extract information of written texts to construct the meaning of the texts. While Richards and Schmidt 2002: 443 list four kinds of reading comprehension. They
are: 1 literal comprehension: reading in order to understand, remember or recall
the information explicitly contained in a passage; 2 inferential comprehension: reading in order to find information which is
not explicitly stated in a passage, using the reader’s experience and intuition, and by inferring;
3 critical or evaluative comprehension: reading in order to compare information in a passage with the reader’s own knowledge and values;
4 appreciative comprehension: reading in order to gain an emotional or other kind of valued response from a passage.
Snow 2002 adds that comprehension consists of three major elements which are the readers, the texts, and the activities. The readers are the elements
that do the comprehending. They use their skills, micros and macros, and their background knowledge to comprehend the text. The texts are elements that are to
be comprehended. Reading activities definitely deal with all written texts. The readers make comprehension through them. The activities of reading are the
elements in which the interaction between readers and texts occurs.
f. Reading Comprehension Techniques and Strategies
To do reading comprehension, the students need to apply various strategies. According to Mereillon 2007, reading comprehension strategies are
“tools that proficient readers use to solve the comprehension problems they encounter in texts.” Brown 2001 proposes ten strategies that are applicable in
the classroom techniques for reading comprehension. They are listed below. 1. Identifying the purpose in reading.
2. Using grapheme rules and patterns to aid in bottom-up reading.
3. Using different silent reading techniques for relatively rapid reading.
4. Skimming the text for main ideas.
5. Scanning the text for specific information.
6. Using semantic mapping or clustering.
7. Guessing when you arent certain.
8. Analysing vocabulary.
9. Distinguishing between literal and implied meanings.
10. Capitalizing on discourse markers to process relationships.
Elsewhere, Moreillon 2007 proposes strategies to maximize readers’ impact on reading comprehension by activating or building background
knowledge, using sensory images, questioning, making predictions and inferences, determining main ideas, and synthesizing.
Nuttall 1996 argues that it is important to know the students’ problems in reading to decide what strategy to use. The students need to know how the
strategies work through modelling and they need to practice them a lot Lems et al., 2010.
2. Teaching Reading
This sub-chapter focuses on the theories about teaching reading, principles of teaching reading, teaching reading at the junior high school, and
assessing reading.
a. Teaching Reading
Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn and setting the condition for learning Brown, 2000: 7. Therefore, we may say
that teaching reading is a set of activities in guiding, facilitating, enabling, and setting the condition for the students to read.
