standardization in order to the arrangement of textbook is suitable with the national standard, in accordance with the requirements of national
curriculum and international competency….the standardization consists of the content, language and readability, and graphic
aspect.”
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The factors that affect readability have been established by previous research. Many different factors influence readability for example, content of
the texts, vocabulary and style of writing. The concept of readable or not, is not as important as the concept of who can read this? Since texts often are
produced for a specific target group. The term readability level is often used to describe the educational level a reader needs to understand a text.
Based on the statement above, the writer analyzes the readability level of English textbook used at second grade. The English textbook entitled
“Passport to the World 2”. The textbook is based on School-Based Curriculum. The writer is interested in analyzing the textbook because
according to the publisher, the textbook is developed by considering the readability aspect and the language used in the textbook is appropriate with
the students’ level. In other side, the writer has observed that the second grade students of the school have difficulty in understanding the English textbook.
Most of them have complained that the textbook is difficult to be read and understood.
Encouraged by this problem, the writer analyzes and interprets it under title AN ANALYSIS ON RE
ADABILITY LEVEL OF “PASSPORT TO THE WORLD 2
”A TEXTBOOK FOR SECOND GRADE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL” A Case Study at the Eighth Grade of SMPN 17 Depok
7
www.pikiran-rakyat.comcetak20059505160891.html translated by the writer
B. Focus of the Research
To analyze the readability of the English textbook in this school, the writer only focuses on analyzing the reading text in the textbook. Reading
texts are easier to be analyzed, and readability analysis is related to reader’s comprehension.
The formulation of the problem based on Passport to the World 2 textbook, Do the passages on textbook Passport to the World 2relevant for the
students of the second grade of junior high school?
C. The Objective of the Study
In line with what has been stated in the formulation of the problem, the study describes
the readability of text in ”Passport to the World 2” textbook which is published by Platinum Publisher in 2012 and the author of this
textbook is Djatmika, AgusDwiPrayanto, and Ida KusumaDewi. More specifically the study is aimed to be used by the students of the second grade
of junior high school.
D. Method of the Study
The writer used descriptive method in which he describes, elaborates, and analyze the readability level of the textbook entitled “Passport to the
World 2 ’’ this method is done by using two techniques; there are Flash
Reading Ease Formula and Cloze Test Procedure. He also conducts library research to find and read some reading sources such as books, articles,
websites, which are related to the topic of the study.
E. Significance of the Study
The result of this study is expected to contribute to the English teachers, the principles, the publishers, and other researchers. This study is
significant in that teachers would be able to identify some of the strategies used in teaching the prescribed English Language Textbooks. It will also
enable teachers to have knowledge of reading interest and tastes of students. Teachers would in addition, be able to determine the readability level of
Junior Secondary English Language Textbooks and identify the reading problems and skills of their students.
The study will help supervisors of schools to make the strategies used by teachers in teaching reading to students. It will also help parents to have an
insight into their children’s reading habits and finally assist government in assessing the type of English Language textbooks available before
recommending them for use, bearing in mind, the ability and interest of the target audience.
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Reading
1. Definition of Reading
Reading is one of the four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. It is receptive skill, like listening. For many years, reading
specialists have attempted to define reading. There is general agreement that reading involves the ability to construct meaning from printed symbols.
1
This means it involves responding to text, rather than producing it. Very simply we
can say that reading involves making sense of text. To do this, we need to understand the language of the text at word level, sentence level and whole-
text level. We also need to connect the message of the text to our knowledge of the world.
2
Reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain. The eyes receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of this
messages. Unlike, for example, a listening text, a reading text moves at the speed of the reader except the reader trying to read, for example, an
advertisement that flashes past a train window
3
According to Peter Strevens, reading is a skill of great importance to the student, because it provides him with access to great quantity of further
1
Margaret Ann Richek, Reading Problems Assesment and Teaching Strategies, 2
nd
ed
.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc, 1989, p.
2
Mary Spratt, The TKT Teaching Knowledge Test Course, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 21
3
Jeremy Harmer, 183, op. cit,. p. 153
experience of the language and gives him a window onto the normal means of continuing his personal education.
4
Reading is such a pervasive activity that we all know what reading is, yet the term “reading” has not been clearly defined up to date. Reading
usually means dealing with language messages in written or printed form, it involves processing language messages, hence knowledge of language.
Widdow son 1979 defines reading as “the process of getting linguistic
information via print”. By talking about “getting information”, Widdowson appears to imply that this is a fairly one-way process from writer or text to
reader, although Widdowson would not want to appear to be implying this, since he has been an important advocate of the view that the reader interprets
and contributes to incoming messages. The problem is present in an ambiguity i
n Widdowson‟s definition. One would say that “linguistic information” is restricted to information about, say, syntax, morphology and lexis. Actually
the information can be of any kind that is encoded in language. So reading is “the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language
form via the medium of print”Urquhart Weir, 1998
5
2. Reading Comprehension
We define reading comprehension as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with
written language. We use the words extracting and constructing to emphasize both the importance and the insufficiency of the text as a determinant of
reading comprehension. Comprehension entails three elements: • The reader who is doing the comprehending
• The text that is to be comprehended
4
Peter Strevens, New Orientation in the Teaching of English, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1997, p.26
5
Feng Liu, A Short Analysis of the Nature of Reading
,
School of Foreign Languages, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China
,
Vol. 3, No. 3; September 2010
