The Reading Level of Grade 12 ABM Students as Basis for

A Reading Intervention Program

An Action Research

Conducted at the District of Cardona

Cardona, Rizal

MA. ANGELICA S. PADIN

Researcher

Cardona Senior High School

LUCILLIE P. ANGELES

Principal II

Cardona Senior High School

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 The Reading Level of Grade 12 ABM Students as Basis for
A Reading Intervention Program

Ma. Angelica S. Padin

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to identify the reading level of Grade 12 ABM students as basis for a
reading intervention program of Cardona Senior High School. In the pursuit of delivering
quality education to ABM students, this research was steered to enhance their academic
performance since they show more interests in numeracy than literacy. Descriptive research
design was used to empirically present the traits and characteristics of a target population.
The result of this study will indeed be beneficial to other teachers teaching core and applied
courses. Therefore, it is highly recommended that a similar study should be done to other
strands to find out where students can learn best.

Keywords: reading, comprehension, ABM, word recognition, independent, instructional,

frustration

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I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Reading is one of the skills that teachers want to develop among their students
because it is the key to vast information that is just under their nose. Leipzig (n.d.) explained
that reading is a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency,
and motivation. It is one of the responsibilities of the teachers to help their students learn
how to integrate these facets to make meaning from print. By doing so, it requires the
reader to identify the words in print in a process called word recognition, construct an
understand from them which is called comprehension, coordinate identifying words and
making meaning so that reading is automatic and accurate which is an achievement called
fluency. All of these when weaved together is reading in its fullest sense.

Although reading should be taught during the formative years in school, there are still
those who need help especially in comprehension. Leipzig (n.d.) stated that to develop
comprehension, children need to develop schema or background knowledge about many
topics, extensive oral and print vocabularies, understandings about how English language
works and how print works, and strategies for constructing meaning from text and for
problem solving when meaning breaks down.

Reading is more than pronouncing the words; there should be understanding.

“Reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from text,” retrieved from
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/?q=instruction/reading_comprehension (last accessed
on October 8, 2018). During the process of comprehension, readers decode the written text
and then use their schema to be able to understand the writer’s message.

Poor reading comprehension is reflected through the academic performance of the

students, even for Senior High School (SHS). SHS teachers are compelled to find out the
root cause of students who have diverse learning pace. This is the reason why PHIL-IRI is
needed to check the reading level of the SHS students since comprehension can have a
domino effect to their performance.

Per DepEd Order No. 14, s. 2018 under the Policy Guidelines on the Administration
of the Revised Philippine Informal Reading Inventory which aims to make every Filipino child
a reader and a writer at his/her grade level. PHIL-IRI aims to measure and describe the
learners’ reading performance in both English and Filipino languages in oral reading, silent
reading, and listening comprehension. They are going to be categorized under the following
levels: independent, instructional, and frustration.

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II. INNOVATION, INTERVENTION, AND STRATEGIES

“Comprehension is affected by the reader's knowledge of the topic, knowledge of

language structures, knowledge of text structures and genres, knowledge of cognitive and
metacognitive strategies, their reasoning abilities, their motivation, and their level of
engagement,” retrieved from http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/?
q=instruction/reading_comprehension (last accessed on October 11, 2018).

Reading and comprehension come hand in hand or else, the whole experience is
going to be frustrating and pointless. A good comprehension has a major effect in the entire
lives of the students. Therefore, finding out the reading level of the students through the
PHIL-IRI can help teachers HELP the students perform better in their academics.

Using PHIL-IRI can be a source of data in planning, designing/redesigning the

reading instruction of the teachers and the school’s reading programs or activities to improve
the overall school’s reading performance.

III. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study aimed to identify the reading level of Grade 12 Accountancy, Business,
and Management (ABM) students of Cardona Senior High School as basis for a reading
intervention program:
Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:
1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of their age and sex?
2. What is the reading level of Grade 12 ABM students based on the result of the
Reading Test in terms of:
a. Word Recognition and
b. Comprehension?
3. Which among the areas of reading do the students find challenging?

IV. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The results of this study will be significant to the following:

Administrators / Academic Coordinators. This study will be their basis for
reinforcing remedial measures to students who need support in reading comprehension.

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 Teachers. This study will serve as guide in designing their daily lesson logs to
include and strengthen literacy in their lessons to enhance the vocabulary skills of the
students in specific courses.
Students. The results of this study will help them improve their vocabulary which will
then affect their comprehension in content specific texts.

V. ACTION RESEARCH METHOD

Participants and/or Other Sources of Data

The participants of this study were Grade 12 ABM students of Cardona Senior High
School for SY 2018-2019. There were 59 ABM students enrolled during the First Semester.
The confidence level of this study was set to 95% with the margin of error at 5%.

Data Gathering Methods

The researcher submitted a research proposal which was approved by the

coordinator of Cardona Senior High School. Below is the researcher’s work plan:
Table 1
The Researcher’s Work Plan

Time Frame Activities

 Submitted Action Research Proposal

July 2, 2018
to SHS Coordinator

July 3, 2018  Approved Action Research Title

 Started the PHIL-IRI Oral Reading

July 9 - August 3, 2018
among Grade 12 ABM students

 Started the PHIL-IRI Silent Reading

among Grade 12 ABM students

 Conducted Comprehension Test

August 6 - 7, 2018

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 August 8 – 22, 2018  Interpreted data gathered

August 28, 2018  Completed interpretation of data

Data Analysis

This study aimed to empirically present the reading level of Grade 12 ABM students.
Therefore, the descriptive research design was utilized for the realization of this study. The
main method of analysis used is descriptive statistics. It typically used measures like
frequency and percentage to describe the data. It used visuals where data was summarized
and presented through tables, graphs, and charts for easier comprehension and analysis.

VI. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

Table 2
Frequency, Percentage, and Rank Distribution by Age

Age Frequency Percentage Rank

16 6 10% 3

17 36 61% 1

18 10 17% 2

19 3 5% 5

20 and above 4 7% 4

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 Total 59 100.00%

It could be seen on the table that 36 or 61% of the total population of Grade 12 ABM
students are 17 years old. There is variation in the ideal age to start school for each child,
because it’s not simply about the readiness of the individual child. It’s also about the family
context and the readiness of the school for that child to start. In other words, what happens
at school once the child gets there is more important than their age as retrieved from
http://theconversation.com/the-right-age-to-start-school-varies-for-each-child-98704 (last
accessed on August 8, 2018).

Table 3
Frequency, Percentage, and Rank Distribution by Gender

Gender

Gender Frequency Percentage Rank

Male 20 34% 2

Female 39 66% 1

Total
59 100.00%

Table 3 shows that 39 or 66% of the respondents were female. There were only 20 or 34%
male respondents in this study. Women are now more than a third more likely to go to
university than men, according to new figures that show the gap between the sexes as
retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/aug/28/university-gender-gap-
at-record-high-as-30000-more-women-accepted (last accessed on August 16, 2018).

Table 4
Frequency, Percentage, and Rank Distribution in Terms of Word Recognition

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 Reading Level Frequency Percentage Rank

Independent 59 100% 1

Instructional 0 0%

Frustration 0 0%

TOTAL 59 100%

The table shows that 59 or 100% of the ABM students are under the independent level when
it comes to word recognition. “Researchers have determined that if students were exposed
to systematic phonics instruction in the early grades, the current percentage of the
population that struggle in reading would drop from approximately 30 percent to well under
10 percent,” retrieved from https://weallcanread.com/the-cause-of-poor-reading-skills/ (last
accessed on August 16, 2018).

Table 5
Frequency, Percentage, and Rank Distribution in Terms of Comprehension

Scores Obtained Frequency Percentage Rank

Independent 0 0%

Instructional 1 2% 2

58 98% 1

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 Frustration

TOTAL 59 100%

The table reflects that 58 or 98% of the total population of ABM is under the frustration level.
“On any test of comprehension, there are two dependent variables: the speed of the
response to a test item and accuracy,” according to McKoon and Ratcliff (2017).

Table 6
Frequency, Percentage, and Rank Distribution in Terms of the Reading Level of Grade
12 ABM Students

Frequency Percentage Rank

Independent 0 0% 3

Instructional 1 2% 2

Frustration 58 98% 1

TOTAL 59 100%

The table shows that 58 or 98% of the total ABM population is under frustration level. A
study published by the U.S. Department of Education, Preventing Reading Failure: The
Myths of Reading Instruction, found that 90 percent of remedial reading students today are
not able to decode fluently, accurately, and at an automatic level of response.

Figure 1
Summary of the Results of the Reading Test

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Based on the graph, it could be seen that the ABM students can recognize words with a
frequency score of 59 and a percentage distribution of 100% but have poor comprehension
with a frequency score of 58 and a percentage distribution of 98%. As retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-research-tells-us-about-reading-comprehension-
and-comprehension-instruction, “The answer to the question as to why such a high
percentage of our population struggle as readers is that they struggle because they were
never taught systematic phonics as young children or at any other age for that matter.”

VII. REFLECTION/ACTION PLAN

Based on the data gathered, 66% of the ABM students were female and 61% of their
total population was aged 17.

The students reading level in terms of word recognition was independent with a
frequency score of 59 or 100%. In terms of comprehension, only 1 or 2% of the total
population was placed under the instructional level. It can be interpreted that the students
can recognize words but did not understand them.

Vocabulary is one factor that affects the comprehension of the students. Therefore,
the reading intervention program that needs to be designed to help them should focus more
on developing their vocabulary.

Objective Strategy Time Frame Persons Involved

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To facilitate a LAC Principal
session about the Department Head
LAC Session January 2019
Reading Level of Master Teachers
ABM Students ABM Teachers

REFERENCES

Cicerchia, Meredith. (20 December 2016). 3 common reading problems for students.
Retrieved from https://www.readandspell.com/common-reading-problems
DO 14, S. 2018 – Policy guidelines on the administration of the revised Philippine
informal reading inventory. (26 March 2018). Retrieved from
http://www.deped.gov.ph/2018/03/26/do-14-s-2018-policy-guidelines-on-the-
administration-of-the-revised-philippine-informal-reading-inventory/
Leipzig, Diane. (n.d.). What is reading? Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-reading
Johnson, Kathy. (23 April 2014). Causes of poor reading comprehension. Retrieved
from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140423021016-43860532-causes-of-
poor-reading-comprehension
McKoon, Gail and Roger Ratcliff. (16 May 2017). Adults With Poor Reading Skills and
the Inferences They Make During Reading. Retrieved from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10888438.2017.1287188

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Reading comprehension. (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/?q=instruction/reading_comprehension
The cause of poor reading skills. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://weallcanread.com/the-
cause-of-poor-reading-skills/
The ‘right’ age to start school varies for each child. (25 June 2018). Retrieved from
https://theconversation.com/the-right-age-to-start-school-varies-for-each-child-
98704
University gender gap at record high as 30,000 more women accepted. (n.d.) Retrieved
from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/aug/28/university-gender-gap-
at-record-high-as-30000-more-women-accepted
What research tells us about reading comprehension and comprehension instruction.
(2002). Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-research-tells-us-
about-reading-comprehension-and-comprehension-instructio

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