Reading Comprehension Level and Academic Performance

Republic of the Philippines
ILOILO STATE COLLEGE OF FISHERIES

Main – Poblacion Campus
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the Background of the Study,
Statement of the Problem, Theoretical Framework, Conceptual
Framework, Scope and Limitation of the Study, Significance
of the Study and Definitions of Terms.
Background of the Study
School systems are often challenged to meet the needs
of students who are not performing at grade level
expectations and provide support services to help those
students to close the achievement gap (Cimmiyotti, 2013).
Since reading is a skill utilized in every academic subject
area, it is a logical domain to examine for a correlational
relationship with the academic performance.
The ability to read is an essential skill for students
to master because information is presented in text
throughout the world. According to Widdowson (1979) reading
is an interactive process that goes on between the reader
and the text, resulting in comprehension. Reading is
therefore seen as the combination of textual information

with the information the reader brings to the text
resulting to comprehension of the text. Anderson (2000)
notes out that reading is a mental process, not getting
from print but engaging the reader‘s mind to decode
meaning. Reading requires thinking; it is not just speaking
the words and symbols but rather thinking and speaking.
December 2013, The NSO's 2010 Census of Population and
Housing (CPH) showed that of the 71.5 million individuals
who are 10 years old and above, 97.5 percent or 69.8
million were literate or could read and write. This is
higher compared to the literacy rate of 92.3
percent recorded in the 2000 CPH. 97.5% literacy rate is
quite an impressive figure but if we will take a look at
the result of the National Achievement Test (NAT) ON 2012,
Grade 3 students got a Mean Percentage Score of 54.42% in
English reading Comprehension and 58.61% in Filipino
(Edutopia.com).
In this study, data was collected on students reading
comprehension level and academic performance at the school
site of study. The data was then assigned to performance
levels and an average performance level was determined for

each student in reading comprehension and academic
performance. Finally, the performance levels for each
student were analyzed to determine if a correlation existed
between student reading comprehension level and academic
performance of Grade 7 students of Fisheries and Marine
Science High School.
Statement of the Problem
This study aimed to determine the reading
comprehension level and academic performance of Grade 7
students of Fisheries and Marine Science High School.
Specifically, it sought to answer the following
questions:
1. What is the reading comprehension of the respondents?
2. What is the academic performance of the respondents?
3. Is there a significant relationship between reading
comprehension level and academic performance of the
respondents?
Hypothesis
There is no significant relationship between reading
comprehension level and academic performance.

Theoretical Framework
According to J. W. Rosenthaland, J. M. O’Malley and A.
Chamot, students who have not yet developed their cognitive
academic language proficiency (CALP) will surely meet
difficulties and problems in several contexts and
situations. The theory on CALP, therefore, provided the
researcher a reason to study and investigate the
relationship of English language proficiency and academic
performance of the Philippine Science High School students.
With the tenets of CALP, the researchers were inspired to
conduct this present study.
The theory which is relevant to this study is the ―Schemata
Theory which specifically focuses on reading comprehension.
It plays an important role in achieving the objectives of
the study.
According to Piaget (1972) and Craig (1989, pg. 36),
Schemata is a term for mental structures that process
information, perceptions and experiences. Schema theory has
as one of its fundamental tenets that, any text either
spoken or written does not by itself carry meaning.
According to Schema theory, a text only provides directions

for listeners or readers on how they should retrieve or
construct meaning from their own previously acquired
knowledge. The previously acquired knowledge structures are
called schemata.
According to Pearson and Fielding (1991), schemata are
usually associated to knowledge of topics, themes and
concepts. Dickson, Simmons and Kameenur (1995) are in
support of the importance of activating knowledge of the
conventions of well-presented text and organizational
patterns of text structures. Instruction in physical text
structures can be viewed as building background knowledge
which will later form the frame for helping readers
organize and integrate new knowledge.
This study assumed that reading performance is related
to academic performance at the secondary level. If a
correlation exists at earlier grade levels, it may suggest
that early reading intervention programs will benefit all
other academic disciplines.
The relationship between reading ability and academic
performance seems like a logical connection since textual
information is prevalent in our society. Espin and Deno

(1993) found that a relationship exists between basic
reading literacy and student academic success. Their study
involved 121 tenth-grade students in a rural school in a
small mid-western community. Their study was based on the
connection between a student’s reading measure and that
student's score from a classroom study task, grade point
average, and achievement test results.
Conceptual Framework
Independent Dependent
Reading Comprehension Level

Grade 7
Students
Academic Performance
Figure 1. A schematic diagram showing the reading levels
and academic performance as influenced by independent
variable.
Significance of the Study
Results of the study can be beneficial to the
following:
School. This will be used to identify underperforming
students and provide them with early intervention
opportunities in order to boost their performance.
Teacher. The result from this study will give them
information they needed when planning for the teaching
strategy or method to be more effective in the classroom.
Students. This study will help them evaluate their
reading comprehension skill and its effect to their
academic performance.
Future Researchers. This study can be used as
reference of their study. Provides additional evidence to
support the findings that a relationship between reading
comprehension level and academic performance exists and
that it changes over time depending upon the age level
being examined.
Scope and Limitation of Study
This descriptive correlational research aimed to
determine the significant relationship between reading
comprehension level and academic performance of Grade 7
students of Fisheries and Marine Science High School.

This study utilized the grade 7 students of the said
school. A reading comprehension test provided by the
researchers was used to gather the data. The reading
comprehension level of the students will be determined
based on the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil –
IRI). Also the class record of the teacher was used as well
to get information of their academic performance. Data
gathering commenced on September 15, 2017. Quantitative and
qualitative analysis was used to analyze and interpret the
data.
Definition of Terms
For better understanding of the study, the following
were conceptually and operationally defined.
Academic Performance. A frequently defined in terms of
examination performance (Cambridge University Reporter,
2003).
In this study the Academic Performance refers to the 1st
Grading Period Grade Point Average (GPA) of the students.
Correlation. The state or relation of being
correlated; specifically, a relation existing between

phenomena or things or between mathematical or statistical
variables which tend to vary, be associated, or occur
together in a way not expected on the basis of chance alone
(Merriam Dictionary).
In this study correlation refers to the relationship of
Reading Comprehension Level to the Academic Performance of
the student.
Reading Comprehension. The level of understanding of a
text or message (Rayner, 2001).
In this study reading comprehension refers to the
intellectual processes that are happening in the mind of
the student while reading the text.

CHAPTER II
This chapter reviews literature related to benefits of
tutorial which will be essential in providing direction for
this study.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The key to learning is better reading skills. But this
reading skill needs not to be confined to English only. The
ability to read and write in any language or dialect is
important.
It is a common knowledge that knowing how to read and
write is an indicator that one is educated. It is also an
accepted phenomenon that reading is a very relevant part in
the development of an individual’s whole being. Reading is
said to be the training of the mind and the means to attain
deeper meaning of reality. “Reading maketh a full man”
(Francis Bacon). Indeed, reading highly contribute to the
development of individual especially in acquiring knowledge
and learning that will help them in learning more
cooperative and language literate.

The review of the empirical research indicates the
reading comprehension level and academic performance of
Grade 7 students at Fisheries and Marine Science High
School. Several studies, indicates that reading
comprehension has a correlational relationship with the
academic performance of the students. Furthermore, the
review indicates authoritative studies about the reading
comprehension and academic performance. This also indicates
the reading difficulties and methods that affect the
reading comprehension and academic performance of the
students.
Academic Performance
Measuring of academic performance of students is
challenging since student performance is product of socio-
economic, psychological and environmental factors. For the
last 20 years, education in Pakistan is growing as a
profitable industry with prime objective of maximizing
profit by delivering high quality education that produces
well-educated, skilled, mannered students according to
needs and requirements of the dynamically growing market.
That’s why the scope of research is always there to find

out what are the factors that affect the performance of the
students.
There are two groups of students as generally
perceived i.e. those who improve and those who don’t
improve. This study can contribute to find out the factors,
which are responsible for student’s inelastic behavior
towards study along with identifying those factors, which
help a student to make progress in his studies.
This study focuses on investigating the factors
affecting performance of 3rd and 4th year college students
equal to Europeans standard K-12 and K-14. A survey was
conducted to collect information and responses of students,
regarding factors affecting their performance. Review of
Literature All of the research reviews support the
hypothesis that student performance depends on different
socio-economic, psychological, environmental factors.
The findings of research studies focused that student
performance is affected by different factors such as
learning abilities because new paradigm about learning
assumes that all students can and should learn at higher
levels but it should not be considered as constraint

because there are other factors like race, gender, sex that
can affect student’s performance Hansen, Joe B.2000).
Some of the researchers even tried to explain the link
between students achievements, economic circumstances and
the risk of becoming a drop-out that proved to be positive
(Goldman, N., Haney, W., and Koffler, S., 1988, Pallas, A.,
Natriello, G., McDill, E., 1989, Levin, H., 1986) B.A
Chansarkar and A. Mishaeloudis (2001), explained the
effects of age, qualification distance from learning place
etc. on student performance.
The performance of students on the module is not
affected by such factors as age, sex and place of residence
but is associated with qualification in quantitative
subjects. It is also found that those who live near the
university perform better than other students. Yvonne
Beaumont Walters, kola soyibo,(1998) further elaborated
that student performance is very much dependent on SEB
(socio economic back ground)as per their statement, “High
school students’ level of performance is with statistically
significant differences, linked to their gender, grade
level, school location, school type, student type and

socio-economic background (SEB).” Kirby, Winston et al.
(2002) focused on student’s impatience (his time-discount
behavior) that influences his own academic performance.
Goethe found out that weak students do better when grouped
with other weak students. (As implied by Zajonc’s analysis
of older siblings (1976) it shows that students’
performance improves if they are with the students of their
own kind. There are often different results by gender, as
in Hoxby’s K-12 results (2000); Sacerdote (2001) finds that
grades are higher when students have unusually academically
strong roommates. The results of Zimmerman (1999, 2001)
were somewhat contradictory to Goethe results but again it
proved that students performance depends on number of
different factors, it says that weak peers might reduce the
grades of middling or strong students. (Alexander, Gur et
al. 1974; Fraser, Beamn et al. 1977) explained that some of
the practices adopted by college administration in higher
education like residential colleges or organized study
groups also help to increases performance. Keeping in view
all of the variables discussed by different researchers we
have chosen only those variables that are recognizable in
Pakistani setting.
Reading Comprehension
Reading is one of four important language skills that
should be mastered by students. It is one of the ways for
getting knowledge that cannot be separated from every
learning process and it does not only happen in educational
field but also in our daily life. For getting knowledge and
information, people read books, magazines, newspapers,
advertisement and etc. Nation states that reading is a
source of learning and enjoyment. It can help students
learn a new vocabulary and grammar. It also makes them
enjoy the reading. They can learn more and more by reading.
According to Richard, reading means perceiving a
written text in order to understand its contents. This can
be done silently (silent reading).1 It is a particular way
in which the readers understand texts, passages, paragraphs
even books and an ability to understand and find out the
information presented in the form of written text.
Comprehension is a thoughtful process, she explains, and
readers need instruction that shows them how to read and

think. Tovani’s book goes on to explain how that
instruction looks in her classroom. It’s one of many books
teachers and parents can use to help children read better.
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.
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.
In Edward William Dolch’s 1951 book Psychology and
Teaching of Reading, reading was defined as “imagining,
thinking and feeling about ideas and thoughts made from
past experiences that are suggested by perception of
printed words" (p.9).
On the other hand, Aikat (2007) stated that “the act
of reading is a dynamic ‘transaction’ between the reader
and the text” (p.700), an idea taken from Louise M.
Rosenblatt’s 1978 book, The Reader, The Text, The Poem.
According to the aforementioned book, there are two
kinds of reading—reading for leisure, called Aesthetic
Reading, and Efferent Reading in order to gain
information. Efferent readers read for the purpose of the
facts they will learn, while aesthetic readers read for the
reading experience, making it easier for them to “connect
emotionally” to the text.
In order for readers to attain this connection and
fully comprehend the text they read, Dolch (1951) asserted

that the process of reading requires the different
capabilities of the mind, as the reader processes words and
their meanings.
This processing of words and text can also be defined
as "literacy" or as Castello and Charlton (2007) explained,
“the cognitive processing of text information, a
motivational attitude toward reading, and the integration
of texts into everyday life” (p.697). The authors asserted
that through this cognitive process of reading, readers
learn to apply the meanings of the words and sentences that
they comprehend to their present knowledge. Castello and
Charlton posited that readers can then incorporate and
evaluate the content of these readings to their own lives
and experiences, as well as use the text as basis for
future actions.
In fact, according to Aikat(2007), past research has
shown a positive relationship between people’s reading
habits and their active involvement in other endeavors.
Aikat also states that reading plays a very important role
in enhancing the minds of young individuals, developing

their “capacity for focused attention” as well as their
“imaginative growth” (p.699).
However, "Imaginative growth" as well as a capacity
for attention are only a few of the benefits of reading and
literacy. Another possible benefit may be the development
of writing skills. In her work Theories of Literacy,
Stewart (2006) explained the relationship between reading
and writing, stating that they are two skills that are “so
interrelated that one cannot be understood without the
other”(p.618) so that students are able to “draw on their
skills in one to develop the other as they build
proficiency in both” (p.618). Stewart also presented yet
another benefit of reading--a proficiency in the oral
language, taken from the theories of Michael Halliday in
the 1970’s, which compared the two and stated that they
were both “social” forms of communication. Aside from
these assertions, Stewart went on to say that literacy and
reading in general also applies to students' academic
performance in other fields, such as in language arts,
mathematics, the sciences, the arts and computer
technology.
Several studies have affirmed Stewart’s (2006)
assertions. In Ritzel Montalban’s 2010 research entitled
The Correlation Between Reading Comprehension and The
Performance In Math Problem Solving of The Selected Second
Year HIgh School Students Of The Sisters of Mary School-
Boystown, Montalban conducted studies to verify her
hypothesis regarding the relationship between students’
performance in problem solving and their corresponding
abilities in reading comprehension.
Some of the researchers cited by Montalban(2010)
included Sutton & Krueger , who asserted that “reading,
writing, and mathematics are, or should be, inseparable”.
Montalban also quoted Hiebert & Wilkinson, who suggested
that “most reading and thinking strategies should be taught
in the content areas, rather than isolated reading
lessons.”
Academic Performance and Reading Comprehension
Educational systems rely more heavily upon text as
students reach higher grade levels. In early elementary
grades, students do not typically have textbooks at home
and they primarily work with decodable readers and short

stories borrowed from the library. However, beginning
around third grade, textbooks are introduced to the home
environment and students’ abilities to pull and process
information from textbooks becomes increasingly necessary
for student achievement.
By the time students reach high school, many teachers
expect students to build their background knowledge by
reading at home and then demonstrate their understanding
during in-class discussions (Harlaar, N., Thompson, L.,
Deater-Deckard, K., DeThorne, L., & Petrill, S., 2011). The
textbooks that students utilize in science, math, and
history are typically several hundred pages in length,
featuring diagrams, pictures, and, primarily, text to
transmit knowledge about the subject to the reader.
English teachers also assign novels and stories for
reading at home. Unfortunately, textbooks are challenging
for students to access. Textbooks use advanced vocabulary,
cover a vast number of topics, use direct language that
doesn’t engage the reader, and lack the structure that
promotes reading comprehension (Bryce, 2011). In primary
school, students are still building their reading

competence, but at the secondary level they are expected to
have the necessary skills.
Additionally, the battery of standardized tests that
students take to demonstrate competence in each of the
tested subject areas, such as language arts, math, science,
and social studies, requires them to be able to read at
increasingly higher levels (Crane, Huang, Derby, Makkonen,
& Goel, 2008).
Researchers have over time conducted research on
reading comprehension and academic performance in Kenya and
across the world to find out the role of language in
academic performance in different subjects.
Cummins (1979) in studies of language skills of bilinguals
concluded that a certain level of linguistic proficiency
seemed to be necessary for academic achievement because
language competence allows one to use it as an organizer of
knowledge and as a tool for reasoning.
In investigating the relationship between reading
comprehension and academic performance MacGregor and Price
(1999), noted that vocabulary, number and symbol sense, as

well as the ability to read and comprehend, word problems
are important factors affecting achievement in mathematics.
They argued that the cognitive ability that drives symbol
processing is the connection between language and
mathematics. The ability of symbol processing is the basis
for both language proficiency and mathematics achievement.
MacGregor and Price (1999) noted that poor language skills
do correlate with poor math skill suggesting that both
require a basic level of competency in symbol processing
i.e. deriving meaning from symbols.
Dawe (1983) noted that bilingual students who
performed poorly in mathematics tended to have low levels
of competence. Dawe argued that the students had not
acquired the level of language proficiency that is a
necessary foundation for academic learning.
Linvile (1970) observed that both syntactic structure
and vocabulary level were important variables in solving
arithmetic problems. He noted that pupils of higher general
intelligence ability or higher reading comprehension
ability made significantly higher scores than pupils of
lower intellectual ability.

Muhandiki (1984) carried out research surveys among
pupils and teachers in primary schools in Nairobi. He
observed that lack of mastery of English language was
identified as a factor contributing to poor performance in
mathematics.
Studies show a correlation between social studies and
reading comprehension. Krantez (1957) cited in Kopiyo
(1982) pointed out that the best two predictors of social
studies achievement were reading vocabulary and
comprehension. Hinkelmann (1956) reported that a
significant correlation existed between reading
comprehension and social studies by 8th grade students.
In investigating the relationship between science
performance and reading comprehension Sochor (1958) noted
that reading comprehension was related to comprehension of
science texts. He emphasized the fact that it is important
in science reading for students to be able to remember
symbols, formulas, specific vocabulary terms and procedure
for conducting experiments if they are to be efficient as
well as proficient in the application of science.

Sandy Ming – San Chang (2013) conducted research on
academic language knowledge and comprehension science text
for English language and fluent English speaking students.
The results indicated that vocabulary not grammar discourse
features was significantly related to students
comprehension scores.
According to the studies conducted by researchers
mentioned above there is a correlation between school
subjects performance with reading ability, though Ombra
(2010) has contrary findings. He conducted research on
deteriorating performance of Filipino in the national and
international tests and the findings showed that the
overall students reading skills were not significantly
correlated to mathematics performance. Hence the poor
mathematics performance could be explained by other factors
not related to reading comprehension skills. This
notwithstanding, the overall position of majority of the
researchers relates academic performance to the ability of
the pupils to comprehend what they read.
A teacher‘s knowledge on how to teach reading to
learners is very crucial. To improve reading comprehension

teachers need to teach meaning. The rationale of teaching
meaning is to help the learners develop their reading
skills and enhance comprehension power. Meaning is not
found in the text but the reader brings meaning with him.
Meaning can be brought out by associating the text with
experience. For reading comprehension word knowledge is
very important. When teaching meaning, learners should be
taught literal meaning of words and how they can be used in
a particular context. Laflamme (1997) affirms that
comprehension is impossible if meaning of words is not
known. A reader will have a limited understanding of the
concepts and content if he does not know the meaning of
words.
Educational Researchers Raphael, Pardo and Highfield
(2002) found a strong correlation between reading and
vocabulary knowledge which meant that readers with a large
vocabulary are usually good readers. Research shows that
when teachers provide explicit comprehension instruction to
children reading improves. According to the National
Reading Panel (2000) there is a correlation between direct
instruction and enhancement in comprehension.

Researchers have indicated over time that reading can
be taught in phases for improved comprehension. William
(1987) argues that for teaching of reading to be successful
a reading lesson can be divided into three phases and they
are; the pre-reading, while reading and post reading
phases. The literature does not present the Kenyan scenario
with regards to teaching comprehension methods and academic
performance.
Reading difficulty is an issue of concern in any
society. The reading problems are found among every age
group in primary school classroom although some children
are at greater risk of reading difficulties than others.
How and why precisely this happens has not been fully
understood (Snow, Burns and Griffin 1998).
According to Snow, Burns and Griffin (1998), reading
is considered to be a basic need in the modern world of
science and technology. Reading ability is valued and
important for social and economic advancement.
Reading difficulties refers to the problems associated
with reading. The problems could be decoding or
comprehension of what is read. Snow, Burns and Griffin

(1998, P3) define reading difficulties as the lower tail of
normal distribution of reading ability in a population. In
other words, individuals with reading difficulties are
those whose achievement levels are lower than those of the
rest of the population in the distribution.
Snow, Burns and Griffin (1998) noted that the factors
that contribute to these reading difficulties include
biological deficits that make the processing of sound,
symbols relationship difficult, factors within the
individual, factor at home, social and cultural environment
and factors in the school environment such as school
curriculum and teaching methods.
Snow, Burns and Griffin (1998) observe that there are
three potential stumbling blocks that are known to throw
children off course on the journey to skilled reading. The
obstacle are; difficulty in understanding, failure to
transfer the comprehension skills of spoken language to
reading, to acquire new strategies that may be specifically
needed for reading and lastly the loss of an initial
motivation to read or failure to develop a mature
appreciation of rewards.
Carell et al (1989) observes that one potential source
of reading difficulties may be that the reader has a
consistent interpretation for the text which may not be the
one intended by the author. Much of the meaning understood
from a text is really not actually in the text per-se but
in the reader’s background knowledge. A reader‘s failure to
activate an appropriate schema during reading results in
various degrees on non-comprehension. Failure to activate
an appropriate scheme may either be due to writers not
having provided sufficient clues in the text for the reader
to effectively utilize a bottom-up processing mode to
activate the schemata the reader already possesses.
Pearson and Spiro (1982) notes that there are several
schema-related reasons why we might not comprehend what we
read; we might not have the schema available to help us
understand or we might have the schema available but fail
to access it. Teachers should therefore assist learners to
activate background knowledge or to create new schema to
help them in reading comprehension.
Research by Torgesen, Wagner and Rashottee (1977),
brings out clearly that learners who get off to a poor

start in reading rarely catch up. Class one readers are
likely to continue being poor readers even at the higher
levels of their learning and this may bring problem in
reading comprehension even as learners progress through the
classes.
Cornoldi and Oakhill (1996) observed that decoding and
comprehension are positively correlated. The skilled
decoder is also a skilled comprehender and a reader who is
poor at decoding is also poor at comprehension. A poor
reader is poor either in comprehension or decoding or both.
This shows that among poor readers decoding skill and
comprehension are negatively correlated.
Teachers can also be a contributing factor to
difficulties experienced by learners. Ojanen (2007) posits
that reading problems can be a result of inadequate
teaching. For children to become fluent readers, teachers
have a lot of work in teaching literary skills. Readers may
become disabled in reading when effective methods of
teaching are not used.
Learners with serious decoding problems are hindered
from text comprehension. Many words will be misidentified

or read slowly until what was read is forgotten. Smith
(1991) notes that decoding has been cited as a serious
factor affecting reading ability.
Mando (2008) indicates that reading difficulties are
mainly caused by failure to acquire phonological awareness
and the skills in alphabetical coding. Some research work
shows that phonological awareness as a predictor of reading
success at all levels (Bader 1980 and Smith 1991).
Reading difficulties are the most frequent learning
problems among students and the main reason for academic
failure (Chall, 1996; Dickson and McCabe 2001; Kuhn & Stahl
2004; Rasinski & Hoffman 2003).
It can be noted from the above findings that there is
some relationship between reading difficulties and academic
performance. However, there are studies showing contrary
findings as shown in the literature below;
Bronwen Oberholzer (2005) did research on the
relationship between reading difficulties and academic
performance among a group of Foundation phase learners.
Using data from academic progress report and from a

scholastic assessment carried out by an educational
psychologist, correlations were calculated between the
learners reading ability and academic performance. Research
findings showed no significant correlation. The results
were not in line with the general opinion in that the
children‘s reading difficulties did not appear to be
impacting negatively on their academic potential.
Strauss (1992) did research among undergraduate
students in first year at the University of Orange Free
State. Her results indicate that there is no relationship
between reading difficulties and academic performance. In
her study, an experiment group was exposed to a reading
development while a control group was not. Before and after
comparison of academic results of both groups showed no
improvement on the results of the experiment group.
The studies referenced above have related reading
difficulties and reading comprehension among different
levels of learners. This study goes further to establish
the relationship between the two variables (reading
difficulties and reading comprehension) on one hand and
academic performance on the other among class three pupils

in Westlands Sub-County, Kenya. This may inform the effect
on academic performance as learning progresses to higher
levels.
Research findings in applied linguistics and reading
consistently show a strong positive correlation between
reading proficiency and academic success at all ages from
primary right through to university level. Students who
read a lot and who understand what they read usually attain
good grades (Pretorius, 2000).
Yule (1985) observes that the concept of coherence
does not exist in language but in people this means that it
is people who make sense of what they read and hear. People
try to arrive at an interpretation which is in line with
their worldview. According to the Schema Theory, the
process of interpretation is guided by the principle that
every input is mapped against some existing schema and that
all aspects of that schema must be compatible with the
input information.
Researchers over time have emphasized the need for
schema activation before reading (Carrel 1989). If a person
does not know anything about the subject, then getting the
words of the text into the mind can be a waste of time. The
way we learn is by relating new information and experiences
to what we already know. When reading the building of
bridges between the known and unknown involves making
predictions, or guesses, about what will come next on the
basis of what we already know.
A reader may fail to activate an appropriate schema
during reading which results in various degrees of non-
comprehension. This inability to activate an appropriate
schema may either be due to the writer‘s or speaker‘s not
having provided sufficient clues in the text for the reader
to effectively utilize. Appropriate schemata must exist and
must be activated during text processing. Johnson (1982)
observes that a text on a familiar topic is better recalled
by English as Second Language (ESL) readers than a similar
text on unfamiliar topic.
Nichols (1983) suggested a number of formal and
informal instructional activities to help students activate
prior knowledge and make predictions, which is the
prediction guide designed to enhance comprehension by

encouraging students to make predictions about concepts to
be covered in the text (Moore et al., 1982).
Researchers such as Barnet (1989) have proposed
different activities which contribute to integration of
reading with language skills such as discussions, writing
compositions, summarizing and listing facts. The theory
supports such activities as activating prior knowledge and
it recognizes the importance of the three reading stages;
pre-reading, while reading and post reading.
Researchers argued that comprehension is achieved
through the interaction of bottom-up and top down
processes. (Carell, 1983, 1991: Eskey and Grabe 1988;
Eskey, 2005; Sarella and Oxford, 1992). During reading the
readers combine their bottom up-processes, for example the
ability to decode and organize words and grammatical forms
with their top-down processes like the ability to using
background knowledge to predict and confirm meaning (Grabe,
2004).
Comprehension is not just transmission of the graphic
information to the reader‘s mind but the result of meaning
construction. According to the interactive reading model,

readers interact with the text to create its meaning as
their mental processes work together at different levels
(Carell, Devine and Eskey 1988: Rumelhart, 1977).
The authors explained that a reader with poor decoding
skills struggles with the text itself and isn't able to
perform the tasks requiring logical reasoning strategies.
It is a reasonable explanation that a student who struggles
to decode text is going to perform poorly in all subject
areas because there are more hindrances in comprehending
text.
The authors believed that there were several factors
involved, such as students’ inability to organize prior
knowledge and their lack of knowledge about the meaning of
symbols, signs, and words used (Duru & Koklu, 2011). The
study indicates that vocabulary is an important component
of reading which supports comprehension.
Comprehension is not just transmission of the graphic
information to the reader‘s mind but the result of meaning
construction. According to the interactive reading model,
readers interact with the text to create its meaning as

their mental processes work together at different levels
(Carell, Devine and Eskey 1988: Rumelhart, 1977)
Summary
Academic has accomplished specific goals that were the
focus of activities in instructional environments,
specifically in school, college, and university achievement
represents performance outcomes that indicate the extent to
which a person. Reading was the true backbone of most
learning. Everything starts with the written word — whether
it’s math, science or even home economics and etc. As
students go up the educational ladder, more reading was
usually required as subjects become more dense and
challenging. (Philippine Star, 2010). Many researchers
conducted the study and determine whether correlation
existed between reading comprehension and academic
performance.
According to the studies stated, reading comprehension
has a big role in excelling the academic performance of the
students. However, there were studies that argued and
stated that there is no correlation between reading
comprehension and academic performance.

In the studies of Cummins (1979), MacGregor and Price
(1999), Dawe (1983), Linvile (1970), Muhandiki (1984),
Krantez (1957), Sochor (1958), Sandy Ming – San Chang
(2013), Raphael, Pardo and Highfield (2002), National
Reading Panel (2000), Snow, Burns and Griffin
(1998),Torgesen, Wagner and Rashotee (1977), Cornoldi and
Oakhill (1996), Smith (1991), Chall (1996), Dickson and
McCabe (2001), Kuhn and Stahl (2004), Rasinski and Hoffman
(2003) and Pretorius (2002), they’ve said that reading
comprehension has significant relationship with the
academic performance. While in the study of Bronwen
Oberholzer (2005), stated that there was no correlation
between reading comprehension and academic performance.

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the research design, locale of
the study, respondents of the study, sample size, sample
technique, research instrument, data gathering procedure
and data gathering analysis.
Research Design
The researchers, employed descriptive correlational
research method which refers to a type of study in which
information was collected without making any changes to the
study subject (ORI) as it aimed to seek the relationship
between the reading comprehension level and academic
performance of Grade 7 students of Fisheries and Marine
Science High School. It was a research design that aims to
discover the reading comprehension level and academic
performance of the students and determine if the two
variables correlate with each other.
Locale of the Study
The study was conducted at Fisheries and Marine
Science High School. The Laboratory School of College of

Education of Iloilo State College of Fisheries, Main Campus
- Tiwi, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.
The Respondents
This study was conducted with the Grade 7 students of
Fisheries and Marine Science High School which was composed
of the whole year level; they were the respondents of this
study.
Sample Size
The study used the total sampling population of the
students. The result of the study was expected to be true
only among the total population of Grade 7 students of
Fisheries and Marine Science High School which could help
the researchers gain data and information needed in the
study.
Research Instrument
The researchers used Philippine Informal Reading
Inventory (Phil - IRI) and the class record of the
student’s advisor to gather the needed data for the
completion of this study. A reading comprehension test was
conducted to determine the reading comprehension level of

the students and the class record to determine the First
Grading Period GPA of the students. They were made to
discover the relationship between the reading comprehension
level and academic performance of the students.
Data Gathering Procedure
After the approval of the conduct of the research,
reading comprehension test was given to the Grade 7
students of Fisheries and Marine Science High School, after
seeking permission from Dr. Bernie Bayogos, principal of
the school. The respondents were given time to answer the
reading comprehension test. From the result of the
comprehension test the scores were assessed through the
Phil - IRI and the 1st Grading GPA of every student given by
the teacher, the researchers gathered the data. After the
results had been completed the data were interpreted and
analyzed.
Data Analysis
The data gathered were subjected to the following
statistical treatment: frequency count, percentage and chi
– square test.
The frequency count determined the number of
respondents that belongs to the reading comprehension level
which are “Frustrated”, “Instructional” and “Independent”
.The academic performance scale are “very low”, “low”,
“average”, “high” and “very high”. The percentage
determined the percent of respondents that belongs to the
reading comprehension level which are “Frustrated”,
“Instructional” and “Independent”. The academic performance
scale are “very low”, “low”, “average”, “high” and “very
high”.
The chi – square test determined if there is a
significant relationship between reading comprehension
level and academic performance of the respondents.
All the inferential statistics was set at 0.5 level of
significance.
CHAPTER IV
DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS
This chapter presents the data interpretation and
analysis of this study.
Table 1. Reading Comprehension of Respondents
Reading
Frequency Percentage
Comprehension
FRUSTRATED
(1–5 out of 10
43 58%
items were answered
correctly)
INSTRUCTIONAL
(6–7 out of 10
22 30%
items were answered
correctly)
INDEPENDENT
(8-10 out of 10
9 12%
items were answered
correctly)
Total 74 100%
Table 1 shows the reading comprehension level of the
respondents. The results revealed, that reading
comprehension of respondents was mostly “frustrated”, with
a frequency of 43 out of 74 or 58%. 22 out of 74 or 30% of
the respondents belonged to the “instructional”. And
lastly, 9 out of 74 or 12% the respondents were
“independent”.
Table 2. Academic Performance of Respondents
Academic
Frequency Percentage
Performance
VERY HIGH
(95 – 100 GPA)
0 0
HIGH
(90 – 94 GPA)
1 1
AVERAGE
(85 – 89 GPA)
8 11
LOW
(80 – 84 GPA)
11 15
VERY LOW
(75 – 79 GPA)
54 73
Total 74 100
Table 2 shows the academic performance of the respondents.
The results revealed, that academic performance of the
respondents were mostly “very low” with a frequency of 54
out of 74 or 73%. 11 out of 74 or 15% is “low” in their
academic performance. The “average” respondents are 8 out
of 74 or 11%. Only 1 out of 74 or 1% respondent got a
“high” academic performance and there was no result for
“very high” academic performance.

Table 3. Chi-square test results for the relationship
between reading comprehension and academic performance of
respondents.
Degree
Asymp. Sig
Value of
(2-sided)
Freedom
Pearson Chi-Square 222.000a 219 .431
Likelihood ratio 120.167 219 1.000
Linear by linear Association .037 1 .848
N of Valid Cases 74
Table 3, shows the chi-square test result for the
relationship between reading comprehension and academic
performance of respondents. The result revealed no
significant relationship between reading comprehension and
academic performance of respondents, x(219)= 222 , p =
.431. The null hypothesis of no significant relationship
between reading comprehension and academic performance of
the respondents was accepted. This simply shows that the
reading comprehension of the respondents does not affect
their academic performance. Likewise with the academic

performance it does not affect the reading comprehension of
the respondents.
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter presents the summary, findings,
conclusions and recommendations of the study.
Summary
The study aimed to determine the Reading Comprehension
Level and Academic Performance in Grade 7 students of
Fisheries and Marine Science High School.
Specifically, the study aimed to answer the following
1. What is the reading comprehension level of the
respondents?
2. What is the academic performance of the respondents?
3. Is there a significant relationship between reading
comprehension level and academic performance of the
respondents?
The respondents of this study were 74 Grade 7 students
of Fisheries and Marine Science High School. The results
revealed that the reading comprehension levels of the

students were mostly “Frustrated” and the academic
performance was mostly “very low”.
The performance levels for each respondent were
analyzed to determine if a correlation existed between
reading comprehension and academic performance and in this
study, correlation never existed between reading
comprehension and academic performance of Grade 7 students
of Fisheries and Marine Science High School.
Findings
The reading comprehensions of respondents were mostly
“frustrated” because 43 out of 74 students answered 1 – 5
correct items. The academic performance of respondents were
mostly “very low” since 54 out of 74 or 73% got a GPA
between 75 – 80 in the grading scale. There was no
correlation between reading comprehension and academic
performance. The study of Ombra (2010) and Strauss
(1992)also stated no correlation between reading
comprehension and academic performance.

Conclusions
From the findings, the following conclusions were
drawn:
The relationship between reading ability and academic
performance seems like a logical connection since textual
information is prevalent in our society but this research
study presented no logical connection between the two
variables statistically.
In this study reading comprehension does not affect
the academic performance of the respondents. The same with
the academic performance, it does not affect the reading
comprehension of the respondents.
Recommendations
From the findings and conclusion the following are
recommendations that will help develop reading
comprehension and academic performance of the students and
the teachers teaching strategies and techniques:
1. Students must read, but must sure to understand what
they’re reading. Teachers must encourage students to
comprehend when reading and build world knowledge through

reading. School must create a reading program that will
engage students to develop their reading comprehension.
2. Students must practice good study habits, they must be
involved and indulged their selves in learning. Teachers
must assess and evaluate students’ performance and
development often. School must monitor the student’s
performance and development and teacher’s approaches.
3. Students must monitor their reading comprehension and
academic performance through self – assessment. Teachers
must use various teaching techniques and strategies that
will motivate them both in reading and academic excellence.
The school must update and prepare programs that will
ensure the development of both the reading comprehension
and academic performance.

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Republic of the Philippines

ILOILO STATE COLLEGE OF FISHERIES

This chapter presents the Background of the Study,

Statement of the Problem, Theoretical Framework, Conceptual

Framework, Scope and Limitation of the Study, Significance

of the Study and Definitions of Terms.

Background of the Study

School systems are often challenged to meet the needs

of students who are not performing at grade level

expectations and provide support services to help those

students to close the achievement gap (Cimmiyotti, 2013).

Since reading is a skill utilized in every academic subject

area, it is a logical domain to examine for a correlational

relationship with the academic performance.

The ability to read is an essential skill for students

to master because information is presented in text

throughout the world. According to Widdowson (1979) reading

is an interactive process that goes on between the reader

and the text, resulting in comprehension. Reading is

therefore seen as the combination of textual information

with the information the reader brings to the text

resulting to comprehension of the text. Anderson (2000)

notes out that reading is a mental process, not getting

from print but engaging the reader‘s mind to decode

meaning. Reading requires thinking; it is not just speaking

the words and symbols but rather thinking and speaking.

December 2013, The NSO's 2010 Census of Population and

Housing (CPH) showed that of the 71.5 million individuals

who are 10 years old and above, 97.5 percent or 69.8

million were literate or could read and write. This is

higher compared to the literacy rate of 92.3

percent recorded in the 2000 CPH. 97.5% literacy rate is

quite an impressive figure but if we will take a look at

the result of the National Achievement Test (NAT) ON 2012,

Grade 3 students got a Mean Percentage Score of 54.42% in

English reading Comprehension and 58.61% in Filipino

In this study, data was collected on students reading

comprehension level and academic performance at the school

site of study. The data was then assigned to performance

levels and an average performance level was determined for

each student in reading comprehension and academic

performance. Finally, the performance levels for each

student were analyzed to determine if a correlation existed

between student reading comprehension level and academic

performance of Grade 7 students of Fisheries and Marine

Science High School.

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to determine the reading

comprehension level and academic performance of Grade 7

students of Fisheries and Marine Science High School.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following

1. What is the reading comprehension of the respondents?

2. What is the academic performance of the respondents?

3. Is there a significant relationship between reading

comprehension level and academic performance of the

There is no significant relationship between reading

comprehension level and academic performance.

According to J. W. Rosenthaland, J. M. O’Malley and A.

Chamot, students who have not yet developed their cognitive

academic language proficiency (CALP) will surely meet

difficulties and problems in several contexts and

situations. The theory on CALP, therefore, provided the

researcher a reason to study and investigate the

relationship of English language proficiency and academic