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Chapter 1

The Problem and Its Settings

Introduction

In today's information-driven world, the ability to comprehend and critically evaluate written

texts is fundamental to academic success and lifelong learning. Reading literacy, defined as the capacity

to understand, interpret, and analyze written materials, serves as the cornerstone of education,

empowering individuals to engage with diverse texts across various subjects and disciplines. Moreover,

proficient reading skills are not only essential for academic achievement but also for active participation

in civic life, professional endeavors, and personal enrichment.

Reading is a fundamental skill needed to be successful in life. Unfortunately children with

reading disabilities experience a lot of frustration while learning to read. Often, the obstacles that students

face are too difficult to overcome and some never learn to be proficient readers. Without proper

facilitation some individuals never manage to overcome the barriers that stop them from learning to read.

Santos (2015) has defined pleasure reading as any form of reading that is fundamentally or socially

prompted and is considered as a pleasing activity for the reader. It refers to the act where the reader would read
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on his or her own will rather than being forced, which stimulate positive emotions that inspire him or her to

make reading a personal desire. Pleasure reading can be also

referred to as out-of-school reading, voluntary reading, independent reading, leisure reading,

recreational reading, and selected reading.

Jung (2016) also defines pleasure reading, where he described it as reading that is performed

primarily for enjoyment and recreational purposes. It includes an in 8 range of genres and publications that

reading within a school environment would allow; it is also not necessarily restricted to the printed material and

could include online reading as well. While Bull (2017) defines pleasure reading as a non-oriented relation with

texts as a way to pass time and for enjoyment, he also describes it as the type of reading, which is voluntary and

is performed out of the reader’s choice that involves a text of interest to the reader. He further explains that

pleasure reading is not distinguished by the experience being pleasurable, but rather by the purpose of the

reading.

Written communication provides a permanent record of the information shared, which can be

referred to at any time. This can be useful for legal, historical, or reference purposes, written communication

allows for greater clarity and precision than verbal communication. The writer can take the time to choose the

right words and logically organize their thoughts. Written communication can be disseminated to a wide

audience through various means such as email, letters, reports, and social media.

Learning to read is a sequential process where each new skill builds on the mastery of a

secure skill already obtained. In the emerging stages of learning to read ,individuals learn to break

down words into their most basic sounds in a process call decoding. After that, they begin to

comprehend the meaning of words, sentences and eventually the entire passage of text. For many
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individuals, decoding naturally occurs and turns into automatic process. An individual with a reading

disability may encounter difficulties with decoding.

Researchers chose this topic because we notice that a lot of junior high school students

still struggle in readings. Some junior high school students even reach senior high school without

mastering reading. For this persistence, the existing study employed a case study to help junior high

school students to improve the reading literacy through the help of using written communication.

Review Related Literacy

Local Literature

Janet Walker Education 127 (3), 2007

The major purpose of this study was to determine human resource managers' perceptions of selected

communication competencies. The business communication competencies studied were writing and speaking,

interpersonal/collaborative competencies and global communication competences.

Robert Thorp DeVries

Brigham Young University, 1971

The findings of this dissertation revealed that a distinct relationship exists between a program of written

communication conducted by a school and the degree of patron confidence found in the community served by

that school.

Foreign Literature

Santos (2015) has defined pleasure reading as any form of reading that is fundamentally or socially

prompted and is considered as a pleasing activity for the reader. It refers to the act where the reader

would read on his or her own will rather than being forced, which stimulate positive emotions that
 4
inspire him or her to make reading a personal desire. Pleasure reading can be also referred to as

out-of-school reading, voluntary reading, independent reading, leisure reading, recreational

reading, and self-selected reading.

Jung (2016) also defines pleasure reading, where he described it as reading that is

performed primarily for enjoyment and recreational purposes. It includes an extensive range of

genres and publications that reading within a school environment would allow; it is also not

necessarily restricted to the printed material and could include online reading as well.

While Bull (2017) defines pleasure reading as a non-oriented relation with texts as a way

to pass time and for enjoyment, he also describes it as the type of reading, which is voluntary and

is performed out of the reader’s choice that involves a text of interest to the reader. He further

explains that pleasure reading is not distinguished by the experience being pleasurable, but rather

by the purpose of the reading.

Sanford (2015) believes that reading comprehension is affected mainly by six factors,

which are working memory, vocabulary, prior knowledge, word recognition, reading strategies,

and the motivation to read. This is supported by a number of researchers, such as Moghadam,

Zainal & Ghaderpour (2014), who state that vocabulary items do affect reading comprehension

positively, as committing lexical errors is one of the recurring errors, thus, forming a prominent

barrier. It is also supported by Alfaki & Siddiek (2015), who believe that people use their already

existing information – i.e. prior knowledge – in order to understand any text they would

encounter,

and it also builds their confidence and security through activating their prior knowledge in regards

to the text.

As for the working memory, Swanson, Zheng & Jerman (2016) state that poor working

memory is one of the factors that have an impact on the person’s ability to read competently and
 5
be able to understand texts. Furthermore, Birsch (2017) believes that reading comprehension relies

on word recognition in order to be achieved quickly and allow the reader to receive knowledge

from a text. In accordance with Gilakjani & Sabouri’s (2016) findings, it has been indicated that

suitable reading strategies do play an essential role in the improvement of reading comprehension

skill among learners, especially English as a foreign language reader.

As for motivation, its effect on reading comprehension has been discussed in a study by

Blay, Mercado & Villacorta (2014); they divide motivation into two kinds; The first kind, is

intrinsic motivation, that stems from the person’s willingness and drive to perform the learning

task and acquire new skills and experiences. While the second kind, extrinsic motivation is caused

by exterior influences, such as rewards, punishments and other variables in an attempt to

manipulate one’s motivation. In short, motivation, especially the intrinsic motivation, has a larger

influence on reading comprehension.

It is strongly supported by Howard (2016) that people resort to pleasure reading unconsciously to

obtain everyday-life information and has to do with their personal characteristics and strong

developmental theme. Mikkonen (2017) argues that during the time pleasure reading, people tend

to gain insights regarding self-identification, self-recognition, and self-creation, all of which that

help the readers throughout their transition from childhood to maturity.

It is also noted that pleasure reading is seen as a social practice that is significant when it

comes to communication, taking part in life outside of the person’s direct circle, and understanding

the world. There are also two prime reasons for pleasure reading, which revolve around, sharing

The principal benefits of pleasure reading are quantity, purposeful reading, and fluency; as Limon

(2015) argue, books are the only reliable source that provides comfortably read

quantity of texts, while fiction is the only reliable source that provides texts that can improve a

learner’s eloquence and cognitive linguists. This is pointed out by Grosman (2014) " In this
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connection it is worth mentioning that cognitive linguists are also interested in the results of the

reader’s interaction with texts that in psychology are conceived of as ‘the mental representation of

the text p.162". This reflects the experience of native speakers, who are capable of progressing

from fiction to non-fiction text with ease (Claridge, 2016).

According to Wilhelm & Smith (2016), Smith, Wilhelm & Fransen (2016), and Chowdry

Chowdry, Crawford, Dearden, Joyce, Sibieta, Sylva & Washbrook (2017), it is suggested that

pleasure reading is essential for children, as it strengthens their educational achievement and social

mobility, and increases their cognitive development. When the children is at the age of five to ten,

it would be easier to stimuli reading activities and attain a high level.

This suggests that pleasure reading is not based entirely on children’s ability to read more,

but rather on the fact that the act of reading is actually linked to the increase of cognitive progress

over time (Alvermann, 2017; Cummins, 2015). From a strategic perspective, this strongly supports

the necessity to guide and inspire children to read during their spare time.

Apparently, the advantages of pleasure reading do not hold to native readers alone, but to

foreign readers as well. Many strong associations have been identified between pleasure reading,

foreign vocabulary acquisition, and morpho-syntax (Waring & Nation, 2016). For foreign readers,

pleasure reading can aid them in establishing the foundations for achieving both of literacy and

active citizenship, which can be acquired by drawing upon experiences and expectations from the

foreign sociocultural setting (Abbiss, 2016). However, while there is no lack of the number of

books that are intended for native readers, foreign readers’ capability to read for the sake of

pleasure depends is depending on the capability to access texts that are both engaging and easily

read (Nash, 2017)

source materials, 4) organizing ideas in logically and effectively, and 5) expressing said ideas in

one’s own words with both clarity and fluency).

In addition, Dahlia (2016) defines writing achievement as the outcomes of one’s learning
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experience that were obtained during the writing process within a particular field, such as

knowledge and skills; these outcomes show the level and status of the person’s learning experience

and their ability to apply what they have learned throughout a standard test.

Writing skills are considered to be quite complex and are hard to teach at times, given that

not only do they need the person to master the grammatical and rhetorical devices, but they also

need to master the conceptual and judge mental elements as well (Masjhari, 2015).

There are notable factors that influence writing achievement; the first of which is rich

vocabulary, as it allows people to express thoughts in a way that draws the interest of their targeted

audience (Ruday, 2014). The second is organizational ability, which refers to the person’s ability

to present ideas in a logical arrangement and an effective sequence (Yıldız & Yekeler, 2017). The

third is elaborating ideas in a way that allows the idea to develop fully and flow smoothly from

one sentence to another, and from one paragraph to another. Consequently, the sentence consists

a unity and coherence (Sudirman & Tiasari, 2015). The fourth is the capability of using a diverse

range of sentences to state thoughts and ideas accurately and fluently (Sulaiman, 2017).

In addition, there are some other factors that influence writing achievement. According to

Kırmızı (2019), reading habits is one of the key elements that affect writing. It has been noted that

most learning instruments rely on language acquisition, which, in turn, emphasizes the level of

reading comprehension among learners. There are also psychologies elements that can affect the

learning achievement that include intelligence, attitude, interest, motivation, and competence.

Moreover, there are several other elements that can govern students’ learning achievement

throughout the learning process, such as attitude, self-concept, interest, motivation, and learning

habits (Dahlia, 2016).

Sanford (2015) believes that reading comprehension is affected mainly by six factors,
 8
which are working memory, vocabulary, prior knowledge, word recognition, reading strategies,

and the motivation to read. This is supported by a number of researchers, such as Moghadam,

Zainal & Ghaderpour (2015), who state that vocabulary items do affect reading comprehension

positively, as committing lexical errors is one of the recurring errors, thus, forming a prominent

barrier. It is also supported by Alfaki & Siddiek (2014), who believe that people use their already

existing information – i.e. prior knowledge – in order to understand any text they would encounter,

and it also builds their confidence and security through activating their prior knowledge in regards

to the text.

As for the working memory, Swanson, Zheng & Jerman (2016) state that poor working

memory is one of the factors that have an impact on the person’s ability to read competently and

be able to understand texts. Furthermore, Birsch (2017) believes that reading comprehension relies

on word recognition in order to be achieved quickly and allow the reader to receive knowledge

from a text. In accordance with Gilakjani & Sabouri’s (2016) findings, it has been indicated that

suitable reading strategies do play an essential role in the improvement of reading comprehension

skill among learners, especially English as a foreign language reader.

As for motivation, its effect on reading comprehension has been discussed in a study by

Blay, Mercado & Villacorta (2018); they divide motivation into two kinds; The first kind, is

intrinsic motivation, that stems from the person’s willingness and drive to perform the learning

task and acquire new skills and experiences. While the second kind, extrinsic motivation is caused

by exterior influences, such as rewards, punishments and other variables in an attempt to

manipulate one’s motivation. In short, motivation, especially the intrinsic motivation, has a larger

influence on reading comprehension.

Theoretical Framework
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Social Constructionist Theory:

This theory views writing as a social activity. It suggests that the meaning in written texts is not just

in the words themselves, but also in the social and cultural contexts in which they are written and read.

In the context of written communication, the Social Constructionist Theory implies that the

meaning we derive from written texts is not just based on the words themselves, but is also shaped by the social

which the text is written and read. This includes the writer's intentions, the reader's interpretations, that influence

both.

The Social Constructionist Theory is a sociological concept that believes our understanding of

reality and the world around us is constructed through our social interactions and language use. It posits that our

perceptions of the world are not merely based on objective facts, but are shaped by the social processes and

interactions we engage in.

The Social Constructionist Theory emphasizes the role of language and social interactions in

shaping our understanding of reality. It highlights that what we perceive as "natural" or "normal" is often a

product of social processes and collective agreement rather than objective truth.

It suggests that our knowledge and perceptions of the world are not inherently objective, but are

instead constructed through our interactions with others and the societal norms and cultural values we're

exposed to. Knowledge is not necessarily based on objective observations of the world, but is often taken for

granted. What exists is what we perceive to exist. Knowledge and social action are interconnected. Each

understanding of the world comes with a variety of social constructions.

on going social processes. This means that our perceptions, beliefs, and identities are not fixed or

predetermined, but are influenced by the social context in which we live. Our understanding of the world is

shaped by the language we use, the symbols and meanings we attach to things, and the social interactions and

institutions that surround us.

In simpler terms, this theory proposes that everything we understand and know about the world is

not a direct reflection of an objective reality, but is constructed through our social interactions and cultural

contexts.
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DEPENDENT VARIABLE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

1.What is the profile of the The Impact of Using Written

Students Junior High School Communication in Improving

in terms of: the Reading Literacy of

a.) Name (Optimal); Junior High School Students

b.) Age; in RBPNHS

c.) Sex;

Figure 1. Research Paradigm

The figure above shows the research paradigm include dependent and independent variable. Where the

Dependent Variable shows the effect of the profile of the Junior High School Students in terms of A). name

(Optimal, B) age, C) sex.

The Independent Variable shows the title of researchers where it is entitled “The impact of Written

Communication in improving Reading Literacy in Junior High School of RBPNHS”.

Significance of the Study:

Findings and results of this may turn out to be sources of very useful information to the following:

Department of Education: This study could help to encourage, support, and promote an understanding of

education knowledge about reading literacy in all Filipino students.

Future Researcher: This study will help the future researchers to base their research concern about Reading

Literacy. It will also serve as a guide for them to ensure the success of future study.

School Administration: This study will help the administration to provide and held seminars about reading

literacy.

Teachers: This study will support teachers in helping students improve their writing and reading comprehension

skills.

Parents: This study will help the parents to monitor their children. It will also be a guide to develop the skills of

the children.

Students: Students will benefit from this study in terms of improving their writing and reading comprehension.

Community: Written communication fosters community engagement by providing platforms for sharing ideas,

stories, and information. This encourages participation and interaction among community members.

Statement of the Problem

The reason of this study is to identify the ‘’The Impact of Using Written Communication in Improving

the Reading Literacy of Junior High School Students of RBPNHS ”.

I. How may the profile of respondents be described in terms of:

a. Name (Optimal);

b. Age;

c. Sex;

II. How may the impact of written communication can be described in terms of:

1. How may the impact of written in improving the reading literacy of junior high school student of

RBPNHS?

2. What is the main reason of associating the impact of written communication in fulfilling reading

literacy?

3. Did Written Communication can improve Reading Literacy of the Students in RBPNHS?

4. What interventions can be developed to improve written communication skills among Junior

High School Students?

5. What are the strategies or ways to improve the reading literacy of the students?

Scope and Limitations

This study will be conducted primarily to determine the Impact of Written Communication on Reading

Literacy. The respondents of this research study will be the Junior High School Students of Restituto B Peria

National High School. This study will be conducted during the second semester of the school year 2023-2024 at

Restituto B Peria National High School, located in Brgy. Bibiclat, Aliaga, Nueva Ecija.

Definition of terms
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The following terms are defined for greater understanding of this study.

Intrinsic motivation - is defined as the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some

separable consequence.

Cognitive linguistics - is a broad school of linguistic theory that is usually called functionalist. Cognitive

linguistics, as its name indicates

Morphosyntax - the combination of morphological and syntactic aspects of language, examining how

grammatical structures and word forms interact to convey meaning in sentences.

Rhetorical device - is a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience.