Reading, Comprehension and Retention Analysis of Intermediate Pupils of Unisan, Agdangan and Padre Burgos Quezon: Basis for a Development Program

Abstract

This study focused on determining the prevailing problems of the intermediate pupils from selected schools in Unisan, Agdangan and Padre Burgos Quezon with regards their reading, comprehension and retention. The study benchmarked on the term RECORE ANALYSIS (RECORE being the initials of reading, comprehension and retention) as an approach to trace out the common problems on those three aspects. This is classified as qualitative approach in which the proponents initially observed the reading behavior of the pupil participants which they did in their Field Study observations. The rationale is that within the locality, it has been observable that the pupils in general are finding difficulties. Through the assistance of selected core students in the class, the proponents conducted one on one reading drills to pupil-participants to determine the problems they encounter. The pupils were given three cycles of reading sessions to determine the consistency of encountering difficulties. The problems which came out were as follows: on reading, issues in sounding out words, difficulty in recognizing individual words, confusion between various letters and their sound, lack of expression in reading, missing punctuation marks while reading and slow reading pace; whereas, in comprehension: confusion in the meaning of individual words and their usage in sentences, difficulty connecting different contexts in a paragraph, missing out or skipping significant details, lack of concentration while reading and inability to distinguish between important and trivial information. With retention, this include difficulty relating what is being currently read with previous knowledge, trouble in real-life application of information gathered and difficulty memorizing or recapitulating the information read. The output of the study is a development program proposed to the participating elementary schools to minimize if not totally resolve the issues on reading, comprehension and retention.