Benefits of the Study Definition of Terms

E. Benefits of the Study

The mastery of reading skills gains high importance in the teaching of English in senior high school. Therefore, teachers and students should spend a lot of time to develop this skill. They should pay more attention to reading to obtain better result in their reading activities. It is hoped the objectives intended to attain are fulfilled. The result of this research is expected to be useful in many subjects. 1. Providing the teachers and those involved in the educational field with some information about the skills of reading for the eleventh grade students of senior high school. 2. Helping the teacher to enrich students’ reading materials by applying this set of materials to teach reading based on cooperative learning in class. 3. Motivating the students to broaden their knowledge by utilizing their reading skills in doing the exercises. 4. Providing helpful information to other researchers and give a stimulus for further research.

F. Definition of Terms

All the terms used in this research are defined in such a way that they will fit the topic as well as the objectives of this research. The terms that would be defined are the designing, reading, materials, cooperative learning, current curriculum, eleventh grade students, and SMA Santo Bernardus Pekalongan. 1. Designing Designing is defined as the process of creating a new set of materials that fits the learning objectives and specifies subject area of particular learners Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 65. In this study, designing refers to preparing detailed plan for developing reading materials based on cooperative learning to support the implementation of reading teaching-learning activities. 2. Reading Reading is extracting information from a text. The text is not only the printed words but also the combination of text and picture, diagrams, graphs, illustration and so on. Reading is an active process of getting meaning. This process fulfilled by employing prior knowledge, linguistic knowledge as well as knowledge of the world Gibson and Levin, 1979: 5. In this study, reading refers to one of four skills that should be mastered in learning English. It is a skill to understand the content and the meaning received through reading process. 3. Materials Materials are defined as units designed and used by teachers and learners as the focus of the discussion in teaching-learning process. It could help teachers and learners to organize the teaching-learning process and to provide a stimulus to learning Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 107. In this study, materials refer to materials that are used to facilitate teaching and learning process. They allow the students to interact and focus on the discussion so that they could develop their reading skills. 4. Cooperative Learning Cooperative learning refers to the instructional use of small groups in which students work together to achieve shared goals. It is a way for students to learn essential interpersonal life-skill and to develop the ability to work together collaboratively Richards and Rodgers, 2003: 192. In this study, cooperative learning is a way to learn in which students work together in pairs or small groups, to share knowledge, discuss together, and help each other to achieve certain goals. In cooperative learning, each student gives contribution not only to hisher own improvement but also to the group’s improvement. 6. Eleventh Grade Students of SMA Santo Bernardus Pekalongan Grade XI students are the students being in the second year of their study in senior high school. Their age ranges from fifteen to seventeen. According to Hurlock 1980:184, they are in a transition period between puberty and adult. Therefore, in this period they are likely to have unstable emotion. They tend to be interested in something up to date and always want to be understood. SMA Santo Bernardus Pekalongan is one of senior high schools located in Jalan Patriot 14 Pekalongan. It has thirteen classes or about 362 students. This school has implemented school-based English curriculum. 9

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE