e. Having knowledge about the topic It will be easier for reader to comprehend the text if they can relate their
background knowledge to the topic of the text. f. Drawing inferences from the title
Before reading the text, readers certainly read the title of text and guess what the text is about. It will be easier for readers to make a big picture about what is
going to be discussed after that. g. Reading things of interest
Students can easily comprehend the text if they interest in what they read. They can be curious to know the content of the text.
h. Studying pictures and illustrations Several texts usually contain many pictures or illustrations to make readers
understand what the author needs to convey. The pictures or illustrations must draw the content of the text.
i. Purposely rereading to check comprehension When readers complete reading the text, sometimes they miss some
information, so to make sure readers had the complete comprehension and information of the text, they can reread the text because some sentences or
important words may be missed and can make readers misunderstand. In addition, Larry Lewin explained some strategies in the process of reading
comprehension. One of the strategies is visualization. He stated that: Visualization is a key reading strategy after a reader can decode. Knowing
what the word ‘say’ is not enough, the student has to figure out what they mean when strung together in that fashion
—to picture the things the author is describing, grasp the concept the author is trying to convey, see the action of
the story play out on the stay of the mind’s eye. Visualization is a key to reading comprehension, and students who lack the ability to visualize can be
helped to develop it.
15
15
Larry Lewin, Paving the Way in Reading and Writing. San Francisco: Jossey Bass a Willey Imprint, 2003, p. 8
According to the statement above, it is very clear that the technique of story mapping has a relation with the visualization as the reading strategy. So, story
mapping needed to apply in this strategy because through story mapping, students can visualize the story on the stage of their mind.
7. Technique in Reading Comprehension
There are several readers who can not comprehend the printed language easily. So, some linguists tried to find some techniques toward reading
comprehension. Pamela J. Farris et. al. explained some techniques that have been selected to in teaching reading comprehension. One of the skills for digging into a
story to examine its part is story mapping. Others to be discussed are question- answer relationship QAR, inferential reading, effective questioning, and SQ3R.
a. Question-Answer Relationship QAR “Question-answer relationship QAR teaches students to recognize a
taxonomy of relationship between specific kinds of questions and their related answer. Using this strategy, students learn how to identify the types of question
they are asked. They also learn how to determine appropriate sources of information to use to answer those questions.”
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b. Inferential Reading “In this strategy, students are dipping into their schema to activate prior
knowledge, combining that information with what the author is telling them explicitly, and coming up with a reason assumption about what is happening in
the story.”
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c. Effective Questioning In reading activity, the teacher should guide students and monitor them to
understand what they read. In order to make reading activity can be effectively participated by students, the teacher sometimes asks students before, during and
after re ading activity. “Good question aid students as they develop important
16
Pamela J. Farris, et al., op. cit., p. 350
17
Ibid., p. 352
concepts, build critical background information, clarify confusion, and stretch to higher level thinking. In short, the question asked by teacher hone
comprehension and direct students a ttention to important aspect of the text.”
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d. SQ3R: A Tool for Expository Text SQ3R is best presented by teacher who carefully models it and then engages
the whole class in practice. It is used when study begins on a new chapter in social studies or science, work through each of the steps together, and then
review it before it is used on the next chapter. The steps of SQ3R involve: 1 Survey: the students quickly skim over the textbook material to be covered.
2 Question: based on that quick survey, students write prediction questions about the material to be covered.
3 Read: now the students read actively, looking for answers to the question they posed.
4 Recite: students put the book aside and try to recall what they have read, talking through the possible answers and testing themselves on the next
materials. 5 Review: students reread part of the material to confirm the answers
previously given.
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e. Story Mapping Pamela J. Farris et al. see mind mapping can be applied in narrative text
which is known as story mapping. They said that story mapping is very helpful for readers to comprehend the pieces in a story. As they said, ―When students
develop a schema for stories, that is, an internal understanding of the expected pieces that make up a typical story, they are better able to comprehend the
narratives that they read. One tool to help them recognize those basic pieces is the story map, a graphic or semantic visual representation of a story.
20
18
Ibid., p. 354
19
Ibid., p. 357
20
Ibid., p. 358
