AJR-RRI

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Introduction

“ Youwerethebestyouknownocompetitioncedricdidthisweirdthingwherehe

transfiguredarockonthegroundturneditintoadog”

Confusing right? Well, that is reading, it is not merely being able to

recognize the letters printed into the paper. One must also decode it into

meaningful units like words as in, “You were the best, you know, no

competition. Cedric did this weird thing where he transfigured a rock on the

ground…turned it into a dog.” Better? Yes much better. As said earlier,

organize it into meaningful units meaning understanding the meaning of every

word in the example sentences. According to Vladimir Nabokov, “a good

reader has imagination, memory, a dictionary and some artistic sense.” To be

able to understand the given sentences, a reader should know the connotation

and denotation of the content words in the sentences such as weird,

transfigured, rock, ground, turned and dog. Then, the reader should have a

memory that will remind him that these sentences are taken from Harry Potter

and the Goblet of Fire during the first task of the Triwizard tournament.

Moreover, the reader should also have the imagination to picture vividly that

Cedric using his wand change a rock into a dog. And finally, he has to have

artistic sense to appreciate the scene.

What is just shown is a complexity called reading. Reading like language

is contained in a chaotic universe but amidst the chaos are small simplicities

that are joined to form the complexity. Why is this so? Simply because reading

is a process wherein the reader do not just make noises by producing the

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sounds of the printed letters but also undergoing several steps such as

decoding, assimilating, comprehending, and encoding of meaning and

inference. It is not just being able to read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

that it all ends there. Think what is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, who is

Harry Potter, what is a goblet, what is fire and a lot more. Imagine being able

to recognize the word goblet and thinking what is it, have you seen one are

just one of the many questions that already complicates it and yet being able

to understand it will assure one of the meaning of the statement.

Now take a look at the following example:

Woman without her man is nothing.

What is you reaction? Are your eyebrows raising a notch higher? Is your

ego a little bit inflated? Relax, this is not to slight any feminist or flatter any

male chauvinist but it is just to show the complexity of reading. The meaning,

meanings rather, to be derived from this sentence are ambivalent. One saying

woman, without her man, is nothing and the other one saying woman, without

her, man is nothing. See? The two occupies opposite poles and yet they are

encoded in the same structure. This is where other factors that affect reading

come in. In this sentence, the reader with his own prerogative cut the

sentences into his preference and reacts when another reader reacts against

his view about it he will be aware that the sentence contains two meanings.

Bear in mind that to consider reading as effective, it should be

accompanied by speed and comprehension. Eye movement and visual

discrimination are just some of the skills needed to be developed in order to

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achieve reading speed. Studies have shown that a reader’s rate of reading

depends to a great extent on the number of fixations that his eyes make as

they move across a page. To increase one’s rate of reading, therefore, he

must reduce the number of fixations of the eyes. This can be done by not

reading word by word but by thought phrases.

Speed in reading is relatively easy to achieve. Developing

comprehension, which is a constellation of skills or abilities, is difficult. Skills in

visual discrimination, association and interpretation are essential. Rate of

reading is also a factor in comprehension. Harry Shaw (1975) points out that

“as we lengthen the span of our eye movements, our reading rate will increase

and so will our comprehension, then we will be reading, not in isolated units

but in context.

Philippine Education System

The Philippine education system is inverted and it develops skills at the

wrong time and wrong sequence. What is predominant in the Philippine

schools is that reading and writing are taught starting from preparatory years

to intermediate and only during the later years that listening and speaking are

given importance. This can be likened to eating ice cream and eating the cone

first before the ice cream or eating the filling of the cookies first before the

cookies. Or it can be likened to being drop at the top of Mount Apo and seeing

the panoramic view above and then start to head down slope. You do not have

the motivation of being able to see what is on top because you have already

seen it.

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There are for modes of communication that compose the areas of

communication activities such as listening, speaking, reading and writing.

A learner acquires language socially that is through listening to the

people around him and eventually speaking the language. Thus, he becomes

fluent and verbose in the language as the time goes on.

The purpose of reading is to widen his knowledge more about the

language and then putting his widened knowledge and enhance skills and

acquisition of the language by writing. He puts to test his verbosity and

knowledge in writing there fore reading and writing just come in at the latter

part of the development of an individual.

Reading is one of the productive modes of the language. Reading is the

cornerstone of an effective education. Without this skill we are limited in so

many important life activities: we cannot understand a newspaper, read

directions of a new recipe, enjoy a favorite novel, or read a prescription bottle

of medication. Reading is also closely aligned with activities in Mathematics,

Writing, Spelling, and the content areas (e.g., Science, Social Studies). For

poor readers, college is out of the question and many jobs are simply out of

reach because they require some basic level of reading or other skill that

hinges on reading. Lack of reading places these individuals at a serious

disadvantage in our society (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004).

Meet my Client…

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My client is Jan Darwin R. Refuerzo, 15 years of age and a fourth year

student of Don Eufranio F. Eriguel Memorial National High School. He hails

from San Marcos, Agoo, La Union and lives with his father and sister at home.

His mother is working in Manila. He is a shy and timid teenager. The TLE

student teacher that teaches him also shares this description. According to

this student teacher, Darwin tends to stay I one side of the room and watch his

classmates making all kinds of noises and racketing. I describe him as silent

water runs deep type of person. When asked of what he can change in his

class, he answered, “being noisy.”

In terms of his physical stature, he is not tall and seems to be short for

his age. He has a homely face and a very “mahinhin” attitude but take note he

is not gay. If you observe him in class, he is like a fish taken out of water and

living in the forest where noisy and riotous animals like birds and monkeys

abound. I also noticed how irritated he is in class whenever his classmates are

noisy that he seems to want to be a part of the wall or be cast in a vacuum to

shut out all the noise.

He is very eager to learn not like other poor readers in DEFEMNHS who

seemed not to care whether they can read well or not. For him, it is better to

try to improve one self than never trying at all. Despite of the negative

reactions of his classmates, he doesn’t care. He is oblivious to the taunts and

estimating looks that his classmates throw at him whenever we are in session,

and for this I salute him.

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To deviate from the monotonous way of high school life with an aim of

improving oneself was never easy. A person who will say that it is easy is a big

liar and a certified hypocrite. To improve oneself takes a certain span of time,

many sacrifices and a lot of guts and I know unconsciously my client has these

qualities.

Remediation Proper

I formally started remediation just after my client received the

questionnaire. The first selection was entitled “The Lion and the Ass.” For

Darwin to be able to understand the selection I had to employ word strategies

such as word puzzle, word configuration and context clues. On the other hand,

I had to rephrase comprehension questions to several guide questions before

he gets the answer to the question. I also translated the difficult words to

Filipino. This is very good, because back in my practice teaching I had to

translate from English to Tagalog to Ilocano to Pangasinan for my students to

comprehend the selections. I already notice his trouble in comprehension but

despite of this the point is he can read.

For the next session the selection was, “The Foolish Friend.” During this

session I concentrated in his pronunciation first, while he was reading I take

down the words he mispronounced, cannot pronounce and hesitated to

pronounce. After reading, I asked him to read the words over and over again.

The following were the words:

FOOLISH AMUSEMENT NATURAL DISHES

EXCEEDING

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VICINITY FRAGRANCE CLEVER STABLE

PARROTS

CREATURES VARIOUS SWORD GROVE SWARMS

THEREAFTER WIVES PARTRIDGES COMPANIONS

SURROUNDED

CARRY EXUDED PROCEEDED

SHUNNED

SCORNED TALK

I noticed that when I corrects his pronunciation of the word he

remembers and do not commit the same mistakes. Comprehension, this time,

took a certain time and sometimes he seemed not to understand the question

that I have to re-state it, paraphrase it over and repeatedly for him to get it

finally.

For the next session, the selection was, “The cat, the partridge and the

hare.” However, before he read the selection I asked him to summarize the

last selection, “The foolish friend.” Like before I wrote the words he cannot

pronounce properly and asked him to read these words:

PARTRIDGE SOURCE GROWN WHOEVER GANGES

PRIEST FOOLED HARE DWELLING PLUMP

OCCUPIED ACTUALLY ADVANTAGE MORAL

FIELDS HOWEVER CLAIM SUPPOSEDLY HYPOCRITE

OCCASION CROOK INDULGE HAVING ENSUED

CHANGES LIVELIHOODDISTANCE OUTWARD APPEARANCE

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He keeps on pronouncing, “having” as [h vIn] and sometimes

pronouncing claim as [klaIm] which is not suppose to be the case but [klem].

The selection in the following session was entitled, “The Birds, the Bats

and the Beasts.” The only problem here is he keeps on pronouncing “beasts”

as “beats.”

In our next session, he was not in the mood that I gave up instead, I just

asked him to read some tongue twisters:

BETTY BOUGHT A BIT OF BUTTER BUT SHE FOUND THE BUTTER BITTER. SO

SHE BOUGHT A BIT OF BETTER BUTTER TO MAKE THE BUTTER BITTER.

He interchanges the pronunciation of “better” and “bitter” and had

difficulty pronouncing “bought.”

Here are tongue twisters that we did not encounter any problems:

BETTER NEVER TROUBLE TROUBLE, UNTIL TROUBLE TROUBLES YOU. FOR YOU

ONLY MAKE YOUR TROUBLE DOUBLE WHEN YOU DO.

THREE GRAY GEESE IN THE GREEN GRASS GRAZING. GRAY WERE THE GEESE

AND GREEN WAS THE GRASS.

THE CROW FLEW OVER THE RIVER WITH LUMP OF RAW LIVER.

The next session was devoted to word exercises. The list is composed of

the following words.

A. BEASTS LEASTS FEASTS BOASTS TOASTS COASTS

BEAST LEAST FEAST BOAST TOAST COAST

MASTS LASTS FASTS CASTS

PASTS

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MAST LAST FAST CAST PAST

B. CLAIM MAIL SAIL PAIL NAIL BAIT

HAIL JAIL SAME FLAME LAME FAME

DAME NAME SHAME BLAME CAME FRAME

And I gave him an assignment. This assignment is a reading

comprehension test but the selections were as long as one or two sentences.

But as he goes on answering the test, the items get more difficult that is why

during the next session I was uplifted when he answered them correctly.

The second to the last session was composed or word activities.

[i] [I] [ ] [e]

She bid bed date

Believe lid led sail

Receive slid sled raid

Deceive rid red made

Serene big beg take

Ski pick peck snake

Cream fill fell tail

ENTIRELY AUTOMOBLILE UNDERESTIMATE FALSENESS

DISAPPEARING OVERESTIMATE DEFICIENCY

ARISEN BEAUTIFULLY ULTIMATELY CONCLUSION

REVENGE SOLELY CARBOHYDRATES COMPREHENSION

CONQUER CONSCIOUSLY RECOMMENDED UNHAPPILY

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CONDITIONS UNCONSCIOUSLY GENERALLY

UNFORTUNATELY SADDLED DETERMINE

NECESSARYFORTUNATE BRIDLED UNDERMINE

ACTIVITY PROVIDE UNCONDITIONAL

OVERCAME ESTIMATE CATASTROPHE

TIRE STRIKE TRICESTROKE STRESS FIRE SPIKE

TWICE STRUCK DIRE TRAP DEVICE STRIVE

STRIP SIRE STRAP SUFFICE STOVE STRAND MIRE

EDIFICE DRIVE STRIDE HIRE THOUGH

TRASH

PROVE STRODE ACQUIRE THOUGHT STRAND DROVE

STRUM STRONG STREAK STREAM STRAM STRING

And the last session was devoted for him to answer a

comprehension tests that I compiled.

PROBLEMS MET

My client has difficulty in pronouncing long words no matter how simple

the words are.

Examples:

HEREINAFTER THEREFORE WHATSOEVER EVERYWHERE

Whenever he encounters a long word he hesitates, then, read it so past

that there are blurred syllables or sounds that are not produced so

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mispronouncing the word and sometimes he substitutes it like in the case

of “changes” and “ganges.”

He also has difficulty in reading words with consonant cluster endings

like in the word “beasts.”

He interchanges the vowel sound [i] and [I] as well as [ ] and [e] like in

the words “bitter” and “better.”

I also notice that he has low retention. He is an hourglass reader. When

he reads it is as if everything runs out and leaving nothing behind

especially if the selection is compose of three or more paragraphs.

He has poor comprehension. If I asked a question he goes back to the

selection and read the whole sentence or the whole paragraph where

the answer can be found. He cannot paraphrase it or re-state it.

He doesn’t have wide vocabulary knowledge. Even simple words like

“conflict” and “rejoicing.”

He keeps on pronouncing claim as [klaIm] and interchanges [a] and [ae]

like in the word “having.”

HOW THE PROBLEMS WERE SOLVED

After he reads the word mispronouncing it I correct it by asking

him to pronounce the word by syllable. For example the word

“disappearing” I cover the “appearing” and leave the “dis” for him

to read and uncover the next syllable and the next until all the

syllables were pronounce and I asked him to read the word.

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I prepared word lists for him to read that contain the words and

the consonant clusters he mispronounced.

Regarding his being an hour glass reader. Well, instead of letting

him read the whole selection in one reading I let him read it over

and over again. Then I asked him to read it by paragraph and

instead of asking questions after he reads all I asked questions

after he finished reading a paragraph. Then after we are done with

the paragraphs, I asked him to summarize it and asked the same

questions for comprehension.

I also used tongue twisters for his tongue.

To improve his comprehension, I started by improving his

vocabulary through word association, word configuration and word

web. It was difficult at first but once he gets the knack for it, he

finds it easier. Aside from this I choose several selections

composed of just a paragraph and asked literal questions but as

he goes reading and answering the items, the passages and

questions get more difficult thus unconsciously forcing him to

concentrate and think more.

RECOMMENDATIONS

There will be no poor reader in the intermediate years if the teachers do

their work and do it well. Teachers should at least make sure that pupils

know how to read at a literate level before passing them. This may be

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idealistic but it is better that the child stays in a year level for sometime

learning than being passed to another level learning nothing.

Reading is an essential skills and teachers and school administration

should do something to make sure that learners are at least in the simple

literate level of reading.

Before going for the reading comprehension, prerequisite skills such as

word power, contextual clues, word association and others should be taught

first

Develop the four communication skills in the appropriate sequence and

not in the inverted sequence

The standard in judging reading skills should not be on fluency but in

comprehension and it should not be “pretty good” but “pretty well” because

pretty good is actually pretty bad.

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AJR-RRI

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