7 Evaluation
Evaluating the learners, the teaching techniques and the program are done at this stage.
8 Recycling Stage
At this stage, goals and final performances are set up. If there are differences from the syllabus, the materials and the teaching approaches will be revised.
2. Theories of Reading
a. The Nature of Reading Comprehension
Some experts have their own definition about the meaning of reading. However, the idea is more or less the same. Reading is not merely the decoding of
printed symbols to sound. Thus, it is a dynamic process, autonomous by the reader in many ways and for many reasons Gibson and Levin: 1979:5. Urquhart and
Weir 1988:14-15 argue that reading deals with language messages in written or printed form. It involves processing language messages, which are knowledge of
language. Kustaryo 1988:11-12 states that reading with comprehension means
understanding what has been read. Reading is an active thinking process that depends on student’s experience, prior knowledge and comprehension skills.
Comprehension occupies understanding vocabulary, seeing the relationship among words, concepts, organizing idea, recognizing the author’s purpose,
constructing judgment and assessment.
Meanwhile, Clark and Silberstein 1987 as cited by Simanjuntak 1988: 15 characterize reading as an active cognitive process of interacting with print
and monitoring comprehension to create meaning. Reading is the instantaneous acknowledgment of different written symbols, simultaneous organization of these
symbols with existing knowledge and understanding of the information and ideas communicated.
From those definitions, reading is a process of understanding written information that requires underlying knowledge of the reader in order to be able to
obtain the purpose of the writer in a certain text and comprehend the text thoroughly.
b. Skills in Reading Comprehension
In order to be able to gain comprehension in reading, the readers should have skills that are included in the reading activity. Hirasawa and Markstein
1977: v states that the students should not read word by word but grasping the general ideas of the reading texts. This can be achieved with the use of rapid
reading. However, learning how to monitor and changing reading style and reading speed are skills that require a good deal of practice Anderson, 1985:
433. According to Heaton 1979:104, the fact that students have mastered
some of the required reading skills in the first language is no warranty at all that they will be able to relocate those skills to reading another language. Some
specific skills involved in reading as follows Mikulecky, 1990: 24:
1 Automatic decoding
2 Previewing and predicting
3 Specifying purpose
4 Identifying genre
5 Questioning
6 Scanning
7 Recognizing topics
8 Classification of ideas into main topics and details
9 Locating topic sentences
10 Stating the main idea of a sentence, paragraph or passage
11 Recognizing patterns of relationships
12 Identifying and using words which signal the patterns of relationships
13 Inferring the main idea
14 Recognizing and using pronouns, referents, and other lexical equivalents as
clues to cohesion 15
Guessing the meaning of unknown words from the context 16
Skimming 17
Paraphrasing 18
Summarizing 19
Drawing conclusions 20
Drawing inferences and using evidence 21
Visualizing 22
Reading critically
23 Reading faster
24 Adjusting reading rate according to materials and purpose
Mikulecky 1990: 28 states that if students are aware of the skills and recognize how to use the skills, students can learn to monitor their own
comprehension and apply suitable strategies as required to comprehend a text. McNeil 1987:91 as cited by Mikulecky 1990:28 describes this situation as
metacognitive process. Three types of metacognitive process as follow: 1
Self-knowledge Recognizing one’s own reading strengths and weaknesses
2 Task knowledge
Recognizing what strategies to employ in a set situation 3
Self-monitoring Being conscious of when one does not realize and recognizing what strategies
to utilize to deal with it
McWhorter 1990: 13-23 suggests three main skills in reading comprehension. They are previewing and predicting, developing guide questions,
and monitoring comprehension. Pearson and Fielding 1991 as cited by Urquhart and Weir 1998: 183-184 support the statement by proposing five skills. They are
previewing and predicting, self-questioning and self-monitoring, and evaluation and personal response.
In order to read with a degree of comprehension to succeed in reading process, the readers must be proficient in each of the reading level. Each reading
skill depends on another skill. Since the reading materials that will be designed later is for the first semester of the tenth grade students of senior high school, only
some of those basic skills above that will be included.
c.
Basic Principles in Reading Comprehension
In order to achieve an adequate understanding of reading comprehension, a number of basic principles must be taken into account. Cushenberry 1985:57-59
notes four principles in reading comprehension, namely: 1
Reading is a holistic concept, therefore it should not be taught as a single skill. There are large numbers of comprehension skills that are included in the
reading process. The teacher should be concerned in promoting the students’ ability in such areas as reading for detail, finding the main idea, getting
general information, finding sequence or event, and deducing meaning from context.
2 Some students develop a few of comprehension skills on their own, but the
total accomplishment of learning these skills will be seen when the teachers plan for it. The use of test and sample lesson provide the teacher with
beneficial data related to each student’s proficiency in a given skill area. This technique will help the teachers understand the problem of their students and
it is discovered that they need specific help in the skill area.
3 One major aspect that causes the poor comprehension is a lack of purpose for
reading. Before asking the students to read, the teacher should explain the skills that will be developed through the passage. The assignments and the
purposes are not merely from the teacher, some of them, may be suggested by the students.
4 The materials used must help the students to build their comprehension skills
and they must be written in the appropriate level of difficulty that matches the reading level of the students. The important principle to remember is that
teachers need to be sure that there is a match between the reading level of the book and the instructional reading level of the students.
Nunan 1984 as cited by Nunan 1989: 33 suggests that in reading comprehension for high school students readers, relevant background knowledge
is a more significant aspect than grammatical complexity.
d.
Level of Comprehension
Kustaryo 1988: 12 states that in a wider sense, comprehension can be divided into three levels of skills. They are literal reading, inferential reading, and
critical reading. 1
Literal Literal reading refers to the ideas and facts that are directly stated on the
written page. In fact, literal idea and fact are usually so clearly declared that one could reverse in the passage and underline the information preferred. The
literal level of comprehension is fundamental to all reading skills at any level, because the readers must comprehend first what the author said before they
draw an inference or formulate an evaluation. The literal level is considered to the easiest level of reading comprehension because the readers are not
required to go beyond what the author actually said. 2
Inferential To obtain inferences or implied meaning from the reading material, one must
‘read between lines’. Inferences are ideas that readers obtain when they go beneath the surface to sense relationships, and detect the mood of the
material. Building inferences requires more thinking because the readers must depend less on the author and more on personal insight.
3 Critical
Critical reading involves a higher degree of skill development and perception. Critical reading requires reading with an inquiring mind and with active,
creative looking for wrong statements. It means questioning, comparing, and evaluating.
e.
Facilitating Comprehension
In order to comprehend a text, there are some necessary steps to facilitate comprehension. Comprehension is difficult process since it involves the
transmission of an idea through several imperfect media Fry, 1965: 24. According to Durkin 1987: 379, facilitating comprehension is divided into there
responsibilities.
1 Teaching new vocabulary
Recognizing the meaning of words in a passage is very important in order to comprehend the idea. However, not understanding some words in a piece of
text is not main obstruction to comprehension unless one or more of them are central significance to the author’s or the reader’s purpose. In this case,
teaching new vocabulary is important. 2
Providing essential background information Sufficient preparations for reading a piece of text include assisting students
either to recall or attain essential information to grasp it. The preparation is aimed to prepare the students entering the text. It is very effective phase in
reading activity, in which it facilitates the students to comprehend the text. 3
Establishing purpose for reading The aim of reading should be established first before starting to read. The
purpose for reading is not only to acquire information but also to obtain sufficient comprehension. Purpose will keep readers from wandering through
a piece of text, not knowing what to focus on or what to attempt to bear in mind. Establishing the purpose of reading will make the reading more
meaningful.
f.
The Teaching and Learning of Reading
McNeil, Donant, and Alkin 1980: 11 state that there are two emphases in teaching reading. The first is focusing on the development of the intellectual skills
involved in reading, and the second is focusing on the specific situation in which the pupil is to apply reading skills.
Shepherd 1978 as cited by Simanjuntak 1988: 16-19 proposes ten principles of learning reading:
1 The students must have a purpose and a motivation to learn
2 Learning must have meaning for the learner
3 A background of experience and knowledge is necessary for learning
4 The learner must be active in his learning
5 Learning requires the forming of habits
6 Much learning is by association
7 Learning requires practice
8 Favorable attitudes toward learning foster effective learning
9 Students learn at different rates and in different modes
10 Learning is more effective if the learner know the reason for what he is
learning
g.
Reading Materials
In preparing the reading material, there are some aspects to be considered. According to Paulston and Bruder 1976: 159-160, one of the most important
aspects of teaching reading is the selection of the reading text. There are some primary considerations:
1 Ordinary language: the reading material should not contain dialect or slang
features or old-fashioned language use. 2
High interest value: it is easier to read what is interesting and compatible. 3
Culture value: the content of the reading material should not contrast with the students own culture values.
4 Relevant vocabulary: it is easier to learn when the cultural background is
familiar and the students can process cultural information in the decoding process.
5 Level of reading difficulty: the level of reading difficulty should be matched
to the proficiency of the students’ level. Krashen 1985 as cited by Mikulecky 1990: 23 suggests that students
should read self-selected books. Students’ language weaknesses can be balanced by background knowledge about the topics of the books they choose. While
reading, they can be alert of the fact that they are capable to guess word meanings because of their knowledge of the subject.
h.
Reciprocal Teaching
Reciprocal teaching, developed by Brown and Palincsar 1984: 117-122, is used to support the students’ reading ability. It is a comprehension fostering
activity. Each of the strategies facilitates the students to build meaning and to monitor their own understanding. The model of dialogue whether it happens
among the students themselves or between the teacher and the students is an effective way to connect the reading ability of each student so that the skilled
student may help the unskilled students. There are four major strategies proposed in reciprocal teaching namely, predicting, questioning, clarifying and
summarizing: 1
Predicting In this activity, the students need to activate background knowledge that they
already have based on the topic discussed. 2
Questioning Generating or questioning provides the chance of the students to identify the
important information where it will be used as the substance of the question. After the students create the questions, they have to assure themselves that
they are able to answer their own questions. 3
Clarifying This strategy provides the students the opportunity to get a better
understanding on the unfamiliar vocabulary, unclear references or difficult concepts that hinder their comprehension mastery.
4 Summarizing
Summarizing may help the students to identify, paraphrase and integrate the important information from the text. This activity involves the skills of
identifying main ideas and supporting details of the text.
B. Theoretical Framework
In designing the instructional materials, the writer adapts some steps from Kemp’s and Yalden’s instructional design models. The writer adapts Yalden’s
