PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS

Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo

Teaching Reading

1. Reading is fundamental to functioning in today's society.

2. Reading is a vital skill in finding a good job.
3. Reading is important because it develops the mind.
4. We discover new things through reading.
5. Reading develops the imagination and the creative side of people.
6. Reading is fundamental in developing a good self-image.
7. Good reading skills, especially in a phonics reading program, improve spelling.
8. Reading helps build good ideas and expose bad ideas before they bring destruction.
9. Reading helps develop people’s intellectual capacity, which makes them less prone to manipulation.
10. Reading is important because words - spoken and written - are the building blocks of life.

Elements of Reading

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness (under the broader term phonological awareness) is a child’s ability to hear the
individual sounds in words. When a child has strong phonemic awareness, he can segment or pull apart
words into individual sounds (say that /snake/ has four sounds /s/ /n/ /long a/ and /k/), put sounds together
into words, and substitute new sounds into a word, changing “cat” to “mat” and “sat.”

A child’s ability to identify, manipulate, and analyze the sounds (phonemes) that make up words through
segmentation, syllabication, deletion, and other skills) is predictive of later reading skill (National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development, 2005). This relationship between phonemic awareness and
reading skill is maintained even when other variables (e.g., socio-economic status) are considered.

Phonics & Decoding

Knowledge of phonics means that students understand the relationship between letters and the sounds
they represent. This means recognizing letter combinations and sounds as well as word parts (prefixes,
root words, and suffixes). When we teach phonics, we teach letters and letter combinations (ch, th, sh)
one at a time, then how to read words with each combination. We say that children have “cracked the
code” when they understand what sounds the letter combinations make and how to read them in words.

A child’s ability to connect sounds and letter combinations to read words influences their ability to read.
A review of studies about phonics instruction found that systematic and explicit phonics instruction was
more effective at teaching children to read than instruction without phonics instruction (National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development, 2001).

Fluency

Children read fluently when they read words at a pace that is fast enough to be understood and are not
stopping often to sound out words (think about how reading sounds when it is in an audiobook). Fluent
readers also add expression to what they read, by reading punctuation (for example, when their voice rises
to indicate a question mark) and dialogue. The key to developing fluency is by reading a lot.
 PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo
Vocabulary

Vocabulary refers to the number of words that a child knows. This includes common words that are used
in everyday language (sit, happy, want), as well as less common words that are often found in books
(ecstatic, bounded, desire), and content-specific words, such as words related to biology (cell, ecosystem,
etc). A child’s vocabulary is very important; the more words a child knows, the stronger a reader they are.
This makes sense; reading is all about understanding words, so the more you know, the easier it is to
understand what you’re reading.

Comprehension

Comprehension, or understanding, is the ultimate goal of reading. When children have strong
comprehension skill, they can make sense of what they read, answer questions about what they read, tell
you all about a story or topic, and engage in conversation about the ideas in a book.
When children can read and understand text at their grade level, they are well on their way to reading
proficiently in 3rd grade, learning new things from books, and enjoying reading

Stages of Reading

1. Word Attack Skills

Words must be decoded in order to understand their meanings. Remember, letters are coded symbols.
Reading involves learning the code and applying it to letters as they are grouped together to form words.
Sometimes the code is quite simple, as with sounds of single letters in short words. At other times, the
code is complex.

The rules governing the sound a particular letter makes in a given place are for the most part relatively
simple, but are largely neglected in major reading instruction methods.

A small minority will learn to read regardless of the quality of instruction, but many bright students will
never learn to read well because that crucial first step was omitted from their primary reading instruction
at school.

2. Comprehension

The entire brain must be involved in learning to read. Specialized areas of the brain control different
functions. Only after the decoding process is fully operative can the brain be freed to higher level
comprehension skills. When the initial reading instruction method includes all the skills needed for
decoding words, meaning and content automatically occur in a natural, orderly and efficient process.

3. Evaluation

Evaluation involves a careful assessment of that which has been read and comprehended. It involves a
different area within the brain than that required for decoding and comprehension. For example, the
statement, “Red is green,” will be evaluated for accuracy and consequently discredited if the individual
words have been read and understood.
 PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo
4. Application and Retention

Once the information has been read and properly evaluated, it can be applied in a meaningful way by the
reader. He or she can then decide what to accept or reject and how to apply it to his or her individual
needs. Some of the information may be deemed to be irrelevant or inappropriate, and may be discarded.

5. Fluency

When the first four steps are functioning comfortably, the reader usually finds that reading is a pleasant
and effective way to learn and experience factors that would be inaccessible without the knowledge
gleaned from reading.

If someone you know struggles with reading, examine the method used to teach them. It should include
all the sounds and rules in an orderly, progressive sequence. When it does, reading becomes a positive,
rewarding experience.

Different Approaches, Methods, and Strategies in Teaching Reading

Methods in Teaching Reading

The Phonics Method

This is a well-known and one of the best methods of teaching reading. In this method, children are taught
the alphabet first. And learning the alphabet involves learning not only the names of the letters but also
the sounds they make. Children can blend two or three letters together to make words only when they have
learnt letter sounds. Among the methods of teaching reading, the phonics method is thought to be the
most effective. To apply this method properly, a child should have phonologically written books that use
regular and interesting words.

This method basically helps a learner learn how break words down into sound. It is effective because in
the English language, to represent words on the page, we need to translate sounds into letters and letter
combinations. Therefore, reading requires one’s ability to decode words into sounds.

The phonics method, unlike some other methods of teaching reading, is all about the art of breaking down
words and knowing the sounds they represent. The process learning may be slow in the beginning, but
gradually it becomes automatized and more fluent. Although the phonics method is one of the most
effective methods of teaching reading, you still need to teach your child to memorize some words, because
there are some words that are not spelled the way they sound.

The Whole-Word Approach

Often referred to as ‘look and say’ method, the whole-word approach focuses on a learner’s ability to
recognize whole words. Show your child a word, sound the word and ask him to repeat the whole word.
You can use flashcards to teach your child to read. It is better to use flashcards with pictures because
pictures will help a child understand the meaning of the words. Without the use of pictures, this method
is not very effective. But it can be one of the best methods of teaching reading if applied properly. This
method is also known as sight reading. This method is also known as sight-reading. It is based on the
concept that when children are exposed to certain words for a long time, they can eventually sight-read
the words. Most specialists think that this method can be as effective as other methods of teaching reading.
 PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo
It’s especially useful when learning how to teach a toddler to read because children these young may not
be ready for phonics instruction.

The Language Experience Approach

Another method, the language experience method, uses learners’ own words to help them read. Unlike
other methods of teaching reading, this method is grounded in personalized learning. In this method, every
child learns different words. Children often find this method very easy because they learn words that they
are already familiar with.

This approach involves a shared experience such as common school experiences, excursions and everyday
happenings. In other words, first hand experiences are reflected through the texts written through the
language experience approach. This approach is more effective when it is combined with other methods
of teaching reading.

The Context Support Method

The context support method is one of the least discussed methods of teaching reading, but it is not less
effective than other methods. To attract and hold the attention of the learner, it uses the associative
connection between words and pictures. To learn something, paying attention is of utmost importance.
But children who are disinterested cannot pay attention long enough. Most educators believe that this
method works because it holds a learner’s attention.

Strategies in Teaching Reading with Comprehension

1. Monitoring Comprehension

Students who are good at monitoring their comprehension know when they understand what they read and
when they do not. They have strategies to "fix" problems in their understanding as the problems arise.
Research shows that instruction, even in the early grades, can help students become better at monitoring
their comprehension.

2. Metacognition

Metacognition can be defined as "thinking about thinking." Good readers use metacognitive strategies to
think about and have control over their reading. Before reading, they might clarify their purpose for
reading and preview the text. During reading, they might monitor their understanding, adjusting their
reading speed to fit the difficulty of the text and "fixing" any comprehension problems they have. After
reading, they check their understanding of what they read.

3. Graphic and Semantic Organizers

Graphic organizers illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text or using diagrams.
Graphic organizers are known by different names, such as maps, webs, graphs, charts, frames, or clusters.

Regardless of the label, graphic organizers can help readers focus on concepts and how they are related to
other concepts. Graphic organizers help students read and understand textbooks and picture books.
 PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo
4. Answering questions

The Question-Answer Relationship strategy (QAR) encourages students to learn how to answer questions
better. Students are asked to indicate whether the information they used to answer questions about the text
was textually explicit information (information that was directly stated in the text), textually implicit
information (information that was implied in the text), or information entirely from the student's own
background knowledge.

There are four different types of questions:

• "Right There" – questions found right in the text that ask students to find the one right answer
located in one place as a word or a sentence in the passage.

Example: Who is Frog's friend?

Answer: Toad

• "Think and Search" – questions based on the recall of facts that can be found directly in the text.
Answers are typically found in more than one place, thus requiring students to "think" and "search"
through the passage to find the answer.

Example: Why was Frog sad?

Answer: His friend was leaving.

• "Author and You" – questions require students to use what they already know, with what they
have learned from reading the text. Students must understand the text and relate it to their prior
knowledge before answering the question.

Example: How do think Frog felt when he found Toad?

Answer: I think that Frog felt happy because he had not seen Toad in a long time. I feel happy
when I get to see my friend who lives far away.

• "On Your Own" – questions are answered based on a student's prior knowledge and experiences.
Reading the text may not be helpful to them when answering this type of question.

Example: How would you feel if your best friend moved away?
Answer: I would feel very sad if my best friend moved away because I would miss her.

5. Generating questions

By generating questions, students become aware of whether they can answer the questions and if they
understand what they are reading. Students learn to ask themselves questions that require them to combine
information from different segments of text. For example, students can be taught to ask main idea
questions that relate to important information in a text.

6. Recognizing story structure

In story structure instruction, students learn to identify the categories of content (characters, setting,
events, problem, resolution). Often, students learn to recognize story structure through the use of story
maps. Instruction in story structure improves students' comprehension.
 PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo
7. Summarizing

Summarizing requires students to determine what is important in what they are reading and to put it into
their own words. Instruction in summarizing helps students:
• Identify or generate main ideas
• Connect the main or central ideas
• Eliminate unnecessary information
• Remember what they read

Guidelines for the Selection and Use of Materials (University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign)

1. Because the differences among the published materials of different publishers are often marked, the
careful evaluation of materials is warranted.
2. The decision to adopt publisher's commercially developed reading materials for an entire district or
several publishers' (single or multiple adoption) should depend upon the experiences and beliefs of the
district personnel, the size and diversity of the district, the characteristics of the students, and the
features of the materials.
3. The "core" materials of most programs include the student textbooks, teachers' manuals, student
workbooks, and placement and assessment instruments; an over-reliance on workbooks should be
avoided; committees should reserve funds for the purchase of other kinds of reading materials.
4. Members of adoption committees must review current reading research before beginning an evaluation
process.
5. The criteria developed for program evaluation should include research-based information as well as
the practice- and experience-based information of members of the committee.
6. An effective committee leader must organize the committee; develop, and keep to, reasonable time
lines, divide the labor, keep committee members on task, and help the group synthesize the information
it has gathered.
7. Knowledge of the district--its personnel, its history, and its context--is essential to a successful
adoption.
8. The decisions of adoption committees who have worked within the constraints of a district, and who
have followed a reasonable evaluation process, should be binding.
9. The selection of materials must be accompanied by plans for in-service training in the use of the
materials and in teacher decision making.
10. The selection of materials at any level should assume the classroom use of materials other than the
adopted reading materials, for example, trade books, magazines, and newspapers.
11. The selection of materials for middle school and high school students should assure that the students
are provided with a variety of reading materials that they will encounter in their daily lives and explicit
instruction in how to read them.

Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI)

What is the Phil-IRI?

The Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) was created to provide classroom teachers a tool
for measuring and describing reading performance. It is an assessment tool composed of graded passages
designed to determine a student’s reading level. It is important to note that the Phil-IRI only provides an
 PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo
approximation of the learner’s abilities and may be used in combination with other reliable tools of
assessment.

Why was the Phil-IRI developed?

The development of the Phil-IRI is one of the initiatives put in place in support of the “Every Child A
Reader Program (ECARP).” Before teachers can design and provide appropriate reading instruction for
their students, they should be armed with information about their students’ current reading levels and
abilities. This diagnostic approach to describing how children read embraces inclusionary principles that
emphasize the need for education that is learner-oriented, responsive and culturally sensitive. The Phil-
IRI is one of the diagnostic tools that teachers can use to determine students' abilities and needs in reading.

What adjustments were made in the Phil-IRI selections?

The Revised Phil-IRI was prepared in early 2013, prior to the introduction of the K-12 Curriculum. The
readability level of the selections for oral and silent reading were based on the old English and Filipino
curricula and were validated to pupils who were products of these old curricula; they were taught to read
in Filipino and in English starting in Grade 1.

Under the K-12 curriculum, the pupils are introduced to Reading in Filipino during the first semester of
Grade 2 while Reading in English is introduced during the second semester.

Aside from adjusting the readability level of the Phil-IRI selections based on the present curriculum, the
Phil-IRI constructed in 2013 was revalidated to the present group of learners in 2016 to give a better
assurance that the readability levels of the selections are appropriate for the grade levels for which they
are assigned. Nineteen schools, each representing a particular Mother Tongue, were chosen for the
revalidation. Phil-IRI Filipino was administered to Grade 3 and 4 pupils while Phil-IRI English was
administered to Grade 4 and 5 pupils. The MTB-MLE coordinator/Master teacher/the subject teacher in
Filipino and English/ the class adviser who had a training in ELLN conducted the revalidation.

The result of the examination of the literacy curriculum in both English and Filipino as well as the
revalidation were the bases for adjusting the Phil-IRI selections both in the Screening Test and the Pretest
and Posttest.

What can Phil-IRI tell the teachers?

The Phil-IRI Group Screening Test (GST) can tell teachers whether students are reading at, above, or
below their grade levels. The individually administered Phil-IRI Graded Passages can be used to assess
students’ Oral Reading, Silent Reading Comprehension and/or Listening Comprehension levels.
When used to assess oral reading skills, the Phil-IRI may be used to describe decoding and word
recognition, fluency and comprehension. The student’s performance in decoding (the ability to read
isolated words using phonics knowledge) and word recognition (the ability to automatically identify words
on sight) is measured through a Reading Miscue Inventory (Phil-IRI Form 3A and 3B: Grade Level
Passage Rating Sheet). The child is asked to read a passage and each word read incorrectly is noted and
marked. In terms of fluency (the ability to read with speed, accuracy and prosody), the time taken by the
child to read a passage is recorded and the number of words that he/she can read per minute is computed.
Furthermore, a qualitative description of the child’s manner of reading is described via a checklist. Finally,
test taker’s comprehension skills (the ability to create meaning) may be gauged by having the child answer
five to eight questions of varying difficulty based on the graded passage after it has been read.
 PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo

When used to assess Silent Reading Comprehension, Phil-IRI may be used to describe reading speed and
comprehension. The student’s reading speed is measured by recording the time it takes the child to read
each passage completely. Silent reading comprehension is measured by asking the student to answer five
to eight questions of varying difficulty after a passage has been read.

When used to assess listening comprehension, the Phil-IRI may be used by having the student listen to the
passages as they are read by the test administrator and answer five to eight questions of varying difficulty
about each passage.

For all three types of individual assessments (oral reading comprehension, listening comprehension and
silent reading comprehension), the aim is to find the learner’s independent, instructional and frustration
levels, so that teachers know what level of reading materials the student can read and understand well, as
well as what level of reading materials the student is not ready for. Since the Phil-IRI is administered at
the start and at the end of the school year, it can also tell teachers about the growth and changes in students’
reading skills and levels.

What are flexible ways to use Phil-IRI?

The Phil-IRI may be used to:

a. Group Reading Level – The Phil-IRI GST can be used to determine a whole class’ reading level, and
identify particular students who may need more assistance in performing reading tasks.

b. Individual Reading Level – The individually administered Phil-IRI Graded Passages can be used to
determine a student’s independent, instructional and frustration levels for three types of literacy tasks:
Oral Reading, Silent Reading, and Listening Comprehension.

c. Monitor Growth and Response to Intervention – Pretest and Posttest results of the Phil-IRI can be
compared to monitor growth in students’ reading skills, as well as determine the efficacy of the program
or reading interventions conducted by the school and/or classroom teachers.

d. Describe Reading Behaviors – The recording of the student’s oral reading behaviors during the
conduct of the individually administered Phil-IRI Graded Passages can help the teacher describe a
student’s reading performance and behavior. It specifies the number of words read per minute, the cues
used for identifying or recognizing words, manner of reading, etc. Types of miscues as well as types of
comprehension questions answered correctly can also be analyzed by the teacher to help him/her design
appropriate reading lessons or interventions.

Who needs to take the Phil-IRI?

All students in Grades 3 to 6 will undergo the Phil-IRI Group Screening Test (GST) in Filipino, while
students in Grades 4 to 6 will undergo the GST in English. Students identified to be performing below
level of expectation (those with a total Raw Score below 14 in the Phil-IRI GST) should undergo further
assessment through the individually administered Phil-IRI graded passages.
 PREPARATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
Mr. Jay-Arr V. Sangoyo
When should the Phil-IRI be administered?

The following table below shows the administration schedule of Group Screening Test and the
Individualized Phil-IRI assessments. Group assessments must be conducted within class time while
Individual assessments may be conducted outside class hours.

Filipino English
(for Grade 3 to Grade 6 learners) (for Grade 4 to Grade 6 learners)
Type of Test Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest
Phil-IRI Group Screening Within the first Within January Within the first Within January
Test (GST) or second to February of or second to February of
month of the the school year month of the the school year
school year school year
Individualized Phil-IRI Within a month Within a month
Assessment (only for pupils after the GST is after the GST is
who did not pass the GST) administered administered

How long does it take to administer the Phil-IRI?

The administration of the Phil-IRI GST for a whole class takes approximately 30 minutes. The time it
takes to administer the Phil-IRI Graded Passages would vary for each student.

Who can administer the Phil-IRI?

All Filipino subject teachers for Grades 3 to 6 and English subject teachers for Grades 4 to 6 can administer
the Phil-IRI Group Screening Tests in their respective classes. ELLN-trained teachers can administer the
Phil-IRI Graded Passages to individual students who need further assessment.The region and/or division
can also conduct training programs to teachers on the conduct of the Phil-IRI. Teachers who will
administer the Phil-IRI should read the manual thoroughly and prepare all the necessary materials and
forms prior to the scheduled date of test administration.

How do we get a copy of the Phil-IRI materials?

The Phil-IRI materials will be uploaded to the Learning Resource Management Development System
(LRMDS) portal of the DepEd website which can be downloaded by the teachers, school heads and
education supervisors. Schools are advised to use the MOOE funds for the reproduction and distribution
of the materials to teachers.

What is Phil-IRI Group Screening Test

The Phil-IRI Group Screening Test (GST) is a silently-administered test in both Filipino and English.
Each tool is composed of a 20-item comprehension test based on a set of leveled passages for each grade
level covering Grades 3 to 6 in Filipino and Grades 4 to 6 in English. The passages were written and
selected based on concept load, level of vocabulary used, sentence complexity, nature of themes and
cohesion. The objective of the GST is to identify students who need further testing.