JOSENIA P.

CONSTANTINO Seminar in Thesis Writing

MAEd- Language Teaching Prof. Panchito Labay

Proposed Title:

STATUS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF READING PROGRAMS IN SELECTED

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN MOGPOG DISTRICT: BASIS FOR
ENHANCEMENT OF THE READING PROGRAM

Introduction:
Reading is a fundamental ability for higher learning. Thus, the best opportunity to teach

children the skills of reading is in the early grades or earlier if possible. If this window is missed,

then children who have not begun to read and understand what they read will continue to fall

behind unless swift action is taken. This observation is what actually happening in most of the

public schools in the Philippines. With these, several reading intervention programs have been

introduced in the Philippine public schools, believing that this would uplift the poor conditions of

oral reading and comprehension in most of the public schools across country.

For example, the Every Child is A Reader Program was introduced as enclosure in

DepEd Order no. 70, s. 2011. According to DepEd, ECARP aims to equip elementary pupils in

public schools with strategic reading and writing skills to make them independent young readers

and writers. The intervention program includes Reading Recovery (RR) which will give students

who are lagging behind in reading and writing a chance to catch up through specialized one-to-

one reading assistance from a teacher trained in RR procedures.

Moreover, in a news report of Mendoza (2011), DepEd Secretary Luistro said that the

ECARP program will also generate a Philippine World List in English, an inventory of frequently
used words in English textbooks, for vocabulary development. The DepEd also recognizes the

importance of reading as a foundation of learning, thus, the department allotted P21 million to

finance the intervention program. Also, ECARP is also part of the ten-point education agenda of

President Benigno Aquino III to ensure that the countrys public schools produce graduates who

are equipped for further learning.

Alongside this, the Department of Education (DepEd) has declared the month of November

as the National Reading Month and has instructed school officials to conduct various activities to

rekindle the interest of school children in reading. Secretary Luistro issued Memorandum No. 244,

s. 2011 stating that the various reading activities are part of DepEds move to institutionalize the

national Every Child a Reader program.

Among activities lined up are the Read-a-Thon, which aims to discover outstanding readers

in class; the DEAR program, which engages students in 15 to 20 minutes of reading daily; and the

shared reading or readers mentoring program, where older students are encouraged to assist

younger readers with reading difficulties. Schools are also urged to hold vocabulary and A

Paragraph A Day sessions, where students learn one new word a day and read aloud one or two

paragraphs every day to enhance their speaking skills. The program likewise aims to bring back

the interest of school children in reading instead of them spending too much time on the Internet

and inclination to online activities (Cruz, 2011).

 In support of the program, the Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) developed the

Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil IRI). Accordingly, the Phil IRI is an initiative of

the Bureau of Education of Elementary Education to address its thrust to make every Filipino child

a reader. It is anchored on the flagship program of the DepEd Evert Child a Reader Program

(ECARP). Its goal is to enable every Filipino child to communicate both in English a Filipino

through effective reading program. The Phil IRI was administered to all public elementary schools

in 2011 up to present to assess the progress and levels of reading ability and comprehension of the

pupils after the intervention programs (Madrid, 2012).

However, the problem in reading is still the same. Reading problem is still rampant,

especially in the elementary and secondary schools in the Division of Marinduque. In fact, in the

recently conducted colloquium, a part of the School Heads Development Program Foundation

Course, the Schools Division Office of Marinduque found out that 93% of the problems that school

heads in both elementary and secondary schools presented concerned oral and reading

comprehension (Division Memorandum No. 4, s. 2017).

With this background, the researcher would like to assess the status of the implementation

of the reading programs in the Division of Marinduque. The researcher believes that gaps lie with

the implementation of reading program because there were already reading intervention programs

to bridge skill gaps in reading, yet, the usual problem is encountered. Also, there was already

assessment tool introduced, yet, the problem in reading is still the same. It was clearly presented

that reading invention programs should be given in the elementary levels, surprisingly, pupils who

go up to the secondary level still have difficulty in reading and understanding.

Statement of the Problem:
1 What is the status of the reading programs in selected elementary schools in Mogpog
District in terms of:
2.1 program implementation
2.1.1 year when reading programs were implemented ;
2.1.2 reasons for program implementation;
2.1.3 kind of reading programs offered; and
2.1.4 changes, adaptation, or innovation made by the elementary schools

2.2 implementation proper

2.2.1 ways of implementing the reading program
2.2.2 types of reading materials used
2.2.3 effectiveness of the reading program
2.2.4 assessment tools used for reading program
2.2. 5 validity and reliability of the assessment tools used

2.3 profile of teachers

2.3.1. length of years handling the reading program
2.3.1 types of training attended relevant to the implementation of reading
program
2.3.1 level of teaching competence

2.4. adequacy of support by :

2.4.1. administration
2.4.2 parents

3. What are the problems encountered by the teachers in implementing the reading
program?
4. What solutions were undertaken to counteract the problems?
5. What intervention can be proposed to enhance the implementation of the reading
program?