Background of the Study

D. Formulation of Problem

After considering the limitation of the problem above, the problem of this research is formulated as follow: “Is it effective to use story mapping technique in teaching reading of narrative text at SMAN 4 Tangerang Selatan?”

E. Objective of Study

The objective of the study is to find out the effectiveness of using story mapping technique towards students’ reading ability of narrative text.

F. Significance of Study

The results of this study are expected to help English teachers using appropriate method in teaching narrative text so the understanding of the students will be improved. Besides, this research can be used as a tool to make a comparison of similar research particularly to compare some methods which are used to improve students’ understanding of English texts especially narrative text. In addition, this research is regarded as a field for the writer to widen her knowledge about teaching reading strategy, specifically knowledge about story mapping method in teaching narrative text. 5

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Theory of Reading

1. Definition of Reading

Reading is useful for language acquisition. In contrast, many people sometimes may be to read and pronounce the words correctly but they do not understand what the text is about. As what Flynn and Stainthrop state on their book, accessing meaning is the rationale for reading. Reading results from an ability to decode the print and to comprehend the language that is thus unlocked. 1 It means that reading is not simply done by pronouncing the words, but it also involves the transmissions process of ideas from the authors’ mind to the readers’. In addition, as one of the basic communicative skills, reading is assumed as a passive skill because all the work has been done by the writers at the time they produces a text, and the reader has only to open their minds and let the meaning come in. On the contrary, that assumption is rejected by the fact that meaning is not lying in the text waiting to be passively extracted, and the reader is actively involved by attempted various efforts and following certain processes to get the meaning out of the text. 2 Besides, reading is also an interaction between the reader and the author where the prior knowledge such as knowledge of content, structure, and vocabulary enables the reader to make meaning from the text. 3 According to this view, both reader and writer depend on one another. The reader assumes that the writer has a message that needs to be understood while the writer makes similar assumption where the reader is willing to make some efforts to get at the meaning. 1 Naomi Flynn and Rhona Stainthrop, The Leaning and Teaching of Reading and Writinng, Engand: Whurr Publishers Limited, 2006, p. 42. 2 Christine Nuttal, Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language, Oxford: The Bath Press, 1996, p. 10. 3 Harvey Daniels and Marilyn Bizar, Teaching the Best Practice, Portland: Stenhouse Publisher, 2005, p. 38. If either lets the other down, communication fails. That is why reading is regarded as an interactive process.

2. Kinds of Reading

a. Intensive Reading

In intensive reading, as the term indicates, each vocabulary and structural item is explained and made as fact of the students’ active language, pronunciation, and intonation are stressed, and each concept allusion is clarified. Besides intensive reading is used to gain a deep understanding of a text, which is important for the reader. The process of scanning takes a more prominent role here than skimming. Absolutely we need to make distinction between extensive reading and intensive reading. The term intensive reading refers to the detailed focus on the construction of reading texts which takes place usually but not always in classrooms. Here, the student looks at extract from magazines, poems, internet, websites, novels, newspapers, plays and a wide range of other text genres. 4 Intensive reading is usually accompanied by study activities. The teacher may ask students to work out what kind of text they are reading. Look for details of meaning, look at particular uses of grammar and vocabulary and then use the information in the text to move on to other learning activities and the teacher also encourage them to reflect on different reading skill.

b. Extensive Reading

Extensive reading should involve reading for pleasure what Richard Day calls joyful reading, the reader deals with longer texts as a whole, which requires the ability to understand the component parts and their contribution to the overall meaning. Example: reading newspaper article, short story or novel. According to Jeremy Harmer that one of the fundamental conditions of a successful extensive reading program is that students should be reading material which they can understand. 4 Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English, Pearson: Longman, 2007, new edition, p. 99.