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Tarigan 1979 describes reading for details or facts as finding out what the character is, what he has done, what happen to him, or what issue is taking
place in the text. The next is reading for inferences which requires readers’
ability to understand information and figure out what the author is trying to convey. The inferences are then done by interpreting and drawing conclusion.
Reading also intends to compare or contrast two or more concepts. The concepts might be available in the text but it is also possible that the
comparison is between the information in the text and readers’ background knowledge. Besides, reading can be done for evaluation. Readers here
evaluate what has been written and connect it to readers’ current situation. Readers might also evaluate the position or attitude of the authors.
d. Process of Reading Comprehension
The ability to comprehend the text successfully is strongly related to the way it is done. It is best to do it step by step particularly if it is done in the
classroom. It is not only merely giving the text and asking students to read without any further involvement from the teacher. In order to accomplish the
goals mentioned in the previous section, it is highly recommended that teachers divide the reading activity into several interrelated steps. They are
pre-reading, while reading, and post-reading William, 1984. 1
Pre-reading Activities Pre-reading activities are supposed to make students aware of the
reasons why they have to read the text. After informing why they should read, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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teachers also provide students with necessary background. These pre-reading activities are also crucial since they elicit prior knowledge, build background,
and serve to focus attention Ringler Weber, 1984. Background knowledge activation is the core of the beginning activity in this stage. It is in line with
reciprocal teaching designed by Palincsar and Brown 1986. Predicting the content of the paragraph before reading is done as the initial phase. In
addition, teacher could also teach some critical vocabularies that they need to understand the text Armbruster Osborn, 2002.
2 While Reading Activities
In this activity, students are to interact with the text by the help of their relevant background knowledge. Thus, such interaction enables students to
identify and understand the authors’ purpose, text structure, and content. However, it is necessary to develop the activity gradually William, 1984.
The structure should be from global understanding of the text to smaller units. This is the right phase for the teacher to apply what strategy they would like to
use. Other than that, Armbruster and Osborn 2002 remark that teachers are also expected to “encourage students to make inferences, draw conclusions, or
predict outcomes”. Students are also expected to “record main ideas and supporting details, outline, and summarize” by the help of the teacher p. 86.
3 Post-reading Activities
The essence of this last stage is drawing conclusion from what has been read. Besides, this post-activity also aims at measuring how far students
