Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of

Grade 8 Students

Andy Bon D. Dariagan*, & Marien A. Laureto

Capiz State University, Pontevedra Campus, 5802 Capiz, Philippines.

*Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This survey-correlational research aimed to determine the levels of readability of the grade eight English
manual, reading skills, which constitute vocabulary and fluency, and the students’ reading comprehension of the
grade eight students. The “standard” readability level of the grade 8 learners’ module indicates that the literary
pieces and readings included in it are comprehensible. Grade 8 students are proficient readers; they have the
skill in vocabulary and fluency. They can pronounce most of the words with accuracy and understand most of
the English words and even give meaning to them. The level of reading comprehension of the grade 8 students is
developing. The significant difference on the students’ reading skills in terms of age, monthly family income,
fathers’ educational attainment and mothers’ educational attainment indicate that these factors affect the
gaining of the students of their reading skills except when classified into sex. Thus, the reading skills of the
grade eight students vary in terms of age, monthly family income, fathers’ educational attainment and mothers’
educational attainment. The significant difference on the students’ reading comprehension in terms of monthly
family income, mothers’ educational attainment and fathers’ educational attainment may signify that the
aforementioned factors contribute to the acquisition of the ability of the students to comprehend except with sex
and age. The reading skills of the students are not significantly related to the readability of the material. The
same is true with the module readability and reading comprehension, no significance has been identified. On
the other hand, students’ reading skills are significantly related to their level of reading comprehension.
Looking into the relationship of reading skills to reading comprehension and finding no relationship among
readability with reading skills and reading comprehension, it is seen that the factor of learning relies on the
students.

Keywords: Module readability; Reading comprehension; Reading skills

1. Introduction

Learning the English language is a significant primary scope in the system of education in
the Philippines. Some subjects are taught using the English language and it is therefore vital
for students to learn the competencies as the basic to learning other subject areas. With the
new K to 12 Curriculum, there was a shift in curriculum with the integration, competencies,
phases, and time frame. The formal integration of the English language, for instance, starts
on the third grade which was introduced in the old curriculum as early as first grade. It is
believed that acquiring such competency in using the English language is basic for Filipino
students who would want to become successful in life and it is of great challenge in the
teaching and learning process how to deal with this objective of global competitiveness
among Filipinos.
Being an English teacher is a very challenging role for he must have all the basic and
necessary skills and competence in teaching what is needed for the students to learn.
Considering the uniqueness and differences of every learner, it requires a highly passionate

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teacher who can make several instructional strategies and motivation to encourage and
inspire the students to learn the said language.
Reading comprehension speaks on how much the student has learned and acquired the
skills in English. From the given symbols to the meaning of the context, one is assessed if he
already has acquired and owned the language. The ability to read and comprehend the texts
written in English as our second language is considered to be a very fundamental skill for
Filipinos. Philippines is well-known to be a country of English-speaking people. Learning
the English as a subject has been a part of the Philippine Curriculum. It is of great advantage
that Philippines can compete globally because Filipinos have the skill in the use and
understanding of the international language.
From elementary grades, learners are taught how to acquire the skills in reading. From
simple instructions to long narrations, learners can easily cope with the meanings even if
those were written in English language. But as observed, the reading comprehension skill of
the students is somehow deteriorating. According to the March 2006 Social Weather Survey,
compared to earlier SWS surveys in December 1993 and September 2000, March 2006 results
show a decline in all aspects of English proficiency, specifically in reading.
Based on the researchers’ experiences as English teachers, students cannot easily
conceptualize the ideas of the texts and find difficulty in answering some of the reading
comprehension questions. They tend not to understand the literary texts or even falter to
conceptualize in mind the scenarios in the reading selections. It took several times of reading
before they get into the idea presented in the text. It brought a big question for the
researchers if there is something wrong with the reading skills and reading comprehension
of the students or is the literary text difficult enough to be understood for their level. Do the
students understand the symbols and sound that they read and utter, or do they simply read
them but never understood their meanings?
One big change in the content of the English textbook designed for the K to 12
Curriculum is the content itself. The researchers observed that the literary texts included in
books are the literary texts that they were able to encounter for the first time when they were
already in college. And they were bothered that it required for the students to be guided as
they read the selections which they are supposed to do the reading independently. After the
reading activity done by the students alone, the teacher is still obliged to do the reading and
make it an interactive reading activity instead of the silent reading that is supposed to be
done by the learners alone. With these experiences, this study is anchored to see where the
problem lies and what possible solutions can be drawn upon identifying the problems.

2. Literature Review

Textbooks are more difficult in high school; there are also more of them and students are
expected to understand them with less assistance from the teacher. Studies by Armbruster et
al. (2001) have shown that many of the texts students are given to read are poorly written
and “inconsiderate.” That is, they are written in such a way that the text is not easily
understood or remembered, even by a proficient reader. Any reader at any age has difficulty
understanding text about an unfamiliar topic. To learn anything new, this information must
be connected in some way with existing prior knowledge.

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 Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

Readability continues to be among the most discussed, misunderstood, and misused

concepts in reading. It is all too commonly, but erroneously, thought to be a precise
numerical score, obtained through the use of readability “formulas,” that indicates the level
of difficulty of a text. In such an oversimplified view of readability, the degree of difficulty
resides completely in the text. In a very global sense this view has great intuitive appeal;
some texts clearly seem inherently more difficult than others. For example, Dr. Seuss books
certainly have a lower level of readability than Shakespearean plays. However, within
narrower ranges of texts the readability or difficulty of texts is not as clear. Is a science text
measured to beat fourth-grade readability really easier to read than a fifth-grade readability
social studies text? Might one child find the science text easier, while another might be more
successful with the social studies text? A more reasonable definition of readability that is in
keeping with more recent research and theory is the level of ease or difficulty with which
text material can be understood by a particular reader who is reading that text for a specific
purpose. Readability is dependent upon many characteristics of a text and many
characteristics of readers (Pikulski, 2009). It is often stated that communication presupposes
comprehension. The main purpose of readability studies is thus to measure the
comprehensibility of a piece of writing. In this regard, different readability measures were
initially devised to help educators select passages suitable for both children and adults.
Readability assessment has been a field of interest for linguists since the 1920s but
intensive research begun in the U.S. in the late 1940s (Sjöholm, 2012). Readability is an
attempt to match the reading level of written material to the "reading with understanding"
level of the reader. It does not necessarily equate to a "reading age" of the text. All
readability tests rely on a very rough gauge of the level of reading vocabulary people can
expect to acquire by a certain point in their development - they stop generally around the 20
mark. But successful reading is about far more than word recognition - it's about style,
content, physical presentation, complexity of intellectual engagement required, learner
interest, confidence and skill.
Therefore, a reader-text mismatch (for example, assigning a selection from the
unabridged "Othello" for a 3rd grade reading exercise) can result in the user failing to use or
ignoring the text. To avoid mismatch, educators would like a tool to check if a given text
would be readable by its intended audience. Inventing such tools has been the primary focus
of readability research for the past 90 years (Kondru, 2006).
Reading skills enable readers to turn writing into meaning and achieve the goals of
reading independence, comprehension, and fluency. Irvin (2001) identifies one of four
literacy practices of strong readers which is code breaking. Code-breaking entails knowing
about the using of relationship of spoken sounds in the language to the graphic codes and
symbols used to represent those sounds (including punctuation and formatting
conventions). This practice involves recognizing and using the alphabet, sounds in words,
spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax and vocabulary.
Vocabulary knowledge is strongly related to comprehension because (1) understanding
words enables readers to understand passages, (2) verbal aptitude underlies both word and
passage comprehension, and (3) vocabulary knowledge maybe related to a person’s store of
background information (Irvin et al., 2001).
Fluency in oral reading refers to the ability to read connected text aloud
with accuracy, speed, and appropriate phrasing. Reading fluency is the ability to read text
accurately and quickly (Hudson et al., 2005). It is a set of skills that allows readers to rapidly
decode text while maintaining high comprehension. Fluency also involves reading a text

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with proper expression. There are three major components of fluency: accuracy, which refers
to the person’s ability to read words correctly; rate, the speed a person reads; and prosody,
which is commonly referred to as reading with feeling and involves the stress, intonation,
and pauses when reading (Rasinski, 2006). Fluency is often considered the bridge between
word recognition and comprehension (Armbruster et al., 2001; Pikulski and Chard, 2005;
Walczyk and Griffith-Ross, 2007). Kuhn (2004) believes one important reason for the need of
fluency instruction is that fluent readers no longer have to decode the majority of the words
they encounter, but instead can recognize words accurately and automatically. This allows
readers to shift their focus to comprehension and provides the main reason why fluency is
so important.
Generally speaking, as oral reading skill increases, so does reading comprehension. One
reason for this might be that when Word Recognition becomes automatic a reader can
dedicate more cognitive resources to understanding what he or she is reading. Conversely,
when a reader has to spend time decoding words, that reader is devoting cognitive
resources to Word Analysis instead of comprehension. When reading rate is poor,
consequently, the comprehension may suffer.
The aim of all reading instruction is to increase the level of Silent Reading
Comprehension. In order to be able to devote attention to the meaning of sentences and
paragraphs, learners have to be fluent readers. Hesitations caused by a need to decode
unfamiliar words interrupt the flow of the author's intended meaning. Fluent reading
requires that word reading ability be automatic for the particular reading level being
assessed. Researchers have found high correlations between oral reading Fluency and
reading comprehension.
Poor Fluency Can Have an Effect on Reading Comprehension. Comprehension is not
guaranteed with fluency, but it is difficult without fluency. If a reader has to frequently stop
to figure out unknown words, most likely the reader will not remember or understand much
of what is read (Pikulski and Chard, 2005). Fluent readers recognize words and comprehend
at the same time, whereas less fluent readers must focus their attention on figuring out the
words, leaving them little attention for understanding the text (Armbruster et al., 2001).
When gains are made in fluency, readers can focus their attention on comprehension and
understand more of what is read.
If children are too focused on word reading, then little remains for higher-level
comprehension (Pikulski and Chard, 2005). Two theories, the automaticity theory and the
verbal efficiency theory highlight the harmful effects of inefficient fluency skills on
comprehension. According to both theories, beginning readers first concentrate on word
reading and gradually shift their attention to what they read and understand. However,
when decoding becomes automatic, requiring little attention, more attention may be
allocated for comprehending a text. Thus, a direct relationship can be assumed between
fluency and reading comprehension.
According to Hudson et al. (2005), each aspect of fluency has a clear connection to
reading comprehension. For example, inaccurate word reading can lead to
misinterpretations of the story, poor automaticity can strain the reader’s ability to construct
ongoing interpretation of the story, and poor prosody can lead to confusion through
inappropriate groupings of words or the inappropriate use of expression.
Fluency instruction can have an effect on reading comprehension. The National
Assessment of Educational Progress found a close relationship between fluency and reading
comprehension (Armbruster et al., 2001). A representative sample of the nation’s fourth-

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 Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

grade students who scored low on fluency measures also scored low on comprehension
measures (Armbruster et al., 2001). This suggests that fluency is often neglected in many
classrooms across the country and may be affecting many students’ reading comprehension.
All three fluency areas––accuracy, rate, and prosody––need to be developed for effective
comprehensive reading instruction for students (Hudson et al., 2005). Although some
readers may recognize words automatically in isolation or on a list, they might not read the
same words fluently when they appear in context. It is important to provide students with
instruction and practice in fluency as they read (Pikulski and Chard, 2005). These findings
can allow teachers to use a measure of context fluency to estimate overall reading
comprehension.
Fluency development showed a positive effect on second graders’ reading
comprehension. The study assessed the effects of developing second-grade students’ oral
reading fluency using the oral recitation lesson (ORL) and the effects that fluency training
had on reading comprehension. Results of this study found that the performance of students
who participated in the ORL group was “superior to that of the control group”, which
suggests fluency development has a strong effect on reading comprehension (Reutzel and
Hollingsworth, 1993).
Repeated reading is considered the most commonly recommended procedure for
improving reading rate (Armbruster et al., 2001). Repeated reading of text aimed at
developing fluency also may be related to improvement in students’ reading
comprehension. A study conducted by O’Connor et al. (2007) found that repeated reading
not only improved reading rate, but also word identification and reading comprehension for
below-level readers in grades two through four. This suggested that repeated and
monitored oral reading improved reading fluency and overall reading achievement.

3. Model, Data and Methodology

Out of the total population of grade eight which is 591, 115 were used as participants in the
study. These 115 participants are the students enrolled in Cabugcabug National High
School, Philippines during the school year 2014 – 2015. They were classified according to
sex, age, monthly family income, and educational attainment of parents.
The sample was randomly selected through a lottery technique and was used as the
respondents of the study. This was done by putting all the names on strips of paper and
then placed in a box. Names were picked and were identified as the study respondents. The
number of respondents was identified using the formula of Sloven.
Out of 115 participants, a large percentage (69.6 percent) is female and the rest (30.4
percent) are males. A big majority (85.2 percent) is 12-14 years old, 13.9 percent age 15-17
years old, and a single respondent (.9 percent) falls the bracket with the age of 18 and above.
More than half (51.3 percent) of the participants have a monthly family income of below P
5,000, nearly one third (32.2 percent) have the monthly family income of P 5,000 to P 15,000,
and a minimal (16.5 percent) have more than P 15, 000. Almost equal percentage of fathers
had attained elementary (13.0 percent), graduated elementary (12.2 percent), reached high
school (13.9 percent), graduated high school (13.9 percent), and college level (14.8 percent).
The rest of the fathers had finished college (29.6 percent), a few (1.7 percent) held master’s
degree and a single one (.9 percent) is a doctorate degree holder. Finally, nearly equal

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percentage of mothers finished high school and college with the percentage of 19.1 and 20.9,
respectively, so with the high school level with 23.5 percent. An equal number of mothers
have master’s degree units (3.5 percent) and are master’s degree holder (3.5 percent). The
rest of the mothers are elementary level (7.0 percent), elementary graduate (12.2), college
level (9.6 percent), and with units in doctorate (.9 percent).

Table A: Respondents’ profile

f %
Sex
Male 35 30.4
Female 80 69.6
Age
12-14 yrs old 98 85.2
15-17 yrs old 16 13.9
18-20 yrs old 1 .9
Family income
below PhP5,000 59 51.3
PhP5,000-15,000 37 32.2
above PhP15,000 19 16.5
Father's educational attainment
Elementary level 15 13.0
Elementary graduate 14 12.2
High school level 16 13.9
High school graduate 16 13.9
College level 17 14.8
College graduate 34 29.6
Master's degree holder 2 1.7
Doctorate degree holder 1 .9

Mother's educational attainment

Elementary level 8 7.0
Elementary graduate 14 12.2
High school level 27 23.5
High school graduate 22 19.1
College level 11 9.6
College graduate 24 20.9
With master's units 4 3.5
Master's degree holder 4 3.5
With doctorate units 1 .9
Total 115 100.0

To obtain the data on readability, the literary texts included in the grade eight, third
grading students English manual were encoded at readability-score.com and the literary
texts were technically assessed using the Felsch Cincaid reading formula on readability.

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 Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

Scores were obtained using the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) Readability Formula. The specific
mathematical formula is

FRE = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

Notes: ASL denotes Average Sentence Length (i.e., the number of words divided by the number of sentences); ASW denotes
Average number of syllables per word (i.e., the number of syllables divided by the number of words).

The output, i.e., RE is a number ranging from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the easier
the text is to read.

FRE score Grade level

90.0 – 100.0 5th grader
60.0 – 70.0 8th and 9th graders
0.0 – 30.0 College graduates

FRE score has the following interpretations,

FRE score Interpretation
90-100 Very easy
80-89 Easy
70-79 Fairly easy
60-69 Standard
50-59 Fairly difficult
30-49 Difficult
0-29 Very confusing

This instrument is composed of two parts, the fluency and the vocabulary. In order to
gather the data on the respondent’s reading skill, a multiple fifty items test in vocabulary
was made by a researcher. These items undergone and survive pilot-testing to 30 grade eight
students at Hipona National High School, Pontevedra, Capiz. The instrument in fluency is a
tongue twister poem entitled “Our Queer Language”, which is a poem that includes words
with the same or almost the same letters used in it but are differently pronounced. A
checklist to identify errors per line was used.
Fifty percent of the results from both categories comprised the reading skills of the
respondents. This used the transmutation formula for scores:

𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒
𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 = ( 𝑥50) + 50
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚

A researcher made questionnaire of 55 multiple choice items test was designed to

measure the reading comprehension. Selected literary pieces with the same or almost the
same readability level on the content of the grade eight students module in third grading
English were used as the content. Questions on comprehension were then made. These 55
items underwent the pilot-testing to 30 grade eight students of Hipona National High
School. To interpret the result, the following scale was utilized:

90% and above : Advanced

85% to 89% : Proficient
80% to 84% : Approaching proficiency
75% to 79% : Developing
74% and below : Beginning

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This study was conducted during the second semester of the academic year 2014-2015.
Data on the personal profile of the participants in terms of sex, age, family income, father’s
educational attainment and mother’s educational attainment were collected using a
questionnaire. To collect the data on vocabulary, 50 multiple choice items which words were
selected from the literary pieces of the grade 8 module was used. As with reading
comprehension, a researcher made instrument with 55 multiple items test based on the
selected reading selections was used. The result of fluency was obtained using a poem. The
participants read the poem orally and were scored by three judges using a checklist on
identifying the errors committed. Judges were the researcher himself and the other two are
also the English teachers of Cabugcabug National High School. Respondents were gathered
in a certain room for the testing.
Permission to administer the instruments was first sought from the school principal of
Cabugcabug National High School. When approval was secured, the researcher personally
administered the data gathering instruments to the identified participants. Immediate
retrieval of the questionnaires was done as soon as the participants were through answering.
The data that were gathered were then tallied, tabulated and computed using the
appropriate statistical tools. Analyses and interpretation of computed data followed.
The data that were gathered from the investigation were analyzed and interpreted using
the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software.

 Frequency Counts and Percentages: To determine the number of observations in each

category and their corresponding percentages.
 Mean: To determine the scores in fluency and was utilized in getting the results for
vocabulary, readability and reading comprehension.
 Standard Deviation: To determine the homogeneity or heterogeneity of the readability,
reading skills and reading comprehension of grade 8 pupils.
 t-test for Independent Samples: The test sets at 0.05 alpha level and it is used to
determine the significance of the differences between two variables.
 One-way ANOVA: The test sets at 0.05 alpha level and it is used to determine the
significant differences among compared groups.
 Pearson’s r Product Moment Correlation: The test sets at 0.05 alpha level. It is used to
measure the relationship between module readability and reading skills, module
readability and reading comprehension, and reading skills and reading comprehension.

4. Results and Discussion

Table 1 shows the readability level of the grade 8 learner’s module. The result reveals that
the readability level of the material is “standard” (M = 68.28, SD = 17.01).
This implies that the reading selections or the literary pieces included in the grade 8
student’s module suit their level. This means that the short stories, poems, essays,
biographies, speeches, or any narrations in their book can be understood by any student in
the same level. This further signifies that grade 8 learners should have to be independent
readers who need not the assistance of a teacher when reading and comprehending articles
from the manual.

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 Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

This idea disagrees with the scheme of Armbruster et al. (2001) saying that textbooks are
more difficult in high school; there are also more of them and students are expected to
understand them with less assistance from the teacher. With his studies, data have shown
that many of the texts students are given to read are poorly written and “inconsiderate”.
That is, they are written in such a way that the text is not easily understood or remembered,
even by a proficient reader.

Table 1: Level of readability of learners’ module of grade 8 students

N Mean Description SD
Readability 37 68.28 Standard 17.01

Scale Description
90-100 Very easy
80-89 Easy

70-79 Fairly easy

60-69 Standard
50-59 Fairly difficult
30-49 Difficult

0-29 Very confusing

Table 2 shows the level of reading skills across the profile of the respondents. The result
reveals that as an overall group, students are “proficient” (M = 85.34, SD = 5.91) in reading
skills. Data further show that both male and female are “proficient” in reading skills with
the means 84.80 (SD = 5.60) and M = 85.58 (SD = 6.05), respectively. Students with the age
ranging from 12 to 14 years old are “proficient” (M = 85.91, SD = 6.04), however, those with
the age ranging from 15 to 18 years old reached only the “approaching proficiency” level
with means ranged from 82.00 to 83.00. “Proficient” level in reading skills was also attained
by those with the monthly family income of P 5,000 to P 15,000 and above P 15,000 with the
means ranging from 87.08 to 89.63 (SDs = 5.35 to 6.96), yet, those with below P 5,000 got the
“approaching proficiency” level of reading skills with mean 82.86 (SD = 4.64). Participants
with both parents with the educational attainments elementary level, elementary graduate
and high school level have the reading skills with description “approaching proficiency”
with means ranged from 80.36 to 84.00 (SDs = 2.13 to 4.54). However, participants with
parents with educational attainments high school graduate, college level and college
graduate reached “proficient” level of reading skills with means ranging from 84.82 to 88.71
(SDs = 6.16 to 5.47). Finally, participants with parents whose educational attainment is with
master’s units, master’s degree holder, with doctorate degree units or doctorate degree
holder has the reading skills level of “advanced” with means ranging from 90.00 to 95.00.
With the level of reading skills when classified according to respondents’ profile, data show
that better performances were obtained by female, those with the age ranging from 12-14
years old, with monthly family income of above 15,000 pesos, with father’s educational
attainment of doctorate degree holder and mother’s educational attainment with master’s
units.
The results entail that sex is not a factor whether or not a student acquire skills in reading.
Both have an equal chance of attaining the skill provided he or she has the interest of
learning it. Students with the age 12 to 14 years old have better reading skills compared to
those with 15 to 20. The participants with age 15 to 20 may have stopped from schooling the

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reason why they were not able to acquire thorough skills in reading. The higher the monthly
family income the higher the tendency of a student to have the skills in reading. This may be
due to the availability of reading resources and exposure to technology which help develop
their interest and reading skills. Finally, the results imply that the higher the educational
attainment of parents, the higher is the chance of a student to have the needed reading skill.
This may be because of the encouragement of the parents to value education and setting as
an example to their children. Also, students may be challenged to perform well because of
their parents’ expectations.
The result in terms of age confirms the finding of Pasadas (2012) revealing that a child
performs better in academics if his age corresponds to the age expected in his year level.
Regalado (2000) and Falsario (2000) who pointed out that females are better than males in
academic performance does not conform the result when it comes to sex. On the other hand,
the result of the study of Dela Cruz (2000) who found out that the higher the educational
attainment of the parents, the better is their influence on the studies of their children verifies
the result on parents’ education. Parental attitude towards study which in return is
influenced by the education of parents is a factor which may affect the performance of
pupils in school. Possibly, students need economically capable parents that can provide
them with their study needs. This idea of Dequiňa (2011) supports the result that family
income somehow is a factor affecting a student’s performance.

Table 2: Level of reading skills across respondents’ profile.

N Mean Description SD
Overall 115 85.34 P 5.91

Sex
Male 35 84.80 P 5.60
Female 80 85.58 P 6.05

Age
12-14 yrs old 98 85.91 P 6.04
15-17 yrs old 16 82.00 AP 3.81
18-20 yrs old 1 83.00 AP .

Family income
below PhP5,000 59 82.86 AP 4.64
PhP5,000-15,000 37 87.08 P 5.35
above PhP15,000 19 89.63 P 6.96

Father's educational attainment

Elementary level 15 82.33 AP 4.15
Elementary graduate 14 81.79 AP 3.89
High school level 16 82.25 AP 4.12
High school graduate 16 86.38 P 5.62
College level 17 85.41 P 5.71
College graduate 34 88.35 P 6.18
Master's degree holder 2 92.50 A 6.36
Doctorate degree Holder 1 95.00 A .

Mother's educational attainment

Elementary level 8 84.00 AP 4.54

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 Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

Elementary graduate 14 80.36 AP 2.13

High school level 27 83.11 AP 3.93
High school graduate 22 84.82 P 6.16
College level 11 85.00 P 6.28
College graduate 24 88.71 P 5.47
With master's units 4 94.25 A 2.99
Master's degree holder 4 94.00 A 4.08
With doctorate units 1 90.00 A .

Scale Description
85.90 and above (A) Advanced
84.50-89.49 (P) Proficient
79.50-84.49 (AP) Approaching Proficiency
74.50-79.49 (D) Developing
74.49 and below (B)_ Beginning

Table 3 shows the level of reading comprehension across respondents’ profile. The results
reveal that as an entire group, students’ reading comprehension is “developing” with mean
76.18 (SD = 11.30). The same reading comprehension description is obtained even when
males are separated from females with means 75.26 and 76.59, (SD = 10.93 and 11.51).
Participants with age 12 to 14 fell on the same level of “developing” stage with mean 77.00
(SD = 11.52); 15 to 17 years old got the “beginning” stage(M = 70.88, SD = 8.79); and
“approaching proficiency” (M = 81.00) for participant with age 18 to 20 years old.
Participants with monthly family income of below P 5,000 resulted “beginning” in reading
comprehension with mean 74.34 (SD = 9.45); “developing” (M = 75.89, SD = 11.88) for
participants with P 5,000 to P 15,000 monthly family income; and “approaching proficiency”
(M = 82.47, SD = 13.63). Respondents’ fathers with educational attainment elementary level
resulted to “beginning” ( M = 70.40, SD = 8.65) in the category of reading comprehension
skills, while respondents with mothers whose educational attainment is elementary level
resulted to “developing” stage with mean 76.75 ( SD = 7.83); participants with both parents
who are elementary graduate and high school level obtained “beginning” level with means
ranging from 71.86 to 73.56 (SDs 6.64 to 11.55); participants with fathers who are high school
graduate have the “developing” level with mean 78.44 (SD = 12.55), different from the
participants with fathers who are college level and college graduate with levels “beginning”
and “approaching proficiency” levels, respectively with respective means 74. 65 (SD = 11.59)
and 80.62 (SD = 11.74).On the other hand, participants whose fathers held master’s degree
and doctorate degree reached the levels “advanced” (M = 92.00, SD = 1.41) and “proficient”
(M = 85.00), respectively. With respondents whose mother’s educational attainment is high
school graduate or college level, they obtained “beginning” level with means 73.95 (SD =
10.93) and 74.45 (SD = 13.90), respectively. Respondents with mothers whose educational
attainment is college graduate and those with units in master’s degree attained
“approaching proficiency” level with means 79.96 to 83.50 (SD = 11.16 to 12.77). Finally,
participant with mother whose educational attainment is with doctorate units reached
“proficient” level with mean 89.00. With the results on the level of reading comprehension
when classified as with the respondents’ profile, data reveal that better performances were

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attained by female, with age ranging from 18 to 20 years old, with monthly family income of
above 15,000 pesos, with father’s educational attainment of doctorate degree holder and
with mother’s educational attainment of master’s degree holder.

Table 3: Level of reading comprehension across respondents’ profile

N Mean Description SD

Overall 115 76.18 D 11.30

Sex D
Male 35 75.26 D 10.93
Female 80 76.59 D 11.51

Age
12-14 yrs old 98 77.00 D 11.52
15-17 yrs old 16 70.88 B 8.79
18-20 yrs old 1 81.00 AP .

Family Income
below PhP5,000 59 74.34 B 9.45
PhP5,000-15,000 37 75.89 D 11.88
above PhP15,000 19 82.47 AP 13.63

Father's Educational Attainment

Elementary level 15 70.40 B 8.65
Elementary Graduate 14 72.57 B 8.23
High School level 16 72.19 B 9.16
High School Graduate 16 78.44 D 12.55
College level 17 74.65 D 11.59
College Graduate 34 80.62 AP 11.74
Master's Degree Holder 2 92.00 A 1.41
Doctorate Degree Holder 1 85.00 P .
Mother's Educational Attainment
Elementary level 8 76.75 D 7.83
Elementary Graduate 14 71.86 B 6.64
High School level 27 73.56 B 11.55
High School Graduate 22 73.95 B 10.93
College level 11 74.45 B 13.90
College Graduate 24 79.96 AP 11.16
With Master's Units 4 83.50 AP 12.77
Master’s Degree Holder 4 91.75 A 1.50
With Doctorate Units 1 89.00 P .

Scale Description
85.90 and above (A) Advanced
84.50-89.49 (P) Proficient
79.50-84.49 (AP) Approaching Proficiency
74.50-79.49 (D) Developing
74.49 and below (B) Beginning

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 Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

This implies that the reading comprehension level of the grade eight students of
Cabugcabug National High School needs to be honed and developed for they only acquire
the passing rate which is the developing stage. The comprehension skill doesn’t vary in
gender which signifies that both sexes are capable of enhancing the skill in comprehension
without considering their identities. The age, monthly family income, or even the
educational attainment of parents cannot speak on how a student acquires skills in
comprehension. These factors do not directly contribute to student’s ability to understand a
certain reading selection or on their skill in comprehension. This further implies that how a
student comprehends is based on his or her individuality and ability to grasp a certain skill
which enables him or her to develop. Lagon (2012) who found out that age isn’t a factor that
affect the academic performance of students affirms the result.
Table 4a shows the result of t-test on the difference in the reading skills as to sex.
Statistical analysis reveals no significant difference in the students’ reading skills when
classified as to sex, t (113) = .646 with p = .520. This means that regardless of sex of the
students, their reading skill remains the same. The result confirms that sex did not affect the
proficiency in English of the respondents. Therefore, the null hypothesis which states that
there is no significant difference in the level of reading skills of the grade eight students
when they are classified in terms of sex is accepted.

Table 4a: t-test in reading skills according to sex

Sex N Mean SD T Df Sig
Male 35 85 6 -.646 113 .520
female 80 86 6

Table 4b shows the analysis of variance in reading skills across age, family income and
parent’s educational attainment. It is observed that students’ reading skills differ
significantly when classified as to age, F (2, 112) = 3.21 with p = 0.44, family income, F (2, 112)
= 14.63 with p = .000, fathers’ educational attainment, F (7, 107) = 5.05 with p = 000 and
mothers’ educational attainment, F (8, 106) = 7.32 with p = .000. It is observed that students’
reading skills differ significantly when classified as to age. The results indicate that age,
family income and parent’s educational attainment affect the reading skills of the students.
This means that the younger or the older a student is, equal is the chance to develop or
acquire the skill. It may not be too late or too early for a learner to have the skills in reading.
It is on the readiness on when one attains this ability. Monthly family income is also a factor
on one’s skill in reading. If the family provides enough resources in reading, one has the
chance to practice and sharpen the reading skills. The exposure to certain books,
encyclopedias, comics, or gadgets somehow encourages learning skills in reading. Lastly,
parents’ educational attainment also affects the skill in reading of a student. This may be due
to the training and teaching a parent could lend to his or her child at a young age where he
or she develops a certain skill in reading. Also, it is a motivation and a challenge for a child
to learn knowing what their parents expect them to do so. In other scenarios, it may be due
to idealism of a child seeing their parents as an example that they need to follow.

Table 4b: Analysis of variance in reading skills across age, family income and parents educational
attainment

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SS Df MS F Sig.
Reading skills across age
Between Groups 215.60 2 107.80 3.21* .044
Within Groups 3760.17 112 33.57
Total 3975.77 114
Family Income
Between Groups 823.68 2 411.84 14.63* .000
Within Groups 3152.09 112 28.14
Total 3975.77 114
Father's Educational Attainment
Between Groups 986.95 7 140.99 5.05* .000
Within Groups 2988.82 107 27.93
Total 3975.77 114
Mother's Educational Attainment
Between Groups 1414.91 8 176.86 7.32* .000
Within Groups 2560.86 106 24.16
Total 3975.774 114
*p<0.05 significant @ 5% alpha level

Pupils who came from homes whose parents were highly educated and economically
secured showed superior levels in reading in comparison to parents who attained lower
levels of education. This result of the study of Damaso (2007) somehow supports the finding
of this study. In addition, the result in terms of parents’ educational attainment affirms the
findings of Lagon (2012) who revealed that there was a highly significant difference in the
level of academic performance of students when classified according to parents’ educational
attainment. The higher the educational attainment of the parents, the higher is the level of
performance of the students. Therefore, the null hypothesis which states that there is no
significant difference in the level of reading skills of the grade eight students when they are
classified in terms of age, year level, monthly family income, and educational attainment of
parents is rejected.
The t-test result in Table 5a shows that student’s sex, t (113) = .579 with p = .549, does not
make a difference in the students’ reading skills. The result implies that either a student is
male or female, it does not follow that he or she is good at reading comprehension.
Therefore, the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference in the level
of the reading comprehension of the grade eight students as when they are classified in
terms of sex is accepted.

Table 5a: t-test in Reading Comprehension According to Sex

Sex N Mean SD T df Sig
Male 35 75.26 10.93 -.579 113 .564
Female 80 76.59 11.51

Table 5b shows analysis of variance in reading comprehension according to age, family

income and parents’ educational attainment. It can be observed that age, F (2, 112) = 2.15
with p = .121 does not differ significantly with the students’ reading comprehension.

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 Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

However, the monthly family income, F (2, 112) = 3.93 with p = .022, fathers’ educational
attainment, F (7, 107) = 2.88 with p = .009 and mothers’ educational attainment F (8, 106) =
2.46 with p = .017 make significant differences with students’ reading comprehension. It can
be observed that age does not differ significantly with the students’ reading comprehension.

Table 5b: Analysis of variance in reading comprehension according to age, family income, and parents
educational attainment
SS df MS F Sig.
Age
Between Groups 539.42 2 269.71 2.15 .121
Within Groups 14021.75 112 125.19
Total 14561.17 114
Family Income
Between Groups 955.64 2 477.82 3.93* .022
Within Groups 13605.52 112 121.48
Total 14561.17 114
Father's Educational Attainment
Between Groups 2307.85 7 329.69 2.88* .009
Within Groups 12253.32 107 114.52
Total 14561.17 114
Mother's Educational Attainment
Between Groups 2282.89 8 285.36 2.46* .017
Within Groups 12278.27 106 115.83
Total 14561.17 114
*p<0.05 significant @ 5% alpha level

The results entail that the younger or the older a student is, his or her reading
comprehension does not directly correspond to it. A student may be developed or not in
understanding a certain reading selection whether he or she is young or old enough. On the
contrary, as with the monthly family income, it is seen that this factor somehow contributes
to a students’ performance the same with the effect of parents’ educational attainment. The
results disagree with the findings of Dequiňa (2011) stating that regardless of age, a
student’s performance in English remains to be the same. Also, English performance of
students turned out to be the same irrespective of their parents’ education, occupation,
monthly income and their involvement in their children’s studies. Therefore, the null
hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference in the level of the reading
comprehension of the grade eight students when they are classified in terms of age is
accepted while on monthly family income and parents’ educational attainment are accepted.
Table 6 shows the relationship between readability and reading skills, readability and
reading comprehension and reading skills with reading comprehension. The results of
Pearson’s r reveals that there are no significant relationships between readability and
reading skills, r = -0.034 with p = 0.715 and between readability and reading comprehension,
r = -0.062 with p = 0.511. Conversely, the results show significant relationship between
reading skills and reading comprehension. The results indicate that the better the reading
skills which include vocabulary and fluency of the students, the higher is the tendency that
they comprehend what they read.

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Table 6: Results on Pearson r among readability, reading skills and reading comprehension
R Sig
Module Readability and Reading Skills -0.034 0.715
Module Readability and Reading Comprehension -0.062 0.511
Reading Skills and Reading Comprehension 0.744* 0.000
p<0.05 significant @ 5% alpha level

Comprehension is not guaranteed with fluency, but it is difficult without fluency. If a

reader has to frequently stop to figure out unknown words, most likely the reader will not
remember or understand much of what is read (Pikulski and Chard, 2005).Fluent readers
recognize words and comprehend at the same time, whereas less fluent readers must focus
their attention on figuring out the words, leaving them little attention for understanding the
text (Armbruster et al., 2001). When gains are made in fluency, readers can focus their
attention on comprehension and understand more of what is read Lastly, effective reading
comprehension is the culmination of mastering vocabulary, phonics, fluency, and reading
skills (Dougherty-Stahl, 2004). Therefore, the null hypothesis which states that there are no
significant relationships between the readability and reading skills, and no significant
relationship on readability and comprehension is accepted while on reading skills and
reading comprehension of the grade eight students, the null hypothesis is rejected.

5. Conclusions

The “standard” readability level of the grade 8 learners’ module may indicate that the
literary pieces and readings included in it are comprehensible. Students are expected to read
the literature independently without the assistance of any teacher or peers. The reading
selections are not so hard or easy enough to be understood for they suit the level of the
students.
Grade 8 students are proficient readers; they have the skill in vocabulary and fluency.
They can pronounce most of the words with accuracy and understand most of the English
words and even give meaning to them. This may imply that their oral reading skills have
been practiced and developed resulting to a better reading oral performance. Also, the
development of their vocabulary skills has been a part of their training and honed their skill
in giving meaning to English words. This case is may be due to their exposure on individual
or choral reading activities inside the classroom. In addition, their exposure to certain
reading materials and gadgets somehow contributed to acquiring the skills in reading. The
level of reading comprehension of the grade 8 students is developing. This is may be due to
their interest and patience in reading. Their attitude towards reading activities contributes to
their understanding. Due to their short span of concentration as they read, they are capable
of neglecting the totality of the content, ideas and thought of a certain reading article.
The significant difference on the students’ reading skills in terms of age, monthly family
income, fathers’ educational attainment and mothers’ educational attainment may indicate
that these factors affect the gaining of the students of their reading skills except when
classified into sex. Thus, the reading skills of the grade eight students vary in terms of age,
monthly family income, fathers’ educational attainment and mothers’ educational

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 Module Readability, Reading Skills, and Reading Comprehension of Grade 8 Students

attainment. The significant difference on the students’ reading comprehension in terms of

monthly family income, mothers’ educational attainment and fathers’ educational
attainment may signify that the aforementioned factors contribute to the acquisition of the
ability of the students to comprehend except with sex and age. This means that regardless of
sex or age, the skills in reading comprehension of the students are not affected.
The reading skills of the students are not significantly related to the readability of the
material. This means that whatever reading material or literary content a student reads it
doesn’t affect his or her skill in reading. The same is true with the module readability and
reading comprehension, no significance has been identified. This connotes that whatever
content, literary pieces or literary genre a student reads, his ability to comprehend is
independent. On the other hand, students’ reading skills are significantly related to their
level of reading comprehension. This means that if the students have reached the reading
skills of proficient level to advanced level, he or she must be capable of comprehending a
certain literary reading. With the acquisition of the reading skills goes the acquisition of the
reading comprehension ability. The lacking of the skill in reading is the tendency of the
student not to understand what he or she reads. These two variables are therefore
dependent with each other. With the result of the study, taking into consideration the
proficient level in reading skills and the developing level in the reading comprehension, this
signifies that it takes a lot more skill in reading to attain higher degree of skill in
comprehension because reading comprehension encompasses not only literal interpretation
but also interpretive or the so-called “reading between the lines” or the deeper
understanding of the texts.
Though a student is proficient in vocabulary or reads words fluently, a higher order of
thinking is still required for comprehension for these things are just “chunks” of literacy and
reading comprehension focuses on the totality and wholeness of the message implied in
specific literary readings. Students may be good in a specific skill but when collaborated
with other skills, they find it difficult to use to attain a specific goal. So it goes that if
students are good at vocabulary and are fluent readers, skills which are essential in
comprehension, there is still a tendency that application of these skills are at risks if the
objective will focus on comprehension. The more difficult the reading text would become,
only the advanced level will comprehend. The easier is the text, the higher the tendency for
everyone to understand the text even with those who belong in the beginning level. Looking
into the relationship of reading skills to reading comprehension and finding no relationship
among readability with reading skills and reading comprehension, it is seen that the factor is
really on the students.

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