Microskills 1. Discriminate among the distinctive grapheme and orthography patterns of
English. 2. Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short-term memory.
3. Process writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose. 4. Recognize a core of words, and interpret word order patterns and their
significance. 5. Recognize grammatical word classes nouns, verbs, etc., systems e.g.,
tense, agreement, pluralization, patterns, rules, and elliptical forms. 6. Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different
grammatical forms. 7. Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in
signaling the relationship between and among clauses. Macroskills
8. Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their significance for interpretation.
9. Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according to form and purpose.
10. Infer context that I not explicit by using background knowledge. 11. From described events, ideas, etc., infer links and connections between
events, deduce, causes and effects, and detect such relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and
exemplification. 12. Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.
13. Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context of the appropriate cultural schemata.
14. Develop and use battery of reading strategies such as scanning and skimming, detecting discourse markers, guessing the meaning of words
from context and activating schemata for the interpretation of texts.
Teachers can apply some of the activities from the micro and macroskills for assessing reading that match with the level of students and the
syllabus from the school. Assessing reading for junior high school can be as form of understanding texts, reading aloud, reading comprehension, and
understanding meaning.
3. Media
Materials become the main tool for teachers and students in conducting second language learning. The materials can also facilitate the
teaching-learning of the second language process. Through good materials, it will be easy for students and the teacher to do the teaching-learning process.
Hutchinson and Waters 1987: 107-108 give views about some principles in writing of the materials. The principles are presented as follows,
1. Materials provide a stimulus to learning. Hutchinson and Waters 1987: 107 states that good materials do not teach: they encourage learners to learn. Good
materials will therefore, contain:
Interesting texts;
Enjoyable activities which engage the learners thinking capacities:
Opportunities for learners to use their existing knowledge and skills;
Content with both learner and teacher can cope with It means that materials should be able to persuade students to learn well.
Due to suitable materials, both student and teacher can understand the materials well too. The content of the materials should be as something students want to
know and learn. Of course, it will help teacher to teach easily because the students like to learn and become motivated.
2. Materials help to organize the teaching-learning process, by providing a path through the complex mass of the language to be learnt. Hutchinson and
Waters 1987: 107 also add that good materials should, therefore, provide a clear and coherent unit structure which will guide teacher and learner through
various activities in such a way as to maximize the chances of learning. The structure should help the teacher in planning lessons and encourage in the
learners a sense of progress and achievement. On the other hand, should not be so tightly structured as to produce a monotonous pattern of lessons – the
curse of so many materials. Avoid the assembly line approach, which make each unit look the same, with the same type of text, the same kind of
illustrations, the same type and number of exercises. If it doesn’t send you to sleep writing them, it will certainly send your learners to sleep using them. A
materials model must be clear and systematic, but flexible enough to allow for creativity and variety.
3. Materials embody a view of the nature of language and learning. Hutchinson and Waters 1987: 107-108 then explain that in writing materials you, as an
author, are making all manner of statements about what you think language learning consists of. Materials should, therefore, truly reflect what you think
and feel about the learning process. If you believe that people learn when their thinking capacities are engage, don’t write exercises which require little or no
active thought. If you think learning is enhanced by intense experiences with language, don’t provide texts which have been stripped of any human interest.
