Shera Z. Hutabarat : The Interest Of English Students Of Faculty Of Letters, In The University Of Sumatera Utara In Reading Literary Works, 2009.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Research
The term of literature and sociology are two fields of knowledge that cannot be separated from each other. Literature and Sociology are two studies that
are different from each other but they have close relation. Sociology derives from the Greek ‘ Socius’ society and ‘logos’ science which means the study of all
the aspects of human and their relation in community Ratha, 2003:1. Literature derives from Latin ‘littera’ which primarily refers to the written or printed words
Kasim, 2005:1. The relationship between literature and society is usually discussed by starting with the phrase, derived from De Bonald, that ‘literature is
an expression of society’ Wellek, 1963:95. Some relations between Literature and Society are: literary works absolutely is the part of society and it uses
language which is the part of social institution, literary works is for the readers who are the members of society, and literary works is a picture of society.
Literature is a social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation Wellek, 1963:94. As the social institution, the term of literature and
literary works cannot be separated from people. Ironically, on the view of Taufik Ismailhttp:kalipaksi.wordpress.com20070623sastra-pelajar-minat-baca-dan-
taufik-ismail, the interest of Indonesian people toward literature is still low. According to the data from BPS Badan Pusat Statistik in 2003, it shows that 44,
28 of the citizen aged 15-up like to read fiction books. Meanwhile only 21, 07
Shera Z. Hutabarat : The Interest Of English Students Of Faculty Of Letters, In The University Of Sumatera Utara In Reading Literary Works, 2009.
of them read the non-fiction books. In 2006, the research showed that only 23, 5 gained the information from reading. The rest of them preferred watching TV and
listening radio to collect information. This result shows how Indonesian people do not rely much on reading to get information, reading is not yet a habit for them.
To respond this, Primanto Nugroho http:kalipaksi.wordpress.com20070623sastra-pelajar-minat-baca-dan-taufik-
ismail commented that reading is an activity which requires much time. Ironically, many of them spend more time to work and earn money. Consequently
they have less time to read. Moreover, the books cost are quite expensive, so many of them cannot afford to buy Nurhidayah, 2007.
In this thesis, I am going to find out some conditions that happen around the English Department students as the part of a society about their attitude toward
reading literary works and the factors that influence them in reading literary works. The interest of English Department students to read English literary works
has a big beneficial because they have to know much about it by having many references so that they can learn it well.
In English Department, the students study English literature works. Besides, they also learn and practice in speaking, listening, writing, and reading.
English Department is chosen by many Senior High Schools students because they want to increase their ability in English. They usually think that their English
skills can be improved in English Department. In fact, the students that have accepted in this Department must be able to speak and write in English well.
Shera Z. Hutabarat : The Interest Of English Students Of Faculty Of Letters, In The University Of Sumatera Utara In Reading Literary Works, 2009.
In English Department, literary works are the object that must be studied by the students. One of the aims of this Department is to teach the students how to
analyze the literary works. English Department in University of Sumatera Utara offers two kinds of concentrate mainly linguistics and literature. Linguistics deals
with morphology, semantic, syntax, phonology, and pragmatic. Whereas literary deals with prose, play, and poetry.
Reading is one of the important things to support the study, especially for English Department students who have to study literary works. All literary works
have messages for the readers such as moral lessons. So, the students have to able to comprehend its meaning to get the messages. Besides, they learn the style, the
beauty of language, the history and the social condition that happened when the literary works were created. By analyzing the literary works, they also can add
their knowledge, enrich vocabularies, and teach the students to think critically. That is the reason why I want to do a research to find out the interest of
English Department students in University of Sumatera Utara in reading literary works and the factors that influence them to read literary works.
1.2 Statement of Problems
