IN THE FLAT WORLD: MARITIME STUDENTS READING HABITS

A Research

Presented to Fernando T. Herrera, Ph. D. Vice President Research and Extension Saint Joseph Institute of Technology Butuan City

Presented by:

Mrs. Rolyna Trogello, M.A. Ms. Ma. Celeste T. Fusilero

March 2012

INTRODUCTION A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. Mark Twain

This paper aims to tackle the reading habits of the Second Year Maritime students of Saint Joseph Institute of Technology as they try to achieve their goals to become professionals in the flat world. Since information technology viral, the process of learning and the development of a good reading habit have also become the same. In just a click, information becomes available to everyone, anywhere. Anybody can have access to any useful or trashy information where ever he or she maybe. The only thing to watch out is how to discriminate credible from non-credible sources because not all things written in the net are accurate and true. According to Cervantes, He who reads muchknows much.But the problem is Philippines is a nation who does not read because most families prefer to study the melodramatic side of life through teleseryes over gaining wisdom by reading good books like the Bible or the classics for example. Filipinos in general have poor reading habits or none at all.

In the institution I am teaching at, I encountered a lot of college students having difficulties understanding a simple passage or paragraph from articles and book chapters because reading bores them to death. They would rather watch a movie or any video clip. The problem is that if they find the movie too serious and very educational, they fall asleep in the middle of.

Most of the college students rely on the lectures of the instructors for their learning. Even if I spoon-feed them with the photocopied reading materials still at the end of the day frustration sinks in because students would rather waste time liking and sharing in Facebook, watching teleseryes, and texting instead of engaging in a group study or advance reading.

With these selected maritime students, who recently took the MSAP exam, we will find out their reading habits if ever they have it at all and we will also find out how they read and where they usually read. Aside from the fact that most of them really hate to read, they are also not that equipped with proper reading skills so that they would appreciate learning through reading.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

What inspired this research? Let me directly quote the articles I have read because the following supports the sentiment that have plagued me as an English and Literature college instructor.

According to Juan Miguel Luz, president of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, 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. (http://pcij.org/stories/a-nation-of-nonreaders/)

Juan Miguel Luz also said that, 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. (http://pcij.org/stories/a-nation-of-nonreaders/)

He also gave specific details on the literacy of our country by pointing out regions with poor literacy levels, thus: 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...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). (http://pcij.org/stories/a-nation-of-nonreaders/)

To corroborate Mr. Luz theory, let me directly quote a passage from Philippine Daily Inquirer, Reading expands the mind as it develops ones vocabulary as well as his speaking and writing skills, which are indispensable in the professional world. It can uplift a persons selfesteem. (http://opinion.inquirer.net/18095/philippines-losing-reading-habit)

REVIEW OF RELATED OF LITERATURE

In the study of Elizabeth J. Pretorius, titled What They Cant Read Will Hurt Them: Read and Academic Achievement, there are two main components of reading. The decoding and the comprehending, the decoding involves the oculomotor, perceptual and parsing aspects of the reading activity whereby written symbols are translated into language; while the comprehending code involves the overall understanding process. Pretorius study aims to look at the relationship between the reading ability and the scholastic performance in the reading context.

According to a study where the results are published in an article in Science Daily, the reading performance of a child has affected the size of the brain and economic status. Children coming from poor families more likely have poor reading performance and children with abnormal brain structure also have poor reading performance. It goes without saying that the environment and the physical and economic factors affect the childs performance in reading. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010720092903.htm#.T630DdsYuMs.gmail)

A study carried out on the reading habits of university students by a group of academics at Ankara University has shown that close to half of the study group reads five or fewer books a year.(http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=16803 7) There is also a study titled Reading Habits and Reading Interests Among Students of Institutions of Higher Learning in Malaysia by Szarina Abdullah, Sohaimai Zakaria, Hamidah Abdul Rahman and Norma Dali in 1993 where they found out that most students read different

materials at different frequencies, places, and time; socioeconomic background of students had no relationship with reading habits and reading interests. (http://fim.uitm.edu.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=424:reading-habitsand-reading-interests-among-students-of-institutions-of-higher-learning-inmalaysia&catid=59:research-previous-to-2005&Itemid=70)

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The main issue of this study is to know the factors that affect the reading habits of the maritime students. 1) What is the profile of the students in terms of the ff: 1.1 sex 1.2 age 1.3 type of high school graduated 1.4 educational attainment of parents 2) What is the level of performance of the COC students in reading comprehension. 3) Is there a significant difference in the level of performance of the COC student in reading comprehension when grouped according to: 3.1 sex 3.2age 3.3 type of high school graduated 3.4 educational attainment of parents

4) What are the factors that affect the reading comprehension of the COC students? (qualitative data) 5) On the basis of the results, what intervention may be proposed?

This study will try to answer the question why the Maritime students have not developed reading habits that has affected their performance in Reading Comprehension Exams.

However, instead of finding the factors why students have poor reading comprehension skills, I wanted to find out first about their reading habits. It is important to find out their reading habits first before solving their comprehension skills problem because a reading habit is crucial to the former. If students have good reading habit, their comprehension skills will improve. The reading habit is even more important to develop first than the study habit because reading is the most basic element in learning. If we do not love to read we are truly into learning and studying. If one claims there is learning even without developing the reading habit, probably the learning is superficial and temporary.

HYPOTHESIS

It is my belief that the external factors like family and economic background affect the reading habits of the maritime students.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

If this research will be successful in finding out the trend of the Maritime students reading habits and the factors that affect it, it will be easy for English teachers to understand

and formulate ways to encourage them and make them appreciate the value of having a good reading habit.

A college student can also acquire a high temperature of maturity in learning when he or she has developed good reading skills and habit. There will be no more spoon- feeding because the student is hungry for more information and knowledge. The students vocabulary and communication skills will also improve because reading will enhance the said skills.

There are many theories in education that tackles the best methods for improving the students reading habits. But the question is which method works for a specific group of students or student as in individual, because the main point here is not about finding the method but knowing the best thing to do to help the students improve.

Being a college instructor and literature enthusiast, it is disheartening to apply the syllabus when I still have to solve my students bad or lack of reading habit. Nevertheless, it would be more disheartening if I will not do something to find the root of the problem. I wanted to know what stops them from having a good reading habit.

Most achievers, in the real sense of the wordbecause they have not only made themselves rich and famousbut those achievers who have greatly contributed to the better of this world, are habitual readers. We have: Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Steven Speilberg, Peter Jackson, Jose Rizal, F. Sionil Jose. C.S. Lewis, and J.R. Tolkien to name a few. These achievers read much, so they knew much and contributed much.

METHODOLOGY

The respondents focus only on the second year Maritime students of Saint Joseph Institute of Technology because of the recently concluded 2011 MSAP where the students performed poor in the reading comprehension exam.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Table 1. Parents Educational Attainment Educational Attainment Elementary Secondary Tertiary Father 5.4% 27% 78.3% Mother 3% 27% 81%

Students who come from learned families (with parents who have graduated from college) comprise 78%-81%.

Table 2. Parents Occupation Occupation Skilled Worker Professional Housekeeper Govt Employee Father 48.6% 37.8% 0% 16.2% Mother 5.4% 41% 51.3% 24.3%

Self-employed

21.6%

11%

51.3% of the students have mothers who are housekeepers and 47% have fathers who are skilled workers; 38% have professional fathers and 41% have professional mothers.

Table 3. Family Monthly Income Below P4,000 P4,000-P7,999 P8,000 and above 11% 51.3% 43.2%

Most of the students belong to class D and E of the socio-economic status.

Table 4. Use of Dictionary Never Always Seldom 3% 8.1% 89.1%

Only 8.1% use the dictionary. Dictionary is essential is improving the students vocabulary and vocabulary is essential for reading comprehension skills. It goes without saying that the second year students of Maritime are not that interested in improving their reading comprehension skills.

Table 5. Reading References Magazines 62.1%

Textbooks Comics Facebook Novels Religious Blogs Twitter Newspaper

65% 62.1% 78.3% 30% 41% 18% 11% 43.2%

78% among the 37 students use Facebook; 65% read from textbooks; 62.1% read magazines and comics; 43.2% read newspapers; 41% read religious books; 39% read novels; 18% read blogs. Only 11% read thru Twitter. It is not surprising to note that Facebook got the most number of students who read through it. Facebook is one of the flatteners that helped changed the way students communicate and study.

Table 6. Reading Place Preference At home (alone) 68%

At home (with family) 11% At school (alone) 32.4%

At school (with peers) 22%

68% read alone at home; 32.4% read alone at school; 22% read with peers at school; 11% read at home with family. Filipino families are non-readers because they usually their evenings watching the news and teleseryes.

Table 7. Reading Styles. How Students Read Orally Silent Reading 22% 81%

81% read silently and 22% read orally.

Table 8. Reading Frequency During classroom activities Before going to bed Browsing the net 27% 57% 30%

57% read before going to sleep; 30% read through the internet, and 27% read during classroom activities.

Table 9. Distracted Students while reading Yes 57% No 39%

57% of the students get distracted while reading; 39% do not get distracted.

With the result and discussion above, it is not difficult to conclude that the reading habits of the maritime students is not good because the highest ranking reading reference is facebook where there are many distractions as these students are not only exposed to texts but to a multimedia of videos, images and comments of their peers which revolve around their latest escapade or party. Most of them seldom use the dictionary which is essential for a good reading comprehension skill.

It can be gleaned that socio-economic status had no effect on their reading habits. The students also read from various sources, but their primary source of information is the Facebook. Most of them have access to the flat world.

However, despite the flow of information from the flat world, I have observed, students have no inkling to make a research on their own so that they could interact with their instructor and classmates during class discussions. They are contented to merely sit down and listen to the instructors. Most of the time, as an instructor, I am not even sure if they are truly listening, for how can they be interested to listen to a topic they do not know anything about because they did not do their part to make advance reading.

As a college instructor, I find this problem very crucial in the institutions aim for quality education because it is only through reading and not just merely listening that a student can learn a lot. Reading is one of the basic tools for learning

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The second year Maritime students have easy access to the flat world. They have an internet access since 78% of them read through Facebook and 30% read through browsing the net. What this research failed to study is what they usually read in Facebook and what kinds of websites they browse through the net.

Reading becomes a habit when the student starts to enjoy the process of learning through text and symbols.

The factor that they do not read at home with their family is an indication of a poor reading habit. It is not far to conclude that the only reading they have is when they have to study for a class recitation or exam.

Filipino families in general do not read. It is seldom we can find families in the Philippines who spend a day reading in the sala. Usually, they sit together in the sofa and watch the latest teleserye or scandal in Philippine showbiz.

In a Philippine setting, it is normal to find people in the waiting area just staring at the cosmos. This is the observation of F. Sionil Jose in one of his essays in Why We Are Hungry. Filipinos normally, do not read and studying the factors that affect that problem is crucial to our countrys development.

This is a big topic and probably, is still a big research project. But basing on the respondents at hand, it is clear that reading is not part of a normal students habit.

Developing a reading habit does not happen overtime and developing good reading comprehension skills is also another story. The latter is even harder to achieve.

In the next research, a survey whether they have a mini-library at home must be asked and there must also be a survey on how many books they have in their shelves. It is also important to ask whether they have experience a story reading with either of their parents when they were still kids.

We cannot also discredit Facebook as a tool for learning if the students are connected to Time, BBC, Discovery and other educational pages or networks that could help them gain more understanding about their passion and the world around them.

But mostly, in my research of the usual college students Facebook page, they are into venting out their emotional struggles on relationships, difficulties in coping up with their studies, their favorite music and song of the day or week, posting pictures about what they have been doing. Typically a facebook citizen. Who know if they also read the important articles about news and history, science or education. That is another further study to make.

But the problem is how to make the students develop a reading habit. I have researched and found some recommendations from experts.

Reading must still be made part of the curriculum to cure this reading habit deficiency.

REFERENCES

http://pcij.org/stories/a-nation-of-nonreaders/

http://pcij.org/stories/a-nation-of-nonreaders/

http://opinion.inquirer.net/18095/philippines-losing-reading-habit

www.sciencedaily.com

www.todayszaman.com

http://fim.uitm.edu

http://www.daycody.com/poor-man-from-poor-family-a-social-class-comparison/