In this case, reading ability on descriptive text is measured by the comprehension of descriptive text. In other word, the
students‘ ability in comprehending descriptive text is characterized from their ability to identify the topic, main idea and supporting
details of the text, the ability to understand the meaning of the word written in the text, to identify the reference and the ability to
recognize the purpose of the text.
B. The Nature of Reading Interest
Reading is a skill and it can only be developed by practice a lot. In order to be able to understand any kinds of text, a reader
must have some skills that will support his understanding. However, a reader reads for many purposes. He will have different
methods for different text being read. A reader may not use the same method when he reads science books and novel. If it
measured by the time, it can be guessed that a reader will read novel faster than science books. It is, of course because he has
something which makes him reading novel faster than science books. Something that a reader has to support his reading is what
known by interest.
Interest is defined as interaction between a person and an object within the environment.
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In other words, there is something happened which made a person and an object interrelated each
other. Interest in the field of education can be referred to as a psychological state or selective preference toward particular
domain of the study.
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In accordance with the two definition of interest, it can be revealed that interest is the psychological aspect
which can make someone doing a particular activity or predispose to an object. The researchers have divided interest into situational
and individual interest. Situational interest refers to a condition when someone prefers to a particular object or to do a particular
activity are affected with some factors. This type of interest tends
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Ulrike I.E. Magner., et al., Triggering Situational Interest by Decorative Illustrations both Fosters and Hinders Learning in Computer-Based
Learning Environments, Learning and Instruction xxx 2012, p. 3
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Huan Shyang Lin., et al., Exploring the Development of College Students‘ Situational Interest in Learning Science, International Journal of
Science Education Vol. 35, No. 13, 2013, p. 2153
to be short term. Unlike situational interest, individual interest is an aspect of preferences that stable overtime without any effected
factors. For further explanation, these types of interest are going to be discussed in the next subtitle.
Krapp have identified three conceptualizations of interest which play an important role on discussion of motivation and
interest. They are: 1
Interest as a dispositional characteristics of the person, 2
Interest as the characteristics of the learning environment and
3 Interest as a psychological state,
Those three concepts are related each other as displayed from the following figure:
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Figure 2.2 Three Approaches to Interest Research Krapp, Hidi,
Renninger, 1992
A first line of research interprets interest as personality trait or motivational disposition long lasting preference for a certain
topic or it is known as individual interest. The second line is the
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Andreas Krapp, Interest, Motivation and Learning: An Educational- Psychologyal Perspective, European Journal of Psychology of Education, Vol.
XIV. No. 1, 1999, p. 24 Characteristics
of the person interest Psychological state
within the person
Characteristics of the learning context
Individual Interest as disposition
interestingness actualized individual
interest; situational
research which considers interest as a specific psychological state rather than as a disposition or trait. This approach focuses on the
cognitive and affective states and processes which are evoked while experiencing an actualized interest.
7. Interest as an Emotion
Before going further to the discussion of interest, it is important to notice that interest is one of the psychological aspects.
Therefore, it is needed to know that interest should be categorized as an emotion.
Someone who is interested in an activity, for example, reading novel, he may be enjoy and happy doing it. There must be
something which makes him do that kind of activity. Therefore, interest can be related to happiness, enjoyment or preference
toward something, whether it is activity or object. Some researchers say that interest can be categorized as an emotion, some
other researchers doubt about this theory. They stated that interest is a nonemotional state of motivation or attention.
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But, there is no enough evidence to prove their statements.
However, based on the illustration above, interest can be categorized as an emotion. It is because interest is the feeling that
closely related to others emotion, such as, happiness or enjoyment.
8. Expressions of Interest
There are many theories mentioned that emotion has its own characteristics. The emotions, such as happiness, fear, anger,
sad or interest, have their own characteristics. The characteristics can be recognized from its facial expression or behavior. If interest
can be categorized as an emotion, so the interestingness will have its own characteristics. It can be shown from the facial expression
or behavior. Someone can be easily recognized he is interested in doing something or not can be seen from its facial expression. For
example, when someone is watching a film, the following facial expressions can be showed that he is interested in watching the
film; he will widen his eyelids more, blink and glance away less
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Paul J. Silvia, Exploring The Psychology of Interest, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 13.
