J.O.I.

N: BIG BOOK A TOOL TO IMPROVE THE READING ABILITY OF

PRESCHOOLERS OF JOSE PANGANIBAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

An Action Research Proposal

By:

JENNIFER R. PAN
I-CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Literacy skills are indispensable to life. Coping with the academic demands and

challenges of life are impossible without these learning competencies and basic

educational skills just like reading. Among these multiple literacy skills, reading is deemed

to be the most salient and academically empowering. This is because reading is the

foundation of all the basic learning abilities and it is involved or integrated in almost all

areas of discipline, instructional activities and teaching-learning processes.

Numeracy, science, language and other learning areas, all these require students

proficiency in reading so that comprehension of multiple and varied learning concepts will

be effectively attained. These are all the reasons why beginning reading skills are held to

be of utmost importance especially for the pupils in the pre-school or Kindergarten level.

Beginning reading is definitely the most important of all the basic academic skills that they

develop and hone. Mastery of beginning reading skills by the pupils is certainly beneficial

to prepare them academically in the succeeding years and stages of schooling.

Once the beginning reading skills are already effectively established among the

beginners, writing and other set of academic skills will be also eventually developed. This

is because reading always comes in conjunction with writing and other basic learning

competencies. That is why teachers are faced with the noble challenge of applying

pedagogical strategies, facilitating instructional activities and utilizing educational

innovations directed towards helping the pupils reach the desired levels of development

and enhancement of their beginning reading skills.

 In view of these, this study is anchored on provisions of DepEd Order No. 70, s.

2011 The Every Child a Reader Program as its legal basis. It states that The Every Child

a Reader Program (ECARP) is in conjunction with the thrust of the Department of

Education to make every child a reader at his/her grade level. ECARP is founded on the

goal of equipping grade school pupils with strategic reading and writing skills. This way,

these pupils will be sufficiently trained and honed into becoming proficient readers and

writers.

The selected locale of this study is Jose Panganiban Elementary School. The

researcher will pursue this study with the goal and desire of producing and developing an

additional innovation that will seek to promote the development and enhancement of the

pupils beginning reading skills in the form of inclusive reading materials. The researcher

aims to introduce an innovative learning material that will highlight visually-appealing

features, sufficient instructional contents and specially-designed activities that will cater

to the needs of pupils in terms of beginning reading.

Related Literature

This part of the study presents the researchers obtained related literatures taken

from books, journals and internet. These relevant literatures provide for informative

background and support for the concepts and problems posted in this research.

Hansen (2008) in her article Reading and Writing Readiness of Pre-school

Children cited that everyday children discover skills that help them become young

readers. Preschoolers slowly learn about prints, become aware of the use of books and

learn about sound-letter correspondence. That is why teachers in the preschool level are
faced with the challenge of promoting literacy, addressing the reading problems and

preparing these children in entering the Kindergarten level.

Beginning reading skills among preschoolers begin with phonological awareness.

To help develop and establish phonological awareness among these children, they need

to be taught and trained on how to figure out rhyming words and identify and read words

that share beginning sound. Print awareness is also important to be developed among

the preschoolers. It means that print or text is read from left to right and top to bottom.

Print awareness also denotes knowledge of the fact that words are composed of letters

and that there are spaces that exist between words.

Alphin (2008) in her work Reading Readiness Skills for Kindergarten Kids

explained that most Kindergarten teachers share common reading expectations when it

comes to children who are about to be enrolled in Kindergarten. Before entering

Kindergarten, children are expected to be well prepared in terms of specific reading skills

and competencies. These reading skills include reading their names, reciting the

alphabet, recognizing alphabet letters, matching letters and sounds, making rhymes,

recognizing the progression of text, echoing simple text read to them, recognizing that

text holds meaning and re-telling a favorite story.

Stanberry (2009) in her article Understanding Beginning Reading Development

in Preschoolers mentioned that it is really difficult for a reading teacher to measure the

childs development in academic areas like beginning reading. Reading is more than just

sounding out words. It is actually the product of various smaller learning skills which are

interconnected. That is why it is very commendable for every teacher and parent to guide,
assist and help the child identify these emerging reading skills and eventually learn,

practice and hone these skills. These skills are inclusive of making simple predictions

about a story being read, repeating a short story upon hearing it, naming the letters in his

first name, saying and pointing to at least 10 letters in the alphabet, matching letters and

sounds and recognizing words or signs.

Ford (2010) in her work Strategies for Pre-school ELLs Language and Literacy

Development cited how utmost are the roles of early childhood education in preparing

children in becoming successful young English language learners in school. The most

important goal of early childhood education is to promote the development of childrens

early language and literacy skills including reading. Three of the basic and most important

literacy skills which children in the preschool and Kindergarten levels need to master as

early as possible are alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness and print awareness.

Alphabet knowledge includes recognizing and naming upper and lower case letters while

phonological awareness involves recognizing rhyming words, recognizing beginning

sounds and matching letters to sounds.

Moats and Tolman (2010) stated that children can be identified as reading impaired

if their levels of reading abilities are below 30th percentile. Children categorized as poor

or struggling readers typically encounter difficulties in word recognition, phonetics and

comprehending reading texts. Children who are diagnosed with reading disabilities also

struggle in spelling, sounding out words and matching sounds and symbols.
 Likewise, children who are identified as poor readers also struggle in terms of

reading accuracy and reading speed. They also encounter difficulties in terms of

automatic recognition of words and recall of spelling.

Clifford (2010) explained that reading problems and disabilities occur when

children encounter difficulties in any element or aspect of the reading process. The

differences in the childrens brain-based or cognitive-based language processing are the

major cause of the differences in the reading skills of children. The typical signs of reading

difficulties or disabilities in children are poor word recognition, poor spelling, poor reading

speed and poor reading comprehension.

Thompson (2010) provided a list of common reading difficulties or disorders among

grade school children. These include poor reading comprehension, lack of fluency in

reading and faulty word decoding. Children who encounter difficulties in sounding out

words show signs of poor word decoding. They likewise struggle in matching sounds and

letters. Furthermore, there are many school-age children who are unable to sustain

fluency in reading. The inability to read with standard speed and accuracy shows lack of

reading fluency. Failure to effectively understand any reading text is reflective of poor

reading comprehension.

II- ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study will be centered on the utilization of inclusive reading materials for

beginners in Jose Panganiban Elementary School.

Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions:

1. What are specific beginning reading difficulties of the pupils as revealed by the pre-test

results?

2. What inclusive reading materials can be developed to address the beginning reading

difficulties of the pupils?

3. What is the evaluation of the juror-specialists in the developed inclusive reading

materials based on its:

a. objectives

b. contents

c. designed activities and exercises and

d. special features?

4. What are the post-test results in beginning reading after the intensive utilization of the

inclusive reading materials?

5. What recommendations can be proposed in order to facilitate improvements in the

beginning reading skills of the pupils?

III- PROPOSED INNOVATION, INTERVENTION AND STRATEGY

The proposed innovation of this study is an inclusive reading material for the

beginners of Jose Panganiban Elementary School. Beginners include pupils from pre-

school, Kindergarten, Grades 1-2 levels. The instructional contents of this proposed
innovation will evolve on beginning reading skills of the pupils like sound-letter

correspondence, alphabet recognition, reading words, phrases and sentences.

IV- ACTION RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Participants

The respondents of this study will be the selected 40 pupils from pre-school to

Grade two level. There will 10 pupils from pre-school, 10 pupils from Kindergarten, 10

pupils from Grade 1 and 10 pupils from Grade 2 who will serve as participants of this

research. They are selected through purposive sampling technique.

b. Data Gathering Method.

There will be three main data gathering instruments to be employed in this study.

These are pre-testing in reading, distribution of survey-questionnaires and conduct of

interviews with the pupil-respondents.

c. Data Analysis Plan

All the data gathered from the distribution of survey-questionnaires and conduct of

interviews with the students and teachers selected as respondents of this study will

undergo tabulation, presentation, computation, interpretation and analysis. That is why in

order to arrive at the accurate and valid interpretation and analysis of the data obtained;

the researcher will make use of statistical tools applicable in this study. These statistical

tools include frequency count, percentage and weighted mean technique.

The following statistical tools will be used in the treatment and analysis of the data.
1. Percentage

The formula

a. % = F/A x 100

Where

F = Frequency

A = Total number of respondents.

100 = Constant Value

2. Weighted Mean- This will be used in the treatment of the data gathered from the

responses of the teachers in the survey-questionnaires distributed and administered by

the researcher.

The formula for weighted mean:

(wx)
x =
w

x= Sample mean

W = Weight

= Sum of

x = Values in sample
V-ACTION RESEARCH WORK PLAN AND TIMELINE

PERSONS SUCCESS
ACTIVITIES TIME FRAME
INVOLVED INDICATOR
Pre-implementation
Phase:

1. Preparation of the Prepared,

Research submitted
Proposal research
2. Submission of the School principal, proposal for
. August 2017
Research proponent, PPRD approval
Proposal for Revised
approval proposal
3. Revision (if any) Implemented the
4. Implementation of research
the Research proposal
Proposal
Implementation
Phase: Determined or
1. Determining the identified the
final list of the respondents
respondents
2. Orientation to the Oriented the
respondents respondents
3. Formulation of
data gathering Administered
tools pretest &
4. Implementation of posttest
the research study School Head,
August 2017-
5. Administration of proponent, Implemented the
March 2018
questionnaires respondents research study
6. Collection,
tabulation,
analysis, and Collected,
interpretation of tabulated,
data analyzed, &
7. Formulation of interpreted the
conclusion and data
recommendation
Formulated
conclusion &
recommendation
 Post-
Implementation
Phase:
1. Submission of the March, 2017 School Head, Accomplishment
Accomplishment proponent Report of the
Report Research
2. Revision (if any)
3. Submission and
Acceptance of the
Final Report

COST ESTIMATES

TOTAL
ITEM QUANTITY AMOUNT
AMOUNT
1. Preparation and formulation of action P2,000.00 P2000.00
research proposal

2. Production and Distribution of 150.00 150.00

Questionnaires

3.Preparation and Formulation of the 600.00

completion report of the action research 600.00
project

4.Documentation 200.00
200.00
5.Others 100.00
100.00
TOTAL P 3,050 P, 3,050
PLANS FOR DISSEMINATION AND UTILIZATION

PERSONS SUCCESS
ACTIVITIES TIME FRAME
INVOLVED INDICATOR

1. Present the action August, 2017 Proponent Approved

research proposal Proposal

2.Conduct/implement
the actual action August 2017-March, Proponent Approved Action
research study 2018 Research Study

3. Formulate Proponent
Findings, Positive
conclusions and Outcomes of the
recommendations of March, 2018 Entire Study
the student through
the completion report

REFERENCES

Hansen, Jane. (2008). Reading and Writing Readiness of Pre-school Children.

Retrieved on October 25, 2016 from
www.readingrockets.org/audience/professionals/preschool

Allphin, Lawren. (2008). Reading Readiness Skills for Kindergarten Kids. Retrieved on
October 25, 2016 from www.education.com/magazine/article/pre-
kindergarten-reading skills
Stanberry, Kristin. (2009). Understanding Beginning Reading Development in
Preschoolers. Retrieved on October 25, 2016 from
www.getreadytoread.org/early-learning-childhood- basics/early-
literacy/understanding-beginning-reading-development-in-preschoolers

Ford, Karen. (2010). Strategies for Pre-school ELLs Language and Literacy
Development. Retrieved on October 25, 2016 from
www.colorincolorado.org/article/8-strategic- preschool-ells- language-
and-literacy-development

Moats, Louisa. Tolman, Carol.(2010)Types of Reading Disability.2010. Retrieved

on October 28, 2016 from https://www.edutechdebate.org/types- of-
reading- disability.pdf

Clifford, Alicia.(2010). Common Reading Disorders of Children. Retrieved on

October 28, 2016 from https://www.facultyfocus.com/common- reading-
disorders-of-children.pdf

Thompson, Donnie.(2010). Types of Reading Disorders. Retrieved on October 28,

2016 from www.academypublication.com/types-of-reading- disabilities.