By Wahyu Widiasih Student Number: 051214069 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COOPERATIVE INTEGRATED
READING COMPOSITION (CIRC) THROUGH A SET OF READING
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS TO TEACH READING TO THE FIFTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Wahyu Widiasih
Student Number: 051214069
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COOPERATIVE INTEGRATED
READING COMPOSITION (CIRC) THROUGH A SET OF READING
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS TO TEACH READING TO THE FIFTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Wahyu Widiasih
Student Number: 051214069
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
SUCCESS There is no hope of success for the person who does not have a central purpose or definite goal at which to aim.
The reason man may become the master of his own destiny is because he has the power to influence his own subconscious mind.
Man, alone has the power to transform his thoughts in to physical reality.
Man, alone can dream and make his dreams come true.
First, thought and then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans in to reality.
The beginning as you will observe, is in your imagination.
(Napoleon Hill)
I dedicate this thesis to:
Myself
My savior: Jesus Christ and Saint Mary
My parents: Ay. Widodo and M. Suwarsih
My beloved soul mate: HY. Ismanu Didik H
All people whom I love
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to convey my highest praise to Jesus
Christ and Saint Mary for the amazing grace and guidance upon my life,
especially during the hard times in my study and in the completion of this thesis.Without their grace, guidance, and blessing, I could not have accomplished the thesis well.
For sure, I am greatly indebted to my sponsor, C. Tutyandari, S.Pd.,
M.Pd., who willingly spent her precious time reviewing my thesis, making
practical suggestions for the revision and also encouraging me in working on this thesis.
My thankfulness goes to all the lecturers of the English Language
Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University who have guided me
during my study. My special thanks also go to all staff of PBI secretariat who patiently gave their service during my study.
My sincere thanks go to the headmaster of SD Kanisius Kintelan
Yogyakarta, who has permitted me to conduct the research. I also thank all of the
students in SD Kanisius Kintelan Yogyakarta, especially the fifth grade students, for their willingness and cooperation as the research participants in this thesis.
I present this accomplishment to the greatest people in my life; my
beloved parents for their endless love, prayers, supports and encouragements. I
also thank my brothers for their love, trust, support and help.I would like to send my deepest thank to HY. Ismanu Didik Harwoto, with whom I will spend my future life, for giving me love, care, attention, support during my time especially in finishing my thesis.
I am particularly grateful to my thesis mate, Rimas Sunaring Negari with whom I discussed, shared the confusion and the difficult time in writing this thesis. Further, I thank her for the willingness to spend her time to help me as the observer partner. Many thanks also go for her encouragement and suggestions.
My deep gratitude goes to Rm. Dr. Mateus Mali, CSsR, for the supports, prayers and suggestions for the improvement of my thesis. Besides, I also thank him for lending me his video camera. I also thank Fr. Yohanes Umbu Lede, CSsR, for his willingness to help me to record the learning activities during the research.
My special gratitude also belongs to all my best friends I have ever had,
Rimas, Datia, Siska, Tunjung, Daniel, Adit, Marshel, Endru, Nita who shared
joy, laughter, love, affection and support with me, especially during my study. My gratitude also goes to my lovely friends Septi, Yayaz, Filus, Kanya, Lia and all
PBI 2005 students for the wonderful friendship and moments.
Last but not least, I would like to express my acknowledgements to all people who cannot be stated by names here. I thank those who have supported and loved me. I cannot finish my thesis without their assistance. May God give them all endless blessing.
Wahyu Widiasih
TABLE OF CONTENTS
7 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description .............................................................
11 c. Reading for General Comprehension. .............................
10 b. Reading to Learn from Texts. .........................................
a. Reading to Search for Simple Information and Reading to Skim…... .....................................................................
10
9 2. The Purpose of Reading .......................................................
9 1. The Nature of Reading .........................................................
6 G. Definition of Terms....................................................................
TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGES ....................................................................................... ii PAGE OF DEDICATION................................................................................ iv STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................ v PAGE OF PUBLICITY ................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................. ix LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................. xi ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... xii
6 F. Research Benefits.......................................................................
5 E. Research Objective ....................................................................
5 D. Problem Limitation ...................................................................
4 C. Problem Formulation.................................................................
1 B. Problem Identification ...............................................................
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Research Background................................................................
ABSTRAK ..................................................................................................... xiv
11
4. Reading Comprehension .....................................................
12 5. Facilitating Comprehension ................................................
12 6. Basic Principles in Teaching Reading to Children .............
13 7. In School Motivators of Reading Behavior ........................
15 8. Techniques for Fostering Motivation..................................
16 9. Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition ......................
18 B. Theoretical Framework ............................................................
24 CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Research Method ......................................................................
26 B. Research Participants ................................................................
27 C. Research Instruments ................................................................
28 D. Data Gathering Technique .......................................................
31 E. Data Analysis Technique ..........................................................
32 F. Research Procedure....................................................................
36 CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSIONS
A. CIRC Implementation in Teaching Reading to the Fifth Grade Students of Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School.........
39 B. The Influencing Factors in the Implementation of Teaching Reading Using CIRC. ...............................................................
56 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions ..............................................................................
72 B. Suggestions ...............................................................................
77 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................
80
LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A The Permission Letter............................................................
82 APPENDIX B Statement from SD Kanisius Kintelan Yogyakarta ............... 84 APPENDIX C The Results of Observation Checklists..................................
85 APPENDIX D The Results of Field Notes ....................................................
92 APPENDIX E The List of Interview Questions ............................................ 101 APPENDIX F The Results of The Interviews ............................................... 101 APPENDIX G The Materials......................................................................... 110
ABSTRACT
Widiasih, Wahyu. 2009. The Implementation of Cooperative Integrated
Reading Composition (CIRC) Through a Set of Reading Instructional Materials
to Teach Reading to the Fifth Grade Students of Elementary School.
Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma
University.Teaching reading to the elementary students is not an easy thing to do as they have to be able to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret the information appropriately (Grabe and Stoller, 2004: 9). Moreover, the elementary students also have short attention span in following the lesson. Thus, the elementary students need interesting reading activities that could motivate them to follow the lesson. If they feel enjoy in reading, it will help them to achieve better result. The Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition (CIRC) is one of the methods that can be used to teach reading to be more interesting. In teaching reading using CIRC, the students will work in the groups to do interesting activities such as reading to one another, making prediction about how the story will end, responding to the story orally or in a written form, practicing spelling and vocabulary mastery (Slavin, 1995: 105).
In this research, the researcher would implement CIRC to teach reading to the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan elementary school Yogyakarta. In implementing CIRC method, the researcher would use a set of reading instructional materials design using CIRC, which is designed by Santi Dyah Ikasari, 2005. The researcher used the materials design in order to provide suitable materials with the implementation of CIRC. In this study, the researcher would focus the research to describe the process of the implementation of CIRC. Therefore, the researcher did not intend to evaluate the materials design.
This research was intended to answer two research questions, they are:
1. How is CIRC implemented in teaching reading for the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School Yogyakarta?
2. What are the factors that influence the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC? To conduct this research, the researcher used survey as a method to gather data. In order to answer the research’s questions, the researcher used several instruments, they were: observation checklist, field notes, video recording and interview. Those four instruments were used in order to find out how CIRC is implemented. While, in order to find out the factors that influenced the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC, the researcher conducted interviews to twenty two fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan elementary school Yogyakarta.
After conducting the research, the researcher found the research questions’ answer. First, there were several steps to implement CIRC to teach reading to the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan elementary school. The researcher
1. Teaching reading to the fifth grade students using set of reading instructional materials design using CIRC.
Before teaching reading using CIRC, the researcher divided the students into four groups. The students would work in the same group to do the reading activities in the four times implementation of CIRC.
2. Implementing three principles of CIRC. The researcher classified five parts of the reading instructional materials design into three principles of CIRC. The principles were story-related activities, story-related writing and words out loud principles. Second, it was found that there were inhibiting and supporting factors influencing the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC. There were three inhibiting factors in the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC. They were the reading text, students’ vocabulary limitation and students’ performance in group. While, there were two supporting factors in the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC. They were the students’ interest and the students’ motivation. The inhibiting factors gave big influence so that the implementation of CIRC could not obtain optimum result.
In summary, the implementation of CIRC could work to teach reading to the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan elementary school. However, it could achieve optimum result if the teacher considers some aspects in teaching reading using CIRC. Some suggestions about the implementation of CIRC to improve the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC to elementary students were presented.
Key Words: reading, CIRC, implementation, story-related activities, story
related writing, words out loud principle.
ABSTRAK
Widiasih, Wahyu. 2009. The Implementation of Cooperative Integrated
Reading Composition (CIRC) Through a Set of Reading Instructional Materials to Teach Reading for the Fifth Grade Students of Elementary School.Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Mengajar reading bagi siswa sekolah dasar bukanlah hal yang mudah, karena mereka harus mampu menarik kesimpulan dari teks bacaan dan menafsirkan informasi yang terkandung di dalamnya dengan benar (Grabe and Stoller, 2004: 9). Selain itu, para siswa juga mempunyai daya konsentrasi yang rendah ketika mengikuti pelajaran. Oleh karena itu, para siswa membutuhkan aktivitas membaca yang menarik untuk dapat memotivasi mereka dalam mengikuti pelajaran. Jika mereka merasa senang dalam aktivitas membaca, maka hal itu dapat membantu mereka untuk mencapai hasil yang lebih baik.
Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition (CIRC) adalah salah satu metode
yang dapat digunakan untuk mengajar reading menjadi lebih menarik. Dalam mengajar reading dengan menggunakan CIRC, para siswa bekerja dalam kelompok-kelompok untuk melakukan aktivitas yang menarik seperti membacakan teks bacaan dari seorang kepada yang lainnya, membuat prediksi tentang bagaimana suatu cerita akan berakhir, menanggapi cerita secara lisan atau tertulis, melatih ejaan dan penguasaan kosa kata (Slavin, 1995: 105).
Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti menerapkan metode CIRC untuk mengajar
reading kepada siswa kelas V sekolah dasar Kanisius Kintelan Yogyakarta.
Dalam penerapan metode CIRC, peneliti menggunakan desain materi instruksi membaca dengan menggunakan metode CIRC yang dibuat oleh Santi Dyah Ikasari, 2005. Peneliti menggunakan desain materi untuk memberikan materi yang sesuai dengan penerapan CIRC. Dalam studi ini, peneliti memfokuskan penelitian untuk mendeskripsikan proses penerapan CIRC. Oleh karena itu, peneliti tidak bermaksud untuk mengevaluasi desain materi yang digunakan.Ada dua pertanyaan penelitian dalam penelitian ini yaitu: 1. Bagaimana metode CIRC diterapkan dalam pengajaran reading bagi siswa kelas V SD Kanisius Kintelan?
2. Faktor-faktor apakah yang mempengaruhi penerapan pengajaran reading dengan menggunakan metode CIRC? Dalam melaksanakan penelitian ini, peneliti menggunakan metode menggunakan metode survei. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian ini, peneliti menggunakan beberapa instrumen yaitu checklist observasi, catatan lapangan, rekaman video dan wawancara. Keempat instrumen tersebut digunakan untuk mengetahui bagaimana metode CIRC diterapkan. Peneliti juga menggunakan instrumen wawancara untuk mengetahui faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi penerapan pengajaran reading dengan menggunakan metode CIRC. Wawancara dilakukan terhadap 22 siswa kelas V SD Kanisius Kintelan Yogyakarta.
Setelah melakukan penelitian, peneliti menemukan jawaban dari permasalahan penelitian. Pertama, terdapat beberapa langkah dalam penerapan
1. Mengajar reading kepada siswa kelas V menggunakan desain materi instruksi membaca menggunakan dengan metode CIRC. Sebelum mengajarkan reading menggunakan metode CIRC, peneliti membagi para siswa ke dalam empat kelompok. Para siswa bekerja dalam kelompok yang sama untuk mengerjakan aktivitas membaca dalam empat kali penerapan metode CIRC.
2. Menerapkan tiga prinsip dari CIRC. Dalam hal ini peneliti mengelompokkan lima bagian dalam desain materi membaca ke dalam tiga prinsip CIRC.
Prinsip-prinsip tersebut adalah story-related activities, story-related writing and words out loud . Kedua, dalam penelitian ini ditemukan faktor-faktor penghambat dan pendukung yang mempengaruhi penerapan pengajaran reading dengan metode CIRC. Ada tiga faktor penghambat penerapan pengajaran reading dengan metode CIRC, yaitu teks bacaan, keterbatasan penguasaan kosa kata dan kinerja siswa dalam kelompok. Faktor pendukung penerapan metode CIRC adalah minat siswa dan motivasi siswa. Dalam penelitian ini ditemukan bahwa faktor-faktor penghambat lebih dominan sehingga penerapan metode CIRC kurang mencapai hasil yang optimal.
Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, peneliti menyimpulkan bahwa pada dasarnya penerapan pengajaran reading dengan menggunakan CIRC dapat digunakan untuk mengajar reading untuk siswa kelas V SD Kanisius Kintelan. Akan tetapi, penerapan mengajar reading menggunakan metode CIRC akan mencapi hasil yang optimal jika guru memperhatikan beberapa aspek dalam mengajar reading menggunkan metode CIRC. Peneliti menyertakan juga beberapa saran untuk meningkatkan penerapan pengajaran reading dengan metode CIRC pada siswa sekolah dasar.
Kata Kunci: reading, CIRC, penerapan, story-related activities, story-related
writing, words out loud principle.CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the writer would like to discuss the research background,
the problem identification, the problem formulation, the problem limitation, the research objectives, the research benefits, also the definition of terms.
A. Research Background
English is considered as an International language so that many people around the world want to learn English. This phenomenon also happens in Indonesia. English is one of the subjects taught in formal school in Indonesia due to the needs that language plays an important role in many fields in life. As it can be seen from Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional no 22 tahun 2006 (National Education Ministry’s rule number 22, 2006), language has a central role in the development of students’ intellectual, social, emotional and also a way to reach success in learning many subjects. Furthermore, the government expects that through learning English the students would be able to communicate in English both orally and literally (Depdiknas, 2007: 429). Therefore, according to
Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) , students in Indonesia are taught
English lesson from elementary school up to senior high school level. However, in this research the writer will focus on English for elementary school level.
The scope of English lesson for elementary school covers on the ability to order to support the oral communication as the main focus of learning English (Depdiknas, 2007: 429).
Ruang lingkup mata pelajaran Bahasa Inggris di SD mencakup kemampuan berkomunikasi lisan secara terbatas dalam konteks sekolah, yang meliputi aspek-aspek mendengarkan, berbicara, membaca dan menulis. ketrampilan menulis dan membaca diarahkan untuk menunjang pembelajaran komunikasi lisan. (The scope of English lesson in the Elementary School covers the oral communication limited in the school context which consists of listening, speaking, reading and writing aspects. Writing and reading ability are taught to support the oral communication lesson). (Depdiknas, 2007: 430).
As what the writer stated before, in learning English, the elementary students are also taught reading skills to support the oral communication as the main focus of learning English. The writer thinks that it is not an easy thing to do in teaching reading skills for elementary school level as the students have to be able to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret the information appropriately (Grabe and Stoller, 2004: 9).
In fact, reading is the basis to learn an essential skill to English learners because it is the most important skill to be mastered in order to ensure success in learning in any content class where reading in English is required (Anderson, 2003 in Nunan, 2003). Besides, Bright and Mc Gregor (1970: 52) state that reading is the core of language skills. Furthermore, Wallace (1992: 3) also states that reading as one of the skills plays an important role in English language because reading is the awareness of the way we use language. Considering that reading is an essential skill and the core of learning English, the researcher would focus the research on reading for elementary school level.
In teaching reading for elementary school, the teachers are supposed to be able to create interesting reading activities because the elementary students have short attention span (Durkin, 1987: 37). Therefore, they are easily to feel bored in following the lesson in class. Thus, the students need reading activities that could motivate them to follow the reading activities in class. Cooperative integrated reading composition (CIRC) might be one of the methods to teach reading to be more interesting.
CIRC is chosen by the researcher because of several reasons. First, the students are expected to achieve good result together in the area of comprehension (Slavin, 1995: 105). In the implementation of CIRC the students will do the reading activities in groups so that they are expected to help each other. Second, there are many interesting activities that the students could have in class, like reading to one another, predicting about how the story will end, responding to the story orally, etc. Third, the competition atmosphere among the groups is good to motivate the students to do their best in doing the reading activities.
The researcher also thinks that the CIRC itself is relevant to the competence standard of KTSP, “untuk mencapai kompetensi ini, peserta didik
perlu dibiasakan dengan berbagai ragam pasangan bersanding (adjacency pairs)
yang merupakan dasar menuju kemampuan berinteraksi yang lebih kompleks,”
(Depdiknas, 2007: 429), (in order to achieve the competence, the students have to be familiar to work in adjacency pairs which is the basis to communicate in more complex situation).
Therefore, the researcher will implement the cooperative integrated reading composition through a set of reading instructional materials design, which is designed by Santi Dyah Ikasari. The title of the design is “Designing a Set of Reading Instructional Materials for the Fifth Grade Students of Kanisius
Demangan Baru Elementary School Using Cooperative Integrated Reading
Composition (CIRC),” (Ikasari, 2005). The researcher will use a set of reading instructional materials design to help the researcher to provide the suitable materials with the implementation of CIRC. In this study, the researcher is not going to evaluate the design materials. The researcher will focus the study to describe the implementation of CIRC to teach reading.
B. Problem Identification
Considering the research background above, the writer identifies that the elementary students need to be taught reading using interesting reading materials so that they will enjoy learning English. If they feel enjoy in reading, it will help them to achieve better result.
The Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition (CIRC) is one of the methods that can be used in teaching reading for elementary students. Through this paper, the writer will focus on the attempt to describe the implementation of CIRC to teach reading to the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School Yogyakarta.
C. Problem Formulation
In relation to the research background and the problem identification, this research is going to answer two questions as the guideline of the process of conducting and writing the research paper. The problems of the research are formulated as follows:
1. How is CIRC implemented in teaching reading for the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School Yogyakarta?
2. What are the factors that influence the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC?
D. Problem Limitation
The focus of this study is to investigate the implementation of the reading materials design using Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition (CIRC). The writer would like to investigate how the CIRC is implemented in teaching reading to the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School Yogyakarta.
Besides, the writer also would like to find out the factors that influence the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC.
The participants that will be used in this research are the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School Yogyakarta. Further explanation of the research participants will be discussed on chapter III.
E. Research Objectives
Dealing with the problems that have been formulated above on the problem formulation, the objectives of this paper are:
1. To describe how CIRC is implemented to teach reading to the fifth grade students.
2. To find out the influencing factors in teaching reading using CIRC.
F. Research Benefits
In accordance to the objectives of the research, this research is expected to give benefits for:
1. English teacher candidates:
The researcher expects the result of this research can give deeper information to English teacher candidates about reading materials design using CIRC (Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition). Hopefully, this paper could motivate them to use CIRC method or motivate them to use another teaching reading method that can make reading interesting for the elementary level learners.
2. English teachers of elementary school:
The result of this research is expected to be able to provide descriptions to the English teachers of elementary school about how the reading materials using CIRC is conducted in class. Besides, the result of this research will be beneficial to the English teachers of elementary school so that they could conduct
3. Other writers:
The research is expected to give insight to other writers who will conduct further research on the same or similar topic.
G. Definition of Terms
There are some terms used that need to be described in this study, they are: 1.
Implementation
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary, implementation comes from the verb ‘implement’, that is “to put something into effect; to carry something out” (1995: 595). From this definition which is found in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary, the writer redefines implementation in this study as a theory or a method which is put into effect in a classroom situation. In this study, the researcher will implement CIRC to teach reading to the fifth grade students of elementary school.
2. The Fifth Grade students
The fifth grade of elementary school is a level of school for children from 10 to 11 years old. In this study, the fifth grade students are the research participants of this study. The fifth grade students are chosen because CIRC is intended for the upper and middle elementary grades.
3. Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School is one of the private elementary
schools in Yogyakarta. In this study, Kanisius Kintelan elementary school is chosen by the writer as the place to conduct the research.
4. Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition
Cooperative Integrated Reading Comprehension defines as a comprehensive program for teaching reading, writing, and language arts in the upper elementary grades (Slavin, 1995: 97). CIRC is focused on instructional method that is an attempt to use cooperative learning as a mean for teaching reading or writing. In this study, the writer will implement CIRC to see the process the implementation of teaching reading using CIRC.
5. KTSP KTSP stands for Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan. It is the 2006
curriculum that is used in the educational system in Indonesia. In this study, KTSP becomes the guidelines to conduct the research on the area of reading skills.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter discusses the related literature as the theoretical base in doing
the study on the implementation of CIRC to teach reading to the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan Elementary School, as it is outlines in the Chapter I.
On this review of related literature, the theoretical description and the theoretical framework of the study will be discussed further.
A. Theoretical Description
In this part, the writer discusses the theories about teaching reading for the fifth grade students of Kanisius Kintelan Yogyakarta using Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition (CIRC).
1. The Nature of Reading Grabe and Stoller begin the discussion of the nature of reading by providing a definition of concept. Grabe and Stoller state that reading is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and the ability to interpret the information from the printed page appropriately (Grabe and Stoller, 2004: 9). While According to Moyle (1972: 21-25), reading is above all to do with the language, because in reading we meet all the components of the language such as vocabulary, grammar, and even pronunciation. Reading is also form of collection of symbol into ‘talk’, or in the case of silent reading, into an image of speech sound. Furthermore, Wallace states that reading is a unitary process which cannot be subdivided into constituent skills (Wallace, 2003: 57). Therefore, teachers must not see reading as an isolated activity as what Wallace states (2003: 62) that reading is inevitably integrated with speaking, writing, and listening.
This study dealing with teaching reading to children, according to Wallace (2003: 4) one of the difficulties which young children may have is the ability to understand what they read, as they still have limited knowledge of English, especially vocabulary mastery. If we wish our children to read with understanding, the children must see a purpose in reading and gain enjoyment from reading from the earliest moment of instruction.
2. The Purpose of Reading
According to Grabe and Stoller, there are some purposes of reading; they are (Grabe and Stoller, 2004: 11):
a. Reading to search for simple information and reading to skim
Reading to search simple information is common reading ability. It is used so often in reading tasks that it is probably seen as type of reading ability. While reading to skim is a common part of many reading tasks. It involves a combination of strategies for guessing where important information might be in the text.
b. Reading to learn from texts
Reading to learn typically occurs in academic and professional context in which a person needs to learn a considerable amount of information from a text.
c. Reading for general comprehension
Reading for general comprehension is the most basic purpose for reading, underlying and supporting most other purposes for reading. Reading for general comprehension is actually more complex than commonly assumed.
3. Reading Material
Reading is the most important skills in learning a language. In selecting a reading material for the elementary students, there are two factors to be considered. According to Wallace (2003: 71) the classification of the two factors in selecting reading materials can be summarized as follows.
a.
The text should present content which is familiar and interesting to the learners so that the students would be able to see reading as useful, pleasant, or relevant to their lives. If a suitable topic is chosen, but the language is too difficult for a particular group of students, some simplification could be made.
b.
The text should be appropriate to the learners’ language level. It means that reading material should be ‘not too easy nor too difficult.’ If a reading material were too easy, students would not have a good challenge to learn. While, if the reading material were too difficult, students would be
The difficulty level of the reading material must match the students’ proficiency.
4. Reading Comprehension
Comprehension is the essence of reading. Comprehension is a bridge between what is being read and what is already known. Without comprehension, one is not reading but is merely engaged in recognizing words (Criscoe and Gee, 1984: 24). While Anderson (1979: 384) says that the result of reading is the comprehension of written material.
Smith & Robinson (1980: 205) define reading comprehension as the understanding, evaluating, and utilizing of information and ideas through an interaction between the reader and the author.
Reading comprehension skills are thinking skills that are applied prior to, during, and after the visual scanning task by which written language is interpreted into associated meaning, (Guszak, 1972: 49). So, reading comprehension skills is an active process of thinking that depends not only on comprehension skills but also the students’ experience and prior knowledge.
5. Facilitating Comprehension
Durkin states (1987: 379) that facilitating comprehension consists of:
a. Teaching New Vocabulary
When the readers do not know some words might not become their comprehending the text. Therefore, children need to be taught the new vocabulary so that they can comprehend the text better.
b. Providing Essential Background Information
The purpose of providing background information is to give the students adequate preparation, because teaching new vocabulary might be not enough to help the students to comprehend the text. Moreover, by giving adequate background information is necessary to help the students who find problems with new vocabulary.
c. Establishing purpose (s) For the Reading
The reason something is being read determines what constitutes not only the essential background information but also adequate comprehension.
Therefore, the teachers need to tell the purpose (s) for the reading to facilitate comprehension.
6. Basic Principles in Teaching Reading for Children
Moyle states that the basic principles on good reading program should consider the point of view of the nature of literacy at the adult level and from the child needs and abilities at any given stage of development (Moyle, 1972: 103). Here are the principles that have to be considered in teaching reading: 1.
Reading should form as natural as a unit of the child’s development as is possible.
It is important to know that in order to achieve success in reading, the activity which appears natural to the child then any instruction given or attainment expected should be firmly based on the child’s abilities and interest.
2. Reading as an integral part of other activities.
The child must be lead to an understanding that reading is useful and important. Therefore, the teacher should create reading activities which are interesting and can build curiosity so that the child will enjoy reading activities. Moreover, the child also will realize that reading is an integral part of other activities.
3. Reading instruction should be attractive to the child The children love to talk and enjoy listening to stories. However, the children often find difficulties in learning reading. One of the ways to reduce difficulties in learning to read is that the teacher should create an interesting reading instruction so that it can attract the child to read.
4. All reading should be meaningful If the teacher expects the children comprehend what they read, then the teacher must provide a reading passage which is meaningful to the children.
5. Word recognition skills can not be ignored.
Children can not recognize all the words they meet in the reading passage. Therefore, they need to learn how to figure out the unfamiliar word.
6. Instruction should lead increasingly to independence in reading.
The more a child reads, the more he should be able to read without help. If the teacher gives too much help in every reading activity, the child would recognition techniques and in the basic skills of comprehension so that the child can read independently when the assistance of teacher or friend is not available.
7. Every activity must be related to the whole scheme All the reading activity that the students have should fit with the aims of reading activity. If the teacher provides the activities that unrelated to the reading lesson, the students will not achieve the goal of reading lesson.
8. Progress through the reading program must be kept under review The teacher, particularly, if the class is large, will find difficulty to measure the students’ progress in reading lesson. Therefore, in order to see the progress of each student in class, the teacher should keep the detailed records in every meeting of the reading by conducting some form of standardized test.
7. In-school motivators of reading behavior
According to Guszak (1972: 73), traditionally there are several specific motivators, such as:
- Grades (designed to reward or punish ego)
- Promotion or retention (designed to threaten, reward punish)
- Symbols (such as gold stars to reward or punish ego)
- Praise and criticism (designed to verbally reward or punish ego) Teachers should inform the children about how to get the praise, rewards, and symbols in the reading activities. Guszak then states that the children in class
8. Techniques for fostering motivation
Guszak begins the discussion by emphasizing that most children already have self initiating and directing behaviors going for them. Furthermore he said that it is our task to foster their full development by:
Building positive self-concepts Assisting realistic goal-setting behaviors Establishing listening sets Creating self-instructional attitudes Planning tangible rewards reinforcement.
(Guszak 1972: 74) Buliding positive self-concepts
Children believe they cannot read. They experience a string of failures in their reading instruction. We can correct much of the damage or prevent it in the following ways:
1. Step 1/ Praise the children efforts and accomplishments generously, and allow the opportunities to delay reinforcement as the child develops.
Praise is essential to the development of positive self concept.
2. Step 2/ Avoid criticism that reflects on the personality of the individual.
Statements such as “Are you going to be a baby all of your life?”
3. Step 3/ Criticism can be useful to the child if it focuses on what has to be done and omits negative statements about the children.
Assisting realistic goal setting According to Guszak, the affection and praise of teacher will not afford sufficient satisfaction if the child does not get any challenge in the reading task,
(Guszak, 1972: 75). Therefore, the teacher should establish realistic short and long term goal in reading activities as it is not an easy to do to predict how quickly children will master certain skills.
Furthermore, according to Guszak, the short realistic goals are those the child can attain in the short period which are guided by the teachers who assist students in checking their progress in short interval. While long term goals in reading are things like finishing given book, learning a list of words, etc, (Guszak, 1972: 75).
Planning tangible rewards reinforcement Reinforcement is one of the ways to motivate students in classrooms.
However, sometimes praise and approval can not always be carried out in the terms of both frequency and timing. Therefore, teachers should provide real motivators to children. According to Guszak, the real motivators that can be used in class are the use of tangible rewards or gifts.
Tangible rewards consist of two types; they are fixed rewards and occasional rewards (Guszak, 1972: 78). Fixed rewards means the regularly rewards that have value in the sense that they can be clearly seen as the rewards or teachers want to use fixed rewards as one of the reinforcements in class, the teachers have to tell the students about the behaviors that the students have to achieve in order to get the reward. So, the students know what they have to do in order to obtain the reward.
Furthermore, fixed rewards also have negative results when the student (1) can not complete the task and subsequently gain the reward, (2) is asked to perform other behaviors without reward, or (3) performs the task and gains the reward, but does not retain the behavior.
Different to fixed rewards, occasional rewards seem to be less meaningful than fixed rewards but more useful and effective to sustain established behaviors.
Fixed rewards are more meaningful to students but it can be monotonous for the students whereas the occasional rewards enable the students to maintain his behavior for long periods of time. Besides, it can make the students not easily pleased with what they have achieved