Limitation of the Problem

involve the ability to define the word, but also it lets the readers to make a sense of the text. The knowledge of the world is needed to connect the idea of the text with our background knowledge so that we can understand the writer’s purpose of writing the text. We, as a reader, are supposed to understand the language used begun from the words, phrases, sentences, to the whole text. Moreover, Healy 2002:3 states that “Reading is a purposeful and active process.” In this context, reading is defined as the activity which is done to obtain some particular purposes such as reading for understanding, reading for getting information, reading for enjoyment, and reading for learning. The purpose of reading itself can be achieved if the readers can comprehend the materials they read. Thus, the ability to read comprehensively is the crucial one to achieve the reader’s purpose in reading something. Therefore, Healy 2002:3 also states that “Reading comprehension is the understanding of the written word, the understanding of the content that is being read, and the construction of the meanings of the text.” In line with Spratt and Healy, Mikulecky Jeffries 2007: 74 assert that reading comprehension involves three things: the ability to make sense of the text, connect the idea with the knowledge, and remember the text. It lets the reader to think while reading so that the comprehension more than just recognizing and understanding the words. In addition, Vacca Vacca 1989:20 state that reading comprehension is significantly related to the comprehension of the text by making inference of the words meaning based on the context. Therefore, reading in this research means that the activity to comprehend the printed-texts by comprehending the words meaning based on the context. The information found in the text can be connected with the students’ prior knowledge to make an inference of the text they read.

b. Types of Classroom Reading Performance

The classroom reading performance can be categorized based on the text that will be read. Brown 2001: 312 states that there are two types of classroom reading performance, those are oral and silent reading. The oral reading can be called as reading aloud which can be implemented for beginning and intermediate levels. In the practice, the oral reading has purposes to check the students’ pronunciation and to check on bottom-up processing skills, such as the emphasizing of the important words or phrases in the passage that they read. Unfortunately, this performance shows the disadvantages in some cases since it does not include as the authentic language activity and the student’s concentration will decrease while others are reading loudly. Secondly, the silent reading can be subcategorized into intensive and extensive reading. The intensive reading tends to emphasize to the students’ activity in the classroom or classroom-oriented activity. The students read the text in order to do the tasks given by the teacher.