Enhancing Students' Reading Competence Through Educational Games: A Case Study at Katipunan National High School, Carmen, Bohol

Abstract

English reading proficiency is essential for various human activities; however, in 2018, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released that among the 79 participating countries, the Philippines scored the lowest in reading comprehension. This research on the use of educational games in teaching English for learners' reading competence aimed to develop an understanding of English reading texts that can promote better learning and enable learners to grow in various aspects, such as intellectual, physical, and social. To determine the effectiveness of educational games as a post-reading activity for learners' reading competence, pilot testing of the researcher-made questionnaire was conducted in one Grade 12 section. After the pilot test analysis, the study was conducted in which participants were tasked with reading the text first. Then the educational games were implemented as a post-reading activity. This study used an experimental research design with three Grade 11 sections: two sections as the experimental group and one as the control group. The Individual Games had 46 population, Group Games had 43, and the Control Group had 45. Before the study, the researcher asked for the consent of the participants and that their data will be used for research purposes only. The result of this study unveiled that the null hypothesis was rejected. Hence, it was found that both individual and group games effectively enhanced the learners' reading competence. Although there is a difference between the three groups, it was found that all of them had insignificant variance, which leads the researcher to conclude that in implementing Educational Games, one must be creative and innovative. This indicates that incorporating a Game-Based teaching strategy effectively enhances the reading competence of Grade 11 students.