Background of the Research

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Research

Language has a central part in developing of intellectual, social, and students’ emotional. Learning English is expected that language can help students to understand others, concerning with their ideas, feelings and culture. “In Indonesia, English is taught as a foreign language. It focused on mastering four skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing. Listening and reading are receptive skills while speaking and writing are productive skills. All of the skills are to be improved in the process of teaching and learning English” 1 . Reading is perhaps the most difficult language skill to teach, for it involves so many different elements: mechanical eye movement, grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, spelling, and intellectual comprehension. 2 Being able to read in English is very important, because there are many books written in English. Reading becomes essential for everyone in order to increase his or her knowledge. This idea is supported by the fact that reading has become a part of our daily life. We read many kinds of written materials from newspaper, magazine, to academic books using English. There are two main reasons for reading: 1. Reading to practice English 2. Reading for information 3 For SMU in Indonesia, reading is one of the skills that is taught in English teaching learning. As stated in the GBPP of 1994: “The English learning in Senior Standar Kompetensi Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris SMP dan MTS, Jakarta:Departemen Pendidikan Nasional 2003, p. 25 James Ward, “Techniques for Teaching Reading”, Forum. Vol. XVIII, No.2, April, 1980, p.2 3 Francoise Grellet, Developing Reading Skills, Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 4. 10 High Schools composed of reading, listening, speaking and writing skills in English which is given integrated. Nevertheless, reading is the major focus”. 4 In teaching reading, a teacher sometimes finds a problem in selecting or choosing appropriate reading materials for students. According to the writer’s experience in observing the teaching of English especially reading skill, we still are lacking of good English textbooks. Most of them are designed only for teaching English as a foreign language. The materials are intended to train in mastering grammar points. This could be one of the reasons why students feel bored and unenthusiastic when they get reading lesson. In fact, Senior high school students who are adult learners seem not satisfied with just any reading material. They want it to be more interesting and realistic. Probably they do not enjoy reading about imaginary characters or actions that created in the English textbooks. It will make them surprised when they are provided with economic reports, business news, food recipes or the events occurring recently in Indonesia. Some formal high schools in Indonesia use textbooks, i.e. the textbooks that are really designed only for teaching English as a foreign language. Through this writing, the writer wants to give alternative reading materials to add to the currently used textbooks. It comes from newspapers that can lead reading materials development because of its advantages. That is why the writers chose The Use of Newspaper Articles as Supplementary Materials in Teaching Reading Comprehension as the title of this writing.

B. Limitation of the Problem