Reading Comprehension in Expository Texts through Retelling. A Basis for Developing an Intervention

This descriptive-correlational study aimed to assess the level of reading comprehension in expository text of Grade 6 pupils from selected public school sin Angeles Meta-synthesis was used to integrate the qualitative observations of 3 raters on the retellings of the respondents. The expository text used in this study was entitled Friendship, a suggested reading for intermediate students. The text was 490 words long, with average sentence length of 12,8, had a Flesch Reading Ease value of 77.5, and a computed Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 6.1.

Most of the pupils attained a rating of developing for the content (40.57%), structure (61.71%), and vocabulary (46.86%) of their retelling. A small percentage of the respondents attained an exceptional rating on content (13.14%), structure (4.57%), and vocabulary (0.57%). Majority of the pupils (47.43%) were classified as approaching proficiency (80-84) in terms of their Grade 6 English subject grade. Only 1.71% of the pupils belonged to the advanced category. The reading comprehension of the pupils in expository texts has a significant relationship with their grades in their English subject. This means that their reading comprehension in expository text influences their performance in their English subject class.

Results revealed that pupils had difficulty in comprehending expository texts as revealed by their low rating in the content, structure and vocabulary of their retelling. Further, the academic performance of the pupils in their English subject is affected by their reading comprehension.