Book circle: Shaping the reading interest and comprehension of reluctant readers

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study aimed to determine the effects of Book Circle Program in shaping the reading interest and comprehension of eleven Grade Five reluctant readers of Concordia Elementary School, Concordia, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras of the school year 2016-2017. The researcher used the one-group pretest-posttest design in submerging the reluctant readers to a series of reading sessions using the Book Circle Program for eighteen meetings. The assessment tools used in the pretest and posttest were the Reading Interest Inventory and Phil-IRI Oral Reading Test. The descriptive statistics employed were the means and standard deviation to measure the levels of reading interest and comprehension of reluctant readers before and after having been exposed to Book Circle Program. The researcher tested the significant difference between the pretest and posttest levels of the reading interest and comprehension of reluctant readers using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Value set at .05 level of significance. Observations and interviews among reluctant readers based on their behavior, attitude, and feedbacks during the Book Circle sessions were conducted for qualitative analysis. Findings revealed that the reluctant readers had maintained their reading interest and improved their comprehension skills after joining the Book Circle Program. Results showed that there was no significant difference in the reading interest of reluctant readers but their comprehension skills differed significantly. It was also found out that affective factors such as fear, shyness, and laziness were the main causes of reading reluctance among the participants. This study gave an opportunity to the reluctant readers to develop confidence and decoding skills on the unfamiliar words that they had encountered in the stories they read. Finally, positive attitude towards reading was also observed among reluctant readers during the reading session and after the Book Circle Program.