Teaching Reading at the Junior High Schools

15 implemented this curriculum in the first semester of the academic year of 20132014. It still uses the School-Based Curriculum. The School-Based Curriculum arranged how the teacher teaches reading in school. Although the development of the School Based Curriculum is taken references on the Content Standard and the Graduate Competence Standard, a teacher can develop the teaching method and techniques in the English teaching and learning process based on the syllabus. However, there are several important components in this curriculum that need to be considered when a teacher develops their syllabus. They are the standard of competence and the basic competence. The teachers determined the materials, the learning activities, the evaluation, the time allocation, and the source of learning which were adjusted with the standard of competence and the basic competence. Based on the standard of competence and basic competence, the areas of reading for the Junior High School include the ability in understanding written texts to reach the functional literacy and the ability in understanding many kinds of short functional texts and genres such as procedure, descriptive, recount, report and narrative. The following table shows the expected reading competence of the first semester of the eighth grade students in the junior high school: 16 Table 1 . The Standard of Competence and the Basic Competence of Reading for the Junior High School Standard of Competence Basic Competence 5. Understanding meaning in functional written text as well as simple and short essay in the forms of descriptive and recount to be able to interact in daily contexts 5.1. Reading aloud functional written text and simple and sort essay in the form of descriptive and recount with acceptably speech, stress and intonation to be able to interact in daily contexts 5.2. Responding to meaning in simple and short functional written text accurately, fluently, and acceptably to be able to interact in daily contexts, 5.3. Responding to meaning and rhetorical steps in simple short essay accurately, fluently, and acceptably to be able to interact in daily context in the forms of written descriptive, and recount. Before an English teacher teach students, it is important for them to design a syllabus and a lesson plan. The syllabus contains the subject, the standard of competence and the basic competence, materials, activities, indicators, assessment, time allocation and source. The syllabus is developed based on the Standard of Content and the Graduate Competence Standard and guide of composing School-Based Curriculum. Then, the syllabus spells out how the lesson plan is designed to direct students to achieve the basic competence. In lesson plan, there are several components that have to be included. They are the subject, the standard of components, the basic competence, the indicators of the teaching and learning objectives, the objectives, the materials, the time allocation, the method, the activities, the assessments and the source. 17 Besides considering the standard of competence and the basic competence in designing the lesson, it is also important for an English teacher to consider other factors related to the teaching learning process. The first factor is the students. The English teacher should design a lesson that meets with students’ need, wants and necessity. He also should consider the students’ proficiency level and students’ characteristics. The teacher should also consider the teaching and learning situation. It includes the classroom situation, the facilities, etc. The other factor that a teacher should consider in designing a lesson is the teaching methods. Nowadays, the students are required to develop their communicative competence. This competence will give them competence in dealing with other people in the real world. That is why, it is important for teachers to use the current language teaching approach that is the Communicative Language Teaching approach. Because the School-Based Curriculum contains different kinds of texts that an English teacher should teach to the students, it is also important for the teacher to use the Text-Based Instruction. This approach gives suggestion for a teacher how to teach different kinds of the text. The teacher can use several phase in order to make students can comprehend the text and respond to it. Meanwhile, the use of the Multiple Intelligences-based techniques can be used by teacher to expand their repertoire of teaching strategies especially in teaching reading comprehension. The lesson that is based on the Communicative Language Teaching approach and the Text-Based Instruction can be enriched with various kinds of activities which are offered by every 18 intelligence. Besides, this technique can appreciate students’ differences in acquiring new knowledge. In conclusion, the teaching reading at the Junior High School should be based on the syllabus and the lesson plan that has been designed by teacher with some consideration. They are the standard of competence, the basic competence, the students’ profile which include their needs and characteristics, the teaching and learning situation and the teaching methods. The elaboration of the Communicative Language Teaching approach, the Text-Based Instruction and the Multiple Intelligences-based technique can be used to help an English teacher in their teaching and learning process so that students can develop their ability especially reading comprehension ability.

3. The Communicative Language Teaching Approach

An approach is one of the important factors in English language teaching. It gives suggestion how to teach English for teachers. For decades, a lot of experts have proposed different kinds of approach, such as Direct-Method, Audiolingualism, Communicative Language Teaching, to help teacher finding the best way to teach students. These approaches have been implemented to meet students’ needs which always change as the changes in technology, students’ demand in learning and the theory and learning. Nowadays, the current language teaching approach is the Communicative Language Teaching approach. The Communicative Language Teaching CLT tells teachers what to teach and how to teach their students. Richards 2006: 2 defines this approach as a set of principles about the purpose of language teaching, how learners learn the 19 language, the kinds of classroom activities which best facilitates learning and the roles of teachers and learners. This set of principles brought great changes to language teaching. Previously, language teaching primarily focused on the development of students’ grammatical competence. Now, the focus of language teaching is to develop students’ communicative competence. In order to develop this competence, the English teachers should follow the principles of Communicative Language Teaching in their English language teaching and learning process. Richards 2006: 22-23 explains ten core assumptions of current communicative language teaching. They are explained as follows: a. Second language learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in interaction and meaningful communication. b. Effective classroom learning tasks and exercises provide opportunities for students to negotiate meaning, expand their language resources, notice how language is used, and take part in meaningful interpersonal exchange. c. Meaningful communication results from students processing content that is relevant, purposeful, interesting and engaging. d. Communication is a holistic process that often calls upon the use of several language skills or modalities. e. Language learning is facilitated both by activities that involve inductive or discovery learning of underlying rules of language use and organization, as well as by those involving language analysis and reflection. f. Language learning is a gradual process that involves creative use of language, and trial and error. Although errors are a normal product of learning, the ultimate goal of learning is be able to use the new language both accurately and fluently. g. Learners develop their own routes to language learning, progress at different rates, and have different needs and motivations for language learning. h. Successful language learning involves the use of effective learning and communication strategies. i. The role of the teacher in the language classroom is that of a facilitator, who creates a classroom climate conducive to language learning and provides opportunities for students to use and practice the language and to reflect on language use and language learning.