Research

2.  Reading is an essential skill needed to foster autonomy.
When students begin school, families expect their children to
graduate high school, attend college, and get a job that will
support them and their future families.
 Without the ability to read, quality of life is impacted and
earning potential is diminished especially for individuals
(Mellard & Patterson, 2008).

3.  This study is centered on a variety of factors that impact
reading comprehension on secondary students: working
memory (Swanson, 2011; Swanson & Jerman, 2007),
vocabulary (Cain & Oakhill, 2011; Gilbert, Goodwin,
Compton, & Kearns, 2013), prior knowledge (Elbro &
Buch-Iversen, 2013; Priebe, Keenan, & Miller, 2012),
word recognition (Denton, et al., 2011; O’Connor,
Swanson, & Geraghty, 2010), reading strategies,
(Antoniou & Souvignier, 2007; Fritschmann, Deshler, &
Schumaker, 2007), and motivation (Guthrie,
Coddington, & Wigfield, 2009; Solheim, 2011).

4.  Each of these factors supports a different
theoretical framework to answer the question
about what factors affect reading
comprehension. Unfortunately, there is no
general agreement among the literature
exists as to which factors are most important
for reading comprehension and specifically
reading comprehension for secondary
students.

5.  Prior knowledge - When poor readers had prior knowledge, they substituted
less graphically similar words when reading (i.e., mountain read as maintain).
Poor readers without prior knowledge relied more heavily on graphic information
from the text rather than semantic (i.e., substituting a synonym). Priebe et al.
(2012)
 Word recognition - Students who struggle to decode words use this limited
capacity to consciously decipher what they are trying to read. When this
happens, limited capacity stores are used to decode and are not available to
attend to higher order reading skills like understanding words, phrases, and the
underlining meaning of what is read (O’Connor, et al., 2010; LaBerge &
Samuels, 1974).
 Working memory - is the ability to store and process information simultaneously
(Swanson & Ashbaker, 2000). Caretti et al. (2009) noted that the link between
working memory and reading comprehension varied by the type of working
memory task (i.e., verbal or visual). Students with poor reading comprehension
abilities performed poorly on verbal working memory tasks.

6.  Vocabulary - develops in a variety of ways through both written and oral
communication, and is an essential aspect of reading comprehension (Cain &
Oakhill, 2011). Cain and Oakhill (2011) found that students with poor vocabulary
gains had lower reading comprehension ability when compared to same-age peers
with higher vocabulary skills.
 Reading strategies - Proficient readers are strategic readers (Antoniou & Souvignier,
2007). Readers use a variety of strategies to comprehend, and for the purposes of
this study, prediction, inference, and summarization were the focus. Consistent with
Kintsch’s CI Model of Reading, when reading, use of reading strategies aids the
reader in constructing mental images from the text, which strengthens
comprehension (Kintsch, 2013).
 Motivation to read - Intrinsically motivated students are those who participate in an
activity because of some innate interest or desire (Koestner & Losier, 2002).
Extrinsically motivated students, in contrast, are those who are not actively engaged
during reading.

7.  The study will address the following research questions:
1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of;
 age;
 gender;
 language spoken;
 section and year level;
 parent education level;
2. What is the relative importance of working memory, vocabulary,
prior knowledge, word recognition, reading strategies, and motivation
to the reading comprehension for secondary students?

8. 3. What is the most significant factor that affect the
effectiveness on reading comprehemsion of secondary
students?
4. Is there a significant relationship between profile of the
respondents to the reading comprehension of the
students?

9.  As a tentative answer to the questions posted, the
researchers formulated the hypothesis of the study
stated in its null form and analyzed at 0.5 level of
significance.
 There is no significantt relationship between the profile
of the respondents to the effectiveness of their reading
comprehension.

10. This study holds the firm view that findings of this study
will benefit the following:
 Secondary Teachers. This study will give them
information on how to help their students to nurture not
only their reading skills but to help them to understand
the context.
 The Students. This study will provide opportunities for
them to prepare themselves on how to become proficient
readers, to improve their reading comprehension skills
and to increase their motivation as well.

11.  Researchers. This study will enhance the ability of the
researchers to understand the relative importance of
working memory, vocabulary, prior knowledge, word
recognition, motivation-to-read, and reading strategies to
the reading comprehension of secondary students.
 Future Researchers. This study will be used as a
reference for future researchers who will engage similar
studies and those variables and instructions that are not
within the scope of the study.

12.  This study is delimited to the determination of the factors affecting
the effectiveness on reading comprehension and its relative
importance among secondary students of Luciano Millan National
High School, Asingan, Pangasinan; twenty-five (25) students per
year level.
 Only the factors were considered in this research which include
working memory, vocabulary, prior knowledge, word recognition,
reading strategies, and motivation to read. The importance of these
factors will be established using the survey questionnares prepared
by the researchers.

13.  Prior Knowledge. It is defined as a student’s content knowledge
related to the domain (i.e., math, science, and social studies)
studied prior to direct instruction from the teacher.
 Reading Comprehension. It is defined as student’s ability to gain
meaning from what is read. Reading comprehension requires
various reading skills (i.e., word recognition, fluency, lexical
knowledge, pre-existing knowledge) to be undertaken rapidly so that
the reader may gain knowledge from text.
 Reading Strategies. Defined as student’s strategies while reading
such as predicting, inferring, and summarizing.

14.  Working memory. Defined as the student’s ability to store
information temporarily while manipulating information needed to
complete complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and
comprehending.
 Word recognition. It is the ability of students to accurately and
fluently decode words that vary in length from single- to multi-
syllable words.
 Motivation to read. It is defined in this study as a student’s intrinsic
motivation and interest in reading.
 Vocabulary. It refers to the words that every students need to know
to deeply understand what they read.