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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter presents theories which underlie this research. The discussion of this chapter is divided into two main parts. Those are a literature review and
conceptual framework. In the literature review, the researcher discusses some theories and the research studies which are relevant to the topic. Related studies
explore the same researches which were done by other researchers before. In the conceptual framework, the researcher relates the theory to the study.
A. Literature Review
1. The Definition of Reading
Reading is a receptive skill which should be learned well by students. Reading has many kinds of definition based on some experts.
Reading is usually defined as a communication between a reader and a text but some experts have their own details about reading.
Richards and Schmidt 2002: 443 state that reading is an activity to understand a written text. Reading in this case involves written
symbols. This definition seems to be the same as what is said by Celce Murcia 2001: 119. He defines reading skill as a process of trying to
understand a written text. The reader has to perform a number of simultaneous tasks: decode the message by recognizing the written sign,
interpret the message by assigning meaning to the string of words and understand what the author’s intention was. While, based on Alderson
2000: 3, reading is the process of the interaction between a reader and a
text which is normally silent, internal, and private. Furthermore, Urquhart and Weir in Grabe 2009:14 define reading as the process of receiving
and interpreting information encoded in language via the medium of print. Based on Berardo 2006: 60 reading is recognizing words for
some people, while for others, it is an occasion to teach their pronunciation and to practice speaking.
It can be inferred that reading is a medium to help learners understand language through a text. Reading can open up learners’ mind
to understand a text because every learner has their own background knowledge. It will help them in learning language and learning to read an
English text.
2. The Definition of Reading Comprehension
Reading is often connected with reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is usually known as the process of understanding texts but
many experts explain it differently. Kligner, Vaughn, and Broadman 2007: 2 say that reading comprehension is the process of constructing
meaning by arranging some complex processes in brain that contain word reading, word, and world knowledge, and also fluency.
Besides, Bos and Vaughn 2009: 312 say that comprehension is the main purpose of reading activity. While, based on Koda in Grabe
2009: 14, comprehension is the process when readers dig and relate information of the text with that they have already known. Mickulecky and
Jeffries 2007: 74 also say something about comprehension. It is not only
interpreting and understanding words but also relating the idea of the text with the
reader’s knowledge. Snow 2002:11 defines reading comprehension as below
explanation. Reading comprehension is the process of extracting and constructing meaning concurrently through interaction and involvement
with written language. The words extracting and constructing are to emphasize both the importance and the insufficiency of the text as a
determinant of reading comprehension. In addition, comprehension also entails these three elements based
on Snow 2002: 12: • The reader : who is doing the comprehension process
• The text : that is to be comprehended
• The activity : in which comprehension is a part. Those three elements are main parts of reading comprehension because
they are the evidence of comprehension’s existence.
Brown 2001: 306 also has different view related to reading comprehension.
Reading comprehension is primarily a matter of developing appropriate and efficient comprehension strategies which relate to bottom-
up procedures and other enhances the top-down processes. Both information in the texts and reader’s background knowledge are crucial to
attain reading comprehension.
It can be concluded that reading comprehension is not as simple as many people think. The complexity nature of reading comprehension
shows that reading comprehension is necessary to be learned by students.
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