12 the same with those of Grabe and Stoller’s is provided by A. Paran’s 1982
explanation as follows: Reading may be defined in the most general terms as the extraction of
meaning from print, though already at this point the objection may be raised that readers do not so much extract meaning from print, but rather engage in
an active construction of meaning based on the signs provided by the print.
Regarding with the information above, the writer concludes that a reader is extracting meaning from the printed material by doing an active construction on
his mind. The signs in form of words and sentences are processed in reader’s mind in which reader engages actively and then the reader will draw meaning from it.
Hence, the symbols—in this case, words and sentences—in the text function as cue for readers to engage an active construction inside his or her mind. This
construction permits a reader to comprehend a text.
2. Reading Comprehension
The complexity in reading process has led many experts to conduct researches in reading comprehension. Walter 2004 proposes that reading
includes both decoding and making meaning. Walter also adds that it is an active process in which students think, reason, and apply strategies to construct meaning.
Gebhard 2000 also provides an explanation on this discussion. He defines reading comprehension as a process including discovering meaning in print and
script, within a social context, through bottom up and top down processing and the use of strategies and skills.
Subsequently, it might be concluded that the explanation given by Gebhard 2000 has a concordance with what Paran 1984 suggests that reading process is
13 a constant interaction between top-down and bottom-up process, interactive
models. Recent models of reading, therefore, present the reading process as a constant
interaction between top-down and bottom-up process. They introduce compensatory mechanisms or other ways through which higher-level
cognitive processing might influence lower level decoding strategies.
Furthermore, Klare 1984 compares many studies which resulted in five categories affecting comprehension, they are: 1 reader competence prior
knowledge and ability; 2 content of material in relation to reader knowledge and motivation; 3 readability level of material; 4 reader motivation; and 5
the test situation. Related with the factors mentioned before, Woern 1977 in DuBay 2007 also shows that prior knowledge and beliefs affect comprehension
significantly. Hence, from all the previous explanations, reading comprehension includes
many factors both from the text and from the active process of reader’s mind. Both surface factors from the text and inner factors from the reader’s mind
cooperate well to produce a good understanding of a text.
3. Readability
The problem of assigning appropriate materials to readers in various school grades produces formal efforts to determine levels of readability Klare, 1984.
Explanation given by George Klare 1963 in DuBay 2007 defines it as “the ease of understanding or comprehension due to the style of writing.” DuBay 2007
defines readability as the ease of reading created by a literary style that fits the
