#21

Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region 1
Schools Division of Candon City
Candon North Central School
San Isidro, Candon City, Ilocos Sur

IMPROVING THE READING ABILITY AND COMPREHENSION OF

PUBLIC SCHOOL 6th GRADE PUPILS ON MODULAR LEARNING
THRU “ONLINE KAMUSTAHAN”

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Presented to the
Schools Division Research Committee
School Division of Candon City
Candon City, Ilocos Sur

BY

MARINEL G. CORTADO
GLENDA A. ARUGAY
RODOLFO G. VALDEZ JR
Researchers

NOVEMBER 30, 2020

 I. Content and Rationale

It is without a doubt that learning to read is one of the greatest accomplishments for a child
(Kocaarslan, 2019; Datu, Jose Mateo & Jose Mateo, 2020; Guay, Stupnisky, Boivin, Japel &
Dionne, 2019; Danaei, Jamali, Mansourian, & Rastegarpour, 2020). Skill in reading is a
fundamental factor which will enable and inspire the child to succeed in school and later in his
daily life. Reading comprehension – the ability to read, process, and reflect on written text –
helps students develop reading skills, mastery of language, critical thinking skills, and core
knowledge for progressively more challenging academic work (Kohzadi, Azizmohammadi, &
Samadi, 2014 as cited in Hong, et al., 2020). The reading ability and comprehension will clearly
pave the way for the positive progression of the students towards academic excellence. This
study aims to know the effects of “Online Kamustahan” on the reading ability and
comprehension among public school 6th grade students.

Student achievement in the Philippines is low (Trinidad, 2020; Nuncio, Arcinas, Lucas,
Alontaga, Neri & Carpena, 2020) including reading comprehension ability in the public grade
school setting. This is probably due to the multifactorial events such as socioeconomical status,
students’ and teachers’ competence and others. Moreover, incompetence in the other subjects
maybe attributed in a large measure to lack of competence, proficiency, and skill in reading. This
surely necessitates interventions to improve the reading ability and comprehension of the grade
school students (Reed, Zimmermann, Reeger & Aloe, 2019) such as the “Online Kumustahan” to
be used in this study.
Current studies dictate that public grade school students can’t comprehend simple short stories
and selections given (Kocaarslan, 2019; Datu et al., 2020; Trinidad, 2020; Kammerera, Keck &
Starauschek, 2019; Thurston, Cockerill & Craig, 2019; Stern, 2018; Phan Hoang & Kato, 2016;
Gruhn, Segers, Keuning & Verhoeven, 2020).Grade school students hardly answer the WH-
Questions. This may be due to multifactorial causes including when child is not properly taught
and developed during his or her foundation years in the elementary school age; hence, this study.

II. Action Research Questions

This research undertaking generally aims to determine the effects of “Online Kamustahan” on
the reading ability and comprehension among public school 6th grade students.
Specifically, the researchers aim to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the results of the “knowledge questionnaire”?
1.1.1. After week one?
1.1.2. After week two?
 1.1.3. After week three?
1.1.4. After week four?
1.1.5. After week five?
1.1.6. After week six?
2. Is there a significant difference of results of the “knowledge questionnaire” from weeks one
to six?
3. What are the results of the “Self-reported reading ability and comprehension questionnaire”?
3.1.1. After week one?
3.1.2. After week two?
3.1.3. After week three?
3.1.4. After week four?
3.1.5. After week five?
3.1.6. After week six?
4. Is there a significant difference of results of the “Self-reported reading ability and
comprehension questionnaire” from weeks one to six?

III. Intervention/Innovation
The study will be using the researcher- made tools and evaluation tools.

3. 1 “Online Kamustahan” Questionnaire

The “Online Kamustahan “Questionnaire entails determining the objective and subjective
reading ability and comprehension of the participants. This researcher-made tool is a three -part
questionnaire. The lay-out, content and construct will be validated by 2 to 3 field experts. The
internal validity and reliability will be done through Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient. This
questionnaire will be done every week after the participant had read the assigned short story.

The first part is the “Knowledge Questionnaire” wherein it will objectively measure if the
pupils understood the story read. It is composed of five questions pertaining to the short story
read for the week. This was placed at the first part for the participants since the participants still
have the focus and level of energy required to answer it truthfully and correctly.
Part I. Knowledge Questionnaire
Directions: Read each question very carefully. Write your answer on the space provided after
each question.
1. What is the overall theme of the story?
 2. Who are the main characters and their roles in the story?

3. What is the overall moral lesson of the story?

4. Why did the author choose such ending in the story?

5. How can you apply the lessons learned in the story to your schoolwork? to your life? to
the society as a whole?

The second part of the questionnaire is the “Self-reported reading ability and
comprehension questionnaire” which shows how the pupil perceived self when it comes to
reading ability. It is composed of ten survey questions using a 4-Likert scale to prevent central
tendency. The 4 Likert-scale entails the:
1= Strongly disagree
2= Somewhat disagree
3= Somewhat agree
4= Strongly agree

Part II. Self- reported reading and comprehension ability questionnaire

 Directions: Read each item very carefully. Choose the answer that truthfully reflects your
perception by placing a “X” on the space provided.
4 3 2 1
Question Items (Strongl (Somewhat (Somewhat (Strongly
y agree) agree) disagree) disagree)

2. 1 The short story was easy to read

2.2 I was able to read the whole story
in less than 15 minutes
2.3 I was able to read the whole story
in more than 15 minutes
2.4 I understood the story after 1 to 2
readings
2.5 I understood the story after more
than 2 readings
2.6 I can correctly answer the question
“What is the overall theme of the story?”
about the story I read.
2.7 I can correctly answer the question
“Who are the main characters and their
roles in the story?” about the story I
read.
2.8 I can correctly answer the question
“What is the overall moral lesson of the
story?’ about the story I read.
2.9 I can correctly answer the question
“Why did the author choose such ending
in the story?” about the story I read
2.10 I can correctly answer the question
“How can you apply the lessons learned
in the story in your schoolwork? to your
life? to the society as a whole?” about
the story I read.

The third part of the questionnaire is the “Demographic profile” of the participants. This will
give the grade school assigned code, age, gender, address. This part is strategically placed at the
end since the demographic part can be answered with ease and accuracy. This questionnaire will
be used
 Part III. Demographic Profile
Directions: Read the following questions. Write your answer on the space provided on the left
side. For the gender, kindly write X on the answer options chosen
3. 1 Your name?
(LAST NAME, FIRST NAME)
3.2 Your age?
3.3 Your gender? ___ Male _____ Female
3.4 Your code?

III.2 Short Stories

This study will be using short stories currently being used in their modular learning under
English subject. These short stories will be in English as it is the medium of instruction being
used in the modular learning. The student will be required to read one short story per week.
These short stories are selected by the researcher and will be assigned to the pupils for reading.

IV. Action Research Methods

a) Participants and/or Other Sources of Data and Information

The participants of this research study are the 6 th grade students. The 6th grade pupils are chosen
thru convenience sampling due to time constraint and availability of students and teacher
assigned. These participants are chosen since at this level they should have the ability of being
able to understand stories read and have the ability the critique such stories. The effect size or the
number of participants will be determined using Power analysis. A power analysis can be used to
estimate the minimum sample size required for an experiment, given a desired significance level,
effect size, and statistical power (Correll, Mellinger, McClelland & Judd, 2020).The locale of
this study will be at a local public elementary school. This locale was chosen since empirical
studies have shown that one of the weaknesses of the public grade school learners is reading
ability and comprehension (Trinidad, 2020).

b) Data Gathering Methods

This research study will be seeking ethical board review approval if available and approval from
the research board. Once this study has been approved, then pilot testing will be done to
approximately 15 to 20 student participants to get the Cronbach ‘s Alpha Coefficient of the
researcher-made tools. The tool validation will be obtained from field experts prior to seeking
approval from research board and ethical board review if available. The participants in the pilot
study will not be included in the actual study. Informed consent from the locale and from the
 participants will be obtained prior to study. The pilot study will be done in 2 weeks. A “Honor
Code Policy” will be disseminated to each participant to prevent possible cheating. Detailed
instructions will be given to each participant. Clarificatory period will be provided also as well
for any question raised in relation to the study, When the pilot study is completed, the actual
study will commence. The participants will be exposed to the “Online Kumustahan
“Questionnaire every week. The researcher will be communicating with each participant via
online social media or SMS system. The researcher will then be asking the participant the
answers to the “Online Kamustahan” Questionnaire. In lieu of time constraint, the researchers
can also request a screen shot of the said answers. The actual study will be done for one and half
months. The “Online Kumustahan” Questionnaire will be done remotely via online social media
or SMS. A planned schedule will be disseminated to the participants for compliance. Ethical
principles will be strictly observed all throughout the study. Each participant will be given a
code for privacy and confidentiality. The participants will be given the results of the study after
the research study has completed.

c) Data Analysis Plan

The results that will be obtained in this research undertaking will be treated with descriptive
statistics analysis and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics organize and summarize
numerical data from population and sample (Herbst et al., 2020). This study entails extracting
demographic profiles of the participants to better understand the study. Inferential statistics
entails with population and use of sample data to predict future occurrences (Cousineau, 2020).
This research undertaking will be obtaining statistical data results every week for six weeks. The
researcher made tools will be tested with internal validity and reliability through Cronbach’s
Alpha Coefficient. Cronbach’s alpha is a measure of internal consistency, that is, how closely
related a set of items are as a group, and it is considered to be a measure of scale reliability
(Koskimäki, 2020).

V. Action Research Work Plan and Timelines

The action research work plan and timelines are as follows:

SY 2020-2021 Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb March April

1. Literature
Review
2. Research
Proposal
Writing &
Preparation
3. Revisions
 4. Data
Gathering
5. Data
Analysis
6. Research
writing/
Publication

VI. Cost Estimates

The approximate expenses are shown in the proposed budget proposal:

SOURCES OF EXPENSES Quantity Amount
(PhP)
  3, 000. 00
1) Printing and Documentation
1, 000.00
2) Transportation
3) Miscellaneous and Research 3, 000.00
assistant fee
Total 7, 000.00

VII. Plans for Dissemination and Utilization

The results of this research undertaking will be recommended for usage in the local public
schools among 6th grade pupils and can be adapted in other grade levels also as well. Moreover,
this can be used as basis for further exploring other research avenues for improvement in the
competence of the learners other than reading ability and comprehension. Furthermore, this
research undertaking will serve as basis for teachers to come out with doable and feasible
interventions further improve the learner’s competence especially in their reading comprehension
ability.

The researcher plans to publish the results of this study in local or international journal. The
researcher also plans to disseminate results thru research poster presentation in regional or
national research forum or convention.
VIII. References

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