The Textbook Evaluation Textbook

reader has to proceed the meaning of the word in the text so that the reader could get the comprehension from the text. Furthermore, Daiek and Anter point out that, “Reading is an active process that depends on both an author’s ability to convey meaning using words and your ability to create meaning from them.” 19 Hence, there are two-way communication between the author and the reader in the reading process. Moreover, Harmer believes that, “Reading is exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain. The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work out the significance of these messages.” 20 Thus, reading is considered as an active skill because the reader’s eyes and brain is active while reading and after reading. In addition, Grabe and Stoller define that, “Reading is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriat ely.” 21 This definition is more or less the same with other definitions before. It says that in reading, the reader has to interpret the information properly. In summary, reading is an important skill to learn which needs an active process from the eyes and the brain to get comprehension about the text. It means that to be a good reader, students have to have a good thinking. Consequently, the teachers have to train students to be a good thinker because they could be called as a good reader if they can construct the meaning of the text as they read and direct their own comprehending. If the students have a good thinking, they could have a good result in the reading activity because they know the author’ purpose in writing the reading text and the meaning of the text itself. 19 Deborah Daiek and Nancy Anter, Critical Reading for College and Beyond,Boston: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004, p.5 20 Harmer, op.cit., 1996, p.190 21 William Grabe and Fredricka L. Stoller, Teaching and Researching Reading, Edinburgh: Pearson Education, 2002, p.9

2. The Reading Comprehension

Reading is related with comprehension. Talking about comprehension, we are talking about reading. Grabe explains that, “Reading is centrally a comprehending process. We read to understand what the writer intended to convey in writing, though we also do more.” 22 Comprehension occurs when the reader interprets the meaning of the text and combines it with the readers’ background knowledge. Linse adds that, “Reading comprehension refers to reading for meaning, understanding, and entertainment .” 23 It clearly said that reading comprehension is not only reading for meaning and understanding, but also for entertainment. Moreover, RAND Reading Study Group, as citied by Caldwell, claims that reading comprehension is , “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language.” 24 This statement implies that reading comprehension is a process to construct the meaning of written language which occurs continuously. Similar with other experts, Grellet points out that reading comprehension means, “extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible.” 25 It means that when comprehending the text, the reader needs to extract the information that they got from the text as proper as possible. According to those explanations, reading comprehension is actually more complex than commonly assumed. It focuses on thinking and presenting the meaning of the text. It involves the interaction between the written form of the text with the reader’s eyes and mind. 22 William Grabe, Reading in a Second Language, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009, p.14 23 Linse, op.cit., 2006, p.71 24 JoAnne Schudt Caldwell, Comprehension Assessment, New York: Guilford Press, 2008, p.4 25 Francoise Grellet, Developing Reading Skill, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, p.3

3. The Aim of Reading