the

Elementary Teachers from Grade 1 to Grade 6 in Don Felipe Maramba

Elementary School, Lananpin Elementary School Urdaneta I Central

School and San Jose Elementary School during the academic year

2020-2021.

The profile of the respondent will be delimited to the age, sex, year

level, Highest Educational Attainment, Years of Teaching Experience,

the status of employment. The researcher will use a questionnaire

checklist and will be answered by the Elementary Teachers from Don

Felipe Maramba Elementary School, Lananpin Elementary School and

Urdaneta I Central School during the academic year 2020-2021.

Definition of Terms

For better understanding of the study, the following terms are

defined lexically.

Approaches. An approach gives rise to methods, the way of

teaching something, which use classroom activities or techniques to

help learners learn.

Assessments. Refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that

educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic

readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of

students.

Comprehension. Is the act or action of grasping with the intellect

and understanding.

Difficulty. A thing that is hard to accomplish, deal with or

understand.

Implementation. The process of putting a decision or plan into

effect; execution.

Instruction. The act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with

information or knowledge.

Learners. A person who is learning a subject or skill.

Pedagogy. Adopted by teacher’s shapes their actions, judgments,

and other teaching strategies by taking into consideration theories of

learning, understandings of students and their needs, and the

backgrounds and interests of individual students.

Reading Assessment. A useful part of a reading program, as

long as they aim to help students become fluent readers who

understand what they read.

Reading. It is the ability to process text, understand its meaning,

and to integrate with what the reader already knows.

CHAPTER 2

METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the research design, population and locale

of the study, data gathering instruments, data gathering procedures

and validation, treatment of data, and ethical consideration.

Research Design

The Descriptive method of research was used in the study. The

Descriptive method of research was used in the study. According to

Calderon (2008), as cited by Alberto et al. (2011), the descriptive

method is also known as statistical research; it describes data and

characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied.

This research method is used for frequencies, averages, and other

statistical calculations.

Respondents of the Study and Sampling Scheme

The primary subject of this research proposal is the Challenges of

Elementary Teachers in Reading Assessment. This pursuit sought to

understand and address the difficulties encountered by teachers in Don

Felipe Maramba Elementary School, Lananpin Elementary School,

Urdaneta I Central School, and San Jose Elementary School, meaning

from the challenges of elementary teachers in reading assessment.

A purposive sampling scheme will be the tool to gather data from

the respondents. Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling that

the researchers will use to select a sample based on their knowledge

about the study are interested in answering the questionnaire. Since

the population of the students in Don Filipe Maramba Elementary

School, Urdaneta I Central School, Lananpin Elementary School, and

San Jose Elementary School is too large to examine and consider.

Selective sampling will use in this study. The respondents will be

selected from the population available to the researchers. Therefore,

since some of the selected schools, each Grade is divided into two (2)

sections, the researchers decided twenty-four teachers (24) and twenty

parents (24) in 4 elementary schools, specifically Grade 1 to Grade 6.

This study utilizes the survey design in determining the challenges of

elementary teachers in reading assessment and descriptive design in

identifying the different solutions to these challenges. The opinions and

recommendations of teachers will gather through questionnaires,

particularly by using questionnaires. The researchers will conduct the

study in Don Filipe Elementary School, Lananpin Elementary School,

Urdaneta I Central School, and San Jose Elementary School. These

elementary schools are located in the area of Urdaneta, Pangasinan.

Data Gathering Instrument

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a set of

standardized questions to gather statistically useful information on

some subject from one or more respondents (Pahwa, 2021).

To gather data, the researchers will use a questionnaire

regarding the challenges of elementary teachers in reading

assessment, which was the basis in conceptualizing the questionnaire.

The questionnaire has five parts; the first part is the teachers

respondents profile in terms of age, sex, grade/section, major/minor

field of specialization, number of years in teaching, number of related

seminars/in service training programs attended.

The second part of the instrument focused on the challenges of

elementary teachers in reading assessment terms of the following

aspects: the profile of the teachers, teacher’s problems in teaching

reading comprehension, process of teaching and learning reading

comprehension, and students’ problems in learning reading

comprehension.
 The third part of the instrument is the parents profile in terms of

age, no. of children, role and highest educational attainment.

The fourth part of the instrument will focus on the interventions

employed by parents to assist their child in reading.

The fourth part of the instrument will focus on the comments and

suggestions made by the teachers and in the said elementary schools

that can be made to address the challenges identified in the study.

The fifth part of the instrument will focus on the recommendations

and concern for improving the distance learning/new norm of

Education and in the said elementary schools that can be made to

address the intrvention identified in the study.

Data Gathering Procedure

We made a communication letter for them to follow the ethical

standards and respect and show professionalism. First, we will write a

letter for the Schools Division Superintendent to ask permission to

conduct a study in their supervising schools. Also, we made a letter for

Public School District Supervisor to ask permission and follow the

protocols in conducting a study. Lastly, we made a letter for the

principal to inform and acknowledge our study about their school.

After the respondents have taken, the questionnaires will be

checked and validated by selected UCU instructors, tallied, interpreted,

and analyzed. After validating the questionnaires, questions will be

asked to the 48 respondents, specifically the teachers and parents in

Don Filipe Maramba Elementary School, Lananpin Elementary School,

Urdaneta I Central School, and San Jose Elementary School. The

problems encountered by the respondents will be identified through t

second part of the questionnaire given to them.

For the respondents, six selected teachers from different grade

levels, specifically from Grade 1 to Grade 6, will serve as respondents.

The data gathered from the research instrument will be collected and

organized according to the answers responded by the participants.

Along with this questionnaire as primary data, we also used secondary

resources, which are published articles, to support the result of the

survey.

Treatment of Data

The data gathered will be tallied, analyzed and interpreted by the

specific problems posed in the study. The following appropriate tools

will use be to develop a valid and credible interpretations of data to

answer the specific problems of the study.

To answer problem no. 1, which describes the profile of the

students in terms of age, sex and section, frequency and percentages

will use. The formula is shown below:

P = (f/n) x 100

Where;
 P = percentage equivalent of each category

f = number of respondents in each category

n = total number of respondents

To answer problem no. 2, the average weighted mean will be use

on the extent of difficulties in reading. The formula is shown below.

AWM= ∑𝑓𝑖𝑥𝑖 𝑛

Where:

AWM = average weighted mean of each category

f = number of respondents in each category

x = classification value of each category

n = total number of respondents

Ethical Considerations

The following ethical guidelines were put into place for the

research period.

1. The dignity and well-being of working students were protected

at all times.

2. The research data remained confidential throughout the study,

and the researchers obtained the teachers and students permission to

use their real names in the research report.

3. High level of confidentiality of the research data was ensured.

4. Any type of misleading information and representation of

primary data findings in a biased way was avoided.

 5. The protection of the privacy of research participants was

assured.

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