Students’ Reading Level THEORETICAL REVIEW

21 text expected students understand it, teacher can make sure and it will be conducted well when it follows Patel and Jain’s guidelines as follows 38 : a. The material presented before the students hold reading comprehension, and should be concordance with the previous knowledge or related to their own experience. b. Teacher should emphasize on students’ stressing. c. If any mistake committed by the student during the process of reading is going on, teacher should correct it friendly and productively. d. Teacher should care about all readers especially for the weak one. e. While teacher presenting a model of reading, it should be according to the students’ level of reading. In teaching reading and leading students to comprehend a text, teacher should integrate with the other language skills those are listening, speaking, and writing. This collaboration of all language skills possibly brings students to their level of understanding of a text. So that, through speaking or writing, they are able to describe and express what they have read on their English textbook easily. Other than the previous guidelines, comprehension is also affected by illustrations. Chall and Squire overviewed as edited by Barr that: “Most researchers report that illustration can either facilitate or hinder comprehension, depending on the nature of the visual, its location, the level of the reading materials, and the extent to which it is designed to direct reader to the instructional focus rather than detract of it.” 39 From the quotation above known that the illustration is not a basic principle to enhance students’ comprehension, it depends on many factors among other the level of the reading materials and the extent to which it is designed to the instructional focus. Measuring students’ comprehension then becomes a necessity. Some linguists state that to determine students’ comprehension of a text can be measured by making use of various types of comprehension questions as major means of focusing on students reading comprehension of a text. Nation elaborates some types of questions can be used as follows 40 : a. Pronominal questions are questions beginning with who, what, when, how, why, etc. These questions commonly use in testing writing ability as well as reading ability. e.g.: Who is Jokowi? What is his opinion about his New SUV? Etc. b. YesNo questions and alternative questions only need short answers, so the learners do not need to have a high level of writing skill. e.g.: Was Kiat Esemka assembled by students of SMKN 2 Surakarta? 38 Patel and Jain. Op. Cit., p. 121. 39 Rebecca Barr, Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal and P. David Pearson. Handbook of Reading Research Vol II, Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1996, p.128. 40 Nation. Op. Cit., pp. 32 —33. 22 c. Truefalse sentences are similar to yesno questions. As with yesno question the learners have a 50 per cent chance of guessing correctly. Meanwhile truefalse provides an opportunity for more learning to take place. So the learner may also be asked to rewrite the false sentence and make change the true one. d. Multiple-choice sentences are easy to mark but not easy to make. If the choices are only four the chance of guessing is only 25 per cent. It means that it has a little possibility to guess. e.g.: Jokowi is.... b. A Surakarta Mayor c. A Vice Mayor of Surakarta d. A Vocational School Student e. An Indonesian Ambassador to Thailand f. Sentence completion by filling the empty spaces to show that they understand the reading passage. The sentences come after the reading passage. The following are four different types of sentence completion: 1 The sentences are exact copies of sentences in the passage. 2 The missing words can be found in the passage. 3 The sentences are not exactly the same as the sentences in the passage although they talk about the same idea. 4 The missing words are not in the passage so the learners must use their knowledge of vocabulary to fill the empty spaces. e.g.: Kiat Esemka was ______ by students of the SMKN 2 vocational high school. The learners are helped if there is a short line for each letter of the missing word, or if the first letter is given and so on. e.g.: Kiat Esemka was _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ by students of the SMKN 2 vocational high school. or: Kiat Esemka was a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ by students of the SMKN 2 vocational high school. f. Information transfer. The learners complete an information transfer diagram based on the information in the text. For example: Process Stage Material and structure Location Time Instrument and action Physical Structure Part Location Features Function 23 Statesituation Who Where When Background Event Future effects   g. Translation. The learners must translate the passage into another language, usually to the learners’ L1. It shows where the learners do not have any difficulty or have one clearly. h. Précis, after the learner read the passage they write a short composition about one quarter of the length of the passage containing all main ideas that are in passage. It can be done in group in order to share in making list of ideas among the member of group. Then the class as a whole discusses the main points and the teacher writes them on the blackwhiteboard. Then each group writes the précis. Those types of questions are commonly used by teachers to measure students’ reading comprehension. One of the reading comprehension question is aimed to measure readability of reader towards the textbook they read namely sentence completion. Sentence completion also known as cloze test or cloze procedure. Readability of textbooks in the term of reader aspect is involving teachers and students. It is used especially in determining the right textbooks in accordance with students’ need. Measuring readability of a textbook has a close relation with the interest, motivation, prior knowledge and ability of the students. Entin and Klare as revealed by Dubay have carried out a study of the interaction between the readability of the text and the prior knowledge and interest of readers. Further Dubay quoted Entin and Klare confirmation and suggestion in their study about how to enhance students’ comprehension based on the readability level of reading material and students’ prior knowledge and interest, namely: “Easier readability of a text has more benefits for those of less knowledge and interest than those of more. ....when reader interest is high, comprehension is not improved by writing the material below, rather than at, the grade level of the readers. When interest is low, however, comprehension is improved by writing the materials below rather than at, the reading level of the readers. Comprehension was improved when the materials are written at the reading levels of all readers rather than above those levels.” 41 41 William H. Dubay. The Principles of Readability, Costa Mesa, CA: Impact Information. 2004, p. 29. 24 From the quotation above known that teachers should consider at least two things before choosing a textbook or another writing material for their students. It is best for teachers to choose the easier readability writing material when they know that their students have a limited or less knowledge and interest. Unless students’ comprehension could not improve, since students comprehension is much influence by their interest. However, Chall and Squire as edited by Barr argued that “Although easier book lead to better comprehension, they might also, if too easy, lead to slower reading development.” 42 Therefore, teacher should be wiser in choosing the right textbook for their students. It should not too easy and not too hard for them, at least it is same as their grade level. The ability of students develops from time to time based on their cognitive development. The development itself is influenced by comprehensible input from their environment, social life, including their interaction with fellows or larger community. Basically, according to Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development as elaborated by Robson that every child has The Zone of Proximal Development ZPD, this concept refers to the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with some capable peers 43 . In order to be a success ZPD, further Robson elaborates that it should have two features subjectivity that describing the process of two individuals who begin a task with different understanding and arrive at a shared understanding, scaffolding that refers to a change in the social support over the course teaching session. When scaffolding is successful, a child’s mastery level of performance can change and increase the performance of a particular task. Those are actually what happen on students’ cognitive development as well, within their school activity. There are many inputs affecting to their knowledge that can be a capital for their next knowledge to be earned. Both subjectivity and scaffolding must be the basic types for students to improve their capability. In this case, the concept of readability that previously isolated from comprehension process now is argued. It is elaborated by Blackowitz as quoted by Hetherington that: “The time for developing theories of comprehension and readability in isolation from the characteristics of the reader and the reading context is past.... Implicit [in new theories] is the belief that an 42 Rebecca Barr, Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal and P. David Pearson. Handbook of Reading Research Vol II, Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1996, p. 133. 43 Sue Robson. Developing Thinking and Understanding in Young Children, Oxon: Routledge. 2006, p. 28. 25 adequate characterization of the process must take into account the changes within the mental schemata of the comprehender as well as the situational and contextual variables surrounding the comprehension act.” 44 Therefore there is a close relation between a readable textbook and the comprehension of students towards the textbook itself. Making use of readability formulas is not appropriate when it is applied to the reader factor. Since their comprehension process involves many factors mentioned previously such as interest, motivation, prior knowledge, and the ability of the reader. In which these factors cannot be measured by the formulas mentioned before. They are only measuring the difficult vocabularies and sentences complexity. Basically, readability of the textbook is not only the case of understanding the vocabularies and sentences arranged in it. It is more about how the reader has an interaction with the writer. Comprehending the aims of writers convey meaning in their writing is needed emotional, cultural and background knowledge involvement. The background knowledge of linguistics, syntactic structures and other experiences related to the topic are much influencing the reader comprehension process. The reader from The East will have different understanding from reader of The West, since they interpret the text based on their own culture. That is why the author of the book should take into account of the reader age, cognition, cultural background, and their previous knowledge. Due to the fact that the nature of the book is a way authors communicate with their readers. It is in accordance with Hittleman as quoted by Hetherington that: “Readability is a moment at which time the readers emotional, cognitive and linguistic backgrounds interact with each other, with the topic, and with the proposed purposes for doing the reading and with the authors choice of semantic and syntactic structures. ” 45 This interaction is reflecting that there is a close meaning between the readability and comprehension of a text in the reader context. Meanwhile, Bensoussan identified the factors that related strictly to the students’ comprehension of text or textbook as overviewed by Kasule namely: faulty top-down processing; faulty bottom-up processing; linguistic proficiency; lack of motivation; over-motivation; familiarity with the topic; and misleading or unfocused questions. 46 Faulty top-down processing is a mistake when students obtaining a comprehensible input from the text or textbook they read. While, faulty 44 Anne Hetherington. Assessing the Suitablity of Reading Material for ESL Students. TESL Canada JournalRevue TESL Du Canada Vol. 3, No.1. November 1985. p. 41. 45 Hetherington, Loc. Cit. 46 Kasule, Op. Cit., p. 64 26 bottom-up processing is a mistake when the students are making sense and stating their comprehensible output as their understanding of the textbook. Both faulty top-down and bottom-up processing will bring about a misunderstanding between the students and the author, so that the intention of book or textbook writers could not grasp well. The cause of it possibly the students’ reading level is lower than the book or textbook readability level. Selecting inappropriate vocabulary with the reader’s age or arranging to many compound sentences is one of faulty top-down processing as well. The limited linguistic proficiency, the lack of motivation or even over motivation, the familiarity with the topic and misleading or unfocused questions of the students are the most common of faulty bottom-up processing. Further Fry in his article on Reading Hall of Fame states that “the fundamental purpose of readability is to improve reading comprehension. This is particularly important in selecting textbooks and trade books for school use, but it is important to consider readability in any type of written communication.” 47 Therefore, reading comprehension followed by answering some questions concerning the topic presented or filling a cloze test are the appropriate way to measure how readable the book is. Acoording to Dubay confirmed by Kasule that the use of both readability formula followed by cloze test is to confirm whether the measurement of readability by formula macthed to the students’ comprehension of the textbook, therefore it would be a reliable study. 48 Regarding the measurement of students’ readability of textbook, sentence completion or known as cloze procedure is the most common used by many researchers. It is in accordance with Wilson Taylor who publishes cloze procedure as a new tool for measuring readability. Taylor, as elaborated by Dubay, found several difficulties with classic readability formulas especially in measuring individual’s understanding of a text. Therefore, matching readability of a text and reader’s understanding is needed. 49 To rate how readable the text is by counting the percentage of correct words filled in the blanks as a cloze score. It is in accordance with Kasule that a combination of formulas to measure text-based and author-based factors and tests to measure reader-based factors provides a more reliable assessment of the readability of a given textual item. 50 The lower score the students got, the more difficult the text. The reading level based on the percentage of cloze score as proposed by Taylor can be seen in table 2.3 below. 47 Edward Fry. Readability. Reading Hall of Fame. 262006. 48 William H. Dubay. The Principles of Readability, Costa Mesa, CA: Impact Information. 2004, p. 42. 49 Ibid., p. 27. 50 Kasule, Op. Cit., p. 64 27 Table 2.3 Taylor’s reading level Level Cloze Score Unassisted reading 50 —60 Instructional, Assisted reading 35 —50 Frustration level Below 35 Source: Principle of Readability 51 Later on Edmund B. Coleman and Bormuth publish their readability formulas which use cloze procedure as a tool. Moreover, in recent time researchers who are interesting in readability texts, passages, or other reading materials assume that measuring readability level of a text will be more reliable if determined by more than one formula. It is in accordance with Dubay ’s overview that “readability researchers have long taken pains to recommend that, because of their limitations, formulas are best used in conjunction with other methods of grading and writing texts.” 52 Making used of the readability formula and cloze test then become a consideration of matching readability level of textbook with students’ readability or reading level. From the explanation above can be concluded that textbook readability has a relation with reading comprehension of the reader. To measure textbook readability is needed a measurement of both textbook and students’ readability as the reader of textbook. Measuring textbook readability is by making use of readabilit y formula and students’ reading level is measured by reading comprehension test one of them is sentence completion or cloze procedure.

F. English Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

In Indonesia, so far, English is regarding as foreign language. English perhaps is not the second but the third or the fourth language to be learnt in schools since it is taught among national language and local languages, which are known by the learners previously. Therefore, the way teachers delivering the matter to students need considering many things, involving the use of teaching learning method, how to manage the class, the use of book instruction, even the teacher who teaches whether it is native or non-native is still becoming the hot issue to discuss. Teaching learning method in the initial EFL classroom should consider to classroom atmosphere and who are our students. Classroom atmosphere has a close relation with the student’s conditions, in which they come from different background. According to Cunningsworth that “Learners 51 Dubay. Op. Cit., p. 27 52 Ibid., p. 19. 28 come to class with, among other attributes, knowledge, attitudes, skills, cognitive abilities, curiosity and experience.” 53 So that teachers should be creative in choosing the appropriate method, technique, and learning instructions. For EFL classroom some researchers suggest to use direct method by bring the students to the real situation and expression of English contextually. As Chomsky states that: “Each language is the result of the interplay of two factors: the initial state and the course of experience. We can think of the initial state as a “language acquisition device” that takes experience as “input” and gives the lan guage as an “output” – an “output” that is internally represented in the mindbrain. The input and the output are both open to examination: we can study the course of experience and the properties of the languages that are acquired.” 54 Every single one has LAD which is innate. One’s language acquisition will develop well when heshe experience with the language intended, English for instant. Heshe, in this case language learners should be experienced to acquire the language by directly bringing to the context of English. Experience them with English through conversation and suitable reading material. In their classrooms it can be presented in their English textbooks which are commonly equipped with CDs for listening and some texts for improving reading skill as a fulfilment of input experiences. Exercises also provided to lead them in conversation and writing as a fulfilment of output experiences. Through these activities, more or less students are able to acquire the language under their teachers’ guidance. Even though, teachers should be aware to the learners needs in experiencing them to the target language. Cunningsworth overviews five needs experienced by beginner students when learning a language in a classroom with a teacher and a textbook, they are: 1 The need to communicate effectively; 2 The need to be familiar with the language system; 3 The need for challenge; 4 The need to take on more responsibility for their own learning; 5 The need for cross-cultural awareness. 55 On the other hand, Swan and Walter as quoted by Cunningsworth, identify the other need that need to consider that is the need to respect the learner, based on their assumption that people generally learn languages best when their experience, knowledge of the world, interests and feelings are involved, and a course must allow students to be themselves as fully as possible. 56 53 Alan Cunningsworth. Choosing Your Coursebook, Oxford: Heinemann. 1995, p. 86. 54 Noam Chomsky. New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000, p. 4. 55 Cunningsworth. Op. Cit., p. 97. 56 Ibid. 29 On the other words, EFL classrooms need textbooks as a source of teaching materials besides using appropriate method. Textbooks can also contribute to the process of teaching and learning by including subject matter which is not only suit to the syllabus but also informative, challenging, amusing, exciting and sometimes provoking. Though, it is not the main focus of teaching learning activity. However, it gives many advantages and guidelines especially for non-native English teachers or for beginner teachers. In order that they will create a dynamic language classroom and make teaching learning activity more focus on the objectives that set previously. Choosing textbook also could not be decided unilaterally, since it involves students as the main user of textbook. Therefore, considering their needs is a sensible choice in selecting the right textbook.

G. The Role of Textbook in the EFL Classrooms

EFL textbooks are main resource of teaching material provided by teachers or publishers to be used in English as Foreign Language classrooms. And it is crucial to use textbooks in EFL classrooms, since it provides the first and basic input for most EFL students. Both teachers and learners will get many advantages from the textbook usage, besides some drawbacks that appear during their teaching- learning activity. There are many principles advantages of textbooks as elaborated by Richards as follows: 57 1. They provide structure and a syllabus for a program, adapting to the systematically planned and developed curriculum stated by the government. 2. They help standardize instruction, so that the students in different classes will get similar content though they taught by different teacher. 3. They maintain quality, when the materials exposed in the book have been tried and tested under well and appropriate learning principles. 4. They provide a variety of learning resources. Commonly textbooks are accompanied by workbooks, CDs and cassettes, videos, CD ROMs, and comprehensive teaching guides, providing a rich and varied resource for teachers and learners. 5. They are efficient. Teacher will have more time to develop teaching learning activity than to produce and provide materials. 6. They can provide effective language models and input. For teachers whose first language is not English and who may not be able to generate accurate language input on their own especially for novice teachers. 57 Jack C. Richards. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2001, pp. 254 —255. 30 7. They can train teachers. Teachers, who have limited teaching experience, will be helpful by manual of the textbook that indirectly train them to be a good and experienced teacher. 8. They are visually appealing. Since textbooks usually have high standards of design and production and hence are attracting to learners and teachers. The explanation above reveals that textbook not only giving the advantages for teachers, but also provides many benefit for students. Since the ability of teachers to manage their classroom, one of them by making use of textbook, will give much influence to the students achievement of knowledge which is shared by their teachers. Teachers performance also will be more confident eventhough shehe is a novice one. Textbook also give many benefits in any language classrooms especially foreign language. It can be seen from its roles in their language learning activities. According to Cunningsworth the role of textbook in English language teaching are as follows: 58 1. A resource for presentation material spoken and written 2. A source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction 3. A reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. 4. A source of stimulation and ideas for classroom language activities 5. A syllabus when they reflect learning objectives which have already been determined 6. A resource for self-directed learning or self-access work 7. A support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence. From the explanation above known that in English language classrooms, textbooks can facilitate teachers with one stop resource. Not only presenting materials, but also providing many activities for learners practice. Grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation also can be found in a textbook. They will get any information and sources related to the matter of the language from it. Therefore the teaching learning process will become more well-managed and well-directed. Even though it sounds textbook-bound oriented, as far as it gives good impact for both teachers and learners there is no problem. Besides the advantages textbooks which have a worthy values both for teachers and students, the disadvantages of textbooks also come up when they become not creative within their teaching learning activity. Teachers become very rely on the book, as if the textbook is the curriculum. Within teaching learning activity, often teachers ask their students to what page last 58 Cunningsworth. Op. Cit., p. 7. 31 matter? instead of what you do not understand from previous material? This indicates that they do not understand the contents of the curriculum as a soul of education. Seemingly, education treaded as transferring knowledge from textbooks to students per se. In this case, textbooks as if inhibit creativity in the classroom. As a result, it leads learners to be passive, because the teachers could not facilitate them to improve their knowledge. Whereas, education is not just to intellectualize people but more important is that it is to civilized human. Furthermore, Richards elaborates the weaknesses of textbooks as follows: 59 1. They may contain inauthentic language. As textbooks sometimes present inauthentic language when texts, dialogs and other aspects of content tend to be written to enclose teaching points of certain matter and are often not representative of real language use. 2. They may distort or twist the content. Textbooks often present an idealized view of the world so they fail to represent the real issues. In order to make textbooks more acceptable in many different contexts avoid raising controversial topics and idealizing certain dominant class view. Whereas, every single student is different and every single class consists of homogenous students that make textbooks do not represent the real issues which are needed for fulfilling students’ knowledge. 3. They may not reflect students needs. Since textbooks are often written for global markets they often do not reflect the interests and needs of students especially for who live in remote areas and hence may require adaptation. It makes textbooks become unreadable by students, and probably it leads them become unusable in the classrooms. 4. They can deskill teachers. If teachers use textbooks as the primary source of their teaching activity, As a result they become not creative in managing the other sources of instructions such as grammar books, internets and other sources from their environment. 5. They are expensive. Commercial textbooks may represent a financial burden for students in many parts of the world especially in developing and under developing countries. Therefore, most teachers prefer using textbooks given by the government to investing in commercial ones. Based on the explanation above we know that besides the advantages, textbooks also give many drawbacks. The existence of textbook appropriately 59 Richards. Op. Cit., pp. 255 —256.