I. ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of the Project I-LAMP (Intensified Language Acquisition Mentoring Program) in the acquisition of the English language of the selected grade 7 students of Emiliano Tria Tirona Memorial National High School as a sub-program of the Project READERS in its piloting year 2019-2020. The instrument used in this study was a 26-item questionnaire and the data was analyzed using T-test and were presented through tables.
This researcher used purposive sampling in choosing his respondents as the respondents were the grade 7 students diagnosed as non-readers. Since this study aimed to identify the effectiveness of the program, it can be said that it employed the experimental research design.
II. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
Reading is an integral part of the whole educational system. It is one of the skills that is meant to be developed first in the early years of a person. That, when a child finishes his elementary grades, it is a presumption therefore that the child is already a reader. That he can read letters, words, phrases, sentences and even paragraphs with comprehension. However, it is unfortunate that despite the unsurmountable efforts of elementary grade teachers in teaching reading, there is still a number of elementary completers who cannot read words or at least identify the letters of the alphabet and deliver with the correct sounds. For the school year 2017-2018, grade 7 English teachers of Emiliano Tria Tirona Memorial National High School had identified at least two non-readers. The next school year, 2018-2019 at least 5 grade 7 students were diagnosed the same. And for this school year there were 17 grade 7 students of the same diagnosis. The alarming increased cases of non-readers has compelled the English department to design and carry out a program that would lessen if not totally eradicate the problem. And this has paved to the birth of Project I-LAMP as a sub-program for Project READERS.
Project I-LAMP was born, basically, to cater students’ who have reading difficulties as it aimed to increase students’ literacy in terms of comprehension. Specifically, to help the identified grade 7 non-readers and make them readers as anchored on the DepEd’s Project ECAR “Every Child a Reader.”
The preliminary activities of the Project I-LAMP included two phases: Oral and Written. The oral part was the validation of results from the individual reading inventory held in June 2019 where the diagnosed non-readers were asked to read a selection without interruption while the validator was listing down his/her mistakes. In the written phase, the students answered the questions about the selection which purposely aimed to determine the comprehension level of the readers.
Conceptualizing it all, would the program help the students in the development of their reading skills? In as far as the effectiveness is concerned, would it increase the performance level of the respondents with respect to their comprehension skills?
III. INNOVATION, INTERVENTION AND STRATEGY
Over the years, despite the technological advances and adaptation of internationally recognized curriculum designs, the Department of Education is still undeniably facing a battle on reading and comprehension. This was as manifested in the 2019 PISA (Programme for International Reading Assessment) results where the Philippines has recorded reading scores far below the standard.
If this reading problem continuously remained unaddressed, surely, the education in the Philippines remains to be less in quality and far from the norms of other countries not only in the ASIAN region but also all over the world
In support to DepEd’s advocacy on Reading through its national program called Project ECAR (Every Child A Reader) the English department of Emiliano Tria Tirona Memorial National Integrated High School initiated Project I-LAMP, a sub-project of Project READERS which aims to address the reading and comprehension needs of the diagnosed struggling readers.
The focus of this research was to assess the efficacy of the Project I-LAMP to the Grade 7 respondents in as far as the development of their reading and comprehension skills are concerned.
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