whole school approach: it’s effect on the reading and ...this study. the philippine informal...

SMCC Teacher Education Journal

216

Whole School Approach: It’s Effect on the Reading and Writing Skills

of Grade 7 Students of San Vicente National High School, Philippines

ELLA MAE SILAO NAVARRAhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0095-5929

[email protected] Vicente National High School

Butuan City, Philippines

Gunning Fog Index: 12.23 • Originality 99% • Grammar Check: 99%Flesch Reading Ease: 50.03 • Plagiarism: 1%

ABSTRACT

The Whole School Approach promotes reading and writing through reading schemes and exercises, writing activities, visiting libraries, and other proceedings to reach the students’ interest and improve their learning holistically in reading and writing. The main purpose of the study was to determine the improvement of the reading and writing skills of the Grade 7 students of San Vicente National High School using the whole school approach. The pretest and posttest experimental group design was used in this study. The Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI)- formula and given text with 80 words was used to identify the improvement of reading skills of Grade 7 students in terms of word recognition and comprehension. The result shows that the Grade 7 students were confused in recognizing words and frustrated in question analysis and comprehension. Thus, the majority of the students belonged to the frustration level in their reading skills. The whole school approach focused more on the students’ basic skills rather than on higher-order thinking skills. It was recommended that teachers need to focus and assess more on their reading skills. They must use a variety of strategies and approaches that draw the students’ interest in learning.

SMCC Teacher Education JournalISSN Print: 2008- 0598 • ISSN Online: 2008-0601

Volume 2 • June 2020DOI:

Peer Reviewed Journal

217

KEYWORDS

Whole school approach, reading skills, Word Recognition, Comprehension, writing skills, Correctness, Clarity, Control,

Coherence, Content, Experimental Method, Philippines

INTRODUCTION

The Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey FLEMMS (Authority, 2008) found that 58 million of the estimated 67 million Filipinos 10-64 years old are functionally literate. This means that an estimated 9 million Filipinos 10 to 64 years old are not functionally literate; 4 million are unable to read and write. The functional literacy rate rose to 86.4% from 84.1 in 2003. Nevertheless, there is only a slow increase in the functional literacy of the Filipinos. The functional literacy rate among females (88.7%) is higher than among males (84.2%).

.The underdeveloped skills in reading and writing may also explain the low retention and completion rates. Of the 100 children who enroll in Grade 1,66% would finish Grade 6, 58% would enroll in First Year high school;43% would finish high school;23% would enroll in college;14% would finish college. The lack of academic preparation may be the major reason for college failure (Authority, 2008).

.Furthermore, Garcia (2009) stressed that there are a total of 15 million illiterate Filipinos; 11 million are suffering from functional illiteracy, and four million are suffering from no basic literacy skills. The alarming increase in number urged the government to focus more resources on addressing the issue by strengthening and amplifying the students’ educational needs, especially in improving reading and writing skills.

.Moreover, the researcher found out from the reading coordinator of San Vicente National High School that most first-year students are in frustration level in terms of their reading profile and terms of their writing, and students are weak. They find a hard time to write paragraphs and essays. They usually get mistakes in the grammar structure and paragraph coherence. According to Tangpermpoon (2008), writing is the most difficult skill because it requires writers to have many words and syntactic knowledge and the principle of organization in language to produce good writing.

The researcher finds a constraint and aims to study the improvement of reading and writing skills and to present aid to let the students overcome this adversity in reading and writing. Thus, the researcher finds the Whole School Approach as an avenue that caters and deals with a student’s difficulties in reading and writing.

The Whole School Approach enables teachers and students to build relationships, solve problems, resolve conflict, and address harm more effectively. The approach is based on developing positive relationships through building respect and skills in listening, empathy, self-awareness, and honesty (Sarco, 2007).


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Through Whole School Approach, reading is not simply the decoding of black marks on the page. Still, it involves the ability to read with understanding a wide range of different texts, including fiction, non-fiction, real-world texts such as labels, captions, lists, and environmental print. Competence in reading is the key to independent learning, and therefore the teaching of reading should be given a high priority. Success in reading has a direct effect on progress in all areas of the curriculum and is crucial in developing children’s self-esteem, confidence, and motivation (Scott, 2013).

.A variety of approaches and strategies are utilized for the improvement of the basic skills of the students, yet some of them failed to assess the pace of learning of the students and what are the basics. Whole School Approach aims to communicate to every subject teacher that the necessary skills like reading and writing are not only the sole task of an English teacher. The collaboration and coordination of every subject teacher in assessing students’ difficulties and weaknesses are among the realizations that an educator may acquire in applying the Whole School Approach.

.Moving forward for improvement, reading, and writing skills is vital in our daily communication and comprehension. Whole School Approach can manage to improve reading and writing skills if a teacher apprehends its usage and significance. Through the Whole School approach, the researcher will prove that this approach, which involves all teachers in school, can improve reading and writing skills.

FRAMEWORK

This study was premised on the concept that the Whole School Approach affects the improvement of the reading and writing skills of the Grade 7 students of San Vicente National High School. This idea was conceived from the study of McConachie et al. (2006) about Task, Text, and Talk Literacy for All Subjects. This concept presented the Whole School Approach’s view that each subject teacher involved in the improvement of the students’ literacy skills. The constructive collaboration must be practiced by the teachers for the development of the students’ learning progress (Keith with Arnold, 2011)

.The Whole School Approach was anchored on the five (5) principles of Discipleteachers’ binary Literacy: Literacy across Subjects (McC2006). The first principle stated that “knowledge and thinking must go hand in hand.” To develop complex knowledge in any discipline, students need opportunities to read, reason, investigate, speak, and write about the overarching concepts within that discipline. Because of time constraints and coverage concerns, many teachers understandably chose to teach either content or process instead of marrying the two. But to build students’ literacy in a specific disciple, instruction must do both at once.

.The second principle emphasized that “learning is apprenticeshipciplinary literacy classrooms, students acted as historians, mathematicians, scientists, readers, and writers


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as they engaged with subject-matter tasks, texts, and talk that apprentice them into each discipline’s ways of working.

.The third principle specified that “teachers mentor students.” In disciplinary literacy classrooms, teachers designed lessons that explicit the discipline-centered literacy habits that scaffold students’ collective content learning and enable them to function independently in the wider disciplinary community.

.The fourth principle stipulated that “instruction and assessment drive each other.” To make disciplinary literacy work, teachers conducted an ongoing formative assessment of each student’s understanding, skills, and interests using multiple sources of data (such as conferences, discussions, quick-writes, and quizzes) to inform instruction and guide students to deeper levels of understanding.

.The fifth principle enlightened that the “classroom culture socializes intelligence. “In classrooms striving for disciplinary literacy, teachers treated students as capable thinkers, readers, and writers who expect to take risks, solve problems, and reflect on their learning.

.With the teachers’ collaboration in the improvement of reading and writing skills, the following aspects were affected by its enhancement in reading skills. Students must recognize the words and understand its meaning, whereas, in writing, students must construct paragraphs with correct grammar structure, coherence of sentences, authentic content, and appropriate word usage.

.Paige (2011) cited that reading was a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and motivation. Learn how readers integrate these facets to make meaning from print. Reading was making meaning from print. It required to identify the words in print – a process called word recognition, construct an understanding from them – a process called comprehension and coordinate identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic and accurate – an achievement called fluency. Reading was the motivated and fluent coordination of word recognition and comprehension.

.On the other hand, the writing was a means of communicating ideas and information. The responsibility reclined on the teacher’s shoulders to enhance their students’ abilities to express themselves effectively. To accomplish an effective write-up, a writer develops his writing skills with the five C’s: correctness, clarity, control, coherence, and content.

.Manser (2009) added that correctness referred to proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation — observance of established conventions. Here we were concerned with clear-cut matters of right and wrong. These were sometimes referred to as the “basics” or the “fundamentals.” Thus, correctness involved not just grammatical rules but also proper punctuation and the use of correct words.


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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

This study aimed to determine the effects of the Whole School Approach on the improvement of the reading skills based on word recognition and comprehension and writing skills in terms of correctness, clarity, control, coherence, and content of the Grade-7 students of San Vicente National High School during the school year 2012-2013.

METHODOLOGY

This study used a pretest and posttest experimental group design of research because it targets to determine the effect of the Whole School Approach on the improvement of reading and writing skill of Grade-7 students of San Vicente National High School - Butuan City. The pretest and posttest experimental group design involved an experimental group. The experimental group refers to the group of students taught using the Whole School Approach, while the control group refers to the students with the traditional approach of teaching.

.Before the experimental period, the researcher conducted a seminar on the subject teachers of Grade 7 students. The seminar tackled the whole school approach and different reading and writing strategies.

.The lesson plan of the Grade 7 subject teachers who were involved in the experiment was checked by the English coordinator and the school principal. The Whole School Approach was included in the first part of the teaching procedure of the subject teachers. Teachers’ reading and writing strategies anchored to whole-school approach were the following: FWAW (Five Words A Week) which was done in the entire experimental period, Spelling Test which was done 10 minutes every Monday to the experimental group; DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) which was done 15 minutes every Tuesday; Vocabulary Enhancers Activity which was done 10 minutes every Wednesday; writing paragraphs or paraphrasing which was done 15 minutes every Thursday, and Student Team Reading and Writing as their collaborative learning activities. Teachers taught the same topic both in the experimental and control group but in different approaches: The whole school approach and traditional approach.

.The researcher conducted a weekly interview, subject topics monitoring for the teacher’s strategy, and class observation to avoid possible effects of the teacher factor in the learners’ learning process, which may affect the result of the study. The main topic in reading and writing was varied depending on the target of each subject teachers.

.The reading coordinator was asked to observe the researcher at least two times a week during the experimental period.

After the experimental period, the same test was administered to both groups to determine whether there is a significant difference in the students’ improvement in reading and writing skills. The improvement of reading and writing skills was tested


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by the materials given. The result of the mean of test scores was used to describe the improvement of the reading and writing skills of the students. Furthermore, the T-test employed to test the significant improvement of the reading and writing skills of the students applied with different approaches at 0.05 level of significance.

.This study utilized the standard instruments for assessing the reading and writing skills of the students. In Reading, the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) was used to assess students’ reading skills profiles. The scale percentages of the students’ level were as follows: 100-96% in word recognition and 100-95% in comprehension for independent level; 95-91% in word recognition and 94-75% in comprehension for instructional level and 90% -below in word comprehension and 74%- below in comprehension for frustration level.

.On the other hand in writing, a constructed-response paragraph was used and the holistic rubric for evaluating student writing with 5’c: focus, development, organization, grammar and mechanics, and tone, style and audience (Boye, 2007) was used to check the essay writing of the Grade 7 students. The descriptive ratings were the following: 5.0-4.1 for excellent; 4.0-3.1 for very good; 3.0-2.1 for adequate; 2.0-1.1 for weak and 1.0-below for very poor.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1: Results of Pretest of Grade 7 Students in Reading Skills

Approaches Skills Pretest Mean Scores % Std Description

Whole School Approach

Word Recognition 72.27 90.33 4.25 Frustration

Comprehension 3.090 61.8 0.793 Frustration

Traditional Approach

Word Recognition 70.96 88.7 5.10 Frustration

Comprehension 3.03 60.6 1.17 Frustration

Table 1 indicates the pre-test results of Grade 7 students in reading skills. In word recognition skills, the whole school approach and traditional group belonged to the frustration level. In the comprehension skills, the students were still at the frustration level. Thus, both in the whole school approach and the traditional group belonged in frustration level. Poor reading skill is manifested with poor comprehension, wrong pronunciation, and others. If no proper intervention is administered early, it could affect the academic, social, and psychological development of a learner (Cayubit, 2012).


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Table 2: Results of Pretest of Grade 7 Students in Writing Skills

Approaches Skills Pretest Mean Scores Std Description


Correctness 1.614 0.707 Weak

Clarity 2.317 0.787 Adequate

Control 1.792 0.739 Weak

Coherence 1.780 0.760 Weak

Content 2.050 0.779 Weak


Correctness 1.582 0.591 Weak

Clarity 2.165 0.791 Adequate

Control 1.781 0.622 Weak

Coherence 1.835 0.791 Weak

Content 2.038 0.775 Weak

Table 2 presents the pretest of the Grade 7 students in writing based on the 5 criteria: correctness, clarity control, coherence, and content. In clarity, the Grade 7 students were adequate, while incorrectness, control, coherence, and content, the students belonged to a weak level. Grade 7 students, both in the whole school approach and traditional approach, were defined as adequate in clarity but weak in terms of control, coherence, correctness, and content skills. Hence, Grade 7 students were low- achieving in writing. The term “low-achieving writers” is used to refer to students whose writing skills are not adequate to meet classroom demands. Some of these low-achieving writers have been identified as having learning disabilities; others are the “silent majority” who lack writing proficiency but do not receive additional help (Graham & Perin, 2007).

Table 3: Results of Posttest of Grade 7 Students in Reading Skills

Approaches SkillsPretest Mean

Scores (%)Description

Posttest Mean

Scores (%)Description


Word Recognition 90.33 Frustration 93.66 Instructional

Comprehension 61.8 Frustration 68.1 Frustration


Word Recognition 88.7 Frustration 90.34 Frustration

Comprehension 60.6 Frustration 61.8 Frustration

Table 3 reflects the comparison of pretest and posttest percentage scores of the Grade 7 students in their reading skills, as for the application of whole school approach in word recognition skills, the Grade 7 student’s frustration level transformed into instructional level while in the traditional approach the frustration level of the students


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remained still in frustration level. Therefore, it can be gleaned that the whole school approach improved the word recognition skills of Grade 7 students.

As to the whole school approach applied in comprehension skills, there was no improvement in the students’ level. It remained at the frustration level, like in the traditional approach. The Whole school approach improved only the basic identifying skills of the students, and it is weak in improving the lifelong comprehension of the students. Students with poor reading comprehension skills lack adequate ability to truly understand the many facets of what they are reading. Processing the information presented in the text is hard for them (Woolley, 2011).

Table 4: Results of Posttest of Grade 7 Students in Writing SkillsApproaches Skills Pretest Mean

ScoresDescription Posttest Mean

ScoresDescription


Correctness 1.614 Weak 2.515 Adequate

Clarity 2.317 Adequate 3.051 Very good

Control 1.792 Weak 2.752 Adequate

Coherence 1.780 Weak 2.594 Adequate

Content 2.050 Weak 2.733 Adequate

Traditional Correctness 1.582 Weak 1.734 Weak

Clarity 2.165 Adequate 2.329 Adequate

Control 1.781 Weak 1.811 Weak

Coherence 1.835 Weak 1.975 Weak

Content 2.038 Weak 2.048 Weak

Table 4 reveals the results of the posttest of Grade 7 students and its difference from the pretest. In the Whole School Approach, there was a positive improvement in their writing skills based on the criteria. The correctness, control, coherence, and content changed to adequate level from weak, and clarity transformed from adequate to very good writing. It reflected that the Grade 7 students were at a satisfactory level of writing. However, in the Traditional Approach, the student’s level still remained weak.


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Table 5. Comparison of Grade 7 Students’ Scores in Reading Skills Using t-testApproaches Skills Pretest

Mean Scores (%)

Post-test Mean Scores (%)

Mean Gain Scores

t-stat p-value Decision

Whole School Ap-proach

Word Recognition 90.33 93.66 2.67 5.94 0.000 Reject Ho

Comprehension 61.8 68.1 0.315 2.50 0.013 Reject Ho


Word Recognition 88.7 90.34 1.31 1.86 0.065 Accept Ho

Comprehension 60.6 61.8 0.06 0.40 0.692 Accept Ho

Table 5 shows the compared results of the reading skills of Grade 7 students applied by the Whole School Approach and Traditional Approach. The result of reading skills applied with the Whole School Approach, the null hypothesis in word recognition, and comprehension was rejected. It was because of the collaboration of subject teachers using FWAW (Five Words A Week) in the entire experimental period, Spelling Test - 10 minutes every Monday; DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) -15 minutes every Tuesday; Vocabulary Enhancers Activity such as word puzzle, text twist, etc. -10 minutes every Wednesday; writing paragraphs or paraphrasing - 15 minutes every Thursday, and Student Team Reading and Writing as their collaborative learning activities. There is a significant improvement in the word recognition skills of Grade 7 students. Whole School Approach involves all teachers in teaching the language. The teachers used reading and writing activities to make sure students are functionally literate as they will step higher on the educational ladder. A consistent school-wide approach is the key aspect of teaching and learning to make a really great impact on the students’ improvement (Inman, 2008).

Meanwhile, in the traditional approach, the null hypothesis was accepted. There is no significant improvement in the reading and writing skills of the students. The null hypothesis is accepted or rejected lies in the standard deviation of the scores of the student.


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Table 6. Comparison of Grade 7 Students’ Scores in Writing Skills Using t-testApproaches Skills Pretest

Mean Scores

Posttest Mean Scores

Mean Gain Scores/Difference

t-stat p-value Decision

Whole School Ap-proach

Correctness 1.614 2.515 0.901 8.16 0.000 Reject Ho

Clarity 2.317 2.951 0.634 5.47 0.000 Reject Ho

Control 1.792 2.752 0.960 9.23 0.000 Reject Ho

Coherence 1.780 2.594 0.814 7.85 0.000 Reject Ho

Content 2.050 2.733 0.683 6.06 0.000 Reject Ho

Traditional Correctness 1.582 1.734 0.152 1.40 0.164 Accept Ho

Clarity 2.165 2.329 0.164 1.36 0.176 Accept Ho

Control 1.781 1.811 0.418 1.11 0.286 Accept Ho

Coherence 1.835 1.975 0.14 1.11 0.286 Accept Ho

Content 2.038 2.048 0.10 1.58 0.116 Accept Ho

Table 6 illustrates the compared results of the writing skills of Grade 7 students applied by the two approaches. In the Whole School Approach, the null hypothesis was rejected. Thus, there is a significant improvement in the writing skills of Grade 7 students applied by the Whole School Approach. Yet, in the Traditional Approach, it indicated that the p-value is lesser than 0.05, and its decision is to accept the null hypothesis, which there was no significant difference in the writing skills of Grade 7 students. It was because the students were taught in a traditional way such as lecture method, teacher’s demonstration, teacher’s talk or chalk talk, and other teacher-centered activity that the students were the passive audience.

Literacy education for the students must be improved, so more children in the world get better chances to learn and unlearn. We must focus on improving the literacy skills of the learners through reading by writing (AkeGronlund, 2013).

As an outcome of the data gathering and result interpretation, it can be concluded that the Whole School Approach had improved the reading skills and writing skills of Grade 7 students of San Vicente National High School. Moreover, Whole School Approach and Traditional approach, combined with the different styles and a strategy applied by the teacher, affects students’ skills in reading and writing in their own pace of learning. In general, a whole school approach is an effective approach than the traditional approach in teaching.

CONCLUSION

Based on the foregoing findings, the conclusions are as follows: The Grade 7 students were confused in recognizing words and frustrated in question analysis and comprehension. Thus, the majority of the students belonged to the frustration level in


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their reading skills. The whole school approach was focused more on the basic skills of the students rather than on higher-order thinking skills. In writing skills, the majority of the students can express their thought with clarity and less with control, coherence, content, and correctness. The majority of the Grade 7 students needed to practice their writing skills to improve its structure and grammar. Through the whole school approach, students’ writing skills develop and reached a satisfactory level. Teacher’s strategies anchored in the Whole School Approach improved the writing skills and reading skills of Grade 7 students. The whole School approach is effective in enhancing the literacy skills of the students. Whole School Approach is an effective approach than the traditional approach in teaching.

RECOMMENDATION

On the basis of the foregoing findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are presented: Since the students were frustrated and confused in reading, teachers need to focus and assess more in their reading skills. They must use a variety of strategies and approaches that draw the students’ interest in learning. As for the weak writing skills of students, teachers must essentially engage them in different writing activities and give them drills and practices in writing paragraphs and essays. Students must be exposed to an environment that is fun to read and expressively-free to write. Teachers must encourage them to go to the library to read and write a spelling bee contest, reading sessions, and other activities that enhance their basic skills. School administrators must check teachers’ teaching approach and strategy since it also affects the learning process of the students. They must conduct teacher assessments based on their respective subject areas. Teachers must coordinate and collaborate with the other subject teachers to identify each student’s weaknesses and in what approach they can assist in improving or surpass their weaknesses. Since Whole School Approach can improve the students’ writing skills and students’ word recognition skills, school administrators, as well as teachers, must utilize the approach for the improvement of the basic skills of the students. For further research, the following are recommended: Strategies and approaches in enhancing the reading skills of students; Relationship of Teachers’ Teaching Strategy and Students’ Learning Pace; Factors Affecting the Development of the Reading and Writing Skills of the Students and Improvement of Student’s Vocabulary and Strengthening Spelling Test.


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LITERATURE CITED

Authority, P. S. (2008). Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey. Retrieved on October 19, 2013 from https://bit.ly/2JfuSvy

Cayubit, R. F. (2012). Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension as a Measure of Reading Skills of Filipino Children. The Assessment Handbook. Retrieved on October 19, 2013 from https://bit.ly/3jQViTu

Garcia, A. G. (2009) 15 million Filipinos can’t read, write. The Pinoy. Read More, Click less. September 24, 2009. Retrieved on October 19, 2013 from https://bit.ly/30cToT7

Graham, S., &Perin, D. (2007). Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools. A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved on October 19, 2013 from https://bit.ly/332EmTQ

Inman, W. (200). Reading results hit a high: a whole school approach to literacy learning. Vol. 6 Issue 3. Retrieved on February 22, 2013 from https://bit.ly/30ZeLZg

McConachie, S., Hall, M., Resnick, L., Ravi, A. K., Bill, V. L., Bintz, J., & Taylor, J. A.

(2006). Task, text, and talk: Literacy for all subjects. Educational Leadership, 64(2). Retrieved on October 13, 2013 from https://bit.ly/2X7NVx5

Manser, M. (2009). Good Word Guide: The fast way to correct English-spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage. A&C Black. Retrieved on January 12, 2013 from https://bit.ly/3g8HzoR

Paige, D. D. (2011). Engaging struggling adolescent readers through situational interest: A model proposing the relationships among extrinsic motivation, oral reading proficiency, comprehension, and academic achievement. Reading Psychology, 32(5), 395-425. Retrieved on October 13, 2013 from https://bit.ly/3hJXOZD

Tangpermpoon, T. (2008). Integrated approaches to improve students writing skills for English major students. ABAC journal, 28(2). Retrieved on October 19, 2013 from https://bit.ly/2WEjP1Q

Woolley, G. (2011). Reading comprehension. In Reading Comprehension (pp. 15-34). Springer, Dordrecht. Retrieved on January 12, 2013 from https://bit.ly/3gcE3cQ

whole school approach: it’s effect on the reading and ...this study. the philippine informal...

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