Philippine E-Journals

How Teaching Reading Practices Addresses the Reading Comprehension Needs of Selected High School Freshmen– A Case Study

Gina M. Lontoc

Discipline: Education, Literature, Education Administration

 

Abstract:

This paper is a case study involving a class of 54 first year students of English and their teacher in a public national high school in Batangas in SY 2006-2007. The result of the study shows that subject students have difficulties in recognizing words, developing vocabulary skills, and processing texts using higher level reading processes such as inferring and critical thinking. The teacher used a repertoire of strategies; however, every session was focused on the mastery of text content, and assessment procedures dealt dominantly with simple recall of the details in the text content which does not encourage students to elaborate their responses. Thus, students failed to build reading skills required in processing complex reading tasks. To address the difficulties, teachers should do reflective teaching using the results of the Phil IRI to enrich instruction and to continuously strive to produce proficient readers. The existing reading program of the school must be reviewed and evaluated; reading materials should be made available to both teachers and students; and instruction strategies should be designed to promote proficient reading.