POOR ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION AND ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

A Research Paper
Presented to
FACULTY OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
MARYKNOLL SCHOOL OF STO. TOMAS, INC.

MAY AN J. QUBING
LESTER JORGE D. GAMBALAN
DIONALY B. FELICIO
MYCA B. MANIGOS

October 2019
POOR ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION AND ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

_______________________________________

A Research
Presented to
Gerald C. Palma
Practical Research Adviser

FACULTY OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

MARYKNOLL SCHOOL OF STO. TOMAS, INC.

_________________________________________

In Partial Fulfillment
of Practical Research 2

_________________________________________

MAY AN J. QUBING
LESTER JORGE D. GAMBALAN
DIONALY B. FELICIO
MYCA B. MANIGOS

October 2019
 CHAPTER I
Introduction

Rationale

English is wildly used in the education. It is considered as a major subject

and is taught from grade one to college. In this sense, the researcher will focus on

reading comprehension in English language. Reading comprehension is the act of

understanding what you are reading. As what Logsdon and Gans (2019) state that

students with a learning disability in reading comprehension may experience

difficulties in terms of understanding and remembering the details. Therefore,

students who have difficulties to understand what they are reading may experience

deficits in a variety of academic areas beyond reading and writing.

A study conducted in the U.S.A states that students are struggling in reading

comprehension skills not because of teachers but because of lack of knowledge to

begin, based on the assessments of American kids reading skills, it seems the

problem of reading comprehension still exist (Seely, 2018). “A child does not

become a strong reader by learning to sound out words and practicing reading

alone. Reading comprehension is largely a reflection of a child’s overall education.

It’s the poverty of our ideas of our high stakes accountability policies, and our

curricula (Hansel & Pondiscio, 2016). Being behind in reading can have a serious

long-term consequences and it includes a higher chance of grade retention and

dropping out of high school (Liberman,2016).

Reading in English is difficult for the Filipino students because Filipino

Language over the country have relationship in correspondence and the different

of sounds and symbols. In a matter of month student learn to read their native
language. However, reading English with comprehension might take years of

struggle. In addition, Filipino students should know English to obtain good

education, because student cannot acquire or assimilate learning that is only

available in English. Secondary school students were focused in acquiring basic

skills, due to the ability read English with comprehension. Reading problems is the

culprit of the poor performance of the students. However, if the reading

comprehension of the students is poor, chances of their performance in other

subjects will be at risk or even compromised (Suarez, 2016).

In Butuan City, the demand in English proficiency through reading is rising

among the students. This reading comprehension have to be introduced to students

for better understanding and for the better used of the texts read. Despite of the

mastery of the students in English such in grammar and vocabulary, it’s still need

to develop and improve their reading comprehension. Reading difficulties are the

main cause of failure in school. The experiences in reading can strongly influence

a student’s feeling of competency. If this not achieved there will be reading failure

that leads to anxiety and lack of motivation in comprehending any of the reading

text in English (Paz, 2018).

Research Objectives

The main purpose of this study was to know if English reading

comprehension affects the academic performance of the selected senior high

school student with the following indicators.

1. How does Poor English Reading comprehension affect the academic

performance in terms of;

 1.1 Reading fluency

1.2 Vocabulary

2. How does Poor English Reading comprehension affect the academic

performance in terms of;

2.1 Reading Habits

2.2 class participation

3. To determine the significant relationship between Poor English reading

comprehension and academic performance.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this quantitative study is to know how poor English reading

comprehension affect the academic performance of the students in terms of reading

a text book that is written in English or making their assignments, projects or even

making an essay. This study focuses on how many senior high school students in

MSSTI experience this kind of problem and what are some of the reasons behind

all of this.

Students with poor English reading comprehension are having so much

problems especially in comprehending, for instances when a person is reading the

brain works systematically and a person can only comprehend if he or she is

knowledgeable enough to understand the content itself, but we cannot deny the fact

that there are some students that still not able to comprehend a text even he or she

already read it.

In general, the aim of this study is not only to measure the population of the

students who are having poor English reading comprehension but also to know the
reason why it affects their academic performances and the reason why students

having difficulties in comprehending a text that is written in English.

Hypothesis
There is a significant relationship between Poor English reading

comprehension and academic performance of the selected senior high school

students in Maryknoll School of Sto. Tomas, Inc.

Review of Related Literature

The goal of reading is comprehension and it can be difficult skill to master

especially for those English language learners. It is used in many learning areas. It

will serve as a way to every student to learn the different subjects. In fact, Breiseth

(2019) says that when a student has a difficulty in reading may also experience

difficulties in comprehending a text in all subject areas. Below is the overview of

indicators that will affect the academic performance of the students.

Reading fluency

Reading fluency is the ability to read a text easily, quickly and expressively

without making much effort and with little difficulty comprehending the meaning of

the text (Morin,2018).

Reading fluency is one of the five essential aspects of reading. It is measured

through oral reading. However, reading fluency is important in a reader’s ability to

comprehend text. When a reader reads a text it is important that the reader is able

to efficiently decode and comprehend the words and complete phrases and

sentences. When a reader stopped at each word and spend time trying to

pronounce to determine the meaning in the text the reader will unable to develop
an understanding of the text. Reading fluency has the greatest impact on reading

comprehension. A person with high reading fluency rates tend to read more and

remember more of what they read because they are able to expend less cognitive

energy on decoding words and new information from text into their knowledge

banks (K12Reader Reading Instruction Resources, 2018).

According to the study of Rippel (2019), a reader who reads aloud mostly in

a robotic tone. It is difficult for them to understand the meaning of what they’re

reading. They may read too fast or too slow. However, when a reader reads aloud

with fluency, it is easy for them to understand what they are reading, and it is good

to listen to them. Fluent reader emphasizes the certain words they are reading and

convey its meaning with their expression. Fluency is a significant of reading

comprehension. When a student can read fluently, it tells that he or she is using

brain power for decoding, a student can turn their attention to the meaning of the

text. When it gets better students can reach high levels of fluency meaning they are

able to visualize, question, and interpret what they are reading. In addition, they can

create their own opinions and relate their feelings upon reading a text.

Vocabulary

Weak vocabulary is another indicator of poor reading comprehension. If

students’ vocabulary is weak, he or she will not able to comprehend the whole

meaning of any texts. A student having a poor or limited vocabulary have problems

in reading comprehension. students who struggle with text comprehension may

have difficulty in learning and incorporating new vocabulary (Bales, 2018).

Vocabulary plays a huge role in the reading process and to critical reading

comprehension. Without knowing what most of the words mean, a reader cannot
understand a text. Vocabulary is a key to reading comprehension (Reading

Rockets, 2019).

According to the study of Rice (2019), students who lack of vocabulary

knowledge struggle finding meaning when they read. Therefore, these students

read less because they find it difficult and will lead to learning fewer words because

they aren’t exposing themselves to enough through reading. Teacher must use

vocabulary instruction to lead to better reading comprehension. Vocabulary is

among the greatest predictor of reading comprehension and it almost goes without

saying, is central to learning in the content areas. Vocabulary knowledge plays a

significant role in reading comprehension. Language learners acquire most of their

vocabulary through reading particularly if they do not stay in a country where that

language is spoken. Language learners can lose their writing and speaking skills,

but still be able to comprehend text with some degree of proficiency. In order read

effectively and understand a language better, one needs to possess sufficient

vocabulary.

Vocabulary provides opportunities for students to be successful.

When language learners have a broad vocabulary, they understand it better.

Laufer’s 1989 study (as cited in Ocampo & McNeill, 2019) revealed specific

importance of having enough vocabulary for reading comprehension, she added

that a reader whose vocabulary is not enough to cover at least 95% of the words in

a passage will not be guaranteed comprehension. However, Nation ,1990 (as cited

in Ocampo and McNeill, 2019) argued a person’s knowledge about word should

require both accessible and productive knowledge, all aspects that is involved of

knowing a word, which includes forms, meaning and usage.

 Vocabulary plays a huge role in the reading process and to critical reading

comprehension. Without knowing what most of the words mean, a reader cannot

understand a text. Vocabulary is a key to reading comprehension (Reading

Rockets, 2019).

Reading habits

It is considered as an important skill the ability to read in English for those

who are learning English as their major study. Having skills in reading English is

establishing a good reading habits in English. Reading has a positive impact on

academic performance, it plays a huge role in achieving the success of being a

good student (Iftanti,2015).

According to the study of Sehar and Ghaffar (2018), reading habit can be

considered one of the influentially noble among human habits. It directly or indirectly

make changes the way a person thinks and behave. Reading habits is a behavior

which expresses the likeness of reading. It is also a way of how a reader organize

his or her reading. Moreover, reading is an intellectual activity which involves the

understanding and processing of the information. In addition, reading habit is

considered as a psychological attribute to one’s personality.

While growing up the best habit you can inculcate is reading because you

become what you read. The books that you read play a very important rule in your

app-bringing as they are your guide for the journey of life. A student who develop a

habit of reading at an early age can be good in comprehending and can develop a

better understanding than those who do not read. Reader is enable to have an

analysis and understanding with the serious situations maturely (Patil,2019).

Class Participation

Class participation is important in students learning. Students learn to

express their ideas in a way that others can understand by speaking up in the class.

They will learn how to enhance their own understanding of the topic. Class

participation is an important learning tool for teachers. Through asking a questions

on what they learned, teachers will be able to learn what they don’t understand.

Speaking in front of many people is not easy for many adults, however speaking up

in a class is also a struggle for many students. That struggle can be seen and

observe in the classroom in many ways just like not volunteering to answer a

question, not asking for help, not speaking or even not talking in class at all

(Shore,2016).

According to the study of Iskandar et. Al (2016), English is taught

compulsorily. English language is taught to the students as a skill in reading. It

enables as students to be to gain knowledge from a printed material such as

textbooks, newspapers, magazines and etc. The student’s needs to participate

actively to make reading class success. Students participation is the behavior

during the teaching learning process. In this activity it is connected with the learning

such as reading, writing, listening to the teachers, asking questions, giving a

comment, doing a task and discussing with friends. It can also indicate their learning

motivation in the classroom. Students had problems in their reading

comprehension, the problem was the students did not participate in the class

actively. Some of the problems that can be considered is some of the students not

paying attention to the teacher, they were busy talking to their friends. And this kind

of participation will influence their reading comprehension

Theoretical Framework

This study mainly anchored to one of the aspects of schema Theory

introduced by Sir Frederic Charles Bartlett (1932) Linguistic schematic which

focuses on individual previous knowledge. A student may be able to comprehend

the texts better if they have appropriate background knowledge on the linguistic

schematic like grammar, vocabulary, idioms etc. and for those who does not may

experience difficulties not only to understand the text, but as far as to make meaning

from what they read. The researchers choose this theory to emphasize that an

individual may experience difficulties in comprehending a text especially in English

if he or she doesn’t have any prior knowledge with regards to the second language

which is English.

Another aspect is the Formal Schemata refers to the knowledge of the ways

in which different genres are presented, with reference to Richards et. Al (2000,

p.405), certain contents can only be expressed by certain corresponding forms of

structure and this is important for the readers to understand the given text. When

students are able to combine language schema with content schema and apply to

reading, they can understand what the text is all about but it is difficult for them to

grasp the clear order of the text. Different genres have different structure. There are

fictions and nonfictions. Stories mainly contain elements such as character, plot,

theme, setting, and more. While reading, the reader is supposed to recognize these

elements and make out its major subject. The researchers choose this theory for it

explains that if students are lack of such kind of knowledge with regards to the

different genres it will lead to the problems in reading comprehension. It also

suggests that students should be familiar with different genres so that they can
figure out the structure of the text and to have more correct and accurate

understanding.

The Content Schema Theory can also be seen in this study. It refers to

background knowledge of the content of the text’’ (Carreli & Eisterhold ,1983 p.80).

It involves knowledge or information about what happens within a certain topic, and

how these events relate to each other to form a coherent whole. It is the scope of

the text’s content, and it is the theme of the text, including the general and

background knowledge of a society. Content schema are largely culture-specific.

That’s why cultural schema is usually categorized as content schema. This theory

falls on the idea that if a reader is short of some information related to the reading

material, then there will not be an interplay with the reading content, which means

the reader’s comprehension cannot be complete or perfect. In other words, it is the

content schema that determines to what degree a student can comprehend the text.

Conceptual Framework

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

English Reading
Comprehension Academic Performance

Reading Fluency

Vocabulary General Average of

Grades
Reading Habits

Class Participation
 This show the schematic diagram of the study. The independent variable is

the English reading comprehension in terms of reading fluency, vocabulary, reading

habits, and class participation. Reading fluency refers to the speed of how the

student read and how the level of understanding of the students towards reading a

text; Vocabulary refers to the words that a person understands, if they lack of

vocabulary bank they cannot understand the words they first to encounter; Reading

habits refers to the behavior which expresses the likeness of reading, and Class

Participation refers to the cooperation of each student if they actively participating

in the class or speaking up in the class.

Significance of the study

Poor English reading comprehension and academic performance of selected

senior high school students. It aims to give importance and provide benefits to:

Teacher
This study helps the teachers to understand the nature of English reading

comprehension. It served as a guide to the teachers if Poor English reading

comprehension affects the academic performance of the students. The teacher

would be aware of the condition of the student, and they would know of what and

how can they handle and teach those students with Poor English reading

comprehension.

Students
This study helps the student with Poor English reading comprehension to

enhance their understanding of what they read. It also helps the student to discover

new things, develop and enhance the ability of every student in dealing with reading.
Parents
This study helps the parent to assist the child more in Poor English reading

comprehension. It can also help them to be aware of their child’s difficulties in

English reading comprehension. The parents will know if where they start to assist

their child in this English reading comprehension.

Limitations and Delimitations

The study covered Maryknoll high school of Sto. Tomas, Inc. selected senior

high school students. This study is not limited to any senior high school students as

long as the respondents are willing to participate. The researchers will gather

information about the possible effects of having poor English reading

comprehension of the senior high to their academic performances.

A survey will be conducted about the evaluation of the respondents

regarding in the study of the effects of having poor English reading comprehension

on students’ academic performance in MHSSTI selected senior high school

students. In a random order, 50 selected senior high school students in MHSSTI

will be given questionnaires to get information that will needed in the study.

Definition of Terms

English Reading Comprehension – is the ability of every individual /students to

comprehend an idea specially in dealing in English forms of sentence.

Reading Comprehension – is the ability to comprehend a text and also the

commonly basis on how individuals get the idea on what they are reading with.

Academic Performance – commonly measured in class activities, oral tests,

performing activities, homework and class discussion participation.

Organization of the study

This study was organized in the following parts.

Chapter 1 presents the overview of the statement of the introduction, the

research objectives, the hypothesis, review of related literatures and the theoretical

framework which make the study more relevant as well as the conceptual

framework of the study. Hence, the significance, definition of terms, limitations and

Delimitations, and the organizations of the research were included.

Chapter 2 Included in this chapter are the research design, research

locale, population and sample, research instrument, data collection and statistical

tools following the path of the students with poor English reading comprehension

and their academic performances.

Chapter 3 This chapter illustrates the correlation results and tables gathered

after using the statistical measure employed in this study.

Chapter 4 This chapter presented the discussion of the results sought in this

study. It is also in this chapter where conclusions are formulated about the poor

English reading comprehension and academic performances of selected Senior

high school students in Maryknoll High School of Sto. Tomas, Inc. Furthermore, this

provides recommendations in using the research design.

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