USING CONTEXT CLUES STRATEGY IN IMPROVING THE READING

COMPREHENSION OF GRADE 9 AND GRADE 10 STUDENTS OF

JONES WEST HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE
SCHOOL YEAR 2023-2024
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A Research Proposal
Presented to the Faculty of
Jones West High School
Malannit, Jones, Isabela

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In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the
Practical Research 2

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Presented by:

Cielo Grace Agustin

Kate Cara Andres
April Mae Ballesteros
Rochelle Anne Cacanindin
Niño Jerome Dave Gusto
Kurt Jayson Juvenal
Mary Margaret Lucas
Justine Clark Respicio
Earl Ivan Suguitan
 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

Reading is one of the most important skills and it gives many benefits
for us. By reading people get more knowledge and information from books,
magazines, newspapers, and others. Reading is the most important component in
process and social interaction. Through reading activity, the students can enlarge
their knowledge and it can also make them wise and respectful. Active learning can
make the students interested in the reading.

Reading comprehension is the Ability to understand and interpret written text

it involves the constructing meaning from written words and making connections
between new information and prior knowledge. Reading comprehension is a crucial
skill that is necessary for success performance and lifelong learning. Goodman
(2015) states, “Reading comprehension is mental process that occurs in the brain, it is
difficult to observe, to measure, and to teach directly.” Students can discuss reading
content, answer questions, and verbalize how they arrived at answer, but the actual
mental process cannot be observed period a good way to explore the process of
reading comprehension is to discuss reading with a reader who shares his or her
thoughts as he or she reads.

Burn et, al. (2020) state that there are four levels of comprehension that must
be achieved in reading comprehension. The four levels of reading comprehension are
identified as follows: (1) Literal comprehension – is the skill of getting primary direct
literal meaning of a word, idea, or sentence in a context (2) interpretive
comprehension to identify ideal and meaning that are not explicitly stated in the
written text. (3) critical reading is to evaluate what is read, and examine critically the
thought of the writer. (4) creative reading is to apply ideas from the text to new
situations and to recombine author's ideas with other ideas to from new concepts or
text expand old ones.

According to Richardson (2019) students can be taught to recognize the

various kinds of context clues as well as how to read ahead and use the clues to
predict, infer, and reason out meanings. They also need to understand the context can
sometimes be insufficient or even misleading. Other factors need to be considered to
ensure accurate comprehension period in addition to begin to understand the
importance of concepts in context think of any word in isolation. That can help them
to become independent word learners and it also helps account for the word’s students
learn

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The Conceptual Framework is presented using the IPO (Input, Process,

Output) model. This process illustrates the model of Gathering Data in Improving the
reading comprehension of Grade 9 and 10 students of Jones West High School. This
served as the course on how the study was conducted.

As we investigate from the input, the researchers will accumulate data and
information about the reading comprehension of Grade 9 and 10 students. Each
respondent will be given a survey questionnaire which contains questions that can
determine the reading comprehension of Grade 9 and 10 students of Jones West High
School using context clues strategy.

Through the assistance of this method, this permits the researchers to analyze
the data that were gathered to comprehend the context and idea of the study. The data
collected will be interpreted by the respondent response to the further evaluate the
data for their conclusions and interpretation. The results obtained through data
gathering will provides the information needed in the study of the researchers. The
framework was made effectively to comprehend the figure beneath.
 PROCESS
- Conduct of 3 Reading
Comprehension
session a week per
INPUT level
-topics about the - Analysis and
reading comprehension interpretation of Data
- Grade 9 Reading - Giving the
material the singa participants OUTPUT
questionnaire which - Reading
- Grade 10 Reading can determine the
material Blumboay comprehension of
reading comprehension Grade 9 and 10
Cruise on the
Singapore River -Giving the students at Jones West
participants High School
-Gathering of data
questionnaire which
Preparation of
questionnaire can determine the
reading
comprehension of
Grade 9 and 10
students of Jones West
High School using
context clues strategy

Figure 1 The IPO (Input , Process, Output )

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The study deal with determining the effectiveness of using context clues
strategy in improving the reading comprehension of Grade 9 and Grade 10 students at
Jones West High School for the School Year 2023-2024

Specifically, it aims to answer t6he following questions

1. What is the current reading comprehension of Grade 9 and 10 students based

on the PHIL IRI record?
2. Does using Context Clues strategy improved the reading comprehension of
Grade 9 and 10 Students?
3. What is the students’ attitude towards reading and the use of Context Clues
Strategy?
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
This study aims to determine the effectiveness of Using Context Clues Strategy in
improving the reading comprehension of Grade 9 and Grade 10 students at Jones
West High School.

Specifically, the study aims to answer the following

1. To determine the current reading comprehension of the Grade 9 and 10

students based on the PHIL IRI record.
2. Determine the students’ attitudes towards reading and the use of context clues
strategies.
3. To Identify the effectiveness of using contextual clues strategy in improving
reading comprehension of Grade 9 and 10 students.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

The study will include 70 Junior High School Students for the School Year
2023-2024 wherein 31 are Grade 9 students and 39 are Grade 10 students. It will aim
to conduct pre-test and post-test questions which can provide answers and
justification to access the reading comprehension.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The main significance of this study are:

To examine the effectiveness of the context clues strategies in improving the reading
comprehension of Grade 9 and 10 students

To identify the effectiveness of using Context Clues Strategy in improving the reading
comprehension of Grade 9 and 10 students

DEFINITION OF TERMS

To avoid mistakes and misunderstanding terms and content of the topic in this
study it is necessary to define the terms used in this study

Context Clues- are information in the text which can be used to easily
understand the meaning of the word

Coombs System Approach – scaling technique for recovering the underlying

structure
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

RELATED LITERATURE

The use of Context Clues strategy to improve reading comprehension has been
supported by various studies. According to a study by Kuo and Anderson (2010),
context clues are an effective tool for helping students identify the meanings of
unfamiliar words. The study found that the students who were thought to use context
clues showed significant improvement in their ability to comprehend and use new
vocabulary words.

Another study by Lee and Anderson (2013) also found that the use of context
teaching students how to use context clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar
words in the text. Similarly, study by Bouleware – Gooden, Carrier, Thornill, and
Joshi (2017) found the teaching context clues strategy to struggling readers improve
their vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. The study involved teaching
students how to use context clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words and
phrases period the results showed that the students who received the instruction had
significant improvement in reading comprehension. Reading is skill essential for
formal education and for an individual success in society.

According to Grabe (2022) reading is the ability to draw meaning from the
printed page and interpret this information appropriately. It is a process by which
people gain information and ideas from the books, newspapers, letters, magazine.

Snow (2002:11) states, "Reading comprehension is defined as the process of

simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and
involvement with written language". The process of constructing meaning is the
process in which the reader combines their prior knowledge with the additional
information from a text, draws the meaning of words, and connection it to reach the
clear understanding of the written text.

According to Patel and Jain, (2008:113) the process of reading may be broadly
classified into three stages: (1) The recognition stages. At this stage the learners
simply recognize in graphic counterparts of the phonological items. For instance, her
recognize the spoken words in its written form. Difficulty at this Stage depends upon
the difference between the script of the learner's mother tongue and English and
between the spelling conventions of two languages. (2) Structuring stage. The learner
sees the syntactic relationship of the items and understands the structural meaning of
the syntactical units. (3) Interpretation stage. This is the highest level in the process of
reading.

RELATED STUDIES

Anderson (2003:70) divides the models of reading processes into three

categories: The bottom-up model typically consists of lower-level reading processes
students start with the fundamental basics of letter and sound recognition, which in fur
allows for Morpheme recognition in what class followed by word recognition,
building up to the identification of grammatical features, sentences, and longer texts.
Letters, letter clusters, words, phrases, sentences, longer text, and finally meaning is
the order in achieving comprehension

The top-down model, on the other hand, begins with the idea that
comprehension resides in the reader. The reader uses background knowledge, makes
prediction, and searches the text to confirm or reject the predictions that are made. A
passage can thus be understood even if all of the individual words are not understood.

Within a top-down approach the reading the teacher should focus on meaning
generating activities rather than on mastery of word recognition.
Interactive model combines elements of both bottom-up and top-down models
assuming. That a pattern is synthesized based on information provided simultaneously
from several knowledge sources
Grabe and Stoller (2002:13) state, there are four purposes of reading. They
are:
(1) Reading to search for simple information and read to skim in reading to
search, we typically scan the text for specific piece of information or a specific
word. Reading to skim is a common part of many readings task and a useful
skill is own right. It involves, in essence, a combination of strategies for
guessing where important information might be in the text, and then using
basic reading comprehension skills on those segments of the text until the
general idea is formed. (2) Leading to learn from texts reading to lean
 typically occurs in academic and professional contra which a person needs to
learn a considerable: amount of information from a text. (3) Reading to
integrate information, elite and critiques texts reading to integrate informal
requires additional decision about the relative importance of complementary,
mutually supporting or conflicting information and the likely restructuring of a
theorical frame to accommodate information from multiple sources. These
skills inevitably require critical evaluation of the information being read so
that the reader can decide what information to integrate it for the readers goal.
In this respect , both reading to write and reading to critique task may be
variants of reading to integrate information. (4) Reading for general
comprehension the nation of general reading comprehension has been
intentionally saved for last in this discussion for two reasons, first, it is the
most basic purpose of reading, underlying and supporting most other purpose
for reading, second, general reading comprehension is actually, more complex
than commonly assumed
(2)
Petel and Jain (2008:117-123) divides into four types those are as
follow. (1) Intensive Reading - Intensive reading is related to further in
language learning under the teacher's guidance. Intensive reading will provide
a basic for explaining difficulties of structure and for extending knowledge of
vocabulary and idioms. Intensive reading material will be the basis for
classroom activity. It will not only be read but will be discussed in detail in the
target language, sometimes analyzed and used as a basis for writing exercises.
Intensive reading is text reading or passage reading. In this reading the learner
read the text to get knowledge or analysis. The goal of this reading is to read
shorted text. This reading is done to carry out to get specific information. (2)
Extensive Reading - Extensive reading is used to obtain a general
understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure. The
reader wants to know about something. The reader does not care about
specific or important information after reading. Usually, people read for to
keep them update .(3) Aloud Reading - Aloud reading is basic form of
classroom organization and disciplines. In reading aloud, the students are
confronted with written sentences which haven't spoken before. The aim of
reading aloud is the achievement or better speaking ability and the
 pronunciation of the students. (4) Silent Reading - Silent reading is a very
important skill in teaching of English. This reading should be employed to
increase reading ability among learner.

Zamelman and Hyde (2009;1) state, “Reading comprehension is

a complex cognitive ability requiring the capacity to integrate text information
with the knowledge of a listener or as a reader and resulting in the elaboration
of a mental representation.” It is a multicomponent, complex process that
involves many interactions between readers and what they bring to the text or
background knowledge as well as variables related to the text itself (interest in
text, understanding of text types.) It involves a complicated process.
Goodman(2016;144) states, “Reading comprehension is mental process that
occurs in the brain, it is difficult to observe, to measure, and to teach
directly.” Students can discuss reading content, answer questions, and
verbalize how they arrived at answer

Burn et al. (1990:177) state that there are four levels of

comprehension that must be achieved in reading comprehension. The four
levels of reading comprehension are identified as follows: (1) Literal
comprehension - is the skill of getting primary direct literal meaning of a word
idea, or sentence in context. (2) Interpretive Comprehension is to identify ideal
and meaning that are not explicitly stated in the written text. (3) Critical
Reading is to evaluate what is read, and examine critically the thought of the
writer. (4) Creative Reading is to apply ideas from the text to new situations
and to recombine author 's ideas with other ideas to from new concepts or to
expand old ones.
According to Richardson (2009:307) students can be taught to recognize the
various kinds of context clues as well as how to read ahead and use the clues to
predict, infer, and reason out meanings. They also need to understand that context can
sometimes be insufficient or even misleading. Other factors need to be considered to
ensure accurate comprehension. In addition to begin to understand the importance of
“concepts in context” think of any word in isolation. That can help them to become
independent word learners and it also helps account for the words students learn.
 Outside of intentional instruction, in addition, Gambrell and Headley
(2006;111) state,” Context can be valuable by helping to account for the word.
Students learn outside of direct intentional instruction, students need to know and
understand how to use the context in order for it to be a truly useful strategy
‘.Knowing how to use context is one of the most important skills that can be taught in
order to promote reading growth in students.
Alderson (2000:23) states. "Narration is any written English text in which the
writer wants to amuse, entertain people, and to deal with actual or vicarious
experience in different Ways * Apriliawati (2009:39) states. *Narrative uses conflicts
among the participants, either natural conflict, social conflict or psychological
conflict. In some ways, a narrative text combines all these conflicts. Thus, commonly
narrative text is found in story book "
Ayres (2008:5) states, "Narrative text is one of the forms of developing
writing, for example characters told the history of something based on the
development of writing from time to time. It means that a narrative text is a text
which contains a story ordered chronologically. In order that the text can be enjoyed
by the readers, the writer should arrange the text interestingly. The purpose of telling
the story is to give meaning, and to entertain the readers.

SYNTHESIS
According to Richardson (2009:307) students often use context clues to help
determine word meanings. Sometimes, however, students are unsuccessful at using
context clues because they lack a systematic strategy for figuring out unknown words.
To help students develop the ability to use context to discover the meaning of
unfamiliar words, teachers can discuss specific clues that they should look for in text.
Kiani (2011:59) states, "Context clues have a powerful effect on student
comprehension of words and sentences. Knowledge and skill of using words in
different contexts play an important role in the comprehension of new concepts, ideas
and principles". It means context clues can be clear and direct the reader easily to the
meaning of the word.
French (2002:58) state. "Context clues are words that surround a word or
phrase the reader do not know and function as clues to get its meaning". The clues can
appear before and after the unknown words.
 According to Karbalaei (2012:37) context clues are defined as words found
around an unknown word that provides clues
that reveal the meaning of the unknown word. The clues provided in the context can
help students determine a word 's meaning.
Overall. the reviewed literature suggests that the use of context clues strategy
is an effectively way to improved students' reading comprehension, particularly when
it comes to understanding unfamiliar words, phrases, and paragraphs

RESEARCH DESIGN

To be able to get accurate data on the effectiveness of using Context Clues

Strategy in improving the reading comprehension of Grade 9 and Grade 10 students.
The researchers will use the pre-test and post test design.

The objective of this design is to identify the effectiveness of using context

clues in reading comprehension skills of Grade 9 and Grade 10 students at Jones West
High School. Pre-test is needed to assess student’s reading comprehension before the
reading session will be conducted, post test will be used to identify if the reading
sessions are effective on improving the student’s reading comprehension. By
effectively utilizing context clues, students will be able to infer the meaning of
unfamiliar words and comprehend text more proficiently. It is essential to involve all
students in Grade 9 and 10 students, the accuracy of the data on identifying the
effectiveness of using context clues strategy in reading comprehension.

The context clues strategy should be integrated into the existing English
language arts curriculum. The design should ensure alignment with the curriculum
standards and objectives to provide seamless learning experience for the students.

The Study will employ Pre-test and Post-test design. The objective of these
designs is to Identify the effectiveness of using Context Clues in the reading
comprehension skills of Grade 9 and 10 Students at Jones West High School. By
effectively utilizing context clues, Students’ will be able to infer the meaning of
unfamiliar words and comprehend text more proficiently. It is essential to involve all
Students in Grade 9 and 10 Students the accuracy of the data on Identifying the
effectiveness of using Context Clues Strategy in reading comprehension.

The Context Clues Strategy should be integrated into the existing English
language arts curriculum. The design should ensure alignment with the curriculum
standards and objectives to provide a seamless learning experience for the students.

Locale of the Study

Jones West High School formerly Jones Rural School Malannit Annex is a
learner centered institution that recognizes and respects the range of rights of the
students. It is located at Purok 04, barangay Malannit, Municipality of Jones, in
Congressional District 4 in the province of Isabela with the School ID of 306121. It is
along the highway which is 15.5km from the poblacion and district office, 10m from
the nearest public Elementary School and 80km from the Division Office.

The institution is serving 4 Barangay’s of Jones namely Malannit,

Pungpongan, Dipangit, and Villa Victoria Echague there are different means of
transport that makes the school accessible such as Jeepneys, Bus, Tricycle,
Motorcycles, and Bicycles.
 Figure

RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY

The respondents of the study will include 69 students,30 are from Grade 9
students and 39 are from Grade 10 students who are enrolled at Jones West High
School where the respondents of the study

THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

To improve the student reading comprehension through the Context Clues

Strategy at Jones West High School for the School Year 2023-2024, several
instruments can be used.

A Pre-test can be conducted to determine the students current reading

comprehension levels and their understanding of using Context Clues strategy. This
can be in the form of reading comprehension test or a short passage where students
have to identify and analyze context clues.

A variety of reading materials should be provided to Students with diverse

context and opportunities to practice reading comprehension strategy using context
clues. These materials should be appropriate for Grade 9 and 10 Students and aligned
with the curriculum. It is important to note that this instrument should be implemented
in a supportive and exclusive learning environment, considering the individual needs
and styles of the students.

DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE

A Request Letter to conduct the study is prepared… The researcher constructs

a survey questionnaire checklist. The researcher constructs the research in Jones West
High School through reading session, because of the advantage of the reading session
method. The researcher explains to the respondents the importance of the response to
the study. The researcher clarifies some terms to the respondents who that the
respondents can answer the questionnaire with full knowledge of the responsibility
has the subject of the study. The researcher requests the respondents to answer with
all honesty.

To gather data on Identifying the effectiveness of using context clues strategies

improving the student’s reading comprehension of Grade 9 and 10 students at Jones
West High School for the School Year 2023-2024.

You can follow these steps:

1. First determine the research design you will use to gather data

2. Second the prettiest should assess the students reading comprehension abilities
to establish a baseline

3. Post-test administer a post- test and pre-test to assess the Students reading
comprehension abilities

4. Collect the scores obtained from the pre-test and post-test of Grade 9 and 10
Students. Ensure that the data is accurately recorded and organized for
analysis.

5. Interpret results of the data analysis to draw conclusions about the impact of
context clues strategy on improving reading comprehension. Consider the
statistical significance effect size and any limitations of the study.

Remember to obtain appropriate permissions and ethical considerations before

conducting the research and ensure the confidentiality and privacy of the participant.

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION

QUESTION OPTIONS NO. OF TOTA PERCENTAG

RESPONDENT L E
S

1.How do you Quizzes or

access students’ tests
understanding
and application Written
of context clues responses
in their
Classroom
reading?

Discussion

Other
challenges

2. When Limited time

implementing for
the context instructions
clues strategy Students’ lack
in the of
classroom? engagement
Difficulty
finding
appropriate
texts
for practice
Insufficient
resources or
materials

3.How do you Provide

differentiate additional
instruction support for
when teaching struggling in
context clues to the classroom
student with Assign more
varying reading challenging
abilities? texts
Group
students based
 on their
reading level
Individualized
instruction
based on
students' needs

4. Do you use Yes

any technology No
or online Undecided
resources to I don’t know
support the
teaching of
context clues?
5. If yes, which Online
technology or dictionaries or
online words
resources do reference tools
you use? Vocabulary
( select all building apps
apply) or websites
Online reading
activities with
context clues
comprehensio
n
6. Have you Yes,
observed any significant
change or improvements
improvements No, noticeable
in students’ improvements
reading I don’t know
comprehension
skills after
using the
context clues
strategy?
7. What is your Very familiar
current level of Not familiar at
familiarity with all
the context Somewhat
clues strategy? familiar

8. How Daily
frequently do Monthly
you incorporate Weekly
the context Rarely
clues strategy Never
into your
reading
instructions?
9. Which type Synonyms
of context clues Antonyms
do you Examples
emphasizes Definitions
during reading
activities?
10. What is Advanced
your current Intermediate
reading Beginner
comprehension
level?
11.How Very
confident do confident
you feel in Somewhat
using context confident
clues to Not confident
understand at all
unfamiliar
words while
reading?
12. Have you Yes
been taught the No
context clues Maybe
strategy before? Never

13. How often Frequently

do you Occasionally
encounter Rarely
unfamiliar
words while
reading?
14. What Guessing
strategies do based on the
you currently words
use to appearance
understand Looking up
unfamiliar the word in a
words? dictionary
Asking for
help from a
teacher or peer
Using context
clues
15. How Very effective
effective do Somewhat
you find effective at all
context clues
strategy helping
you understand
unfamiliar
words?
16. How would Excellent
you rate your Good
overall reading Fair
comprehension Poor
skills?

17. Would you Yes, definitely

be interested in Maybe, I’m
learning and not sure
practicing the Not interested
context clues No
strategy to
improve your
reading
comprehension
?
18. In your Very
opinion, how important
important are Important
context clues in Somewhat
improving important
students Not important
reading
comprehension
?
19. How often Daily
do you Several times
incorporate the a week
context clues Rarely or
strategy in your never
reading Occasional
instructions?
20. How would Occasional
you rate your Excellent
current reading Good
comprehension Average
skills? Poor