Department of Education
National Capital Region
Division of City Schools
Makati City
MAKATI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
279 Gen. Luna St., Brgy. Pobla3cion, Makati City
ACTION RESEARCH PROPOSAL
SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP OF TEXTS: EFFECTS OF TWIN-TEXT TEACHING
ON READING COMPREHENSION AND READING ENGAGEMENT
OF SIXTH GRADE PUPILS
Jayson O. Caraang
Makati Elementary School
Literacy – the ability to read and write – is one of the main
concerns of basic education. The main concern of reading is to
comprehend the message conveyed in the selection. This entails
the use of thinking skills, comprehension strategies, and recall of
past experiences to make sense of what is put down in writing.
Cambria and Guthrie (2010) argued that there are two sides of
reading. On one side are the skills which include phonemic
awareness, phonics, word recognition, vocabulary, and simple
comprehension. Reading, however, is not limited to assigning
sounds and recognizing the words and sentences in a text. The
main concern of reading is to comprehend the message conveyed
in the selection. This entails the use of thinking skills,
comprehension strategies, and recall of past experiences to make
sense of what is put down in writing. On the other side is the will
to read. A good reader possesses both skill and will. The “will”
Rationale Context part refers to the motivation and engagement to read.
of the Encouraging students to be engaged in the reading process is a
Action concern of many teachers. Engagement is one of the crucial
Research factors to the reading achievement of students in school.
The researcher in a public elementary school in the
Division of City Schools of Makati experienced this phenomenon
firsthand: some of the sixth grade pupils have lack of motivation
and engagement toward reading. It is the neglected half of the
side of reading. Unfortunately, they have the decoding skill but
they lack comprehension skill. This is one of the prominent
problems plaguing in an English class where pupils are not
engaged in reading activities. Based on the observation of the
teacher, some of the pupils hardly carried out the reading tasks
required of them to perform. The absence of engagement and
motivation can lead to poor performance in reading as seen in the
reading activities and end-of-lesson assessments in the First
Quarter of School Year 2017-2018.
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Using the data from the Philippine Informal Reading
Inventory- Oral Reading Test, 33 or 78.57 % of the pupils were
assessed under frustration level in terms of comprehension. On
the other hand, only nine (9) pupils achieved the instructional and
independent levels of comprehension. This result was consistent
with the Phil-IRI Silent Reading Test where 31 or 73.81 % of the
pupils belonged to the frustration level in comprehension.
Data indicate that this class had a problem on
comprehension. Moreover, they were disengaged to read
expository texts. Engaging the pupils to participate in a reading
activity challenges the researcher. Pupils need to interact with the
reading material and focus on what they are reading in order to
comprehend the text. Research found that student engagement
and motivation affect their reading performance and achievement.
Motivation leading to engagement is important element to
learning since it is the driving force for students to complete tasks
(Nguyen, 2008).
Through reflections of experiences and observations of
reading achievement of the class, the two critical problems that
affected the reading performance of pupils were (1) poor reading
comprehension and (2) low engagement in reading activities. To
address the problems on reading comprehension and engagement,
the researcher searched for the literature and intervention used to
solve the problems. The strategy or intervention used to solve
these problems is the combination of two text types, narrative and
expository texts, to facilitate students’ comprehension or
understanding of texts and develop engagement in reading. Twin-
text teaching is the use of two texts with similar theme. Students
are motivated to learn more about the topic and explore different
perspectives on the same topic.
Research found that the use of paired texts or twin texts
build background knowledge, support reading comprehension,
promote thinking critically, enhance classroom conversation, and
increase motivation and engagement (Ciecierski & Bintz, 2016).
Frye, Trathen, and Wilson (2009) found that combining good
historical fiction and informational texts about key social studies
topics with engaging and interactive comprehension activities
facilitated students’ comprehension and understanding of social
studies content. For this reason, the researcher used twin-text
strategy to enhance students’ reading comprehension, boost their
interest and engagement, and expand their knowledge and
imagination. Thus, this action research aims to address the lack of
reading comprehension and engagement problems of pupils using
twin-text teaching.
The action research will be undertaken to evaluate the
effectiveness of twin-text teaching on the reading comprehension
and the reading engagement of Grade 6 pupils. It was designed in
light of the growing awareness regarding the importance and
effectiveness of using both narrative and expository texts of
similar theme to improve reading comprehension and student
engagement in reading.
2
Proposed
Intervention, After identifying the problems on reading comprehension
Innovation, and engagement, the researcher referred to previous studies and
and Strategy looked for strategies or interventions to address the problems.
Based on previous studies, the researcher will develop an
intervention to increase comprehension and engagement of pupils
and implemented it in one reading class.
The twin text strategy Camp (2000) was developed
revealed that it is effective for struggling readers when used in
combination with other strategies to activate prior knowledge,
gain conceptual understanding and organize information while
reading. In this action research, twin-text strategy was combined
with other reading strategies like asking questions, making
predictions, summarizing, and organizing information using
varied graphic organizers. The strategy was supported by other
researchers. Pairing narrative and expository texts is an effective
strategy of enhancing students’ reading comprehension, boosting
students’ interest and engagement, and expanding their
knowledge and imagination (Frye, Trathen, & Wilson, 2009). As
students read both narrative and expository texts, they become
aware of how similar topics or themes are presented through
different genres.
Children’s literature connects language arts, science, social
studies, and other content areas (Camp, 2000). In twin-text
teaching or paired text, the narrative and expository texts explore
a theme (Furtado & Johnson, 2010). Twin texts or paired texts are
two texts that are conceptually related in terms of topic and
theme. Focusing on a common theme helps students understand
the text structures of both narrative and expository texts. Thus,
pairing narrative and expository texts on the same topic is an
authentic way of integrating content areas. These texts share a
parallel topic, but they differ in the way they present it. Students
have the chance to study a topic from a narrative and expository
text perspective (Camargo, 2006). Twin-text teaching provides a
bridge between “make believe” and the real world. It encourages
the enjoyment of reading while capitalizing on students’
fascination with facts (Camp, 2000). It assures teachers to
motivate students on the joys of reading while expanding on their
interests on facts (Furtado & Johnson, 2010). In this study, the
researcher will use different expository texts (science text, literary
non-fiction, essays, editorial, and features). The first text is a
narrative text. Then, it will follow the discussion of expository
text. Finally, the two texts will be compared for better
understanding of text.
Twin texts or paired texts have many benefits, including
building background knowledge, supporting reading
comprehension, promoting thinking critically, enhancing
classroom conversations, and increasing motivation and
engagement (Ciecierski & Bintz, 2016). Stewart (2010) taught
Science through Literature. She found that pairing narrative and
expository texts is a great way to introduce and reinforce science
concepts. Reading was followed up with discussion questions and
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fun, inquiry-based activities. This made the students remember
the reading experience and the content of the texts. Hence, the
pairing and combination of narrative and expository texts offer
students alternative ways to view and comprehend content as they
explore multiple perspectives and build their content knowledge
(Coombs, 2013).
This action research will examine the effects of twin-text
teaching on reading comprehension and reading engagement.
This study will focus on the use of both narrative and expository
texts with explicit instruction of reading strategies (i.e., asking
questions, making predictions, summarizing, making connections,
activating background knowledge, and organizing information).
This action research was also in line with the content standard,
performance standard, and learning competency in the Second
Quarter of the Grade 6 K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum:
Action Research This study will use twin-text teaching and look into whether
Questions or not it improves the reading comprehension and engagement of
Sixth Grade pupils in Makati Elementary School. Specifically,
this study aims to answer the following questions:
1. How does twin-text teaching affect reading comprehension
of Sixth Grade pupils?
2. How does twin-text teaching improve pupil engagement in
reading?
The pupils in an English Grade 6 class in one public
elementary school in the Division of City Schools of Makati
served as subjects of the study. Purposive sampling was used in
Action Participants the class served as respondents of the study. The class was chosen
Research and over other classes because based on the Philippine Informal
Methods Sources of Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) results, this class performed lower
Data than other classes in terms of comprehension although it was
higher in word recognition. Moreover, as per the observation of
the teacher, this class lacked of engagement in reading as seen in
the incomplete outputs and inattention to the reading tasks given
to them.
The class will meet from 11:10 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. It was
composed of 42 pupils, 22 boys and 20 girls, approximately 11
years old and above at the time of this study. The pupils selected
for the study had developed decoding skills but poor
comprehension ability based on the Philippine Informal Reading
Inventory (Phil-IRI). Majority of the pupils in the chosen class
could decode text in English at the instructional and independent
level.
Data from the Phil-IRI Oral Reading Test in Table 2
showed that 33 or 78.57 % of the pupils were assessed to be at the
frustration level in terms of comprehension while only 9 pupils
were on the instructional level comprehension. In terms of their
word recognition (decoding), 34 or 80.95 % were classified under
instructional level and 6 or 14.29 % at independent level. Only
two (2) were assessed under frustration level. The same result was
found in the Phil-IRI Silent Reading Test where 31 or 73.81 % of
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the pupils belonged to the frustration level in comprehension as
shown in Table 3. In terms of their reading speed, 24 or 57.14 %
were classified as average readers while 15 or 35.71 % were fast
readers and 3 or 7.14 % were slow readers.
Data Three kinds of materials will be used in this study: the
Gathering reading selections that will be taught using twin-text teaching, the
Methods lesson plans which show the use of twin-text teaching, and the
assessment instruments used to determine the reading
comprehension and engagement of pupils throughout the reading
process.
Two texts (narrative and expository texts) will be integrated
in a reading lesson to teach a topic. In order to do this, the
researcher looked for a narrative text and a parallel text. The first
text is a narrative text while the other text, the expository text
taken from other discipline is the parallel text. The parts of the
lesson plan include: Introduction, Teaching/Modeling, Guided
Practice, Independent Practice, and Assessment. The eight lesson
plans showed how twin-text teaching was done in the Second
Quarter.
Varied reading activities will be conducted before, during,
and after reading to engage the pupils in reading and end-of-
lesson assessment was given to assess the comprehension of
pupils.
The twin-text lessons will take place on the first two days of the
week with one hour of implementation per day. Two texts
(narrative and expository texts) will be used to teach the strategies
(i.e., questioning, predicting, and summarizing). One text will be
discussed in the introduction and modeling parts of the lesson and
the other text was used in the guided reading and independent
reading parts of the lesson. Using the first text (narrative text), the
strategies will be modeled first using ta thin-aloud process with
the whole class. The class will be asked to predict before and
during reading, ask questions before and after reading, and
summarized after reading. The second text (expository text) will
be provided to the pupils in the guided reading and independent
reading parts of the lesson. The pupils will continuously use the
strategies using the expository text. They will discuss the content
of the expository (informational text). The teacher will follow up
the reading of texts with activities. This will cause the pupils to
remember the experience and the content of the texts. The pupils
engaged in varied after-reading activities like (1) writing
summary, (2) writing one’s reaction/opinion about the topic, (3)
filling up the information in the graphic organizer or concept
map, (4) writing a simple feature and editorial article. Also, after
reading, the pupils will be asked some noting details to assess
their understanding of the narrative and expository texts. The
observed performance of the pupils when reading the narrative
text in the teaching and modeling parts of the lesson will serve as
the indicator of moving to the next phase the lesson where the
expository text (informational text) was introduced.
The expository texts to be used are relevant to the country,
community, and to the lives of pupils. The texts to be used
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include “The War must End” (editorial about war in Marawi
City), “Shield of Injustice” (editorial about the University of
Santo Tomas hazing victim, Horacio Tomas Castillo III),
“Bayanihan: The Filipino Spirit of Cooperation” (essay about
Philippine bayanihan), “All the Lonely Facebook Friends”
(feature article about the bad effects of using social media
especially on social aspects of life), “War against illegal drugs”
(editorial about the campaign of the government against drugs),
and “Schoolgirl, 12, honored for saving Philippine flag” (news
article about the heroism of one student). The expository texts
have the same theme with the narrative texts.
The action research will be carried out by using the
quantitative and qualitative research methods. The reading
comprehension of the pupils will be assessed with the Philippine
Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) for sixth grade. The Phil-
IRI assessment tool focuses on evaluation of pupils’ reading
ability. The oral reading test measures the pupils’ comprehension
level with fluency within the context of oral assessment. The
speed and comprehension assessment tools aim to measure the
pupils’ comprehension level within a specific time frame. The test
uses a multiple-choice format to assess performance in
comprehension. The comprehension test measures a student’s
ability to read and understand expository text. Some of the
questions require constructing an understanding based on
information that is explicitly stated in the passage; others require
constructing an understanding based on information that is only
implicit in the passage. The standardized test measures reading
comprehension skills such as noting details, predicting outcome,
drawing conclusions, getting the main idea, and inferring.
Aside from the results obtained from the Phil-IRI, the end-
of-lesson assessments (ELAs) will also serve as reading measures
to determine the reading comprehension of pupils during the
course of intervention. Eight end-of-lesson assessments or tests
will be given after the independent practice of the lesson. The
performance of the pupils during and after reading and
engagement in tasks will serve as an indicator for the conduct of
ELA. The ELAs will be used to adjust lesson planning and
implementation. The results of the ELA will also serve as the
basis for moving to the next lesson. The pupils will answer the
questions and submit them to the teacher. Ten questions (5 from
narrative text and 5 from the expository text) assess both literal
and inferential levels of comprehension. Two literal and three
inferential questions will be given after each lesson. These
questions require the pupils to construct understanding of explicit
and implicit information in the text. The ELA questions are in
multiple-choice format. ELA aimed at assessing the
comprehension of pupils after every twin-text session, thus,
served as an assessment to determine reading performance during
the course of intervention. The performance of pupils in the Phil-
IRI and ELAs will be analyzed to answer the research question,
How does twin-text teaching affect reading comprehension of
Sixth Grade pupils?
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The outputs of pupils before, during, and after reading will
serve as indicator of reading engagement in reading. The outputs
of pupils include (1) written questions, predictions, and summary,
(2) reactions on the texts read, (3) writing the ending of the story,
(4) making graphic organizers, (5) writing a simple expository
text, (6) writing one’s opinion, and (6) responses in the KWL
chart. These engagement activities will be analyzed to answer the
second research question, How does twin-text teaching improve
pupil engagement in reading?
Observation guide and researcher-made observation notes
will be used to document the implementation of the lessons in line
with the twin-text teaching strategy. Different indicators will be
included in the observation guide to describe the engagement
behavior of pupils during the different phases of the lesson. The
observed performance or engagement of the pupils served as
indicator of moving to the next phase of the lesson. Then, a
detailed narration of the implementation of twin-text teaching will
be noted for every lesson.
The pupils will be asked to write their feedback on the use of
engagement activities for every lesson. They will answer the
open-ended question “How did the activities engage you in
reading?” After the intervention, the teacher will ask the class to
reflect on the importance of using two texts. The written
responses will be analyzed to answer the research question, How
does twin-text teaching affect reading comprehension of Sixth
Grade pupils?
Data Analysis The effects of twin-text teaching will be evaluated using the
standardized reading test (Philippine Informal Reading Inventory
or Phil-IRI), end-of-lesson assessments, observation guide and
notes, reading outputs, and end-of-lesson written feedbacks.
Statistical analysis will use the paired sample t-test to
determine whether there has been an improvement in the
performance of the pupils on their reading comprehension before
and after twin-text teaching. Aside from the data obtained in the
Phil-IRI, the data in the end-of-lesson assessments will also serve
as indicators whether or not reading comprehension improved in
order to answer Research Question 1, How does twin-text
teaching affect reading comprehension of Sixth Grade pupils?
Likewise, the results obtained from the eight end-of-lesson
assessments will be analyzed by comparing the mean scores. The
scores in all the end-of-lesson assessments or comprehension
quizzes will be added to get the average mean of all the scores to
determine whether there has been an improvement in the level of
reading comprehension from the start to end of the intervention.
To answer Research Question 2, How does twin-text teaching
improve pupil engagement in reading?, qualitative data will be
taken from the reading outputs, end-of-lesson written feedbacks
or reflection notes and observation guide and notes to analyze the
improvement of reading engagement during the course of the
intervention. The recurring themes or patterns emerged will be
analyzed.
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Action Research Work Plan and Timelines
Research Activities Start End Duration
Pre-intervention
Selection of Reading Texts Feb. 1, 2017 Feb. 28, 2017 28 days
Development of Lesson Plans March 1 March 17 17 days
Validation of the researcher-made June 5, 2017 1 day
lesson plans
Securing a letter of approval from the June 6, 2017 1 day
parents or guardians to conduct an
action research
Securing a letter of permission to June 7, 2017 1 day
the principals to conduct a research
study
Pre-testing June 8, 2017 1 day
Pilot testing June 9, 2017 1 day
Intervention
Data Gathering June 13, 2017 October 16, 18 weeks
2017
Post-intervention October 16, October 16, 1 day
Post-testing 2017 2017
Data Analysis October 23, October 27, 1 week
2017 2017
Writing of Paper October 30, November 17, 3 weeks
2017 2017
Cost Estimates This study presents different deliverables to accomplish the
objectives of each research activity. Research cost in reproduction
of research materials, reading tests, and other data collection
instruments was summarized in the table.
Research Activity Deliverables Total Cost
Development/printing of Research materials 5,000
research materials (lesson (Lesson Plans, Reading Texts,
plans, texts, observation Observation Guides)
guides)
Pilot testing of one lesson Research materials 500
plan (Lesson Plan, Observation Note
and Guide)
Conduct of reading pretest Data collection instruments 5,000
using the Philippine
Informal Reading
Inventory
Intervention/Treatment Data gathering methods and 5,000
(Second Grading Period) instruments
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(Lesson Plans, Reading Texts,
Observation Guides and Notes,
Reflection Notes)
Conduct of reading posttest Data collection instruments 1,000
Data analysis Reading Scores 5,000
Observation Guides and Notes
Writing of Research Paper Hard Copies of Research Paper 5,000
Subject/Research 42 Grade Six Pupils
Participants Second Quarter
Total P26,500
References
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Cambria, J., & Guthrie, J. (2010). Motivating and engaging students in reading. The NERA
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Camp, D. (2000). It takes two: Teaching with twin texts of fact and fiction. The Reading
Teacher, 53(5), 400-408.
Ciecierski, L., & Bintz, W. (2016). Paired texts: A way into the content are. Middle School
Journal, 32-44.
Coombs, D. (2013). Fiction and nonfiction: A symbiotic relationship. The ALAN Review, 7-15.
Frye, E., Trathen, W., & Wilson, K. (2009). Pirates in historical fiction and nonfiction: A twin-
text unit of study. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 21(3), 15-16.
Furtado, L., & Johnson, L. (2010). Enhancing summarization skills using twin texts: instruction
in narrative and expository text structures. The Reading Matrix, 10(2), 271-281.
Nguyen, C. (2008). Student motivation and learning. Center for Teaching Excellence, United
States Military Academy, West Point, NY.
Stewart, M. (2010). Perfect pairs: Teaching science through literature. SB&F, 108-112.
