Definitions of Reading and Comprehension

experts, 6 reading subskills, and 7 strategies to maximize reading comprehension.

a. Definitions of Reading and Comprehension

There are some experts proposing different definitions of reading such as Richards and Schmidt 2002, Brown 2004, Spratt, Pulverness and Williams 2005 and Johnson 2008. According to Richards and Schmidt 2002 as well as Johnson 2008: 3, readers read a text to understand its contents comprehension. Moreover, Spratt, Pulverness and Williams 2005 explains that comprehending a text involves understanding the language of the text at word level, sentence level and whole-text level. In addition, Brown 2004 inserts that in the attempt to comprehend texts, readers use a set of schemata or their knowledge about the world while they are reading. In short, it can be concluded that readers try to understand a text when they read it. To do that, they do not only interact with the text itself but also activate their background knowledge about the text. This comprehension can be achieved after they manage to understand words and sentences composing the text so as to make them understand the whole text. Nevertheless, there is a type of reading which does not require readers to understand the text. Richards and Schmidt 2002 affirm that oral reading, saying a written text aloud, can be done with or without an understanding upon its contents. This is consistent with Brown 2001 stating that reading does not always lead to comprehension. Hence, there is a gap between reading and comprehending. Corresponding to the previous explanation by Spratt, Pulverness and Williams 2005 that readers should understand the words and sentences composing the text in order to comprehend a text, Neufeld 2005 explains that this process is intentional in nature and therefore, to comprehend a text, readers should have a reading purpose first. Likewise, Jacobson and Ianiro 2007 emphasize that whatever the purpose of reading is, understanding is always a part of the reading purpose. In short, to comprehend a text is what makes one reads. Furthermore, Jacobson and Ianiro 2007 insert that in the attempts to comprehend a text, readers construct meaning from the text as they read it by absorbing new information found in the text and comparing it to the one in their pre-existing knowledge. So, as they read a certain text, their understanding upon the information related to the topic of the text increases gradually and sometimes changes to fit the information presented in the text. This idea is similar to the concept of accommodation and assimilation suggested by Piaget as explained in Cameron 2001 that learners will either absorb new information without any changes made on their schemata assimilation or adjust their schemata to fit the new information they receive accommodation. These ways facilitate their learning progress. Deepening the discussion on comprehension, Richards and Schmidt 2002: 99 add: Comprehension is the identification of the intended meaning of written or spoken communication. Contemporary theories of comprehension emphasize that it is an active process drawing both on information contained in the message BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING as well as background knowledge, information from the context and from the listener’s and speaker’s purposes or intentions TOP-DOWN PROCESSING. Therefore, comprehension involves active processes and it does not only result from the information contained in the text but also from the interaction with background knowledge that readers bring to the text. Concisely, reading a text is different from comprehending a text. Comprehension is the product of reading. However, not all types of reading leads to comprehension since reading does not always require readers’ understanding upon the text as in the case of reading aloud. To comprehend a text, readers should have reading purposes and bring their background knowledge of the text to the reading process. Comprehension is not a single skill of reading. It instead requires the presence of many reading subskills. It is created after the readers have managed to understand the relationship between the words and sentences composing the text.

b. Types of Reading Comprehension