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VOCABULARY-BUILDING AND READING INTERVENTION PRACTICES OF

TEACHERS FOR LEARNERS' READING PROFICIENCY

Article in International Journal Of Advance Research And Innovative Ideas In Education · June 2023

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Vol-9 Issue-3 2023 IJARIIE-ISSN(O)-2395-4396

VOCABULARY-BUILDING AND READING

INTERVENTION PRACTICES
OF TEACHERS FOR LEARNERS’ READING
PROFICIENCY
Patima O. Palti1, Husna T. Lumapenet2
1
Teacher III, Matalam Central Elementary School, Matalam South District, Matalam, North Cotabato,
Philippines
2
Associate Professor III, Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology, Doroluman, Arakan,
Cotabato. Philippines

ABSTRACT
This study explored the vocabulary-building and intervention practices of teachers and the learners’ reading
proficiency. It employed a mixed method using a descriptive-correlation research design. A Descriptive design was
utilized to determine the gathered data through a researcher-made questionnaire about the practices of 41 teachers
in vocabulary building and reading intervention that includes the proficiency rating of Grade III pupils. To test the
hypotheses of the study, it used the Spearman Rho correlation method and the Multiple Linear Regression approach.
The descriptive results revealed that the teachers highly practiced vocabulary-building strategies in terms of
directed vocabulary instruction and contextual analysis as well as intervention strategies such as guided reading,
modelling, direct explanation, reading aloud, and re-reading. To measure the reading proficiency of learners, it
tested their reading fluency, comprehension, and their skills in making connections. Findings revealed that there
was a significant relationship between vocabulary building as well as intervention strategies and learners’ reading
proficiency with a moderately high correlation. Moreover, it revealed that vocabulary-building had a significant
influence on learners’ reading proficiency. Also, intervention practices had a significant influence on learners’
reading proficiency. In conclusion, learning intervention practices such as modelling, direct instruction, reading
aloud, and re-reading can enhance the reading proficiency of learners. The more the teachers intensively use the
reading intervention strategies, the higher the effect on the pupils’ reading proficiency.

Keyword : Vocabulary-building , reading intervention practices, teachers, learners’ reading proficiency.

1. INTRODUCTION

The goal of the Philippine government is to raise the population's literacy rate. In order for novices to
achieve higher academic achievement, they must be very proficient in reading and comprehension through the use of
qualified tutors. If they want to improve their reading ability and gain the confidence to conquer more difficult
reading courses, they must show that they have a positive attitude about learning. Each child must have a wide
vocabulary as the key to reading comprehension in order to develop a strong reading skill. Because they
comprehend and can relate to what they have read, kids who are assigned reading assignments in the classroom are
more likely to love reading (Quellette, 2006). They are therefore better at following directions than individuals who
could not read.
Fluency, decoding, and comprehension are among the reading skills listed by DepEd-CNR (2018). DepEd-
CNR (2018) specifies that reading skills include fluency, decoding, and vocabulary building. These abilities help
kids develop into lifelong readers whose capacity for critical thought and in-depth comprehension of the messages
of written texts is developed to an expected degree. Additionally, they will have more chances to improve their

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reading comprehension efficiently. Before language comprehension, vocabulary development starts. Early
preschool vocabulary abilities were discovered by Bianco, Bressoux, Doyen, Lambert, Lima, and Pelleno (2012) to
be predictive of early reading comprehension. The authors of this study came to the conclusion that youngsters who
have inadequate language abilities have trouble comprehending the context of the sentences or passages they read.
Teachers must choose successful reading intervention strategies based on research because there are
students in schools that have a variety of reading issues (Menzies, Mahdavi, and Lewis, 2008). However, the
majority of reading treatments demand authentic resources and techniques, which are often out of reach for
Philippine schools, leaving a research gap.
The aforementioned context piques the researcher's interest in conducting a study on how vocabulary
development and instructional strategies affect learners' reading proficiency. The researcher bases this hypothesis on
the idea that as students gain a more varied vocabulary, they also improve their reading fluency and comprehension
abilities. In order to acquire accurate information on the instructors' methods for teaching reading, a thorough
interview with each teacher in the schools will be conducted.

2. METHODOLOGY
A mixed method was applied in this study using a descriptive-correlation research design. A Descriptive
design was utilized to determine the gathered data through a researcher-made questionnaire about their practices in
vocabulary building and reading intervention. A Correlation design was used in assessing the relationship between
the practices in vocabulary building and intervention in reading, and the reading proficiency of learners.
This study took the selected public elementary school teachers of Matalam District in the Municipality of
Matalam as the respondents of the survey during the school year 2021-2022. Matalam Municipality is considered as
first-class municipal in the province of Cotabato as per report of the 2015 census. It has a population of 79,361.
The respondents for the quantitative phase of the study were the Grade III teachers at the Matalam South
Schools District. The subjects were the Grade V pupil. The teacher/adviser of these pupils will be requested to
recommend pupils who are manifesting such performance in pre-reading activities. After this, the researcher
examined to determine the reading level of the recommended pupils for pairing and grouping. Respondents will be
limited to pupils with ratings of 75% in the diagnostic tests to be conducted.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The correlation matrix in Table 1 discloses the significant relationship between vocabulary-building
practices and learners’ reading proficiency. Particularly, direct vocabulary instruction revealed a significant
relationship with fluency (r-value=0.401* with p-value=0.015), comprehension (r-value=0.455* with p-
value=0.008), and making connections (r-value=0.408* with p-value=0.014), The result means that direct
vocabulary has a moderate correlation (r=0.21-0.401) with fluency; as well as with comprehension has a moderate
correlation (r=0.455 - 0.60) and making connections (r=0.21-0.408). The hypothesis in this part of the study is
rejected because the p-values are lesser than the set 5% level of significance.
The findings imply that as teachers intensively employ direct vocabulary instruction, the learners’ reading
proficiency in terms of fluency, comprehension, and making connections with the contents of the previously learned
materials and the present. The pupils’ understanding of the texts in a passage improves their fluency in reading as
well as their ability in comprehending. It also enhances their abilities to read in an accurate and quick manner and
understand what they bare reading (Adler, 2001).
Table 1 also reveals that vocabulary-building contextual analysis practices in terms of direct vocabulary
instruction had a significant relationship with fluency (r-value=0.537* with p-value=0.001), comprehension (r-
value=0.439* with p-value=0.007), and making connections (r-value=0.457* with p-value=0.005), The result
means that direct vocabulary has a moderate correlation (r=0.4i - 0.60) with fluency, comprehension, and making
connections. The hypothesis in this part of the study is rejected because the p-values are lesser than the set 5% level
of significance.
The findings imply that as teachers intensively employ contextual analysis in learning vocabulary
instruction, the learners’ reading proficiency in terms of fluency, comprehension, and making connections with the
contents of the passages they read. Moreover, practicing fluent reading helps the learners their capabilities.
To improve and develop the learners in reading, repetition and creation of visuals can help their fluency
and understanding (Block & Israel, 2005).

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Table 1 Correlation matrix showing the relationship between the vocabulary-building practices and the
learners' reading proficiency.
Vocabulary-Building Practices Fluency Comprehension Making Connections
Direct vocabulary Pearson R 0.401* 0.435** 0.408*
Instruction Probability 0.015 0.008 0.014
Pearson R 0.537** 0.439** 0.457**
Contextual Analysis
Probability 0.001 0.007 0.005
*Correlation is Significant at 0.05 level.
**Correlation is significant at a 0.01 level

Themes and Core Ideas on the Factors that Adversely Affect

the Reading Performance of Pupils

The table shows the themes and core ideas on the factors that adversely affected the reading performance of
pupils. There are three emergent themes. These are incapability to identify letter sounds, unmotivated pupils, and
poor reading skills.
Incapability to Identify Letter Sounds. The teaching of reading must begin with the introduction of the
sounds of letters to the pupils. The phonemic awareness of the pupils enabled them to combine the sounds and
eventually created meaningful patterns of letters sounds. This is the real meaning of reading. However, based on the
results of the interview the pupils lacked the ability to determine the sounds of letters which is supposedly the very
basic of reading. This hampers their quest to become independent readers.
In line with this, one of the informants shared her sentiment that:

Some of the key factors to pupils poor reading abilities is their poor attention
given to phonics instructions in class and they can’t recognize the letters
sounding. (Informant 1)
In addition,

“The most common difficulty does these pupils experience are

mispronunciations because of phonetics sound and they are afraid and very
shy specially if you going to call them one by one to read at the front they
can’t speak louder.” (informant 1)
Teacher 3 shared the same problem. She accounted that:

“The most common causes of low pupils reading performance as ; poor

attention given to phonics instruction in class, pupils laziness, lack of
motivation to learn to read.” (Informant 3)
Indeed, pupils who began their reading through memorization of the names of letters ended to have
phonemic awareness. As a matter of fact it is noted to be crucial in reading success of a learner (Ehri, 2022;
Genelza, 2022). The absence of this skill means a total fiasco on his/her journey towards a higher learning.
Moreover, it became a perennial problem in the Department of Education which puts the Philippines at the bottom in
terms of the reading competencies in Southeast Asia (Abdon & Barrrios, 2022).
Unmotivated Pupils. Motivation directs learners to increase their participation in the class. The lack of this
enabled them to poorly perform in different classroom activities. They tend to do things that cannot help them. In the
same manner, these learners’ attention is not on the lesson but on things which created a hollow on their interest to
listen and grow. Since they are young, they are usually caught to engage into playing than studying. As confirmed
during the interview, the informant narrated that:

“In my observation during my reading class time, my struggling learners in

reading are not totally focus in the reading, they are playing.” (Informant 2)
Further, this is triggered by span of pupils’ focus in learning:

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“Attention span they are not focus in the reading and lack of interest and
proper pronunciation” (Informant 6)
The theme supports the findings of Landoni et al. (2018) that children poor performance in the class can be
associated to factors such as their interest to play instead of listening to their teachers. Many of them are not yet
ready to focus on their teachers but on the activities where they could engage with their peers. Conversely, playing
was important in pupils’ growth and development since it improves their social relationship (Cardinalli et al., 2022).
On the other hand, Lumapenet (2017) indicated that parents’ assistance in reading significantly influence the oral
and silent reading abilities of their children. Parents’ self – motivation and empathy will improve pupils’ reading
abilities.

Poor Reading Skills. The pupils foundation in reading makes a difference in their class performance.
Learning their first language can connect the bodies of knowledge to the target language which is English. With the
poor foundation of their mother tongue can lead to the poor reading skills. Their limited vocabulary is the culprit of
their failure to express themselves in the English language. Likewise, if they are wide readers they can as well
comprehend with the texts. It was mentioned in the interview by the informant, she said that:

“Factors /causes of low pupil reading performance are Vocabulary,

Comprehension, alphabet principle.” (Informant 4)
The same predicament was experienced by Informant 5:

“The factors that are adversely affect the reading performance of my pupils is
the poor foundation of their reading skills because of long time pandemic.”
(Informant 5)
Basically, the poor reading skills can be attributed to a lot of factors. These include the interest of the
learner and the support they can get from their family and their peers. Similarly, the motivation that the teacher
provided also matters since they open the doors of opportunities to these innocent people to explore the zenith of
success. Furthermore, the availability of reading materials at home and school should be sustained so that their
reading skills can be attained in the right pace of learning.

Themes and Core Ideas on the Factors that Adversely Affect the Reading Performance of Pupils
Themes Core Ideas
Incapability to Identify Letter The pupils could hardly produce the sound of letters or the phonics.
Sounds The pupils mispronounced the words
Unmotivated Pupils The pupils were lazy to participate in the class.
The pupils did not have the interest toward reading
Poor Reading Skills The pupils showed to have slow pace in reading.
The pupils could not comprehend well.
The pupils reversed the word structures when reading

Themes and Core Ideas on the Reading Intervention Strategy

Applied by Teachers to address pupils’ reading problems

The themes and core ideas on the reading intervention strategy applied by teachers to address pupils’
reading problems are shown on the table below. The following themes emerged from the responses of the
informants: the provision of reading materials; conduct of remedial reading instruction; and apply different reading
interventions and activities.

Provisions of Reading Materials. The availability of the reading materials enriched the learner’s
proficiency towards reading. A classroom filled with books that suited to the needs of the learners can boost their
interest to read more. As much as possible, teacher have these materials since they knew well their learners. In the
interview, it was verbalized by one of the informants who said:

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“I think there are intervention did not be effective like direct explanation
because for today’s generation most of the learners cannot motivate and lazy
of listening but if you use modeling or graphics organizer, pictures and chart
from the start the learners attention should be present.” (Informant 1)
In relation to this, another informant divulged that:

“Provide systematic and cumulative instruction, supply reading materials at

home, motivate, reward and success.” (Informant 3)
Reading materials available in the class can be a big help for struggling learners. These motivate them to
improve their skills especially in comprehension. As such, these materials should be simplified and so that there is
really the connection between the reader and the texts. Making this possible, teachers have to contextualize it for the
welfare of the learners who struggled to convey meaning (Ahzari & Ramadan, 2022; Prasetia & Adlan, 2022). By
using multimedia, learners acquired reading skills in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and
reading comprehension. Reading skills of learners in terms of phonological awareness become very high, while in
terms of phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skill became moderate. Statistically, flashcard and charts
were found to be the most effective multimedia tool in improving the reading skills of learners. Moreover,
multimedia has a high significant effect on acquiring reading skills of learners (Lumapenet, 2022).
Conduct of Remedial Reading Instruction. There are learners whose needs cannot be catered by the
teachers during the teaching-learning process. Their reading level and interest is quite low as compared to other
pupils in the class. Having the remedial instruction is one of the best strategies in order to discover the hidden
problems being faced by the learners. This explains that teachers have to really extend beyond the time to diagnose
learners needs and that necessary intervention can be given. As shared in the interview, the teacher averred that:

“I think it is effective for me by means of after my remedial class while the

others is not effective because most of the are not interested.” (Informant 2)
To the same degree, teacher 4 answered that:

I applied DEAR Program ( Drop everything and Read) before I start I gave 30
mins. In reading I also apply Teacher-Parent Partnership Program. I gave
some the materials to my pupils that they will read the materials in their
vacant time at home.” (Informant 4)
Teaching does not happen after the classes (Zheng et al., 2023). Its purpose is to cater the needs of the slow
learners. It is the best time for them to be provided with closest interventions because learner occurs when they are
free from destructions. The finding also indicates that the close supervision being done by the teacher can build
confidence for the learners to trust their teachers (Ha & Murray, 2023).
Apply different reading interventions and activities. Meaningful learning happens when multiple activities
and strategies are applied by the teacher. Repetitive activities led to poor connections between teachers and learners.
Thus, by applying varied instructions could enhance the reading skills of the learners. Therefore, it is a must for
teachers to change their strategies in teaching. They should not resort only to one because this would be boring on
the part of the learners. During the interview they expressed that:

“In situation I used fuller approach for English and marungko approach for
Filipino and re-reading.” (Informant1)
And:

“To alleviate my learners in reading difficulties I used my strategy which is

giving rewards for those who can read and I give them a reading material to
bring at home so that the parents can use to guide them in reading.”
(Informant 2)

Teachers should always have to apply varied activities that would increase participation and motivation
among the learners. It is the role of the teacher to put meaning on the lives of the innocent minds to be productive in

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their quest for a higher learning. The assertion of teachers to provide meaningful learning activities improves
knowledge and skills (Tran et al., 2023).

Themes and Core Ideas on the Reading Intervention Strategy applied by Teachers to address pupils’ reading
Dproblems
Themes Core Ideas
Provision of Reading Materials Teachers provided the pupils with materials which can be crucial for
learning development.
Conduct of Remedial Reading Teachers helped their pupils by conducting remediations to cater the
Instruction needs of their pupils who struggled in reading.
Apply different reading Teachers used varied activities that helped struggling readers to have
interventions and activities the grasp of the reading texts.
Teachers used reading approaches that enhanced the reading
capabilities of the pupils

4. CONCLUSIONS
The vocabulary-building practices explored in this study particularly guided vocabulary instruction and
contextual analysis can be used to effectively enhance the pupils’ reading proficiency. The learning intervention
practices examined in this study can also be useful in enhancing the reading skills of pupils. There is a chance to
enhance reading proficiency if their reading ability is diagnosed so the teacher knows what kind and level of reading
activity will be crafted and conducted.
The vocabulary-building practices such as direct vocabulary instruction and contextual analysis can
enhance the reading proficiency of learners. Once, the teachers intensively use vocabulary instruction and contextual
analysis, the reading proficiency of learners is enhanced. Vocabulary-building practices such as direct vocabulary
instruction and contextual analysis contribute to the enhancement of the reading proficiency of learners. The
teachers’ intensive use of direct vocabulary instruction and contextual analysis contribute to the improvement of the
reading proficiency of learners.
Learning intervention practices such as modelling, direct instruction, reading aloud, and re-reading can
enhance the reading proficiency of learners. Once, the teachers intensively use the strategies, the reading proficiency
of learners will also be enhanced. Learning intervention practices such as modelling, direct instruction, reading
aloud, and re-reading can enhance the reading proficiency of learners. The more the teachers intensively use the
strategies, it will have an affirmative effect on enhancing the pupils’ reading proficiency.

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