ABSTRACT
Reading is one of the basic skills that is taught in school and a very relevant part in the development of an individual’s whole being. This study aimed to determine the reading skills of the Grade 5 learners of Kinoguitan District, Misamis Oriental, during the School Year 2022-2023. Specifically, it determined the learners’ profile, their reading skills, and whether there is a significant relationship between the learners’ reading skills and their demographic profile.
This study utilized a descriptive-correlational method of research through a survey questionnaire which was used to gather the relevant data. To analyze the data, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson Moment Correlation were used.
Findings revealed that majority of the respondents are females with textbooks at home and with both mothers and fathers whose highest educational attainment is high school graduate. Their study habits were of the highest level and parents’ follow up which is of a very high level but their reading skills is average. It was found that there is a significant relationship between the reading skills in noting details and sex, reading materials available at home, mothers’ highest educational attainment, study habits and parents’ follow up. Getting the general significance of a selection has a significant relationship with the respondents’ sex, mothers’ highest educational attainment and study habits. On the other hand, predicting the outcome of a given event and making inferences have a significant relationship with the respondents’ sex, mothers’ highest educational attainment and study habits. In terms of reading to follow precise directions, it was found to have a significant relationship with their mothers’ highest educational attainment. Lastly, reading exercise for comprehension has a significant relationship with all of the respondents’ demographic profile. In conclusion, the learners need to develop their fundamental knowledge, skills, and core mastery in reading with guidance from their teachers and peers. It is then recommended that teacher should produce reading materials that would improve the reading skills.
Keywords: reading skill, study habits, parental follow-up
INTRODUCTION
Reading is one of the basic skills that is taught in school. It is a common knowledge that knowing how to read is an indicator that one is educated. It is also an accepted phenomenon that reading is a very relevant part in the development of an individual’s whole being. Reading is said to be the training of the mind and the way to achieve greater awareness of reality.
According to Keyser (2021), reading has many benefits. Reading develops imagination and creativity, improves vocabulary and communication and helps with building a good self-image and socialization. Noting the importance of reading and in line with the implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program, the Department of Education (DepEd) implemented “Every Child A Reader Program” (ECARP) through DepEd Order: No. 70, s. 2011, DepEd Memorandum No. 324 s. 2004. The “Every Child A Reader Program (ECARP)” is a national initiative that promotes the Department of Education's (DepEd) aim of making every Filipino child, a reader and writer at his or her grade level. It contributes to the achievement of the Education for All (EFA) goal of universal school participation and the abolition of dropouts and repetition in the primary years.
Reading becomes one of the literacy problems among Filipino children. Even before the pandemic, Grade 5 learners in the Philippines are already lagging behind in some neighboring Southeast Asian nations in terms of reading, writing and mathematics, with a notable percentage of students still performing at levels expected in the lower years of elementary education. Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2019 showed that the percentage of fifth-grade Filipino students who achieved minimum proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics were lower to a slight extent than Vietnamese and Malaysian learners. Grade 5 learners in the Philippines were at par or sometimes even worse than those in Cambodia, but performed slightly better than those in Laos and Myanmar (Balinbin, 2020).
World Bank reports that 9 out of 10 children in the Philippines at late primary age are not proficient in reading. The report, "The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update," sent many online communities into a hysteria. There has been a learning crisis in low- and middle-income countries even before the Covid-19 pandemic. In the Philippines the already sorry state of public education was exacerbated by more than two years of remote learning (Oseña-Paez, 2022).
Adaptation of the Modular Distance Learning (MDL) teaching approach has been the key of the Division of Misamis Oriental to achieve the goal of the department amid the emerging challenges and educational vulnerabilities brought by the pandemic. In this teaching approach, pupil’s academic performance is measured through a summative assessment in the form of written works and performance tasks and is administered toward the end of the learning period to measure the extent to which the learners have mastered the essential learning competencies, the results of which are recorded and are used to report the learner’s achievement (Department of Education, 2020).
Even with the modular learning modality used to lessen the reading gap, UNICEF approximates that as many as 70 percent of all children in low-income countries cannot read a basic sentence by the age of 10. The UN is calling on all governments to take steps to retain all children in school, review the learning levels and processes, prioritize fundamentals, and invest in catch-up learning — all that while making sure all children are healthy, safe and protected. The new government has indicated the urgency and essence of improving basic education by appointing Vice President Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio as the Basic Education Secretary.
The report cites numerous reasons for the learning crisis. Even before the pandemic, 6 out of 10 children globally were not obtaining basic proficiency in reading by the age of 10. This has been looming over legislators and leaders for many years. The lack of access to the internet and adaptable digital learning modules just further deepened the persisting gap between rich and poor countries during the pandemic.
Acknowledging the problems at hand, the researcher wishes to determine the reading skills inventory of the Grade 5 pupils of Kinoguitan District, Division of Misamis Oriental for the School Year 2022-2023.
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