5. Reading
a. The Nature of Reading
According to Wallace 1992:3, “reading is an awareness of the way in which we use language”. We use language for some purposes and the language
we use will be meaningful if it is used in context. Reading activity, as well as language, is depending on the purposes. Wallace states 1992:6-7 that there are
three reasons why people do reading. In other words, there are three kinds of reading purpose. Those are reading for survival, reading for learning, and reading
for pleasure. The purpose of reading is very important for it has something to do with learners’ motivation. Regarding with the importance, Wallace also states that
“…effective reading means a flexible and appropriate response to the material in hand, and this is always guided by the reader’s purpose…”
Meanwhile, Nunan 1989:33 states that “reading is an interactive process between what a reader already knows about a given topic or subject and what the
writer writes”. Here, he highlights a relationship between readers’ background knowledge and the text. Background knowledge of the learners determines the
success of comprehending a text. Moreover, Nunan also discovered that background knowledge is a more important factor in reading than grammatical
complexity. Thus, the writer makes a conclusion that reading is an activity of
processing what the writer writes with aid of the readers’ background knowledge and awareness of language use to get the writer’s message and it always
accompanies with the readers’ purpose. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
b. Reading in the Content Area
It is important to concern about reading in the content area since the research deals with Biology. Like other general reading, reading in the content
area is expected to result in readers’ comprehension. According to Cushenbery 1985: 9-10, there are four basic levels of comprehension skills which are needed
to be emphasized in reading. Those are: 1 Literal reading level
The level requires readers to remember details, note main ideas, follow direction, and discover cause and effect relationships stated in text.
2 Interpretive level In this level, readers are expected to discover the author’s purpose, detect
moods, draw conclusion, find main ideas, and find cause and effect relationship if they are not directly stated in text.
3 Critical reading level At the third level, readers are expected to determine if a statement is a fact or
opinion and make an assessment of the accuracy of text. 4 Creative reading level
This level demands reader to solve problems, make value judgments, and draw conclusion from what is read.
Beside those comprehension levels that learners need to develop in reading, reading is a process. Therefore, the following principles will help the
learners to obtain the product of reading that is comprehension Cushenbery, 1985: 58-61. The principles are described on the following page.
1 Comprehension can be gained through various kinds of reading skill such as reading for finding main idea, summarizing, reading for details, etc.
2 Kinds of instruction should represent reading skill to be mastered. 3 Learners know their purpose of reading and learning tasks should develop
various kinds of comprehension skill. 4 Reading materials should be well-selected so that they will be at the
learners’ level. If reading materials are at lower or higher level, the learners will not challenge to read them.
5 Teacher should follow the five-step approach in teaching reading in the content area. The approach is to activate background knowledge, to establish
reading purpose, and to develop reading skill. Those five stages are as follows:
a Readiness Stage In this step, learners’ background knowledge relating to the topic is
activated. It can be conducted by asking questions, giving hints, etc. b Question or Purpose Stage
Reading purpose should be established based on four basic levels of comprehension which are literal, interpretive, critical, and creative.
c Silent Reading Stage Having completed with question or purpose stage, learners are to read
silently other reading texts which are suitable with their level of proficiency.
d Discussion Stage The discussion should take place soon after silent reading stage. This
stage makes use the skills obtained in the second stage. e Culminating Activity Stage
Learners are encouraged to see the relationship which exists between the topic discussed and previous discussion topics, for example by making
summary, by giving opinion, etc. 6 Since comprehension is the product of reading, tasks which need
comprehension skill should be developed and be given intensively. 7 Reading techniques are needed to establish comprehension effectively.
c. Types of Reading Activity
Generally, there are three main types of reading activity which may be used by the writer in developing her reading materials. The types are pre-reading
activities, while-reading activities, and post-reading activities. Brief explanations of those three types are presented below Wallace, 1992:114-122.
1 Pre-reading activities Pre-reading activities can be conducted in three ways. The first one is
learners provide their own questions, statements, or hypothesis. This is aimed at motivating learners to further reading, activating learners’
background knowledge, and presenting particular discourse will be dealing with. Second one is by giving cross-cultural pre-reading tasks. This kind of
task invites learners to compare the characteristics of their own culture and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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