Background of the Study

D. Formulation of the Study

Based on the limitation of the problem, the problem of this study is formulated as follows: Is the use of storyboard technique effective on students‟ reading comprehension of narrative text at tenth grade of MAN 1 Tangerang Selatan?

E. Objective of the Study

The objective of the study was to get empirical evidence about the effectiveness of using storyboard technique on students‟ reading comprehension of narrative text at tenth grade of MAN 1 Tangerang Selatan.

F. Significance of the Study

The results of the study are expected to give some significance not only theoretically, but also practically: - For students, the results of the study can help them to check their comprehension on reading narrative text and get more information related with narrative. Moreover, it can give them motivation and new experience in learning narrative text by storyboarding. - For teachers, it can give them new information about the use of storyboard technique in teaching narrative text. It also can be a reference for the teachers to create new variation of using storyboard technique in teaching other kinds of texts or other language skills. - For schools, it can be a concern to increase the quality of teaching and learning process. - For further researchers, it can increase their perspective in teaching reading. Besides, it can be a reference in conducting similar or different research field. 5

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Reading Comprehension

1. The Understanding of Reading

Reading is an important skill in language learning, besides speaking, listening, and writing. Reading is not only part of language learning, but all learning activities for all subjects involve reading. Learners need to read textbooks related to the subject they learn, to read assignments given by the teacher, and even to read their own writing. McDonough, Shaw, and Masuhara argued that, “Reading is the most important language skill, particularly in cases where students have to read English material for their own specialist subject but may never have to speak the language.” 1 Therefore, it can be called that reading is the fundamental way in learning all area of studies. There are various definitions of reading which come from various perspectives. According to Linse on her book entitled Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners , “Reading is a set of skills that involves making sense and deriving meaning from the printed words.” 2 It means that in order to read, the readers should have abilities to find meaning of the words in print, and then to understand those meaning in order to comprehend it. In the context of second- language readers, the comprehension of the readers are influenced by their background knowledge of the text, their linguistic competence of the target language, and reading strategies they used while reading the text. Furthermore, Rudell in his book entitled Teaching Content Reading and Writing stated that, Reading is the act of constructing meaning while transacting with the text. The reader makes meaning through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience; information available in text; the 1 Jo McDonough, Christopher Shaw, and Hitomi Masuhara, Materials and Methods in ELT: a teacher’s guide, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, p. 110. 2 Caroline T. Linse, Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2005, p. 69. stance he or she takes in relationship to the text; and immediate, remembered, or anticipated social interaction and communication. 3 Moreover, Farris, Fuhler, and Walther on their book, Teaching Reading: A Balance Approach for Today’s Classrooms, stated that, “Reading means getting meaning from print. The essence of reading is a transaction between the words of an author and the mind of a reader, during which meaning is constructed.” 4 It means that there is transaction in reading process, which is the process of transferring meaning from the author to the reader. Based on all definitions above, it can be concluded that reading is a complex communication process between the author who transfer meanings and the reader who interpret those meanings. In order to get the same messages as what the author means, the reader also need to interact with the text. This interaction will come to the reader‟s comprehension, in which the reader transfers the words from the written text that he or she read to the brain or mind in order to be interpreted into a meaningful discourse.

2. The Purposes of Reading

When someone decides to read some kind of texts, there must be a reason why he or she does that activity. Every person may have different purposes of reading. For instance, students may read textbook in order to comprehend the materials they have learned, and teachers may read it in order to prepare the teaching materials or to decide what kind of technique they will use in the classroom, etc. There are seven purposes for reading according to Grabe and Stoller. 5 a. Reading to search for simple information This is the common reason used by the readers for doing reading activity. In reading to search, the reader need to scan the text they read in order to find 3 Martha Rapp Ruddell, Teaching Content Reading and Writing, New Jersey: John Wiley Son, Inc., 2007, p. 31. 4 Pamela J. Farris, Carol J. Fuhler, and Maria P. Walther, Teaching Reading: A Balance Approach for Today’s Classrooms, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004, p. 324 5 William Grabe, and Fredricka L. Stoller, Teaching and Researching Reading, New York: Routlegde, 2013, pp. 6 –9.