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other or criterion-based how well students perform on curriculum standards and established learning goals.
3. Assessment for learning
This type of reading assessment is intended to support and promote students learning, in this case, the improvement of
reading abilities. The assessment for learning engages students in their own learning and responds to indicators of weak
performances with an ongoing remediation and fine-tuning of instructions. There are two general types of the assessment for
learning practices: one employs recognizable classroom assessment activities to provide helpful feedback for learning;
the other one involves specific assessments for learning practices to support students directly in their day-to-day
learning. 4.
Assessment of curricular effectiveness Assessment of curricular effectiveness and program evaluation
is not specific to reading but relevant for the development andor review of a reading curriculum. This type of reading
assessment includes standardized testing, cumulative records over years that indicate students outcomes progresses or
backwards, interviews with teachers, students, and school administrators on summative test performances, feedback from
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institutions, and innovative assessments that highlight specific school or program goals such as project works, motivation,
extensive reading, writing skill, or collaboration and group works.
5. Assessment for research purpose
This type of reading assessment is very important for reading- research results as well as for their implications for reading
instruction although it is not commonly discussed in the assessment
topics. Research
studies sometimes
use standardized assessment instruments to measure students’
leve ls or students’ instructional outcomes. Reading researches
can have a powerful impact on teaching and on students’ learning experiences.
Meanwhile, Caldwell 2008 proposes that there are four basic purposes related to reading assessment. These purposes are inferred so
teachers can effectively assess students’ achievement and adjust the reading materials to their needs. The purposes are: to identify good reader behaviors;
to identify areas of weaknesses; to determine st udents’ reading level; and to
document students’ progresses. The assessment process helps teachers identify good reader
s’ behaviors that the students show during the teaching and learning activities so teachers can apply activities that fit to the good
behaviors of the readers and improve the students’ skills in reading. Besides,
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the reading assessment is also conducted to figure out the areas of weaknesses that students may possess in the learning process. These weaknesses are in
line with the good behaviors of reading because when teachers successfully recognize the areas of weaknesses, these can be references to set a new design
and instructions that can strengthen the good reading behaviors. The assessment of reading is used to determine the students’ reading level as well.
It is important to know students’ reading level in order to set the appropriate level of reading materials and to control the progress of their improvements in
reading. The last purpose of reading assessment is to document or file the students’ progresses. Teachers need to compile all the documents and files
related to the students as the evidence of the progress. Based on the Implementation Guidelines of the 2013 Curriculum, an
assessment is intentionally defined into four concepts Jamilah, 2013. The concepts are that: 1 it is directed to measure students’ competencies stated in
the curriculum, 2 it is an assessment which bases its references on criterion, 3 it is an ongoing process which involves all indicators in the curriculum to
be assessed and analyzed to perceive whether students have been successfully achieved those indicators or not, and if some indicators have not been
achieved, the students’ difficulties in achieving the competencies will be located, and 4 the result of the assessment is made use for teachers to give
feedbacks and follow-up activities for students to achieve the curriculum competencies.
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In accordance with the main idea of this research, namely developing English learning materials using a theme-based storybook, the proper type of
the assessments is the assessment for learning. The theme-based storybook follows the assessment for learning because the upcoming product of the
storybooks is meant to have positive contribution in supporting and promoting students’ learning. Hopefully, it can be additional learning reading materials
to improve the students’ reading comprehension ability.
4. Theme-Based Instruction TBI
Theme-based instruction is the most common offshoot of Content- based Instruction Brown, 2007. It is widely known that content-based
instruction CBI is a teaching method that emphasizes learning about something rather than learning about languages. According to Brinton, Snow,
and Wesche in Brown 2007, CBI is “the integration of content learning with language teaching aims. More specifically, it refers to the concurrent study of
language and subject matter, with the form and sequence of language presentation dictated by content materials”. Derived from that explanation,
theme-based instruction TBI remains the primary aim of a course of learning, but a special attention is given to meaningful, relevant themes as a
point of departure for instructions in the language. Davies 2003 proposes that through TBI, teachers can create a course
of study that is designed to unlock and build on their own students’ interests
and the content can be chosen from an enormous number of diverse topics.
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However, applying the TBI is not as easy as flipping hands. A course underlying this model of teaching should have both content and language
goals. Cameron 2001 defines the TBI as a teaching which is integrated
around a theme that suits the way children naturally learn. Many different activities within theme-based teaching are linked together by their content.
The theme or topic runs through everything that happens in the classroom and acts as a connecting thread for the students and the teachers.
Meanwhile, the TBI according to Brinton 2001 in Yang 2009 is an approach to language teaching in which the whole course is structured around
certain themes or topics. Added to this, Wesche Skehan 2002 in Yang 2009 point out that the TBI emphasizes on exposing students to a “highly
contextualized” second language environment by using the subject matter as the content of language learning. Freeman Freeman 2006 in Yang 2009
also suggest that when the content of the lesson is relevant and interesting, the students are more likely to try harder to understand and to stay focused. Thus
makes language learning more effective and efficient. TBI provides a more delineative way in the teaching and learning
process. The TBI can be set according to many areas of the 2013 Curriculum. The core and basic competencies can be connected together and integrated
within an appropriate theme. It allows learning to be more natural and less fragmented than the way when students are faced with a bunch of different
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topics while learning a segment of a language. It also permits literacy to grow progressively. Under a certain theme while learning, the students do not stress
their brain out because they have to master many unrelated vocabulary at one time of learning. Instead, it helps them to be more focused on the materials
they learn so that they will be easier to absorb vocabulary provided under the theme. It is because the themed-vocabulary are frequently seen yet smoothly
reinforced by the students. Furthermore, the TBI guides connected ideas easily.
5. Storybooks for Reading Comprehension
There are some media related to the TBI that can help teachers cope with their teaching and learning process in a classroom so that the learning
goals can be achieved successfully. Those media can be in the form of group discussion works, videos, audiotapes, presentations, storybooks, pictured-
series, photographs, movies, songs, games, and others. Storybooks as media for learning is not a new concept. It has been
undisputed throughout the world. EFL teachers now recognize more the true value of using storybooks as a way to create a rich environment of acquisition
and ideal learning conditions which provides comprehensible input, or language a little beyond the child’s current level of competencies Krashen,
1981 in Ellis and Brewster 2002. A storybook literally means a book containing a story or collection of
stories which is usually intended for children. According to Ellis 2002, a
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storybook presents language in familiar and memorable contexts. It is also frequently provided with high quality illustrations which help children
understand. Although it is intended for children, it is also permitted to be used by other than children, as in this research is for teenagers or younger adults.
The theme-based storybook for reading comprehension, therefore, is a book containing collection of stories based on the chosen topicsthemes to
enhance the students ’ reading skill that comprises various types of exercises in
order to make sure comprehension is fully achieved. Using storybooks as media in learning English has several important
advantages. Among those are through the storybooks, learners have less pressure but more interactive and fun way in learning English. It is very
essential to keep one’s brain active without stressing it out so that input and intake can be effectively delivered and absorbed. Ellis and Brewster 2002
state that “the overall aim of using storybooks with children is to foster positive attitudes towards learning English and to encourage general
comprehension”. Basically, students enjoy stories in their L1. By this means, storybooks
can provide an ideal introduction to the foreign language as it is presented in a context that is familiar to them. Storybooks can also act as a springboard to a
wide variety of activities to develop students ’ English language skills.
Furthermore, Ellis 2014 assumes that storybooks can help teachers to meet various needs of the students in an English classroom. It is so because
