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CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Introduction

Reading is a guessing game in which the readers reconstruct

the message which is encoded by writers (Carrell & Eisterhold,

2017). Reading skill is one of the important skills for acquiring

knowledge. The world progressed after the invention of writing

script which made the material available for the people to read.

Writing skill provides record of the previous knowledge and

researches, and reading skill helps to utilize the previous

written material for further progress.

Reading is a stepping stone in the walk of knowledge. One of

the major purposes of reading is on its comprehension. The

purposes differentiate among different types of readings. These

different types of readings can be labeled as: scanning,

skimming, reading to learn, reading for general

idea/understanding, reading for critical evaluation and reading

to integrate information (Carrell & Grabe, 2013).

Scanning is such a reading process which needs recognition

of some visual form such as: number, word or phrase (Carver,

2015). Reading for understanding, is a reading process that

requires visual and semantic process and the mental construction

of the text summary (ibid). Reading to learn does not only

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require summary of a text but also different chunks of

information which are elaborated in different sets of information

(ibid). Reading comprehension occurs when reader extracts and

combines different types of information from the read text and

makes a link between the new information and the already known

ones (Koda, 2013).

Reading comprehension is complex process, in which many

other skills are used (Cain et al, 2013). Many factors are

involved which affect this reading comprehension process

(Palincsar & Brown, 2017; Samuels, 2017) and these factors

are related to the text, context, work and the reader (Snow,

2013). Vocabulary is also one of the main factors which affect

reading comprehension (Nagy, 2015 as cited in Bauman,

2013).

Vocabulary, among many others, is a vital factor which

affects reading comprehension. Different researchers suggest

different amount of vocabulary for reading comprehension in L2.

Laufer (2016) investigated to find out how much amount of

vocabulary is necessary for reading comprehension. She concludes

that 95 per cent tokens of the text should be familiar to the

reader to comprehend the whole text. Nation (2015) suggests that

the necessary percentage for comprehension should be

approximately 98 per cent. These researches show that vocabulary

is an essential factor for reading comprehension of the text. If

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students’ vocabulary is weak, they will not be able to understand

or comprehend the whole meaning of any texts. Students who have

problems in reading

comprehension have poor or limited vocabulary (Biemiller & Boote,

2013; Rupley & Nichols, 2013).

Reading speed/rate also matters in comprehension of texts.

Carver (2015) studies that in L1 reading, fluent readers can read

between 200 to 300 words per minute. Fluency in reading develops

as students progress through different grades and age level.

Word recognition and comprehension help in reading speed in

L2. Background knowledge also plays a significant role in

comprehending texts. Floyd and Carrell (2016) show that

Communication and Linguistics Studies 2015; 1(1): 1-6 3 students,

who have lack of cultural knowledge about the target language,

can enhance their reading comprehension ability by being taught

explicitly the cultural knowledge of target knowledge. Students

can perform better if prior knowledge and topic interest is high

than students whose topic interest and background knowledge are

low (Carrell & Wise, 2015).

The background knowledge and topic interest show a

significant role to understand the information given in texts.

Meta-cognition also influences the reading abilities of learners

(Brown et al, 2016). One’s own knowledge and controlling of one’s

own actions during reading are two diverse aspects of meta-

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cognition. Successful and fluent learners show better level of

controlling their actions during reading and meta-cognition

knowledge than novice and less successful learners or readers

(Baker & Beall, 2013).

Successful readers use different type of strategies for

successful comprehension (Pressley, 2013). The readers who use

more strategies score high in reading comprehension tasks

(Anderson, 2015). For better performance, knowing of different

strategies does not mean performing well; a reader who knows how

to use different strategies can perform better (ibid).

The present study is an endeavor to explore the factors

which affect the comprehension of pupils. Because Reading skill

is an important skill because students have to read different

types of books, journals, newspapers, web blogs and exploring

information from the internet. Without comprehension reading is

useless. The different factors which are involved for better

reading comprehension such as vocabulary, reading speed, word

recognition, meta-cognition and reading strategies are discussed

above, and the studies and findings of different researchers

regarding to these factors are also discussed. This will be sole

study of this type which will make the learners aware of factors

which affect their reading comprehension and they, by knowing

these factors, will improve their reading comprehension

consciously. The teachers will also be benefited by knowing these

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factors. It will help them to improve their teaching ‘reading’

methodology and techniques by bringing innovation to their

teaching methodology. The present study will provide novice

researchers a base for researching in this area.

Review of Related Literature

Comprehension means the intelligent grasp of the situation

at hand. Reading comprehension means the act of understanding

the meaning of printed or spoken language. Comprehension

ability is more likely a multidimensional affair. Whether one is

concerned with spoken or written language, the evidences

suggest that the individual may have different levels of

ability with respect of vocabulary, grammatical features,

sentence structure etc.

Warren (1934) defined comprehension as synonymous to

understanding. Bloom (1956) in his taxonomy of educational

objectives, pointed out that the term comprehension includes

those objectives, behaviours or responses which represent

an understanding of the literal message contained in a

communication. This is one of the major contributions in

framing the concept of comprehension.

In nineteen seventies the concept of comprehension was given a

new turn towards input- output processing. The main contributors

in the decade are Hartman, Stork and Wolman. In Wolman's

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(2015)view comprehension is constructive which involves

prior knowledge, intentions, contents and task demands.

In comprehension pupil should read and understand not just

the sense but also the feelings, tone and attitude of the

language they face verbally or in a written message.

READING COMPREHENSION : STUDIES AND THEORIES

Recognizing the importance of Reading Comprehension

numerous studies have conducted on this topic. Hence there are

various theories about Reading Comprehension. Kingston (2012)

stated that 'Reading Comprehension can be understood as a

product of communication that results from interaction between

the reader and writer. Chase and Clark (2014) present

comprehension as information processing, where as the

theories proposed by Frederikson (2014) illustrates the

analysis of connected logical discourse.

Reading Comprehension involves a variety of skills. John

Munby (2017) has identified the following as sub-skills of

Reading Comprehension. - Recognize the script of language. -

Reducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items. -

Understanding information explicitly stated. - Understanding

conceptual meaning. - Understanding the communicative value of

sentences and utterances. - Understanding relations within the

sentence. - Understanding relations between the parts of a

text through lexical cohesion devices. - Interpreting text by

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going outside it. - Recognizing indicators on discourse. -

Identifying the main points or important information in a

place of discourse. - Distinguishing the main idea from the

supporting details. - Extracting salient points to summarize. -

Selective extraction of relevant points from a text. - Using

basic reference skills-understanding and use of graphic

presentation, cross referencing. - Using Skimming (Glancing

rapidly through a text to find out its general content, central

idea(s), or gist) for main ideas. - Using Scanning (Darting

over a text to search for a specific item of information

desired, passing over irrelevant information)to locate

specifically required information.

Studies

The studies reviewed on the relation of Reading

Comprehension in English with psychological variables are

presented below:

Bormuth (2012) validated the close procedure on 50 children

in grades 4,5 and 6 as a measure of comprehension and found it to

be a reliable approach across a wide range of comprehension

ability. Cooper (2013) compared the level of reading achievement

of White and Negro students in a sample comprising about one

third of the fourth through twelfth grade population of the

country school systems in Georgia. It was found that White

students were consistently more proficient in vocabulary and

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comprehension and exhibited greater variability of achievement at

each level.

Davis (2013) described the results of a multiple

regression study which demonstrated a significant relation of

measures of psychological functioning in the sub-strata factor

theory and speed of reading. Davis (2013) found that strong

association of vocabulary and Reading Comprehension is taken

into account both in sub skill theories of comprehension.

Dhar (2013) studied the problems of Indian students of the

secondary level. One of the findings was 'mean vocabulary

scores are higher than mean comprehension scores'. Koppar (2013)

found out that Reading Comprehension was positively related to

reading attitude and anxiety. Schwimrner (2013) in a research

paper titled 'The Relationship of Readability to Reading

Comprehension' cited that intelligence was found to be the best

predictor of Reading Comprehension. The purpose of the study was

to examine the effect of stylistic difficulty as measured by

readability formula on the Reading Comprehension. A statistical

analysis of the data indicated that the increase in stylistic

difficulty had no significant effect upon Reading

Comprehension. However, a strong correlation was found to

exist between intelligence and the scores achieved by the

subjects on the Reading

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Procedures for testing language comprehension were discussed

by Carroll and Freedle (2014) in their book "Language

Comprehension and the Acquisition of Knowledge". They threw

light on some discussion like comprehension vs. non-

comprehension, degree of comprehension or comprehensibility.

Some aspects of messages were also elaborated.

Hayes (2014) carried out a study to examine the relationship

between Reading Comprehension and intellectual development as

defined by Piaget. Findings of the study clearly indicated

that Reading Comprehension and intellectual development were

highly correlated and each Reading Comprehension measure was

highly correlated with intellectual development. Thus, he

concluded that Reading Comprehension is developmental in nature,

since high and low intellectually developed group scored high and

low in Reading Comprehension accordingly.

Pate1 (2014) has concluded that larger the span of

apprehension, better is the rate of reading.

Smith (2014) in a study on first grade children tested the inter-

relationships between five measures of Reading Comprehension,

Intelligence and three measures of cognitive style variables.

Findings of the study indicated a high correlation between

Intelligence and paragraph comprehension.

Ahuja (2014) found that fast silent readers comprehend better in

comparison to slow silent readers. The fast readers are decidedly

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good readers because they comprehend more in lesser time. Vora

(2015) found that attitude play a dominant role in Reading

Comprehension. The study also found that rate of reading and

rate of comprehension are interdependent.

Carol1 (2015) proposed that Reading Comprehension must be

viewedin terms of language cognition and reading skills. He

proposed that a child's cognitive ability might provide an

upper limit for the comprehension of oral language, which might

in turn provide an upper limit for the child's comprehension of

text.

Bhatt (2015) in his study has drawn the conclusion that

Girls show more significant positive attitude towards reading

and hence they could be better readers.

Ellis and Miles (2015) argued that speed of processing from

the visual information is one determinant of speed of reading.

Mosley (2015) in a research paper titled 'The Relationship

Between Intelligence and Two Major Categories of Reading

Comprehension', cited the influence of intelligence on two

categories of Reading Comprehension. i.e., Literal-explicit

and inferential implicit. The findings of the study showed a

curvilinear relationship between intelligence and literal and

inferential comprehension.

Brighter students tended to infer more but they loose some

details in process, whereas less bright students on the other

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hand do better with detailed questions, but show less success in

making inferences.

Pate1 (2015) conducted a study on high school science

students. The students were tested after reading their text books

for the same material modified for readability by shortening

long sentences. An intelligence test was also administered on

the same group of students. The results of the study highlighted

that both, the students with high and low I.Q. who had read the

rewritten material scored significantly higher on the

comprehension test than did high and low I.Q. students who had

read the material as it appeared in their text book.

Ryan (2015) conducted a study to analyse the effects of

the readability of textual material, motivation and reader

intelligence on the Reading Comprehension. Findings of the

study revealed that factors of readability, motivation and

intelligence all showed significant effect on the subject's

level of Reading Comprehension.

The students who encountered with the easiest reading

material, performed better than the students with more

difficult reading material. Like wise, students with higher

motivation performed at a higher level than subjects with low

motivation and the students with above average intelligence

performed at higher level than the below average intelligence on

the Reading Comprehension tests.

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Shah (2015) found no difference in Reading Comprehension

between boys and girls. There were significant differences in

frequencies of three different groups of pupils on all the

three psychological variables- reading rate, intelligence and

vocabulary. Bhishikar (2016) found that intelligence plays a

significant role in the acquisition of reading skills. The

low intelligence group showed significantly greater

improvement in comprehension, and the high intelligence

group showed significantly greater improvement in vocabulary.

He also found that there was no sex difference in reading

skills.

Kotakgira (2016) found that it is possible to develop

the reading proficiency of students through the skills approach

in which a learner practiced different skills separately before

he engaged in the task of reading.

Parikh (2016) in her study found that there is no

correlation between reading speed and comprehension. The

hypothesis of Vocabulary does not have significant effect

on Reading Comprehension is rejected and the hypothesis of

content of reading material does not have significant effect on

Reading Comprehension is accepted.

Importance of knowledge to reading and comprehension

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Awareness about the world is needed to give context and

meaning to words. More serious than skill deficiencies are

knowledge deficiencies that arise for children who have limited

access to the informal informational lessons that can be

transmitted through day-to-day interactions with the world around

them. Indications are that limited content knowledge might

ultimately account for what appear to be comprehension

difficulties (Vellutino et al., 2013) or higher-order thinking

difficulties in older children. Real leverage may be found in the

continual, systematic, everyday ways children are engaged in

learning new knowledge and information, starting in the early

years.

Frede (2014) reported children who had a broad base of

experience in domain-specific knowledge were likely to move more

rapidly in acquiring complex skills. Basic skills must be used to

develop coherent understandings of knowledge and concepts, which

are the very basic foundations for later learning.

According to a recent literature review, there is a scarcity

of informational text in primary-grade classrooms (and, to some

extent, throughout elementary school) (Palincsar & Duke, 2014).

Low income first-grade students were given extensive exposure to

informational genres in an experiment. By the end of the year,

the experimental group of children was better writers of

informational text than children in the control groups, had

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progressed more quickly in reading level, and had shown less

decline in attitudes toward recreational reading (Palincsar &

Duke, 2014).

Flowerday, Schraw, and Stevens (2014) identify differences

and similarities between the importance of topic interest and

situational interest. They find that these variables correlate

withone another and result in positive outcomes. The researchers

define topic interest as something that students have prior

knowledge about, personal experiences with, and that evokes some

sort of emotion. Situational interest is defined as something

that depends on the present context and tends to be informational

in content.

Situational interest often precedes and facilitates an

individual’s development of personal interest. When combined

these are an excellent way to activate students’ attention,

increase effort, engagement, and maintain deeper mental

processing levels.

The enjoyment of reading comes from comprehension, not

decoding words. Skilled readers ‘interact’ with a text, thinking

about what will happen next, creating questions about the main

characters and so on. Children who love to read have good

comprehension skills.

Effects of individual temperament on reading

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motivation

Temperament is a broad, multidimensional construct that can

be defined as an individual’s style of response to stimuli in the

environment (Rothbart & Bates, 2015). Attributes such as

intensity and activity levels, persistence, affect, and

behavioral inhibition are temperamentally based child

characteristics that may contribute to teacher-child relationship

quality. Certain attributes ease children’s adjustment into

student roles (Entwisle & Alexander, 2015).

People can be categorized into behaviorally inhibited and

uninhibited styles. These characteristics are highly salient and

fairly stable over time. People who are apprehensive toward new

people, events, and things are categorically different from

others who approach novelty with ease (Caspi & Silva, 2014;

Kagan, Snidman, & Arcus, 2012). They have a biologically based

predisposition to be inhibited. In the general population,

approximately 15% to 20% of people are inhibited, about 30% to

35% of people are uninhibited, and the remainder of the

population falls somewhere in between (Kagan, 2017;). These

classifications remain fairly stable for 60% of children through

at least age 9 (Kagan et al., 2013).

Children’s school experiences vary in part because of their

temperamentally based individual differences. Children who are

inhibited are highly reactive; that is, they show fear in new
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situations (Kagan, 2013). Kagan and colleagues (2012) reported

that children who are uninhibited are low reactive and approach-

oriented in new situations, and display fewer fears at 9 and 14

months than their high reactive counterparts. Therefore, high

reactivity and fear together predict social inhibition in school.

Theoretical Framework

Kendra Cherry (2017) stated that Albert Bandura proposed a

social learning theory which suggests that observation,

imitation, and modeling play a primary role in this process.

Bandura's theory combines elements from behavioral theories,

which suggest that all behaviors are learned through

conditioning, and cognitive theories, which take into account

psychological influences such as attention and memory.

This theory of Bandura is precise and near in

realization about learning in general, including reading.

Bandura, 2016 said, the study was significant because it departed

from behaviorism’s insistence that all behavior is directed by

reinforcement or rewards. The children received no encouragement

or incentives to beat up the doll; they were simply imitating the

behavior they had observed. Bandura termed this phenomenon

observational learning and characterized the elements of

effective observational learning as attention, retention,

reciprocation and motivation.

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As reading is a part of learning, the theory of Bandura can

be applied or considered. The social learning as explained above

is a theory having a big connection in reading proficiency of the

learners. Learning how to read effectively needs a self-

observation, reinforcement and assessment from the literate

adult. Measuring the proficiency of reading is important to make

some action in curing the weaknesses; Philippine Informal Reading

Inventory is the material we will use in this study.

Factors Affecting Comprehension

Comprehension is affected by the reader’s knowledge of the

topic, knowledge of language structures, knowledge of text

structures and genres, knowledge of cognitive and metacognitive

strategies, their reasoning abilities, their motivation, and

their level of engagement.

Reading comprehension is also affected by the quality of

reading material. Text that is well organized is called

“considerate text”, and text that is poorly organized and

difficult to understand can be called “inconsiderate text”.

Students who had trouble learning to decode and recognize words

often will have difficulty with reading comprehension. Students

who struggle with decoding rarely have a chance to interact with

more difficult text and often learn to dislike reading. Readers

with poorly developed language skills and strategies will not

have the tools to take advantage of the obvious structures and

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comprehension cues that are part of considerate text nor they

will have extra tools needed to overcome the barriers of

inconsiderate text. The type of instruction that a student

receives will also affect reading comprehension. Strategies in

improving reading comprehension must be taught directly by

teachers.

Reading is one of the four macro skills taught in an English

language classroom, which requires a response from the reader

through summarizing the main facts based on what was read

(Zintz&Maggart, 1986, in Blay et.al, 2009).Reading is not just

extracting meaning from the text but a process of connecting to

the information given by the text. Reading in this sense, is a

communication between the reader and the text (Grabe, 1988in

Villanueva, 2006). Reading is essential to life. And reading with

comprehension is the chief justification why we read,

understanding what the text is all about (Lastrella,

2010).Reading comprehension is a complex balance between

recognizing printed symbols and interpreting the meaning behind

the symbols (Dennis, 2011).

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the concept

that a reader’s background knowledge about what he is reading is

one of the most critical factors in determining whether a

student will understand what he is reading or not (Hirsch,E.D.

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(2006); Kamhi, A.,(2007). To continue to make progress in

learning, as well as fuel self concept and motivation, students

should participate in regular classroom experiences appropriate

to their cognitive and maturational levels, including interesting

and cognitively challenging books presented orally or on tape

(Worthy, 1996).

According to Worthy (1996), it is not sufficient to provide

books that are geared solely to a student’s instructional reading

level. When reading level is solely considered, below level basal

readers are generally used for instructing struggling readers.

Reading such “baby books” often makes struggling readers feel

more defeated. Focusing on student interests in selecting reading

materials may be more beneficial in promoting reading success

than a focus on level. It turns out that interest is far more

significant than readability. When students have strong interest

in what they read, they can frequently transcend their reading

level (Worthy, 1996).

Many educators and researchers consider interest to be an

essential factor in all learning (Hidi, 1990; Schiefele, 1991).

Students who do not enjoy typical school texts often fail to

engage in reading, and may develop a lifelong aversion to

reading. Even if they are not initially struggling readers,

“reluctant readers tend to gradually lose some academic ground,

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because wide Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education, 3(2),

2010reading is related to increases in general knowledge and

reading comprehension” (Williamson & Williamson, 1988).

High challenge academic tasks invite students to expend the

maximum level of effort and encourage students to value the

processes of learning. As a result, motivation researchers view

high challenge tasks as most beneficial for promoting learning

and motivation (Miller, 2003).

Teachers promote motivation when they provide students with

opportunities to assume increasingly higher levels of

responsibility for their learning. Moreover, a challenging task

often requires students to use prior knowledge and construct an

understanding of a topic. This practice increases the personal

meaning that students attach to an activity, therefore increasing

the likelihood of becoming engaged in an activity (Miller, 2003).

During school, students interact and work alongside peers

and adults. These social perceptions and relationships are

related to and predictive of school-related outcomes (Patrick,

Knee, Canevello, & Lonsbary, 2007).

For an individual to survive in today’s world, it is a

requirement for him/her to know how to read with understanding.

He/she should be capable of understanding simple text such as

transportation documents which includes travel directions and

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road instructions, bills and contracts. The effect of not being

able to comprehend could be disastrous (e.g. instructions on a

bottle of medicine or chemical warnings) (Lastrella, 2010).With

the ability to comprehend a text, people are able not only to

live safely and productively, but also to continue to develop

socially, emotionally and intellectually. Likewise, reading is a

very significant language skill for a student. Since they are

subject to a continuous flow of information, they need to prepare

themselves for the demands that reading in school and in the

bigger society places on them. Reading also has been a segment of

the entrance test in most colleges and universities. But there

are cases by which students fail during the entrance examination

because of lack of comprehension (Yale, 2011 in Lastrella,

2010).Maggart and Zintz (1970) in Marquez (2008) state that

comprehension is the major purpose of reading- without

comprehension, reading is a meaningless activity regardless of

age or ability of the reader. There are levels of reading

comprehension, namely: literal level (reading the lines),

inferential or interpretive level (reading between the lines) and

the critical level (reading beyond the lines (Romero, 1987 in

Marquez, 2008).

Some studies have shown that the performance (reading

comprehension) of the students is affected by several factors.

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Rizardo&Tabuno, (1998)in Marquez (2008)in their study on the

reading comprehension of Fourth year high school students of

Iligan, made the following conclusions:1. Parents’ monthly income

and educational attainments have contributed to the reading

performance of the student. 2. The kind of materials that the

respondents read enhanced their ability to comprehend a text 3.

The respondents’ attitude towards reading differed from each

other 4. The availability of reading materials at home and in

school and the students’ curiosity to learn enhanced their

reading comprehension. Educational researchers have also focused

on the teacher’s behavior that should be effective in promoting

student’s motivation (Brophy, 1986 in Marquez, 2008).

In the local context, Mante (2009) in Ilustre (2011) sought

to identify factors that affected Filipino bilingual high school

student’s reading comprehension in English. The objective of her

paper was twofold; first was to determine and measure the

participants' dimensions of motivation to read, and second was to

identify the relationships between the participants’ motivation

to read in English, their reading comprehension and their use of

meta-cognitive reading strategies when reading in the same

language. Results were not conclusive as to whether reading

motivation or use of meta-cognitive reading strategies affects

reading comprehension more for there was no single predictor of

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the reading test scores. On the contrary, Anderson (1994) as

cited in Lastrella (2010) presented that the recall of

information in a text is affected by the reader’s schemata and

explains that a reader comprehends a message when he is able to

bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and

events described in the message. Moreover, Wilson (1972) in

Marquez (2008) stated that the lack of educational opportunity

and reading materials among poor families contribute to the

performance and competence of the learner. Educational attainment

of the parents of the respondents also matter. Students whose

parents have higher educational background perform well than

those whose parents only attained elementary or high school

education. This is because the former are able to provide more

learning experiences that are essential to the development of the

student’s reading skills and other aspects as well (Lardizabal,

1981 in Marquez, 2008).

In a country like Nigeria, it was found in 1985 that

secondary pupil’s poor learning characteristics, which were

identified in terms of attitudes, enthusiasm, self-concept as

well as study habits, are caused by their disadvantage when their

parents have a lower education. Furthermore, more than lower

socio-economic status groups in Nigeria mostly fall into the low

or the non-educated groups (Ezewu, et.al, 1981 in Omoregbe,

2010). Parental educational level in known as a factor positively

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related to children’s academic achievement. And the educational

level of parents is greatly connected to the educational

attainment of their children (Grissmer, et.al in Omoregbe,

2010).Reading comprehension too lies on the student’s interest in

reading. “Reluctant readers tend to gradually lose some academic

ground, because wide reading is related to increases in general

knowledge and reading comprehension” p.31-32 (Williamson, 1988 in

Seitz, 2010). Kukuyo (1989) as cited by Tubio (2004) in Marquez

(2008), noted that the students might interact if they are

interested with the topic and make comprehension possible because

of the interest that they have. This interest and attitude are

determined through hobbies and experiences that the reader had in

order to motivate him to read (Edorot, 1998 in Marquez, 2008).

Furthermore, in the study made by Kelcey (2010), results suggest

that schools should be associated with differences in teachers’

knowledge. By comparing teachers with similar personal and school

backgrounds, results showed that measured knowledge is

significantly associated with student’s achievement in reading

comprehension.

Conceptual Framework

The major concept of this study is focused on factors

affecting the comprehension of Grade VI pupils.

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Figure one shows the said profile variables categorized as

reasoning faculties, problem solving and attitudes. The conducted

variables will undergo a process in a way that the problems will

be identified; data will be gathered through a survey

questionnaire and will be analyzed and interpreted, until

conclusions and recommendations could be formulated. The outcome

of the research is the factors affecting the comprehension of

Grade VI pupils.

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

Profile of the respondents

in terms of:
a. age; and
b. gender
Identified Factors in
a) 2. Factors affecting the
Comprehension of Grade VI
comprehension of Grade VI
pupils
pupils

Figure 1.Paradigm of the Research

Statement of the Problem

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This study determine the factors affecting the comprehension

of Grade VI pupils

Specifically, it sought answers to the following:

1. How may the profile of the respondents be described in terms

of their:

1.1 age

1.2 gender

2. What are the different factors affecting the comprehension of

Grade VI pupils ?

3. Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the

respondents to the factors affecting the comprehension of the

grade VI pupils?

4. what is the implication of the study to the education?

Hypotheses of the Study

This study was guided by the following hypothesis.

1. There is no significant relationship between the profile of

the respondents to the factors affecting the comprehension

of the grade VI pupils.

Significance of the study

This study will help in giving information to people who may

want to determine which factors affecting the comprehension of

grade VI pupils. Specifically, the following will benefit from

the results of this research:

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Pupils.Knowing the significance of being efficient in

reading in order to improve their academic performances .

Parents.This study will be beneficial to the parents because

it will help them understand the importance of reading

comprehension , also its influence in academic performances of

their children.

Community. This will benefit them because this research will

help them gain productive citizens. When a community’s citizens

are productive, they can contribute more to the society

triggering the development of the community.

Future Researchers. The findings of this research may be

used as a foundation or guide to studies similar to this topic.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study focuses on the factors affecting the

comprehension of Grade VI pupils. The respondents chosen for this

study are the Grade VI pupils of _________________Elementary

School . the respondents of the study will be the Grade VI

teachers of ________________________. Using questionnaire as a

main tool in data gathering.

This research will be conducted during October to June of

the Academic Year 2016-2017.

Definition of Terms
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This section facilitates understanding of the study by

defining the terms or variables according to either their

conceptual or contextual use.

Comprehension . the term refers to capability of the grade

VI pupils to read with understanding

Reading. This is an activity that our eyes and mind are being

used to understand the written texts and learn something from

them.

English.The meaning of English as a subject is to

educate on the English language in general and to aid in the

understanding and employment of the language. The subject of

English is most often split into two main topics; English

Literature and English Language wherein reading and writing are

both needed.

Proficiency.The meaning of proficiency is a highly developed

skill in or knowledge of something.

Respondents.The respondents are the people asked to

answer the survey questionnaires and to participate in this

study.
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CHAPTER 2

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The descriptive method research was used in this study. As a

consequence this type of research takes the form of closed-ended

questions, which limits its ability to provide unique insights.

However, if it will be used properly, it helped an organization

better define and measure the significance of something about a

group of respondents and the population they represent.

Specifically, the kind of descriptive method was used is

 30

correlational in nature. A correlational study is a quantitative

method of research in which there are 2 or more quantitative

variables from the same group of subjects, and determines if

there is a relationship or co-variation between the 2 variables

or if there is a similarity between them.

The Descriptive method was the most appropriate method to

use since, the study is concerned with the factors affecting the

comprehension of Grade VI pupils .

Participants

The respondents of the study were the Grade VI pupils of

_______________ School S.Y. 2017-2018., 163 are Grade-four pupils

divided into four sections such as Narra, Acacia, Mahogany and

Yakal.

Section Population
Narra 44
Acacia 43
Mahogany 38
Yakal 38
Total: 163

Table 1. The Participants

Materials and Instrument

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For this study, the researchers used questionnaires as their

instrument in gathering the information needed. The questionnaire

was consisting of two parts; the first part contains the profile

variables in checklist form. Meanwhile, the second part of the

questionnaire was consisted of the other conducted variables such

as factors affecting the comprehension of Grade VI pupils.

Data collection

The researchers prepared letters to be able to make this study

succeed. The first letter was given to the Dean of the College of

Education to ask his approval and guidance to let the researchers

work for this study. The approved letter by the College Dean was

presented to the head or Principal and adviser of the chosen

respondents not just for an approval but also to inform them the

significance of this study. Another letter is for the Grade-four

pupils as they are the respondents of this study. The researchers

must prepare an effective letter to get the respondents’ trust

and interest to be part of this research.

Data Analysis

The responses were organized and qualified using the

percentage system, the weighted mean, and the ranking methods.

Statistical qualifications of the data using percentage

system will be done using this formula:

% = f/N x 100
 32

Where: % = percentage

f = frequency

N = total number of respondents

On the other hand, the weighted mean was determined by

applying the following formula:

WM = TWF / N

Where:WM = weighted mean

TWF= total weighted frequency

N = number of respondents

The table equivalent, which will be the basis of the

interpretation of data is:

Scale Verbal Interpretation Weight

5 Strongly agree 4.21-5.00

4 Agree 3.41-4.20

3 Slightly Agree 2.61-3.40

2 Disagree 1.81-2.60

1 Strongly disagree 1.00-1.80

The significant relationship between the profile of the

respondents and the factors affecting the comprehension of Grade

VI pupils Chi –Square Test is used

A chi-squared test, also written as   test, is

any statistical hypothesis test wherein the sampling

distribution of the test statistic is a chi-squared

 33

distribution when the null hypothesis is true. Without other

qualification, 'chi-squared test' often is used as short

for Pearson's chi-squared test. The chi-squared test is used to

determine whether there is a significant difference between the

expected frequencies and the observed frequencies in one or more

categories.

In the standard applications of the test, the observations

are classified into mutually exclusive classes, and there is some

theory, or say null hypothesis, which gives the probability that

any observation falls into the corresponding class. The purpose

of the test is to evaluate how likely it is between the

observations and the null hypothesis.

Chi-squared tests are often constructed from a sum of

squared errors, or through the sample variance. Test statistics

that follow a chi-squared distribution arise from an assumption

of independent normally distributed data, which is valid in many

cases due to the central limit theorem. A chi-squared test can be

used to attempt rejection of the null hypothesis that the data

are independent.

Also considered as a writable one chi-squared test is a test

in which this is asymptotically true, meaning that the sampling

distribution (if the null hypothesis is true) can be made to

 34

approximate a chi-squared distribution as closely as desired by

making the sample size large enough.

where

.
While the significant difference in the factors affecting the

comprehension of Grade VI pupils of the respondents when grouped

according to the profile variables anova was used

Anova is a statistical test which analyzes variance. It is

helpful in making comparison of two or more means which enables a

researcher to draw various results and predictions about two or

more sets of data. Anova test includes one-way anova, two-way

anova or multiple anova depending upon the type and arrangement

of the data. One-way anova has the following test statistics:

Where,

FF = Anova Coefficient

MSTMST = Mean sum of squares due to treatment

MSEMSE = Mean sum of squares due to error.

Formula for MST is given below:

 35

Where,

SSTSST = Sum of squares due to treatment

pp = Total number of populations

nn = Total number of samples in a population.

Formula for MSE is given below:

Where,

SSESSE = Sum of squares due to error

SS = Standard deviation of the samples

NN = Total number of observations.

Chapter III

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This study determines factors affecting the comprehension of

Grade VI pupils . The presentation and discussion of the findings

were based on the objectives and the hypotheses for the study.
 36

Respondents Profile

The respondents profile in terms of age and gender is given

are presented in the table

Table 1

Profile of the Respondents

%
Age f

14 1 0.61
13 1 0.61
12 3 1.84
11 13 7.97
10 20 12.27
9 127 77.91
8 8 4.91
163 100
Gender f %

Male 74 45.40
Female 89 54.60
163 100

Majority of the pupils were under the age bracket of 9 to

11 years old and majority were females with 89 or 54.60 percent

Factors affecting the comprehension of Grade VI pupils

The factors affecting the comprehension of Grade VI pupils is

presented with their respective data in tabular form.

Table 2.1
 37

NUMBER QUESTIONS WM VD

1 Quality of books to be read 3.15 A

2 Have physical impairments like cleft palate 3.43 SA
3 Nervousness 3.10 A
4 Lack of motivation to read 3.06 A
5 Unable to decode the words they read 2.97 A
6 vocabulary is weak, they will not be able to SA
understand or comprehend the whole meaning of 3.54
any texts.
7 Does not know the meaning of each word that SA
3.26
they are reading
8 Have lack of interaction with a text,or A
thinking about what will happen next, creating 3.13
questions about the main characters and so on
9 Have lack of knowledge about the written text 3.04 A
10 Does not know how to visualize the word they A
3.01
read.
3.19 A

The factors affecting the comprehension of pupils is given

in the table with and over all mean of 3.19 and interpreted as

agree, the highest mean assessment was on vocabulary is weak,

they will not be able to understand or comprehend the whole

meaning of any texts with 3.54 in weighted mean and interpreted

as strongly agree while the least mean obtained was on Unable to

decode the words they read with 2.97 and interpreted as agree.

Findings revealed that the factors that affect the

comprehension of the pupils are their vocabulary , pupils does

not understand the words they say or they read , some of them

have lack of motivation to read and therefore find hard to

understand what they are reading. This is related to the study of

 38

Koppar (2013) which found out that Reading Comprehension was

positively related to reading attitude and anxiety. Schwimrner

(2013) in a research paper titled 'The Relationship of

Readability to Reading Comprehension' cited that intelligence was

found to be the best predictor of Reading Comprehension. The

purpose of the study was to examine the effect of stylistic

difficulty as measured by readability formula on the Reading

Comprehension. A statistical analysis of the data indicated that

the increase in stylistic difficulty had no significant effect

upon Reading Comprehension. However, a strong correlation

was found to exist between intelligence and the scores

achieved by the subjects on the Reading.

Table 4
Significant relationship between the profile of the respondents
to the factors affecting the comprehension of the grade VI pupils

95% Confidence Interval of the

Difference

t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Lower Upper

age 2.110 4 .102 20.00000 -6.3165 46.3165

Gender 1.710 4 .162 19.95800 -12.4414 52.3574

Comprehensi 2.425 2 .136 33.35000 -25.8151 92.5151

on
 39

As seen in the table, Significant relationship between the

comprehension of the pupils to the profiles were recorded: with

.102 on the age .162 on gender .173 since the significant value

.136 > 0.05 therefore the null hypothesis is accepted that there

is significant relationship between the profile of the

respondents to the factors that affect the comprehensions .

Findings revealed that there are factors that affects their

comprehensions whether they are boys or girls or whatever their

age is . These factors that affect their comprehensions can be

worst if not given attention to correct it.

Chapter IV

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

 40

This chapter presents the brief summary of study, summary of

the findings, the conclusions arrived and the recommendations

offered.

Summary of the study

This study focuses on the factors affecting the comprehension of

Grade VI pupils. The respondents chosen for this study are the

Grade VI pupils of _________________Elementary School using

questionnaire as a main tool in data gathering.

This research was conducted during October to June of the

Academic Year 2016-2017.

Summary of the findings

The following were the summary of the findings of the study

based on the questions provided under the statement of the

problems:

Profile of the Respondents

Majority of the pupils were under the age bracket of 9 to

11 years old and majority were females with 89 or 54.60 percent

Factors affecting the comprehension of Grade VI pupils

The factors affecting the comprehension of pupils is given

in the table with and over all mean of 3.19 and interpreted as
 41

agree, the highest mean assessment was on vocabulary is weak,

they will not be able to understand or comprehend the whole

meaning of any texts with 3.54 in weighted mean and interpreted

as strongly agree while the least mean obtained was on Unable to

decode the words they read with 2.97 and interpreted as agree.

Significant relationship between the profile of the respondents

to the factors affecting the comprehension of the grade VI pupils

The Significant relationship between the comprehension of

the pupils to the profiles were recorded: with .102 on the age

.162 on gender .173 since the significant value .136 > 0.05

therefore the null hypothesis is accepted that there is

significant relationship between the profile of the respondents

to the factors that affect the comprehensions .

Conclusions

After the data collection, analysis and interpretation, the

following conclusions were drawn:

First , the respondents ages were between 9 to 11 years old

and mostly females

Second , the factors that affect the comprehension of the

pupils are their vocabulary , pupils does not understand the

words they say or they read , some of them have lack of

 42

motivation to read and therefore find hard to understand what

they are reading.

And the last , there are factors that affects their

comprehensions whether they are boys or girls or whatever their

age is . These factors that affect their comprehensions can be

worst if not given attention to correct it.

Recommendations

The following were recommended by the researcher for further

enrichment:

1. A more important reminder and guidance should be given to

the pupils in using other alternative way to practice their

reading skills like the use of TV so that they can focus

themselves on the reading improvement.

2. teachers should use readable materials in their activity to

the reading practice of the pupils so that they can easily

understand the materials with comprehensions.

3. Further study is recommended for a more comprehensive result

which will cover the other problems in reading comprehension

of pupils.
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