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a. Reading in English in a Foreign Language Country
Reading English texts in English as a Foreign Language EFL country is different from reading in English-speaking language country. According to
Setiyadi 2006, English is really a foreign language for language learners in Indonesia p.22. Setiyadi 2006 adds
, “English is learned only at schools and people do not speak the language in the society
” p.22. In EFL country, reading needs more struggles because the reader has to understand the language first
before reading the text. Simanjuntak 1988 describes the characteristics of EFL language learner:
When they read English, EFL students tend to focus on the word instead of the entire text, and they are bounded to their dictionaries, therefore they
read slowly and word-by-word, and have unreasonable expectations about how much they should be able to understand p.9.
EFL students, who are not familiar with English vocabulary, have a
problem with their reading comprehension. Meanwhile, Bushman and Bushman 1986 declare
, “Comprehension of written materials is the essence of reading and critical to the leaning of content ideas p.104
.” Simanjuntak 1988 finds out that EFL students tend to have unrealistic expectation of how much they should be
able to understand p.10. They feel frustrated or dissatisfied if they have less understanding in reading a text. Moreover, with low vocabulary, EFL students
tend to misinterpret what they are reading. Since EFL students do not always acquire the full range of meanings that a word may have, they may always assign
a single meaning to that word Simanjuntak, 1988, p.10. They may not interpret it by seeing the context of the sentence.
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Another factor faced by EFL students in reading skill is their confidence. Many EFL students are lack of confidence in their skills when they read texts
other language. They are typically of insecure readers who believe that they must first comprehend every word in the text in order to understand a text
Simanjuntak, 1988, p.11. Therefore, they read really slowly, proceeding word by word when the teacher asks them to read. Their comprehension problem may
decrease their confidence in reading. Seeing those problems of EFL students in reading English texts, reading
teachers play an important role to help them to face those problems. The role of the teacher is teaching with appropriate techniques and materials. Georgeou and
Pavlou 2003 say that children are still young to recognize the usefulness of a foreign language, but they can keep learning through a creative and enjoyable
technique, such as story, drawing, games, songs, puzzles, and drama p.8. It can motivate the students to have good confidence in reading. Therefore,
understanding the criteria of teaching reading is important for reading teachers.
b. Teaching Reading
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