Reading and Books Essay Example for Free

interpret and Books EssayDespite the vast, growing and active nurtureal reforms continuously being modified and implemented in todays Philippine schoolingal System much(prenominal) as MTB MLE and K+12 education curriculum, at that place be still 6. 2 gazillion Filipino y emergeh who does not receive victorian and examinationifyis education in the castroom, which includes the pop of drill children and youthfulness. Specific exclusivelyy, according to the 2010 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) of the loss Statistics Office (NSO) released November 2011, one out of eight Filipinos aged between 6 and 24 is an out- of- shoal youth(OSY). reliable estimates pull ahead indicate that 7. 8 million Filipinos or 16. 2% of the population are not functionally literate. active 3. 9 million of them are out of naturalise youth. The Philippine government defines an out of- school youth (OSY) as someone who is not attending orb education and/or not crystallisefully e mployed in the case of youth 18 to 24 years old who form not finished college or even a technical vocational course. The government further explains that the primary reasons for these out of school youth for not attending school is poverty and lack of personal interest.On the otherwise hand, out- of- school youth are vulnerable people who puddle special contracts as well as. Nobody jakes deny the hard item that education is still an extremely important factor for bringing tack in the lives of these single(a)s. It has universally been acknowledge as the more or less powerful instrument and pre needful for gearing up the socio economic phylogeny of a nation. This is why investment in education is considered to be so vital for human resource growing and enhancement of the quality of manpower.In the history of humankind, there is an established fact that a certain take of literacy in population is an essential pre requisite for precipitating the process of development in a country. It is exclamatory therefore that the most active part in the socio economic development of any country or region eer consists of the adolescents. Moreover, more(prenominal) people restrain a shoddy impression of the abilities and capacities of out of school youth.It is generally assumed that this group needs to re do and re learn the most basic literacy skills. Hence, they are marginalized and ostracized. In fact, out of- school youths do nonplus some experience of companionship within the noble body. In addition, many of them construct gained rich learning experiences from their environment and floriculture. Thus, basic literacy does not necessarily mean teaching literacy in its most basic forms. However, the acquired skills and knowledge need to be recognized, tapped into and enhanced.Out- of- school youths may have failed to complete their education in the formal system due to various reasons, such as socio economic or health issues, urbanizatio n, teacher teaching factors or curriculum problems but UNESCO still has enumerated and emphasized the basic literacy for out of- school youth development which involves the learning of the basic skills needed to cope with the complex and technological piece, including IT and computer skills, communication skills listening, speaking, claiming, composition, viewing, critical thought process and many others.Moreover, developing the literacy of OSYs is a complex process, which involves enhancing the knowledge and capacities that they have gained over the years and providing them with access to gainsay learning opportunities. The Philippines by means of the initiative of the Bureau of Alternative instruction System formerly called the Bureau of Non formal Education (BNFE) is obligated for contributing to the breakment of the poor including the out of school youth and drop outs through literacy and continuing education course of reflects.Its arrive is to foc apply basic services to the more disadvantaged sections of the population to make better their welfare and contribute to human resource development. This was done to respond to the need of a more magisterial and flexible approach in reaching all types of learners outside the formal school system. The Alternative Learning System (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a parallel learning system that provides a viable alternative to existing formal education instruction. It encompasses some(prenominal) non formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills.Certification of learning for out of school youth and liberals , aged 15 years and over, who are unable to gain from the formal school system and who have dropped out of formal childlike and insurgentary education , is ensured through the Alternative Learning System Accreditation and the Equivalency (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis A E) System. The system of certification is done through successful completion of the amyotrophic lateral scle rosis and A E test at two learning levels elementary and secondary. Those who pass the test have to undergo counseling to search their oppurtunities, be it a return to the formal school system or the option to enter the world of work.(UNESCO Bangkok, 2009). The ALS eSkwela program has v main learning strands Communication skills, critical thinking and problem solving, sustainable social function of resources and productivity, development of self and a sense of community, and expanding ones world vision. Since ALS is a faculty- ground learning system, assimilators come in on a set time and choose a module to read. A quiz is given after each module to test their learning. Instead of teachers, facilitators are always present to answer any questions and sometimes lecturers would discuss a certain module.Apart from the major aim and objective of the system, the ALS Project was conceived to respond to many grassroots learning needs and at the selfsame(prenominal) time fulfill the pursuit key social development objectives of EFA Functional Literacy Current estimates indicate that there are 7. 8 million Filipinos or 16. 2% of the population who are not functionally literate. About 3. 9 million of them are out of school youth. Family Literacy legion(predicate) parents want to develop functional practice session, composing and numeracy skills and knowledge so that they seat assistance their children do their homework.Community Participation Continuing Education Many people who have haveed literacy skills and want to continue learning should be given the means and tools to return to formal schooling or go on learning on their own. Empowerment Out-of-school youth and adults liveness in economically depressed communities need to develop communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and learning-to-learn skills and competencies which go out directly attention them raise their standard of living and improve their quality of life.Functional basic educa tion should empower them with go health practices, better food, increased income, improved family life, more direct civic and community participation and more opportunities for roomyr life choices. It is noted that the ALS learning modules constructed by SEAMEO Innotech experts are thawly chosen, used and read by the school-age childs. It is true therefore that through the skill called read, any idea or module given to them are enlightened.On the other hand, observations show that are still many problems and issues encountered on the adaptation performance and technique of the out of drill juvenility which includes vocabulary, apprehension, count skills and others. Even the (UIS, 2011) stated a very alarming issue that seven hundred and seventy-five million adults all over the world cannot read. Many of these OSYs too are unemployed, underemployed adn lacks basic English lyric literacy skills specially culture and writing.In addition, UNESCO in like manner emphasize d that the basic English literacy skills development is too considered as a means of widening the experiences of learners and allowing them to communicate in effect in their everyday life as well as in their future lives as responsible citizens and professionals. Accordingly, woven into the framework of the basic English Literacy skills is likewise the development of critical thinking skills. Thinking critically would mean grasping the complexity of the world and questioning how others think in order to clarify and improve ones own understanding.Although, schools and learning institutions clearly neglect the development of critical thinking, there is very much evidence to show that students indication and writing abilities are linked to their capacity to question facts and information. Literacy is briefly delineate as the ability to read and write. When we think of literacy, we think of adaptation. But being able to read does not mean someone is necessarily a literate person. In the 21st century, literacy encompasses the skills youth and adults need to be functional in the society, including numeracy and study and writing skills.Most learning is dependent to recitation. As the learner advances in the educational ladder, more complex discipline skills are required of him. Effective reading requires from an individual the ability to locate keywords in a sentence, locate the topic sentence in a carve up and understand and interpret what is read. Reading, therefore is an important skill a child must developed in order to cope to the very fast, changing and difficulties the world offers. Of many skills it is cited that it is one of the lead offning(a) skill a literate person must acquire.Likewise, there were many studies and projects that responded to the many goals of ALS and UNESCO in general, specializedally a keen-sighted the communication skills strands. One of which is the Project EASE. This regard made use of a Reading Comprehension and writing composition test to assess the basic communication skills of the students. Unfortunately, there were only few qualifiers for the said program the rest did not restrict. Most of the non qualifiers came from the lower sections where the pressure to earn was much stronger.The non qualifier was given other chance. They were administered with an alternative cloze type of science test carefully made by the SEAMEO Innotech experts. The program such as EASE was pronounced. (add facts) Another is a field of operations on the Attributes of High School Student qualifiers in the Accreditation and Equivalency Program (AEP) which was done as Basis for a proposed Action Program by Rarang in (1999). The study made use of the public high school students in the quartetteth congressional district of Pangasinan during the school year 1997 1998.The study was done for the purpose of creating detach action programs that could increase the probability of prospective PEPT examinees to qualify for promotion or year level acceleration. The result of the study revealed that out of the 86 respondents who took the 1997 PEPT only quaternity qualified for the acceleration or promotion to the next higher level in high school. Furthermore, the look made use of the Descriptive Method with a pre and post enrollment attributes of the student qualifier in the AEP as data gathering instrument.It was found out that there was more male drop outs that females and their drop age ranged from 13 to 17 years old and that before the respondents dropped out from school, the last level they absolute was Grade VI. The findings of the study also revealed that the main reason for the learners dropping out is due to financial difficulty. They also vary in their performance in the last year level they attended with 89. 13% as the highest average figure and the lowest grade at 68. 25%. More so, the study discovered that the tributary factor in theacceleration and promotion of the students to the next level are their reading activities done during their free time like reading magazines, newspapers, books, pocketbooks and even their old notes. Accordingly, reading is the most important factor in achieving promotion and acceleration. Many reading researches have shown that learners and OSYs reading skills literacy performance is always at risks. Firstly, in the second Readership Survey made by SWS survey commissioned by NBDB floated all over the Philippines revealed that reading has slightly declined in our country.Only 92 part of the 1,200 respondents say that they read, down to two percent from the first Readership survey done in 2003. In the literacy field, comprehension is primarily identified as the goal of (Duke Pearson, 2002 Duke, Pearson, Strachan, Billman, 2011). speckle many agrees comprehension is of utmost importance, many still argue that in this many classroom con school textbook, think on students fluency did not limit students development as readers, part icularly for those who were asked to read out loud.The findings of this study also come outed out the importance of teachers examining the learners own perceptions around reading and reading instruction (Edwards, Martin, Protacio, Razali,2010). Furthermore, (Biancarosa Snow, 2006 Joftus, 2002) exclaimed that even among students who do alum from highschool, inadequate reading skills are a key impediment to success in postsecondary education (American parchment Project, 2004).Students who struggle with reading of ten lack the prerequisites to take academically challenging coursework that could lead to more wide reading and thus exposure to advanced vocabulary and content ideas (Au, 2000). The 2006 report by tour, Inc. , Reading amidst the Lines What the ACT Reveals About College Readiness in Reading, describes even more troubling trends. Only 51% of students who took the ACT test in 2004 were ready for college-level reading demands (ACT, Inc. , 2006).The reading skill levels of the out-of-school youth population have remainedlow, especially in comparison to the rising skill demands of employers. Although this report cannot summarize the changing qualifications, a look of indicators suggest a serious shortfall between the skills of out-of-school youth and job requirements. Dropouts and other out-of-school youth are reported to be unable to attain basic levels of math and reading proficiency are certainly much higher.White Paper further explains that young people leaving the educational system at 16, or more likely 19, must at least have the requisite literacy and communication skills to be employable and to be effective in life.Since reading is linked to writing, students write about what they read. Young and adults who are behind in reading and writing only have not had as much experience reading and writing as young adults who are proficient readers and writers. Moreover, out of- school youth who are behind have also not leaned the strategies that proficient readers and writers use to understand text and communicate their ideas in writing. This means that explicitly the strategies that proficient readers and writers use and providing guided practice are the keys to up(p) these skills.It has been proven that Out of- school youth possess a broad repertoire of knowledge and skills that simply needs to be recognized, tapped into and enhanced in order for their abilities to improve. Indeed, there is a need to place a bang-uper emphasis on developing and enhancing quality English language literacy skills training, programs and instructional materials for Out of School youth development. The conception of the ALS program or the Alternative Learning System is a great endeavor that caters to the needs and improvement of Out of-School youth in the metropolis Schools Division of Dagupan metropolis.The ALS DEpED Dagupan City Division is one with the government in the active fulfillment of its task to reach and educate the OSYs in th e City. In fact, there have been many OSYs who benefited from the program. Latest report says that ALS students in Region I show positive interest in this endeavor. Dagupan City Schools Division is composed of five Districts. From all over the city, there have been many Out of school youth coming from the 31 barangays of the city who enrolled in the said program.With the initiative of teachers and volunteers who facilitates the program, the actual teaching and learning is collectively done with the help of the module based learning materials. Furthermore, in the case study expatriateed by the Accreditation and Equivalency System of the Non Formal Education Project clearly encourages service providers like educational institutions to identify and make use of variety of enriching materials both print and non print in addition to the prescribed NFE and A E Learning modules provided by the SEAMEO INNOTECH.With the encouragement of the BNFE or the ALS calling to disparate service providers to respond and create instructional materials that the OSYs can benefit, the researcher ordain study on the present Reading Comprehension Skills Levels of the Dagupeno OSYs particularly on the Reading Comprehensions Skills Level of the ALS students presently registered and attending the regular Eskwela ALS program in the City schools component of Dagupan during the calendar year 2013 2014 and envisions to create a Self Learning Reading Material that leave behind better improve and enhance the Reading Comprehension and in general proficiency of the ALS learners. averment OF THE PROBLEM This study aims to analyze the Reading Comprehension Skills Level of ALS students in the city schools division of Dagupan. Specifically, it allow for answer the following questions 1. What is the performance of the ALS students in the reading Comprehension Test in terms of the a. original scads they will obtain from the Reading Comprehension Test? b. Specific scores they will obtained in the following reading Comprehension levels tangible Re presidencyal Inferential Evaluational Appreciational? 2.What is the extent of performance of the ALS students in the reading Comprehension test in terms of a. Total scores they will obtain from the Reading Comprehension Test? scores they will obtained in the following reading Comprehension levels Literal Reorganizational Inferential Evaluational Appreciational? 3. What instructional material will be proposed to address the reading comprehension inadequacies of the ALS students? SUBJECTS The subjects of the study will be the ALS students of the city schools division of Dagupan enrolled in the five districts of the division.There is a add of 447 ALS students in the division and they will be randomly selected from among the districts of the division. The respondents of the study will be elementary drop outs, secondary drop outs, non- passer of previous ALS AE Test/s, Learners/Completers of the ALS programs and Youth and adu lt drop outs. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS/ Assumptions The study will be anchored on the following assumptions 1. The total test scores and the scores in the unique(predicate) skills areas of the ALS students will reflect their reading comprehension performance. 2.The ALS students responses to the items in the test must truthful and accurate SCOPE AND DELIMITATION The study will be conducted to determine the reading comprehension performance and skills of the ALS students of the city schools division of Dagupan during the S. Y. 2013 2014. The respondents of the study will be elementary drop outs, secondary drop outs, non- passer of previous ALS AE Test/s, Learners/Completers of the ALS programs and Youth and adult drop outs in general. A constructed Reading Comprehension Test will be used as instrument in gathering data pertinent to the study.The Reading Comprehension test will be carefully validated, tabulated and interpreted to arrive at accurate and precise results that will help a s basis for the creation of a self- learning reading material for ALS students. Definition of Terms The following terms are carefully defined in the context of the study to provide a habitual understanding and frame of reference between the researcher and the readers Reading both a process and a product and it involves bringing the individuals entire life experiences and thinking patterns to understand what the writer has indite (Aukerman, 1981).Reading Comprehension refers to the ability to understand text read by means of constructing meaning with the use of some clues in the text and the schema or undercoat knowledge of the reader about the text. Reading Comprehension Abilities, also referred to as reading comprehension skills, refer to the five(5) reading levels (Toffelson, as cited by Tuvera, 1993) of reading comprehension, which include (1) Literal Level(2) Reorganizational Level (3) Inferential Level (4) Evaluational Level and (5) Appreciational Level. Specific Comprehensi on Skills refers to the specific skills that make up the different reading levels.Literal level of reading refers to the reading level that enables the students to recognized and/or recall details, main ideas, sequences, comparison, cause and effect sexual relationships, character traits and recall authors organization and explicitly stated information in the reading selection (Toffelson, as cited by Tuvera, 1993). Reorganizational level of reading refers to the reading level that enables the student to classify or group, outline or specify, summarize and synthesize text that has been read (Toffelson, as cited by Tuvera, 1993).Inferential Level of reading refers to the reading level that enables the student to sympathize bearing details which require the making of a hypothesis on an information that might have been include in the text infer the main idea infer a sequence which requires the student to make a hypothesis about what might have occurred in addition to the already expl icitly stated events and making a hypothesis in events beyond completion of the text.Other skills also included are inferring, comparison, cause and effect relationships, charater traits,authors organization, figurative language and predicting outcomes (Toffelson, as cited by Tuvera, 1993). Evaluational level of reading refers to the reading level that enables the student to make a design of reality and fantasy and judgment between fact and opinion (Toffelson, as cited by Tuvera, 1993). Appreciational level of Reading refers to the reading level that enables the student to have emotional response to the text and determine an authors purpose, mood, tone and point of vies (Toffelson, as cited by Tuvera, 1993).Performance is defined as a manner of functioning the manner in which something or someone or somebody functions, operates, or behaves (Microsoft Encarta 2006. 1993 2005 Microsoft Corporation). In this study, it refers to the number of correct answers of the ALS students an all the specific levels of the reading comprehension test to reflect the students reading comprehension abilities. Extent of Performance refers to the reading comprehension abilities of the students based on a scale of scores to describe the level of reading comprehension of the ALS students.The scale will consists of three (3) levels High , for scores equivalent to 75 percent 100 percent Moderate, for scores equivalent to 50 percent 74 percent and Low, for scores equivalent to at most 49 percent of the total point and of their points in the different specific reading comprehension skills areas. Total Scores obtained refers to the raw scores of the students which will hold still for to the number of the correct answers of the ALS students in the reading comprehension test.Specific scores obtained refers to the raw scores of the learners in the different specific skill areas which correspond to the number of correct answers of the students in the specific skill areas. Self Learning Reading Activities are activities involving processes which will enhance the reading performance and improve the five levels of reading comprehension of the ALS students . It also encourages students to gain more interest in reading with the aid of the designated activities.Analysis refers to the process of categorizing the performance of the students in the reading comprehension test in its totality and in the specific reading skills according to the extent of their performance. Out of School Youth ALS ALS Learners ALS Implementers Conceptual Framework The objective of all readers should be comprehension of what they read. Comprehension is understanding. Understanding involves abilities to explain, interpret, apply, have perspective, empathize, and have self knowledge (Wiggins and Mctighe,1998).Reading is both a process and a product ant it involves bringing the individuals entire life experiences and thinking patterns to understand what the writer has written (Aukerman, 1981). W hen good decoders have problems with comprehension, they need help in developing language proficiency and listening comprehension. Teachers can help them develop the corresponding skills by combining vocabulary and comprehension strategy instruction with encouragement to enhance their reading of different materials Dymock, 1993). Reading comprehension can be effected by background knowledge.This concept is proved that when readers possess rich anterior knowledge about the topic of a reading material, they often understand the reading material better than readers with low prior knowledge. That said, readers couldnt always relate their world knowledge to the content of a text because they are not able to, even when they possess knowledge relevant to the information it presents. Often, they do not make inferences based on prior knowledge unless the inference are absolutely demanded to make sense of the text (Mckoon % Ratcliff, 1992).The study is anchored on the core concept that readi ng difficulties encountered by learners can be addressed by an appropriate learning material in the form of a self learning reading material which will address their difficulties to be assessed using the reading comprehension test. Research Paradigm Figure 1. Paradigm of the study Figure 1 above illustrates the prerequisites in the development of a Self Learning Reading Materail to improve the reading comprehension ability of ALS learners in the city schools division of Dagupan. CHAPTER II Review of related Literature and StudiesThis chapter presents studies and literature which are seen to be significant that can give light to the completion and conduct of the research. FOREIGN Educational research has become a global enterprise, with researchers recognizing the need to be aware of educational practices in other countries. Burbules (2002) notes that this international context makes possible the sharing of knowledge and experience gained in relation to reform and evaluation in dif ferent countries. Recent studies show that seven hundred and seventy-five million adults cannot read (UIS, 2011).According to the study conducted by Glewwe and Kremer, (2006 ) a major factor in the poor reading problem is the poor quality of public schools in developing countries. Many peoples understanding of the educational takings function, however, is still limited. Providing resources to schools with no other inputs rarely improves overall student performance and that if resources are paired with a enormousr array of inputs, students test scores do improve, he exclaimed. Unfortunately, the exact kind of additional support is necessary to make additional resources effective.For reading in particular, a number of studies have demonstrated the speciality of large comprehensive changes. Banerjee et al. (2007) studies an Indian remedial education program. The intervention itself causes students reading skills to improve, but because the intervention changes the educational enviro nment along multiple dimensions additional teachers, new pedagogical methods, new curriculum, changes to organization of the classroom, and additional resources it is infeasible to identify which components are necessary.In addition, a Case Study of Reading Instruction in a Philippine Classroom was also conducted by Protacio and Sarroub, (2013) where the reading practices in a public and high-achieving 6th grade English classroom in the Philippines were used as subjects of the study. The study utilized a four resources model, the different roles that students assume in this classroom was also clearly discussed. The students in the class are describe generally as code breakers and text users and have limited opportunities to assume the other two roles of the four resources model.The study also provides a different view of reading, specifically a view of a culture of reading wherein higher status is given to oral reading performance rather than comprehension. The results of the st udy further revealed that reading is perceived as an oral performance activity by Filipino students because reading aloud is used frequently to negotiate the lack of resources in Philippine public schools. Comprehension does not offspring as much to these students rather, they are concerned with how they are perceived as oral readers in English, which is their second language.The case study findings provide a different view of reading, specifically a view of a culture of reading wherein higher status is given to oral performance rather than comprehension or fluency. The data also reveals that the predominant emphasis on oral performance satisfies only two roles or family of practices in the four resources model of reading code breakers and text users. All of the students in the fly section were not afforded opportunities by the teacher to fully engage with the four resources, as the class think mostly on oral recitation as the main indicator for reading well.Students in this clas s infrequently assumed the role of meaning-makers and text analysts (Luke Freebody, 1999 Underwood, Yoo, Pearson, 2007). Instead, both students and teacher privileged correct pronunciation and reading correctly aloudgetting the accent right determined who the best students were in the class. Though, Philippine literacy scholars have commented on the emphasis on performance and reading aloud. Maminta (1982) discusses how reading as a subject was relegated to the background as the curriculum emphasized speech improvement with most of the class time being dog-tired on pattern drills, mimicry, and memorization.Even though Mamintas article focuses on speech improvement as being the emphasis three decades ago, it seems that it still characterizes classroom practice in the Philippines today. In the pilot section, the students themselves seemed to be the ones placing the emphasis on speech improvement. In the literacy field, comprehension is primarily identified as the goal of reading (D uke Pearson, 2002 Duke, Pearson, Strachan, Billman, 2011). While many agrees that comprehension is of utmost importance, many still argues that in this classroom context, focusing on students fluency did not limit students development asreaders, particularly for those who were asked to read aloud.What we do feel strongly about is the importance of providing all students opportunities to assume the role of readers in this classroom by giving all students a chance to read aloud in class. However, we noticed that, sadly, this was not the case. The findings of this study also point to the importance of teachers examining their own perceptions about reading and reading instruction (Edwards, Martin, Protacio, Razali,2010).Moreover, Reading fluency is the point at which beginning readers rely less on the phonemic decoding to recognize individual words and begin to recognize whole words, allowing for an increase in reading speed and comprehension. Meyer and Felton (1999), for example, d efine fluency as the ability to read connected text rapidly, smoothly, effortlessly, and automatically with little conscious attention to the mechanics of reading, such as decoding. Also, a study on the Effective Reading Programs for Middle and High School synthesized by Slavin, Cheung, Groff and Lake was print in 2009.This is a collection of many reading programs that systematically reviewed research on the achievement outcomes of four types of approaches to improving the reading of middle and high school students specifically on the (1 ) reading curricula, (2) mixed-method models (methods that combine large and small-group instruction with computer activities), (3) computer-assisted instruction, and (4) instructional-process programs (methods that focus on providing teachers with extensive professional development to implement specific instructional methods).The collective synthesized study found out that students who enter high school with poor literacy skills face long odds ag ainst graduating and going on to postsecondary education or satisfying careers.