CHAPTER II THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter covers some theories related to the study. The discussion focuses on the reading, narrative text, jigsaw technique, and expository technique
A. Reading
1. The General Concept of Reading
In a great many classrooms, the reading lesson is used as an opportunity to teach pronunciation, practice fluent and expressive speaking, and so on.
According to Gerald Prince,”Reading as an activity presupposing a text a set of visually presented linguistic symbols from which meaning can be extracted
”.
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Reading is one of English skills that need relatively mechanical skills. Elizabeth B. Bernhardt assumed
”reading is viewed as not merely taking written information on the printed matter but also attributing a meaning
– extracting process as the essence of the act of reading
”.
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It means reading is not only to get information from the text passively but also to process it on mind to understand the meaning.
That assumption is in line with a linguistic expert, Dorothy Rubin stated that “reading as the conveying of meaning to and the processing the printed word
symbols to decode the words and to know the meaning of the selections ”.
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From the explanation above, it can be seen that learning to read is a complex process because reading requires thinking. When readers read to get the
meaning of the printed written selection, it is obviously needed a great number of mechanical skills and comprehension skills as thinking process. Therefore, it can
be said that reading includes many aspects of skills. Davis in J. Charles Alderson state that
“reading skills involves recalling, drawing, finding, weaving, recognizing, identifying, and following which are considered towards the readers
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Gerald Prince, Narratology: The form and functioning of narrative,Berlin:Mouton Publisher, 1982,p.103
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Elizabeth B. Bernhardt, Reading Development in a second language: Theoritical, empirical, and Classroom Perspective,New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, 1991,p.5
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Dorothy Rubin, A Practical Approach to Teaching Reading,New York: CBS, 1982,p.8
in understanding the printed symbols as a mental process ”.
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That is why readers have to integrate their skills when reading texts because as a complex process,
reading needs understanding to process the information on mind. Therefore, to understand the meaning of a text in reading activity, the
reader makes use of interaction among eyes and mind to grasp the message related to what the author is trying to communicate.
Based on those statements above, reading is a complex process in getting meaning or in understanding the message. According to Christine Nuttall,
”reading is essentially concerned with meaning, specifically with the transfer of meaning
from mind to mind: the transfer of a message from writer to reader ”.
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Elizabeth Bernhardt also states that “Reading is regarded as a cognitive process in which it
demands a process to apprehend the meaning, to gain information, and to learn in which those should be considered to the process of mind
”.
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2. The Purpose of Reading
Reading is an activity with a purpose. A person may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to critique a writer’s ideas or
writing styles a person may also read for enjoyment, or to enhance knowledge of the language being read. According to Rivers and Temporally, they suggest that
“second language learners will want to read for the following purposes: a.
To obtain information for some purposes or because we are curious about some topic.
b. To obtain instructions on how to perform some task for our work or daily
life e.g. knowing how an appliance works. c.
To act in a play, play a game, do a puzzle. d.
To keep in touch with friends by correspondence to understand business letters.
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J.Charles Alderson, Assessing Reading, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000,p. 9- 10
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Christine Nuttall, Teaching Reading Skills in A Foreign Language, Oxford: Hainemann, 1996, p.3.
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Elizabeth B. Bernhardt, Loc Cit.
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