Identification of the Problem

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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Reading 1.

The Understanding of Reading Reading is one of language skills which is also called as receptive skill. Through reading, the reader receives information and message from the text. It is in line with Nuttall who said that reading is a process that involves transforming meaning from mind to mind, transforming the information or message from the writer to the readers. 1 According to Grabe and Stoller, “reading is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately.” 2 Based on the definition above, reading is a process of a reader who gets the author’s message through a text, not only to read the words but also to obtain the author’s mean precisely. Harmer said that reading is an activity between the eyes and the brain in which the eyes get information through reading the text and send it to the brain then the brain processes the information to understand the author’s intention. 3 Moreover, reading is a form of communication. As stated by Aebersold and Field “reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbols in that text.” 4 During reading activity, there is an interaction between the written symbols in the text and the reader. As the reader reads, the written symbols are forming information and ideas which the writer tries to convey to the reader. There, information and ideas are exchanged between the writer and the reader as an act of communicating. 1 Christine Nuttal, Teaching Reading Skills In Foreign Language, Oxford: Heinemann, 1989, p. 18. 2 William Grabe and Fredricka L. Stoller, Teaching and Researching Reading, New York: Routledge, 2013, p. 3. 3 Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching: Third Edition, New York: Longman Publishing, 1991, p. 190. 4 Jo Ann Aebersold and Mary Lee Field, From Reader to Reading Teacher: Issues and strategies for second language classrooms, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 15. Furthermore, Farris, Fuhler and Walther explained that: Reading means getting meaning from print. Reading is not phonics, vocabulary, syllabication, or other ‘skills’, as useful as these activities may be. The essence of reading is a transaction between the words of an author and the mind of a reader, during which meaning is constructed. This means that the main goal of reading instruction must be comprehension: above all, we want students to understand what is on a page. 5 It means through reading, there is a transaction between the author or writer and the reader in getting and constructing meaning form the printed word. Moreover, the readers or the students should understand and comprehend what is written on a text. Savage and Mooney said that: Reading involves an interaction between a reader and a piece of written material. At the very basic level, the interaction starts with the reader seeing black lines surrounded by white space. These lines register on the retina of the eye and are transmitted to the brain. The reader recognizes these symbols – individually and in combination – and attaches significances to them. The words create an image or an idea in the reader’s mind. 6 From the explanation above, it can be concluded that reading is not only an activity to see the words printed in a text, but it also requires a process for obtaining the writer’s intention, getting information and ideas from the writer’s writing properly. Reading is also as a form of communication between the writer and the reader through a text.

2. Purposes of Reading

People read something because they have their own purpose. 7 Generally, the purposes of reading are to get information of the text and pleasure. For instance, people read newspaper because they should have any information about trending news or they choose to read novel because they search for pleasure. 5 Pamela J. Farris, Carol J. Fuhler and Maria P. Walther, Teaching Reading: A Balanced Approach for Today’s Classrooms, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004, p. 324. 6 John F. Savage and Jean F. Mooney, Teaching Reading to Children with Special Needs, Boston: Allyn and Bacon Inc., 1979, p. 13. 7 Aebersold and Field, op. cit., p. 15.