8 ―How does the implementation of teaching reading using Schema
Activation Strategy improve the reading comprehension of grade VIII students at SMP N 1 Mlati in the academic year of 20132014
‖? E.
The Objective of the Study
To improve the reading comprehension of grade VIII students at SMP N 1 Mlati in the academic year of 20132014 by using Schema Activation
Strategy.
F. The Significance of the Study
Some expected advantages could be acquired from this study: 1.
For students, it will be an effort to improve their interest in English especially in reading skill.
2. For English teacher, it will be useful opportunity to improve their
quality of teaching English in general and teaching reading in detail. 3.
For readers, it can broaden the knowledge about using schema activation strategy in teaching reading comprehension.
9
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents the literature review, relevant research studies, and conceptual framework. Each is presented below.
A. Literature Review
1. The Nature of Reading and Reading Comprehension
a. The Definition of Reading
Goodman in Burt, Peyton, and Adams 2003: 33 states that reading is essentially the process of getting important and meaningful information from
written language. The interaction between the reader‘s cognition and the text is seen to be a natural activity that happens while a reader is reading. In
reference to this statement, according to Urquhart and Weir in Grabe 2009: 14, reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded
in language form via the medium of print. Moreover, reading is also seen as a process of gathering visual information from the text and analyzing that
information through different systems the brain Burt, Peyton, Adams, 2003: 34.
In relation to the above theories, Moreillon 2007: 10 states that reading is making meaning from print and from visual information. However,
reading is not simple. Reading is an active process that requires a great deal of practice and skill. In order to be good readers, learners must take their ability
to pronounce words and to ―read‖ pictures and then make the words and
pictures mean something.
10 Johnson 2008: 3 states that reading is the practice of using text to
create meaning. The two keywords here are creating and meaning. If there is no meaning that is being created, there is no reading which is taking place.
Reading also integrates visual and non-visual information. During the act of reading, the visual information found on the page combines with the non-
visual information contained in the reader‘s mind to create meaning. In that way, what is the reader‘s mind is just as important as what is on the page in
the process of creating meaning reading Johnson, 2008: 4. Alderson 2000: 25 suggests that reading involves a social context.
He suggests that reading is socially practiced. In short, reading is not an isolated activity. It is usually conducted for various purposes in social
contexts. Therefore, the social context contributes to a reader‘s ideas of what is the meaning of their activity reading. In other words, the statement
explains that the term reading can be defined as an active process of getting meaning intended by the author from printed or written verbal symbols.
During this process, the reader combines hisher language skills and background knowledge of the real world to grasp the meaning.
b. The Definition of Reading Comprehension
Snow 2002: 11 defines reading comprehension as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and
involvement with written language. Such three dimensions as the reader, the text and the activity are entailed from the definition. The identities and
capacities of readers, the texts that are available and valued, and the activities
11 in which readers are engaged with those texts are all influenced by, and in
some cases, determined by, the sociocultural context. The sociocultural context mediates
students‘ experiences, just as students‘ experiences influence the context Snow, 2002: 12.
In relation to the above theories, Lenz 2005: 1 states that reading comprehension is the process of constructing meanings from the text. It means
that the reading comprehension process involves the reader‘s ability to make relationship between their background knowledge and their purpose of
reading with the meanings of the text. Then, its process results a meaning of the text, which is being understood by the reader. Similarly, Koda in Grabe
2009: 14 states that comprehension occurs when the reader extracts and integrates various information from a text, and combines it with what is
already known. Furthermore, Carrel and Eisterhold 1983: 556 state that comprehending a text is an interactive process between the reader‘s
background knowledge and the text. Efficient comprehension requires the ability to relate the textua
l material to one‘s own knowledge. From the statements, it can be concluded that background knowledge of the reader has
important roles in the process of comprehending. Moreillon 2007: 19 says that understanding the importance of
background knowledge to comprehension is critical because we connect new information with prior knowledge before we integrate and organize the new
information. Rosenblatt in Moreillon 2007: 19 developed a theory of reading as a transaction among the reader, the text, and the intention of the author. She
