2 Use of authentic non-pedagogic texts and communication activities
linked to “real-world” contexts, often emphasizing links across written and spoken modes and channels.
3 Approaches that are learner centered in that they take into account
learners’ backgrounds, language needs, and goals and generally allow learners some creativity and role in instructional decisions.
Berns in Littlewood 1981 points out the summary of eight principles of CLT: 1
Language teaching is based on a view of language as communication. It means that language is seen as a social tool that
speakers use to make meaning and to communicate about something to someone for some purpose.
2 Diversity is recognized and accepted as part of language
development and use in second language learners and users, as it is with first language users.
3 A learner’s competence is considered in relative, not in absolute,
terms. 4
More than one variety of a language is recognized as a viable model for learning and teaching.
5 Culture is recognized as instrumental in shaping speakers’
communicative competence, in both their first and subsequent languages.
6 No single methodology or fixed set of techniques is prescribed.
7 Language use is recognized as serving ideational, interpersonal, and
textual functions and is related to the development of learners’ competence in each.
8 It is essential that learners be engaged in doing things with language.
They use the language for a variety of purposes in the teaching and learning process.
CLT puts the focus on the learners. The student s’ expectations and
attitudes play a role in advancing or impeding curricular change.
B. Review of Related Studies
Several studies in the field of interaction-based activities and reading comprehension are reviewed to know the progress of the issues in those fields.
The review is also aimed at getting some ideas and consideration to improve the reading comprehension for the research study.
The first study was conducted by Ghazi Kh. Naimat in 2011. The study investigates the influence of teacher-students interaction on EFL Reading
Comprehension. The setting is in the Al-Hussein Bin University, Jordan. The study takes place in Jordan where English is considered as a foreign language. It
means that the English learning setting occurs in the English for Foreign Language EFL context. As this situation has similarities to Indonesian setting,
the researcher can reflect from it as the consideration to do the research. The subjects of this study are the students who were taking an EFL in the Al-Hussein
Bin University The course focuses on investigating the influence of teacher-students
interaction on EFL reading comprehension. This research study was conducted by applying experimental study. Naimat 2011 proposes three important things
about interaction in reading class. First, the more the learners are exposed to simplified material input, the more they can comprehend Krashen, 1982. The
second is that that there is a need to the interactional method in teaching a foreign language. The interaction between the teacher and the students must be conducted
in teaching learning process especially reading class. Through his research, Naimat 2011 proposes that the same text with different modes interactive vs
unmodified is consequential to students’ chances of communicative interaction with their teacher.
The third is that the EFL students need some kind of motivation in order to make them communicate with their teachers. The students need quality
instruction, input, interaction, and opportunities for better learning outcomes.
Naimat 2011 suggest that the English teacher should not only tap into the sources of intrinsic motivation, but also find ways to connect intrinsic motivation
with external motivational factors which can be brought to a classroom setting. Finally, Naimat 2011 promotes that the students can master their reading
comprehension through the interactional method in teaching and learning in the classroom.
The second research study conducted by Kim McDonough in 2004 investigates the effects of learner-learner interaction during pair and small group
activities in a Thai EFL context. This small- scale study explored instructors’ and
learners’ perceptions about the use of pair and small group activities in a Thai EFL context, and examined whether the learning opportunities theoretically
attributed to pair and small group activities occurred in an intact classroom. This research study also investigated whether learners who actively participated during
the pair and small group activities showed improved production of the target forms. The setting was in north Thailand. The participant were sixteen Thai EFL
students completed the pair and small group activities as part of their regularly scheduled English classes at a large public university in Northern Thailand.
This research study was also conducted by applying experimental study. Data of the research study was gathered through pre-test, post-test and
questionnaire. The tests were administered in a language laboratory equipped with individual carrels with boom microphones. The learners completed the pretest on
the last instructional day prior to the midterm examination break, and completed the post-tests in weeks four and eight. Each test required approximately 20 min to
finish. They completed the questionnaire immediately following the second post- test.
The findings of this research study show that learners who had more participation during the pair and smallgroup activities demonstrated
improvedproduction of the target forms, even though they did not perceive the activities as useful for learning language. This small-scale investigation found that
Thai EFL learners who had more participation in pair and small group activities showed improved production of target forms. However, the findings may be
applicable only to instructional contexts that resemble the EFL learning environment described here. Through this research study can be addressed in
future studies so that EFL teachers have access to classroom based research that may help answer questions about when, how, and why to use pair and small group
activities in different kinds of EFL classrooms.
C. Conceptual Framework
As stated in the introductory chapter, the students at VIII A grade of SMPN 6 Yogyakarta had problems with their in comprehending the English text.
Moreover, their vocabulary mastery was poor. This problematic situation motivated the researcher to solve the problems and improve the quality of the
students’ reading comprehension through interactive reading. Interactive reading focuses on getting comprehensive understanding of the texts and other important
aspects of reading, such as vocabulary, grammar, techniques, and strategies. From the result of the preliminary observation, the reading activities were not well-
