Intermediate grade school learners’ sex, word recognition, and reading comprehension

Abstract

Unquestionable are the immeasurable benefits of reading to an individual's mental growth. Consequently, scholars have long established the importance of developing reading skills at the elementary level. Although reading is a recurrent research subject, the prevalence of reading difficulties among learners remains. This necessitates the use of periodic assessments of learners' reading proficiency to serve as the basis for remediation programs. In this study, the researchers used the descriptive correlational design to measure the reading level of pupils' using the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI), focusing on word recognition and reading comprehension. Data were gathered from 800 sampled public school grade school intermediate level pupils (431 males and 369 females) enrolled in the School Year 2016-2017 in two Philippine provinces; specifically: Pangasinan and La Union. Inferential statistics were used to show how sex and geographic location could be determiners of reading performance and how word recognition can affect reading comprehension. Findings revealed that the majority of the pupils are in the frustration reading level and males are better readers compared to females. Findings further showed that pupils from La Union have better reading Proficiency than those from Pangasinan. Though word recognition can be attributed to reading comprehension, it is not a single factor affecting reading comprehension, implying that other strong factors may influence pupils' reading comprehension. The researcher strongly recommends schools in the provinces implement intensive reading remediation programs to address students' reading difficulties. Future researchers are likewise encouraged to explore other factors that could be influencing reading comprehension like socio-demographic factors and biological factors.