1

Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

When students enter high school, they are expected to already know how to read

and to be reading at grade level. Reading assignments in any subject area generally

reflect the expectation that students are able to read the material independently. While

some teachers may be able to provide scaffolding for particularly difficult text, most are

not trained to teach students who are significantly below grade level in ability, nor do

teachers generally have enough time for an activity if it is outside for their subject matter.

Yet, students who start high school unable to read at the appropriate level will certainly

struggle. The high school reading class or Reading Tutorial is one place that can provide

another chance for these students to improve their reading.

Many struggling adolescent readers hide behind apathy or rebellion. Behaviors

such as sleeping in class, texting during instruction, or not completing assignments are

common characteristics of struggling readers. These students rarely ask for assistance and

avoid participation in class, and, consequently, teachers mistake their struggles with

reading for behavioral problems. Their narratives has already been written and, as a

result, many view themselves as unsuccessful (Vlach & Burcie, 2010).

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores (2009, 2011)

indicate that only 34% of 8th graders are considered to be reading at a proficient level or

above. More than eight million students in grades four through 12 are identified

struggling readers (Fisher & Ivey, 2006). In addition, the Writing Next Report reveals

that 70% of adolescent students are considered low achieving writers (Graham & Perin,
2

2007). Furthermore one in four secondary students struggles to read and

comprehend textbooks (Biancarosa & Snow, 2006).

In the Philippines, although there is a decrease in youth illiteracy of 3.77% from

2013 to 2015, still data show that there are still 349,974 from ages 15 to 24 who cannot

both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life

(Eskin & Bougay, 2015).

Also a large number of Buenavista students enter secondary school who are

illiterate especially in english language. There are also in Buenavista High School who

can read English language but often do not understand it.

The researchers created this research to help teachers and parents on there

children to learn how to read especially in English.

Statement of the Problem

This research aims to determine the factors affecting struggling adolescent

readers.This study specifically aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the factors that affect reading ability?

2. Why is adolescent literacy important?

3. How to encourage students to read?

4. In areas of adolescent literacy, namely, comprehension strategies, vocabulary, and

background knowledge, fluency, and motivation and attitudes towards reading,

what are the relative strengths and needs of adolescent readers?

3

Significance of the Study

This study is designed to determine the factors affecting struggling adolescent

readers. It will be expected to be significant to a number of people like the

principal/school head, teacher, parents, students, and future researchers.

Principal. This study will help him to provide resources and to allocate budget

for the needed materials especially in reading.

Teachers. This study will help them to know the factors affecting struggling

adolescent readers.

Parents. This will encourage them to send their children with the quality of

education in Buenavista High School and for their children to learn how to read properly.

Students. This study will help them to improve their reading skills a lot. The

result will focus on them for they are the main concern of the study.

Future Researchers. This will help them to have a reliable source based on the

findings and will also provide additional information that would support the factors

affecting struggling adolescent readers. This study will also inspire and encourage them

to conduct similar study.

Scope and Delimitation

The study will be conducted at Buenavista High School, located at Buenavista

Pura Tarlac. The allocated duration of the study is the entire academic school year 2023.

The respondents of the study will be all levels of Grade 10 students, with 87 volunteers.

The researcher will observe that the respondents are in the stage of adolescence and that

they also had experiences struggling with reading comprehension, which included most

of the students and could possibly affect their academics. However, the respondents will
4

be chosen through random sampling, where the researcher gives a chance to all of the

students in Grade 10.

Definition of Terms
The following terms are conceptually and/or operationally defined to facilitate

understanding of the study.

Background Knowledge. This refers to Information previously obtained that

aids in the acquisition of additional knowledge on a subject (Boardman et al., 2008;

Hirsch, 2003).

Comprehension Strategies. It refers to the activities, such as rereading

visualizing, summarizing, questioning, predicting and checking for understanding, that

helps readers comprehend a text (Biancarosa and Snow, 2006; Shanahan, 2006).

Fluency. This refers to the readers ability to recognize and understand words

quickly or automatically and to read accurately and expression (Osborn and Lehr, 2003).

Vocabulary knowledge. It refers to the knowing of the meaning of a word and

understanding it uses in different context (Shanahan, 2006).

5

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the literature, concepts, ideas and comprehensive researches

which are related in the conduct of their study. They were chosen to support best the

knowledge of ideas and insights included in this paper for better and meaningful

improvement. Both local and foreign studies have been considered which the researches

thinks have something to do with the present study.

Related Literature
According to Oxford (2019), difficulty with reading is a common problem—about

one in five people (including children) struggle with reading in some way. And since it is

such an important skill, reading difficulties can cause trouble in other areas of learning,

including writing, spelling, fluency, and comprehension. These barriers make it very hard

for students to perform well in school and often lowers self-esteem. If your child

struggles with reading, it doesn’t mean he or she isn’t smart. There are many reasons why

he or she may be struggling, and most have nothing to do with intelligence. Learning why

your child is struggling can help him or her develop the skills needed to become a more

skilled and confident reader. They may have Lack Of Support different children have

different needs for support. Support includes the availability of reading materials, one-on-

one support from educators, and additional learning accommodations. Without access to

these resources, children who require additional help begin to fall behind and are unable

to catch up, putting them at a major learning disadvantage. Or Attention Disorder

children who have difficulty with attention often have difficulty with reading

comprehension. Students with an attention disorder (such as Attention Deficit-

6

Hyperactivity Disorder) have trouble focusing on the material and frequently become

distracted, leading to poor comprehension.

Iris (2021), there’s a big problem if you read and do not understand what you’ve

read. The purpose of reading any text or book is to extract value. For example, you need

to comprehend an exam question before answering it. You also need to understand a

report and statistics to draw actionable insights. even without the pressure of exams or

work, reading any book or text is useless if you cannot comprehend them. To gain

wisdom, retain information to pass an exam, or do your job well, reading comprehension

is a must-have skill for life-long learning. However, no matter how much some people

try, they cannot comprehend texts or only partially understand them. They are unaware or

consciously avoid the fact that they may have a learning disability psychologists call poor

reading comprehension.

According to Lynch (2022), some students struggle with reading comprehension.

There are many reasons a child may struggle to comprehend what they read. A learning

disability such as dyslexia or difficulty with vision, hearing, or speech may cause

difficulties in reading comprehension. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder can make

it difficult for a child to focus. Thus, he may be less motivated to comprehend what he is

reading. Difficulty sounding out the words on a page can lead to reading comprehension

difficulties. A child who takes twice as long to read the words on a page will spend less

processing time trying to deduce their meaning, which leads to decreased comprehension

of the text. Similarly, a lack of grade-level vocabulary can delay comprehension if the

child does not know the meaning of most of the words he is reading. Sometimes the

problem can be as simple as a lack of interest. If a child is not interested in the content
7

she is reading, she will not be motivated to understand it. Having difficulty with reading

comprehension can cause stress or anxiety about schoolwork, which in turn leads to

greater difficulty with reading.

Related Studies

Foreign

Spencer & Wagner (2018), the importance of the distinction between

developmental delay and developmental deficit is that a skill that is characterized as

developmentally deficit is more likely to be a contributing factor in the development of

the reading problem. Developmental delay implies that the skill is consistent with the

observed delay in Reading and is therefore less likely to be a contributing factor. To our

knowledge, An empirical examination of these two hypotheses has not yet been

conducted for The observed oral language deficits in children with SCD.

Hidayati (2018), this study focuses on the difficulties faced by the first grade

students of senior high school in Reading comprehension. The purposes of the study were

to find out the difficulties faced by The first grade students of SMAN 1 Darussalam,

Aceh Besar and to find out the factors of difficulties in reading comprehension. The

method applied was descriptive quantitative, Where the test and questionnaire were used

as the instrument data collection methods. The Test consisted of 20 question items

divided into five types of questions, which were main idea, detail information, making

inferences, locating reference, and vocabulary. Index difficulty and percentage were used

to analyze the data. The result of the test showed that the majority of the first grade

students of SMAN 1 Darussalam, Aceh Besar found difficulties including answering

main idea, making inference, and locating reference questions. The most difficult aspect
8

that encountered by the students of SMAN 1 Darussalam, Aceh Besar was finding main

idea questions, because the located main idea was difficult to find. In addition, based on

the students’ responses in questionnaire, they mostly got difficulties in understanding

vocabulary, poor mastery of grammar, the difficulty in understanding long sentences,

lack of media learning, less support from the family, lack of knowledge of strategies in

reading comprehension.

According to Nanda & Azmy (2020), reading comprehension is considered a

challenging part of learning English for many Indonesian secondary school students. This

study aims to explore the causes, impacts, and possible solutions for poor reading

comprehension issues. The results indicate that poor reading comprehension occurs due

to three remarkable factors, which are students’ lack of motivation, low prior knowledge,

and poor English vocabulary. Moreover, this issue also leads to three main adverse

impacts, such as reducing students’ learning achievement, hindering students’ problem-

solving skills, and inhibiting students’ future studies and careers. Therefore, in

responding to the problem above, this study proposes two learning approaches, which are

the Cooperative Integrated and Reading Composition (CIRC) Technique and

Metacognitive Strategy.

Local

Miñoza, Montero (2019), the study concludes that adopting the 4Rs strategy

improves the Grade 8 learners reading comprehension. Study revealed that there is no

significant difference in the level of comprehension in silent reading, between males and

females. Moreover, in terms of the level of comprehension in oral reading, there is gender

difference with females outperforming the males. In the first language, no significant
9

relationship was drawn as both p-values are greater than alpha = 0.05. Interestingly, on

socio-economic status, this influences the level of reading comprehension in SR(p-value

= 0.000) as the p-value is less than alpha= 0.05. Moreover, the post hoc analysis using the

tukey test showed a significant difference between groupings, for the comprehension

level In silent reading, between respondents of high SES and average and low SES with

better SES outperforming those with lower SES. Likewise, a significant difference in the

level of reading comprehension on SR was also revealed between those with average SES

and low SES favoring those who have claimed to belong to average SES.

Tomas, Villaros, Galman (2021), in the mixed method research study of Tomas,

Villaros and Galman conducted to investigate the English and Filipino reading profile of

learners, challenges, difficulties and lessons, the schools’ agenda and initiatives for the

enrichment of reading programs to eliminate these reading challenges and difficulties;

and stakeholders’ support and commitment. A total 4056 Filipino reading profiles and

4216 English reading profiles of Grade 1 to Grade 7 students and responses from the

interviews done with school heads and teachers were described using descriptive

measures and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results showed that majority of the

learners were at the frustration level. Also, the perceived causes, origins and attendant

variables of the students’ reading level were non-mastery of the elements of reading,

presence of learners-at-risk, and no culture of reading. The suggested reading programs

and activities may form part in the creation of contextualized reading curricula and be

used as reading literacy initiatives in the schools. These initiatives are categorized as

Literacy Program, Individual Reading Recovery Program and Enrichment/Enhancement

Program. This study attempts to improve the reading comprehension of Grade 8 learners
10

using the 4R strategy. Thirty-four (34) Grade 8 learners under frustration level

participated in the study. 4Rs (Read, Retell, React, Reflect) was employed, and a reading

comprehension test was used to collect the required data.

Deluao, Bernal, Padillio, Lim (2022), this study is action research designed to

determine if there is an improvement in students’ reading comprehension after

implementing the 4R strategy. The implementation of 4R in this study frames Richard

Sagor’s Four-Stage Model of action rese. The researchers have developed a strategy to

address students’ reading comprehension through reading, retelling, reacting, and

reflecting, hence, 4Rs. This strategy combines reading approaches to cater to the essential

factors necessary for compelling reading. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to

determine the students’ comprehension level during pre-test And post-test and determine

how dispersed the scores were. Paired Sample T-test was also employed to determine the

significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores. The findings revealed

Significant differences between students’ pre-test and post-test reading comprehension

levels using the 4Rs strategy.

Conceptual Framework

Factors:

•Comprehension

strategies
Struggling Adolescent
Readers •Vocabulary and

background knowledge

•Fluency

•Motivation and attitudes

11

Figure 1.Research Paradigm

This study is based on the concept that students should improve their reading

skills to learn better in school. This study will determine the factors affecting struggling

adolescent readers of grade 10 students of Buenavista High School. It will also target the

factors affecting struggling adolescent readers in terms of vocabulary and background

knowledge, fluency, and motivation and attitudes of the students towards reading, and

also in strategies. The paradigm of the study is show in Figure.

Chapter 3

METHOD OF THE STUDY AND SOURCE OF DATA

The procedures and processes used by the researchers to perform the study are

described in this chapter. It covers the research design, research location, research

participants, sampling technique, research instruments, instrument validity and reliability,

research procedure, and statistical treatment used to address the issues raised in Chapter

1.

Research Design
This study made use a descriptive survey method to identify the factors affecting

struggling adolescent readers with the use of questionnaire which administer to grade 10

students. This study is base on the concept that student should improve their reading

skills to learn better in school. This study will determine the factors affecting struggling

adolescent readers of grade 10 students of Buenavista High School. It will also target the

factors affecting struggling adolescent readers in terms of vocabulary and background

knowledge, fluency, and motivation and attitudes of the student. Most students in 10-
12

Innovator say that they have a hard time reading because they are shy or lack self-

confidence, until now, many young people still cannot read very well, the reason why

many students are not aware of this process and many students are losing interest in

reading because of difficulty, and fascination with technology, so it is important to focus

on student especially in reading, reading will be their foundation to keep up with

learning. By reading, students understanding is also sharpened to understand the text and

to think more critically in different disciplines. Reading enriches students vocabulary

which can help them write and understand more words in other texts they read.

Research locale
The study was conducted at Pura Tarlac, particularly in Fourth year level of

Buenavista High School. My partner made our survey or questionnaire and asked our

classmates in 10-Innovator and other sections one by one by messaging them in private

message and through group chat.

Research participants
The respondents of the study will be the Grade 10 students of Buenavista High

School learners during the school year 2022-2023. Eighty nine (89) students belong to

Grade 10 level which consists three (3) sections: 10-innovator (30), 10 discoverer (30),

and 10- explorer (29) From the chosen section, all of the students became the respondents

who took part in the study.

Ethical consideration
To secure the respondent’s privacy, the learner’s identities will never expose.

Since, the procedure will be complete online, rest assure that the respondent’s
13

information would not be disclose since the Grade 10 learners were still minors. The

respondent’s photographs and videos were edit solely if they were display, because the

privacy of our respondents is our top priority and with the consents, letter, and formal

agreement sign by the researchers and the respondents, all personal data and information

will never release publicly without the consent of the respondents. It will kept with the

utmost respect and in line with Data Privacy Act of 2012.

Sampling Technique
The sampling technique used in this research is purposive sampling. The

participants will consist of all grade 10 students From the three designated sections:10-

Innovator, 10-Discoverer and 10-Explorer at Buenavista High School. The total sample

Size will include 89 students, with a combination of male and female students.

Purposive sampling allows for a targeted selection of participants from the

specific sections that represent the grade 10 student population at Buenavista High

School. This approach ensures that the research captures the perspectives and experiences

of all grade 10 students in the study.

Research Instrument
The research instrument for this study will use a mixed method approach,

combining a structured questionnaire and Interviews/focus group discussions. The

questionnaire will collect data on Struggling in reading comprehension of grade 10

student while interviews and group discussions will explore their experiences and

perspectives. This comprehensive approach will provide insights into the Struggling in

reading comprehension of grade 10 students. The structured questionnaire will gather

quantitative data on factors such as demographics, Struggling in reading comprehension

14

of grade 10 student in why they are struggling in reading. Interviews and group

discussions will provide qualitative insights into students’ experiences and affecting the

daily learning of grade 10 students.

Validity of the Instrument

The research instruments used in this study to explore the Struggling in reading

comprehension of grade 10 students will undergo a rigorous validation process. For the

questionnaire, content validity will be ensured by reviewing relevant literature and

utilizing established scales. Face validity will be established through a pilot study,

gathering feedback on item clarity and relevance. Construct validity will be assessed

using statistical techniques. The interview questions will be carefully designed based on

research objectives and expert input. Through these validation procedures, both the

questionnaire and interview instruments will provide reliable and accurate data on the

Struggling in reading comprehension of grade 10 students.

Research Procedure
The Principal of Buenavista High School will receive a permission letter to

perform the study. This is a formal request for the researchers’ permission to collect

require data, such as files and documents containing information about Grade 10 learners.

Then, a letter of approval will be sent to the Grade 10 English teacher at Buenavista,

asking if she is willing to be interview in order to collect data for this study.

Following approval, the researchers will create the instruments, tests, and, in

particular, a virtual reading and vocabulary test consiste of three categories: easy,

moderate and hard, that will be used to collect the data needed for the study. The reading

test is 30 minutes test and vocabulary test will also be 30 minutes test, the researchers
15

will set time for the test to avoid cheating. The reason for doing this study is that the

reading comprehension and vocabulary test results will revealed that the Grade 10

learners at Buenavita High School had poor reading comprehension and vocabulary. This

result is the basis in pursuing this study to assist the school in enhancing the English

reading comprehension and vocabulary of these Grade 10 learners.

When the test is complete, survey questionnaires will be given to the learners after

a week to collect additional data. Experts will assesse the tests and survey questions to

ensure its validity and reliability. The researchers will gather information using a survey

questionnaire by adapting a reliable source of questionnaire. The questionnaire will be

chosen by the researchers based on the variables of both investigations. The thesis

adviser’s advice will be taken into account when selecting the research instrument used

by the researchers. After the test and questionnaires are complete, the researchers will

consult with a statistician to determine the statistical treatment use.

Statistical Treatment
The collected data throughout this study will be classified and field separately to

illustrate the subject of the study based on the learners’ difficulties with their reading

comprehension and vocabulary words, and with the strategies use by their teacher. The

statistical treatments that will be used by the researchers to get at a broad picture of the

entire scenario of the study are discussed below.

Frequency. The frequency count will be use to this study to characterize and

quantify the number of occurrences of the variables will be gathered from the data

collecte from the respondents. The number of times a response to a specific question will

be counted, tallied, tabulated, and analyzed equally.

16

Percentage. Collecting the percentage will allow the researchers to categorize the

number of respondents who will choose the corresponding answer’s from the provided

options. The method of calculating the percentage are as follows:

%-f/N X 100

Where:

F=frequency of the variable

N = number of the respondents

Ranking. This will be used in the study to determine the level of comprehension

and vocabulary of the learners with the use of the second language. This comprised the

challenges that students experience the least and most often in terms with their skills in

reading comprehension and their lack of vocabulary words. Also, the strategies of the

teacher will also included. This may be used to assess what the learners struggle the most

and what they have need to enhance with their skills. The variable with the greatest mean

will be labeled as I and the variable with the least as 10.

Mean. The mean of each item will be determine to examine the data gather in the

survey questionnaires. In this case, the mean score is the sum of all survey scores, which

will be divide by the total number of surveys use. The method of calculating the mean is

shown below.

X=ΣΧ/N

Where:

X=Summation of scores

N = Sample size
17

Reference

Azmy & Nanda (2020), reading comprehension is considered a challenging part of

learning English for many Indonesian secondary school students.

Miñoza & Montero (2019), the study concludes that adopting the 4Rs strategy improves
the Grade 8 learners reading comprehension.

Oxford (2019), difficulty with reading is a common problem—about one in five people
(including children) struggle with reading in some way.

https://www.theedadvocate.org/why-students-struggle-with-reading-comprehension/
https://irisreading.com/signs-of-poor-reading-comprehension/
https://www.oxfordlearning.com/why-students-struggle-with-reading/
https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-020-02095-4
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
346758777_POOR_READING_COMPREHENSION_ISSUE_IN_EFL_CLASSROOM_
18

AMONG_INDONESIAN_SECONDARY_SCHOOL_STUDENTS_Scrutinizing_the_ca
uses_impacts_and_possible_solutions
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=109033

Abracia, Gian Carl C.

San Felipe, Nilasin 2nd Pura, Tarlac
Giancrispo01@gmail.com
(0906)2466068
________________________________________________________________________
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Junior High School: Buenavista High School
Buenavista Pura Tarlac
Class of 2023
Elementary School: Buenavista Elementary School
Buenavista Pura Tarlac
Class of 2019
PERSONAL DATA:
19

Age: 16
Sex: Male
Civil Status: Single
Nationality: Filipino

Juliano, Adrian M.
Purok 2 Brgy. Buenavista Pura Tarlac
28julianoadrian@gmail.com
(0951)3241105

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Junior High School: Buenavista High School

Elementary School:
Buenavista Pura Tarlac
Class of 23
Buenavista Elementary School
Buenavista Pura Tarlac
Class of 2019
20

PERSONAL DATA:
Age: 15
Sex: Male
Civil Status: Single
Nationality: Filipino