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2. Teaching Reading
There are four parts provided in presenting the teaching reading theories being used in the study. First, the study presents the principles of teaching
reading. Second, reading comprehension strategies are presented in details. Third, it will present about Curriculum 2006 in teaching learning process. Fourth, it will
describe the learning process in Curriculum 2006.
a. Principles for Teaching Reading
1 Anderson’s Principles for Teaching Reading
Anderson as cited by Nunan, 2003, states that there are eight principles of teaching reading. The first principle is to exploit the reader’s background
knowledge. Background knowledge includes experiences that bring readers to the text, such as life experience, and educational experience. Background knowledge
gives big influence in leading readers to the text and improving readers’ reading comprehension. To enh
ance readers’ reading comprehension, the teacher has to activate their background knowledge by setting goals, asking questions, making
prediction, and teaching text structure. The second principle is to build a strong vocabulary base. Vocabulary is the basic need for the readers to build meaning of
English words or texts. In order to understand the text, the readers need to know vocabularies related to the text. If the readers have strong vocabulary base, it will
be easier for them to understand the text. The third principle will be to teach for comprehension. The main part of
reading process is comprehension. According to Grabe and Stoller 2002 ”reading comprehension is the ability to understand information in a text and
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interpret it appropriately.” It is supported by Farrell 2009 who says “reading comprehension is basically the English Language Learners’ ability to construct
meaning from the text through combination of prior knowledge and previous experience with the topic, the information in the text, and the stance the reader
takes in rela tionship to the text”. However, the teacher needs to teach
comprehension and then monitor it. Teaching comprehension relates to the readers’ ability to discuss with the teacher or friends what strategies they use to
comprehend the text. The fourth principle is to work on increasing reading rate. Increasing
reading rate means that there should be a balance in improving students’ reading rate and developing their comprehension skills. The teacher does not only focus
on the accuracy but also fluency. The teacher also has to teach students to reduce their dependence on dictionary. The students have to spend more time on
analyzing the content and discussing it with their friends. The next principle is to teach reading strategies. In order to be successful readers, the readers have to
know strategy of reading itself. However, knowing the strategy is not enough. They have to know how to use and integrate strategies in their reading process.
Principle number six is to encourage readers to transform strategies into skills. According to Anderson as cited by Nunan, 2003:77, “strategies can be
defined as conscious actions that learners take to achieve desired goals or objectives, while a skill is a strategy that has become autom
atic.” Readers should be introduced to reading strategies in their reading process. When they use the
strategies unconsciously, they move strategies into skill. The next principle is to build assessment and evaluation into your teaching. Assessment and evaluation
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can be used to measure the students’ progress in their reading class. The assessment can be both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative assessment
includes information from reading comprehension test and reading rate data. Quantitative assessment includes information from reading journal responses,
reading interest surveys, and responses to reading strategies checklist. The last principle is to strive for continuous improvement as a reading
teacher. Reading teacher should view themselves as facilitators and help the readers to find what works best. The teacher needs to understand the nature of
reading process so that they can help the readers to understand the text.
2 Farrell’s Principles for Teaching Reading
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