Cebu Roosevelt Memorial Colleges

San Vicente Street Bogo City Cebu

Practical Research 2

Christian Jay Vence

Rexene Jane Ochea

Mae Rose Gerbise

Anna Micca Ella Ursal

Stephanie Laparan

Niel Claros
 CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

Reading comprehension is the capacity to read a text, interpret, and comprehend its meaning. It

depends on two interrelated skills, word reading (the ability to interpret the symbols on the page)

and language comprehension (being able to understand the meaning of the words and sentences).

Reading without comprehension is meaningless and pointless. However, some students nowadays

do not understand what they read, and as a result, teachers are simply disappointed with the

students' reading comprehension abilities. This is one of the primary difficulties and worries of

teachers: what to do to either develop or strengthen students' reading comprehension skills in

order to make them independent and effective readers.

The study of reading comprehension has recently attracted new interest. In some other countries,

many people got their lives affected because of their reading comprehension skills. According to

a Gallup analysis of information from the US Department of Education, 130 million adults in the

US have low literacy skills. This indicates that 54% of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74

read at a level below that of the sixth grade (Schmidt E. 2022). In some other countries, many

people got their lives affected because of their reading comprehension skills.

Reading comprehension hasn't been given much weight up to this point. 91% of Filipino children

aged 10 still struggle to read simple texts, according to a World Bank (WB) survey, showing a

decline in the nation's educational system. The Philippines was one of the countries in the East

Asia and Pacific area with the greatest rates of learning poverty, at 56.5% more than the region's

average of 34.5%, according to the research (Vera B. 2022). Reading comprehension is a

growing problem. The most common cause of this problem is that many students read what they
see but do not fully comprehend what they read. As a result, they are unable to comprehend what

they read. Poor reading comprehension is also caused by a lack of familiarizing words because

some of the words they read are unfamiliar to them, causing confusion. Many students have been

affected by this issue. By conducting this research, students will be well aware of their reading

capabilities.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The Schema Theory

In recent years, the field of research on reading comprehension and critical thinking has received

much attention and has become a popular area in cognitive psychology. Modern cognitivists have

developed new trends and theories that provide theoretical models for explaining and

conceptualizing reading comprehension by utilizing a set of related concepts, such as critical

thinking, prior knowledge, inference-making, and metacognitive skills (Limbach and Waugh,

2010; Zabit, 2010). Among these trends is schema theory, which is considered to be a theory

about knowledge: how knowledge is represented and organized, and how that representation and

organization facilitate the use of a reader’s prior knowledge to improve reading comprehension. A

schema is the organized knowledge that one has about people, objects, places, events, processes,

concepts, and virtually everything that provides a basis for learning (Rumelhart, 1984). Bos and

Anders (1990) stated that “Schema Theory explains how knowledge is structured in memory and

how these structures affect incoming information” (p. 49). Anderson and Wilson (1986) indicated

that schema theory explains how people’s existing knowledge affects comprehension.

Therefore, there are no definitive or final conclusions that can be reached for the text (Norris and

Phillips, 1987; Yu-hui et al., 2010). That is, schema theory deals with reading comprehension as

an interactive process between readers’ prior knowledge and the text being read. Sometimes a

reader may end up with a different understanding, based on his or her total previous experiences:

their richness or paucity. Therefore, a reader with a rich background will comprehend better than
one who has a poorer background. In short, schema theory believes in open text or context. The

interpretation is relative (Aloqaili, 2005b). For the purpose of the study, reading comprehension

can be defined as the meaning constructed as a result of the complex and interactive processes

relating a reader’s critical thinking, prior knowledge, and inference-making.

1. Critical thinking: its nature and definitions

The literature indicates that there is no consensus regarding the definition of critical thinking. A

multiplicity and variation of definitions of critical thinking are reflective of the way in which

educators and scholars define it (Aloqaili, 2001; Minter, 2010). Romeo (2010) explains that there

is currently a lack of an accepted framework for critical thinking, so there is no widely

acknowledged and accepted theoretical definition. Some educators and psychologists deal with

critical thinking as a narrow concept, whereas others view critical thinking as a broad concept.

Specifically, Beyer (1987) defined critical thinking in a narrow sense as convergent thinking. He

stated clearly that “critical thinking is convergent”, in contrast to creative thinking, which is

divergent.

Accordingly, Facione (1984) argues that constructing arguments includes the usual steps of

problem solving, which are: (1) determining background knowledge; (2) generating initially

plausible hypotheses; (3) developing procedures to test these hypotheses; (4) articulating an

argument from the results of these testing procedures; (5) evaluating the arguments; and (6),

where appropriate, revising the initial hypotheses.

2. Critical thinking and reading comprehension

example, Norris and Phillips (1987) point out that reading is more than just saying what is on the

page; it is thinking. Moreover, Beck (1989) asserts that “there is no reading without reasoning”

(p. 677). Also, among those researchers and theorists who recognize that reading involves

thinking is Ruggiero (1984). He indicates that reading is reasoning. Yu-hui et al. (2010) stated

clearly that reading is a thinking process to construct meaning.

Utilizing and combining schema theory with principles of critical thinking is one of the most

effective ways of enhancing the concept of reading comprehension (Norris and Phillips, 1987).

They explain that critical thinking provides a means of explaining the ability to work out

ambiguous text by generating alternative interpretations, considering them in light of experience

and world knowledge, suspending decisions until further information is available, and accepting

alternative explanations. They conclude that critical thinking is the process that the reader uses to

comprehend.

Schema theory provides powerful rationales for making links between students’ individual

backgrounds, specific subject area knowledge, and critical thinking (Marzano et al., 1988;

Aloqaili, 2005c). According to Anderson (1994), there are six ways in which schemata function in

thinking and in remembering text information. These six ways are:

(1) When possible, subject-matter learning should build on preexisting knowledge because the

majority of new knowledge is acquired by absorbing new information into existing structures. (2)

The students' current schema assist in information processing by focusing on what is relevant

and important in newly given materials. (3) Schemata enable and guide the inferential expansion

of received knowledge and experience. (4) Schemata give students a roadmap for the kinds of
material that should be recalled, allowing organized memory searches. (5) Schemata provide a

simpler way to think critically and summarize and revise. (6) Schemata allows for inferential

reconstruction in the presence of memory gaps, assisting the learner in formulating theories on

missing data.

It is obvious, based on the previous six schemata functions, that prior knowledge plays a

significant role in establishing connections between thinking critically and processing text

information. This connection consequently leads the readers to reach the critical comprehension

level.

To be successful, readers must have the inferential and reasoning skills to establish meaningful

connections between information in the text and relevant background knowledge. Central to these

skills is knowing what constitutes an inferential or causal/logical relation and being able to

recognize or construct one when needed in order to form a coherent mental representation of the

text.

Ennis (1987) classified inference as a critical thinking ability that includes three somewhat

overlapping and interdependent kinds of inference: deductive inference, inductive inference, and

inference to value judgments. Accordingly, Albrecht (1980), deduction is referred to as “top-down

thinking” because the conclusion or result is known and the search is for specific evidence that

led to that particular conclusion. However, Clarke (1990) pointed out that induction is often

called “bottom-up thinking” because conclusions are drawn from specific instances, such as

building on another unit.

The main problem of the study was the students can not be able to evaluate, analyze and

understand the critical literacy and reading comprehension. Majority of Senior High School can

not improve there skills and knowledge by Thinking Critically and Read with Comprehension.

Teachers need to evaluate the profile of the students first to know what the students need to

improve.

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of the following socio-demographic factors:

1.1 age:

1.2 gender and:

1.3 sex:

2. What is the students’ level of comprehension as to:

2.1 literal,

2.2 interpretive, and

2.3 applied
ASSUMPTIONS

The teachers are the ones who can develop the Critical Thinking and Reading Comprehension of

the Senior Highschool Students with different kinds of teaching strategies. The students are the

one who needs to develop and improve their skills in Critical Thinking and Reading

Comprehension by the teachers teaching strategy.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This will show the flow of the study and gives identification and strategies= of the problems that

the students encounter. The teacher will help the senior high school students to analyze,

evaluate and understand the critical literacy and reading comprehension. The following are the

beneficiaries of the study:

Students. The students will be the target of this study, and they can benefit from this study

because they are the ones that needs to be monitored. Giving ideas on how to make their Critical

Thinking and Reading Comprehension develop and improve.

Teachers. This study may guide the teachers to improve their teaching strategies in Critical

Literacy and Reading Comprehension in a way that the students can develop and improve their

skills. It will also guide them on how to deal with their students with different kind of difficulty in

understanding.

Parents. This study will help them understanding their role as a parent in providing their children

by having a follow-up study habit about Critical Literacy and Reading Comprehension.

Future Researchers. They can use this research as their reference of their study.
DEFINITION OF TERMS

The following terms are defined through the conceptual and operational definitions. This is to

help the readers understand more with the different words that is being used in the study. The

following are as follows:

Critical Literacy. It is a central thinking skill that a tertiary education seeks to develop in

students.

Reading Comprehension. It is the ability to read text, process it and understand its meaning.

Literal Comprehension. Is the comprehension of information and facts as stated directly in the

text.

Interpretive Comprehension. Is the reader's ability to extract ideas and facts that are not directly

mentioned in the textbook content, using past or background knowledge to assist in such

comprehension.

Applied Comprehension. They will extract meaning from the text and look for alternative, less

literal interpretations of what they read. The final level of comprehension is applied

comprehension.

Develop. To cause (something) to grow or become bigger or more advanced.

Improve. To make or become better in quality.

Analyze. Examine methodically and in detail the constitution or structure of (something,

especially information), typically for purposes of explanation and interpretation.

someone for your own advantage.

Intervention. Is the act of inserting one thing between others, like a person trying to help.