The Nature of Reading Teaching Reading

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the writer discusses some theories that are relevant in designing reading materials using Contextual Teaching and Learning CTL for the First Grade students of SMA N 1 Klaten. This chapter is divided into two major parts. In the first part, the writer discusses the theoretical description and in the second part, the writer explains the theoretical framework.

A. Theoretical Description

In this theoretical description section, the writer is going to discuss about reading, contextual teaching and learning, curriculum, material development and instructional design models.

1. Reading

Theories of reading that will be explained consist of the nature of reading, teaching reading, reading skill and strategies and reading with comprehension.

a. The Nature of Reading

Reading is an activity that actually people most done either consciously or not. People read something while they walk, drive, sit, and do many activities in their daily life. Reading, as suggested by Grabe and Stoller 2002 is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Anthony, Pearson, Raphael 1993: 284 as cited by Farrell, Thomas 2002 suggested that reading is the process of constructing meaning through the dy namic interaction among the reader‟s existing knowledge, the information suggested by the written language, and the context of the reading situation. Another definition from Johnston 1983:17 as cited in Mikulecky, Beatrice 1990, reading is a complex behaviour which involves conscious and unconscious use of various strategies, including problem – solving strategies, to build a model of the meaning which the writer is assumed to have intended. From the three definitions above, the writer concludes that reading is an interactive process of interpreting message from a text which involves readers‟ background knowledge and the context of reading situation.

b. Teaching Reading

In designing reading activities for their students, teachers should be able to create an enjoyable environment for enhancing their students‟ interest in the lesson. Therefore, a three procedure in teaching reading should be taken into consideration; pre-, while- and post-reading instruction. Stoller 1994 as cited Celce-Murcia, Marianne 2001:191 discusses those three stages as follows: 1 Pre-reading instruction Pre-reading instruction can serve five important purposes. It helps students to access background information that can facilitate subsequent reading, provides specific information needed for successful comprehension, stimulates student interest, sets up student expectations, and models strategies that students can later use on their own. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Some commonly used pre-reading activities include the following:  Previewing the text  Skimming the text or portions of the text e.g., the first and last paragraphs to decide what the main ideas of the text are  Answering questions about information in the text or formulating questions for which students want answer  Exploring key vocabulary  Reflecting on or reviewing information from previously read texts in light of the topic of the new text 2 While-reading instruction During-reading instruction guides students through the text, often focusing on understanding difficult concepts, making sense of complex sentences, considering relationships among ideas or characters in the text, and reading purposefully and strategically. Some commonly used during-reading activities include the following:  Outlining or summarizing key ideas in a difficult section  Examining emotions and attitudes of key characters  Determining sources of difficulty and seeking clarification  Looking for answers to questions posed during pre reading activities  Writing down predictions of what will come next 3 Post-reading instruction Post-reading instruction typically extends ideas and information from the text while also ensuring that the major ideas and supporting information are well PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI understood. Post-reading activities often requires students to use text information in other tasks e.g., reading to write. Some commonly used post-reading activities are:  Completing a graphic organizer e.g., table, chart, grid based on text information  Expanding or changing a semantic map created earlier  Listening to a lecture and comparing information from the text based on a set of sentences provided  Answering questions that demonstrate comprehension of the text, require the application of the text material, demand a critical stance on text information, or oblige students to connect text information to personal experiences and opinions In order to achieve comprehension, students also need to learn more on reading skills such as skimming, scanning, previewing, predicting, etc. Besides those activities discussed above, there are some other activities that support some reading skills. They will be discussed in detail on the next part, reading skills and strategies.

c. Reading Skills and Strategies