The Characteristics of CIRC

summarizing stories to one another, writing responses to stories, and practicing spelling, decoding, and vocabulary. In other words, the students are taught using sequence activities started with reading and ended by producing a piece of writing or composition. Group activities are emphasized in CIRC. There are some benefits for learning reading and writing in groups. The students can develop the awareness of others’ interests and needs. Developing social skills is also gained from learning in groups. In writing, they can also develop their imaginative and creative thinking. When teams pull together in a writing project, several individual voices come together in the same report. Team members may use different expressions, present information differently, or even focus on different priorities for the project. Hence, the collaboration, working together on the same project, makes the finished product much more thorough and far-reaching than an individually written project could be Reed and Ellis, 2003: 10. However, a smooth final product is the result of committee meetings in which a writing project is read aloud, line by line, and discussed until members agree on wording, organization, and presentation style. Furthermore, Slavin 1995: 106-110 also states the major components of CIRC. They are presented as follows. 1 Reading Groups If reading groups are used, the teacher divides the students into two or three reading groups based on their reading level. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 2 Teams Students make a team of two or three within their reading groups. Team members will get points based on their individual performances, compositions, and book reports, and these points form a team score. 3 Story-Related Activities Students use novels or basal readers. Basal readers here mean basic or simple reading texts. Teacher sets a purpose for reading, introduces new vocabulary, reviews old vocabulary, and discusses the story after students have read it and so on. After the stories are introduced, students are given a series of activities for them to do in their teams. The sequence of activities is as follows: a Partner Reading Students read the reading text silently and then take turns reading the story aloud with their partners. In this stage, the students can correct each other’s words if there are any mistakes. b Story Grammar and Story-Related Writing Students are given questions “Treasure Hunts” related to the story that emphasizes the story grammar – the structure that underlies all narratives. The examples of “Treasure Hunts” are asking about the characters in the story, the plot, the tenses used and the generic structures of the text. c Words Out Loud Students are given a list of new or difficult words used in the story and they must learn to read it aloud correctly. The difficult words and their meanings are not always given by the teacher bu they can be found by the students from their experience while reading the story. d Word Meaning Related to the previous activity, students have to look the new or difficult words in the dictionary, paraphrase the definition, and write a sentence for each that shows the meaning of the word. e Story Retell Students have to summarize and retell the main point of the story to their partner after reading and discussing the story. This stage is good for the students to learn the plot of the story. f Spelling Students check the spelling of each other’s words every week. 4 Partner Checking As students complete each of the activities above, their partners initial a student-assignment form indicating that they have completed andor achieved criteria for that task. Peer review, getting other people to comment on your work in progress, is one of the best ways to test what you have written Reed Ellis, 2003: 101. The writers carefully consider comments made by peer readers as they make adjustments in their writing’s content and organization, clarity, and tone. A big part of getting good feedback is asking directed questions about your work. Only the writer can guide the reader to the specific things you want to know about your writing. 5 Test At the end of three class periods, the students are given a comprehension test on the story, asked to write meaningful sentences for each vocabulary word, and asked to read the word list aloud to the teacher. 6 Direct Instruction in Reading Comprehension One day each week, students receive direct instruction in specific reading comprehension skills, such as identifying main ideas, understanding causal relations, and making inferences. 7 Integrated Language Arts and Writing In this point, students draft a composition after consulting teammates and the teacher about their ideas and organizational plan, work with teammates and then edit one another’s work. According to Reed and Ellis 2003: 101, getting other people to comment on your work in progress peer review is one of the best ways to test what you have written. 8 Independent Reading and Book Report Students are asked to read a book or story individually and they have to report it. In this stage the teacher provides the stories or asks the students to choose their own stories. Choosing their own stories will make the students free and enjoy their story. In this study, the writer applies some components of CIRC, they are teams, story-related activities partner reading, story grammar, word meaning, and story retell, partner checking, direct instruction in reading comprehension, integrated language arts and writing, and independent reading.

b. Reading and Writing in the CIRC Framework

Reading and writing in the CIRC framework focuses on narratives. It is due to the reason that in the CIRC theory, narrative is emphasized as the reading and writing material. It is clearly stated by Slavin 1995: 105. He states that students work in pairs to identify five critical features of each narrative story: characters, setting, problems, attempted solutions, final solution. Hence, in this study, the students are to read a narrative text and then produce a piece of narrative. 1 Definition of Narrative A narrative tells a story. It’s usually told chronologically, in time order, from beginning to end Reed and Ellis, 2003:87. Dumais 1988: 60 also states the same definition; narrative is a kind of writing which tells a story – a series of connected incidents, or an action – process of an action. The basic purpose of narratives is to entertain, and to gain and hold the reader’s interest in a story. However, narratives may also seek to teach or inform, to embody the writer’s reflections on experience, and to nourish and extend the reader’s imagination Derewianka, 1990: 40. 2 Types of Narrative According to Derewianka 1990: 40, there are thirteen types of narratives. Most of them are typically imaginary, but some others are factual. They are: a Fairy Tale It is a well-known story form the folk-lore for children, which often involves fairies or other magical characters, e.g. Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Snow White, etc. b Mystery It is an invented story about something that is secret or exciting which may soon be discovered or revealed. c Science Fiction This story is about imaginary future developments in science and their effect on life, often concerned with space travel, e.g. Star Wars. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI