The Identification of Problem
8 Based on those statements above, clearly, reading is a complex
process in getting meaning or in understanding the message. It is commonly what we call as reading comprehension. It is in line with Daniel and Samuels
1998 who stated that “The actively understanding of the message to
construct the meaning concerning the transaction between what the author is trying to convey through his words and the mind of a reader is called as
reading comprehension ” p. 30.
However, in comprehending a printed language, it is quite difficult as the reader must accomplish multiple things simultaneously in constructing
the meaning from a text. Here, Ur 1996 explained that: Our aims in real-life reading usually go beyond mere understanding.
We may wish to understand something in order to learn from it in a course of study, in order to find out how to act instructions,
directions, in order to express an opinion about it a letter requesting advice, or for many other purposes. Other pieces of writing, into
which the writer has invested thought and care, demand a personal response from the reader to the ideas in the text, such as
interpretation, application to other contexts, criticism, or evaluation p. 150.
The illustration above shows how the complexity of reading. However, these abilities are the important things that should be mastered to
completely understand in getting the meaning of a text. Moreover, in reading comprehension the readers also need to combine
the information from the text with their background knowledge to comprehend the text. Lewin 2003 considered thi
s as “prior knowledge”. He said that;
Prior knowledge is regarded as what the readers know toward incoming topic concerning their past knowledge which is stored in the
brain then occurring the integration of newly information to evoke retrieving the existing information to save them into their memories in
categories called as schemata or it is
widely known as „schema theory‟ p. 23.
Hence, to grasp the meaning of the text, a reader is sought to gain the ability in interpreting the text meaningfully where he needs prior knowledge to
assist him in making sense of the author‟s message. It is in line with Linse 2005 stated that the reading comprehension refers to for meaning,
understanding, and entertainment p. 71.
Thus, in preparing reading activities the readers mentally access their schemata toward current reading topic then recalling to evoke what they