2. Definition of Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the way of readers in getting information from the text relatively. Not all readers are capable to comprehend the text quickly, that ability
normally taken by fluent readers because they usually have the habit of reading. According to Susan E. Israel and Gerald G. Duffy Reading comprehension is only a
subset of an ill-defined larger set of knowledge that reflects the communicative interaction among the intentions of the authorthe speaker, the content textmessage,
the abilities and purpose of the readerlistener, and the contextsituation of the interaction .
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This ability makes the students construct meaning from a given written text. It is not a static competency, because it depends on the purpose of reading and
the text is involved. It means that the purpose of reading the kinds of the text is related each other. When we read a text, the ability to identify the idea of the text is
the important point after we know the topic of that text. After read the text, the readers hopefully know what the text means because reading comprehension is a
process of connecting the topic of the text to student s prior knowledge.
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The process of comprehension is like making a cake, that mental process in achieving something and to check that a step has not been missed. To comprehend the
text of reading, the students must be able to predict the text. Although they do not know the vocabulary, but it is hoped they know the key of the text. Some processes
happen when you are reading, as you read your brain tells your eyes what to look in order to make connections. To be successful in reading comprehension, students need
to actively comprehend what they read. It means that the readers must be able to decode the words or recognize words from the text that they read.
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In conclusion, reading comprehension is the ability to comprehend the meaning of the text with a set
of knowledge which reflect communicative interaction which including a good
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Susan E. Israel and Gerald G. Duffy, n
b o
o k o
f esea
rch o n
ea d
in g
o m
p rehen
sio n
, New York: Routledge, 2009, p. 32.
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John T. Guthrie, n
g a
g in
g d
o lescen
ts in ea
d in
g , Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2008,
p. 11
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Judy Willis, T ea
chin g
the ra
in to
ea d
, Alexandria: ASCD, 2008, p.128.
mental process. It also needs a good reading skill to reach the ability of understanding the texts to identify and decode the idea of the text.
3. Kinds of Reading