Abstract

Reading is essential for a child to comprehend the lessons taught in school. Poor reading ability
results to the student’s low performance. Thus, this study aims to identify the struggling readers
of the Grade 7 students in Hinaplanon National High School, and make them independent
readers through Willingly I Read Everyday (W.I.R.E.) program. It was specifically designed to
mend the low literacy rate of the school. This study is anchored to the three theories of reading
which are bottom up processing, top-down processing and metacognitive view, which will lead
to the understanding of the complex processes of learning to read. The researcher first conducted
a diagnostic test using the pretest in the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil IRI) Oral
Reading in June which led to the implementation of the W.I.R.E. program as a reading
intervention to improve the students’ reading ability. Post-test will be conducted in March using
the post-test in the Phil IRI Oral Reading to evaluate the effectiveness of a reading program.
Initial findings showed that, more than half of the grade seven students’ reading level matches to
their expected grade reading level. However, these students were classified in the frustration
level in the reading comprehension. There were few identified independent readers in their grade
level.