Assessing reading comprehension difficulties in core science subjects of senior high school students in a private school in Calamba City, Philippines: Assessing reading comprehension difficulties

Reading Comprehension is the ability to define word by word and create a profound idea out of the talks given or read. It plays a significant role in the total functioning of a community. It is also one of the pillars of reading. A person may know how to read certain words, but Comprehension is something that is developed, practiced, learned, and experienced over time. This paper amin to assess the Reading Comprehension level of the Senior High School in their Core Science Subjects and determine different factors that affect one’s reading comprehension skills. This research involves 115 Senior High School Students from the academic and technical vocational strand from a private school in Calamba City, Philippines. This study used a descriptive-survey method of research. A descriptive survey attempts to establish the range and distribution of some social characteristics, such as education or training, occupation, and location, and to discover how these characteristics may be related to certain behavior patterns or attitudes. The instruments used to assess Reading Comprehension has three difficulty level; Upper beginner level story, Intermediate level story, and Upper Intermediate level story. These stories are in Life Science, Earth Science, and Disaster Risk Management as the core Science subjects for all the strands. For the upper beginner level story, the reading comprehension test entitled “GM Food” was used. For the intermediate level story, “The Most Amazing Structures on Earth” was used. Students with a 75% and above correct answer are categorized as "mastery level." Students with 50%-74% correct answers are categorized under "near mastery level." While the category "low mastery level" is for students with a score of 49% and below. The students were categorized based on the reader category of Imam (2014). In terms of reading comprehension skill result it shows that only 7% of the total respondents are classified as Mastery Level readers. The result is trifling compared to the 49% near mastery level and 44% poor mastery level. Teaching Science should be holistic. Aside from teaching the objectives of the subjects, instructors may include creative approaches to development different aspects of learning as well as the students’ self-esteem. Senior high school subjects should be interactive, and instructors may continue to collaborate their subjects with other subjects. Keywords: Core Science Subjects; Senior High School; Reading Comprehension in Science; DepEd Philippine