READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH WRITING

SKILLS OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES TRACK OF CNHS

CHAPTER I

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

English has long been established as the world’s language or lingua franca.

Its height remains the same, especially in the 21st century. It has been the primary

language for academic studies and writings, communication, business, politics, and

so on. Having said this, the demands for English competency continue to increase,

as employers require such skill, making it their top priority when it comes to their

hiring preferences. Having the sensibility about the growing relevance of acquiring

the mastery of the English language, and its marketability, more people invest in its

training and education.

When a person gains English proficiency in writing or in speech, they

become globally competitive individuals. It’s like a ticket to the world. However, the

process of acquiring English proficiency is not an easy road. One must enroll in

proper training and education. Needless to say, the difficulty a person would

inevitably experience with the course of learning, the anxiety, the stress, the

pressure, and so on.

The Philippines is recognized globally as one of the largest English-speaking

nations with the majority of its population having at least some degree of fluency in

the language. English has always been one of the official languages of the
Philippines and is spoken by more than 14 million Filipinos (Cabigon, 2015).

However, despite this title, stakeholders agreed that the country needs to step up its

efforts in improving the teaching and learning of English, developing it as a vital skill

of the workforce (Cabigon, 2015). Having this in mind, this leads to the issue of the

poor reading comprehension of Filipino students. In a recent study, it is perceived

that the Philippines shared a significant rate of low performers among all

(Programme for International Student Assessment) PISA-participating countries and

economies. That is, 80% of the Filipino students did not reach the minimum level of

proficiency in reading. Their poor scores in English, Mathematics, and Science are

attributed to the students’ lack of ability in basic reading and comprehension (Tomas,

M.J., et al., 2021). Clearly, this problem tints the Filipino’s reputation of being English

language proficient individuals.

Being slack in reading comprehension reflects an individual’s writing ability.

Reading comprehension is a necessary ability for academic achievement. It is a

requirement for practically all graduate programs; however, most students suffer

from deficiencies in reading. This issue is most likely concerned with student’s

motivation and point of interest. When a student lacks interest in reading, they are

more susceptible to have bad remarks in assessments or examinations. Students cut

themselves off from the point of comprehension since they lack the interest and

motivation. This kind of attitude will most likely lead to poor sentence construction,
meaning it affects the student’s writing skills. This study aims to construct reading

comprehension strategies to improve English writing skills.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Reading comprehension is the ability to rationally process written words and

conclude what they mean, integrating this modern information with past information.

It’s not just the ability to accurately read words on a page- rather, understanding the

meaning of the text is the key part.

Many students struggle with reading comprehension; some of the reasons

are, first, lack of vocabulary which can delay their comprehension if a student does

not know the meaning of most of the words they are reading. And the lack of interest,

somehow if a learner is not interested in the content, they will not be motivated to

understand.

Often, the main problem with reading comprehension is that students lack

strategies to actively engage with the text. Some strategies that may prove to be

challenging for them include decoding the words and making inferences. As a result,

students find it difficult to understand what they are reading.

As aforementioned, 80% of the Filipino students did not reach the lowest

level of proficiency in reading. Their poor scores in some of the school subjects are

credited to the students’ need for capacity in essential reading and comprehension.
(Tomas, M.J., et al., 2021)

One article from Philippine Star (2010) states that: “The undeniable fact

remains that the majority of Filipino students do not possess the ability and

motivation to read. Due to the fast-evolving world and changing technology, it cannot

be denied that sometimes reading is taken for granted”.

This study will determine the reading comprehension strategies to improve

the English writing skills of Humanities and Social Science students of Cavite

National High School - Senior High School. Specifically, it aims to:

1. Assess the performance of English reading and writing skills of HUMSS

Students.

2. Determine the different reading comprehension strategies to improve the

English writing skills of HUMSS students,

3. Determine the most effective reading comprehension strategy to improve the

English writing skills of HUMSS students.

4. Identify the common problems encountered of having poor reading

comprehension and English writing skills of HUMSS students and;

5. Evaluate the academic performance in reading/writing skills of each HUMSS

student of Cavite National High School - Senior High School.

This study will be conducted to determine the reading comprehension

strategies to improve the English writing skills of the Grade 12 Humanities and Social

Sciences students of Cavite National High School – Senior High School. The results

of this study will benefit the following:

Learners - This study may help the learners to adapt and use reading

comprehension strategies that will help improve their writing skills.

Teachers – This study may help the teachers to adapt and use reading

comprehension strategies that will improve the learners’ writing skills in class.

Schools – This study may help the schools to learn about reading comprehension

strategies that will improve the learners’ writing skills that they may adapt to the

school curriculum.

Future Researchers – This study would serve as a reference or guide to future

researchers as another study is conducted that is related to this topic.

HYPOTHESIS

This study aims to ascertain which reading comprehension tactics can be

used to enhance students' English writing abilities. Reading comprehension skills are

demonstrated by students who apply reading comprehension strategies. Students'

tactics, which is the study's hypothesized outcome.

At the end of this study the students of Cavite National High School – Senior

High School are expected to:

1. Identify what are the reading comprehension strategies to improve their

reading and writing skills.

2. Determine what are the types and steps to improve their reading and writing

skills.

3. Identify what is the most effective reading comprehension strategy to improve

their English writing skills.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This study will only focus on the reading comprehension strategies of Grade

12 Humanities and Social Sciences students of Cavite National High School - Senior

High School to improve their English writing skills through answering survey

questionnaires. The results of this study will be based according to the recorded data

that the researchers gathered.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES

Reading takes both physical and mental efforts. To recognize words and

sentences, the reader's eyes must first navigate through lines of text in a coordinated

and sequential manner. Linking the word comprehension to the word reading easily

changes the definition the whole concept of the word. Reading comprehension is

defined as the ability to process written texts. It is the ability of a person to

understand and interpret what is read.

Efficiency in Reading Comprehension in Academics

Efficiency in reading comprehension leads a person to function more

effectively, especially in academics. As mentioned by Auld (2015) in an article about

student’s reading comprehension, “students who read independently have greater

reading comprehension, verbal fluency and general knowledge than those who do

not. They become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject

areas, and have greater content knowledge than their non-reading peers.” This

statement clearly suggests that efficiency in reading comprehension results to better

academic performance.

A study about the impact of pleasure reading on academic success

concluded that (Whitten, C., et. al. 2016), “educators in the core subjects agreed that
pleasure reading were beneficial, even essential, to student development and

achievement.” The study examined the reading habits of 65 high school juniors at a

rural Southeast Texas high school, ranging in age from fifteen to seventeen years.

Students who read self-selected books for pleasure were thought to have higher

average grades in English, Mathematics, Science, and History than their non-reading

colleagues. The authors determined that students who read for enjoyment scored

higher on average in the subject areas studied than their non-reading peers. The

authors went on to say that educators were aware of the link between pleasure

reading and academic performance, but that state curriculums and compulsory

examinations hampered their ability to do so.

Reading encourages students to think critically and enhances their reading

comprehension skills, which is important in all subject areas. The advantages of

pleasure reading, on the other hand, do not end in the classroom. Students carry

their reading skills into adulthood and, as a result, into the workforce and society.

Reading Comprehension in the Philippines

What’s to blame for the low reading comprehension of the Filipino youth?

In December 2019, the nation was thrown into an uproar by the

release of the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Report which stated that high school students in the Philippines got lower

scores in reading comprehension, Mathematics, and Science than most of

reading was a measly 340 points. China, which ranked first, received 555

points. Based on the findings, over 80 percent of Filipino students around

the age of fifteen did not reach the minimum level of proficiency in reading.

“I think [in terms of] literacy, we are really struggling,” Perez says of

the current state of literacy and reading comprehension in the country.

“Our results in the NCAT and NEAT show that [our students] really do get

low scores in standardized tests. This is because our students are not

being given proper instruction in literacy and numeracy.”

The article above indicates the poor reading comprehension of Filipino

students. The result of the country’s overall score in reading is quite alarming. It is

now a problem for the Department of Education. It creates a huge impact on the

future of the Filipino students and also the welfare of the country’s future. Having

mentioned this statement, a move to create a reading comprehension strategy

should be established.

Reading Comprehension and English Writing Skills

A study about reading-writing relations suggests that reading and writing are

interconnected. It states that written composition is a multifaceted phenomenon,

order cognitive abilities such as inference, perspective taking, and monitoring, as

well as reading comprehension, all contribute to the written composition's quality. In

comparison, lexical literacy and handwriting fluency were significant predictors of

writing productivity (or composition length) and correctness in writing, but vocabulary

and grammatical understanding contributed significantly to writing accuracy. “These

findings suggest that evaluation and training should carefully analyze and calibrate

the dimensions of written composition, and that systematic integration of reading and

writing promotes writing growth,” Kim, Y.-S. G., & Graham, S. (2022).

Reading Comprehension Strategies to Improve English Writing Skills

Kline, Deshler, and Schumaker (1992) demonstrated that teachers were

more receptive to implementing a reading strategy program based on educational

psychology ideas after experiencing its efficacy. As a result, it is necessary to equip

teachers with knowledge about psychological studies, such as the efficiency of

reading strategies and how to teach them effectively.

This requirement is clear, as educational research on how to teach reading in

a traditional classroom setting indicates that teachers do not devote sufficient time to

teaching reading skills. Additionally, Sailors (2009) discovered that teachers

frequently lack information about how to teach reading skills and instead rely on what
they acquired in their own school experiences when it comes to interpreting texts.

While teachers frequently utilize strategies such as summarizing or asking questions

to test reading comprehension, they are rarely taught how to increase it (Hollenbeck

& Kalchman, 2013). Indeed, reading education in a traditional classroom context

frequently falls short of scientifically sound techniques (Stanovich & Stanovich,

2003).

According to Gilchrist-Ward (2019), Implementing effective, best-practice

strategies at the high school level will help ensure that students have first-rate

reading comprehension and writing skills—not only as they matriculate through

school, but also as they enter the workforce.

Teachers and students choose the most appropriate strategies according to

their needs, purposes, and type of written text, and the choice may vary from one

reader/situation/time/circumstance to another (Ulker, 2017). To achieve this, Babbitt

(2002) introduced eight reading strategies that a teacher may use to develop a

scaffold for their students according to their needs, abilities, and the type of print they

work with. The reading strategies are as follows: comprehension monitoring,

cooperative learning, graphic organizers, story structure, question answering,

question generating, summarization, and multiple strategies. McNamara (2012),

believed that the reading strategies for proficient readers are different from others.

The same author introduced three reading comprehension strategies for those
readers, which are: dictionary artifact strategy, contextual word definition strategy,

and character motive strategy. If there are strategies for the proficient, the author,

McNamara (2012), also suggests six reading comprehension strategies for less

successful readers, which are: comprehension monitoring, paraphrasing,

elaboration, logic or common sense, predictions, and bridging. Having said this, the

teachers can observe the students if they are less proficient readers or proficient

readers. It is a good thing that in this present day, different strategies are now

available. To assist students in developing deep reading comprehension and

improving their English writing skills, Furthermore, it is also good to help students

depending on their respective learning styles.

Reading comprehension strategies may be defined as "a complex process

involving interactions between the reader and the text, using multiple skills" (Medina,

2007, p. 4), because among the variety of known strategies, "some strategies work

for some students, and other strategies work for other students, just as some

strategies work best with certain types of reading material, other strategies work best

with other types of reading material" (Medina, 2007, p. 6). Teachers must take into

account a variety of factors when devising a strategy to help students improve their

reading comprehension, including the students' ability level, group dynamics, age

and gender demographics, and cultural context.

Journaling allows students to write about their reaction to the theme of a text,

react (positively or negatively) to an event in the text, express their views about

controversial ideas in the text, or explore their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about

the text. Expressing themselves through the written word increases readers'

understanding of the text and highlights the importance of sharing their ideas with

others (Gilchrist-Ward, 2019). According to Lynch (2019), journaling cannot only

make students better writers, but it can also expand their higher-order and critical

thinking skills, as well as boost their reading comprehension skills.

Varied Instruction

Teachers must vary instruction to meet the needs of every student. Several

studies have been conducted on the multiple intelligences and how they can be used

to address students’ learning in any academic setting. Howard Gardner of Harvard

University identified nine different intelligences: musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-

mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist, and

existential. One strategy English teachers can implement to address spatial

intelligence is visual literacy. Pictures and films that relate to the content of various

assignments help students make concrete connections to abstract ideas. The visual

content appeals to their need to "see" meaning in action. For example, the student
may interpret meaning based on body language. Verbal or dramatic readings of

passages help students hear the emotions of literary characters and develop a short-

term understanding of them. This strategy addresses musical intelligence, where

students interpret the meaning of sounds. A change in voice inflection may help

students identify emotional reactions to characters, conflict, and conflict resolution.

Role-playing and problem-solving scenarios are bodily-kinesthetic activities that

allow students to move beyond the assignment to engage with the text and real-life

experiences. Exploring how the natural environment affects the psyche provides an

opportunity for self-exploration and appreciation of different cultures, beliefs, and

experiences (Gilchrist-Ward, 2019).

Socratic Circles

Socratic circles have been used by many English teachers to help encourage

student participation during reading and group discussions. Socratic circles give

ownership of the conversation and sharing of ideas to the students to ensure

dialogue about a topic. The discussion generally focuses on open-ended questions

that foster comprehension of the reading material (Gilchrist-Ward, 2019). Using the

Socratic circle method helps students learn how to talk with each other, build

knowledge based on previous experiences and apply it to new situations, come up

with hypotheses, and change their perceptions of themselves and others while
working with rhetoric and discourse (Copeland, 2005).

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

            This chapter presents the methods to be used in the study. It also describes

the research design, sources of data, data gathering procedure, research instrument,

and data analysis of the study.

            This study will determine the reading comprehension strategies to improve

the English writing skills of the Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences students of

Cavite National High School – Senior High School.

Research Design      

            In a descriptive design, a researcher is solely interested in describing the

situation or case of the study. It is a theory-based design method that is created by

gathering, analyzing, and presenting collected data. This allows a researcher to

provide insights into the why and how of research. Descriptive design helps others

better understand the need for the research. If the problem statement is not clear,

you can conduct exploratory research.

            The target population for this research study are the Grade 12 Humanities

and Social Sciences (HUMSS) students of Cavite National High School - Senior High

School. They are the participants who will answer the survey questionnaires for the

researchers to gather data. Stratified sampling will be used in this study so that the

researchers could make use of all the data efficiently. With this, the researchers can

organize the shared reading comprehension strategies to improve English writing

skills.

Research Instrument

            The Google Form survey questionnaire will be the major instrument to be

used in this study. The researchers designed the survey questionnaire to obtain

information about the reading comprehension strategies to improve the English

writing skills of the Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences students of Cavite

National High School – Senior High School. The survey questionnaires were divided

into two parts:

1. Respondent’s Profile/Personal Information

2. Form/Survey Questionnaire

Part A. The researchers will give statement situations checklists about

different reading comprehension strategies. The researchers will provide a likert

Part B. The researchers will provide a blank box below the list of statement

checklists, in case the respondents have a reading comprehension strategy

developed or discovered on their own. The box is provided for them to share,

recommend, or write their answer.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will provide the Google form survey questionnaires to the

Grade-12 Humanities and Social Science students of Cavite National High School –

Senior High School because of their direct involvement in this study.

The handling of the questionnaire will be done online by the researchers by

sending the link of the Google Form Survey Questionnaire through Facebook. This

procedure will secure both the safety of the researchers and of the respondents, as

they do not have to interact face-to-face. To prevent the leak of information gathered

to those people who are not associated with the study.

Data Analysis

            Google form survey questionnaire is the way the researchers to determine

the reading comprehension strategies to improve the English writing skills of the

Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences students of Cavite National High School –
Senior High School. The researchers used observational method of analysis for the

data gathering procedure. Through pie graphs and tables, the researchers will be

able to clearly and properly present the data and information gathered.