Researcher-Made Reading Drill Booklet and Students’ Oral Reading Fluency in Communication Arts Presentations

Abstract

Teachers open the path for greater involvement and lifetime literacy skills by arming students with deliberate strategies. This quasi-experimental study investigated the effectiveness of a researcher-made reading drill booklet in enhancing the oral reading fluency of Grade 7 students at Bagumbayan National High School during the 2024–2025 school year. Forty students were selected to participate in a one-group pre-test-post-test design, utilizing Reader’s Theater and Choral Reading strategies as part of their communication arts presentation. The intervention consisted of daily ten-minute reading drills over two months to enhance oral reading fluency, word production per minute (WPM), and pronunciation. Pre-test results indicated low fluency levels, with mean WPM and pronunciation scores falling below grade-level expectations. Following the intervention, significant improvements were observed: WPM and pronunciation scores increased substantially, as confirmed by paired t-tests where t-statistics far exceeded the critical t-tab value. Reader’s Theater and Choral Reading contributed to these gains, with the greatest improvements noted in expressive and audible reading. However, some collaborative aspects, such as turn-taking, remained moderate. The findings demonstrate that structured, researcher-made reading drills effectively enhance key aspects of oral reading fluency, particularly accuracy and expression. It is recommended that such materials be integrated into regular instruction and supplemented with additional activities to further develop reading speed and collaborative skills.