COGNITIVE LEVEL OF READING QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR GRADE XI.

COGNITIVE LEVEL OF READING QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH
TEXTBOOK FOR GRADE XI

A THESIS

Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

By

LAMTIAR SINAGA
Registration Number 2122121021

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2017

ABSTRACT
Sinaga, Lamtiar. Registration Number: 2122121021. Cognitive Level of
Reading Questions in English Textbook for Grade XI. A Thesis. English

Education Study Program, English and Literature Department, Faculty of
Languages and Arts, State University of Medan, 2017.
This study aims to find out cognitive level of reading questions in English
textbook for grade XI. The objective of the study was to find out the cognitive
level of the reading question based on Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. This study
was conducted by using descriptive qualitative method. The data of this research
were the reading questions in the English textbook for grade XI Senior High
School. The result of this study was the whole reading questions in the textbook
covered all of the cognitive levels, they were Remembering (26,02%),
Understanding (26,02%), Applying (9,18%), Analyzing (33,16%), Evaluating
(1,53%), and Creating (4,08 %).
Key words: Cognitive level, Reading questions, revised Bloom’s Taxonomy.

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, the writer would like to express thanks to Almighty God for His
blessings, health, protection, knowledge and opportunity that bat last she is able to
complete this thesis entitled “Cognitive Level of Reading Questions in English
Textbook for Grade XI” as one of reguirements for the degree of Sarjana

Pendidikan (S1) at English and Literature Department, Faculty of Languages and
Arts (FBS), State University of Medan (Unimed)
This thesis could have not been accomplished without the guidance,
helping, suggestion, advice, motivation and encouragement from people, for
which the writer would like to express her extremely grateful which directed to:
• Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd., the Rector of State University of Medan,
Unimed.
• Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts,
State University of Medan.
• Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English Department and also her
Thesis Reviewer and Examiner.
• Dra. Meisuri, M.A., the Secretary of English Department and also her Thesis
Advisor who guided, advised and gave her precious time in completing this
thesis..
• Nora Ronita Dewi, S.S., S.Pd., M.Hum., the Head of English Education
Study Program.
• Drs. Elia Masa Gintings, M.Hum., her Thesis Advisor and also Academic
Advisor who guided, advised and gave his precious time in completing this
thesis.
• Neni Afrida Sari Harahap, S. Pd., M. Hum., her Thesis Examiner, who gave

her precious time, guidance, suggestions, and comments in completing this
thesis.
• All Lecturers of English Department who taught, guided, and advised her
throughout the academic years.

ii

• Eis Sri Wahyuningsih, M.Pd., the Administration Staff of English
Department.
• Her beloved father Busmin Sinaga and her beloved mother Rosmian
Situmorang who always give her spirit, support, pray and love, her lovely
brothers Reston Sinaga, Beston Sinaga, Benglon Sinaga, Jonperi Sinaga
S.Pd. and Gunawan Sinaga and all her families for their endless love, pray,
inspiration, motivation, mental and everything they have given to the writer.
• Her friends in Regular A 2012, her great class for the love and togetherness
throughout four years.
• Her lovely friends, Christy A.V. Parhusip, Lusya R. Nababan, Susilowati
Sinulingga and Veronika Padang,

for all of their innocence, supports,

prayers, motivation, laughters, tears, and togetherness through ups and downs,
thick and thins and their endless loyalty.
• The last but not the least, for her friends in PPLT SMK N. 1 Lumbanjulu for
many experiences and togetherness, especially for Boy Simangunsong and
Minar Veronika Sinaga, for all their silly yet endless supports, pray and
motivation in completing this thesis.

The writer realizes that this thesis still has the paucity, she conveniently
welcomes any suggestions, comments, critics, and advices that will improve the
quality of this thesis. She hopes that this thesis would be useful for those who read
and interested in the field of this study.

Medan, ........ April 2017
The Writer,

Lamtiar Sinaga
Reg. No. 2122121021

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.. .................................................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................. ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLE ........................................................................................... vi
LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................... vii
LIST OF APPENDIXES ............................................................................... viii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.................................................................. 1
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

The Background of the Study .............................................................. 1
The Problems of the Study ................................................................... 5
The Objectives of the Study ................................................................. 5
The Scope of the Study ........................................................................ 6

The Significances Of The Study .......................................................... 7

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................. 8
A. Theoritical Framework ......................................................................... 8
1. Textbook .......................................................................................... 8
a. The Definition of Textbook ........................................................ 8
b. The Use of Textbook .................................................................. 9
c. The Common Features of a Good Textbook .............................. 11
2. Reading ............................................................................................ 13
a. The Definition of Reading .......................................................... 13
b. The Aim of Reading ................................................................... 16
c. The Types of Reading Skills ....................................................... 17
d. Cognitive Factors in Reading ..................................................... 17
e. Kinds of Questions in Reading Comprehension ......................... 19
3. Genre ............................................................................................... 23
4. Cognitive Levels .............................................................................. 25
B. Relevant Studies ................................................................................... 30
C. Conceptual Framework ........................................................................ 33
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...................................... 36
A. Research Design ................................................................................... 36

B. The Source of Data............................................................................... 36

iv

C. The Technique of Collecting Data ....................................................... 37
D. The Technique of Analizing Data ........................................................ 37
CHAPTER IV. DATA, DATA ANALYSIS, FINDING AND DISCUSSION
A.
B.
C.
D.

The Data ............................................................................................... 39
The Data Analysis ................................................................................ 39
Findings ................................................................................................ 83
Dicussion .............................................................................................. 83

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS............................ 87
A. Conclusions .......................................................................................... 87
B. Suggestions .......................................................................................... 87

REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 89
APPENDIXES ................................................................................................ 92

v

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Sample Question Stems Based on Revised Bloom’s Taxonom....31
Table 4.1 Cognitive levels of Text I’s questions... ........................................ 43
Table 4.2 Cognitive levels of Text II’s questions .......................................... 45
Table 4.3 Cognitive levels of Text III’s questions... ...................................... 47
Table 4.4 Cognitive levels of Text IV’s questions... ...................................... 49
Table 4.5 Cognitive levels of Text V’s questions... ....................................... 51
Table 4.6 Cognitive levels of Text VI’s questions... ...................................... 53
Table 4.7 Cognitive levels of Text VII’s questions... .................................... 55
Table 4.8 Cognitive levels of Text VIII’s questions... ................................... 57
Table 4.9 Cognitive levels of Text IX’s questions... ...................................... 59
Table 4.10 Cognitive levels of Text X’s questions... ...................................... 61
Table 4.11 Cognitive levels of Text XI’s questions... ..................................... 63
Table 4.12 Cognitive levels of Text XII’s questions... ................................... 64

Table 4.13 Cognitive levels of Text XIII’s questions... .................................. 66
Table 4.14 Cognitive levels of Text XIV’s questions... .................................. 68
Table 4.15 Cognitive levels of Text XV’s questions... ................................... 70
Table 4.16 Cognitive levels of Text XVI’s questions... .................................. 71
Table 4.17 Cognitive levels of Text XVII’s questions... ................................ 73
Table 4.18 Cognitive levels of Text XVIII’s questions... ............................... 75
Table 4.19 Cognitive levels of Text XIX’s questions... .................................. 77
Table 4.20 Cognitive levels of Text XX’s questions... ................................... 78
Table 4.21 Cognitive levels of whole reading questions... ............................. 80

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1

Bloom’s Taxonomy by Learning Objectives ............................... 25

Figure 2. 2. The Old and the New Version Bloom’s Taxonomy ................... 27
Figure 2.3. Tree Diagram of Conceptual Framework ..................................... 38

vii

LIST OF APPENDIXES

Appendix A. Sample Question Stems Based on Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy ..92
Appendix B. The texts and their questions in the textbook ................................94

viii

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. The Background of the Study
English is used for communication with all people around the world.
Because of that reason, some countries have English as their second language
and others have English as their foreign language. Indonesia is one of the
countries that use English as a foreign language. It is taught by the teacher to
elementary school until university.
There are four skills which have to be mastered by the students in

learning English namely Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The
skills are used to build and improve students’ ability in English. An English
textbook includes those four skills. On Reading skill, reading materials are
usually such as reading texts and followed by some questions that related to
the texts. These questions usually appear in different sections of lessons and
units. The questions may include from lower-order-thinking (remembering,
understanding, applying) to higher-order-thinking (analyzing, evaluating,
creating) of cognitive levels by revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
(Edward and Bowman: 1996).
The Reading materials in a textbook also belong to a genre of writing,
such as Narrative, Decriptive, Hortatory, Recount, Procedure, Explanation,
Discussion, Exposition, News Item, Report, Anecdote and Review
(Pardiyono:2007).

1

2

In studying the Reading, students need a textbook. A textbook is a very
important thing in teaching-learning process. It is students’ guide which
supplies them with information and enriches their mind with knowledge. It is
important to choose and evaluate the best reading text’s questions because
reading questions are the best way to evaluate student’s competence in
Reading skill.
The researcher have found and seen some of studies that related to this
research, Bloom’s Taxonomy is one of taxonomies that mostly used to
analyze cognitive level of reading questions in a textbook. The

related

studies show how the reading question’s in the textbooks covered the six
cognitive levels of Bloom’s taxonomy or revised version of Bloom’s
taxonomy. Revised Bloom’s taxonomy (2001) has six cognitive level, they
are Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating and
Creating. Remembering, Understanding and Applying are categorized as
Lower-Order Thinking and Analyzing, Evaluating and Creating are
categorized as Higher-Order Thinking
Ria (2014) studied the comprehension levels of reading exercises in
Look Ahead English Course Books. It showed that there were only small
numbers of the Higher-Order Thinking exercises which included Analyzing,
Evaluating, and Creating presented in the course books.
Pratiwi (2014) also analyzed the reading exercises in Pathway to
English textbook for the eleventh grade of Senior High School students based
on Bloom’s Taxonomy. The finding of the study showed that the Higher

3

Order Thinking level only obtains 15 out of 157 essay reading questions
(9.6%), while the Lower-Order Thinking level obtains 142 out of 157 essay
reading questions (90.4%). It can be concluded that the distribution of the
Higher-Order Thinking level is lower than the Lower-Order Thinking level.
Ong (2004) investigated the reading questions of Senior High School
English textbook based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of cognitive domain. The
result of the study showed that there were 222 questions in the knowledge
level which was equivalent to 37.25% of the 592 questions, 235 questions in
the comprehension level which was equivalent to 39.17% of the entire
questions, 17 questions in the application level which was equivalent to
3.21% of the entire questions, 116 questions in the analysis level which was
equivalent to 19.97% of the entire questions, there was no question in the
synthesis level, there were 2 questions in the evaluation level which was
equivalent to 0.40% of the entire questions.
In addition, Ibtihal and Oqlah (2015) evaluated cognitive levels of
Master Class Textbook’s questions using Bloom’s Taxonomy. The result of
the study showed that the author of Master Class emphasized the cognitive
level of Comprehension having 52% of the questions, which was much more
than the expected frequency, while only 3.7% and 6% of the questions on the
cognitive levels of Knowledge and Application respectively. The frequency
of questions on the cognitive levels of Evaluation and Analysis were much
closer to the expected frequencies. The results indicated that about 40% of the

4

textbook’s questions emphasized Higher-Order Thinking skills, which goes
with the requirements of the revised curriculum.
From the previous studies, the fact is some of textbooks especially in
reading section used by teachers in teaching-learning process are not
appropriate with the good proportion of cognitive levels based on Sudjana’s
(2004) teori about Bloom’s Taxonomy. Sudjana (2004) says that a good
consideration between easy (Remembering, Understanding): medium
(Applying, Analyzing): hard (Evaluating, Creating) =30%:40%:30% from
all the raeding questions all the questions in a textbook. From the
consideration above, the good percentage of each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy
in a textbook is as follow, 30 % for Remembering (C1) and Understanding
(C2), 40 % for Applying (C3) and Analyzing (C4), 30 % for Evaluating (C5)
and Creating (C6).
In addition, the researcher’s experience in studying from Elementary
School to Senior High School, the reading questions in English textbooks had
the similarity with the previous studies which researcher explained before,
that most of the questions were in the Lower-Thinking Order (Remembering,
Understanding, Applying) and just a few of them in Higher-Order Thinking
(Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating).
Considering the explanation before, this research aimed to analyze the
cognitive levels of reading questions in English textbook for grade XI based
on revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy. It is a must to analyze the reding
questions in a textbook because reading questions is a best way to evaluate

5

student’s competence in reading. And also, it is a must that the reading
questions in a textbook have good proportion from the easiest one to the
hardest one.

B. The Problems of the Study
Based on the background, the problems of the study were formulated as
follow:
1. What kinds of cognitive level were used in reading questions of English
textbook for grade XI based on the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy?
2. How were the reading questions in the textbook cover the good proportion
(percentage) of cognitive levels based on revised Bloom’s Taxonomy?

C. The Objectives of the Study
Based on the problems of the study, the objectives of the study were:
1. To find out the kinds of cognitive level used in reading questions of
English textbook for grade XI based on the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy.
2. To describe the proportion (percentage) of each cognitive level based on
the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy used in English textbook for grade XI.

D. The Scope of the Study
This study analized the cognitive level of reading questions in English
Textbook for grade XI based on revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy. So,

6

the researcher focused on reading questions only that usually exist after the
reading texts.

E. The Significances of the Study
The significances of this study were:
Theoretically, the finding expected to broaden and apply on theories of
analyzing the textbook by consider to the criteria of a good textbook,
especially criteria of good reading materials.
Practically, the findings were relevant and useful for:
1. English teachers, to be aware in choosing and selecting the textbook and
reading material which are compatible with the cognitive level by revised
Bloom’s taxonomy and paid attention to the content of the textbook that
they used to teach their students,
2. English textbook writers, to help them to be more careful in writng and
developing English textbook fo students,
3. Students, to improve their reading competence and help them in having
good learning source,
4. Other researcers, to be used as a referential contribution for those who
want to conduct a further in depth research in analyzing the textbook and
interest in doing the related study.

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions
After analyzing the data and elaborating the findings, the researcher
concluded that:
1.

The whole reading questions in the textbook covered all of the cognitive
levels, they C1 (Remembering), C2 (Understanding), C3 (Applying), C4
(Analyzing), C5 (Evaluating), and C6 (Creating).

2.

The percentage of every cognitive levels found in the textbook were as
follows; C1 (Remembering) was 26,02%, C2 (Understanding) was 26,02%,
C3 (Applying) was 9,18%, C4 (Analyzing) was 33,16%, C5 (Evaluating) was
1,53% and C6 (Creating) was 4,08 %. The reading questions in the textbook
are not suitable with Sudjana’s theory about good proportion of cognitive
levels, that is easy (C1+C2):medium (C3+C4):hard (C5+C6)=30%:
40%:30%, while the proportion found in the textbook was easy (C1+C2):
medium (C3+C4):hard (C5+C6)=52,04%: 42,35%: 5,61%.

B. Suggestions
The researcher made some suggestions as following:
1.

For the English teachers, to be aware in choosing and selecting a good
textbook, especially to be aware of cognitive level of reading questions in
English textbooks.

87

88

2.

For the textbook writers, to use this study as a referencial to make a better
English textbook.

3.

For the students, to use this study to help them improve their knowledge and
reading competence and also help them to choose the best English textbook.

4.

For the other researcher, this study can be used as a referential contribution
for those who want to conduct or doing the related study.