Chapter 2

METHODS

Research Design

This study used a descriptive-correlational method to determine the relationship between

English freshmen students' reading habits and the grammatical competence of TSU-CTE.

Descriptive – correlational is a measure of the interaction or co-variation of two or more

variables; it demonstrates the intensity and direction of the linear relationship between variables

(Go and Posecion, 2010).

Since the researchers performed a survey questionnaire of students' reading habits and

grammar tests on students' grammatical competence, the researcher used the descriptive method.

In addition, researchers utilized the correlational method because one of the aims of this research

is to discover the significant relationship between students' reading habits and grammatical

competence.

Research Locale

The present study was conducted at Tarlac State University – College of Teacher

Education (TSU-CTE), where the freshmen BSEd Major in English students are currently

enrolled and studying. The research study was implemented inside the premises of Tarlac State

University through online learning.

Sampling and Participants

The number of participants in this study was determined using complete

enumeration. A complete enumeration is a census of the entire population. A complete

enumeration, often known as a comprehensive count, is a study of every unit, everyone, or

students at Tarlac State University's College of Teacher Education where the total participants of

the study came from who are the Freshmen Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English

Students.

There is a total of 143 freshmen BSED English Major students who are currently enrolled

in the academic year of 2020 to 2021 second semester divided into four (4) sections, namely:

English 1-A with thirty-six (36) students, English 1-B with thirty-nine (39) students, English 1-C

with thirty-six (36) students, and English 1-1 with thirty-two (32) students.

Due to students’ availability and conflict in schedule, the total sample of the current study

was narrowed down into 113 students with twenty-seven (27) males and eighty-six (86) females

between eighteen (18) to twenty-five (25) years old. English 1-A is composed of thirty-one (31)

students, English 1-B is composed of thirty-three (33) students, English 1-C is composed of

twenty-five students, and English 1-1 with twenty-four (24) students.

Research Instruments

The researchers collected data for the analysis using two research instruments, which

were reviewed and validated by three language experts. Before this, researchers sought the

authors' permission via email. The first part was a survey questionnaire for the reading habits

adopted from Ablog (2015), and the second part was a test on grammatical competence adapted

from Belk & Thompson (1999) as cited and used in the study of Magpayo et al. (2015). The data

gathered were from English freshmen students of TSU-CTE.

1. Survey questionnaire
 To assess what reading habits the students possessed, the adopted survey questionnaire

gathered data on the following aspects of their reading habits: time consume in reading; place of

reading; and sources of reading which is a Likert scale survey form with five-point scale starting

from (1) never, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) often, and (5) always, composed of ten (10)

indicators per sub category of the reading habits questionnaire. The method of responding to the

survey questionnaire via online forms was by clicking or tapping the circle of the scale of the

indicator each indicator. The aforementioned survey questionnaire instrument adopted from

Ablog (2015) underwent validation and reliability test with 0.911 Cronbach’s alpha high

reliability.

2. Grammar Test

The grammar test instrument is a Grammar Inventory for Teachers (GIFT) by Belk &

Thompson (1999), which was adapted by Magpayo et al. (2015) in a grammatical competence

study of freshmen English major students. The research instrument possessed components which

are the sub-variables of the current study: morphological aspect and syntactical aspect. A

multiple-choice type of test evaluated the students' grammatical competence. It consists of 100

items divided into two parts: fifty (50) item test for morphological aspect and fifty (50) item test

for syntactical aspect, where researchers gave a score of "one" to every students’ correct answer.

Students can click or tap the letter of the correct answer from the four to five choices in the

response form. Additionally, in terms of reliability, the GIFT has KR20 of 0.700 which indicates

that the said grammatical test is valid and reliable.

Data Gathering Procedure

Prior to selecting the student sample for the study, the researcher secured the appropriate

permission to the dean’s office to allow the researchers to conduct the study among the English
freshmen students at Tarlac State University- College of Teacher Education. The researchers also

asked for a convenient schedule of the respondents to know when to administer the

questionnaires. After the dean approved the researchers’ request to conduct a study, language

experts along with the statistician approved the data gathering instruments, that was the time that

the researchers virtually administered the questionnaire distributed to the English freshmen

students. Letter asking for permission was sent and attached on the online form as the researchers

float the data gathering instruments. A messenger group chats were created each section for the

researchers to send the link of the google form and for the asynchronous monitoring of data

gathering. Through the use of the said online platforms, data was collected, analyzed,

synthesized, and interpreted.

Data Analysis

For data calculation, the researchers used the following statistical methods. The data

gathered were collected, collated, tabulated, and interpreted to facilitate the data analysis.

Descriptive statistics interpreted the results, such as frequency counts, percentages, and

mean. The statistical treatment used to measure the relation between two variables in the study

was the Pearson-Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson’s Correlation). The Pearson-

Product Moment Correlation Coefficient is a measure of the strength of the linear relationship

between two variables (Lane, 2021). Pearson’s correlation determined whether English freshmen

students’ reading habits have a significant relationship to their grammatical competence. All data

analyses were done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.

Frequency Distribution. This applies to how many times an answer has been given in response

to a particular question. The frequency distribution is made up of the frequencies and the ratings.
 Percentage. Following that, the frequency of scores was translated into a percentage

using the formula:

(P) = N / f x 100%

Mean. It is the arithmetic mean of a group of numbers. This will be accomplished by the

use of the formula:

x́=∑ x ∕ N

Where:

∑ x = Sum of all the individual values

N = Total number of class

The Reading Habits of the students were categorized using the following range of scores:

Table 2
Range Verbal Interpretation
4.50-5.00 Always
3.50-4.49 Often
2.50-3.49 Sometimes
1.50-2.49 Rarely
1.00-1.49 Never
Reading Habits
Interpretation Scale

An interpretation scale was used to determine the grammatical competence of the

students in each grammatical area as presented below:

Table 3
Scores Verbal Interpretation
41-50 Highly Competent
31-40 Moderately
21-30 Competent
11-20 Fairly Competent
0-10 Incompetent
 Grammatical Competence
Interpretation Scale

An interpretation scale was used to assess the overall grammatical competence of the

students as presented below:

Table 4
Scores Verbal Interpretation
81-100 Highly competent
61-80 Moderately
41-60 Competent
21-40 Fairly Competent
0-20 Incompetent
The Overall Grammatical Competence
Interpretation Scale

Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r): Researchers used this to

determine any significant relationship between reading habit and grammatical competence.

The formula is:

Where:

r = correlation between X and Y

∑X = sum of X scores

N = Class number

∑Y = sum of Y scores

N = Number of cases
 ∑X2 = Sum of squared X scores

∑X2 = S

Validation Phase

Researchers secured letters to three language experts to validate all questionnaires in

terms of face and content validity to ensure that instruments are consistent with the core of the

study. The two master teachers and Doctor of Philosophy in English were the language experts.

The Ph.D. in English had 20 years of teaching experience. The English master teachers worked

in public schools for 6-7 years. They had all completed a Master of Arts in Education Major in

English.

The adaptation of grammatical competence test was under the consent of its author via

email. Most of the test items were modified and contextualized based on the respondents’

background and culture. Experts who validated the test items in grammatical competence test

suggested to modify the items under the morphological aspect incorporating inflectional and

derivational morpheme and word formation. Through their guidance and using an adapted

validation tool from Burton et. al (1991), the research instrument on grammatical competence

was validated and proven reliable with KR20 of 0.700 which was used to assess the grammatical

competence level of the respondents. Likewise, survey questionnaire for reading habits was

validated by the language experts and approved by the statistician. Based on 0.911 Cronbach

Alpha, which points out high reliability the said test was valid and reliable to measure the

reading habits of the freshmen students.

The first two instruments that the researchers adapted and modified were from Quiballo

(2020) for grammatical competence test and Ablog (2015) for reading habits survey

questionnaire. During the research proposal, grammatical competence test was rejected due to

level of difficulty and appropriateness to the respondents. Grammatical Inventory for Teachers

(GIFT) was then adapted and contextualized according to the learners’ ability. Language experts

suggested to modify the morphological test and incorporate derivational and inflectional

morphemes as well as word formation. Furthermore, the research instrument for the reading

habits originally a checklist was then modified and became a Likert scale instrument. Both the

research instruments underwent face and content validity, reliability test which were approved by

three language experts and statistician.

Ethical Considerations

After obtaining permission to perform the study, the researcher informed all participants

about its purpose and significance. Participation was entirely voluntary; it was specified in the

informed written consent. Likewise, the researcher-maintained confidentiality and voluntary

withdrawal from the analysis at any time during its conduct without the need to justify any bias.

Informed Consent. The participants were oriented on the study before data collection.

They were asked to sign a written agreement to participate based on their own free will, right

mind, and free from coercion.

Privacy. During data collection, if there was any question that is too confidential for the

participants to answer and want to keep the details private, their request was granted and

respected.
 Confidentiality. All the information that the researchers obtained from the informants

was held in strict confidence.

Anonymity. The researcher maintained the participants’ anonymity.