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that reason, t his research used Brown’s theory of reading test to analyze the data.
Here is the data presentation. Based on the data analysis, the three consecutive years of Junior High
School English UN tested reading skills. Brown 2004, p. 185 argues that reading is a process of conveying meanings from the written words in order to gain
information. The data showed that the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN consisted of reading passages which allowed the test takers to
convey meanings in order to get information. Brown 2004, p. 3 also argues that English language tests measure test takers’ abilities to perform English language
skills, which are to read, listen, write or speak. To be more precise, the types of reading which are tested in the three consecutive years of Junior High School
English UN presented as follows.
Table 4.1 The Data Presentation of Reading Test Items Based on
Brown’s Typology of Reading Tests
Brown’s Reading Typology
English UN 2012
English UN 2013
English UN 2014
Frequency Percentage
Perceptive -
- -
- -
Selective 24
48 30
102 54.8
Interactive 18
24 42
84 45.2
Extensive -
- -
- -
Based on the data, the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN tested two types of reading namely selective and interactive reading
Brown, 2004, p. 189. There were 54.8 of the questions which tested selective reading and 45.2 of the questions which tested interactive reading. In addition,
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there were no questions which tested perceptive and extensive reading. To be more precise, the discussion is presented as follows.
1. Testing Selective Reading
The three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN tested reading skill through selective reading. It was proved by filling-gap texts which
delivered in the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN Brown, p. 189. These texts constituted a selective reading because they assessed
the test takers ’ knowledge about English grammar and vocabulary items. It was
supported by Brown 2004, p. 189 that selective reading focused on the recognition of lexicons and grammar Brown, 2004, p. 189. Moreover, here is a
table which represented the materials which were tested in the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN through selective reading.
Table 4.2 The Materials which Were Tested in Filling-Gap Texts
Materials English Vocabulary items
English tenses Frequency
88 5
Percentage 94.6
5.4
As selective reading focused on lexicons and grammar of a language Brown, 2004, p.189, 94.6 of questions in filling-gap texts tested the test
takers ’ knowledge about English vocabulary items. For the rest, 5.4 of questions
in filling-gap texts tested the test takers ’ knowledge about English tenses. To go
further to the discussion how filling-gap texts constituted a selective reading and how the reading tasks assessed the materials, here is an example of feeling-gap
text.
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43. … A. for
B. from C. since
D. during
44. … A. come
B. came C. comes
D. coming
45. … A. park
B. store C. job
D. room
I went to Germany with my family … 43 a school holiday a few years ago. It was getting dark, so we were looking for a hotel. Then we … 44 upon two hotels next
each other with … 45 opening. We just randomly chose one and settled of the night.
Figure 4.1 A Filling-Gap Text Taken from English UN 2012
Figure 4.1 corresponded to the two characteristics of selective reading. First, the task was constructed by using a brief paragraph as the stimulus Brown,
2004, p. 189. The paragraph in Figure 4.1 was considered as a brief because it consisted of only 4 sentences. Moreover, the paragraph was considered as the
stimulus because it gave instructions to the test takers about the tasks to do. In other words, it stimulated the test takers to be able to answer the following
questions. Second, Figure 4.1 constituted a task which needed brief responses. It is supported by Brown 2004, p. 189 that brief responses were intended in
selective reading. To answer the questions, the test takers only needed to choose one correct word from four choices. They did not need to write a phrase which
