Preparation and validation of reading materials for grade four

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to prepare and validate six supplementary reading materials based on the needs and interests of grade four pupils in the division of Iloilo during the school year 1985-1986 The specific outcomes to be realized were taken from the Elementary Learning Continuum prescribed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. Specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions: 1. What kind of stories are interesting to grade four pupils? 2. Are the prepared reading materials valid and appropriate? 3. Are the reading exercises developed to test comprehension of the reading selections reliable? To determine their reading interests, seventy grade four pupils randomly selected from one central school and three barrio schools in the district of Dingle, Division of Iloilo accomplished the reading interest inventory form. The top ten types of stories/selections ranked according to their preference were: Animals, Fairies, Heroes, Ghosts, Bible Stories, Life of Boys and Girls, Fables, Adventure, Legends, and Science (Nature). The children also preferred stories which used narration and dialogue. The results of the reading interest inventory were considered in the preparation of the six selections. To control vocabulary load of the selections, the Dolch Basic Sight Words and the Notre Dame Graded Word List were used. The FRY readability graph and the SMOG grading formula were used to determine the reading level of each prepared selection. To determine the readability of the prepared selections, the cloze procedure was used. Cloze exercises were made for each prepared selection and administered to the same pupils and the same schools where the reading interest inventory was given. Each selection is accompanied with reading exercises focused on word study through use of context clues, and comprehension skills like noting details, getting the main idea of a paragraph or selection, and choosing title to a paragraph or selection. To find out the level of difficulty, the discriminating power, the reliability and validity of each test item, the six reading selections were tried out to grade four pupils selected at random from the same schools in the same district previously mentioned. In choosing the subjects for the try-out of the materials the names of those pupils who participated in the close test were excluded from the lists. A total of seventy pupils form the sample. The results of the testing after the analysis of items showed that seventy four items were good, fourteen items were marginal, and two items were poor. Out of the fourteen marginal items subjected to item validation through the use of the point biserial coefficient of correlation or rpbi items showed acceptable correlation, with rpbi of above .20. These items were retained. The results of the reliability test through the use of the Kuder-Richardson estimate of reliability formula number twenty showed that the coefficients of reliability obtained by all of the six reading exercises ranged from .67 to .83. These results indicate substantial to high correlation. On the basis of the findings, it is concluded that the six reading materials proposed for use in Region VI are interesting to grade four pupils as they were prepared in accordance with known reading interests of the children for whom they were intended. As supported by the results of the cloze test, this study affirms that the prepared reading selections are appropriate for grade four pupils. The results disclosed that the prepared reading materials are at the independent reading level of the majority of the subjects under study. Finally, the results of the item analysis and the reliability test confirms that the reading exercises accompanying the six reading selections are valid and reliable.