An In-Depth Study of the Factors That Inhibit Reading Comprehension at Matabungkay National High School and the Interventions Used

Abstract

Introduction

Low reading performance and underachievement in reading comprehension are understandable in the elementary grade level. But finding slow readers with low comprehension and inadequate retention of what was read is a dismal occurrence in the high school level. This study is a step in improving the reading comprehension of students in the high school level.

Methods

This study will use the qualitative descriptive design with fifty high school students as respondents and those who got the lowest assessment scores in oral reading as subjects. This mixed design suits the objectives of this study since there is a need to determine the perception of the high school students on the factors that affect their reading comprehension and at the same time conduct an in-depth interview of those who got lowest scores in the oral reading assessment on the first semester of the school year 2017-2018.

Results

The initial result of the Pre-Oral Reading given on the on-set of the first semester shows 70% of the respondents as independent readers and the remaining 30% needs support from external references. Intervention strategies presented where Project DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) and Project RAD(Read, Answer, Discuss), a program initiated by the English Department as part of their English Month Celebration, and was continued because of the positive development observed from the outputs of the students. These interventions also showed good outcomes from the respondents who have undergone the projects.

Discussions

The results reflected the positive effects of the interventions used to the respondents. It shows that with an enhanced technique in teaching along with other reading interventions and support from teachers and parents, non-independent readers can be developed into dependent readers.