CHAPTER I

Introduction

One of the most important things you can do on a child is to encourage him/her to read.

Reading is one of the most important skills. Being able to read will give a child an advantage in

school and in life.

An individual's ability to comprehend text is influenced by their traits and skills, one of

which is the ability to make inferences. If word recognition is difficult, students use too much of

their processing capacity to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to

comprehend what is read. There are a number of approaches to improve reading comprehension,

including improving one's vocabulary and reading strategies.

Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text/message. This

understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger

knowledge outside the text/message .Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words

quickly and effortlessly. It is also determined by an individual's cognitive development, which is

"the construction of thought processes". Some people learn through education or instruction and

others through direct experiences.

According to Wainwright (2007 :37) Reading comprehension is process in which the

reader has to decide linguistic symbol and reconstruct them up to meaningful whole intended by

the writer .reading comprehension is only a term referring to reading skill through the important

thing is not on the pronouncing or load reading, but it is the understanding taken into consideration.

Comprehension includes recognizing and understanding a main idea and related details. A good

recognized that many ideas are implied and he must read between the lines to get the full meaning.
There are specific traits that determine how successfully an individual will comprehend text,

including prior knowledge about the subject, well developed language, and the ability to make

inferences. Having the skill to monitor comprehension is a factor: "Why is this important?" and

"Do I need to read the entire text?" are examples. Lastly, is the ability to be self-correcting to solve

comprehension problems as they arise.

The childs early experience with literacy-related activities is highly correlated to the

childs success with reading. It is important to consider a childs development level when choosing

appropriate activities. Early enjoyable pre-reading experiences set the stage for child gains

knowledge that will serve as the foundation for future learning reading as he or she enters the

school system ( Mathews 1997 ).

Background of the Study:

The area of focus for my project is improving Reading Comprehension Through the

Use of Higher Order Thinking Skill Activities. Without the solid foundation of reading skill the

researcher feels the children will be struggle hard throughout their schooling and adult life. By

learning the best comprehension strategies and how to best teach these strategies to the pupils,

the researcher hopes to provide the solid foundation needed to succeed . Although the school's

NAT result has meet or exceed its expectation, still the researcher has a thought of a way to

improve it. In reading class, the grade three pupils scored 84%, but the scores dropped in the 4th

grade. So the researcher concludes that the pupils score decreases because of the pupils have

very poor higher - order thinking skills to increase reading test scores and develop meaningful

reading experience to the pupils.

 Statement of the Problem:

As the researcher of this research, I have found out that many of my pupils in grade III

are able to read fluently, but still have difficulty in answering the "how" and "why" questions. I

am hoping that by incorporating higher order thinking skills my pupils would be able to transfer

and make connections to reading. This is important in order for a child to be successful. I feel that

incorporating reading strategies and showing students how to reflect about what they have read,

would improve their reading comprehension and to become life-long learners. I am looking

forward to working on this area of concern, and sharing my findings with my co-teachers.

Significance of the Study:

The study will be deemed important for the proper recognition of the improving Reading

Comprehension Through the use of higher - order thinking activities on the academic Performance

of the grade III pupils, Likewise, the findings of this research may prove useful to the following,

to wit;

Pupils. Having a clearer view and firsthand experience of the teacher's performance,

this will further enhance pupil's knowledge of the importance of mastering the basic skills of their

competencies so they will make an effort to do best. This may lead to better enthusiasm and

develop good study habit.

Teachers. This study may heighten their awareness in identifying the learning tasks

that are well developed as well as the least. This may further be a motivating factor to adapt

measures and new strategies for the improvement of instructions in reading.

 Parents. The result of this study will serve as bird's eye view of the parent to know

the needs of their children with regards to improving their reading comprehension.

School Administrator and Supervisors. Results of this investigation may encourage

administrators and supervisors help their teachers upgrade their teaching performance in

improving reading comprehension through closer supervision and faculty development and

training programs.

Department of Education Cotabato Division Specially Midsayap West District. With

the use of the results of the study, any educational upliftment will benefit the municipality of

Midsayap as it may improve the quality of working force of the municipality or the quality of life

of their respective constituents.

Curriculum Planners. The findings of this study may assists the planners in the proper

selection of methods, techniques, and strategies that need to be reinforced.

Community. The result of this study may benefit the community in as much they know

that the teachers of their children are equipped with the necessary tools and competence in teaching

them.

Researcher Himself. This may serve as inspiration in teaching his pupils above and

beyond his capacity.

 Future Researcher. The information and insights that will be gained from this study

may serve as guide for other researcher in framing their conceptual framework and design and at

the same time encourage them to conduct lateral studies within their area of preferences.

Scope of the Study

The general focus of the present study was on the Improving Reading Comprehension

Through the use of Higher Order Thinking Skills Activities of the grade I pupils in Nabalawag

Elementary School, Midsayap West District, and Division of Cotabato. The study covered the

PHIL-IRI assessment result of the school year 2011-2012 utilizing the post -test. The aspects in

Improving Reading Comprehension that the present study will look into the different reading

strategies. Predicting, making connections, visualizing, Inferring, questioning, and summarizing

are shown on this research to improve reading comprehension.

 CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

 Keeping the goal in mind: Each of them to read fluently so that they can use their reading

skills to read the Bible, read literature for enjoyment, learn history, science and other subjects

written books ( Travelyan 2000).

Clay ( 2000 ) states that children with parents who have a high degree of educational

attainment, parents that lived to read and read with their children, these reveals that children will

greatly engage in reading. Especially parents who are much concerned with the educational

progress of their children.

Reading comprehension involves two levels of processing, shallow (low-level)

processing and deep (high-level) processing. Deep processing involves semantic processing,

which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to similar words. Shallow

processing involves structural and phonemic recognition, the processing of sentence and word

structure and their associated sounds (Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart).

Anthony Manzo (1969 ) designed and found empirical support for the ReQuest, or

Reciprocal Questioning Procedure, it was the first method to convert emerging theories of social

and imitation learning into teaching methods through the use of a talk rotation between students

and teacher called cognitive modeling.

 CHAPTER III

Methodology

A. Research Design

This study employ the pre-Experimental one shot case study. According to De Jesus, the

pre experimental one shot case study is a design in which a single group is only studied once,

subsequent to a treatment is the instruction of reading strategies. It is important to teach the

strategies by naming the strategy and how it should be used, modelling trough think aloud process,

group practice, partner practice and independent use of the strategy.

The second tool used was the Phil-Iri test administered to the pupils in the grade III pupils

in the first week of July, 2014. This tool used to determine student growth in reading

Comprehension.

The teacher observation checklist was used by the researcher to gather data throughout

the intervention. This tool provides information of changes on how well his pupils understand

and use reading comprehension strategies over time.

B. Sampling Design
 Purposive sampling was employed in selecting pupils - respondent of the study.

The pupils who were selected were enrolled in the third grade class for the school year 2014-

2015.

C. Description of Instrument Data and Gathering Form.

The Meta comprehension Strategy Index had a total of 25 questions divided into three

parts that asked about the strategies pupils used to help them better understand the story. Part I of

MSI is consist of statement about the strategies used prior to reading a story, Part II of the MSI

consist of statement about the strategies used while reading a story, and the part III of the MSI

consist of statement about the strategies used after reading the story.

Prepared by:
RIZA BAI DUBPALEG
Teacher- I

Noted:
ESMAIL SAPAD
School Head

Recommending Approval:

MAGSAYSAY U. SABANG
District Supervisor

Approved:
 OMAR A. OBAS CESO VI
Schools Division Superintendent