Sustainable Texts to Enhance Students’ Reading Comprehension Among Senior High School Students at Tanauan Institute, Tanauan City, Batangas

Abstract

Reading comprehension remains a significant challenge among Senior High School students, particularly in higher-order skills such as inferential and critical analysis, despite relatively strong performance in basic comprehension tasks. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of sustainable texts in enhancing the reading comprehension skills of Senior High School students at Tanauan Institute, specifically in terms of literal understanding, inferential comprehension, critical analysis, and evaluative interpretation.

The study employed a quantitative pre-experimental design using a one-group pretest posttest approach. The participants consisted of 40 Senior High School students selected through purposive sampling. Data were gathered using a researcher-made reading comprehension test administered as pre-test and post-test, as well as a Likert-scale questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions. Statistical tools such as frequency, percentage, composite mean, and weighted mean were utilized for data analysis.

The findings revealed that students had an overall pre-test mean of 3.41, indicating an excellent level of comprehension, although performance in critical analysis was comparatively lower (M = 2.55). After exposure to sustainable texts, the post-test results showed notable improvement across all domains, with an overall mean of 4.71, and the greatest gain observed in critical analysis.

In addition, students demonstrated highly positive perceptions of sustainable texts, with an average weighted mean of 3.75, indicating strong agreement in terms of engagement, motivation, and relevance. The study concludes that sustainable texts are effective instructional materials for enhancing reading comprehension and promoting higher-order thinking skills.