Chapters 1, 2, 3r

P OL Y T E CHNI C UNI V E RS I T Y OF T HE P HI L I P P I NE S
1

A CASE STUDY ON THE LEVEL OF READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF
SELECTED GRADE SIX STUDENTS IN THE BATINO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
AND PHILIPPINE INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF
OF THE S.Y 2013-2014

An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Letters
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sta. Mesa, Manila

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts in English

By
ALCANTARA, Helen Grace S.
BALAJADIA, Samantha Jiezette L.
DE JESUS, Jinky V.
FELARCA, Aliahnna M.
RAFAEL, Jeanne-Loraine S.


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Chapter I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
INTRODUCTION

As many as the growing population of the primary school levels, both in normal and
special education, students are having difficulties in reading which is necessary for
continuing higher education. The problem of comprehensive reading deserves serious and
urgent consideration.
Reading first depends on a readers memory and experience to understand what is
read. It then involves how well the reader remembers and reacts to the material. In the most
cases, the teaching of reading stresses certain skills such as word recognition, vocabulary
development and comprehension. Reading comprehension is defined as the level of
understanding of a text or message. This understanding comes from the interaction between
the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text message.
Comprehending a text is a huge role in building a character in the academic world.
They are many factors that affect the comprehension skills of the students and one of those
are many texts were written in the English language. English is a global language. Nowadays,
in order to gain a competitive product of education, it is a must that we know the language
to succeed in a globalized world. Language can be used and acquired by means of the
important macro skills which are writing, reading, speaking and listening.

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Normal people find it difficult to express themselves in correct and complete
thought. But what more for the people who are not aware of tone and its importance of
conveying message? How do they learn the language? How do they comprehend?
In line with this, the students language acquisition is known to be the most problem
that each deaf child has to face from the moment he starts to communicate. They acquired
language by means of the writing system, directly without the medium of either speech or
sign. Deaf children can acquire language through association of written forms with
environmental objects and events, just as hearing acquire language through an association of
speech sounds with environmental experiences.
Deaf childrens linguistic and conversational skills also vary depending on degree of
hearing loss and age at which hearing loss was identified. Whatever their backgrounds, most
deaf children share a common characteristic: they are not mapping the written form of a
language into a linguistic system that they already know and understand. (Marschark 53)
The hearing impaired includes the deaf and hard of hearing. The deaf are those
whose sense of hearing is non-functional for the ordinary purpose in life. Deaf education is
the academic discipline concerned the education of students individual with various hearing
capabilities in a way that addresses the students individual differences and needs.
The researchers chose to study the reading comprehension skills of deaf students
because they want to know how they comprehend despite their capabilities. The researchers
also want to seek explanation to the questions forming on our heads.


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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Traditional models of reading propose that good readers have mastered two
important skills: decoding and comprehension (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover & Gough,
1990). Children with deficits in word recognition, or decoding, do not struggle with language
comprehension. Thus, these children are able to comprehend the text once they receive
word-reading interventions (Catts, Adlof, & Weismer, 2006). However, some children who
have mastered decoding skills still struggle with reading. Poor comprehenders are children
who experience difficulties in reading comprehension but have normal abilities in word
recognition and phonological processing. It is estimated that approximately 5-10% of school
age children fall into this category (Nation & Snowling, 1998). Initially, poor comprehenders
go undetected because reading comprehension in the early years is heavily dependent upon
word recognition skills. Poor comprehenders struggle to understand the text, even when
they have decoded it accurately (Bishop & Adams, 1990). They have difficulty with story
comprehension, and inferential questions. Many researchers have attributed these
difficulties to deficits in the language domains of semantics and syntax. There is much
research investigating poor comprehenders among hearing children, but this topic has yet to
be investigated in the special population of deaf children with cochlear implants.
Children who are deaf struggle to master reading skills: The average deaf child
graduates from high school reading at a fourth-grade level (Traxler, 2000). Traditionally, deaf
children have struggled with the reading skills of decoding and comprehension. However,
children who wear advanced cochlear implant (CI) technology presumably have access to

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spoken language and are able to hear the distinct differences among phonemes better than
their deaf peers without CIs (Spencer & Tomblin, 2008). This is an essential component for
developing the alphabetic principle, which is necessary for learning how to decode words.
Some studies have shown that deaf children with CIs are able to achieve reading levels
within the lower end of the average range when compared to hearing peers (Geers, 2003;
Geers & Hayes, 2010; Spencer, Barker, & Tomblin, 2003). The advent of cochlear implant
technology has allowed these children to make strides in developing reading skills, but a gap
in performance still exists.
It has been suggested that deaf children are not at risk for reading failure according
to their scores on measures of oral reading fluency (B. Lanfer, personal communication,
February 2011). Oral reading fluency (ORF) measures accuracy and fluency while reading text
aloud (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001; Hasbrouck & Tindal, 2006). ORF is measured by
asking students to read a passage aloud for one minute, and the number of words read
correctly from the passage per minute (WCPM) is the oral reading fluency rate. There is no
known research on the oral reading fluency rates of deaf children with cochlear implants.
Therefore, it is essential to determine whether deaf children with cochlear implants are good
decoders by comparing their oral reading fluency scores to reading-age matched hearing
peers.
It is important to remember that good decoding skills alone are not enough to help
these children master reading, particularly once the child reaches elementary school, when
the text becomes more complex in terms of language structures. Geers (2003) found that

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overall language competence is most strongly associated with reading outcomes for children
who are deaf or hard of hearing. She concluded that it is important to first create a language
base to which a child can apply the decoding skills used when learning to read. Phonological
processing strategies are bootstrapped onto a childs vocabulary and word knowledge.
However, many children who are deaf or hard of hearing lack the sufficient language skills
necessary to comprehend the printed words they read.
Experienced teachers of the deaf have anecdotally reported that deaf children are
word callers able to decode words fluently but without comprehension of what they read
(B. Lanfer, personal communication, February 2011). This anecdotal report led me to ask the
question: Are deaf children with cochlear implants similar to the hearing population of poor
comprehenders? In hearing children, there exists a strong relationship between ORF and
comprehension for students in the elementary grades (Fuchs et al., 2001; Kuhn & Stahl,
2000). According to the National Reading Panel (2000), fluent readers are able to read text
with speed, accuracy and proper expression which allows for comprehension of the text.
Hosp and Fuchs (2005) found a consistent relationship between reading comprehension and
ORF across grades one through four. Even in the later years of elementary, ORF scores have
been shown to predict student success on state-mandated reading assessments (McGlinchey
& Hixson, 2004; Stage & Jacobsen, 2001). This research study looks at the ORF scores of deaf
children as a window into their comprehension skills. Because ORF has yet to be investigated
in children with cochlear implants, we must look to the literature on hearing children in
order to further explore this relationship.

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Vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter-naming fluency, oral reading fluency, and
nonsense word reading fluency are early literacy skills that have been shown to predict
overall reading performance. However, research confirms that ORF provides the most
information about a students comprehension skills. Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider and
Foorman (2010) examined the relationship between emergent and conventional literacy
skills and reading comprehension skills. They studied the growth rate of oral reading fluency,
vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter-naming fluency and nonsense word fluency from
first grade to third grade using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS).
They compared these skills with measures of reading comprehension in each of the grades.
Their results revealed that ORF, either initial status or growth rate, provided the most
information about reading comprehension achievement across all grade levels. These results
support the belief that ORF is a higher-level skill that incorporates lower-level skills. It is also
interesting to note that the participants in their study had ORF scores in each grade that
were well above the DIBELS benchmarks.
Jenkins, Fuchs, Broek, Espin and Deno (2003) further investigated the relationship
between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension by looking at performance in
context and context-free conditions. When words are presented in context, it is assumed
that the reader uses contextual factors as additional information to help decode the words
and make sense of the text. When words are presented in a context-free condition, readers
must rely on simple word recognition skills or decoding skills (Stanovich, 1980). They
measured the context and context-free reading performance of 113 fourth-grade students,

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expecting that students would have higher rates of ORF in context conditions than in
context-free conditions. The researchers randomly selected the students to match a normal
distribution based on reading performance. The students read a folktale aloud for one
minute and the number of words read correctly and incorrectly was counted. Errors were
omissions, insertions, mispronunciations, substitutions, and hesitations of more than three
seconds. Self-corrections were not errors. The folktale was configured to approximate a
third-grade reading level. The folktale was formatted in three ways: original or context
format, in a randomized list format, and a randomized list arranged in a paragraph format
without punctuation. For the list format, the authors randomly re-ordered the words and
organized them in a list. The paragraph format included the same number of paragraphs and
words per paragraph as the original passage. They also administered the reading
comprehension subtest of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). This subtest requires the
student to read short passages and answer multiple-choice questions. The authors
confirmed that words read in context are read faster than the same words in the context-
free formats. The correlations with the ITBS were .83 for context reading fluency and .54 for
list fluency. The correlations demonstrate that context fluency is more strongly associated
with comprehension than list fluency. The authors suggest that teachers can use oral reading
fluency rates as an accurate assessment of overall reading competence.


9
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical structure on which this study was based was in the theory developed
by Holmes which describes reading as reasoning. He believed that power of reading and
speed of reading could adequately explain the act of reading. Power of reading means the
power to read, comprehend and apply relatively difficult words in communication. It
includes the ability to grasp the central thought and the details to get an idea that is
expressed in several sentences and to interpret content and draw inferences, all from single
test paragraphs.
Reading is a complex process that requires comprehension. It involves making
meaning from visual and non-visual information. It is said that a mans education is
approximately ninety percent vicarious through reading. The ability to read with
comprehension can be a difficult process for children, especially to the slow learners and
much more to children with learning disabilities.
Reading comprehension has been defined as the active process of constructing
meaning from text; it involves accessing previous knowledge, understanding vocabulary and
concepts, making inferences, and linking key ideas (Vaughn & Linan-Thompson, 2004, pp.
9899). Reading comprehension instruction has profoundly influenced by scheme theory, a
theory that explains how information were stored in the minds and how previous
experiences and information help gain new knowledge. A schema (plural is schemata or
schemas) can be thought of as a kind of file cabinet of information in our brains containing
related 1.) concepts ( chairs, birds ships), 2.) events ( weddings, birthdays, school

10
experiences ), 3.) emotions ( anger, frustration, joy, pleasure), and 4.) roles ( parent, judge,
teacher) drawn from our life experiences (Rumelhart, 1981).
Researchers have described schemas as neural or brain networks connecting related
meanings (Collins & Quillian, 1969; Lindsay & Norman, 1977). Each schema is connected to
other related schemas, forming our own unique and interconnected network of knowledge
and experiences. The size and content of each schema is influenced by past opportunities to
learn or prior experience. Thus, younger children typically possess fewer, less developed
schemas than mature adults.
Reading, Writing, and Literacy Language are essential components of normal
development and a means for discovering the world. In theory, it all sounds pretty simple
and straightforward: deaf children would hear through reading and speak through writing.
As we have seen, however, deaf children frequently do not have full access to
communication until they have passed the most important ages for language acquisition.
Parents and educators of young deaf students thus often struggle to find a balance between
fostering effective early communication skills, which research has shown is usually best
achieved through sign language, and the provision of English skills needed for literacy and
academic success.

For deaf children, the various approaches to teaching reading (bottom-up, top-down,
and interactive) have all been tried but with varying results (Yurkowski & Ewolt 1986).A
variety of investigations have indicated that deaf readers, like hearing readers, use a

11
combination of whole-word recognition, phonological or sound-based recoding, and
orthographic (spelling-based) recoding to hold information temporarily in working memory
(see chapter 6; Hanson & Fowler, 1987; Hanson & McGarr, 1989). Some deaf readers also
recode English print into sign, at least some of the time (Marschark & Mayer, 1998; Treiman
& Hirsh-Pasek, 1983). Some investigators have demonstrated an association between fluency
in American Sign Language (ASL) as a native language and reading achievement, suggesting
that finger spelling is the element associating knowledge of ASL with the ability to read
English. However, research shows little support for the possibility of finger spelling codes
during reading (Treiman & Hirsh-Pasek, 1983; Padden & Hanson, 2000). Rather, it appears
that finger spelling serves as a kind of platform for the development of rudimentary
phonological coding. Through finger spelling, deaf children become aware that words are
made up of segments and groups of segments (syllables) that correspond to particular
spelling patterns. Improved articulation and speech reading are not enough to account for
improvements in reading over the long term, however, and exposure to finger spelling and
writing experience also may be necessary to maintain reading progress (Campbell, 1992;
Padden, 1991; Wilbur, 2000).
For fluent reading comprehension, the rapid access to the meanings of words during
reading has to be automatic rather than conscious and deliberate. Several studies have
suggested that deaf children's lack of experience with reading reduces the spontaneous
nature of decoding (Fischler, 1985; Kelly, 1995).A deaf child will have great difficulty in
making sense of what has not been experienced and stored in the form of language.

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Meaning of text

Phrases, clauses and sentences
Words
Sound correspondences
Visual Features, such as letter shapes
Figure 1. Flat Earth or Bottom Up Model of Reading
The bottom-up reading process model also aligns with the theory of second language
acquisition known as transfer theory. Developed by Cummins 2000, transfer theory as built
on the idea that the literacy and language skills a student has in the native language are
transferable and can aid in his or her acquisition of second language literacy skills. The
reader constructs meaning from a personal understanding of the words, along with the
schematic connections that accompany this understanding (Herrero 12).
A variety of investigations have indicated that deaf readers, like hearing readers, use
a combination of whole-word recognition, phonological or sound-based recoding, and
(Hanson & Fowler, 1987; Hanson & McGarr, 1989). Most hearing children begin reading by

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building up a limited sight vocabulary of words from television, road signs, and books (for
example, STOP and dog) (Frith, 1985; Marschark& Harris, 1996). Then they gradually develop
a sound-based (phonological) strategy for figuring out new words. The result is a growing
inventory of sound letter correspondences that supports decoding of text. A similar, if
delayed, process appears to occur in many deaf readers, who come to use phonics as well as
sight vocabulary (Miller, 1997). Improved articulation and speech reading are not enough to
account for improvements in reading over the long term, however, and exposure to
fingerspelling and writing experience also may be necessary to maintain reading progress
(Campbell, 1992; Padden, 1991; Wilbur, 2000). One study involving deaf college students
clearly demonstrated the combination of word decoding strategies used in reading
(Lichtenstein, 1998). Deaf students who made use of speech coding also were better able to
remember and reproduce a sequence of English words. This latter result reflects the now-
confirmed finding that speech coding appears to be the optimal means of briefly retaining
linguistic information in working memory, a central component of reading comprehension as
well as the mechanism underlying memory span (Perfetti&Sendak, 2000).
Thru these factors involved, this study was able to come up with the analysis and
therefore, the framework drawn served as a guide in conducting this research work.
The aforementioned theories have supported the study to assess and compare the
level of reading comprehension skills of selected Grade Six students of the Philippine
Institute for the Deaf and Batino Elementary School.

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Profile
Age
Gender
Degree of
deafness
Criteria in
determining the
level of
comprehension
Vocabulary
Context
Correct answers
Survey proper
Questionnaire
Students profile
Interview
among
professionals on
deaf education
Research
Statistical
analysis
Analysis of the
level of reading
comprehension
List of frequently
read English
literature
Significance of
age, gender and
degree of
deafness to
reading
comprehension
Significance of
exposure to
English literature
to reading
comprehension
Comparison of
results taken
from the two
schools
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The conceptual framework discussed the flow of the study to be taken. The study
used the system approach. The system of three (3) frames is composed of input which went
through the process or operation and emerged as the output.
INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Figure 2. Research Paradigm

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The input contains the leading variables in assessing the level of reading
comprehension of deaf students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf.
The second frame contains the methods and procedure to be used in gathering data
from the students by making questionnaires, conducting interview, research and the use of
statistical tools.
The third frame is the output. It contains the assessment of the level of reading
comprehension of grade six students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf. The output also
contains the information regarding deaf students exposure to English literature, how
frequent it is done and the common problems they encounter on reading that affects their
reading comprehension.
The arrows include the workflow of information in the research process.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The whole study focused mainly on the reading comprehension skills on the English
language of the Grade Six students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, SY. 2012-2013.
Guided by the researchers objectives, this study aimed to answer the following questions:
1. What is the profile of the respondents according to:
1.1 age
1.2 gender, and
1.3 degree of deafness
2. What is the respondents exposure to literature?

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2.1 What type of English literature do most deaf students read frequently?
2.2 What is the extent of exposure of the students to English literature?
3. What is the level of the reading comprehension of the respondents?
4. Is there a significant difference in the exposure on the literature and their level of
reading comprehension?
5. What are the problems encountered by deaf students in reading that affects their
comprehension?
6. What are the major differences in the way of teaching between private and public
schools for the Deaf?
6.1 Which offers better practice to improve comprehension skills among Deaf
students?

HYPOTHESIS
1. The gender and degree of deafness of the respondents has an effect on their level of
reading comprehension.
2. There is a significant effect of the exposure of deaf students in English literature to
their level of comprehension.
3. Deaf children who read English literature more often develop their reading and
comprehension skills squarely of the same phase with normal children without
disability.

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4. Private institutions for special education offer quality education than those
government-supported schools.
SCOPE AND LIMITATION
The study revolved mainly on reading comprehension skills of the grade six students
of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf (PID) and Batino Elementary School. This study did not
include the other grade school levels from each participating schools.
The profile of the respondent, specifically, age; gender, if male or female; degree of
deafness, whether a respondents has mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, severe
hearing loss, profound hearing loss, or total hearing loss were the limitations of the study.
This did not include the students performance on other macro skills and other subjects
being taught in a special school.
To know the reading comprehension skill of the students, the respondents made use
of a questionnaire in which the respondents were given a set of stories and after reading
those stories they will be given set of questions regarding what they have read. Other
information that will help the study will also be extracted from the said questionnaire.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM
The study focused mainly on how the hearing-impaired comprehend. The study will
be beneficial to the following:
the researchers because this will help them to find out the reading comprehension
level of the Grade six students of the Philippine institute for the Deaf and Batino Elementary

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School, using a survey pattern. They will know if the materials they use are helpful and
beneficial enough to the deaf students;

the future researchers for they may use this as a basis for their future studies.
Through this, they can determine if the suggestions and the key pattern used by the
researchers to the deaf students are helpful enough to the reading comprehension matters.
Then, they will have ideas on what aspects of the learning abilities of the deaf they can
research for;

the respondents for this study will help them to know what problems in reading
comprehension they encounter that they are unaware of. It will help them figure out and
improve the weakness points and to inspire themselves to do more reading. Maybe as a
habitual act of gaining knowledge.

the SPED directors for this may help them improve the direction of intensive special
education programs as well as the provision of support services to special classes. Likewise,
the results may help re-define the legal requirements in administering and supervising
special educational services;

the SPED consultants, this study can serve as basis for providing in service training to
classroom teachers, administrators, and supervision and to offer back-up support of teaching

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strategies, supervision, classroom management and methodologies in teaching the hearing-
impaired children;
the SPED teachers because this study will benefit them in providing any materials
and equipment needed for academic instructions. They may widen their assistance and
understanding in providing the childs unique needs;

the curriculum makers because thru this they may establish linkages, priorities, and
direction towards a more improved delivery of SPED services. Then, there will be a chance
that the deaf students will achieve a higher form of learning;
the family of the respondents. For this may help them better understand the
distinctive needs of the special child in their family. Through this, they will be able to assist
the educational needs of the child even at home.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to construct or derive
meaning (reading comprehension). It is a means of language acquisition, of communication,
and of sharing information and ideas.

Comprehension is an act of or capacity for grasping with the intellect. The term is most often
used in connection with tests of reading skills and language abilities, though other abilities.

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Reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading. Reading
comprehension is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and
after a person reads a particular piece of writing. There are two elements that make up the
process of reading comprehension: vocabulary knowledge and text comprehension.

Special education is an instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of a
child with a disability. This means education that is individually developed to address a
specific childs needs that result from his or her disability. Since each child is unique, it is
difficult to give an overall example of special education. It is individualized for each child.
Special education is designed to ensure that students with disabilities are provided with an
environment that allows them to be educated effectively. Disabilities that qualify for special
education include physical disabilities, such as deafness

Vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A
vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for
communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the
largest challenges in learning a second language.

Text is the representation of written language.


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Word Recognition is the ability to identify written words quickly and with little or no effort,
including their form, pronunciation, and contextually appropriate meaning. The automatic
identification of sight words and rapid word analysis skills both contribute to word
recognition.

Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and
comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate.

Gender is a range of characteristics of femininity and masculinity.

Deafness is defined as a degree of impairment such that a person is unable to understand
speech even in the presence of amplification. In profound deafness, even the loudest sounds
produced by an audiometer (an instrument used to measure hearing by producing pure tone
sounds through a range of frequencies) may not be detected. In total deafness, no sounds at
all, regardless of amplification or method of production, are heard.

The Philippine Institute for the Deaf (PID) is a private school run by the Sergia G. Esguerra
Memorial Foundation (SEMFI). The Philippine Institute for the Deaf helps children with
hearing impairment or are hard of hearing learn to speak and listen. These children come
from families who are financially-challenged to shoulder the expenses incurred in enrolling
to school with facilities that will help them achieve skills to be able to communicate properly.

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Chapter II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES
Foreign Literature
Reading is an activity in which one follows a sequence of letters, symbols, or
characters arranged in a particular order (left to right in English) and translate them into
words, phrases, and sentences that have meaning for the individual. The goal is to
comprehend the material and use it for ones needs. Reading activities can vary from a first-
grader struggling with simple active declarative statements in a picture book to a fourth-
grader enjoying a story, from a seventh-grade student doing his best to understand a poem
to a father following directions to assemble a barbeque, from a mother following a recipe for
a culinary delight to a scholar poring over a learned dissertation. This range is so large that it
has been said that reading is the one experience that can present people with the amassed
thoughts and experiences of innumerable minds.
Hearing impairment or deafness is decreased or absent ability to perceive auditory
information. While some cases of hearing loss are reversible with medical treatment, many
lead to a permanent disability. Of vital importance is the age at which the hearing loss
occurred, as this may interfere with the acquisition of spoken language (Hammerman, p.92-
93).
Historically, the written word was seen as a more static form of the English language
for deaf children than the more transient patterns of the spoken word. Pioneers in education
of deaf children believed that since a profoundly deaf child had minimal access to auditory

23
language (because of his inability to hear speech sounds adequately), reading could be used
as a concrete means of representing what he was missing in speech. In this way, the child
would be able to bypass audition and spoken language and thus acquire English through
reading and writing. In theory, it all sounds pretty simple and straightforward: Deaf children
would hear through reading and speak through writing. Even brilliant men like Thomas
Gallaudet and Alexander Graham Bell would have a deaf child read books to learn the
language rather than have him learn the language to read books. Like the early teachers of
deaf children, they too thought written characters and ideas could be connected without the
intrusion of speech.
Assessment of reading has long been accomplished primarily by means of
standardized tests. Although useful as a relative indicator of overall reading ability, such
instruments do not conform to the view that reading is a constructive process. Standardized
reading tests also do not tell whether any difficulties observed in reading comprehension are
the result of a lack of background/content knowledge or of the inability to apply decoding
strategies to a particular text. Standardized test scores thus may be useful in determining
placement in a program or general achievement, but they are unlikely to be the best way to
match a child with appropriate reading materials (Schirmer, 2000). For classroom instruction,
assessments that are descriptive, functional, and content related are more appropriate
(Stewart & Kluwin, 2001; Yore, 2000).
The lack of keenness is especially disconcerting given that todays parents have had
more schooling and that they have at their disposal a greater number of books, TV

24
programs, and computer software programs dedicated to reading-readiness and reading
skills. Young children are influenced greatly by the behaviors modeled around them. Their
mannerisms, likes and dislikes, eating habits, posture, and the way they walk and talk will
generally portray what they have observed in their own home. The same is true for their
attitude toward literacy. The way children feel about reading and writing will usually reflect
the way their parents feel about these skills. Parents who read often to their children in an
enjoyable fashion and who themselves read a great deal for pleasure are likely to have
children who do the same things.
When we are teaching reading to young deaf students, we are teaching skills, but also
habits and attitudes. Students need to discover and become comfortable with strategies for
decoding text and ways to construct and to understand information. At the same time,
teaching ways of approaching reading and text materials. These approaches should lead
young deaf students to view reading as a source of enjoyment as well as a way to obtain
knowledge. Reading behavior must be modeled early, there must be print materials in the
home, and deaf children need to understand that reading is a valued activity. Understanding
the cognitive and metacognitive processes, such as word decoding, retrieval of knowledge
from memory, and inferencing, which underlie the diverse reading skills of deaf students, will
contribute to these efforts, and rigorous studies of teaching methods and outcomes are
needed. Assessments of reading skills therefore need to be tailored to individual children
just as carefully as teaching methods.

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For deaf children, the various approaches to teaching reading (bottom-up, top-down,
and interactive) have all been tried but with varying results (Yurkowski & Ewolt 1986). One
approach will work well with some deaf children but not with all. There is also no right age to
begin reading, and today, school programs permit children to progress at their own rate. The
major aim for parents is not to dabble with instruction but rather to ensure that their deaf
child develops a real interest in books and a genuine excitement about reading.
A recent study of deaf readers by the Gallaudet Research Institute (GRI; 2004) determined
that the median reading comprehension performance of those deaf students nearing
completion of their secondary education was comparable to the comprehension of hearing
children in the third grade. Kuntzs (1998) description of deaf readers achievement as
dismal is as warranted as ever. The GRI (2004) study also revealed, however, that 5% of the
school-leaving sample comprehended text at a level equal to or superior to an average
hearing reader in the 12th grade. Given its limited success in reading instruction, the field of
deaf education has every reason to seek guidance from the theory and methods of the many
studies conducted on the reading comprehension of readers with normal hearing. At the
same time, the unique effect of deafness on language processing, particularly processing
that is visual, suggests that new knowledge about the comprehension of skilled deaf readers
could inform the larger field of reading research. Word recognition is particularly
instrumental to the comprehension of skilled deaf readers. Word recognition is also a topic
about which the larger literature on the comprehension of hearing readers has much to offer
both theoretically and methodologically. Finally, it is an area where a better understanding

26
of skilled deaf readers might add authentic new knowledge about the comprehension of all
readers, not just those who are deaf.
The GRI periodically conducts studies to establish norms for the Stanford
Achievement Tests (Harcourt Assessment, 2003), the measurement used most often to
estimate the reading competence of deaf readers. According to the most recent
investigation, GRI (2004), which included a sample of approximately 3,800 readers, the
median score for a deaf 10-year-old was equivalent to the score of an average hearing child
in the 7th month of the first grade, which is a grade-level deficit approaching 4 years. The
median comprehension score for deaf readers age 17, roughly the age at which students are
entering the 12th grade, was equivalent to the average score for a hearing child in the 5th
month of the third grade, or 8 years below grade level. In other words, the grade-level deficit
had virtually doubled between the ages of 10 and 17. Of the entire sample, only 20 of the
deaf children, approximately 4%, demonstrated reading comprehension at the same level as
hearing children of the same instructional age. In combination, these findings indicate that
reading comprehension presents serious difficulties for many deaf readers across different
languages and educational settings, and that deficits related to the reading of individual
words contribute significantly to the problem.
There are also theoretical reasons to suspect that a limitation in the fluent
recognition of known words is central to the text comprehension problems of deaf readers.
Olson, Forsberg, Wise, and Rack (1994) observed that the most severe reading
comprehension problems in the hearing population stem from deficient word recognition.

27
An abundance of research indicates that severe deficiencies in word recognition stem from
what Stanovich and Siegel (1994) describe as a phonological core deficit, and, as the
following section will show, deaf readers face severe obstacles in using English phonology.
Gough (1996) observes that it is extremely rare for a reader who comprehends well to suffer
from deficient word recognition ability. Thus, it is likely that the minority of deaf readers who
do comprehend well also enjoy effective word recognition. A focus on word recognition also
is warranted by interactive theories of reading processes (Carpenter & Just, 1981;
Rumelhart, 1977; Stanovich, 1980), which stipulate that reading comprehension suffers
when the cognitive resources needed to complete higher level comprehension tasks are
usurped by effortful word recognition.
Some psychologists consider working memory (WM) and short-term memory (STM)
to be synonymous, and to represent a memory store that is constrained both by the number
of items that can be maintained and the length of time these items can be active. Denh
(2008), however, makes this distinction between STM and WM: STM passively holds
information. WM actively processes it. (Hamilton)
The lack of knowledge of English printed words also affects reading greatly. When
readers know less than 90% of the words in a passage, comprehension drops to 50% or less (
Johns, 2009). This is particularly true for deaf readers (Albertini & Mayer, 2011; Davey &
King, 1990; LaSasso & Davey, 1987; Paul, 1996; Paul & Gustafson, 1991; Paul & ORourke,
1988).


28
Local Literature
The idea that individual letters with individual sounds blend to make words is known
as the alphabetic principle (Moats, 1995). It is well established that this is the key step in
learning to read (Adams, 1990). Using the relationship between letters and their sounds is
the most efficient way to read printed text. When reading, we recode each word from its
letters (orthography) into the smallest units of sound whose differences are significant for
language (phonemes).
Unlike learning to speak, the ability to read is not acquired spontaneously. Even
children with good language skills need instruction and guidance when developing phonemic
awareness (Azbel, 2004).
As cited by Azbel, most deaf people prefer American Sign Language (ASL) to English.
ASL is therefore the most commonly used language by deaf adults in the United States and
Canada (Lane, Hoffmeister, & Bahan, 1996). It consists of a large variety of signs and words
borrowed from English. However, it has a grammatical structure that is completely different
from that of spoken English (Klima & Bellugi, 1979).
Deaf children learn to sign as easily and spontaneously as hearing children learn to
speak (Lillo-Martin, 1999).

Foreign Studies
Being able to read is more important than ever. It is essential for achieving in school,
being an informed citizen, succeeding in ones career, and experiencing personal fulfillment.

29
It has also been reported that individuals who read a lot tend to be smarter than their peers
who do not read much (A. E. Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998), and that individuals who read
well are healthier than those with low reading ability (American Medical Association, 1999;
Berkman et al., 2004). Unfortunately, as noted by the American Federation of Teachers
(1999), Learning to read is not natural or easy for most children (p. 16).
The American Federation of Teachers (1999) has stated that the most fundamental
responsibility of schools is teaching students to read (p. 7). The central purpose of reading is
comprehensionconstructing meaning from text (Luckner &Handley, 2008).
Reading comprehension is considered the essence of reading (Durkin, 1993)the very
heart and soul of reading (Reutzel & Cooter, 2004, p. 155). Undoubtedly, it is the central
purpose of reading. It has been defined as the active process of constructing meaning from
text; it involves accessing previous knowledge, understanding vocabulary and concepts,
making inferences, and linking key ideas (Vaughn & Linan-Thompson, 2004, pp. 9899).
Regrettably, this has not been the case for most individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
While many students who are deaf or hard of hearing become skilled readers, throughout
history research has documented the fact that the majority of individuals who are deaf or
hard of hearing complete their education without being able to read well (Myklebust, 1960;
Pintner & Patterson, 1916).
Learning to read is a complex process that many individuals who are deaf or hard of
hearing struggle with. A review of the literature suggests that they demonstrate one, several,

30
or many of the following behaviors (Kelly, 2003; Marschark & Harris, 1996; Paul, 1998;
Strassman, 1997):
Effortful word recognition
Limited vocabulary
A lack of understanding of figurative language
Weak topic knowledge
A slow reading rate
Inadequate understanding of syntax
Limited knowledge of different genres
A lack of awareness of text organization
A limited repertoire of comprehension strategies
Failure to monitor comprehension
Lack of motivation
Avoidance of reading as much as possible

Local Studies
Reading may be regarded as wonderful or disheartening depending on the childs
exposure. Children who have acquired the skills for purposeful and pleasurable reading, had
used these skills in achieving delightful experiences may find reading a worthwhile school
activity.

31
On the other hand, children who have difficulty in grasping the meaning of the
printed pages and had been in some way subjected to unpleasant situations due to reading
hindrances may look at reading as disgusting and worthless. Most children find difficulty in
reading, the second language through can read the native language correctly.
Singh stated that no student should be treated in a manner that might adversely affect his
attitude towards reading. A poor outlook in reading may develop into negative attitude
toward the teacher and school.
To uphold Article XIV, Sec 1 and 2 of the 1987 of the Constitution of the Republic of
the Philippines, Section 24, Special Education Service of Batas Pambansa 232, The Education
Act of 1982, Article 3, Rights of the Child and Youth Welfare Code Presidential Decree No. 63
(as amended) and many other decrees, Special Education Program was developed.
With the aim to develop the maximum potential of the child with special needs, Special
Education (SPED) for both fast and slow learners is offered by the Department of Education
to mainstream learners with special needs into the regular school system and eventually into
the community (DISP-SPED, 2008).
An Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) is devised as a classroom tool in assessing a
pupils reading ability that can give the teachers information on the pupils level of
performance in reading by actual observation. The IRI is administered individually and
consists of graded bries followed by comprehension questions and different dimensions
(Marquez-Onas, 2010).

32
A variety of investigations have indicated that deaf readers, like hearing readers, use
a combination of whole-word recognition, phonological or sound-based recoding, and
(Hanson & Fowler, 1987; Hanson & McGarr, 1989). Some deaf readers also recode English
print into sign, at least some of the time (Marschark & Mayer, 1998; Treiman & Hirsh-Pasek,
1983). Most hearing children begin reading by building up a limited sight vocabulary of
words from television, road signs, and books (for example, STOP and dog) (Frith, 1985;
Marschark & Harris, 1996). Then they gradually develop a sound-based (phonological)
strategy for figuring out new words. The result is a growing inventory of sound letter
correspondences that supports decoding of text. A similar, if delayed, process appears to
occur in many deaf readers, who come to use phonics as well as sight vocabulary (Miller,
1997).
There is a positive correlation between speech intelligibility and reading during the
first year of school, as young deaf children who are more consistently and accurately
producing speech tend to read better than those who do not (Harris & Beech, 1998; Hanson,
1986). Improved articulation and speech reading are not enough to account for
improvements in reading over the long term, however, and exposure to fingerspelling and
writing experience also may be necessary to maintain reading progress (Campbell, 1992;
Padden, 1991; Wilbur, 2000). Hence, there is a need for mixing alternative reading
strategies.

33
Comprehension instruction to the SPED-Slow pupils requires the need for teachers to
know the weaknesses and advancement of the pupils reading performance. To detect the
comprehension difficulties of the SPED-Slow pupils implies knowing their reading
comprehension levels, namely; frustration, instruction and independent levels which are the
main thrust of the study (Marquez-Onas, 2010).
In young deaf readers, the development of phonological coding skills appears to lag
behind that of hearing readers, occurring sometime around the fourth or fifth grade (age 9
11 years) ( Marschark & Harris, 1996; Padden & Hanson, 2000). Meanwhile, many deaf
children appear to use a decoding strategy based on the way words look on the printed page
(an orthographic strategy). This approach to word decoding, although perhaps not as flexible
as phonological decoding, offers the dividend of supporting spelling skills.
Several studies have indicated that deaf children's spelling abilities are surprisingly good,
exceeding other reading skills beginning around the second grade (Marschark & Harris,
1996). Some investigators have demonstrated an association between fluency in American
Sign Language (ASL) as a native language and reading achievement, suggesting that
fingerspelling is the element associating knowledge of ASL with the ability to read English.
However, research shows little support for the possibility of fingerspelling codes during
reading (Treiman & Hirsh-Pasek, 1983; Padden & Hanson, 2000). Rather, it appears that
fingerspelling serves as a kind of platform for the development of rudimentary phonological
coding. Through fingerspelling, deaf children become aware that words are made up of
segments and groups of segments (syllables) that correspond to particular spelling patterns.

34
Studies have demonstrated that exposure to both English and sign language provides strong
support for the acquisition of reading skills, and stronger vocabulary knowledge. However,
even familiar vocabulary may not be recognized as quickly by deaf readers as by hearing
readers. For fluent reading comprehension, the rapid access to the meanings of words during
reading has to be automatic rather than conscious and deliberate. Several studies have
suggested that deaf children's lack of experience with reading reduces the spontaneous
nature of decoding (Fischler, 1985; Kelly, 1995).
Deaf students who have had extensive exposure to English text appear to read in
ways similar to hearing readers. Proficient deaf readers have been found to process complex
sentence structures, such as relative clauses, and retrieve stored content knowledge, which
supports subsequent processing of words in the text, like hearing readers (Cooley, 1981;
Kelly, 1995; LilloMartin et al., 1992). Relatively less skilled deaf readers also use such
strategies, but they are more likely to use local context in the passage to make guesses at the
meanings of words rather than taking into account the full content of the text (Banks et al.,
1990). As a result, their recall of material often contains the same amount of information as
that of hearing peers, but in a less organized and disjointed way that clearly reflects a lack of
global comprehension (Marschark et al., 1993).
In any case, it is not surprising that different views of what deaf children need to
acquire effective literacy skills have spawned several different approaches to instruction. Let
us consider some general examples. Materials-Driven Approaches, because many deaf
students are learning English at the same time they are learning to read, some educators and

35
investigators have argued that texts written with carefully controlled vocabulary and
grammar would be most effective. Materials can become more advanced as reading skills
improve (Quigley et al., 1976). Others argue that real or authentic texts are more
appropriate, giving young deaf readers a full and accurate picture of what reading is all about
(Dolman, 1992). Use of simplified texts geared to the hypothesized sequence of deaf
students' learning English is quite common.
Another approach to improving reading comprehension is to use authentic texts with
accompanying aids for comprehension. Meaning-preserving pictures accompanying text
have been used to facilitate comprehension in children's readers for many years, but there
have been few evaluations of their effectiveness with deaf readers. In one study,
investigators explored the difficulty encountered by deaf readers in understanding nonliteral
constructions (e.g., "He saved his money like a squirrel preparing for winter") (Iran-Nejad et
al., 1981). The researchers suggested that deaf children might well be able to comprehend
such expressions if they possessed the relevant knowledge of syntax, vocabulary, and the
world. The reading materials thus were a set of short stories in which those variables were
controlled at levels appropriate for their deaf, 9 to 17-year-old participants, accompanied by
a picture depicting the main point of the story. After reading the stories, the students had to
select the sentence that best completed each story from a set of four alternatives including
literal sentences, similes, and metaphors. Overall, even the youngest deaf students were
able to select nonliteral choices as best completions for the stories, indicating that the
picture and simplified structure facilitated comprehension even for nonliteral content.

36
One popular approach to teaching reading to deaf students, known as the whole language
movement, is based on a transactional (interaction) model of education rather than a
transmission (from teacher to student) model (Ewoldt, 1985; Weaver, 1990; cf. Tiberius,
1986). That is, in the whole language approach, the teacher's role is not to transmit
knowledge or meaning to the students, but rather to construct new meaning with the
students. Students may read original texts produced by other students or written by
professionals. They may attend a presentation or other event, discuss it with classmates, and
then write about it. Proponents of the whole language approach maintain that students
create meaning by interacting with a text and with other readers (Edelsky et al., 1991;
Goodman et al., 1987; Weaver, 1990), The idea is that young readers want information and
young writers want to express themselves that content, not process, motivates them. The
challenge for the teacher then is to make the reason for process or language instruction clear
and keep the content in the foreground. The whole language movement accompanied a
broader interest in language development based on the work of Vygotsky, Piaget, and
Halliday, that developed in the mid to late 1970s, beyond the structural emphasis of North
American studies of language development, the whole language approach emphasized
language in context, and the need to understand the whole child as a socially and cognitively
active participant in the world. Consistent with this broader perspective, the whole language
approach for deaf children grew from dissatisfaction with years of structured approaches to
reading instruction that focused mostly on isolated sentences rather than on connected
discourse (Livingston, 1997; Paul, 1998; Schirmer, 2000). It appears that reading instruction

37
focusing on isolated sentences are at least partly responsible for the apparent difficulties
with grammar demonstrated by deaf students. Further, the constant drill and practice
inherent in such approaches removes the enjoyment of reading for even the most interested
student (Wilbur, 1977). At the same time, an overemphasis on the whole language approach
has its own difficulties. Teachers emphasizing whole language may give less attention to
areas needing more focused instruction, such as complex syntactic structures (Dolman, 1992;
Kelly, 1995, 1996). There is no methodological contradiction if a teacher focuses on word
decoding skills, reading strategies, writing, and grammar in the context of a whole language
approach, but strict adherents to the whole language approach do not always see it that
way.
Schirmer (2000, pp. 101-102) succinctly summarized the principles of balanced
literacy as follows:
All forms of expressive and receptive language work together (reading and writing are
interrelated processes)
The emphasis is on the meaning of written language in authentic contexts (classroom
reading and writing should involve real-life materials)
Classrooms are communities of learners in which literacy is acquired through the use of
reading and writing skills
Children are motivated when given choices and ownership in reading processes
Literacy processes are more important than products
The development of literacy skills is part of an integrated curriculum

38
Reading behaviors of skilled readers reflect what instruction should accomplish.
In short, the balanced literacy approach to teaching reading and writing takes the best of
different instructional techniques and combines them in a way that recognizes children as
active learners. Fully in accord with a social constructivist approach to education, balanced
literacy represents a way of thinking about what we want children to learn in order for them
to be able to appreciate and take advantage of the written word. There is no instructional
manual for balanced literacy, no basal readers, or workbooks. It is, fundamentally, a
commonsense approach to education.


39

Chapter III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researchers presented the methods that were used in this study.
These include the research design, research instrument, data gathering procedure and the
statistical treatment of data.

RESEARCH DESIGN
This study analyzed the reading comprehension skills of the respondents from two
schools offering Special Education. The researchers used the descriptive research method to
achieve the objectives of this study. A descriptive research deals with both quantitative and
qualitative information. Qualitative descriptions are often based on quantitative data.
Descriptive research method describes the nature of activation as it exist at
the time of study and to explore the causes of particular phenomena and
involving collections of data in order to test the hypotheses or to answer
questions concerning the current status of the subject of study. (Estollas
and Macaballug, 2002, p. 81)

Descriptive method is also a purposive process of gathering data about analyzing,
classifying and tabulating data about prevailing conditions, practices, beliefs, processes,

40
trends and cause-and-effect relationships (Calderon 56). It has seven types, such as the case
studies, surveys, developmental studies, follow-up studies, documentary analysis, trend
analysis and correlation studies (Sevilla 23).

RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY
The respondents of the study were the selected grade six students of the Philippine
Institute for the Deaf and Batino Elementary School. The original respondents of this study is
solely the grade six students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, since there were only six
(6) students enrolled in the grade six program the results may not be valid due to the small
number of respondents. The researchers chose the grade six students because they were in
the highest level on the elementary sect of education.
The study changed from being quantitative to qualitative as the respondents and kind
of the study changed. Two schools for Deaf students were subjected for the data gathering
and the results was analyzed and compared. Though there were two sets of respondents,
the level of elementary students remains to be grade six.
The total number of students under Special Education in the Philippine Institute for
the Deaf is 63 and broken down as follows: elementary SpEd students- 44, High School SpEd
students -19 ;preschool- 10, grade one-10, grade two-5, grade three-4, grade four-3, grade
five-6, grade six-6.


41
The total number of elementary students in the Batino Elementary School is 1,249
and broken down as follows: under the regular program- 635; under special education- 614
which is composed of 50 preschool,138 grade one, 83 grade two, 83 grade three, 92 grade
four, 100 grade five, and 89 grade six students.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
The researchers used a researcher-developed instrument in this study. The
questionnaire was fashioned to collect sufficient information to assess and determine the
level of reading comprehension skills of deaf students.
The preliminary survey was about the fundamental information about the
respondents, such as their name, age, gender, degree of deafness and their exposure to
English literature. The respondents were asked to put a check mark on the box provided that
corresponds to their answers from the choices. This part of the instrument aims to prove or
void hypothesis 1, 2 and 3.
The questionnaire was also consisting stories and comprehension questions to
determine their level of reading comprehension. These questions were divided into several
groups such as, vocabulary building, cause and effect relationship, making inferences, noting
details and reading between the lines.
The third part of the questionnaire is consisting of questions which will determine the
problems encountered by deaf students that affect their reading comprehension.


42
DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE
The title of this study was originally An Assessment of the Level of Reading
Comprehension Skills of Selected Grade Six Students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf.
The researchers objectives were to determine the level of reading comprehension skills of
deal students, if they were expose to English Literature and how often are they exposed to
these kinds of literature, the problems encountered by deaf students while reading that
affect their comprehension, and to determine the difference between the quality of Special
education of the two schools towards deaf students. This was to be done using the
questionnaire or survey method. The respondents were the grade six students of the
Philippine Institute for the Deaf, a private school for special children, and of Batino
Elementary School, one of the 131 public schools in the Philippines that were chosen to offer
Special Education, in the school year 2013-2014.
The researchers secured permission to conduct the study from both schools,
Philippine Institute for the Deaf and Batino Elementary School, from the school system and
the principal. The researchers also seek permission from the Division Office of the
Department of Education (DepEd) regarding the study on Special Education.
The first step in doing the study was to define the objective followed by the
construction of the clerical tool, the questionnaire method,that will be used in carrying out
the research. After the construction of a suitable questionnaire, the researchers have the
instrument validated by officials of both schools and have it approved by the Division Office
of DepEd. Another validation is also done by one of the professors from the Department of

43
Foreign languages and Linguistics of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Once the
instrument is approved, the researchers conducted the pilot test among normal grade six
students and deaf grade five students of both schools. This was done to ensure that the
questionnaire is designed in line with the objectives of the study.
Then the researchers focused on conducting the study to the actual respondents. The
respondents were asked to answer the questionnaire completely. The instructions were
given by licensed interpreters of the school. The task was completed by the respondents
within one and a half hour after the instructions were received.
The data were gathered from the answers of the respondents. The researchers tallied
the number of the respondents correct and wrong answers on the comprehension
questions. Then, a statistician helped out in answering the problems stated in this study.

STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF DATA
The researchers used statistical treatment to interpret the data gathered.
1. To determine the profile of the respondents when group according to variables, the
frequency and percentage distributions were used.
Formula:
f
P = x 100
N


44
where P =percentage
f = frequency
n = size of population

2. To quantify the response for each individual item and the general response for each
part, mean was used.
Formula:
WM = f
N
Where WM = weighted mean
= summation
f = frequency
N = number of cases

3. To determine the significant difference of respondents level of reading
comprehension skills according to age, gender and degree of deafness, the analysis
of variance (ANOVA) was used. The researchers used Statistical Package for the
Social Science (SPSS) in order to compute the ANOVA with 0.05 level of significance.
The p-value was used to interpret the significant difference of level of reading
comprehension skills according to age, gender and degree of deafness. If p-value is

45
less than the level of significance, reject the hypothesis otherwise accept the
hypothesis.

The null hypothesis H
0
:
1
=
2
=
k
against
The alternative hypothesis H
1
: at least one of the means is different from the
others.

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