From what are mentioned above, it can be inferred that the micro-skills tend to focus on chunks of language. On the other hand, the macro-skills cover
broader aspects of language or beyond what is written on the texts. In the context of the reading process, the micro- and macro-skills of reading are closely related
to microprocesses and macroprocessess of reading. Kintsch and Yarbrough in Alderson 2000 relate the former to local understanding which is in the level of
words and phrases and the later to global understanding. In short, by considering the micro- and macro-skills of reading, teachers can decide how the sequence,
activities, materials, and assessment of students’ reading will be.
2. Teaching Reading a. Principles of Teaching Reading
Teaching reading is not simply giving students written texts and asking them to read followed by some questions. There are some principles that should
be taken into consideration. According to Harmer 2001, there are six principles behind the teaching of reading.
1 Students should be encouraged to read as often and as much as possible. It is important to encourage students to read both extensively and intensively
because the more they read, the better. The teacher might discuss the benefit of reading a lot with students.
2 Students need to be engaged with what they are reading. In order to succeed in reading, they should be actively interested in what they
are doing. Thus, the teacher should ensure that students can get much pleasure from reading when they are dealing with it.
3 Students should be encouraged to respond to the content of a text, not just to the language.
It is important for students to not only understand the language use but also knowing the meaning, responding to the message, and expressing their
feeling about the content of the texts. 4 Prediction is a major factor in reading.
Teachers should provide some hints for students so that they will be able to predict the idea of the text. Besides, those can also engage students’ attention.
5 Match the task to the topic Teachers have to choose the appropriate tasks for a certain kind of texts
because it will determine whether the reading activity is interesting or not. The appropriateness of the tasks can be seen based on what kinds of activities
students are going to do and how challenging those activities will be. 6 Good teachers exploit reading text to the full.
Teachers should be able to integrate the reading text into interesting class sequences. Some further tasks can be made by elaborating the texts.
Apart from what has been mentioned above, the other expert gives a bit different of principles for teaching reading. In his book, Nation 2009 makes a
list of principles which covers meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development.
1 Meaning-focused input A reading learning process should covers some purposes such as reading to
search for information, reading to learn, reading for fun, and reading to write. Then, the reading materia
ls need to be appropriate to students’ language proficiency levels. In this first point, reading should also be used as a way of
developing language proficiency. 2 Meaning-focused output
In this case, reading activities must be integrated to the other language skills which are listening, speaking, and writing.
3 Language-focused learning Students have to be trained to practice and integrate a range of reading
strategies, develop the skills and knowledge for effective reading, and be familiar with the kinds of text structures.
4 Fluency development Developing fluency in reading is very important for students. Thus, there
should be speed reading practices. In developing students’ fluency, teachers should make students enjoy reading and feel motivated to read. So, teachers
can involve interesting texts in the reading activities.
b. Teaching Reading in Grade XI Vocational High Schools
