c. Use of graphic and semantic organizers including story maps,
where readers make graphic representations of the material to assist comprehension;
d. Question answering, where readers answer questions posed by the
teacher and receive immediate feedback; e.
Question generation, where reader ask themselves questions about various aspects of the story;
f. Story structure, where students are taught to use the structure of the
story as a means of helping them recall story content in order to answer questions about what they have read; and
g. Summarization, where readers are taught to integrate ideas and
generalize from the text information.
12
From those statements above, it can be known that there are many strategies in order to get reading comprehension. And the writer thinks we also
should do those strategies if we want to get a good comprehension in reading. Moreover, Goodman et al states that:
Reading is a problem-solving process. As readers, we try to discover what the author means while at the same time, we build meaning for
ourselves. We use our own language, our own thoughts, and our own view of the world to interpret what the author has written. These interpretations
are limited by what we known.
13
Based on the explanation above, the writer thinks the reader may not get the whole idea of the writer, or may be the readers get some different
understanding of what they read because it depends on the readers’ knowledge. So, it seems important for the readers to have some prior
knowledge in order to get the complete understanding of the author means.
12
Michael L. Kamil, et.al, Successful Reading Instruction, Greenwich: Information Age Publishing, 2002, p. 122
13
Yetta M. Goodman, Carolyn Burke, and Barry Sherman, Reading Strategies Focus on Comprehension, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980, p.3.
Moreover, Farris states that: One of the first strategies for a teacher to master is that of activating prior
knowledge or background knowledge in their students. You will find it is an integral part of several teaching strategies in the upcoming pages,
including the Directed Reading Activity DRA, the Directed Reading Thinking Activity DRTA, and K-W-L-Plus.
14
In this sense, Farris illustrated that prior knowledge is the component in reader’s mind to anticipate about the upcoming text will tell about.
Based on those explanations, reading is a complicated process in understanding the meaning. However, comprehending and developing prior
knowledge initially are the significant strategy to get the writer’s purpose. To sum up, reading comprehension is the process of getting meaning
from the text. It is influenced by the reader’s prior knowledge and also the
reader’s comprehension strategy.
2. The Objectives of Reading
In real life, people generally read something because of some objectives that they want to get. Francoise Grellet states that there are two main reasons
of reading; reading for pleasure and reading for information.
15
It means that many people read just for enjoying their life and many other read because they
need to find out what they want to know about something. William Grabe and Frederica L. Stoller state that the objectives of
reading are: a.
Reading to research for simple information b.
Reading to learn from text c.
Reading to integrate information, write and critique text d.
Reading for general comprehension.
16
14
Farris, 2004, Op. Cit, p.326
15
Ibid,. p. 324.
16
William Grabe and Fredricka L. Stoller, Teaching and Researching Reading, Great Britain: Person Education, 2002, p.13.
The different objectives of reading are also states by Jeremy Harmer. He divides it into some areas:
a. Predictive skills
b. Extracting specific information
c. Getting the general picture
d. Extracting detailed information
e. Recognizing function and discourse patterns
f. Deducing meaning from context
17
And according to Rivers and Temperly suggest that second language learners will want to read for the following objectives:
a. To obtain information for some purpose or because we are curious
about some topics b.
To obtain instructions on how to perform some task for our work or daily activities 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 or to comprehend
business letters e.
To know when or where something will take place or what is available
f. To know what is occurring or has occurred as reported in
newspapers, magazines, reports g.
For enjoyment or excitement.
18
From those statements above, the writer concludes that the objective of reading is various. The reader has some objectives to be achieved. Based on
those objectives, it is also necessary to look techniques of reading in which there is a connection with the objectives of reading.
17
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English language TeachingI, New York: Longman, 1983, p. 183-184.
18
David Nunan, Designing Tasks for The Communicative Classroom, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p. 34.
3. The Techniques of Reading
a. Previewing
Previewing is when the reader read some coverage reading materials such as chapter in a book, a report, a newspaper article, or other sources
rapidly and after that decide how or whether to read the entire selection. The reader can preview the title, headings and subheading, summary or
introductory statements, illustrative and graphic materials, and opening and closing sentences of each paragraph. The reader should write down
some questions while previewing in order they get the answer by later reading.
19
Previewing will give the students a framework into which the ideas gained through reading can fit.
20
So the writer thinks previewing is one of students need when they are selecting one of reading material that
they want to read its contain completely.
b. Skimming
Skimming is actually the broadened previewing in which the reader not only read the main ideas on the opening and the closing of the material
but they also read various supporting details. There are some signal words to point out supporting details such as: first, second, because, in addition
to, also, but, and the like. By reading these details, the reader is strengthens his understanding of the main ideas but save the time that
would be needed for complete reading.
21
Skimming enables student to choose content that they want to read and discard that which is unimportant for their purposes. Skimming
permits the students to get a general idea about the material which becomes their purposes, rather than to read all material in detail. And
based to the explanation in the previous paragraph, one of useful skimming technique is to read only the first sentence of each paragraph
19
Richard Allington and Michael Strange, Learning through Reading in the content areas, Lexington: D.C Heath and Company, 1980, p. 202-202
20
Roe, 1978, Op.Cit, p. 62
21
Ibid, p. 203
and read the introduction or summary more carefully. So when skimming, the students goes through the material quickly in order to get the gist of it,
to know how it is recognized, or to get an idea.
c. Scanning
Scanning is the reading type that used to find out specific information that the reader need without read the whole page of reading
materials. The reader usually use scanning when they read the telephone directory, a dictionary, and in finding a word, a date, a number, or a certain
phrase. There are three steps involved in scanning: 1
Knowing clearly what it is being sought 2
Looking swiftly over the page, list, or column, expecting the fact to stand out from the rest of the page
3 Verifying the answer when it is found by reading it carefully.
22
In scanning, the readers should have purpose in order to find the specific information needed because when scanning the readers only try to
locate specific information and they simply let their eyes over the text until they find what they looking for.
So, skimming refers to reading to get the general idea of the text and scanning refers to reading to get the amount of specific information of the
text. Scanning is faster than skimming because the reader just has to concentrate on the particular information they need to find out.
22
Ibid, p. 204
