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4. Reading Ability
So far, readers only point out about information they have. Actually, readers not only have information, but also readers have abilities. Abilities are
not only to learn new information, but also abilities to deal with information. It is able to notice the difference between good readers and poor
readers, or good understanding and poor understanding. It is not only the ability to start the suitable drawing of the text, but also the cognitive ability to
understand the text and especially the description arrangement of the texts. As mentioned above, some reading researchers have attempted to
discover what verbal skills are needed to text comprehension and to recognize reading skills or abilities by giving a variety of passages and asking them
questions in order to test different levels of understanding those passages. One of reading researchers defines eight skills such as recalling word
meanings, drawing inferences about the meaning of a word in context, finding answers to questions answered explicitly or in paraphrase, weaving together
ideas in the content, drawing inferences from the content, recognizing a writer’s purpose, attitude, tone, and mood, identifying a writer’s technique,
and following the structure of a passage.
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5. The Problems in Understanding Texts
Many factors of text may tend to be difficult for students in reading process. Those factors can influence the students’ understanding becomes not
good enough. Nuttal points out that the factors include concepts, vocabulary and sentence structure, cohesive device, discourse markers, and problems
beyond the plain sense.
13
Meanwhile, Alderson adds that the factors are text topic and content, text types and genres, literary and non-literary texts, text
organization, traditional linguistic variables, and text readability
14
In addition, Lems and friends explain about the text structure specifically:
“Text structure affects the length of a text and the section in it, how it is subdivided headings, how material is summarized through indexes,
12
Alderson, op. cit., p. 9-10.
13
Nuttall, op. cit., p. 83.
14
Alderson, op. cit., p. 61-74.
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glossaries, or subheadings, and even what a paragraph looks like. Each text structure has its own conventions, and they are culturally specific.
For example, the text structure of an informal letter is different from a letter of recommendation, a science article in a journal, or an editorial
in the newspaper.
”
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From some experts’ ideas above, they have the same factors of problems in understanding texts. It can be said that those factors complement
each other. Recognizing those factors may help students to be aware and to minimize the problems in understanding texts.
B. Descriptive Text
1. The Definition of Descriptive Text
As general, people always describe everything in their life. It can be what they see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. Describing is not only delivered
by spoken form, but also it is delivered by written form. The form of writing developed by details is a descriptive writing. Descriptive writing is same as
factual description which is this term used by Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson. According to them, a factual description describes the parts of a
particular person, place, or thing without containing individual view.
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In additional, it gives a picture in words that appeal directly to the senses. It is
emphasized by Pharr and Buscemi’s statement that good descriptive writing
will develop reader ’s interest to form sensory acts from all five senses.
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In additional, Pharr and Buscemi propose some ways to evoke the senses. They are:
a. Sight: “The mountain rose, green, and verdant, above the white,
sandy beach below.” b.
Hearing: “The quail burst out of the thicket with an explosion of pounding wings.”
15
Kristin Lems, Leah D. Miller, and Tenena M. Soro, Teaching Reading to English Language Learners, New York: The Guilford Press, 2010, p. 179-180.
16
Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 3, Sydney: Macmillan, 2003, p. 26.
17
Donald Pharr and Santi V. Buscemi, Writing Today, Contexts and Options for the Real World, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 136.
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