Enhancing The Reading Comprehension of Grade 9 Students Through Scaffolding Strategy

Abstract

This study examined the reading comprehension levels of Grade 9 learners and assessed the effectiveness of a scaffolding strategy in improving the performance of struggling readers at Moreno Integrated School during School Year 2025-2026. Anchored in Differentiated Instruction Theory and Scaffolding Theory, the study employed a one-group pre-experimental pretest-posttest design. The participants were 79 Grade 9 learners selected through stratified sampling from three sections. Data were gathered using a teacher-made reading assessment aligned with the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory framework and a validated survey questionnaire. Percentage distribution, weighted mean, and paired-samples t-test were used to analyze the data. Before the intervention, 48.10% of learners were at the frustration level, 35.44% were at the instructional level, and 16.46% were at the independent level. After the intervention, the frustration-level proportion declined to 27.85%, while the instructional-level proportion increased to 53.16% and the independent-level proportion increased to 18.99%. The mean reading-level score increased from 1.68 (SD = 0.74) to 1.91 (SD = 0.67), and the difference was highly significant, t(78) = -4.32, p < .001. Learners also rated the scaffolding strategy as effective, with an overall weighted mean of 3.86. The findings support the use of structured and gradually reduced instructional assistance to strengthen reading comprehension. A responsive scaffolding-based differentiated reading framework was proposed for learners requiring targeted support.