Assessment of Reading Comprehension Skills of Senior High School ALS Learners: Basis for School Reading Progress Program

Abstract

The general purpose of this study was to assess the reading comprehension skills of the Biliran National Agricultural High School Senior High School Alternative Learning System (ALS) learners, specifically Grade 11. This study utilized a descriptive research design and employed purposive sampling to gather 40 respondents. In assessing the word reading level and comprehension level of the ALS Learners, the Philippine-Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) Manual Tool was the foundation for this investigation, provided by the Department of Education. Furthermore, after the assessment of reading level and comprehension level, a follow-up survey questionnaire adapted from Tong and Ming-hao (2017) was distributed among the respondents to identify the barrier factors to their reading comprehension difficulty. As revealed by the study, the majority of respondents were male and were 19 years old. Furthermore, it is evident that ‘mispronunciation’ was the most common miscue committed by the ALS Learners. Meanwhile, 85% of the respondents were under the frustration level, and the rest belong to the instructional level, thus construed to signify extensive remediation, teacher guided instruction for learners under the frustration level, and teacher-directed instruction for the instructional level. In addition, it can be noted from the survey questionnaire that there were barriers to reading comprehension among the ALS learners, and the following were identified: Reading habit factor, Reading Strategies Factor, Psychological factors, Cultural background barriers, Reading interest factor, Discourse barriers, Grammar barriers, and Vocabulary barriers, respectively. Considering these findings, this study recommends utilizing the intervention scheme to improve the school reading program. Keywords: Alternative Learning System Learners, Reading Comprehension Skills