1.5 1.5.

1 Review of Related Literature The K to 12 Curriculum and 21st Century Learning Goals With the desire of the Department of Education to cater to the current demands of the 21st century, it adopted the K to 12 Basic Education Program. The program aimed to more years in our current 10 year education program to be able to provide enough time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship (Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines, 2012). The new curriculum now highlights the need of strengthening early childhood education, making the curriculum content relevant to the learners, building proficiency through the use of the Mother Tongue-Based Instruction, ensuring seamless learning by using the spiral progression concept in instruction, and preparing students for their future lives in the work environment. Bearing all the traits of the K to 12 curriculum in mind, the intended goal of DepEd in the instruction of the countrys students is towards the development of a holistically developed Filipino with 21st century skills who is ready for employment entrepreneurship, middle level skills development and higher education upon graduating from Grade 12 (DepEd, 2012). What DepEd means by being 21st century learners is that it is a learner equipped with the contemporary skills of today such as learning and innovation skills, life and career

skills, and information, media and technology skills, all of which have been adopted from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). According to Dede (2009), the framework of P21 is considered to be the most detailed, comprehensive, and widely adopted by institutions than any other frameworks featuring 21st century skills. The P21 framework describes sets of skills, knowledge, and expertise that learners must possess to succeed in both personal life and career. To be more specific, the framework includes and integrates the core subjects, core themes, and skills such as, life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, and information, media and technology skills, which are all essential in becoming a 21st century learner. Having these set of skills would ensure that by the time students graduate, they would be adequately prepared for the demands of the new work environment of today. Information Literacy With the improvement and integration of technology in the educational system, the internet turned into one of the most important tools in both learning and instruction for gathering of information seems to be the primary use of the internet for many with its seemingly endless streams of information (Web-Based Education Commission, 2000; Coiro and Dobler, 2007).However, not only is the internet useful in educational settings. The internet also encourages economic growth in terms of more productivity gain by integrating it in the workplace to share information, to better communicate with each other, and to have information access to solve problems (van Ark, Inklaar, &McGuckin, 2003). With the advent and advantages of internet use, a very important part of the 21st

century skills that education must provide is to become information literate to be able to help students navigate the internet. According to the Association of College and Research Libraries (2000), being an information literate individual is defined as having the ability to recognize to when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. Furthermore, the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (2003) further specifies the definition of information literacy as the ability to to evaluate information from a range of various media, to recognize the needed information, to locate, synthesize, and use information effectively, and to perform these functions using technology, communication networks, and electronic sources. According to Chakravarty(2008), being information literate is important because it will help learners prevent data smog.Data Smog happens when there are huge amounts of information made available quickly and anxiety follows because of making decisions if the information needed is not available immediately (Chakravarty, 2008). Specifically, by being information literate, not only will students be able to overcome data smog, itwill also be able to possess the needed problem solving, critical and creative thinking, decision making, and cooperative learning skills that they need to be able to survive and do well in the current work environment (Yaacob, Iskandar, &Jusoff, 2011). Online Reading Comprehension With advent of the internet as an information source and with the need to be able to get the necessary information from its many databanks, Leu et. al (2008) stresses the

importance of learners being competent in reading online to be able to successfully navigate the internet. Online reading needs its own set of skills because online reading materials are different from print materials in the sense that online reading materials are not linear in nature (Martin &Steinkaulher, 2011). As an example, links may be available in online pages wherein when explored, may move the person from topic further away. With these ideas, Leu et. al (2008) defines online reading comprehension as a problembased inquiry process involving new skills, strategies, and dispositions on the Internet to generate important questions, and then locate, critically evaluate, synthesize, and communicate possible solutions to those problems online. In other words, online reading comprehension is a type of reading process that requires the reader to always make a question that must be answered, which will direct the reader in their process to locate, evaluate, synthesize, and share the information coming from the internet (Leu et. al, 2008). As we can see, the definition of online reading comprehension as laid out by Leu et. al (2008) presents a likeness with the skills needed to be information literate. To further elaborate, Coiro (2009) states that when engaging in online reading, students need to create search terms, go through the sources made available by typing the search terms, evaluate their choice sources, synthesize the information they have retrieved, and share the new information digitally through e-mails or blog posts.

Structured Reading With the need to develop skills to successfully navigate the internet, incorporating the concept of structured reading in the internet reading context may aid in the developing online reading proficiency and then, information literacy. According to Troyka (1999),structured reading is a practice grounded on the idea that guided, hands-on experience with complete text selections helps students develop their reading proficiency. To elaborate, Troyka (1999) structured the reading of learners using a complete reading text (such as a short story) as benchmark and provide guide activities to enrich their reading experiences. Guide activities devised by Troyka is as follows: unlocking difficult vocabulary, determining the central theme and main ideas of the text, pin-pointing major details, making inferences, testing critical thinking through fact or opinion activities, and testing critical reading by examining the writers craft indeptly. The aim of this approach is to improve the reading skills of students by giving the students a focused reading experience and then, make them repeatedly go through the guide activities to develop a structured reading habit. With online reading materials not being linear in nature (Martin & Steinkaulher, 2011), instructors giving guidelines to students to enrich their online reading experiences may help them in navigating the massive information storage of the internet. 1.5.2 Review of Related Studies Information literacy proficiency presents a challenge to the students as studies have shown students facing difficulty during the preliminary stages of information gathering,

(ex. Head and Eisenberg, 2010; Caravello, Herschman, and Mitchell, 2000) evaluating whether or not their found materials would be credible for the assigned outputs, (ex. Head and Eisenberg, 2010; Caravello, Herschman, and Mitchell, 2000; Samson, 2010) and properly using information for a purpose (ex. Caravello, Herschman, and Mitchell, 2000; Chang et al, 2012; Samson, 2010; Ganley, Gilbert, and Rosario, 2013). In the study of Head and Eisenburg (2010), the researchers developed open ended survey questionnaires in figuring out the research techniques and problems that college students encountered in 25 different campus across America. Their findings show that three-fourths (84%) of the 8,353 survey participants reported that that the step which was the most difficult for them was getting started. Defining a topic (66%), making it more specific or the process of narrowing it down (62%), and filtering through the necessary and relevant results (61%) constantly gave students much difficulty as well. To add to this, in the study of Caravello, Herschman, and Mitchell (2000) which aimed to improve the library instruction of UCLA for better student literacy by administering a survey questionnaire to 453 students, they found out that 18% of their 433 respondents did not know how to proceed whenever the number of results for an online catalog search was too big, and that only 68% of the students knew how to change their keywords in searching, whenever there would be zero results. In terms of accessing information, 78% of the same students also said that using the web would be the best way to identify current and authoritative data for research papers while only around 15% stated to have used periodical index. Chang et. al study, which used an

online survey questionnaire to survey 298 students in finding out the information literacy proficiencies of secondary school students in Singapore, affirms the last finding of Caravello et. al, saying that although students visit school libraries and public libraries at least two to three times a month, these same students self-reported to have rarely used library sources. Studies also reveal that students, who are given research work, find it hard in determining whether or not their materials would be credible for the assigned outputs. Head and Eisenberg (2010) surveyed 8, 353 students from 25 college and university campuses found in the U.S.A. and gathered their data on how these students evaluated and used information, primarily focusing on information-seeking processes and the difficulties students faced in conducting their respective researches. It was observed that around two-thirds of the number of students (61%) had admitted to consult friends and/or family members whenever the said students needed help in evaluating information for personal use. Almost half or 49% of the total sample was reported to have asked for faculty guidance in assessing the materials found while only 11% requested for assistance from librarians. However, Samson (2010) had gathered data on 273 respondents from the University of the Philippines Diliman campus via survey questionnaire and discovered that most, if not all, of the students from said university practiced the information literacy skill of evaluating information and sources critically. Due to 73.92% of the students answering that they sometimes to nearly often use the said skill, the

respondents, in this regard, were graded as satisfactory. However, there are also studies that inferred the unreliability of self-reports which come from students. It is reported in Maughan (2001) in Ganley, Gilbert, and Rosario (2013) that around 70% percent of the authors respondents would state that they are information literate yet during the checking of results, it was discovered that 35-81% either scored poorly or failed in an administered skills test. Furthermore, Head and Eisenberg (2009) in Ganley, Gilbert, and Rosario (2013) stated that 80% of 2,318 students have reported to not have asked librarians for assistance but it was later determined that 90% of the said sample had accessed the availability of library databases as a means to conduct online courserelated research. The main reason as admitted by the respondents was that they believed that these sources already provided reliable content in line with what their professors have asked of them. Interestingly, there have also been reports of students who do not critically analyze sources before using them. Caravello, Herschman, and Mitchell (2000) declared that in their administered questionnaire 48% of 433 undergraduate students did not verify found information from past newspapers in doing research for one of their tasks, and just immediately incorporated their findings in their outputs. In regards to the ability of students to properly use information for a purpose, Caravello, Herschman, and Mitchell (2000) pointed out that their respondents of 433 undergraduates mostly identified the correct parts of the ARCO website which would be relevant in their research paper on air pollution in Los Angeles, however 67% of the

respondents thought that the website would be of value as an objective source, which is not the case as stated by the researchers. Only 25% was able to correctly answer that the source would not be relevant in the consideration of objectivity. What was strange is the fact that 15% said that they did not know which parts or elements of the website would be valuable, yet only 5% reported to not know whether the entire site would be of importance as a source, and 5% would identify themselves of not knowing what ARCO is. Furthermore, it was said by Samson (2010) that around 76% of his sample, who were given survey questionnaires, reported to have often to always abide to the expected fifth standard concerning legality and ethics. From a different perspective, Diep and Nahl (2011, in Ganley, Gilbert, and Rosario, 2013) who surveyed a total of 282 faculty members, library administrators, and staff about the IL of their students reported that35% of the librarians agreed or strongly agreed that their students were knowledgeable in citing sources, while 42% were unsure, and 22.5% disagreed, or strongly disagreed.On the other hand, 47% of the faculty members believed their students to be familiar with the proper way of citing but around 44% disagreed to this. Also, it was mentioned that 37% of librarians believed that students understood the concept of copyright when using sources. Around 24% of the faculty thought the same, while 54% did not. With the need to addressed the issues presented by the earlier studies to make learners more information literate for the needs of the 21st century, studies have been conducted in the hopes of addressing the issues that have surfaced. There are studies which have

attempted to use traditional education approaches, (ex. Koufogiannakis & Wiebe 2006), performance assessment, (ex.Feldmann & Feldmann 2000; Larkin & Pines 2005) and the internet (Coiro & Dobler 2007; Ladbrook & Probert 2011) in improving student information literacy. Also, studies have been conducted that structuring approaches improves the learning experiences of students (ex. Shepherd, 1998; Parrott & Cherry, 2011; and Ehren, 2012) The study of Koufogiannakis & Wiebe (2006) sought to know which library instruction methods (traditional instruction, computer assisted instruction, and self-directed independent learning) would be most effective in improving the information literacy skills of students by using the systematic review methodology. The study made used of a systematic review methodology wherein the researchers looked into 15 databases and found 4,356 potential relevant citations. Out of the 4,356, 122 citations were determined as unique studies that have met the inclusion criteria. Out of the remaining 122, 55 citations have been determined by the researchers that would provide information on the effectiveness of having different teaching methods. Out of the 55, 16 citations, which contains data on the effectiveness of teaching methods on student information literacy, have been determined by the researchers as the most relevant for their meta-analysis through extensive data extraction and critical appraisal processes. From the analysis of the studies, they found out that most students in general preferred traditional instruction from computer-assisted and self-directed independent learning. Hence, the

study argues that traditional instruction may be an effective method in improving the information literacy of students. Next, the study of Feldmann & Feldmann (2000) aimed on improving the information literacy skills, increasing their awareness of other technical sources available, and improving their communication and team work of students. The study first devised a pre-test to see a benchmark on how proficient the students are with their library use and knowledge of the resources available for the studnets. The pre-self report discovered that less than 10% of the students use the library or knew how to find technical information that they need. Then, the study devised a project task that will make students form teams and research an aspect of their lab report. Afterwards, the study administered a post-self report to know any significant improvements from the students after the project. They have found, through the pre-self report, that 62% of the students know how to use the library in searching for their needed information and that 73% of the students agree with the overall project in general and that it did improve their information literacy skills. The study concluded that the project was effective in increasing the information literacy of the students. In support of Feldmann & Feldmanns findings, Larkin & Pines (2005) aimed on improving the information literacy skills of their students by looking into the effectiveness of research output making and online search training. The study devised research project to be administered to 130 undergraduate students (separating them into experiment and control groups) in three sections of introductory psychology

classes handled by the researchers. They found that students information literacy has improved by making them do a hands-on research activity project and then, incorporate information literacy skills such as informational retrieval through online search training. To further elaborate, the findings suggest that the experiment group who has experienced the online search training prior to making their research outputs were more confident in their abilities to search for reliable information in search engines such as Google and Yahoo and incorporate them in their outputs than the control group. The study of Coiro & Dobler (2007) sought to explore the reading comprehension processes while reading online and searching for information in the internet. The study selected 11 students with the best standardized reading scores, reading report card grades, and internet reading experiences from 150 sixth grade students and made them complete tasks which will make use of multilayered websites. They found out that skilled readers appear to draw from their prior knowledge of the topic at hand and additional printed information texts to structure their pathways in searching for information in the internet setting. The students also used inferential skills and traditional self-regulating reading processes such as goal setting, predicting, and monitoring the evaluation of the information retrieved. The study concludes that to have a successful online reading experience, one must have good online reading comprehension skills. To affirm the need of a good process in information search in the internet as found by Coiro & Dobler, the study of Ladbrook & Probert (2011) aimed on making teachers

developing familiarity and confidence in online text types and learning in offline and online information literacy strategies by finding out how much students showed and teachers promoted critical information technology literacy skills by exploring the beliefs of teachers regarding their students online information literacy skills. The study made used of survey questionnaires, diary activity, and focus group discussion for its data collection and administered them to year 10 students of three co-educational schools in Auckland. The year 10 teachers were also administered a survey asking for the online literacy skills proficiency of students. They found out that 92.3% of the 24 teachers think that the students are proficient in online literacy in terms of technicality. However, 84% of the teachers think that the online information literacy of students is not that proficient enough and needs improvement. To affirm this, they found out that none of the thirteen students further interviewed in the focus group discussion used key words in searching in search engines like Google. It was also found out that none of the students go further than three links if they failed to find the information immediately. The study concluded that with the problems stated above, teachers and the librarians must work together in order to improve the information literacy skills of students.

The study of Shepherd (1998) aimed on seeing the effect of the implementation of a problem-based learning model, Probe Method I, in the critical thinking skills of fourth and fifth grade elementary students of a private school for gifted kids in a Midwestern State. The study made use of Design#10 from a study of Campbell and Shelley and

divided the fourth and fifth grade students into two groups (an experiment group of 20 and a control group of 15). The study found out that the experiment group, after a nine week duration of participation, showed a significant increase in their critical thinking skills as measured by the Cornell Critical Thinking Test, with their pre-test scores (along with the control group) improving from a mean of 0.1905 to 0.0032 after the implementation of the post-test. The study concludes that Probe Method I can be an effective method to improve the critical thinking skills of students. The study of Parrott & Cherry (2011) aimed on facilitating deep learning of students by constructing a structured reading group work format to facilitate deep reading and the discussion of the course material. The group consists of a small number of students taking the roles of discussion leader, passage master, devils advocate, creative connector, and the reporter. The study went to five institutions and implemented the structured reading group approach in twelve classes with the year levels of students ranging from freshmen to seniors. The study found out that the structured reading groups generally garnered positive results from majority of the 12 classes that have participated. The study concludes that the application of structured reading groups have positive effects in facilitating the deep learning of students. The study of Ehren (2011) aimed on investigating the effectiveness of a structured approach (Structure Your Reading) on the reading comprehension of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students of language arts classes in a period of two years. The study made use of a randomized control study. In year one, 265 students ranging from sixth to

eighth grade have been assigned in random experiment and control groups. In year two, the study kept the seventh and eighth grade year one classes added two new sixth grade classes and assigned new enrollees to the seventh and eighth grade classes. The study found out that in year one, the sixth grade control group performed better than the experiment group while the seventh and eighth grade experiment groups outperformed their control group counterparts. In year two, the eight-grade experiment group had significant improvements in their reading comprehension skills while the sixth-grade and seventh-grade experiment groups made no significant improvements in their reading comprehension skills. The study concludes that the Structure Your Reading approach had significant positive effects on the students in their reading comprehension skills however, not all of the students were able to maintain the improvements in their reading comprehension skills. After reviewing a number of literature, structuring the online reading experiences of students may help in improving the information literacy of students. However, even though studies tell us that there are various ways in attempting to address these issues of information literacy experienced by students, none of the studies above looked into the effects of incorporating a structured reading practice in giving students a good online reading experience, which may possibly impact their information literacy positively. It is because of this notion that this study of exploring the effects of structured online based reading to improve student information literacy has been proposed.

1.6 Purpose of the Study The study aims to present suggestions that would help students improve their information literacy skills. With that in mind, the findings of the study may be useful for the following entities of Paco Catholic School: Curriculum Developers- The findings may contribute to the knowledge base of Paco Catholic Schools curriculum developers to help further the instruction of ESL learning to cover information literacy skills to help its students in higher levels of instruction. Teachers- The findings may contribute to the expansion of the teaching strategies to further help the students to achieve the goals of the curriculum by equipping them with the necessary information literacy skills which will prove to be very useful in higher levels of instruction. Also, the study may enhance the creativity of teachers in their instruction as they incorporate the proposed strategy of using structured-based online reading to improve information literacy in their own learning contexts. Students- The findings may contribute to the improvement of their overall learning experience of the fourth-year high school level students of Paco Catholic School by developing their information literacy skills, which will be very helpful for them as they progress through the demands of higher education. Future Researchers and Scholars- The findings of the study may be used by other researchers and scholars to help support their arguments as they conduct their respective studies.

With that said, the study aims to explore the effects of structured online based reading on the information literacy skills of the fourth year high school students of Paco Catholic School. The study would be guided by the following questions: 1) Is there an improvement in the information literacy skills of the fourth year high

school students of Paco Catholic School after the implementation of the strategy? 2) How do the students perceive structured online reading?

2. Methodology 2.1 Goals and Expectations

In this action research, information literacy problems (if any) should be addressed by the incorporation of structured online based reading to complete home tasks in relation to their learning contexts. The student-teachers will assign the students analysis paper writing tasks in order to set the context needed for the students to use structured online based reading. With that, the participant researchers aim to improve the quality of information location, evaluation, and use of the students in the internet context and also to see if the proposed strategy of structuring online based reading would help the students successfully complete their analysis paper tasks, in which the participant researchers will see if there is improvement in their information literacy skills. Next, the participant researchers expects the students to document their experiences and thoughts about the use of structured based online reading in a journal for the participant researchers to be able to gather the adequate data required to strengthen our claims regarding structured online based reading improving student information literacy. Also, the data gathered will also be used in the future revising of the proposed strategy for its improvement should Paco Catholic School choose to use the strategy again for its other students, provided that the implementation be a success.

2.2 Solution Strategy Structured Online Based Reading as a Strategy to improve Information Literacy

From the high school level, the fourth-year level has been selected for the implementation of the proposed strategy. From the student-teachers, one will be tasked to help in the facilitation of the lesson with the cooperating teacher while the other one will be tasked in the construction of the lesson plans and in documenting the responses of the students. Before Implementation Before the proposed strategy is implemented, the student-teachers/participant researchers will ask the administration of Paco Catholic School if they would allow a copy of the current syllabus used in the English subject of the fourth-year level to be reviewed by the student-teachers. This is relevant because the student-teachers will help the cooperating teacher in facilitating the lesson that the class will learn and with that, it is a must for the student-teachers to be able to construct the lesson plans and organize any needed materials beforehand. After the syllabus review and the creation of the lesson plans, the student-teachers will conduct a pre-test of the information literacy skills of the students through the use of the Information Competency Assessment Instrument (Marshall, 2006). The instrument features 40 statements which concern feelings of an individual in regards to locating and using research information. The responses will be guided by a Likert scale featuring seven points (7 being strongly agree while 1 strongly disagree). After the completion of the pre-test, the student-teachers will take note of the responses for the (validator of data) that will take place after the administration of the post-test. This pre-

test will give an idea to the student-teachers on how proficient the students currently are with their information literacy. After the pre-test, the students will be oriented by the student-teachers for them to have a good idea of what the student-teachers expect from them when they take over the instruction from their official teachers. The orientation will cover topics such as what specific lessons from the syllabus will the student-teachers teach the students, the activities that will be used in facilitating the class, and the requirements that will be asked from the students. To further elaborate, the students will know that the studentteachers will be assigning them analysis papers after every weekly lesson successfully covered in class. Furthermore, the student-teachers expects the students to use online sources following these guidelines: 1) the sources must be no later than 2005, 2) the sources must only come from the internet, 3)the sources must have an author, 4) three sources is the minimum requirement. Futhermore, the student-teachers would be expecting a process paper that will tell the student-teachers why they think their chosen sources address the needs of their analysis paper. To help the students complete the process paper, the student-teachers would ask the students to differentiate the main idea from the supporting details, to look up the credentials of the author, the organization responsible for the publishing of the reference, and the overall accuracy and reliability of the information provided.

In addition to the process paper, the student-teachers will also require a journal detailing their experiences and feelings around the structuring of online based reading to help them fulfill their research tasks. During Implementation After the pre-implementation procedures, it is important that the student-teachers facilitate lessons to help them write their analysis paper. First, the student-teachers will conduct a lesson regarding the verification of the information sources taken from the internet. The student-teachers will introduce to the students the need to look up the credentials of the author, the organization responsible for publishing the reference, the overall accuracy and reliability of the information provided, and differentiating the main idea from the supporting details. Then, the student-teachers will conduct a lesson on proper citation techniques to be able to prevent plagiarism from the students. After the lessons, the writing of the analysis papers proper would begin. After the facilitation of a lesson from their syllabus, the students will be given 30 minutes classroom time to be able to start on their process papers. For example, if the class meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and the student-teachers formally finished a lesson on a Monday, the students will be given 30 minutes in the Wednesday session to start on their process papers. Here, the students will be allowed to use their tablets to be to search sources that they will evaluate. Whatever they have yet to accomplish, they will continue it at home alongside the writing of their analysis papers and their documentation journals. After all the facilitation of lessons has been completed and the

process and analysis papers have been written, the student-teachers will ask the students to compile all the outputs in a portfolio for evaluation from the studentteachers. After Implementation During the last session of the intervention, the student-teachers will ask the students to submit their portfolios containing their process and analysis papers so that the studentteachers will be able to evaluate their works and analyze the data that can help validate the post-test. The post-test will be administered immediately after the collection of the portfolios. The post-test that will be used be the same as the pre-test before. However, directions will be manipulated by the student-teachers to fit the context of them undergoing the implementation strategy. The data that will be acquired from the posttest will be correlated with the results of the document analysis of the portfolios taken from the students to verify the validity of the data gathered.

The intervention program can be summed up as follows:

Prev implementation

During implementation

Post implementation

Review of current syllabus

Facilitation of lesson for writing students analysis papers

Post-testing of information literacy

Preparation of lesson plans and materials

Writing of analysis papers

Data Analysis

Pre-testing of information literacy

Submission of portfolio

Reporting of Results

Orientation on Structured OnlineBased Reading

2.3 Expected Outcomes With the studys proposed intervention strategy, the study aims to impart to the students the habit of always searching for good quality information in the internet to increase the quality of

their outputs that would require research through the completion of their analysis paper writing and their documentation tasks. Bearing that in mind, the participant researchers should achieve the following outcomes with the intervention: 1) The students would be able to harness the internet databanks properly for their tasks that requires research. 2) The students would be able to develop the habit of always be able to explain why they think their chosen sources are helpful to their research tasks. 3) The students would be able to synthesize the information they acquired from the internet and be able to share the information through writing. 4) The students would be able to cite their sources properly using in-text citation and properly write their reference lists.