1 DIFFERENTIATED APPROACH IN ENHANCING THE READING PROFICIENCY AMONG GRADE 6 PUPILS

A Masters Thesis Presented to The faculty of the Graduate School Capitol University Cagayan de Oro City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Masters of Arts in Education Major in English

RONALD LLOREN-AMPONG

2 Chapter 1 The Problem

Introduction To learn to read one must have plenty of opportunities to use books and other written materials. Readers must understand what the written language does and that the text does convey meaning (Smith 1985). One contact with books and print will develop this concept. When children are very young, they need adults to read to them, write with them, and talk with them about what we are doing until they can read for themselves. After they begin to develop reading strategies, they must continue practicing in order to become more efficient and flexible. There is no way to become a good reader than to read. Forgan and Mangrum II (1981) believed that comprehension of subject matter materials is one of the major objectives of public and private education. As a major objective of education it becomes one of the chief responsibilities of every teacher. Many teachers, however, teach as if they believe comprehension to be an innate ability, which students have or have not. Their teaching behavior leads an observer to conclude that developing comprehension abilities is the objective of the students not of the teacher.

3 Reading, along with speaking, listening and writing, is considered to be a language process. Common elements of oral and written language emphasize the relationship between the processes.

Language processes have common sounds, sentence arrangements, vocabularies, and meanings. Another element of language processes is the experience of the user. Personal experiences affect the way one understands what is read or heard, as well as what is discussed when talking and writing. Educational researchers have found that there is a strong correlation between reading and academic success. In other words, a student who is a good reader is more likely to do well in school and pass exams than a student who is a weak reader. Educational researchers have also found a strong correlation between reading and vocabulary knowledge. In other words, students who have a large vocabulary are usually good readers. This is not very surprising, since the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read extensively, and if you read extensively you are likely to be or become a good reader. Research findings in applied linguistics and reading research consistently show a strong correlation between reading proficiency and academic success at all ages, from the primary school right through to

4 university level: students who read a lot and who understand what they read usually attain good grades." Conceptual Framework

Reading is a basic life skill.

It is a cornerstone for a child's

success in school; and throughout life. Without the ability to read well, opportunities for personal fulfillment and job success inevitably will be lost. (Commission on Reading). Pretorious, conformed a good readers can understand the

individual sentences and the organizational structure of a piece of writing. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments, and detect implications. They know most of the words in the text already, but they can also determine the meaning of many of the unfamiliar words from the context - failing this, they can use their dictionary effectively to do so. In summary, good readers can extract from the writing what is important for the particular task they are employed in and they can do it quickly. According to Anderson (1985) comprehension as a integral skill, a process of constructing meaning from the written texts, a complex skill requiring coordination of several kinds of interrelated sources of information. Comprehension is a means of integrating information. When we read, we form a structure which includes all the events or

5 circumstances and concepts that must be put together to logical link the events to one another. The result is what is remembered and serves as the basis for recall or retrieval of needed information. As cited by Loberanes (2008) reading proficiency refers to the degree of mastery of the competencies in reading. Reading involves different skills for a reader to fully comprehend what a piece of reading material is supposed to convey. Specialists in reading pose taxonomies in these reading skills. Thus, this study focuses on developing a creative and

differentiated approach in enhancing the reading proficiency of the pupils. Figure 1 shows the interplay of the dependent and independent variables. The independent are as follows: educational attainment of the parent, employment status of the parents, and years experience of experience of the teachers while the dependent variable is the reading proficiency of the pupils which includes: noting details, getting the main idea of the selection, making inference, following directions and speed and comprehension.

Statement of the Problem

6 This study attempts to develop a creative and differentiated approach in enhancing the reading proficiency of the Grade 6 pupils of Lourdes College of the Grade School department for the school year 2009-2010. Specifically, the research finds answer to the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the Lourdes College grade School in each of the following questions: 1.1 gender of the pupils 1.2 parents educational attainment 1.3 employment status of the parents 1.4 teachers years of experience

2. What is the reading proficiency of the grade 6 pupils in terms of the basic reading skills, namely: 2.1 noting details 2.2 getting the main idea of the selection 2.3 making inference 2.4 following directions 2.5 speed and comprehension

3. Based on the findings what differentiated approach can be recommended to improve the reading

proficiency of the grade 6 pupils.

Hypothesis

There is no significant difference in the reading proficiency of the grade 6 pupils when a certain variables are considered such as: 1.1gender of the pupils 1.2highest educational attainment of the parents 1.3employment status of the parents 1.4years of teaching experiences of the teachers

Significance of the Study

The result of this study will provide valuable information in developing a creative and differentiated approach in enhancing the reading proficiency among grade 6 pupils; Particularly, the result of this study will give impact to the following:

8 Administrator. The result of the study may give them primary information in developing a creative and differentiated approach in enhancing the reading proficiency. Teachers. The result of the study may provide teachers with proper insights in planning creative and innovative activities in order to enhance pupils reading proficiency. Pupils. From the findings the pupils will strive more to enhance their reading skills. Future researchers. The result of this study may serve as their basis for future studies on developing a creative and differentiated approach in enhancing reading skills of the pupils.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study will focused on two sections of Lourdes College of the Grade School Department of the school year 2009-2010. The research study will focus on developing a creative and differentiated approach in enhancing the reading proficiency among pupils.

Definition of Terms

9 Performance. Performance refers to the actual accomplishment as distinguished from potential activity, (Good, 1959). Reading Proficiency. It is an ability that is essential to successful performance in reading such as word recognition,

comprehension and organization (Good 1973). In this study it refers to the following skills:

Following directions. This is a reading skill which is manifested by the ability to the learner to follow directions both oral and written instructions.

Getting the main idea. It is a reading skill where the pupils are able to identify the general statement of the content of the paragraph. In this skill, the pupils who have the ability to get the main idea of the paragraph would mean that these pupils have fully understood the paragraph. (Sonka 1987).

Making inference. It is reading between the lines. In the lines, the

10 learners are expected to relate the lines to their own experiences or others experiences using some clues which derive from the paragraphs ( Romero 1985)

Nothing details. It is a factual type of reading which

comprehension in

the reader is directly concerned with remembering items within the passage. This calls for a relatively slow and exactly type of reading (Villamin 1994).

Speed and comprehension. Speed and comprehension as a reading skill denotes the rate of comprehension of facts. The speed rate is dependent upon the kind of reading materials.

Comprehension as used in this study is the ability manifested by the learners to grasp the meaning of the separate words into a chain of related ideas.

Variable. Variable is characteristic set or phenomenon which may take

11 on different values. The set of values that the variable can take is called its domain (Raagas, 2000) in this study it refers to the following:

Educational attainment of the parents. In this study, this refers to the highest education attained by the father and mother of the respondent at the time of survey. It is categorized into four: both parents have college education (CC), 2. either one parent has college education and the other one has a high school education (CH), 3. both parents have high 4. either one parent has

school education (HH), and

high school education and the other one has elementary education (HE). Employed person are those who are during the reference period are reported either at work, even for an hour of with a job but not at work because of temporarily illness, on vacation, strike or for other reasons. This includes persons who are supposed to report for work or start the operation of a farm of business enterprise. Unemployed persons are those who during the reference period are 15 years and over and are reported to be looking for work and are not looking for work because of the beliefs that work is not available or because of temporary illness, etc. In this study it includes persons not

12 in the labor force for reasons other than those previously mentioned. This refers to housewives, pupils, disabled, retired persons and seasonal workers who are not working and not looking for work during the survey.

Years of teaching experiences of teachers. This refers to the number of years or length of services, the teacher acquired in the Department of Education. The respondents were grouped according to the number of teaching experience of their teachers to wit: 1. one ten years teaching experience, 2. eleven to twelve years teaching experience, 3. twenty-one years and above.

Differentiated instruction refers to a process through which teachers enhance learning by matching student characteristics to instruction allows all and assessment. to Differentiated the same instruction classroom

students

access

curriculum by providing entry points, learning tasks, and outcomes that are tailored to students' needs (Hall, Strangman, & Meyer, 2003).

13

Chapter 3

Research Methodology

This chapter presents the research methodology that will be used in the study. This includes the details about the research design, respondents of the study, research locale, the research instruments,

14 data gathering procedure, and statistical treatment of data used in the study.

Research Design This study will be using a descriptive method which will describe the approach in enhancing the reading proficiency of the pupils Aquino (1998) as cited by Loberanes (2008) states that descriptive method as fact finding with adequate interpretation. It is a method which is something more and beyond fact data gathering. The true meaning of the data collected is reported from the point of view of the objectives and the basic description of the study. This follows logically a process from data collection to quantification, statistical treatment, analysis and interpretation.

Subject of the Study

The subject of the study will be the two sections of the grade 6 pupils of Lourdes College of the Grade School Department of the school year 2009-2010.

15 Research Locale

Lourdes College began as a tiny seed, planted in the ground in 1928 by the late Archbishop James Hayes, S.J, D.D, then a young parish priest of Cagayan de Oro. It started as an elementary school for boys and girls named San Agustin Parochial School, and presented to the community its first 20 graduates in 1933. Responding to a growing need for a Secondary Catholic Education in the city, the school operated its High School with separate principals for boys and for girls. The girls division gave birth to

LOURDES ACADEMY whose management was entrusted to the Sisters of the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM). S. Ma. Andrea Montejo, RVM became the first Directress, and S. Ma. Esperanza Edralin, RVM, the first Principal. The school started with 23 girls, increasing to almost a hundred in June 1934. Ultimately, the Academy gave to Cagayan de Oro its first thirty-three graduates in March 1937. The Grade School Department was awarded by the Department of Education Culture & Sports (DECS) as the Most Effective Private Elementary School in Region 10 in school-year 1993-94. Likewise, the High School Department was awarded by DECS as the Most Outstanding Private Secondary School in Region 10 in 1994-95, and again in 1996-97 as the Most Effective Secondary School in Region 10.

16 In February 2005, the Grade School and High School Levels underwent another PAASCU re-visit. And in May of the same year the school was granted 5-year accreditation status. Lourdes College has borne many fruits through the years, which benefit the community wherever these graduates are. The schools graduates are now

serving in the different sectors of the society education, business and industry, government service, religious institutions, and others in the different parts of the country and abroad.

Data Gathering Instruments

There will be two research instruments used in the study which is adopted from the dissertation of Loberanes 2008 entitled,

Relationship Between the Reading Proficiency and Performance in the Achievement Tests in English, Science and Mathematics of Grade Six Pupils The first set is standard selections taken from the book, Developing Reading Power for Grade 6. The choice of the selections considered the length and the difficulty of the contents and vocabulary used. The result would serve as the proficiency level of the respondents in the following reading skills: nothing details, getting the

17 main idea, making inference, following directions, and speed and comprehension test. The second instrument is an information questionnaire that would determine the profiles of the pupils, the parents of pupils and the teachers. The information gathered served as variables tested in this study.

Data Gathering Procedures

The researcher will be requesting permission to the principal of the Lourdes College Basic Education Department, Grade School Level through a formal letter to administer the research instruments to the respondents. In administering the speed reading exercises, sets of guidelines should be followed: 1. Cards will be prepared with numbers of representing the number of seconds it takes pupils to finish the selection before giving the first exercise. These numbers should stat from 60 going up by 10s (60, 70, etc.) 2. The pupils were told of the purpose of the activity. 3. The pupils were instructed to look at the cards that were being flashed at the very instant they finish reading the selection and to

18 write the number of the cards flashed at that precise time on the

space provided for on their papers (time consumed ______). 4. The pupils were made to read the selection at the same time. 5. The one conducting the reading exercise began flashing the cards one minute after the starting time. The examiner continued to flash the cards one after the other every ten seconds seeing to it that each pupil wrote down the number flashed at the instant he/she finished reading the selection. 6. The pupils were made to answer the questions after everyone had finished reading the selection making sure that none of them reread the selection to clarify an answer. 7. The speed and rate were determined using the interpretation table as follows: S+C+ S+CSC+ SCReads fast and comprehends well Reads fast but comprehends poorly Reads slowly but comprehends well Reads slowly and comprehends poorly

Statistical Treatment of the Data

To analyze and interpret the data to be gathered the following statistical method will be used:

19 Problem 1: What is the reading proficiency of the grade 6 pupils in term of the basic reading skills, namely: 1.1 noting details 1.2 getting the main idea of the selection 1.3 making inference 1.4 following directions 1.5 speed and comprehension To determine the proficiency level in the five reading skills of the grade six pupils, the following procedures were used to the skills pertaining to nothing details, making inference, getting the main idea, following directions and comprehension. 1. The exercise for each skill were scored separately and arranged into a frequency of distribution. 2. The P75 and the median were compute to determine the limits of the scores obtained by the pupils in High, Average and Low Groups. The formula to compute the P75 is as follows: P
75

= L+ Np F
f

Where: P
75

= = =

percentile point lower limit cumulative frequency

L F

20 f i = = frequency where the lower limit is located interval

Formula to compute the median is as follows;

Mdn = L +

N -

2_____ F Where: Mdn L N 2 F f i = = = = = = median lower limit haft sum cumulative frequency frequency where the lower limit is located interval

3. The results of the computation were made as basis for formulating the interpretation table which is as follows: High Average Low = = = P75 and above median LL of P75 LL of the median and below

4. The number of the pupils based on the scores they obtained was classified into High, Average and Low. 5. The percentile where also computed.

21 6. For speed and comprehension the skill of the following procedures were done to classify the pupils into: S+C+ and comprehension rate of 70 and above. S+Cand comprehension rate below 70. S-C= Speed rate above 110 seconds and = Speed rate of 110 seconds and below = Speed rate of 110 seconds and below

comprehension rate below 70. 7. The percentages were computed in each group.

Problem 2: What is the profile of the Lourdes College grade School in each of the following questions: 2.1 gender of the pupils 2.2 parents educational attainment 2.3 employment status of the parents 2.4 teachers years of experience To determine the significant difference in the in the reading proficiency of respondents the following were done:

22 1. a The Chi-square test was used in the four variables foe speed and comprehension. The formula is as follows: 2 X =E

2 2 fo fe fe

where: X E fo fe
2

= = = -

Chi-square sum of fo and fe which is multiplied by itself observed frequency expected frequency

1.b. To determine the degree of freedom the formula was followed: df = (r-1)(c-1)

where: df r c = = = degree of freedom number of rows number of columns

2. for the z-test (Test of difference between proportion) for the four variables such as gender, educational attainment of parents, employment status of parents and years of teaching experience of teachers the following steps below are were done: f

23 p1 = _1_ N 1 f p2 = * p = p 1 1N 2 ____________ N 1 + N 2
+

_1_ N 1 N

Step 2. Compute the standard error of the difference. Step 3. Calculate the ratio by dividing the difference between the proportions by the standard error of the difference. Step 4. Compare the obtained z-value to the critical value from the table.