Effectiveness of Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA) in Reading Comprehension in English of Grade Five Pupils at Kalinawan Elementary School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

One of the most important skills one must acquire in school is reading. As pupils progress through schooling, they need to be able to read more with comprehension. Failure in reading comprehension is also a failure of the school. Knowledge in reading with comprehension is essential especially in the subject using English as a medium of instruction. How can they answer the test? How can they understand the teacher's lesson? In the recently concluded National Achievement Test result, two subjects English and Science had the lower Mean PercentageScore with 57.64 and 52.86 respectively. Having found out that the pupils are able to read fluently but still have difficulty in answering Wh-questions, the researchers thought of using a reading strategy that would help in teaching, the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA).

METHODS

The experimental research design was utilized. Two groups of respondents were called as the experimental group and the control group. A questionnaire-checklist was the main instrument in this study. The tool used in gathering data consists of two parts. Part I is the respondent profile and Part II contains 5 reading comprehension tests. These reading tests have 10 items each, making it to 50 items. This was used to measure the effectiveness of the reading strategy-DRTA in teaching reading among Grade Five pupils of Kalinawan Elementary School regarding the determinant factors such as sex, monthly family income, and academic performance.

RESULTS

There is a significant difference in the level of performance of the respondents in a reading of the experimental group using the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. The control group obtained a mean score of 40.04 verbally interpreted Very Satisfactory with the standard deviation of 5.68. The experimental group obtained a mean score of 42.56 also interpreted Very Satisfactory with the standard deviation of 5.12. In terms of profile, there is no significant difference in the performance in Reading of the pupils in terms of sex. Monthly family income is significant. Academic performance is also significant.

DISCUSSIONS

It was found out in the study that reading comprehension of the grade five pupils increased by using the DRTA method of teaching. There is a marked improvement in the performance in Reading of the pupils after they were taught of the DRTA Strategy in Reading. Pupils also developed their critical thinking. Based on the results of the study, an action plan is proposed to enhance the performance of pupils in reading.