BEGINNING READING EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES TOWARDS HABIT ENFORCEMENT (BREATHE) AS READING INTERVENTION FOR STRUGGLING READERS IN LUTUCAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

This study aimed to identify the reading difficulties of the students based on teachers’ observation, reading learning strategies frequently used by the teachers among high school students, and the perceptions of the Reading teachers in Beginning Reading Exercises and Activities Towards habit Enforcement (BREATHE) Program. Furthermore, this also determined the significant difference in the reading abilities and reading levels of students before and after the implementation of the reading intervention program. The study was conducted in Lutucan National High School, Sariaya, Quezon where BREATHE was initiated to address the problems encountered by the struggling readers. Five Reading teachers served as the respondents of the study and answered the written interview. In addition, 40 BREATHE class students took the pre-test on July 2018 and the posttest on October 2018. The test was adapted from the PHIL IRI Manual 2018. Meanwhile, this study employed quantitative-qualitative research designs. The Normality Testing, McNemar Test, and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test were used to analyze the quantitative results and the qualitative data were interpreted and analyzed using the coding technique. It was revealed that the most common difficulties encountered by the struggling readers included sound identification or phonemic awareness, dyslexia, poor comprehension, and skipping of words. The teachers demonstrated reading to struggling students through sound recognition and modeling. Similarly, the data also revealed that pair activity and peer tutoring were considered as effective strategies in teaching reading. It was also pointed out that motivation and encouragement of struggling readers played a great role in the learning process According to the results, BREATHE program was very helpful and effective. Struggling readers were given opportunities to learn better because of literacy and comprehension. Before the implementation of BREATHE, the correct response rate of the students in the comprehension questions about the passage read was low that ranged to 21-40% of cases. However, after the implementation of BREATHE program, it was noted that the correct response rate of the struggling readers for pretest and posttest had improved by 13.7%. It showed that the reading ability of the students was average with 41-60% of cases. Lastly, this research suggested that there was a significant difference in reading ability of students before and after the BREATHE program. As a result of the study, the researcher developed a module for BREATHE reading intervention program. This study supported the Philippine government’s program “No Non- Readers Left Behind” in addressing its major thrust on nationwide literacy development.