CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Reading and Reading Comprehension
a. The Understanding of Reading
As a skill, reading is one of important skill for English learner as a second or a foreign language. Reading the English text for learner as a foreign language
meets very complex process. Constructing meaning from text or spoken language is not a separate literacy skill, but a merging of all acquired prior knowledge,
personal experience, and vocabulary with the strategy of deductive and inductive reasoning and making connections.
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Mc Donough and Shaw argue that reading is the most important foreign language skill, particularly in cases where students have to read English material
for their own specialist subject but may never have to speak the language, such cases are often referred to as ‘English as a library language’.
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From the statements above, reading is an active and complex process that constructs meaning from the text. While constructing the meaning, the readers use
their prior knowledge and personal experience to connect the text. By reading a lot of printed materials, the students become familiar with the words. In addition,
to complete the understanding of reading, here some experts propose the definition of reading.
Reading consists of two related process. First is word recognition that refers to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to one’s
1
Judy Willis, M. D., Teaching the Brain to Read, Virginia: ASCD, 2008, p. 127.
2
Jo Mc Donough and Christoper Shaw, “Materials and Method in ELT”: A Teacher’s Guide Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003, p. 89.
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spoken language and second is comprehension, the process of making sense and connect to the text.
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Other definition comes from Daniels and Bizar in their book. They stated that reading is an interaction between the reader and the author that construct the
understanding of the text, in which the reader use a strategy to connect with the texts.
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In Teaching Readers of English Students, Texts, and Contexts, Wolf stated “Reading is neuronally and intellectually circuitous act, enriched as much by the
unpredictable indirections of a reader’s inferences and thoughts, as by the direct message to the eye from the text”.
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Based on the experts’ statements above, reading is an active process that consists of two important processes: recognition and comprehension. While the
reader is reading, a reader’s brain actively is processing recognition of the written symbols, they try to making a sense symbols in order to connect to the text.
b. The Understanding of Reading Comprehension
Lems, Miller and Soro defined reading comprehension is the ability to construct meaning from a given written text. Reading comprehension is not a
static competency; it varies according to the purposes for reading and the text that is involved.
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The NEAP Reading Framework Committee defined reading comprehension as “an active and complex process that involves understanding
3
Elizabeth S. Pang and friends, Teaching Reading, Chicago: IAE Educational Practice Series, 2003, p. 6.
4
Harvey Daniels and Marilyn Bizar, Teaching the Best Practice Way: Method that Matter, K-12, Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 2005, pp. 38-39.
5
John S. Hedgcock and Dana R. Ferris, Teaching Readers of English Students, Texts, and Contexts, New York: Routledge, 2009. p.15.
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Kristin Lems, Leah D. Miller, and Tenena M. Soro, Teaching Reading to English Language Learners: Insights from Linguistics, New York: The Guilford Press, 2010, p. 170.
written text, developing and interpreting meaning, and using meaning as appropriate to the type of text, purpose, and situation”.
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Furthermore, in Reading Instruction Competence Assessment by Wynne, Cooper defined comprehension as a strategic process by which readers construct
or assign meaning to a text by using the clues in the text and their own prior knowledge.
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RAND Reading Study Group defined reading comprehension as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through
interaction and involvement with written language. They also stated three elements of comprehension: the reader who is doing the comprehending, the text
that is to be comprehended and the activity in which comprehending is a part.
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Based on all the statements above, the writer can take a conclusion that reading comprehension is a dynamic and active process of the reader’s brain, to
connect with the text and interpreting the messages that given in the text. In order to get connection with the text, the reader uses their prior knowledge and the clues
in the text by using a reading strategy. Comprehension process is also a brain process to construct meaning from the text, in order to get the message that given
in the text. Moreover, like Lems, Miller and Soro’s statement, comprehension also the process that depends on the reader’s purpose of reading.
c. The Purposes of Reading
There have been some experts proposing the purpose of reading. Some of them have similar ideas on the purposes of reading, some do not. Some of experts
propose them specially, but some generally.
7
Susan E. Israel and Gerald G. Duffy, Handbook of Research on Reading Comprehension, New York: Routledge, 2009.p. 32.
8
Sharon Wynne, Reading Instruction Competence Assessment: Teacher Certification Exam, Boston: XAMonline, Inc., 2008, p. 68.
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RAND Reading Study Group, Reading for Understanding; Toward and RD Program in Reading Comprehension, Santa Monica: RAND, 2002, p. 11.
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