Universal Journal of Educational Research

Clifton P. Tactay

Saint Paul College of Ilocos Sur, Bantay, Philippines

ABSTRACT

As Filipino, English, and Ilocano languages belong to the linguistic repertoire of most Grade 7 learners at St. Paul College of Ilocos Sur, it has been observed that many learners struggle with reading comprehension when the text is written in Filipino. With this, immediate intervention should be introduced to address this problem. One of the strategies is exposing these learners to bilingual storybooks. Thus, the main objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of bilingual story books in improving the reading comprehension of Grade 7 learners, particularly on vocabulary, literal, inferential, and critical levels. This study employed pre-experimental research, particularly a static group comparison design. There were 55 Grade 7 learners enrolled in the K to 12 curriculum who participated in the study. The 26 learners were the control group, while the 29 learners served as the experimental group. This study was conducted at St. Paul College of Ilocos Sur for two grading periods, equivalent to five months. To test the learners’ reading comprehension, the teachers used the Language Enhancement Through Reading Assessment (LETRA) from the Department of Education, Regional Office (Region 1). Results show that the experimental group’s proficient rating compared to the controlled group’s approaching proficiency rating clearly shows a comprehensive benefit from reading bilingual storybooks. Moreover, the bilingual storybook helps in improving the reading comprehension of the learners particularly on the literal level, thus the strategy is effective.