CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Related Literature and Studies

The following literature and studies helped in the conceptualization of the

study particularly on the factors affecting low reading comprehension among Junior High School

students.

On the Definition of Reading

Is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting meaning from them.

When we read, we use our eyes to receive written symbols (letters, punctuation marks and

spaces) and we use our brain to convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs that

communicate something to us.

According to Ann Logsdon (2019), Learning disabilities in basic reading affect the ability

to read words in isolation and in passages. Students with learning disabilities in basic reading

have difficulty understanding the relationship between letters and sounds.

According to Hand in Hand Education (2019), reading Comprehension is the ability to

easily and efficiently read text for meaning. It is the last step of the reading process taught to

children, after they've learned phonics, fluency, and vocabulary. Five levels of reading

comprehension can be taught to children. Lexical Comprehension, Literal Comprehension,

Interpretive Comprehension, Applied Comprehension, Affective Comprehension.

Ho and Siegel (2012) conducted a study on the identification of Sub-Types of Student

with learning Disabilities in Reading and Its Implications for Chinese Word Recognition and
instructional Methods in Hong Kong Primary Schools. The results showed that students with

surface dyslexic pattern made more phonological errors, whereas students with phonological

dyslexic pattern made more semantic errors.

Berninger and May (2011) conducted a study on evidence-based diagnosis and treatment

for specific learning disabilities involving impairments in written and/or oral language. Findings

at discussed in reference to the importance of (a) considering individual differences (diagnosis of

impaired hallmark phenotypes) in planning and evaluating response to instruction and

modifying instruction when a student is not responding; (b) recognizing that teaching may

change epigenetic gene expression at one stage of schooling, but not the underlying gene

sequences that render individuals still vulnerable as curriculum requirements increase in nature,

complexity, and volume in the upper grades; and (c) using evidence –based diagnosis of specific

learning disabilities that are consistent across states for free and appropriate education K to

12 and for accommodations throughout higher education.

Ryan (2011) investigated the barriers facing students with disabilities in nursing

courses, in particular in clinical placements. Result showed that a lack of understanding of

legislative and institutional requirements underlies negative attitudes about students with

disabilities, especially in practicum-based courses.

According to William (1984), he defines reading as a process whereby one looks at and
understand what has been written. Rohani Ariffin (1992:1) in her book entitled
 Anthropology of Poetry for Young People defines reading as highly personal activity that

is mainly done silently, alone. There is a clear understanding that reading is something related to

the activity of acquiring information and it is done either silently or aloud.

On reading comprehension

According to English Language Teaching and Testing Guide (2019), there are a

number of reasons that cause reading comprehension to fail. Students should be aware of these

reasons and then identify the solutions for them applying the appropriate reading strategies that

can cause success to reading comprehension. The following are the main factors that hinder

reading comprehension: Limited perceptual span, Faulty eye movement, Faulty attention and

concentration habits, Lack of practice, Lack of interest, Poor evaluation of important and less

important parts, Reasonable wholesome remembering rather than selective remembering.

According to Van den Broek et.al (2012), reading comprehension is a complex

interaction among automatic and strategic cognitive processes that enables the reader to create a

mental representation of the text.

According to The National Assessment of Educational Progress (2012), revealed that

24% of eighth graders and 33% of fourth graders tested below basic in reading skills.

Further, on the International Assessment of Adult Competencies Literacy Scale (2012),

adults in the United States achieved an average literacy proficiency score of 270 on a scale of 0

to 500—3 points below the international average score of 273. These results indicate a need to

examine current practices in reading comprehension instruction. Because comprehension is so

complex and requires multiple cognitive skills and stored memory, several barriers to improving

comprehension must be overcome.

 First, we must be able to identify weaknesses in specific cognitive skills. Further, we

must also have procedures for enhancing those specific skills rather than general interventions

that target a limited number of skills without regard for identified strengths or weaknesses.

Finally, we have to recognize that several components of comprehension such as prior

experience and vocabulary are acquired over time, making them difficult targets for training and

intervention.

According to Dennis (2011), reading comprehension is a complex balance between recognizing

printed symbols and interpreting the meaning behind the symbols. Students know how to

comprehend if they can read between and beyond the lines

On The Role of Cognitive Skills in Reading Comprehension

According to Rothlisberger et.al (2013), working memory has also been identified as an

integral part of reading comprehension. Working memory is defined as an executive function

responsible for keeping and updating information in the mind.

According to Garcia Madruga et.al (2013), working memory is responsible for managing

the process of extracting information from text and integrating it with prior knowledge to create

meaning.

Poor Reading Comprehension Skills Lead to Poor Grades

According to Dr. Linda Silbert (2014), when kids don’t understand what they read, it
affects their ability to succeed in school. All subjects, including science and math, require
reading comprehension. Even Tests and exams require good reading comprehension which
results in low grades and poor test scores if a student has poor reading comprehension. Signs of
Poor Reading Comprehension can not answer questions about what they just read. Do not
understand the logical sequence of a story. Unable to tell the story after reading it. Can not
connect individual sentences or paragraphs of text together to make sense of what they have
read. Does not know the meaning of individual words. Loses interest in reading or give up
quickly.

According to Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children
(2014), explicit Strategy Instruction. Meta-analyses of research indicate that reading
comprehension interventions are effective only when they are accurate, consistent, and intensive.

In another study, Dube et.al (2013), also reported statistically significant improvements in
reading comprehension following explicit strategy instruction to third and fourth grade students
with learning difficulties. Indeed, the evidence for explicit instruction in reading comprehension
strategies continues to mount.

On the One Strategies to Increase Student Reading Comprehension

According to Mellisa Kelly (2019), effective tips and strategies that teachers can share

with students to improve their comprehension of a text. Generate Questions is a good strategy to

teach all readers is that instead of just rushing through a passage or chapter, is to pause and

generate questions. These can either be questions about what has just happened or what they

think might happen in the future. Reading aloud to students should also include stops to check

for understanding.

Promote Cooperative Talk this is a useful strategy that can be used after a read-aloud

when all students have a shared experience in listening to a text. Attention to Text Structure they
can also look at the pictures and any graphs or charts. This information can help them gain an

overview of what they will be learning as they read the chapter.

Take Notes or Annotate Texts students should read with paper and pen in hand. They

can then take notes of things they predict or understand. They can write down questions. They

can create a vocabulary list of all the highlighted words in the chapter along with any unfamiliar

terms that they need to define. Use Context Clues students need to use the hints that an author

provides in a text. Students may need to look at context clues, that is a word or phrase directly

before or after a word they may not know.

Boyle and Rivera (2012) examined three different note-taking techniques used by

students during lectures and the study included 125 students of varying disabilities. Findings

revealed that students who used note-taking techniques were effective at increasing scores on

measures of achievement and the quality and quantity of notes recorded.

Use Graphic Organizers, Some students find that graphic organizers like webs and

concept maps can greatly enhance reading comprehension. These allow students to identify areas

of focus and main ideas in a reading. By filling in this information, students can deepen their

understanding of the author's meaning.

Practice PQ4R which consists of six steps: Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite,

and Review. Summarizing As they read, students should be encouraged to stop periodically stop

their reading and summarize what they have just read.

In creating a summary, students have to integrate the most important ideas and

generalize from the text information. They need to distill the important ideas from

the unimportant or irrelevant elements. Monitor Understanding one students prefer to annotate,
while others are more comfortable summarizing, but all students must learn how to be aware of

how they read. They need to know how fluently and accurate they are reading a text, but they

also need to know how they can determine their own understanding of the materials.
SOP1

In which areas of our lives is reading

important?
 It helps you to discover new things by enabling you to educate
yourself in any area of life you are interested in and to do your own
research and thinking.
 It helps develop the mind and imagination and the creative side of
a person.
 It helps to improve (vocabulary and spelling) communication both
written and spoken.
 It plays an important part in building a good self-image.
 It is a function that is necessary in today’s society.

In order to accomplish success one needs to have good reading and

comprehension skills. Without these skills children will struggle to grow
academically as reading is the foundation to all academic subjects such
as History, Mathematics and Science and also influences the child’s
ability to write.
Problems with reading are often identified or become a real issue in
Grade 4. Why? It is at this stage of their academic lives that children
become responsible for the material they read. They are required to find
information through reading more independently. An example would be
reading a source document with comprehension in History. The CAPS
syllabus requires the child to read a source document and then answer
related questions using knowledge gained from studying. They are
sometimes required to write a comparison between two sources. This
starts at Grade 4 level. If the child is unable to read effectively this is
often the time they struggle and reading becomes a problem. This needs
to be addressed immediately – refer to my article “Does your child hate
school? It could be a learning disability.” Dated: April 15, 2015 to
determine why your child is struggling to read and what plan of action
needs to be taken.
So, what is the difference between a “passive” unskilled reader and an
“active” skilled reader? A skilled reader interacts with the text. How?
Some ideas, as set out by the Miami University, of how skilled readers
read:

 Predict what will happen next in a story using clues presented in

text.
 Create questions about the main idea, message, or plot of the
text.Monitor understanding of the sequence, context, or characters.
 Clarify parts of the text which have confused them.
 Connect the events in the text to prior knowledge or experience.

Strategies to Aid Reading Comprehension

Skills
 Reading with a purpose
 Learning vocabulary
 Retelling what has been read
 Asking and answering questions
 Summarising the important facts

Reading is important because words are the building blocks of life.

Reading is a non-negotiable in life.
 SOP2
There are a number of reasons that cause reading comprehension to fail. Students should
be aware of these reasons and then identify the solutions for them applying the appropriate
reading strategies that can cause success to reading comprehension. The following are the
main factors that hinder reading comprehension:
 Limited perceptual span.
 Faulty eye movement.
 Faulty attention and concentration habits.
 Lack of practice.
 Lack of interest.
 Poor evaluation of important and less important parts.
 Reasonable wholesome remembering rather than selective remembering.
In addition, there are some hindering factors related to the readers’ habits and others are
text related. Go to the Printables library and read the printable that shows these factors and
how to deal with them to gain positive results in reading comprehension tasks.
SOP3

Developing reading comprehension skills is incredibly important for growing

readers, starting as early as picture books. As children get older, it will help them
understand textbooks, newspapers, and other more complex texts.

Scholastic offers plenty of grade-appropriate reading comprehension activity

books that can help your child practice, but in addition, here are six tips to
sharpen reading comprehension skills in your early reader.

Want even more book and reading ideas? Sign up for our Scholastic Parents
newsletter.

1. Have them read aloud. This forces them to go slower, which gives them more
time to process what they read and in turn improves reading comprehension.
Plus, they're not only seeing the words — they're hearing them, too! You can
also take turns reading aloud.

2. Provide books at the right level. Make sure your child gets lots of practice
reading books that aren't too hard. They should recognize at least 90 percent of
the words without any help. Stopping any more often than that to figure out a
word makes it tough for kids to focus on the overall meaning of the story.

If your child needs help transitioning from picture books to chapter books, try
Scholastic's Branches books, which are designed to bridge that gap for growing
readers.

3. Reread to build fluency. To gain meaning from text and encourage reading
comprehension, your child needs to read quickly and smoothly — a skill known
as fluency. By the beginning of 3rd grade, for example, your child should be able
to read 90 words a minute.

Rereading familiar, simple books gives your child practice at decoding words
quickly, so they'll become more fluent in their reading comprehension. Learn
more about the multiple benefits of rereading books!

4. Talk to the teacher. If your child is struggling with reading comprehension,

they may need more help with building their vocabulary or practicing phonics
skills. (This Pete the Cat Phonics Box Set and this PAW Patrol Phonics Box
Set are fun ways to help your child build necessary phonics skills.) A teacher can
weigh in on the best next steps to take.
5. Supplement their class reading. If your child's class is studying a particular
theme, look for easy-to-read books or magazines on the topic. Some prior
knowledge will help them make their way through tougher classroom texts and
promote reading comprehension.

6. Talk about what they're reading. This "verbal processing" helps them
remember and think through the themes of the book. Ask questions before,
during, and after a session to encourage reading comprehension. (Read about all
the questions you should ask during story time here!) For example:

 Before: "What are you interested in about this book? What doesn't interest you?"

 During: "What's going on in the book? Is it turning out the way you thought it
would? What do you think will happen next?"

 After: "Can you summarize the book? What did you like about it? What other
books does it remind you of?"

Shop resources to improve your child's reading comprehension below! You can
find all books and activities at The Scholastic Store.