1

Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction
Reading and listening are active forms of communication (Alcantara,
2006). It serves as the mother of all skills; according to Santiago (2006) of
Department of Education, aNational Capital Region. Reading covers the three
communication skills. If you are a good listener, you will be able to pronounce the
word correctly. Then you will develop the speaking skill. Having a wide
vocabulary through reading, a person can effectively apply it by means of writing.
Comprehension defined recognition of the word is not the ultimate goal in
reading. Without comprehension, reading is mere verbalism. In reading the
printed word is associated with the spoken word until the child can make the
same physical, emotional, and mental responses to the written word that he
previously made the spoken word. A basic word recognition skill is the ability to
associate the sound (spoken word with the visual stimulus (the written word).
This recognition process, is, of course, fundamental to reading comprehension,
but is only a first step (Yoakam, 2004).
Also Yoakam (2004) describes comprehension as follows: Comprehension
reading matter involves the correct association of meanings with word symbols,
the evaluation of meanings which are suggested in context, the selection of the
correct meaning, the organization of ideas as they are read, the retention of
these ideas, and their use in some present or future activity.

Salazar (2004), states that comprehension encompasses all the reading

skills. It begins with word perception, recognition, and understanding and makes
use of study or research skills. Comprehension is the means by which
appreciation skills are gained.
It is an interaction between the text being read and the readers existing
prior knowledge and expectations will generate meaning and comprehension
(Leu and Kinzer, 1995). They further explain that comprehension is the complex
cognitive process involving the intentional interaction between reader and text to
convey meaning.
Reading is the primary avenue to knowledge. To advance in knowledge,
one must forever learn more, study more, reason more. Reading helps to
accomplish this. It is the most important task of learning and all lessons in school
need reading. As one goes up to the ladder of education, he has to learn to read
extensively in order to improve his level of achievement. This gives a better
chance to one who reads well to succeed in school work, over one who cannot. A
pupil who has developed the basic skills in reading loves to read well. He is
independent, well informed, and eventually become a better citizen. Success in
reading is success in future life (Cabuyao, 2006).
Reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from text.
The goal of all reading instruction is ultimately targeted at helping a reader
comprehend text. It involves at least two people: the reader and the writer. The
process of comprehending involves decoding the writers words and then using

background knowledge to construct an approximate understanding of the writers

message (Lenz, 2005)
Listening comprehension is the receptive skill in the oral mode. When we
speak of listening and understanding of what we hear.
The teachers are responsible for the reading and listening development of
the pupils. Teachers as direct persons in the formal education influence the
learning of the child. Cardinal 2006 stated that a teacher affects eternity. This
means that the teacher is the person who can easily determine the weakness
and difficulties of the child in his learning process. The primary grades obey and
follow their teacher than their parents when it comes to teaching. Therefore,
teacher must be equipped with a wide range of knowledge, with a keen
sensitiveness, to discover the cause of the child deficiencies.
In this manner, teachers role is very crucial in the development of each
learner that could affect his reading performance same with listening
comprehension skills development.
Statement of the Problem
This

study

focused

on

the

reading

performance

and

listening

comprehension of Grade six pupils of Lagao Second Barrio Elementary School

during the academic year 2011-2012.
Specifically, this study is intended to answer the following questions:
1. What is the reading performance level of Grade six pupils in Lagao
Second Barrio Elementary School in terms of:
a. Oral reading

2. What is the level of listening comprehension of Grade six pupils in Lagao

Second Barrio Elementary School for school year 2011-2012?
3. Is there a significant relationship between reading performance and
listening comprehension of Grade six pupils of Lagao Second Barrio
Elementary School?
Significance of the study
The

study

focused

on

the

reading

perpormance

and

listening

comprehension of Grade six pupils of Lagao Second Barrio Elementary School.

The researcher believes that the finding of this study will benefit the following:

School administrators, results of this study will serve as their basis in

studying further how to develop reading and listening skills, that it will serve as
guide to plan any reading program base on the need of the pupils and to
recommend seminar workshops to improve teaching strategies used by teachers
in teaching effective reading and listening.
English teachers, the results could give guide them awareness of
reading performance both in oral and silent reading and may lead them to
enhance more strategies that would aid to develop reading performance of their
pupils.
Pupils as the beneficiaries of the study, the results will help recognize
their reading performance and listening comprehension level may develop and
improve, and will be further motivated and interested to read and listen more not
only for academic pursuit but also for personal development and enjoyment.

The useful and relevant information acquired from the study will be
disseminated to parents to encourage them to continue trying strategies of
reading performance and listening comprehension of their children and how to
become an active reader and listener.
Researcher, she is so interested about knowing the reading performance
and listening comprehension.
Scope and Delimitation
This

study

focused

on

the

reading

performance

and

listening

comprehension of Grade six pupils of Lagao Second Barrio Elementary School,

the reading performance level of Grade six pupils in Phil- IRI oral, there
significant

relationship

between

reading

performance

and

listening

comprehension of Grade six pupils and the listening comprehension level of

Grade six pupils of Lagao Second Barrio Elementary School in terms of: active
listening and passive listening. Selected Grade six pupils will be the respondents
of the study who are enrolled during the academic year 2011-2012.
Definition of Terms
The following terms are defined theoretically or operationally for better
understanding of the readers.
Reading

performance is a means of

language acquisition, of

communication, and of sharing information and ideas. Like all language, it is a

complex interaction between the text and the reader which is shaped by the

readers prior knowledge, experiences, attitude, and language community which

is culturally and socially situated. The reading process requires continuous
practices, development, and refinement.
Listening comprehension refer to the level of performance on the
comprehension test given was transmitted using the mean percentage to
determine the level of performance.
Grade VI Pupils they are the respondents of the researcher in Lagao
Second Barrio Elementary School.
The Conceptual Framework
As a concept, reading is the most important subject in the school
curriculum. It is so important that no other subject in curriculum could be learned
by pupils, if their Grade six teachers have not taught the subject very effectively,
especially the comprehension phase of it. Therefore it is very important for
principals to assign Grade six teachers who are effective in teaching the subject.
The success or failure of pupils in their future will depend very much on their
mastery in Reading (Lizardo, 2007).
As what Nadig (2007) has conceptualized, when we listen effectively we
understand what the person is thinking and/or feeling form the other persons
own perspective. It is as if we were standing in the other persons shoes, seeing
through his/her eyes and listening through the persons ears.
The independent variable considered is the reading performance while the
dependent variable is listening comprehension. The line drawn to connect these

two variables wants to point out that the independent variable may affect the
dependent variable.

Independent Variables

Reading Performance

Dependent Variables

Listening Comprehension

Figure 1. The Conceptual Framework

Chapter 2
Related Literature and Studies
This Chapter presents the literature and studies related to the subject
matter.
The childs primary and influential experience in reading starts from the
home. Homes which treasure books and wherein parents value education, enjoy
reading themselves, read and tells stories to their children, make it easy for the
children to become readers. Homes like these help the child develop linguistics
skills and provide sound background of ideas and concept upon good reading
skills can be built (Hermosa, 2002).
It is important to make children lovers of books because it is only through
reading that we can assure of quality education for young people (Dela Cruz,
2004).
Reading is an essential tool in every childs life. The acquisition of
knowledge begins when he understands what the printed symbol is conveying
upon attacking to it by means of reading.
Reading rockets offers wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities
designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading
resources assist parents, teachers and other educators in helping struggling
readers build fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills (Delia Pompa M. Ed.,
2006).G. Harry McLaughlin defines reading as the degree to which a certain
class of people find certain reading matter compelling and comprehensible.

10

Reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from text.

The goal of all reading instruction is ultimately targeted at helping a reader
comprehend text. Reading comprehension involves at least two people: the
reader and the writer. The process of comprehending involves decoding the
writer's words and then using background knowledge to construct an
approximate understanding of the writer's message (Lenz, 2005)
Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to
understand, interpret, and evaluate what she/he hears. The ability to listen
actively can improve personal relationships through reducing conflicts,
strengthening cooperation, and fostering understanding. For generations, parents
have to tackle a common problem regarding children how to make them take to
reading. This may not seem like a problem at first glance for, very likely, the
children already know how to read. It is teaching them to enjoy stories and caring
for the book themselves that is harder to do. (Ramirez, 2004)
The DepEd has issues an order that all pupils in the elementary schools
from grade I to VI should submit two book reports before being promoted to the
next higher grades, one in Filipino and one in English. However, with the easily
accessible television, VCD, DVD, etc. Which hinder reading, a minuscule number
of teachers or schools follow the said order (Dela Cruz, 2004)?
In the past, parents were hard put instilling the habit of reading for
pleasure as well as learning on young people; they are doubly so now. For today
they have to deal with a lot of competition such as from computer games, TV

11

viewing, and other outside interest that have nothing to do with the books. How to
entice young people away from those electronic boys and lead them to the path
of reading is what parents must try to do (Ramirez, 2004).
People, young and old, now live in fast paced and highly computerized
society. The demands are great keeping up with them requires greater effort and
time. The ability of man to conquer space and cyber space has grown even more
intense as years go by (Doctor, 2004).
In reading, one has to build concepts of the printed symbols that he/she
reads. This is fortified when skills learned through reading are transferred to
other areas of language such as speaking and writing. That is why one reads,
he/she to make a lot of associations to comprehend experiences, emotions,
failures, and successes shared by the writer (Doctor, 2004).
Teachers Motivation
The meaningful involvement of teachers to their pupils is indispensable
not only in educating them with moral and social values, but likewise in the
development of their intellectual abilities by teaching reading and the formation of
reading habits utilizing various stimulating techniques (Degelio, 2003).

Parents Motivation
Parents play a vital role in the development of reading skill and habit.
Researchers have shown that pupils who read when they were 2-5 years old

12

often became efficient and skilled readers. Those who were restarted in reading
were usually the educationally advantaged, those who came to school far less
ready for normal performance because of some deprived conditions in their
home environment. A child will surely experience joy. Satisfaction, confidence,
appreciation, and enjoyment in his school work if he possesses the reading skill
before entering school. Parents misconstrue that it is the teachers obligation to
each everything to their children and not their (Dogelio, 2003).
Peers Motivation
Contact with friend or an individual who is excited about reading and is
willing to offer suggestions and assistance can stimulate reading. This is where
attitude of peer affects the reading interest of an individual. The influence of the
school on the other hand, could be seen in terms of stimulation of interest in a
subject or of encouragement of the activity of reading (Latha, 2005).
Mass Media
The television not wishing to be behind has numerous talk shows of the
children and for the children. Herein children from various schools are
encouraged to interact and debate on various issues with experts. Now when you
are in front of a camera and to be projected all over the country, the children will
but read up on the topic them which to discuss. Where would they go for their
reading updates, but to the school library or in the internet? Thus, the various
mass medias are facilitating the development of reading habits of the children,
even if they are doing it for their own survival, it is leading to an increase in the

13

reading habits of children. These movements are inadvently providing the

children freedom and space to make choices and yet motivating and encouraging
the child towards reading as an integral part of life and development. At the same
time, in todays world of explosion of information and knowledge and the culture
of quick fixes the contemporary child seems to be moving away from reading. In
todays contemporary world, the major competition to books and reading comes
from computers, television and other multimedia systems.
The ability to read and understanding printed materials especially those
written is an English indicator of success. According to Doctor (2004) stated that
children who can read fluently make more and better progress. Those who have
reading difficulties are reminded of this weakness. Like ordering at a restaurant,
following street signs, assembling an object are all poignant reminders of this
experience.
Reading is the key to learning. It is a very essential tool in order for
learning to take place. Today, everybody desires to acquire education because it
is a necessity. It enables a person to satisfy his needs in the field of education
and as he continues to grow physically. It is for these reasons that modern life
demands that an individual knows how to read (Avilanoza, 1996 and Rose,
1982).
Reading as a tool towards personal development plays a very important
role for children. They can gain help from reading as they course themselves
through making decisions in solving day to day problems and even in simple

14

plans upgrading themselves towards progress. Growing children need to develop

themselves though reading because not only that they will be learning the
rudiments of this activity, but also the total personality development. It is
therefore needful that reading must be given our utmost concern, since our daily
lives; by 80% of the things we do involve reading.
Reading is of ultimate use for safety and efficiency in the home like
reading manuals, labels of medicine, food, etc. It is also useful in learning a few
jobs and in education like reading printed materials as a major educational tool.
Most of the failures in scholastic performances are attributed to reading
deficiencies, if not through the inability to read. A learner who could hardly read
or could not read at all will surely encounter serious learning difficulties; therefore
opportunities for learning would become quite difficult. This situation will even
deteriorate as the child grows up and continues his studies, the learning gaps
continue to widen as mastery of lessons could not be achieved. As the lessons
become more complicated, the more that the learner could no longer cope up,
since comprehension becomes a problem. This then will greatly affect the
enthusiasm to learn. (Villamin,et al 1994; Pikulski, 1994 and Stanovich,1986).
Teachers and other school authorities have recognized that pupils lack of
success in learning could be traced to the poor reading of the children as reading
is universally recognized as one of the most important activities in the school
program as well as in life. The teachers also are aware that most of their
instructional problems are allied with the inability to read the materials assigned

15

to them would encourage them to do something other than necessary (Gould, et

al 1987).
A learner could not think of anything to do but to misbehave in class like
doing unnecessary talking or making foolishness to classmates because of
boredom due to the inability to perform the required task given by the teachers in
class. This also happens because these children want to cover up their shame
because of their inability to read while their reading classmates are occupied with
class work because they are able to do the activity assigned to them.
Every child should be given a chance by which reading instruction could
be best delivered by qualified and prepared teachers so that they will learn to
read to become successful. The reading readiness of the child is the perfect time
when reading could be best introduced. Elementary grade is the groups of
learners who learn to read and must not only learn to but must already start
reading (Dechant, 1991).
There is evidence that one-to-one tutoring is the most powerful form of
instruction. Some at-risk students can successfully make progress when they are
with a very small group instruction. In a comprehensive program of early
intervention, to begin with small group instruction and move to one-to-one
tutoring for students, who are quite slow in progress could be efficient. A pupil
never learns to read by knowing only the theories on the reading process (Wasik
and Slavin, 1993).

16

The first learning experiences in school must provide for a foundation for
successful reading and has the listening power such as fostering favorable
impressions of what is to be derived from books and language use and providing
programs that could accommodate childrens varied stages of social intellectual
development. These opportunities would encourage the learners to be able to
attain the ability to read.
If given the chance to have authentic opportunities to experience a
learning environment that is print- rich, with the pleasure of the books and
engaged in extended conversations, learners in the elementary will have the
majority of about 80% to be able learn to read (Zakaluk, B, 1999).
A clear understanding of reading process is a great contribution to the
success of any attempt or effort to assist pupils in learning to read to be able to
learn. However, learning to read would not become successful unless the child is
ready.
If reading readiness takes place early, more advantages would also take
place early. It allows the childs difficulty to be discovered earlier, therefore,
additional help could be provided, and then the better is the childs chances of
becoming a successful reader could become.
As reading introduced early and becomes a part of the curriculum, it does
not really follow that all teachers are also equipped with the knowledge in
teaching reading. One critical reason why teachers who are handling reading
classes could not attain their objectives in reading lessons is because of an

17

inappropriate attitude towards adapting recent strategies and methods

appropriate for teaching reading
One of the major problems to improve instruction in the reading education
is that many teachers dont have proper methods and strategies to be able to
guide them. Thud, some practices that they are using lacks in consistency and
effectiveness with regards to teaching children to read which causes learners to
become disabled readers (Sloan et al 1986).
An implication was further stated that theres indeed a great effect on
teaching reading in our schools when we have teachers who are working too
often from a basics of intuition, on incidental learning and on how they think they
were taught to read. An examination of the case histories of these disabled
readers all too frequently demonstrates that their failure can be laid at the door of
clumsy teaching. All too frequently these illiterates have been made that way by
the kind of practices they have endured all their schooldays (Marzano & Sack,
1994; Clinton, 1994, Brish, 1994 and Sloan et al 1986).
Many teachers are fully aware of their inadequacies as they try to
discharge the responsibility in teaching reading which schools impose on them
but they have not taken the initiative to remedy the situation and school
administrators have frequently permitted unqualified personnel to work with
nonreaders.
A teacher needs to know the research factors that affect progress in
reading. The ability to organize for instruction should also be included to provide

18

with him the foundation for building a good reading program for pupils who begin
learning to read (Gaskins, 1988).
This quality of teachers is indeed a necessity in our schools because
teachers make a difference in childrens reading achievement and motivation to
read. A childs success throughout his or her school career hinges on learning to
read well, especially in the early grades (Manzano, & Sack, 1994).
Preschool years is the groundwork for reading success, therefore, we
begin to read as soon as our kindergarten children are able to put sounds
together to form words. Advocates of early reading believed that many
kindergarten children are ready and eager to read and would profit from
instruction (Nelson & Scovell, 1990). Elementary grades are the range of
learners who should learn to read and must already start reading to learn.
It is now common for formal beginning reading programs to be presented
at the kindergarten level. Miller, (1997) has indicated that an earlier start in
reading results in improved reading achievement in school if the children are
ready for this instruction.
Advocates feel that, nowadays, more children are ready for reading
activities at an earlier age than used to be the case. They believed that children
today have changed in many ways and are involved in more varied activities than
their counterparts before. They added that todays children have greater
vocabularies, to the explosion in communication industries, and to greater
mobility which provides many children with more and varied experiences,

19

including greater exposure to the printed word. If given the chance to have these
authentic opportunities and experiences, a majority of 80% of these preschool
and grade one pupil, will really be able to learn to read. Advocates also
emphasized the growing number of children who attended nursery school and
other preschool programs which are unlike traditional kindergarten (Aukermen,
1977 and Zakaluk, B., 1999).
The issue on the perfect time the teaching of reading must be introduced
relies on the readiness of the child whether it be earlier kindergarten or later in
primary or intermediate levels. Experts said that children who learn to read early
has the greater chance to advance themselves up on the hierarchy of reading
compared to non-early readers.
Reading readiness is the childrens readiness to profit from beginning
reading instruction (Matthew 1999). During this moment, the children are
teachable. It is a point in time when the pupils are ready to learn how to read
(Dechant, 1991). It is also the moment of transition over several months during
which time the child gradually changes from a non-reader to a beginning reader.
In the case, the readiness program couples the students past learning with new
learning and brings the student gradually through the transition (Clay, 1991).
Contemporary reading specialists believe that some children enter
preschool and grade one level already possessing so many reading readiness
skills and initial reading skills, that they do not need additional reading readiness
training. Miller (1977) added that most of the children today can begin the

20

beginning reading program at preschool and grade one because of the wealth of
experiences which they have gained from many sources, principally television
(Miller, 1977).
Home environment could provide pre-reading experiences which are
closely related to reading readiness (Bloom & Hant, 1997 and Miller 1997).
These reading readiness experiences are learning of letter names, learning to
write and recognize some common words by sight which is in the childs
environment (words from television, stops sign and can be labels) and even
listening to stories read for them.
Another indicator of reading readiness is the children knowledge of the
capital and lower case letters which was found to be the most predictive factor of
subsequent reading success in school. Another important consideration is that is
that reading readiness program and beginning reading should merge gradually
because some reading readiness activities in kindergarten also serve as
beginning reading activities (Miller. 1977).
Adams (1990) emphasized that in any beginning reading program,
children must attend to the individual letters of words, their sequencing and
phonological transition. Phonics as a system of teaching reading builds upon the
alphabetic principles which are a system by which a central component is the
teaching of correspondences between letters or groups of letters and their
punctuations.

21

Written English is fundamentally alphabetic. The advantage of an

alphabetic script is that if one learns thee speech sounds corresponding to each
of its individual letters, one possesses the requisite knowledge to read and write
any word in the language. Flesch (1990) insisted to teach the children individual
letter-sound correspondences and to read words by chaining these individual
correspondences together. Thus, memorization of a score or so of elementary
symbol -sound pairs yields mastery of tens or thousands of words and
uncountable sentences and ideas.
The vast majority of the studies on reading indicated good results. Approaches
including intensive, explicit phonics instruction resulted in comprehension skills
that are least comparable to, and word recognition and spelling skills that are
significantly better than those do not.
School administrators and teachers must strongly believe that a child has
an open door for improvement. Therefore, the teaching of beginning reading is of
supreme importance and must purposeful, strategic, and grounded in the
methods proven effective (Fitzsimmons, 1998).
Teaching reading is something a teachers, especially in elementary must
know how to conduct. A well-intentioned teacher who lacks the knowledge in the
teaching of reading is not a qualified teacher (Rose, 1982).
Teachers must really update, equip and enhance themselves with the
learning strategies in teaching beginning reading aside from the knowledge and
skills they acquired during their pre-service education, since many training

22

programs were inadequate. It was found that both regular and special education
teachers were lacking in content expertise, knowledge of validated pedagogical
principles and supervised experience with diverse learners. The teachers must
themselves have a command of word parts, spoken and written to illustrate,
interpret and model the correct sounds or the strategy for making the sound and
have the children use the strategy to produce the sound (Kameenui, 1996).
The teacher is said to be pivotal in preparing students to read. He is
further described as the catalyst or a nerve center where nonreaders pass to him
to be able to read. Its further stated that the teacher not the method that
determines the outcome, although, of lesser importance than the teacher, but
methods and strategies in teaching reading must not be overlooked as it is the
teachers companion in attaining the outcome (Rose, 1982).
Teachers have a great responsibility over the learning that will take place
in their students inside the classroom, especially in reading. Its therefore very
necessary that they are prepared enough to accomplish to the fullest this quite
difficult task of teaching reading more efficiently, especially to preschool and early
elementary grades.
Teaching reading which is considered a very critical task among
elementary grades teachers needs to take the safest means of conduct which is
through the use of appropriate strategies. Strategies will surely guide the
teachers the idea on how to undergo with the reading process.

23

Instructional materials adaption is very useful for teachers who are

handling reading instruction. In adapting instructional materials, the teacher can
accommodate other types of learners aside from preschool and grade one pupils
who are still beginning to learn to read. This process will provide the reading
teacher with the capability to make modifications of the instructional materials
they made to fit to other types of learners.
In the article Significance of Reading to Child Development, Avilanoza
(1996) stated that reading ability is purposeful because it is so beneficial to the
reader. It is one of the most important experiences that a person engages to
make him mature. This idea was supported by Rose (1982) in her statement that
reading is a complex process which involves the readers

physical and mental

abilities, emotional state and cultural background, therefore it must be given

importance being an important factor towards personal development.
Ham & Coger, (2000) focused on the readiness of the child as the perfect
time when teaching of reading must be introduced. Ham and Coger added that
early school preparation for young children is needful as it ensures them success
in life. Miller (1977) supported this idea in her study when she emphasized that
children today can begin the reading program at preschool due to the wealth of
experiences they gained from many sources which made them ready to begin
reading. Reading specialists Nelson & Scovell (1990) also added that reading
success is grounded in the preschool years, therefore reading instruction must
start with them.

24

Reading readiness is an instructional program. This kind of program is

taught in different ways. It is taught separately in some instructional programs,
while in other instructional programs it is part of the basic reading and writing
instruction. Definitely, the later carries the approach where the whole language
philosophy, interactive whole language and readiness concepts are taught in
concepts are taught in context as the teacher models reading and writing.
Miller (1977) pointed out the children are identified as early readers when
they learn to read before first grade. Durkins idea has consistently supported the
idea of Ham & Coger, Miller and Nelson & Scovell on the time to begin reading.
In relation to methods of reading, Halfner & Jolly, (1972) found that grade
school children who both highly compulsive and highly anxious overachieve
greatly when taught to read by a phonics method, which provides a structured
setting of rules, systematic arrangement and certainty in problem solving.
Children who are highly anxious and low in compulsivity underachieve when
taught by the whole-word method, which operates in a relatively unstructured
setting.
This range of learners needs a close contact with the teachers for their
lessons as they need to master each letter sound. If the beginning reader doesnt
afford a time to do exercises for the mastery of letter sounds, then he would not
attain a fast learning on reading and he would not be able to establish a strong
foundation to become a good reader.

25

One of the major problems to improve instruction in the reading education

as stressed by Sloan (1986) is that some practices that teachers are using lack
consistency and effectiveness with regards to teaching children to read.
Villamin et al. (1994) claimed that serious learning difficulties will be
encountered by learners who have difficulty in reading or could not read at all.
This effect of reading failure would even affect his enthusiasm to learn. This
would cause widening of learning gaps which would cause difficulty in coping the
lessons and as these lessons continue to become complicated, opportunities for
learning would be quite difficult for them.
Gould et al. (1987) stressed the importance of teaching a child to read to
succeed. However, Sloan (1986) emphasized that to improve reading instruction
is one of the major problems. Much more, the practice that they are using lacks
consistency and effectiveness in relation to teaching children to read. Due to this
unfavorable condition, Slavin & Farstrup (1994) supported the idea that training is
needed in the process.
An implication is further stated by Elliott & Anderson (1975) that teachers
who have never studied reading but just based their practices from intuition, on
incidental learning and on how they think they were taught to read before, greatly
influences the teaching of reading in our school. Due to this situation, Elliot &
Anderson added that theres an urgent needs for an extensive in-service
education for teachers especially those in-charge of reading as Fitzsimmons
(1998) greatly emphasized that teaching of reading is of importance, since the

26

training of classroom teachers in performing this most critical task is inadequate

(Clinton, 1994).
The training of teachers with a greater emphasis on teaching reading
should be retread to improve their skills. Teaching reading is complicated
because teachers need to understand multiple layers of language where the
gaps are with the students and how to plan lessons to reflect those gaps
(Manzano & Sack, 1994; Clinton, 1994, and Brish 1994 and Sloan et. Al 1986).
Adequate training as stressed by Lyon (1995) is very much needful as it
increases the teachers sense of efficacy in their jobs. The teaching of reading is
a job for an expert who needs knowledge and procedural expertise.
Due to intensity of the need for the teachers preparation in teaching
reading, Slavin and Farstrup (1994) recommended for a retooling job to be done
for these teachers to make them conscious of their need for an extensive training
in teaching beginning reading.
Aside from the strategies in teaching reading, adapting an instructional
material is also a very important process that teachers must be able to do so that
there will be a greater access to learning for pupils. Schumaker and Lenz (2003)
emphasized that sometimes, instructional materials present a barrier to student
learning. It is therefore a necessity that adaptation of an instructional material be
made to successfully deliver instruction through which better learning could be
achieved.

27

Assessment aside from strategies and instructional materials adaptation is

also a very important factor in reading because it evaluates the pupils progress
in reading. A focus was made by Halfner & Jolly (1972) on assessment which
must be properly designed to measure the factors which affect a child he learns
to read.
Every Child a Reader Program (ECARP) is a DepEd thrust which
underscores the aim of helping a child become a reader by the end of the grade.
In line with this program, the teachers role is very important because they need
to assess the reading ability of a child through a good assessment tool. There is
therefore a greater need to come up with an assessment tool to support the
program. The assessment result will further help the teacher plan for appropriate
instruction which would enable the pupils to reach their potential in reading
development.
The research of Lim (2004) also indicates that young readers benefit from
phonemic awareness by which most children depend critically on it to be able to
read. In order for reading to begin early, Lim (2004) stressed that phonemic
awareness must be developed in pre- kindergarten and first grade. Lim (2004)
further stressed that good phonics instruction could support young readers to
develop fast accurate decoding skills which are much needed in reading.
Teachers must be good enough in reading so that they could convince the
children to believe the values taught to them which they need to learn. These

28

values can shape and change the learners attitudes and behavior (Simbulan,
2001).
Richards (1983, cited in Omaggio, 1986, p. 126) proposes that the
following are the micro-skills involved in understanding what someone says to us.
The listener has to: retain chunks of language in short-term memory, discriminate
among the distinctive sounds in the new language, recognize stress and rhythm
patterns, tone patterns, into national contours, recognize reduced forms of words,
distinguish word boundaries, recognize typical word-order patterns, recognize
vocabulary, detect key words, such as those identifying topics and ideas, guess
meaning from context, recognize grammatical word classes, recognize basic
syntactic

patterns,

recognize

cohesive

devices,

and

detect

sentence

constituents, such as subject, verb, object, prepositions, and the like.

Listening is the Cinderella skill in second language learning. It became
fashionable again in the 1980s when Krashens (1982) ideas about
comprehensible

input

gained

prominence.

By

stressing

the

role

of

comprehensible input, second language acquisition research has given a major

boost to listening.
As Rost (1994) points out, of the four language skills speaking, listening,
reading and writing, listening is the most critical for language learning at the
beginning stages. Large amounts of listening practice before speaking or reading
may prepare the learner to acquire a second language with a greater efficiency

29

than if he or she was taught all the skills simultaneously (Postovsky, 1974; Winitz
& Reeds, 1973, 1975; Winitz, 1973; Gary, 1978).
In fact, listening is the most frequently used language skill in everyday life.
Researchers (for example, Rivers 1981; Morley, 1991) propose that we listen
twice as much as we speak, four times as much as we read, and five times as
much as we write.
Listening is a highly integrative skill and research has demonstrated its
crucial role in language acquisition (for example, Rost, 1990; Feyten, 1991;
Mendelsohn & Rubin, 1995). Listening is assuming greater and greater
importance in foreign language classrooms.
Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to
understand, interpret, and evaluate what she/he hears. The ability to listen
actively can improve personal relationships through reducing conflicts,
strengthening cooperation, and fostering understanding.
When interacting, people often are not listening attentively. They may be
distracted, thinking about other things, or thinking about what they are going to
say next (the latter case is particularly true in conflict situations or
disagreements). Active listening is a structured way of listening and responding
to others, focusing attention on the speaker. Suspending ones own frame of
reference, suspending judgment and avoiding other internal mental activities are
important to fully attend to the speaker (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

30

Comprehension is an interaction between the text being read and the

readers existing prior knowledge and expectations will generate meaning and
comprehension (Leu and Kinzer, 1995). They further explain that comprehension
is the complex cognitive process involving the intentional interaction between
reader and text to convey meaning. Comprehension is one of the skills that
student should posses in order for them to understand what they have heard and
read.
Guided repeated oral reading is instructional strategies that can help
students improve a variety of reading skills, including fluency. There are a
number of effective procedures that can be used in providing guided oral reading.
In general, a teacher, parent, or peer reads a passage aloud, modeling
fluent reading. Then students reread the text quietly, on their own, sometimes
several times. The text should be at the student's independent reading level.
Next, the students read aloud and then reread the same passage. Usually,
reading the same text four times is sufficient context (Johnson, 2009).

The nature of listening comprehension

The nature of LC (listening comprehension) means that the learner should
be encouraged to concentrate on an active process of listening for meanings,
using not only the linguistic cues but his nonlinguistic knowledge as well. He
should also know that not every clue is equally important to the message.
Therefore, even when he misses a piece of language, he need not worry: there is

31

a good chance that other clues will make him understand the message, or at
least, enough of the message for his own aim. Of course, it may be that the
missed item is one which completely changes the whole message. This doesnt
concern the general point being made here; since the learner has more hope of
realizing his own misunderstanding if he concentrates on the communication
rather than being distracted by a sense of failure.
There do exist controversies on the nature of LC. According to Anderson
and Lynch (1988), there are two influential views: traditional view and alternative
view. Traditional view regarded the listener as a tape-recorder and the listener
took in and stored aural messages in much the same way as a tape-recorder.
Anderson and Lynch criticized this view as inappropriate and inadequate. This
notion is not a tenable one. Alternative view considered the listener as an active
model builder. This kind of listener could combine the new information with his
previous knowledge and experience to reach full comprehension of what had
been heard. Anderson and Lynch agreed with this view. It emphasized the active
interpretation and integration of incoming information with prior knowledge and
experience. Many scholars supported this view. OMalley and Chamot made a
conclusion by doing a research on LC in 1989: Listening comprehension is an
active and conscious process in which the listener constructs meaning by using
cues from contextual information and existing knowledge, while relying upon
multiple strategic resources to fulfill the task requirement (OMalley, J. M. &
Chamot, A. U., 1989, p. 420).

32

Among the various definitions, a representative one is propounded by

Clark and Clark (1977, pp. 43-44). They give both a narrow and broad definition:
Comprehension has two common senses. In its narrow sense it denotes
the mental processes by which listeners take in the sounds uttered by a speaker
and use them to construct an interpretation of what they think the speaker
intended to convey.... Comprehension in its broader sense, however, rarely ends
here, for listeners normally put the interpretations they have built to work.
Lynch and Mendelsohn (Cited in Norbert Schmitt, 2002, p. 194) describe
the unique features of listening as follows: its usually ephemeral, one-shot
nature, the presence of a rich prosody (stress, intonation, rhythm, loudness and
more), which is absent from the written language, the presence of characteristics
of natural fast speech, such as assimilation, making it markedly different from
written language, for example /g?mmt/ for government, the frequent need to
process and respond almost immediately, besides the controversies over the
definition of LC, there also exist the concerns about the process and skills of LC
and we will focus on these in the following literature.
The process of listening comprehension
Listening comprehension is regarded theoretically as an active process in
which individuals concentrate on selected aspects of aural input, form meaning
from passages, and associate what they hear with existing knowledge. Cognitive
psychology, the most developed model in accounting for comprehension
processes, defines comprehension as information processing. Schemata are the

33

guiding structures in the comprehension process. The schema is described by

Rumelhart (1980, p. 34) as a data structure for representing the generic
concepts stored in memory. It can be used to represent our knowledge about all
concepts: those underlying objects, situations, events, sequences of events,
actions and sequences of actions. According to the cognitive comprehension
theory, schema (plural form schemata) means an abstract textual structure that
the comprehended uses to make sense of the given text. The comprehended
makes use of linguistic and situational cues and also the expectations he/she has
about the new input to evoke schemata. When a schema has been evoked, it will
become a guiding structure in comprehension. If the incoming information is
matched with the schema, then the listeners have succeeded in comprehending
the text; if they are not compatible, either the information or the schema will be
discarded or modified. The principle of schema leads to two fundamental modes
of information processing: bottom-up processing and top-down processing.
These two processing intersect to develop an interactive processing. Thus,
models for listening process fall into three types.
Bottom-up processing (the first type of models) is activated by the new
incoming data. The features of the data pass into the system through the best
fitting, bottom-level schemata. Schemata are hierarchically formed, from the most
specific at the bottom to the most general at the top. It acknowledges that
listening is a process of decoding the sounds, from the smallest meaningful units
(phonemes) to complete texts. Thus, phonemic units are decoded and connected
together to construct words, words are connected together to construct phrases,

34

phrases are connected together to construct utterances, and utterances are

connected together to construct complete, meaningful text. That is to say,
meaning is arrived at as the last step in the process. A chain of incoming sounds
trigger schemata hierarchically organized in a listeners mind the phonological
knowledge, the morphological knowledge, lexical and syntactical knowledge
(syntactical knowledge aids to analyze the sentence structure). Thus, the listener
makes use of his knowledge of words, syntax, and grammar to work on form in
the bottom-up processing (Rubin, 1994, p. 210). This process is closely
associated with the listeners linguistic knowledge. However, bottom-up
processing has its weak points. Understanding a text is an interactive process
between the listeners previous knowledge and the text. Efficient comprehension
that associates the textual material with listeners brain doesnt only depend on
ones linguistic knowledge.
Top-down processing (the second type) is explained as employing
background knowledge in comprehending the meaning of a message. Carrell
and Eisterhold (1983, p. 557) point out that in top-down processing, the system
makes general predictions based on a higher level, general schemata, and then
searches the input for information to fit into these practically satisfied, higher
order schemata. In terms of listening, the listener actively constructs (or
reconstructs) the original meaning of the speaker employing new input as clues.
In this reconstruction process, the listener employs prior knowledge of the
context and situation within which the listening occurs to understand what he/she
hears. Context and situation involve such things as knowledge of the topic at

35

hand, the speaker or speakers, and their correlation with the situation, as well as
with each other and previous events. We must realize if the incoming information
the listener hears is unfamiliar to him, it cant evoke his schemata and he can
only depend heavily on his linguistic knowledge in LC. Besides, although the
listener can trigger a schema, he might not have the suitable schema expected
by the speaker. Thus, only relying on top-down processing may result in the
failure of comprehension.
The interactive processing (the third type) overcomes the disadvantages
of

bottom-up

processing

and

top-down

processing

to

augment

the

comprehension. In the early 1980s, it was the tendency that only top down
processing was acknowledged to improve L2 (second language) listening
comprehension. However it is now more generally accepted that both top-down
and bottom-up listening processing should be combined to enhance LC.
Complex and simultaneous processing of background knowledge information,
contextual information and linguistic information make comprehension and
interpretation become easy. When the content of the material is familiar to the
listener, he will employ his background knowledge at the same time to make
predictions which will be proved by the new input. As opposed with this, if the
listener is unfamiliar with the content of the listening text and deficient in
language proficiency, he can only depend on his linguistic knowledge, especially
the lexical and syntactical knowledge to make sense of the information.
From the cognitive perspective, Anderson (1983, 1985) elaborates that
comprehension consists of perception, parsing and utilization. Perceptual

36

processing is the encoding of the acoustic or written message. In listening, this

covers chunking phonemes from the continuous speech stream (Anderson,
1995, p. 37). During this stage, an individual pays close attention to input and the
sounds are stored in echoic memory. While the input is still in echoic memory,
some initial analysis of the language code may start, and encoding processes
may transform some of the input into meaningful representations (Anderson,
1985). It seems probable that the same factors in perceptual processing that
attend to auditory material excluding other competing stimuli in the environment
also attend selectively to certain key words or phrases that are important in the
context, attend to pauses and acoustic emphases that may offer clues to
segmentation and to meaning, or attend to contextual elements that may fit with
or support the interpretation of meaning such as the listeners goals, expectations
about the speakers purpose, and the type of speech interaction contained (for
example, a conversation or a lecture). In the second LC process parsing,
words are converted into a mental representation of the combined meaning of
these words. The basic unit of LC is a proposition (Anderson, 1985). Complex
propositions may be differentiated into simpler propositions that can be
regrouped by the listener to produce new sentence whose basic meaning does
not alter. Therefore, through parsing, a meaning-based representation of the
original sequence of words can be stored in short-term memory; this
representation is an abstraction of the original word sequences but can be
employed to reproduce the original sequences or at least their planned meaning.
The size of the unit or segment (or chunk) of information processed will rely on

37

the learners knowledge of the language, general knowledge of the topic, and
how the information is presented. The main clue for segmentation in LC is
meaning, which may be represented syntactically, semantically, phonologically, or
by any combination of these. Second language listeners may have some trouble
in understanding language spoken at typical conversational rates by native
speakers if they are unfamiliar with the rules for segmentation, even though they
may comprehend individual words when heard separately. Findings from
research with second language learners show that memory span for target
language input is shorter than for native language input (Call, 1985). Complex
input materials may be especially difficult to comprehend in a second language
because they need combining of parsed segments in the process of
comprehension, thus putting an extra burden on STM (short-term memory) which
already may be burdened with unenclosed elements of the new input. The third
process, utilization, is composed of associating a mental representation of the
auditory meaning with existing knowledge. Existing knowledge is retained in
long-term memory as propositions or schemata. Connections between the new
input meaning and existing knowledge take place through spreading activation in
which knowledge in LTM (long-term memory) is activated so that it is associated
with the new meanings in STM. Comprehension occurs when input and
knowledge are matched with each other. Perception, parsing and utilization stand
for different levels of processing. Of the three levels of processing, perception is
the lowest. All three phases are recursive and connected closely, and can occur
simultaneously during a single listening event.

38

Coakley & Wolvin (1986) suggest that listening comprehension in a L2

(second language) is the process of receiving, focusing attention on, and
assigning meaning to aural stimuli. It includes a listener, who brings prior
knowledge of the topic, linguistic knowledge and cognitive processes to the
listening task, the aural text, and the interaction between the two.
Fischer and Farris (1995) regard listening comprehension as a process by
which students actively form a mental representation of an aural text according to
prior knowledge of the topic and information found within.
The skills of listening comprehension
Use of effective listening skills can help students capitalize on the
language input they are receiving and help teachers facilitate the teaching
process. A great many researchers have been done about the skills of listening
comprehension in order to make the listening effective.
Richard (1983) was one of the first to consider the nature of the sub-skills
required in different listening situations. He provided 33 micro-skills for
conventional listening and a further 18 for academic listening to lectures.
Voss (1984) and Shohamy and Inbar (1991) propound 2 kinds of skills:
top-down processing skills and bottom-up processing skills according to listening
processes involving top-down processing and bottom-up processing.
H. Byrnes (1984) points out that LC can be divided into a set of distinct
sub-skills. Two of these skills are considered by Rivers (1971) as the recognition

39

of component parts of the language (words, verb groups, simple phrases) and
memory for these elements as soon as they have been recognized. Recognizing
linguistic elements, while fundamental to the process, is not enough for
understanding what is heard fully. Listeners must be able to hold these elements
in STM long enough to interpret the utterance to which they are attending
Kral (1993) explains that much of the theory and practice of verbal
communication is concerned with effective listening. It is essential for teachers to
listen carefully to pupils contribution to classroom discourse and to use them in
subsequent instruction. Effective listening depends largely on the listeners ability
to organize what is being conveyed, to sort out relevant and irrelevant
information, to summarize mentally the main points and to avoid other
distractions. As a consequence of careful listening, a teacher is able to
acknowledge, apply, compare or summarize pupils ideas has reinforcing and
motivating effects.
One technique teachers can use to improve pupils listening skills is to give
brief dictation drills. The teacher may find it helpful, for example, to dedicate a
brief passage pertaining to her subject matter and then check to see what pupils
have actual written (Punkin and Biddle, 1994.
Today according to Adams and Balanes (2006), many people do not listen
well the majority of participants in half-hour discussion we observed could not list
the ideas proposed, as possible solutions, the major issues discussed or the
decisions reached. When we ask students to paraphrase previous speakers

40

ideas, more than half the time they cannot do so. In short, most of the time we
listen rather badly. As respondents, we often give the speaker little opportunity to
assess whether we understood the messages intended. This also implies what
the speaker said wasnt worth a response.
Adams and Galanes added that effective listening requires that the listener
hear what the speaker said, interpret it accurately, and respond opportunity.
Usually hearing what the speakers said present little problem. Group members
accustomed to asking a member to repeat a statement they werent able to hear.
However, the interpretation and response steps can be trickily because of the
nature of symbolic communication discussed earlier. Different people mean
different things with the same words and actions. Major factors that influenced
what words and actions mean to us include our culture, gender, age, sexual
orientation, learning style and personalities,
Nadig (2007) expressed that wants, feeling, thoughts and opinions clearly and
effectively is only half of the communication process needed for interpersonal
effectiveness. The other half is listening and understanding what other
communicates. When a person decides to communicate with another person,
he/she does so to fulfill a need. The person wants something, feels discomfort,
and or she has feelings or thoughts about something.
Listening is Important
Lucas (2001) vividly expressed that listening is more important than ever.
This is why, in most companies, effective listeners hold higher positions and are

41

promoted more often than people who are ineffective listeners. Listening is so
important that in one survey of Americas Fortune 500 companies, almost 60
percent of the respondents said they provide some kind of listening training for
their employees. The art of listening can be helpful in almost every part of life.
Comprehension Listening
The next step beyond discriminating between different sound and sight is
to make sense of them. To comprehend the meaning requires first having a
lexicon of words at our fingertips and also all rules of grammar and syntax by
which we can understand what others are saying. The same is true, of course,
for the visual components of communication, and an understanding of body
language help us understand what the other person is really meaning.
Biased Listening
Biased listening happens when the person hears only what they want to
hear, typically misinterpreting what the other persons says based on the
stereotypes and other biases that they have. Such biased listening is often much
evaluated in nature.
Evaluate Listening
In evaluate listening, or critical listening, we make judgment about what
the other person is saying. We seek to assess truth of what is being said. We
also judge what they say against our values, assessing them as good or bad,
worthy or unworthy.
Appreciative Listening

42

In appreciative listening, we seek certain information which will appreciate,

for example that which helps meet our needs and goals. We use appreciative
listening when we are listening to good music, poetry or maybe even the stirring
words of a great leader.
Sympathetic Listening
In sympathetic listening we care about the other person and show this
concern in the way we pay close attention and express our sorrow for their ills
and happiness and their joys.

43

Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY
This part of the study will discuss the method to be used, the respondents, the
instrument and tools used to gather the data and statistical tools.
Research Design
This study used the descriptive survey design of research to find out the reading
performance and listening comprehension of Grade six pupils of Lagao Second Barrio
Elementary School. It tries to find out if the independent variables significantly influence
the dependent variable.
Locale of the study
The research was conducted at Lagao Second Barrio Elementary School. Lagao
Second Barrio Elementary School is a public school located at Purok Masunurin
Barangay San Isidro, General Santos City.
Respondents of the study
The respondents were chosen through random sampling wherein out of the 127
pupils enrolled 39.37% or 50 pupils were selected. There were 17 pupils coming from
the first section and 17 pupils coming from the second while 16 pupils coming from the
last section. The respondents of the study were Grade six pupils of Lagao Second
Barrio Elementary School for School Year 2011-2012.

44

Instrument Used
Reading performance and listening comprehension test was used to gather the
needed data.
The instrument used in this study was standardized test questionnaire covering the
reading performance and listening comprehension of grade six pupils.
Procedures in Gathering the data
In gathering the data, the researcher asked permission from the principal
Mr. Ephraim C. Pidut through the request letter signed by the researcher herself,
her adviser Maria Ellen D. Ogalisco M.A and the Program Director of Education
Department Celestino B. Balatayo Jr. Ph.D to conduct the survey and to
administer the questionnaires to the respondents.
Statistical tools
The following were the statistical tools employed per problem raised:
1. Subproblem number 1 used Arithmetic Mean to determine the mean
score of the respondents in reading performance and listening
comprehension.
X = s

s- score

n
no- number of respondents
2. Subproblem number 2 scale was used to determine the reading
performance level.
11-12 Excellent
9-10 Very Good
7-8
Good

45

5-6
3-4
0-2

Fair
Poor
Very Poor

This scale was used to determine the listening comprehension level.

9-10 Excellent
7-8 Very Good
5-6 Good
3-4 Fair
1-2 Poor
0
Very Poor
3. Subproblem number 3 used Chi-square ( X

to determine the

significant relationship between the reading performance and listening

comprehension of Grade six pupils of Lagao Second Barrio Elementary
School.
X 2 = (O-E) 2
E

Chapter 4
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Table 1
Reading Performance Level of the Respondents
Respondents

Scores

Description

12

Excellent

12

Excellent

46

10

Very Good

Good

Good

11

Excellent

Very Good

10

Very Good

10

Very Good

10

12

Excellent

11

12

Excellent

12

Good

13

10

Very Good

14

Good

15

11

Excellent

16

11

Excellent

17

12

Excellent

18

Good

19

10

Very Good

20

Very Good

21

Very Good

22

Good

23

Good

24

Good

25

Good

47

26

Very Good

27

12

Excellent

28

10

Very Good

29

11

Excellent

30

Very Good

31

Good

32

10

Very Good

33

12

Excellent

34

12

Excellent

35

11

Excellent

36

11

Excellent

37

Very Good

38

Very Good

39

10

Very Good

40

11

Excellent

41

12

Excellent

42

Very Good

43

10

Very Good

44

11

Excellent

45

11

Excellent

46

12

Excellent

47

12

Excellent

48

Very Good

48

49

11

Excellent

50

10

Very Good

499
Mean

Very Good
9.98

As shown in the table 1, scores are ranging from 7 to 12. This data
indicates that the reading performance of the respondents has the description of
very good as shown in the result mean which is 9.98.

It means that the

respondents have a very good level of reading performance.

Table 2
Level of Listening Comprehension of the Respondents
Respondents

Scores

Description

Excellent

Good

Very Good

Very Good

49

Excellent

Good

Good

Very Good

Excellent

10

Very Good

11

Very Good

12

Very Good

13

Very Good

14

Very Good

15

Excellent

16

Very Good

17

Very Good

18

Very Good

19

Very Good

20

Good

21

Very Good

22

Very Good

23

Very Good

24

Very Good

25

26

Very Good

27

Good

Very Good

50

28

Excellent

29

Excellent

30

Very Good

31

Good

32

Very Good

33

Very Good

34

Very Good

35

Very Good

36

Excellent

37

Very Good

38

Very Good

39

Good

40

Good

41

Very Good

42

Very Good

43

Excellent

44

Excellent

45

Very Good

46

Very Good

47

Very Good

48

Very Good

49

Excellent

50

Very Good

51

378
Mean

Very Good

7.56

Table 2 showed that the scores range from 5 to 10. This indicates
that the respondents listening comprehension is very good as shown by its mean
of 7.56. It means that the respondents have a very good listening
comprehension.
Table 3

Significant Relationship between Reading Performance and Listening

Comprehension of the Respondents
Variables

Computed

Tabular

Remarks

Reading
Performance
2.24

37.65

Not Significant

Listening
Comprehension

As shown in table 3, computed chi-square value is 2.24 at 25 df and .05

level of significance. Since the computed chi-square value is lesser than the
tabular chi-square value of 37.65, the null hypothesis is accepted. This means

52

that there is no significant relationship between reading performance and

listening comprehension. Therefore, a very good reading performance has no
relationship with being very good in listening comprehension.

CHAPTER 5
Summary of Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations
This chapter presented the summary of findings, conclusions and
recommendations.
This study was conducted to focus on the reading performance and
listening comprehension of Grade six pupils of Lagao Second Barrio Elementary
School during the SY 2011-2012.

53

It involved 50 pupils of grade VI from Lagao Second Barrio Elementary

School.
Summary of Findings
Based on the data gathered, the researcher comes up with the following:
1 The reading performance scores are ranging from 7 to 12. This data
indicates that the reading performance of the respondents has the
description of very good as shown in the result mean which is 9.98. It
means that the respondents have a very good level of reading
performance.
2 The level of listening comprehension performance scores ranges from 5 to
10. This indicates that the respondents listening comprehension is very
good as shown by its mean of 7.56. It means that the respondents have a
very good listening comprehension.
3. The computed Chi-square value is 2.24 at 25 df and .05 level of
significance. Since the computed chi-square value is lesser than the tabular
chi-square value of 37.65, the null hypothesis is accepted.
Conclusions
Based on the findings, the following were the conclusions formulated:
1 Majority of the respondents have a very good reading performance.
2 Most of the respondents have a very good listening comprehension.
3

There is no significant relationship existed between the reading

performance and listening comprehension.

54

Recommendations
Based from the findings and conclusions derived in the study, the following
recommendations were offered:
1 School Administrators should utilize the data which serves as a
springboard for the effective supervision of classes which would lead to
effective academic performance.
2 Teachers should provide vivid or clear standardized reading materials to
intensify improvement of the pupils reading performance and listening
comprehension.
3 The grade six pupils should be encouraged to continue their reading
habits that would enhance their reading performance and listening
comprehension.

Bibliography
I. Unpublished materials

Adams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Elliott, Claire & Anderson, Jonathan (1975). Literacy A Focus on the Future.
F. Bowden & Sons Pty.Ltd, Adelaide. 418515.
Gould, E.,DiYanni, R. and Smith, W. (1987). The Art of Reading.
Halfner, Lawrence E. & Jolly, Hayden B. (1972). Patterns of Teaching Reading In
The Elementary School. The McMillan Co., New York.

55

Hermosa,Nema N. (2002). The Psychology of Reading. UP Open University.

Philippines.
Kameenui, E.J.(1996). Shakespeare and Beginning Reading:The readiness is
all.
Teaching Exceptional Children.
Miller, Wilma H. (1997). The First Elementary Reading Today. Illinois State
University.
Salazar, Evelyn S. Teaching Reading in the Elementary Grades In Enriqueta V.
Teaching the Elementary School Subjects. Manila: Rex Book Store. 1997.
Yoakam, Gerald A. The Development of Comprehension in the Middle Grades
Current Problems of Reading Instruction. In Smith and Dechant..

II. Websites
http://www.ibby.org).
http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/languagelearning/otherresources/gudlnsfralnggandc
ltrlrnngprgrm/listeningcomprehensionskill.htm
http://www.linguist.org.cn/doc/uc200801/uc20080105.pdf
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Silent_reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening

56

Appendix A
Letter to the Education Program Director

Date________

Celestino B. Balatayo
Dean of Education Program
Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges

Sir:

57

The undersigned is presently enrolled in thesis writing with oral defense at

Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges, General Santos City and doing a
research entitled Reading Performance and Listening Comprehension of Grade
VI Pupils as a course requirement in education.
In view of this, your approval is earnestly sought for the conduct of the
said study among the reading performance and listening comprehension of grade
VI pupils of Lagao Second Barrio Elementary School. The questionnaire will be
administered during vacant time of the selected respondents.
Your favorable action is highly anticipated.

SINCERELY YOURS,
VIRNA V. PAELDONIA

APPROVED BY:

CELESTINO B. BALATAYO, Jr. Ph.D

Appendix B

September 06, 2011

THE PRINCIPAL
Lagao 2nd Bo. Elementary School
Prk. Masunurin Brgy. San Isidro G.S.C.
Maam:
I am Virna V. Paeldonia, education student of Ramon Magsaysay Memorial
Colleges. I am presently conducting a research study entitled Reading
Performance and Listening Comprehension of Grade VI Pupils as a partial
fulfilment of the requirements for Thesis 2.

58

This study aims to determine the significance relationship between the reading
performance and listening comprehension of Grade VI Pupils. The results of this
study may serve as basis for educators and policy makers in improving the
strategies and policies in instruction.
In view of this, I am requesting your permission to conduct the said study in your
school with the participation of your grade VI pupils as my respondents. Rest
assured that all responses shall be held confidential and for research purposes
only.
Thank you.

Very truly yours,

Noted:

VIRNA V. PAELDONIA

MARIE ELLEN D. OGALISCO, MA

Researcher

Adviser

DR. CELESTINO BALATAYO

Program Director of Education
Appendix B1

September 06, 2011

ADVISER OF GRADE VI
Lagao 2nd Bo. Elementary School
Prk. Masunurin Brgy. San Isidro G.S.C.

Maam,
Good day

59

I am currently enrolled in Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges, General Santos

City for my degree course and presently writing my thesis 2 entitled Reading
Performance and Listening Comprehension of Grade VI Pupils in Lagao Second
Barrio Elementary School.
In my study, I choose your Grade VI pupils to help me estimate the validity of the
instruments that will be used.
In view of this, I would like to ask permission from you to let your Grade VI pupils
be my respondents upon conducting my study.
Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,

VIRNA V. PAELDONIA
M.A.

Noted:

MARIE ELLEN D. OGALISCO,

Researcher

Adviser

DR. CELESTINO BALATAYO

Program Director of Education
Appendix C

nce there was a young Inca boy. He had no family except for an old llama.
Each day the boy and his llama walked many miles, looking for a home. Each
night they curled up together and slept. But one starry evening, the old llama
died. The boy buried his friend next to an icy stream. Then he sat under a tree
and cried. What would he do? He had no family and no home.
The boy cried for a very long time. But there was no one to comfort him. There
were only the stars in the sky.
Suddenly, the sky filled with bright light. The boy held his breath. He was afraid to
move. One bright star fell to the ground. Slowly, the star took the shape of the old

60

llama. She bent her head and drank from the stream. She looked at the boy and
smiled. As she jumped back into the sky, bits of llama wool fell.
As the Sun began to rise, the boy picked up the soft, warm wool. It glowed in his
hands like starlight. He carried the wool to the city and sold it. With the money, he
bought a house. He bought two young llamas. He never forgot the star llama.
And he was never lonely again.
Now answer Numbers 1 through 6. Base your answers on the story "The
Star Llama."
1. Why does the boy cry when the old llama dies?
because he is afraid of the dark
because he is always sad
because the old llama is his only family
because he is lost

2. What happened BEFORE the old llama died?

The boy bought two new llamas.
The boy and the llama walked many miles looking for a home.
The boy collected the wool and sold it in the city.
The old llama fell to the ground in the shape of a star.

3. Read this sentence from the story. One bright star fell to the ground.
What does bright mean?

61

old
shining
new
clean

4. What does the boy in the story want?

a cart
a horse
a new wool shirt
a home

5. What happens at the end of the story?

The boy buys a house and two llamas.
The boy buries the llama next to an icy stream.
The boy and his llama walk for many miles.
The boy cries for a very long time.

6. Read this sentence from the story. As the Sun began to rise, the boy
picked up the soft, warm wool.

62

What does rise mean?

grow darker
fall down
come up
take a step

o you know how blueberries grow? They grow on bushes. Each blueberry
is small and round. Many blueberries can grow on one bush. At first, the
blueberries are green. The green berries are not ready to eat yet. They need a lot
of sun and rain to help them become fat and sweet. When the berries turn blue,
they are ripe and ready to be picked.
Some farmers grow blueberries in big fields. The people who live nearby can
earn money by helping to pick the blueberries. Each one takes a pail out to the
field and fills it with blueberries. They work fast so that they can fill many pails.
They want to earn as much money as they can. When they are done picking,
their fingers are blue from the juice of the berries!
After the blueberries are picked, they are put into boxes and sent to stores.
People buy the blueberries and take them home to eat. Some people like to
wash the berries and eat them one by one. Other people like to cook with
blueberries. They make blueberry muffins and pancakes.
No matter how you eat them, blueberries taste great!

Now answer Numbers 7 through 12. Base your answers on the story
"Blueberries."

63

7. The people who live nearby can earn money by helping to pick the blueberries.
What does earn mean?
sell
get
lose
shareg

8. What color are the blueberries BEFORE they are ready to be picked?
blue
red
green
brown

9. Where do the blueberry pickers work?

in a barn
in a field
in a forest
near a stream

64

10. What happens to blueberries AFTER they are picked?

They are put into boxes.
They need sun and rain.
Farmers plant them.
They become sweet and ripe.

11. Read this sentence from the story. They need a lot of sun and rain to help
them become fat and sweet.
What does sweet mean?
juicy
sour tasting
dry
sugary tasting
12. What could be another title for this story?
"All About Blueberries"
"How to Cook with Blueberries"
"Eating Blueberries"
"All About Strawberries"

65

At the bank

It's Saturday morning and Joan's gone to the bank:Joan: I'd like to open a bank account, please.
Cashier: Certainly. Do you have some form of identification?
Joan: Yes, I bought my passport. Is that OK.
Cashier: Yes. We also need proof of your current address. Do you have a utility
bill or your driver's licence with you?
Joan: I've got my driver's licence.
Cashier what kind of account did you want?
Joan: Well I want a deposit account and a savings account.
Cashier: That's fine, we do both. Do you have any proof of income?
Joan: Yes, I bought my pay slips for the last three months.
Cashier: Good. You could also apply for a credit card at the same time, if you
like.
Joan: Yes, that would be great.
Cashier: OK. If you would just like to fill out these forms...

66

Name: _____________________________

Grade and Section: ______

Answer the following questions.

1. Joan is at the building society.
a) True
b) False
c) Doesnt say
2. The cashier asks for her identification card.
a) True
b) False
c) Doesnt say
3. Joan uses her passport as her ID.
a)

True

b)

False

c)

Doesn't say

4. Joan can drive.

a)

True

b)

False

c)

Doesn't say

5. Joan wants to open more than one account.

a)

True

b)

False

c)

Doesn't say

6. Joan asks for a deposit account and a credit card.

67

a)

True

b)

False

c)

Doesn't say

7. Joan works in a bank.

a)

True

b)

False

c)

Doesn't say

8. Joan has been working for three months.

a)

True

b)

False

c)

Doesn't say

9. Joan can't have a credit card.

a)

True

b)

False

c)

Doesn't say

10. The cashier fills in the forms for Joan.

a)

True

b)

False

c)

Doesn't say
Appendix D

9-10

7-8

5-6

3-4

1-2

Total

68

11-12

11

20

9-10

12

19

7-8

11

5-6

3-4

0-2

Total

10

32

50

df = (r-1)
Expected

(O-E) /E

(c-1)

.25

1) (6-1)

3.8

.01

2.2

.65

11

12.8

.25

12

12.16

2.11x10-3

7.04

.55

3.2

.20

3.04

5.26x10-4

1.76

.33

Observed

= (6-

= 25
X

(tabularvalue)
= 37.65

Appendix E

=2.24

Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges

69

General Santos City

CERTIFICATION

This is certify that the undersigned has reviewed closely the thesis of
Virna V. Paeldonia as to the use of the appropriateness of the statistical tools and
techniques for its improvement.

This certification is issued as a requirement for her thesis final printing.

(SGD)ALMA E.AGULAN, MST

Appendix F

70

Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges

General Santos City

CERTIFICATION

This is certify that the undersigned has reviewed closely the thesis of
Virna V. Paeldonia as to the content, grammar, organization and mechanism
leading to its improvement.
This certification is issued as a requirement for her thesis final printing.

(SGD)MARIA ELLEN D. OGALISCO

CURRICULUM VITAE
Personal Background:

71

Name
:
Address
:
Date of Birth :
Place of Birth:
Civil Status :
Parents
:

Virna Villabito Paeldonia

Prk. Malipayon Brgy. San Isidro, G.S.C.
June 21, 1991
Prk. Malipayon Brgy. San Isidro, G.S.C.
Single
Mr. Rudy M. Paeldonia
Mrs. Virginia V. Paeldonia

Educational Background:
Elementary :

Lagao 2nd Bo. Elementary School

2002-2003

High School :

General Santos City National Secondary

School of Arts and Trades

2007-2008

College

Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges

General Santos City

Seminars and Training Attended:

Personality Enhancement
Phela Convention Center, General Santos City
July 27, 2008
Build Me
RMMC Lobby, General Santos City
January 30, 2009
Art of Questioning
RMMC, Simulation Room
October 10, 2011

2008-present

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