Action Research Proposal Final

PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
Republic of the Philippines

Philippine Normal University
Mindanao
The Multicultural Education Hub
Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur
Enhancing the Oral Reading Fluency Skills of Grade 8 Students through

Repeated Reading ACES (Adapted and Contextualized Engaging Stories)
An Action Research Proposal
Presented to the
Faculty of Philippine Normal University - Mindanao
Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur
In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement of the

Course ProfEd14 (Teaching Internship)
Apique, Dallen Yvon C.
Bequibel, Kimberly Claire
Catap, Eloise Hazel C.
Guzman, Nikah O.
Maluya, Rhea Mae B.

RESEARCHERS
DR. RENNIE C. SARANZA

COURSE PROFESSOR
Table of Contents
Page
I. Context and Rationale 2
II. Action Research Questions 6
III. Proposed Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy 7
IV. Action Research Methods
a. Participants or Other Sources of Data or Information 9
b. Data Gathering Methods 10
c. Data Gathering Plan 11
d. Data Analysis 13
V. References 18
I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
Reading, being a component of literacy, makes up the foundation of lifelong learning
and education. A lack of literacy deprives people from access to better opportunities in life to
break the poverty cycle. Literacy Information and Communication System (2018) defines
reading as the ability to recognize written words correctly and virtually effortlessly. To
others, it is an effortless activity; unfortunately to millions, reading is not a positive
experience (International Literacy Association, 2018). This is reflected in the Multiple
Indicator Cluster Surveys or MICS (2022) wherein results suggest that majority of the
children around the world are not equipped with foundational reading skills that prepare them
for the world beyond their classroom. Despite the progress globally, 771 million youth and
adults still lack basic literacy skills with two-thirds composed of women (UNESCO, 2022).
In the Philippines, statistics indicate that many Filipino children are not proficient
readers. When the Philippines participated in the Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA) for the first time, results showed a significant rate of low performers in
English, Mathematics, and Science among all PISA-participating countries and economies.
80% of the Filipino students did not reach the minimum level of proficiency in reading and
their poor scores in the aforementioned subjects were attributed to the students’ lack of ability
in basic reading and comprehension. On top of that, the COVID-19 pandemic happened and
its effects magnified the existing literacy challenges. According to the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), less than 15 percent of schoolchildren in the Philippines, or
about three in every 20, can read simple texts in large part due to the longest school closure
of more than 70 weeks as of the middle of February 2022.

Nevertheless, the pandemic is a wake-up call to invest in literacy (Romer, 2020). The
Department of Education (DepEd) launched the Hamon: Bawat Bata Bumabasa (3Bs
Initiatives) through DepEd Memorandum No. 173, s2019, in order to improve the reading
proficiency of Filipino learners and intensify the advocacy for reading. Offices from central
to division level and schools were encouraged to strengthen their advocacies for Every Child
A Reader Program (ECARP) to make every learner a reader at their grade level and
capacitate teachers to become effective reading instructors.
In the case of Agusan del Sur National High School (ASNHS), despite the DepEd’s
3B’s program and the school’s own reading program Project ICARE (Intensifying
Comprehension Through Achieving Reading Efficiency), the problem continues to persist as
evident in the Phil-IRI results conducted on October 2022 by the school wherein out of 4,823
students from Grade 7 to Grade 10 who took the test, 2,129 students belong to the Frustration
reading level. In the Grade 8 level, 463 students or 41% of the enrollees are under frustration
level. The researchers only got the results of one section where out of 43 students who took
the test, 13 are identified as belonging in the frustration level. Students under this level score
89% and below in word recognition and commit errors in reading such as reversal, repetition,
substitution, insertion, and etc., (Minariza, 2014).
The researchers, in response to this evident problem, understand that developing word
recognition is vital to increase reading ability of the students and to move them up to
instructional or even independent level. Several studies in recent years have found that
interventions like repeated reading, and play-based activities like word-building exercises and
games are effective in improving word recognition (Uittert, et. al., 2021; Berg & Lyke, 2012).
With these concepts, the researchers seek to discover Play-based interventions with
integration of repeated reading to improve word recognition skills of Grade 8 frustration level
readers.
II. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The main focus of the study will be the play-based interventions administered to Grade 8
students. This action research aims to develop the participants’ sight word recognition.
1. What play-based interventions can be developed to improve the sight word
recognition of Grade 8 student belonging in the frustration level?
2. How effective are play-based intervention in developing the sight word recognition of
Grade 8 students?
III. PROPOSED INNOVATION, INTERVENTION AND STRATEGY
PLAY-BASED INTERVENTIONS
According to What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Intervention Report (2012), play-
based interventions are practices intended for the holistic development of the learners
particularly their socio-emotional, physical, language, and cognitive development. These
employ strategies like modelling, verbal redirection, reinforcement, and indirect instruction.
It can be held either as a small-group activity or as a one-on-one activity. It is backed up by
the theory of John Piaget cited in the article of Cherry (2022), the Cognitive Development
Theory, that emphasized that an individual constructs knowledge and understanding through
active exploration and manipulation of their environment.
In the context of the study, these play-based interventions will be used to improve
sight-word recognition or ability to recognize some words automatically, or on sight
(McArthur et al., 2015) of frustration level readers under the pretense that educational games
have the potential to lift the mind-numbing repetition word drills and can inject an element of
fun into otherwise tedious learning sessions (Lamsa, et. al., 2018). It will employ a type of
repeated reading activity unique in each cycle. Namely, they are Race Track, Flash Words,
Scavenger Word Hunt. Repeated reading is a method proposed by S. Jay Samuels to develop
automaticity with struggling readers (Shanahan, 2017). Automaticity is defined as the fast,
effortless word recognition resulting from reading practice (Partnership for Reading, 2001).
This practice is founded on two theories namely the Automaticity Theory and
Cognitive Load Theory. The Automaticity Theory, originated through Konrad Zuse and
popularized by Edward Fredkin, states that repeated reading improves one of the components
of fluency, automaticity or the ability to read words accurately without conscious efforts
(Brown, 2021). With constant exposure and practice, they become more familiar with the
words and phrases in a text. The unconscious effort in reading is supported by the second
theory, The Cognitive Load Theory which suggests that repeated reading reduce cognitive
load or the amount of mental effort required to recognize and enunciate the word (Centre for
Education Statistics and Evaluation, 2017).
In the conduct of these interventions, Adapted and Contextualized Engaging Stories
(ACES) will be used as reading materials. ACES are a set of materials containing adapted
and contextualized stories that are engaging and culturally relevant all aligned to the required
competencies of the Department of Education. According to Nuqui (2017), the use of
contextualized or indigenized instructional material enhances learning competencies in
relation to the biogeographical, historical, and sociocultural context of the community of the
learner guided by the standards and principles stated in the curriculum. To aid improvement
of word recognition, ACES will be composed of sight words taken from Edward Fry’s (2000)
1000 Fry Instant Words.

CYCLE 1: Reading Racetrack
Reading racetrack is proposed by Rinaldi, Sells, & McLaughlin (1997). Its basic idea
is rather simple: In the case of a reading racetrack, the learner rolls a die and moves a piece
(race car) forward according to the number on the die. The card that the race card falls in will
be turned over and the child will have read the word that is printed on it out loud. If it is
named correctly, the teacher or tutor praises the student and the game continues. If a child
misreads a word, he or she gets corrected. In this study, the procedure will be retained except
that it willbe conducted in groups and technology integrated. Students will simultaneously
read the words and the instructor then forms small groups of students who made similar
errors, and provides direct instruction to each group through a listening activity.
Table 1. Procedure in implementing Reading Racetrack

Day 1 Pre-Test- the researchers will conduct an oral reading Pre-test with the
intervention materials.
Day 2 Building a frequency sight words vocabulary through Words in the Wall –
10 to 15 sight words will be taken from the Fry Instant Word List which consists
of 1000 most common words in the English language ranked in frequency. These
words will be posted on the board including their phonetic transcription to aid
pronunciation.
Day 3 Imitating & practicing of sight words through Reading Racetrack - the
session will start with a review of the words learned in the previous session. After
that, they will play the game Reading Racetrack which will be aided by a
hyperlink tool. In this game, one representative rolls a die and the number that will
be reflected in the die will be opened through a hyperlink which will reveal the
word they are going to simultaneously read aloud. Those who made similar errors,
will be formed in groups to which the teacher will provide a direct instruction to
through an audio-visual aid.
Small group or pair reading of ACES - the learners will first listen to the story
of “Mt. Magdiwata”. After that, they will then read the story themselves in pairs
Day 4 multiple times until they achieve accuracy. Their pair will evaluate their ability to
recognize the words and take notes.
Day 5 Post-Test and FGD– the researchers will conduct an oral reading post-test with
the same material used in the pre-test to really measure if there’s a change. After
the post test, the teacher will conduct a Focus Group Discussion on students’
perspectives on their experience with the material and interventions.
CYCLE 2: Flash Words
Flash words is a type of intervention that makes use of flashcard to build mastery and
fluency with sight words and other academic skills (Seines, et al., 2015). This is further
supported by the study of Fraher (2019), in which a Direct Instruction Flashcards intervention
is used for their participant, Kyle. The results showed that Kyle’s ability to decode and
comprehend higher level texts, thus the intervention facilitated foundational academic skills.
In addition, this technique has been found effective across a variety of skills and subject areas
including math, facts, sight words, and letter and sound identification (Higgins, 2012).
Likewise, Nicholsin (1998) states that, "Flash cards can foster automaticity by helping to read
words accurately and quickly" until students are able to read stories independently and
recognize many words.
Table 2. Procedure in implementing the game Flash Words

pronunciation.
Day 3 Imitating & practicing of sight words through Flash Words - the teacher
shows each sight words through a flashcard to the student. If the student is able to
read the word correctly within 3 seconds, it will be placed into a "known" pile.
Any card that the student reads incorrectly or hesitates on for more than 3 seconds
will be sorted into an "unknown" pile. After that the teacher shuffles the deck, and
presents each card to the student while giving corrective feedback through an
audio-visual aid.
Day 4 Small group or pair reading of ACES - the learners will first listen to the story
of “Diwata of Agusan Marsh”. After that, they will then read the story themselves
in pairs multiple times until they achieve accuracy. Their pair will evaluate their
ability to recognize the words and take notes.
CYCLE 3: Scavenger Word Hunt
Word hunts, according to Degraaff (2021), are excellent gamification tools for
developing sight word vocabulary and engaging students. They not only improve word
recognition, but they also aid in the learning of context clues. Word Hunts focus on the
structure and meaning of words by turning children’s attention to spelling patterns and root
words. Scavenger Hunts are one type of Word Hunt. Students use this strategy to search their
surroundings for words they are studying. It significantly raises students' awareness and
appreciation for vocabulary words, and it allows them to see how words are used in various
contexts. It also provides opportunities for teacher evaluation (Richek, M.,2005).
Table 3. Procedure in implementing the game Scavenger Word Hunt

pronunciation.
Day 3 Imitating & practicing of sight words through Scavenger Hunt - students will
go on a mission to collect a total of 15 sight words from different areas of the
classroom. As students discover the words, they will shout the word and the
teacher will open a hyperlink of an audio-visual clip modelling the proper
pronunciation. Students will imitate the words until all 15 words are found.
Day 4 Small group or pair reading of ACES - the learners will first listen to the story
of “Legend of the Dinagat Island”. After that, they will then read the story
themselves in pairs multiple times until they achieve accuracy. Their pair will
evaluate their ability to recognize the words and take notes.
IV. ACTION RESEARCH METHOD
a. Research Design
Figure 1 Action Research Model Adapted from Lewin (2008)

The researchers anchor its study to Lewin’s Action Research Model which are
composed of four cycles, planning, acting, observing, and reflecting (Lewin, 2008). In an
interaction with the students in Grade 8 Sunflower during the Field Study 1 & 2, the
researchers perceived their difficulty in word recognition. Aided with the results of the Phil-
IRI pre-test administered to all students across year levels, the researchers plan to conduct an
intervention for the 13 students under frustration level of the said section. Having identified
the problem and gone through its related literature, it is decided that play-based interventions
will be used for the three cycles, each starting with pre-test and ending with post-test.
Following the planning phase will be its implementation which will be observed with the aid
of field notes and audio records. The observation in the process of intervention will be
supported by the conduct of focused group discussions and post-tests. The results from the
analysis of data will then be reflected by the researchers in order to make necessary changes
in the initial plans on the following interventions. Hence, the process of planning, acting,
observing, and reflecting will be repeated in all three cycles of the play-based interventions
until no learner is under the frustration level.
b. Participants and/or other Sources of Data and information
The researchers will conduct the study at Agusan del Sur National High School
located at San Francisco, Agusan del Sur. Participants will be selected using purposive
sampling design since they will be chosen according to a particular set of characteristics
(Lavrakas, 2008) which in this study is the students under frustration level. The researchers
only got the results of one section from Grade 8 level- Sunflower. Out of 43 students, 13
were assessed as belonging to the frustration level based on the results of the Philippine
Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) conducted on late October, 2022. Students under this
level scores 89% and below in word recognition and commit errors in reading such as
reversal, repetition, substitution, insertion, etc. (Minariza, 2014). Based on the data and from
the observations by the researchers, students were found having poor reading skills especially
on slow recognition of words and inaccurate pronunciations.
c. Data Gathering Methods
The school-based Phil-IRI Reading Report conducted on October, 2022 was utilized
to determine the number of students belonging in the frustration level in Grade 8-Sunflower.
To determine the effectiveness of the Play-based interventions in improving sight word
recognitions of the participants , the researchers will conduct an oral reading pre-test and
post-test about the materials i During the conduct of these tests, Phil-IRI Individual
Summary Record will be used to document the effect of the intervention to the performance
and level of each learner in word reading as well as their errors. The researchers will also
hold one on one interviews with the participants to be followed with by a Focus Group
Discussion (FGD) on their experience with the materials and activities. It will be used to
validate the authenticity of the results from previous assessment tools (Pohontsch & Meyer,
2015).
For every intervention, different reading materials particularly the ACES will be used
but with the same competencies. Words used in the reading materials will be the sight words
taken from the Fry Instant List developed by Edward Fry (2000). During this process, their
sessions will be audio recorded. Akar (2018) explains that in this method, the student reads a
text aloud and then an audio recorder will be used to record the reading session. This method
helps the teacher or students themselves identify areas where they may be struggling and
work on improving them. Furthermore, the teacher will write detailed observation and field
notes on students’ behaviors and attitude toward the activities given, that cannot be heard or
understood from the recording. According to Emerson (2011), field notes are written records
of the observations and activities encountered or participated in during fieldwork. It should be
written while conducting observations.
d. Data Analysis
This study will make use of various statistical tool to answer the research questions.
For the quantitative data analysis, mean scores of the readers in the passage read will be
calculated. Second, frequency will be used to determine the number of words the students
were able to recognize in isolation and in context. Third, percentage will be used to determine
the percentage of miscues or reading errors that occurred during reading sessions and
evaluation test. These three tools will be used to compute the word recognition ability of the
learners following Phil-IRI Word Recognition calculation (No. of major miscues/no. of
words in the passage X 100 + % of miscues). Lastly, paired sample t-test will be used to
identify the difference or changes that occurred after the interventions are administered. The
Paired Samples t-test compares the means of two tests taken at two different times (e.g., pre-
test and post-test scores). This comparison helps to determine the effect of chance of the
difference, and whether the difference is outside the chance range (Adam Hayes, 2022).
For the qualitative data, the researchers will make use of thematic analysis which is
the process of identifying patterns or themes within qualitative data (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
In the study of Alasmari (2017), it is used to identify themes from participants’ responses to
semi-structured interviews, field notes generated through classroom observations, and
teacher’s experience. In this study, it will be employed to analyze the field notes written by
the teacher and the students responses and discussion from the FGDs’ which according to
Pohontsch & Meyer (2015) can serve as a tool to develop and validate responses from an
initial assessment tool.
References:
World Literacy Foundation. (2022, December 16). Why
Literacy. https://worldliteracyfoundation.org/whyliteracy/?
gclid=Cj0KCQiA_P6dBhD1ARIsAAGI7HCc7aX3hHzEkvAGuAKzRV0VRrQPQiYrHooF
VxKFBrBqXeGlz0-AEC0aAkABEALw_wcB
OECD. International Student Assessment (PISA)—Reading Performance (PISA). OECD Data. 2019.
Available online: https://data.oecd.org/pisa/reading-performance-pisa.htm (accessed on 22
August 2022).
Zimmerman, B.S.; Rasinski, T.V.; Was, C.A.; Rawson, K.A.; Dunlosky, J.; Kruse, S.D.; Nikbakht, E.
Enhancing Outcomes for Struggling Readers: Empirical Analysis of The Fluency Development
Lesson. Read. Psychol. 2019, 40, 70–94. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
Berg, K., & Lyke, C. (2012). Using Repeated Reading as a Strategy to Improve Reading
Fluency at the Elementary Level.
Uittert, A., Verhoeven, L., & Segers, E. (2021). Responsiveness to a game ‐based
intervention to enhance reading efficiency in first graders. Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning, 38(1), 178–191. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12599
Richek, M.A. (2005). Words are wonderful: Interactive, time-efficient strategies to teach
meaning vocabulary. The Reading Teacher. 58(5), 414-423.
Emerson, Robert M. et al. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press, 2011; Ethnography, Observational Research, and Narrative Inquiry. Writing@CSU.
Colorado State University; Pace, Tonio. Writing Field Reports. Scribd Online Library;
Akar, Cuneyt. (2018). DETERMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AUDIO-
RECORDING METHOD IN THE TREATMENT OF READING DISABILITY.

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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY

The National Center for Teacher Education

Republic of the Philippines

Enhancing the Oral Reading Fluency Skills of Grade 8 Students through

An Action Research Proposal

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement of the

Apique, Dallen Yvon C.

Bequibel, Kimberly Claire

Catap, Eloise Hazel C.

Maluya, Rhea Mae B.

DR. RENNIE C. SARANZA

I. Context and Rationale 2

II. Action Research Questions 6

III. Proposed Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy 7

IV. Action Research Methods

a. Participants or Other Sources of Data or Information 9

b. Data Gathering Methods 10

c. Data Gathering Plan 11

I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Reading, being a component of literacy, makes up the foundation of lifelong learning

others, it is an effortless activity; unfortunately to millions, reading is not a positive

experience (International Literacy Association, 2018). This is reflected in the Multiple

Children’s Fund (UNICEF), less than 15 percent of schoolchildren in the Philippines, or

of more than 70 weeks as of the middle of February 2022.

capacitate teachers to become effective reading instructors.

Comprehension Through Achieving Reading Efficiency), the problem continues to persist as

substitution, insertion, and etc., (Minariza, 2014).

II. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What play-based interventions can be developed to improve the sight word

recognition of Grade 8 student belonging in the frustration level?

III. PROPOSED INNOVATION, INTERVENTION AND STRATEGY

According to What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Intervention Report (2012), play-

particularly their socio-emotional, physical, language, and cognitive development. These

It can be held either as a small-group activity or as a one-on-one activity. It is backed up by

active exploration and manipulation of their environment.

sight-word recognition or ability to recognize some words automatically, or on sight

Education Statistics and Evaluation, 2017).

In the conduct of these interventions, Adapted and Contextualized Engaging Stories

competencies of the Department of Education. According to Nuqui (2017), the use of

contextualized or indigenized instructional material enhances learning competencies in

1000 Fry Instant Words.

CYCLE 1: Reading Racetrack

Table 1. Procedure in implementing Reading Racetrack

through an audio-visual aid.

recognize the words and take notes.

perspectives on their experience with the material and interventions.

CYCLE 2: Flash Words

recognize many words.

Table 2. Procedure in implementing the game Flash Words

ability to recognize the words and take notes.

perspectives on their experience with the material and interventions.

CYCLE 3: Scavenger Word Hunt

contexts. It also provides opportunities for teacher evaluation (Richek, M.,2005).

Table 3. Procedure in implementing the game Scavenger Word Hunt

go on a mission to collect a total of 15 sight words from different areas of the

teacher will open a hyperlink of an audio-visual clip modelling the proper

evaluate their ability to recognize the words and take notes.

perspectives on their experience with the material and interventions.

IV. ACTION RESEARCH METHOD