Reading Problems and Skills of the Primary Pupils of Public Elementary Schools of Cluster 6 and 7 in West 1, Calamba City

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

This study aims to determine the relationship between the reading problems of primary pupils of public elementary schools of Cluster 6 and 7 West 1, Calamba City and their reading skills for the school year 2014-2015.

METHODS

The descriptive method of research was used in this study and a researcher-made questionnaire was used for gathering data. One hundred ten primary teacher-respondents participated in the survey wherein all of them were from the public elementary schools of Cluster 6 and 7 West 1, Calamba City and comprised the total population of this study. The data were statistically treated with the use of five-point Likert Scale, simple mean, t-test for independent samples, percentage formula, and the Pearson product-moment correlation.

RESULTS

The findings of the study showed that the primary pupils of public elementary schools of Cluster 6 and 7 West 1 of Calamba City had reading problems because of lack of learning, motivation, and self-esteem. It was found that the primary pupils of Cluster 6 and 7 did not differ in the teacher-respondents’ assessments on the reading problems. The reading skills of the primary pupils of public elementary schools of Cluster 6 and 7 West 1 of Calamba City were highly observed in terms of alphabetic principle, phonics and decoding, and comprehension and vocabulary and observed in terms of phonemic awareness and oral text reading and comprehension segment.

DISCUSSIONS

Moreover, it was found that there is no significant relationship between the reading problems to the reading skills, but there is significant relationship between the reading problems in terms of motivation to the reading skills in terms of phonemic awareness and oral text reading and comprehension segment. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher concluded that the primary pupils in Cluster 6 have problems with grammar, such as learning prefixes or suffixes in reading and have poor communication skills. The teacher-respondents in Cluster 6 and 7 perceive the same on how the pupils are affected by reading problems especially in terms of learning. The primary pupils in Cluster 6 and 7 can already produce the sounds associated with all individual letters fluently because there is recognition of the letters or familiarity since this is the basic of all the lessons in reading and this has been taught to the pupils during their pre-school years.