knowledge”.
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Meanwhile, “Bottom up processing is when the reader builds up meaning by reading word for word, letter for letter, carefully both
vocabulary and syntax. This is often associated with poor and slow reads, but can sometimes occur when the readers own schema knowledge is inadequate”.
In other words, Top-Down is used to predict the meaning of the text by activating past experiences, expectation, and intuition. Then, Bottom-Up is
used to decode each individual element in text to construct the meaning of the text.
5. Strategies in Comprehending Text
The purpose in reading is to get information by comprehending the text. In comprehending, sometimes students do not know the meaning of
words or unfamiliar words, so that it can disturb their comprehension. There are several strategies that readers use to comprehend text:
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a. Skip words they do not know Finding the unfamiliar words in a text is common
problem in reading. Students should not know all the words to comprehend the text. They can skip these words and get
the complete meaning from the previous or the next words. b. Predict the meaning of unfamiliar words from the context
Sometimes learners took most of their time in reading foreign language by discovering meaning in dictionary.
Meanwhile, they can use their background knowledge about the topic and some words in the sentences that they
have known. So, they should not check all of the unfamiliar words but guess the meaning by looking up the words that
interrelated.
14
Berardo, op. cit., p. 61.
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Jerry G. Gebhard, Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language, United Stated of America: The University of Michigan Press, 2009, p. 196.
c. Do not constantly translate Students do not have to translate all words because
sometimes there are multi-words or idioms that cannot be translated literally.
d. Ask someone what a word means Students can ask to their teacher or their friends about
the meaning of words they do not know. It will help the students to comprehend the text.
e. Have knowledge about the topic To make students comprehend the text easier, students
have to relate their background knowledge to the topic. f.
Draw inferences from the title Before read a text, students usually guess what will be
discussed by seeing title. The title of a text must be have a relation or draw the content of the text.
g. Read things of interest Students can easily comprehend the text if they
interested in what they read. They can be curious to know the content of the text.
h. Study pictures and illustrations Some texts usually provide pictures or illustration to
make the reader understand what the writer wants to say. The pictures or illustrations must draw the content of the
text. i.
Purposefully reread to check comprehension To make sure the students have got the complete
comprehension, they can reread the text because some sentences or important words may be missed and that can
make the students misunderstand.
6. Techniques in Assessing Reading Comprehension
