DIFFICULTY IN READING COMPREHENSION AND

WRITING AMONG GRADE SIX LEARNERS:

BASIS FOR AN INTERVENTION PLAN

PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

Volume: 15
Pages: 655-674
Document ID: 2023PEMJ1398
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10351035
Manuscript Accepted: 2023-14-11
Psych Educ, 2023, 15: 655-674, Document ID:2023 PEMJ1398, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10351035, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article

Difficulty in Reading Comprehension and Writing Among

Grade Six Learners: Basis for an Intervention Plan
Rochelle P. Nala*
For affiliations and correspondence, see the last page.
Abstract
This study aimed to determine the 200 Grade Six learners’ difficulty in reading comprehension and writing
in the Division of Cagayan de Oro City during school year 2020-2021. Specifically, this study
sought to: a) describe the profile of the respondents, b ) identify the respondents’ difficulty level
in terms of their reading comprehension and writing, c) determine the significant difference in the
respondents’ level of difficulty in reading comprehension and writing when grouped according to
their profile; d) the extent do the following variables explain the respondents’ difficulty in reading
comprehension and writing; e) the result of the in-depth interview conducted to the learners. A descriptive
research design was used in this study. Mean, standard deviation, percentage,
frequency, t-test, and F-Test were used to describe the variables in the study. Findings show that the
respondents’ available reading materials at home, as well as their attitude towards reading comprehension
and writing characteristics, had a significant extent on their difficulty in reading, while the respondents
profile showed no significant extent on their levels of difficulty in writing. Hence, learners who are not
exposed to reading materials have difficulty in reading comprehension and writing, and that affects their
attitude. Parents and teachers should find ways to support and assist their children by providing them with
reading resources so that they can have access to them. Moreover, parents should follow up and monitor
their children’s progress in school so that their children would be guided. An intervention plan was
designed to help teachers and parents in finding solutions in the difficulty level of the students.

Keywords: reading comprehension, and writing

Introduction than as an all - or-nothing phenomenon (National

Learning to read and write can be very difficult to
some individuals, especially to the learners. This has
been a struggle not only to the parents, but also to the
teachers who are considered the second parents in the
school. With the Education for All i nitiative ensuring
all Filipinos to be able to achieve what the UNESCO
termed as ‘functional literacy,’ the ability to read,
write and do calculations at a level, what transpires in
every school to standardize determine that everyone
should know the same, at the same time and under the
same strategies.
In this context, learning to read and write is an
essential part of basic education. It is evident that the
learner is gauge d by how he or she reads and write.
Children learn to use symbols, combining the ir oral
language, pictures, prints, and play into a coherent
mixed medium and creating and communicating
meanings in a variety of ways. From their initial
experiences and interactions with adults, children
begin to read words, processing letter -sound relations
and acquiring substantial knowledge of alphabetic
system. As they continue to learn, children
increasingly consolidate this information into patterns
that allow for automaticity and fluency in reading and
writing. Consequently, reading and writing acquisition
is conceptualized better as a developmental continuum
Association for the Education of Young Children,
2015 ).
However, the ability to read and write does not
develop overnight without proper guidance and
instructions. As what the article mentioned in Reading
Rockets (nd), children need regular and active
interactions with print. Specific abilities required for
reading and writing come from immediate experiences
with oral and written language. Experiences in these
early years begin to define the assumptions and
expectations about becoming literate and give children
the motivation to work toward learning to read and
write. From these experiences, children learn that
reading and writing are valuable tools that will help
them do many things in life.
In the Philippines, the ability to read and write is a
priority not only by the government but also even by
private organizations or individuals. According to
Ocampo (2014), it is through literacy that one is
empowered to interact in his community and realizes
his worth, what he can do and eventually makes him
do things that contribute in sustainable development of
his society. Henriques and Madiera (2017) also
mentioned that difficulties in reading comprehension
skills and writing skills can be a major barrier to
learning and to a school career of success that would

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Research Article
be reflected in adult life. Hence, school as well as
teachers must be attentive to students’ needs,
difficulties and learning profiles. The obvious
difficulties in reading and writing might doubt the
teachers’ capacity that allow them to pass without
acquiring and consolidating basic learning contents
that would have enabled a continuous progress in
students’ academic skills. Reading and writing
acquisition is a complex competence that involves
cognitive and linguistic skills and that constitutes a
prerequisite for effective communication and social
inclusion.
It is on this matter where the researcher is interested to
find out the main difficulties learners had in learning
reading and writing as well as the main causes for
these difficulties. An intervention plan will then be
formulated to help the learners in promoting a
successful path for them to learn these two skills that
are vit al as a learner.
Research Questions
This study aimed to determine the two hundred (200)
Grade Six learners’ d iff icu lty in reading
comprehension and writing in the Division of Cagayan
de Oro City during school year 2020 -2021 as basis for
an intervention plan. Specifically, this study s ought to
answer the following questions:
1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:
1.1 Sex;
1.2 Parents’ Occupation;
1.3 Parents’ Highest Educational Attainment;
1.4 Availability of Reading Materials at Home;
1.5 Family Monthly Income
1.6 Parents’ Follow-up;
1.7 Attitudes Toward Reading Comprehension and
Writing; and
1.8 Study Habit?
2. What is the respondents’ difficulty level on the follo
wing:
2.1 Reading Comprehension
2.1.1 Literal;
2.1.2 Inferential; and
2.1.3 Evaluative?
2.2 Writing
2.2.1 Focus and Details;
2.2.2 Organization;
2.2.3 Voice;
2.2.4 Word Choice; and
2.2.5 Sentence Structure, Grammar, Mechanics and
Spelling?
3. Is there a significant difference in the respondents’
level of difficulty in reading comprehension and
writing when grouped according to:
Rochelle P. Nala
3.1 Sex;
3.2 Parents’ Occupation;
3.3 Parents’ Highest Educational Attainment;
3.4 Availability of Reading Materials at Home;
3.5 Family Monthly Income
3.6 Parents’ Follow-up;
3.7 Attitudes Toward Reading Comprehension and
Writing; and
3.8 Study Habit?
4. To what extent do the following variables explain
the respondents’ difficulty in reading comprehension
and writing and each of the following;
4.1 Sex;
4.2 Parents’ Occupation;
4.3 Parents’ Highest Educational Attainment;
4.4 Availability of Reading Materials at Home;
4.5 Family Monthly Income
4.6 Parents’ Follow-up;
4.7 Attitudes Toward Reading Comprehension and
Writing; and
4.8 Study Habit?
5. What is the result of the in-depth interview
conducted to the learners?
Methodology
This chapter discusses the procedures in gathering data
needed to answer the problems and test the hypothesis.
Specifically, it describes the research design, research
setting, respondents, and sampling procedure, research
instrument, and data gathering procedure and
statistical treatment of the data that will be gathered in
this study.
Research Design
This study used the descriptive survey method of
research. This design involved description, recording,
analysis, and interpretation of recent nature, and
composition of process of phenomena (Valeña, 2015).
This research design is appropriate for this particular
study because it is designed to gather information
about present existing situations with respect to the
understanding of the respondents toward reading
comprehension and writing. The researcher will not
only collect, tabulate, and compute data but will also
involve the analysis and interpretation of the result and
drawn implication based on the findings. Also, to
verify their answers, a focus group discussion will be
scheduled for this activity in evaluating the
respondents’ response on their difficulty towards rea
ding comprehension and writing.
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Research Article

Cagayan de Oro is the base to both local and

Research Setting
multinational companies such as Del Monte
This study was conducted in selected schools in the Philippines, Nestle, Coca-cola, Pepsi Cola and others.
Division of Cagayan de Oro City, as found in the The city’s economy is largely based on industry, trade,
Figure 2. The Division consist s of nine districts and service and tourism. Lin support and Arriba are among
divided into 1 st Legislative District that includes the few call centers that have recently opened their
North I, Southwest , West I , West II District and 2 nd doors in the city.
Legislative District includes Central District, East I,
Respondents and Sampling Procedure
East II North I, and South District in public and private
schools and primary and secondary schools. But the The respondents of the study were the 200 Grade 6
study only focused on the selec ted public elementary pupils in public elementary schools in Cagayan de Oro
schools per district. City Division during the school year 2020-2021. The
researcher used cluster random sampling in
According to the estimated data gathered in the
determining the sample size of this study. From the
Learners Information System of the Department of
grade six populations of the nine districts elementary
Education there were about 77,848 elementary pupils
public schools, the researcher just selected big central
of the Division of Cagayan de Oro City. The total
school from the nine distri cts and selected grade six
number of grade six in the 1st Legislative District were
pupils in the school by drawing lots, administered by
6,489 and 2nd Legislative District were 6,778, and the
the advisers as the number of pupils needed in the
over -all total number of grade six pupils in the
study. Each class has its corresponding number of
Division of Cagayan de Oro City were 13,267 pupils.
pupils to meet the computed sample size needed in the
Cagayan de Oro City serves as the capital city of the p study. Table A indicates the Grade Six pupils who
rovince of Misamis Oriental in the North-Southern were involved in this study. The data gathered from
Philippines. It is also the regional center for the the estimated number of enrolees in the Learners
Northern Mindanao (Region X), and is part of a Information System of grade six pupils in the Division
growing Metropolitan, Cagayan de Oro. The city is of Cagayan de Oro City.
also known as the “City of Golden Friendship.”
Table 1. Distribution of Respondents
Cagayan de Oro is politically subdivided into 80
barangays. These are grouped into two congressional
districts, 24 barangays in the first district (West) and
56 barangays in the second district (East), with
Cagayan de Oro river as the natural boundary. The city
has a total of 57 urbanized barangays and 23 rural
barangays. Its total land area reaches up to 488.86
square kilometers which is being inhabited by 675,950
people (Census, 2015), making the city as the tenth
most populous city in the Philippines.

The total land area is 488.86 square kilometres

representing 13.9% of the entire Misamis Oriental
Province. It includes 25 kilometers of coastline and a
fine deep water harbour, Macabalan Bay. The surface
of Cagayan de Oro representing 44.7%% of the land
area is classified as agricultural land, and 38.4% is
classified as open spaces.
The city is politically subdivided into eighty
barangays. It has two congressional districts
established on February 22, 2007. Each district elects
elects eight city councilors and one congressional
district is composed of fifty five barangays; forty of
these barangays are located within the Poblacion, the
city proper.
Research Instrument
After a thorough review of different literature s
referring to the issues in reading comprehension and
writing, the researcher used an instrument patterned
from the standardized test of the National Assessment
Test Reviewer (2011) online booklet in English
subject for grade 6 pupils.
There are three parts of the instrument. The first part
answered the respondents’ characteristics such as sex,
parents’ occupation, parents’ highest educational
attainment, and availability of reading materials at
home, family monthly income, parents’ follow - up,

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Research Article
attitude towards reading comprehension and writing,
and study habit. There are ten indicators each for the
parents’ follow -up, attitude towards reading
comprehension and writing, and study habits created
by the researcher based from the different sources of
literature (Jacobs,HL.1981 Testing ESL composition:
A Practical Approach).
For the second and third part, the instruments were
taken from the Standardized test of the National
Assessment Test Reviewer English 6 online booklet.
For the part II, the instrument is composed of 8
selections and each selection is followed by four to
five questions, a total of fifty questions in all. The
nature of the test questions is multiple choices. Items
1, 4, 7,10, 12, 14, 17, 21, 23, 25,27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 37,
38, 40, 44 & 46 are into Literal level, while items 3, 6,
9, 11, 13, 15, 16 , 19, 20, 22, 26, 35, 39, 41, 42, 45, 47,
49 & 50 belong to the inferential level. On the other
hand, items 2, 5, 8, 18, 24, 28, 31, 32, 36, 43 & 48
belong to the Evaluative level. For the writing skills
assessment, the researcher asked the respondents to
write a paragraph about the given topic. This was
evaluated based from the analytic rubric taken from
the literature mentioned above, Reading Fundamental
(2018).
Data Gathering Procedure
In the administration of the questionnaire, the
researcher asked a letter of recommendation to
conduct the study from the office of the Graduate
Studies of PHINMA Cagayan de Oro College. After
the letter has been signed, this was personally handed
to the Division Superintendent of Cagayan de Oro City
to ask permission t o perform the study. Once it was
approved, the researcher asked permission from the
school principal of the different schools for her to
administer the instrument. The researcher was able to
use some technology like internet and mobile phones
for the conduct of the study in monitoring the
instruments with the adviser. Since, it is quite
impossible to be in contact with the students because
of the pandemic, the researcher used these
technologies to have a direct communication with the
adviser. The researcher also asked assistance from the
advisers or teachers to help disseminate the instrument
during the modular distribution and retrieval of
modules for convenience and safety health protocols.
Statistical Treatment of Data
To process the data gathered with the use of
questionnaire, descriptive statistics such as mean,
standard deviation, percentage and frequency were
Rochelle P. Nala
used to describe the variables in the study. T- test and
F-test, were utilized to determine the significant
difference in the respondents level of difficulty in
reading comprehension and writing when grouped
according to their profile. Regression analysis was
employed to determine as to what extent the variables
explain the respondents’ difficulty in reading
comprehension and writing.
Results and Discussion
This chapter discusses the presentation, analysis and
interpretation of the data gathered from the survey
questionnaires given to the respondents to determine
the Grade Six learners’ difficulty in reading
comprehension and writing skills in the Division of
Cagayan de Oro City during school year 2020-2021 as
basis for an intervention plan.
What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:
Sex, Parents’ Occupation, Parents’ Highest
Educational Attainment, Availability of Reading
M a t e r i a l s at H o m e , F a m i l y M o n t h l y
Income, Parents’ Follow-up, Attitudes towards
Reading Comprehension and Writing; and Study
Habit?
Learning to read and write is essential to every learner.
It is a fundamental step to every individual. But,
comprehending what has been read and written is
another factor that should be addressed by every
learner. The following tables present the learner’s
profile that may have importance in the present study.
Its profile such as sex, parents’ occupation, parents’
highest educational attainment, availability or reading
materials at home, family monthly income, parents’
follow- up, attitudes towards reading and writing and
study habit are assessed to determine whether these
variables affect their reading comprehension skills.
Table 2. Distribution of Respondents’ Sex
Table 2 shows the respondents’ profile in terms of sex.
It reveals that the highest frequency of 124(62%) are
females. This means that majority of the respondents
are females and that their population is really of great
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number compared to male students. Also, female
students dominate the population in the elementary
education among the different schools in the division
of Cagayan de Oro City. As observed, there are a lot of
female students enrolled in the division of Cagayan de
Oro City than males most of the time. Hallways in
schools are usually filled with girls than boys during
break time. Even in canteens, there are more girls than
boys. As cited by the Gustafson (2018), female
students are more progressive in schooling than men.
In the Third Elementary Education Project (TTEP)
program, it was found that female students who
attended TEEP schools tended to have fewer high
school repetitions and a higher likelihood of entering
college, while their male counterparts experienced the
reverse. Thus, the program appeared to widen the
existing gender gap favoring girl’s education.
This might be the reason why the lowest mean of
enrollees are males with the frequency of 76 (38%).
Males might have stopped schooling for some reasons.
Their socio-economic status of the family could be one
factor. Male students tend to assist their parents with
their household chores and they tend to help their
parents with their jobs. In some cases, boys can look
for income at an earlier stage in their lives, though, in
an informal job, like being a laborer. With this, they
may be pulled out from the school because he has to
work for his family.
The data of Annual Poverty Indicators Survey
conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority
revealed that two-thirds (65.0%) of Out-of-School
Children (OOSC) in the Philippines aged 5-15 years in
2017 were boys. A higher proportion of boys (than
girls) were found among those aged 5 -17 years old.
School attendance was largely associated with
economic status of the family.
Table 3. Distribution of Respondents’ Parents’
Occupation
Table 3 presents the respondents profile in terms of
their parents’ occupation. In terms of the respondents
fathers’ occupation, results revealed that the highest
Rochelle P. Nala
frequency of 84 (42%) belonged to the laborers or
carpenters. This means that the respondent’s fathers’
are working as laborers or carpenters. They support
their families by working in a manual labor types like
the construction and factory industries’ workforce and
even do carpentry jobs. They make money by assisting
and helping the contractors or engineers for a project.
Being a laborer or a carpenter is a skill of which their
significant material value is their labor and their
carpentry skills. These skills are considered to be a
blue collar job and are generally paid in an hourly
wage. According to Berger (2019), the term blue collar
refers to workers whose work requires manual labor.
Their work can be skilled or unskilled and can fall into
any number of industries. Welders, road crews, factory
assemblymen, construction workers, miners, loggers,
and many other types of laborers are all considered
blue collar.
Moreover, the lowest frequency is only one (0.5%) of
the father of the respondents work as doctor or nurse
and others. This denotes that among the respondents,
only one from them has a job of being a doctor or
nurse. This is cognizant to the table that only one
respondent graduated from doctorate degree. This
further implies that only from them had that
occupation. It has been noted that not all have the
chance to be a doctor or nurse since this kind of
profession is quite expensive not to mention that it
takes years just to finish this kind of career. One could
just imagine that after four years of college, there is
another set of four years of medical school, one year of
internship, four years of residency, and two years of
fellowship for a total of 15 years. This length of
schooling is not a joke for the longer the preparation of
the profession is, the costly the tuition one has to pay.
In an article by Forbes (2018), it mentioned that
doctors’ salaries require many extra hours of education
and work relative to other jobs. There is certainly
prestige in being a doctor.
Another variable to consider as the lowest frequency
also is the others/ house husband where there is only
one respondent (0.50%), of the respondent. It revealed
that among the respondents’ fathers, only one is a
house husband. This implies that the father of the
respondent does not have a stable job and he stays at
home. He is the one taking care of his family and he is
in-charge of the household chores. This kind of set-up
is not unusual anymore considering that parents
nowadays work together for their family. Roles have
been switched for not all have the opportunity to have
the stable job, (Padio,2019).
On the other hand, for the occupation of the
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respondents’ mothers, the highest frequency of 48

(24%) belonged to the mothers of the respondents who
they did not pay attention to getting a degree. For
work as a government employee. This posits that the
mothers of these learners also have a job. It could be them, earning money is much important for they have
that they have been working already before they have family to feed. This further means that these parents
a family. They might feel that there is a need for them may have experienced financial difficulty that they
to work considering the situation nowadays. Women were not given the chance to go to higher level of
have turned into workforce not only for career education. Given such situation, parents may have
satisfaction but also because they and their families dilemma on attending to their children.
need the income. In many families today, according to
healthychild.org (nd), mothers continue to work
According to Study International Staff (2018), students
because they have careers that they have spent years
developing. with college- educated parents were also more likely to
graduate, which the study attributed to social and
Furthermore, the lowest frequency of 18 (9%) economic reasons. Students without a parent who
belonged to the mother of the respondents who work attended college would not have a parent with first-
as a laborer or carpenter. This implies that these hand experience to guide them through college.
mothers might have been working together with their
Additionally, they are more likely to come from a
husbands. They work together as laborers or
carpenters. It could be that these mothers are helpers of lower socioeconomic background, meaning there was
their husbands. They know that when they work less money to cover the costs of college so, there was a
together as a team, everything would be smooth and higher chances of dropping out due to financial
would make their work faster and quicker. In restraints.
economic terms, Pew Research Center (2015) showed
that families with two full-time working parents are
Furthermore, only one (1) or 0.5% of both
better off than other families. The median household
respondents’ mother and father is a full-fledged
income for families with two full-time working parents
doctorate degree holder. This means that only two
and at least one child under 18 at home is $102, 400
compared with $84,000 for households where the from the respondents had the opportunity to pursue
higher degree of education. It might be because getting
father works full time and the mother works part time
a doctorate program requires not only time and effort,
and $55,000 for households where the father works
full time and the mother is not employed. but also money. Thus, these parents might think that
pursuing a higher degree would be a waste of time and
Table 4. Distribution of Respondents’ Parents’
money. It has been observed that only few really
Highest Educational Attainment
pursue higher levels of education, unless it is needed
by their work. Some do not consider getting a higher
degree for they do not find it necessary. However,
research studies show that if parents finish more than
the college degree, they would be able to improve their
lives.

According to the review by Clearinghouse Technical

Table 4 shows the respondents’ profile in terms of
their parents’ highest educational attainment. Data
posit that the highest frequency 86 (43%) of the fathers
belonged to high school graduate and the lowest
frequency 1(0.50%) Doctorate Degree holder. On the
other hand, the highest frequency 81(40.50%) of the
mother was also a high school graduate and with the
same results on the lowest frequency 1(0.50%) was
Doctorate Degree holder. This implies that almost half
of the respondents’ parents did not enter tertiary level.
Perhaps, the parents are busy looking for money that
Assistance Team (2020), higher levels of education are
linked to overall better quality of life, including less
behavioral and physical health problems, lower
unemployment rates, and lower rates of incarceration.
While there are other intervening factors, increasing
young parents’ educational opportunities would have
long-lasting positive effects on their children’s
educational and life-long outcomes.

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Table 5. Distribution of Respondents’ Availability
of Reading Materials at Home limited resources, using search engine to find specific
Table 5 shows the distribution of respondents’ profile
in terms of availability of reading materials at home.
Results displayed that 54 (27%) of the respondents had
other reading materials available in their respective
homes apart from the one mentioned above. It could be
that these respondents have other reading materials
such as newspapers, novels, or story books or they do
not have reading materials at home. However, in one
of the interviews conducted by the researcher, it was
found out that these learners do not rely much on the
printed reading materials, but on applications found in
their respective gadgets like their cellphones. One
learner said that she has an application where she can
have an interactive reading game. This learner might
be one of the fortunate children that has the
opportunity to have access to the internet. Though,
there was another learner who mentioned that he does
not have reading materials at home because he does
not ask his parents to buy it. His parents do not oblige
him to read at all. On the study of Lyon (2000), as
cited by Mohammed and Amponsah (2018), children
who have literacy experiences from birth have an edge
in v ocabu lary d ev elo pm en t, r eadin g and
comprehension than those who lack literacy influence
from home.
Moreover, only two (2) or 1% had a dictionary at
home. This means that only few of the respondents had
dictionary at home. This could be true considering that
parents and learners do not buy tangible dictionaries
anymore. Majority of the learners have cellular phones
where they just downloaded a dictionary application
and use it when necessary. It has been observed that
learners nowadays do not rely much on printed
dictionaries, but instead, they open their gadgets to
check on some unfamiliar words. Kahraman (2017)
stressed that one of the key things that has changed as
a direct consequence of the advancing technology is
the people’s way of obtaining new information. The
age of searching through dusty library shelves for
books to find one piece of information has long been
gone. Now, one can access hundreds of resources on
almost any subject with just a click of a button and by
using search engines. Compared to searching through
physical books and library archives which might have
Rochelle P. Nala
information is much more practical and efficient.
Table 6. Distribution of Respondents’ Family Monthly
Income
Table 6 presents the respondents profile in terms of
family monthly income. Data posit that 106 (53%) of
t h e r e s p o n d e n t s ’ f a m i l y earns PhP 25,000– PhP
29,999 monthly. This is not surprising considering that
most of the respondents have the job. They are
employed and that they are working for their family.
However, this bracket may not be able to bring enough
food to the table if the family is a big one. This income
may not be able to compensate essential basic needs.
According to the Philippine Institute for Development
Studies ,PIDS (2018), this income bracket belongs to
lower middle monthly income. Additionally, data from
the Labor Force Survey and Family Income and
Expenditure Survey mentioned that members of
middle-income households vary in the work they do.
About a quarter of middle-income persons work in
wholesale and retail trade, working as vegetable
vendors or sari-sari store owners, while nearly a fifth
work in transport usually as tricycle and jeepney
drivers or bus conductors. About 16 percent of this
income group work in government, mostly as clerks or
public school teachers, and only 11 percent of them
derive incomes from agriculture, and most of them
belonged to the lower middle-income group.
On the other hand, the lowest frequency is only seven
7 (3.5%) of the family of the respondents have a PhP
35,000 – PhP 39,999 monthly income. This means that
only few of the respondents’ family are earning higher
income. Looking at the bracket presented, the highest
frequency is just as close to this lowest frequency. This
further implies that although this might have the
lowest frequency, the family of the respondents still
belongs to the lower middle class. PIDS reports that a
family that earns between P23, 381 to P46,761 per
month belong to the lower middle income where it is
between two and four times the poverty line. Also,
studies suggest that urban households are
predominantly middle class. Based on Salceda’s study,
three in five urban households are middle-class, but
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only 3 percent is high-income. Majority of them reside

in Metro Manila followed by Calabarzon region and
their parents have lack of time that they do not involve
Central Luzon, while a little more than half are spread
across other regions (Zialcita, 2020). themselves with their children’s studies. This further
implies that these parents may have the feeling that
Table 7. Distribution of Respondents’ Parent’s they are inadequate and incompetent to teach their
Follow-up children, thus, they just leave their children to study
alone. They might have low self-confidence that they
do not want to talk to the teachers or they do not know
the subject itself that is why they tend to neglect to
follow-up their children. According to Salin (2017),
parents are not aware of the significance of education
so that they just do not care about it. Moreover, they
also believe that only teachers have to be responsible
for their kids’ education. If their kids do not do well at
school, they will blame the teacher. They do not
understand their responsibility towards their children’s
learning.

Further, the indicator My parents encourage me to

attend classes got the lowest mean rating of 1.88
(SD=0.631) described as Sometimes. This denotes that
the parents of the respondents have low support to
Table 7 shows the respondents profile in terms of
their children when it comes to schooling. One of the
parent’s follow-up. The table indicates that the overall reasons, perhaps, is that parents do not find that going
mean is 1.99 (SD=0.67) with a description of to school is important. They might think that going to
Sometimes. This means that the parents of the school would just add burden to them financially and
respondents show a low support in their children’s emotionally. They would rather ask their children to
schooling. Perhaps, this could be attributed to the fact assist them with their work. Because of this, learners
that their parents are busy looking for money. They may tend to be absent in school to help their parents.
have to look for means so that they could have food to
This kind of behavior manifests a lot to the children’s
eat and buy for essential needs. This is usually the
school performance. In an article by fedena.com
dilemma of some parents. Since they are occupied
with lot of things, they tend to forget to follow-up their (2018) titled How Poor Parental Support Affects
children. Though, they might want to be with their Student Growth and Achievement? It was stressed that
children and follow them up with their studies, their children who receive support from their parents
status in life deprives them to do such. Perhaps, they develop an appropriate mindset, motivation, and self-
feel that engaging themselves with their children’s discipline at school. Disengaged parents who are not
education would require their time and energy,
interested in the academic life of their kids often
Although, many research show that parental follow-up
is very significant to children’s education. Kwatubana
promote school failures.
and Makhalemele (2015) stressed that when parents
For students who have supportive parents guiding
involved in the education of their children, it improves
their academic performance. Learners become more them at home, it has been noticed that these students
focused on their work. also are more likely to enjoy school. Thus, parental
involvement and support at home not only enhance
The indicator “My parents tell me to study alone” got academic performance, but also have positive
the highest mean rating of 2.14 (SD=0.76) described
influence on a student mindset, attitude, and behavior.
as Sometimes. Although, this indicator had the highest
Parents’ constant involvement affects the child’s
frequency, this still means that the parents of the
respondents had a low and weak follow-up with their attitude toward school and classroom conduct (ibid).
children that they just let them study alone. Perhaps,

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in writing and that they love to translate everything

Table 8. Distribution of Respondents’ Attitude
that comes out from th eir minds and jot it
towards Reading Comprehension and Writing
meaningfully. This further implies that writing gives
them the opportunity to describe the world in ways
they see. Farr (2020) mentioned that the thread that
ties these reasons for writing together is the invaluable
opportunity to explore and express ideas. According to
him, the ability to think critically is one of the most
important real-world skills that would help students
develop through writing. Learners would be able to
analyze an idea to discover the best way to
communicate it so it would resonate with a particular
audience. Writing to create an enjoyable experience
puts one in a place to explore ideas and scenarios and
make connections that might give experiential
knowledge in a unique way. On the other hand, the
indicator I get anxious when I am ask to write got the
lowest mean of 1.85 (SD=0.619) described as
Disagree. This means that the respondents are not
Table 8 shows the respondents profile in terms of anxious when they are asked to write. They are
attitude toward reading comprehension and writing. confident when writing. This might be due to the fact
The overall data of 1.97 (SD=0.66) with a description that writing requires individual work, and since they
of Disagree show that the respondents had a negative are working alone, they are not bothered with their
attitude toward reading and writing. This means that environment. Also, they are not apprehensive on what
they have a negative disposition concerning reading to write since it is their own opinion that they want to
comprehension and writing. It might be because these express. This supports Parab’s (2017) claim that
students do not find reading and writing an exciting writing teaches one to take action and responsibility
activity. They may feel exhausted every time they are about the words a person use. Writing makes thinking
asked to read and write. For them, this kind of activity
clear and improves one’s communication. He or she
requires them to decipher everything and translate it
learns how to express complex elements in simple
into their understanding. Hence, parents and teachers
possible words, and the most important this that one
need to provide interventions on how to make their
can have a very one story in terms about what has been
pupils love reading comprehension and writing.
written and for whom it was written.
According to Sungatullina (2016), reading and writing
is a cognitive process in which readers interact with Table 9. Distribution of Respondents’ Study Habits
the text, forming hypotheses, predictions and using
their background knowledge to construct the meaning.
Without these abilities, children would not be able to
understand a math word problem, answer a written
response question on state assessment, or write a
persuasive essay after reading a social studies passage.
It is for these reasons that reading is the foundation for
progressing in other subjects. However, looking
specifically at reading comprehension, metacognitive
awareness is a critical element as it is the cognitive
process that could explain why children living in
poverty have severe difficulties with reading
comprehension.

In particular, the indicator I enjoy writing than reading

got the highest mean of 2.15 (SD=0.749) described as
Disagree. This posits that the respondents may not
enjoy reading and may prefer more writing activities.
It could be that they love to express themselves that
they put their thoughts into words through writing.
This gives the students the opportunity to be creative
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Table 9 displays the respondents’ profile in terms of
study habits. Its overall data as indicated by the overall
mean of 1.99 (SD=0.67) with a description of
Sometimes indicates that the respondents had poor
study habits. This means that the respondents barely
have study habits. They do not study enough to make
them achieve remarkable academic success in school.
They may be studying but not quite enough. This poor
study habits of the respondents might be due to poor
monitoring of their parents since their parents are busy
looking for money. Another factor could also be that
their indolence makes them not to study at all. They
are busy with other things that they tend to neglect
their studies. Study habits, as what Okesina (2019)
stressed, refers to a habitual dedication to targeted
studying. They determine how well a study would
progress academically beyond the areas of strength
and weakness. It is pertinent that students observe a
time-based study on self, and keep studying on time
for the purpose of progressing of school. When
discussing study habits, personality, motivations, and
ability must be considered.
Among the indicators, the indicator “I review my
subjects everyday” got the highest mean rating of 2.18
(SD=0.76) described as Sometimes. Though this
indicator got the highest mean, it still posits a poor
interpretation. The respondents might have been
reviewing their subjects everyday, but it is not quite
enough. They have the initiative to check on their
subjects, but their willingness is limited. It could be
that their time to review controls their activity. What is
noticeable on this data, though, is the drive of the
respondents to continue pursuing their studies despite
some circumstances. They still review their lessons so
that they will be prepared for the class activities. It has
been noted that reviewing notes in detail following
each class, or at minimum sometime during the day
before going to bed, makes greatly increase ones
ability to recall what they have learned. The stronger
the pupils’ memory, the more likely they will be able
to remember the information over time.
On the other hand, the indicator “When I study, I look
over the text as a whole before reading individual
topics” got the lowest mean rating of 1.87 (SD=0.64)
described as Sometimes. This means that the
respondents have low study habit. They barely look
over the text as a whole. It might be because they do
not have any idea on how to have a study habit
scheme. For them, they only read when they are asked
to. This seems quite possible considering that their
parents have low parental follow-up as reflected in
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table 7. This goes to show that since they study alone,
no one would assist them with their subjects.
Consequently, they would never know if they are
doing the right thing or not. It is important that teacher
and parents help the students with their study habits.
One of the strategies is skimming. Readers use
skimming to decide if they need to read something at
all. Skimming can tell students enough about the
general idea and tone of the material, as well as its
gross similarity or difference from other source.
What is the respondents’ difficulty level on the
f o l l o w i n g : R e a d i n g Comprehension, Literal,
Inferential, and Evaluative?; Writing, Focus and
Details; Organization, Voice, Word Choice, and
Sentence Structure, Grammar, Mechanics and
Spelling?
Learning to read and write has been a fundamental
learning acquisition to all children. The ability to
understand context in any reading and writing is
considered to be crucial for the learner’s development.
This process is important to minimize learning
difficulty. Although, there were a lot of researches that
have been presented why learners have difficulty with
reading comprehension and writing.
The following tables would present the difficulty level
of the respondents on reading and writing. It has to be
noted that the results would assess the performance of
the learners if they are competent and proficient on
these skills.
Table 10. Distribution of Respondents’ Difficulty Level
on Reading Comprehension
Table 10 demonstrates the respondents’ difficulty level
on reading comprehension. It shows that the
respondents’ reading comprehension difficulty level
was easy as indicated by the overall mean of 26.51
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(SD=4.002). This means that the respondents take
reading as an easy task for them. They are able to
understand and grasp text easily based on their own
comprehension. They derive meaning from the text
when they try to connect in intentional, problem
solving and thinking process. They easily get
information based on extracting and constructing
meaning from text. Perhaps, their ability to decipher
information easily would make their learning fun and
enjoyable.
Reading is a complex process that involves sensation,
perception, comprehension, application and
integration. It is the process of making and getting
meaning from printed words and symbols. Reading, as
a whole, is a means of communication and of
information and ideas (Estremera & Estremera, 2018).
In particular, the respondents’ level of difficulty on
their reading comprehension was literal with the mean
of 10.68 (SD=2.18). This denotes that these learners
comprehend based on what the text says. They can
recall or repeat information stated directly which is
explicitly stated in the text. These learners can identify
a statement or sentence that best indicates the main
idea of the selection. As observed, when learners are
asked to read a text, they usually get simple
information as found in the paragraph. They are able to
answer questions that can be found directly in the text.
Although, this may sound right, but one has to know
that literal level is the basic level of comprehension in
reading which means that the respondents’ difficulty
level in reading is not that admirable. They may be
able to read but they require a little thought or
understanding. This signifies that these students just
able to decode words and identify the basic
information and follow simple instructions only.
Former Department of Education Secretary Abad said
that “low scores in English, Mathematics and Science
can be attributed to pupils’ lack of ability in basic
reading and comprehension. He further stressed that
one of the major problems in reading is the poor
reading comprehension, which leads to poor
understanding of printed symbols.
Moreover, only few of the respondents’ difficulty level
of reading is evaluative with the frequency of 5.87
(SD=1.74). This expresses that only few achieve this
kind of level of understanding. These learners are able
to understand ideas and information well enough to
examine, probe and critique information and ideas.
They are able to read behind and between the lines and
are able to assess information based on their personal
knowledge and experiences. This further implies that
these learners might be exposed to reading materials
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when they were in their primary years. It can be noted
that once a child learns how to read during her early
years, he or she has the ability to evaluate and assess
information. Suhadi (2016) mentioned that when
students want to master in English language, the
students should comprehend the meaning of text. This
ideas is supported by the fact that reading now has a
party of daily life.
Reading cannot be separated from daily activities.
Therefore, the ability to read the text in any form will
bring great advantages to the readers.
Table 11. Distribution of Respondents’ Difficulty Level
on Writing Aspect
Table 11 shows the respondents’ difficulty level on the
writing aspect. Its overall data displays that the
respondents considered writing as difficult as indicated
by the overall mean of 10.28 (SD=1.940). This means
that the respondents have a hard time in organizing
and using mechanics of writing. They might be drawn-
out and ineffective in getting the right words to
express an idea. Their challenge could be on how to
develop their ideas fluently. Consequently, these
respondents feel that they lack the required skill in
writing.
However, it can be observed that on table 7, the
respondents love to write than to read. It might be that
these respondents just love to write and that they are
not conscious on the mechanics of writing. They
merely compose and create ideas from their minds and
decode it. For them, the fluidity of writing is what
matters most than the technicalities of it. Many
students, as what Richards says (nd), feel writing takes
too long. For some, writing is a very laborious task
because there are so many sub-components which
need to be pulled together.
Further, the highest frequency of 2.23 (SD=0.74) on
the respondents’ difficulty level on writing skills
belonged to Focus and Details with a description of
Difficult. This infers that the respondents struggle on
constructing sentences and paragraphs given such that
they have to narrow a topic, spot the purpose, identify
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the audience, and choose a method of organization. their academic achievements. The following tables
For them, they feel that writing is a strenuous task evaluate which among the characteristics have greatly
since there are varied sub-components which need to significant difference that might affect the difficulty
address. These data could also infer that these learners level of the respondents in terms of reading
may feel that writing would take too long, hence, they comprehension and writing.
might find the activity time-consuming. As observed,
learners prefer to do other things where their motor Table 12. Comparison of Respondents’ Level of
skills are being tested than thinking and analyzing. Difficulty in Reading Comprehension When Grouped
According to their Profile
According to Richards (nd), there are many reasons a
student may avoid writing, but most relate to the
concept that writing is not fun or enjoyable. When
writing is not meaningful, it is difficult to pull together
the variety of skills needed to develop enthusiasm
about writing. Students learn to write by writing,
which then gives them the confidence to continue to
write and continue to develop their skills. Using a
variety of modalities can help create enthusiasm for
writing and help students view writing as more
meaningful activity.

On the other hand, indicators organization and

sentence structure, grammar, mechanics and spelling
got the lowest frequency of 2.14 (SD=0.79) and
(SD=0.82) respectively with a description of Difficult.
This indicates that the respondents may have a hard
time organizing their thoughts and are not familiar
with the mechanics of good writing. Though, the
difficulty may not be that much as the highest
indicator. Probably, these learners are quite exposed in
consolidating and systematizing structure of sentence.
Though, there may be lapses but it can be improved.
Nevertheless, it still has difficult implication to the
respondents. According to (Eberly Center, nd), when
students lack skills in these areas, their writing may be
unsatisfactory in multiple ways, from poor grammar
and syntax to unclear organization to weak reasoning
and arguments. Complicating matters is the fact that
many students’ reading skills are also poor.
Table 11 shows the comparison of the respondents’
Is there a significant difference in the respondents’ level
difficultly level in reading comprehension when
of difficulty in reading comprehension and writing
grouped according to their profile. The table reveals
when grouped according: Sex, Parents’
that the null hypothesis was rejected since the
Occupation, Parents’ Highest Educational
Attainment, Availability of Reading Materials at probability was lesser that the set level at 0.05. There
Home, Family Monthly Income, Parents’ Follow- up, were three groups being compared: Literal, Inferential,
Attitudes towards Reading Comprehension and and Evaluative reading skills indicators. Among the
Writing, and Study Habit? characteristics, there is no significant difference in the
respondents’ level of difficulty in reading and writing
In today’s educational system, It is not uncommon to when grouped according to sex, parents’ occupation,
hear that students nowadays try to detest or evade the parents’ highest educational attainment, family
reading and writing process. These skills have been monthly income, parents’ follow-up, and study habits.
one of the many challenges of students for they Hence, the null hypothesis is accepted. However, there
sometimes take this for granted without realizing the is a significant difference in the respondents’ level of
importance of it for their self-development and for difficulty in reading and writing when grouped
according to availability of reading materials at home

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and attitude towards reading and writing. Hence, the
null hypothesis is rejected.
This simply denotes that having reading materials at
home would give positive difference for the learners to
be able to comprehend well and to ease their difficulty
in reading. Giving these learners the reading resources
that they need would somehow reduce their anxiety
when they are asked to read and comprehend the text.
It is but important to allow the learners to engage
themselves with reading materials for them not to be
oblivious of the words and phrases that they would
encounter when reading, Murah (2018). As observed,
when children are surrounded with lots of books and
other reading materials, they are able to build not just
their vocabulary and comprehension, but also their
confidence.
Based on the researcher’s experience, since she
teaches Grade 6 learners in English subject, allowing
her students to be engrossed with reading materials
would somehow give the students the opportunity to
be familiar with words, phrases and sentences which
can develop their understanding. Hence, she provides a
mini-library in the classroom that would make her
students experience the relevance of reading which
they might not experience in their respective homes.
Giving such gestures, the researcher observed that
students are happy when they get the chance to hold
reading materials regardless of its value.
Moreso, they would not be reluctant to open the pages
of the books since they are exposed to it. As observed,
when students are not accustomed with the textbooks,
some of them are hesitant to open the pages of the
books. They do not want to read it as they are anxious
on holding it.
Also, their comprehension level might also be high
knowing that they are already familiar with the words
used in the sentence. Their attitude towards reading
and writing, in one way or another, has been
influenced by the degree of reading materials at home.
Consequently, when students are exposed with reading
materials, their attitude towards reading would also
deepen.
According to Agustiani (2017), knowing the students’
attitudes toward reading enables the teacher to detect
the causes of the weakness of their students in reading.
As for a number of teachers should be more sensitive
to design an appropriate material or create fun reading
activities in order to grow or spread students’ positive
attitudes or alters student negative attitude to positive
attitudes toward reading comprehension.
Table 13. Comparison of Respondents’ Level of
Difficulty in Writing Aspect When Grouped According
to their Profile

Many studies have already been confirmed that

nurturing a child in a home stuffed with books
positively influence his or her academic performance
and job attainment. As what Jacobs (2018) reported in
Pacific Standard, the study found that when it comes to
standardized test, “regardless of how many books the
family already has, each addition to the home library
helps children do better.”

In line with the significant difference of the

availability of the reading materials at home, the data
also presented significant difference of the
respondents’ attitude towards reading and writing.
This makes sense considering that when students have
access to reading materials at home, their attitude
would somehow change. Their optimism in reading
and writing would somehow improve since they are
acquainted with it. Their knowledge on language,
vocabulary, and syntax among others also increases as
they get to read and understand the text. The more they
are introduced to variety of reading materials at home,
the more they are confident and positive towards their
reading skills. Their confidence would be high as they
would not feel nervous and afraid when they read.

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Table 13 shows the comparison of the respondents’
level of difficulty in writing when grouped according
to their profile. There were five groups being
compared: focus and details, organization, voice, word
choice, and sentence structure, grammar, mechanics
and spelling. The overall data show that their difficulty
in writing was significantly different according to their
fathers’ occupation and highest educational attainment
as indicated by the probability value less than 0.05
which led to the rejection of the null hypothesis.
This means that the respondents’ father’s occupation
and highest educational attainment can have a bearing
on their difficulty level on writing. This could be
attributed to the fact that since the fathers of the
respondents graduated from high school level only and
that a number of them work as carpenters or laborers,
these students do not have time to practice their skills
in writing as they are asked to help and assist in their
work for the family. It could be that these students do
not have the full support of their fathers as they are not
guided by them. Their fathers may prefer to design and
construct wood and concrete materials than to stay in
one corner and guide their children to write. Somehow,
the way they see their fathers may affect their writing
skills as they consider their fathers as the pillar of the
home. Consequently, they obey and follow rules based
on what their fathers dictate.
Research shows that the influence of fathers on the
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psychosocial and behavioral development of children
is distinct from that of mothers. In the AAP guideline
on fathers, father is defined broadly as the “male or
males identified as most involved in caregiving and
committed to the well-being of the child, regardless of
living situation, marital status, or biological relation.”
Along with the biological father, this definition
includes foster fathers, stepfathers, and grandfathers
(Yogman and Garfield, 2016).
In particular, the respondents’ difficulty in writing in
terms of focus and details as well as their organization
was significantly different according to their father’s
occupation as indicated by the probability value less
than 0.05 which led to the rejection of the null
hypothesis. This denotes that these variables have
bearings in terms of the father’s occupation. It could
be that these learners could not ponder well on what to
write since they have barely knowledge on some
information as they are not introduced by their fathers.
It could also be that they might be busy on other things
like doing household chores or helping with their
fathers and not on scribbling with pen and papers.
These things could have a significant difference since
the focus and details as well as the organization
indicators require an intensive practice to have a better
writing skill output.
Moreover, the respondents’ difficulty in writing in
terms of voice and sentence structure, grammar,
mechanics and spelling was significantly different
according to their father’s highest educational
attainment as indicated by the probability value less
than 0.05 which led to the rejection of the null
hypothesis. This implies that the writing skills
indicators mentioned above do have bearings on the
fathers’ highest educational attainment. The impact of
the father’s highest educational attainment is regarded
as a powerful factor in the learner’s writing skills.
Many researchers concluded that the educational
qualification of the parents have a significant
difference on the performance of the learners. With
this scenario, the fathers are not confident to teach
their children some basic writing skills as they think
they are not qualified. This could be attributed to the
fact that the fathers may feel that they are not
competent enough on guiding their children as they are
not fully equipped intellectually. They might feel that
they are inept and inexpert in teaching their children to
write, and that they just prefer to let somebody do their
responsibility.
Finally, the respondents’ difficulty in writing in terms
of organization was significantly different according to
their family monthly income as indicated by the
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probability value less than 0.05 which led to the
rejection of the null hypothesis. This denotes that the
variable organization in writing skills has bearing to
the respondents’ family monthly income. This leads to
the idea that learners cannot fully comprehend the
importance of writing for their parents are occupied
with their work. It might be that their parents are quite
busy looking for money so they have food on the table,
hence, the learners are left alone in working with their
writing skills. Another factor could be that learners
have not practiced writing in terms of fluency of
expression because they are not given the opportunity
to exercise their skills since they do not have the
luxury of time and money. Instead of practicing their
skills, they are expected to work and help for the
family.
To what extent do the following variables explain the
res po nd en ts’ dif f icu lt y in rea ding
comprehension and writing? (Sex, Parents’
Occupation, Parents’ Highest Educational
Attainment, Availability of Reading Materials at Home,
Family Monthly Income, Parents’ Follow-up, Attitudes
towards Reading Comprehension and Writing, and
Study Habit?
The home is considered to be the child’s first school. It
is the foundation for his or her cognitive growth and
development. Hence, when parents support their
children by providing them with the reading materials
at home, they are able to give emotional well-being
and intellectual encouragement. Children are inspired
and motivated to read if they feel that their parents
support them. As observed, when parents buy reading
materials to their children, they feel that they are loved
by their parents. They have this kind of mindset then
that drives them to value reading.
Studies that compare good and poor readers show that
students who experience success are much more likely
to have a favorable home environment. Parents can
also stimulate their child’s love for reading. Parents
who read to children, take them to libraries, and buy
books as presents teach children to value reading.
When children observe parents who are readers, the
parents provide a role model for literacy.
Table 14. Extent of Respondents’ Profile on their Level
of Difficulty in Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension and writing have been the

criteria of student’s academic performance as
highlighted by some studies of literatures. There have
been studies conducted on the extent of reading and
writing skills to the respondents’ characteristics.
Although, every study has different findings, what is
common is the ground of respondents’ characteristics
that contribute to the result of the two. It is on this
problem where the researcher wants to assess the
extent of the respondents’ profile on their level of
difficulty in reading comprehension and writing.

Table 14 shows the extent of respondents’ profile on

their level of difficulty in reading. Its overall result
showed consistent findings that the respondents’
available reading materials at home as well as their
attitude towards reading comprehension and writing
characteristics had a significant difference on their
difficulty in reading as indicated by the probability
value less than 0.05, which led to the rejection of the
null hypothesis. The result of this table is aligned from
table 12 where it showed the same result. This really
employs that both characteristics have bearings to the
difficulty level of the respondents’ reading skills. On
the basis of availability of reading materials at home, it
posits that the degree of students’ difficulty in reading Further, the parental role continues to be crucial even
can best be controlled if the support starts from home. after the child enters school. Youngsters who
experience difficulty learning to read need satisfying
family relationships. Parents can alleviate some of the

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Table 15. Extent of Respondents’ Profile on their

psychological and emotional consequences of reading Level of Difficulty in Writing
failure by what they do in the home environment.
Parents can provide love, acceptance, and other
opportunities for success (Jennings, Caldwell, and
Lerner, 2015).

In addition, when children feel that they have the

support coming from their parents, they would
somehow have that positive attitude towards reading
and writing. They know that they can understand and
comprehend well when there are parents beside with
them while reading and writing. As noticed, children
only perform when they are asked to do or when they
are with someone who is in authority. They function
and cooperate well if parents or teachers are with
them. In other words, parents and teachers play a key
role in the development of the learners when it comes
to attitude toward reading. As such, providing the
children with reading materials at home would
somehow develop their positive attitude towards
reading and writing. This is but important considering
that reading plays a major role in everyone’s lives.

Reading is fundamental to learning. Everything in

education begins with reading because if children and
youth cannot read, they cannot learn (Reading is
Fundamental, 2018). As cited by Ubbes and Dillhoff
(2018), motivated readers are able to attain higher
levels of reading achievement which correlates with
higher grades in school. Reading attitudes are defined
as “acquired predispositions to respond in a
consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with
respect to aspects of reading.”

Table 15 displays the extent of respondents’ profile on

their level of difficulty in writing. The overall data
presents that the respondents profile showed no
significant difference on their levels of difficulty in
writing as indicated by the probability value greater
than 0.05 which led to the acceptance of the null
hypothesis. This means that the level of difficulty of
respondents in writing was not significantly affected
by their profile. This is true because the respondents
have difficulty in writing. The reluctance in writing is
quite evident since they have a hard time
conceptualizing their thoughts. It might be that they
are not used with this skill since they are not exposed As observed, when students are asked to write, they
with it. They tend to block their mind already when struggle on how to start. They can barely organize and
they are faced with the activity. develop their ideas well. Sometimes, it took them so
long to put their words into paper. Also, they still need
to think and focus to begin their compositions. In

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addition, these children may find writing not and writing skills. It could be that they have access to
enjoyable. They might think that writing does not give learning resources while others do not have the
them the pleasure unlike other things that they feel that capacity to enjoy these materials.
they are productive. They would rather assist their
parents to look for money than to write. Table 16. Summary of the Responses of the In-depth
Interview with Learners
As such, there is a need for these learners to deal with
this challenge for them to enjoy writing. With their
poor skills development, parents and teachers have to
work together to help the children. They have to look
for ways on how to make writing enjoyable. Though, it
is quite difficult to let these children enjoy writing
when in the first place, they do not have the
confidence to write and develop the skills. According
to Richards, it is important to analyze the lower level
skills of the students to ensure that they are
appropriately developed automaticity in these skills.
When students are frustrated with individual
components related to the task of writing or when they
struggle to get started to keep track of their thoughts,
then the writing process is not fun, and their lack of
enthusiasm becomes evident. Writing remains at the
level of drudgery no matter how exciting the topic and
students may feel threatened by the process of writing.

What is the result of the in-depth interview

conducted to the learners?

To validate the answers from the learners, an in-depth

interview was conducted to the learners. Ten high and
low performing learners, who were part of the
respondents, were interviewed by the researcher. They
were identified as high and low performing learners
based on their academic performance. These learners
were asked randomly based on the questions
presented. The table that follows is the result of the
undertaking as summarized on Table 16.
Table 16 displays the summary of the responses of the
in-depth interview conducted by the researcher. The
results indicate that the high performing learners did
not find reading comprehension and writing difficult.
They do not have any complains on the topics
presented to them and the demand that the skills need
is quite manageable. This might be because these
students have been exposed to different kinds of
reading materials, thus, their comprehension level is
quite high. In contrast, majority from the low
performing learners answered that they find reading
comprehension and writing challenging, while three
from them mentioned that they do not have any issue
with the skills. Their varied answers might be drawn
from the fact that these learners belong to different
socio-economic status. Consequently, some of them
might have the opportunity to exercise their reading
Further, when these respondents were asked on their
ways to cope with the difficulties in reading
comprehension and in writing, all of the high
performing learners responded that they make use of
the digital world where they can download application
from their respective mobile phones. This is certainly
true since most of the respondents have it. In one of
the interviews conducted, one respondent showed her
whatsapp application where she downloaded novels
and read them. For her, she may not have all the
reading materials at home, but the application installed
in her mobile phones still gives her the chance to read.
On the other hand, most of the low performing learners
handle the difficulty by asking help from their parents.
They solicit answers from their parents on the things
that they do not know. In some cases, their parents are
there to help them especially if they do not have work
to do.
Moreover, when asked if they have understood what
they read and write, the high performing learners,
without a doubt, replied yes. This is not surprising
considering that these learners are intelligent and
smart. Their comprehension level might be high as
they belong to the honor roll level. Likewise, majority
of the low learning performers revealed that they do

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Research Article
not understand what they read and write. This is
because that they cannot concentrate on what they
usually read. They are easily distracted by the
environment they are surrounded with. According to
one of the respondents, he has a hard time deciphering
the text because he is always asked to do errands. His
parents always request him to assist them in their small
business.
In addition, all of the high performing learners
declared that their teachers are helping them with their
reading comprehension and writing. Their teachers are
looking for ways on how to reach them for continuing
education. They are proud of their teachers for they
have made extra effort to be with them and engaged
with them especially on this pandemic situation.
However, the low performing learners were divided on
their responses. Half of them said that their teachers
have extended their help while the other half
responded that they did not feel the presence of their
teachers. One revelation of the respondents was she
has not seen her teacher this time because it is her
mother who usually gets the module. Her teacher, too,
has not contacted her.
Also, when asked if they have met problems in reading
comprehension and in writing, all of the high
performing learners said that they have not
encountered glitches so far. If there are challenges they
have met, they look for ways to solve their
problems. This holds true since these learners have the
leadership skills as they belong to performing sections.
As observed, learners who belong to top section have
the leadership skills and that they have the capacity to
understand circumstances. Oppositely, more than half
of the low performing learners expressed their
difficulties in reading comprehension and in writing.
They mentioned that it has become a struggle to them
as they do not understand what they are reading and
cannot express their thoughts in writing. One
respondent said that he prefers to assist his father than
to read and write. Only few, though, from them finds
ways to comprehend what they read and write. With
the final question thrown to the high performing
learners on ways to improve their reading
comprehension and writing, both the high performing
and low performing learners had common answer.
They believe that by making reading and writing a
habit in their lives, they would be able to improve
themselves. This manifestation is so enlightening
considering that these learners still believe that these
skills are important for their academic performance.
Thus, they would do something to improve it.
Rochelle P. Nala
Conclusion
Based from the findings of the study, the researcher
was able to draw some conclusion:
Learners who are not exposed to reading materials
have difficulty in reading comprehension and writing.
Their struggle to understand words and text as well as
decoding thoughts into a paper is quite evident in the
study. Consequently, when one has limited access to
reading materials at home, their attitude towards
reading and writing is affected. Once their attitude is
affected, there is also an effect on their academic
performance.
Also, parents play a major role on the comprehension
level of the learners in terms of reading and writing.
The support system in every household is very
important for the child’s growth and development.
When parents are engage on their children’s reading
and writing literacy, a positive attitude is displayed
from the children as they would perform better in their
academics.
Based on the foregoing conclusions of the study, the
fo llo wing are reco m m en d ed : (1) Schoo l
administrators, through the schools division
superintendents, should come up with a reading and
writing programs to address the difficulty of the
learners. Moreover, English teachers should be given
an assignment on this matter by assigning them to the
program for remedial classes. (2) Principals should
consider sending teachers to trainings and seminars on
the different reading and writing strategy so that they
would be able to upgrade their skills and apply the
learnings to their respective classrooms. (3) Teachers
should make an extra effort in looking for various
reading and writing approach for the students to enjoy
reading and writing. They should be able to identify
the kind of learnings that the learners need. Also,
teachers should build a strong communication with the
learners’ parents so that they would work together for
the learners’ development. (4) Parents should find
ways to support and assist their children by providing
them with reading resources so that they can have
access to it. Moreover, parents should follow-up and
monitor their children’s progress in school so that their
children would be guided. (5) Future researchers
should consider looking for other variables on the
difficulty level of the students in terms of reading and
writing skills.
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Affiliations and Corresponding Information
Rochelle P. Nala, PhD
Macanhan Elementary School
Department of Education – Philippines
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