Back to basic: Reasons and Challenges of

Struggling Readers

BACKROUND OF THE STUDY

Reading is the most important component in the terms of studying, in short, you can't
gain knowledge without learning how to read, or in other terms it is the basic block of
learning. Reading sharpens your mind, helps it to function, and improves your reading
comprehension to another whole level. There are lots of benefits of reading it exercises
the brain, improves concentration, increases general knowledge, improves literacy,
and helps you to form or generate new ideas. It means knowledge is nothing without
reading. Reading is used in our daily life it used to understand and communicate with
others. If you go overseas reading is the number one requirement to understand the
language, signs, and literature of one country. And you can't speak without knowing
how to read. Reading comprehension of a person is depending on their environment if
the surrounding of one person has a bad impact on the mental health of a child then
it can lead to a psychological problem that can cause low reading comprehension.

One-third of ten-year-old is globally estimated to be able to read and understand

a simply written story and the rest two-third are unable to cover this marker for
minimum proficiency in reading comprehension (Sofia,2022). It means 64 percent of
ten-year-old were unable to read or having reading difficulties. Reading difficulties
occur in twenty percent of the population (Shaywitz,2003). While four percent of
school-age students receive special education services for reading disabilities. It means
every country needs to improve the quality of its education in terms of reading
comprehension. An average of between twenty and thirty percent of children are
having difficulties in terms of reading but the actual percentage depends on the
characteristics of the students and the quality of the institution of their school.

In terms of education, the Philippines is one of the competitive nations due to

the k-12 education proposed by the Department of Education but reading is the
number one problem that blocked the way of education to its improvement because as
of 2023 based on the review of world population Philippines was ranked 55th in terms
of education and ranked the lowest in terms of reading comprehension out of 79
countries. To solve this problem the Philippines established the program Basa
Pilipinas which supports the government's early-grade reading program but in terms
of English proficiency as of 2023 Philippines' rank was dropped to 22nd and was
categorized as the third largest English-speaking country in the world. The Philippines
needs to improve the quality of its education to improve the reading comprehension of
the students studying in this state.

In paringo national high school in overall record there are 7.59493671% of learners
who is not actively readers out of 711 learners and in senior high school learners there
are 7.73195876% who is also not active readers. This collected data means that
Paringao National High School has more population of active readers and less
population of non active readers but this percentage is not a stable it can increase or
decrease due to dynamic changes. However even the active readers percentage is high
we cannot say that Paringao National High School is non active readers free because
whatever percentage it is high or low we cannot assure a one thing is a perfect even if
you say that non readers already improve we cannot call it 100% success rate because
there are always 1.11% possibility of changes.

Specifically this study aims to understand the reasons and challenges of struggling
readers
Thus,this study answers the following problems
1.What are the reasons of poor reading comprehension?
2.What are the challenges they face on having reading difficulties?
3.How do they cope with the effects of reading difficulties?

1.To solve the problems of reading complexity of learners.

2.The impact of having a poor reading comprehension in students..
3.The results of the conducted study.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

The benefits of this study points about the importance of reading comprehension in
daily life of students.To dig the reasons and challenges on why they are encountering
difficulties in reading and inform students of what are the effects of having
prominent reading comprehension.There are a lot of benefits of reading,to help and
develop the brain functions,increase general knowledge,improves literacy and to form
or generate ideas.The beneficiaries of this study includes learners ,parents,school
admin,teachers and Department of Education (DepEd)
Scope and Delimitation
This study focuses on the reasons and challenges of struggling readers among the
Junior High School and Senior High School learners of Paringao National High School
during the 3rd Quarter of year 2022-2023.It is delimited on the reasons why students
have difficulties they encounter and how do struggling readers cope with the
challenges they encounter.

Chapter 2
Research design

This study will utilize case study method because it focuses on the reasons and
challenges of struggling readers. According to Takahashi et al. (2019), the case study
has a various applications, in light of epistemological principles, as well as the criteria
for rigor and validity. The uses and purpose of this case study was to examine the
progress and the different literacy strategies used by a struggling readers. This design
is appropriate in this study because it will determine the reasons of poor reading
comprehension, the challenges they face or having reading difficulties and now do they
cope with the effects of reading difficulties. In addition, qualitative research will be
used in the study Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-
numerical data (eg. text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or
experiences. It can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new
ideas for research (Bhandari, 2020). This means that qualitative research methods are
concered with. -the planning, designing and implementing of strategies to collect and
analyze non-numerical data This approach is appropriate to the study because it will
utilize qualitative technique such as interview and observation to identify the reasons
and challenges of struggling readers.

Sources of data
The participants of this study are the struggling readers of Paringao National High
school The -participants will be selected using purposive sampling According to
campbell et al (2020), purposive sampling is matching of the sample to the aims and
objectives of the research in which the researchers need to choose the ones who have
the same characteristics that connected in our study. • Purposive is the most
applicable sampling technique as it identifies and select individuals, cases, or events
that can provide the best information to achieve the study's objective. The participants
of the " • study are selected based on the following criteria 14 The participants of the
study are learners of Paringao National High school 2.1 The participants are currently
enrolled during 2nd semester of school year 2022-2023 3.) The participants are
included in the list of non-readers.
Instrumentation and data collection
The researcher will gather informations by asking advisers of Junior and Senior high
school of Paringao National High school to provide the list of students who struggling
in reading.
The researchers will use interview method to draw out informations from the
struggling readers of Paringao National High school. The questions will be developed
by the researcher themselves.
The questions will focus on the reasons and challenges of struggling readers. The
researchers will conduct the interview themselves. They will use mobile phone to
record the conversation of participants and interviewers. The researchers will write
down the answers of the participants to facilitate the recall of information.
The researchers will allow experts to the interview before the researchers will conduct
the interview The validators are three English teachers of Paringao NHS. The validity
rating __________Indicating__________. Which means the interview questions were
appropriate for the study. The comments and suggestions of the validators are
incorporated in the interview questions.

Data analysis
This study will utilize thematic analysis to threat or analyze gathered data According
to Jack Caulfield (2019), thematic analysis is a method of analyzing qualitative data
which is usually applied to a set of text. In this study it will follow different processes
1:) Transcription, 2.) coding and 3.1 Theming In transcription process, unnecessary
words and expressions will be removed and grammatical errors will be corrected
Afterwards, coding will be used to assign numbers on gathered data which are
connected or similar from others. Lastly, themes will be generated from the codes of
the gathered data.

Ethical Consideration
In order to safeguard the ethics of the research the following measure will be observed
Before the conduct of the study the researchers will ask permission of the guardian of
struggling readers of Paringao National High school to sign the letter of consent as
consideration of confidentiality on the information, answer and profile that provided by
the participant. The researcher will discuss all the process to the participant that they
are free to withdraw their consent anytime in any case of problem and a normality.
The researchers also acknowledge the proper. owned of the differ sources that were
used in this study.
Chapter 3

Questions Response Code Theme

What are the Participant 1: dahil No interest in
reasons of your hindi ako mahilig reading Lack of
poor reading magbasa. motivation
comprehension? Participant 2: mahirap
intindihin yung mga Word recognition Low
letra. difficulty comprehension
Participant 3: haan ko
ammo dagijay ag Word recognition
sasaruno nga letra isu difficulty
haan ko mabasa.
Participant 4:
pagkabulol at Word
nahihirapan na recognition/pron
magbalikas ng mga letra unciation
kaya mabagal at difficulty
nahihirapang magbasa
at nahihirapan ding
intindihin yung mga
salita.
Participant 5:
nakakaranas ako ng
pagbabaliktad ng mga Word recognition
letra habang ako ay nag difficulty
babasa.
What are the Participant 1: minsan Social pressure
challenges that tinatawanan nila ako at
you’ve face while tinutukso kaya
having reading nagdadabog nalang ako.
difficulties? Participant 2: Being bullied
tinatawanan nila ako Discrimination
Partcipant 3: tinutukso
nila ako na hindi raw
ako marunong
magbasa. Word recognition
Participant 4: difficulty
nahihirapan akong
maintindihan yung mga
lection dahil
nahihirapan Recognition Low
maintindihan yung mga difficulty comprehension
words at nahihirapan
ding makapagsagot.
Participant 5: hindi ko
maintindihan ang isang
bagay.
How did you cope Participant 1: I read 1 exercise reading Reading
up with the effect paragraph of words skill enhancement
 of having reading every day.
difficulties? Partricipant 2: tinuruan
ako ng mga classmates assistance of
ko. others
Participant 3: sinuruan
dak jay kabsat ko nga Social support
agbasa inaldaw. guidance of
Participant 4: relatives
pagkakaroon ng mga
mabubuting kaibigan na
handang tumulong help by friends
tinutulungan nila ako
kapag nahihirapan ako
na magbasa. Self improvement
Participant 5: natuto
ako at nagbigay ito ng
aral sa aking sarili.

Personal
development

Chapter 4
1. The researcher draw information's from the participants that the reason of poor
reading comprehension of Senior High School learners on Paringao National
High School are lack of motivation and low comprehension.
2. The researchers found that the challenges Senior High School learners facing
while having difficulty in reading are Discrimination and low comprehension.
3. The researchers found that the coping mechanism of learners in reading
difficulty are reading enhancement, social support and self improvement.

Findings Conclusion Recommendation

Lack of Base on the information of The researcher suggest the following to
motivation and researchers findings in solve this problems.
low their study the researchers 1. Schools may implement engaging
comprehension conclude that that the poor and relevant reading materials that
reading comprehension of pique the students' interest and
Senior High School curiosity.
learners at Paringao 2. School may incorporate interactive
National High School can and enjoyable reading activities,
be attributed to two main such as group discussions, debates,
or projects, to make the learning
factors and it is lack of
process more exciting.
motivation and low
3. Schools may recognize and reward
comprehension. These students' reading achievements to
factors are likely to have a boost their motivation and sense of
significant impact on the accomplishment.
students' ability to 4. Schools may provide a supportive
understand and interpret and encouraging learning
 written texts effectively. It environment that promotes a
is important to address positive attitude towards reading.
both of these factors in 5. Schools may offer targeted
order to improve the interventions and remedial
reading comprehension programs to address students'
skills of the learners at specific reading comprehension
Paringao National High difficulties and provide regular
opportunities for independent
School. Which means this
reading, allowing students to
two factors can be use to
practice their comprehension skills
formulate solution to poor and build their reading stamina.
reading comprehension of 6. Learners may communicate with
learners. parents or guardians regularly to
keep them informed about their
child's reading progress and areas
that require improvement and
encourage parents to foster a
reading-friendly environment at
home by providing access to books,
setting aside dedicated reading time,
and engaging in reading-related
activities with their child.
Discrimination Based on the findings of The researchers suggest the following
and low the researchers study the solution for these factors.
comprehension researcher conclude that 1. The government may promote an
Senior High School inclusive and supportive school
learners facing challenges environment that values diversity
with reading difficulties and treats all learners with fairness
encounter two main factors and respect and implement anti-
it is discrimination and low discrimination policies and
comprehension. Which procedures to address any instances
of bias or unfair treatment based on
means learners are facing
factors such as background,
unfair or bias treatment
abilities, or personal characteristics.
based on their 2. School may implement explicit
background, abilities and teaching of comprehension
personal characteristics. strategies, such as predicting,
This discrimination could questioning, summarizing, and
potentially hinder the making connections to enhance
reading progress and understanding and offer ongoing
overall learning experience formative assessments to monitor
of learners and learners' progress and provide
additionally, the timely feedback for improvement.
researchers identified low 3. Schools may establish peer support
comprehension as another programs where students can
key challenge faced by collaborate, mentor, and assist each
other in improving their reading
these learners, indicating
skills and provide resources and
that learners struggle to
tools for learners to set personal
understand and interpret
 written texts effectively reading goals and track their
addressing this two factors progress.
may give crucial support
on the enhancement of
reading abilities of
learners.
Reading Base on the findings of The researchers suggest the following
enhancement, researchers study the possible solutions.
social support researchers conclude that 1. The government may provide access
and self learners facing reading to a variety of reading materials at
improvement. difficulties employ various different reading levels and genres
coping mechanisms to to cater to diverse interests and
overcome their challenges. abilities and organize reading clubs
Learners coping or book discussion groups to foster
mechanism include a sense of community and
encourage learners to share their
reading enhancement,
reading experiences and
social support, and self-
recommendations.
improvement. Learners 2. Parents and guardians may involve
engage in activities or in supporting learners' reading
strategies to enhance their journey by organizing parent
reading skills. This may workshops, providing resources,
involve using reading aids, and encouraging reading activities
such as dictionaries or at home.
online resources, 3. The government may establish Offer
participating in reading study skills workshops or guidance
programs or workshops, or on effective reading strategies,note-
practicing reading taking techniques, and time
comprehension exercises to management to empower learners in
improve their overall their self-improvement journey.
reading abilities. Learners
also seek support from
others, such as teachers,
peers, or family members,
who can provide guidance,
encouragement, and
assistance. Social support
can involve receiving extra
help, engaging in group
discussions, or receiving
feedback and constructive
criticism to aid their
reading development. And
the last is Learners take
personal initiative and
responsibility for their own
reading improvement. They
 may set goals, create study
plans, practice regularly,
employ self-reflection
strategies and they try to
learn from what they
experienced to identify
areas for improvement and
implement strategies to
address their reading
difficulties. This coping
mechanism illustrates that
every student has different
strategies to enhance their
reading abilities and
overcome their reading
difficulties and
understanding and
promoting these coping
mechanisms can aid
educators and support
systems in providing
effective assistance to
learners facing reading
challenges.

Correlations
Lack of motivation
(Dislen 2013) Students who are less motivated and have poor academic performance
due to boring lessons and complex tasks without detailed explanation from the
lecture makes them feel unable to do the given task, less confident in learning and
deficient in communicating with lectures.
Low comprehension
(Dias et.al 2015) comprehension is the most important goal of component reading, and
many component involve in reading comprehension are not unique for written
language. It involves all elements reading process and being deficient to it affect all
aspects of ones person understanding and academic performance.

Discrimination
S Brown 2015) Learners who experience discrimination feel the worse about their
academic abilities and are less likely feel they belong at school, when compared
against students who doesn’t experience discrimination. This provoke stress responses
that are similarly to post traumatic disorder.
Reading enhancement
(Protacio 2017) reading engagement accounts for students’ motivation to read,
participate in social activities that promote reading, use learning strategies while
reading and developing meaning from texts.

Social support
(Bradley, 2016) social involvement play an important role in the development of
primary school students' reading comprehension skills and many study shows that
social involvement was related to students success.

Self improvement

(Moller et.al 2004) Reading self concept can be understood as people’s mental
representations of themselves, including cognitive-evaluative aspects and beliefs about
their own reading-related skills and reading comprehension in general.

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Documentation

Participant 1 interviewed by face to face interview

Participant 2 interviewed by face to face interview

Participant 3 interviewed by face to face voice recording

Participant 4 interviewed by face to face voice recording

Participant 5 interviewed by face to face voice recording