Reading Comprehension of Grade V Pupils in Reading Short Stories

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Reading is very important in our daily lives. In reading, decoding is not enough. A reader must be able to understand what he is reading. In reading instruction, comprehension is the goal of every teacher. Research has shown that reading comprehension improves most when teachers provide explicit comprehension instructions to children. The study aims to determine the reading comprehension level of pupils to serve as baseline in preparing reading interventions that would develop the comprehension skills of pupils in order to achieve higher level of proficiency.

METHODS

Descriptive quantitative research method was used which aims to identify pupils' level of reading comprehension and their ability in answering the five dimensional level questions. Teacher-made pre-reading assessment test was used as the main instrument in gathering the data. 18 males and 27 females of grade five pupils for SY 2016 were the respondents. Frequency and percentage were the statistical tools applied in treating the data. Comprehension test questions with five dimensional levels based from short story read were answered. Test result was used to determine the percentage of pupils belonging to low level of reading comprehension and the level of questions pupils find difficulty to answer.

RESULTS

Out of 45 pupils tested 65 % was at frustration, 22% was instructional while only 13% was at independent level as readers. Most of the pupils were at the literal level of comprehension only. They found difficulty in answering evaluative level questions. With these results, the researcher prepared reading intervention measures to alleviate the number of frustration level readers and improve the level of pupils' reading comprehension. The reading intervention measures were focused on pupils reading gap to be addressed. A Short Story a Day with 5 evaluative level questions was implemented. Pupils were exposed to answer questions that needed higher order thinking skills. The results were recorded and evaluated.

DISCUSSIONS

The results demonstrate that pupils had difficulty in answering evaluative level questions which needed higher order thinking skills thus there is indeed a need to determine the pupils' comprehension level first as a basis in designing the appropriate reading activities or intervention measures. This must be fully implemented, monitored and evaluated. Moreover, another study should be conducted to determine the effectiveness of intervention measures in improving pupils' reading comprehension.