CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Background of the Study

In today’s society, it is absolutely critical that every person has the fullest

opportunities to become an accomplished reader. Anyone unable to read and

write proficiently faces enormous social, personal, and economic limitations in

today’s complex, information-flooded world (Chard, Pikulski & Templeton, 2018).

College students who struggle with reading also struggle with writing. In the

same way, those who are strong readers are also found to be strong writers.

Therefore, the more the nature of the relationship between the two is explored,

the more students get helped to improve both (Deming, 2020).

In a study conducted in America, Romano (2019) states that literacy

experts and educators are stunned by the results of a recent teenage literacy

assessment which revealed that reading proficiency of students has declined in

the past decade. Accordingly, only 41 percent of graduate students tested could

be classified as proficient in reading and understanding information in short texts.

In addition, National Endowment of the Arts (2019) notes that reading declines in

the United States. Not only is reading declining, Americans are reading less well,

reading comprehension skills are eroding as well. The finding suggests that the

skills of the Americans in reading is deteriorating.

On the other hand, the descriptive study conducted by Sperber (2017) in

America shows that undergraduate students write about a total of over 100

pages per semester. Yet, they still had difficulty mounting a logical argument, and
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had even more difficulty writing out that argument in coherent paragraph form.

Thus, the problem lies not in the quantity of writing outputs but in its quality. It

was revealed in the study that students did not have enough practice and were

not given necessary feedbacks in order for them to develop a set of sophisticated

writing skills.

In the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2020), 796 million adults worldwide

(15 years and older) were reported as not being able to read and write. Based on

their statistics, the global adult literacy rate was 83% with more than half of those

unable to read and write – 412 million – lived in Southern Asia.

A study in some East Asian Universities conducted by Qian and Li (2018)

reveals that Hong Kong students perform much lower compared to their Western

peers in terms of reading proficiency although they outscore them on aptitude

and intelligence tests. Thus, Hong Kong students find reading in English as a

target language which is a major challenge despite overall academic and

professional success.

Furthermore, Phakiti and Li (2018) found out that Asian ESL postgraduate

students who are completing a Master’s Degree in TOESL in Australia have

general academic difficulties specifically on reading and writing. The findings also

show that these students have weaknesses on synthesizing information and

academic writing. Furthermore, the study reveals that academic reading and

writing difficulties have strong associations among general academic difficulties.

In the Philippines, many students have difficulty writing. Students are

unable to write to the desired benchmark set due to a lack of general knowledge

to extend and expound the concerns provided in their writing. Language

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accuracy, which encompasses spelling, punctuation, morphology, and syntax, is

another obvious issue that students encounter. As a result, reading and writing

have become a severe problem for tertiary students. Basic writing patterns are

difficult for second-language learners to master. The majority of students at the

Liceo de Cagayan- Senior High School make the most mistakes in grammar and

mechanics in their papers, particularly in the usage of verbs and verb tenses and

capitalization regulations. Furthermore, as evidenced in the classroom, many

students continue to struggle with reading comprehension and writing

(Jamaludin& Mohamed, 2020),

With those mentioned issues, a study that would reveal the reading

proficiency and writing competence of fourth year BSED-English students

becomes an imperative especially that they see language learning as more

demanding since it is their field of expertise. Since the university’s vision is to

achieve excellence and produce globally-competitive graduates, this study will

gauge their proficiency in reading as well as competence in writing. Moreover, at

this technology-driven age, students’ engagement in sophisticated reading

happens more occasionally than they ought to be. Thus, this study will determine

their level of reading proficiency and their writing competence considering the

fact that these two skills are always manifested in their school and workplace.

Statement of the Problem

This study purposely focused on determining the relationship between

reading proficiency and writing competence of the fourth year BEED-English

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students of NDC-Tagum Campus, INC, the research aims to answer the

following questions:

1. What is the level of reading proficiency of High School students of NDC

Tagum-Campus in terms of:

1.1 Pronunciation;

1.2 Vocabulary; and

1.3 Text Comprehension;

2. What is the level of writing competence of High School students of the

University of Southeastern Philippines Tagum-Campus in terms of:

2.1 Content;

2.2 Organization; and

2.3 Grammar.

3. Is there a significant relationship between reading proficiency and writing

competence of High School students of NDC-Tagum Campus?

Null Hypothesis

The following null hypotheses was tested at 0.05 level of significance

using the appropriate statistical tools.

1. There is no significant relationship between reading proficiency and

writing competence of High School students in NDC-Tagum

Foundation Incorporated
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Review of Related Literature

This section presents the gathered information from various sources such

as books, internet and journals that review reading proficiency and writing

competence. The chosen and gathered literature and studies define what reading

proficiency is and its indicators (pronunciation, vocabulary and text

comprehension) as well as writing competence and its indicators (content,

organization and grammar).

Reading Proficiency

Many students in the secondary level have poor language proficiency.

Based on the study conducted, foreign English learners fail to develop academic

reading proficiency which is a prerequisite for higher education. This problem is

probably caused by unfamiliar vocabulary and slow reading skills among

students. It is a sad fact that contrary to expectations, university learners of

English as a foreign language have poor reading proficiency (Hellekjaer, 2019)

This is supported by Tejero (2020) when he said that the critical element

in reading act is the reader’s meaningful response to the written symbol. When

printed materials are presented to the readers, they react to the symbols

depending on its worth to them. Readers’ responses vary depending on what

their schema has in-store for them. Some may find several texts interesting and

engaging while others feel the opposite.

Reading literacy is important for gaining knowledge and understanding the

world, and it is a prerequisite for individual to become a good reader . The

Program for International Student Assessment 2018 (PISA 2018) defined reading
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literacy as “understanding, using, evaluating, reflecting on and engaging with

texts in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential

and to participate in society.” PISA 2018 takes reading literacy as a foundation

for full participation in contemporary society, requiring students to be able to

integrate and put into practice textual information with prior knowledge while

weighing the accuracy of arguments in and reflecting on the information

conveyed by the text (OECD, 2019). As seen in the PISA definition, today’s

reading literacy is no longer a skill acquired only in the early years of education

but an evolving skill and strategy, and it’s focus is no longer on collection and

memorization but on acquisition and use of information (OECD, 2019).

Moreover, good or proficient readers do not necessarily read all texts with

equal ease or success and a so-called poor or struggling reader will not

necessarily have a hard time with all texts (Cziko, Greenleaf, Hurwitz, and

Schoenbach, 2021). The reading activity also differs on the kind of reader

involved in the process and the level of difficulty of the text presented. Proficient

readers tend to slow down their pace when reading a difficult text while poor

readers stay at their speed even when the material being read turns to be hard.

On the other hand, English as second language learners’ reading

proficiency is significantly predicted by phonological awareness, rapid

automatized naming, and accurate word recognition. Compared to students who

are native learners of the English language, only word recognition and rapid

automatized naming were major predictors. In conclusion, it can be said that no

advantage exists among English native learners to learners of English as their

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second language since their oral proficiency skills are highly similar (Geva and

Zadeh, 2009).

Pronunciation the effectiveness of pronunciation is limited. Others have

demonstrated that this leads to a positive difference for one’s intelligibility.

Instructions in pronunciation thought to be needed on several fronts include

phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, reading comprehension, and vocabulary

(Ladkert, 2018).

Like grammar and vocabulary, the learner should be gradually immersed

into pronunciation .The gradual nature of pronunciation learning is an integral

part in the English language learning since it touches the foundation of the

English language - the English sounds. This is better achieved by setting

priorities for aural-oral intelligibility in order to better deal with immediate

phonological needs and starting instruction from a beginner-level. Thus,

pronunciation is a skill that needs to be met first in order to proceed to another

stage of more complex skills (Flores, 2021).

In addition, Gilakjani (2021) stresses out the importance of students’ skills

to articulate the target words correctly at a reasonable speed since for some,

learners who are poor in pronunciation are incompetent, uneducated, or lack of

knowledge. This common perception of students who do not pronounce a word

appropriately can isolate them from speaking English and can limit their

opportunities for better employment. That is, English as second language

learners with good pronunciation skills are likely to be understood even if they

make errors in other areas.

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In the research conducted, confidence in pronunciation that learners gain

from training and direct pronunciation teaching allows them to do effective

interaction with other speakers. The students’ confidence is so essential for

further progress of their linguistic development. Thus, students’ pronunciation

skills will be a great contribution in any reading endeavors (Varasarin, 2019),

There are also research that discusses the importance of pronunciation in

English language. This skill can be developed mainly in two aspects. First is on

receiving the process of information especially in listening and reading and the

other aspect is on expressing process in speaking and writing. In reading, the

students would be able to grasp the correct pronunciation of words especially

when the students are reading aloud and are directly taught by teachers or other

knowledgeable persons. Therefore, in developing pronunciation skill of the

students, practice reading is highly desirable (Chen & Vijayaram , 2020)

Moustroufas and Digalakis (2019) also state that the best performing

procedures for automatic evaluation of pronunciation is based on speech

recognition technology. One’s knowledge on pronunciation can be effectively

measured by the use of modern electronic software.

Vocabulary. Vocabulary is important for reading to learn as well as

learning to read. For understanding of text, students need to be familiar with the

meaning of at least 95% of words in any book or passage they read (Reading

Horizons Website, 2018). According to this article, vocabulary helps a reader to

read for the purpose of getting the idea presented by the printed material and to

be able to understand what the reader reads by integrating techniques that would
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unlock the meaning of word patterns. It is only when the reader achieved a

sufficient wide vocabulary that the percentage presented would be aimed.

For readers to achieve an extensive range of vocabulary, they must

expose themselves to reading and discover varied strategies which can help

them unfold the meaning of printed patterns of characters. This was supported by

Tierney (2021) when he said that students who read a lot have strong

vocabularies; those who read less have weaker vocabularies.

Students need 8000-9000 word families for reading and a number of word

knowledge on each lexical item to function in English. This amount is a lexical

learning challenge which most learners fail to meet leading them to have poor

vocabulary. To aid this, learning partners who are students, teachers, material

writers, and researchers should contribute to develop sufficient vocabulary

learning. In addition, students should be engaged in both explicit and implicit

reading instruction that give them the opportunity to familiarize and engage

themselves with lexical items. Therefore, developing a large amount of

vocabulary demands learners to be life-long active participant of acquiring (both

intentional or not) a wide range of vocabulary (Schmitt , 2021)

Pikulski and Templeton (2020) said that a large vocabulary is more

specifically predictive than reflective of high levels of reading achievement.

Having a wide range of vocabulary can possibly infer a reader’s ability’s level to

comprehend printed materials rather than revealing the reader’s competence in

understanding the text.

In addition, Texas Education Agency (2021) claims that poor readers often

lack adequate vocabulary to get the meaning of what they read. Consequently,
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reading is difficult and tedious for them to do, and they are unable to do the large

amount of reading as what they are ought to. The importance of vocabulary

reveals its importance in grasping the meaning of the material in the reading

process. For readers to be able to comprehend the idea of the text presented, he

or she should be able to understand what its words mean before moving to

determine the connections of such words to create a meaningful whole.

When students are exposed to a month-time reading program that allows

them to read comprehensively, they acquire 65% knowledge of the target words

to be enhanced. However, vocabulary acquisition varies depending on how

frequent they appear in the material they read. Therefore, extensive reading

results to more vocabulary acquisition and partial learning of words (Pigada and

Schmitt, 2006).

However, some argue on the necessity to discriminate whether students

use context for generation of meaning or acquisition of the meaning for recall. As

second language learners who are introduced to a foreign word, they attempt to

learn its meaning through sneaking into its dictionary sense and ignore the use of

elaborative acquisition procedures. According to them (Lawson and Hogben),

this practice hinders students to establish exemplifications for the words’

meaning. In conclusion, students should look into the context of the word to have

a deeper understanding of it that would facilitate metacognition for better recall

and generation of meaning (Lawson and Hogben, 2018)

Students learn vocabulary through a battery of strategy that depends on

the task, the learner, and the learning context (Gu, 2022). When learners

encounter a word for the first time, their ways of learning its meaning vary. This
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variation includes looking for a dictionary, taking notes on the material’s margins

or in between lines, repeating the word several times until they are comfortable

with it while some go beyond rote repetition until the word is committed to the

memory. The extent of how and how well students learn the meaning of the word

depends on their strategy (McElienson, 2019)

In some sense, vocabulary acquisition varies among males and females

(Catalán, 2022). Both sexes share 8 out of 10 vocabulary learning strategies

which are revealed in the descriptive study conducted. The remaining two

techniques in vocabulary learning reveal that females pay greater attention to

formal rule, input elicitation, planning, and rehearsal strategies while males are

more focused on the use of image vocabulary learning strategies. Further, males

and females perceive vocabulary learning behaviors differently and use unlike

pattern of vocabulary strategy usage as pointed out by females’ higher use of the

total vocabulary learning strategy than those of males.

Text Comprehension. As defined by Woolley (2020), reading

comprehension is a process of making meaning from the text. So, we can

associate text comprehension with reading comprehension since both aim to

define the process of extracting meaning from the text. The prime goal of the two,

therefore, is to gain an overall understanding of what is described in the text

rather than to obtain meaning from isolated words or sentences.

Comprehension is further described by Tyson (2018) as the process of

constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among (1) the reader’s

existing knowledge; (2) the information suggested by the text being read; (3) and

the context. Thus, reading comprehension involves the readers’ ability to build
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the link between the reader’s existing schema and the idea which the material

presents and the reading situation.

Many struggling readers are so used to reading not making sense that

they do not actively do anything to try to make sense. Reading requires

motivation to pay attention to both the material’s form and meaning. A reader

should be driven by his desire to achieve his purpose in reading. Therefore,

reader’s attitude towards the reading process affects the amount of information

he understands about the text (Petersen, 2020)

Some asserts that people who have difficulty understanding of what they

are reading may use other strategies such as stopping at shorter sections to

make sure they are building meaning before they get too far lost. Reading

comprehension is not attained by one technique rather readers can devise varied

methods which can help them extracting meaning from the material being read.

Breaking the text into smaller, coherent segments can help the readers to

gradually comprehend the text before bridging each small information into a

logical whole (Marzola, 2021).

Reading comprehension can often go undetected in the classroom

because no one asks fluent readers if they know the meaning of what they just

read (Herbert, 2020). Oftentimes, a misconception of fluency to indicate the

reader’s understanding of the text is taken for granted. People tend to believe

that when a reader is able to assign appropriate sounds and articulate them

flawlessly, the reader understands the material he is reading. However, fluency

does not entirely mean comprehension.

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The readers’ ability to comprehend a text can be reinforced through

pictures that show association of meaning between written words. This is

because pictures show relationships among concepts and ideas in the material

the reader finds hard to understand. Yet, pictures, when used to explain further a

system of words may appeal to the reader’s emotion which may increase or

decrease the possibility of attaining the target behavior. This practice of

depending on certain images is more beneficial to less literate readers (Houts,

Doak, Doak, and Loscalzo, 2018).

Early childhood experiences are the keys for students’ skills to unlock the

meaning of a text and to understand it. These involvements and familiarities

enable a student to be prepared when entering school, and eventually, reading

texts. It is important to remember, therefore, that proficient readers are taught

how to derive the meaning of the written material in their early years. On the

contrary, poor readers lack the ability to comprehend the text because they did

not receive sufficient and essential instruction on how to understand the system

of words. That is why there is a need of improving instruction for reading

comprehension outcomes to ensure that learners and other persons who are

directly involved on this matter can remediate this problem (Snow, 2017).

Students with low comprehension skills should be under a

multidimensional, metacognitive vocabulary intervention (Lubliner and Smetana,

2005). Such programs will help students to maximize some strategies that lead to

word-learning proficiency since they are exposed to a comprehensive instruction

that is designed to develop students’ ability to encode selected words and clarify

strategies to master such words. This activity should be employed in schools to

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help students increase metacognitive skills that direct them to learning a strategy

which would help them comprehend the text.

Morphological awareness has a direct contribution to reading

comprehension through structural equation modeling while it has an indirect

effect to reading comprehension via vocabulary. It can be said that the direct and

indirect derivational morphological awareness direct reading comprehension and

the second and foreign English learners who aim to understand the language can

benefit from this (Kieffer and Lesaux, 2021).

Duke and Pearson (2009) claim that good readers process text all

throughout the reading activity. Although traditional view of reading says that

comprehension only occurs during reading when good readers try to understand

the text in the time when they take short breaks during reading, after the reading

activity has initiated, and even after when it has ceased.

Writing Competence

Competent writing, as communicative means, plays a very important role

in the modern world of technology (Žindżivvienē and Tuomaitē, 2017). The 21 st

century compromises advancement of technology that has gratified writing to

increase their essence of creating connections between people and all the other

factors that affect them.

As defined by Ghaith (2017), writing is a complex process that allows

writers to explore thoughts and ideas and to make them visible and concrete.

The most salient feature of writing is the conversion of the writer’s idea from the
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cognitive picture of a message to the system of symbols known to human. Thus,

writers are in need to put appropriate characters to the abstract idea of their

imagination in which they produce materials that present their views and feelings.

For a writer to achieve superiority in writing as concluded in the study of

Johnstone, Ashbaugh, Warfield (2017), repeated practice would be needed to

attain higher writing skills and that after monitoring for repeated practice, writing

with in a specific task domain would be associated with superior writing skills.

Thus, students are in need to constantly practice writing for them to be

competent enough.

Teachers’ guidance and supervision are needed for the attainment of such

writing competence of students. Thus, in the findings of Archibald (2019), he

suggested that teachers should look into writing expertise in terms of an overall

balance of competence and that targeting aspects of student writing can affect

this overall balance. Consequently, teachers need to be cautious in addressing

the needs of the students in writing for it may affect the total progress of the

students’ writing competence.

In connection to the mentioned role of teachers in achieving high writing

competence of students, Tangpermpoon’s (2021) findings stressed that teachers

must use integrated approach in teaching writing to students, and by doing this,

teachers would be able to develop learners’ writing competence through

providing appropriate input of knowledge and skills in the writing procedure. The

teachers’ role in the progress of the students’ writing competence is crucial;

therefore, with the proper guidance of the teachers, students can become

competent writers.
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However, Gustilo and Magno (2021) found five most frequently occurring

errors Filipino students commit which highly contribute to their low writing

competence, namely: (1) use of comma; (2) word choice; (3) verbs; (4)

capitalization; (5) punctuation and sentence structure. The students’ knowledge

on the five errors can be credited to the teachers themselves and to the way they

deliver instruction about writing to their students, though student factor itself

could also be a reason.

On the other hand, researchers in this generation are enthusiastic to find

different approaches, methods or ways to further enhance students’ competence

in writing. In the study conducted by Ming-Tzu and Chia-Tzu (2019), they

examined the efficacy of using English Dialogue Journal Writing (DJW) as a tool

to further test and develop students’ writing skills, and it was found out that DJW

project improved the students’ writing fluency, writing performance on content,

organization and vocabulary. Accordingly, if teachers adopt the same tool in the

Philippine context, there could be a possibility of increase in the students’ writing

competence.

Content. As mentioned by Barone (2019), every piece of content one

writes should have a hook. It could be compared to fishing, wherein writer’s hook

is what one uses to catch a reader in the net. It is important to catch the readers’

attention in order to make them want to read further.

According to the Centre for Learning and Study Support of De Montfort

University (2021), in any piece of writing, style and content complement each

other. Together, they make up superb writing and it is enhanced by exquisite

writing style. On the other hand, a good essay must exhibit in the content the
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answers to the questions of the readers, to give examples, reasons and

evidences to support what has been stated and to use well-constructed

sentences and paragraphs. Generally, the content of the writing must be

analytically structured.

Shewan (2018) concluded that before one can start writing incredible

content, they will need at least an intermediate understanding of the basic

principles of writing. Consequently, having understanding or knowledge of the

basics of writing will allow writers to have efficacy with their piece.

However, the knowledge on writing is not solely needed in achieving

competence in writing. In the findings of Alharbi (2015), he determined that once

students write what they read, they relate the content to their experiences.

Accordingly, if students have the wide scope of their reading and the bunch of

experiences, they could probably have the oasis of possible content that they can

have in their writing.

Now, with the wide range of students’ experiences, they should be able to

evaluate appropriate things that they only need to be included in their content. In

so doing, most of the teachers can use student self-monitoring approach.

However, in the results of Cresswell’s (2021) study, she mentioned that students

tend to focus overwhelmingly on language at the expense of the careful

reviewing of content. Given the context in the Philippines where English is used

as a second language, students tend to be so focused with the language and

they tend to forget the content in writing. Students, therefore, should be guided in

the writing process.

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On the other hand, the study of Myles (2017) contradicts this when she

found out that, like the statement above, second language learners require and

expect specific overt feedback from the teachers but it does not necessitate only

on content, but also on the form and structure of writing.

Organization. A piece that is well-organized supports readers by making

it easy for them to follow, while a poorly organized piece leads readers through a

maze of confusion and confounded or unmet expectations. In achieving effective

writing, Cali and Bowen (2022) specify organization as an element that provides

readers with a framework to help them fulfil their expectations for the text. Thus,

it serves as a clear path for the readers to follow what the author wants them to

grasp in their writing.

To achieve the said organization in writing a text, students use strategies

in writing. This has been found in the study conducted by Castro (2020), where

low, mid, and highly rated essays of Filipino college students are found to be

comparable in grammatical cohesive devices used. To establish lexical cohesion,

students use lexical repetitions and synonyms. With the said result, it is

implicated that in order to gain organization in writing, Filipino college students

should practice reiterations of some words and make use of all possible cohesive

devices.

In addition, writing does have patterns and in the findings of Hirose (2022),

it was depicted that despite similarities between L1 and L2 organization patterns,

L2 organization scores were not significantly associated with L1 organization

scores. It gives the idea that students’ organization pattern in writing with the use
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of English language, though it has similar patterns with their first language, does

not ensure good writing organization.

To further strengthen the organization of the text written by students,

Xiang (2022) proposed in his study to use self-monitoring as an effective way for

students to improve the organization of their compositions. So, in order for the

students to progress in their writing, they need to be active in checking how they

are doing. It is not the teacher’s sole responsibility but the student’s as well.

However, according to the study conducted by Ruegg and Sugiyama

(2013), organization of ideas is labeled to be an invariably one of the aspects

being assessed in language writing. However, rating for organization seems to

vary widely between teachers, institutions and geographical areas. Further, there

are many rhetorical features that need to be considered. Organization of ideas

(sometimes called essay structure) must be sensitive of the deeper textual

aspects such as the coherent flow of ideas rather than physical aspects of

organization.

Grammar. Grammar is defined by Cruz and Quiason (2019) as a system

of rules for the use of a language or the study of what is preferred and what is to

be avoided in effective speech and writing. Therefore, grammar is concerned on

the mechanics and technicalities in writing.

Grammar operates at the sentence level and governs the syntax or word

orders that are permissible in the language. It is not acquired naturally, but in

learning, it needs to be instructed (Zhang, 2009). In grammar learning, some

students may have a more analytical learning style than others, but if one hopes
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to use English language accurately and fluently, it is necessary for him to receive

grammar rules instruction.

In prescribing the correct usage of grammar in a writing class, there

should be a number of guidelines to be followed, along with brief example of how

they might be applied (Muncie, 2017). By this, the students would need the

guidance and help of their teachers to be able to grasp easily how grammar

should be used since grammar is actually a complicated subject specially for

non-English speakers or writers.

This idea is reinforced by the study of Zhou (2009) which reveals that

learners were actually motivated to improve grammar and vocabulary in their

writing, but the problem is that they lack the knowledge and resources to take

effective action for improvement. Thus, it can be entailed that with the proper

guidance and help from the teachers as well as with their families and the

motivation of the students to improve, students writing concerning grammar

would be addressed.

In one section of the Academic Writing manual of University of Technology

Sydney (2013), it tells one to not make any incomplete sentences, to use correct

and consistent verb tenses and to observe subject-verb agreement. Accordingly,

grammar here is regarded as to the correct usage of the language and the

structure of its usage.

On the other hand, in Thewlis (2021) findings, he stressed out that

grammar systematically addresses the three dimensions of language – form,

meaning, and use. He asserts that writing should encompass the correct usage

of the system of rules, the message the author is trying to convey and its
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application in the real context. Hence, unlike any author’s view on grammar,

grammar is more than technicalities of the usage of the English language. It has

also links to the language’s meaning.

Furthermore, Schleppegrell (2022) stressed in the results of her study the

needs of the students to not just focus on grammatical accuracy of their writing

but also in expanding their writing in various of ways to be able to attain

superiority in writing. Accordingly, it can be concluded that aside from grammar,

there are still other things to consider for us to identify and measure a student’s

writing competence.

The ideas presented by different persons and studies were conflicting.

Some would claim that reading proficiency is related to students’ writing

competence while others claim that they are not correlated. Generally, this study

aims to provide further answers to the questions of other researchers. Hence, in

order to reinforce either one of these two claims, the study is conducted.

Theoretical Framework

The Department of Education (DepEd) claims that quality education is the

most important goal in curriculum implementation. Quality education promotes

Filipino citizens' acquired literacy, specifically reading and writing literacy. The

tertiary institutions expect freshmen students to be products of the Senior High

School program under the K to 12 Curriculum. These students are moving

forward to courses that lead them to their preferred professions. Their reading

and writing performance play a vital role in whether they achieve the target

course or not. According to Mosha (2020), the level of mastery in terms of

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attitudes, production and comprehension is referred to as language performance.

When predictor variables and mediator variables were favorable, the higher the

performance; otherwise, the performance would suffer. Reading and writing skills

have been at a developing level among learners. These skills seem common

among students as they develop them for 12 years in basic education, but many

still struggle to read and write. This provided the researcher an initiative to

determine students’ performance and their attitude to these skills.

This statement is supported by Ocampo (2018), the reader’s organized

knowledge supports the reader’s comprehension, learning, and retaining the

text’s ideas. However, teachers should ensure appropriate interventions to

address students’ difficulty reading that help learners achieve high academic

performance on the educational ladder. In addition, Chiu (2021) stressed that

pronunciation dwells on phonics and fluency. The learners who are good at

pronunciation in terms of phonics and fluency help them succeed in reading and

writing tests. Thus, the researchers used the term pronunciation to address both

phonics and fluency in reading.

On the other hand, genre-based approach placed great emphasis on the

relationship between text-genres and their contexts in producing writing outputs

(Hyon, 2020). According to this approach, any student who wants to be

successful in any writing endeavors, thus, wanting themselves to be competent

writers, will need to be able to produce texts which fulfil the expectations of its

readers in regard to content, organization and grammar.

Conceptual Framework
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This study ventures on the relationship of reading proficiency to the writing

competence of the respondents. The independent variable in this study is the

reading proficiency with indicators, to wit: pronunciation, vocabulary, and text

comprehension.

Reading proficiency is defined in this study as the capacity of the student

to read aloud and to understand the reading material. This definition can be

supported by the National Reading Panel (2021) because they stressed that

reading proficiency evidently deals with the ability to read and interpret meaning

from read texts.

Moreover, to address phonics and fluency, the researchers used the term

pronunciation which they defined as the capability of the readers to sound out

words accurately and spontaneously. In addition, the researchers’ defined

vocabulary as the ability of the readers to make meaning of the word and the

construction of the word itself which contribute to the overall meaning of the

word. The definition is similar to Setiawan’s (2019) description which states that

vocabulary is the total number of the words with their meaning and with rules for

combining them making up the language.

Moreover, the researchers see reading comprehension as the skill of the

readers to understand the reading texts by answering questions to activate their

lower order thinking skills and higher order thinking skills. This definition is

supplemented by Westwood (2021) who highlighted that reading comprehension

comprises the function of the three levels of sophistication, namely: literal

 24

(understanding factual information), inferential (deduce cause-effect relationship

and infer situations) and critical (appraising what the reader reads).

On the other hand, the dependent variable in this study is writing

competence, that will be assessed through a writing test. The rubric for writing

contains the following criteria: grammar, organization, and content (Grigorenko,

2021).

Writing competence is defined in this study as a set of different abilities

which are necessary for composing good texts that include the writer’s

knowledge on proper use of grammar, organization in writing, and the substance

or content of their written texts.

Moreover, organization is defined as how the writers arrange the content

of their written texts, the facts and the opinions they include, and the transitional

devices they use. Nodaquist (2019) sustained with the similar definition seeing

organization as the arrangement of ideas, incidents, evidences, or details in a

perceptible order in a paragraph, essay, or speech.

Furthermore, content was identified by the researchers as the entire

substance of the composition of the students. Tetis Dewi (2021) further supports

the definition by stressing that content is the body of the composition that

includes the thesis statement, related ideas, and development of ideas, maybe

through personal experiences, illustrations, facts and opinions.

Figure 1.1 presents the conceptual paradigm showing the relationship of

the variables of the study.

 25

Reading Proficiency Writing Competence

1. Pronunciation 1. Content
2. Vocabulary 2. Organization
3. Text comprehension 3. Grammar

Figure 1.1 Conceptual Paradigm Showing the Variables of the Study

 26

Significance of the Study

This study hopes to give information to the students, teachers, faculty and

staff and also to the future researchers for them to conduct future research about

the proficiency of the students..

To the BEED Students, for them to measure and know their reading and writing

proficiency level.

To the BEED Faculty and Staff, to know how their teachings has been affecting

the students over the years.

To the Faculty of Education, for them to be able to enhance, add, or explore

initiatives in reading and writing program to improve/enhance the skills of the

students.

To the School Administration and Staff, for them to be aware the reading and

writing proficiency level of their students and to implement programs not only for

the BEED students but to all students community.

To the Future Researchers, for them to conduct a thorough follow-up study if

there’s any improvement after the study has been conducted.

Definition of Terms
 27

Reading Proficiency. Critical element in reading act is the reader’s meaningful

response to the written symbol. When printed materials are presented to the

readers, they react to the symbols depending on its worth to them

Writing Competence. As defined by Ghaith (2017), writing is a complex process

that allows writers to explore thoughts and ideas and to make them visible and

concrete.
 28

CHAPTER II

METHOD

This chapter presents the description of the research methodology being

used by the researchers in the study. This includes the following: Research

Design, Research Respondents, Research Instruments, Data Gathering

Procedure and Data Analysis.

Research Design

The study employed a quantitative, non-experimental design with

descriptive correlation technique. In this study, the data gathered through the set

of tests will be quantified to describe the respondents’ level of reading proficiency

in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, and comprehension as well as in the level

of writing competence in terms of grammar, content, and organization. The

descriptive design was used to describe the relationship between the

independent and dependent variables which were reading proficiency and writing

competence, respectively.
 29

Research Respondents

The respondents in this study were the High School students currently

enrolled at NDC-Tagum Campus. The respondents came from BEED- Sunday

School students. Thus, the researchers used total enumeration technique in

determining the respondents of the study. There were High School students were

chosen as respondents because they already have subjects relevant to reading

and writing skills such as, Reading and Writing, Oral Communication, 21 ST

Century, English for Application, etc.

Grade Level Population Total Percentage

7
8
9
10
11

Research Instrument

To measure the level of reading proficiency of the respondents, the

researchers used pronunciation test, vocabulary test, and text comprehension

test which served as the research instruments for the independent variables of

the study. On the other hand, to determine the level of writing competence of the

respondents, the researchers administered a writing test to be rated by experts

using an analytic rubric with the following criteria: content, organization, and

grammar.

In testing pronunciation as indicators of reading proficiency, the

researchers used Pronunciation Power 2 software. This software has been used
 30

internationally not just on researches but it has also been used for classroom

assessment for some schools. This software is used to determine the

competence of the respondents in pronouncing 52 different speech sounds

through reading fluently the 52 test sentences. All in all, there are 104 points in

the said test.

The scores of the pronunciation test were interpreted based on the scale

below:

Scale Descriptive
Interpretation
Equivalent

5 Outstanding This indicates that the respondent’s

awareness and fluency in articulating
English speech sounds are excellently
developed. Respondent’s score ranges from
81-104.

4 Excellent This indicates that the respondent’s

awareness and fluency in articulating
English speech sounds are very
satisfactorily developed. Respondent’s
score ranges from 61-80.

3 Good This indicates that the respondent’s

awareness and fluency in articulating
English speech sounds are satisfactorily
developed. Respondent’s score ranges from
41-60.
2 Fair This indicates that the respondent’s
awareness and fluency in articulating
English speech sounds are adequately
developed. Respondent’s score ranges from
21-40.

1 Poor This indicates that the respondent’s

awareness and fluency in articulating
English speech sounds are poorly
developed. Respondent’s score ranges from
1-13.
 31

For testing vocabulary and text comprehension as indicators of reading

proficiency, the researchers adapted a standardized reading test of Nelson and

Denny (1993) that is still being used in researches today. The vocabulary test

was used to assess respondents’ knowledge of affixes as well as word

definitions. It consists of 80 items to be answered in 15 minutes. On the other

hand, the text comprehension test was used to assess respondents’ literal and

inferential as well as critical comprehension. The said test had 36 items to be

answered in 20 minutes.

The scores of the vocabulary test were interpreted based on the scale

below:

Scale Descriptive Interpretation

Equivalent

5 Excellent This indicates that the respondent shows

very extensive range of vocabulary.
Respondent’s score ranges from 64-80.

4 Skilled This indicates that the respondent shows

a wide range of vocabulary.
Respondent’s score ranges from 49-63.
3 Average This indicates that the respondent shows
average range of vocabulary.
Respondent’s score ranges from 33-48.

2 Limited This indicates that the respondent shows

little to some vocabulary. Respondent’s
score ranges from 17-32.

1 Poor This indicates that the respondent shows

poor to no vocabulary. Respondent’s
score ranges from 1-16.

The scores of the text comprehension test were interpreted based on the

scale below:
 32

Scale Descriptive Interpretation

Equivalent

5 Excellent This indicates that the reader shows thorough

understanding of the texts. Respondent’s score
ranges from 29-36.

4 Skilled This indicates that the reader shows sufficient

understanding of the texts. Respondent’s score
ranges from 22-28.

3 Average This indicates that the reader shows average

understanding of the texts. Respondent’s score
ranges from 15-21.

2 Limited This indicates that the reader shows inadequate

understanding of the texts. Respondent’s score
ranges 8-14.

1 Poor This indicates that the reader shows little

understanding of the texts. Respondent’s score
ranges 1-7.

Generally, the data from pronunciation test, vocabulary test, and text

comprehension test were analyzed and interpreted to determine the overall level

of reading proficiency of the respondents. The table below presents the level of

reading proficiency using the range of means, descriptive equivalent, and

interpretation.

Range of Means Descriptive Interpretation

Equivalent

4.50-5.00 Very High This indicates that the level of reading

proficiency indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is always manifested
about 9 – 10 out of 10 occasions.

3.50-4.49 High This indicates that the level of reading

proficiency indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is oftentimes
 33

manifested about 7 – 8 out of 10

occasions.
2.50-3.49 Moderate This indicates that the level of reading
proficiency indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is sometimes
manifested about 4 – 6 out of 10
occasions.

1.50-2.49 Low This indicates that the level of reading

proficiency indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is rarely manifested
about 2 – 3 out of 10 occasions.

1.0-1.49 Very Low This indicates that the level of reading

proficiency indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is never manifested
about 0 – 1 out of 10 occasions.

In testing content, organization and grammar as indicators of writing

competence, the respondents were asked to write an essay by answering a

question from International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Writing

Test. This International English Language Testing System is an international

standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English

language speakers. And this was the test used by the researchers to measure

the writing competence of the respondents. The said essays had the total of 12

points as the highest possible score and were rated by experts using an analytic

rubric with content, organization, and grammar as criteria.

The scores of the essay were interpreted based on the scale below:

Scale Descriptive Interpretation

Equivalent

5 Outstanding This indicates that the respondent

demonstrates thorough and accurate
knowledge of the subject, has evident
 34

organization and key points are well

organized, and language used is memorable
and is grammatically correct. Respondent’s
score ranges from 10-12 out of 12 points.

4 Excellent This indicates that the respondent

demonstrates accurate knowledge of the
subject except in minor details, has effective
organization for the most part of his/her
output, and language used is clear and is
grammatically correct. Respondent’s score
ranges from 8-9 out of 12 points.

3 Good This indicates that the respondent

demonstrates average knowledge of the
subject except in minor details, has
organization for the most part of his/her
output, and language used is clear and is
grammatically correct. Respondent’s score
ranges from is 6-7 out of 12 points.

2 Fair This indicates that the respondent

demonstrates some knowledge of the
subject but there are inaccuracies in details,
has inadequate and ineffective organization,
and language used is somewhat vague and
may contain some grammatical errors.
Respondent’s score ranges from 4-5 out of
12 points.

1 Poor This indicates that the respondent

demonstrates little to no knowledge of the
subject, has no discernable organization,
and language used is confusing and
contains many grammatical errors.
Respondent’s score ranges from 1-3 out of
12 points.

After the scores of the respondents were interpreted using the rating scale

in the essay writing test, the data were then interpreted using the range of

means, descriptive equivalent, and interpretation as shown in the table below:

 35

Range of Mean Descriptive Interpretation

Equivalent

3.40 – 4.00 Very High This indicates that the level of writing
competence indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is always manifested
about 9 – 10 out of 10 occasions.

2.80 – 3.39 High This indicates that the level of writing

competence indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is oftentimes manifested
about 7 – 8 out of 10 occasions.

2.20 – 2.79 Moderate This indicates that the level of writing

competence indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is sometimes manifested
about 4 – 6 out of 10 occasions.

1.60 – 2. 19 Low This indicates that the level of writing

competence indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is rarely manifested
about 2 – 3 out of 10 occasions.

1.00 – 1.59 Very Low This indicates that the level of writing
competence indicators of fourth year BSEd
– English students is never manifested
about 0 – 1 out of 10 occasions.

Data Gathering Procedure

In the process of gathering data for the study, the researchers sent a letter

to the Dean’s Office through the BSEd Program Head to ask permission and

approval to conduct the research inside the university. The researchers also sent

a letter to the Office of the Registrar to identify the official number of the

respondents.
 36

The researchers reproduced the instruments to cater the total number of

the respondents. The researchers then personally distributed and administered

the reading and writing tests to the intended respondents of the study.

Statistical Treatment of the Data

In analyzing the data, the following statistical tools were used:

Mean. This will be used to answer the level of reading proficiency of the

respondents in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, and text comprehension and

the level of writing competence in terms of grammar, content, and organization.

The gathered data was treated based on the scores of the respondents to each

indicator.

Pearson r. This will be utilized to verify if there is a significant relationship

between reading proficiency and writing competence of the fourth year BSEd –

English students in University of Southeastern Philippines, Tagum Campus.

T-test. This will be used to compute the r value.

Ethical Consideration

The risk of harm to both the researchers and the researched is explored

and the need for a support structure for both groups is raised. There is a pressing

need to develop further understanding the dissemination of research can

potentially harm already vulnerable research populations.

The researchers follow strict ethical considerations in conducting the

research, first, the participants’ identity is protected, moreover, their answers are

transcribed correctly and thoroughly. Second, the research shall bring no harm to
 37

the institution, to the faculty and administration and mostly to the CHED. The

purpose of the research is to only know the challenges of the working students in

facing online classes.

Anonymity and confidentiality of the study assured research informants

that every effort hereby made to ensure that the research findings they had

provided cannot be traced back to them in reports, presentation and other forms

of dissemination (Crow, 2018). Therefore, all answered questionnaires and its

results shall not be downloaded or uploaded to any social media platforms, the

questionnaires and records on paper will be strictly confidential and the

researchers are the only one who can access to it as well as the designated

authority such as the research adviser, and/or panels if needed.