ADDRESSING THE READING DIFFICULTIES OF GRADE 3

PUPILS IN KAYOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

S.Y. 2023-2024

An Undergraduate Thesis Presented to

The Faculty of the College of Education
Ave Maria College
Zamboanga del Norte

In Partial of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Elementary Education

By:

RJ A. BANLUTA
ALJAIME ANJA
MAYA JOY V. TANUDRA
SARAH JANE G. VIDAD
MAICA E. ELEMINO
GILLANI P. DUHIG

CHAPTER I
 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, objective

of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, and the definition of

key terms.

1.1Background of the Study

Learning to read is an essential part of basic education. Reading, after all, is an

important gateway to the other disciplines. It has been said that reading is the primary

avenue to knowledge (Stern and Gould, 1995). It is the cornerstone of education and the

foundation of lifelong learning. It unlocks the unknown and carries the reader to new

discoveries and learning. It equips the person with varieties of knowledge which

he can use in his daily living. A person who loves to read understands any phenomenon

easily. He is well-informed, educated and well-adjusted to the events around him.

In Edward William Dutch’s 1951 book “Psychology and Teaching of Reading”,

reading was defined as “imagining, thinking and feeling about ideas and thoughts made

from past experiences that are suggested by perception of printed words.” (p.9) Reading,

as asserted by the author, is an activity that requires the different capabilities of the

mind, as the reader processes words and their meanings.

Reading is not only beneficial in terms of academics, though, as Dolch explains. It

can also help in the improvement of relationships with other people across interests and

cultures, as readers come across books that “put on into the life and feelings and

experiences of men and women of all occupations” (p.303).

 According to Aikat (2007), reading plays a very important role in enhancing the

minds of young individuals, developing their “capacity for focused attention” as well as

their “imaginative growth” (p.699). Aikat (2007) also cited Louise M. Rosenblatt, an

influential professor of literature and “scholar of reading”. Aikat stated that “the

act of reading is a dynamic ‘transaction’ between the reader and the text” (p.700), an

idea taken from Rosenblatt’s 1978 book, “The Reader, The Text, The Poem”.

According to the aforementioned book, there are two kinds of reading—reading for

leisure, called Aesthetic Reading, and Efferent Reading in order to gain information.

Efferent readers read for the purpose of the facts they will learn, while aesthetic readers

read for the reading experience, making it easier for them to “connect emotionally” to the

text.

Hence, in the life of a child, reading is very significant tool to use to

discover basic knowledge about the world he lives in. Reading is not just however, an

innate thing that originates with the child. It is a set of skills that gradually develops as

the child is subjected to formal education by the school as the responsible

institution for the child’s formal education.

A child who fails to develop his reading skills at a certain level of his education

finds reading boring, and difficult to achieve (Mondeo, 1995). If children are not

independent readers by the end of the 3rd grade, it is unlikely that they will be able to be

successful in the middle grades and beyond and most likelythey rarely able to “catch up”

with their peers. This phenomenon of reading failure makes the child inattentive, irritable

and passive. Therefore, his failure in this area hampers him to achieve academically in

other content area subjects. This may even lead to negative attitude towards schooling.

The Grade 3 level is generally regarded as the preparatory period to a more

challenging phase of an intermediate education in the elementary level. It is

therefore at this grade level where all the reading skills are expected to have been

developed fully from the primary grades to the more shaped intermediate pupils where

taught reading skills should have been learned. And it is also in this grade level that

reading difficulties are apparent where there is still time for remediation and correction.

The following traits are associated with children in the third grade level: (1) acquiring a

wholesome concept of self (2) beginning to have separate group in terms of sex (3)

starting to develop intellectual capacity of mastering concepts required for daily living (4)

developing personal independence and (5)developing new skills and refining

acquired ones (McInerny and McInerney,1994).

In Kayok Elementary School reading difficulties is the major problem that the pupils

are experiencing specifically in Grade III level. According to Mr. Benjamin K. Almocera

one of the teachers in Kayok Elementary School, that most of the Grade 3 pupils have

reading difficulties that fails them to develop the pre-requisite skills, they cannot be

expected to work independently with third grade reading materials.

To address this existing problem, the researchers conducted this study to assess the

level of reading difficulties with the primary goal, which is develop a strategic plan to

improve the reading difficulties of elementary students, specially the Grade III pupils in

Kayok Elementary School. It also presents multiple strategies that have proved to be

successful in third-grade classroom, as well as strategies used and found to be

successful by other teachers and researchers. As new best practices in reading

instruction are developed and researched, teaching strategies need to evolve as well.
1.2Statement of the Problem

This study aims to address the reading difficulties faced by grade three pupils in Kayok

Elementary School. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the reading difficulties incurred by the pupils in terms of;

a) vocabulary skill difficulties;

b) comprehension skill difficulties

c) literary appreciation skill difficulties; and

d) work-study skill difficulty

2. What is the level of reading comprehension of grade five pupils?

3. What is the nature of the correlation between the pupil’s reading difficulties and his

ability to reach his academic potential?

4. Based on the result, what is the suggested action plan to enhance the reading

difficulties of grade III pupils in Kayok Elementary School?

1.3 Objective of the Study

This study aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. Identify the reading difficulties incurred by the pupils in terms of;

a) vocabulary skill difficulties

b) comprehension skill difficulties

 c) literary appreciation skill difficulties

d) work-study skill difficulty

2. Determine the level of reading comprehension of grade five pupils

3. Determine the nature of the correlation between the pupil’s reading difficulties and

his ability to reach his academic potential.

4. Suggest a strategic plan to enhance English vocabulary and reading comprehension

skills of the grade VI pupils in Sta. Cruz Elementary School.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The study is deemed significant to the following:

Teachers. The result of this study may provide teachers with basic information that

all instruction involves continued on-going evaluation of the child. The giving of the

pencil and paper test must be based on thorough diagnosis which is the most essential

procedure in treating disability. The results will likewise help them improve as well as to

modify the behavior problems of their pupils through proper instruction and guidance in

the formation of desirable traits. It is only proper understanding of the causes of the

pupils reading disability and through harmonious relationship with them that effective

teaching would result.

Pupils. Indirectly, it would be helpful for the pupils if they would be discovered

earlier as reading retardates. Their being identified early in the school year may help

them overcome traumatic or embarrassing situations in the classroom. The experience of

failure often leads to frustration and discouragement. According to Dreikurs, (2006) as

 cited by Lindgren (2008), misbehavior is discouragement which is detrimental to the

intellectual growth of children.

Parents. The findings would be very beneficial to parents who would be better

informed of the aspects of behavior disorders of their children. Parents would be in better

position to cooperate more effectively with the school in facilitating optimum growth and

development of their children. They could provide appropriate parental guidance through

proper advice and a supportive home environment.

Administrators. The results may help the researcher understand better her role and

the behavior of pupils with reading disabilities that would be serve as basis in giving

proper instruction and guidance to the pupils.

1.5 Scope and limitations of the study

This study was limited only on addressing reading difficulties of the grade 3 pupils.

The study was conducted at Kayok Elementary School.This study used an survey

questionnaire. The research was concluded during the third quarter of the school year

2023 - 2024. The participants were limited to those who are currently enrolled in class of

grades three.

1.6 Definition of key terms

To make the readers understand more this research, the following terms are here by

operationally defined:

Academic Performance. It refers to the pupils’ achievement as reflected by the

general rating in each of the basic subjects.

 Comprehension. This refers to the act of understanding the meaning of printed or

spoken language as contrasted with the ability to perceive and pronounce words without

reference to the meanings.

Comprehension Skills. Is a multifaceted process affected by a variety of factors:

experiential, background, word recognition capability, language ability and reading purposes.

Readers employ. a number of types of comprehension in order to understand fully what

they read.

Hesitation. This is the reading difficulty, in which the child hesitates to read, which may

be attributed to non-recognition of words or printed symbols.

Language. It is a structural system of arbitrary vocal sounds and sequences of

sound which is used in interpersonal communication and which, rather exhaustively,

catalogs the things, events, and processes of human experiences.

Literary Appreciation Skill. It is the capability of the reader to see the aesthetic part of

printed language. This is clearly illustrated in poems, stories, verse and others.

Oral reading ability. This refers to the reading skills acquired and applied in the

vocalization and articulation of printed symbols at a reasonable rate and with clarity

of expression to be understood by an average listener.

Reading. Experts in reading instruction around the world agree upon the common-sense

proposition that there are two major acts to be performed in the reading process: (1)

recognizing the printed word on the page and (2) understanding and dealing with the meaning

intended in the passage.

Reading Difficulty. is defined in this study as the deficiency of skills acquired by fourth

graders in four reading skill categories namely: Vocabulary Skills, Comprehension Skills,
Literary Appreciation and Work Study Skills. Based on the adjectival rating of responses, 4 is

considered difficulty.

Vocabulary Skill. Vocabulary terms are clusters of concepts or Words grasped from

experiences in reading and other forms of communication which the person can use

independently. The ability of the person to use these concepts and words confidently in any

form of communication illustrated his vocabulary skills.

Work-Study Skill. Integrated reading skills that allow the child to do an independent

study and work. They are concretized in the capacity of the child to study frequently,

independently do researches in the library and to use reference materials such as

encyclopedia, atlas, map, periodicals and others.

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents some relevant literature and studies which are closely related to

the present study. The researcher was properly guided in formulating problems and

hypotheses based from the studies herein cited which are supported by studies local and

abroad.

Moreover, this part also presents the concepts of reading and literacy, the benefits of

reading and its possible effects on students' academic performance. Sources and past studies

related to this research study, which seeks to determine the reading difficulties of learners,

will be cited and discussed. The areas of concern are the different reading skills namely:

vocabulary skills, comprehension skills, literacy appreciation skills, and work-study skills.

2.1 Related Literature

The 1992 survey on the achievement rates of Elementary School education revealed

that the low achievement rates of 60% of elementary school pupils was below the desired

75% achievement rate. These figures imply that there was a deficiency of skills acquired by

the elementary graduates.

On the other hand, On December 2013, The NSO's 2010 Census of Population and

Housing (CPH) showed that of the 71.5 million individuals who are 10 years old and above,

97.5 percent or 69.8 million were literate or could read and write. This is higher compared to

the literacy rate of 92.3 percent recorded in the 2000 CPH. The 97.5% literacy rate is quite an

impressive figure but if we will take a look at the result of the National Achievement Test

(NAT) ON 2012, Grade 3 students got a Mean Percentage Score of 54.42% in English
reading Comprehension and 58.61% in Filipino. This figure shows that 3rd grade Filipino

children are considered as average readers in general. It also shows that Filipino 3rd grade

students have problem understanding what she/he is reading whether the text is written in

English or Filipino.

According to Juan Miguel Cruz (2007), despite our supposedly high literacy rate,

many Filipinos can barely read and write. This is true especially of those living in remote

areas as well as the slum areas of the country. Someone once remarked that we are not a

nation of readers; we are a nation of storytellers. Ours is a culture of oral history passed on by

word of mouth not through the written word.

Many educators believe that failure of the child in formal education can be traced to

his reading difficulties. These difficulties hinder him to succeed in school work requiring the

reading process. This problem prompted researchers to conduct studies in reading.

In Edward William Dolch’s 1951 book Psychology and Teaching of Reading, reading

was defined as “imagining, thinking and feeling about ideas and thoughts made from past

experiences that are suggested by perception of printed words" (p.9).

On the other hand, Aikat (2007) stated that “the act of reading is a dynamic

‘transaction’ between the reader and the text” (p.700), an idea taken from Louise M.

Rosenblatt’s 1978 book, The Reader, The Text, The Poem. According to the aforementioned

book, there are two kinds of reading—reading for leisure, called Aesthetic Reading, and

Efferent Reading in order to gain information. Efferent readers read for the purpose of the

facts they will learn, while aesthetic readers read for the reading experience, making it easier

for them to “connect emotionally” to the text. In order for readers to attain this connection

and fully comprehend the text they read, Dolch (1951) asserted that the process of reading

requires the different capabilities of the mind, as the reader processes words and their

meanings.
 This processing of words and text can also be defined as "literacy" or as Castello and

Charlton (2007) explained, “the cognitive processing of text information, a motivational

attitude toward reading, and the integration of texts into everyday life” (p.697). The authors

asserted that through this cognitive process of reading, readers learn to apply the meanings of

the words and sentences that they comprehend to their present knowledge.

Castello and Charlton posited that readers can then incorporate and evaluate the

content of these readings to their own lives and experiences, as well as use the text as basis

for future actions. The readers can then incorporate and evaluate the content of these readings

to their own lives and experiences, as well as use the text as basis for future actions, as

Castello and Charlton explain.

A higher reading fluency, as noted by Castello and Charlton (2007), involves “a

better understanding of the text” (p.698), which is often useful in college, where students

undergo the systematic process of text interpretation and relations. Reading fluency though, is

not only beneficial in terms of academics but is also useful in the readers’ social

understanding and communication, assert Castello and Charlton (2007).

They also state that young women often use literature “to cope with critical life

situations” (p.699) and are more motivated when it comes to reading than young men. In

fact, according to Aikat (2007), past research has shown a positive relationship between

people’s reading habits and their active involvement in other endeavors. Aikat also states

that reading plays a very important role in enhancing the minds of young individuals,

developing their “capacity for focused attention” as well as their “imaginative growth”

(p.699).

However, "Imaginative growth" as well as a capacity for attention are only a few of

the benefits of reading and literacy. Another possible benefit may be the development of

writing skills. In her work Theories of Literacy, Stewart (2006) explained the relationship
between reading and writing, stating that they are two skills that are “so interrelated that one

cannot be understood without the other” (p.618) so that students are able to “draw on their

skills in one to develop the other as they build proficiency in both” (p.618).

Stewart also presented yet another benefit of reading--a proficiency in the oral

language, taken from the theories of Michael Halliday in the 1970’s, which compared the two

and stated that they were both “social” forms of communication. Aside from these

assertions, Stewart went on to say that literacy and reading in general also applies to students'

academic performance in other fields, such as in language arts, mathematics, the sciences, the

arts and computer technology.

Several studies have affirmed Stewart’s (2006) assertions. In Ritzel Montalban’s

2010 research entitled The Correlation Between Reading Comprehension and The

Performance in Math Problem Solving of The Selected Second Year High School Students of

The Sisters of Mary School-Boystown, Montalban conducted studies to verify her hypothesis

regarding the relationship between students’ performance in problem solving and their

corresponding abilities in reading comprehension.

Some of the researchers cited by Montalban (2010) included Sutton & Krueger, who

asserted that “reading, writing, and mathematics are, or should be, inseparable”. Montalban

also quoted Hiebert& Wilkinson, who suggested that “most reading and thinking strategies

should be taught in the content areas, rather than isolated reading lessons.”

In general, the findings of the study show that there is in fact a relationship between

reading, vocabulary, academics and reading abilities, although “this relationship is by no

means simple and straightforward” (p.166).

The importance of this relationship was stressed by Miller and Moores in their 2006

work on Literacy, which regarded the “acquisition of reading and writing skills—especially

reading” (p.790) as an “important element” of education. The issue of low levels in this
development in literacy has been a large concern in the past, according to Miller and Moores,

causing conflicts known as the “reading wars” or the “great debate” (p.792).

The aforementioned reading wars consisted of three different ways of addressing the

problem of literacy among students, the first being the “top-down” model, the second being

the “bottom-up” model, and the “interactive” model as the third, state the authors.

The “top-down” model, as explained by Miller and Moores (2006), is a form of “look-

and-say” (p.792) instruction that focuses more on the text and its content and meaning, and

less on the technical aspects such as subject-verb agreement, spelling and punctuation. On

the other hand, the opposite “bottom-up” model emphasized “phonics” and the technical

aspects of writing and reading, explained Miller and Moores. The third “interactive” model

unites both models. According to Miller and Moores, the interactive model is built on the

fact that writing involves bout the “bottom up (text based) and top-down (cognitively based)

processes that interact with and complement each other” (p.792).

Miller and Moores (2006) stated that in teaching real children, it has been “widely

reported” that teachers “tend to utilize elements of both top-down and bottom-up models,

hopefully approaching the idea of an interactive system” (p.792).

On the other hand, these two models by Miller and Moores (2006) do not take into

consideration other possible factors that may influence a students’ or child’s reading

development. In a 2012 study entitled Factors affecting Second Year UP Cebu High School

Students Opinions on Reading, the researchers Genevic Habagat and Gerianne Rizon

attempted to determine these factors that may affect high school students’ opinions on

reading, particularly those of the Second-Year students in the University of the Philippines

Cebu High School.

The importance and subject matter of this study was clearly explained through

Habagat and Rizon's well-organized Review of Related Literature that focused on the
concepts of "reading, its history, benefits and importance in a Philippine setting" (p.6). The

review thoroughly critiqued methods employed by other institutions that might not be

effective, such as Mountain Crest High Utah's "MC Story Night' which involves thrice-a-year

reading sessions between high school and elementary students. On the other hand, the

researchers also cited other programs that could be beneficial regarding the study, such as

Valerie Lee's research programs based on "The SSR" handbook, which mentions multiple

factors in reading development, namely: "(1) access, (2) appeal, (3) conducive environment,

(4) encouragement, (5) staff training, (6) non-accountability, (7) follow-up activities, and (8)

distributed time to read." (Lee; as cited in Habagat & Rizon, 2012, p.8).

2.1.1 Foreign Literature

According to Strong, et al (1997), reading is a tool subject, without knowing how to

read the pupil cannot learn and progress in other subjects like mathematics, science, social

studies and etc. Reading therefore, is fundamental to the pupils’ success in the different

subject areas mentioned. Likewise, the pupil will progress in other fields of endeavor if he

knows how to read. He will be able to deal with his environment and perform his daily

activities in life. As a result, this will enable him to adjust emotionally and socially to

different situations making him a useful and productive citizen of his country.

Everyone has a need to learn to read. Reading is a tool in all aspects of learning. The

child who has not learned to read well in the elementary school runs the risks of becoming an

adult handicapped in the many phases of living (Gray, 1993).

According to Harris and Sipay (1995), attempts to remediate reading failure date back

to the beginning of the seventeenth century. Morgan, a British Ophthalmologist, published

the first report of a case of reading disability in 1896. He used the term “congenital word

blindness”, to describe a 14-year-old boy who had not learned to read, although he seemed to
be intelligent. Many investigations began in Europe regarding these problems but these

attracted relatively little notice from psychologists and educators in Great Britain.

The same author reported the first report, published in the United States in 1916, was

an attempt to diagnose individual reading and prescribed treatment.

Like other neurologists, Samuel Orton (as cited by Harris and Sipay, 1995) studied

the causes of delays in learning to read but he was mainly interested in the reading disability.

His works attracted wide attention among psychologists.

Universities and clinics in the United States became the first centers for the training of

reading specialists and remedial teachers. Some secondary schools initiated remedial reading

programs after World War II when they became aware of a large number of illiterates in the

military forces (Harris and Sipay, 1995).

Educational psychologists seemed to be impressed by a wide range of educational

handicaps that may be seen in poor readers and have tended to favor a pluralistic theory of

causation.

From about 1935 to 1955, many psychologists and clinical psychologists sought to

explain reading disability as a symptom of emotional disturbance and tended to recommend

psychotherapy as the preferred mode of treatment. There is a little doubt that the great

majority of children with reading disabilities who come to the attention of psychologists and

psychiatrists have emotional symptoms and problems.

In individual cases, however, it is often difficult to determine whether emotional

problems cause reading disability or the result of it. Most of these theories believed that

reading disability was a symptom of some underlying defect within the learner (Harris and

Sipay, 1995).

One of the most common problems attributed to learning disabled youngsters spend

more time teaching reading than any of the academic areas (Hallohan and Kauffman, 1998).
 The characteristics mentioned here were those of the learning disabled (Vallet, 1999).

It is very important to know the characteristics of children with reading disabilities so that

they can best understood for their destructive personality and needs. These characteristics

provide the basis for understanding their educational needs. These common characteristics

are: (a) Repeated failure experiences. Pupils with reading disabilities have had repeated

failure experiences in their educational pursuits which negatively affect future learning.

Many of these children have failed so often that they are convinced that they cannot learn

regardless of how hard they might try. (b) Physical and environmental limitations. Many

children have a number of reading disabilities which physical anomalies or limitations. (c)

Motivational problems. Largely due to repeated failure experiences the child with reading

disability tends lack interests, drive and enthusiasm for educational situations. (d) Anxiety.

A vague anxiety, usually stemming from a sense of impending failure is also a characteristic

of many of these children. (e) Erratic behavior. They tend to demonstrate erratic in most

learning situations.

Meanwhile, on test profiles, they are marked by extreme variations of strength and

weaknesses with normal or superior performance in other areas. (f) Incomplete evaluation.

Most pupils with reading disabilities have been educationally hindered to incomplete

evaluation and improper diagnosis. Too often do we find children who have been labeled as

“retarded”, or “emotionally disturbed” where little or no attempt has been made to thoroughly

evaluate and understand their specific learning problems and needs (g) Inadequate education.

The overwhelming majority of children with reading disabilities have not been properly

educated. A common characteristic found among this group in the lack of any attempt at

special education. Many of these pupils have also been the victims of poor education

including inadequate facilities, untrained teachers and public difference (Vallet, 1999).
 Grant (1992) reported a study on main stress approaches which answer some of the

characteristics exhibited by the reading disabled children.

A mainstream child lives in poor homes, broken homes, and homes with ineffective

parents. These children go to school but they are not able to interact well with others not

prepared to grow and learn, and do not meet the expectation of the school (Grant 1992).

Grant (1992) cited that the analyst in New Haven School suggested that the key to

academic achievement is to promote overall development of students to encourage bonding in

the school. Their task is to create a strategy that understands the child’s development, and

enable them to improve relationship with parents.

The management team is made up of the parents, teachers’ administrators, and adult

caretakers. There were social workers, psychologists and SPED teachers. It has a mental

health team that work together and had a representative on the management team. They

shared their knowledge with the teaching staff. As a result, the teachers responded in a

supportive way to children. The teachers came to realize that the only difference between

children and the children of the middle-income families is that the latter received at home

what is necessary to succeed at school. Out of the realization came the program called Social

Skills Curriculum for the Inner-City children and, as a result, the school ranked first and

second in attendance with or without serious reading or behavior problems (Grant, 1992).

2.1.2 Local Literature.

A study conducted by a non-profit organization located in Manila demonstrates that a

short-term reading program that provides age-appropriate reading material and trains teachers

to use it can have a significant effect on the reading ability of primary school children.

The government has a thrust of building proficiency through language (Mother

Tongue-based Multilingual Education) as part of our newly implemented k-12 curriculum.

This trust is considered as another burden to Filipino educators. There are no available

materials in areas of science and mother-tongue based language. Teacher guides and learner

materials (which are usually soft copy) are all written in English and the burden of translating

it into the language /dialect of the local community is left to teachers. There are no available

language books from kinder-grade IV. Language books which will expose children to written

texts are not available.

The school experience can be relevant, or boring, frustrating, or fulfilling for any

child. Generally speaking, the common responses of reading disabled children and youth are

reactions of frustrations to the educational environment. Frustrations may be displayed by

students’ anger at or passive withdrawal from learning especially when the tool subjects like

reading, writing and arithmetic are so inadequate that they are unusable for purposes of daily

living. More importantly, academic achievement may be so weak that skill deficiencies

actually multiply as the youth grows older.

As reading-disabled students attempt to learn, and fail, they also cannot meet their

own expectations for achievement. This lowers their expectation for failure success until a

generalized fear of failure dominates their attitudes and behaviors. Response generalization

to other social, academic, and school-related activities is inevitable and a pattern of learned

helplessness results. One of the principal aspects of that syndrome is that motivation to

achieve deteriorates, negating self-concept and self-reliance (Sabatino, 1991).

The possible causes of reading disability are numerous. A single factor seldom causes

reading disability. The difficulty is due to a composite of related conditions. Lalunio (1994)

classifies the four causative factors or reading disability into four, namely: physical, external,

intelligence, and educational: (a) Physical deficiencies. Include visual, binocular difficulties,

auditory deficiencies, motor, speech, and glandular disturbances and general health. Visual

deficiencies and hyperopia, myopia and astigmatism. Binocular difficulties occur when the
visual image of words and objects are blurred and when more serious two images of words

and objects are blurred and when more serious two images are seen. The pupils use many

fixations and regressions or backward movements.

Auditory deficiencies include impairment of hearing like inability to hear sounds

accurately. Motor deficiency in the case of reading is poor coordination which is indicated

by unsteady handling of book, and defective way of turning the pages. Speech defects cause

confusion on the sounds of words to be associated with written and printed words.

The Glandular disturbances include manifestations such as overactive thyroids,

tendency to lose weights, fatigue, and irritability; (b) External factors. These are emotional

maladjustment, environmental and attitudes. Emotionally maladjusted disabled readers are

those who show symptoms in the form of shyness or retiring behavior, inability to

concentrate, lack of self-confidence or nay kind of aggressive, compensatory behavior.

On the other hand, environmental factors include: neglect of sympathetic

understanding which may cause a child to feel that he is not loved or not wanted, apparent

indifference on the part of the parent or over concern which may cause anxiety, lack of

confidence, and perhaps attention-seeking behavior. Attitudes which are not favorable may

result in reading disability while favorable attitudes foster progress in learning to read; (c)

Low intelligence is not a direct cause of reading disability. It may only indirectly lead to

reading disability when the reading material during the early years is not adapted to a slow

learners’ needs; (d) Educational causes include administrative policies like promoting

children by age rather than achievement, or over emphasis on the development of reading

skills without giving permission to the development of pupils and lack of reading readiness

where in the child is plunged right away to standard reading program before he has acquired

the readiness which important to his success in classroom activities. Other is lack of

individual differences and methods of teaching.

2.2 Related Studies

2.2.1 Foreign Studies. Reading is a complex process. Theories are formulated to

explain this process. Brief discussion of some theories are presented as theoretical
background of this study. The theories to be discussed are bottom-ups theory, top-down
theory, interactive theory, schema theory, subskills theory and psycholinguistic theory.
2.2.2 The Reading Theories

This study is anchored on the different theories discussed above, namely, Bottom-up

theory, Top-down theory, Schema theory, Interactive theory, Sub skills theory and

Psycholinguistics theory.

The elements in the whole framework are the reading theories, pupils learning

reading, teachers teaching reading, perceived reading difficulties and the reading instruction.

The reading theories are the vehicles that can be used by the teachers in her reading

instruction and activities of the students. This mainly depends upon the needs in terms of

teacher-pupil capabilities, instructional materials and teaching and learning context.

The Bottom-Ups Theory. The Bottoms-up Theory is a text-driven approach. It

suggests that reading is basically a process of translating graphic symbols into speech during

oral or silent reading. Here are the basic features of this theory. The learner reads text by

building from sound-system units to words meaning. Word-recognition accuracy is important

to comprehension. The most effective instructional materials are phonics oriented. Learners

use word-identification skills to unlock words not in their “ownership” or “sight”

vocabularies. (Klein, Peterson and Simington 1991). Written Language is subservient to oral

language. Lower-level processes are seen as taking place prior to higher-level or cognitive

processes. (Hayes, 1991).

The Top-down Theory. It is opposite to the Bottom-Up theory. Its fundamental feature

is that it is at the schema- end of the continuum. The following are among its primary tenets:
Meaning is vested in the reader not in the text per se. Comprehension and meaning precede

decoding and word attack. Learning proceeds basically from the whole to its parts and not

from parts to a whole. Instruction is focused on meaning rather than on text structure. (Klein,

Peterson and Simington, 1991). According to this model, the reader plays an active role and

supplies more information than the printed page does (Hayes. 1991).

The Interactive Theory. It is more of a compromise between bottom-up and top-down

theories. This model believes that different processes are thought to be responsible for

providing information that is shared with other processes. Hypothesis is arrived by means of

top-down processing. As such, bottom-up processing is guided to a degree by the hypothesis

imposed by top-down processing. The information obtained from each type of processing is

combined to determine the most appropriate interpretation of the printed page, Hayes (1991).

Rumelhart (1997) has developed an interactive model which suggests that, at least for skilled

readers, top-down and bottom-up appeared simultaneously.

Schema Theory. This theory gives importance to prior knowledge. It suggests that

knowledge and experiences act to facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge. It emphasizes

the importance of teaching pupils how to comprehend before reading rather than fixing up

understanding after reading, (Hayes 1991). Rand (1994) hypothesized that having many

experiences with well-informed stories help children develop a story schema. Reading

comprehension involves relating textual information to pre-existing knowledge structures or

schema (Pearson, et al., 1999).

Sub skills Theory. It believes that reading is a set of sub skills that children must

master integrate. This theory explains that good readers have learned and integrated these

skills and they use them automatically. Teaching these skills until they become automatic and

smoothly integrated makes reading meaningful (Burns, Ross, Roe, 1992). “One of the

hallmarks of the reader who learned the sub skills rapidly is that he was least aware of them
at the time, and therefore now he has little memory of them as separate sub skills” (La Berge

and Samuels). This model illustrates the process by which students master smaller before

larger ones and integrate them into units after mastery.

Psycholinguistic Theory.About ten years ago, the “psycholinguistic model” of reading

began to assert that contrary to this view of reading as a sequence of skills which one could

teach, reading is in actuality a process of predicting meaning based on the reader’s

knowledge of oral language syntax, semantics, and phonological cues.

In other words, based on the reader’s store of information about how language works

from his knowledge of oral language, a reader already knows something about how words are

ordered and what kinds of meaning words possess in certain contexts. The early

psycholinguistic model is primarily a top down or conceptually driven model where the

emphasis is on prediction of meaning. It is the concepts which generate a search for the data

or words to confirm these predictions. (Goodman) Within this perspective Smith defines

reading comprehension as making sense out of what you read by using what you know, or the

theory of the world which you have in your head.

Essentially the reader is expected to use prior knowledge and experience with

language to get meaning from print. A characteristic in the development of both the skills and

psycholinguistic theories of reading comprehension is the use of paradigms or models from

computer science. (Goodman; LaBerge and Samuels; Ruddell) Rummelhart’s information

processing model integrates both the top-down and bottom-up processing concepts into his

interactive theory of reading comprehension. In this view, while the reader is processing

features, letters, spelling pat terns, etc., at the same time he or she is also attending to general

context, syntax, and the semantic and syntactic environment in which the words occur and

from which an interpretation of meaning is made.

 These practices are sometimes used by schools, educators, and parents when a young

child developmentally lags behind his or her peers. The young child’s underperformance is

interpreted as the child needing more time to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to

perform at the level of his or her peers. It is based on the disciplines of psychology and

linguistics.

Kenneth Goodman, a noted psycholinguist points out the importance of the reader’s

ability to anticipate the material she has read. (Goodman 1993). Its salient features are the

following: Learning to read does not require memorization of letter names, phonic rules or

large list of words. Learning to read is not a matter of a child relying upon instruction because

the essential skills of reading cannot be taught (F. Smith, 1998) Smith, like other

psycholinguistics, believes that children learn to read as they learn to speak, by generating

and testing hypotheses about the reading materials and getting appropriate feedback.

2.2.3 The Basic Skills in Reading

Vocabulary Skills

The rich store of vocabulary words in the readers’ storage of knowledge allows him to

transmit his ideas with precision and imagination. Vocabulary knowledge or knowledge of

word meanings is critical to reading comprehension. (Klein, Peterson and Simington, 1991).

Children with limited vocabulary knowledge especially those who have not learned

techniques and strategies for inferring the meanings of unknown words will experience

difficulty comprehending both oral and written text (Hayes, 1991).

Vocabulary skills are rapidly developed during the child’s elementary school years. It

has been estimated that the typical child increases his or her vocabulary rate of about 1,000

words a year (Burns, 1992).

Vocabulary skills are characterized by the following (1) recognizing known words

that are in one’s understanding but one does not recognize in print (2) learning new meanings
for known words by adding new shades of meanings to words partly known (3) recognizing

new words that represent new concepts (40 clarifying and enriching the meanings of known

words in communication (Heilman, Blair and Rupley, 1996).

In the light of the impact that pupils’ vocabulary has on reading success, Johnson and

Pearson, in teaching Reading Vocabulary (1994) recommended that teachers set aside time

for general vocabulary development. Rouke (1994), as reported by Hayes (1991), asserted

that vocabulary instruction has typically been viewed in a narrow context. He recommended

that elementary curriculum includes systematic strategies for vocabulary development.

According to Anderson (1992, a major factor in vocabulary acquisition after third

grade is the amount of independent reading students do. Anderson and Freebody (1993)

stated that when reading independently for 25 minutes per school day, an average pupil

would encounter tens of thousands of words that she or he did not know.

A number of studies conducted on vocabulary skills are not similar to this present

study. However, their significance is related to this.

Grambell, Wilson and Gatt (1998) conducted a study using fourth graders. They

found out that while high-ability readers encounter only one unknown word out of 100 in a

typical instructional reading passage, low-ability readers frequently encounter an unknown

word once in every 10 words they do not know.

Eldredge, Quinn and Butterfield (1990) examined the causal relationship between

vocabulary and comprehension. Measure were obtained from 504 second-grade pupils. A

cross-logged panel analysis was used to test for such a pattern. Findings indicate that reading

comprehension has a causal effect on vocabulary instruction improved reading

comprehension.

Mcswain (1994) experimented on the use of free reading as a method for vocabulary

development and comprehension. Findings revealed that a faster comprehension happened

than vocabulary development in the fourth grade structure group; however, unstructured

group had the opposite result which showed vocabulary development faster than

comprehension.

Comprehension Skills

Comprehension is the purpose of reading; without it, there is no reading (Heilman,

Blair and Rupley 1996). It is a constructive, interactive process involving three factors: the

reader, the text and the context in which the text is read.

Anderson (1994) viewed comprehension primarily involving the construction of

schema that accounts for the meaning in the text. It is an outline of script which provides a

framework of comprehension. It is described as an internal mental process that cannot be

observed or studied directly, Heilman, Blair and Rupley (1996). This notion brings out the

idea of mental model. This is an inclusive theory of comprehension which can handle both

scripted and unscripted activities. Two mental models are briefly described. The working

mental model is the construction of present events in the story and the passage mental model

is the k knowledge of the whole story by building links between events.

Readers build up numerous comprehension skills in order to understand fully what

they read. The following types are: the literal comprehension which means getting ideas

directly stated in the passage, interpretation comprehension which is to read between the

lines; critical comprehension which means evaluating the passage read; and the application

which is to read beyond the lines.

A number of research studies about comprehension are not similar to mine, yet, their

relevance can support this existing study.

 Spearrit (1992) conducted an experimental study to identify the interrelatedness of

comprehension sub skills using likelihood factor analysis. He found out that among the seven

sub skills he identified, four of which were differentiated as separate sub skills. These skills

are recalling word meanings, drawing inferences, recognizing author’s purpose and following

the structure of a passage. It was further stressed that although the four skills are

distinguishable, only vocabulary skill is the best differentiated. This supports the category of

skills this study is using. Vocabulary has been solely separated from comprehension.

Research by Matz and Rockwer (1991) supported that poor comprehend do not suffer

from a general comprehension deficit when pictures are accompanied with auditory version.

Stanovich and Vata-Kassi (1995) found six variables correlating with comprehension

namely: word recognition, speed vocabulary, time and technique in teaching. They all

showed an interdependence of performance to reading. They further defined that poor readers

who read slow and cannot decode words create according to graphic structure. Liberman and

Shank (1999) suggested that inability to recognize words create a working bottleneck that

interferes with comprehension.

Styler (1990) reported a result of a project using repeated reading to improve

decoding skills and its impact to comprehension. The result showed that reading was

difficult.

Literary Appreciation Skills

Reading can be entertaining as well as informative. Teachers can help the child to

realize this fact by reading stories and poems to the child and setting aside a regular time to

pleasure reading during which many good books of appropriate difficulty levels for each

child and on many different interest areas are readily available.

 Recreational reading skill helps carry out the enhancement of other reading skills.

Yet, a child cannot read independently when his vocabulary and comprehension skills are not

yet developed. Hence, recreational reading is dependent on other reading skills.

According to Gunning (1992), recreational reading allows the child to manipulate his

skills and prior knowledge without much pressure from the outside of the self. He stressed

further, that if develops self-concept and independence. (Burns, Ross and Roe).

It is believed that even before the child enters school, his surrounding which fosters

positive attitude towards reading can influence his interests to read. This is manifested by

members of the family or even the extended surroundings which is the neighborhood. Cutts

(1994), said that the more recreational reading done, the more chance for skill development.

With the different kinds of materials, the researcher read, unfortunately, there is no

existing study made on literary appreciation skill.

Work-Study Skills

“Study skills are defined as skills necessary for acquiring critical information from a

variety of text and media source for differing purposes and uses. In other words, a person

who has mastered study skills knows how to review and read different kinds of texts and

knows what information is important for the task at hand. Furthermore, the individual knows

how to retrieve essential information and cast it in a format for the purpose, Hayes (1991).

Hayes (1991) stressed that study skills are especially important for students who are

having difficulty learning to read. These skills help pupils improve their reading

comprehension and retain what they have read.

Pupils frequently experience difficulty in content materials. Possible reasons for this

difficulty are the lack of systematic instruction in study skills, difficulty level of many

content material in terms of vocabulary and concepts and lack of transfer of skills from the

basic reading program to study-type materials Heilman, Blair, Rupley (1992)

 Many study skills are only given passing mention and attention in schools. However,

everyone needs systematic, planned instruction and practice to meet the challenges of content

material and to be able to read in order to learn throughout life. Askov, E.N. and Kann,

(1992), recommended that study skills be taught as part of content area studies to ensure

transfer of skills be taught as part of content area studies to ensure transfer of skills to

realistic reading tasks. Incorporating study skills instruction into content area studies also

helps students learn the content subject.

Pescosolido, Schell and Laurent (1990) emphasize the need of study skills applied in a

content area. These skills need to be taught to students in a systematic, direct fashion. If a

specific skill is directly taught by the teacher, transfer of the skill to content area materials

will be automatic on the part of the students. Teachers must not assume students know and

can apply the various reading skills in content areas.

Work-study skills are manifested when the child reads independently to accomplish

an assigned task. It is also done in doing library researches using references like dictionary,

encyclopedia, atlas, maps and globes, etc. The implication of this work skill is that the child

is responsible for his own learning and that learning can continue without the teacher’s

presence.

Student difficulty in content material may be due to the absence of interesting and

varied practice to ensure mastery and application of particular skill.

Factors that Affect Reading Difficulties

There are three factors identified to have great influence on the reading difficulty of

the children as specified in the perceived data. These factors are sex, educational attainment

and economic status.

 Educators have long been interested in variables that serve as accurate predicators of

the failure of children in reading tasks. Systematic studies were conducted to answer this

question, Lingele (1999) What influences, the child’s performance?

Economic Status.Klengele (1998) , in his quest for the answer, conducted a systematic

study on the significant factors categorized under non-instructional factors that have an

impact on the performance of the child. In his study using fourth graders, emerged the

following variables: economic-status of pupils, economic status of teachers, and economic

status of the school. The economic status of the pupils appeared to be a common denominator

that has a great influence on achievement of children. Halsted (1994) supported the findings

of Klingele when the identified in his study some social factors like economic status of pupils

and teachers. Pupils economic status played a vital role in skill development.

Halsted and Klengele(2009) study can support this study in the aspects of economic

status of pupils and teachers as factors, that affect achievement

Teacher Factor. Another contributing factor to the achievement or failure of the child

is the teacher. Spache (1993) as reported by Hayes commented on the importance of the

teacher after reviewing the results of Cooperative Research program in First-Grade Reading

Instruction (1997). It was revealed that practices of the teacher and the kinds of teacher-pupil

interaction are important determinants of pupil achievement.

McGuire (1994), looked into the teacher as factor of learning. He identified that the

ability of the teacher to talk to each students beyond class session and firmness on policy

implementation affect performance.

Hairekek (1992) identified teacher’s expertise or experience, economic status and

pleasant personality makes learning effective and lasting. Johnson (1996) supported the

findings of McGuire when he investigated the relationship between students’ growth in

reading with teachers experience. Pupils taught by low experience teachers gain least reading
skills. He recommended a training program for young teachers with the help of the

experienced one.

Robeck and Wilson (1994) gave another three classifications or reading difficulties:

(a) lack of word attack skills. It showed simple lack of word analysis skills when reading

orally form context. Fluency errors with stops and repetitions.Lapsed into some word-by-

word reading when recognition errors accumulated, with substitution and refusal; (b) extreme

tension associated with reading. A tendency to stop after a mistake and continue without

correcting. These are stops after a mistake and make multiple repetitions of the parts of the

sentences they felt sure of. There is nervousness and the rapid deterioration of the error ratio

when committing mistakes; (c) lack of motivation for reading. They are the reluctant

readers, careless readers and active avoiders. A reluctant reader reads very little; a careless

reader is a very poor reader who does not seem to care whether he improves or not. They are

likely to become self-directed avoiders, if pressed to improve their reading in the absence of

improved motivation to learn to read. An active avoider does not want to try what he knows.

Typically, pupils who lack motivation for reading read in monotonous voice, are very

careless about word endings; sometimes they make up their own phrases and are not

concerned about mistakes; sometimes they correct themselves but not always correctly and

do not really try (Robeck and Wilson, 1994).

Juhoven and Bear (1992) examined the social adjustment of 46 children with learning

disabilities (LD) who were integrated full-time in third classrooms. No differences were

found in the proportions of children with learning disabilities and children without learning

disabilities across accepted and unpopular socio-metric groups. Two-thirds of children with

learning disabilities had at least reciprocal friend, and more than half had a friendship with a

classmate without learning disabilities. Girls with learning disabilities received the highest

number of negative nominations and were the least preferred. Group comparison of socially
adjusted and non-adjusted children with and learning disabilities to be less socially and

academically competent than adjusted children without learning disabilities. The results of

the study showed that the children with learning disabilities were generally well socially

integrated in the Team Approach Mastery Classroom, 83% (38 of 46) receive positive

nominations (as compared with 87% (38 of 46) received positive nomination as compared

with 87% of the children without learning disabilities), 67% (37 of 46) had at least one

reciprocal positive nomination with a classmate without learning disability. The results of the

study suggests that children with learning disabilities, particularly boys, are well socially

integrated in Team Approach Mastery Classroom.

Reading disabilities may result from a learning disability or from non-disability

factors such as low general intelligence, missed instructions, poor teaching, etc. The term

“disability” refers to an impairment or lack of normal function which is severe enough to be

handicap. It does not imply a particular kind of impairment but merely indicated a relative

inability to learn and retain. Inability to learn assumes ample opportunity including some

individual instructions by a competent teacher. Every teacher should consider the nature of

reading disability. A child may be unable to learn by one method but may not be disabled if a

different method is used. Children with reading disability do not all have the same basis,

degree or some of type of impairment, though these are some characteristics that are common

to most cases (Newman, 1999).

Hallohan and Kauffman (1999), gave three causative factors of reading disabilities:

organic and biological, genetic, and environmental: (a) Organic and biological. Brain injury

is at the root cause of reading disabilities. The neurological evidence was far from

convincing defected children were frequently referred to as “minimal” and changed it to

“brain injury”. In addition, the label “brain injury” often carries with it a note of finality.
Often teachers have used the label a reason not to teach a child. Using learning disabled does

not carry with it connotations of performance.

Samuel Orton (as cited by Hallohan and Kauffman, 1999) developed a theory on the

phenomenon of mixed dominance as indicator that brain pathology was the cause of reading

disabilities. According to the theory “mixedness reflects an abnormal development of the

brain. There is no social evidence to indicate that all, or most, learning disabled children

have brain damage a causal factor in learning disabilities Bent Feingold as chief emeritus of

the Department of Allergy limits children’s intake of artificial food flavoring and coloring.

The few well controlled studies have known that all best there may be a small subgroup of

hyperactive who respond favorably to the special diet. The studies of Halverson and Woldrop

show that there is a tendency for hyperactive children to possess a more minor physical

anomalies (fine “electric” hair, low seated ears, abnormal head circumference, webbing of the

two middle toss) than normal, such anomalies, are often associated with congenital defects as

Down’s syndrome. The possibility that some hyperactive children may have some kind of

subtle chromosomal irregularity or may have had an impediment to proper embryological

development; (b) Genetic factors. Learning disabilities tend to “run in families”. Whether

this due to hereditary factors or similar learning environments; (c) Environmental factors.

The children who are environmentally disadvantaged are more prone to exhibit learning

problems. Poor teaching is another factor to learning disability. If teachers were better

prepared to handle the special learning problems of children in the early school years, any

learning disabilities would be avoided.

Another factor in the environment is the socio-economic status (SES) and the

academic achievement. A large proportion of children who do not perform well academically

come from low SES families. Low SES pupils are likely to experience learning problems;
and when they do develop learning difficulties their academic prognosis is worse than for

middle and upper SES student with the same difficulties (Harris and Sipay, 1995)

The learning of verbal language is so closely tied to the demands of the environment.

It’s with verbal labels that reading disabled children have enormous difficulty, especially in

the early grades. Behaviorally, these children demonstrate an impoverished of both verbal

receptive and expressive labels and failure to learn sight words, arithmetic facts, sound

symbol associations, spelling words, counting, and the alphabet (De Ruiter, 1992)

Newman (1999) attributed reading disabilities to five causes namely: mental,

physiological, personality, environmental and social, educational factors: (a) Mental factors.

Specific reading disability may be found among pupils with low, average, or superior

intelligence, and slow learning affects all academic subjects; (b) Psychological factors. Paul

Witty and David Kopel concluded that auditory factors appear to be related to reading only in

individual cases where the defect is great, reasons for poor reader’s deficient phonetic skills

may be traced to speech defects or hearing loss experienced during the earliest years of

reading instruction. Other types of neurological disorders like the brain damage and mixed

dominance have been proposed causes of reading disability while other investigators believe

no relationship exists; (c) Personality factors. Dr. Traxler has indicated that emotional

difficulties are found among retarded readers but research has failed to define the extent to

which personality maladjustment may be cause or result of reading retardation. Some writers

believe that reading disability is a symptom of basic emotional disorders and that treatment of

the reading problem must preceded or accompanied by attention to the emotional difficulties.

Personality traits that have been suggested as causes of reading failure are: dependency on

one’s mother and lack of responsibility, excessive timidity, and predilection against reading

or against all failure. Continued failure aggravates those conditions; (d) Environmental and

social factors. One of the most significant findings of Robinson’s study was that maladaptive
homes and poor intra-family relationships existed in 54.5% of the cases. Robinson noted that

as the number of books in the home increases, the percentage of good readers most often

from homes where have reached higher levels of education; (e) Educational causes. Another

possible source of reading disabilities are: (1) lack of adequate background to perform the

reading task set, (2) failure to master the early elements on which later abilities are based, (3)

confusions resulting from instruction not correctly adjusted to the level and learning rate of

the child, and (4) the acquisition of faulty habits which impede progress.

The cultural and economic deprivation and lack of early opportunity to learn the

English language may prevent the child from learning to read. Failure in reading, in turn

causes anxiety, feelings of inadequacy and inferiority or hostility which further intensifies the

initial handicap, increases the difficulty of treatment (Gentile, 1995).

George and Spacher (1997) research with first graders show that intelligence test

results are not highly predictive of early reading success. If the pupils are arranged on the

order of their reading test scores after a period of training does not neatly parallel a ranking

on their intelligence quotient only the ranks of very superior and mentally retarded pupils to

agree in reading and intelligence.

The third psychological factor is self-concept. According to Cohn and Kornelly (cited

in Lovitt, 1999), a significant positive relationship exists between reading achievement and

self-concept. They maintained that a program of remediation for a low self-concept can

produce positive achievement in reading. According to Pryor (1995), perhaps the first step

toward solving a child’s academic problem is to change his self-confidence tend to get good

readers while poor readers tend to have negative feelings about themselves.

According to Katz (1998), the idea that children should feel about themselves is

remarkably a relatively modern one. Only one or two generations ago, praise was withhold

from children for fear that youngsters might become conceited or “swell headed”. Some
ideas to consider in developing a healthy sense of self-concept in children are the following:

Evaluation by oneself or others. The child should experience the feeling of being loved and

accepted particularly by someone interpersonal situation to another. The parents should help

a child cope with occasions or rejection or indifference by reassuring her of their love. Self-

concept is measured on certain criteria within the family. Whatever criteria you have in your

family support your child’s effort to meet them: (a) Socio-economic factors. Robinson (as

cited by Katz, 1998) reported that maladjustment homes contributed to 54.5 percent of her

cases. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1991) reported that from 50 to 70 percent of

Mexican and black students in the fourth, eight, and twelfth grades read below the grade level

to which they are assigned. In contrast, only 25 to 34 percent of all Anglo youngsters in those

grades below grade level.

Brophy (1999) summarized research that evaluates the effects of teaching behavior on

pupil achievement and concluded that teachers’ expectations for student learning are

important. Effective teachers are good classroom managers. Effective teachers are do not

waste time, they provide a maximum amount of instruction on critical skills, and students

receive great amounts of direct instruction on structured curriculum have the highest

achievement.

Another three causative factors of reading disabilities are given by Bond and Tinker

(1990): emotional, intellectual, and educational: (a) Emotional factors. Reading disability is

accompanied by emotional involvement which adversely influence the personal and social

adjustment of the child. This personality maladjustment may be due to constitutional factors,

to one or more of the variety of pressures in the child’s environment or to failure in reading.

The degree to which disability is a cause or an effect of the personality or emotional

maladjustment is often not clear. Examination of the available suggests the following: (1) in

relatively small proportion of the cases, children are emotionally upset and maladjusted when
they arrive at school. The origin of their personality maybe something constitutional or may

come from unfortunate environment, (2) The children have formed well-adjusted

personalities before they arrive at school. The frustration from failure to learn to read results

in some degree of personality maladjustment. In these cases, reading disability causes the

emotional difficulty, (3) Emotional maladjustment maybe both an effect and a cause of

reading disability in many cases. The emotional disturbance produce by failure to learn to

read may then become a handicap to further learning. A vicious cycle is formed, and a

reciprocal relationship exists between emotional conditioning and reading disability, (4) The

personal and social maladjustment is due to reading and tends to disappear in most cases

when the child becomes a successful reader; (b) Intelligence.

Specific reading disability cannot be directly attributed to subnormality of

intelligence, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say that while low intelligence in itself

is not a direct cause, it may lead indirectly to reading disability. This occurs when reading

instruction of the slow learners during the early school years is not adapted to their needs.

The dull child is not ready to read as soon as the one with normal intelligence and he must of

necessity proceed at a slower pace after he does again.

In the regular classroom situation, the slow learner is likely not to learn enough at

each lesson for effective handling of the next assignment. He drops farther and farther

behind as time goes on in the development program; (c) Educational. Of the factors

considered as possible causes of reading disability, the group of conditions classed as

educational stands out as tremendously important. Any administrative policy which prevents

either adjustment of instruction to individual differences or proper emphasis upon readiness

hinder effective progress in reading. The most important educational cause of reading

disability is ineffective teaching, or his acquisition of faulty learning may block later

progress. Factors which may bring this about maybe such things as too rapid progress in the
teaching schedule, inappropriate materials or methods, unhappy isolation of reading from

other class activities, the wrong kind of emphasis upon a technique or skill, or treating

reading as a product of content studies. Ordinarily two or more of these factors are involved,

and sometimes a physical deficiency as well. In many cases, the disability arises because the

instructional program has failed to maintain a proper balance in the growth of a large number

of skills and disabilities.

Furthermore, Buda, (1990) gave two causative factors of Reading Disability:

environmental and genetic: (a) Environmental factors are classified into two: biological and

sociological risk factors. The biological risk factors are prenatal complications and

congenital infections, while sociological risk factors include large family size and low

socioeconomic status: (b) Genetic factors run in the family, reading disability frequently

assumes a family type. There are number of instances of more than one member of the

family being affected, and the mother often volunteers the statement that she herself was

unable to read, although she had every opportunity.

Various writers believe that most disability cases are created and not inherent.

Reading disabilities are sometimes the result of unrecognized predisposing conditions within

the child, but for the most part, they are caused by element of the child, but for the most part,

they are caused by element of the child’s environment at home, at play and in school.

Without appropriate guidance or without proper instruction given at the right time, the will

fail to acquire the skills needed to develop normal reading disability.

2.2.4 Local Studies. Reading difficulties can be caused by many factors, some

internal and some external (Manalo, 2008). The more precise the description, the more likely

it is to lead to effective provision. In the view of many experts, most reading problems rooted

from decoding comprehension or retention. Decoding difficulties is the process by which a

word is broken into individual phonemes and recognized based on those phonemes. Someone
who has difficulty decoding and has difficulty in reading easily may not hear and differentiate

the phonemes. Signs of decoding difficulty are trouble in sounding out words or recognizing

words out of context, confusion between letters and the sounds. Comprehension relies on

mastery of decoding; children who struggle to decode find it difficult to understand and

remember what has been read.

Because their efforts to grasp individual words are exhausting, they have no resources

left for understanding. A retention difficulty is a trouble on remembering or summarizing

what is read. Retention requires both decoding and comprehending what is written. This task

relies on high level cognitive skills including memory and the ability to group and retrieve

related ideas.

As pupils progress through grade levels, they are expected to retain more and more of

what they read. It is then with the aforementioned concepts that the researchers will be

utilizing in conducting this study.

The 1992 survey on the achievement rates of Elementary School education revealed

that the low achievement rates of 60% of elementary school pupils was below the desired

75% achievement rate. These figures imply that there was a deficiency of skills acquired by

the elementary graduates.

Many educators believe that failure of the child in formal education can be traced to

his reading difficulties. These difficulties hinder him to succeed in school work requiring the

reading process. This problem prompted researchers to conduct studies in reading.

A study conducted in the Philippines by Mondero (1995) looked into the possible

causes of reading difficulties of Grade II pupils in a particular district in Pangasinan. She

found out that reading deficiencies caused by the conditions in the home was grave. These

factors are: poor study conditions, negative motivation and hostility of parents.
 Banogon (1997) surveyed on teacher’s teaching competencies. Her findings showed

that teachers with teaching experiences were more aware of the reading difficulties of their

children.

Studies on teacher factor relates to my study in a way by which teacher participates in

identifying reading difficulties of their children as influenced by their children as influenced

by their experiences and economic status.

Sex Factor. Sex is a factor considered for the pupil respondents. A study on

relationship between sex and intelligence variables with reading interest of the high school

students as reported by Scharf (1993). Findings revealed that females tended to read books

more frequently than males did. Esmeralda’s (1999) study showed that girls are better readers

than boys.

Chui (1993) investigated the reading preferences of fourth graders according to sex

and reading achievement. The t-test as his instrument revealed significant sex difference.

Girls preferred mystery, humor, adventure, biography, and animal stories and adventure.

A number of studies were conducted to show the cause and effect of behavior

disorders.

Imelda Espigar (1991) conducted a study on behavior disorders. A problem-checklist

consisting of a 40-item perception scale four categories, conduct disorders, anxiety

withdrawal, immaturity, and socialized aggression was devised in gathering the data.

The results revealed that West Visayas State University Elementary Laboratory

School pupils to be average in conduct disorders and immaturity, low anxiety withdrawal and

socialized aggression. Significant differences existed between the perceptions of teachers

and student teachers for each of the four categories of behavior disorders of pupils. No

difference was present when the participants were grouped according to grade level

assignment.
 Another study was conducted by Autalay (1990) on the significant relationships

between pupil achievement and pupil personal-related variables such as the size of the family

and sibling rank. The study was conducted among the five school districts in Antique. A

questionnaire was used to gather data. The statistical tool used to analyze the data was the

Pearson r. The results indicated that the pupil personal-related variables were statistically

proved as predictors of pupil achievement such as the size of the family and sibling rank.

Mamon (1990) conducted a study in January National Comprehensive High School,

January, Iloilo on the behavior maladjustments characteristics of 50 first year high school

students. The instruments used were the Standardized Oral Reading Paragraphs to determine

the reading level and the Robert Dehaan’s Behavior Checklist (1968) to be used by the

teacher respondents to observe the student’s behavior characteristics. Remedial reading

sessions were conducted for eight months by the investigator who taught and observed the

retarded readers. The findings showed that retarded readers are slow learners and

underachievers and lag behind normal students in class performance. Reading disabilities

impedes learning progress in other subject areas and cause maladjustment problems or

increase them.

Gandeza (1999), used 583 public elementary school teachers in the Division of

Guimaras for the school year 1998-1999 for her study. Sixty percent of her respondents were

handling primary grades and 40 percent were teaching in the intermediate level. The study

revealed that the disciplinary practices frequently used by the elementary school teachers in

controlling behavior problems in school included verbalization, conditioning, manipulating or

restructuring the environmental milieu and body language. Among these are instruction by

illustration, voice or reading, disapproval by oral reprimand or tone of voice, training through

repeated correct practice by the child, restructuring the situation, and looking at without
talking. It is apparent that the same practices were used consistently in dealing with

offenders in the school no matter what behavioral problem was being exhibited.

Another interesting study on the behavior problems of Grade I pupils was done by

Suma (1998). She identified the social and emotional problems of the Grade I pupils in

Dipolog, Zambaongadel Norte and she applied necessary guidance procedures to minimize

and solve the problems. She used the “Philippine Personality Inventory Test” the feedback of

which she verified by her own observational studies. Her findings indicated that the common

emotional and social adjustment problems among the fifth-grade pupils were dominance,

submission, introversion, extroversion, emotional instability and social immaturity.

He concluded that the possible causes of these problem were: (a) parents’ over

protection and unfavorable environment that developed children’s dominance, (b) children’s

lack of time and concentration to study because of home and school problems which made

them submissive and introverted, (c) children’s truancy which parents did not keep track of

the activities with their peer groups and later developed extroversions. (d) thwarting of

children’s impulses and desires for achievement and recognition which led to frustrations,

embarrassment and withdrawal from the group, and (e) broken homes or bad home conditions

caused by parental disagreements, poverty and sickness that gave rise to emotional

disturbances to the children.

Taneza (1997) conducted a study to find out the problems of the pupils in the District

of Dolores, Division of Abra. The problems were related to teaching-learning situations,

discipline, home and family life, health and physical development, money and finance, and

social relationships. The findings showed that the problems were traceable directly to

adverse conditions obtained in the homes, such as: Parents’ poor disciplinary methods,

parental neglect and lack of supervision, low household income, malnutrition, unsanitary

ways of living, parents’ vices and quarrels, a poor condition of life. The problems are also
troubles to unfavorable conditions in the school, like lack of effective school-wide guidance

services, poor class management, difficult lessons and inadequate school health and medical

services.

Macrohon (1993), in his study on the problems of grade seven boys of two Catholic

schools in Manila as revealed by the Mooney Problem Checklist, found that the problem area

considered by the subjects as the most common was on the area of school. These problems

were: (1) not interested in certain subjects, (2) not spending enough time in study, and (3)

worried about grades. It is a significant that while the subjects exhibited lack of interest in

school work, they did not disregard the positive value of study and the interest of their

parents.

The Philippine Guidance and Personnel Association collected, organized, integrated

and reviewed 320 theses and six were on behavior problems. Findings showed that teachers

seemed to be highly sensitive to behavior that disturbed classroom routine such as irregular

attendance, tardiness truancy, discourtesy and cheating. They were also disturbed by pre-

delinquent behavior problems such as gambling, smoking, stealing and use of obscene

language. The generally favored children were shy and timid or those manifesting

withdrawal tendencies brought about by rigid conformity to standards sets of adults. The

only marked difference between the ratings of the mental hygienists and those of the teachers

was the complete reversal of the ratings with respect to withdrawal as a problem of the most

serious impact to mental hygienist while teachers rated it as the least serious. Having temper

tantrum was at the bottom of the teachers’ list: The mental hygienist considered it of

considerable importance.

There was a relatively close agreement between the ratings of the groups, with an

obtained rank difference coefficient of correlation of .553. Most of the items rated serious by

teachers were regarded fairly serious by the mental hygienists. Both groups placed
disobedience, tardiness, cheating, lying, irregular attendance and inflicting pain practically on

the same level. All other problems at the head of the teachers’ list such as drinking,

gambling, stealing and vandalism were also regarded as serious by the mental hygienists.

Geronima (1991) in a study of the behavior problems of 500 pupils of Goa School

found the following behavior problems to be prevalent: improper standing and sitting

positions, walking to and fro, chatting with classmates, truancy, uneasiness when sitting,

teasing others and making fun of them, whispering unpleasantly, discourtesy, tossing pieces

of paper and habitual trips to the window and spitting. She also found that pupils who were

truants were also inattentive and showed lack of interest in schoolwork. The majority of the

maladjusted pupils had many frustrating experiences and adaptability failed to respond to

school situations. They showed fear and uncertainly when given tasks to perform.

According to Matus (1997) in her study on behavior problems of intermediate grade

pupils in Kalibo Pilot Elementary School, that the behavior problems reported by parents, as

exhibited by more than 20% of the pupils were, from highest to lowest, boisterousness,

roughness, violence and turbulence 58.97% shyness 56.95% absences 23.99% and lying and

cheating 20.63%.

As reported by teachers, the following were behavior problems exhibited by the

corresponding number of pupils. Neglecting preparation of assigned lesson, 345 pupils,

inability to understand or comprehend, 339 absences, 382 tardiness, 269 inattentiveness, 132

timidity, 176 cutting classes, 143, sensitivity, 131 cheating and dishonesty in work, 126.

2.2.5 Relationship of the Previous Studies to the Present Study

The foregoing chapter discusses various literature and studies related to the present

study. This relation dwells on the fact that these literature and studies served as background

for analysis.
 Detailed studies of the causes, characteristics and needs of children with reading

disabilities and behavioral problems have been discussed.

Macrohon made a study on the problems of grade seven boys of two Catholic schools

in Manila as revealed by the Mooney Problem Checklist, found that the problem area

considered by the subjects as the most common was on the area of school

The present study would make teachers aware of the learning characteristics by the

conduct problem and withdrawn children. Thus, teachers must be keen enough to observe

such behavior to gain knowledge as to the learning methods to be utilized in dealing with

deviation.

Matus in her study on behavior problems of intermediate grade pupils in

KaliboPilotElementary School looked into the possible relationship of the reading disabilities

with the schoollocation, sex, behavioral problems, family size and sibling rank while the

present study concentrated on the relationship of the reading levels and behavioral disorders.

The various readings on historical overview of reading disability, characteristics and

needs of children with reading disabilities, reading problems of slow learners, classification

of behavior disorders, characteristics and needs of children with behavioral problems, factors

associated with behavioral disorders, and other factors affecting reading and behavior

problems like family size, sibling rank, and location of school and gender have been included

as an springboard to the present study.

Several studies conducted on reading disabilities and behavioral problems have shown

that there is a significant relationship between emotional problems and reading disability.

This study will likewise include other factors like sibling rank, family size, school location

and sex.
2.4 Conceptual Framework of the Study

The major concern of the study was to assess the reading difficulties of the Grade III

pupils of Kayok Elementary School. The Conceptual framework of the study is shown on

figure 1.

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

A. The reading difficulties

incurred by the pupils in terms of;
 vocabulary skill
difficulties
 comprehension skill
difficulties
 literary appreciation skill
 Figure 1
Conceptual Framework of the Study

The figure above shows the model of the study. The student background; which is the

gender and grade level are the independent variables while the difficulties in reading is the

dependent variable.

CHATER III

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the research design, research locale, respondents, data

gathering procedures, research instruments, validity and reliability of the research

instruments, and statistical treatment and analysis used in the study.

3.1Research Design

This action research used the descriptive correlational method of research. Descriptive

research involves description, recoding, analysis and interpretation of conditions that

currently exist. The main aims are to describe the nature of a condition as it exists at the time

of the study and to explore the causes of the particular situation. This action research utilized
triangulation method as a data gathering procedure through survey questionnaire,

observation, interview and field notes.

3.2Research Locale

This study will be conducted in Kayok Elementary School. The Kayok Elementary

School is a public elementary school located in Brgy. Kayok,Liloy Zamboanga del Norte. It

enrolls 189 students in grades 1-6. Kayok Elementary School is the 4 th largest public school

in liloy Zamboanga del Norte and 1,200 registered populations. It has 31.5 students to every

teacher. Each grade level has one section. This school establish to accommodate and serve

quality education to low-income students. Urban students are more likely to attend schools

with high concentration of low-income students.

The mission is to encourage each child to become a lifelong learner by performing to become

a lifelong learner by performing to his or her potential in a safe, nurturing and challenging

learning environment.

The vision is to provide a climate of strong supportive relationships and academic excellence

in order to promote self-confident, capable lifelong learning.

 Figure 2. Kayok Elementary School

3.3Respondents of the Study

The respondents of this study as reflected in the table was the 31 grade III pupils

enrolled in Kayok Elementary School of year 2023-2024.The study used the total

enumeration of samples of 31 grade III pupils comprises 13 boys and 18 girls.

Table 1

Participant Demographic information

Fifth Grade Total

Boys 13

Girls 18

31

3.4 Data gathering procedure

The researchers secured a written permit from the school head of Kayok Elementary

School to conduct the test. The researchers administered the Questionnaire to the
respondents, and maximum of two (2) hours. The researchers administer the test on time that

the respondents are in vacant so that the said activity cannot affect their daily academic

schedule. During the test conduction, the researchers made sure that instructions were clearly

given so as to facilitate correct responses from the respondents. The questionnaire was

distributed to the 31 grade III pupils in Kayok Elementary School. Immediately after all the

questionnaires were answered, they were retrieved. The gathered results were tabulated, for

analysis and interpretation.

3.5 Research Instrument

The following are the instruments used in the study to gather the data.

A self-prepared questionnaire with four major parts will serve as the data gathering

instrument in this action research. Part I will deal with the profile of the respondents. Part II

will deal on items that will measure the level of reading performance of the respondents. Part

III will deal with the difficulties the pupil respondents have in learning how to read. Part IV

will deal on items that exhibits the reasons why the pupil respondents were on non-reader and

frustration level.

3.6 Validity and Reliability of Research Instruments

The researcher adopted an instrument from the related study entitled “The Reading

Difficulties of Grade One Pupils in Macatoc Elementary School,”. The research instrument is

a type of survey test questionnaire that was distributed to the respondents.

The research instrument was validated through submitting the Questionnaire to the

adviser of the researchers for correction and enrichment. The researchers presented it first to

the research facilitator for the approval and validation in terms of objectives, grammar,

content and appropriate number of items. With the comments and suggestions of the research
facilitator, the Questionnaires were revised and finalized. After the checking and validation,

the researcher then came up with a revised version of the instruments that made the tool more

reliable and valid to be administered to the respondents.

3.7Statistical Treatment and Analysis

Descriptive statistics such as mean and rank will be used in

the study in treating the data gathered.

The formula that will be used were the following:

 Mean

Formula: X=∑ X

Where: X = mean

∑X = total score

n = number of respondents
Reading Disability Check (/)if you

experience this
Pupil’s Perspective

I. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

1. I don't know any words that rhyme with cat.

2. What do you mean when you say, "What sounds are in the

word brush?"
 3. I'm not sure how many syllables are in my name.

4. I don't know what sounds are the same in bit and hit.

II. Word Decoding and Phonics

1. I just seem to get stuck when I try to read a lot of the words

in this chapter.

2. Figuring out the words takes so much of my energy, I can't

even think about what it means.

3. I don't know how to sound out these words.

4. I know my letters and sounds, but I just can't read words on

a page.

III. Vocabulary

1. I heard my friend tell what happened in the movie but I

didn't really understand what he said about it.

2. I feel like I just use the same words over and over again in

my writing.

3. I don't like to read on my own because I don't understand

lots of the words in the book.

IV. Fluency
1. I just seem to get stuck when I try to read a lot of the

words in this chapter.

2. It takes me so long to read something.

3. Reading through this book takes so much of my energy, I

can't even think about what it means.

V. Comprehension

1. It takes me so long to read something. It's hard to follow

along with everything going on.

2. I didn't really get what that book was about.

3. Why did that character do that? I just don't get it!

4. I'm not sure what the most important parts of the book

were.

5. I couldn't really create an image in my head of what was

going on.

VI. Other Sources of Reading Disability

1. I have difficulty hearing others

2. I have difficulty talking with others

 3. I can’t remember what other says

4. I can’t focus on what I should read

Reading Disability Check (/)if the

pupil have this

Teacher’s Perspective

I. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

3 She doesn't correctly complete blending activities; for

example, put together sounds /k/ /i/ /ck/ to make the word

kick.

4 He doesn't correctly complete phoneme substitution

activities; for example, change the /m/ in mate to /cr/ in order

to make crate

5 He has a hard time telling how many syllables there are in

the word paper.

6 He has difficulty with rhyming, syllabication, or spelling a

new word by its sound.

II. Word Decoding and Phonics

1. She has difficulty matching sounds and letters, which can

affect reading and spelling.

2. She decodes in a very labored manner.

3. He has trouble reading and spelling phonetically.

4. She has a high degree of difficulty with phonics patterns and

activities.

5. He guesses at words based on the first letter or two.

6. Even though I taught several short vowel sounds (or other

letter sounds or patterns), the corresponding letters are not

showing up in his writing samples.

7. Even though I taught certain letter patterns, she isn't able to

recognize them when reading words.

III. Vocabulary

1. She's unable to tell about her day in a way that makes

sense.

2. She misuses common words.

3. He doesn't link words from a book to similar words from

another book or from real life.

4. He's often not able to find the right word to describe

something.

5. She has questions about a lot of word meanings in a grade

appropriate text.

6. He seems to have a weak vocabulary.

7. She is not able to make connections among words in

various texts.

IV. Fluency

1. He knows how to read words but seems to take a long time

to read a short book or passage silently.

2. She reads a book with no expression.

3. He stumbles a lot and loses his place when reading

something aloud.

4. She reads aloud very slowly.

5. She moves her mouth when reading silently

(subvocalizing).

6. Her results on words-correct-per-minute assessments are

below grade level or targeted benchmark.

7. She has difficulty and grows frustrated when reading

aloud, either because of speed or accuracy.

8. She does not "chunk" words into meaningful units.

9. When reading, he doesn't pause at meaningful breaks

within sentences or paragraphs.

10.He does not read aloud with expression; that is, he does

not change his tone where appropriate.

V. Comprehension

1. She's not able to summarize a passage or a book.

2. He might be able to tell you what happened in a story, but

can't explain why events went the way they did.

3. She can't explain what a character's thoughts or feelings

might have been.

4. He doesn't link events in a book to similar events from

another book or from real life.

5. He doesn't link events in a book to similar events from

another book or from real life.

6. He seems to focus on the "wrong" aspect of a passage; for

example, he concentrates so much on the details that the

 main idea is lost.

7. She can tell the outcome of a story, but cannot explain

why things turned out that way.

8. He does not go behind what is presented in a book to think

about what might happen next or why characters took the

action they did.

9. She brings up irrelevant information when trying to relate

a passage to something in her own life.

10.He seems to have a weak vocabulary.

11.She cannot tell the clear, logical sequence of events in a

story.

12.He does not pick out the key facts from informational text.

13.He cannot give you a "picture" of what's going on in a

written passage; for example, what the characters look like

or details of where the story takes place.

VI. Other Sources of Reading Disability

1. It seems that she can’t hear me

2. It seems that she can’t talk

3. She doesn’t remember anything

4. She has difficulty in focusing