CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Reading is one of the English skills which are key to master and develop students'

comprehension. It is one of the necessary skills that help students in acquiring knowledge

and new information. Do students fully comprehend what they are reading? Are they able

to express what they have read through verbal and oral communication? Teachers need to

guide students to become independent and effective readers in our fast-tracked and

growing society. To do this, we need to begin with the most important skill that is used

throughout our day-to-day life scenario: reading comprehension.

Reading comprehension is one of the essential components of reading. As it is

defined as the understanding and interpretation of what is the fruit of reading. In order to

become literate, students must increase their comprehension of what they are reading

individually. It is one of the most essential skills in the educational context as it can be

the result of students’ assessment in general language competency. According to

Meniado (2016), reading comprehension is a complex process that involves components,

processes, and factors with the aim of finding better ways of improving and enhancing it

among learners. He also added that it is an interactive process of finding meanings from a

text and a series of cognitive activities that include a lot of dimensions like the

understanding of words and their meanings, mindful reaction, and integration. A lot

of learners know how to read but some do not know how to comprehend it. Reading

comprehension is a necessary requirement needed for all subject areas because each
lesson is integrated from the act of reading. Therefore, students are required to have a

good comprehension capability.

Research shows there are several underlying causes for poor reading

comprehension. Among the reasons are the susceptibility to the text structure, making of

conclusion, and comprehension checking (Meniado, 2016) and inability to process the

individual sounds of letters which is needed for word recognition (Sanford, 2015). Joseph

(2018) also added that pupils who become poor readers experience difficulties with

accurately identifying and reading words at lower grades. Nergis (2013) stated that

deepness of vocabulary knowledge, syntactic consciousness, and metacognitive

recognition are some of the important factors that can affect reading comprehension skill.

Njie (2013) and Rany (2013) also assert that most pupils have low reading ability as a

result of: lack of effective learning strategies, their unwillingness and lack of motivation

to learn how to read.

In order to meet the desires reading needs of learners, educators are highly

recommended to develop both effective instructional means for teaching reading

comprehension and the use of reading strategies. According to Wijekumar et al., 2019,

more attention has been paid to the ecological component of text structure instruction by

investigating how teachers explain text structure and other evidence‐based strategies in

their classroom and how teachers can be trained to teach text structures Meyer and Ray

(2011) emphasized that teachers should have access to adequate instructional materials

for modeling and direct instruction, such as by providing them with “intelligent tutors or

scripted lessons”. Williams (2018) also made a plea for second‐generation text structure
research that goes beyond developing excellent instructional materials and focuses more

on the context in which the instruction occurs.

In the recent results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)

by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Filipinos

fared worst among 79 countries in reading comprehension for both boys and girls. This

implied that there is a need to improve the reading literacy of our learners in our country.

The comprehension standards should be upgraded. It can only be done if the education

system will be completely focused on the reading comprehension of the learners.

The researcher is currently working as Public-School teacher at Guiguinto

National Vocational High School (GNVHS), currently handles the subject of English. In

her tenure as teacher since 2009, she has found out the reading comprehension of the

students nowadays is gradually deteriorating. That is the primary reason why she has

interests on this study. As this study will try to determine if the underlying factors such as

learning styles and localized instructional materials have a significant effect on the

improvement on reading comprehension of the learners.

Primarily, this study aims to explain the relationship between localized English

reading materials and student achievement in English Reading Comprehension and to

determine how extent the teaching materials, specifically localized reading materials and

learning styles have a significant effect on the improvement of reading comprehension.

The general problem of the study is: How do localized English reading materials

affect the reading comprehension of Grade 7 students in GNVHS – Annex?

Specifically, the study will seek answers to the following questions:

1. What are the learning styles of Grade 7 students in GNVHS – Annex?

2. What are the localized instructional materials used in teaching English 7 in

terms of:

2.1 audio

2.2 visual

2.3 audiovisual

3. What is the proficiency level of the reading comprehension in English 7?

4. Are there significant relationships between localized English materials and

reading comprehension in English among Grade 7 students in GNVHS – Annex?

This study carries immense significance from a number of aspects: (1) it will

yield useful data relating to reading skill; (2) it will result to formulate suggestions and

recommendations that are very useful for the improvement of reading comprehension

and teaching reading methodologies. (3) It will be useful to develop a localized

instructional material that will greatly improve the reading comprehension; and (4) it will

be vital on the enhancement of English reading comprehension and teaching reading

skills.

The finding of the study may be useful to:

School Community: the result of the study will help the school community in

developing ways such as appropriate strategies or use of instructional materials in

improving the reading comprehension of students. It also serves as a platform in creating

innovative instructional materials that would suffice the needs of improving the reading

ability of the students.

English Teachers. The result of this study may serves as a guide to teachers in

helping students to improve their skills and knowledge in reading in becoming a

competent and effective reader. It also serves as a tool in selecting appropriate

instructional materials suited for improving the reading comprehension of the students,

specifically in the English field.

Non-Major English Teacher. The result of this study will provide great help for

them in understanding and coping up with the instructional materials that will tap the

prowess of comprehension on the learners.

ways on how improve their reading comprehension. Also, this study will encourage them

to use well the instructional materials prepared by teachers. Furthermore, this research

aims to provide motivation for students to increase interest or willingness to read. It also

serves as a platform to develop language skills especially reading comprehension skills.

Subject Area Coordinator of English. The outcome of this study may serve as

an eye-opener for them in using localized instructional materials in coping with difficulty

in reading comprehension.

The Principal. The result of this study will give confidence on the humanity that

appropriate instructional materials taps greater improvement in reading comprehension of

learners.

Future Researchers. The result of this study may direct them to indulge more in

concerns and issues in exploring the vast possibility of improving the level of reading

comprehension in the education system. Moreover, this research aims to provide and add

insight on the use of localized instructional materials on the reading comprehension of

the students. This will also serve as guide for the future researchers who want to pursue

this kind of study.

Scope and Delimitation

The main concern of this study will focus on the effect of localized English

reading materials on the reading comprehension of Grade 7 students in Guiguinto

National Vocational High School- Annex. It will identify and describe the use of
localized instructional materials in terms of audio, visual and audiovisual. It will be

limited on knowing the localized instructional materials that has an effect on the

improvement of the reading comprehension of Grade 7 students in Guiguinto National

Vocational High School- Annex. The respondents are 50 Grade 7 students of Guiguinto

National Vocational High School- Annex during the school year 2020-2021.

Definition of Terms

Learners- a person who is trying to gain knowledge or skill in something by studying,

practicing, or being taught (Merriam Dictionary). As used in this study, learners are the

respondent of the study.

Teacher- is one who is able to explain and demonstrate concepts in a variety of ways for

a variety of different learners and learning styles (Park, 2018). As used in this study, the

teacher will measure the reading comprehension of her learners.

Instructional Materials- It refer to those alternative channels of communication, which

a classroom teacher can use to concretize a concept during teaching and learning process

(Amadioha, 2018). As used in this study, the instructional materials will be the tool that

to be used in measuring the reading comprehension of the learners.

Learning Styles –defines learning styles as the “composite of characteristic cognitive,

affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a

learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment (Keefe ,1979).

As used in this study, learning styles refers to the preferences of learners to learn
 CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter purpose is to provide a strong foundation to this study which

contains gathered research works of different literature and references by the researchers.

It covers the review of relevant literature and related studies respectively. These are

presented to determine the connection of various findings and theories in relation to the

variable of primary interest and independent variable.

Relevant Theories

Reading is a guessing game in which the readers reconstruct the message which is

encoded by writers (Carrell & Eisterhold, 1983). Reading skill is one of the important

skills for acquiring knowledge. The world progressed after the invention of writing

script which made the material available for the people to read. Writing skill

provides record of the previous knowledge and researches, and reading skill helps to

utilize the previous written material for further progress. Reading is a stepping

stone in the walk of knowledge. Its importance is also clear from the very first

Quranic Revelation, “IQRA” which means, “READ”.

Reading Comprehension

Schema theory is an explanation of how readers use prior knowledge to

comprehend and learn from text (Rumelhart, 1980). The term "schema" was first used in

psychology by Barlett as "an active organization of past reactions or experiences"

(1932,p.201), later schema was introduced in reading by Rumelhalt (1980), Carrell

in reading comprehension (all cited in An, 2013). The fundamental principle of the

schema theory 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 (An, 2013).

According to schema theory, comprehending a text is an interactive process

between the reader’s background knowledge and the text. Efficient comprehension

requires the ability to relate the textual material to one's own knowledge. As Anderson

(1977, p.369) point out, "every act of comprehension involves one’s knowledge of the

world as well". Reading comprehension operates in two directions, from bottom up to the

top and from the top down to the bottom of the hierarchy. Bottom-up processing is

activated by specific data from the text, while top-down processing starts with general to

confirm these predictions. These two kinds of processing are occurring simultaneously

and interactively, which adds to the concept of interaction or comprehension between

bottom-up and top-down processes (Carrel and Eiserhold, 1983. Cited in An, 2013).

Learning Styles

David Kolb made available his learning styles model in 1984, years after he had

theorized it. 'Experiential Learning: Experience As the Source of Learning and

Development' was Kolb's book in which he identified with ideas on experiential learning

by thinkers such as Carl Rogers and Carl Jung, two of the foundation scholars. Utilizing

their logically sound and well-founded assertions as his backdrop, Kolb postulated his
own model. Today his Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and Learning Styles

Inventory (LSI) are considered to be ground breaking, influential and used applied by

academicians, teachers, human resource managers and mentors to discern human conduct

andresponse to various forms of teaching with reference to learning. Kolb tendered to an

understandingof experiential learning which can be defined with six characteristics:

Learning is to be conceived as acontinuous process separate from outcomes, grounded in

experience requiring settling of conflicts between polar modes of holistic adaptation

involving transaction between person and environment for creating knowledge from the

symbiosis of social and personal knowledge (Kolb, 1984). The cycle of learning is the

cornerstone to Kolb's model, monikered as four-stage cycle of learning. Ground support

for learning is catered by 'Immediate or concrete experiences' which lead to 'observations

and reflections'. These observations and reflections' are incorporated and grasped into

'abstract concepts' producing new ramifications for action which can be 'actively tested'

directing towards a new experience. This process ideally depicts a learning cycle or spiral

where the learner 'touches all the bases' (McLeod, 2010). Kolb's learning model is based

on two continuums that form a quadrant. Understanding Kolb's quadrant can be

confusing at first. A two-by-two matrix simplifies the task. The matrix also uses Kolb's

parlance to identify the learning styles: diverging, assimilating, and converging,

accommodating: Ergo, a person with dominant learning style 'watching' against 'doing' a

task, and 'thinking' rather than 'feeling' the experience, will have 'Assimilating' as the

corresponding learning style. Everyone responds to and needs the stimulus of all types of

learning styles to one extent or another - it's a matter of using emphasis that fits best with
the given situation and a person's learning style preferences (Brown, 2013)

Localized Instructional Materials

Linking skills in reading directly to concrete applications and authentic contents

may increase the possibility of learning. It has been suggested that by using authentic or

localized academic texts as part of innovation and reinforcement, low-skilled students

become more active learners and are then more inclined to use their skills in higher level

academic tasks. The localization of reading instruction is used in elementary, secondary,

and postsecondary education to engage students, deepen content learning, and promote

transfer of skill. According to Taylor (2004), localization is the freedom for schools or

local authorities to adapt the curriculum to local conditions and relating the context of the

curriculum and the process of teaching and learning to the local environment. The

approach is well grounded in psychological theories of transfer of and motivation in

learning. The reading achievement of the learners must be the major concern of the entire

educational system. This is to improve quality outcomes because according to UNESCO

(2002), if the reading skills will not be improved among the learners, it will contribute to

high dropout rates, high number of repeaters, low passing grades, and inadequate

language skills. These problems, in turn, result to a considerable number of illiterate

Filipinos and out of school youths and graduates who are not prepared for work. This

issue may be helped by localizing reading curriculum. The proficiency in reading is

potent tools in learning and help children prosper in school and their future careers. The

ability to read written material is very important in the civilized world.

Related Literature

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is dependent on several cognitive and linguistic processes.

Verhoeven and Perfetti (2008) distinguish letter- and word-level processes and above-

the-word-level comprehension processes. At the letter- level and word-level, students

have to be able to read accurately and fluently. Also, knowledge of the meaning of the

words in the text is necessary to understand a text (e.g., Hoover & Gough, 1990). At

above-the-word level, the storage of information from the text and integration of this

information with background knowledge is required. These processes involve working

memory (Daneman & Merikle, 1996). According to Pressley (2002), good text

comprehension emerges if a reader is able to predict what the text may be about, relates

information in the text to background knowledge, asks questions while reading, monitors

the understanding of the text, and summarizes what is being read. For these

metacognitive processes, or reading strategies, to be used during text comprehension,

metacognitive knowledge of reading is an important prerequisite. The current study

focused on the relations between metacognitive knowledge about reading, or knowledge

of reading strategies, and reading comprehension.

learning activities (Brown, 1978; Flavell, 1979). It develops as children get older, that is,

older children have higher levels of metacognitive knowledge about reading and are more

skilled in regulating and monitoring their reading comprehension process (Baker, 2002;

Bouffard, 1998; Mason, 2004; Pintrich & Zusho, 2002; Roeschl-Heils, Schneider, & van

Kraayenoord, 2003).

Several cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have shown that metacognition, and more

specifically the knowledge and use of reading strategies, is related to reading

comprehension in both primary school children (Bouffard, 1998; Muijselaar & de

Jong, 2015; van Kraayenoord, Beinicke, Schlagmüller, & Schneider, 2012) and children

in secondary school (Cromley & Azevedo, 2007; Kozminsky & Kozminsky, 2001;

Peverly, Brobst, & Morris, 2002; Roeschl-Heils et al., 2003; Samuelstuen &

Bråten, 2005). The correlations between reading strategies and reading comprehension

tend to differ across studies from small to medium (e.g., Muijselaar & de Jong, 2015;

Samuelstuen & Bråten, 2005).

The relation between reading strategies and reading comprehension has also been

examined through intervention studies. Reviews have consistently shown effects of

interventions aimed to enhance the knowledge and use of reading strategies, on

intervention related measures of reading comprehension. However, effects were

frequently small and sometimes even absent on standardized measures of reading

comprehension (e.g., Edmonds et al., 2009; Gersten, Fuchs, Williams, & Baker, 2001;

National Reading Panel, 2000). Also in more recent studies, not included in earlier

reviews, the effects of strategy interventions on standard reading comprehension tests

Roberts, Vaughn, & Stuebing, 2015; Wassenburg, Bos, de Koning, & van der

Schoot, 2015).

The tiny effects of strategy training seem to be at odds with the small to moderate

relationship between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension found

in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (e.g., Muijselaar & de Jong, 2015;

Samuelstuen & Bråten, 2005). However a relation between reading strategies and

comprehension at one point in time not only reflects an effect of reading strategies on

reading comprehension but also can be (partly) due to an effect of reading comprehension

on reading strategies. To our knowledge, there are no studies in which the latter effect has

been examined. The absence of such studies matches with the observation of Veenman,

van Hout-Wolters, and Afflerbach (2006), who called for more studies on the

developmental relationship between metacognition and individual differences in skill

acquisition. This is important because children with more self-regulated capacities and

awareness of their reading strategies are more successful at school and in later life

(Pintrich & Zusho, 2002; Schoonen, Hulstijn, & Bossers, 1998).

A theoretical reason to expect an effect of reading comprehension on reading strategies

can be found in studies on differences between novices and experts in learning (e.g.,

Alexander, 2003; Alexander & Judy, 1988). Experts have a lot of domain-specific

knowledge, and their level of strategy use is high. Because most experts are eager to

learn, they are intrinsically motivated to gain more knowledge from text. While reading a

text, they are highly engaged and pose questions. For this reason, experts’ level of

strategy use remains high, and they tend to use more complex strategies than novices.
Generally younger children, novices, have poorer self-regulation capabilities than older

children having more experience with and expertise in most tasks (Pintrich &

Zusho, 2002). An effect of reading comprehension on reading strategies is also to be

expected because children learn from texts (McMaster, Espin, & van den Broek, 2014;

Verhoeven & Perfetti, 2008). For example, evidence suggest that vocabulary acquisition

is at least partly dependent on the reading of specific words in several contexts

(Laufer, 2003; Nation, 2015; Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). Similarly, reading comprehension

may result in the improvement of knowledge and use of reading strategies. Probably,

better comprehenders read more texts, as well as more difficult texts (e.g.,

Alexander, 2003). During the reading of these texts, comprehenders may learn what to do

when there is a breakdown in text comprehension (e.g., McMaster et al., 2014). Thus, it

seems plausible that children gain knowledge of reading strategies through text reading.

A specific problem in studies on the relations between reading strategies and reading

comprehension is how the knowledge and use of reading strategies are measured. Some

studies used a reading comprehension test on which the child had to apply specific

reading strategies (Cromley & Azevedo, 2006; Kozminsky & Kozminsky, 2001; Spörer,

Brunstein, & Kieschke, 2009). A disadvantage of this kind of test is that it is unclear

whether it is a pure measure of reading strategies, or also measures reading

comprehension. In other studies, questionnaires were used in which children had to report

how often they used certain reading strategies (Cantrell, Almasi, Carter, Rintamaa, &

Madden, 2010; Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002; Roeschl-Heils et al., 2003; Samuelstuen &

Bråten, 2005). A disadvantage of such a measure of the use of reading strategies is that

children are not able to report correctly how often they used specific reading strategies,
because strategies are often used unconsciously. Such self-reports of strategy use might

therefore be hardly related to actual strategy use (Veenman et al., 2006) and reading

comprehension (Cromley & Azevedo, 2006). A third measure that is used for the

measurement of reading strategies is a questionnaire about how and when to use reading

strategies (Bouffard, 1998; Brand-Gruwel, Aarnoutse, & van den Bos, 1998; Cain, 1999;

Muijselaar & de Jong, 2015; van Kraayenoord et al., 2012). Given the problems in

assessing the actual use of reading strategies, the current study was restricted to the

knowledge about how and when to use reading strategies, that is, the metacognitive

knowledge of reading comprehension. The measure that we used was found to be related

to reading comprehension in a cross-sectional study after reading fluency, vocabulary,

and working memory were controlled (Muijselaar & de Jong, 2015), and appeared to be

sensitive to the effects of a strategy intervention (Brand-Gruwel et al., 1998; Droop et

al., 2016).

The general aim of this study was to investigate the developmental relations between

reading comprehension and reading strategies. Because it is commonly known that

reading fluency, vocabulary, and working memory are important predictors of reading

comprehension (e.g., Daneman & Merikle, 1996; Hoover & Gough, 1990;

Pressley, 2002), we controlled for these variables in our analyses. Consequently, we

tested whether there is a unique effect of reading strategies measured at the beginning of

Grade 4 on reading comprehension measured at the end of Grade 5, as well as whether

there is a unique effect of reading comprehension measured at the beginning of Grade 4

on reading strategies measured at the end of Grade 5. The study was conducted in a group

of fourth-grade children, because most fourth graders are able to read fluently and the
development of metacognition and reading comprehension education has just started

(Veenman et al., 2006). Important to note, Grade 4 is regarded as a critical point at which

children’s learning to read changes to reading to learn (McMaster et al., 2014).

Learning Styles

Many researchers have proclaimed the significance of identifying preferred

teaching styles and preferred learning styles. Claxton and Ralston (1978, in Miller, 1982)

alluded to this significance: The research findings on learning styles offer substantial

promise to teachers, counselors, and the students themselves in terms of finding better

ways for students to learn. But while matching learning style with instructional mode

apparently facilitates positive interpersonal relations, and while it would seem to point

the way for increased learning, the empirical data that support this idea are rather scarce.

Such a significant gap in the research must be filled if knowledge about learning styles is

to become a significant force in improving college and university teaching (p. 36).

However, identifying and defining the vast number of learning styles can become an

enormous task. According to Cornett (1983), the myriad of labels and categories used in

identifying the different areas of style can be overwhelming for educators. Corbett and

Smith (1984) stated: Learning style is a complex construct involving the interaction of

numerous elements; thus, at the outset, the experimenter is faced with the difficult task of

having to decide which dimensions of learning style to elucidate and which interactions

might be meaningful, in a practical sense, in understanding their contribution to

achievement (p. 212). There are many definitions of learning styles in the literature. For
example, Cornett defined learning style as “a consistent pattern of behavior but with a

certain range of individual variability” (p. 9). Hunt (1979) thought that learning style

“describes a student in terms of those educational conditions under which he is most

likely to learn. Learning style describes how a student learns, not what he has learned” (p.

27). From a phenomenological viewpoint, Gregorc and Ward (1977) stated that learning

style “consists of distinctive and observable behaviors that provide clues about the

mediation abilities of individuals. In operational terms, people through their characteristic

sets of behavior ‘tell’ us how their minds relate to the world, and therefore, how they

learn” (p. 19). Keefe and Languis, (1983) contended that “learning style is the composite

of 8 characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively

stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning

environment” (p. 3). They suggested that it is within these domains that instructors

identify learning styles and try to match them with an appropriate teaching style. Cross

(1976) defined learning styles as the characteristic ways that individuals collect, organize,

and transform information into useful knowledge. Learning style is consistent across a

wide variety of tasks. It has a broad influence on how information is processed and

problems are solved, and it remains stable over many years.

Localized Instructional Materials

No matter the types of materials used in a language learning context, a large

proportion of the learning that takes place depends on the materials used which might

range from handouts, listening, and even videos. The role of culture in materials used in

the language classrooms has long been on the mind of scholars in the field of language

pedagogy. There are numerous scholars in the field who emphasize the significance of
culture in language pedagogy (Chastain, 1988; Rivers, 1981; Stern, 1983, 1992). These

scholars strongly hold the belief that culture and language are inseparably bound and as

Kramsch et al. (1991) puts it they constitute “a single universe or domain of experience”.

They believe that the learning of language is barely imaginable without considering the

role that culture plays. Throughout the literature of language teaching, culture has always

been considered a crucial aspect of foreign language teaching programs. For example,

Adaskou et al. (1990) suggest that semantic and pragmatic senses of culture “are in some

degree necessary to the learners’ achievement of a measure of communicative

competence”. These statements along with others mentioned elsewhere (Byram, 1989,

1991; Mckay, 2002; Stern, 1992) account for the inclusion of a cultural element in

foreign language programs. It is believed that the inclusion of culturally rich materials

(target culture) can affect the cultural identity of learners. As Sumaryono and Ortiz

(2004) indicate, “English language learners could become invisible in the mainstream

classroom or even disconnect from the learning process if the teachers do not display

sensitivity toward their cultural identity”. Due to this phenomenon, there appears the

issue that learners’ cultural identity is overshadowed by exposure to materials which

solely focus on the culture of the target language and leave the learner’s native culture

unnoticed. In order to investigate whether the inclusion of materials that contain a degree

of localization and aspects of the native culture of the learners is beneficial to them, a

program was designed to expose learners to such materials and measure their

significance. Therefore, a study was designed in an FFL context (French foreign

language) in which participants had four short stories to read in order to answer ten open-
ended comprehension questions which were divided into three groups of replication,

synthesis and inference.

Related Studies

Reading comprehension has been studied in the context of various factors inside

and outside the school community. To attain the objectives of improving reading

comprehension. It is indispensable on the part of the teacher to understand better the

underlying factors that may contribute on the improvement of reading comprehension.

According to Geroso et.al (2017) experimental group exposed to the localized curriculum

improved their reading achievement from approaching proficient level to proficient level.

The localized curriculum is, thus, helpful to the learners because they can easily make

connections to the reading texts and easily comprehend what they read. Hence, this

present study supports the previous claim that reading in English utilizing localized

materials such as selections about one's place will enable learners to develop their reading

skills while connecting to their heritage and culture. This result strengthens the

UNESCO’s assertion that a vital dimension of quality education is that of relevance of

curricular content; the diversity of local, cultural, and socio-economic realities. Further,

the result of the experiment proves that a prime factor driving the localization of school

curricula and the localization of schooling content is the ethnic and linguistic diversity of

many places. This diversity must be considered when innovating school lessons, both in

terms of local relevance and in terms of linguistic delivery, to create the vital links
between learner and materials. Related to the findings of this research, it could be said

that this research was improved students’ reading comprehension. It is proven by the test

result, In the pretest, there were 16.67% (6 of 36 students) who got score ≥ 75. In the

post-test I, there were 27.77% (10 of 36 students) who got score ≥ 75. In the post-test II,

there were 55.55% (20 of 36 students) who got score ≥ 75. In conclusion, based on the

result of the research and the data found, it can be said that DRTA is effective to improve

the students’ reading comprehension. In here, based on the hypothesis there was

improvement on the students’ ability in reading comprehension using Directed Reading

Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy. Therefore, Directed Reading Thinking Activity

(DRTA) Strategy can acceptable with the 8th grade students in SMP Negeri 17 Medan.

Conceptual Framework

Figure 1 shows the effect of localized instructional materials on reading comprehension.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Localized English Reading Reading Comprehension

Learning Styles

Hypothesis:
H0: There is no significant relationship between localized English reading materials to

reading comprehension.

Ha: the higher the engagement of the learners on the localized instructional materials the

better the result on reading comprehension.

Definition of Variables:

Learning Styles –defines learning styles as the “composite of characteristic cognitive,

affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a

learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment (Keefe ,1979).

As used in this study, learning styles refers to the preferences of learners to learn

determined through a questionnaire.

Localized Instructional Materials -

Reading Comprehension – It is a special kind of readers comprehends by actively

constructing meaning internally from interacting with the material that is read

(Alexander, 1977: 160). As used in this study, reading comprehension refers to the five

level that will be measured using the comprehension test.