CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Background of the Study Reading comprehension relies heavily on fluency. "Reading fluency is one of the important qualities necessary for reading comprehension, yet it is often disregarded in the classroom, "according to the National Reading Panel's website. Children are more likely to comprehend and recall material if they read aloud with speed, precision, and suitable expression than if they read slowly and inefficiently. Reading fluency has traditionally been taught using two teaching approaches. One, guided repeated oral reading, encourages children to read passages aloud with systematic and explicit instructor assistance and feedback. Outside of the classroom, with little supervision or silent reading, on the other hand, encourages students to read silently on their own, both within and outside of the classroom, with little assistance or response from their teachers." Children's primary attention when learning to read is on decoding words. Their oral reading is sluggish, and they don't seem to understand what they're reading. "The programs that work best and produce the biggest gains share three key features: (1) a focus on a child's oral reading, (2) opportunities for practice, such as allowing a child to read and reread words aloud in connected text, and (3) ongoing feedback as a child reads," writes Dr. Sally Shaywitz in her book Overcoming Dyslexia. Dr. Shaywitz continues, "The feedback component is vital because it allows a youngster to adjust his pronunciation of a specific word while simultaneously correcting the stored brain model of that word so that it increasingly represents the exact pronunciation and spelling of the word." (p.232) this exercise can be completed in as little as fifteen minutes every day. It is unnecessary to point out that certain pupils may have significant difficulties learning to read. The goal of the research is to find the connections between the main factors, demonstrating that there is a significant correlation between them, as well as to identify potential solutions to the problem. Statement of the Problem This study was designed to identify the connection between oral reading skills and the students’ ability to understand the text that they read. Additionally, the means of enhancing the process of reading comprehension through promoting oral reading activities will be considered in the study. Specifically, it sought to answer the following question: 1. What is the relationship between students’ oral reading skills and their ability to comprehend the text they read? 2. What are the factor affecting the reading comprehension among grade 3 students? 3. What are the strategies or methods to improve oral reading skills to enhance reading comprehension among Grade 3 students? Significance of the Study This action research will be beneficial first and foremost to the grade three pupils for they will learn how to improve their oral reading skills and help them enhance their reading comprehension. As the pupils improve their reading comprehension they will also easily learn lessons under the curriculum and will definitely improve their academic performance. The teachers will also be benefited from this action research for they will learn how to address and improve the oral reading skills grade and to enhance reading comprehension of the grade three pupils. They will also learn the strategies on how reading comprehension of pupils will be improved. The school will also be aided from this action research because the pupils’ performance and teachers’ performance reflects the school performance. Scope and Limitations of the Study This study was limited only on “Improving Oral Reading Skills to Enhance Reading Comprehension among Grade 3 Students”. The study was conducted at Salvacion Elementary School. This study used a self-made questionnaire. The research was conducted during second quarter of the school year grade three pupils of Salvacion Elementary School. The participants were limited to those who are currently enrolled in class of grade three. The data were collected through oral reading, story maps, and answering comprehension questions. The researchers conducted a reading session including the second quarter lessons in English and researchers administered a made test consisted of questions and activities. The questionnaire has two components. Part 1 is a pre-test which will determine the respondents’ familiarization with the assigned topic to be discussed on the tutorial sessions. Part 2 is a post- test that will determine the outcome or the competence of the respondents in reading comprehension after the tutorial sessions were held. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES This chapter includes the ideas, generalization or conclusions, methodologies and others. Those that were included in this chapter helps in familiarizing information that are relevant and similar to the present study. According to Chad Hamilton, Mark R Shinn (2003), despite a body of evidence that curriculum-based measurement of reading (R-CBM) is a valid measure of general reading achievement, some school-based professionals remain unconvinced. At the core of their argument is their experience with word callers, students who purportedly can read fluently, but do not understand what they read. No studies have been conducted to determine if teachers' perceptions about these word callers are accurate. According to Benjamin Piper, Leila Schroeder, Barbara Trudell (2016), reading research has shown that variable relationships exist between measures of oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, depending on whether the language of the text is the reader's first language or an additional language. This paper explores this phenomenon, using reading assessment data for 2,000 Kenyan children in two or three languages: English, Kiswahili and one of two mother tongues, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The assessment data allowed us to compare reading and comprehension rates across languages. The data indicated that many children could read English words more easily than words in Kiswahili or their mother tongue; nevertheless, their reading comprehension was significantly lower in English than in Kiswahili, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The paper concludes that emphasizing English reading fluency is an inefficient route to gaining reading comprehension skills because pupils are actually attaining minimal oral reading fluency in English and only modest comprehension skills in their own languages. The evidence also demonstrates that Kenya's national language policy of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the early primary grades is consistently ignored in practice. According to Paul Yovanoff, Luke Duesbery, Julie Alonzo, Gerald Tindal (2005), this research investigates the relative importance of vocabulary and oral reading fluency as measurement dimensions of reading comprehension as the student passes from elementary to high school. Invariance of this model over grades 4 through 8 is tested using two independent student samples reading grade‐level appropriate passages. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that the model is not invariant across grade levels. Vocabulary knowledge is a significant and constant predictor of overall reading comprehension irrespective of grade level. While significant, fluency effects diminish over grades, especially in the later grades. Lack of grade level invariance was obtained with both samples. Results are discussed in light of vertically linked reading assessments, adequate yearly progress, and instruction. According to Grace Oakley (2003), a formative experiment in which 9- and 10-year-old girls created "electronic talking books" in an activity designed to improve oral reading fluency. The author discussed the process’s facilitative and inhibitive components, as well as some unexpected effects, such as an increase in students’ comprehension. Discussed why creating talking books may be superior to more traditional fluency-building strategies. According to Amy M. Elleman, Eric L. Oslund (2019),reading comprehension is one of the most complex cognitive activities in which humans engage, making it difficult to teach, measure, and research. Despite decades of research in reading comprehension, international and national reading scores indicate stagnant growth for U.S. adolescents. In this article, we review the theoretical and empirical research in reading comprehension. We first explore different theoretical models for comprehension and then focus on components shown to be important across models that represent potential targets for instruction. In the last part of the article, we consider solutions for translating research to practice and policies for improving instruction. Improving reading scores will require a concerted and collaborative effort by researchers, educators, and policy makers with a focus on long-term solutions. An early and sustained focus on developing background knowledge, vocabulary, inference, and comprehension monitoring skills across development will be necessary to improve comprehension. According to Robin Hausheer, Alana Hansen, Diana M. Doumas (2004), this study examined the effectiveness of a remedial reading program on improving reading fluency and comprehension among elementary school students. Twenty-four students were selected to participate in an eight-month program. Results indicated reading fluency and reading comprehension scores improved significantly across the academic year for both male and female students. Examination of gender differences indicated significantly more males were referred to the program than females. Additionally, examination of the between group effect size indicated reading comprehension scores improved more for males than females. Implications for school counselors are discussed. CHAPTER III METHODS AND PROCEDURE This chapter contains research design, population and sample research Instruments, and data gathering procedure. Research Design The descriptive correlational research method was applied in this action research. The major goals of descriptive research are to characterize the nature of a condition as it exists at the time of the study and to investigate the reasons of the particular situation. Population And Sample The participants in this study were English teachers from Salvacion Elementary School. Researchers chose people and lists from which to conduct this quantitative study. A target population, also known as a sampling frame, is a collection of people or organizations with similar characteristics that the researcher can analyze (Creswell, 2004). The students or teachers are frequently the population in educational research that involves schools. This study uses convenience sampling, in which the researcher chooses samples that are both available and willing to take part in the study. Because the researcher is aware that the study's target demographic of English teachers and primary students is present in every primary school in Salvacion Elementary School, the researcher can acquire permission from the schools of choice to perform the study with any accessible sample. The sample for this study consisted of 20 English teachers from the chosen elementary school. The respondents were chosen from the morning and afternoon session teachers in order to acquire information about the teachers' teaching techniques and students' enthusiasm to learn English. Research Instruments The data collection tool in this action research will be a self-prepared questionnaire with four key elements. Part 1 is a pre-test which will determine the respondents’ familiarization with the assigned topic to be discussed on the tutorial sessions. Part 2 is a post- test that will determine the outcome or the competence of the respondents in reading comprehension after the tutorial sessions were held. Data Gathering Procedure The English teachers and pupils at Salvacion Elementary School were the subjects of this study. Before the surveys are handed, there will be a briefing. Part 1 of the questionnaire is a pretest to determine the respondents' familiarity with the given topic to be discussed during the tutorial sessions. Part 2 is a post-test to measure the outcome or competence of the respondents in reading comprehension following the instructional sessions. Data was collected during typical class hours for students and working hours for teachers, or at any other time that was convenient. The researcher also collected data through mailed surveys, in which the questionnaire was emailed to members of the sample. The questionnaire took between ten and fifteen minutes to complete in total. When the surveys were finished, they were collected. CHAPTER IV Data Analysis The data from this public elementary school was generated by their teachers and the researchers. The scores for the enhancement of oral reading fluency study used a self-made questionnaire and the data were collected through oral reading, story maps, and answering comprehension questions. The researchers conducted a reading session including the second quarter lessons in English and researchers administered a made test consisted of questions and activities. The questionnaire has two components. Part 1 is a pre-test which will determine the respondents’ familiarization with the assigned topic to be discussed on the tutorial sessions. Part 2 is a post- test that will determine the outcome or the competence of the respondents in reading comprehension after the tutorial sessions were held. The goal of this study is to determine and improve oral reading skills to enhance reading comprehension among grade 3 students and the existence of a correlation between oral reading fluency and comprehension among the third grade students in Salvacion Elementary School. Determining a statistical relationship between the oral reading comprehension scores generated from the pre-test and post-test oral reading comprehension. Each of the hypotheses will be tested using this format. Implications Students lack the foundational reading skills which affects their motivation to read. Despite the advantages in the knowledge regarding the importance of reading acquisition and effective reading strategies, the majority of children with ASD experience greater difficulties learning to read (Lee, Simpson, & Shogren, 2007). Children on the spectrum are often perceived less capable of learning academic skills compared with typically developed counterparts, specifically in the areas of oral reading fluency and comprehension (Erickson & Koppenhaver, 1995). The majority of children with ASD receive instructional services in the special education setting with limited access to activities fostering literacy acquisition. Chapter V: Conclusion Although the connection between oral reading skills and the actual comprehension of the text may be seen as rather loose, the link between the mechanical processes related to reading and the identification of the connotation and denotation components of the words’ meaning are, in fact, quite tangible. The study in question is aimed at proving that the links are palpable, as well as the fact that specific strategies such as scaffolding and peer assessment will help improve the learners’ reading skills significantly. Therefore, the above-mentioned approaches will create premises for a faster acquisition of data and its enhanced analysis. It is expected, therefore, that the study will allow for designing new tools for addressing the issue in question. Particularly, the methods such as scaffolding and peer assessment will be evaluated as possible avenues for improving students’ perception of the actual meaning of the text. Additionally, the idea of integrating the latest technological advances as the tools for shaping students’ experience and helping them improve their reading skills will be considered. Acquiring reading skills means learning to understand the text; it is only with the understanding of the context that the process of metacognition may occur. In order to teach students proper skills for information acquisition and analysis, a teacher must integrate innovative technology, an original approach and the tools for enhancing students’ motivation.
