Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Introduction

Nowadays in bookstores only the older generation and a handful of youthful readers line up

to buy books for reading. Younger people are more expected to be intently buried into their

tablets and smartphones, accessing homework, their social media accounts, downloading and

streaming videos and music, or playing games. It is now rare to find anyone from the present

generation with a book in his or her hand, although as recently as two decades ago, this was not

the case. Teachers now complain that children do not read as much as they should in order to

perform well in class or even to just be well-read individuals. What could have happened?

An essential tool for lifelong learning, reading is a life skill that children need to acquire in

order for them to progress through school and through life. It is essential for students to

develop a love for reading as this will be a gateway for them to have a better academic

performance and a better quality of life. A crucially important component of a student’s ultimate

literacy development is reading. Ezeji (2012) citing Holte, (1998), moreover agreed that being

able to engage in reading adds quality to life and provide access to culture and culture heritage.

He asserted that reading empowers and emancipates a nation’s citizens, and brings people

together. Rubin (2002),as cited by Ajayi et al. (2014) states that as an integrative process,

reading starts with the reader and encompasses the affective, perceptual, and cognitive domains.

It is a foundation where future learning throughout a person’s lifespan can be made possible.
 Reading, according to Loan (2011) can be said to be a vital factor that affects intellectual

and emotional growth among people. Sir Richard Steele has been quoted as saying,, “Reading is

to mind what exercise is to body” (Cole, 1994, as cited by Loan, 2011). In the modern education

setting much more reading is required than in the past. Insofar schooling is concerned, reading is

the most-used single study tool. Next to the classroom teacher, the textbook is usually seen in

the olden days as the principal educating agency contributing to student success. The key to

success in all academic disciplines is undoubtedly, reading. It is important not only for the

individual reader, it also holds great social significance for any country. Democracy of any

nation can survive only if its citizens are habitual, critical, and wide readers. It is also a crucial

ingredient for international understanding and unity. It helps humankind to understand and

appreciate the travails, struggles, and triumphs of the globalized world (Loan, 2011).

The advent of the Internet has sparked a revolution in how people look and use information

and ultimately in how their lives are lived. The arrival of the world wide web has revolutionized

how students, especially high school students, learn, read schoolwork texts and read books for

leisure. In the past, students were very dependent on their printed textbooks for information, and

the library with its card catalog were their best study companions. Anything they might have

needed from the text, they would have had to copy painstakingly by hand. Compare this to the

copy-paste phenomenon taking place wholesale among most, if not all, students of the present

(Ngugi (2014).

Anecdotal and personal observation indicate that students nowadays are rarely interested in

reading for pleasure, instead, they read their books only to pass examinations. The use of the

Internet to obtain information they use for schoolwork and for general knowledge (which is not

sometimes be verified has escalated among them, and they also now choose to do their reading
electronically through ebooks and other electronic materials. It can also be observed that they

are less interested nowadays in reading books for leisure. According to Ajayi et al. (2014), a

decline in interest in reading among high school students is a challenge to all, as their impaired

vocabulary and reading comprehension levels may make them end up not being prepared for the

rigorous reading required in higher levels of education; they also jeopardize the standards set by

the education system.

A quick look at the scholarly work being done about Internet use and the corresponding

decline in reading habits will show that much work has been done worldwide regarding this

phenomenon that has been present in society for sometime now. Ajayi et al (2014), Ngugi

(2014), Onovughe (2012, and Loan (2011) for instance, have conducted similar studies in their

respective countries among students of different age groups; all have pointed out the increasing

interest in reading among students due to Internet usage. There is a lack of investigation though

on the local context, specifically in Mindanao where this proposed study is to be conducted.

Hence, it is timely that a study investigating the influence of internet use on the students’

interest in book reading be conducted in order to find out how the world wide web has been

affecting the state of reading among high school students.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

This research will be guided by Krapp’s theory of interest, specifically three

conceptualizations of interest, and Grabe and Stroller’s and Lewis and Alice Crow’s purposes

for reading.
 Interest is defined as interaction between a person and an object within the environment

(Krapp, 1999). In other words, there is something happened which made a person and an

object interrelated each other. In accordance with the definition of interest, it can be implied

that interest refers to the psychological aspect which can lead someone to do a particular

activity or become predisposed to an object. Interest can be divided into situational and

individual interest. Situational interest refers to a condition in which someone prefers a

particular object or to do a particular activity due to some factors. This type of interest tends to

be short term. Unlike situational interest, individual interest is an aspect of preferences that

become stable over time without any effected factors (Krapp, 1999).

Interest becomes one of the factors which may affect the students‘ reading because reading

is a skill (Lia, 2013). A skill cannot only be developed by learning but it also must be developed

by extensive and continual practice. To practice an extensive reading is not an easy thing to do

because a reader must have a purpose to read any kinds of text (Magner et al., 2012). Meanwhile,

a reader also must have something inside himself to read, such as interest or motivation to do

such kind of activity. Someone who reads a newspaper, for example, must have the aim to do it.

It is to search for information or to be entertained or anything else. This is what is called interest

or motivation. Someone who has no interest in reading will not be motivated to pick up

something to read and read it, because interest is a factor that can push or support someone to do

something (Lia, 2013).

Krapp identified three conceptualizations of interest which play an important role on

discussion of motivation and interest. They are:

(1) Interest as a dispositional characteristics of the person,

 (2) Interest as the characteristics of the learning environment and

(3) Interest as a psychological state

Meanwhile, interest in reading can also be linked to the purposes of reading, or of why

people read. William Grabe and Fredricka L. Stoller as cited by Lia (2013) divided purposes

for reading into seven main headings and further classified into four main headings as follows: 1.

Reading to search for simple information 2. Reading to learn from texts 3. Reading to integrate

information, write and critique texts 4. Reading for general comprehension. Education

psychologists, Lester and Alice Crow (cited by Lia, 2013) gave two general purposes for reading.

These are: a. Leisure time reading or reading for enjoyment and b. More serious reading, or

reading for academic purposes such as to obtain factual information and to solve problems.

ACCESSIBILITY OF
THE INTERNET

INTEREST OF
STUDENTS IN
READING
INTERNET USAGE

PREFERENCE OF
DIGITAL TO PRINT
READING
 Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the Conceptual Framework of the Study

The conceptual framework of the study is shown on Figure 1 above. As shown in the above

figure, aspects of the Internet that influence the interest of students in reading are: accessibility

to the internet, internet usage and the students’ preference of digital over print reading. The

mentioned aspects constitute the independent variables of the study and are expected to decrease

interest in book reading among the selected respondents. It therefore is expected that the more

the students will make use of the net, the lesser the likelihood that they will be interested in

getting a book to read. This is partly due to the fact that a large amount of reading time is

consumed more on browsing and skimming for information on the Internet, rather than reading

printed materials.

Statement of the Problem

The general low level of interest in reading among the younger generation poses a challenge

to not only teachers but to society at large. Reading as a skill is vital and it is associated with

good performance in school and in life in the outside world. Lack of reading skills and indeed,

lack of interest in reading affects the standard of education and consequently the quality of

graduates that schools, especially in disadvantaged areas, produce. This proposed study will seek

to determine the extent of the influence of Internet use on the interest in reading among

students. Below are the specific problems that this study seeks to answer.

Problem 1
 What is the profile of the respondents in terms of: year level, age, sex, monthly family

income and electronic devices owned/available at home?

Problem 2

What is the extent of Internet use among the respondents in terms of hours spent online,

websites accessed, type of Access (mobile data, broadband, WiFi), and ue of the accessed

information?

Problem 3

How interested are the respondents in reading?

Problem 4

Is there a significant relationship between Internet usage and the interest of the respondents

in reading?

Hypothesis/Assumptions

The following hypothesis will be tested:

Ho1: There is no significant relationship between Internet usage and the interest of the

respondents in reading.

The researcher assumes that the respondents will tend to read more online materials than

print materials, since online reading materials are more easily and less expensively accessible to
them. There is also the assumption that the respondents are less likely to read for leisure than for

academic purposes.

Significance of the Study

The present study is proposed because primarily, there has been found to be a lack of

scholarly inquiry regarding this matter. This has been evidenced by the researcher’s quest for

related literature and studies, particularly, those conducted locally. Foreign sources are more

readily available than local studies, which may be of limited help because the context is foreign.

It would be a great contribution to the existing body of local work on the subject, the results of

which may spur other researchers, especially local researchers, to conduct similar studies in the

future.

Second, it would be timely to conduct a study on a phenomenon which is still taking place,

in this case, the Internet use and its effect on the interest of the students in reading. The problem

might even continue to exist for a very long time to come. The problem of lack of good reading

habits and their consequences has filtered out and now characterize the quality of the students in

school today and the quality of the graduates being produced today and in the future. The results

of this study may point towards doable solutions to the problems posed by the problem on the

students and their teachers. The problem itself is not just the concern of the teachers and the

schools; it is everyone’s concern. The proposed study, if conducted, may further inform the

education system, its stakeholders, and the general public of how alarming the problem has

become and that it needs long term solutions, especially those supported by extensive research..
Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study will only focus on the Internet use and its effects on the interest in reading of

selected Liceo de Cagayan junior high school students. The selection of the target respondents

was confined to the said level because by this time, they are assumed to have been exposed to

both print and online reading materials, and are more likely to access the Internet because they

are old and responsible enough to own or use electronic devices. In addition, the researcher

chose the locale for obtaining respondents since it is an urban area; this makes it more likely for

the respondents to be up to date with technological trends regarding the Internet and its many

applications. Limitations for the study will consist of time and resource-related constraints, as

well at the honesty of the respondents in answering the research instrument.

Definition of Terms

For a better understanding of the study, the following terms have been defined for clarity.

Interest. It is defined as interaction between a person and an object within the environment

(Krapp, 1999). In this study, this is defined operationally as the motivation of the respondents to

do something, in this case, reading.

Reading interest. This refers to a reader’s views regarding the degree to which a person

enjoys reading or considers it engaging or stimulating (Lia, 2013). The same definition is used in

the study.

Reading purpose. This is used to refer to the reasons someone chooses to read. (Lia, 2013).

In this study, this refers to the reason why respondents read.