IMPROVING READING SKILLS FOR NON-READERS THROUGH INTERACTIVE

MULTIMEDIA AND SCAFFOLDING AT OTON NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

ABSTRACT

The main goal of this research is to investigate the effect

of scaffolding teaching and interactive multimedia for non-

readers at Oton National High School. This was a challenging

context in which identical content and assessment criteria were

applied to students with various levels of proficiency.

Scaffolding has long been considered an effective teaching

approach to assist students in extending their competence in the

Zone of Proximal Development. This study focused on academic

reading in the Philippine context and involved nonproficient EFL

students. The participants in the study were 15-year-old grade 8

student enrolled in a reading or English subject at a public High

School in Oton, Iloilo. The teaching integrated cognitive,

psychomotor and affective scaffolding into activities implemented

in class. The results showed a significant improvement in the

post- performance result in all aspects of reading competence,

i.e., task completion, pronunciation, and accuracy. The students

also revealed positive attitudes towards the use of scaffolding

teaching in the reading class.

This action research discusses the causes and reasons of reading

difficulties of non-readers and frustration level readers.

have undergone reading assessment test to know their level of

reading performance.

INTRODUCTION

In an academic context, especially at the secondary level,

reading ability is very important as it can determine one’s

success. Reading is Essential and serves as a basic building

block for learning, regardless of the school subject, be it

language arts or even math.

Reading is one of the four skills which needs to be learned

besides listening, speaking, and writing. Reading has the

considerable role in the language teaching to strengthen the

skills which are acquired by the students in listening, speaking,

and writing (Maxom, 2009: 139). Reading skill affects the other

skills learning process. Besides, the students have to be able to

achieve reading competencies as urged by the national curriculum.

In daily life, the need to read things such as street signs

or prescriptions proves reading is also an important life

skill.it also serves as assessment tool to determine one’s

achievement, weak reading ability may put student at a

disadvantage. This is a major problem in Philippine contexts

evaluation criteria, leaving non-proficient students far behind

their peers. Teaching reading is a difficult task as reading

ability involves a wide range of language knowledge and

cognition. Good readers are learners who know to look for clues

in the text are more able to work out the meaning of new words

and continue reading independently.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

This study aims to make an action plan for the poor reading

difficulties of a grade 8 student in Oton National High School?

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of reading comprehension of

grade one

pupils?

2. bWhy pupils in grade eight were at the non- reader?

Research Design

This action research used the descriptive method.

Descriptive research design is a type of research

design that aims to systematically obtain information to

specifically, it helps answer the what, when, where, and how

questions regarding the research problem rather than the

why.

Descriptive research involves description, recoding,

analysis and interpretation of conditions that currently

exist.

The main aims are to describe the nature of a condition as

it exists at the time of the study and to explore the causes of

the particular situation.

Respondents of the Study

This study involved two (2) grade eight pupils of Oton National

High School. The respondents attended grade seven class during

the previous school year (pandemic year) and undergone remote

classes using modular materials.

Methodology

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

A self-prepared questionnaire with two major parts will serve as

the data gathering instrument in this action research.

performance of the respondents. Part II will deal with the

difficulties the pupil respondents have in learning how to read.

Data Gathering Procedure

A letter of request was secured for from the School Principal

with the endorsement of the Master Teacher. Upon its approval,

proper coordination with the class advisers and parents of the

pupil respondents was done by the researcher.

The researcher personally administered the questionnaire to

ensure that all items will be answered and 100% percent retrieval

will be attained. The interview, observation and field notes were

also personally done by the researcher.

Observation sheet

An observation sheet is used to record the process of teaching

and learning reading in the classroom. The observation sheet used

to determine changes in student activities at each cycle. The

observation sheet used is as follows.

Interview Guidelines

The interview was done by the researcher to get the detailed

information and to make a crosscheck of students’ impressions of

learning activities during the research. The researcher

Students’ reading test

This study used two kinds of tests: a test given at the pre-

action and a test at the end of Cycle I and Cycle II. Students

are assigned to read the English text individually in the form of

macromedia-flash program and answer the questions based on the

text. The tests are given to the students in order to determine

students' reading ability.

Data Collection Techniques

Data were collected by observation, interview, tests, and

documentation. All the data collection techniques are used to

obtain data on the results of the action research. The results

are combined and analyzed to further be concluded.

Data Analysis Techniques

The data collected were in the form of qualitative and

quantitative. The qualitative data were collected from the

observation and the interviews. They were in the form of field

notes, interview transcripts, and photographs. Then, all the data

were interpreted and analyzed. Next, they were connected to the

relevant theories. After that, the outcomes of the data were

reported from the beginning to the end.