27 is categorized as achievement test, because the test is related directly to
curriculum.
4. Reading Skill
This part provides explanation about reading. It includes the nature of reading, reading text types, and reading assessment.
a. Nature of Reading
In teaching language, reading is a skill that teachers expect learners to acquire. It is because reading includes all components of the language such as
vocabulary, grammar, and even the pronunciation Brown, 2004:185. Reading is an activity integrating the text and readers’ background knowledge to build
meaning Thompson, 1987: 50. Moreover, reading is a process of understanding the meaning of written or printed words or symbols. From the
definition above, reading is an active process of getting meaning from written text in order to understand and comprehend written form of language.
In learning a language, reading shares with other modes of language, which is listening, speaking and writing Wallace, 2003: 6. Reading integrated
with other skills is used for communication. Furthermore, reading has some purposes in social interaction: for survival, for learning, and for pleasure. In
this study, the purpose of reading is for learning. It means that reading serves extending general knowledge of the world. For this purpose, reading is taught
in the school because it takes place in academic context. It is also goal oriented.
28 b.
Reading Text Types There are some reading text types taught by students of senior high.
They are analytical exposition, anecdote, description, narration, procedure, news item, discussion, explanation, report, recount, review, and hortatory text.
Further, Competence Standard and Basic Competence in KTSP mention the goals of study which influence reading text types for English subject. The CS
for reading skill for the Grade XII students includes functional texts, essay, and monolog of narrative, explanation, discussion, and review text in daily context
for accessing science or knowledge. This study only presents four text types based on competence standard, as follows:
1 Narrative
It has a purpose to entertain, to amuse or to tell the readers about the fiction or non-fiction experience or story that has a problem and the resolution. The
generic structure of this type is:
orientation: introduction about the characters, places, and times,
complication: development of conflicts or problems, and
resolution: the reconciliation of the problems. The dominant language features are using past tense, using action verbs,
chronologically arranged, using conjunctions then, before, after, soon, etc, and using direct and indirect sentences.
2 Explanation
Explanation text has purpose to explain the processes involved in an activity of natural phenomenon, science, socio-cultural, etc.
29 The generic structure of this type includes:
general statement: general explanation,
explanation: a sequenced explanation of why or how something occurs,
and
closing. Moreover, explanation text has some dominant language features such as
using Simple Present Tense, using action verbs, using passive voice, using complex sentences, using noun phrases e.g. the large cloud, using adverbial
phrases, using technical terms, using general and abstract noun e.g. the temperature, and using conjunction of time and cause-effect.
3 Discussion
Discussion text is aimed to present an issue overseen by two point of views pros and cons before it ends on certain conclusions or recommendations. The
generic structure of discussion text is presented as follows:
issue: involves the statement of issue and preview,
arguments of pros: include several main ideas and elaborations of supporting opinions from the issue,
arguments of cons: consist of statements of various viewpoints that
oppose the issue and its elaborations, and
conclusion or recommendation. The dominant language features in discussion text is using Simple Present
Tense. Besides, the text includes general nouns to maintain the category of issue such as cigarette, uniform, alcohol, etc. The text also uses relating verbs
30 to present information about discussed issue such as smoking is harmful,
homework is necessary, etc. Discussion text conveys thinking verbs to express personal views e.g. believe, feel, hope; involves modalities e.g. perhaps,
must, should, could be; uses adverbials of manner e.g. deliberately, hopefully; includes detail noun groups to obtain information e.g. the dumping
of unwanted kittens; and uses additives, contrastive, and causal connectives to join the arguments e.g. however, on the hand, in contrary.
4 Review
This type is purposed to critique or evaluate an art work or event e.g. movies, show performance, books, etc for public. The generic structure of this type is:
orientation: introduction of the title, characters, the author, etc.,
evaluation: critique on several point,
interpretation,
evaluation, and
evaluative summation.
The text generally focuses on specific participants. The text also uses adjectives to point out attitudes e.g. bad, good for teenagers, interesting, long
and complex clauses, and metaphor. c.
Reading Assessment Reading, as necessary skill, remains a skill of paramount importance as
we create assessments of general language ability Brown, 2004: 185. Therefore, in assessing English language, people use reading for granted.
Assessing reading does not end with the measurement of comprehension, but
31 also strategic to full understanding including fundamental bottom-up and top-
down strategies. Bottom-up strategies begins with processing separate letters, words, phrases, clauses and then sentences of the text. Bottom-up strategies
helps the readers to catch and understand the meaning of information of the text. Whereas top-down strategies, driven strategies for comprehension,
consists of background information, cultural experience, life experience, and background knowledge that helps the reader to carry out interpretation of the
text. Moreover, the test maker should also consider a number of different types
or genres of written texts, the components of reading ability, and specific task.
1 Genres and Types of Reading Assessment
According to Brown 2004: 186, there are three specifications of common genres for assessments of reading ability. They are academic reading,
job-related reading, and personal reading. In this study, the writer considers academic reading. The genre of text allows readers to apply certain
representation that assist in extracting appropriate meaning. For considering test procedures, several types of reading performance
are typically identified. They are reading perceptive, reading selective, reading interactive, and reading extensive Brown, 2004: 189. This study can be
categorized as selective reading test and interactive reading test because it contains of multiple-choice cloze vocabulary grammar task and reading
comprehension questions.
32 2
Microskills, Macroskills, and Strategies for Reading The skills and strategies for accomplishing reading appear as crucial
consideration in the assessment of reading ability. Brown made the specific skill more detail into micro- and macroskills based on fundamental top-down
and bottom-up strategies. Brown 2004: 187 represented micro- and macroskills for considering the objectives.
Microskills for reading comprehension are represented as follows: a
Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes and orthographic patters of English.
b Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short-term memory.
c Process writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
d Recognize a core of words, and interpret word order patterns and their
significance. e
Recognize grammatical word classes verb, noun, etc, system tense, agreement, pluralization, etc, patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.
f Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different
grammatical forms. g
Recognize comprehensive devices in written discourse and their role in signaling the relationship between and among clauses.
Macroskill for reading comprehension are represented as follows: a
Recognize the theoretical forms of written discourse and their significance for interpretation.
33 b
Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according to form and purpose.
c Infer context that is not explicit by using background knowledge.
d Infer links and connection between the information and detect such
relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification.
e Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.
f Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context of the
appropriate cultural schemata. g
Develop and use battery of reading strategies for interpretation of texts. Furthermore, according to Brown 2004: 188, there are some principal
strategies for reading comprehension as follows: a
Identify the purpose in reading a text. b
Apply spelling rules and conventions for bottom-up decoding. c
Use lexical analysis to determine meaning. d
Guess at meaning when you aren’t certain. e
Skim the text for the gist and for main ideas. f
Scan the text for specific information. g
Use silent reading techniques for rapid processing. h
Use marginal notes, outlines, charts, or semantic maps for understanding and retaining information.
i Distinguishing between literal and implied meanings.
j Capitalize on discourse markers to process relationships.
34 In this study, the test covers some micro- and macroskills. For the
microskills, the test includes recognizing grammatical world classes, recognizing system, and recognizing particular meaning in different grammar
form. Those microskills are implemented in grammatical questions. For the macroskills, the test includes considering reading comprehension strategies;
detecting main idea, supporting idea, information, generalization, and exemplification; inferring links and connection between the information;
distinguishing between literal and implied meanings; and developing reading strategies for interpretation of texts. Those macroskills are implemented in
reading comprehension questions.
5. Designing Multiple-choice Items
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