Young Achievers’ School of Caloocan Inc.

#7 Ramos Compound, Bagumbong, Caloocan City

An Assessment on the Level of Reading Comprehension of the

Grade 8 Students of Young Achievers’ School of Caloocan INC. SY

2017-2018

Submitted by:

Alonso, Angela Marielle

Cagumbay, Roland

Francisco, Marc Rayleigh

Manimtim, Shannon

Naypes, Mary Rose Ann

Reyes, Mark Angelo

Rubio, Kayerill Cate

Tongco, Lorraine Anne

Submitted to:

Ms. Joan Carmel Tan

March 2018
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it, and

understand its meaning. This understanding comes from the connection of

words and how they affect the text message.

There are two elements that make up the process of reading

comprehension: vocabulary knowledge and the text comprehension. In order

to understand the text, the reader must be able to comprehend the

vocabulary used in the piece of writing. An individual's ability to comprehend

starts from the ability to imitate and familiarity of the sounds of the letters

then came the ability to read it with the other letters which formed word.

This will also follow the ability to make conclusion of what an individual read.

Thus, text comprehension will takes place. Therefore, if an individual has the

difficulty in the recognition of the word, he will also struggle to comprehend

whatever he reads. Text comprehension is more complex than the

vocabulary knowledge. Readers may use different text comprehension

strategies like monitoring for understanding, answering and generating

questions, summarizing of the piece and being aware of its structure.

Reading Comprehension is important to life because in order to survive

and thrive nowadays, people must be able to comprehend the text not only

in the form poems, story, essays and other piece of writing but also in a day
to day transactions and communication. Reading without a comprehension is

just tracking the letters or words with the use of eyes and sounding them

out. People may appreciate the words but they are not truly reading the

story. The words on the page have no meaning, they are only letters. People

read for many reason but understanding is a part of the purpose. Without

reading comprehension, reading loses its very purpose: to help us learn and

acquire knowledge. In addition to acquiring knowledge, oral and written

language skills continue to develop with exposure to new ideas and

vocabulary in printed text. Improved comprehension allows for more

academic success and also creates enjoyment in reading for pleasure

There are approaches or interventions done to improve the reading

comprehension. One of them is increasing and being familiar with the new

words being encounter in reading and also the different strategies being

introduced and apply to improve the reading comprehension. Reading

comprehension enables the reader to interact with the text in a meaningful

way. For many, there are doors to lifetime of reading recreation and

enjoyment. Moreover, the experiential and cultural background of the reader

has a strong effect on reading comprehension and learners, early in their

development of English, can write English and can do so for various

purposes. ("Importance of Reading", 2009). The students with higher level

of reading proficiency frequently used reading strategies to comprehend

academic texts according to the study by (Madhumathi Pasupathi; Arijit

Ghosh). So there must be a huge number of strategies and interventions to

be able to meet the different level of comprehension of the students. These

interventions and strategies can really help to attain the higher if not highest

level of reading proficiency of the students.

This topic was chosen to be studied because as an observation, there

are individuals from early years of schooling were promoted to the next level

with poor reading comprehension. With that, it became a chain reaction as

they go to junior or senior high school and even in the college level, which

hinders the chances of finding a job as the result of inability to comprehend.

This happened due to the mass promotion that the Department of Education

wanted to implement which every teachers have the dilemma of whether to

pass the students as to follow the order of DEPED or to retain an individual

who is not yet ready for the next level.

 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The main objective of this study is to know the levels of reading

comprehension of the grade 8 students studying in Young Achievers School

of Caloocan Inc. This study aimed to assess the reading comprehension of

the grade 8 students of YASC school year 2017-2018. This study aims to

seek information about these questions:

1. What is the students’ reading comprehension ability in terms of

literal and critical level?

2. What are the standards or criteria in determining the level of

reading comprehension of the students?

3. Out of 30 students, how many student will get literal and critical

level and what is the percentage of it?

 Research Paradigm

Level of Reading Comprehension of

Grade 8 Pupils
 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The term "schema" was first used in psychology with the meaning of

"an active organization of past reactions or experiences”. In psychology, the

word schema describes a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes

categories of information and the relationships among them. It assumes that

written text does not carry meaning by itself. Rather, a text only provides

directions for readers as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning

from their own previously acquired knowledge. It can also be described as a

mental structure of preconceived ideas, a framework representing some

aspect of the world, or a system of organizing and perceiving new

information. Through the use of schemata or schema, a technique to encode

and retrieve memories, the majority of typical situations do not require

much spontaneous processing. People can quickly organize new perceptions

into schema and act without effort with the help of new information that we

learn every day.

The theory of Schema can be used to help guide students to

comprehend a text from the global point of view. According to schema

theory, a person’s comprehension or understanding depends on their prior

knowledge or the stored information in a person’s brain. Each schema is filed

and stored somewhere inside the brain, it is said to be stored for future use.

Example is when a student reads, the information that are stored will be

used together with the new information that were presented to the brain by
hearing it or reading it and the student will be able to understand or

comprehend. With the help of new information, more files or more

information are going to be stored for future use, means if there are more

information, the student will be able to comprehend things easily and maybe

even critically.

In able to assess the grade 8 students’ reading comprehension, of

course they will be leveled. There will be 2 levels, the Literal level and

Critical level. In literal level, it involves what the author is actually saying.

The reader is also locating information, using context clues to supply

meaning, following specific directions, following a sequence, identifying

stated conclusion, and identifying explicitly stated relationships and

organizational patterns. While in critical level is like thinking out of the box,

looking for deeper meanings and in this high level of comprehension requires

the reader to use some external criteria from his/her own experience in

order to evaluate the quality, values of the writing, the author’s reasoning,

simplifications, and generalizations. With these two levels, we will be able to

assess the students’ level in comprehending.

 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

This study was conducted as it may help the students, teachers, and

even parents to formulate, implement and cooperate in any programs,

projects, and interventions that may help every individual to develop and

improve their level of comprehension. It may use as a weapon in

communicating and expressing one's self and also to find and have a job

that will help themselves, family, society and the country as a whole.

BENEFICIARIES OF THE STUDY

 Students: They may be able to determine their reading performance

and may evaluate their strengths and weaknesses on reading.

 Teachers: They may be guided on their teaching strategies of

teaching. They may be helped in promoting reading as a process of

acquiring meaning from text and may encourage a versatile response

to difficulties that their learners or students might encounter in

reading.

 Parents: They may be able to help their children develop reading skills

by observing of their ability and spending time to have reading

discussion at home and helping the teachers in enhancing their

children with intellectual development.

 SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This study was confined only at determining the level of the reading

comprehension of the students. The respondents were the Grade VIII

students enrolled at Young Achievers’ School of Caloocan Inc. school year

2017-2018. There will be 15 students each coming from the two out of three

Grade VIII sections: Polite, Generous for the total of 30 students. The survey

shall be conducted on February 26 2018 at Young Achievers’ School of

Caloocan INC. The analysis was limited to two levels of reading

comprehension: Literal and Critical.

 DEFINITION OF TERMS

 Comprehend- Understand

 Confined- Limited

 Critical- Expressing or involving an analysis of the merits

 Dilemma- A situation in which a difficult choice has to be made

between two or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones.

 Intervention- The action or process of intervening

 Literal- Representing the exact words of the original text.

 Paradigm- A typical example or pattern of something

 Proficiency- A high degree of competence or skill

 Reader- A person who reads or who is fond of reading

 Versatile- Flexible

 Vocabulary- The body of words used in a particular language.

 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

Philippine Star 2010 DepEd Muntinlupa

AUTHOR: ALEX MAGNO

DATE: August 12, 2010

The main purpose for reading is comprehension. Students who reach

high school level are expected to have developed their reading comprehension

skills. High school students are asked to comprehend, analyze, synthesize and

evaluate large amounts of information.

Most of the teachers of English observe in their classes that whenever

the lesson is on reading, some of the students could hardly answer simple

questions such as noting details which concern on the literal questions that

can be found in the text and are directly stated. Most of them could not even

make inferences about things not directly stated in the text. Others have

difficulty recalling previous knowledge which they can make use to increase

their reading comprehension.

Reading Comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text

or message. This understanding comes from the interaction between the

words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text or

message (Rayner, Foorman, Perfitti, Pesetsky & Seidenberg, 2001). Reading

comprehension is a skill that can be strengthened and improved through more

reading practice. Pressley (2003), as cited by Pardo (2004), stated that

increasing vocabulary, extensive reading and critical reading are some of the

practices that can be used to strengthen and refine the person’s ability to

comprehend any text. However, reading comprehension fails for a number of

reasons. One of the reasons is the lack of knowledge base. This deals on how

much knowledge a reader has about the subject he or she is reading. When

the reader is more familiar with the happenings in the text because they likely

are similar in many ways to his or her own life experiences then he or she can

easily generate the necessary inferences from the text.

Reading Comprehension according to Basaraba (2013) is a complex

process that requires different building-block skills. One model of reading

comprehension proposes that understanding what we read is really the result

of three levels of skills: literal comprehension, inferential comprehension and

evaluative comprehension.

Reading is the true backbone of most learning. Everything starts with

the written word — whether it’s math, science or even home economics. As

students go up the educational ladder, more reading is usually required as

subjects become more dense and challenging. (Philippine Star, 2010).

The DepEd reports that there has been a 21.36 percent increase in NAT

results from 2006 to 2009. The 2009 NAT revealed a rise in Mean Percentage
Score (MPS) of only 66.33 percent from 54.66 percent in 2006, which equates

to an improvement of 11.67 percent. The percentage gains were in all subject

areas and pointed to a steady improvement in the primary education of the

country’s public school system.

In a 2007 interview, Dr. Yolanda Quijano, then head of the DepEd’s

Bureau of Elementary Education, attributed “reading problems as the main

culprit for the poor performance of some students in the NAT.” Her observation

is indeed alarming. Hence, if a student’s reading comprehension is poor,

chances are his or her performance in other subjects will be compromised

(Philippine Star, 2010).

One of the best ways to increase reading comprehension among

students is the question-answer technique where it enables students to

prepare for reading and to understand while reading (Hendricks, et al., 1996).

Thus, questioning technique can also be supported through the use of higher

order thinking skills (HOTS) to increase reading comprehension among

students.

Department of Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro (2012) said that

it is important to assess the reading capability of students because reading is

the foundation of all academic learning. He added that if a pupil fails to master

basic reading skills at the outset, it will be a constant struggle for them to get
through other disciplines successfully, thus depriving them of the chance to

become literate and productive individuals.

Tongson, Jr. (2005) as cited by Nangleg (2007) attests to the deterioration of

reading skills of the pupils in the country when the Every Child a Reader

Program (ECARP) has been implemented and the Bureau of Elementary

Education (BEE) supports this program by developing the Philippine Informal

Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI).

Phil-IRI is an assessment tool that evaluates the reading proficiency level

of elementary school pupils. It is the first validated instrument that intends to

measure the pupils’ reading comprehension level. The pupil’s word recognition

and comprehension ability as well as his/her reading speed are informally

assessed quantitatively and qualitatively through stories and passages.

Snow, Burns. & Griffin (1998) suggested three initiatives to address the

educational needs of children beyond grade three. One is putting what we now

know about improving reading comprehension into practice. Next is building

the knowledge base for improving reading comprehension. Another is

developing policies to support improvements in practice and in research.

According to the authors, initiatives to improve practice operate most

effectively through teacher education and professional development

programs. With regard to improving the knowledge base in reading

comprehension, they believe that a child who builds up a strong general

knowledge base in many different subjects will have better reading ability than

a child who doesn’t. Indeed, students need to continue to read a lot, and to

be guided to read books of an appropriate level, so that they have

opportunities to practice reading skills, to learn new vocabulary items, and to

be exposed to a variety of text.

On the conclusion it states that the students need to develop their

reading comprehension skills for them to answer those question broadly. Most

of the teachers’ notices that the students can't answer simple question even

though the exact answer or thought is already stated. Reading comprehension

fail for some reason. One is the lack of knowledge the person can only

understand what he/she is reading if the person experiences that kind of

situation. According to Philippine star 2010 as you go up in the educational

ladder, reading is more required because the subject are getting denser and

challenging. With regard to improving the knowledge base in reading

comprehension, they believe that a child that has a lot of general knowledge

base in different subjects will have a better reading ability than a child who

doesn’t. Indeed, the students need to read more books for them to improve

their reading skills so that they have opportunities to practice and to learn

new vocabulary items, and to be exposed to some variety of words and text.

Every child needs a chance to read independently in school. In the

frenzy to prepare students for large-scale assessments, some schools are

limiting independent reading (IR) time. Yet the Common Core State Standards
themselves advocate student independent reading from a multiplicity of

genre. In fact, some argue that Common Core materials should “increase

regular independent reading of texts that appeal to students’ interests while

developing both their knowledge base and joy in reading” (Coleman &

Pimental, 2012).

Now more than ever, research studies provide guidance for creating IR

programs that contribute to achievement. The teacher is a central player in

these programs, setting the stage and directing the action that makes IR work.

Today’s IR programs should differ significantly from Sustained Silent Reading

(SSR), Drop Everything and Read (DEAR), and earlier iterations of IR.

On the conclusion it states that making independent reading work

need some fully participation of the teacher so there is a guide on the books

that is compatible to a student. It also needs to invest a lot of time for them

to improve their reading and they need to be broad minded when it comes to

words for them to understand what they are reading.

Exploring the online reading comprehension strategies used by sixth-

grade skilled readers to search for and locate information on the

Internet

AUTHOR: JULIE COIRO, ELIZABETH DOBLER

DATE: APRIL 8, 2007

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the nature of reading

comprehension processes while reading on the Internet. Eleven sixth-grade

students with the highest combination of standardized reading scores, reading

report card grades, and Internet reading experiences were selected from a

population of 150 sixth graders in three different middle schools in the central

and northeastern United States. These 11 skilled readers met individually with

a researcher and completed two separate tasks that involved reading within

multilayered websites or using the Yahooligans! Search engine. Students

answered specific questions about their strategy use in a follow-up interview

after each reading session. Qualitative analysis evolved through four distinct

phases, each of which involved reviewing data from think-aloud protocols,

field observations, and semi structured interviews to provide insights on the

nature of online reading comprehension. Findings suggested that successful

Internet reading experiences appeared to simultaneously require both similar

and more complex applications of (1) prior knowledge sources, (2) inferential

reasoning strategies, and (3) self-regulated reading processes. The authors

suggest that reading Internet text prompts a process of self-directed text

construction that may explain the additional complexities of online reading

comprehension. Implications for literacy theory and future research are

discussed. On the conclusion it says that in order to know the level of reading

comprehension we need to explore the nature of its reading comprehension.

Stages of Reading Development

AUTHOR: Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, Paul A. Hadlik

DATE: JULY 27, 2013

The Stages of Reading Development is a continuum that explains how

students’ progress as readers. These stages are based on the students'

experience and not their age or grade level. Knowing these stages is helpful

when developing materials for specific types of readers.

Emergent readers need enriching and enjoyable experiences with books,

especially picture books. Students can become comfortable with books even

before they can read independently— recognizing letters and words and

even language patterns. They are able to work with concepts of print and are

at the beginning stages of developing the ability to focus attention on letter-

sound relationships. Sharing books over and over, extending stories, relating

experiences to both print and pictures, and guiding students to "read," helps

children begin to make predictions about what they are reading.

Early readers are able to use several strategies to predict a word, often

using pictures to confirm predictions. They can discuss the background of the

story to better understand the actions in the story and the message the story

carries. It is this time in the reader's development that the cueing systems

are called upon significantly, so they must pay close attention to the visual

cues and language patterns, and read for meaning. It is a time when reading
habits of risk-taking, and of predicting and confirming words while keeping

the meaning in mind are established.

Transitional readers often like to read books in a series as a

comprehension strategy; the shared characters, settings, and events support

their reading development. They read at a good pace; reading rate is one sign

of a child's over-all comprehension. At this stage, children generally have

strategies to figure out most words but continue to need help with

understanding increasingly more difficult text.

Fluent readers are confident in their understandings of text and how text

works, and they are reading independently. The teacher focuses on students'

competence in using strategies to integrate the cueing systems. Students are

maintaining meaning through longer and more complex stretches of language.

An effective reader has come to understand text as something that influences

people's ideas.
Reading for Meaning with Your Child

AUTHOR: Reading Rockets

DATE: February 20, 2009

Reading with comprehension means understanding what's been read. It

takes practice, time, and patience to develop reading comprehension skills.

Here is a before-during-after approach that families can use to help children

learn to read for understanding.

Reading with comprehension means understanding what's been read. It takes

practice, time, and patience to develop reading comprehension skills. Families

can play an important role in helping a child learn to read for understanding.

First, make sure your child is reading books appropriate for their reading

level. If a book is too hard, all your child's energy will be put into decoding

and reading word for word, with less energy available to figure out what the

book means. Books that your child can read with 98-100% accuracy are good

choices for comprehension building.

Reading comprehension skills can be developed using a before-during-

after approach. Below are a few suggestions that will help build

comprehension skills.
Before

Your goal is to help your child build an understanding of and purpose for

what they're about to read. Look at the book's cover. Ask, "What do you think

this book might be about? Why? Can you make some predictions?" Guide your

child through the pages, discuss the pictures, and brainstorm what might

happen in the story. Talk about any personal experiences your child may have

that relate to the story.

During

Your goal is to help your child be an active reader. Read together and

talk about what's happening as they're reading. Stop and discuss any

interesting or tricky vocabulary words. Talk about any surprising or sad

passages, and help them visualize parts of the story. Ask your child, "Do you

understand what's happening here? What do you think will happen next?" If

your child seems unsure, stop, go back and reread if necessary. Discuss any

confusing parts.

After

Your goal is to help your child reflect on what they've read. Summarize

and share your favorite part of the book. Have your child rate the book on a

scale from 1 to 10 and say why. Have your child reread their favorite part or

act it out.
 Take the extra time before and during reading to read with your child

this way. You'll soon find yourself reading with a child who is motivated to

comprehend and learn from everything they read.

Seven Keys to Comprehension

AUTHOR: MOSAIC OF THOUGHT; SUSAN ZIMMERMAN AND ELLIN

OLIVER KEENE

DATE: JANUARY 23, 1997

In 1997, Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann, partners at the

Denver-based Public Education and Business Coalition, published “Mosaic of

Thought,” which explained how good readers use thinking strategies to build

comprehension. Zimmermann followed with “Seven Keys to

Comprehension,” a work designed to give parents and teachers practical

advice on teaching children to read strategically. She explains how readers

use their background knowledge and imagination to visualize what they

read. Zimmermann also reveals how children can learn to ask themselves

questions to help them find important details and make key inferences.

Finally, she shows how readers can put ideas together to form a complete

understanding of what they’ve been trying to comprehend.

Reading with Meaning

Debbie Miller, the author of several books on reading, outlines methods

for teaching reading comprehension to elementary school students in

“Reading with Meaning.” Miller discusses setting up a classroom where plan

instruction around what students need individually and help those students

with one-on-one conferences. Reading teachers, Miller believes, need to

build relationships with their students based on trust and open

communications. Miller teaches students to work with the same reading

strategies Zimmermann and Keene outline in their works. However, in the

book, Miller describes teaching students to apply those comprehension

strategies independently.

I Read It, but I Don’t Get It

Tovani, who also worked with Keene and Zimmermann, is a teacher

and literacy coach in Denver. In this book, she discusses why many children

who have learned how to recite the words on the page still struggle with

comprehension. She believes struggling readers need to see how good

readers think as they read. To promote thinking, Tovani asks children to

write down what’s on their minds as they read. Tovani says writing makes

readers pay attention to their “thinking voice,” the thoughts they have as

they try to understand the text. By recording their thinking in the margin --

or on another piece of paper -- students create a permanent record of their

attempts to understand the text. Readers can return to their thinking, revise

their ideas and accumulate information needed to build comprehension.

Deeper Reading

In “Readicide,” English teacher and literacy consultant Kelly Gallagher

warned educators about literacy practices that he felt killed student

motivation to read. In “Deeper Reading,” he describes what effective reading

instruction looks like. He tackles methods for getting students to tackle

difficult books such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “All Quiet on the Western
Front.” Challenging material, Gallagher explains, usually requires more than

one reading. He outlines plans for what he calls “first-draft readings” and

“second-draft readings.” Gallagher encourages readers to work through the

confusing parts of their books and to reread passages to find new ideas they

didn’t see in the first reading.

Prior Knowledge Activation and the Comprehension of Compatible

and Incompatible Text

AUTHOR: Donna E. Alvermann, Lynn C. Smith and John E. Readence

DATE: JUNE 18, 1985

The main purpose of reading is comprehension. Most of the students

cannot develop their reading comprehension skills. Most of them is having a

difficulty in understanding text or message. This deals on how much they

understand what they’re reading is all about.

This study examined the effect of prior knowledge activation on average

readers' comprehension of compatible and incompatible text. Fifty-two sixth-

grade students either activated or did not activate what they believed to be

relevant background knowledge prior to reading each of two science passages

taken from naturally-occurring text. Based on the results of pre-experimental

knowledge domain and pilot data measures, the passage on rattlesnakes was

judged compatible, while the one on sunlight was considered incompatible due

to the counter-intuitive information it contained. Measures of written free

recall and multiple-choice tests were the dependent variables. In addition, a

post-session questionnaire was administered. Findings supported the notion

that prior knowledge may interfere with, rather than facilitate, reading

comprehension under certain conditions. Subjects who activated relevant

background knowledge prior to reading text that contained ideas which were

incompatible with their existing knowledge structures allowed their previous

knowledge and experiences to override the text information. This effect was

observed for both general and specifically targeted comprehension indices.

There was no difference in performance between activators and non-activators

on compatible text. Excerpts from students' post-session questionnaire

responses were reported, and instructional implications were tentatively

drawn regarding the role of text in changing inaccurate background

knowledge.
Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on

Reading.

AUTHOR: Anderson, Richard C.; And Others

DATE: DECEMBER 4, 1988

Fulfilling a need for careful and thorough synthesis of an extensive body

of findings on reading, this report presents leading experts' interpretations of

both current knowledge of reading and the state of the art and practice of

teaching reading. The introduction contains two claims: (1) the knowledge is

now available to make worthwhile improvements in reading throughout the

United States, and (2) if the practices seen in the classrooms of the best

teachers in the best schools could be introduced everywhere, improvement in

reading would be dramatic. The first chapter of the report stresses reading as

the process of constructing meaning from written texts, a complex skill

requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information.

The second chapter, on emerging literacy, argues that reading must be seen

as part of a child's general language development and not as a discrete skill

isolated from listening, speaking, and writing. The third chapter, on extending

literacy, stresses that as proficiency develops, reading should not be thought

of as a separate subject, but as integral to learning in all content areas. The

fourth chapter concerns the teacher and the classroom and notes that an

indisputable conclusion of research is that the quality of teaching makes a

considerable difference in children's learning. The next two chapters note that

standardized reading tests do not measure everything, and that teaching is a

complex profession. The last chapter contains seventeen recommendations

for conditions likely to produce citizens who would read with high levels of skill

and do so frequently with evident satisfaction. In the afterword, Jeanne Chall

comments on the history of the report, and three appendixes contain 260

references and notes plus lists of project consultants and the members of the

National Academy of Education.

Metacognition and Reading Comprehension

AUTHOR: Alireza Karbalaei

DATE: September 12, 2009

Becoming a successful reader requires the mastery of many concepts

from phonemic awareness to comprehension. Reading instruction research

has shifted its focus from one skill to another in search of the best way to

improve reading instruction. Although all the concepts needed for reading are

important, reading comprehension stands out for its difficulty to teach and

assess. The challenge has been finding the best way to increase the efficacy

of reading instruction (Van Keer and Pierre, 2005). The instructional practice

has moved away from assuming that comprehension was a skill that was

mastered alongside decoding (Dole, 2000). Rather it is now known that even

though comprehension does depend on the development of decoding, it has

to be taught explicitly (Van Keer and Pierre, 2005).

There are numerous approaches that have been presented to teach

reading comprehension. Many strategies have been identified as beneficial

such as monitoring comprehension, metacognition, using graphic organizers,

and comprehension questions among others (Adler, 2001). These strategies

aid comprehension in many ways.

Comprehension monitoring and metacognition are similar strategies in

which students are given tools to monitor or track their comprehension. Both
require students to be very involved and aware of the effectiveness of their

reading (Adler, 2001). Students are explicitly taught that while reading they

should be thinking. However, the thinking they do depends on their own

experiences and thus is subjective. Students are taught to give their thinking

a name. They learn that they should be aware and recognize the moments

when their comprehension is limited or lacking. Likewise, they should make

notice of all the background knowledge that is activated as they read

especially any connections they can make to their own life and other texts

they have read.

Another commonly used strategy is using comprehension questions to

teach students concepts like main idea and to assess what information they

have extracted from the text while reading. Using comprehension questions

allows teachers to monitor student comprehension based on whether or not

they can respond correctly to the questions. The questions can be tailored to

test skills like identifying literary elements or to test a student’s understanding

of the text with basic recall questions.

Studies have found that proficient readers are aware of the thinking that

is happening as they read. Although some students may develop this

awareness as they are learning how to read, the students with the most need

are the ones who are least likely to develop that awareness (Casanave, 1988).

Thus it is crucial for teachers to explicitly teach students how to think about

their thinking while they are reading. As Van Keer and Pierre (2005) confirmed
in their study, explicitly teaching metacognitive strategies yield significant

gains in reading comprehension in students in 2nd grade. Thus, this

intervention revolved around teaching students about the value of

metacognition as well as one strategy. That strategy that was taught was how

to use schema. Schema is defined as the background knowledge that we gain

from prior experiences. The more experiences we have, the more our schema

is expanded. The reasoning behind teaching schema first is that students need

to have a solid wealth of background knowledge in order to know what they

know and what they do not know. A reader’s background knowledge plays a

crucial role in how well a student can interpret a text (Casavane, 1988).

Students already have that wealth of knowledge, but most do not see or

understand the connections that can be made between their own knowledge

and the texts that they are reading.

Nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge that not all students have

the same wealth of background knowledge especially those in lower income

communities. However, that does not mean that the knowledge that they do

have cannot help them improve their comprehension. Studies have shown that

people can adjust their understanding of a culturally unfamiliar story to fit

their own knowledge of culturally familiar stories, thus adjusting their schema

to fit something unfamiliar (Bartlett, 1932, in Casavane.

Reading For Learning

AUTHOR: Heather Lattimer

DATE: January 5, 2011

Comprehension is a complex process that has been understood and

explained in a number of ways. The RAND Reading Study Group (2002) stated

that comprehension is “the process of simultaneously extracting and

constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written

language” (p. 11). Duke (2003) added “navigation” and “critique” to her

definition because she believed that readers actually move through the text,

finding their way, evaluating the accuracy of the text to see if it fits their

personal agenda, and finally arriving at a self-selected location. A common

definition for teachers might be that comprehension is a process in which

readers construct meaning by interacting with text through the combination

of prior knowledge and previous experience, information in the text, and the

stance the reader takes in relationship to the text. As these different

definitions demonstrate, there are many interpretations of what it means to

comprehend text. This article synthesizes the research on comprehension and

makes connections to classroom practice begin by introducing a visual model

of comprehension.
Approaches to the Instruction of Reading Comprehension

AUTHOR: SAMUEL A. PEREZ

DATE: OCTOBER 27, 1981

The main purpose for reading is comprehension. Students who reach

high school level are expected to have developed their reading comprehension

skills. High school students are asked to comprehend, analyze, synthesize and

evaluate large amounts of information.

Most of the teachers of English observe in their classes that whenever the

lesson is on reading, some of the students could hardly answer simple

questions such as noting details which concern on the literal questions that

can be found in the text and are directly stated. Most of them could not even

make inferences about things not directly stated in the text. Others have

difficulty recalling previous knowledge which they can make use to increase

their reading comprehension.

Reading Comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a

text or message. This understanding comes from the interaction between the

words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text or

message (Rayner, Foorman, Perfitti, Pesetsky & Seidenberg, 2001). Reading

comprehension is a skill that can be strengthened and improved through more

reading practice. Pressley (2003), as cited by Pardo (2004), stated that

increasing vocabulary, extensive reading and critical reading are some of the
practices that can be used to strengthen and refine the person’s ability to

comprehend any text. However, reading comprehension fails for a number of

reasons. One of the reasons is the lack of knowledge base. This deals on how

much knowledge a reader has about the subject he or she is reading. When

the reader is more familiar with the happenings in the text because they likely

are similar in many ways to his or her own life experiences then he or she can

easily generate the necessary inferences from the text.

Reading Comprehension according to Basaraba (2013) is a complex

process that requires different building-block skills. One model of reading

comprehension proposes that understanding what we read is really the result

of three levels of skills: literal comprehension, inferential comprehension and

evaluative comprehension.

Reading is the true backbone of most learning.

Reading Comprehension Ability of Grade VI Pupils of Kinangay Sur

Elementary School

AUTHOR: Marylene N. Tizon

DATE: MARCH 3, 2007

Acquiring reading skills is dependent upon the mastery of a wide variety

of reading skills such as the following levels or dimensions of comprehension

– literal, interpretative, evaluative and creative.

Literal Level produces knowledge of what the author said. The students

decode words, determine what each word means in a given context and

recognize that there is some relationship among words which represent what

the author has said. At this level, the learners are expected to identify the

basic information and follow simple instructions; they form ideas or meanings

directly stated in the selection. These ideas are elicited by questions beginning

with what, when, where, who, etc.

Interpretative level or reading between the lines is applied to what the

author said in order to derive, infer, and imply meaning from a statement.

Students look into relationships among statements within the material they

have read. The learners are tasked to discern the implications of the episodes

by inference and to conform ideas or meanings indirectly or implicitly stated

in the selection. How and Why questions are often elicited that call for some
reasoning, implications, conclusions, assumptions and interpretation provided

from reading the selection.

Critical or evaluative level refers to reading beyond the lines. The

students give reaction, judgment and evaluation of what is written. This

involves how they can distinguish the literal meaning of words from

suggestions or intentions expressed in the selection. It further calls for the

reader’s judgment on the wisdom, validity or propriety of one’s statement or

literary output. It ultimately deals with the evaluation of what is read.

Moreover, critical Analysis or Critical Evaluation requires readers to

evaluate or weigh the facts, events, character’s viewpoints, then make

judgments about the worth of these and the effectiveness of the way they are

presented in the selection. It lets the reader comprehend by making him

analyze, compare and contrast, etc.

Application or creative level is the highest level of comprehension, for it

requires the exercise and application of creative talent and some practical or

theoretical exercise. This level develops the readers‟ talent to profit from the

vicarious experiences gained through reading. It also allows the reader to

create new ideas or new ways of expression with the use of whatever

understanding he got of the text. Thus, it challenges the learner to be like an

inventor in using what he got from the text to create new material as a proof

of his excellent comprehension of the text.

 Chapter III

Methodology and Respondents

Methodology

This study aims to know if the Grade 8 students are in the critical or

literal level on reading comprehension. This study also wants to distinguish

the different standards on how the Grade 8 students of Young Achievers

School of Caloocan Inc. will pass the two levels of reading comprehension.

Those standards and will be identified during the study. The researchers will

be conducting a survey using questionnaires that contains logical and

reasonable questions. This questionnaires will be answered and distributed

to the Grade 8 students of Young Achievers School of Caloocan Inc. The

Grade 8 students are divided into two sections; Grade 8- Energetic and

Grade 8- Polite. The information and data that coming from the Grade 8

students will be presented according to its percentage. The presented date

will be serve as a data to identify the different standards of critical and literal

level. This research only focuses on knowing the levels of the Grade 8

students on reading comprehension. The conclusion and recommendations

can be presented to the people who are concerned.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of this study are 30 selected Grade 8 Students

studying at Young Achievers’ School of Caloocan INC SY 2017-2018.

 The 15 students from 2 out of 3 sections of Grade 8 class, namely 8-Polite

and 8-Generous to answer the survey carefully and honestly. There will be a

15 closed questions that they have to answer.

 Chapter IV

Analysis, Interpretation and Discussion

This study aims to determine the level of reading comprehension of

the Grade 8 students of Young Achievers' School of Caloocan INC. The

researchers gather the information and data thru sampling of questionnaire.

After the gathering of information the researcher treated through the use of

percentile equation.

The formula to be used is:

P=F/N or

Percentage=Frequency/Number of Respondents
 Question YES NO

1. When reading a passage or short stories, do you often 70% 30%

read it more than once?

30%
70%

According to the table, majority of the students: 21 out of 30 with the

percentage of 70%, reads the story repeatedly and 9 out of 30 students with

30% understand the story after reading it once.

70% of the students chose “yes” that they read the passage

repeatedly. According to Mr. Jade Wexler, reading a story or passage twice

can help us to remember and understand the story well.

2. Can you completely understand a passage or story after 30% 70%

reading it once?

30
%
70
%

According to the survey table, 9 out of 30 students or 30% completely

understand the selection and on contrast, 21 of them or 70% doesn’t.

 70% of the students answered that they cannot understand the

selection after reading it once. According to Grant Wiggins, Reading is the

hardest thing in the world to teach and assess because the reading mind is a

black box: we cannot see inside the mind to see what people are doing when

they read. We can only infer what readers are doing from what they tell us,

write us, and show us. But what they tell, write, or show is neither direct nor

necessarily valid evidence.

3. When reading a story, can you easily imagine the characters’ 70% 30%

features, the story’s setting, and the scenes just by reading it

once?

4. After reading a story, can you easily recall the story’s plot? 63% 37%

Scenes? Characters?

37%
63%

Out of 30 students, 21 of them with 70% can easily imagine the

characters’ features, the setting and the scenes by reading it and 9 of them

with 30% of them does not.

 19 of them with 63% of Grade 8 students can easily recall the story’s

plot, scenes and characters while 11 of them with 37% doesn’t.

70% of the student can easily imagine the story’s plot, characters and

features. And for the fourth question, 63% of the students can easily recall

the information and elements of the story. According to Dual-coding theory,

put forward by Allan Paivio of the University of Western Ontario in 1971,

distinguishes between verbal and non-verbal thought processes, and places

mental imagery as the primary form of non-verbal representation. Thus,

information is stored in two different ways – verbally and visually – and

although these two codes are independent of one another, and can each be

used alone, they can also interact to enhance learning and recall.

5. When you’re reading a story and one word is not familiar, 70% 30%

do you use the information you have already read or your

prior knowledge to comprehend it?

30%
70%

Out of 30 students, 21 of them with 70% uses their prior knowledge to

understand the unfamiliar words and contrast 11 of them with 30% couldn’t.
 70% of the students uses their prior knowledge to comprehend

unfamiliar words. According to Eileen Bailey, students relate written word to

their previous experiences to make reading more personal, helping them to

both understand and remember what they have read. Some experts believe

that activating prior knowledge is the most important aspect of the reading

experience.

6. When reading a story, do you understand it of what its 50% 50%

literal meaning?

50% 50%

The table shows that the percentage of the students that can

understand the selection’s literal meaning is the same as the students who

cannot: Both 15 out of 30 with the percentage of 50%.

Both “yes” and “no” has the same percentage with 50%. But according

to Kristyn Hammond, the first key to comprehending a written passage is to

understand it from a literal point of view. Literal comprehension is the

understanding of the written meaning of a passage: the definition of words,

the context of the writing, the main idea of the passage, and the sequence

of thought chosen by the author.

 7. Can you easily identify who’s the protagonist and antagonist in 37% 63%

the story?

37%
63%

It shows 11 students out of 30 or 37% of them can identify the

protagonist and antagonist of the story and 19 of them with 63% cannot.

8. Can you summarize a story? 53% 47%

2nd Qtr
47% 1st Qtr
53%

16 students with 53% can summarize the selection while 14 of them

with 47% cannot.

53% of the students can summarize a selection. According to the

study of Long Beach City College, a summary is a short retelling of a longer

written passage, containing the author’s important ideas. Summarizing helps

improve both your reading and writing skills.

9. Can you write a detailed story outline and your conclusion 37% 63%

about the story?

 37%
63%

11 out of 30 students with the percentage of 37% can write a detailed

story outline and conclusion and 19 of them with 63% cannot.

10. Do you understand the author’s messages in the story? 57% 43%

11. Can you apply the messages in real life? 67% 33%

43% 33%
57% 67%

17 out of 30 students and 20 out of 30 students with 57% and 67%

can understand the author’s message and apply it in real life. While 13 out

of 30, and 10 out of 30 with 43% and 33% cannot.

12. When reading a story, does it take you long? 67% 33%

33%
67%

20 out of 30 students with 67% takes a long period of time to read

and comprehend a message while the rest of them with 33% only took a

short period of time.

 67% of the student takes a lot of time to finish a selection. According

to Meredith Cicerchia, there’s a lot going on in reading, from letter and word

recognition to understanding meaning at the phrase, sentence and

paragraph level. Reading is a cognitively demanding task and holding so

much information in the mind while continuing to process text can exhaust

children with slow processing.

13. When reading a story, do you guess what will happen 67% 33%

throughout the story?

33%
67%

20 out 30 students with 67% uses their imagination to foretell what

will going to happen next and the rest of the students do not have the ability

to guess what will happen throughout the story.

14. When the story’s plot is difficult to comprehend, do you 17% 83%

give up in understanding it?

 5 out of 30 students sees the passage difficult to comprehend while

83% of the students chose not to give up on understanding the selection

and the remaining 17% choose to give up.

15. When you read do you try to see the pictures in your 80% 20%

head?

20%

80%

24 out of 30 with the percentage of 80% try to see the pictures in

their head while 20% of them couldn’t.

80% of the student tries to see a picture in their head when reading.

According to Gunning, the Mental Model theory can be thought of as a mind

movie which is created in one's head, based on the reading of given

information. Readers construct an image or emotion (i.e. mental model

when they integrate their prior knowledge, the purpose of reading and other

factors with the text information.

 Questions YES NO
1. When reading a passage or short stories, do you often read it 70% 30%
more than once? L C

2. Can you completely understand a passage or story after reading it 30% 70%
once? C L

3. When reading a story, can you easily imagine the characters’ 70% 30%
features, the story’s setting, and the scenes just by reading it
once? C L
4. After reading a story, can you easily recall the story’s plot? 63% 37%
Scenes? Characters? C L

5. When you’re reading a story and one word is not familiar, do you 70% 30%
use the information you have already read or your prior C L
knowledge to comprehend it?
6. When reading a story, do you understand it of what its literal 50% 50%
meaning? L L

7. Can you easily identify who’s the protagonist and antagonist in the 37% 63%
story? L L

8. Can you summarize a story? 53% 47%

L/C L
9. Can you write a detailed story outline and your conclusion about 37% 63%
the story? C L

10. Do you understand the author’s messages in the story? 57% 43%
C L
11. Can you apply the messages in real life? 67% 33%
C L
12. When reading a story, does it take you long? 67% 33%
L C
13. When reading a story, do you guess what will happen throughout 67% 33%
the story? C L
 14. When the story’s plot is difficult to comprehend, do you give up 17% 83%
in understanding it? L C

15. When you read do you try to see the pictures in your head? 80% 20%
C L

*C for Critical and L for literal

Literal Level Critical Level

53% 47%

Based on the survey, there 16 out of 30 students with 53% who are in
literal level and there are 14 students with 47% who are in the critical level
of reading comprehension. The results were based on the criteria and the
questions that the researchers made.

The students will be considered to be on literal level if the students

reads the selection repeatedly, if they are having a difficulty to comprehend
the basic information, unfamiliar words in the story, if they read a passage
longer than the others, and if they easily give up on what they are reading.

Another is, the students will be considered to be on critical level of

reading comprehension if the reader or the students think beyond those
things and situations in the story, if they can easily or completely
understand the selection after reading it once, and if they can use their prior
knowledge to comprehend things. Readers will also be considered in critical
level if they are able to understand the messages and apply it in real life
situation. The number of literal and critical question that they get are
counted and if the majority of the respondent’s answers were in critical then
he/ she will be on the critical level of reading comprehension and if it’s more
on literal then the respondent will get literal level of reading comprehension.
 CHAPTER V

Summary, Conclusion, Recommendation and Bibliography

SUMMARY

The purpose of this research is to assess the level of reading

comprehension of Grade 8 students of Young Achievers’ School of Caloocan.

The whole study was conducted at Young Achievers’ School of

Caloocan. The school is located at #7 Ramos Compound, Barangay 171

Bagumbong, Caloocan City, Metro Manila, Philippines. The researchers

conducted a logical survey that is connected to the topic, which is to assess

their level between Critical Level and Literal Level. The researchers selected

15 students from 2 out of 3 sections of Grade 8 class in Young Achievers’

School of Caloocan namely 8-Polite and 8-Generous to answer the survey

carefully and honestly.

The whole study revolves about the ability of Grade 8 students’

reading comprehension. With the students answering the survey honestly,

the researchers will be able to analyze their level of reading comprehension

if they are in Literal Level or Critical Level. Their levels will be determined

through their answers.

CONCLUSION

It must, in conclusion, be emphasized that reading a literary text is

not an easy job as many teachers reckon, thus they let it to chance and

improvisation. This research, though does not pretend to give all the

answers related to the topic, but simply attempts to help teachers and

learners alike to get key notions about the reading skill and also to find

methods for integrating some skills and strategies in literary reading. Thus,

we, fellow researchers wish more research will be conducted in the field to

help teachers and learners as well conceive the most essential requirements

for literature teaching and literary text reading.

Reading comprehension is more than decoding shapes and figures as

many teachers and learners think. Comprehension occurs when the reader

knows what skills and strategies are necessary and appropriate for the type

of text and understands how to apply them to accomplish the reading

process and reach high degree of comprehension and retention.

 Literal Level produces knowledge of what the author said. The students

decode words, determine what each word means in a given context and

recognize that there is some relationship among words which represent what

the author has said. At this level, the learners are expected to identify the

basic information and follow simple instructions; they form ideas or meanings

directly stated in the selection. These ideas are elicited by questions beginning

with what, when, where, who, etc.

Critical or evaluative level refers to reading beyond the lines. The

students give reaction, judgment and evaluation of what is written. This

involves how they can distinguish the literal meaning of words from

suggestions or intentions expressed in the selection. It further calls for the

reader’s judgment on the wisdom, validity or propriety of one’s statement or

literary output. It ultimately deals with the evaluation of what is read.

According to the survey, most of the Grade 8 students (16 out of

30) in Young Achievers’ School of Caloocan, Inc. having a difficulty in

understanding a selection because of unfamiliarity of words. And most of

them can summarize a selection based on what they’ve read. They were on

literal level of thinking, in which, is simply what the text says is what

actually happens in the story.

RECOMMENDATION

The researchers would like to recommend this study to the school

administrators where they can help their students to improve their reading

comprehension. This research can help them to lessen the population of

their students who are having a difficulty to comprehend and to remember

the important information in the passage. Because base on the research the

main reason why the students having a difficulty to comprehend it's because

they couldn’t understand the unfamiliar words and they are lack of practice

and experience.

Next is the researchers would like to recommend this research to the

parents. So that all of the parents of the students will know why the

students is having a difficulty to comprehend or to analyze.

Lastly, the researchers would like to recommend this research to the

students who is having a problem to comprehend a story. This research can

help them to solve their problem in comprehending a story and to give them

the strategies.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/verbal_reasoning/reading

_comprehension/

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ760264

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/stages-reading-development

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-meaning-your-child

http://www.btboces.org/Downloads/The_7_Keys_to_Comprehension.pdf

https://www.jstor.org/stable/747852?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

http://textproject.org/assets/library/resources/Anderson-Hiebert-Scott-

Wilkinson-Becoming-a-Nation-of-Readers.pdf

http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0123-

34322011000200001

https://secure.ncte.org/store/reading-for-learning
http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2014&context=r

eading_horizons

https://worldconferences.net/proceedings/gse2013/papers_gse2013/084%2

0Marylene%20N.%20Tizon.pdf