Comprehension of Short

Stories by Grade Four Pupils at

San Jose T. Reyes Elementary
School

Nimpa A. Agojo

Context and
Rationale
Reading is a vital aspect of ones life.
It is very important for a person to be
able to read. It makes life easier. It
is something that makes a person
feels somewhat safe to be able to
read signs and warnings on the
street. But there is more than just
reading, and it is comprehension.

Reading with comprehension has

always been noted as one of the
difficult parts in an English class.
More so, it is hard to encourage
students to read short stories
that, of course they do not quite
understand. Grade four pupils
at San Jose T. Reyes Elementary
School, like other students are
also
having
difficulties
in
comprehending short stories. In
connection to this, the authors
of this study decided to do this

Research
Questions
aims to answer the

The study
following
questions
What is the comprehension level of pupils?
What
are
the
common
difficulties
encountered by pupils in understanding
short stories?
What are the proposed worksheets in
enhancing comprehension of short stories?

Methodology and Research

Design

The study used data from the authors

file being the teacher of pupils at San
Jose T. Reyes Elementary School.
Tests results as well as personal
observation of the author during
class activities and discussions were
also used to provide the data needed
in this study.

Below are tables showing comprehension level of

pupils and common difficulties encountered by
pupils in understanding short stories:

Comprehension Level
COMPREHENSION
LEVEL

NUMBER OF
PUPILS

Independent

14

Instructional

26

Frustration

28
68

TOTAL

Common Difficulties Encountered By Pupils in

Understanding
Short
Stories

COMMON
DIFFICULTIES
Word Recognition
Word Meaning
Comprehending words
used in sentences
TOTAL

NUMBER OF PUPILS
12
20
36
68

The following pie charts are representations

of the data on the tables above
Comprehension Level

21%
41%

Independe
nt

Comprehension Level
Word
Recognition
29%

18%

Instruction
al
38%

Frustration

53%

Comprehen
ding Word
Use in
Sentences
Word
Meaning

Result and Discussion

The data on the pie chart above shows that

the frustration level of comprehension has
the biggest percentage against the other
two levels, instructional and independent.
Frustration level is reached when less than
85 percent of the words are recognized or
comprehension falls below 50 percent. It
then proves that reading comprehension of
the pupils really needs to be enhanced and
pupils should be encouraged about this.

As
for
the
common
difficulties
encountered
by
pupils
in
understanding short stories, the pie
chart shows that most of them have
difficulties understanding words when
already used in sentences. They tend
to get lost in comprehension of
sentences having words being together
to build a single thought. Pupils are
having a hard time to process and
interpret what they read, and therefore

Conclusion and Recommendation

The study has proven that grade four pupils really
need to develop their reading comprehension. With
the help of additional activities they could improve
their skills and traits that would make them enjoy
reading
as
they
develop
their
reading
comprehension.
Providing more new words and
exciting short stories, are recommendations of the
author of this study. And of course giving lots of
attention, patience and facilitating the childs growth
in comprehension skills as well as confidence and
motivation can go a long way in their way to
academic achievement.

Work Plan
OBJECTIVES

To develop
word
familiarity for
learners and
be able to
absorb
as
many words
they can.

TARGETS
At the end of
each class the
learners
must
have at least
familiarized
2
new words and
therefore at the
end
of
each
week 10 new
words are added
to the students
vocabulary
words.

STRATEGIES
Prepare new words
daily to be introduced
to the class.
Have
the
learners
memorize the word,
their
spelling
and
meaning.
Every
Monday a test would
be given regarding
the 10 new words
learned
on
the
previous week. At the
end of each month
another test would be
given to check the
learners
familiarity
with the new words
introduced for the
month.

OBJECTIVES
To
develop
reading
habit
and
incline
students
into
reading
short
stories.

TARGETS
Every week the
learners
must
have read and
understood
at
least
2
short
stories.

STRATEGIES
Prepare copies of the
following:
different short stories
set of questionnaire
about the short stories
Every other day there
would be a reading time
where the copies of
different short stories are
to be distributed to the
students for reading. After
reading the story the
students would return it
and get a questionnaire
and answer on a piece of
paper where he would
write the title of what he
read for the teachers
reference.
After
answering, he passes his
paper and returns the
questionnaire
to
the
teacher for checking.

 Never Stop
Learning,
because
Life never Stop
Teaching.