1

Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

As the students grow by means of education within the school, the compulsions in

school that is set for them likewise increase, and so their reading comprehension.

Reading requires focus and understanding, by obtaining these attributes, the students are

more likely to get the main point what they are reading. Furthermore, they could visualize

the ideas appearing in their reading materials for more convenient comprehension and for

them to easily convey their insight and perspective about the matter. Growing up, the

reading comprehension of the students grows; they start thinking beyond the literal

meaning of the text.

Every student need to develop their reading comprehension skill for it is one of

the fundamentals that a students need in their studying in order for them to have an

efficient learning in school. Moreover, according to Cayubit (2012), a child with

sufficient reading skill would have greater chances of success in school compare to a

child whose reading comprehension is poor.

Reading is the mother of all study skills, without knowing how to read it is

impossible to learn another study skill. It is said to be one of the most essential academic

skill because it is where the teaching and learning is enroot (Rivamonte, 2017). In

addition, the purpose of reading is to gain knowledge, information and most of all is to

comprehend or understand what is being read.

 2

In school, although many students can read, reading and reading comprehension

are two different things. Reading involves translating and decoding text into sounds and

spoken words while reading comprehension involves taking what was just read and

deriving meaning from those words. In simpler terms, reading comprehension is the

ability to read, understand and process the meaning of the written text. (Rutzler, 2017). In

the other definition reading comprehension means understanding the opinion or message

that the author wants to deliver intentionally or it is the communication between the

author and the reader.(May & Rizzardi,2002).

“Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills that students should

learn”. (Mickelson, 2019).it is the real core of reading. It is crucial in the educational

success of all individuals. Without it, it will lessen the opportunity of every individual to

gain success and they will struggle in many subject areas in school.

Reading comprehension is not just an important academic skill, it is also a critical

life skill. Despite of its importance many students, especially young learners don’t have a

good reading comprehension. They just know how to read and they understand the text,

in other words they are good in decoding the text but struggling to comprehend what is

the underlying meaning and purpose beyond the text. Reading comprehension has been

the major issue for more than 20 years (National Reading Panel, 2005).

According to Dr.Silbert (2014) there are identified problems encounter by the

students why they struggle in comprehending written text, first they are unfamiliar with

the word, Disinterest and boredom, Oral language deficit and Poor memory skills.

Based on the reading situation highlighted above, the current study is necessary so

as to improve the reading comprehension of learners by helping them in the use of

 3

enhance reading activities, beside that the researchers can able to contribute to the

community in a way that students as a part of community can use their ability to teach

other people who are not good in reading and understanding specially those child who

can’t able to have a proper education.

Statement of the Problem

This study sought to determine the Level of reading comprehension of grade 7

students. It also sought to enhance their level of comprehension through enhanced

reading activity (ERA).

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of reading comprehension of the respondents measured through

the reading comprehension diagnostic test?

2. What are the causes of reading comprehension difficulties of the respondents?

3. What is the level of reading comprehension of the respondents after having

exposed to the Enhance Reading Activity?

4. What recommendations can be given to improve the level of reading

comprehension of the respondents?

Significance of the Study

The present study was useful to the academic setting as it focused on reading

comprehension. The researchers firmly believe that the following would benefit from the

study:
 4

Teachers. They will able to know the situation of their learners and it will also

increase their understanding to their learners. Furthermore, it will be beneficial for them

because as the students improve it will be easier for them to teach, and by the use of this

study. It will enable them to use some strategy in educating their students.

School Administrator. This will be able to serve as a guide for improving and

polishing existing school guidelines. They may be able to use this also for implementing

intervention for improving the reading comprehension of the students.

Parents. By the information provided in this study it will enable them to guide

their children effectively and efficiently in order to enhance the capacity of their children

to comprehend. In this case they can easily help their children to regarding to their

reading difficulties.

Students. This study will help them to improve their reading comprehension .it

will also be beneficial for them while they are still studying hence they can apply it

school as well as when they are reading something like short stories, essays, narratives,

academic journals, stories and etc.

Future Researchers. For those students who have interest in conducting research

about reading comprehension, they can use this as reference or guide material for their

study.

Scope and Delimitation

The main purpose of this study was to determine the causes of the student’s

comprehension difficulties and to improve the student’s comprehension through the

Enhance Reading Activity (ERA) where in every meeting the researchers together with

the peer tutors are giving a reading drills and activities in order to enhance their reading
 5

comprehension. The main respondents of this study will only include the Grade 7

Students of Ventinilla High School who are under the frustration level for school year

2019 – 2020. There are 56 identified students who are under frustration level, using the

purposive sampling procedure. They were chosen because a large number of young

learners have difficulties in learning to read as well as in comprehending. It is identified

that reading comprehension is a societal challenge that the educators, parents, community

leaders and etc. encountered. (National Academics of Science Engineering Medicine,

2019). Unstructured Interview will be used to gather the data on the causes of their

reading difficulties. Purposive sampling will be used in choosing the respondents for the

interview. The program will be conducted on November 19 – December 12, 2019 at 1:00-

1:30 PM. This study was action research.

Definition of Terms

For better clarification and understanding of the terms used in this study, the

following are define conceptually and operationally:

Enhance Reading Activity. This refers to the approach used to improve the

respondents’ reading comprehension. It includes reading activity such as reading short

stories, passage and etc. Every meeting there is a set of activities that must be done, like

reading then drawing (Monday), sharing what they draw yesterday(Tuesday), giving

them another passage but this time they have to tell something about the

character/s(Wednesday), giving them another passage and then the researchers will show

the simple questions about the passage or stories, after that they will answer it(Thursday)

and lastly, the researchers give them another passage but this time they have to answer
 6

the questions after they read the passage or the stories(Friday). Peer tutoring is the

approach used in facilitating, guiding and teaching the respondents.

Level of reading comprehension. This refers to the level of the respondents

understanding such as frustration, instructional, independent and listening capacity

level. In this study it will only focus on the respondents who are under frustration level.

Reading Comprehension Difficulties. This refers to the condition, in which the

respondents are having hardship in understanding because of different unpleasant

situation like inadequate exposure of the English language, they more interested in using

technology, insufficient support from their parents, fear of being embarrass, and having

big responsibilities at home.

Reading Comprehension Diagnostic Test. This refers to the test questions adopted from

Arrellano(2012) used by the researcher as a tool in gathering data needed in this study it

includes 45 items containing different questions align in the Enhance Reading Activity.