I.

Context and Rationale

Reading is defined to be the process of decoding written symbols. Out of all the
macro skills, reading takes a foundational role since it precedes the mastery of
all the other skills. In teaching and learning, however, reading is more than
just making sense from letters and symbols. It is a complex process that
involves not only word recognition but encompasses the ability to process text
and understand meaning.

In the 2018 global survey called Programme for International student

Assessment (PISA) reported by The Manila Times, among the 600, 000
students worldwide, Filipino students got an average reading score of 340
points which deficits to 147 points than the average of 487 falling into the last
rank among 79 countries. With these figures, it could be inferred that the
reading comprehension of Filipino learners is indeed very alarming. The
current status of reading comprehension of Filipino students demands
proactive efforts and measures that would elevate the present reading literacy
rate of Filipino learners.

Another Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment

(PISA) reveal that many countries continue to struggle with learners’ ability to
read texts accurately and meaningfully, particularly at the primary [Link] line
with the global efforts, international organizations such as UNESCO
emphasizes the importance of ensuring that children acquire basic literacy
skills within the early grades. UNESCO’s Education 2030 Agenda stresses The
global multi-stakeholder mechanism.

To accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure

inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all it simply means that learners must develop strong
foundational reading skills to become lifelong learners and productive members
of society. Reading strategies ranges from traditional teaching such as
scanning and skimming to a variety of strategies that enable readers to build
and activate their background knowledge (Azizi & Hamedani, 2016;
Tadayonifar et al., 2021).Ma’youf and Aburezeq (2022) tested the effectiveness
of the differentiated strategy in reading comprehension.

Two groups were formed where one group was taught using the traditional
method while the other group was taught using the four-level strategy (literal,
inferential, critical, and creative). The researchers found out that using the
four-level strategy helps students perform better when compared to students
who were taught the traditional way.

In the Philippines, the Department of Education has been intensifying its

thrust to bridge literacy gaps among learners, and intensifying the advocacy for
reading proficiency by reinforcing the “Bawat Bata Bumabasa” (3Bs) Initiative
among the schools in the country as stipulated in Department of Education
Memorandum No. 173, s. 2019. Regrettably, digits are showing their refutable
truth about the landscape of literacy that the country is currently in learners.

Recent assessments in typical Philippine divisions reveal a bare gap in reading

accuracy and comprehension.

Base on the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) standards, many

schools report that up to 58% of Grade 3 pupils remain at the “Frustration
Level”. These are the learners who struggles with word recognition accuracy,
mispronouncing or skipping words in grade-level texts. In Travesia Elementary
School, the issue of reading proficiency is evident in the Phil-IRI pre-test and
post-test results conducted among 120 Grade 3 pupils for School Year
2023–2024. The assessment given measured three components which are oral
reading level, comprehension level, and non-reading profile.

During the pre-test, results it revealed that many learners were struggling with
reading accuracy and comprehension, under the oral reading level, 40 out of
120 pupils (33.33%) were classified at the frustration level, 37 pupils (30.83%)
were at the instructional level, and 31 pupils (25.83%) were at the independent
level. The remaining 12 of pupils (10.00%) were identified under the
non-reader profile. Through this findings it shows that a significant number of
learners of grade 3 pupils in Travesia Elementary School were not yet able to
read grade-level texts accurately and fluently.
Data shows that by the time children graduate from elementary and are
promoted to high school, one-third are identified as ‘frustrated readers’ and
another one-third are ‘instructional readers’ (Luz, 2007). These levels are both
below the desired and expected reading level for the grade and age of the
[Link] reading comprehension, they found out that 48 out of 120 pupils
(40.00%) were under the frustration level, 41 pupils (34.17%) were at the
instructional level, and only 31 pupils (25.83%) reached the independent level.

It reveals that comprehension of the learners remains a big Concern as many

pupils had difficulty in understanding what they read.

To address this issue, Travesia Elementary School implemented Parent

Involvement Program strategy , Repeated reading and Teacher guided reading
sessions and other engaging reading activities aimed at improving reading
accuracy and comprehension.

These local initiatives were designed to solve and reduce the number of
frustration-level readers and help pupils move toward independent reading.
After the application of the strategies, the post-test results where identified.
Out of 120 pupils, only 20 learners (16.67%) remained in the frustration level
under oral reading, 46 pupils (38.33%) were in the instructional level, and 54
pupils (45.00%) reached the independent level.

This results a decrease in frustration-level readers and a substantial increase

in independent readers.
For reading comprehension, 23 pupils (19.17%) were classified under the
frustration level, 46 pupils (38.33%) were at the instructional level, and 51
pupils (42.50%) reached the independent level. Compared to the pre-test
results, there was a an improve in struggling readers and a marked
improvement in pupils’ ability to comprehend texts independently.

The post-test results reveal significant improvement in the reading accuracy

and comprehension of Grade 3 pupils In Travesia Elementary School .
Teachers must incorporate multiple active learning strategies to improve every
learner’s understanding and provide various tasks for better understanding.
Teaching children to read with combined reading comprehension strategies has
been shown to significantly improve children’s reading proficiency (Cooter,
2019).

Moreover, for some readers, comprehension is always challenging.

Despite these national policies and local efforts, there remains a persistent
clear gap in the reading accuracy and comprehension of grade 3 pupils at
Travesia elementary school.

Most of the existing strategy in Travesia Elementary School are parent

involvement, repeated reading and teacher guided reading session.

While these strategies have been proven effective in improving certain reading
skills, they are often delivered in a repetitive and teacher centered manner that
may not fully address the learning of pupils. Many pupils still struggle with
correct word recognition , mispronunciation and limited comprehension of
grade -level texts especially, those pupils who are struggling in reading they are
fail to actively engage in those strategies. Classroom observations and informal
reading assessments reveal that the grade 3 pupils in Travesia Elementary
School with low reading accuracy often e low motivation and confidence when
they are ask to read aloud. Those pupils are tend to disengage in those reading
strategies due to fear of making mistakes or being corrected in front of the
peers.

In recent educational research it highlights the importance of learner-centered

and interactive instructional materials in improving literacy outcomes.
Manipulative based and game based learning strategies have been shown to
enhance pupils motivation, comprehension, and participation by allowing the
pupil’s to actively construct meaning rather than passively receive information.
One such instructional material is the story puzzle, this combined reading and
problem solving skills. Story puzzles require the pupils to read text segments,
recognize word accurately , understand the story structure and arrange the
events in the correct order.

This story puzzle process encourages repeated exposure to words and

sentences in a meaningful context that improves reading accuracy of the grade
3 pupils are commonly used as enrichment activities, this is rarelyimplemented
as a structured instructional strategy with a clear objectives, procedures and
assessment measures aimed at improving reading accuracy.
There is insufficient documentation on how story puzzle can be systematically
integrated into daily reading lessons, how frequently this should be used and
how their impact on reading accuracy can be measured.
 REFERENCES
Source: UNESCO [Link]
[Link]
ld-math-reading-and-science-pisa-2022
[Link]
Bata_Bumabasa_3Bs_Initiative_in_Improving_Reading_accuracy