© 2023 De La Salle University - Dasmariñas Senior High School

THE EFFECT OF BIONIC READING IN THE SPEED AND

COMPREHENSION OF SELECTED DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY –
DASMARIÑAS SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADE 11 STEM STUDENTS

A.C. Aure, V.I. Bernales, M.D. Bulaon, H.C. Guevarra, J.S. Recto, and S.M. Ranosa
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Department
De La Salle University – Dasmariñas Senior High School Division,
DBB-B, 4115 West Ave, Dasmariñas, Cavite
______________________________________________________________________________

Abstract: In an article from Philippine Star in 2019, Philippines received the lowest score in
reading comprehension among 79 countries in the 2018 Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA). This is alarming as Reading is one of the most significant skills that people
must master as a human being. Readers must be given the opportunity to explore new and
alternative reading techniques that may help enhance their reading skills. In this study, the main
objective is to introduce Bionic Reading to a new environment, and test if it has an effect on the
Reading Speed and Reading Comprehension of selected students of De La Salle University —
Dasmariñas. This study utilized a quantitative and experimental method, specifically the Static
Group Comparison design which uses two different groups: the bionic as the treatment group and
the traditional as the control group. By the end of the study, it is observed that Bionic readers
have a slower reading speed and lower reading comprehension than the non-bionic readers.
Overall, it was revealed that Bionic Reading, in terms of reading speed and reading
comprehension, does not have a positive effect on the readers’ skills.

Key Terms: Bionic reading, Reading speed, Reading comprehension

INTRODUCTION
Reading is a crucial skill necessary
to participate in society, yet not everyone
has the same level of proficiency when it
comes to reading and comprehension. The
Philippines, for example, scored the lowest
in reading comprehension in the 2018
Programme for International Student
Assessment or PISA among 79 participating
countries and economies (San Juan, 2019).
This highlights the need for innovative
approaches to improve literacy and reading
speed.
One such approach is Bionic
Reading, which uses word segments directly
related to their meanings to speed up word
recognition in the brain and enhance
comprehension (Casutt, 2022). With the rise
of technology and the pandemic-induced
shift to online platforms, Bionic Reading has
the potential to be a revolutionary in
improving reading abilities. In this article,
our objective is to promote Bionic Reading
as an alternative reading approach to
individuals who may not be aware of this
technique. By doing so, the researchers hope
to discover if Bionic Reading is a better
reading technique than the traditional way of
reading and ultimately improve reading
proficiency, particularly in the modern
digital environment where the need for
strong reading skills is greater than ever
before.
 The study’s approach involves to use their own devices as their stopwatch
conducting a quantitative static group to record their reading speed. Subsequently,
comparison, where participants will be the students will answer the second part of
assigned to either the Bionic Reading group the selection which is the quiz part. Lastly,
or the traditional reading group, and their the researchers will collect the papers and
reading speed and comprehension will be check the answers of the students using the
compared. The possible outcomes of this answer key provided.
study could reveal that Bionic Reading is an
effective alternative approach to reading or Statistical Analysis. The researchers used a
be completely irrelevant compared to t-test tool to compare the means of two
traditional reading. The prior hypothesis groups. This will allow the researchers to
could lead to the enhancement of reading compare the means of the average reading
abilities, particularly for those who struggle speed of bionic and non-bionic readers, and
with reading. Additionally, this study could assess the difference of both groups.
have implications for education and literacy
programs in the Philippines and other
countries with low reading proficiency RESULT
scores.
Measured reading speed and
comprehension. Evaluation of the results
METHODOLOGY regarding the effects of traditional and
bionic reading to a person’s reading speed
Preparation of reading material. The and comprehension were recorded, analyzed
research instrument used in the study is a and presented below.
standard ready-made reading material for
Senior High School students that came from Table 1: Reading Speed test result for
the Department of Education and Training Traditional and Bionic Group
Victoria which is a government department
in Victoria, Australia.
Mean SD SE T DF P-value
There were a total of seventy (70)
students from Grade 11 Senior High School
STEM students of De La Salle University -
Dasmariñas that participated in the data Traditional 79.057 4.375 51.893
gathering. The one printed in Bionic style
Reading 25.884 - 4.778 <0.001
will be distributed to the Bionic Reading
group and the one printed in traditional style
will be distributed to non-Bionic group.
Bionic 123.486 8.204 51.893
Data Gathering Procedure. The researchers
Reading 48.536 - 4.778 <0.001
oriented the participants about the objective,
content, and procedures of the data
gathering. The 35 students of non-Bionic
group and 35 students of Bionic group will The reading speed test result for
read the reading material provided. traditional and bionic group was recorded as
Afterwards, all of the students will be asked shown in Table1. It appears that the reading
speed is faster with the traditional reading
approach, with an average of 79.06 seconds,
than the bionic group with an average of
123.48 seconds. Additionally, a huge
difference was observed between the
standard deviation of the two reading styles,
25.884 in traditional reading and 48.536 for
bionic reading. This shows that the data in
bionic reading was widely spread, there are
a lot of variations in the values between the
group, making it far from the expected
answer.
Table 2: Reading Comprehension test
result for Traditional and Bionic Group
Mean SD SE T DF
Traditional 2.686 0.163 68.000
Reading 0.963 -3.028
Bionic 1.886 0.208 68.000
Reading 1.231 -3.028
As shown on table 2, the study
yielded a P-value of 0.003. Since the
P-value 0.003 is less than the significant
level 0.1 (0.00 < 0.1), the results of the
significance test are statistically significant.
The interpretation of this is that the
significant test offers support of the
alternative hypothesis. Furthermore, it is
evident that the reading comprehension level
is slightly higher by a margin of 0.8 points
using the traditional reading approach.
Overall, the traditional group has a faster
reading speed and a higher reading
comprehension compared to bionic reading
group.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The researchers would like to express
their utmost gratitude and appreciation to the
following:
The study’s respondents who took
significant time away from their day
responsibilities to partake in this research.
Without the participants from each section,
the study wouldn’t have come up with a
conclusion.
The researchers’ research adviser, Mr.
Donnie Roble, for her undying support,
guidance, and advice to the researchers
P-value which made it possible for them to finish
their research on time and appropriately.
To the researchers’ family, who have
never failed to express their support and
0.0003 encouragement that inspired them to
complete the whole research paper.
To the researchers’ friends, for being an
effective support system who have always
0.0003
trusted their potential in making this
research successful.
And lastly, to our Lord Jesus Christ who
had been the one who gave them wisdom
and guidance throughout the journey. They
are all grateful for giving them the strength
to accomplish the academic year with flying
colors.
REFERENCES
Adler K, Ljungdahl R. 2018. How does text
design affect reading comprehension
of learning materials? Malmo
Universitet. [accessed 2022 Sep 27].
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/g
et/diva2:1534909/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Delamater W. 2010. How larger font size
impacts reading and the implications
for educational use of digital text
readers. [accessed 2022 Sep 27].
http://www.ereadia.com/research/Ho
w_Larger_Font_Size_Affects_Readi
ng.pdf.
Doyon D. 2022. Does bionic reading
actually work? We timed over 2,000
readers and the results might surprise
you. Readwise Blog. [accessed 2022
Sep
27].https://blog.readwise.io/bionic-re
ading-results/?fbclid=IwAR0VvMN
c3TwtjE9bi99g_FM
aeemIMS3JEsCSus-6cLWfnUWidd
YRSR07ULQ.
Fuchs J, et al. 2008. Influence of font sizes
on the readability and
comprehensibility of package inserts.
Pharm. Ind, 70(5), 584-592.
[accessed 2022 Sep 27].
http://www.paint-consult.de/de/publi
kation/pdf/PAINT.
Soleimani H, Mohammadi E. 2012. The
effect of text typographical features
on legibility, comprehension, and
retrieval of EFL learners. Engl Lang
Teach. [accessed 2022 Sep 27].
https://www.ccsenet.org/journal/inde
x.php/elt/article/view/18852?fbclid=I
wAR0U6A-UdXT6fwJQfv_T7addA
LyOp0zBO-610UtyztF5aPa6j66KjW
F6_hU.
Tomas MJL, Villaros ET, Galman SMA.
2021. The perceived challenges in
reading of learners: Basis for school
reading programs. Open Journal of
Social Sciences. [accessed 2022 Sep
27].
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperi
nformation.aspx?paperid=109033

O’Brien B, et al. 2005. The effect of print

size on reading speed in dyslexia. J
Res Read, 28(3), 332-349. [accessed
27 September 2022].
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/i.1467-981
7.2005.00273.x

Sadeghi N, et al. 2012. Learning styles,

personality types and reading
comprehension performance. English
Language Teaching. [accessed 27
September 2022].
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1079058.

Şahin A. 2013. The effect of text types on

reading comprehension. Mevlana
International Journal of Education.
[accessed 2022 Sep 27].
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED54
3604.pdf.