IMPACT OF STUDENTS VOCABULARY SKILLS IN READING
COMPREHENSION TOWARDS THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF GRADE
10 STUDENTS AT KORONADAL NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE HIGH
SCHOOL
A Concept Proposal
Presented to the Faculty of the School of Education
GREEN VALLEY COLLEGE FOUNDATION, INC.
Koronadal City
In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Course
ENG 107: LANGUAGE EDUCATION RESEARCH
By
ASUNCION, PRECIOUS
BANDALA, CYNDY A.
CALDERON, RAYMA MAE
DEDIOS, PRINCESS GRACE
GALLEGO, JAMELA
PAMPAG, MIKO JAY
April 2023
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Vocabulary knowledge is fundamental to reading, and comprehension; one cannot
understand a text without knowing what most of the words mean. Reading comprehension
plays an important role in human life. Its role is realized as very substantial because it open
up new knowledge for individuals. The goal is to gain information from what the writer
conveyed through a text and uses this information to enrich his/her experiences and improve
his/her intellectual ability. Vocabulary is generically defined as the knowledge of words and
word meanings.
According to Cremer et al (2010) claim that vocabulary knowledge does not only
involve knowing a multitude of words, but also necessitates acquiring various types of
knowledge regarding each word and creating semantic networks among multiple lexical
items. From the perspective of verbal cognition development, vocabulary knowledge may
contribute more on reading comprehension activities at the higher education stage
(Information Gap, Katz, 2001).
The various research finds out that the teaching strategies in a classroom would have a great
impact on the student’s vocabulary (Perman, 2020) and those students reading books had
better language comprehension and Vocabulary (Hagen 2018). Also, the presence of a
positive correlation between gaining obtained in one of the reading comprehension texts and
the verbal comprehension intelligence quotient shows that children who started with more
resources in verbal intelligence achieve greater improvement in text comprehension.
It Is generally assumed that teachers’ strategies in teaching and students’ Activity have
an impact on their Vocabulary skills. However, this paper suggested that what is the impact
of students’ Vocabulary skills in reading comprehension on their academic performance.
Literature Review
Developing student’s vocabulary skills Rosyidah & Giyoto (2018) stated that vocabulary
is one of the essential aspects of learning English. It is the foundation to learn English and
vocabulary is one of the components of language, there is no language without vocabulary.
To be able to communicate in English, vocabulary is needed and it is important to improve
and have a variety of vocabulary. As Viera (2018) said that, "Vocabulary knowledge is
viewed as an essential tool for mastering any language skills; it also contributes to the
understanding of written and spoken texts." Mastering vocabulary is quite difficult to learn
especially to those students who have learning difficulties.
According to Mthethwa (2018), the use of a combination of text, sound, graphics, video,
or animation to teach vocabulary is becoming a common aspect of instructional practice in
language learning. Through this, it will make it easier for students to learn vocabulary in a
fun way. Nuriyya (2018) said that "By using authentic material students deal with outside
and real-world, they become interested when dealing with real language." She also stated that
authentic materials increase learners' motivation in learning vocabulary. It is a useful tool
which makes students familiar with the target language particularly in learning vocabulary.
Folse (2014) expresses that “learning a language entails learning numerous aspects
about that language, including its pronunciation, writing system, syntax but the most
important aspect is vocabulary. Therefore, vocabulary is considered a useful part and
fundamental tool for communicative purpose and acquiring knowledge. Putra (2018) stated
that English movies provide a great chance for students to learn English vocabulary by
listening. Moreover, through listening, the students will get the information as to their first
input for their knowledge.
The Role of Knowledge, Interest, and Engagement in Reading Comprehension" by
Panayiota et. al (2019) This article reviews the current research on the role of knowledge,
interest, and engagement in reading comprehension, and suggests ways to improve
comprehension through these factors.
Reading Comprehension and Its Relationship to Academic Achievement among High
School Students by Rana Tamim and Ziad H. Abu-Rabia. (2011). This study explored the
relationship between reading comprehension and academic achievement among high school
students. The results showed a significant positive correlation between reading
comprehension and academic achievement.
John E. Hosp and Christine A. Foltz. (2018). Their study evaluated the effectiveness of
direct instruction in reading comprehension strategies for high school students. The results
showed significant improvements in reading comprehension for students who received the
instruction.
The Relationship between Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking: A Study of
High School Students in Malaysia Norshidah Mohamed et. al (2017). This study explored
the relationship between reading comprehension and critical thinking among high school
students in Malaysia. The results showed a significant positive correlation between the two
skills.
Improving Reading Comprehension of High School Students through a ComputerAssisted Learning Program" by Hua Zhang and Huiqin Yang. (2018). This study evaluated
the effectiveness of a computer-assisted learning program in improving high school students'
reading comprehension. The results showed that the program had a positive impact on
students' reading comprehension skills.
The Impact of Vocabulary on Reading Comprehension: A Study of Iranian EFL Learners"
by Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi and Mohsen Shahrokhi. (2013). This study investigated the
impact of vocabulary on reading comprehension in Iranian English as a Foreign Language
(EFL) learners. The results showed that vocabulary knowledge is a significant predictor of
reading comprehension ability in EFL learners.
Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Achievement in High School: A Multi-Year
Study" by Linnea C. Ehri, David A. Owens, and Christine M. Sullivan. (2006). This study
investigated the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic achievement in
high school students over the course of three years. The results showed that vocabulary
knowledge is a strong predictor of academic achievement.
Vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension refers to a kind of knowledge that
facilitates text comprehension by single, double, or more words/characters' semantic
meaning identification, providing the possibility of necessary cognitive capacity for higherlevel reading processes (Silva and Cain, 2015; LervAag et al., 2018).
Extant literature has shown that vocabulary knowledge contributes to reading
comprehension through semantic meaning identification and played a collaborator role with
inference on sentence meaning comprehension (Silva and Cain, 2015; LervAag et al., 2018;
Lawrence et al., 2019).
Past evidence has shown that vocabulary is significantly related to inference ability,
listening comprehension, and reading comprehension (Lepola et al., 2012; Cain and Oakhill,
2014; Daugaard et al., 2017).
Past studies showed that vocabulary knowledge contributed to reading comprehension
process via word semantic meaning recall (semantic feature of orthographic, morphological,
phonological, and pragmatic characteristics) speed and quality to achieve a mental image
from the given text (Perfetti, 1985; Logan and Kieffer, 2017; Lawrence et al., 2019).
However, the inconsistent results of various correlations between vocabulary knowledge and
reading comprehension have been found in Chinese students, from low correlation (e.g.,
Cheng et al., 2017) to high correlation (e.g., Li et al., 2009). The unique effect of vocabulary
knowledge on reading comprehension remains unknown among Chinese students; therefore,
the role of the vocabulary knowledge effect on reading comprehension for Chinese
participants requires further investigation.
Difficulties with reading comprehension can stem from different underlying causes.
Vocabulary and knowledge are necessary bases of comprehension. All children bring funds
of knowledge and language to their learning experience. The term "academic language"
refers to the vocabulary and language patterns used in texts and concepts in school and the
workplace and which are especially critical for reading comprehension (Lesaux and Russ
Harris, 2015; Ricketts, Nation, & Bishop, 2007). A child struggling with reading
comprehension may require more-developed academic language in order to read and
comprehend grade-appropriate texts.
a reader's prior knowledge of a topic is a chief determinant of whether he/she will
understand the passage (Anderson & Pearson, 1984). Children familiar with the topic of a
text will comprehend it more fully, including making more inferences (Oakhill, Cain &
Elbro, 2015). Any child who lacks familiarity with the topic of a text will struggle to
comprehend it fully. The approach of integrating knowledge-building into literacy
instruction is receiving growing attention (e.g., Cabell & Hwang, 2020), and is especially
beneficial for children who do not bring background knowledge of topics that appear in the
curriculum (e.g., science, history, or the arts).
The National Reading Panel of the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD, 2000) identified vocabulary instruction as an essential skill that
students need to improve reading performance. In fact, there is strong evidence to support
providing vocabulary instruction not only to improve students’ reading comprehension and
writing quality, but also their listening vocabulary and their speaking vocabulary (Joshi,
2006; Kame’enui & Baumann, 2012). Vocabulary knowledge, including both oral and
written vocabulary, is critically important for a child’s success in school (Kamil et al.,
2008).
Vocabulary development is a process of acquiring new words to use in daily life, and more
specifically, the basis for learning any language. Vocabulary development focuses on
helping students learn the meaning of new words and concepts in various contexts and
across all academic content areas. Teaching students to develop vocabulary means providing
explicit instruction on important words from text and teaching students strategies to help
them learn word meanings independently. It is critical for both oral and written vocabulary
development to increase as students get older to enable them to comprehend increasingly
more complex grade level text (Kamil et al., 2008; Loftus & Coyne, 2013).
Reading comprehension is the process of extracting and constructing meaning from print
when a reader interacts with a text for a specific purpose or activity (RAND Reading Study
Group, 2002). This process supports word learning by providing students with
contextualized uses of new words but, at the same time, requires that readers have
sufficiently developed orthographic, phonological, and semantic word knowledge (Perfetti
& Hart, 2002).
Research Gap
The researchers identified that students are lacking in vocabulary knowledge which it
has a big impact towards their reading comprehension. The studies need to explore more
about vocabulary skills to figure out the difficulties of the students in reading. The student's
vocabulary deficiency is the reason why students experiencing difficulties in reading
comprehension. It also need to identify the common problems encountered in reading
comprehension. Strengths and weaknesses in vocabulary skills should also be identified to
determine its impact to the reading comprehension of the students.
Conceptual Framework
This study will help researchers to determine the impact of vocabulary skills to the
reading comprehension of the students. It will also help researchers to identify the
relationship between the variables to the academic performance of the students.
The Conceptual Paradigm of the study
Reading Comprehension
Vocabulary Skills
Academic
Performance
Statement of the Problem
This study aims to determine the impact of student’s vocabulary skills in reading
comprehension towards the academic performance of Grade 10 students. Specifically, this
study seeks to answer the following:
1. What is the impact of vocabulary skills on the reading comprehension of the selected
participants' academic performance?
2. Is there significance monotonic relationship between the vocabulary skills and
reading comprehension?
3.
Is there a significant monotonic relation between the reading comprehension, and
academic performance?
Significant of the Study
The information and results of this study would benefit the following:
Grade 10 Student. The study will help the students to determine the impact of vocabulary
skills in reading comprehension towards academic performance.
Teachers. The study will help the teachers to know about the impact of vocabulary skills in
reading comprehension towards the academic performance of Grade 10 students. This study
will provide them information on how to improve the vocabulary skills of the students.
Researchers. This will help them determine the impact of vocabulary skills in reading
comprehension towards the academic performance of Grade 10 students. This study will
help the researchers to provide significant recommendation to enhance the vocabulary skills
of the students.
Future Researchers. The outcome of the study is beneficial to the future researchers. This
study will serve as basis for further studies.
CHAPTER II
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This study will use descriptive explanatory research design. This design aims to
systematically obtain information to describe a phenomenon, situation, or population. It is
used in describing the behavior of a subject. It fits to our study because it characterizes as
simply the attempt to describe and determine the impact of student’s vocabulary skills
towards the reading comprehension of the students. It will help us to organize, tabulates and
depicts information in describing the data collection that will enables us to develop an indepth understanding about our study. This design will be used since the main purpose of the
study is to determine the impact of student’s vocabulary skills towards the reading
comprehension of Grade 10 students at Koronadal National Comprehensive High School.
Research Site
This study will be conducted at Koronadal National Comprehensive High School. It is
one of the largest high schools in Koronadal City in the province of South Cotabato within
Region XII in the island of Mindanao. The researchers chose this academe simply because
they believe that this school has the qualification of the population that suits what the
researchers need for the study. Also, for the safety and accessibility purposes of the
researchers.
Selection of the Participants
The respondents of this study will be the selected Grade 10 students of Koronadal
National Comprehensive High School. There will be 100 respondents needed to complete
the study. The researchers will determine the impact of student's vocabulary skills in reading
comprehension to help the respondents to enhance their vocabulary skills and to have
improvements in their academic performance. This study will use simple random sampling
method. This method will help the researchers to select the respondents through random
selection.
Instrumentation or Source of Data
To determine the impact of student’s vocabulary skills in reading comprehension
towards the academic performance of Grade 10 students, this study will use a researchersmade questionnaire to gather the data. This questionnaire will be validated by experts.
IMPACT OF STUDENTS VOCABULARY SKILLS IN READING
COMPREHENSION TOWARDS THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF GRADE
10 STUDENTS AT KORONADAL NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE HIGH
SCHOOL
(Questionnaire)
Name:
Age:
Gender:
This questionnaire is design for research purpose. The information collected will not be used
for any other uses. We will appreciate your cooperation and help.
Direction: Check (/) the box that corresponds to your level of vocabular skills in reading
comprehension toward academic performance. Use the scale below:
Responses:
5 – Strongly Agree
4 – Agree
3 - Neutral
2 – Disagree
1 – Strongly Disagree
No. Indicators
1.
I enjoy reading books in my free time.
2.
I find it difficult to understand the meaning of new
words when I read.
3.
I often use a dictionary or other reference material to
help me understand what I'm reading.
4.
I feel confident using a variety of complex
vocabulary words in my writing.
5.
I enjoy learning new words and incorporating them
into my vocabulary.
6.
Vocabulary skills help me to improve my reading
comprehension.
7.
My vocabulary skills help me in improving my
confidence to interact in class discussion.
8.
I find it easy to remember new words and their
meanings.
9.
I can understand and appreciate literary devices such
as metaphors, similes, and symbolism.
10.
I can analyze and interpret texts effectively.
4
3
2
1
Data Collection
This study will gather data at Koronadal National Comprehensive High School and
the researchers will follow these steps in collecting the data.
1. Ask permission from the principal to conduct the study.
2. Conduct the study to the students.
3. Retrieve the questionnaires.
4. Tally and organize the data.
5. Analyze and interpret the data; and
6. Make conclusions and recommendations.