Peer-Assisted Reading: Strategy to Improve the Reading Comprehension

I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE:

Learning to read, write and count is critical to a child’s success in school and later life.

One of the best predictors of school success is the level of a child’s progress in these

foundational skills.

A good reader does not only entail recognition of words, but more importantly,

comprehension of the written texts. Without comprehension, reading becomes a pointless

activity. Without it, pupils struggle in many subject areas. Hence, reading comprehension is a

crucial skill that children need to master in order to achieve academic success.

One of the pressing issues in Bislig IV District is the pupils’ poor reading comprehension.

The pre- and post-test result in Phil-IRI of School Year 2015-2016 revealed that the reading

comprehension in the frustration level of the grades three, four, five and six are 48.60%

and17.88%, 43.02% and 18.44%, 69.07% and 32.99%, and 52.47% and 29.01% respectively.

The data show that despite the reduction in percentage, there still remain notable figures of

frustration level readers that need to be addressed.

Based on the K to 12 Curriculum, grade three level is the critical stage where reading

comprehension should be developed and established. DepEd Order No.12 s. 2015 emphasized

that although, reading, writing and numeracy skills increase as children grow, early childhood

years from birth to age eight, comprise the most important period for language, literacy and

numeracy development. Hence, DepEd strengthened Every Child A Reader Program (ECARP),

through the Early Language, Literacy, and Numeracy Program from Kinder to Grade Three, the

first key stage of the K to 12 Basic Education Program.

In consonance to this DepEd Order, the researchers deem it important to conduct their

study specifically to the grade three pupils since according to Zarrow (2015), it is a pivotal point
in a student’s development because they are learning to read until third grade. After third grade,

students are reading to learn. It is nearly impossible to learn about Philippine History in fourth

grade or solve a word problem in eight grade without being able to establish the reading

comprehension skills. Teachers in the later grades are not trained to teach basic reading skills,

so if a student has not learned to read by the end of third grade, the student is almost certain to

struggle.

In order to improve the grade three pupils’ reading level, the researchers will use Peer-

Assisted Reading (PAR) as their strategy to enhance their reading comprehension. It involves

collaborative efforts between the frustration andinstructional/independent level readers in

helping the former develop good comprehension skills. Topping (2001) cited that a widely-

known instructional approach designed to promote students’ reading comprehension skills is

Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL).In this approach, students learn to collaborate in pairs. Within

each pair, students alternate between the roles of tutor and tutee as they jointly work on a set of

pre-structured tasks.

II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The importance of understanding the nature of good reading instruction in the primary

grades cannot be overstated. More than half a century of research has established a strong

collaboration between those who learn to read early and easily and later academic success

(Butler, Urrutia, Buenger and et.al, 2010).

Sweet and Snow (2003), strongly supports that a student’s academic progress is

profoundly shaped by the ability to understand what is read. Students who cannot understand

what they read are not likely to acquire the skills necessary to participate in the 21 st century

workplace.

Peer-Assisted Learning Strategy is a peer-tutoring program for use in elementary school

classrooms to improve student proficiency in reading. Its purpose is to supplement students’

existing reading curriculum. Peer-Assisted Learning Strategy was developed for use with

students with diverse academic needs and has been used with English language learners

(Institute of Education Sciences, 2010).

III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study aims to use Peer-Assisted Reading to improve the reading level in

English of the grade three pupils in all elementary schools of Bislig IV District.

Specifically, it will answer the following questions:

1. What are the pre-test measures in Reading of grade three pupils using Phil-IRI

assessment tool?

2. What are the post-test measures in Reading of grade three pupils after

introducing Peer-Assisted Reading (PAR) Strategy?

IV. SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This study will involve the identified frustration-level readers together with their peers,

the identified instructional and independent level readers in grade three and the English

teachersin selected schools, namely, San Fernando Central Elementary School, Simon Edgar

A. Garay Elementary School and Maharlika Elementary School of Bislig IV District for School

Year 2016-2017. These schools were chosen due to their proximity to the district office for easy

monitoring and evaluation.

V. METHODOLOGY

A. Sampling

This study will use non-random sampling of the incoming grade three pupils this

S.Y. 2016-2017 in the three selected schools in the district, specifically, those who will

fall under the frustration reading level which will be based on the Phil-IRI pre-test result

to be conducted on the last week of June.

B. Data Collection

This study will use the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) in English

as its primary tool in gathering the data. The Phil-IRI is in consonance with Every Child a

Reader Program (ECARP) of the Department of Education. It is the first validated

instrument that intends to measure the pupils’ reading comprehension level as to

frustration, instructional and independent. The pupil’s word recognition and

comprehension ability are informally assessed through stories and passages.

It is administered during the months of July-August for the pre-test and February

for the post test. However, for the purpose of this study, the researcher will conduct the

pre-test on June to identify the pupils’ reading level during the time the study will be

undertaken. The post-test will then be administered on the last week of August to

determine if their reading level has improved after they have undergone Peer-Assisted

Reading.

In conducting Peer-Assisted Reading, the English teacher will group the children

according to their reading level based on the result of the Phil-IRI pre-test. The

frustration-level pupils are the reading peers (RPs) while the instructional and

independent readers are the reading buddies (RBs). The teacher will then assign which

pair will go together according to their degree of need. Every Monday and Tuesday

during vacant time, the teacher will convene with the RBs to collaboratively discuss and

formulate questions about the story for that week. The stories will be taken from the Phil-
 IRI passages which will be enhanced, localized by the researchers prior to the conduct of

the PAR to ensure that the activities will be productive and enjoyable.Then on

Wednesday and Thursday during RRE, the RBs will meet with their assigned RPs in the

language that they are most comfortable with. However, they are encouraged to speak

the target language as they progress in their weekly activities. They can both ask

questions to better understand the story. The Reading Buddy will help the Reading

Partner in terms of pronunciation, enunciation, vocabulary and comprehension. Finally,

on Friday, the English teacher will give a five-item quiz following the level of questioning

used in the Phil-IRI text to the RPs to assess their comprehension of the story. Their

scores will be recorded to track their progress every week.

The researcher will administer the Phil-IRI ORPT post-test in English only to the

frustration level pupils to assess whether their reading level has improved after they

were exposed to Peer-Assisted Reading.

C. Ethical Issues

The Office of the PSDS will craft a District Memorandum informing the concerned

school heads that the study will be conducted in their school. Likewise, the concerned

class advisers/English teachers will also inform the parents of the respondents through

HRPTA meeting on the first week of June.

The parents will be assured of the benefits of the study to their children’s

reading comprehension skill development.

To prevent discrimination, bullying and any form of labeling, the teacher will

orient all the pupils involved regarding the significance and flow of the activity per

session. In addition, the teacher being the main facilitator of the PAR will closely guide

and monitor every activity. She will set an atmosphere where the pupils will feel that they
 are having fun while learning and it is only a part of their recreational activity.

Furthermore, she will set rules and standards for the pupils to follow.

D. Plan for Data Analysis

The study will utilize quantitative method in analyzing and reporting the gathered

data using descriptive statistics in the treatment of the data, specifically percentage.
VI. WORK PLAN

TIMELINE ACTIVITY FOCAL PERSONS

May – Third Week 2016 Meeting and orientation with the concerned school heads Research Team
 Meeting and orientation with the grade three parents School Head, English teacher, School
 Capacitate/Enhance English teachers in the utilization Reading Coordinator and Research Team
June – Third Week of Peer-Assisted Reading (PAR)

Conduct of the Phil-IRI ORPT Pre-Test in English English Teacher/School Reading Coordinator
June – Fourth Week to English teacher and/or School Reading
Implementation and Monitoring of Peer-Assisted Reading
August – Third Week Coordinator and Research Team
English teacher and/or School Reading
August – Last Week Administer Phil-IRI ORPT Post-Test in English
Coordinator and Research Team
English teacher and/or School Reading
September 2016 Submission, validation, analysis and interpretation of data
Coordinator and Research Team
October 2016 Making and Submission of Terminal Report Research Team

VII. COST ESTIMATE

MATERIALS QUANTITY UNIT UNIT COST TOTAL COST

bond paper (letter) substance 20 12 Reams P195.00 P2,340.00
Ink Epson L220 12 Bottles P350.00 P4,200.00
Reproduction of Phil-IRI passages and
P5,000.00
forms
Transportation and meal allowance P6,240.00
Supplies and materials P10,000.00
Snacks during orientation of parents and
capacity-building of English teachers P3,800.00
on Peer-Assisted Reading (PAR)
Feeding during pre and post-test P5,500.00