CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Reading comprehension is a fundamental skill

crucial for academic success and lifelong learning.

Proficiency in reading comprehension is essential as

it directly impacts their ability to understand and

engage with course materials, participate in class

discussions, and perform well in assessments.

Poor reading comprehension among college

students is a significant issue both nationally and

globally, affecting educational outcomes, workforce

readiness, and overall literacy levels.

Universally, there are considerable challenges,

particularly in the contrast between developed and

developing nations. In many developing countries,

inadequate educational infrastructure and resources

lead to lower reading comprehension levels among

students, including those who reach college.

Additionally, language barriers in multilingual

societies pose significant challenges when the

primary language of instruction differs from

students’ home languages. The impact of technology

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also plays a crucial role; while digital media

offers access to a wealth of information, it often

leads to skimming rather than deep reading, which

adversely affects comprehension. Moreover,

disparities in access to technology exacerbate

existing educational inequalities.

Educational practices vary widely across the

globe. Some systems emphasize rote learning over

critical thinking and comprehension, hindering

students’ ability to understand complex texts. In

the United States, national assessments like the

National Assessments like the National Assessment of

Educational Progress (NAEP) reveal that many

students graduate high school with reading skills

below grade level, affecting their readiness for

college-level reading.

Socio-economic factors significantly impact

reading proficiency, as students from low-income

families often have less access to high quality

early education and reading materials, leading to

poorer comprehension skills.

High school preparation in the US often does

not align with college readiness standards, creating

a gap that many students struggle to bridge. The

emphasis on standardized testing can result in

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teaching to the test, where students do not develop

deep reading comprehension skills.

Consequently, a significant number of college

students require remedial courses in reading and

writing, which aim to bring them up to speed but can

delay their progress toward a degree and increase

educational costs. Colleges offer various support

services, such as tutoring and writing centers, to

help students improve their reading comprehension

skills.

Poor reading comprehension affects students’

ability to perform well in courses that require

extensive reading, such as humanities and social

sciences. This struggle can impact retention and

graduation rates, as students with weak reading

skills are more likely to face academic

difficulties.

In the specific context of Bachelor of

Elementary Education (BEED) students at Colegio de

San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila of Northern Samar Inc.,

several local factors contribute to poor reading

comprehension. These include limited access to

quality reading materials and resources, as the

region may lack well-equipped libraries and

bookstores. Additionally, economic constraints may

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limit students’ ability to purchase books or access

digital reading platforms. There may also be

challenges related to the primary language of

instruction and the students’ home language,

impacting their ability to fully grasp and engage

with the reading material. Furthermore, educational

practices in the region may emphasize rote

memorization over critical thinking and

comprehensive reading strategies, hindering

students, development of deeper reading skills.

Addressing these issues requires early

intervention to strengthen reading skills from a

young age, professional development of teachers in

effective reading instruction strategies, curriculum

reforms that emphasize critical thinking and

comprehension, and ensuring equitable access to

reading materials and educational resources for all

students. Leveraging technology to support reading

instruction and provide personalized learning

experiences is also crucial. A multifaceted approach

involving educators, policymakers, and communities

is essential to create supportive learning

environments and equip students with the tools they

need to succeed.

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Statement of the Problem

1. What is the demographic profile of BEED students in

terms of:

1.1 Age

1.2 Gender

1.3 Year level

1.4 Socio-economic status

1.5 Primary language

1.6 Parents

1.7 Parents educational attainment

2. What is the level of comprehension of BEED-3

learners?

3. What are the specific challenges faced by BEED-3

students in terms of reading comprehension?

4. How do language barriers and socio-economic factors

impact the reading comprehension of BEED-3 students?

5. What strategies and interventions can be implemented

to improve reading comprehension among BEED students

at Colegio de San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila of Northern

Samar Inc.?

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Objectives of the Study

This study aims:

1. To determine the demographic profile of BEED

students:

1.1 Age

1.2 Gender

1.3 Year level

1.4 Socio-economic status

1.5 Primary language

1.6 Parents

1.7 Parents educational attainment

2. To examine the correlation between the demographic

profile and reading comprehension skills of BEED

students.

3. To identify specific challenges faced by BEED

students in reading comprehension

4. To analyze the impact of language barriers and socio-

economic factors on reading comprehension

5. To propose strategies and interventions to improve

reading comprehension among BEED students.

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Scope and Limitation

This study will focus on examining the factors

affecting poor reading comprehension among Third Year

Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED) students at

Colegio de San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila of Northern Samar

Inc. It examines variables such as age, gender, socio-

economic status, primary language, and access to

educational resources. The research employs survey

questionnaires, interviews, and reading comprehension

assessments.

However, the study is limited to Third Year BEED

students at a single institution, which may affect the

generalizability of the findings. Self-reported data may

introduce bias, and the study may not fully capture the

cultural and linguistic diversity of the student

population. Time constraints limit long term analysis, and

the study does not comprehensively evaluate the

effectiveness of proposed interventions. Despite these

limitations, the research aims to provide valuable

insights for improving reading comprehension among BEED

students at CSLRM.

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Significance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to the following group

of people, both private and public organization.

Students- the study aims to enhance students’ reading

skills, leading to better academic performance and success

in their coursework.

Educators- This study will provide educators at Colegio de

San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila of Northern Samar Inc. with

insights into the specific challenges faced by their

students, enabling them to adopt more effective teaching

strategies and instructional methods to support reading

comprehension.

Administrators- The study can guide them in developing and

revising curricula to better address the reading

comprehension needs of BEED students.

Colegio de San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila of Northern Samar

Inc.(CSLRM)-The study aims to enhance students’ reading

skills, leading to better academic performance and success

in their coursework and provide educators at CSLRM with

insights into the specific challenges faced by their

students.

Future researchers- This study can a framework and

baseline data that future researchers can use to conduct

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comparative studies across different institutions,

regions, or educational systems.

Theoretical Framework

These theories show the factors that can affect

the students Reading Comprehension in English.

The main purpose for reading is to comprehend

the ideas in the material. Without comprehension the

reading would be meaningless. Providing a basis of

the study is the existing theory by Thomas G.

Gunning, the schema theory. Gunning (2016) defines a

schema as the organized knowledge that one already

has about people, places, things, and events.

Therefore, this model may not be as affective

for none-spatial learning. Teaching process of how a

mental teacher is formed could developed this skill.

Taking information about the main character as it

comes through the readings an writing descriptive

pieces on that character would be away to improve

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this skill and work towards increasing comprehension

(Thomas G. Gunning, 2016).

Therefore, reading comprehension is recognizing

the individual words but also understanding the

context, making connection, and extracting meaning

from the text.

Reading comprehension is a crucial skill that

students need to develop for success in academic and

personal contexts. However, students with learning

difficulties often struggle with understanding what

they read, even after acquiring necessary decoding

skills (Gersten et al. 2009).

Therefore, the researchers should determine the

factors affecting reading comprehension in English

of the students for them to be guided and become

excellent in reading comprehension in English.

A renowned psychologist and educational

theorist, emphasized the importance of considering a

child’s developmental stage when designing

educational programs. He believed that language

acquisition and literacy, such as learning English,

could be particularly challenging for young children

due to the cognitive demands involved in mastering

new language (Lev Vygotsky,).

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 The causes of difficulties in reading

comprehension for elementary pupils in English are

diverse and include challenges such as phonological

awareness, limited vocabulary, lack of interest,

limited book exposure, oral language deficits,

decoding issues, and working memory overload. These

factors can hinder comprehension, emphasizing the

importance of early identification and tailored

support to enhance pupils reading skills.

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Conceptual Framework

This study is conducted to determine the

factors that affects the reading comprehension of

elementary pupils in the House of Montessori. The

figure below shows the relationship between the

dependent and independent variables which are the

personal factors, teacher related factors and

environment factors that affects the dependent

variable which is the reading comprehension of

elementary pupils.

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 Paradigm

Independent Variables

Factors;

1. Socio-demographic Profile

a. Sex

b. Age

c. Grade in English
Dependent Variables
d. Year Level

2. Personal factors

a. Attitudes towards the

subject Factors Affecting Poor

3. Teacher related factors Reading Comprehension in

a. Attitudes towards the English of Elementary

students Pupils in the House
b. Teachers’ competency Montessori
c. Learning resources

4. Environment related

factors

a. Peer influence
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b. School/ Instructional

environment
Figure 1. A paradigm showing the relationship of

independent and dependent variables.

Definition of Terms

English – is a widely spoken and versatile language

with global significance. Originated in England, it

has evolved into a key lingua franca worldwide

(Dictionary.com)

Reading Comprehension- is the ability to understand,

interpret and make meaning from written text

(Reading Recovery @ Literacy).

Students- are individuals who are engaged in

learning at an educational institution (Meriam

Webster).

Parents- are individuals who have the role of

raising, caring for, and providing guidance to their

children (Meriam Webster)

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Teachers- is a person who helps other to acquire

knowledge, competencies or values (Zamroni).

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Review of Related Literature

In this era of globalization, education is

considered as a first step for every human activity.

It plays a vital role in the development of human

capital and is linked with the individuals’ well-

being and opportunities for better living.

Academic achievement is constantly emphasized

and teachers, parents, and students share common

values and understanding about the school

achievement goals. It has been largely associated

with many factors.

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 Learning is the expected end of teaching in a

school setting. Hence, teaching has always been

directed at learning. Teaching as a system requires

an understanding of the role of the more mature,

experienced members of society in stimulating,

directing, managing, and guiding the immature and

inexperienced members in their adjustments to life.

The main concern of the teacher is how to set up

situations and conditions in the classroom that will

stimulate the students to pursue the objectives lay

out before them (Navarro, et. al.)

Reading is vital to individual’s personal and

pedagogical growth. It is the concept of

understanding that can be even more important.

Reading in itself is not enough: an individual must

be able to analyze and recognize ideas and

information. One person needs the ability what the

writer tries to communicate (McKee (2012).

Reading understanding is a complex multiple

task capacity. These processes were divided onto two

main types equally difficult: processes at a lower

level and higher level. The lower level includes the

detection of words, graphophones and others, while

the skills is at higher level included

syntactically, semantic and others. Students need

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reading comprehension skills to succeed both in

academic and personal life (Stoller, 2022).

For instance, to be successful, individuals

need to understand the basic text that appears in

utility bills, housing contracts, career application

and newsletter. In addition, individual needs

reading comprehension in order to be able to have

and maintain job and successfully engage in

different daily activities (Hoch, 2015).

Reading comprehension difficulties can be

caused by a variety factors. Comprehension requires

a foundation of vocabulary in knowledge to their

education experience, all children being wealth of

information in language.

A study revealed the socio-demographic factors

affecting reading comprehension among students such

as school social environment, type of school, and

gender of learners (Lazarus, 2020)

Moreover, it was stated that some of the pupils

have difficulties understanding the importance of

reading, resulting in unsatisfactory reading

ability. In addition, children who lack reading

ability may experience less confident and

disappointed every time, which affect their

opportunities in the future, especially if they are

looking for a job. On the other hand, the reading

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problem stated that pupils who did not have a good

motivation in reading felt that the text was not

interesting (Suwanaroa,2021).

The most important ingredient in education is

the teacher. They are most important part of the

educational environment. Without them, the other

elements of the educational environment would be

ineffective, for they guide, direct, and stimulate

youth in their goal seeking. The teacher may not be

the only variable in teaching-learning situation but

they do make difference in student achievement.

However, the differences vary with classroom and

school conditions and are not easy to discern. To be

an effective teacher, it needs a supportive and

positive atmosphere. It includes manageable class

size, availability and suitable instructional

materials, orderly school climate, systems of

monitoring and assessing students’ progress and fair

treatment to all students (Ebarle, 2001).

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Related Studies

Reading literacy can be defined as follows, in

the line with current comprehension models in the

framework for the advancement of international

reading literacy study (PIRLS): the capacity to

utilize and comprehend written language in forms

that are valued by the person and /or required by

society. There are several ways that written

language might be interpreted by readers. They read

for pleasure, education, and to engage with reader

groups at school and in daily life (Mullis & Martin,

2019, p.6).

This definition of reading comprehension

reflects various theories in which reading

comprehension is seen as a constructive and

interactive process. It is the product of the

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interaction between factors at both the level of the

reader and the text. Reading comprehension,

therefore, requires a broad set of skills and a

certain level of prior knowledge on the part of the

reader. In addition, the present definition also

reflects three overarching purposes for reading,

namely, reading pleasure and personal interest,

learning, and participate in society. Young readers’

reading is mainly centered around the first two

reading purposes (Kintsch, 1998; Perfetti & Stafura,

2014; Van den Broek et al., 1999)

Regardless of the purpose of reading,

comprehension ideally results in an adequate and

representative model of the text. According to the

construction-integration model of reading

comprehension, texts are represented at three

levels: the surface structure, the text-base, and

the situation model (Kintsch, 1998). The surface

structure, consist of the words represent. The ideas

are referred to as propositions and reflect what is

explicitly state in the text (i.e., facts, events,

feelings, etc.). the text-base is created by

connecting the single propositions and “represents

the meaning of the text, as it is actually expressed

by the text”. The situational model theory

emphasizes the importance of integrating information

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from the text with the reader background knowledge

in prior experiences. Kintsch argues that

comprehension involves constructing a mental

representation that combines the information from

the text with the readers’ existing knowledge

(Kintsch & Rawson, 2005, p.211).

According to the Simple View of Reading (SVR)

model, reading comprehension involves two main

skills: being able to identify the words in the text

by converting letters into sounds and combining

these into words (i.e., language comprehension). The

SVR models states that comprehension is not merely

the sum of both decoding and language comprehension

skills, but that it can be seen as the product if of

it: reading comprehension=decoding X language

comprehension, with scores of decoding and language

comprehension, both skills need to be developed;

when one fall behind, the other skill can compensate

a little, but the reader will never become a strong

reader with strong comprehension. In order to become

a good reader, both skills need to be addressed in

school (Gough & Tunmer, 1986).

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 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Locale of the Study

This study was conducted during the school year

2023-2024, at J.P Rizal st. Brgy. Calachuchi,

Catarman, Northern Samar, Colegio de San Lorenzo

Ruis de Manila in the House of Montessori. They

opened the school on January 1, 1950 where they

managed both monograde and multigrade.

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Map

23
24
Respondents

The respondents of this study are 30 elementary

pupils from the House of Montessori, school year

2023-2024. The respondents are randomly selected

from every grade level.

Variables of the Study

This study has two sets of variables. It

includes the independent variables focusing the

personal factors which includes the attitude towards

the related to reading comprehension; teacher

related factors which includes the attitude towards

the students, teachers’ competencies and learning

resources and; environment related factors which

includes the peer influence, home environment and

the classroom setting and the dependent variable

which is factors affecting reading comprehension.

Research Instrument

The data gathering instrument will be use in

this study will be survey questionnaire. Which is

classify into three categories. The first one deals

with the socio-demographic profile of the

respondents and the second one is to determine the

factors affecting reading comprehension of

elementary pupils, and the last one will be

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determining the level of reading comprehension in

English of elementary pupils.

Research Design

This study used descriptive-correlational method

under quantitative research. Because this study

aimed to determine the factors that affect the

reading comprehension of elementary pupils in

English in terms of personal factors, teacher

related factors and environment related factors.

This is at the same time correlational because it

tried to find out the significant relationship

between the factors and the performance in English.

Data Gathering Procedure

In gathering the data, the study used a

questionnaire that the researcher personally

distributed to the respondents.

For the performance of the respondents in

English, the researcher asked for a copy of their

grades in school year 2023-2024.

Permission was sought to conduct the study at

the House of Montessori. After asking permission,

the researchers personally conducted the survey by

distributing it to the selected 30 respondents.

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Statistical statement

The gathered data have been analyzed

statistically using appropriate statistical tools.

Frequency distribution, percentage and weighted mean

have been used in the descriptive presentation of

data. And multiple regression analysis has used to

test the relationship between the factors and the

mathematical performance.

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 Questionnaire

Part I. Profile of the Respondents

Name:(Optional)

______________________________________________

Age: _____ Sex: _____

Grade in English: __________ Grade Level:

______________

Part II. Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension in

English

Direction: Put a (/) check in the box below that

corresponds to your answer.

Statement Yes No

1. Do you like reading English textbook?

2. Does it help you to enhance/improve

your English Vocabulary?

3. Do you agree that noisy

surrounding/environment can be a

destruction to your focus?

4. Does quiet places allow you to

concentrate in comprehending textbook?

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5. Do you find it easier to understand

English text with pictures?

6. Have you ever used a dictionary to

look up unfamiliar words while reading in

English

7. Do you feel that practicing reading

aloud in English helps improve your

understanding of the text?

8. Do you enjoy reading comprehension

activities?

9. Do you find reading comprehension

exercises helpful for improving your

reading skills?

10. Do you feel confident in your reading

comprehension abilities?

11. Do you prefer reading comprehension

exercises over other types of assignments?

12. Do you think reading comprehension is

an important skill to develop?

13. Are the reading material provided in

class interesting to you?

14. Do you think the questions after the

reading passages are clear and easy to

understand?

15. Do you feel that your reading

comprehension skills have improved over

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the past year?

16. Do you feel supported by your teacher

in improving your reading comprehension

skills in English?

17. Have you ever felt frustrated or

overwhelmed when trying to comprehend a

challenging English text?

18. Is it true that reading at home is

more comprehensive rather than at school?

19. Is your parents’ guide you to

comprehend what you are reading?

20. Is untidy house affect your reading

comprehension?

Part III.

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 Directions: For the statement in the survey, please

indicate how much you agree or disagree with the

statement by putting a (/) check in the box on the

right side of each statement. Your answers will be

kept strictly confidential, and you will not be

identified.

Scale:

5 - Strongly Agree

4 - Agree

3 - Neutral

2 - Disagree

1 - Strongly Disagree

Statement 5 4 3 2 1

A. Environment Related

Factors

1. Noise Levels

I can concentrate well in

my current reading

environment.

2. Seating Comport

My seating arrangement is

comfortable for reading.

3. Reading Space

4. I have a dedicated space

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 for reading.

5. Distractions

I am often distracted by

people or activities

around me while reading.

6. Time of Day

I prefer reading in the

morning.

7. Duration

I typically read for more

than 30 minutes in one

season.

8. Frequency

I read English texts

daily.

A. Technological Factors 5 4 3 2 1

1. Digital vs. Print

I find it easier to

comprehend texts on

digital devices compared

to print.

2. Screen Time

3. I read mostly on a screen

(computer, e-reader).

B. Reading Material 5 4 3 2 1

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1. Interest Level

The reading material I

choose is usually

interesting to me.

2. Difficulty

The reading material is

appropriate for my

comprehension level.

3. Variety

I read a wide variety of

genre and topics.

4. Supportive Resources 5 4 3 2 1

1. Access to Dictionaries

I have easy access to

dictionaries or other

reference materials while

reading.

2. Discussion Opportunities

I often discuss what I

read with others to

enhance understanding.

5. Personal Factors 5 4 3 2 1

1. Stress Levels

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 I feel relaxed when I

read.

2. Motivation

I am motivated to improve

my reading comprehension.

6. Closing Section 5 4 3 2 1

1. Overall Satisfaction

Overall, I am satisfied

with my current reading

environment.

Thank you!!!

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