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Chapter 3

METHODS OF STUDY AND SOURCES OF DATA

This chapter contains the research design and methodology that will use in

conducting this study. It will include the research design, subject of the study, research

instrument, research procedure and statistical treatment that will use to gather the data

Research Design

This study is qualitative – quantitative in nature, it made use of action research

design. Qualitative because it provides in - depth study about the respondents their

reading comprehension. It is quantitative because it provides statistical data in

determining the respondents’ level of reading comprehension. Furthermore, the present

study made use of action research design because this study aims to evaluate, investigate

and diagnose the comprehension level of the respondents and to determine whether the

reading strategy or program will help to address the upper mention problem effectively

and efficiently. The goal of action research is anything that is related to educational

performance or improvement, from the effectiveness of certain teaching strategies and

lesson design (Educational Reform, 2014).

Respondents of the Study

The study chose the Grade 7 students of Ventinilla High School who were

officially enrolled for the school year 2019-2020. The researchers deemed them as

worthy respondents because of the result of the Phil-IRI conducted by the English

teachers of Ventinilla High School in their respective classes that indicated a result that
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students whose reading comprehension level was considered to be low. Thus, the

purposive sampling or the judgmental sampling procedure was utilized in determining the

target respondents of the study. Furthermore, the respondents were chosen on the basis of

the knowledge of the information desired or needed.

Table 1
Result of the Phil-IRI Conducted by the English Teachers among Grade 7 Students

Levels of Reading Proficiency Male Female Total

Independent 25 25 50

Instructional 31 33 64

Frustration 41 15 56

Total 101 73 174

Among the total number of one hundred seventy-four (174) Grade 7 students,

fifty (50) belong to the “Independent” level of reading proficiency; sixty-four (64) were

“Instructional” level of reading proficiency and there were fifty-six (56) who were

considered as under the “Frustration” level of reading proficiency.

Table 2
Total Number of Respondents Under the Frustration Level

Section Male Female Total

Section 1 10 6 16

Section 2 16 5 21

Section 3 15 4 19

Total 41 15 56
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Due to the purposive sampling procedure, the researchers considered the Grade 7

students under the Frustration Level as the chosen respondents of this study. There were a

total of fifty-six (56) students under the said level. Among the said parameter, forty-one

(41) were male and fifteen (15) were females.

Research Instrument

The present study used the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) in

order to assess the reading proficiency levels including word recognition, comprehension

and reading speed of the respondents. The Phil-IRI was then used to collect and gathered

data that was needed for the researchers’ investigation to determine the over-all reading

comprehension level of the respondents. The level of reading comprehension of the

students was computed using the following formula:

no . of correct answer
comprehension ( c )= x 100 %
no . of items

The Phil-IRI Reading Test gives quantitative information about the student’s

reading capabilities. Quantitative information shows the reading levels namely:

frustration, instructional and independent. Furthermore, it uses predetermined set of

criteria in identifying the reading levels of the students such as the reading speed and

percentage of correct answers to comprehension questions. It has adapted the

combination of bands of reading rate (words per minute) proposed by Morris and

Gunning. In this study, the level of reading proficiency was interpreted based on the

result of the computation. The Manual of Phil-IRI Test Administration and Interpretation

which was retrieved from the DepEd Muntinlupa City Division was used as main
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reference in the interpretation. The following is the interpretation for the level of reading

comprehension:

Computed Value of Levels of Reading

Comprehension Proficiency

80-100 Independent Level

59– 79% Instructional Level

58 % and below Frustration Level

A Reading Comprehension Practice Test was used to determine the improvement

of the reading comprehension level of the Grade 7 students before and after exposing

them to the Enhanced Reading Activity (ERA). The said instrument was adapted from

TestPrepReview (2010) that was also utilized by Arellano (2012) in his study of

determining the English Proficiency Level of students focusing on reading

comprehension.

An unstructured interview was also conducted to determine in a personal level the

difficulties encountered by the respondents with regards to their reading comprehension.

Research Procedure

The researchers asked permission from the school principal in conducting the

study. Once the permission was approved, the researchers then seek the English Teachers

of each of the Grade 7 classes with regards to the result of the Phil IRI documenting their

level of reading comprehension.

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Once the respondents of the study were determined, a pre-test was conducted

using the Reading Comprehension Practice Test to determine the level of comprehension

of the respondents prior to the conduct of the Enhanced Reading Activity (ERA).

The researchers then asked permission to use at least 30 minutes of their time in

class for 3 weeks to conduct the Enhanced Reading Activity with the assistance of their

English teachers Miss Ruvy Ann Mendoza, Mrs. Florentina Poco and Mr. Christian Jay

Nadal. The researchers also asked the expertise of their adviser in planning and

conducting the activities in the program. The said program was conducted following a

series of reading drills that is used by teachers to assist in the enhance of reading

comprehension. The researchers were the ones who conducted the drills with the

presence and minimal assistance of the teachers present during the activities.

In conducting the program the researchers prepare different series of activities

that must be done every meeting. Most of it was reading activities, since the researchers

are aiming to enhance the respondent’s comprehension level. Every Monday, after

reading, the respondents are drawing anything that is related to what they read. It could

be the things that the characters did in the story, their understanding about the story and

so on. Every Tuesday, they were sharing what is their drawing all about. In this stage, the

researchers can determine whether they are learning something or not. Every Wednesday,

after reading, they have to describe the characters. Every Thursday, the researchers will

show simple questions and after reading they need to answer those questions and lastly

every Friday, after reading they will answer some question about what they read.

Finally, a post test was conducted using the same instrument used in the pre-test

to facilitate data interpretation and analysis.

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Statistical Treatment

To present and summarize the data concerning the set objectives in this study, the

following statistical treatments were used. Simple frequency and percentage were used to

present and interpret the data.

The formula of percentage was:

F
P= x 100%
N

Where:

F = frequency
N= population

The researchers used a multiple-choice type of test comprises of 45 items for the

Pre-test and Post-test adopted from the study of Arellano (2012). This was called The

Reading Comprehension Diagnostic Test. The said test was used to measure the Reading

Comprehension Level of the respondents that was aligned to the Enhanced Reading

Activity. The researchers then utilized the Phil-IRI assessment tool to describe the level

of reading comprehension of the respondents.

The Phil-IRI assessment tool initiated by the Bureau of Elementary Education –

Department of Education that directly addresses its thrust to make every Filipino child a

reader. It is the first validated instrument that intends to measure the learners’

comprehension ability though stories and chosen selections (DepEdMemo No. 37,

s.2010).

Thus:

no . of correct answer
comprehension ( c )= x 100 %
no . of items
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Computed Value of Levels of Reading

Comprehension Proficiency

80-100 Independent Level

59– 79% Instructional Level

58 % and below Frustration Level

*Source Phil -IRI

The third specific problem focused on the result of Enhance Reading Activity that

resulted to the given Post-test by the respondents. The formula for the Phil-IRI was used

to describe the level of reading comprehension of the respondents. This was also deemed

to be an essential outcome that would address to compare the descriptive result of the

reading comprehension of the respondents between the existing results after the

intervention with the use of bare eyes and brain if there was an obvious or self-evident

difference.