Predictors of sixth-grade English-reading performance in Adventist Schools in Mindanao, Philippines

Abstract

Proficient reading determines the academic success and eventually the future of the school child. Reading is among the important skills upon which other academic learning can be achieved by school children. In the Philippines, reading is an interactive process of getting and making meanings of prints. This process involves the personal characteristics, home environment, and school influences. The main purpose of this study was to determine the significant child, home, and school reading-related predictors of the sixth-grade English-reading performance. Employing the step-by-step cluster random sampling, 10 Adventist schools located within the city of Mindanao, Philippines, were selected. From these schools, 335 sixth graders participated in this study. This study is basically quantitative using the descriptive-correlational design. The combined literal and inferential comprehension of the sixth-graders as English-reading performance was predicted by being a girl (0 = .22 at p < .001), having positive attitude towards reading (P = .19 at p < .01), and having a college graduate mother (P = .16 at p < .01). Varied classroom-reading events such as teacher direct- whole-class instruction, teacher-class interaction, answering worksheets independently, and other events being paired with specific skills were also predictors. It was established by this study that personal characteristics, as well as the home and school environments, are factors of English-reading performance of the sixth graders. It is important to note that gender, attitude, mother's education, and exposure to the varied classroom reading events are significant considerations in the nurture of a school child towards academic success.