Definition of Reading Achievement
reading achievement.
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Also, a test designed to determine a students’ mastery of a given academic area as old as formal education itself.
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To get high reading comprehension and achievement, readers need some of conditions to make a maximum progress in learning to read. These conditions
include: a.
Physical health Students may have problems with their physical health in school learning.
Physical discomfort, languor, a low energy level, and similar symptoms of health problems may often interfere with normal progress in reading. Nervous tension
and even ordinary physical fatigue can reduce enjoyment and interest in reading, with consequent decline in efficiency.
b. Mental health
Among the basic developmental needs of children that affect growth in reading is a feeling of security, of being accepted and loved, and of being
adequate to the tasks they are expected to carry out. Everyone performs better in any activity if heshe has self-confidence, a feeling of successful performance, and
a strong desire to achieve. One cannot learn well, in reading or anything else, if he is distracted by anxieties, frustrations, and the sense of failure.
c. Sight and hearing
It has been estimated that about one fourth to one half of elementary school children are in need of visual correction. Quite probably nearly, all readers
– slow, normal, and superior – who have visual defects would improve in reading ability if their defects were corrected.
Then, a child who suffers from hearing loss is at a distinct advantage. Heshe will, for example, have difficulty in benefiting from the teacher’s oral
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Hacettepe University, An Investigation into the Relationship Between L2 Reading Motivation and Reading Achievement, Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 2015, p. 600.
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Julian C. Stanley, Measurement in Today’s School, New Jersey: Practice Hall Inc., 1964 p.
16.
explanations. Especially, if the child is taught by predominantly oral-phonetic methods, auditory acuity is important in the process of learning to read.
d. Intelligence
It is known that a fairly close relationship exist between intelligence and the ability to read. This relationship may be ascribed, in part, to the fact that the
correlation between performance in intelligence tests and reading tests usually tends to be very high may mean merely that a large part of intelligence test calls
for abilities closely related to the ability to read. Then, too, our general notion of intelligence places a high value on reading ability. It has been demonstrated that
in our culture, and under present conditions in American schools, a child has better chance of success in reading if he has average or above average
intelligence.
e. Background of experience
If it is true that success in reading depends on what the reader brings to the printed page, much significance must be attached to the body of direct and
indirect experiences which he has accumulated advance of the reading. The child’s prior stock of impressions will determine in large measure how much
meaning he will derive from the visual symbols before him. Through the synthesis of the direct impressions which can be brought about in the process of reading, the
reader develops new images and concepts which enable him to extend the range of his vision of reality. Through reading, we may range in imagination over the
globe, over the known universe, and over the centuries, and each new reading experience provides the background for further understanding in reading.
f. Knowledge of language
If direct experience is to be of substantial aid in reading, it must be accompanied by an adequate fund of experience with language. A good
knowledge of language is necessary in preparation for the reading experience illustrates the close interrelations of the various aspects of language
communication. The wide experience with all kinds of language, including extensive contacts with words and sentences in meaningful situations, contributes
effectively to the improvement of reading.
g. Desire and purposes for reading
The desire to read is the motivating force that leads to reading. It may simply be the desire to do what others around us are doing. It may be the desire to
have needed information or to spend a pleasant leisure hour. In any case, the desire to read arises from a sense of need for reading.
Desire eventuates in purpose, which clarifies the direction effort shall take. Thus the emphasis in reading guidance should be placed not upon arbitrary
teacher-direction, but upon the awakening of pupil desire, the release of pupil energy, and the development of pupil self-direction. Then, the number and types
of purposes for which individuals read are almost unlimited.
h. Interest in reading
Closely related to purpose in reading is interest. Children are most likely to read with comprehension those materials which deal with topics of interest of
them. In fact, it has been found that some pupils are able to read stories at a level of reading difficulty far beyond their normal abilities if the subject is one in which
they are vitally interested. Thus a boy follows professional baseball closely may successfully read a sports story in newspaper even though it is several years
beyond him in reading difficulty.
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In short, reading achievement is the result of studen ts’ effort to get,
understand, and acquire knowledge and skill of reading through systematic process and practices with certain strategies in period of time. It is usually
measured by score of assignment and examination in reading of English subject. Furth
ermore, the students’ achievement may be affected by some factors, one of the factor is students’ intelligence.
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John J. Deboer and Martha Dallmann, The Teaching of Reading, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1964, pp. 26
– 36.