a text – as if they were casting their eyes over its surface – to get a general idea of
what it is about.
7
In another word, reading ability is capability of the readers in understanding the meaning of the text.Also, they must be able in understanding and applying the
reading technique in order to adjust with the text and their reading purpose. If their reading purpose is to find the unfamiliar vocabulary in dictionary, they must be able
read the text in scanning technique but if their purpose is to seek the general idea of
the text, they must be able read the text in skimming technique.
2. The Objective of Reading
The objective of reading is based on what text that read by reader such as novel, newspaper, textbook, magazine, article, dictionary and many more.Anything what
reader read, they want to get the information from it. Although reader will get pleasure when they read novel or magazine, their first aim is to know the information
how the story of the novelor hot news of some actress and actors in magazine. Likely, when they read textbook, newspaper and others, their purpose is to get the
information. As Nutall stated , “you read because you wanted to get something from
the writing: facts, ideas, enjoyment, even feelings of family community from a letter: whatever it was, you wanted to get the message that the writer had
expressed ”.
8
In addition, Jordan said that, students can have different purposes in their reading; these will include;
To obtain information facts, data, etc. To understand ideas, or theories, etc.
To
discover authors’ viewpoints
7
Harmer,op. cit., p.100.
8
Nutall, op. cit., p.3.
To seek evidence for their own point of view and to quote all of which may be needed for writing their essays, etc.
9
Then,Williams in McDonough and Shaw stated that, usefully classifies reading into a getting general information from the text; b getting specific information
from a text; and c for pleasure or for interest.
10
3. The Kinds of Reading Technique
There are many kinds of reading technique, to understanding a text easily and quickly, the reader mustadjust the technique with the kind of text. They cannot read
telephone directory in the same way as the textbook. According to Harmer, the kinds of reading technique are extensive and intensive reading.Extensive reading refers to
reading which students do often but no exclusively away from the classroom. Intensive reading refers to the detailed focus on the construction of reading texts
which takes place usually but not always in classroom.
11
Meanwhile, Grellet divided four main ways of reading are skimming, scanning, extensive and intensive reading. Skimming
is quickly running one’s eyes over a text to get the gist of it; scanning is quickly going through a text to find a particular piece
of information; extensive reading is reading longer texts, us ually for one’s own
pleasure. This is a fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding; intensive reading is reading short texts, to extract specific information. This is more an
accuracy activity involving reading for detail.
12
It can be said thatintensive reading is reading activity that usually in the classroom to read the specific information in short text like textbook, article etc.
Extensive reading is reading activity at the out class to practice reading fluently to get the pleasure like novel, comic, article etc.Scanning and skimming are the reading
9
R. R. Jordan, English for Academic Purposes, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997, p.143.
10
Jo McDonough and Christopher Shaw, Materials and Methods in ELT a teacher’s guide,
Oxford: Blackwell Publisher, 1993, p.102.
11
Harmer.loc. cit.
12
Grellet.loc.cit.
techniques to read faster, scanning to search the phone number, dictionary, television program; skimming to search the general idea in short text.
B. The Nature of Descriptive Text
1. The Definition of Descriptive Text
Descriptive text is a text that describes the characteristic of something like person, place or thing. Before talked about descriptive text, it is necessary to know
what the text itself.According to Anderson, text is when words are put together to communicate a meaning, a piece of text is created. Texts consist of spoken or written
words that have the purpose of conveying a message.
13
It can be said text is words that has a function to communicate which created by speaker or writer to inform a
message. Furthermore,Dietsch stated
, “description is a recording of concrete details that you see, hear, smell, taste or touch”.
14
In another word, description is a process of describing about something that people feel by using their five senses, it can be what
people see like someone, place or thing; what people taste like food, drink or potion; what people hear like music, sound, or noise; what people smell like aroma of food or
scent of rubbish; what people touch like soft, coarse, brisk, etc. Then Buscemi and Smith stated, “description makes for diversity. The people,
place, and things described in the six selections that follow vary as widely as the distinctive style and perpectives of their authors. Nonetheless, each essay is a potrait
sketched in details that are at once concrete, spesific, and vivid”.
15
It can be said that description is the writer’s way to describe about people, place and things which
appropriate with what they see in a real subject.
13
Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 3, Sellanor: Macmillan Education Australia PTY LTD, 1998, p.2.
14
Betty Mattix Dietsch, Reasoning Writing Well 4ed, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006, p.140.
15
Santi V. Buscemi and Charlotte Smith, 75 Readings plus 8ed, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007,p.37.
