The Use of Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) Strategy

to Improve the Reading Comprehension among

Grade 8 Learners of Our Lady of the

Pillar College-San Manuel Inc.

-----------------------

An Action Research
Presented to the Faculty and Staff of
Our Lady of the Pillar College-San Manuel Incorporated
San Manuel, Isabela

-----------------------------

In Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements in the Course

Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English
For the School Year 2021-2022

Mierdo, Lady Nareth T.

Corpuz, Janine Ann L.

Castro, Laarnie F.
 TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study -------------------------- 1
Theoretical Framework ---------------------------- 6
Conceptual Framework ----------------------------- 8
Research Paradigm -------------------------------- 10
( input-process-output-outcome)
(dependent -independent variable)
Statement of the Problem ------------------------- 11
Assumptions/ hypothesis -------------------------- 12
Significance of the Study ------------------------ 12
Scope and Delimitation --------------------------- 13
Definition of Terms ------------------------------ 14

CHAPTER II. Review of Related Literature

Foreign Literature ------------------------------- 16
Local Literature --------------------------------- 19
Foreign Studies --------------------------------- 21
Local Studies ------------------------------------ 24

CHAPTER III. Research Methodology

Research design ---------------------------------- 26
Research locale ---------------------------------- 26
Respondents of the study ------------------------- 27
Instrumentation ---------------------------------- 27
Validation --------------------------------------- 28
Data gathering procedure ------------------------- 28
Statistical Treatment ---------------------------- 30
Data analysis ------------------------------------ 31
 1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Reading is one of the crucial macro skills that

learners need to obtain and master to ensure success in

learning. Reading skills are beneficial for learners as it

will help them enrich experiences and acquire new knowledge

from books, magazines, journals, newspapers, and other

reading materials. Reading is the construction of meaning

from a printed or written message (Day and Bamford,1998). It

means that the reader must connect information from the

written message with prior knowledge to arrive a meaning and

understanding. Reading comprehension skill is one of the

essential components of reading that learners must develop,

for it is the ability to read written text, process its

content and construct meanings of the text. According to

Woolley (2011), reading comprehension is the process of

making meaning from text to gain an overall understanding of

what is described in the text rather than to obtain meaning

from isolated words or sentences. Al-Sa’oud (2002) stated

that reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of any

reading task, particularly in learning the English language.

 2

Hence, it is required for learners to have good reading

comprehension capabilities. 

Many Filipino learners are still struggling with

reading comprehension. Based on the global survey conducted

last 2018 by the Program for International Student

Assessment (PISA), Filipino students around the age of 15

obtained a rating of 340 points in reading comprehension,

lower than the average of 487 points which makes the

Philippines ranked last among 79 countries in the said

study. It is said that over 80% of students in the

Philippines did not reach a minimum level of proficiency in

reading, which is one of the largest shares of low

performers amongst all PISA-participating countries and

economies. Recognizing that there are still many Filipino

learners that are struggling to meet the learning standards

in early language, literacy, and numeracy, the Department of

Education (DepEd) has “strongly encouraged” all elementary

and secondary public schools to intensify their advocacy,

particularly for reading (Manila Bulletin, 2019).

Most students who lack basic comprehension abilities

demonstrate a lack of motivation in reading as they are

unable to comprehend what they read, resulting in a

deficiency in gaining relevant knowledge and information.

 3

Students have difficulty with reading comprehension due to a

variety of factors, such as a lack of motivation and

engagement.  A study conducted by Jingblad and Johansson

(2017) implied that when students are demotivated, they lack

engaging reading habits, and when reading engagement is

high, the students perform well on reading comprehension.

Thus, reading engagement via related pre-reading activities

can be an effective means to improve the intrinsic

motivation of students to practice reading as an autonomous

activity, which eventually improves the level of

comprehension. Correspondingly, Protacio (2017) has

suggested that reading engagement accounts for students’

motivation to read, participate in social activities that

promote reading, use learning strategies while reading and

establish meaning from texts. 

Researchers have found that teaching reading strategies

are vital to developing increased student comprehension

(Erliana, 2011). The practice of effective and innovative

reading comprehension techniques is essential to enhance

learners’ comprehension in a class. A majority of the

research indicates that the most successful way to teach

comprehension strategies to students with limited reading

proficiency is to use very direct and explicit instruction

 4

(Lenz, n.d.). Thus, teachers must implement adequate reading

strategies to improve comprehension and facilitate critical

thinking in understanding complex texts.

    Based on the statement above, the researchers want

to use the Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) as a

teaching technique to improve the reading comprehension

among learners. The Direct Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA)

is a comprehension strategy that explicitly teaches students

good reading habits, which can be used across all grades and

learning abilities. “The DRTA process encourages students to

be active and thoughtful readers, enhancing their

comprehension” (Reading Rockets, 2015). It encompasses the

three stages in reading (pre-, while- and post) that can

guide students in asking questions about the text, making

predictions, and then reading to confirm or refute their

predictions to achieve good and enhanced comprehension.

Tankersley (2005) states that the DRTA extends reading to

higher-order thought processes and provides lecturers with a

great deal about each student’s ideas, thought processes,

prior knowledge, and thinking skills. According to Ruddell

(2002) who proposed the DRTA, it is an activity which has a

clear purpose for reading, involves students in active

comprehension by calling on their personal background

 5

knowledge and text knowledge, develops higher level thinking

using predictions and speculations, fosters reading to

verify, revise predictions or form new ones, and teaches the

skill of making conclusions, uses the social dynamics of

group interaction to propose and discuss options and

outcomes, and helps students arrive at decisions based on

textual and personal knowledge. Consequently, the Direct

Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy provides the

teacher opportunity to guide students to think like good

readers do—anticipating, predicting, and then confirming and

modifying their ideas with the story as it unfolds

(Blachowich & Ogle, 2008). Thus, it will help learners

increase motivation, engagement, and understanding of the

text they are reading. 

In this study, the researchers want to determine the

effectiveness of utilizing the Direct Reading Thinking

Activity (DRTA) Strategy in improving the Reading

Comprehension among Grade 8 Learners of Our Lady of the

Pillar College- San Manuel Incorporated. 

 6

Theoretical Framework 

This study is supported by schema theory which is one

of the leading cognitivist learning theories that was

introduced by Bartlett in 1932 and further developed in the

’70s by Richard Anderson. 

According to Fahriany (2014), comprehension is making a

sense out of text. It is a process of using the reader's

existing knowledge (schemata) to interpret texts in order to

construct meaning. Thus, it is important to utilize

appropriate teaching strategies in reading among learners to

deal with their preexisting knowledge and schema to maximize

students’ learning. 

The Schema theory thinks that comprehending a text is

an interactive process between the reader' s background

knowledge and the text Shen (2008). Comprehension of the

text requires the ability to relate the textual material to

one's own knowledge during reading. Therefore, it is vital

for the students to activate their prior knowledge before

reading to ensure their understanding of the text. 

 7

As stated by An (2013),schema theory guides readers as

they make sense of new experiences, which enable them to

make a prediction about what they might expect to experience

in a given context. Consequently, the Schema theory

demonstrates how readers use their schema or prior knowledge

to understand and learn from a written text.

Schema theory is interrelated with Direct Reading

Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy as students’ prior

knowledge is important to comprehend a text. Direct Reading

Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy directs and stimulates

student’s background knowledge to the text, determine goals

for reading and then engage in making predictions throughout

the text which helps learners organize their thoughts prior,

during, and after reading text. As stated by Reading Rockets

(2015), Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy

activates prior knowledge and helps students monitor their

understanding of the text which encourages them to become

active and thoughtful readers. 

 8

Conceptual Framework 

READING
(Student read the text and gather specific
information to evaluate their predictions
and refine them if necessary)

Reading
Comprehension

THINKING
DIRECT
(Proving or modifying
(Stimulating prior knowledge and
predictions and making
making predictions of the text)
reflection)

Figure 1

The Figure above presents the conceptual framework of

the study which links the Direct Reading Thinking Activity

(DRTA) Strategy in improving the reading comprehension.

According to Reading Rockets (2015), the DRTA process

encourages students to be active and thoughtful readers

which enhances their comprehension. This strategy

encompasses the three core steps of the comprehension cycle

as before, during and after reading which are designed based

on the following phases; (1) Direct- facilitates students to

 9

formulate questions and share their predictions before

reading a passage by scanning the title, chapter headings,

illustrations, and other explanatory materials which

activates their prior knowledge of the text (2) Silent

Reading- students will be prompt with questions as they read

each section of the whole text to gather specific

information or data for necessary revision of their earlier

predictions (3) Thinking- after reading the complete text to

gather information, students are encouraged to verify or modify

the accuracy of their predictions by finding supporting

statements in the text. As stated by Burn (1996), DRTA is useful

for improving students’ comprehension of reading selections

because the student is interacting with the material during

reading and making prediction about what will occur in a text

encourages students to think about the text message. Thus, based

on the description above, the DRTA strategy guides students with

a step-by-step reading process which are beneficial in enhancing

students’ reading comprehension.

 10

Research Paradigm 

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT OUTCOME

ofile of the Determine the Results of Improved
Grade 8 reading compared scores reading
articipants comprehension collected from comprehension
in terms of level of the students’ of the Grade 8
e following: Grade 8 pre-test and learners as a
a. name learners of post-test.
result of the
b. age OLPC-SMI before implementation
c. sex and after the
of DRTA
implementation
of DRTA
strategy
Strategy

Determine the
significant
difference in
the scores of
the students
before and
after the
implementation
of DRTA
strategy in the
English class

FEEDBACK

Statement of the Problem

 11

The study attempts to determine the effectiveness of

the Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy in

improving the reading comprehension of the Grade 8 learners

of Our Lady of the Pillar College-San Manuel Incorporated.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following

questions:

 What is the current level of the Grade 8 learners in

their reading comprehension?

 What is the level of the Grade 8 learners in their

reading comprehension upon the implementation of Direct

Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy?

 Is there an improvement in the students’ reading

comprehension ability using the Direct Reading Thinking

Activity (DRTA) strategy?

 Is there a significant difference in the scores of the

students after implementing  the Direct Reading

Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy?

 How can Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)

Strategy be used to improve the reading comprehension

of the Grade 8 in the English class?

 12

Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis (Ho): There is no significant

difference in the pre-test and post-test scores of the

students after implementing the Direct Reading Thinking

Activity (DRTA) strategy

Alternative Hypothesis (Ha):  There is significant

difference in the pre-test and post-test scores of the

students after implementing  the Directed Reading

Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy

Scope and limitations of the study 

This study mainly focused on the impact of the

Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) Strategy in

improving the Reading Comprehension of the Grade 8

Learners of Our Lady of the Pillar College-San Manuel

Inc. during the Third Grading period of Academic Year

2021-2022. 

The researchers will conduct series of activities

of narrative text aligned in the learning competencies

to enhance the reading comprehension of the Grade 8

learners in an English class. All information and

results of this study will be obtained and applicable

only to this particular group of students. 

Significance of the study

 13

The researchers expect that the results of this study

will benefit the following:

The Students. This research will help the learners to

increase their interest in reading and improve their reading

comprehension to be engaged in learning new knowledge and

relevant skills continuously.

The Teachers. This method will serve as a guide for

teachers to effectively facilitate teaching reading among

learners and give another way to develop and create other

appropriate strategies in honing students’ reading skills. 

The School. This research will be helpful to improve

the quality of education among learners as it promotes the

utilization of innovative instructional strategies and

provides an opportunity for reading development in the

teaching-learning process.

The Researchers. This study will benefit the

researchers as it will enable them to gain experience and

expand their knowledge and skills in teaching reading to the

learners, which they may apply/integrate with their

professional teaching in the future. 

The Future researchers. The result of this study will

serve as a basis for further study in enhancing students’

 14

reading comprehension using the Direct Reading Thinking

Activity (DRTA) strategy.

Definition of terms 

For a better clarification and understanding of the

terms related to this study, the following terms are defined

conceptually and operationally.

Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) Strategy. It

refers to the comprehension strategy that involves the three

stages in reading (pre-, whilst- and post) that can guide

students in asking questions about the text, make

predictions, and then reading to confirm or refute their

predictions to activate their critical thinking which

enhanced their reading comprehension.

Pre-test. It refers to the test given among students to

measure their current reading comprehension before the

implementation of the DRTA Strategy.

Post-test. It refers to the test given among students

to measure their reading comprehension after the

implementation of the DRTA Strategy.

Reading. It refers to the process of understanding and

constructing meaning from a written or printed text.

 15

Reading Comprehension. This refers to one’s ability to

critically comprehend, understand, and construct meaning

from a written symbols or text.

Schema. It refers to the prior knowledge of a reader in

a given text.

T-Test. It is a statistical tool use to determine the

significant difference between the means of the pre-test and

post-test.
 16

Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter discusses various pieces of literature and

studies that are relevant to the current study.

FOREIGN LITERATURE

Reading is one of the language skills in learning

English that should be mastered by learners. According to

Johnson (2017),the most fundamental definition of reading is

being able to interpret written symbols and understand

printed material. Almost 50 percent of the national final

examination items consist of reading skill. Therefore,

students must be trained to be engaged in reading to master

good reading comprehension and continuously acquire new

knowledge around them. According to Leverage (2021), reading

is not just a leisure activity but can also be useful when

it comes to clearing some of the globally recognized

competitive examinations. Thus, developing a reading

comprehension is beneficial among learners because it is

needed for career, study purposes or simply for

entertainment which helps to develop themselves holistically

as well as in acing various examinations academically.

 17

Reading comprehension is the ability to mentally

process written words, understand the content of written

text and construct its meaning based on reader’s schema.

Grabe and Stoller (2013) state that reading comprehension is

the ability to understand and interpret the meaning of a

text. Indeed, reading comprehension is a process of

constructing and understanding meaning, information or a

message from a particular text. 

Based on Programme for International Student Assessment

(PISA) conducted last 2018, Filipino students around the age

of 15 obtained a rating of 340 points in reading

comprehension, lower than the average of 487 points which

makes the Philippines ranked last among 79 countries in the

said study. It is said that over 80% of students in the

Philippines did not reach a minimum level of proficiency in

reading, which is one of the largest shares of low

performers amongst all PISA-participating countries and

economies.

According to Lynch (2020),many students struggle with

reading comprehension, and this can put a serious strain on

learners throughout all classroom subjects. Learning all

academic content requires reading in some form, hence

students who struggle with reading comprehension often fall

 18

far behind their classmates academically in multiple areas.

Thus, it is vital for the students to develop their reading

comprehension skills with the help of teachers through

integrating appropriate reading strategy in the teaching and

learning process. 

A majority of the research indicates that the most

successful way to teach comprehension strategies to students

with limited reading proficiency is to use very direct and

explicit instruction (Lenz, n.d.). One of the innovative

learning strategies that have been developed was the Direct

Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy. Blachowich &

Ogle, (2008) states that Direct Reading Thinking Activity

(DRTA) is the most appropriate strategy that meets the

requirement of comprehension (build schemata, provide

opportunities in using reading strategy, and enable the

students to plan, monitor, and evaluate their reading

process) and is suitable for reading informational text.

Consequently, the Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)

is a comprehension strategy that guides students in asking

questions about a text, making predictions, and then reading

to confirm or refute their predictions which helps

strengthen reading and critical thinking skills among

learners (Reading Rockets, 2015). 

 19

LOCAL LITERATURE

According to Catacutan (2019), one of the strategies in

reading which was proven to be effective by the researchers

is the Directed Reading Thinking Activity or DRTA which is

associated with Directed Reading Activity developed by

Stauffer in 1969. The Direct Reading Thinking Activity

(DRTA) is a strategy that encourages students to use their

minds while reading a text. It guides students to ask

questions based on what they read, make predictions on the

story line and read further to confirm and modify their

ideas and predictions within the story. Hence, DRTA strategy

develops students’ ability to read critically and

reflectively. 

Allen (2004),states that the value of directed reading

thinking activity is to make predictions before reading each

section. Requiring students to make predictions encourages

them to actively engaged as they use their background

knowledge to establish purposes for reading and develop

their questioning ability. Furthermore, the Direct Reading

Thinking Activity strategy promotes interactive learning as

 20

the teacher guides the students to verify or modify their

predictions after reading the text. 

Many studies have already proven the effectiveness of

utilizing DRTA strategy in enhancing reading comprehension

skills among learners. Catacutan (2019) also states that

teachers in English and Filipino may use DRTA strategy to

develop skills in inferring and predicting outcomes.

Consequently, the Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)

can able to set reading purposes, make predictions, read

silently, and verify predictions, re-read the selection

specified by the teacher, and respond to evaluations and

enrichment activities which are beneficial in improving the

reading comprehension among students. 

According to Dela Pena(2018), the impact of DRTA to

learners as decoders is the ability to use their critical

thinking skills and their capacity to make decisions on

crucial situations. It is proven that reading and decoding

combined results to comprehension. Learners who are the end

users of the curriculum benefit the most in this aspect of

reading comprehension. As a result, both teachers and

learners find reading activity enjoying and motivating given

the appropriate approach to a large content on their levels

of reading comprehension as well. 

 21

Gerio (2014) implied that DRTA was designed to monitor

how well the children had understood the story, as well as

allow students to cooperate with one another in performing

their specific tasks within a given time. She also states

that students’ initial lack of interest in reading and

speaking in English arose from lack of motivation, deficient

reading and communication skills and poor comprehension.

Thus, it is essential for teachers to implement innovative

teaching reading methods to increase learners’ reading

interest and engagement that would be helpful to develop

their self-esteem and reading competencies. 

FOREIGN STUDIES 

According to (Erliana, 2011) who studied improving

Reading Comprehension through Directed Reading-Thinking

Activity (DRTA) Strategy, the result reveals that the DRTA

improves students’ comprehension and increases their

motivation in learning. Vitasmoro  (2016) also added that

DRTA technique is one of the effective and appropriate

techniques that can be used in reading class to improve

student’s reading competence. First, DRTA can activate the

students’ background knowledge related to the topic. Second,

various activities in DRTA technique can enhance students’

confidence and motivation to have reading competence. Third,

 22

DRTA technique can guide the students to comprehend an

overall description about the text. The improvement of

reading competence can be seen from the result of pre- test

which has the mean score 56.17, post-test 1 is 67.11, post-

test 2 is 72.62 and post-test 3 is 76.15. 

An experimental study was designed by Chaemsai1 &

Rattanavich (2016) to investigate and compare the English

reading comprehension and ethical awareness of 7th grade

students, when using either a directed reading-thinking

activity (DR-TA), or a traditional approach, involving tales

of virtue based on His Majesty the King’s teaching concepts.

The results showed a significant difference in English

reading comprehension, and ethical awareness of learning

English reading, between both groups at .01 level. Students

through the DR-TA method had significantly higher English

reading comprehension, and increased ethical awareness, at

the .01 level. The results of this study reveal that the DR-

TA method, through tales of virtue based on His Majesty the

King’s teaching concepts, improves development in English

reading comprehension and ethical awareness, compared to the

traditional approach. 

Nainggolan (2017) conducted a study, “Improving

Student’s Reading Comprehension Through DRTA-Strategy at Smp

 23

St.Ignasius Medan”. The findings of this research study

indicated that the DRTA strategy was successful in improving

both the students’ ability in comprehending report texts and

the students’ involvement in reading activities. Based on

the students’ achievement using DRTA strategy in

comprehending report texts, it was suggested for the English

teachers to apply DRTA strategy as one of many alternatives

that can be used in teaching reading skills.

Soraya et al., (2018) in their study on developing

students’ reading comprehension of narrative text using

Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy showed that

students’ reading comprehension achievement of narrative

text has indicated the increase from the average scores of

reading comprehension in two cycles (cycle 1 and cycle 2).

The students’ average scores who achieved minimum level

achievement (MLA) 59% in cycle 1 and 85.7% in cycle 2. From

these results, they found out that the use of DR-TA strategy

in developing the students’ reading comprehension

achievement of narrative was effective in the teaching and

learning process.

A study conducted by Panjaitan & Siagian (2019) 

concluded that DRTA is an effective strategy in enhancing

students’ reading ability, because the hypothesis testing

 24

result showed that p value (Sig) = 0.000, which means that p

value (Sig.) ≤ α (0.05) which showed a significant

difference before and after giving treatment. The result of

the study implied that Directed Reading Thinking Activity is

an effective method in improving students’ reading skills. 

Risdha (2019) conducted a study, which proved that the

implementation of DRTA strategy in teaching reading  were

effective to improve the students’ reading comprehension.

The result showed that the students' mean score of pre-test

was 46,875 and their score of post-test was 70, in which the

gain amounted to 23,125. It means that there was a

significant difference in students' reading comprehension

before and after treatment through DRTA strategy.

LOCAL STUDIES

Demin & Combalicer (2016) conducted a study, “Improving

the Reading Comprehension Level Of The Selected Grade 7

Students Of Binulasan Integrated School, Infanta, Quezon

Through Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA).” The

study showed the effectiveness of the DRTA intervention

program/ a remedial reading strategy through pre-test and

posttest. The result of the pretest given to 39 students

administered before the implementation of DRTA disclosed

that 19 or 49% belonged to Frustration level. These students

 25

demonstrated improvement in reading comprehension test after

the implementation of the DRTA. The research findings

revealed the effectiveness of DRTA in enhancing the reading

comprehension level of the students. Thus, this study

concluded that the DRTA strategy may be used as one of the

remedial/ intervention strategies in the division, region or

even in the country.

A research study was conducted by Buenafe, (2021) to

determine if there is a significant difference in using

Directed Reading Thinking Activity Strategy in enhancing the

Most Essential Learning Competencies in English of Grade 7

Students in terms of making predictions/inferences, citing

evidence, and reacting to what is asserted in a text. The

study showed that there is a significant difference in the

pre-test and post-test scores of Grade 7 Students in MELCs

after their exposure to the DRTA strategy. Thus, the

findings of the study indicated the effectiveness of DRTA

strategy in enhancing the Most Essential competencies in

English of the Grade 7 students. 

 26

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides an overview of the research

methods used in the study. It contains information about the

participants, research design, instruments, data gathering

procedures and statistical treatment of data.

Research Design

The research method that will be used in this

study is quantitative experimental method. The

Quantitative data will be taken from the pre-test

before treatment and  post-test  after  treatment of

Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) among the

students. The aim of this research is to measure the

improvement of the learners’ reading comprehension upon

implementing the Direct Reading Thinking Activity

(DRTA) Strategy in the English class.

Research Locale

This study will be conducted in Our Lady of the

Pillar College- San Manuel Incorporated, a private

Catholic School at District 3, San Manuel, Isabela.

Respondents of the study

 27

The participants of the study are the Grade 8

learners of Our Lady of the Pillar College- San Manuel

Incorporated. There were 28 students in the class that

consisted of 16 males and 12 females in Academic Year

2021-2022. The researchers selected the Grade VIII

students as the subjects of the study because according

to their English teacher, approximately 60% of the

students are having difficulties in reading

comprehension. 

Research Instrument

In this research, the researchers will use series

of activities of narrative texts as an instrument in

collecting data among Grade 8 learners. The researchers

will also give a reading comprehension test that

consists of 14 items multiple-choice and two open-

response questions. The pre-test  will be conducted to

determine the level of the students’ current reading

comprehension before the treatment of DRTA strategy.

Then, a post-test will be conducted at the end of the

implementation of DRTA strategy to find the students’

improvement in their reading comprehension skill. 

Validation
 28

The researchers will use the spring 2015 Grade 8

English Language Arts Reading Comprehension test to conduct

a pre-test and post-test among the research participants.

This reading comprehension test is based on Grades 6–12

learning standards in two content strands of the

Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts

and Literacy (March 2011). Moreover, the series of

activities that will be use during the implementation of the

strategy are based on the Third Grading Learning Activity

Sheet of Grade 8 prescribed by the Department of Education

(DepEd).

Data-gathering procedure

This study will be conducted to improve students’

ability in reading comprehension through DRTA strategy to

encourage them to be engaged in reading  and feel confident

about their reading ability to comprehend written text. 

Pre-test

This pretest will be conducted in order to find out the

current reading comprehension of the Grade 8 learners.

Based on the result of the pre-test, the researcher

then decided to apply DRTA strategy in improving their

reading comprehension level. 

 29

Process

The action procedure that will be implemented in this

study as follows: 

Planning: 

a. Making a teaching scenario for each meeting.

b. Preparing the reading material will be used in the

exercise, pre-test and post-test. 

c. Preparing the teaching media/materials (pictures,

photos and slides) 

d. Preparing the worksheet. 

e. Preparing the test. 

Action: Steps in the teaching and learning process 

b. Pre-activity 

- Engagement (gives short brainstorming related to

the topic for focusing the students’ attention). 

c. While-activity

- Exploration (giving student a chance to

explore) 

- Elaboration (giving a challenge to reinforce the

student to enlarge their knowledge) 

1. Post-activity Assessment

- Confirmation and Reflection (to generalize the

information and knowledge learned) 

 30

Post-test

This post-test will be conducted in order to find out

the effectiveness of the implemented Direct Reading

Thinking Activity (DRTA) Strategy in improving the

reading comprehension of the Grade 8 learners.

Statistical Treatment

Scoring Method (Percentage) 

To assess students’ ability of English reading

comprehension the researcher will do the Reading

Comprehension test by using the formula: 

n
S= x 100
N

Where: 

S = students’ score

n = number of true answer

N = number of test items 

100 is a constant value

Mean Score

To find out the mean score of the students’ test,

the researcher will used the formula:

Σx
x́ =
N
 31

Where: 

x́ = Mean Score

∑X = Total Score 

N  = the Number of Students

To find the students’ improvement in their score from

pre-test and post-test by using the formula as follows:

x2 −x1
P = ×100
x1

Where: 

P = Percentage of

x 1 = Pre-test mean score

x 2 = Post-test mean score

100 a constant value

Calculating the mean score of difference between pre-test

and post-test by using the following formula:

∑D
D=
N

Where: 

D= The mean score of difference

∑D= The total scores of difference between pre-test

and post-test (x2-x1)

 32

N= Total sample

Calculating the Result of the Test 

Finding out the significant difference between

students’ pre-test and post-test by using formula:

2
(∑ D)

√
2
∑D −
N
t=
N ( N−1 )

Where: 

T= Test of significance 

D= The mean score of difference (x 2−x 1)

∑D= The sum of the total score

∑ D 2= The square of the sum score of difference

N= The total sample

Data Analysis

Hypothetical test

After the data is normal and homogeneous, the data was

analyzed by using an independent sample t-test in order

to know the significance of the treatment effect. While

the criteria acceptance or rejection of hypothesis test

are: 

Ha is accepted if sig < α = 0.05 

H0 is accepted if sig > α = 0.05

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Table : The Scoring Rubric for The Measurement of

Reading Comprehension

Mark Value Letter Value Heavy Value Classification

(%)
80- 100 A 4 Excellent 
70-<80 B 3 Good
60-<70 C 2 Fair
50-<60 D 1 Poor
0-<50 E 0 Very Poor 
(Reference: Arikunto, S., 2005)
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PRE-TEST/POST TEST
https://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/2015/release/gr8-ela.pdf 
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