ORGANIZING AND APPLYING A READING LEVEL ASSESSMENT STRATEGY FOR

GRADE 12 ARISTOTLE STUDENTS OF RIZAL REGION NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

YEAR 2018 2019 TO DETERMINE AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT AND ROOM FOR
IMPROVEMENT.

I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Reading as they say is the third language skill we may acquire in our native language. As with

listening, it is a receptive, or passive skill, as it requires us to use our eyes and our brains to

comprehend the written equivalent of spoken language. It is one of the two artificial language

skills, as not all natural spoken languages have a writing system . Maybe others considered reading as

a piece of cake but others considered it as their waterloo.

Reading had been greatly neglected by the students for they have been colonized by “ shortcuts”

or the way of communicating through the use of technology ruins the built ideas on correct

spelling of words which in one way or the other misleads them to utter such. As educators, one

way to help and motivate students to develop their love for reading is the establishment of reading

center. This particular center offers a variety of reading materials like fairy tales, legends,

dictionaries, encyclopedias, bible stories, newspapers, magazines, and even multimedia sources

e.g. videos, etc. Rizal Region National High School in its advocacy to help students who are

considered to be “ not that good in uttering words/ phrases” thought of innovation where the

students love to read and learn to read to develop the innate skill which is reading skill. Reading is

the way a person gets information from written letters and words. Reading approach is also based

on the philosophy and theories concerning the meaning, nature, and structure of reading. Further,

it consists of a set of decisions to carry out an objective that result in a plan and its wise

implementation. Many people think of reading as a skill that is taught once and for all in the first

few years of school. Reading enables man to ponder the mysteries of the world, explore

accumulated knowledge, and contemplate the unknown. All the enigmatic symbolisms will be

divulged through reading. No one can question it because it gives emphasis to the importance of
global communication. In the past, books and newspapers were the most commonly read items;

now emails and text messages form a lot of normal day's communication activities.

Whether we admit it or not some learners lack the interest to learn because of many forces that

causes them to neglect one of the most important skills which is reading. In this era of innovation

in terms of technology where learners actually deal with most of time which should be spared for

developing skills in the four macro skills where the aforementioned issue belongs. Rizal Region

National High School in its advocacy to help those who have hard time in uttering such word or

phrase believe that patience and interest must be imbibed to them. Reading will not be as hard as

they knew and see as long as the previously mentioned characteristics are present so that in one

way or the other it will suffice the learning development required to achieve the target goal.

Students in the senior high school level are expected to be good readers and comprehending what

has been acquired or read in a specific selection. As teachers the way we could help our students

is to improve first the macro skills and one of which is the ability to read and pronounce words

correctly. Because of the new era that we are living in where we are being colonize by the 21 st

Century inventions it has been observed that students tend to set aside reading for we lack the

remediation that are supposed to be given to them for different factors. Grade 12 students of Rizal

Region National High School whenever given reading activities neglect to do so because it has

been registered in their system that reading is a passive and boring activity. Out of 72 grade 12

students in RRNHS there are may be only 30% read but only for compliance and the rest just do

not read at all and answer the questions given with answers that are not related to the selection

given. This somehow is alarming for they are expected to be good in reading and as a matter of

fact they are moving for the college level so much that they should love reading and make it as a

habit.

Since the problem has been one by one identified as an educator an action must be taken and

apply to at least help them step by step give time to learn how to love reading. An intervention
should be made and to address to this problem, and if this intervention will be realized later

problem of students in reading will be eradicated as time passes by. As Clarence Shepard Day

quoted, “The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man, nothing else that he builds

ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; and, after an era of

darkness, new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this

happen again and again, and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written,

still telling men’s hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead.” It is never too late to help our

students develop and strengthen their love for reading not only because it is needed in the school

but it is a great help in making themselves good speakers in the different realm of life as an

individual.

II. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This research aims to answer the following questions:

1. How many students are involved this study?

2. How can a teacher assess student’s level in reading?

3. What might be the reason why there are grade 12 students in RRNHS who have difficulty
in reading?

4. What are the suggested interventions to be done to improve the reading skill of a student?

III. PROPOSED INTERVENTION

This intervention is designed to help a student to learn to read and love to read. This is entitled the “The

Be Attitudes in Reading” these are as follows:

1. Be patient in learning to read.

2. Be confident in uttering words
3. Be open for corrections.
4. Be expressive.
5. Be a lover of letters and words.
6. Be a good listener.
7. Be a good enunciator.
8. Be a good speaker.
9. Be appreciative.
10. Be intelligent as you wish to.
Through the Be Attitudes in reading students will be able to put interest to the macro skill they already

considered as the hardest and boring skill for them to do. Through this program one way or the other these

students who struggle in reading will change their perspective to a more optimistic one. We, as educators

always want our students to bring out the best in them and develop the ability that is innate to them which

is their reading skill. As a teacher in Grade 12 Senior High School I made reading as fun and

pressure free as possible. To avoid intimidation for those “not that good in uttering such

words/phrases” the researcher let the students write essays and orally present it to the class with

appropriate criteria in delivering it through that the learners will never think that his/her reading

ability is being measured at that specific moment. Rest assured the teacher is not pressuring the

student in a manner that everything is graded as the students would always believe in so whether

they like it or not they have to force themselves utter the words either they really know it or they

are just pretending to. To gauge the ability of the students in reading we came up with legend and

this are as follows: GR- Good Reader, these are the students who can read words correctly with

proper phrasing and proper intonation, AR- Average Reader, these are those who can read words

correctly but not totally applying the proper phrasing, intonation and word pronunciation, SR-

Slow Reader, these are the readers who can pronounce words but most of the time stammer

because they are uncertain if it is correct, and lastly NR- Non- Reader, these are those who

cannot totally pronounce any or at least cannot produce any sound at all/ non determinant .In

Grade 11 and 12 level there is no determined as Non-Reader (NR) but rather they are rated to be

Slow Readers (SR). As educators there should really be intervention to those who are rated SRs

for we all know that reading should have been develop earlier for them to easily comprehend on

different selections or ideas given.

The following programs based on previous studies should be done to further address to the

findings mentioned earlier:

1. Cooperative learning programs. Cooperative learning programs involved students

working daily in small mixed-ability groups. Usually, cooperative learning groups had 4 5
members, and the students were encouraged to help each other learn academic content. In

secondary reading, cooperative learning programs focused primarily on students helping each

other to learn and apply metacognitive comprehension strategies, such as clarification,

summarization, graphic organizers, and prediction. The theory of action behind cooperative

learning emphasizes motivation through engagement with peers and encouragement from them,

learning by explaining to peers and receiving explanations from them, and personalization through

individualized feedback from peers and teachers (Slavin, 2015; Roseth, Johnson, & Johnson,

2008; Webb & Mastergeorge, 2003).

2. Social-Emotional Programs. The one example in this category, Building Assets

Reducing Risks (BARR) was based on the idea that ninth graders (the program’s

focus) are in need of strong personalized social connections and social emotional

skills. Students and teachers are organized in interdisciplinary blocks in which all

teachers and students are responsible for each others’ success.

3. Programs incorporating technology. A number of widely used secondary reading

programs incorporated technology. The theory of action behind such programs emphasizes

adaptation of the level and pace of instruction to the individual needs of each student; ongoing

formative assessment with immediate feedback to students and to teachers; and the motivational

value to students that computers can bring, not only

intrinsically but also with recognition and celebration built into the software to encourage

students’ progress (Cheung & Slavin, 2013; Borgman et al., 2008; Hannafin & Land, 1997;

MacArthur, Ferretti, Okolo, & Cavalier, 2001). Technology programs could be used within

regular class time, or they could be used during additional class periods as supplemental

instruction, replacing an elective such as art, music, or study hall.

4. Metacognitive strategy approaches. The largest number of included studies evaluated

teaching of metacognitive strategies. In these programs, teachers taught students to apply

metacognitive strategies to improve their comprehension, either during regular class time or

during extra remedial class time. The theory of action behind metacognitive strategy approaches

without extra time emphasizes the idea that students who are struggling in reading need to learn

specific, well-defined strategies to become effective comprehenders (McCormick, 2003; Pressley,

2003). For example, they need to learn to get the gist, or meaning, of the texts they are reading, to

learn and apply useful strategies when they run into unknown words, to learn story structure using

predictions and identifying story grammar, and to learn to comprehend factual texts using

outlining or graphic organizers. The core idea is that poor reading in secondary school, beyond

any remaining problems with phonics, fluency, or vocabulary, can best be addressed by teaching

students clear methods for understanding what they are reading.

5. Benchmark assessments. A popular practice in schools at all levels is the use of interim

or benchmark assessments, which test students a few times each year to see if they are on track

toward succeeding on state assessments. The theory of action is that with information on students’

current status, as well as specific areas of strength and

weakness, teachers and school leaders can find out early what students need and provide

additional resources to help students before it is too late.

There are also additional interventions which are already considered to be effective in helping a

student love reading a piece of cake. Here are as follows:

1. Peer Tutoring: This is an intervention where a student who is rated to be a good reader

with the guidance of a teacher is going to teach another student to read a particular selection. This

may be not as effective as possible but in due time success will be hit attaining the target and that

is to teach one to read properly. It will also help a tutor to develop his/her self esteem with a

cause.
2. Reading Remediation: first and foremost teachers will be the happiest if they teach a

student to boost his/her confidence in reading through following step by step remediation. The

teacher should be the one to conduct this particular intervention a teacher will tutor a student to

read by identifying his/her weaknesses first. After these weaknesses have been identified that’s

the time the teacher prepares all possible materials to invite the attention of the student. The

remediation is designed to be individualized so there will be no problem on the part of the student.

This will somehow make a student feel his/her importance for he/she is being given an ample time

to enhance and develop what should be developed and enhanced.

IV. ACTION RESEARCH METHODS

A. Participants and other Sources of Data/ Information

The target respondents of this study are the Grade 12 students of Rizal Region National High

School. There are 72 grade 12 students who will be the focused of this study, these will somehow

help the respondents learn to love reading and value it as a helpful trail they want to follow in the

future. This study only requires the presence of the students for this is gauging their reading skill

and the respondent’s grade in ORAL COMMUNICATION is also needed. The grades in the

mentioned subject shall be used as a tool in determining the capability of students in reading

because this subject has a lot of activities that helps individual pushed their interest in reading.

One way also of getting a hint is to communicate with the previous teachers of students with

regards to reading and speaking activities so that the answers from the teacher will be a basis on

the performance of the students to the reading related subjects.

B. DATA GATHERING

The data collection will not use questionnaire, for the researcher uses an assessment tool through a

selection reading to assess the reading level of the respondents as mention in the previous part of

this research it was mentioned the steps on how to assess the reading level of the respondents.
 C. DATA ANALYSIS

The data will be analyzed according to the level of assessment discussed earlier. The total number

of identified respondent divided by the total number of respondents times one hundred. (example:

3/72 x 100). Through this the researcher will able to determine further the capacity of the

respondents in reading. So that appropriate approach shall be determined to develop the interest of

the students in reading and let them realize how fun reading is and how helpful it would be in

changing their perspective by thinking the positive impact of a good reader in this era.

V. ACTION RESEARCH WORK PLAN AND TIMELINESS

Resources
Materia
Strategies Program Activities Physical l Financial Timeline
Develop reading Reading 11/07/2018
skills of students; intervention
build a great
valuing on reading
skill as a helpful
means of
understanding one's
thought and
analyzing the
meaning of a
selection through
comprehension PREPARATION      
 Identify the
appropriate
intervention to be
strengthened and
applied to help the
students love
reading and
consider it as an
activity that boost
one’s esteem in
communicating and
comprehending
beyond the text
information which
is a helpful
technique in A. Manuscript
reading.   Writing        
1. Writing and Bond
    preaparing the Proponent Paper    
 research
proposal
2. Review the
target Folder
respondents and with
the process of fastene
    assessment Proponent r    

VI. COST ESTIMATE

The table shows the estimated amount needed to realize the intervention suggested.

ACTIVITY ITEM/DESCRIPTION QUANTITY UNIT UNIT COST TOTAL AMOUNT

Reading Intervention - Bond Paper 2 Rim 530 755.00

- Manila Paper 15 75

- Cartolina 15 150

Through these suggested programs no more students will be afraid of reading and comprehending

by letting them feel that reading is a skill that everybody should possess. Students should always

bear in their minds that reading is as fun as playing just like the old days. In few time changes will

be realized one at a time through a hand in hand guidance and assistance of teachers, parents,

administrators and students everything is possible. And later all the hardships in reading will be

soon change to The Be Attitudes in Reading where later all students of Rizal Region National

High School will be good readers and speakers in different realms.

LISTENING: A SKILL THAT GRADE 11 NEPTNE STUDENTS OF RIZAL REGION

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL NEEDS TO IMPROVE TO ENJOY AND VALUE LEARNING
AS AN EXCITING PROCESS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE
I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Speaking, reading, writing, listening and viewing are the five macro skills that are already given

but needs to be developed as time passes by. It has been a stereotype that as a child grows the

more he/she develops the macro skills. But because we are living in the era of new and hi-tech

inventions students are being invaded by these changes that in one way or the other the attention

of students is much given to web activities.

Teaching and learning are two basic processes underlying the activity of students and teachers

nowadays. Learning process puts both parties toward each other, what it teaches, and what it

takes, the teacher and the student. Today takes great importance to the training of students to teach

themselves, their education, equipping them with the skills of independent work with the most

advanced methods of learning conscious, sustainable, active and creative. The purpose of this

topic is to know the importance of usage of all skills during a lesson hour. The teacher is free to

use a variety of methods and strategies of teaching / learning to suit the needs of students in

different classes. He combines these methods during the learning process and adapts according to

the increasing development of linguistic competence and independence of student development,

the consistency of this process. Teaching has at its center the method of communication, task

-based methods, functional methods and situations as real life etc.. These methods are realized

through various strategies and techniques, according to language skills (listening, speaking,

reading, writing). Teacher and students collaborate on the organization of teaching / learning. To

facilitate the teaching / learning, the teacher finds efficient ways to organize communication

activities, provides and suggests source materials for students. In contemporary teaching teacher

does not only play the role of teachers, but also plays the role of supervisor. Together they

establish cooperative relations in the process of learning. The teacher clarifies the students and
takes their understanding of what happens in the classroom. This means clarifying the rules of the

line of work and responsibilities of students in the process of activities. The teacher suggests and

provides the use of audiovisual means, electronic, and helps students to use various forms of

information technology within and outside the classroom. It gives students the website in

accordance with the age and educational requirements. On a teaching hour should be applied all

four language skills strategies, but they escalate from level to level depending on the objectives.

Setting the students in the spotlight makes the student actively participate in linguistic interaction,

preparing it for a new phase of his education or of being able to face the demands of the labor

market. Listening is the first language skill we acquire in our native language. It is what is known

as a receptive skill, or a passive skill, as it requires us to use our ears and our brains to

comprehend language as it is being spoken to us. It is the first of two natural language skills,

which are required by all natural spoken languages.

Teachers of Rizal Region National High School arrived with the same analysis in terms of

listening to a particular matter the grade 11 students failed to put attention to it. Most of the time

the teacher even do the parroting or monopolizing the talking for whenever students are asked to

read and answer such questions they never tried to for they do not pay attention to listen to what

have been uttered by the teacher. Thus, this becomes a big problem in the Senior High School

department so it should be solved and properly addressed in order to help these students

appreciate what has been discuss through attentive listening.

Listening is yet another necessitate in language. The more efficient a listener you are… the more

successful and satisfied you will be. Listening…is not merely hearing: it is a state of receptivity

that permits understanding of what is heard and grants the listener full partnership in the

communication process. We need to develop a keen interest in making ourselves better ears. The

fact that we listen more than our ears and we listen far more than the sound is very true. As any

member in a society, listening is one important skill to possess as good listening is an integral part
of communication process. A good listener shows readiness and possesses an ability to manipulate

the sound into words and their contextual meaning. Then the good listener relates given meanings

to other experiences and he shares responsibility with the speaker. Academically, listening skills

plays a vital role in the teaching-learning cycle. A student learns better when he can listen better.

A teacher is also in need of a good listening skill. All the way, listening should be enhanced in

your life as to be a greater speaker. The attitude of the listener is another stepping stone to achieve

this skill. Listening is the most important skill in communication. It is a mental operation

involving processing sound waves, interpreting their meaning, and storing their meaning in

memory. It is a communication technique that requires the listeners to understand, interpret, and

evaluate what they hear of. It paves the way for other skills to tower over the others because of its

significance in terms of speech, confabs and freedom of expression. They serve as an approach to

make everybody comprehend which is originally derived from the given talk or utterance. It is

closely related to speaking and it enables the persons to soak in any information that is given to

them; consequently, the information can be passed on to another party later on after the

conversation. On the other hand, students will develop prediction and anticipation skills in

listening. They will recall previous savvy or experience about the topic of the listening text before

to the text, and will recall the cause-effect relationships in the listening text. Without listening,

communication can also be crippled. It is vital and should be part mainly in communication.

The main goal of teachers is to make every student realize the value of this macro skill a passive

but helpful one.

II. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS

These are the questions this research targets to answer and attain:

1. What are the factors that affect students to listen attentively to the discussion?

2. How can a teacher drive students to listen attentively to the discussion?

 3. What are the different strategies a teacher can use to catch the attention of students?

4. What should the teacher identify from a student in order to find an appropriate approach to
General Academic (GA) Strand grade 11 students?

III. PROPOSED INTERVENTION

The proposed interventions are the following with specific descriptions:

1. Group Discussion- this intervention let the students be grouped with one and the other then

give the topic to be discussed. First, there should be an explanation with the thought of the subject

matter, next all of the members should list down important details of the selection discussed, third

is to let each member share what has been transpired during the discussion made. This

intervention is not new but it is not given emphasis so through this intervention if consistently

made and applied students would really listen well for they will feel ashamed if they will not share

any ideas in the class.

2. Buzz Session (Let it move, I will speak!)- this intervention helps one build their listening

skill in a way that they are expected to grasp what are the moving pictures convey. The students

will not only view what is being flashed by the teacher but rather they are obliged to listen also to

what the class is discussing so if it is their turn to talk they can say what is the idea manifested is

about. Through this activity or intervention also if it is habitually applied the students will not

only develop a good speaking skill but more of acquiring information using the listening skill.

3. Panel Discussion (Reflection Time!)- panel discussion is a helpful strategy to inspire

students to build confidence and self- esteem through sharing of information according to what

he/she hears. As teachers we usually let our students reflect on something but most of the time

because they are not interested to listen they just tend to write what they listened from others or

copying ideas based on others thoughts. It is a problem not only the teacher but to the student as

well because they are neglecting important skill which is the listening skill. This intervention

positively forced students to listen to what the teacher is playing ( movie, music, etc.) for the
teacher gives guide questions on what should be shared to the class, the students are asked to

reflect on the played subject then later asked them to share their thoughts based on real life

experiences. In this particular intervention we as teachers are not only developing their skills but

at the same time developing their emotional aspect and critical thinking skills. If it will be

followed ad realized this will help our learners a lot to attentively listen to every single word that

we are going to utter.

III. ACTION RESEARCH METHODS

A. Participants and other Sources of Data/ Information

The respondents in this particular study are all the Grade 11 GAS students of Rizal Region National High

School since the senior high school teachers arrived with the same conclusion in order for the good

listeners not to feel complaisant of their status and for the not that good listeners not to feel dismayed on

their part if this study will be conducted. There is no need for the teacher to gather their grades in any

subject but rather the teacher uses an assessment tool through answering questions related on the topic

discussed through written materials or moving pictures.

B. DATA GATHERING

The data will be collected through the use of assessment tool to gauge the listening ability of the

students. To obliged the learners to do so criteria will be discussed to them in order for them to

attentively attend to the discussion proper. As we all know we can really assess how deep the

understanding of the learners is if they can connect to what has been transpired.

C. DATA ANALYSIS

The data will be analyzed through percentage based example if there are 56 respondents it the

researcher will get the total number of those who gathered the first criteria divided by the total

number of respondents multiplied to 100 percent so, the researcher can identify how many really

are listening and how many are just listening without any attentive participation. The results of the
 study will soon be discussed with the teachers so they will also know how to arrest the problem,

using the proposed interventions.

IV. ACTION RESEARCH WORK PLAN AND TIMELINESS

Resources
Strategies Program Activities Physical Material Financial Timeline
Determine the -Group Discussion 0/10/2019
listening - Panel Discussion
interventions to be -Buzz Session
applied to the
respondents;
identify what
strategy is
appropriate to the
needs of the
respondents PREPARATION      
 Develop the
listening skills of
the respondents in
order to accomplish
related activities
and realize the
importance of
listening as a
macro skill that
needs to be
strengthen for a
better
comprehension and A. Manuscript
analysis   Writing        
1. Writing
and
preaparing
the research Bond
    proposal Proponent Paper    
2. Review the
target
respondents
and the Folder
process of with
    assessment Proponent fastener    
V. COST ESTIMATE

This is the estimated cost in the proposed intervention.

ACTIVITY ITEM/DESCRIPTION QUANTITY UNIT UNIT COST TOTAL AMOUNT

Buzz Session - Bond Paper 1 Rim 265 325.00
Panel Discussion
- Manila Paper 10 Piece 50
Group Discussion

All five macro skills of communication are indispensable in everyday life and should never be

underestimated. As educators, we are constantly searching for new ways to help students make

sense of the multitude of life’s experiences and the bits and pieces of knowledge they gain from a

traditionally departmentalized curriculum. Students today continue to move from one discipline to

the next forcing the information to be disconnected to anything that resembles real life situations.

To lighten some of the fragmentation our students and teachers experience, holistic and integrated

curriculums are being proposed and adopted by many school districts. A major driving force

behind integrated teaching and learning is the belief that when themes, subjects, or projects are

combined students begin to see meaningful connections between the subject matter. Material then

serves as a vehicle for learning rather than simply pieces of information. In addition to this,

repetition of material from one subject to the next is essentially eliminated.

Communication is the key progress and advancement in continuing to learn things more

accurately and effectively. Without communication nothing would get done and the world would

pretty much stand still. Teaching should be adjusted to the needs of the learners. Because of this,

it is imperative to determine first their difficulties and needs so that whatever materials a teacher

purports to design should be in accordance with these needs.

Through this proposed interventions in listening a lot of students of Rizal Region National High

School will be trained to listen attentively not only because it is a must but also it is a skill that is

in great help to make one competitive in the different field of academe and other disciplines.