FACTORS AFFECTING THE ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION

AMONG SELECTED GRADE 11 GENERAL ACADEMIC (GA) STUDENTS

IN CATARMAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Fedix Barandino Mark Joseph Lipata

Bea Bernabe Loyogoy Roxanne
Ruffa Caparic Riza Montecalbo
Junmar Cardenas Mark Adrian Manzanade
Anarose Catunhay Reymark Nabanes
Steven Jash Dagohoy Jenifer Ong
John Anthony Dasig Jenny Ann Ong
Edwin Dorico Arianne Singzon
Gwen Dumanais Russel Patilan
Justine Dulza Michael Romero
Melody Escota Carl Vincent Robiños
Mico Galupo Juliana Mel Tonog
Merry Ann Gulas Noel Trongcoso
Marco Leaño

GENERAL ACADEMIC
Catarman National High School
Catarman, Northern Samar

2023
 2

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Reading comprehension is a fundamental skill that plays an important role in students'

academic success and overall development. It serves as a gateway to knowledge acquisition,

critical thinking, and effective communication. However, there are struggles with reading

comprehension, leading to educational challenges and hindered learning outcomes.

English has been the predominant medium of teaching in the Philippine school system.

Filipino children must learn English from Elementary to College. Despite this, some students

still face difficulties in English reading comprehension.

In 2019, the Philippines took part in Programme for International Student Assessment

(PISA) for the first time, marking its return to participation in international large-scale

assessments. Among seventy-nine (79) participating countries and economies, the Philippines

scored the lowest in reading comprehension in the 2018 Programme for International Student

Assessment (PISA). The Philippines had a reading score of three hundred forty (340), which was

more than one hundred (100) points lower than the average of the Organization for Economic

Co-operation and Development (OECD), which was four hundred eighty-seven (487). Eighty-

one percent (81%) of the students scored below the minimum proficiency level of Level two (2),

representing the highest proportion of low-performing students among all PISA-participating

countries and economies.

Reading comprehension are influenced by several factors such as preferred learning

preference, motivation, and attitude. Learning preferences are the distinct ways in which people
 3

choose to acquire and absorb knowledge. Some students prefer visual aids, while others prefer

auditory methods. Individuals' feelings, beliefs, and opinions about a certain subject or activity

are referred to as their attitude. Students' attitudes can influence their involvement and overall

performance in the context of English reading comprehension. While motivation refers to an

internal drive or desire to participate in a specific activity. Student motivation is important in the

context of English reading comprehension because it influences their desire to devote time and

effort in reading tasks. These factors can negatively or positively affect student’s English reading

comprehension.

The researchers aims to know the factors affecting the English reading comprehension

among selected Grade 11 General Academic (GA) Students in Catarman National High.
 4

Objectives of the Study

This study will determine the profile and the factors affecting the English Reading

comprehension among Selected Grade 11 General Academic (GA) students in Catarman

National High School.

Specifically, this study aims to:

1. Determine the profile of the students in terms of:

a. Sex

b. Age

2. Determine the factors affecting the English Reading comprehension of the respondents

in terms of:

a. Learning Preferences

b. Motivation

c. Attitude

Significance of the Study

Students. This study will serve as baseline information for them and may help the students in

understanding the factors affecting their English Reading comprehension.

Parents. This study will serve as a guide for them to be aware of the factors affecting the

English Reading comprehension of their children.

Teachers. This study will help them come up or determine unique teaching strategies that will

stimulate better performance of their students.

 5

Administrators. This study will give awareness to the institutions about the factors affecting

the English Reading comprehension of the students to implement new and innovative teaching

aids to help teachers supervise and effectively teach students.

Future Researchers. This study will be useful to future researchers who aspires to do similar

researches about the factors affecting the English reading comprehension. This may serve as

their reference.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study focuses on determining the factors affecting the English reading

comprehension of the respondents. The respondents of this study will be the selected Grade 11

GA students in Catarman National High School during the school year 2022-2023.

This study focuses solely on the factors affecting the English reading comprehension

among selected grade 11 GA students. The untruthfulness of the respondents also has an impact

on the accuracy and reliability of the results. There are instances that are inevitable which can

affect the process of gathering the data needed. Respondents may respond to questions randomly

in some cases and may be unable to accurately retrieve the necessary information.

Conceptual framework

The variables of this study are the profile of the students in terms of sex and age and the

factors affecting the English reading comprehension of the respondents which are the Grade 11

General Academic (GA) students in Catarman National High School.

The researchers will try to find out the relationship between the profile of the students

and the factors affecting their English reding comprehension in terms of attitude, motivation, and

learning preference.
 6

Definition of Terms

To avoid difficulty in understanding the terms used, the researcher freely used definitions

both conceptually and operationally as focused in the standard text. Terms requiring

understanding for the purpose of research are the following:

Age. Conceptually, it is the time of life (usually defined in years) at which some

particular qualification or power arises (Age, n.d, 2018).Operationally, it is how old the

respondents are at the date of collection of the data.

Attitude. Conceptually, it is a state of believing, valuing, or feeling something that

predisposes an action or behavior (Altman, 2008). Operationally, it the way the respondents

think and behave towards English reading.

Learning Preference. Conceptually, it refers to a set of competing theories that aims to

describe the differences in an individual’s preferred way of learning. Operationally, it is how the

respondents prefer certain educational modalities over others.

Motivation. Conceptually, it is the process of stimulating people to action to accomplish

desired goals (William G Scott). Operationally, it is what encourages the respondents to read

English texts.

Reading Comprehension. Conceptually, it is the process of simultaneously extracting and

constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language (Snow 2002).

Operationally, it is the ability of the respondents to read a text, process it, and understand the

meaning.

Sex. Conceptually, it refers to categories of the biologically observable human body,

female and male (Fausto-Sterling, 2000). Operationally, it is the distinction between male and

female as reported by the respondents.

 7

CHAPTER 1I
RELATED OF LITERATURE
This chapter presents the relevant literature and studies that the researcher considered in

strengthening the importance of the present study. This review the related studies and research

with regards to reading difficulties and the factors affecting it. This serves as reference material

and supporting understatement of the study.

The Attitude of students in reading comprehension

A study by Naely Muchtar in 2015, states that reading is certainly one area that receives

considerable attention in academic life. Teacher/Lecturer have come to realize that students

attitude toward reading is every bit as important as improving students reading comprehension.

The creation and maintenance of positive attitude toward reading comprehension is expected to

be steppingstone of the students success of being good reader. The paper discussed about the

importance of attitudes in relation with reading comprehension.

The Impact of Motivation on English Language Learning

A study by Mitra Alizadeh in 2016, overviews current research on the role of motivation

in second or foreign language. Motivation is an important factor for explaining the success or

failure of any complex task. In this paper, the researcher defines the term motivation, explains

different types of motivation, reviews previous studies about the role of motivation in language

learning, mention conditions of motivation, and finally states key factors of motivation.
 8

Gender Differences in Reading Comprehension Achievement

A study by Jefi Fauzan Anantasa showed that boys and girls have differences in reading

comprehension achievement. The test shows that girls have higher score than boys in reading

comprehension test. From 50 items, the average score of 12 girls in reading comprehension test

is 23,5 while boys get 19,08. Overall girls get better reading comprehension achievement than

the boys.

Effect of Age on Children’s Reading Performance

A study by Flippos Vachos and Papadimitriou Artemis assessed the effect of age on

second grade children reading performance. Two hundred (200) and eighty-seven (87) children

aged 7.1-8.2 years were divided into two subgroups and were examined. Result showed a

significant effect of age in reading performance, with older children having better scores than

younger one for reading comprehension, and the total reading performance.
 9

CHAPTER III

Locale of the Study

This study will be conducted in Catarman National High School. It is a public high school

located at Rizal Street Extension, Barangay Dalakit in Catarman, Northern Samar, Philippines.

The school site has an area of 2.8 hectares situated near the Tamburusan Beach. The School

could be easily found using the specific boundaries as North-Pacific Ocean, South-National

Road, East- Provincial Capitol and West-Tara subdivision.

This school comprises K To 12 curriculum or Senior High School (SHS) program and

offers Tracks which are Academic and Technical Vocational Tracks (TVL). Under Academic

Track are General Academic Strand (GAS), Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Strand (STEM), Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM) and Humanities and Social

Sciences (HUMMS). In the Technical Vocational Tracks (TVL), the school offers Computer

System Services (CSS) as an specialization. There is also a Special Program for the Arts (SPA).

Catarman National High School has one hundred twenty-eight (128) teachers and three thousand

five hundred four (3,504) students in the Junior High School, and sixty-three (63) teachers and

two thousand two hundred eighty-five (2,285) students in the Senior High School.

Figure 1. Location Map of Catarman National High School

 10

Research Design

The researchers will employ the quantitative method and use the descriptive design to

determine the factors affecting the English reading comprehension of the respondents. The

design is preferred because it is concerned with answering questions such as who, what, when,

where, and how. It is designed to ensure complete description of the situation, making minimum

bias in the collection of information and reduces error in the interpretation of data.

The Variables

The variables of this study are: age, attitude, learning preference, motivation, and sex.

Population and Sampling

The population of this study are students from Grade 11 General Academic (GA) strand.

There are three hundred thirty-four (334) students in the Grade 11 General Academic (GA)

strand, and they are divided into five classes: Justice, Hope, Grace, Charity and Patience.

Through Slovin’s formula, the sample size of this study will be one hundred eighty-two

(182) respondents. The respondents will be selected through stratified proportionate sampling.

Respondents will be chosen from different sections. The number of respondents from Justice

and Hope is thirty-seven (37), Grace and Charity is thirty-four (34), and forty (40) from

Patience.
 11

The Respondents

The respondents of this study are the selected Grade 11 General Academic (GA) students

in Catarman National High School. The respondents will be selected through stratified

proportionate sampling.

There is a total of one hundred eighty-two (182) respondents from different classes. The

number of respondents from Justice and Hope is thirty-seven (37), Grace and Charity is thirty-

four (34), and forty (40) from Patience.

Research Instrument

In the data collecting procedure, the study will use a modified questionnaire. The

questionnaire came from the study of Peter James Stopps and Sajeerat Wutthisingchai in 2015

entitled "An Analysis of Factors Affecting the English Reading Comprehension of

Mattayomsuksa 5 Students in Amphur Mueang, Lampang Province". This survey questionnaire

will be given to the selected Grade 11 General Academic (GA) students in Catarman National

High School. The purpose of the survey is to gather information about the various factors

affecting their English Reading comprehension.

The questionnaire will be divided into two (2) parts. The first part will be the socio-

demographic profile of the respondents such as sex, age. The second part will be the

identification of factors affecting the English reading comprehension of the respondents in terms

of learning preference, motivation, and attitude. The data will be measured using a five-point
 12

likert scale. Each dimension contains item of which the respondents indicate their level of ability

in reading English comprehensibly.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will obtain authorization from the School Principal's office in order to

carry out the study. Once permission has been granted, the researchers themselves will

personally distribute the survey to the participants selected for the study. The researcher will be

responsible for handing out the questionnaire according to a preferred and approved schedule,

ensuring a 100% response rate. The data gathered will be collated, tallied, and summarized by

the researchers. It will be subjected to statistical treatments to ensure the reliability of the result.

Scoring and interpretation

In determining the level of ability to read English comprehensibly as perceived by the

respondents, the likert scale has been used. It is a five-point scale; each point corresponds to a

likert item.

Scale Weighted Mean Verbal Description

5 4.2-5 Highest

4 3.4-4-1 High

3 2.5-3.3 Moderate

2 1.8-2.4 Low

1 1.0-1.7 Lowest

Statistical Treatment of Data

 13

The data that will be gathered are tallied, tabulated and analyzed using the statistical

tools, such as: frequency count, percentage, and weighted mean.