REWARDS AND EXTENSIVE READING ACTIVITIES AND DRILLS: A TOOL FOR

DEVELOPING DECODING SKILLS OF GRADE 7 STUDENTS IN EASTERN POTIA

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Researchers:

Timmongnin, Karen B.

Velarde, Juneil E.
 I. Context and Rationale

Reading is one of the most important skills in life. Darrel (2005) and

Oberholzer (2005) highlighted that reading is a cornerstone for success at school

and throughout life; therefore, pupils who can read well can function more effectively

in everyday school activities however, knowledge on how to read words and being

able to say them correctly are ways to determine how advanced, or delayed, a child

in reading is. Extensive means covering a substantial area and so, extensive

reading refers to that type of reading in which students read and refer to large

quantities of material, chosen by themselves. As against, intensive refers to in-depth

or concentrated. There are many different terms for extensive reading (ER),

including pleasure reading, self-selected reading, free voluntary reading, and wide

reading. Over the years, a plethora of studies has revealed that ER enables

students to reap numerous linguistic benefits, including improved reading fluency

(Huffman, 2014; McLean & Rouault, 2017, Nakanishi, 2015), vocabulary acquisition

(Suk, 2016; Webb & Chang, 2015), and better writing skills (Mermelstein, 2015;

Park, 2016). Besides linguistic benefits, students also develop wider and deeper

knowledge about the world, which is essential in relating and connecting with the text

and other people (Renandya, 2016). Phonics is a "way of teaching the code-based

portion of reading and spelling that stresses symbol-sound relationships; especially

important in beginning reading instruction" (Massachusetts 2017 English Language

Arts and Literacy Framework ).Decoding is "the ability to translate a word from print

to speech, usually by employing knowledge of sound-symbol correspondences; also

the act of deciphering a new word by sounding it out" (Foorman et al., 2016 ). All

readers of an alphabetic language such as English use phonics knowledge and

decoding skills to read words (Seidenberg, 2017). Readers know the relationships
between letters or groups of letters and their sounds (called sound-symbol

correspondences or phoneme-grapheme correspondences) and rules for how words

are spelled. Readers can decode words, which involves using phonics knowledge

and phonemic skills to turn a printed word into sounds. Becoming a proficient reader

requires these skills.

"In alphabetic systems, the phonemes of the language are represented by letters or

groups of letters . If a child learns to decode that symbol-to-sound relationship, then

that child will have the ability to translate printed words into spoken language,

thereby accessing information about meaning" (Castles, Rastle, & Nation, 2018 ).

Much research exists presenting the different reading difficulties and its

factors encountered by students in their language learning. According to Botha

(2008), one of the complex factors resulting in pupils’ poor reading, learning and

achievement are the teachers because most of them are not trained to teach basic

reading. Furthermore, along with the findings of Lindner (2008), most pupils have low

reading abilities as a result of: primary school teachers’ difficulties in moving

beginning readers toward immediate reading skills, pupils’ lack of exposure to

reading strategies and the prevailing attitude among teachers towards reading

strategies. Klapwijk and Van de Walt (2011) confirmed this by stating that some

primary school teachers continue to struggle with reading instruction and remain

resistant to its implementation in class. As Claessen (2020) coined, reading

difficulties are present in the world. The Programme for International Student

Assessment (PISA) results from 2018 revealed that reading is among the areas that

many students in the Philippines scored lower than those in majority of the countries

and economies. That is, 80% of the Filipino students did not reach the minimum level
of proficiency in reading. Their poor scores in English, Mathematics, and Science are

attributed to the students’ lack of ability in basic reading and comprehension. This

study determined the pronunciation errors on English vowel, consonant and digraph

sounds Speakers may produce an utterance to mean something that does not mean

anything; the result is intelligibility problem and it is because of mispronunciation of

words (Derwing and Munro, 2009). Notable changes in terms of teaching

methodologies and approaches have been introduced to facilitate effectively the

teaching of English pronunciation as a second language. English pronunciation is

considered to be one of the most difficult and challenging skills to acquire and to be

developed among learners (Martínez-Flor, et al. 2006; Aliaga García, 2007).

Difficulty or problems that would occur in pronunciation skill may be due to a number

of factors, e.g. the irregular correspondence between spelling and pronunciation and

the impact on the learning process of factors such as age, motivation and amount of

exposure to the L2. However, the importance of sounds for effective communication

means that foreign language teachers need to emphasize pronunciation teaching in

their classes Hariri, 2012. It is important to note that communication is a mutual

relationship between the speaker and the hearer. This means that learners must be

able to comprehend and understand what they hear in the target language and must

produce the sounds correctly of the language they try to learn accurately

(Elmaksoud, 2013). Hassan (2014] investigated the problems in English

pronunciation experienced by learners whose first language is Sudanese Spoken

Arabic. Findings revealed that factors such as interference, differences in the sound

system in the two languages, inconsistency of English sounds and spelling are the

contributing factors for pronunciation errors of Sudanese Students. As a result, it

causes to decline their competence in pronunciation. A study conducted by

Elmaksoud (2013)[10] revealed that during the pre – test on pronunciation test it was

found out that the students obtained a low level skill in terms of their pronunciation

skill on vowel and digraphs sounds. Students were determined to commit errors in

producing correctly the vowel and digraphs sounds. Further, Moats (2010) various

errors in vowel, consonant and digraph sounds were identified such as substitution

of vowel sounds, mispronounced long /i/ and short /i/ sounds, complex consonants

and syllable juncture. It was indicated in her study that ‘students may be aware of

phonemes, but may lack knowledge or understanding of the phonemegrapheme

correspondence system of English, and/or the written syllable patterns in English

and their assembly in longer words.’ Errors became evident due to mispronounced

vowel or consonant sounds in a multiple words structure. Reading comprehension is

one of the most complex behaviors in which humans engage. Reading theorists

have grappled with how to comprehensively and meaningfully portray reading

comprehension and many different theoretical models have been proposed in recent

decades (McNamara & Magliano, 2009; Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). These models

range from broad theoretical models depicting the relationships and interactions

among comprehension subcomponents to models of specific comprehension

processes. We review different frameworks and models that have significantly

impacted theory development, reading comprehension research, and instruction.

Considering the above evidences, the researchers feel that it is important as

well as useful to write a paper related to the case as a basis for proposed remedial

reading program. In addition, this study is expected to fill the gaps that exist in

previous studies.

II. Action Research Questions

 It is then the aim of the study to determine the effect of project READ to the
decoding skills of Grade 7 students of Eastern Potia National High School.
Specifically, the study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of performance of the students in decoding texts before and
after Project READ is implemented?
2. Is there a significant difference on the performance of the students in
decoding texts before and after the implementation of Project READ?
3. What is the effect size or magnitude of the difference of Project READ to
improve the students’ decoding skills?

III. Proposed Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy

This action research aims to improve the reading comprehension specifically

the decoding skills of grade 7 students through the use of project READ which

stands for Rewards and Extensive reading Activities and Drills. It will also prove the

effectiveness of the proposed intervention in addressing the challenge of poor

reading comprehension of students as one of the fundamental skills to be mastered.

Further, the result of this study will be used to determine if Project READ is

recommended for use in developing the decoding skills of students.Extensive

Reading (ER) involves learners reading texts for enjoyment and to develop reading

skills (teachingenglish.org.uk). Also, Extensive Reading succeeds in developing

phonological processing of students as extensive reading can be a promising device

to foster word reading fluency(Nisanci, 2017). Meanwhile, Reward System is

anchored on the Behaviorist theory which states that rewards makes one’s behavior

more likely to happen. Hence, rewards will encourage good behavior. With these,

students’ decoding skills will improve. HOW ABOUT DRILLS? HOW WILL DRILL BE

USED?
 The respondents of the study will be the Grade 7 students of Eastern Potia

National High School. Ten students who are low performer in class will be selected

to participate in the study based from the class records of grade7 teachers. The said

study will start on May 2022 during the pre-service training of the proponents.

Implementation of the study would only be done during vacant time on week days

depending on the convenient time of the participants.

Prior to the implementation process, the researchers will seek the approval of

the school head and class adviser of the proposed study as well as the permission

coming from the parents of the participants. Furthermore, the participants will be

given a pre-test through written or oral reading test to determine their reading level

as basis in giving reading materials and determine the area of miscues that needs

improvement.

During the implementation process, the researchers will give various reading

activities and some lectures about the topics on phonics based from the result of the

pre-test. The researchers will focus on giving various reading drills and materials

where students could choose from and lectures on phonics such as the letter-sound

relationships, letter-patterns, and the correct pronunciation of words. After each

reading drills, the participants will be given assessments as record of students’

progress. Below is the schedule of the implementation of the intervention.

PROVIDE HERE A MATRIX OF THE SCHEDULE AND ACTIVITIES

Soon after the intervention, students will be given a post-test. Results from the

tests will be analysed using the statistical tools and this will evaluate the

improvements of the participants and will measure the effectivity of the proposed
intervention. Lastly, the participants who will garner high scores from the

assessments will be given rewards in the form of school supplies, tokens, or load.

With project READ, students’ decoding skills will be enhanced and will

eventually improve students’ reading comprehension.

IV. Action Research Methods

a. Participants and/or other Sources of Data and Information

The participants of this study will be the grade 7 students of Eastern Potia

National High School. Low performing students will be participating in the research

with a total number of 10. The project READ aims to improve their reading

comprehension skills specifically the decoding skills of students.

b. Data Gathering Methods

The participants of this study will be the grade 7 students of Eastern Potia

National High School. Ten students will be participating in the research. The

researchers will implement project READ during vacant time where series of reading

activities will be given to the participants. The researchers will give pre-test through

written and oral reading test. Then, the researchers will give reading activities or

drills and lectures on the topic about phonics to develop their phonemic awareness.

After the implementation, the post-test will be administered through written and oral

test. Scores from the tests will be used to determine if the participants have

improved and if the intervention is effective or not.

DISCUSS IN THIS PART THE PROCEDURE/STEPS IN CONDUCTING THE

STUDY.

c. Ethical Consideration
1. The researchers will seek the approval from the authority, the school

head

2. and teachers for the conduct of the study.

2. The researchers will let the parents sign in a consent form for

their children to participate in the study and stating the non-

accountability of the researchers will get infected with the virus.

3. The researchers will ensure data to be gathered from the

participants will be treated with confidentiality.

4. The researchers will observe professionalism and respect for the

dignity and welfare of the participants and other people.

IN PARAGRAPH FORM

d. Data Analysis Plan

When the data is ready for analysis and to determine the significant

difference of the students’ completion rate, the following statistical

tools will be used:

Mean and standard deviation will be used to describe the significant

difference on the grades before and after the implementation of

Project READ that has series of different reading activities.

Paired sample t-test will be used to determine the level of

performance of the students during the second quarter in decoding

texts before and after Project READ is implemented.

 3. Eta squared will be used to determine the effect size or

magnitude of the difference of Project READ to improve the

students’ decoding skills

V. Action Research Work Plan and Timelines

FOLLOW THE SPATRES MODEL

Activities to be included in the Work Plan and Timeline

1. Preparation of AR Proposal

2. Implementation of AR

3. Completion of AR

4. Dissemination of AR

5. Utilization of AR

6. Archival
 ACTIVITIES TIME PERSONS RESOURCE BUDGET SOURCE EXPECTED
FRAM INVOLVE S NEEDED OF FUND OUTPUT
E D
A. Pre-
implemention

3rdWee School Division/ Approved

● Make an k of Head/Proj District/ Project plan
200 Self-help
action plan March ect and project
School
and project proposal
Proponent Memorandum
proposal
● Create data 4th Consultant Checklist, 100 Self-help Prepared data
collection week / Questionnair gathering
instruments of es, materials
Project
and data March
Proponent Journals
analysis,
methodology,
and ensure for
trustworthines
s
B. During
Implemenatio
n

April School Teaching 1000 Solicitation Prepared

● Implement the
2022 – Head, aids, teaching , teaching
rewards and
May Teacher, materials Donations materials,
extensive
2022 Students Committed
reading
student-
activities and
teacher
drills (read)
researchers
with the
guidance of
the
researchers.

● Dialogue with As Project Checklist, 100 Self-help Monitored

the Grade-7 need proponent, Questionnair students
adviser for arise Adviser e learning
monitoring progress
purposes
C. Post
implementati
on
Last Consultant Data N/A N/A Data analysed,
week , Gathered drawn
● Analyze data of May Researche conclusions,
and examine 2022 r/Project cited results
the findings Proponent

● Submit report First Research Reports on Approved

and the result week adviser, the Action completion
100 Self-help
of the action of Researche Research report
research made June rs
To be used as
2022
future
reference

VI. Cost Estimates

In conducting this study, the following expenses will be incurred:
Research Item Quantity Unit Unit Cost Total Amount
Task/Activity Description
1. Preparation of action -A4 Bond 2 Ream Php 200.00 Php 400.00
research proposal Paper
(Encoding, printing, and
- Ink (Printer)
photocopying during 1 Set Php 1,140.00 Php 1,140.00
the research process)
2. Reproduction of final
research output
3. Other expenses Php 2,000.00
(load, travel expenses,
dissemination)
Total Cost Php 3,540.00
VII. Plan for Dissemination and Utilization
Plans for Dissemination
The research results will be disseminated to the internal and external
stakeholders of the school during the parents-teachers meeting, school management
committee meeting and to other school-related meeting ad conferences. These
opportunities will be utilized to share the findings and conclusions about the current
research results and to recommend future actions beneficial to the K to 12 teachers.

Plans for Utilization

The findings of the study will also be utilized and integrated in the
school improvement plan of Eastern Potia National High School. Furthermore,
school heads, and teachers will also be encouraged to adopt the project READ in
improving the decoding skills of students to support the development of reading
comprehension of the students.
VIII. References

Botha, D. Bizos, N., Gains, P., Moris, D., Place, J., and Puwani, H. (2008). National
Reading Strategy. [Online] Available at http://www.gov.za/documents/.
Accessed: May 24th 2017

Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. (2006). Profiles of children with specific reading
comprehension difficulties. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 683-
696. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709905X67610

Claessen, M., Dzidic, P., Boyes, M., Badcock, N., Nayton, M., & Leitao, S. (2020).
Educators’ Perceptions of the Impact of Reading Difficulties for Young People.
Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 25, 51-64.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19404158.2020.1734952

Darrel, M. (2005). The Howard Street Tutoring Manual: Teaching at-risk Readers in
the Primary Grades. London: Guilford Press.

Extensive Reading. Retrieved from https://www. teachingenglish.org.uk.

Klapwijk, N., and Van de Walt, C. (2011). Measuring reading strategies knowledge
for teachers to implement reading strategies instruction. Per Linguam: A Journal
of Language Learning, 27(2): 25- 39.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, J. (1974). Towards a theory of automatic information

processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 293-323.

Lindner, A. B. (2008). Informational Text Reading Strategy instruction and

Relationship towards science. [Online]. Available at
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?. Accessed: January 25th
2018.
C.-N. Chen, S.-C. Chen, S.H.-E. Chen, S.-C. Wey (2013). The effects of extensive
reading via e-books on tertiary level EFL students' reading attitude, reading
comprehension and vocabulary. April 2013 Turkish Online Journal of Educational
Technology 12(2):303-312. Retrieved from The effects of extensive reading via e-
books on tertiary level EFL students' reading attitude, reading comprehension and
vocabulary (researchgate.net)

Luz, M. J. (2007). Literature and Literacy: A Nation of Non-Readers.

Nisanci, S. (2017). The Role of Extensive Reading in the Development of
Phonological Processing. Research on Youth and Language. DOI 1171089.

Oberholzer, B. (2005). The relationship between reading difficulties and academic

performance among a group of foundation phase learners. Journal of Higher
Education, 16(3): 196-206.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2003). Literacy skills for
the world of tomorrow: Further results from PISA 2000. Paris, France: Author.

Palincsar, A., & Brown, A., (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension - fostering
and comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1 (2),
117- 175.

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Results from PISA 2018.
https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_PHL.pdf

Samuels S.J., (1983). Topics in Learning and Learning Disabilities.

Snow, C. (2002). Reading for Understanding: Toward an R&D Program in Reading

Comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.