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CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING Introduction The ever growing need for an excellent communication skills

s has created a huge demand for elevating reading and comprehension skills around the world. Millions of people today are exposed to different forms of technology thus; reading does not end with books. It is a skill that transverse through gadgets, from a simple candy wrapper posted on the monitor of the computer. Along with this, opportunities to learn English are provided in many different ways such as through formal instruction, seminars, conferences, trainings, even through media and internet. In view, the teaching of reading served as a continuing challenge to parents and teachers. There is always a need to increase efforts in effective literacy which requires reflection, even more so during todays rapidly changing time. The worldwide demand for understanding especially along reading and speaking has created an enormous demand for quality language teaching and language teaching materials and resources. Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills in English literature any person should acquire competence. In fact, even with todays technology, reading becomes more and more a requirement. Furthermore, reading not only needs to be learned but it should be done with comprehension given the fact that the language of today

crosses global boundaries. With this, reading comprehension skill through an old concept is taking a new leaf with todays global standard. To review, then, along with knowing words, a reader must be able to interpret their meanings in order to read with understanding. The development of the ability to read with understanding has always been a challenging task for both teacher and learner. Due to increasing demands in readers on account of the explosion of knowledge, greater responsibility has been placed on the school in this regard. Along this way, schools especially those belonging to the basic education set demanding goals. They aim to master English to a high level of accuracy and fluency. Teachers, too, insist their students to have good reading and communication skills. Also, fluency in reading and comprehension is a prerequisite for success and advancement in many fields of career. For this matter, the demand for an appropriate teaching methodology and strategy is therefore as strong as ever. However, reading skills becomes more and more of a problem in the basic education system. Most importantly, not only reading but worst the level of comprehension becomes significantly a problem for most of the students. In fact, even National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT) results at the secondary schools of Labo Cluster, namely: Tigbinan National High School, Bagong Silang I High School, Bagong Silang II high School, Daguit National High School, and Talobatib National High School revealed a low achievement especially along reading with comprehension. Although, reading is basic however, it becomes a

national trend that reading with comprehension is still a problem for most of the educational institution. To address such, along with knowing words, students must be able to interpret their meaning in order to read some specific skills that help in comprehension included in this study were: noting details; getting the main idea; making inferences; sequencing events; predicting outcomes, and evaluating and making judgment. Yet, along the way, lots of detours and potholes await our way of improving the reading comprehension of students. Hence, this study also explores the factors that in some ways influenced the reading comprehension skills of students, such as: student factors; teacher factors; principal instructional leadership factors; reading materials; and physical facilities. The researcher, as an educator, is aiming no other than the betterment of the educational system we have at present for the welfare of the students along enhancing their skills in reading comprehension. With these, the researcher would like to assess the level of reading comprehension skills and explore the factors that influence the accessibility of reading comprehension among the third year high school students as a basis for the formulation of Remedial Activities along reading comprehension skills identified in this study that can be used in all schools. This will pave way in determining an effective intervention program for students to increase their English achievement and promote the quality of learning despite the growing problem on the reading comprehension level of students in the basic education.

Statement of the Problem This study was conducted to determine the level of reading

comprehension skills and the factors that affect the reading comprehension of third year high school students in secondary schools of Labo Cluster during the School Year 2011-2012. Specifically, it seeks answers to the following questions: 1. What is the level of reading comprehension skills of third year high school students along: a. Noting details, b. Getting the main idea, c. Making inferences, d. Sequencing events, e. Predicting outcomes, and f. Evaluating and Making Judgment? 2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the third year high school students along the different reading comprehension skills? 3. What is the level of perception of respondents with respect to the factors that affect the reading comprehension of third year high school students? 4. Is there a significant relationship between the level of reading comprehension skills of third year high school students and the perceived factors affecting reading comprehension?

5. What remedial activities can be proposed to enhance the reading comprehension skills of third year high school students? Basic Assumption This study is anchored on the basic assumptions that: 1. The level of reading comprehension skills of third year high school students vary from each other. 2. The third year high school students possessed strengths and weaknesses along the different reading comprehension skills. 3. The reading comprehension of third year high school students was affected by various factors. 4. A Remedial Activities could be designed to address the weaknesses in the reading comprehension of third year high school students. Null Hypothesis There is no significant relationship between the level of reading comprehension skills of third year high school students and the perceived factors affecting reading comprehension skills. Significance of the Study This study was conducted on the belief that the result would be beneficial to the following persons such as students, teachers, parents, school administrators, DepEd officials, and future researchers.

Students.

The findings of this study could benefit the students in

determining the level of their reading comprehension skills. Further selfencouragement could be established. Throughout the process, acceptance on the importance of reading with comprehension would be evident on them. Teachers. The teachers will be able to use the study as a basis or reference point in identifying the difficulties in reading comprehension students encountered. This will lead on identifying their strengths and weaknesses in an effort to improve their students overall performance along reading

comprehension. The results of the study could serve as basis on to what remedial instruction could be conducted aiming to further improve the reading comprehension of students. Parents. The parents as the teacher of the students at home could be benefited by this study. The findings of this study can guide parents on how they can communicate with their child aiming further improvements on their childs reading comprehension. Likewise, this serve as a reminder for them to perform their primary duties of knowing the needs of their child along this aspect as a result of equipping reading and reference materials at home. School Administrators. The findings of this study may guide the school administrator in mapping out necessary policies and programs needed for the maximization of the students English performance along reading with comprehension. This may serve as basis in outlining seminars and trainings for

teachers along reading comprehension. They can likewise, initiate and encouraged reading and comprehension contests in the school he/she administered. DepEd Officials. This study can provide them a valid and reliable data which can serve as a source in crafting policies and programs on promoting the reading performance of secondary students. The results can provide them an idea on the level of comprehension skills of students that will lead them in planning measures that will address the needs of the students along reading comprehension. Future researchers may find the result of this study a valuable tool for further researches on the same field. They may gain insights to link the gaps and other variables that are not included in this study. In addition, the results of this study may serve as source of additional information along reading

comprehension skills. Scope and Delimitation of the Study This study was conducted to determine the level of reading

comprehension skills and explore the factors that influence the reading comprehension of third year high school students in secondary schools of Labo Cluster during the School Year 2011-2012. The reading comprehension skills included in this study are the following: 1) noting details; 2) getting the main idea; 3) making inferences; 4) sequencing events; 5) predicting outcomes; and 6)

evaluating and making judgment. The strengths and weaknesses along the identified skills and the factors that affect the reading comprehension skills were revealed by the Section I Third Year High School students of the five secondary schools at Labo Cluster. Toward this end, a Remedial Activities along reading comprehension skills was formulated aiming on improving the reading comprehension skills of third year high school students. This study utilized teacher-made test and questionnaire as instruments in gathering the needed data that answered the specific questions under consideration. The teacher-made test focused on the six (6) skills along reading comprehensions while the questionnaire focused on the non-cognitive factors that affect the reading comprehension of students such as: student factors, teacher factors, principal instructional leadership factors, instructional and reading materials, and physical facilities of the school. A focus group discussion was likewise employed to checked and balanced the responses given in order to gain a more valid and reliable data. It was noted that Labo Cluster was composed of five (5) secondary schools: 1) Tigbinan National High School, 2) Bagong Silang l High School, 3) Bagong Silang II High School, 4) Daguit National High School, and 5) Talobatib National High School. There were a total of six hundred seven (607) students enrolled in the secondary schools of Labo Cluster as of November 2011. Only third year students in section I was chosen as respondents. This study has two hundred forty-one (241) respondents obtained after using Slovins Formula in

finding the sample size of the study. To ensure that the respondents have equal chances to be selected and are representatives from the five schools, Random Sampling by Proportional Allocation was resorted to having forty-eight (48) respondents from each school to complete the sample size. The Table of Random Numbers technique was utilized in identifying the names of the respondents from each school wherein the researcher prepared the list of names arranged alphabetically sourced from the Form I of the section I advisers of third year high school students of each school. Those names falls under numbers divisible by two were identified to complete the number of respondents from each school. In same manner, limitations of the study were noted. Limitation of the study included section 1 third year high school students, as well as reading assessment that only tested for reading comprehension and not other components of reading. It also explores non-cognitive factors that affect the reading comprehension skills of students. Definition of Terms To gain a clear understanding of this study, the following terms were defined conceptually and operationally. Further, to facilitate reading, the terms were alphabetically arranged. Factors. Webster defined it as an element or causes that produce a result1. In this study, it refers to the contributory factors which in some ways

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influence the reading comprehension of third year high school students such as: student factors, teacher factors, instructional and supervisory factors, adequacy of reading materials and physical facilities. High School Students. It is described as young people usually between the ages of 11 and 18 enrolled in public secondary schools usually including grades 9 through 122. In this study, it refers to the third year high school

students presently enrolled in the secondary schools of Labo Cluster. Reading Comprehension Skills. As defined by Partnership for Reading, reading comprehension skills are the skills which involve understanding of a text that is read, or the process of constructing meaning from a text. This

understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text3. In this study, it refers to the six skills in reading comprehension such as: noting details, getting the main idea, making inferences, sequencing events, predicting outcomes, and evaluating and making judgments. Remedial Activities. In this study, it is described as a series of activities geared towards the enhancement of reading comprehension skills. It is presented in matrix form with five columns. The first column presents the areas of concern which included the identified reading comprehension skills. The next columns are for the specific objectives, persons involved, activities, and the last

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column is for the evaluation which one can gauge if there is any difference or improvements made. Secondary School Cluster. It is a method of grouping schools to meet the academic needs of students5. Wikipedia described it as an institution offering secondary education usually consisting of a four year general education curricula. In this study, it refers to the secondary schools of Labo Cluster, namely: Tigbinan National High School, Bagong Silang I High School, Bagong Silang II High School, Daguit National High School, and Talobatib National High School. Strengths. Webster described it as the quality or state of being strong, in particular6. In this study, it refers to the skill where the third year high school students got a highest weighted mean as revealed by their test scores obtained from each skill tested. Weaknesses. It refers to the state or condition of lacking strength. It is likewise described as a quality or feature regarded as a disadvantage or fault 7. In this study, it refers to the skill which obtained the lowest weighted mean as revealed by the test scores of third year high school students obtained from each skill tested.

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NOTES
1

Webster New Universal Dictionary and Thesaurus (Montreal, Canada:

Torment Publication, Inc., 2002)


2

Collins English Dictionary (Harper Collins Publishers, 2003)

Partnership for Reading, 2005

Wordnet Princeton. EDuc./perlwebn.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. (Houghton

Mifflin Company, 2009) 4th edition.


6

Wordnet (Princeton University, Farlex, Inc., 2003-2011 Encarta Dictionary (U.S.A.: St. Martins Press, 2002)

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