CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

Reading, which is one of the first habits of traditional education in

developing countries, is practiced primarily in the home and later in kindergartens

until puberty. In this study, elements such as family, environment, and libraries

are explored in terms of developing a reading habit in elementary school, and

assessments of their influence on reading habits are made. In addition, isn't just

for students at institutions with a fence around them, where everyone can't get in.

Reading has value as a source of knowledge, and everyone has the right to

obtain such knowledge.

When it comes to learning, the differences between learning in school and

learning at home are evident. Some parents are unable to assist their children

with their studies at home all or most of the time due to other responsibilities,

whereas teachers focus only on their learners at the school. According to a

UNICEF study, more than 80% of parents said their children show slower

learning improvement when studying from home (Santos, 2021).

The problem most students have that contributes to their poor

performance in tests and examinations is a lack of proper reading habits. For an

excellent performance, there is the need for the student to form good reading and

study habits. At present, due to the influence of the mass media, people do not

show much interest in reading books; magazines, and journals, among others

(Palani, 2012). Even the cankerworm of examination malpractices may be

1
traceable to the prevalent poor reading interests and habits among the wide

spectrum of students. In addition, the by-products of scientific and technological

inventions and innovations have also contributed greatly to the dwindling fortunes

of the good practice of reading among the majority of the students. Today, many

students prefer to watch movies and other shows on the television, listen to audio

CDs, watching video CDs, among others (Issa, 2012). Many parents and

teachers complain about students of our generation who have not developed

reading habits among themselves. Officials of the West African Examinations

Council and teachers of English complain of the kind of English written by today’s

generation of students.

However, as a result of the pandemic and new methods of learning, our

society′s status in reading literacy among learners is extremely concerning

(BusinessMirror, 2021).

As a result, the researchers conducted a study to identify the factors that

affect reading ability and comprehension at the home of Marbel 7 Elementary

School Grade Four pupils, as well as how parents may help their children

improve their reading abilities. The researchers look forward to address the

problem at Palkan National High School. Thus, the researchers measure the

respondents’ abilities by the given passages included in Phil-IRI.

Statement of The Problem

This study was to find out the level of reading comprehension and

vocabulary size of Grade 7 students in Palkan National High School.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

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 1. What is the reading comprehension of the learners in terms of:

1.1 Literal;

1.2 interpretative/inferential;

1.3 critical analysis/evaluative;

2. What is the level of word reading recognition of the students?

3. Is there significant relationship between the comprehension level and

word reading recognition of the students?

Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between the comprehension level and the

word reading recognition.

Scope and Delimitation

This study sought to establish the relationship between reading

comprehension level and vocabulary size of grade 7 students in Palkan National

High School”. This was achieved through determining the relationship between

reading comprehension and vocabulary size. The respondents of the study were

Grade 7 students of Palkan National High School. This was limited by the fact

that some respondents were hesitant to conduct their self-assessment and gave

honestly response.

Significance of the Study

The result of the study will be of great benefit to the following:

School Administrators. The study may be significant to the administrators

because they may see the need for considering students’ academic and physical

environment for their understanding and educational enlistment.

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Teachers. Though the help of this study, teachers can get some ideas on how

they can help students to acquire second language easily. And they can use this

study as their primary source of ideas about learning strategies in acquiring the

second language.

Learners. The purpose of this study is to help learners to acquire and use the

English language to enable them to communicate well and establish good

rapport with, their classmate’s teachers, friends, parents and the like. Also, with

the help of this study they can gain prior knowledge on how they can easily

acquire the English language.

Parents. The result of the study may enable the parents to know their role upon

improving their children’s reading habits which can help their children in attaining

an improved mark in their vocabulary skills and curricular performance.

Future Researchers. This study will help them learn in advance what are those

learning strategies can that increase the communicative competence of a

learner. Also, they can use this study as their source of information for their

research in the near future.

Definition of Terms

For clear understanding and accurate interpretation of this study, the following

terms are theoretically and operationally defined.

Reading Comprehension. Is the ability to process text, understanding its

meaning, and to integrate what the reader already knows. Fundamental skills

required efficient reading comprehension are knowing meaning of words, ability

4
to understand meaning of a word from discourse context, ability to follow

organization of passage and to identify antecedents and references in it.

Literal. It refers to simply what the text says.

Interpretative or inferential. It refers to the involvement and determining

what the text means.

Critical Analysis or Evaluation. It refers to the power to read between the

lines.

Independent Reading Level. Is where the student is able to apply oral

reading accuracy, comprehension, and decoding/ prosody at a determined level

of accuracy, rate, and comprehension independently without teacher support.

Instructional Reading level. Is the highest level at which a reader is not

independent, but has adequate background knowledge for a topic, and can

access text quickly and with no or few errors.

Frustration Reading Level. Include text for which a reader does not have

adequate background level for a topic and/or cannot meet criteria for instructional

levels of accuracy and rate. Think of frustration levels as those levels that require

extensive or even moderate assistance from an educator.

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 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies which

have similar content about the present investigation. This investigation involves

the relationship between Reading Comprehension Level and Vocabulary Size of

Grade 7 Students in Palkan National High School.

Reading Comprehension

Comprehension involves reading information from text, extracting themes,

engaging in higher order thinking skills, constructing a mental picture of text, and

understanding text structure. It means that comprehension is a complex process.

The importance of constructing meaning from text has led researchers to

conclude that the most important thing about reading is comprehension and that

comprehension is the ultimate goal of proficient literacy. Whereas reading

comprehension is a complex skill which involves, thinking, teaching, past

experience and knowledge (Prado and Plourde, 2005).

Level of reading comprehension includes: Literal Reading-reading for literal

comprehension, or acquiring information that is directly stated in a selection, is

important in its self and is also a prerequisite for higher level comprehension.

Recognizing stated information is the basis of literal comprehension, the specific,

explicitly stated parts of a paragraph or passage that contain basic information

are the details on which main ideas, cause and effect relationships, inferences,

and so on are built. It means that literal is to inform the readers directly shown in

6
the text. Interpretative Reading-is reading between the lines or making

inferences. It is process of deriving ideas that are implied rather than directly

stated. Interpretive reading includes making inferences about main ideas of

passages, cause and effect relationship that are not directly stated, referents or

pronouns, referents of adverb, and omitted words. Applied Reading-at his level,

the readers are about to elevate or raise your thinking one more “notch” or level

to more critical, analyzing level. This presumes that the readers are have already

reached the previous two levels. At this level, the readers are reading between

the lines and then examining the message from the author or attempting to apply

that message to other settings. On the other hand, reading comprehension is a

complex process, involving a variety of cognitive and linguistic skills. As a result,

deficits in any cognitive ability important to the comprehension process can

potentially lead to deficits in reading comprehension performance. A

comprehensive framework for understanding the processes and skills involved in

reading comprehension; deficits in comprehension could result from a variety of

sources beyond decoding, including differences in sensitivity to story structure,

inference making, comprehension monitoring, syntactic processing, verbal

working memory, and oral language skills cited in (Harvey, 2014).

The Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) is one of the most

useful classroom tools in assessing a student’s reading ability. It is one variation

of Informal Reading Inventory (IRI). It is adopted in the context of IRI to help

teachers determine the reading abilities and needs of their students in order to

provide bases for planning their classroom instruction. It can give teachers

7
information on the level of their student’s performance in reading through actual

observation. Reading comprehension encompasses abilities to recognize words

promptly and efficiently, develop and use a wide range of recognition vocabulary,

process sentences to build comprehension, engage a variety of strategic

processes and underlying cognitive skills, interpret and evaluate texts matching

reader targets and needs, and process texts fluently over a protracted period of

time (Grabe 2012)

For Li and Kerby (2011), also explored the relation between vocabulary

reading comprehension among 246 Chinese school learners of English using

different measures of vocabulary knowledge including breadth and depth

dimensions of vocabulary knowledge correlated significantly with the scores for

reading. On the other hand, some researchers conducted a study on 661

participants and found that there is a linear relationship between vocabulary

growth and learner’s text comprehension. Accordingly, miscue analysis can be

employed to assist professionals in gaining insight into the reading process. It

involves both a quantitative and a qualitative component. Miscue analysis targets

to analyze the oral reading of individual students to gain insight into the linguistic

knowledge and strategy use of readers while reading and "meaning making", and

to help professionals evaluate reading material. It also provides an objective

basis for determining whether a given selection should be used in a reading

program and for determining material's suitability for use by students. These are

not considered errors or mistakes. Rather, they are considered non-random

8
indices of the individual's underlying reading ability, linguistic knowledge,

background knowledge, and reading strategies.

As far as the first dimension, vocabulary size or breadth of vocabulary

knowledge, is concerned, numerous studies have been conducted on vocabulary

size of a particular group of ESL (English as a second language) or EFL

students. On Levels of Reading Comprehension Woolley (2011) claims that

reading is a two-way process that combines information from the text-based

model with information from prior knowledge using inference. On the other hand,

Gamboa (2014) believes that instruction for word recognition is a critical process

for students. Some students continue to struggle with derive meaning or

acquiring knowledge from text in spite of possessing sufficient word recognition

skills. Additionally, these students experience greater difficulty in upper

elementary grades seeing attention switch from learning to read to reading to

learn. Particularly, the students encounter problems about finding main idea,

making predictions, using background knowledge, making connections, creating

mind images, asking questions, drawing inferences, and summarizing

information. The reading process requires continuous practice, development, and

refinement. In addition, reading requires creativity and critical analysis.

Reading ability is determined by many factors, and requires the

development of certain skills through early reading instruction to attain initial

success and build on it. Reading comprehension is the ability to read text,

process it and understand its meaning. An individual’s ability to comprehend a

text is influenced by his traits and skills, one of which is the ability to make

9
inferences (De Certaeau, 2010). Furthermore, Kelly (2013), asserts that

comprehension means understanding what is being said or read. When it comes

to reading, it is an active process that must be developed if a learner wants to

become a proficient reader. Effective reading skill development is further

accomplished when the learner becomes proficient in literal, inferential and

critical comprehension reading. The first level of reading is literal which has been

defined by Roundy (2014) as what the text simply says. It is what actually

happens in the story.

Newell and Simon (2014) developed this strategy for evaluation

comprehension of the students. This strategy called as problem solving for

readers to read and comprehend well by participating in reading actively. Think

aloud supports readers to learn through this cognitive strategy related to

metacognitive strategies to help students for better performance through thinking

and comprehending the text. While learners do practice by questioning through

reading task; they are given support by their teachers who model their thinking

practices aloud by allowing them to verbalize in the presence of class.

Flojo (2015) emphasized that based on the Philippine Informal Reading

Inventory, determined the strengths and weaknesses of students. Her study was

done to analyze the existing learners’ difficulties in reading and defining the

source of their difficulties in reading comprehension. The study revealed that

learners should be guided to be more aware of their level of achievement as well

as specific strengths and weaknesses in reading. With increased learners’

awareness, the instruction becomes more effective. In addition, her study

10
showed that repeated inventories at periodic intervals in the beginning and end of

the school year would make it possible to determine changes in the level of

reading achievement and in the development of more specific skills and

strategies. In addition, Trailer (2012) adds that reading underlies all teaching in

school, and has the most pervasive influence in the student’s success in school

and adjustment in leaving. Besides, reading is the ingredient of success in man’s

life.

In this manner, a clear measure of child’s development and progress

could be gained. Intervention programs were done to cater individually the needs

of pupils with difficulty in reading. In addition, Thiede, Anderson and Therriault

(2015) believed that reading and comprehension need to monitor learners’

understanding during reading accurately. Further, they believed that self-

regulated behavior in reading can be identified through monitoring the text when

it is comprehended by the readers. Self-regulated learning models help readers

to read the text through “learning for the to-be-learned material” philosophy that

needs to form a wish to follow for better comprehension. In this strategy, learners

do monitor in order to see in what way material is taken for comprehension.

Monitoring is used to evaluate the level of readers. If the level of learning is

achieved, the readers do leave more learning.

Standford’s (2015) found several key factors that impede a students’

reading comprehension. In reading, numerous cognitive processes are used in

aid of comprehension. Likewise, strong vocabulary skills aid a student’s ability to

read proficiently. Unfortunately, as students struggle to read, they often avoid

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reading. Refusal to read implies a wide range of consequences since reading

also influences vocabulary development. Thus, when one’s reading is not fluent

or a regular habit, then the development of one’s vocabulary is also retarded.

During reading, students continually process words to create meaning; and

without a strong vocabulary, students struggle to understand what they read.

As indicated by the researchers cited in the previous section, “reading a

language” and comprehending it require that one possess sufficient vocabulary.

The relation between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension is

complex and dynamic. One way of looking at it is to divide it up into two major

directions of effect. “The effect of vocabulary knowledge on reading

comprehension, and the effect of reading comprehension on vocabulary

knowledge or growth” (Nation & Hu, 2011). Vocabulary knowledge plays an

important role in reading comprehension. Researchers tend to agree that

vocabulary knowledge is a major prerequisite and causal factor in

comprehension and that there is a relationship between vocabulary size and

reading comprehension. Some studies have investigated this relationship and

used vocabulary size as a predictor variable for reading comprehension (Hu &

Nation, 2000).

Liu Na & Nation (2012) investigated this relationship by asking 59 ESL

learners to recognize the meaning of the vocabulary in two texts with different

vocabulary densities: 96% of the vocabulary in the first passage was known,

whereas only 90% was in the second text. In their study, they found that the

density of unknown words in the text affected the guessing rate from context, 17

12
meaning that the lexical guessing task results were better for the 96% lexical

coverage version of the passage. The study of Hu & Nation (2000) concluded

that readers need at least a vocabulary of 5,000-word families to cover

approximately 98% of the running words in a novel and to achieve adequate

unassisted comprehension. Few L2 readers were able to comprehend well with

around 90%-95% vocabulary knowledge in a given text. In addition, Koda (2010),

examined the correlation between vocabulary tests and two reading tests. The

result of her study showed that vocabulary knowledge contributes to students’

reading comprehension in Japanese, and that there was a correlation coefficient

of 0.74 between the vocabulary test scores and the comprehension test scores.

Determining the vocabulary size is important in ascertaining whether it enables

the foreign language learner to reasonably comprehend the written texts. It is

also crucial to know whether there is a vocabulary knowledge threshold below

which reading comprehension cannot be achieved, a level the readers absolutely

need in order to transfer their L1 reading strategies, especially when the L1

writing system is different than the L2.

Some studies show that there is actually a strong relationship between

vocabulary size and reading comprehension. A study conducted by Anderson,

and Freebody (2015) that the purpose of the study is to know about the role of

vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. The methods used in this

study are Yes/No format, Multiple Choice, Constructed answer and matching.

The result shows that word knowledge is important for reading comprehension.

The other study conducted by Olmos (2010) to high school students in Mucia

13
also shows that vocabulary plays an important role in order to comprehend

reading passages. The purpose of the study is to determine the vocabulary size

of group of final year students in a High School in Mucia.

Marasigan (2013), he conducted a study to find out the types of

selections, if mental abilities of students affect the comprehension abilities of

students affect the comprehension abilities of students such as skills as noting

details, drawing inferences and getting the main ideas. Vocabulary Size is an

important element in learning and using English for all skills for ESL/EFL

students. If students did not have enough size of vocabulary, they may find

difficulty when using a language. Paul and O’Rourke (2015) identified word

knowledge as an important component in reading comprehension and they

indicated it. Researchers have identified it as one of the most important

components. Also, many different types of disabling conditions may impact on

the ability to read. An estimated 85-90 percent of students with learning

disabilities experience reading problems.

Word Recognition

Researchers seem to agree upon the fact that is not possible for fluent

reading to take place without accurate and fast word recognition Hulstijn (2012).

For skilled readers, recognizing a word occurs in less than 100 millieseconds.

According to Wolf and Katzi-Cohen (2014), word recognition is a summation of

accuracy and speed of meaning access through decoding of printed words. This

definition tells us that word recognition involves two sub processes: (1) visual

decoding of orthographic forms of words and activating links between graphic

14
and phonological codes and (2) retrieving relevant semantic resources through a

word dictionary in the mind referred to as a mental lexicon (known as lexical

access or semantic access) Jeon (2012).

Vocabulary Knowledge

Vocabulary knowledge (or lexical competence) can be simply defined as

“knowing a word”. According to Richard (2010) cited in Linuwih (2012) there are

eight assumptions to cover the various aspects of knowing a word. Knowing a

word means a native speaker continues to expand his vocabulary in adulthood,

whereas there is comparatively little development of syntax in adult life, to know

the degree of probability of encountering that word in speech or print, know the

limitations imposed on the use of the word according to the variations of

functions and situations, know the syntactic behavior associated with that word,

know a word entails knowledge of the underlying form of word and the

derivatives that can be made from it, know a word entails knowledge of the

network of associations between that word and the other words in language and

to know the semantic value of the word and the other words in language to know

the semantic value of the word, and know many of the different meanings

associated with the word.

Vocabulary Size

Vocabulary size is often called the breadth of vocabulary knowledge which

Anderson and Freebody (2011) cited in Linuwih (2012) define vocabulary

knowledge as the number of words for which the person knows at least some of

the significant aspects of meaning. Since receptive vocabulary size is very crucial

15
for reading comprehension, measures such as vocabulary levels test and

vocabulary size test may be considered adequate for testing reading vocabulary

because they measure the meaning recognition of words sampled from different

frequency levels. On Reading the road to knowledge begins with the turn of a

page. The ability to read is recognized as one of the most important skills that a

person can have. It is difficult to discover any ability in the school, in the home, in

business, or in any other field of endeavor that does not require reading. Through

reading, one can ponder the mysteries of the world, explore accumulated

knowledge, and contemplate the unknown (Sanders & Rivers, 20016).

Vocabulary knowledge has been recognized to have a crucial role in

reading achievement both in first language (L1) situation and second language

(L2) situation. In Indonesia where English is designated as a foreign language in

the curriculum, this study is undertaken to explore the role of vocabulary size in

reading achievement. The persistent finding in reading research is that the extent

of students’ vocabulary knowledge relates strongly to their reading

comprehension (Ditha, 2009). It means that if students can comprehend reading

passages well, they will also have high achievement in reading as they know

what they are reading. Laufer (1997) as cited in Astan (2014) indicates that both

native speakers and second language learners will be able to achieve

comprehension only if they understand the vocabulary in the reading text.

Some Research on Reading and Vocabulary size some studies show that

there is actually a strong relationship between vocabulary size and reading

comprehension. A study conducted by Anderson, and Freebody (1979). The

16
purpose of the study is to know about the role of vocabulary knowledge in

reading comprehension. The methods used in this study are Yes/No format,

Multiple Choice, Constructed answer and Matching. The result shows that word

knowledge is important for reading comprehension. The other study conducted

by Olmos (2010) to high school students in Murcia also shows that vocabulary

plays an important role in order to comprehend reading passages.

The purpose of the study is to determine the vocabulary size of a group of

final year students in a High School in Murcia. This study also used Nation

Vocabulary Level Test as the instrument whereas the focus of this study is

whether the vocabulary size of a group of final year students in a High School in

Murcia gives strong influence on their ability to comprehend passages. The result

shows that a small vocabulary size will also limit students’ other languages

capacities.

Theoretical Framework

Goodman (1967) stated that reading is a precise process. It involves

exact, detailed, sequential perception and identification of letters, words, spelling

patterns, and large language units”.

In addition, according to the Cohort Theory, a word is recognized at the

point that a particular word can be uniquely distinguished from any of the other

words in the word-initial cohort set that was defined exclusively by the bottom-up

information in the signal. This is known as the “critical recognition point” of a word

(Mannheim ,1952)

Conceptual Framework

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 The researchers of this study followed a set of steps in the gathering of

the needed data. The first step of the data gathering was focused on the

comprehension level of the selected Grade 7 students of Palkan National High

School. The next step comprised the identification of significant of differences of

male and female students in their comprehension level.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Word Reading
Recognition
Reading Comprehension
level
1.1 literal
1.2 interpretative/inferential
1.3 critical Analysis or
evaluative

Figure 1. Conceptual Paradigm of the Study

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 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the method and procedures which were used in the

study. This includes the research design, respondent’s instrument, data

gathering procedures as well as statistical treatment.

Research Design

This study utilized descriptive research design and describes the

characteristics of the population that is being studied. It was used in collecting

the respondents at one point in time. This design always focused more on what

the research subject rather than the why of the research (Babbie, 1990).

Moreover, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of

the comprehension level and the word reading recognition.

Research Locale

Palkan National High School (PNHS) was a public secondary school

located in Palkan, Polomolok, South Cotabato. The school aims to provide

quality, fair, culture-based and complete basic education to the students. The

school implemented a K to 12 basic education program that offers junior and

19
senior high school. It is under the resolution ordered by the Department of

Education (DepEd). It had GAS and HUMSS under Academic Track for its senior

high school education.

The mission-vision of the school- We dream of Filipinos who passionately

love their country and whose values and competencies enable them to realize

their full potential and contribute meaningfully to building the nation? As a

learner-centered public institution, The Department of Education continuously

improves itself to better serve its stakeholders.

To protect and promote the right of every Filipino to quality, equitable,

culture-based, and complete basic education where: Students learn in a child-

friendly, gender-sensitive, safe, and motivating environment. Teachers facilitate

learning and constantly nurture every learner. Administrators and staff, as

stewards of the institution, ensure an enabling and supportive environment for

effective learning to happen. Family, community, and other stakeholders are

actively engaged and share responsibility for developing life-long learners.

20
 Figure 2. Map of Palkan, South Cotabato

Research Respondents and Sample Size

The respondents of the study were the first-year high school students of

Palkan National High School for the school year 2021-2022. There was a total of

two (2) sections of Grade 7 students and the researchers randomly picked ten

(10) students to represent as source of data due to the threat of covid-19

pandemic.

The researchers believed that the freshmen students of Palkan National

High School were the appropriate respondents of the study in terms of identifying

the Comprehension Level and Vocabulary Size of Grade 7 Students of Palkan

National High School. The comprehension that will assist them towards another

level in their secondary education.

Research Instrument

The researchers utilized PHIL-IRI Passage or the Philippine Informal

Reading Inventory Levels and modified it as an assessment tool that evaluates

the reading comprehension level of Grade 7 Learners. This was suitable to the

study in identifying the relationship between reading comprehension level and

vocabulary size of the students.

The improvement of the questionnaire was done by the help of the adviser

of examiners for their suggestions and comment during consultations, the

21
research adviser checked and approved for validation to ensure the content

validity before gathering data. Then, comments and suggestions of the adviser of

examiners on the questionnaire were followed by the researchers.

Data Gathering Procedure

In this stage, the researchers administered the treatment procedures on

the respondents’ answers. Moreover, before conducting the study, the

researchers followed the following phases:

1. Permission to conduct a study. Phase one consisted of obtaining

permission from the basic education school principal to conduct the study.

After receiving the permission, the researchers met their respondents and

explain to them the purpose of the study.

2. Administration of the Questionnaires. Phase two consisted of

implementing the treatment for gathering the data. The researchers

administered the questionnaire to the students. The researchers gave the

respondents sufficient time to answer the questionnaire.

3. Retrieval of the Researcher Instruments. Students answered the

questionnaires then it were gathered and the responses were coded and

subjected to the appropriate statistical computation.

Data Analysis and Statistical Tool

Statistical treatment of data is essential to make use of the data in the

right form. Statistical tools such as rank and percentage will be used in the study

in treating the data gathered.

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 Chapter IV

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION

This chapter presents, analyzes, and interprets the data gathered in this

study. The various result regarding the comprehension level and the word

reading recognition level of Grade 7 students of Palkan National High School are

presented on the succeeding tables.

Table 1.1 Level of Reading Comprehension of the Grade7 Students in terms

of Literal
Questions Mean Score SD Level
Q1 2.55 0.45 Independent
Q2 2.67 0.56 Independent
Q3 2.49 0.76 Instructional
Q4 2.48 0.81 Instructional
Weighted mean 2.55 0.65 Independent
Legend:
2.50-3.00 Independent level
1.50-2.49 Instructional level
1.00-1.49 Frustration level

Figure 1.1 shows the reading comprehension of the Grade 7 students in

terms of literal. We can glean in the table that the highest mean was 2.67 in

question number 2 and described as independent. The lowest mean is 2.48 on

question number 4 and described as Instructional.

The over-all mean was 2.55 and described as Independent. It simply

means that in terms of literal, most of the students were independent.

23
 The result was supported by the study of Harvey (2014), that literal is to

inform the readers directly shown in the text.

Table 1.2 Level of Comprehension of the Grade7 Students in terms of

Imperative
Questions Mean Score SD Level
Q5 2.48 0.33 Independent
Q6 2.40 0.47 Instructional
Q7 2.43 0.65 Instructional
Weighted mean 2.43 0.48 Instructional
Legend:
2.50-3.00 Independent level
1.50-2.49 Instructional level
1.00-1.49 Frustration level

Figure 1.2 shows the reading comprehension of the Grade 7 students in

terms of imperative. It can be gleaned in the table that the highest mean was

2.48 in question number 5 and described as independent. The lowest mean is

2.40 on question number 4 and described as Instructional.

The over-all mean was 2.43 and described as Instructional. It simply

means that in terms of imperative, most of the students were instructional.

The result clearly explains that an individual’s ability to comprehend a text

is influenced by his traits and skills, one of which is the ability to make inferences

(De Certaeau, 2010).

Table 1.3 Level of Reading Comprehension of the Grade7 Students in terms

of Evaluative
Questions Mean Score SD Level
Q5 2.35 0.46 Independent
Q6 2.40 0.52 Independent
Q7 2.34 0.79 Instructional
Weighted mean 2.36 0.59 Instructional
Legend:3
2.50-3.00 Independent level
1.50-2.49 Instructional level
1.00-1.49 Frustration level

24
 Figure 1.3 shows the reading comprehension of the Grade 7 students in

terms of evaluative. It can be gleaned in the table that the highest mean was 2.40

in question number 6 and described as independent. The lowest mean is 2.34 on

question number 7 and described as Instructional.

The over-all mean was 2.36 and described as Instructional. It simply

means that in terms of imperative, most of the students were instructional.

The result was supported by the study of Newell and Simon (2014) that

learners do practice by questioning through reading task; they are given support

by their teachers who model their thinking practices aloud by allowing them to

verbalize in the presence of class.

Table 1.4 Level of Comprehension of the Grade7 Students

Indicators Mean Score SD Level
Literal 2.55 0.45 Independent
Imperative/Inferential 2.43 0.76 Instructional
Evaluative 2.36 0.81 Instructional
Weighted mean 2.45 0.67 Instructional
Legend:
2.50-3.00 Independent level
1.50-2.49 Instructional level
1.00-1.49 Frustration level

In summary, it can be gleaned that the over-all mean for reading

comprehension had a mean of 2.45 and described as Instructional. It simply

means that the reading comprehension of Grade 7 students in Palkan National

High School was in Instructional level.

Table 2. Level of Word Reading Recognition of the Grade 7 Students

Indicators Mean Score SD Level

25
 Mispronunciation 2.59 0.23 Independent
Omission` 2.51 0.29 Independent
Substitution 2.50 0.34 Independent
Insertion 1.78 0.56 Instructional
Repetition 2.67 0.39 Independent
Transposition 2.62 0.43 Independent
Reversal 1.50 0.76 Instructional
Self-correction 1.52 0.96 Instructional
Weighted mean 2.21 0.50 Instructional
Legend:
2.50-3.00 Independent level
1.50-2.49 Instructional level
1.00-1.49 Frustration level

Figure 2 shown above was the level of word reading recognition of the

Grade 7 students. It can be gleaned in the table that the highest mean was 2.59

in terms of their mispronunciation and described as independent. It simply means

that students can recognized words specially when it was mis pronounced.

The lowest mean was 1.50 on reversal and described as instructional. It

simply means that students were on the instructional level in recognizing reverse

word.

The over-all mean was 2.21 and described as instructional. It simply

described as that the level of the students in word recognition is on instructional

level.

As indicated by the researchers cited in the previous section, “reading a

language” and comprehending it require that one possess sufficient vocabulary.

The relation between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension is

complex and dynamic. One way of looking at it is to divide it up into two major

directions of effect. “The effect of vocabulary knowledge on reading

comprehension, and the effect of reading comprehension on vocabulary

knowledge or growth” (Nation & Hu, 2011).

26
 Table 3. The Relationship between the Level of Comprehension and Word
Reading Recognition

Variables r t-cal t-crit p-value Decision

Comprehension
.41 2.38 ±2.O48 0.02 Reject
Word Reading Recognition
Legend:
Computed t < critical t = No Significance
Computed t > critical t = Significant
Computed p-value > α =0.05 = No Significance
Computed p-value < α=0.05 = Significant

The relationship between level of comprehension and word reading

recognition of the grade 7 students of Palkan National High School were

presented above in table 3. The table presents the results and reveals that there

is significant relationship between the level of comprehension and the word

reading recognition of the grade 7 students as supported by a computed t- value

of 2.38 and t-critical value of 2.048, with p-value of 0.02 less than the level of

significance 0.05, therefore, rejecting the null hypothesis. The coefficient of

correlation, r=0.41, between the level comprehension and word reading

recognition of the grade 7 students indicates moderate correlation (substantial

relationship).

Moreover, a study conducted by Anderson and Freebody (2015) that is to

know about the role of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. The

methods used in this study are Yes/No format, Multiple Choice, Constructed

answer and matching. The result shows that word knowledge is important for

reading comprehension.

27
 Chapter V

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary of the findings, conclusion and the

corresponding recommendation of the study.

Summary

This study described the Level of Comprehension and word recognition of

the Grade 7 students of Palkan National High School, Division of South

Cotabato.

The selected grade 7 students who were officially enrolled in Palkan

National High School for the School Year 2020-2021 were the respondents of the

study.

This study was to find out the level of reading comprehension and

vocabulary size of Grade 7 students in Palkan National High School. Specifically,

it sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the reading

28
comprehension of the learners in terms of: 1.1 Literal; 1.2

interpretative/inferential; 1.3 critical analysis/evaluative; 2. What is the level of

word reading recognition of the students? 3. Is there significant relationship

between the comprehension level and word reading recognition of the students?

Findings

The following were the findings of the study:

1. In the reading comprehension level in terms of literal, it had the mean of

2.55 and described as Independent, while for imperative, it had the mean

of 2.43 and described as Instructional and for the evaluative, it had the

mean of 2.36 and described as Instructional. The over-all mean was 2.45

and described as instructional.

2. In the word reading recognition level, the mean was 2.21 and described as

Instructional.

3. The comprehension level and the word reading recognition level have

significant relationship as supported by a computed t- value of 2.38 and t-

critical value of 2.048, with p-value of 0.02 less than the level of

significance 0.05, therefore, rejecting the null hypothesis. The coefficient

of correlation, r=0.41, between the level comprehension and word reading

recognition of the grade 7 students indicates moderate correlation

(substantial relationship).

Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were

drawn:

29
 1. Most of the Grade 7 students of Palkan National High School were

instructional learners in comprehending the passage given to them.

2. The Grade 7 students of Palkan National High School were

Instructional learners in word reading recognition.

3. There is a significant relationship between the comprehension level

and the word reading recognition of the Grade 7 students of Palkan

National High School. Therefore, reject the hypothesis.

Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the following

recommendations were drawn:

1. For the School, they should provide more and adequate learning materials

to enhance the comprehension and reading abilities of the students.

2. To the School Administrator, they should design programs like peer

mentoring to help students who have difficulty in comprehension and word

reading recognition.

3. Teachers are required to innovate reading programs, since the result

revealed that most of the students were on instructional level, an intense

reading programs must be organized.

4. Parents should give assistance to their children specially in crafting home

school reading. Encourage their children to read and put mini library in

their studying area.

30
 References

Gough, P.B. & Tunmer, W.E. (2009). Decoding, Reading, and Reading Disability.
Remedial and Special Education, 7,6-10.

Lonigan, C., Burgess, S., & Schatschneider, C. (2018). Examining the Simple
View of Reading with Elementary School Children: Still Simple After All
These years. Remedial And Special Education, 39(5), 317–323.

Snow, C. (2018). Simple And Not-So-Simple Views of Reading. Remedial and

Special Education, 39(5), 317–323.

Berg, A., Cressman, K. S., (2012). Improving Reading Comprehension through

Vocabulary. (ERIC Document Reproduction No. ED 420 051)

Demoulin, D. & Schnabel, J. (2011). Helping Children Learn to Read: A Program

that is Making the Grade. Education, 120(1), 40.

Gonzales Andrew. (2015). The Philippine Journal of Education Journal of

Education Volume LXX. No. 8.

31
Bernardo, Alejandro S. (2009). Developmental Reading, Manila. Rex Bookstore,
Inc.

Asta, C. (2014). The Correlation between Vocabulary Size and the Three Levels
of Reading Comprehension. Retrieved from repository.

Akagawa, Y. (2010). The effects of background knowledge and careful attention

on reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. (pp. 169-78).

Henriksen, B. (2015). What vocabulary size is needed to read simplified texts for
pleasure. Reading in a Foreign Language 8 (2), 689-696.

Koda, K. (2015). The effects of transferred vocabulary knowledge on the

development of L2 reading proficiency. 22, 529-540.

Yildrim, K. (2014). Is Vocabulary a Strong Variable Predicting Reading

Comprehension and Does the Prediction Degree of Vocabulary Vary
According to text Types. Education Sciences Theory and Practice. 11(3),
1547-1545.

Zhen, S. (2012). The Role of Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge in

EFL Reading Performance. Asian Social Science. 4(12). (pp.135-137).

Adegbite, W. (2010). Teaching Reading Comprehension in English through

Demonstration of Some Strategies. TESL Reporter. 33(1), 23-21.

Kendra, R. (2012). The Relationship between Word Knowledge. Scientific

Studies of Reading. 10(4), pp. 381-398.

Moore, C. (2014). Reading Comprehension Strategy. The Journal of the

International Association of Special Education. 9(1), pp. 124-127.

Linuwih, E. (2012). Vocabulary Size and L2 Academic Writing Quality of the

Graduate Students of Widya Mandala Catholic University.

Hopkins, N. (2012). Comparing Phonological and Orthographic Vocabulary Size.

Do Vocabulary tests underestimate the knowledge of some learners?
Canadian Modern Language Review. 63, pp. 127-147.

32
Hirsh, D. & Nation P. (2015). What Vocabulary Size is needed to read
unsimplified texts for pleasure? Reading in a foreign Language. pp. 689-
696.

Anderson, R. & Freebody, P. (2014). Vocabulary Knowledge in J. Guthrie.

Comprehension and Teaching: Research reviews. pp. 77-117.

Hu, M., & Nation, L. (2013). Vocabulary Density and Reading Comprehension.
Reading in a Foreign Language. 13(1), 403-430.

Huang, C. (2014). The effects of vocabulary knowledge and prior knowledge on

reading comprehension of EFL students in Taiwan.

Nation, I.S.P. (2015). Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. New York: Newbury
House.

Appendices

33
 Appendix A
Survey Questionnaire

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)

Name: ___________________________________________Sex:_____

“Sundown Memory”
As the sun starts to sink every afternoon, tears begin to swell in the eyes
of eleven- year old Merlita. The sunset has always been a reminder of her
father’s grave end. It just yesterday when neigh boors stood at their doorway
bearing the cold body of her father. They said that the bus he was riding crashed
against a coconut tree.

34
 How deafening were the sighs of her mother and sisters! Who would take
care of them? Who would earn money for them? No more. Nobody would be
coming with a bag of “pasalubong” anymore. Nobody would help her on difficult
lessons. It seemed that life was quite impossible without her father.
For so many afternoons she remembered praying, asking god for comfort.
And things slowly changed since then. Everybody worked hard in the family. Help
came from friends and relatives. Now only a drop of tear wets the eyes of Merlita.
She understands that it was
God’s will to take her father. With a feeling of peace, she watches the last
rays of light and the darkening shadows blend into a beautiful picture of
sundown.

Questions : Sundown Memory

1.) Who is the main Character in the story?

a.) Sun b.) Merlita

c.) Family d.) Friends

2.) What day did Merlita remind of her father?

a.) Everyday b.) Every night

c.) Every afternoon d.) Every time

3.) What happened to merlitas father?

a.) Crashed b.) Stumble

35
 c.) Jump d.) Slide

4.) What do you think is inside the Paslalubong?

a.) Food b.) Toys

c.) Books d.) Pet

5.) Why Merlita changed? Because of ?

a.) Nanny b.) Friends

c.) Pets d.) Family

Appendix
Permission Letter

36
CURRICULUM VITAE

JASPER B. FLORES II
Danlag, Tampakan, South Cotabato
Jasperflores719@gmail.com

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Jasper “Jas” B. Flores II
Address: Danlag, Tampakan, South Cotabato
Place of Birth: Rajah Muda, Bula- A General Santos City
Father’s Name: Henry B. Flores III
Mother’s Name: Elsie B. Flores

37
Civil Status: Single

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Educational School
Year
Attainment
Graduated
Tertiary South East Asian Institute of
Technology Inc. 2020-Present
Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

Secondary Korbel Foundation College Incorporated 2017-2018

Purok Spring, Morales, Koronadal City

Elementary Lun Padidu Central Elementary School 2011-2012

Lun Padidu Malapatan Sarangani Province

CURRICULUM VITAE

DANIEL B. LUBATON
Banga, South Cotabato
lubatondaniel@gmail.com

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Name: Daniel “Dane” B. Lubaton

38
Address: Banga, South Cotabato
Place of Birth: Cubic Site, Merville, Sucat,
Paranaque City
Father’s Name: Crispin Lubaton
Mother’s Name: Monaliza Lubaton
Civil Status: Single

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Educational School Year
Attainment Graduated
Tertiary South East Asian Institute of Technology Inc. 2020-Present
Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

Secondary Mindanao Community School 2017-2018

Rizal Poblacion, Banga, South Cotabato

Elementary Banga Central Elementary School 2011-2012

Benitez, Banga, South Cotabato

CURRICULUM VITAE

ROLYN MAE B. LAURON

Kipalbig, Tampakan, South Cotabato
rolynmaelauron1998@gmail.com

PERSONAL INFORMATION

39
Name: Rolyn Mae “Lyn” B. Lauron
Address: Kipalbig, Tampakan, South
Cotabato
Place of Birth: Lambayong, Tampakan, South
Cotabato
Father’s Name: Deceased
Mother’s Name: Dionelyn Bernales
Civil Status: Single

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Educational School Year
Attainment Graduated
Tertiary South East Asian Institute of Technology Inc. 2020-Present
Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

Secondary Alternative Learning System 2015-2016

Kipabig, Tampakan, South Cotabato

Elementary Villa Hermoza Elementary School 2010-2011

Villa Norte, Maddela, Quirino

CURRICULUM VITAE

GRAPA, GIRLIE MAE

Sta. Cruz, Tampakan, South Cotabato

40
girliemaegrapa@gmail.com

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Girlie Mae “Girl” Grapa
Address: Sta. Cruz, Tampakan, South
Cotabato
Place of Birth: Sta. Cruz, Tampakan, South
Cotabato
Father’s Name: Reneboy Grapa
Mother’s Name: Marybel Grapa
Civil Status: Single

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Educational School Year
Attainment Graduated

Tertiary South East Asian Institute of technology Inc. 2020-Present

Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

Secondary Tampakan National High School 2017-2018

Elementary Sta. Cruz Elementary School 2010-2011

Sta. Cruz, Tampakan, South Cotabato

CURRICULUM VITAE

IVY D. LAGLA

41
Norala, South Cotabato
ivylagla@gmail.com

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Ivy “Iv” D. Lagla
Address: Norala, South Cotabato
Place of Birth: Kolambog Isulan Sultan Kudarat
Father’s Name: Samson F. Lagla
Mother’s Name: Arlyn D. Lagla
Civil Status: Single

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Educational School Year
Attainment Graduated

Tertiary South East Asian Institute of technology Inc. 2020-Present

Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

Secondary Lapuz National High School 2017-2018

Lapuz, Norala, South Cotabato

Elementary Kolambog Elementary School 2011-2012

Kolambog Isulan Sultan Kudarat

CURRICULUM VITAE

42
RENCY JANE C. DURAN
Palkan Purok 2 Polomolok, South Cotabato
renzduran901@gmail.com

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Rency Jane “Renz” C. Duran
Address: Palkan Purok 2 Polomolok, South Cotabato
Place of Birth: Palkan, Polomolok, South Cotabato
Father’s Name: Renante T. Duran
Mother’s Name: Jean C. Duran
Civil Status: Single

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Educational School Year
Attainment Graduated

Tertiary South East Asian Institute of technology Inc. 2020-Present

Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

Secondary Palkan National High School 2017-2018

Purok 1, Palkan, Polomolok South Cotabato

Elementary Dolefil SDA Elementary School 2011-2012

Alojado Subdivision, Polomolok, South Cotabato

43
CURRICULUM VITAE

NORHA C. MANDAT
Koronadal Proper, Polomolok, South Cotabato
norhamandat0730@gmail.com

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Norha “Nhor” C. Mandat
Address: Koronadal Proper, Polomolok, South Cotabato
Place of Birth: Koronadal Proper, Polomolok, South Cotabato
Father’s Name: Jonie Mandat
Mother’s Name: Merlyn Mandat

Civil Status: Single

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Educational School Year
Attainment Graduated

Tertiary South East Asian Institute of technology Inc. 2020-Present

Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

Secondary Pablo Valencia National High School 2017-2018

Koronadal Proper, Polomolok South Cotabato

Elementary Koronadal Proper Elementary School 2011-2012

Koronadal Proper, Polomolok, South Cotabato

CURRICULUM VITAE

44
ARNOLD B. JUO
Lampitak, Tampakan, South Cotabato
arnoldjuo5@gmail.com

PERSONAL BACKGROUND
Name: Arnold “Nold” B. Juo
Address: Lampitak Tampakan South Cotabato
Place of Birth: Bongcalon, Lambayong, Tampakan, South Cotabato
Father’s Name:
Mother’s Name: Baby B. Juo
Civil Status: Single

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Educational School Year
Attainment Graduated

Tertiary South East Asian Institute of technology Inc. 2020-Present

Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

Secondary Lampitak National High School 2017-2018

Lampitak, Tampakan, South Cotabato

Elementary Lampitak Elementary School 2011-2012

Lampitak, Tampakan, South Cotabato

45