ABSTRACT
The descriptive-qualitative study identified determinants affecting junior high school learners’ reading comprehension as bases for an intervention program in Jaro National High School during the school year 2022-2023. The research method utilized in the study was qualitative method using in-depth interview to gather data and phenomenology for the research design. Based on the results of the in-depth interview the determinants observed by the teachers are learners’ lack interest in reading, they lack parental support, they have poor vocabulary, they also have gadget addiction, and they lack reading materials. For parents, they identified learners to be unmotivated to read, have excessive use of gadgets, had peer group influence, and lack of support from parents. For participants, to manage determinants affecting their reading comprehension they identified that teachers used strategies like provision of reading materials, conducted guided reading, and provided encouragement for students to read. The parents imposed positive punishment, limit gadget usage and lack of parent’s time.
Keywords: Determinants, Learners, Reading Comprehension Skills, Junior High School, Intervention Program
INTRODUCTION
Reading comprehension is a critical learning skill for students (Clarke, Truelove, Hulme, & Snowling, 2013; Wong, 2011) for it is the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and written work. Comprehension is not just the ability to read but the ability to understand and apply what is being read. It involves critical thinking which allows people to think and imagine what they are reading. When someone reads, he should get the thought and truly understands what is written in the text in order to relate one’s experiences and connect ideas and knowledge.
Understanding meaning, analyzing the authors point of view, aiming for writing, and gaining new words are all important skills that support reading comprehension (Ruiz, 2015). Learners may have the ability to read but failed to understand what is being read because of poor reading comprehension. Not being able to successfully comprehend can prevent learners from learning, retaining information that they read, and graduating from school, which will negatively damage different aspect of their lives later on (Hoeh, 2015).
In today's world, the love for learning and passion for reading has totally declined, not only due to lack of passion or interest, but mostly due to the lack of basic understanding or comprehension. Learners can be provided good books, but still lose their interest in reading; hence, as they open a book and scan through its pages, it's as if they are walking through an unfamiliar world. Thus, learners have very limited vocabulary, and they don’t exert too much effort in searching or looking-up the meaning of the words they don’t understand. They don’t even know how to use dictionaries which has become almost obsolete. Therefore, it takes away the wonderful experience of being able to read and comprehend text that could help them survive the real world.
According to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian (2022), even before the pandemic struck, international large-scale assessments showed that learners were already struggling to meet the minimum required proficiency in reading. He pressed the need for programs and interventions that would improve Filipino learners’ proficiency in reading. Reading is one of the youth’s foundations that should be strengthened. More than ever, the focus should be on that area as education suffered a lot since the pandemic broke out.
In Asian countries, China is on top followed by Singapore in terms of reading comprehension performance. On the other hand, the Philippines is the lowest in terms of reading comprehension according to the result of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA,2018) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The PISA further showed that only one in five Filipino learners aged 15 achieved at least the minimum proficiency level in Overall Reading Literacy.
In 2022, The Philippines’ disheartening ranking in Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) for the second time was a “clear indication” that the education system is in its “worst state” and “much work” needs to be done.
Moreover, according to Philippine Business for Education (PBEd)(2022), the poor performance of the learners is not just a problem of education alone, but our country as a whole,” In addition, PISA showed that Filipino students remained poor performers in Mathematics, Reading, and Science.
These reading concerns urged the researcher to identify the determinants that affect learners’ reading comprehension as bases for an intervention program.
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