someone have read, their brain work together to comprehend the content of the passage.
However, in reading comprehension the readers also need to combine the information from the text with their background knowledge to
comprehend the text. Larry Lewin considered this as “prior knowledge”. He stated that:
“prior knowledge is regarded as what the readers know toward incoming topic concerning their past knowledge which is stored in
the brain then occurring the integration of newly information to evoke retrieving the existing information to save them into their
memories in categories called schemata or it widely known as
„schema theory’.
4
Based on the statement above, the writer conclude that to grasp the meaning or get information of the passage, a reader is sought to gain the
ability to interpreting the passage meaningfully where he or she needs prior knowledge to assist him or her in making sense of the author’s
message.
2. Kinds of Reading
There are two kinds of reading as below:
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a. Intensive Reading
Intensive reading refers to detailed focus on the construction of reading text which takes place usually in classroom. In addition, Nuttal
stated that “Intensive reading involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the student to focus on the
4
Lary Lawin, Paving the way in Reading and Writing: Strategies and Activities to Support Struggling Students in Grades 6-12, San francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003, p.23.
5
Jeremy harmer, How to Teach English, new edition New York: Longman, 2007, pp.99-100.
text. The aim is to arrive at an understanding, not only of what the text means, but of how the meaning is produced.”
6
In another hand, in intensive reading, as the term indicates, each vocabulary and structural item is explained and made as fact of our active
language, pronunciation, and intonation are stressed, and each concept allusion is clarified. Besides intensive reading is used to gain a deep
understanding of a text, which is important for the reader. The process of scanning takes a more prominent role here than skimming.
b. Extensive Reading
According to Nuttal in her book about extensive reading stated that:
“It is assumed that in order to understand the whole e.g book, the reader must first understand the parts sentences, paragraph, chapters of
which it is made up. However, the reader can in fact often understand a text adequately without grasping every part of it; students have to be
enco uraged to develop this facility.”
7
Based on the statement above, the reader should select a good reading material which the material related to extensive reading. In this
activi ty, reading is for pleasure. Besides, the reader doesn’t need to
understand each words because in this step the purpose of reading is merely needs to get an overall understanding of the passage or text.
3. Purpose of Reading
Generally, people read something because they want to or because they have a desire to do so and a purpose to achieve.
6
Christine Nuttal, Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Langauge, London: Mcmillan, 2005,p.38.
7
Christine Nuttal, Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Langauge,.... p.128.
