Reading Comprehension Review of Related Theories 1. Reading

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b. Reading Comprehension

Reading cannot be separated with comprehension because comprehension is “the essence and the ultimate goal of reading” Vaughn Bos, 2009. It means that the objective of a reading activity will be fulfilled if the reader is successful to comprehend the text. Comprehension according to Smith 2004 is relating aspects of the world including texts to the knowledge, intentions, and expectations we already have in mind. Similar to this definition, Koda 2005: 4 in Grabe 2009 states that comprehension comes when the readers are able to extract the information they get from the text and combine with what they have already known. Lynch 1996 adds that comprehension involves the relationship between background knowledge, context, and language. From these three arguments, it can be assumed that background knowledge takes a significant role in comprehension Brown Yule, McCarthy Carter, Cook, Nunan in McDonough Shaw, 2003; Spratt et al., 2005; Shrum Glisan, 2005; Day Bamford, 1998. Readers have their own knowledge of the world which can help them recognize the words found in the text and make expectations about the words and the meaning Spratt et al., 2005. Moreover, Nuttall 1996 points out that if the writer and the reader share the same experiences and knowledge about the world, the comprehension will be easier to be achieved, in contrast, if there is a mismatch between those of the writer and the reader, the comprehension will face problems. As an example, if a writer wrote a medical book, he should assume that the reader will have the same background knowledge as him because if his book is read by 11 people who have no experience about medical terms, it will be difficult for them to comprehend the book. RRSG The Rand Reading Study Group in Snow 2002 defines reading comprehension as “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language”. From this definition, it is known that the process of extracting and constructing meaning comes simultaneously when the reader is reading. As a summary, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a process in which a reader is spontaneously able to retrieve information from text and relate the information to his own background knowledge to construct meaning as the writer intends to convey.

c. The Process of Reading Comprehension