Reading Difficulties and Grade Two Pupils' Academic Performance

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The key to learning is better reading skills. But this reading skill need not be confined to English only. The ability to read and write in any language or dialect is what is important. From this “life-long learning” or “survival” skill, one can develop the ability to “learn for life.” These are important elements for building individual competence and achievement that can be translated in the future into a competitive workforce. In this study, one of the bases for research work is the PHIL-IRI or Philippine Informal Reading Inventory will be used.

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This is an inventory tool that assists in determining the reading strengths and weaknesses of an individual learner. It is important for every teacher to know if their pupils can comfortably read the texts used in their class or if they need additional assistance.

This is a quick tool to help identify pupils who struggle with decoding and/or comprehension with specific text materials. It can gauge as to how the grade school pupils can attack words in a short passage, how a child rates in speed and comprehension test in oral reading.

The researchers have observed that many of the pupils have problems in reading due to inadequate vocabulary and poor reading ability. Grades 1 to 3 are the critical in the child’s learning cycle. At this stage, the fundamentals for literacy have to be established and the start of reading habit developed. Hence, this study aims to determine reading difficulties and its relation to the academic performance of grade two pupils of Tuyom Elementary School.

Theoretical Framework

According to the General Factor Theory (cf. Cronbach, 1970), a student could learned about a facet or process involved in the language-first through listening and speaking, and then his/her understanding could be used and manifested in reading and writing. One genetic set of language sub-process undergirds as to student’s learning of different facets of a “new” language-for example, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. A cornerstone of this outlook is that language sub processes are not attached to a particular “mode” (reading, writing, listening and speaking) as they are learned. Rather, once a sub process is learned, that understanding is available for use in any process. According to the Oral Precedence Theory, students should first develop some of optimal level of oral proficiency in the new language before learning to read and write it.

To provide another rough illustration, imagine a sort of grand ever-broadening theory of multilingual literacy was viewed as involving multiple, interacting webs of factors including, for example, individual cognitions and affects for and about language- oral and literate-in both native and new language, the past and the present school and classroom environment of individual, in the past and present family and community environments. Koda’s specifically connected theoretical webs addressing native-language word reading and new-language word reading. Through examining word recognition research on second-language learners ( mostly adults) who have already learned to read on their native language. Koda suggested a “superordinate”; Connectionist Theory of second-language word recognition in reading, focusing on the necessity of accounting for understanding of native- language orthography. Psycholinguistic Theorists

About ten years ago, the "psycholinguistic model" of reading began to assert that contrary to this view of reading as a sequence of skills which one could teach, reading is in actuality a process of predicting meaning based on the reader's knowledge of oral language syntax, semantics, and phonological cues. In other words, based on the reader's store of information about how language works from his knowledge of oral language, a reader already knows something about how words are ordered and what kinds of meaning words possess in certain contexts. The early psycholinguistic model is primarily a top down or conceptually driven model where the emphasis is on prediction of meaning. It is the concepts which generate a search for the data or words to confirm these predictions. (Goodman) Within this perspective Smith defines reading comprehension as making sense out of what you read by using what you know, or the theory of the world which you have in your head.

Essentially the reader is expected to use prior knowledge and experience with language to get meaning from print. A characteristic in the development of both the skills and psycholinguistic theories of reading comprehension is the use of paradigms or models from computer science. (Goodman; LaBerge and Samuels; Ruddell) Rummelhart's information processing model integrates both the top-down and bottom-up processing concepts into his interactive theory of reading comprehension. In this view, while the reader is processing features, letters, spelling pat terns, etc., at the same time he or she is also attending to general context, syntax, and the semantic and syntactic environment in which the words occur and from which an interpretation of meaning is made. Maturationist Theory

School readiness, according to maturationists, is a state at which all healthy young children arrive when they can perform tasks such as reciting the alphabet and counting; these tasks are required for learning more complex tasks such as reading and arithmetic. Because development and school readiness occur naturally and automatically, maturationists believe the best practices are for parents to teach young children to recite the alphabet and count while being patient and waiting for children to become ready for kindergarten.

If a child is developmentally unready for school, maturationists might suggest referrals to transitional kindergartens, retention, or holding children out of school for an additional year (DeCos, 1997). These practices are sometimes used by schools, educators, and parents when a young child developmentally lags behind his or her peers. The young child's underperformance is interpreted as the child needing more time to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to perform at the level of his or her peers. Conceptual Framework

The PHIL-IRI is an assessment tool that evaluates the reading proficiency level of elementary school pupils. It is the first validated instrument that presents the overall reading profile of public elementary school nationwide. The pupils’ word recognition ability and comprehension skills are informally measured quantitatively and qualitatively through oral reading of stories, passages, and dolch sight words. Informal measures are flexible. Because informal measures have not been standardized, teachers are free to make modification in test procedures to the need of the pupils.

The emphasis of the PHIL-IRI is on learning the skills, abilities and needs of pupils to plan reading instructions. Thus, the PHIL-IRI can provide educators, policy makers and teachers not only with information about the pupils’ reading capabilities but also with what intervention may be provided for each reading level. The PHIL-IRI is an initiative of Bureau of Elementary Education Department of Education that directly addresses its thrust to make every child a reader. It is anchored on the flagship program of the department “Every Child a Reader Program”, the goal of which is to enable every Filipino to communicate both in English and Filipino through effective reading instruction.

Reading difficulties can be caused by many factors, some internal and some external. The more precise the description, the more likely it is to lead to effective provision. In the view of many experts, most reading problems rooted from decoding comprehension or retention. Decoding difficulties is the process by which a word is broken into individual phonemes and recognized based on those phonemes. Someone who has difficulty decoding and has difficulty in reading easily may not hear and differentiate the phonemes. Signs of decoding difficulty are trouble in sounding out words or recognizing words out of context, confusion between letters and the sounds. Comprehension relies on mastery of decoding; children who struggle to decode find it difficult to understand and remember what has been read.

Because their efforts to grasp individual words are exhausting, they have no resources left for understanding. A retention difficulty is a trouble on remembering or summarizing what is read. Retention requires both decoding and comprehending what is written. This task relies on high level cognitive skills including memory and the ability to group and retrieve related ideas. As pupils progress through grade levels, they are expected to retain more and more of what they read. It is then with the aforementioned concepts that the researchers will be utilizing in conducting this study. Conceptually, the researchers will be determining the level of reading difficulties of Grade II pupils according to their academic performance. The independent variable of this study which is the level of reading difficulties of grade four pupils can either influence or not influence their academic performance.

There will be two indicators that will be provided in each aspect of reading difficulties namely; word recognition and comprehension. Responses on the indicators given will be measured using the categories of Independent Reader with a mean ranging from 97-100% in word recognition, 80-100% in comprehension, Instructional Reader with a mean ranging from 90-96% in word recognition, 59-75% in comprehension, Frustration Reader with a mean ranging from 89% below in word recognition, 58% below in comprehension. Academic Performance however will be determined basing from General Average of grade two pupil’s from 1st and 2nd grading period of the Academic Year 2013-2014.

Academic Performance in English
Grade Point Average (GPA)

I. Level of Reading Difficulty
* Independent
* Instructional
* Frustration

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram illustrating a hypothesized relationship of variables in the study.

Statement of the Problem
This study aims to determine the reading difficulties and its relation to the academic performance of the Grade- Two pupils for the school year 2013-2014. Specifically, this study will be able to attain the answers to the following questions:

1. What are the level of reading difficulties of Grade II pupils when categorize according to: a.) independent b.) instructional and c.) frustration?
2. What is the academic performance of Grade II pupils in English? 3. Is there significant relationship between the academic performance and the level of reading difficulties of Grade II pupils when categorize according to: a.) independent b.) instructional and c.) frustration? Statement of Hypothesis

Ho3: There is no significant relationship between the level of reading difficulties and academic performance of Grade II pupils when categorize according to a.) independent b.) instructional and c.) frustration. Scope of the study

This study will determine the reading difficulties and its relationship to the academic performance of Grade II pupils at Tuyom Elementary School for the School Year 2013-2014. Significance of the Study

This investigation comes from the utmost desire of the student researchers to be of contribution to the development of the PHIL-IRI and to be of help through the outcome that this study may give more accuracy of some problems and differences of the learners to be able to fill in what readers experienced. Hence, the researchers see to it that this study will be beneficial to the following people and group of people:School Superintendent. Findings of the study may serve as an eye-opener in preparing plans and programs especially in various schools which have large percentage of non-readers. Also, through the use of PHIL-IRI as an intervention in overcoming reading difficulties, the school superintendent will be given an idea as the effectiveness of this material and will find ways and means to alleviate the reading levels of pupils. School Administrators.

This study will guide administrators/principals and supervisors in this quest for quality education, because the findings of the study will enhance their skills in choosing appropriate instructional materials. The findings will likewise serve as a basis of the school administrators in planning for more effective reading programs to be implemented. English Teachers. The teachers will take more serious look into the needs of children who have difficulties in reading. They can identify the skills where the Grade II pupils are weak, and strong, so that the teachers can provide the appropriate reading materials for the improvement of the child’s reading level. This will also inspire them to perform the immense task of helping the children specifically the poor readers and find their deserved place in school. Thus, making every learner become interested and even advance in their field of study or interest. Grade II Pupils.

The study will help the Grade II pupils develop their reading skills both in word recognition and comprehension skills. Through the use of PHIL-IRI material, their reading levels will progress as they are exposed to varied and carefully chosen materials for reading. Parents. Parents will become aware of the possible causes of reading deficiencies and poor comprehension of their children. By knowing their children’s level of abilities, they can find materials to suit their capabilities and provide appropriate reading materials particularly on the topics that will lessen, if not eliminate the reading difficulties of their children. Definition of Terms

The following key terms used in this investigation are hereby defined conceptually and operationally so as for the reader to have a good understanding of this study. Reading. Conceptually, the term means a mental process involving 5thinterpretation of signs perceived through the sense organs Gertrude (Hildreth, 2000). Difficulties. Conceptually, this term means hard to do, make or carry out. Attended with or requiring effort. Operationally, this is being defined as something that causes labor or complexity and requires skills and perseverance in mastering, solving or achieving a goal. Reading Difficulties. Conceptually, the term means at which a person lacks the skills of a fluent reader. They read very little and do not like to read. Academic.

This term refers to the institutional system of formal education within school, college or university (Hawes, Gene R. & Hawes, Lynne Salop). Academic Performance. Conceptually, this term refers to the actual accomplishment in the curricular offerings as distinguished from the potential ability, capacity or aptitude (Good, 2003). Operationally, this is being defined as the Grade Point Average of the respondents’ from1st to 2nd grading period of the Academic Year 2013-2014. Comprehension. Conceptually, the term means the act or fact of grasping the meaning or importance of understanding. The knowledge that is acquired in this way; and the sum of meanings and corresponding implication inherent. Effectiveness. Conceptually, the term means a measure of the capacity of a specific act and the ability or capacity to perform well.

Frustration Reading Level. Conceptually, the term means the reading level that is too hard for the reader. Word errors are over 5 per 100 word of text. Operationally, the term means that the comprehension questions are below 70 percent accuracy. Independent Reading Level. Conceptually, the term means that a student could read it alone with ease. Operationally, in oral reading a child would have one or less word calling errors in 100 words of text, with 100 percent accuracy on comprehension questions about the story.

Instructional Reading Level. Conceptually, the term means the best level for the learning new vocabulary. Operationally, it requires the assistance of a teacher or tutor. The word error range allowed while reading orally to the teacher is from 2 to 5 word calling errors per 100 words of text (95% accuracy or better), with at least 80 percent comprehension on simple recall questions about the story. Non- Reader. Conceptually, the term means a person who lacks the skills of a fluent reader. They read below grade level and struggle with comprehensions, phonics and vocabulary. PHIL-IRI.

This acronym means Philippine Informal Reading Inventory. Conceptually, the term means an assessment that evaluates the reading proficiency level of elementary school pupils. Operationally, it is the first validated instrument that presents the over-all reading profile of public elementary schools nationwide. Recognition. Conceptually, the term means an awareness that something perceived has been perceived before. An acceptance as true or valid, as of a claim.

CHAPTER II
Review of Related Literature
This chapter presents concepts and studies which the researchers believed are useful to the present investigation. A lot of studies were conducted in the Philippines and abroad regarding reading difficulties among Grade II Pupils, hence, these studies are related to the problems under investigation and have been used by the researchers. Conceptual Literature

Franci Bacon said, “Reading maketh a full man”. Indeed, reading highly contribute to the development of individual especially in acquiring knowledge and learning that will help them in learning more competitive and language literate. The process of learning to read is a lengthy one that begins very early in life

Most young children with reading difficulties have problems developing fluency. For these children, identifying words take a lot of effort. Their reading rate is slow, their word identification is hesitant, and they over rely on contextual cues for word identification. Because most of their cognitive or mental effort is spent trying to identify words, their comprehension suffers. The main prevention and early intervention strategies for these children are effective preparation for literacy and effective classroom instruction.

Many children at risk for reading difficulties enter school with little or no phonological awareness. Evidence is accruing that indeed such training can be of particular benefit to youngsters at risk due to socio economic disadvantage and/or weak initial preparedness in reading-related skills. Among the reasons public attention has turned to the need for systematic prevention of reading difficulties are the patterns of reading difficulty : failure to learn to read adequately is present among children of low social risk who attend well funded school and is much more likely among poor children, among non-white children, and among non-native speakers of English. To begin our consideration of who is likely to have reading difficulties and how many children we are talking about, we outlined a number of conceptual issues in identifying and measuring reading difficulties in young children.

The major sources of evidence pertaining to these conceptual issues are several large-scale epidemiological studies in which population-representative samples of children have been examined to determine the incidence, prevalence, characteristics, persistence, and academic outcomes of individuals who have been identified (by various criteria) as having reading difficulties. Prospective longitudinal studies of sample surveys and general populations allow us to determine the natural history of a disorder over time, to determine whether the problem is transient or chronic, and how various risk factors relate to outcomes.

In identifying, studying, and treating reading problems, two main kinds of reading difficulties have traditionally been distinguished. Reading disability, also called "dyslexia" and "specific reading retardation," was at first considered to be a qualitatively and etiologically distinct condition that an individual either had or did not have. The condition was viewed as having a biological and perhaps genetic basis, as being invariant over time, and as affecting a small group of children, primarily boys. In this traditional conceptual model, poor readers who do not meet the criteria for a reading disability are characterized instead as having garden-variety reading problems (or “general reading backwardness"), arising from such causes as poor instruction, low intelligence, and weak motivation. Research Literature

Foreign Studies
The Expert Panel in Ontario, (2003) on their study “ Early Reading Strategy –Help for Children With Reading Difficulties”, opens with a firm conviction ; “ That a child’s success in school and throughout life depends in large part on the ability to read.” Educators have the profound challenge of making reading a reality for all children. Many young children experience some kind of difficulty learning to read. For many children, reading difficulties can be identified in Kindergarten or Grade 1 and can be prevented or to meet very clear: children who continue to experience difficulties in Grade 2 seldom catch up in later grades.

The consequences are well documented. These children are at risk of failing school and dropping out, and they may have limited career opportunities in adulthood. Therefore, it is important to have the conditions and resources – including time, manageable, class size, materials, and learning opportunities that enable teachers to meet the challenges of ensuring that all children learn to read. The foundations of good reading are the same for all children. All readers, regardless of their age, gender, or aptitude, need to develop fluency, comprehension, and the motivation to read in order to become successful readers. Children who experience reading difficulties are no exception. They too must develop the basic foundations for reading, and they require the same types of learning experiences to do so. In Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA: John E. Mceneaney, Mark K. Lose, Robert M. Schwartz in their study “ A Transactional Perspective On Reading Difficulties And Response to Intervention”, disclosed that learners with serious reading difficulties are those whose difficulties are not resolved by the interventions.

Three advantages of an RTI approach include that children need not wait to fail (Vaughn & Fuchs, 2003) to be eligible for support, RTI avoid problems associated with process-deficit and discrepancy models and RTI is instructionally grounded, enhancing the ecological validity of the diagnostic process and more clearly grounding it in subsequent instruction. We too have reservations about its assumptions related to reading difficulties, because these assumptions have implications for the ways we conduct and interpret research responding to the needs of struggling readers. Although literacy educators and special educators draw on common historical roots, even in the mid-1970 when special educators settled on a working definition for reading disabilities based on factors internal to readers, literacy educators had begun to move toward a broader transactional perspective that views reading difficulties as situated in variable social and cognitive concepts.

The study of “Reading” serves as our tools of learning in every subject areas and grade level where we teach from. Thus, pupils in grade four must take the risk of responsibility and might influenced reading as their major concern in going to higher level of learning.

And therefore, if the pupils guided and trained properly at this stage, we can produce learners that have a wide understanding and comprehension that result to an outstanding academic performance. Pascual said that the success in the development of comprehension among people depends largely on the strategic and instructional materials utilized by the teacher. The teacher’s competence in teaching with the proper utilization of instructional materials plays a major role in the development of comprehension among pupils. The pupils exclusively dependent upon the teacher’s ability to pave the way to full understanding or to visualizing, or to getting the real picture hidden behind the printed reading materials

From the findings of the research conducted by Bacal, oral reading difficulties of pupils can be corrected by providing different activities suited to the pupils’ level, employing different techniques for remediation and intensive supervision of teachers, parents and school administrators. The teacher’s creativity, resourcefulness and diligence count most in the success of the program and project. The pupil’s interest in reading can be developed and enhanced by engaging in different reading materials. Utilization of varied and appropriate instructional materials can facilitate pupil’s understanding of what he is reading. Finding the right materials is particularly important for a student who experiences reading difficulties (Bacal, 2005).

Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (CBASSE), USA, on “Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children “(1998). Americans want their children to start school ready to learn, a goal that includes preparedness for reading instruction. Children who are particularly likely to have difficulty learning to read in the primary grades are those who begin school with less prior knowledge and skill in certain domains, most notably letter knowledge, phonological sensitivity, familiarity with the basic purposes and mechanisms of reading and language ability. The process of learning to read is a lengthy one that begins very early in life. Given the importance identified in the research literature of starting school motivated to read and with the prerequisite language and early literacy skills, the committee recommends that all children, especially those at risk for reading difficulties, should have access to early childhood environments that promote language and literacy growth and that address a variety of skills that have been identified as predictors of later reading achievement.

Preschools and other group care settings for young children often provide relatively impoverished language and literacy environments, in particular those available to families with limited economic resources. As ever more young children are entering group care settings pursuant to expectations that their mothers will join the work force, it becomes critical that the preschool opportunities available to lower-income families be designed in ways that support language and literacy development. Even with excellent instruction in the early grades, some children fail to make satisfactory progress in reading. Such children will require supplementary services, ideally from a reading specialist who provides individual or small-group intensive instruction that is coordinated with high-quality instruction from the classroom teacher. Children who are having difficulty learning to read do not, as a rule, require qualitatively different instruction from children who are "getting it." Instead, they more often need application of the same principles by someone who can apply them expertly to individual children who are having difficulty for one reason or another.

By Grade II, all schools should have in place for children a process that allows for the timely implementation of instruction following diagnostic assessment. Once a teacher recognizes that a child is experiencing reading difficulties, the teacher and the child must have access to diagnostic assessment services, specialized interventions, and appropriate instruction. The intensity or duration of the interventions should be based on comprehensive diagnostic assessment. There should be seamless continuity between regular classroom instruction and interventions, and a high degree of cooperation among qualified staff who are serving the same children. The staff should spend the vast majority of their time planning for and delivering instruction directly to children. In the Netherlands, explicit beginning reading instruction usually starts in grade one.

The children learn grapheme-phoneme correspondences, blending, and phonemic analysis. However, some children experience difficulties in beginning reading that the existing educational procedures are not adequate to resolve. One possible solution being implemented is the Prevention of Reading Difficulties Project, which precludes reading difficulties by predicting the at-risk children, assessing their expected difficulties and teaching reading in such a way that reading difficulties do not occur. Local Studies

A Nation of Nonreaders
by Juan Miguel Luz. Thursday, June 7th, 2007.
Why is it that despite our supposedly high literacy rate, many Filipinos can barely read and write? Why haven’t we been able to develop a reading habit among Filipinos? Straight forward questions about something so fundamental. Yet there are no easy answers to such a complex problem. Worse, the problem of nonreading lies at the heart of why the Philippines is so uncompetitive in the world economy and why so many of our people continue to live in poverty or barely escape it. Someone once remarked that we are not a nation of readers; we are a nation of storytellers. Ours is a culture of oral history passed on by word of mouth not through the written word. Perhaps that is why most of the information people receive today is gathered from television (62 percent) and radio (57 percent). Newspapers and magazines are read by only 47 percent and 36 percent of the population respectively, according to a 2003 government survey.

In the modern era, however, this is too low a figure. And how did this happen when we pride ourselves as being a highly literate people? Then again, are we really? To start with, let’s establish the difference between literacy and reading. They are related, but literacy is a level of competence, while reading is a skill. One can be literate but not necessarily a reader because reading, as a skill, requires the development of a habit that must be exercised daily if it is to be retained and enhanced. If left unexercised, the skill becomes rusty and can even be lost. We begin this discussion with literacy, for which there are two measures: simple and functional. Simple literacy is the ability of a person to read and write with understanding a simple message in any language or dialect. Functional literacy, meanwhile, is a significantly higher level of literacy that includes not only reading and writing skills, but also numeracy (the ‘rithmetic that completes the ‘three Rs’), which leads to a higher order of thinking that allows persons to participate more meaningfully in life situations requiring a reasonable capacity to communicate in a written language.

The simplest, most direct measure of functional literacy is the ability to follow a written set of instructions for even basic tasks. Thus, functional literacy is the more important indicator of competence when it comes to adults in the workforce. For decades, the Philippines has reported a simple literacy rate in the mid-to-high 90s. In 2003, the simple literacy rate was actually lower at 93.4 percent for the entire population at least 10 years of age. Girls show a higher rate of simple literacy than boys (94.3 percent versus 92.6 percent). Not surprisingly, Metro Manila reported the highest rate at 99 percent; the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had the lowest at 68.9 percent (and falling compared to the 1994 rate of 73.5 percent). Over the last 10-year period (measuring simple literacy is part of the national census taken once a decade); there has been a disturbing occurrence. Nine of 15 regions (under the old regional configuration) showed a slight decline in simple literacy from 1994 to 2003. These included two of the three Visayan regions (VII and VIII) and all of the Mindanao regions. Overall, simple literacy for the entire country fell by 0.5 percent from 1994 to 2003. Deped: National reading skills assessment to continue this year MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) will again administer a reading skills assessment test to public elementary school students to determine their reading proficiency or lack of it.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said that the administration of the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) to Grades 2 to 6 pupils will continue this school year. Luistro said that it was important to assess the reading capability of students because reading is the foundation of all academic learning. “If a pupil fails to master basic reading skills at the outset, it will be a constant struggle for them to get through other disciplines successfully, thus depriving them of the chance to become literate and productive individuals,” he added.

For Grade 1 pupils however, Phil IRI will not be used until such time that a national reading assessment in mother tongue have been implemented. Hence, all schools are encouraged to strengthen the locally-developed, school-based assessment in support of the Mother-Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education Based on DepEd Memo No. 143, series of 2012, teachers are still required to accomplish the pupil’s individual reading profile and consolidate reports for the schools profile. The information culled from the assessment shall serve as one of the bases in making decisions for planning an appropriate school-based teaching and learning instruction as well as a reading program to improve the performance of the pupils. The assessment results shall also be considered in the preparation of the school improvement plan. Literacy improvement is a high priority of the DepEd and the national government. CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the method of research that the researchers will be using in the study are as follows: Research design, respondents of the study, data gathering instrument, validity and reliability of the data gathering instrument, data gathering procedure and data analysis. Research Design

In this investigation the descriptive method of research will be used. According to Ardales (2008), the descriptive design is particularly appropriate in the behavioural sciences. The reasons for this is the fact that behaviour of interest to the investigator can be systematically examined and analyzed as they happen in its natural setting the home, the classroom, the recreational center the workplace such as an office or factory. One drawback though is that the researcher has less control of the condition that prevails in the natural setting. The researcher cannot arrange or manipulate situations, or if he can, he still expects people to behave in their natural way. Respondents of the Study

The subject of this investigation focus on determining the reading difficulties and its relation to the academic performance of grade two pupils of Tuyom Elementary School having a total population of 153 pupils. Data Gathering Instrument

In order to gather data needed in connection with the specific objectives of the study, the researchers will use of the PHIL-IRI (Philippine Informal Reading Inventory).

It will determine pupil’s thinking process as well as the reading performance. It is an informal measure that can assess the pupil’s comprehension, vocabulary and word recognition skills. Validity and Reliability of the Data Gathering Instrument

The validity of the research instrument, Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (PHIL-IRI), was established by the curriculum makers of the Bureau of Elementary Education Department of Education. All instruments were DepEd approved forms. No validation and reliability is further needed. Data Gathering Procedure

The researcher will not administer the test but instead will use the secondary data taken by the teachers of grade two pupils of Tuyom Elementary School. They will ask approval from the principal Mrs. Paulita M. Acha. The respondents will use the total population of grade two pupils of the said school. Data Analysis

To analyze the data specifically, the researchers will use the Frequency Percentage to answer the objective number one (1) and two (2). Formula:Word Recognition
WR= E/N= % of E
100% - % of E = % of miscues
Where:
WR= word recognition
E = number of errors
N= number of words
Formula:
Comprehension (CR) = No. of wrong responsesNo. of questions x 100= % of WR Table 1. Levels of Reading Difficulties Criteria
Level of ReadingDifficulties| Word Recognition (WR) % of Miscues| Comprehension (CR)% of wrong responses| Frustration| 97-100%| 80-100%|
Instructional| 90-96%| 59-79%|
Independent| 89 below| 58% below|

Table 2. Level of Reading Difficulties in Areas of Word Recognition and Comprehension Skills

Objective no. 3 which aims to determine if there is a significant relationship between the academic performance and the levels of reading difficulties of grade II pupils, the Pearson’s R will be used by the researchers. Pearson’s R Formula

Where:
n= total number of respondent x= variable y= variable x2= x- squared

y2= y-squared
xy= product of x and y

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