Memory of what has been read so far
Expectations and releveant ideas
Prediction of what is coming next
Recognition of meaningful segments of
texts and texts structure
Reading Comprehension
Figure 2.2 A model of reading comprehension Davies, 2000: 91
In this study, reading is a process of building knowledge from information in the text and the students’ background knowledge what they have known before
related to the text.
b. Writing
According to Zimmerman and Rodrigues 1992: 4, writing is a way of thinking, a way of learning, a way of sharing ideas with others. Tiedt 1989: 1
also states that writing is a method of expressing ideas about any subject contents. Through writing, people can share their thinking and ideas with others in the
written expressions. However, we know that written expression is one of the most difficult parts of the communication arts to master. Cohen and Plaskon 1980:
273 describe that: The process of putting one’s thoughts into written form involves the
integration of all the areas of the language arts: oral expression, reading, handwriting, spelling, vocabulary, and writing conventions capitalization,
punctuation, and organization.
The above facts show that writing is a complex and difficult process. The difficulty of writing is also agreed by Tiedt 1989: 26. He says that:
... writing is fairly slow and involves the use of motor skills that may be well developed. Writing also demands the use of conventions such as
punctuation, capitalization, and spelling, as well as standard usage. These obstacles make writing the most difficult of the language arts.
In this study, writing is a skill of expressing the ideas related to the reading text that the students learn after they read a text. The students share their ideas and
thinking into a written form.
c. The Principles of Teaching Reading and Writing to the Eleventh Grade Students of Senior High School
Senior High School is a level of education after graduating from Junior High School that should be finished in three years. The eleventh grade students of
Senior High School are the students being in the second year of their study in Senior High School. They are between 15 and 17 years old. According to Hurlock
1980: 184 , they are in a transition period betwen puberty and adult. Therefore, they are likely to have unstable emotion. They always want to be understood and
recognized. However, in this stage the students like to get along with their peers and to build relationship with people.
Thus, those characteristics also influence their performance in studying. English as a foreign language learned in school is considered as a difficult subject.
It covers four language skills and language elements. Hence, the students’ performance in learning English still falls short of expectations.
Reading and writing as the parts of language skills are seen as the difficult parts in learning English. Most of the Senior High School students say that
reading and writing are difficult to learn. It is supported by National Writing Project and Carl Nagin 2007: 9 that state:
Writing is hard because it is a struggle of thought, feeling, and imagination to find expression clear enough for the task at hand. Doing it well means
being both a writer and a reader. AS writer, we look through language and struggle to discover what we mean to say; as reader of our own work, we
look at the language with an editor’s eye to be sure we’ve found the right words to say what we mean.
Considering the students’ characteristics and their perception in learning English especially for reading and writing skills, teaching reading and writing to
the eleventh grade students of Senior High School is not an easy thing. Therefore, the teacher needs to understand the principles of teaching reading and writing. It is
also important to know the relationship between reading and writing. Moreover, the teacher should be creative to conduct the teaching learning process so that it
will be successful. According to Armbruster and Osborn 2002: 85-87, the reading process
can be divided into three parts. They are prereading activities, during-reading activities, and postreading activities.
Prereading activities involves the preparation before the students read. It covers activating and building background knowledge, building text-specific
knowledge and vocabulary, setting purposes and direction for reading, and suggesting comprehension strategies. During-reading activities are the activities
which facilitate students’ reading comprehension during the actual reading process. This stage is to help the students understand the text Davies, 2000: 93.
Postreading activities should help students do something related with what they have read. The students are to connect what they have read with their own ideas
and experience. It covers further questioning, discussion, writing, drama, art, music, dance, and application and outreach in the real world.
According to Tiedt 1989:1, teaching writing is a complex undertaking, for we never teach writing in isolation. As we plan to teach writing, we also teach
thinking, listening, speaking, and reading skills, for all language skills are interdependent. Therefore, Tiedt 1989:2 sees the process of writing as the
holistic process where the students think, feel, and experience as they produce a piece of writing.
Related to the process of writing, Zemach 2007: 12 explains that there are some steps in writing; brainstorming, organizing, drafting, reviewing, editing
and revising, and rewriting. Brainstorming is for gathering ideas. It can be done by discussing, freewriting, listing and mapping. Organizing is to choose which
ideas to use and put them in order. Drafting is to write the complete essay from start to finish. Reviewing can be done by oneself, peers, or the teacher. Editing
and revising are important to get feedback from others to improve the writing. Rewriting is the last process as the final product. That process is also agreed by
Graves 1996: 124 who says the process of writing includes brainstorming, drafting, editing and revising. Graves points out that in this way, the process is
emphasized, not the product. Considering the relationship between reading and writing, Tiedt 1989: 4
believes that students learn to write by reading. The students observe how the writer presents ideas and uses language in imaginative ways. They also learn to
write by reading other students’ writings. When they do that, they learn many things from others; they learn the structure, grammar, etc. They can give
comments and correct others’ mistakes. In this way, they are learning writing by reading.
In accordance with that, before the teacher asks the students to write a specific form of writing, the teacher should introduce the structure by showing the
examples or models. The students need to be familiar with the features of a fairy tale before they can write one successfully. The students need to develop “sense
of story” before writing a story as explained by Tiedt 1989: 13.Therefore, they PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
need to hear and to read other forms in order to create or to produce specific genres. It is supported by Derewianka 1990: 7 who explains that if children are
to write in a particular genre, they first need to become familiar with its purpose and features through immersion in the genre and by exploring sample texts.
Hence, it is a good point for the teacher to give a text model before asking the students to write.
In this point, it is the teacher’s job to teach reading before teaching writing. Writing can function as the postreading activity as suggested by
Armbruster and Osborn 2002: 87. They confirm that writing requires the active manipulation of ideas. It is a powerful way to help your students connect what
they already know with the new information in the text.
3. Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition CIRC
Cooperative Integrated
Reading and
Composition CIRC
is a
comprehensive program for teaching reading and writing in the upper elementary and middle grades Slavin, 1995: 7. In Indonesia, English as a foreign language is
considered difficult to learn. The writer considers that CIRC is appropriate to be implemented for the eleventh grade of Senior High School students as the middle
grade learners of English as a foreign language.
a. The Characteristics of CIRC
According to Slavin 1995: 106, there are three principal elements emphasized in CIRC; they are basal-related activities, direct instruction in reading
comprehension, and integrated language arts and writing. Students work in pairs within their teams on a series of cognitively engaging activities, including reading
to one another, making prediction about how narrative stories will be resolved, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
summarizing stories to one another, writing responses to stories, and practicing spelling, decoding, and vocabulary. In other words, the students are taught using
sequence activities started with reading and ended by producing a piece of writing or composition.
Group activities are emphasized in CIRC. There are some benefits for learning reading and writing in groups. The students can develop the awareness of
others’ interests and needs. Developing social skills is also gained from learning in groups. In writing, they can also develop their imaginative and creative
thinking. When teams pull together in a writing project, several individual voices come together in the same report. Team members may use different expressions,
present information differently, or even focus on different priorities for the project.
Hence, the collaboration, working together on the same project, makes the finished product much more thorough and far-reaching than an individually
written project could be Reed and Ellis, 2003: 10. However, a smooth final product is the result of committee meetings in which a writing project is read
aloud, line by line, and discussed until members agree on wording, organization, and presentation style.
Furthermore, Slavin 1995: 106-110 also states the major components of CIRC. They are presented as follows.
1 Reading Groups If reading groups are used, the teacher divides the students into two or
three reading groups based on their reading level. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
