Why Is Reading Important?

1. Reading is fundamental to function in today's society.

There are many adults who cannot read well enough to
understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. That is a
scary thought - especially for their children. Filling out
applications becomes impossible without help. Reading
road or warning signs is difficult. Even following a map
becomes a chore. Day-to-day activities that many people
take for granted become a source of frustration, anger and
fear.
2. Reading is a vital skill in finding a good job. Many wellpaying jobs require reading as a part of job performance.
There are reports and memos which must be read and
responded to. Poor reading skills increases the amount of
time it takes to absorb and react in the workplace. A
person is limited in what they can accomplish without good
reading and comprehension skills.
3. Reading is important because it develops the mind.
The mind is a muscle. It needs exercise. Understanding
the written word is one way the mind grows in its ability.
Teaching young children to read helps them develop their
language skills. It also helps them learn to listen.
Everybody wants to talk, but few can really listen. Lack of
listening skills can result in major misunderstandings
which can lead to job loss, marriage breakup, and other
disasters - small and great. Reading helps children [and
adults] focus on what someone else is communicating.

4. Why is reading important? It is how we discover new

things. Books, magazines and even the Internet are great
learning tools which require the ability to read and
understand what is read. A person who knows how to read
can educate themselves in any area of life they are
interested in. We live in an age where we overflow with
information, but reading is the main way to take advantage
of it.
5. Reading develops the imagination. TV and computer
games have their place, but they are more like
amusement. Amusement comes from two words "a" [non]
and "muse" [think]. Amusement is non-thinking activities.
With reading, a person can go anywhere in the world...or
even out of it! They can be a king, or an adventurer, or a
princess, or... The possibilities are endless. Non-readers
never experience these joys to the same extent.
6. In line with the above, reading develops the creative
side of people. When reading to children, stop every once
in awhile and ask them what they think is going to happen
next. Get them thinking about the story. When it is
finished, ask if they could think of a better ending or
anything that would have improved it. If they really liked
the story, encourage them to illustrate it with their own
drawings or to make up a different story with the same
characters. Get the creative juices flowing!
7. Reading is fundamental in developing a good self
image. Nonreaders or poor readers often have low
opinions of themselves and their abilities. Many times they
feel as if the world is against them. They feel isolated

[everybody else can read - which isn't true] and behavior

problems can surface. They can perform poorly in other
subjects because they cannot read and understand the
material and so tend to "give up."
8. Why is reading important? Let's keep going... Good
reading skills, especially in aphonics reading program,
improve spelling. As students learn to sound out letters
and words, spelling comes easier. Also, reading helps to
expand the vocabulary. Reading new words puts them in
their mind for later use. Seeing how words are used in
different contexts can give a better understanding of the
word usage and definitions than the cold facts of a
dictionary.
9. There is an old saying, "The pen is mightier than the
sword." Ideas written down have changed the destiny of
men and nations for better or worse. The flow of ideas
cannot be stopped. We need to read and research to build
on the good ideas and expose the bad ideas before they
bring destruction. Only by reading can we be armed in this
never-ending, life-and-death struggle.
10. The fact of the power of written ideas communicated
through reading is a foundational reason why some
governments oppose free and honest communication.
Illiterate people are easier to control and manipulate. They
cannot do their own research and thinking. They must rely
on what they are told and how their emotions are swayed.
There is a good possibility that this is one of the main
reasons phonics was removed from the schools about 100
years ago.

11. Finally, why is reading important? Reading is

important because words - spoken and written - are the
building blocks of life. You are, right now, the result of
words that you have heard or read AND believed about
yourself. What you become in the future will depend on
the words you believe about yourself now. People,
families, relationships, and even nations are built from
words. Think about it.
According to Jonathan Kozol in "Illiterate America," quoted
in "The Teacher Who Couldn't Read,'" the three main
reasons people give for wanting to read are:
1. To read the Bible,
2. To read books and newspapers, and
3. To help their children.
I think everyone can conclude that reading is a vital
skill! Reading Strategies are also a part of learning to
read.
By Glenn Davis, Last Updated Dec., 2014

http://www.learn-to-read-princegeorge.com/why-is-readingimportant.html

Literature and Literacy

A nation of nonreaders
by Juan Miguel Luz
THURSDAY, JUNE 7TH, 2007

WHY IS it that despite our supposedly high literacy

rate, many Filipinos can barely read and write? Why
havent we been able to develop a reading habit among
Filipinos?
Straightforward questions about something so
fundamental. Yet there are no easy answers to such a
complex problem. Worse, the problem of nonreading
lies at the heart of why the Philippines is so
uncompetitive in the world economy and why so many
of our people continue to live in poverty or barely
escape it.
THE problem of nonreading lies at the heart of

Someone once remarked that we are not a nation of

why the Philippines is so uncompetitive in the
world economy and why so many of our people
readers; we are a nation of storytellers. Ours is a
continue to live in poverty or barely escape
it. [photo by Jaileen Jimeno]
culture of oral history passed on by word of mouth not
through the written word. Perhaps that is why most of
the information people receive today is gathered from
television (62 percent) and radio (57 percent). Newspapers and magazines are read by only 47
percent and 36 percent of the population respectively, according to a 2003 government survey.
In the modern era, however, this is too low a figure. And how did this happen when we pride
ourselves as being a highly literate people? Then again, are we really?
To start with, lets establish the difference between literacy and reading. They are related, but
literacy is a level of competence, while reading is a skill. One can be literate but not necessarily a
reader because reading, as a skill, requires the development of a habit that must be exercised
daily if it is to be retained and enhanced. If left unexercised, the skill becomes rusty and can even
be lost.
We begin this discussion with literacy, for which there are two measures: simple and functional.

Also in this issue

Read all about it
A nation of nonreaders
Libraries of hope
Photo gallery: Marikinas public libraries
Muslim classes come alive
Photo gallery: Children of Malaybalay City Elementary School
Speaking in tongues
Podcasts and poetry

Rofel Brion: Tagalog poet

Roy Aragon: Ilocano poet

Haidee Palapar: Cebu poet

Kristian Cordero: Bikolan poet

Mangyan poetry

Chicks rule!
No chicken feed profits
Bad ba mag-txt?
A stunted market for kids books
Pages from the past
What is your favorite book?

Simple literacy is the ability of a person to read and write with understanding a simple message
in any language or dialect. Functional literacy, meanwhile, is a significantly higher level of
literacy that includes not only reading and writing skills, but also numeracy (the rithmetic that
completes the three Rs), which leads to a higher order of thinking that allows persons to
participate more meaningfully in life situations requiring a reasonable capacity to communicate
in a written language. The simplest, most direct measure of functional literacy is the ability to
follow a written set of instructions for even basic tasks. Thus, functional literacy is the more
important indicator of competence when it comes to adults in the workforce.
FOR DECADES, the Philippines has reported a simple literacy rate in the mid-to-high 90s. In
2003, the simple literacy rate was actually lower at 93.4 percent for the entire population at least
10 years of age. Girls show a higher rate of simple literacy than boys (94.3 percent versus 92.6
percent). Not surprisingly, Metro Manila reported the highest rate at 99 percent; the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had the lowest at 68.9 percent (and falling compared to
the 1994 rate of 73.5 percent).

Over the last 10-year period (measuring simple literacy is part of the national census taken once
a decade), there has been a disturbing occurrence. Nine of 15 regions (under the old regional
configuration) showed a slight decline in simple literacy from 1994 to 2003. These included two
of the three Visayan regions (VII and VIII) and all of the Mindanao regions. Overall, simple
literacy for the entire country fell by 0.5 percent from 1994 to 2003. (See Table1)
Table 1. Simple Literacy Rate
(for the population aged 10 years and older)
Source: National Statistics Office
YEAR

ALL (%)

BOYS (%)

1994

93.9

93.7

2003

93.4

92.6

What do these numbers mean? Based on a population of 80 million, 6.6 percent illiteracy
translates into 5.3 million Filipinos who cannot read or write; a number that grew by about 1.6
million over the past decade.
I suspect, however, that our simple literacy rate might even be overstated, meaning there may be
even more Filipinos incapable of reading and writing a simple message, with understanding, than
reported officially. The measure of simple literacy, after all, is not determined by a test but rather
by a census question. A census-taker asks respondents: Can you read or write a simple message
in any language or dialect? Its easy to imagine that quite a number of household heads would
answer affirmatively to hide the fact that they are illiterate, out of a feeling of hiya (shame). And
I do not think census-takers take the time to test the literacy level of a respondent during the
survey.
Professor Dina Ocampo of the University of the Philippines School of Education says that
literacy is really about the ability to construct and create meaning from or through written
language. To do so will require a higher degree of abstraction. Therefore, the true measure of
literacy must be functional, not simple.
THE FUNCTIONAL literacy rate in the country is more realistic but again, it may be
overstated, even though it is measured by a test and not the subject of a survey question.
Curiously, the test itself is called the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey
(FLEMMS), which is done by the National Statistics Council in partnership with the Department
of Education and the Literacy Coordinating Council.

Table 2. Functional Literacy Rate

(10-64 years old)
Source: FLEMMS, 2003
YEAR

ALL (%)

BOYS (%)

GIRLS (%)

1994

83.8

81.7

85.9

2003

84.1

81.9

86.3

In 2003, the functional literacy rate was determined to be 84.1 percent of the population aged 1064 years old. Again, girls showed a higher rate at 86.3 percent of all females surveyed versus
boys at 81.9 percent of all males. (See Table 2)
While the overall rate for the entire country rose slightly in 2003 versus 1994, seven of 15
regions fell over the same period with Regions II, VIII, IX, X and XI showing drops in both
simple and functional literacy rates.
More revealing is functional literacy by age group based on the 2003 FLEMMS: Adults closest
to college graduation age (20-24 and 25-29 years) showed functional literacy rates of over or
close to 90 percent. But school-age children (10-14 and 15-19 years) showed rates far below the
100 percent that would be assumed since functional literacy is based on a grasp and facility with
the three Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic) that we hope our children are mastering. The
numbers, however, say otherwise. (See Table 3)
Table 3. Functional Literacy by age group
Source: FLEMMS, 2003
AGE

RATE (%)

10-14

78.8

15-19

89.9

20-24

91.6

25-29

89.1

25-29

89.1

30-39

86.3

40-49

84.2

50-59

78.6

60-64

68.6

This relatively lower figure reflects the high dropout rates of children before the start of Grade 4
(or by age 10). Department of Education (DepEd) data show that for every 100 children who
enter Grade 1, close to 15 do not make it into Grade 2, and roughly one-quarter (24 percent) have
dropped out before Grade 4.
Grade 3 (10 years old) is a critical year in terms of formal schooling. Since preschooling is
neither compulsory nor part of the package of free public education guaranteed by the
Constitution, Grade 3 marks the third full year of basic education for children who attend public
elementary school and the year when the facility to read, write, and do the four operations of
arithmetic with competence is expected. (Less than 20 percent of those who go to public
elementary school actually attend a full year of preschool education.)
Dropping out before this grade level thus becomes a major contributor to the lack of functional
literacy, which in turn has a negative impact on adults and their eventual work productivity. This
is assuming, of course, that by the end of Grade 3 (or the third year of formal full-time
schooling), our childrens competence in the three Rs are being honed fully. But as we are
seeing, that may not be happening in far too many schools.
WITH LOW-LEVEL literacy comes poor reading skill. In elementary schools in the Division
of Manila, reading test scores reveal that only one-sixth to one-third of pupils can read
independently at the desired grade level. By the end of the elementary cycle (Grade 6), over onethird of elementary graduates were identified as frustrated readers; another one-third were
instructional readers. Both levels are below the desired reading level at the end of the
elementary cycle. (See Table 4)

Table 4. Reading Levels of Children in the City Schools Division of Manila

Source: Philippine-IRI Test, Schools Division of Manila, SY 2003-04
GRADE LEVEL

FRUSTRATED READER (%)

INSTRUCTIONAL READER (%)

IN

64.41

20.17

15

49.98

31.45

19

47.59

32.47

19

44.82

32.17

23

50.78

28.48

20

36.50

34.67

28

NOTE:
The Phil-IRI (Philippine-Informal Reading Inventory) test is an oral test given to a pupil to
measure reading ability. Five test questions are administered constituting the entire test.
Independent reading level Pupil can read with ease and without the help or guidance of a
teacher. In the Phil-IRI test, they can answer four or five correct answers (out of five test
questions) and can read with rhythm, with a conversational tone, and can interpret punctuation
correctly.
Instructional reading level Pupil can profit from instruction. In the Phil-IRI test, they answer
three out of five test questions correctly.
Frustrated reading level Pupil gets two or below in the Phil-IRI test (out of five test questions).
They show symptoms or behavior of withdrawing from reading situations and commit multiple
types of errors in oral reading.
What is troubling, in my view, is that the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) test is
hardly a robust test and tends to score in favor of even poor readers. The DepEd has resisted
using international test instruments based on the argument of cultural soundness (or lack thereof

on the part of international tests with regard Philippine culture). The tendency to go with an
easier test, however, defeats the purpose of measuring results.
If Metro Manila shows a higher literacy level than the rest of the country but low levels of
reading competence, one can only expect even lower reading scores in other regions of the
country with less endowments and educational facilities than the National Capital Region.
Here then is the crux of the problem: With poor reading comes poor learning.
In high school, science and math learning require a degree of reading ability since much of what
is learned is actually self-taught. The classroom experience in science is expected to focus on
experimentation. Learning basic facts and theory in science is supposed to be read as preparation
for this. Since Filipino schoolchildren have shown low levels of reading, science and math
proficiency are similarly poor because much of what is learned is not self-driven or internalized;
rather, it is passed from teacher to student in the old-school rote learning fashion. This largely
explains why so few high-school graduates are equipped for university-level science and the
subsequent lack of a technical/technology culture among our working population. Without such,
the manufacturing and technical sector will continue to be weak in this country explaining to
a large extent our lack of competitiveness in the global economy.
Poor reading is also a reflection of poor language proficiency, whether this be in English or in the
national language. One sees this immediately in the language proficiency of public school
teachers.
In 2003, responding to the reality that English language proficiency was sorely lacking or being
lost among Filipinos of all ages, then Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus embarked on a
nationwide campaign to raise the language proficiency of public school teachers beginning with
high school teachers.
Starting with over 53,000 secondary teachers teaching English, science and math languages
that require a good degree of English communication skills a Self-Assessment Test in English
(SATE) was administered to determine the proficiency level of these teachers. Only one-fifth (19
percent) passed with a score of at least 75 percent correct. While the vast majority were able to
answer more than 50 percent of the test questions correctly (65 percent), close to one-fifth were
obviously deficient in English and should not have been teaching subjects that require a degree
of English communication skills in reading and writing. (In education scoring, a mark of 75
percent or more constitutes mastery. A grade between 50 percent and 75 percent is considered
nearing mastery. A grade below 50 percent is a measure of no mastery.)
THE KEY to learning is better reading skills. But this reading skill need not be confined to
English only. The ability to read and write in any language or dialect is what is important. From
this life-long learning or survival skill, one can develop the ability to learn for life. These

are important elements for building individual competence and achievement that can be
translated in the future into a competitive workforce.
Note, however, that the issue of English-language skill in the workplace is another issue
altogether. At least it should be, but it often gets entangled with our plans on what to teach in our
schools. We are concerned by the decline in English proficiency of our workers. But take note
that Japanese, as well as Korean, Thai, and even Malaysian workers, are not required to speak in
English on the factory floor. They communicate in their own native languages and they do so
with competence.
The English language becomes important when workers are forced to work in situations where
supervisors and managers are foreign or the work system is adapted from abroad. English then
becomes the intermediate language of reference and a necessary element of communication.
Because many Filipino workers are forced to work in such situations either in-country or abroad,
English proficiency becomes a critical factor. But because the formal part of the language is
stressed at so young an age when learning is still beginning, the ability to learn more science and
math content is sacrificed. This is, in large part, why productivity among Filipino workers and
managers suffers and why competitiveness, as a country trait, is low.
This bears repeating: Grades 1 to 3 are critical in the childs learning cycle (assuming no
preschooling for most public schoolchildren.) At this age, the fundamentals for literacy have to
be established and the start of a reading habit developed.
SHOULD WE despair? Not yet because while the vast majority of our public schools
struggle to manage deficiencies and shortages in the system, there are diamonds in the rough
sprinkled throughout that provide hope for all.
Models-of-excellence (MOE) schools were born out of a program called Books for the
Barrios set up by a former Subic-based couple, Nancy and Dan Harrington, over 15 years ago.
The Harringtons collected books from U.S. families, schools, and publishers (e.g. publishing
overruns) and had these shipped to Philippine elementary schools to set up libraries and reading
programs. In later years, Professor Isagani Cruz of Far Eastern University (and formerly De La
Salle University) developed a reading program for them that focused on words of the day from
Grades 1 to 6 to help hone a vocabulary set that would equip very young children to read.
In Agusan del Sur, Amy Ronquillo, the dynamic young principal of Pisaan Elementary School,
took a poorly-performing school and transformed it into an MOE school where children are able
to read well within the first year of their formal schooling. The result has led to a transformation
of the school with parent involvement so high that what was once a school with a high dropout
rate is now overcrowded, as parents compete to get their kids enrolled there.
In Negros Occidental, ESKAN or Eskwelahan sang Katawhan Negros (literally school for the
people) set up district-level reading programs to improve on the achievement of pupils in

schools in each of the towns. First started in the sixth-class towns of San Enrique and Toboso, the
program has expanded to other towns in the province (E.B. Magalona, Murcia, La Castellana,
Moises Padilla, and Silay) before being exported to the neighboring province of Iloilo
(Concepcion and Ajuy).
Poor school performance was traced to a dearth of student-friendly instructional materials in
most schools; inadequate skills and formal mechanisms for teachers to handle children with
learning difficulties (chief among these, poor reading); and the minimal participation of the local
community (i.e. parents) in local school matters.
To address these deficiencies, Grade 1 teachers in participating schools went through a 15-day
rigid training on reading; para-teachers were recruited and trained to handle pupils with reading
difficulties; and a pool of local trainers from DepEd developed instructional materials now being
used by all Grade 1 pupils in schools in all ESKAN municipalities. The net effect: a decline in
the number of slow and nonreaders in schools in all these municipalities, even within months of
implementation.
Then there is the Sa Aklat Sisikat (SAS) Foundation whose program began in the Makati schools
division before branching out to other cities and provinces. To date, SAS has set up reading
programs for over 125,000 Grade 4 children in 525 public elementary schools. The program
targets Grade 4 because it does not really teach reading; rather, it works on a school age group
that already knows how to read in order to build a reading habit.
READING PROGRAMS, in fact, have been set up in all school divisions by both public and
private groups. But in order to develop a reading habit, schoolchildren need books that tell
stories in an interesting manner while developing a broader vocabulary. Textbooks, which are
more lesson-oriented, lack the imagination that children need to develop the reading habit.
The problem of providing libraries of reading books in public schools becomes a question of
logistics and the lack of resources. To provide reading books for over 37,000 public elementary
schools becomes prohibitive in terms of cost. As an operating strategy to get around this
constraint, the DepEd embarked on a program to build library hubs in each of the 186 school
divisions.
These hubs are, in effect, warehouses of reading books in pre-packed book bins lent to schools
within a given division on a wholesale basis. Teachers then lend out the books from the bins to
children in their classes and encourage each pupil to read at least one book per week. After a 30day borrowing period, schools return book bins and are eligible to borrow other book bins. Each
library hub is stocked with anywhere from 25,000-50,000 reading books. Thus, while it is costly
to build tens of thousands of school libraries with a small number of books, each school within a
library hub area can have access to tens of thousands of books in a schoolyear even if it does not
have a school library.

By early 2007, DepEd had set up 35 library hubs throughout the country servicing as many as
3,000 schools. In the plans are a total target of 300 library hubs, with larger school divisions
getting as many as three to four hubs to service the hundreds of schools within their jurisdiction.
The DepEd, however, has been ambivalent whether this is the right strategy or not. Traditional
administrators remain biased toward building school-based libraries, ignoring the high cost of
such a policy. The success of the Library Hub program today, despite providing only 10 percent
of the overall target, can be attributed to the sole staff working on the project: a young, energetic
individual named Beverly Gonda. Working principally with local government units to set up
library hubs under the sponsorship of the local school boards, Gonda has made library books
available to hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren through this infrastructure-building
program.
With people like Gonda and Ronquillo, and organizations like Sa Aklat Sisikat and ESKAN,
along with the rest of the MOE movers and shakers, there is hope for quality education
outcomes. Clearly, however, a system-wide approach to literacy, reading, and learning has to be
implemented if we are to claim true literacy and become a nation of readers.
Juan Miguel Luz, a former education undersecretary, is the president of the International
Institute of Rural Reconstruction.

http://pcij.org/stories/a-nation-ofnonreaders/