ASSESSMENT OF READING COMPREHENSION LEVELS AMONG GRADE 11 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROPOSED K-12 CONTEXT APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTIONAL TOOL

The reading comprehension is a basic requirement when the students enter in the universities or colleges or decide to work in the industry. Therefore, it is necessary for the teachers to give as many opportunities as possible by providing them with wide range of effective and useful materials in reading as well as to develop students reading habit and enhance their reading techniques. Students nowadays are observed having a great dilemma when it comes to comprehending a text. Reading comprehension is said to be the heart and goal of reading since the purpose of it is to gather meaning from the text. A good reader must always see to it that reading materials is properly understood. Most students can easily read a text but cannot comprehend its meaning. The study assesses the levels of reading comprehension of grade 11 General Academic Strand Students of Buting Senior High School towards the development of K-12 Context Appropriate Instructional Tool. This study sought to answer the following questions: What are the students reading profile? What are the levels of reading comprehension the respondents? Is there significant difference on the levels of reading comprehension of the two sections? And What K-12 instructional toolcan be proposed? The data was calculated using simple statistical tool of percentage, weighted mean and T-test. Students reading profile reveals that they read few times a week with 11-20 minutes reading time, read only one to five books during free time and they use electronic sources when reading. Students sometimes prefer to read the materials they want to read. With regards to reading techniques, they sometime make predictions, guessesand set goals when reading, however, students rarely summarize the story. There is no significant difference on students preference in reading habit and reading techniques between the two sections. The results of readingcomprehension levels:70% are outstanding in literal level 55% are satisfactory in inferential level and 42% are fair in critical-evaluative level. There is no significant difference on the levels of Reading Comprehension between the two sections. The study recommends instructional tools must be constructed which will be beneficial to the students with low levels of reading comprehension.

The reading comprehension is a basic requirement when the students enter in the universities or colleges or decide to work in the industry. Therefore, it is necessary for the teachers to give as many opportunities as possible by providing them with wide range of effective and useful materials in reading as well as to develop student's reading habit and enhance their reading techniques. Students nowadays are observed having a great dilemma when it comes to comprehending a text. Reading comprehension is said to be the heart and goal of reading since the purpose of it is to gather meaning from the text. A good reader must always see to it that reading materials is properly understood. Most students can easily read a text but cannot comprehend its meaning. The study assesses the levels of reading comprehension of grade 11 General Academic Strand Students of Buting Senior High School towards the development of K-12 Context Appropriate Instructional Tool. This study sought to answer the following questions: What are the students' reading profile? What are the levels of reading comprehension the respondents? Is there significant difference on the levels of reading comprehension of the two sections? And; What K-12 instructional toolcan be proposed? The data was calculated using simple statistical tool of percentage, weighted mean and T-test. Students' reading profile reveals that they read few times a week with 11-20 minutes reading time, read only one to five books during free time and they use electronic sources when reading. Students sometimes prefer to read the materials they want to read. With regards to reading techniques, they sometime make predictions, guessesand set goals when reading, however, students rarely summarize the story. There is no significant difference on students' preference in reading habit and reading techniques between the two sections. The results of readingcomprehension levels:70% are outstanding in literal level; 55% are satisfactory in inferential level; and 42% are fair in criticalevaluative level. There is no significant difference on the levels of Reading Comprehension between the two sections. The study recommends instructional tools must be constructed which will be beneficial to the students with low levels of reading comprehension.

Introduction to the Problem:
As the world changes rapidly and the society opens a lot of opportunities, each person must thrive the necessary skills needed to progress with these transformations. The K to 12 program of the Department of Education provides competencies to produce 21 st century learners and be globally competitive. However, one of the basic skills that a learner must develop is reading comprehension which is important gateway to the other competencies. This is one of the problems that our education system is facing. It cannot be denied the fact that there are students who reached high school with poor mastery in reading and belong to low reading comprehension levels. Therefore, this chapter helped the researcher gather related review of literature and studies to discuss essential information about the study.

The Schema Theory:
Many theories and studies can be the basis and guide to understand what reading comprehension is. In this study, reading comprehension is based on the concept of schema theorythat was first introduced in 1932 by a British psychologist, Frederic Barlett. However, some suggested that it was first introduced in 1926 by Jean Piaget and was further developed by in 1970 by an American Educational Psychologist, Richard Anderson. The schema theory is described as how knowledge is acquired, processed and organized. The starting assumption of this theory is that -very act of comprehension one's knowledge of the world‖. According to this theory, knowledge is a network of mental frames or cognitive constructs called schema. Schemata organize knowledge stored in the long-term memory, Learning Theories (2013). Seymour (2017) stated that schema theory is an explanation of how readers use prior knowledge to comprehend and learn from text. The term "schema" was first used in psychology by Barlett as "an active organization of past reactions or experiences" (1932,p.201), later schema was introduced in reading by Rumelhalt (1980), Carrell (1981) and Hudson (1982) when discussing the important role of background knowledge in reading comprehension. The fundamental principle of the schema theory assumes that written text does not carry meaning by itself. Rather, a text only provides directions for readers as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their own previously acquired knowledge.
According to schema theory, comprehending a text is an interactive process between the reader's background knowledge and the text. Efficient comprehension requires the ability to relate the textual material to one's own knowledge. As Anderson (1977) point out, "every act of comprehension involves one's knowledge of the world as well". Reading comprehension operates in two directions, from bottom up to the top and from the top down to the bottom of the hierarchy. Bottom-up processing is activated by specific data from the text, while top-down processing starts with general to confirm these predictions. These two kinds of processing are occurring simultaneously and interactively, which adds to the concept of interaction or comprehension between bottom-up and top-down processes, Carrel and Eiserhold (1983), all cited by . Therefore, Schema theory is the process of interpreting sensory data in retrieving information from memory to organize new idea. If the schema is incomplete and do not provide understanding of the new information or idea, there will be a problem in understanding the text.

Prior Knowledge:
Another factor linked to reading difficulties is low prior knowledge and lack of scope in vocabulary. Prior knowledge is directly linked to reading comprehension and is a strong predictor of reading ability, Elbro&BuchIversen (2013). When a student lacks prior knowledge about a topic, reading comprehension is impacted, Tarchi (2010) as cited by Kintsch (2013). Students who have a basic understanding of what they are reading about can connect new information to what they already know. Prior knowledge is formed through experience, by reading or hearing about a topic, or through family customs. A student's general cognitive ability is also a contributor to prior knowledge. A student who reads, or who has been read to, is able to access this 436 knowledge when reading related topics, which can increase comprehension. It is not known at this time, however, if there are mediating factors (e.g., working memory, motivation, decoding) that might impede prior knowledge and impact reading comprehension, all cited by Sandford (2015).
Prior knowledge is the knowledge the learner already has before they meet new information. A learner's understanding of a text can be improved by activating their prior knowledge before dealing with the text, and developing this habit is good learner training for them.
The reader rather than the text is at the heart of the reading process, therefore, prior knowledge must properly activate in order for the reader to connect and understand the text.

Reading Comprehension:
Reading Comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text or message. This understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text or message, Rayne (2001). Pressley (2003) as cited by Isidoro (2018) stated that increasing vocabulary, extensive reading and critical reading are some of the practices that can be used to strengthen and refine the person's ability to comprehend any text. However, reading comprehension fails for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is the lack of knowledge base. This deals on how much knowledge a reader has about the subject he or she is reading. Reading comprehension is a skill that can be strengthened and improved through more reading practices.
In Al-Khateeb 's study (2010), it was stated that reading understanding is considered the real core of the reading process. Understanding is the manifestation of reading skills and the basis for all processes of reading. The ultimate goal of this reading process. The skills such as acquiring the right meaning, analyzing the author's point of view and applying what one learns from reading to real life situations constitute a comprehension of reading. Reading understanding must be at the heart of all readers. Therefore, reading alone is not enough, understanding must exist so that students can concentrate not only on the text but also on the interpretation of its deeper meaning.
It has also been demonstrated that the lack of strong reading skills clearly affects the success of a student in school. Academic progress depends on comprehension, analysis and application of the information collected during reading. But it goes far beyond that. Poor reading skills have also been linked to poverty and crime. In a research study conducted in the United States, it was reported that more than 60 percent of prisoners in the U.S. prison system have reading skills at or below the 4th grade level; 85 percent of prisoners in the U.S. are functionally illiterate; and 43 percent of adults with extremely low reading skills live on or below the poverty line. Children from all walks of life suffer significant difficulties in learning to read and comprehend. Countless young pupils beginning kindergartenlacking reading skills necessary to a successful adjustment to school, Cooke, Kretlow and Helf (2010), cited by Isidoro (2018).
Philippines is remarked as nation of storytellers. Ours is a culture of oral history passed on by word of mouth not through the written word. That is why most of the information people receive today is gathered from television (62 percent) and radio (57 percent). Newspaper and magazines are read by only 47 percent and 36 percent of the population respectively, according to 2003 government survey, Isidoro (2018).
It was proven that the lack of strong reading comprehension skill obviously affects a student's success in school. Academic progress depends on understanding, analyzing and applying the information gathered through reading. Children from all walks of life suffer significant difficulties in learning to read and comprehend. Many students from kinder to high school lack reading skills necessary to successful adjustment to school. Different researches about reading comprehension prove that if children don't understand what they read, they will never embrace reading. And that limits what they can learn while in school. This fact frightens parents, worries teachers, and ultimately hurts children. To read and to be able to comprehend is a sequential process; each new skill builds the mastery of previously learned skills.
The problem of non-readers lies in the heart of why Philippines is so uncompetitive in the world economy and why so many of our people continue to live in poverty or barely escape it even after graduating in college. Reading is the true backbone of learning, (Philippine Star 2010).

Levels of Reading Comprehension:
Learning to read requires many building blocks skills as phonological awareness and alphabet understanding. What is not widely acknowledge is that reading comprehension, an even complex process, also requires different-block skills. Rumelhart (1977) described schemata as -building blocks of cognitive‖ which used in the process of interpreting sensory data in retrieving information from memory in organizing goals and subgoals, in allocating resources and in guiding the flow of the processing system. Education Research News Letter and Webinars (2015) stated that one model of reading comprehension proposes that understanding what the readers read is really of three levels of skills; the literal comprehension, inferential comprehension and evaluative comprehension. Seymour (2017) stated that reading comprehension is the ability to process information that we have read and to understand its meaning. The three levels of comprehension are the literal level, inferential level and the critical/evaluative level. you to think about the text and draw a conclusion, the focus shifts to reading between the lines, looking at what is implied by the material under study. It requires students to combine pieces of information in order to make inferences about the author's intent and message. Guiding students to recognize these perceived relationships promotes understanding and decreases the risk of being overwhelmed by the complexities of the text being view, heard or read. 3. The Critical Level: In this level we are analyzing or synthesizing information and applying it to other information. Understandings at the literal and interpretive levels are combined, reorganized and restructured at the critical level to express opinions, draw new insights and develop fresh ideas. Guiding students through the applied level shows them how to synthesize information, to read between the lines and to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts, principles, and implications presented in the text.

Reading Materials:-
Students need to develop their reading, comprehension and learning skills in both arenas. They need to develop one set of skills to build their competence in reading and learning from paper, however they also need to develop a completely different set of skills: digital literacy and navigation skills. Students now spend a lot of time reading from a screen: computers, kindle, mobile devices. The research into the implications of this are still in the early stages, however current evidence indicates that at this point in time print may be slightly superior to the screen in relation to comprehension, learning, retention and ease of use. However, as screen technology continues to advance, interfaces become increasingly intuitive and personal preferences change from early exposure to reading on a screen, this may change -and may have already changed for some individuals, Salter (2015).
In addition, Delgado et. al (2018), pointed that with the increasing dominance of digital reading over paper reading, gaining understanding of the effects of the medium on reading comprehension has become critical.However, results from research comparing learning outcomes across printed and digital media are mixed, making conclusions difficult to reach.
Moreover, the study of Maloch and Bomer (2013), states that teaching nonfiction is no easy task. There are many different strategies and approaches used to teach nonfiction texts. It is important to remember that -comprehension is genre specific; to make sense of texts, readers employ comprehension strategies in particular ways for particular types of text‖. Teachers need to be aware of the type of text and type of instruction they are teaching to students.
McMaster et al. (2015) also agrees stating -comprehension tasks are highly text-dependent, requiring a literal understanding of the text‖. Such strategies include, creating authentic opportunities to read nonfiction texts, explicit instruction, shared and interactive read alouds and discussion, and inquiry-based instruction.
Nonfiction texts help children develop the literacy skills they need to read and write informational texts in later grades McMaster et al. (2014). Students need to understand nonfiction because it builds within their schooling.

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Additionally, nonfictional texts help students connect to the real world and the immediate community around them. Connecting the words on a page to real-life experience motivate children, especially for Students' Interests Impact on Reading Comprehension 11 struggling readers or those who had a high level of interest in informational text, Gallo & Ness (2013). If taught correctly, nonfictional texts can be used to engage students. When teaching it is important to engage students with real world reasons as to why it is important for them to read nonfiction texts, Maloch&Bomer (2013). Garro (2014), in her study about the importance of reading fiction, mentions that reading fiction helps students in scholarly ways and it helps people to make better decisions in everyday situations. With the emergence of technology, researchers have had to change the way they measure how much people read. People are now not only reading printed materials, but they are reading on their computers, by listening to audio technology, and through eReader devices.
Parkhurst (2014) reports findings show differences between readers. Those who read more often are able to understand more complex text, they have more knowledge, and they have a bigger range of vocabulary than those who read very little. Parkhurst claims that reading for fun helps with reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. He also added that reading short texts, such as magazines and newspapers, does not help with the understanding and growth that is needed for reading more difficult text (15). He also says that fiction provides opportunities that other genres of books do not provide such as presenting moral choices, requiring the use of imagination, and depicting role models. Moral choices that fictional characters make in books, help individuals make better choices in real life.
Nicholson (2014) cited that if students like to read fiction for fun, they will more likely to visit the library where they will get to know the librarians. They claim that this is beneficial to students because when it comes time for them to do research, students will feel more comfortable going to the library. They are also more likely to ask for help from the librarians who work there.

Reading Habit:
Schmidt and Retelsdoft (2016) cited the study of Verplanken and Aarts (1999) which defined habit as -learned sequences of acts that have become automatic responses to specific cues, and are functional in obtaining certain goals or end states‖.Reading habit is considered as an important variable in reading research. However, researchers often use the term habit synonymously to behavioral frequency. Thereby, the concept of habit often forms the theoretical foundation, even if in a particular study labels such as reading activity, behavior or frequency are used. Erdem (2014) said that the activity of reading of an individual, which commences together with the beginning of school age and continues throughout their lifetime, is also the basic tool of learning. After acquiring basic skills pertaining to reading, ensuring that these skills are permanent, sustained throughout life, and transition to functional and critical literacy is closely related to the reading habit of the individual. In individualistic terms, the habit of reading is also one of the most important foundations of a robust and developed personality. In the world of today where knowledge is increasing rapidly and science and technology impose constant changes to human life, it is observed that humans constantly need to improve themselves in both their professional and social lives. In occupational and career development after formal education, especially for the purpose of being able to adapt to change, education and lifelong learning has become a necessity.
In addition, the study of Florence et. al (2016) entitled, -A Survey on the Reading Habits among Colleges of Education Students in the Information Age‖, stated the following: Reading is an activity-oriented skill. It involves the mechanics of the brain and the combination of other organs before comprehension occurs. This activity becomes a habit when it is frequently carried out. Reading habit stimulates the promotion of one's personal development and social progress in general. This habit is usually considered in relation to the amount of materials read, the frequency of reading and also the average time spent on reading (Wagner, 2002 Reading comprehension can be influenced by reading habit. Giving students more time in reading can actually develop their reading habit. Frequency of reading can be identified as a factor which can increase their reading comprehension. On the contrary, a person who reads less than 2 hours every day which include reading with understanding the has poor reading ability, Chettri & Rout (2013).
Reading habit is originated from two theories by Jean Piaget; the constructivism theory which states humans generating knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and ideas and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning explains that learning is an active process which includes filtering, selecting, organizing and integrating information. This theory proposed that a combination of words and pictures rather than words alone is an effective way to achieve multimedia learning, Learning Theories (2019).

Reading Techniques:
Reading is an important part of learning English, but many students find it difficult, Beare (2017). McDonald (2012), stated that training students to know their reading techniques and deduce when best to apply them is indeed important, especially under exam conditions when time constraints come into play and decisions need to be made depending on time availability and the importance of the task at hand. The following are the reading techniques:

Skimming:
Skimming is sometimes referred to as gist reading. Skimming may help in order to know what the text is about at its most basic level. You might typically do this with a magazine or newspaper and would help you mentally and quickly shortlist those articles which you might consider for a deeper read. You might typically skim to search for a name in a telephone directory.
You can reach a speed count of even 700 words per minute if you train yourself well in this particular method. Comprehension is of course very low and understanding of overall content very superficial.

Scanning:
Picture yourself visiting a historical city, guide book in hand. You would most probably just scan the guide book to see which site you might want to visit. Scanning involves getting your eyes to quickly scuttle across sentence and is used to get just a simple piece of information. Interestingly, research has concluded that reading off a computer screen actually inhibits the pathways to effective scanning and thus, reading of paper is far more conducive to speedy comprehension of texts.
Something students sometimes do not give enough importance to is illustrations. These should be included in your scanning. Special attention to the introduction and the conclusion should also be paid.

Intensive Reading:
You need to have your aims clear in mind when undertaking intensive reading. Remember this is going to be far more time consuming than scanning or skimming. If you need to list the chronology of events in a long passage, you will need to read it intensively. This type of reading has indeed beneficial to language learners as it helps them understand vocabulary by deducing the meaning of words in context. It moreover, helps with retention of information for long periods of time and knowledge resulting from intensive reading persists in your long-term memory.
440 This is one reason why reading huge amounts of information just before an exam does not work very well. When students do this, they undertake neither type of reading process effectively, especially neglecting intensive reading. They may remember the answers in an exam but will likely forget everything soon afterwards.

Extensive reading:
Extensive reading involves reading for pleasure. Because there is an element of enjoyment in extensive reading it is unlikely that students will undertake extensive reading of a text they do not like. It also requires a fluid decoding and assimilation of the text and content in front of you. If the text is difficult and you stop every few minutes to figure out what is being said or to look up new words in the dictionary, you are breaking your concentration and diverting your thoughts.
On the other hand, McLeod (2016), mentioned that within the category of silent reading, one encounters intensive and extensive reading. Intensive reading is used to teach or practice specific reading strategies or skills. The text is treated as an end in itself. Extensive reading on the other hand, involves reading of large quantities of material, directly and fluently. It is treated as a means to an end. It may include reading simply for pleasure or reading technical, scientific or professional material. This later type of text, more academic, may involve two specific types of reading, scanning for key details or skimming for the essential meaning. A relatively quick and efficient read, either on its own or after scanning or skimming, will give a global or general meaning.
McLeod (2016) mentioned the following about reading techniques: Skimming and scanning are sometimes referred to as types of reading and at other times, as skills. Skimming involves a thorough overview of a text and implies a reading competence. Scanning is more a limited activity, only retrieving information relevant to a purpose. Brown (1994) suggest ed that "perhaps the two most valuable reading strategies for learners as well as native speakers are skimming and scanning." (p.283). Pugh (1978) suggested that since scanning is a less complex style of reading it can be introduced first. Skimming requires greater fluency and more practice is required, so it should be introduced later. Often skimming and scanning are used together when reading a text. For example, the reader may skim through first to see if it is worth reading, then read it more carefully and scan for a specific piece of information to note. Students need to learn that they need to adapt their reading and techniques to the purpose of the reading. By practicing skimming and scanning, the individual learns to read and select specific information without focusing on information that is not important for meaning.
Several Theories in Extensive Reading are mentioned in from different studies -Krashen's Input Hypothesis (1982) made a distinction between acquisition and learning. For Krashen, the dominant mode of language learning is in acquisition, the largely subconscious "picking up of the language" which characterizes language in informal settings and which is similar, if not identical, to the way children develop ability in their first language." Language acquisition represents unconscious learning which takes place when attention is focused on meaning rather than form. In order to acquire language, Krashen suggested the learner must be exposed to large amounts of second language input that was "meaningful‖,interesting, relevant, not grammatically sequenced, and in a low anxiety setting. It is felt that Extensive Reading programs provide such an environment. Rumelhart (1980) proposed an "interactive model" of the reading process in which reading is a complex task of simultaneously combining "bottom-up" processes (in which the reader analyzes text in small pieces and builds meaning from these) and "topdown" processes (in which the reader makes "guesses" about the content of a passage). It is thought that Extensive Reading programs provide the quantities of reading practice necessary for the automaticity of the "bottom-up" (word recognition) process.
Intensive reading on the other hand, was explained by Brown (1989) which "calls attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationships, and the like." He draws an analogy to intensive reading as a "zoom lens" strategy. Long and Richards (1987) say it is a "detailed in-class" analysis, led by the teacher, of vocabulary and grammar points, in a short passage." Intensive Reading, sometimes called "Narrow Reading", may involve students reading selections by the same author or several texts about the same topic. When this occurs, content and grammatical structures repeat themselves and students get any opportunities to understand the meanings of the text. The success of "Narrow Reading" on improving reading comprehension is based on the premise that the more familiar the reader is with the text, either due to the subject matter or having read other works by the same author, the more comprehension is promoted.

Department of Education K-12 Program:
The K to 12 Program of the Department of Education in the Philippines covers Kindergarten and the 12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four years of Junior High School and two years of Senior High School) to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment and entrepreneurship.
The Philippine is the last country in Asia and one of the three countries worldwide with a 10-year pre-university cycle. A thirteen (13) year program is found to be the best period for learning under basic education. It is also the recognized standard for students and professionals globally. This law seeks to provide every child, not only access to an appropriate education, but success in achieving an acceptable level of performance.
One initiative of the No Child Left Behind Act that focuses on improving student's readiness and skills to read by the third grade is Reading First.
With the implementation of this Act, it is also expected that issues of school frustration readers or students with reading disabilities and other related problem would be addressed accordingly.

Reading Assessment Tool/Reading Program:
In line with Item five of the President's Ten Point Basic Education Agenda (2010), which states that every child should be a reader by Grade 1, the Department of Education (DepEd), remains steadfast in strengthening its reading program through the implementation of the early language, literacy and numeracy program. The DepEd then came up with a new reading program guideline on the utilization of the 2016 "Every Child a Reader Program Funds for the Early Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program: Professional Development Component." The purpose of the program is to develop in Filipino children literacy and numeracy skills and attitudes that will contribute to lifelong learning. With this, it is the goal of DepEd to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of Kindergarten to Grade 3 leaners following the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum by establishing a sustainable and cost-efficient professional development system from teachers, Department of Education (2016).

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Stressing the need to inculcate in children the love for reading, the Department of Education has declared November 2011 as National Reading Month. Education Secretary Armin Luistro (2011), stated that the month-long observance supports the 10-point education agenda of the Aquino administration and the promotion of Every Child a Reader Program (ECARP). DepEd enjoins schools to conduct a Read-A-Thon to foster a reading culture among pupils and launch a search for the best individual and team readers from students in public schools. DepEd is pushing as well the Shared Reading projects (Big Ate, Big Kuya/Kaklase Ko, Sagot KO), an activity. Here, older students or independent readers teacher pupils who are at the so-called "frustration reading" or non-reading level, InterAksyon.com (2011).
However, in order to teach and engage the students in reading, reading assessment must be conducted by the teachers to identify nonreaders to be able to group them accordingly.
Assessment is an essential element of education used to inform instruction, Wren (2004). The first step in implementing good reading instruction is to determine the baseline performance. Students enter the classroom with diverse background and skills in literacy. Some students may enter the classroom with special needs that require review of basic skills in reading, while other students may have mastered the content a teacher intends to cover. Due to these various student levels, it is necessary to design literacy instruction to meet the individual needs of each student. Individual needs can be determined by initial and outgoing reading assessments. These assessments provide teachers with the information needed to develop appropriate lessons and improve instruction for all students, including students with disabilities, Isidoro (2018).
Assessment should be undertaken to guide instruction and must be continuous and appropriate for every student. Teachers who continually assess students are able to accurately guide instruction towards the needs of the students, Leu & Kinzer (2003); Wren (2006). Reading instruction becomes more student-centered and effective when it is based on assessment results, the ability to differential instruction is dependent on accurate assessment of the students' needs. Incorporating both formal and informal assessments in the reading classroom enables the teacher to assess students based on a number of measures for a complete view of their abilities and needs. Effective reading instruction is dependent on assessment that helps teachers and students move towards and attain daily and annual reading goals, Grambell, Morrow &Presly (2007). This calls for a balance between formative and summative assessment. This balance will enable the reading teacher to effectively assess every student by looking at daily needs and overall growth, Grambell et al. (2007). High quality reading teachers are well versed in utilizing a variety of assessments and they used their assessments to guide utilizing and impact students learning.
The information gained from appropriate assessment enables teachers to provide exceptional students with improved access to the general education curriculum. The following information is an overview of the purpose and benefits of early reading assessment, examples of data collection methods, and considerations for selecting a measure for students.
Badilla (2018) cited about The DepEd Philippine Information Reading Inventory or Phil-IRI (2008), provides different levels of questions to find the reading comprehension of the students. These are arranged in the order of difficulty as; a.) Literal -questions whose answers are explicitly stated / given in the story; b.) Interpretative -these are questions which require students read between the lines to find the answer. The answer is not directly stated in the text; c.) Critical -these are the questions which elicit analysis, synthesis, and judgment in the context of the author's point of view/ The Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) is one of the most useful classroom tools in assessing student's reading ability. It can give the teachers information on the level of their students' performance in reading by actual observation.

Synthesis of Literature Studies:
To sum up all related literature mentioned, reading has essential role that connects to the other learning skills in order to produce competent learners. We have learned much about the schema theory related to prior knowledge and reading comprehension process. It is important to know how to help learners activate prior knowledge through reading habit, reading materials and reading techniques in order to properly comprehend the meaning of the reading text.
Reading is of the essence in acquiring information operationally. This simply means that students must activate prior knowledge to connect properly to the reading text in order to achieve comprehension. This description then clearly 443 defines how significant is the acquisition of reading skills for every learner because it is the utilization of these skills that learners discover significant messages and concepts from written text, that turns into learning. In this regard, it is really vital and important that every learner will fully acquire reading competencies to be able to utilize information, understanding written texts and concepts, conveying messages and eventually developing these competencies needed in the other learning areas.

Theoretical Framework:
Reading is the true backbone of learning that leads to other competencies. However, students nowadays have a poor performance in reading and find it difficult to understand areading comprehension text. This idea engaged many researchers to try to find the causes and solutions for the problem.
In this study, reading comprehension is based on the concept of schema theory that was first introduced in 1932 by a British psychologist, Frederic Bartlett. However, some suggested that it was first introduced in 1926 by Jean Piaget and was further developed in 1970 by an American Educational Psychologist, Richard Anderson. The schema theory is described as how knowledge is acquired, processed and organized. Knowledge is a network of mental frames or cognitive constructions called schemata. Schemata organizes knowledge stored in the long-term memory, Learning Theories (2013).
There are three types of schemata; linguistic schemata which refers to proficiency of language in terms of grammar, vocabulary and idioms; formal schemata which include knowledge of different types of texts; content schemata which refers to the background knowledge of the content area of a text, or the topic a text, Li (2007). Peregoy and Boyle(2000) stated that prior knowledge is important for native and nonnative readers to achieve high level of comprehension.
David Rumelhalt (1980) an American Psychologist together with Carrell (1981) and Hudson (1982) discussed the important role of background knowledge in reading comprehension. According to these psychologists, the fundamental principle of the schema theory assumes that written text does not carry meaning by itself. Rather, a text only provides directions for readers as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their own previously acquired knowledge.
In addition, Rumelhalt pointed out that if our schemata are incomplete and do not provide an understanding of the incoming data from the text, we will have problems processing and understanding the text.In the study of Seymour (2017), schema theory is an explanation of how readers use prior knowledge to comprehend and learn from text.Comprehending a text is an interactive process between the reader's background knowledge and the text.
Prior knowledge is directly linked to reading comprehension and is a strong predictor of reading ability, Elbro&BuchIversen (2013). When a student lacks prior knowledge about a topic, reading comprehension is impacted, Tarchi (2010) as cited by Kintsch (2013).
To generalize, Prior Knowledge is the knowledge the learner already has before they meet new information. A learner's understanding of a text can be improved by activating their prior knowledge before dealing with the text, and developing this habit is good training for them. The reader rather than the text is at the heart of the reading process; therefore, prior knowledge must properly activate in order for the reader to connect and understand the text.

Schema Theory
Prior Knowledge Reading Comprehension 444 Prior knowledge is formed through experience, by reading or hearing about a topic. A student who reads, will be able to access this knowledge when reading related topics, which can increase comprehension. This is the reason why the researcher included reading habit and reading materials used as well as the reading techniques applied when reading as student's reading profile which are important variables of the study. Based from the schema theory, prior knowledge must activate properly in order for the reader to connect and understand the text. The researcher will also assess students' reading comprehension levels through reading comprehension test. From the result of the Reading Assessment the researcher will target important learning competencies from the K-12 21 st Century Literature Curriculum Guide which will be integrated to the reading instructional tools that willbe suited to the students with low level of reading comprehension.

Research Methodology:-
This chapter briefly presents the research design to be used, locale of the study, participants, instruments, data gathering procedure and the statistical treatment of data for the study.

Research Design:
This study is a descriptive research design that describes the characteristics of the population or phenomenon that is being studied, Adi Baht (2018).
The respondents were assessed using the two instruments: (1) student's reading profile survey questionnaire with regards to the reading materials used, reading habit, and reading techniques used; and (2) the reading test material adopted from the study of Mendoza (2015) who permitted the researcher to use the instrument to assess the reading comprehension levels of the respondents. The data were gathered were statistically treated using simple statistical procedure of percentage and weighted mean.

Locale of the Study:
The studywas conducted at Buting Senior High School, a recently established Senior High School in Pasig City, in 2016 through the initiative of the Former Honorable City Mayor Maria Belen Andaya-Eusebio. It is the biggest stand-alone senior high school in Pasig City. The school has 1,942 students and 92teaching and non-teaching staff.
The researcher chose the General Academics Strand for it is the most flexible strand among the four strands offered in the Academic Track. Students also get to learn and experience something from all the other strands. GAS is essentially for students who are undecided on which course to take in college. In addition, grade 11 is the preparation stage before they enter tertiary level. In this part, students are trained and given academic tasks particularly reading activities where they are required to read and understand academic and non-academic references.

Participants of the Study:
The participants of the study were the two sections of Grade 11 Senior High School Student from General Academic Strand, composed of 48 male and 29 females with a total of 77 grade 11 students with age ranging from 15 to 20 years old.
Since there are only 77 students, the researcher used them all as the total population of the study. Laerd (2018) cited that total population sampling is a type of purposive sampling technique where the researcher chooses to examine the entire population because the size of the population that has the particular set of characteristics of interest is typically very small.

Research Instrument:
Student's Reading Profile Survey Questionnaire and Reading Comprehension Test was used to assess the levels of reading comprehension of grade 11 General Academic Track Students.The instrument consisted of two important parts: Part I is the Student's Reading Profile Survey Questionnaire with three (3) survey questions with regards to reading materials used, three (3) survey questions with regards to reading habit and Likert scale was also used for ten (10) survey questions about the student's perception on reading habit and twenty (20) survey questions about student's perception on reading techniques.
Part II is the Reading Comprehension Test to assess the levels of reading comprehension of the students, this was adopted from the study of Mendoza (2015), who permitted the researcher to use the instrument. The questions in the passage is composed of three parts: A -includes ten (10) literal questions, B -includes five (5) inferential questions, and C -includes five (5) critical-evaluative questions. The passage is based on the award-winning short story entitled, "Footnote to Youth" by Jose Garcia Villa, a National Artist awardee for literature. The researcher chose this reading material for senior high school students since it contains lessons in life that would be appropriate for them.
Simple statistical procedure using percentage and weighted average method based on the Likert scale was used in measuring the respondent's profile with regards to reading materials used, reading habit, reading techniques and the levels of reading comprehension. T-test o be used toget the significant difference of the reading profile and reading levels of comprehension of the two sections.

Data Gathering Procedure:
In gathering the data, the researcher carried out the following steps: The student's reading profile survey questionnaire was validated by the two (2) Master Teachers and (1) one Public Schools Division Supervisor.
Letter address to the school principal of Buting Senior High School and to the Schools Division Superintendent to allow the researcher to administer the student's reading survey questionnaire and to assess the reading comprehension levels of the selected respondents. With regards to the reading comprehension test adopted from the study of Ms. Catherine Mendoza, the researcher asked permission to allow her to use the instrument.
The researcher then asked assistance of the Subject Coordinator in English and the Subject Teacher handling grade 11 GAS sections to administer the said test to the 77 respondents during their class in 21 st Century Literature Subject 446 in their classroom to minimize the noise and create a conducive place for the students to focus in answering the instruments. Before answering the test, a letter of agreement between researcher and students will explain carefully to the respondents to ensure the confidentiality of their personal data. The student's reading profile survey questionnaire was given first to the respondents to determine their profile with regards to reading materials used, reading habit and reading technique used in reading. Then, the reading comprehension test was administered. The researcher will then collect the questionnaires from the respondents and check if all the questions were answered accordingly.
The data and information was carefully tabulated and analyzed using the simple statistical treatment of percentage, mean method, and T-test to measure the result of student's reading profile with regards to reading materials used, reading habit and reading techniques and the levels of reading comprehension.
After the data gathering procedure, tabulation of the data and result of the study, the researcher went back to the principal to show the result and recommendations. The student's reading profile survey questionnaire was shredded so no other person will use it and also to protect the personal data of the respondents.

Statistical Treatment of Data:
To achieve the purpose of the study, the researcher was the following statistical tool to treat the data: 1. Student's Reading Profile -Simple statistical procedure using percentage and weighted mean was used to measure the central tendencies of the data of student's reading profile with regards to reading materials used, reading habit and reading techniques of the respondents. To get the percentage, this formula will be followed: Where: P = percentage f = frequency n = population number of respondents 100 = constant value To get the weighted mean, this formula will be followed: In determining the inferential level comprehension, the following rating scale was used: In determining the critical-evaluative level comprehension the following rating scale was used:

Weighted Mean:
The researcher was utilized the weighted mean to describe the reading comprehension levels of Grade 11 General Academic Strand Students.

T-test:
A T-Test was used in determining the significant relation of the two sections in GAS in terms of student's preference in reading and levels of reading comprehension. A t-test is a type of inferential statistic used to determine if there is significant difference between the means of two groups, which may be related in certain features, Investopedia (2019). The purpose of using the T-test is to investigate if there are significant relationship of the two sections in General Academic Strand in terms of reading profile of the students and their reading comprehension levels.

Ethical Consideration:
Considering the nature of the research study, the intention between researcher and informants could be ethically challenging at times and issues could be of a greater concern, Kirk (2007). The possible ethical considerations related to this study are informed consent and confidentiality. The researcher is expected to obtain informed consent from all those who are directly involved in research or in vicinity of research. This principle adhered to a large issue of respect to the participants so that they are not coerced into participation and had access to relevant information prior to the consent. In terms of confidentiality, data gathered from the instrument will be used solely for the purpose of the research and not to invade the privacy of the participants. Respondents are permitted to write or not to write their names during the survey. It emphasized the participation in the research is voluntary and free and that they could opt to withdraw or decide not to answer the instruments. Official permission for the study was granted by the school officials. Lastly, it is acknowledged that there is no obligation for the researcher to make sure that the students are not harmed and damaged by participating in research, Marrow (2012).

Presentation, Analysis And Interpretation Of Data:
This chapter contains information about the results of the study and the analysis and interpretation of data gathered with the use of the adapted statistical measures. The presentation includes a narrative discussion of the results and implications of the data gathered which are illustrated in tables.
Problem No. 1. What are the students' reading profile in two sections of grade 11 GAS students in terms of 1.  The table shows the students' reading profile of the two sections in terms of reading habit. The student from sections A and B in General Academic Strand read few times a week with 90% and 70% respectively based on the survey. Students in both sections spent 11 to 20 minutes in reading with 38% and 27% correspondingly and during their free time, they read only 1 to 5 books.
This could be attributed to the fact that students have a very small time in reading. Reading habit stimulates the promotion of one's personal development and social progress in general. This habit is usually considered in relation to the amount of materials read, the frequency of reading and also the average time spent on reading (Wagner, 2002). Reading habit depicts the behavior which expresses the likeness of reading of individual types of reading and tastes of reading Sangkaeo, (2013).
The result in the table is supported by a study of Yilmaz (2000) who discussed that the majority of the students (77.8%) do not possess any reading habits, wherein very few (8.5%), which is the smallest percentage are heavy readers. In addition, Loan (2012) observed that more than half of the students (56%) spend less than half an hour a day on reading and (13%) are nonreaders.
Students nowadays have a little time for reading. In public schools, students are required to read more and develop skills in reading and understanding as the subjects in educational ladder are becoming more challenging.  Table 1.2 shows the result of student's profile of the two sections in terms of reading materials. 60% of the students from GAS A read from the electronic sources while 57% from GAS B students read from the printed books. 90% of the students in GAS A reads fiction while 70% in GAS B reads non-fiction, which both have a preference of reading either fiction or non-fiction. The two sections have a high percentage of reading from the mobile phones, Iphones or Ipod with 90% and 70% correspondingly.
With the rapid change in technology, students can easily access different information and resources through internet. Students now spend a lot of time reading from a screen: computers, gadgets, and mobile devices. The research into the implications of this are still in the early stages, however current evidence indicates that at this point in time print may be slightly superior to the screen in relation to comprehension, learning, retention and ease of use. However, as screen technology continues to advance, interfaces become increasingly intuitive and personal preferences change from early exposure to reading on a screen, this may change and may have already changed for some individuals, Salter (2015).
In addition, Garro (2014) in her study about the importance of reading fiction, mentions that reading fiction helps students in scholarly ways and it helps people to make better decisions in everyday situations. With the emergence of technology, researchers have had to change the way they measure how much people read. People are now not only reading printed materials, but they are reading on their computers, by listening to audio technology, and through eReader devices. On the contrary, McMaster (2014) stated that nonfiction texts help children develop the literacy skills they need to read and write informational texts in later grades. Students need to understand nonfiction because it builds within their schooling. Additionally, nonfictional texts help students connect to the real world and the immediate community around them.Both reading fiction and non-fiction are important to the students' development of reading comprehension since they help them become a good decision maker, apply what they have learned from reading and connect and understand the real world.
What is the Students' preference on reading in terms of:  Based from the result in table 2.1 indicates the students' answers on their preference in reading habit. Evidently, students prefer to choose the reading materials that they want to read, they like to read using gadgets like smartphones, Iphone, Ipad, (etc) and they would rather read the stories they want to read than what they were asked to read. Breakdown is as follows; statement number two (2) -I choose the reading materials that I want to read has a weighted mean of 3.99 or verbal interpretation of Very Often, statement number seven (7) -I like to read using my gadgets like smartphones, Iphone, Ipad, (etc.) as preference when reading with a weighted mean of 3.91 with verbal inter pretation of Very Often, and statement number ten (10) -I read stories that I like rather than what I asked to read has a weighted mean of 3.42 or verbal interpretation of very often. However, the table also reveals that students preference to read at the library has a weighted mean of 2.60 with a verbal interpretation of Sometimes. The overall weighted mean of table 2.1 or student's preference in reading habit has a composite mean of 3.42 or verbal interpretation of Sometimes.
Schmidt and Retelsdoft (2016) cited the study of Verplanken and Aarts (1999) which defined habit as -learned sequences of acts that have become automatic responses to specific cues, and are functional in obtaining certain goals or end states‖. Erdem (2014) said that the activity of reading of an individual, which commences together with the beginning of school age and continues throughout their lifetime, is also the basic tool of learning. After acquiring basic skills pertaining to reading, ensuring that these skills are permanent, sustained throughout life, and transition to functional and critical literacy is closely related to the reading habit of the individual.
Reading habit depicts the behavior which expresses the likeness of reading of individual types of reading and tastes of reading, Sangkaeo in Rout and Chettri (2013). An individual structured his reading in a way that suits his tastes. Shen (2006) categorizes reading as how often, how much and what a student reads at a particular time. 3.38 VO 5. I look for the keywords that might be used in questions.
3.75 VO 6. I locate facts that are expressed in sentences, not single words.
3.65 VO 7. I read the title and the introduction or first paragraph.
3.73 VO 8. I read first sentences of each of the following paragraph.
3.74 VO 9. I look at any pictures or phrases that are in boldface or italics.
3.65 VO 10. I read the summary of the last paragraph.
3.45 S 11. I focus on surface structured details such as grammar and discourse markers.
3.16 S 12. I look for the main idea in the whole text.
3.64 VO 13. I look at the order of information and how it affects the message of the text. 3  This reveals that students read on thier prefer time and and choose the material that they like to read. Students do not necessary like to summarize the story that they have read. Students have to be trained on how to be aware in their reading techniques used when reading at the same time these techniques must also develop. Teachers must guide their students and set clear goals in reading.
Reading is an important part of learning English, but many students find it difficult, Beare (2017). McDonald (2012), stated that training students to know their reading techniques and presume when best to apply them is indeed important, especially under exam conditions when time constraints come into play and decisions need to be made depending on time availability and the importance of the task at hand.   Table 3 presents the difference on students' preferences on Reading Habit and Reading Techniques between the two sections. Based on the data gathered, students reading habit and reading techniques do not have significant realationship to the students reading profile preference.
Reading comprehension can be influenced by reading habit. Giving students more time in reading can actually develop their reading habit. Frequency of reading can be identified as a factor which can increase their reading comprehension. On the contrary, a person who reads less than 2 hours every day which include reading with understanding the has poor reading ability, Chettri & Rout (2013).  Learning to read requires many building blocks skills as phonological awareness and alphabet understanding. What is not widely acknowledge is that reading comprehension, an even complex process, also requires different-block skills, Rumelhart (1977). This was supported with the study of Education Research News Letter and Webinars (2015) which stated that one model of reading comprehension proposes that understanding what the readers read is really of three levels of skills: the literal comprehension, inferential comprehension and evaluative comprehension.

Problem No. 4. What is the Level of reading comprehension of the two sections of Grade 11 GAS Students of Buting Senior High School?
Moreover, Seymour (2017) stated that reading comprehension is the ability to process information that we have read and to understand its meaning. The three levels of comprehension are the literal level, inferential level and the critical/evaluative level.The Literal Levelsimply tells what the text says and what actually happens in the story; The Inferential Level requires students to combine pieces of information in order to make inferences about the author's intent and message; and the Critical-Evaluative Level is how to synthesize information, to read between the lines and to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts, principles, and implications presented in the text.
Suárez (2015) said that understanding is the main purpose of reading. Secondary school students are expected to have developed their understanding of reading. Secondary students are asked to understand, analyze, synthesize and evaluate a wide range of data. However, in order to develop and achieve high level of reading comprehension, the first thing that educators must do is to assess the reading ability of their students.
Furthermore, Badilla (2015) said that reading is a very important subject in the learning system since it is an indicator which establishes that what is read is understood by the pupils. Hence, the reading ability of pupils is clear manifestation of learning. In other words, failure to read and comprehend means that the students also failed to learn.
Problem No. 5. Is there significant difference on the level of reading comprehension between the two sections? Do not Reject the Null Hypothesis Note: p-value ≤ 0.05 -significant, p-value > 0.05 -not significant Table 5 presents the difference on the levels of reading comprehension between the two sections. It shows that there is no significant relationship between the two sections in grade 11 General Academic Strand in reading comprehension levels. In the article written by Philippine Star (2010) as cited by Suarez (2015), more reading is usually required as subjects in educational ladder become more challenging.
The study of Cabardo (2015) about reading proficiency level of Year 1 to Year 3 students in HNHS Aplaya Extension High School as basis for reading intervention program for the school year 2014-2015 mentioned that the Philippine-Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) materials were used in assessing the level of reading proficiency and the results revealed that majority of the students belonged to frustration level of reading proficiency in silent reading while in instructional level for the oral reading in which majority of the males are less proficient in reading compared to females in both silent and oral reading.
Badilla (2015) mentioned that reading is a very important subject in the learning system since it is an indicator which establishes that what is read is understood by the pupils. Hence, the reading ability of pupils is clear manifestation of learning. In other words, failure to read and comprehend means that the students also failed to learn.
Problem No. 6. What K-12 instructional tool for grade 11 students in 21 st Century Literature subject can be proposed?
The Instructional Tool will be used by students with low reading comprehension. It is aligned to the selected learning competencies of K-12 Curriculum Guide in the 21 st Century Literature in the Philippines and around the World which is a Core Subject of Grade 11 General Academic Strand. The Curriculum Guide is divided into two major parts; The Philippine Literature and The World Literature.  By the time Vince arrives at the Philippines Airlines departures terminal, it is already bustling with restless souls who, with their balikbayan boxes, have transformed the terminal into a warehouse, as if they're returning to the motherland on a cargo ship rather that Asia's first airline carrier. Comedians use these durable cardboard boxes as materials for their Filipino-flavored jokes. -How is the balikbayan box like American Express to Filipinos? Because they never leave home without it.‖ Everywhere Vince turns are boxes, boxes, and more boxes. Boxes secured by electrical tape and ropes. Boxes with drawstring covers made from canvas or tarp. Boxes lined up like a fortified wall behind check-in counters or convoying on squeaky conveyor belts of x-ray machines. Boxes blocking Mabuhay Express lane for first-and business-class passengers. Boxes stacked up on carts right beside coach passengers standing in queues that are straight only their starting points before branching out to form more-or converge with other-lines, bottlenecking as they near the ticket counter.

Assessment Of Reading Comprehension
Boxes that ought to be the Philippines' exhibit at the next World's Fair, Vince tells himself as he navigates his cartload of Louis Vuitton bags in and out of the maze. An exhibit that should take place none other than here, at the Honolulu International Airport, he laughs, as he imagines an entire terminal buried in the Filipinos' most popularand preferred-pieces of luggage.
With a balikbayan box, Filipinos can pack cans of Hormel corned beef, Libby's Vienna sausage, Folgers, and SPAM; perfume samples; new or hand-me-down designer jeans; travel-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion gleaned from Las Vegas hotels; and appliances marked with first-world labels that, as anyone who's been to the Philippines knows, can easilypurchase at Duty Free right outside the airport, or from any of the cryptlike malls that are so gargantuan they're metropolis unto themselves.
Filipinos will even throw themselves into these boxes, as was the case of the overseas contract worker in Dubai. The man, an engineer, was so homesick that, unable to afford the ticket-most of his earnings went to cover his living expenses and the rest to his wife and children-he talked his roommate, who was homebound for the holidays, into checking him in. He paid for the excess baggage fee, which still came out cheaper than a round-trip airfare. En route to Manila, he died from hypothermia.
Vince, who had heard the story from his older sister Jing, didn't buy it. There were too many loopholes, too many unanswered questions, like wouldn't an x-ray machine in the Middle East detect a Filipino man curled up inside a box? He simply dismissed it as a -turban legend.‖ -You're missing the point, brother,‖ Jing said. -It's not the mechanics that matter. It's about drama. The extremes a Filipino will go to just to be back home for Christmas with his family.‖

Direction:
Answer the following questions based from the story. Encircle the letter of the appropriate answer. At the age of eight. I was determined to be true to My Self. Of course, that made it essential to know that My Self consisted of. My manifesto began the day I discovered I had once possessed an extra finger in each hand, twins to my pinkies. My grandmother had recommended that the surplus be amputated before leaving the hospital, lest people think there was a familial tendency toward giving birth to octopuses. Mother and Father were Freethinkers, whose opinions were based on reason, logic, deduction, and their own opinions. Mother, who disagreed with any advice my grandmother had to give, said: -Should the extra fingers be removed simply to enable her to wear gloves from the dry goods store?‖ They took me home with all my fingers in place. But then an old family friend of my 456 father's, Mr. Maubert, who was also my piano teacher, convinced them to turn my unusual hands into ordinary ones. He was a former concert pianist, who, early in his promising career, lost his right arm during the siege of Paris by the Prussians. -There are only a few piano compositions for one hand,‖ he said to my parents, -and none for six fingers. If you intend for her to have musical training, it would be a pity if she had to take up the tambourine due to lack of suitable instruments.‖ Mr. Maubert was the one who proudly informed me when I was eight that he had influenced the decision.
Few can understand the shock of the little girl learning that part of her was considered undesirable and thus needed to be completely removed. It made me fearful that people could change parts of me, without my knowledge and permission. And thus, began my quest to know which of my many attributes I needed to protect, the whole of which I named scientifically -My Pure Self-Being.‖ In the beginning, the complete list comprised my preferences and dislikes, my strong feelings for animals, my animosity toward anyone who laughed at me, my aversion to stickiness, and several more things I have now forgotten. I also collected secrets about myself, mostly what had wounded my heart, and the very fact that they needed to be kept private was proof of My Pure Self-Being. I later added to my list my intelligence, opinions of others, fears and revulsions, certain nagging discomforts, which I later knew as worries. A few years later, after I stained my undergarments, Mother explained to me -the biology that led to your existence'-the gist of which was my beginning as an egg slipping down a fallopian tube. She made it sound as if I had been a mindless blob and that upon entry into the world I took on a personality shaped through my parents' guidance.

459
He kindly stopped for me -The Carriage held but just Ourselves -And Immortality.

About the Poem:
Hymn to Labor was written in response to a request from Rizal's comrades in Lipa, Batangas, who then were in need of a hymn to sing during the ceremony in honor of Lipa being declared a city in January 1888. More accurately, then, this song is intended to praise the hard work and industry of the people of Lipa. Labor his faith will sustain: Only a man who struggles and works Will his offspring know to maintain.

Chorus:
CHILDREN: Teac h, us ye the laborious work To pursue your footsteps we wish, For tomorrow when country calls us We may be able your task to finish. And on seeing us the elders will say: 'Look, they're worthy 'f their sires of yore!' Incense does not honor the dead As does a son with glory and valor.

Direction:
Answer the questions below. Encircle the letter of appropriate answer. a. They work from sunrise to sunset because they are the ones who sustains the need for their family, home and country b. They always get tire everyday just to provide for their family c. They have long hours working in the field. 4. What does the stanza for wives confer?
a. Women symbolize light in their home. b. Men make the family stronger and serves as the protector. c. Women encourage the men to work hard and not to worry about their children for they will teach them good values.