b. Intensive Reading Intensive reading on the other side requires the students to focus on the
reading texts construction; what kind of text they are reading, details of words meaning, or usage of grammar and vocabulary. This program is usually
implemented in the classrooms, for instance a teacher and students work together to analyze meaning and grammatical, sentence by sentence.
Beside those two kinds of reading, Grellet added two more kinds of reading; skimming and scanning.
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a. Skimming, it is a process of reading in which happens quickly moving the reader’s eyes over a text to get the gist or general idea of the text.
b. Scanning, it is a process of reading in which quickly going through a text to find a particular piece or a specific item of information.
Meanwhile, Broughton identified kinds of reading such as:
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a. Reading Aloud The most important characteristic in reading aloud is oral matter, including
pronunciation, tone, speed and pause. Other activity improved in reading aloud is conversation. Few people are required to read aloud as matter of daily
routine, radio newscasters, clergymen and even actor. b. Silent Reading
The goal of silent reading is understanding. While the readers do silent reading, there is no oral expression. In silent reading, they use their ability to
understand the meaning of the written sign.
13
Francoise Grellet, Developing Reading Skills, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 4.
14
Geoffrey Broughton, et. al., Teaching English as a Foreign Language, New York: Taylor Francis e-Library, 2003, pp. 91 – 92.
B. Reading Comprehension 1. The Understanding of Reading Comprehension
Reading and comprehension are two things that cannot be separated. Comprehension means understanding what is heard or read.
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It can be said that reading with comprehension means the understanding of what has been read.
Dechant stated that reading comprehension is a complex of abilities such as understanding the meaning of words, sentence and whole selection units in the
context, capability on answering questions related to the passage and enable to get implied meaning of what has been read.
16
To comprehend a text, the reader has to remind the words, sentences, and pages in the text continuously.
17
It means that if the reader does not have capability to recall what are in the text, he or she does not
have good reading comprehension. Furthermore, reading comprehension is the process of acquiring or
deriving and understanding meaning of written text that the writer is trying to convey.
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It is a complex activity because so many occurs inside the reader’s mind as long as he or she infers the writer’s intention through the written text.
Based on the description above, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a complex skill in getting meaning or in understanding all
written texts about the author’s message who is trying to convey what the readers have read.
Without comprehension, the reader has difficulties in getting information and understanding the words or sentences included on a written text or material as
interaction between the reader and the text.
15
Sharon J. Crawley and King Merritt, Remediating Reading Difficulties: Third Edition, McGraw Hill-Companies, Inc., 2000, p. 40.
16
Emerald Dechant, Teacher’s Directory of Reading Skill Aids and Materials, New York: Parker Publishing Company, Inc., 1981, pp. 175 – 176.
17
Judy Willis, Teaching to the Brain to Read: Strategies for Improving Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development, 2008, pp. 126 – 127.
18
Farris, Fuhler and Walther, op.cit., p. 321.
2. Levels of Reading Comprehension
According to Schumm, one of the purposes in reading activity is to comprehend through the process of decoding words.
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It means that the readers who have a desire for success at reading comprehension, they need to actively
process the words they read. In other words, the readers should be able to decode words or recognize words and access text of integration processes to construct
meaning so that they will understand the whole of printed words. Savage and Mooney specified reading comprehension skills into three
levels; literal reading comprehension understanding and interpreting what the writer has to say, inferential comprehension reading between the lines to infer
meaning not specifically stated in a printed passage, and critical-creative reading comprehension extending beyond the lines to evaluate, relate, or apply what are
read.
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Further explanations are described below: a. Literal Reading Comprehension
The literal level of comprehension is the process of deriving meaning or understanding information directly presented in the text.
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It can be said as recalling ideas from the explanation that is explicitly stated. It is considered to
the easiest level of reading comprehension because the readers are not required to draw an inference or to make an evaluation based on the text. In
this level, the readers are usually able to determine the general idea of a text, to determine the topic of a certain paragraph, to identify specific and detailed
information, to identify meaning of wordphrasesentence, and to find out the purpose of a text.
b. Inferential Reading Comprehension The inferential level of comprehension is the process of deriving meaning
or understanding information indirectly presented in the text.
22
It requires the readers to make a hypothesis or an inference from the idea explicitly stated in
19
Jeanne Shay Schumm, Reading Assessment and Instruction for All Learners, New York: The Guildford Press, 2006, p. 119.
20
Savage and Mooney, op.cit., p. 30.
21
Ibid., p. 5.
22
Ibid.
