Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

Utilizing Think Aloud Protocol in Enhancing the Comprehension Skills of Grade 12

TVL Students in the New Normal
Leslie H. Maglalang
Lindsay H. Maglalang
Joseph C. Pardilla

Abstract
Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

Purpose

This study focused on determining the impact of utilizing Think aloud protocol in

improving the comprehension skills of TVL learners. The researchers examined how

students process the meaning of reading texts.

Design

The aim of this paper is to determine the impact of TAP in processing the meaning of

reading text, so descriptive-qualitative design was utilized.

Findings

This study revealed that based from the analysis of transcriptions most of the TVL

learners process the meaning of reading through their prior knowledge which constitutes

being schematic and affective in interpreting the meaning of text.

Delimitation

This study involved stable, assimilated collection of findings and literature data

needed to explore the topic at hand. Analysis of transcriptions revealed in the execution of

Think Aloud Protocol of senior high school students in Dalig National High School- one of the

schools in Antipolo City. The participants of this study were Grade 12 senior high school

students from TVL track (Automotive Technology, Electrical Installation and Maintenance,

and Food Technology) for the academic year 2020-2021.

Originality

This study was highly qualitative since it explored the processing skills of TVL

learners on how they verbalize their thoughts using think aloud protocol.

Keywords: Think Aloud Protocol, TVL learners, Schematic, Affective

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

Acknowledgement

Grade 12 TVL students

Henry Lico

English Teachers of Dalig NHS

Marcelino M. Santos National High School

San Juan National High Schoo

Dr. Christopher Diaz

SHS Teachers

Context and Rationale

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

The teaching of reading among learners in English as a Second Language classroom

has been a challenge for teachers in this new normal specifically to senior high school

students since they need to continuously develop their critical thinking skills as 21st century

learners. It is really a must for them to enhance their reading competence.

In the study conducted by Uluşan (2018) that language learners read paragraphs,

texts, stories etc. in or outside the language classroom, they are able to comprehend the

messages by relying on key content words aided by contextual clues, knowledge of the

world, and guessing. However, relying merely on this kind of lexical processing is not

possible during writing. The psycholinguistic demands of composing messages through

writing cause the learners to put much more effort on syntactic processing while handling

lexical processing as well while semantic processing is the focus of a reader’s brain, both

semantic and syntactic processing are the focus of the writer’s brain.

In connection to this study, it was emphasized that lexical development played a vital

role in language processing. Meanwhile, the present study focused not just only in the

development and significance of vocabulary development in processing the meaning of

language but also in reflecting students’ decision in arriving for specific meaning through

verbalization of one’s thought and introspective undersntading.

In the new normal setting, most of the senior high school students encountered

difficulties in the processing language specifically in reading as revealed in the qualitative

interview conducted by the researcher. As revealed in the periodical exam for the last three

years. Core subjects in English which encompass: Reading and Writing, Speech and Oral

Communication as well as English for Academic and professional Purposes as one of the

applied subjects revealed that most of the weaknesses of the students befall on their reading

competence.

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

Reading critically as one of the major and crucial skill of senior high school students.

As a research and language teacher, it is evident that students encountered difficulties in

processing the meaning of reading texts.

Therefore, helping these learners apply suitable reading strategy to enable them to

verbalize their thoughts and deep understanding is highly esteemed. In line with this, the

researchers find think aloud protocol as an instrument to determine the processing skills of

students in understanding the meaning of text.

In terms of utilization of TAP numerous advantage were mentioned that thinking-

aloud strategy is the most effective strategy to inform readers who have problems in reading

comprehension, about their reading process. By means of this strategy, students can be

asked questions to think by the teachers during reading, and students' thoughts can be

observed. Teaching the thinking-aloud strategy ensures that students are aware of their own

comprehension processes. Thanks to this awareness, they can be independent readers.

According to the study of Sonmez & Sulak (2018) on The Effect of the Thinking-aloud

Strategy on the Reading Comprehension Skills the thinking-aloud strategy should be

promoted through appropriate texts in order to improve the reading comprehension skills of

the students. Student workbooks should include activities for the thinking-aloud strategy. The

teaching of the thinking-aloud strategy has positively developed the reading comprehension

skills of the students.

In reading research, although the use of think-aloud protocols as a source of data

and verbal protocol analysis as a research tool was ever criticized for potential limitations

related to interference in the cognitive process and challenges to the validity of verbal report

data, researchers and instructors who are interested in using the think-aloud technique for

examining and supporting learners’ reading comprehension process have now generally

agreed that once care is taken and used appropriately, the think-aloud method can be one of

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

the best means to elicit sufficient and reliable data for studying readers’ invisible

metacognitive awareness and mental strategy use (Zhang et al., 2008).

This study focused on the impact of think aloud protocol in processing the meaning of

reading texts as executed by the learners.

Action Research Questions

Specifically, it sought to answer the following research questions:

1. How do learners process the meaning of reading text using think aloud protocol?

2. What are the challenges encountered by the students in utilizing think aloud

protocol in the analysis of reading text?

3. What are the advantages of think aloud protocol in the improvement of reading

skills of students?

Action Research Methods

The researcher utilized qualitative method of research to answer the specific

research questions of the study. Students’ processing of reading texts were analyzed

qualitatively. Using grounded theory as one of the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative

research was deem most suitable for this study because it enabled the in-depth investigation

on the analysis of processing skills of TVL learners.

Moreover, in the study of Banner and Wang (2011), as they uncover and describe

psycholinguistic and socio-cognitive factors facilitating effective reading by signing adults

who are profoundly deaf and do not use hearing technology. Through the lens of a grounded

theory approach, the conditions that facilitate effective reading were uncovered—by coding

and categorizing themes, relating the codes and categories, and determining a central

theme. This is related on the method of researcher in delineating the cognitive language

processing of TVL learners as it required identifying overarching theme that facilitated

effective language processing.

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

Discussion of Results and Reflection

This section of the paper presented and discussed the results of the study on impact

of utilizing think aloud protocol in processing the meaning of reading text as executed by the

TVL learners.

To answer the research questions of this study the following submerged:

1. How do learners process the meaning of reading text using think aloud

protocol?

It can be deduced form the application of think aloud protocol that most of the

students process the meaning of text through utilization of their background knowledge.

There are different ways on how they used their schema in processing the meaning of text

read. Relating to personal experience, citing relevant situation. As they explicate their

understanding whether by words, sentence, and paragraph.

It could be analyzed from the responses of the students in the processing the

meaning of text based on the narrative statements as revealed in the application of think

aloud protocol that they cited particular scenario through sharing their personal experience in

order to process the meaning of text.

“Some of the challenges I faced is that, when I was in grade 7, I don’t have any gadgets or

devices that can help me with my assignments. Some teachers sent all the assignments or

projects in the GC or group chat. They announce it on that platform. And then, I don’t have

any access to that because my family can’t afford it. Probably this, I don’t have a project. I

can’t pass projects or do it because of lack of internet access and technology.”

In processing the meaning of text/ passages students utilized the following strategies:

Skimming text to find information, reading word for word, Repeating the sentence/words/

paragraph and looking for the meaning of unfamiliar/ difficult words through offline dictionary.

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

“What is redemption? Dictionary. Redemption of a man. So redemption, the action of saving

or being saved from sin, error or evil. So, this sentence talks about um, saving other

people’s life.”

Okay, let me repeat that. It is man himself, his fellow man, the redemption of his fellow man

that constitutes the objective of the revolutionary. So, it not only talks about the revolutionary

but also to those people which are saved by the revolutionary.

What is ideology? (searching for the meaning of ideology) a system of ideas and ideals,

especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

Recognizing source of comprehension problems

Majority of the students claimed that they encountered difficulty in understanding

unfamiliar words. They reflect and recognize the source of comprehension problems and

realize the importance of elucidating the meaning of difficult words which might affect their

overall analysis of text. Students can easily verbalize the source of problem in

comprehending the meaning of sentence and paragraph.

As revealed in the narrative statements:

“A little bit confused Maam. Because there are some words that are not familiar to,

and also it’s hard for me to analyze sentences in the passage, because it’s quite

deep for me to understand”

Oh, I thought exploitation and exploited are the same but it’s not. So exploited is to

make full use of and derive benefit. It’s just the same. (Looked at the screen) If the example

of this is, if one person in that group has a bad habit of treating someone unfairly and it

means they all have the bad habit and attitude too. Because it started from one into groups.

It says that then one simply does not have a revolutionary attitude. So, if that person

influences the group, it means they all have that bad habit, that person will not change his

attitude. That’s my insight.

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

2. What are the challenges encountered by the students in utilizing think aloud

protocol in the analysis of reading text?

Students claimed that at first, they don’t have confidence in verbalizing their

thoughts. Difficulty in recognizing the meaning of unfamiliar words could also hinder

in understanding the meaning of reading texts. How to deliver and express their

understanding using second language. “Maam I think the problem is, how can I

deliver the answer in English. How can I speak properly, ganun. And how can I

understand the uh -- like I said to you Maam before tayo mag ganito Maam, mahirap,

nahihirapan po ako lalo na yung, yung words na binabasa ko is first time ko palang

makita, first time ko palang narinig. So ganun po, nahihirapan po ako magdeliver ng

mga words kung suit ba sya dun sa sasabihin ko. Parang ganun po Maam”

3. What are the advantages of think aloud protocol in the improvement of

reading skills of students?

Students expressed their appreciation in utilizing Think aloud protocol as revealed in

the interview “So, the benefits that I acquired by using think aloud protocol, was that I

was able to think more deeply in each, each lines and words that I have read, or I

have seen uh, literally now, I use it a lot in my module, because I’m a modular

student, even if it’s hard to understand but it gives us more critical thinking so we can

actually verbalize our thoughts or our feelings to you Maam or to the receiver I think.

Some students answered: “I think the benefits po ng think-aloud protocol is to

remember what we’ve read or what is the -- to remember what we’ve read po sa any

passages or context po na binasa natin kasi it is important to what is reading or while

you are listening uhm it is important to uhm to think what is coming into your mind or

para mas lubos mo sya maintindihan po. Through that, masasagot po natin ng

maayos what the question is all about po”

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

Students also claimed that through TAP they were able to understand words

which are not familiar to them “the benefits of this think-aloud for me as a student,

learn to understand the deep meaning of words, sentences and I always talk to

myself now, than other. I always read some books and take down notes the words

which are unfamiliar words. This think-aloud protocol help me to understand and to

be wiser to understand the book I read po Maam. “I think the think-aloud protocol

helps me to read, read some words, help me to understand some words because I’m

-- the because, for example, a credible, if I search I don’t understand it and think-

aloud helps me realized that you should, we should say what we want to say. So we

won’t regret, because yea, that’s all”

Students also admitted that TAP is truly challenging for them “For me Maam,

it is very challenging Maam and then the benefits of this uh I can read, kasi Maam

ako maam di po ako mahilig magbasa. Sa totoo lang po uh when the story is very

long, I cannot understand every word, I already give up those. Pero nung chinallenge

nyo po ako na every passage and then what is I understand for that, it help me that

ah! Kailangan pala basahin ko sya ng maigi kahit paulit ulit para kung sakali mang

may magtanong sakin na what is the story all about, I can answer it, because I

already read, and I already understand those story.

Plans for Dissemination and Advocacy/ Dissemination and Advocacy Plans

This research conducted was intended for strengthening the reading competence of

the learners, this will be disseminated to all communication arts teachers teaching English

both in Junior high school and Senior High school department. Through Learning Action

Cell, the results of the study will be analyzed and delineated to enhance students’

processing skills in understanding reading texts using think aloud protocol.

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

References:

Schirmer, B. R., Schaffer, L., Therrien, W. J., & Schirmer, T. N. (2016). Effect of the reread-

adapt and answer-comprehend intervention on the reading achievement of middle

and high school readers who are deaf. Reading Psychology, 37(4), 650–663.

Zhang, L. J. (2008). Constructivist pedagogy in strategic reading instruction: Exploring

pathways to learner development in the English as a second language (ESL)

classroom. Instructional Science, 36(2), 89–116.

Zhang, L. J., Gu, P. Y., & Hu, G. (2008). A cognitive perspective on Singaporean primary

school pupils’ use of reading strategies in learning to read in English. British Journal

of Educational Psychology, 78(2), 245–271.

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A CALABARZON
CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ANTIPOLO

Antipolo City Sports Educational Hub, Sen. L. Sumulong Circle, Brgy. San Isidro, Antipolo City (02) 630-3110
www.depedantipolo.com
“EDUKASYONG TAPAT AT SAPAT DAPAT PARA SA LAHAT”