Authors : Richard S. Nakpil

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 8 - August

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/4zcxarba

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26aug568

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Abstract : This study looked at the impact of the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program on the reading ability and reading comprehension of the Grade IV-VI learners of Banag Ayta Integrated School during School Year 2025-2026. Believing that reading ability is an important life skill, this study focuses on readers, specifically those under the frustration level as assessed through the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI). A quantitative research design, this pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted with seven (7) intermediate learners in a quasi-experimental setup. Seven intermediate learners were included in an eight-week-long ARAL intervention where they experienced guided reading sessions, phonics instruction and activities and remediation of decoding and comprehension skills. The data were collected through formal reading assessments given before and after the intervention and analyzed using descriptive statistical tool like mean and standard deviation, and inferential tool like Wilcoxon Signed- Rank test. Results showed that both the reading ability and reading comprehension of the readers failed to improve significantly in the both English and Filipino subjects after receiving eight-week intervention from the ARAL Program. Most learners were found to have not moved from the frustration level as evidenced by the few changes that had occurred between the pretest and posttest, despite there were some readers who had some minor improvements in decoding and able to read words, the level of their comprehension, however, remained a great issue. The lack of significant improvement may be attributed to the small sample size, limited duration of intervention, language differences and issues such as external challenges faced by the students, such as absenteeism, as well as some limitations of instructional materials, assessment sensitivity and suitability of materials for indigenous learners. Despite that the ARAL Program offered structured intervention to the learners with struggling reading ability, it may not provide effective and statistically significant improvement of readers in their reading ability and reading comprehension within a limited duration of time. More strategies on implementing programs need to be enhanced to cater for more children who are struggling readers in indigenous school settings.

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