The Objective of the Study
Similarly, Deborah and Nancy states that “reading is an active process that depends
on both an a uthor’s ability to convey meaning using word and the reader ability to
create meaning from them. ”
4
Another statement comes from I.S.P. Nation who claims that “An essential
part of reading skills is the skill of being able to recognize the written forms and to connect them to their spoken forms and their meanings.”
5
A good reader will understand what they read and they can explain what they read in their spoken form
because they absolutely know what the meaning inside the text. Based on some opinions given above, the writer underlines that reading is the
process of transfer idea or information from the writer to the reader using the written language or the text. It means that the purpose of reading must be comprehension for
the information in the text. Therefore, comprehension can not be separated by reading.
In fact, there will be differentiations between one reader with other readers in catching the meaning of the text that they have writer. They will give interpretation
based on their mind because comprehension has strong connection with readers’
background knowledge. Comprehension is a part of reading. It may also be said that comprehension is
the core point in reading. It means that the successful reading is the reader who can comprehend for what they have read. According to Francoise Grelle
t that “Reading comprehension is an understanding a written text means extracting the required
information from it as effectively as possible.”
6
Another definition given by Flynn and Stainthorp which is quoted from Hoover and Gough explains that reading is
product of decoding and comprehension. That means that reading result from an ability to decode the print and to comprehend the language that is thus unlocked. For
4
Deborah Daiek and Nancy Anter, Critical Reading for College and Beyond, New York: The McGraw Hill Company, 2004, p. 5
5
I.S.P. Nation, Teaching ESLEFL Reading and Writing, New York: Routledge 2009 p.9
6
Francoise Grellet, Developing Reading Skill, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2010, p.3
them, when the reader read the text that is not mean activity for their own sake. They read because they want access to the information that’s encoded in the paper.
7
Comprehension is very important in the students’ reading progress. Their comprehension will show how their academic progress. As stated by Arthy. V quoted
from Alverman and Earle explains that “comprehension is one general component of
reading which has a set of interrelated processes. Without the skills of reading comprehension and the motivation for reading to learn, students’ academic progress
is limited.”
8
In sum up, reading comprehension is ability to decode and to construct the meanings or the massages which the writer gave in the text. The ability involves an
active process from the reader such as interpretation and reproduction for the meaning or the massage of the text.