23 5 integrate strategies into everyday class materials, explicitly and implicitly
embedding them into the language tasks to provide for contextualized strategy practice.
The components of explicit as well as implicit integration of learning strategies into everyday class materials differentiate SBI from other options for
providing strategy training Cohen, 1998:82. From what the teachers do in a typical SBI classroom strategy-training it can be said that SBI expands the role of
teachers. Teachers‟ job is not only to teach language content but also how to learn the language or language learning strategies.
The goal of SBI is to help foreign language students become more aware of Cohen, 1998: 82:
1 how they learn most effectively; 2 how they can enhance their own comprehension and production of the target
language; and 3 how they can continue to learn on their own and communication in the target
language after they leave the language classroom. In brief, SBI encourages learners to be responsible for their own learning, not only
at the time they are joining SBI classroom but also in their further learning. It is because they can transfer their ability to use language learning strategies in new
situations. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
24
4. Integrating Strategies-Based Instruction SBI into the Reading Materials
In SBI, Cohen says 1998: 114 “strategies are integrated into everyday class materials, and may be explicitly or implicitly embedded into the language
task”. By integrating strategies into teaching materials, students can learn how to learn a foreign language while they are learning the language content. Cohen
writes 1998: 66- 67, “Students can improve both their learning skills and their
language skills when they are provided with the necessary tools to: 1 self-diagnose their strengths and weaknesses in language learning;
2 become more aware of what helps them to learn the language they are studying most efficiently;
3 develop a broad range of problem-solving skills; 4 experiment with both familiar and unfamiliar learning strategies;
5 make decision about how to approach a language task; 6 monitor and self-evaluate their performance; and
7 transfer successful strategies to new learning context.”
In integrating Strategies-Based Instruction into the reading materials designed in this study, the researc
her refers to Cohen‟s first two options for how to conduct SBI. Cohen writes “Teachers have at least three options for how to
conduct SBI”: 1 They start with the established course materials and then determine which
strategies to insert and where. 2 They start with a set of strategies that she wishes to focus on and design
activities around them. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
25 3 They insert strategies spontaneously into the lessons whenever it seems
appropriate. As it has been said before, the researcher in this study adapts the first two
options above. First, after the reading passages have been collected, then the strategies to insert and where are determined adjusting with the type of each
passage. Next, the activities around the strategies are designed. Below are the strategies employed in the materials:
1 Predicting Predicting is planning strategy. According to Urquhart Weir 1998:185
“After taking the decision to read a text, this strategy is used to anticipate the content of a text; to make hypotheses about the macroproposition it might
contain.” To anticipate what is to come in the passage readers may predict the vocabulary, content, and rhetorical structure of the text.
Levine as edited by Day, 1993: 35 suggests that through prediction strategies, a reading teacher can promote basic understanding of new vocabulary
through prediction strategies. It results a better understanding of the text and motivation to read the text to confirm their guesses.
Edwin as edited by Day, 1993: 44 writes that when readers practice prediction of the structure of a text they will have a ready-made context for
interpreting hierarchies of ideas as well as vocabulary. This activity asks students to skim titles and subtitles for clues to how the text is organized. It demands the
26 teacher to introduce possible rhetorical structures such as narrative, report,
procedure, problemsolution, etc. 2 Self Questioning
To enhance comprehension, in starting to read, readers can use self- questioning strategy. Good self-questioning strategy promotes cognitive processes
such as inferencing, monitoring, understanding and concentrating to text structure Urquhart and Weir, 1998: 186. In this strategy, readers produce questions they
expect the text to answer. Spiegal 1981 as cited by Vacca and Vacca 1989:149 su
ggest the development of an „Expectation Outline‟ to help students ask questions about the text. The following are the directions of a variation on the
„Expectation Outline‟ called „Your Own Question‟ Vacca and Vacca, 1989: 149: a Have the students listen to or read a portion of text from the beginning of a
selection. b Ask students to write five to ten questions that they think will be answered by
reading the remainder of the selection. c Discuss some of the questions asked by the students before reading. Write the
questions on the board. d Students then read to see if questions are answered.
e After reading, which questions were answered? Which weren‟t? Why not?
This strategy may have links with predicting and previewing strategies. The questions in self-questioning may invite prediction or demand the students to
preview the material. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
27 3 Skimming
Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. According to Urquhart and Weir 1998:213 skimming is rapid in the rate of reading that
“involves processing a text selectively to get the main ideas and the discourse topic as efficiently as possible, which might involve both expeditious and careful
reading and both bottom-up and top- down processing.” They add that purposes
for using this strategy might include: a To establish a general a general sense of the text
b To quickly establish a macroproposional structure as an outline summary c To decide the relevance of texts to establish needs
In skimming, a reader may reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph carefully, identifying discourse markers, noting repeated key content
words, identifying markers of importance, skipping clusters of detail, glancing at any non-verbal information, etc Urquhart and Weir, 1998:214.
4 Scanning When a reader knows what he is looking for, so he is concentrating on
finding a particular answer. The same as skimming, scanning is also rapid in the rate of reading. According to Urquhart and Weir 1998: 215, scanning involves
moving the reader‟s eyes quickly down the page seeking specific wordsphrase, figurespercentages, dates of particular events, or specific items in an
indexdirectory. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
28 5 Dealing with Unknown Words
One of the best ways to acquire vocabulary in a Foreign Language may be trough reading. By reading, students learn vocabulary from context. Learning
vocabulary from context can promote meaningful learning. It is said top-down models of reading that to be fluent readers, students
should avoid word by word comprehension. However, in reading there are words which may be unfamiliar to students but they are important for comprehension of
the text. Nutall 1996: 67-77 as cited by Urquhart and weir 19988: 199 provides valuable activities as strategies for dealing with difficult words which are
important for comprehension: a Looking for structural clues
b Grammatical function: its place in the sentence c Morphology: its internal structure
d Inferencing its meaning from context e Using a dictionary for unknown key words not accessible by other means.
Paran 1991,193 as cited by Urquhart and Weir 1998: 199 also offers exercises as strategies that might be used to help students to acquire the meaning
of words such as: a Relating a new word to a known word
b Contrasting a word with another word in the sentence c Understanding the sentence as a whole
d Employing knowledge of the world PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
