Extracting specific information Skills in Reading a. Predictive Skill

6. Types of text

a. Authentic text Authentic texts are those which are designed for native speakers. They are real texts designed not for language students, but for the speakers of the language in question. Any English newspaper is composed of what we would call authentic English.

b. Non-authentic text

A non-authentic text is one that has been written especially for language students, but here again there is a distinction to be made between texts written to illustrate particular language points for presentation, and those written to appear authentic, even though there has been some language control of the ‗rough tuning‘ type. The justification for the latter is that beginner students will probably not be able to handle genuinely authentic texts, but should nevertheless be given practice in reading to texts that look authentic. The reading of such text will help students to acquire the necessary receptive skills they will need when they eventually come to tackle authentic material. 13

7. The Problems of Reading

According to Jeremy Harmer in his book ―The Practice of English Language Teaching ‖, there are a number of particular problems in reading. It consists of language, topic and genre, comprehension tasks, and negative expectation. 14 a. Language In the case of written text some researchers look at word and sentence length. Truly, the text with longer sentences and longer words will be more difficult to understand than those with shorter ones. If reader does not know half the words in a text, they will have difficulty in understanding a text as a whole. To be successful they have to recognize many vocabularies without consciously thinking about it. In short, it is clear that both sentence length and unknown words both play their role in a text‘s comprehensibility. 13 Ibid., p. 146. 14 Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Third Edition, Harlow: Longman, 2002, pp. 203 – 208. b. Topic and Genre Reading activities prove less successful than anticipated because the topic is not appropriate or because students are not familiar with the genre of the text. If students are not interested in a topic, or if they are unfamiliar with the text genre, they may be hard to engage fully with the activity. Their lack of engagement may be a major hindrance to success in reading. c. Comprehension tasks The choice of comprehension task is essential in fostering the successful of reading. Sometimes such tasks appear to be testing the students rather than helping them to understand. However, the tasks that tend to test students will not be an appropriate way of accomplishing the students‘ improvement in this skill. Sometimes texts or the tasks which accompany them are far too easy or far too difficult. d. Negative expectation Negative expectation sometime is felt by students when they are reading. They tend to think that they are not going to understand the text because it is bound to be too difficult, and they predict that the whole experience will be frustrating. Those occur due to the previous unhappy or unsuccessful experience. If, in the past, students have been given reading and listening text which are too difficult, that will color their view of the process.

B. Discussion Text

1. Understanding of Discussion Text

Before discussing the understanding of discussion text, it is better to discuss what the understanding of text is. Manuel and John states, ―A text is defined as a product that is expressed inside of and through a system of norms that is linguistic.‖ 15 It can be seen that a text is something expressed that comes from a system of norms, and it is linguistic. Meanwhile, Daniel Cottom states, ―A text is not an objective thing but rather the object constituted by conditions of meaning 15 Manuel J. Caro and John W. Murph y, The World of Quantum Culture. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. Inc, 2002, p. 39. within a particular s core.‖ 16 This statement defines that a text is more than an objective, a text is constructed through meaning. A text is valued from the meaning listed in. There are two main categories of texts, literary and factual. 17 Within these, there are various text types. Each type has a common and usual way of using language. Literary text is constructed to appeal to our emotion and imagination. There are main text types in this category such as narrative, poetic and drama. Meanwhile, Factual present information or ideas and aim to show, tell or invite the audience. The main text types of factual text are recount, response, explanation, discussion, information report, exposition and procedure. In other word, discussion text is one types of factual text that present to the audience both sides of the topic either it is a good point or bad point. Anderson in his book state that discussion text is a text that gives the for and against, the positive and negative, or the good points and the bad points towards a topic discussed. The purpose of a discussion text is to present to the audience different opinions on a topic and, at the end, your opinion. It can be understood that discussion text is a type of text that presents both side of the case including the positive or negative statement. Experiencing discussion texts can help students to think clearly and critically. It encourages students to listen and respond to others‘ opinions, and ask related question. Therefore, discussion texts make students become aware that actually the facts can be interpreted in different ways and that a variety of opinions toward an issue may be valid. In short, by learning discussion text students will be wise in facing a determined issue. Throughout their live students will need to make decisions. Either it is a big decision or a simple one. Hence, it is important for students to develop the skills to look both of sides of an argument objectively before making a decision. Discussion text will give students opportunity to develop the skills of finding 16 Daniel Cottom. Text and Culture: The Politics of Interpretation.. Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1989, p. 40. 17 Mark Anderson Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 2, South Yarra: Macmillan, 2003, p. 1.