This research aimed to determine the effectiveness of Cloze Technique in enhancing the Reading Comprehension of the fourth year students of Philippine Science High School- Cagayan Valley Campus. It was conceived to assess the effectiveness of the intervention through a series of prepared lessons with Cloze materials in the reading passages to aid the students improve their comprehension skills.

The study was conducted at Philippine Science High School- Cagayan Valley Campus, one of the regional campuses of PSHS during the first semester of the school year 2003-2004, The subjects were the 51 students of which 25 was experimental and 26 was the control group. The objectivity and credibility of the selected groups were determined and tested through their I.Q., thus, the groups were found to be homogeneous between and heterogeneous within.

A comprehension test consisting of 75 items all multiple choice was prepared. This was checked by the panel of evaluators for face and content validity using an opinionare. It was pilot tested in the 4th year classes science curriculum of Saint Mary's University and Nueva Vizcaya General Comprehensive High School, and the results were analyzed using the Quest software. From the original number of items, the final comprehension test was narrowed down to 50 items that served as the pretest and posttestThe panel of evaluators evaluated the reading passages with Cloze materials All conditions were assumed to be the same for the two groups except that the experimental was treated with Cloze Technique while the control was taught other strategies. After the treatment, a posttest was administered to both groups.

To find out the reading levels of the control and experimental groups, the passages were given and the results of the comprehension questions were computed. If the equivalent percentage is above 80%, the reading level is independent, if it is between 70-80%, the reading level is instructional and if it is below 70%, the reading level is frustration. Thus, the experimental group got a mean score of 95.7% while the control group got a mean score of 93.7% which showed that both groups belonged to the independent level

To test the significance of pretest and posttest between control and experimental groups, the independent samples-t-test was used. The test was conducted to compare the mean scores on pretest and results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups as supported by the p-value of 572 and 571. Whereas, the posttest scores obtained a t- value of 002 that proved the effect of cloze technique to the experimental group who were treated with it.

To find out the comparison of pretest and posttest scores in the control and experimental groups, a paired- samples t-test was conducted. For the control group, there was no significant difference as revealed by the significant level of 120 although numerically some of the students got higher scores during the posttest On the other hand, the experimental group showed significant results. It greatly proved that the intervention spplied made a significant contribution in the increase of scores during posttest.To find out the predictive ability of IQ English Achievement, and Comprehension Ability on student's reading level, the Multiple Regression was utilized. Thus, in the control group none of the variables can predict the reading level of the students but in the experimental group it resulted that the English Achievement test and Comprehension Ability test results positively correlate with the reading level

To draw the perceptions of students about the effect of the Cloze Technique in enhancing reading comprehension, an attitude scale was designed and conducted which pictures a positive attitude of the students concerning its relevance not only to upgrade comprehension skills but also its usability to other subjects of discipline.

Based on the results, it is therefore concluded that Cloze Technique is beyond and above superior than any conventional strategy in upgrading reading comprehension, it is an effective tool in enhancing the reading comprehension skills of the fourth year students, the students perceived the use of Cloze Technique as effective in improving comprehension skills, the use of Cloze Technique gives opportunities to improve vocabulary, leads to the acquisition of comprehension potentials, and a venue for value development through text content which eventually can be an excellent means to nurture creative and critical thinking which are very important to the reading comprehension, the reading level of a student has a bearing on the English Achievement and Comprehension Ability as exhibited by the experimental group, and IQ as a variable doesn't prove any significance on the reading level of the student.

Thesis (Master of Education - Language, Reading and Numeracy)

Includes appendices and bibliographical references.