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competency and reading rate with tests. Meanwhile, qualitative assessment can be done using reading journal responses, reading interest surveys and
responses to reading strategy checklist. 8
Strive for continuous improvement as a reading teacher Anders, Hoffman, and Duffy in Anderson 2003 argue that a good teacher
needs to understand the nature of reading process.
h. The Teaching of Reading in SMP N 3 Pakem
Based on the School Based Curriculum, there are two kinds of texts that must be learned by students; those are short functional texts and text types. The
short functional texts are short English texts which exist in real life for example announcements, invitations, greeting cards, shopping lists, notices, etc. The text
types include narrative, recount, descriptive, report, and procedure texts. As stated in the Basic Competences and the Standard of Competence of SMP students,
those kinds of texts are taught in order that students will reach functional literacy level; that is a level of proficiency in which students can communicate using both
written and oral language to get things done. The Standard of Competence and the Basic Competences of reading of
Grade VIII of SMP semester two can be stated as follows.
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Table 1. The Standard of Competence and the Basic Competences of Reading of Grade VIII of SMP Semester 2
Standard of Competence Basic Competences
Membaca 11. Memahami makna dalam
esei pendek
sederhana berbentuk
recount dan
narrative untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekitar.
11.1 Membaca nyaring bermakna teks fungsional dan esei pendek sederhana
berbentuk recount dan narrative dengan ucapan, tekanan, dan
intonasi yang berterima
yang berkaitan
dengan lingkungan sekitar.
11.2 Merespon makna dalam teks tulis fungsional pendek sederhana secara akurat,
lancar, dan berterima yang berkaitan dengan lingkungan sekitar.
11.3 Merespon makna dan langkah retorika dalam esei pendek sederhana secara akurat,
lancar dan berterima yang berkaitan dengan lingkungan sekitar dalam teks berbentuk
recount dan narrative.
A curriculum contains three elements; those are planning, implementation, and evaluation Nunan Lamb, 1996. It is similar to the School Based
Curriculum which also contains those three elements. In planning, teachers prepare the goals, the objectives, the materials, and
the stages of teaching and learning adjusted to the curriculum that will be summarized in a lesson plan. According to Nunan Lamb 1996, an effective
planning includes these following: 1
A detailed knowledge of the students and their needs 2
A clearly formulated set of goals and objectives 3
A firm view of the nature of language and learning. Harmer 2007 adds that a teacher should think carefully about the stages of the
lesson and how he will get from one stage to another. It is important to keep the lesson staying in line with the goals and the objectives.
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In implementation, the teacher employs teaching methodology and develops materials. Methodology according to Feez and Joyce 1998 refers to
“the underlying approach which influences how learners work with syllabus content in the classroom”. Because it has been post-method era, English teachers
can freely employ any method which is considered effective to teach English. One of the methods which is well-known and is applied in many schools in Indonesia
is text-based method or it is usually called genre-based method. This method is adjusted to the curriculum which divides English materials into various text types
mentioned above. This method consists of five stages those are building the context, modelling and deconstructing the text, joint construction of the text,
independent construction of the text, and linking to related text Feez Joice, 1998; Nunan Lamb, 1996. Hammond et al. 1992: 17 proposed almost similar
method which is called a Teaching-Learning Cycle which is adapted from Callaghan and Rothery 1998. This method consists of four stages those were
building knowledge of the field, modelling of text, joint construction of text, and independent construction of text.
In the first stage, the students are introduced to the social context of the text through pictures, audio-visual material, realia, excursions, field trips, guest
speakers, etc. Besides, the teacher can introduce the social purpose of the text or compare the text with another type of text which is similar or contrast. The
purpose is to activate students‟ background knowledge about certain topic being studied and to lead the students‟ readiness to learning.
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In the second stage, the students are asked to investigate the structural pattern and the language features of the text. In Feez and Joyce 1998, modeling
of text is divided into three activities: text-level activities, clause-level activities, and expression-level activities. Text-level activities include sorting, matching,
labeling, sequencing jumbled sentences, presentation, and activities focusing on cohesive devices and reference e.g. semantic maps, vocabulary networks, etc.
Clause-level activities include presentation and practice activities related to the grammatical features of the text. Expression-level activities include pronunciation,
decoding and spelling. In the third stage, the students are asked to contribute to the construction
of the text under the teacher guidance. The students try to do exercises which lead the students to be able to construct the text independently. The activities include
discussion about construction of text, jigsaw, information gap activities, small group construction of texts, etc.
In the four stage, the students independently construct the text. The activities include comprehension activities such as performing a task, sequencing
pictures, numbering, ticking or underlining material, and answering comprehension questions.
Harmer 2007 argues that the students need to know when a stage finishes and when another stage begins in order to draw their attentions to what is going
on and what will happen next. To do this, the teacher should tell the students what stage is going on or make summarizing comments in the end of each stage.
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After planning and implementing the lesson, what the teacher should do is assessing the students‟ reading competency. The assessment is done to measure
the students‟ ability in reading.
i. Assessing Reading Comprehension
