Identification of the Problem
According to Bond and Wagner, comprehension consists of basic abilities, such as recognizing word and their meaning, grouping word into thought unit,
giving proper emphasis to the thought units in order to understand the sentences. Moreover it is the readers‘ ability to ascertain the relationship between sentences,
and then they can understand the meaning of the paragraph, until they arrive in the meaning of the total passage.
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It means comprehension is an ability to understand from the smallest aspect of the text such as vocabulary and grammar, to the whole
meaning of the text such as finding main idea, making a conclusion and predicting what the next passage.
Then, good comprehenders sum up their prior knowlegde about the topic of a reading, they ask questions about the topic before and during the reading,
they make appropriate inferences when ideas are not explicitly stated, they find main ideas, they summarize, and they make mental images from the words in the
text.
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In short, comprehension requires an active reader, one who is confident and curious enough to bring hisher own ideas to the reading and to question the ideas
in the text. Furthermore, Westwood explained that children who are good
comprehenders use a variety of cognitive processes as they read; they may
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: a. Pose mental questions to themselves and seek answers in the text
b. Generate visual images when reading certain types of material c. Mentally summarise the main points in a key paragraph
d. Reflect upon and consider the importance or relevance of what they have read. In other word, reading is a way to get information and making an
interpretation by drawing a conclusion. In this case, reading is absolutely not a passive skill; the reader is not taking passive role; because the readers have
process of thinking to makes an interpretation by drawing the conclusion to get needed information. Moreover, Comprehension is also an interaction among word
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Guy L. Bond, Teachingss the Child to Read, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1960, pp. 200
—201.
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Gillet, Temple, Temple, Crawford, Understanding Reading Problem, Boston: Pearson, 2012, p.166
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Peter Westwood, Reading and Learning Difficulties, Victoria: Acer Press, 2001, p. 10