Wright National High School
Paranas, Samar
Reading Comprehension Status of Grade 10 Students
Mark Angelo N. Gabiana
Proponent
Mrs. Angeline G. Abaigar
Research Adviser
In partial fulfillment of the requirements in
RESEARCH 10
S.Y. 2017 – 2018
Chapter 1
Introduction
A. Background of the Study
According Harry S. Truman he said “Not all readers are leaders, but
all leaders are readers.” It means that every time you read books you gain
knowledge cause I know that once your a great reader you’ll be forever
free and can live your own life. As student we should always read and
read to make our vocabulary more deeper or more wider. As a learner we
need to learn everything we need to get idea, we need to make
conclusions, and also we need to get lessons from it. But what if that
particular student cannot read well? What if that student cannot get idea
to what he/she is reading? How can they make conclusions? How can
they get lessons from it? Now that’s the time that teacher or the student
herself/himself should do the actions. Just like Aristotle said that
“Educating your mind without educating the heart is no education at all”.
So it means that once you’re up to something you need to first solve it by
yourself. All that happens in the world has always a great decision
making.
In our generation today some students does not give worth and
full value to their education. Because of the effects of globalization and the
influence of technology. “A man is known by the books he reads” by Ralph
Waldo Emerson. Reading is the best amour you can carry although out
your life. Reading will be your shield, your sword and will be your castle
cause if you read you are a free person.
In reading it is not all about just reading it is reading with
comprehension. Comprehension is one of the most important skill that you
should develop. Because developing Reading Comprehension is like
building your own house. By this skill you can understand, you can give
solution and you can give opinions. You can go to different places by
reading and comprehending every sentence that you read so reading just
like dreaming. And also Reading comprehension is the most basic part of
reading but many of us doesn’t even know its meaning. But once a student
mastered the basic reading, every milestone will be easier for him/her to
overcome. “Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.” - Mortimer Adler.
So, coming up with the idea of finding out the Reading
Comprehension Status of Grade 10 Students in Wright National High
School might help the Teacher and the students as well to meet their
expectations.
Thus, this fact encouraged me, the researcher, to find out
the Reading Comprehension of Grade 10 Students in Wright National High
School.
B. Statement of the Problem
This study aims to discover and answer this following questions:
Can they internalize what they are reading?
Do students know what they are reading?
Why many of the students still do not know how to read?
Is reading comprehension important to the Grade 10 Students when
they go to Senior high?
What is the status of the Grade 10 students in terms of reading
comprehension?
C. Hypothesis
Based on the problems formulated the following hypothesis were derived
by the researcher.
Null Hypothesis
Reading Comprehension is not important to the grade 10 students
when they go to Senior high.
Many of the Grade 10 students knows how to read.
There is no significant effect to the Grade 10 students if they do
not know how to Comprehend.
Alternative Hypothesis
Reading Comprehension is important to the Grade 10 Students
when they go to Senior High.
Some of the Grade 10 students do not know how to read.
There is a significant effect to the Grade 10 students if they do
not know to comprehend.
D. Significant of the Study
This study in finding out the status of the Grade 10 students in
terms of reading comprehension can help the teachers and the students
also who do now know how comprehend to help each. Like to adjust and
teach the students to read and also to comprehend what they are reading.
So each side will have benefits.
E. Theoretical Framework
Reading is one of English skills besides speaking, listening and
writing. It is the way to understand written messages. According to Nuttal
(2000:2) reading means a result of interaction between the writer’s mind
and the reader’s mind. It is the way how to the reader tries to get the
message or the intended meaning from the writer. In this process, the
reader tries to create the meanings intended by the writer, the reader can
get the message, and the writer’s meaning sense. According to Pang
(2003:6) reading is defined as understanding written texts. He says that
reading consists of two related processes: word recognition and
comprehension. Word recognition is defined as the process of getting how
written symbols correspond to one’s spoken language while comprehension
is the process of making the meaning of words, sentences and connected
text. He adds his statement that the reader who has background
knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, experience with text and
other strategies can help them understand written texts. Based on two
definitions above reading can be defined as the instantaneous recognition of
various written symbol with existing knowledge and it also can be defined
as comprehension of the information and the idea communicated. It means
that when a reader interacts with printed messages, he tries to get the
visual (written) information result or to get meaning in comprehending the
messages or the texts from the writer. It also can be said that reading not
only the process of getting the written symbols correspond to one’s spoken
language but it is also the process of making the meaning of words,
sentences and connected text that can be called comprehension.
There are many definitions of reading comprehension accepted
from some writers. According to Klingner (2007:2) reading comprehension
is “the process of constructing meaning by coordinating a number of
complex processes that included word reading, word and world
knowledge, and fluency”. It refers to the ability in interpreting the words,
understanding the meaning and the relationships between ideas conveyed
in a text. He summarized reading comprehension instruction for the
teacher as following a three-step procedure: mentioning, practicing, and
assessing. That is, teachers mention the skills that the students want to
use, then they give them opportunities to practice those skills through
workbooks or work sheets, and finally assess whether or not they use the
skill successfully. Alderson (2000: 28) defines reading is an enjoyable,
intense, private activity in which the readers get much pleasure and can
totally absorb the reading. According to Pang (2003:14) comprehension is
the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text. He
says that comprehension is the processes of deriving the meaning of one
word to another in a text. Readers typically make use of background
knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, experience with a
text and other strategies to help them understand the written texts. From
the definitions above, reading comprehension can be concluded as the
ability to find the stated or unstated writer’s idea in the text. The essence
of reading comprehension is understanding all information delivered by the
writer. It also refers to the ability to connect between the words in a text,
to understand the ideas and the relationships between ideas conveyed in a
text.
F. Conceptual Framework
Students
NEEDS TO
HAVE
Skills Knowlegde Time
Mangement
Writing Reading
G. Scope and Limitations
This study is only intended for the Grade 10 Students to find
out who among the Grade 10 Students who didn’t know how to read and
to comprehend. I think my study is important so the teacher from the
Grade 10 will know is that particular student who do not know how to
read. Also this benefits most of the Grade 10 for the students will not
have difficulties when it comes in reading when they go to the Senior
high or the Grade 11.
H. Definition of Terms
Reading - is a complex "cognitive process" of decoding symbols in order to
construct or derive meaning (reading comprehension).
Comprehension - the action or capability of understanding something.
Reading Comprehension - is the ability to read text, process it, and
understand its meaning.
Teacher - is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or
values.
Teach - is the imparting of knowledge by a teacher or other knowledgeable
person.
Grade 10 - is the tenth year of school post-kindergarten or the tenth year
after the first introductory year upon entering compulsory schooling. In many
parts of the world, the students are 15–16 years of age, depending on when
their birthday occurs.
Senior High - is a secondary school that students attend in the three or four
highest grades before college.
Generation - all of the people born and living at about the same time,
regarded collectively.
Chapter 2
Related Literature and Studies
In this chapter you will read some relevant ideas about reading comprehension.
A. Related Literature
Improving accounting students' academic performance, especially in the
technical areas of accounting and associated business disciplines is a top priority
in accounting education. It also improves the logical mind of the student taking
this course and makes them understand the world of business. Accounting
course in PLM has a maintaining grade 2.00 that is equal to 86, it needs
knowledge to maintain that grade of the student and to stay in accounting
course. And one of this knowledge that you may need is the reading
comprehension.
A key, but often overlooked, skill that is essential to academic success is
reading comprehension. (Pritchard et. al, 1999).Reading comprehension is the
process of making meaning from the text. The goal therefore is to gain an overall
understanding of what is described in the text rather than to obtain meaning
from the isolated words or sentences. (Springer, 2011). It is process of
questioning one’s self after the reading is done. It is very important in daily life
because it uses different cognitive skills that the multidimensional brain has.
There were different studies about reading comprehension. Some of them
are giving reading comprehension test to determine the level of understanding of
an individual about the message of the article or text. There are meanings behind
the score of the respondents. Those with scores above the normal score mean that
they have a good reading capabilities and different skills that can be used in any
aspect of their life; while those with scores below the passing rate need to
improve reading comprehension.
According to (Muller et. al, 1994), in his study, he concluded that the
students who read well generally show themselves to be organized thinkers who
can comprehend what needs to be said, connect thoughts logically, examine the
importance or meaning behind things, and more likely to demonstrate the
empathy or seeing-the-other-person’s-point-of-view upon which sound
relationships are built.
Reading comprehension is significant not only on courses with English as
their majors but also on courses that need deep and good understanding. A good
example of this is Accountancy.
Reading comprehension is very important in accounting course; when the
accounting student has a good reading comprehension, he/she can get a high
grade in accounting nevertheless can stay in accounting program. Sometimes,
students get low grades in their test in accounting due of lack of reading
comprehension, because of this situation student find accounting questions very
hard to understand. Since this problem is widespread not only in accounting
students but in other courses, there are many researches about this matter. Many
studies have emphasized the importance of communications skills within the
accounting curriculum. In business and accounting journals, most literacy-based
discussions have focused primarily on accounting students' written and oral
communications skills. Maupin and May (1993) note, for example, that "the
importance of reading comprehension skills to the successful practice of
accounting has long been recognized. As long ago as 1968 the American
Accounting Association (AAA) made this strong statement: `probably no other
quality is more important--to an accountant--than having the ability to
comprehend well both in written and oral' (AAA, 1968)."
(Hamel, 2011) said on his article that a successful accountant must have a
good reading comprehension skill. This skill is significant in accounting
curriculum. In fact, the faculty members of a regional university in the United
States administered a research on 235 students and found a statistically
significant correlation between the students’ GWA and reading comprehension
test scores. With these test it can be implied that accounting skills will not
improve without the help of reading comprehension. Improving reading
comprehend skill is also a move to improve your accounting skills.
Improving accounting students' academic performance, especially in the
technical areas of accounting and associated business disciplines is a top priority
in accounting education. It also improves the logical mind of the student taking
this course and makes them understand the world of business. Accounting
course in PLM has a maintaining grade 2.00 that is equal to 86, it needs
knowledge to maintain that grade of the student and to stay in accounting
course. And one of this knowledge that you may need is the reading
comprehension.
A key, but often overlooked, skill that is essential to academic success is
reading comprehension. (Pritchard et. al, 1999).Reading comprehension is the
process of making meaning from the text. The goal therefore is to gain an overall
understanding of what is described in the text rather than to obtain meaning
from the isolated words or sentences. (Springer, 2011). It is process of
questioning one’s self after the reading is done. It is very important in daily life
because it uses different cognitive skills that the multidimensional brain has.
There were different studies about reading comprehension. Some of them
are giving reading comprehension test to determine the level of understanding of
an individual about the message of the article or text. There are meanings behind
the score of the respondents. Those with scores above the normal score mean that
they have a good reading capabilities and different skills that can be used in any
aspect of their life; while those with scores below the passing rate need to
improve reading comprehension.
According to (Muller et. al, 1994), in his study, he concluded that the
students who read well generally show themselves to be organized thinkers who
can comprehend what needs to be said, connect thoughts logically, examine the
importance or meaning behind things, and more likely to demonstrate the
empathy or seeing-the-other-person’s-point-of-view upon which sound
relationships are built.
Reading comprehension is significant not only on courses with English as
their majors but also on courses that need deep and good understanding. A good
example of this is Accountancy.
Reading comprehension is very important in accounting course; when the
accounting student has a good reading comprehension, he/she can get a high
grade in accounting nevertheless can stay in accounting program. Sometimes,
students get low grades in their test in accounting due of lack of reading
comprehension, because of this situation student find accounting questions very
hard to understand. Since this problem is widespread not only in accounting
students but in other courses, there are many researches about this matter. Many
studies have emphasized the importance of communications skills within the
accounting curriculum. In business and accounting journals, most literacy-based
discussions have focused primarily on accounting students' written and oral
communications skills. Maupin and May (1993) note, for example, that "the
importance of reading comprehension skills to the successful practice of
accounting has long been recognized. As long ago as 1968 the American
Accounting Association (AAA) made this strong statement: `probably no other
quality is more important--to an accountant--than having the ability to
comprehend well both in written and oral' (AAA, 1968)."
(Hamel, 2011) said on his article that a successful accountant must have a
good reading comprehension skill. This skill is significant in accounting
curriculum. In fact, the faculty members of a regional university in the United
States administered a research on 235 students and found a statistically
significant correlation between the students’ GWA and reading comprehension
test scores. With these test it can be implied that accounting skills will not
improve without the help of reading comprehension. Improving reading
comprehend skill is also a move to improve your accounting skills.
B. Related Studies
Reading is one of four important language skills that should be mastered by
students. It is one of the ways for getting knowledge that can not be separated
from every learning process and it does not only happen in educational field but
also in our daily life. For getting knowledge and information, people read books,
magazines, newspapers, advertisement and etc. Nation states that reading is a
source of learning and enjoyment. It can help students learn a new vocabulary
and grammar. It also makes them enjoy the reading. They can learn more and
more by reading.
According to Richard, reading means perceiving a written text in order to
understand its contents. This can be done silently (silent reading). It is a
particular way in which the readers understand texts, passages, paragraphs even
books and an ability to understand and find out the information presented in the
form of written text.
I. S. P. Nation, Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing (New York: Routledge,
2009), p. 49.
Jack C. Richards and Richard Schmidt, Longman Dictionary of Language
Teaching and Applied Linguistics (London: Pearson Education, 2002), p.443.
In addition, Goodman in Majdi Abdullah Ahmad defines reading as a receptive
process of written communication. According to him reading begins with a
linguistic surface expression encoded by a writer and ends with meaning in
which the reader decoded. On the other hand, Grebe states that reading is not
merely a receptive process of picking up information from the page in a verbatim
manner but it is a selective process which is characterized as an active process of
comprehending.
Reading can be seen as an “interactive” process between a reader and a text
which leads to automaticity. It is a dynamic process in which the reader works
actively to construct meaning from the material. In this process, the reader
interacts dynamically with the text as he or she tries to elicit the meaning.
Therefore, Students must be able to adjust their reading to fit the type of material
being presented. Effective readers are involved in the process of reading and
look for meaning actively. Ineffective readers play a passive role during reading.
They do not connect the text material with their prior knowledge.
Majdi Abdullah Ahmad AD-Heisat, “The Use of Reading Strategies in Developing Students’
Reading Competency among Primary School Teachers in Malaysia”. European Journal of Social
Sciences – Vol 12, N0 2 (2009), p. 31.
Ibid.
Hesham Suleiman Alyousef, “Teaching Reading Comprehension to Eel/Efl Learners”, The
Reading Matrix, Vol. 5, No. 2(2005), p.144.
Lynne Bell, “Using Reading in Content Area Strategies to Improve Student Understanding In
Family and Consumer Sciences”. Vol. 23, No. 2, Fall/Winter, (2005), p. 1.
According to Patel, Reading is the most useful and important skill. It is a
source of joys and good reading keeps students regular in reading which provide them
pleasure and profit.1 Reading makes students enjoy their learning process and gives
several advantages in finding some information that is needed. It is an unlimited area
that makes students know everything, such as education, politic, social, culture,
religion, health and etc. All of that information can be obtained by reading.
W. S. Gray in Patel notes Reading is a form of experience. It brings students
in contact with the minds of great authors, with the written account of their
experiences.2 Reading is necessary in language learning. It is not only a source of
information and a pleasurable activity but also as a means of consolidating and
extending one's knowledge of the language.3 It is an important activity for expanding
knowledge of language. Students can increase their knowledge and update their
information.
1
M. F.Patel and Praveen M. Jain, English Language Teaching (Jaipur: Sunrise Publisher,
2008), p. 113.
2
Ibid, p. 114
3
Ibid
M. F.Patel and Praveen M. Jain, English Language Teaching (Jaipur: Sunrise Publisher,
2008), p. 113.
Ibid, p. 114
Ibid
According to Patel and Preven there are two types of reading, they are:4
a. Intensive reading. It is aloud reading. In this type, the reader or learner reads the
text to get knowledge and carry out the specific information.
b. Extensive reading is silent reading. It is reading for pleasure. The reader wants to
know about something. He does not care about specific or important information
after reading. The purpose of this type is to update reader’s knowledge.
Based on the type of reading above, a reader has to know what type of reading
that is used. Because each type of reading has different purposes.
There are several stages in reading process. They are:5
a. The first stage is 'the recognition stage'. At this stage the student simply
recognizes the graphic counterparts of the phonological items. For instance, he
recognizes the spoken words in its written form. The difficulty of this stage
depends upon the differences between the script of the student's mother tongue
and English, and the differences between the spelling conventions of two
languages.
4
Ibid, p. 115
5
Ibid, p.114
b. The second stage is the 'structuring stage.' The learner sees the syntactic
relationship of the items and understands the structural meaning of the syntactical
units.
c. The third stage is the 'interpretation stage'. This is the highest level in the process
of reading. The learners comprehend the significance of a word, a phrase, or a
sentence in the overall context of the unnecessary information. For instance, he
comprehends the serious and jocular use of words, distinguishes between a
statement of fact and a statement of opinion. It is this stage at which a person
really reads for information or for pleasure.
Reading can not be separated from comprehension because the purpose of
reading activity is to comprehend what has been read. According to Celce-Murcia,
reading is taking general comprehension as the example requires that the reader
draws information from a text and combines it with information and expectations that
a reader already has.6 Reading comprehension is the ability to understand a written
passage of text. It is defined as the level of understanding of a text or message.
Reading comprehension is essentially the ability to understand what has been read by
readers.
Chiara Meneghetti et al, define reading comprehension is a complex cognitive
ability requiring the capacity to integrate text information with the knowledge of a
listener or a reader and resulting in the elaboration of a mental representation.7
Reading comprehension involves much more than readers’ responses to text. It is a
6
Marianne Celce-Murcia, Teaching English As A Second Language And Foreign Language
(New York: Heinle, 2001), p. 154.
7
Chiara Meneghetti et al, Components of reading comprehension and scholastic achievement
(Padova Italy: University of Padova, 2006), P. 1.
multicomponent, complex process that involves many interactions between readers
and what they bring to the text or background knowledge as well as variables related
to the text itself (interest in text, understanding of text types).8 It involves a
complicated process.
a. Chiara Meneghetti et al, Components of reading comprehension and scholastic achievement
(Padova Italy: University of Padova, 2006), P. 1.
b. Janette K. Klinger, et al, Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students With The Learning
Difficulties ( New York: The Guildford Press, 207), p.8
c. Celce-Murcia, loc.cit.
8
Janette K. Klinger, et al, Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students With The Learning
Difficulties ( New York: The Guildford Press, 207), p.8
