THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMS GAMES TOURNAMENTS (TGT) TO TEACH READING COMPREHENSION VIEWED FROM STUDENTS’ READING HABIT

commit to user

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMS-GAMES-TOURNAMENTS (TGT) TO TEACH READING COMPREHENSION VIEWED FROM

STUDENTS’ READING HABIT

(An Experimental Study at MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the Academic Year of 2009/2010)

By

HUSNUL IMAROH S.890907013

Submitted to Graduate School of Sebelas Maret University as Partial Fulfillment for Getting Graduate Degree in English Education

SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL ENGLISH EDUCATION

commit to user

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TAMES-GAMES-TOURNAMENTS (TGT) TO TEACH READING SKILLS VIEWED FROM

STUDENTS’ READING HABIT

(An Experimental Study at MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the Academic Year 2008/2009)

Research Proposal in Writing a Thesis to fulfill one of the Requirements for Completion of Graduate Degree in English Education

By

HUSNUL IMAROH S.890907013

This proposal has been approved by the consultants of the thesis examiners On:

Consultant I Consultant II

Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd Drs. Abdul Asib, M.Pd

NIP. 131 792 932 NIP. 130 814 585

The Head of the Education Department of Graduate School Sebelas Maret University Surakarta

Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd NIP. 131792932

commit to user

APPROVAL PAGE

This thesis entitled “THE EFFECTIVENESS OF

TEAMS-GAMES-TOURNAMENTS (TGT) TO TEACH READING COMPREHENSION VIEWED FROM STUDENTS’ READING HABIT (An Experimental Study at MTsN 2 Paron in the Academic Year of 2009/2010)”, has been approved by the consultants on………

By

HUSNUL IMAROH S 890907013

Consultant I Consultant II

Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd Dr. Abdul Asib, M.Pd

NIP. 19621231 198803 1009 NIP. 19520307 198003 1005

The Head of English Education Department Graduate School

Sebelas Maret University

Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd NIP. 19621231 198803 1009

commit to user

LEGITIMATION FROM THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMS-GAMES-TOURNAMENTS (TGT) TO TEACH READING COMPREHENSION VIEWED FROM

STUDENTS’ READING HABIT

(An Experimental Study at MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the Academic Year of 2009/2010)

By

HUSNUL IMAROH S.890907013

This thesis has been examined by the Board of Thesis Examiners of English Education Department of Graduate School of Sebelas Maret University on

……….

Board of Examiners: Signature

Chairman Prof. Dr. H. Joko Nurkamto, M.Pd ____________

NIP. 19610124 198702 1001

Secretary Dr. Sujoko, M.A ____________

NIP. 19510912 1980031 002 Members of Examiners:

1. Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd ____________

NIP. 19621231 198803 1009

2. Dr.Abdul Asib, M.Pd ____________

NIP. 19520307 198003 1005

Surakarta, ...2011 The Director of Graduate School of

Sebelas Maret University

Prof. Drs.Suranto, M.Sc.Phd NIP. 19570820 198503 1004

The Head of English Education Department of Graduate School of Sebelas Maret Universitty

Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd

commit to user PRONOUNCEMENT

This is to certify that I myself

write this thesis, entitled “THE

EFFECTIVENESS OF

TEAMS-GAMES-TOURNAMENTS (TGT) TO

TEACH READING

COMPREHENSION VIEWED FROM STUDENTS’ READING HABIT (An Experimental Study at MTsN 2 Paron in the Academic Year of 2009/2010)”. It is not a plagiarism or made by others. Anything related to others’ work is written in quotation, the source of which is listed on the bibliography.

If then this pronouncement proves wrong, I am ready to accept any academic punishment, including the withdrawal or cancellation of my academic degree.

Surakarta, January 2011

commit to user ABSTRACT

Husnul Imaroh, S890907013. The Effectiveness of

Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT) to Teach Reading Comprehension Viewed from Students’ Reading Habit (An Experimental Study at MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the Academic Year of 2009/2010). A Thesis: Graduate School, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta 2010.

The objective of the research is to know the effectiveness of Teams-Games-Tournaments(TGT) to teach reading comprehension viewed from students’ reading habit. The method used is experimental study. The population is the students of MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the academic year of 2009/2010. The samples are the seventh year students which are taken by using cluster random sampling. There are two classes used in the research: experimental class, and control class. The data are resulted from students’ reading habit and students’ reading comprehension. The data of the students’ reading habit are taken by the close-typed questionnaire, while the data of the students’ reading comprehension are taken by multiple-choice test with four options. In analyzing the data, Multifactor Analysis of Variance and Tukey Test are used.

The results of this research show that (1) TGT is more effective than DIM to teach reading (F(8.98)>Ft(a) = 0.05 (4.08) and Ft(a) = 0.01 (7.31), qoA1 and A2 (4.24)>qt(a) = 0.05 (2.95) and qt(a) = 0.01 (4.02), and mean score of A1 (70.86)>A2(66.5), (2) The students having high reading habit have better reading comprehension than those having low reading habits F(18.55)>Ft(a) = 0.05 (4.08) and Ft(a) = 0.01 (7.31), qoB1 and B2 (6.09)>qt(a) = 0.05 (2.95) and qt(a)=0.01 (4.02), the mean score of B1(71.82)>B2 (65.55), (3) there is an interaction between methods of teaching and students’ reading habits, TGT is more effective than DIM for students having high reading habit, DIM is more effective than TGT for students having low reading habits (F(54.24)>Ft(a) = 0.05 (4.08) and Ft(a) = 0.05 (7.31), qoA1B1 and A2B1 (10.33)>qt(a) = 0.05 (3.11) and qt(a) = 0.01 (4.39), the mean score of A1B1 (79.36)>A2B1 (64.27, q0A1B2 and A2B2 (4.36) > qt(a) = 0.05 (3.11), the mean score of A1B2 (62.36)>A2B2 (68.73).

From the results of the research it is known that the first hypothesis saying that TGT method is more effective than DIM for teaching reading is accepted. The second hypothesis saying that the students having high reading habits have better reading comprehension than the students having low reading habits is accepted. And the third hypothesis saying that there is an interaction between teaching methods and reading habit in teaching reading is accepted.

The results of the research also show that the implementation of teaching method is effected by the level of students’ reading habit, so it is important that teacher knows the level of students’ reading habits before using the method.

commit to user MOTTO

–

Actually, after getting difficulties, we will find easies (The Holy Quran, Al Insyirah: 5)

–

Many of life’s failure are men who did not realize how close they were

to success when they gave up (Thomas Alfa Edison)

–

When you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong, and

you finally see the truth that the hero lies in you (Song “Hero” by Mariah Carey)

–

Look at your strength and ignore your weaknesses to be success

commit to user DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to:

– Her beloved father and mother (Bapak Suhardi and Ibu Siti Aisjah), for their

love and affection, patience, support and prayer along her life

– Her beloved parents-in-law (Bapak Samsudi and Ibu Kinarti) for the nice, welcoming, affection, as she becomes the new part of their life

– Her beloved husband, Nurkholis, for his endless love, patience, inspiration,

and never ending supports in her depressed feeling while working on this thesis

– Her beloved brothers and sister (mas iput, mas ipul, mbak iffah, and mas fuad), and the lovely niece and nephews (keysa, naufa, and faiz), and for de’ umi and de’ hari, thanks for the supports

– The little angel who will come to this world soon. She loves you so much.

commit to user ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, the writer offers profound gratitude for the Almighty Allah SWT, who has given His unlimited Mercies and Helps so that she can finish writing this thesis.

The writer realizes that this thesis can be finished with the helps of so many people. She would like to express her profound gratitude and appreciations to:

1. The Director of Graduate School of Sebelas Maret University for giving opportunity to study and permission to write the thesis

2. The Head of the Education Department of Graduate School Sebelas Maret University for giving facilities to complete the thesis writing

3. Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd for being her first consultant who has given his guidance,

correction, and suggestion to the writer in writing the thesis

4. Dr. Abdul Asib, M.Pd for being her second consultant who has given his patience and guidance to the writer to the perfection of this thesis

5. The Headmaster of MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi who has given his permission to the

writer to conduct the research

6. All of the seventh year students of MTsN 2 Paron in the academic year of 2009/2010, especially for VIIC and VIID class, who have given their help and cooperation during the research

7. The greatest appreciation goes to her beloved parents, her beloved

parents-in-law for their understanding, never ending prayers and supports during her study, and her everything, the beloved husband for his supports and everlasting love and affection to the writer

8. Her beloved brother and sisters for their supports, niece and nephews for their smile and inspiration

9. The big family of Justice House, ENKA Course, Nursada Computer,

Primagama Gendingan, and all teachers in MTsN 2 Paron, who have given the new ways of looking this life

commit to user

10.And all her friends who cannot be mentioned here for their motivation and support

Finally, the writer realizes that this thesis is far for being perfect. She will accept the correction to improve her thesis.

Surakarta, January 2011

commit to user CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with background of the study, identification of the problem, limitation of the problem, problem statement, the objective of the study, and the benefit of the study.

A. Background of the Study

Reading as one of four language skills is highly needed for junior high school students because its skills have to be mastered first than other skills. Reading involves understanding written text that needs simultaneous experiences which are influenced by reader’s attitude and exercises which can be facilitated by employing appropriate strategy and technique.

However, one of the insufficient results in junior high school is on reading comprehension. As students face a reading text, they often argue that it is difficult enough for them to pronounce it, know the meaning of such words, and further understand the written text. What are the causes of this condition? The teacher’s decision to use the method takes place in a higher position. Nearly all teachers believe that students are bored when they study English in the conventional classroom-atmosphere which puts them as passive learners rather than active learners. In reading class, the students only receive teacher’s message rather than actively involved in learning process. Students are only expected to pay attention to teacher’s presentation, do the exercises in

commit to user

the classroom and finally do the independent exercises at home. These phases are the principals of Direct Instruction.

In addition, in this teacher-centered classroom students must compete and work individually in order to obtain high score. Some students succeed but others fail. Thus, success depends on beating, defeating, and getting more than other people. Whereas social values like building students’ awareness to help other students, cooperate in groups, trust each other that their friend will do their best in the group, are very crucial to be recognized by students because later they will be in real life situation where cooperation is more intended than competition.

Students’ reading habit influences their ability in comprehending the text since it deals with the willingness to either approach or avoid reading situation. When students have desire to read, they will approach it, and when students do not have desire to read, they will avoid it. By reading habits students get used to read English text and understand it. The level of reading habits –high and low- is a favor discussion: Whether students only depends on material from teacher or seek other resources, whether they read in the purpose of passing the examination or getting the pleasure, whether or not they have a certain time to read books. So, one is considered as having High Reading habit (HR) when he/she likes to read and approaches reading, while those having Low Reading habit (LR) dislike to read and avoid reading.

There are probably many approaches that can tackle those problems. The proposed approach in this research is Cooperative Learning (CL) under

commit to user

the umbrella of Communicative Language Teaching. It is leaner-centered approach that emphasizes on all students’ success, so that not only high-achieving students succeed but also average and low-high-achieving students. Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT) is one of CL models, that places students in group work where in the last phase students must play individually in tournaments. The scores in tournament contribute points to team score and promote students’ awareness that they should do maximally if they want their group to become champion. In addition, when students’ individual score contributes to group score, it will promote high-achieving students to “teach” others-average and low-achiever.

As learner-centered approach, CL places students as active learners, those who have awareness that they are the key to their successes and not fully from their teacher. In the contrary, DI views that teacher takes more dominant role in classroom. Consequently, students become more passive. Passive learners depend on their teachers’ help and assistance. They need more pressure as well as teacher’s on-going instructions.

At the same time, teacher perhaps identify students’ activeness based on their intentions to the lesson, for instance, active learners perhaps seek additional material, provide time to study and read more to improve understanding on the lesson. Therefore, it can be said that active learners have high reading habit. On the other hand, passive learners may be identified as those who are fully dependent on teacher, have weak motivation in study, and do not provide certain time to read more to improve understanding on the

commit to user

lesson. Hence, passive learners are assumed to have low reading habit. What is more, active learners-those who have high (good) reading habit-are assumed to choose learner-center approach (TGT) but passive learners-those who have low reading habit-are assumed to choose teacher-center approach (DI).

Nonetheless, approach used by teacher can probably elevate students’ reading habit. The appropriate method will motivate students to read more and more. Although it is rather difficult to check students’ reading habit-improvement, because it deals with reading outside classroom activity (extensive reading), teacher can check it by giving them exercises on reading comprehension in classroom activity. By this way, hopefully students from day to day become good reader and have high reading habit and are finally aware that reading comprehension can be improved by simultaneous activity, that is reading habit.

B. Identification of the Problem

From the previous descriptions, there are some possible problems which can be identified:

1. What are the causes of insufficient result of reading test in junior high school?

2. What is the appropriate approach to teach reading comprehension?

3. Is the use of CL (TGT) effective to teach reading comprehension?

4. Is TGT effective for high or low reading habit-student?

commit to user C. Limitation of the Problem

The above questions show the complexity of the problem which is nearly impossible for the writer to handle. Therefore, the study is focused on the effectiveness of TGT to teach reading comprehension viewed from students’ reading habit. And the research subjects are seventh grade students of MTs Negeri 2 Paron in the academic year of 2009/ 2010.

D. Problem Statements

This study sought to address three key research questions:

1. Is TGT more effective than DI to teach reading comprehension for the seventh year students of MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the academic year of 2009/ 2010?

2. Is reading comprehension of the students having high reading habit better than those having low reading habit for the seventh year students of MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the academic year of 2009/ 2010?

3. Is there an interaction between teaching methods and reading habit in teaching reading for the seventh year students of MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the academic year of 2009/ 2010?

E. The Objective of the Study

The objectives of the study are:

1. To know whether TGT is more effective than DI to teach reading

comprehension for the seventh year students of MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the academic year of 2009/ 2010

commit to user

2. To know whether reading comprehension of the students having high reading habit is better than that those having low reading habit for the seventh year students of MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the academic year of 2009/ 2010

3. To know whether there is an interaction between teaching methods and

reading habit in teaching reading for the seventh year students of MTsN 2 Paron Ngawi in the academic year of 2009/ 2010.

F. The Benefit of the Study

In accordance with the reason that encourages the writer to do the study, hopefully the study will be beneficial in the area of teaching learning process. The benefits of the study are:

1. For the teachers

a. Teachers can get better insight into TGT and make them realize that that it is also worth trying in teaching reading.

b. Teacher should realize that every student has different level of reading habits, and it is teacher’s responsibility to promote them into higher level of reading habit.

2. For the students

a. Students can get different classroom situation which can make them more active in the teaching and learning process

b. Students can get better reading comprehension through active

commit to user

3. For the other researcher

a. The other researcher can get better insight into TGT so that he/she

can implement it in the different field

commit to user CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter deals with the nature of reading, the nature of cooperative learning, the nature of direct instruction, the nature of reading habit, rationale, and hypothesis.

A. The Nature of Reading

1. The Definition of Reading

Reading is the essential skill for students since it is the core to nearly all subjects (Davis, 1988: 241). In learning every subject, reading activities are involved. Reading in general sense is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbols in that text.

There are many definitions of reading proposed by experts, one of which is stated by Grape (in Pan, 2006: 1). It is stated that reading is not only a receptive process of picking up information from the page in a word-by-word manner since it is a selective process and characterized as an active process of understanding. In the same perception, Ur notes, “Reading means reading and understanding” (1996: 138). These theories imply that an activity is called reading if there is understanding from what has been read, if not it cannot be said so.

Meanwhile, Gipe states, “Reading is a transaction that takes place between a reader and text in a particular situation” (in Ashmore, 2001: 4). Clay (in Ashmore, 1991: 4) gives a comprehensive definition of reading. His remark is as follows:

commit to user

I define reading a message-getting, problem-solving activity which increases in power and flexibility the more it is practiced. My definition states that within the directional constrains of the printer’s code, language and visual perception are purposefully directed by the reader in some integrated way to the problem of extracting meaning from cues in a text, in sequence, so that the reader brings a maximum of understanding to the author’s message.

The writer elaborates that reading is a process of getting the message and solving the problem from the text to be able to extract meaning and cues in the text and finally retain the maximum understanding to the author’s message. It is quite obvious that reading depends on the reader’s objective, and is not just an activity to read what is printed and written. Further, there should be understanding of the author’s message after reading the material.

In addition, Nuttal (1996: 3) says “[reading is] the transfer of a message from writer to reader”. Aeborsold agrees by stating that reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbols in the text (1997: 15). According to Derajavan, as cited in Tella (2007: 119), reading has been described as “the art of interpreting printed and written words”.

Likewise, Goodman (1988: 15) express that in reading activity there is close interaction between language and thought, in which the writer encodes thought as language and the writer decodes language as thought (http://www.nadasisland.com/reading).

It can be deduced from the theories that reading is the activity of getting the message and understanding to the written symbols that are written by the authors.

commit to user 2. Reading Comprehension

Comprehension refers to an ability to understand the meaning or

importance of something (www.thefreedictionary.com/comprehension).

Meanwhile, it is also stated that comprehension is the capacity of the mind to perceive and understand (http://www.brainyquote.com/comprehension). Further, comprehension means to understand what is being communicated (www.readingisgood.com/2008/05/comprehension-a-definition/). It can be summarized that one has comprehension when he/she is able to understand and gets the importance of something.

Reading comprehension is how far we can understand of what we

read (www.readingisgood.com/2008/05/comprehension/). Ashmore (2004:

7) stated that there are three processes in reading comprehension: active, cognitive, and affective process in which the reader actively engages with the text and builds his/her own understanding of the text. Meanwhile, Gipe (in Ashmore, 2001: 4) stated that in reading [comprehension] the reader construct the meaning by using background knowledge or past experience in order to build new thoughts.

It can be concluded from the theories that reading comprehension is the degree to which the reader understand what he/she read, which is resulted from the what he/she knows before reading the text (the background knowledge) and how well he/she reads it. However, types of comprehension, skills considered to successful reading comprehension, and

commit to user

strategies for reading comprehension should be clearly exhibited. The next discussions are on those issues.

3. Types of Comprehension

The primary objective of reading is comprehension. Thus, teacher had better give reading comprehension assessment to test student’s abilities. Mohamad (1999: 2) mentions three stands of comprehension, literal, interpretive, and critical comprehension. The first comprehension involves “surface meaning” in which students are asked to find out information and idea that are explicitly stated in the text; the second comprehension involves “deeper meanings” that needs student’s critical reading with kind of activities such as drawing conclusion, making generalization; the third level involves critical reading whereby ideas and information are evaluated and it occurs when students have understood the ideas and information that the writer has presented (http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Nunn-interacting.html).

The more comprehensive explanation is stated by Day (2005) in the journal Reading in a Foreign Language. In his article entitled Developing

Reading Comprehension Questions, Day presents a detailed picture of six

types of comprehension. Below are the explanations of each.

a. Literal comprehension: understanding of the straightforward

meaning of the text and can be answered directly from the text. b. Reorganization: it is based on literal understanding of the text;

students must use information from various parts of the text and combine them for additional understanding.

c. Inference: making inferences involves more than a literal

understanding. Students may initially have difficult time answering inference questions because the answers are based on material that is in the text but not explicitly stated. An inference

commit to user

involves students combining their literal understanding of the text with their own knowledge and intuitions.

d. Prediction:…involves students using both their understanding of

the passage and their own knowledge of the topic and related matters in a systematic fashion to determine what might happen next or after the story ends.

e. Evaluation:….requires the learner to give a global or

comprehensive judgment about some aspect of the text.

f. Personal response:…requires readers to respond with their

feelings for the text and the subject.

(http://nflre.hawaii.edu/rfl/April2005/day/day.html).

The above comprehension types are from the lowest to the highest comprehension. The higher level the students are in, the higher comprehension they will be. The writer assumes that generally students in junior high school are on the literal comprehension although in some cases might go further on the reorganization comprehension-level. Due to the fact that the students where the writer will retain research are on the average level, she is quite sure that her students are on literal comprehension-level. She elicits example, when the students are given a text entitled “ Tina’s Family”, the question might be “what is Tina’s father’s name?, what is Tina’s mother’s name?, How many sister does Tina have? Where does Tina live?” what is more, those questions can be answered explicitly from the text.

4. Micro Skills for Reading Comprehension

Harmer (1991: 183) postulates that there are six receptive skills, namely: predictive skills, extracting specific information, getting the general picture, extracting detailed information, recognizing function and discourse pattern, and deducing meaning from the context. More recent in his opinion,

commit to user

Harmer (2002: 201) describes that the skills in reading and listening are: identifying the topic, predicting and guessing, reading and listening for general understanding, reading and listening for specific information, reading and listening for detailed information, and interpreting text.

In the concept of micro skills for reading comprehension, Edge (1993: 108) agrees that the skills teacher teaches to students, make students able to get general understanding of the text (skim), get main points, get specific information (scan), make inferences; for example about opinion, implications and the attitudes to the written words; comprehend in detail, and make evaluation what the readers have learnt and what the readers will do after reading the text.

Reading the skills stated above, it can be closely seen that there are some similarities although in some cases only a matter of diction/choice of words. The writer might give example of what is remarked by Harmer (2002: 202) and Edge (1993: 108). “Identifying the topic” in Harmer’s view, is stated with “Extract main point” in Edge’s view, and so does in reading for general understanding (skimming), get specific information (scanning) etc.

In the more detailed picture it is stated by Brown (2000: 307). He emphasizes:

2. Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes and orthographic

patterns of English.

3. Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short-term memory.

commit to user

5. Recognize a core of words, and interpret word order patterns and

their significance.

6. Recognize grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc),

systems (e.g; tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.

7. Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in

different grammatical forms.

8. Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in signaling the relationship between and among clauses.

9. Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their sign1ificance for interpretation.

10.Recognize the communicative functions of written texts,

according to form and purpose.

11.Infer context that is not explicit by using background

knowledge.

12.Infer links and connection between events, ideas, etc., deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as main idea,

supporting idea, new information, given information,

generalization, and exemplification.

13.Distinguish between literal and implied meanings

14.Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context of the appropriate cultural schemata.

15.Develop and use a battery of reading strategies such as scanning and skimming, detecting discourse makers, guessing the meaning of words from context, and activating schemata for interpretation of texts

The above explanation shows us the wide trap of micro skills for reading comprehension which are nearly impossible to be taught to students who are in junior high school that are still in the basic level of understanding. It is, then, the teacher’s responsibility to assure which of the skills that would be easily learnt and which of the skills that would be rather difficult to be learnt by students. In conclusion, the red thread is the teacher’s choice and decision.

For instance “identifying the topic” skill is possible to be taught in junior high school if only the topic is explicitly stated in the text (literal comprehension). Conversely, “interpreting text” skill is nearly impossible to

commit to user

be taught in junior high school since it needs students’ critical thinking so that it is probably appropriate in either senior high school or university.

As the writer has explained before, the red thread is the teacher as decision maker; to select the skills to be taught. Thus, the writer (as the teacher) intends to select some skills as follows: identifying the topic, predicting and guessing, get general understanding (skimming), get specific information (scanning), and get detailed information. Identifying the topic means students are asked to look for the main idea/topic from a certain text (once more, it should be explicitly stated). Predicting and guessing can be referred to predicting and guessing the meaning of words as well as synonym and antonym from the text provided. Getting general understanding (skimming), together with getting specific information (scanning) are getting the information by straightforward manner. In getting detailed information (in multiple choice questions), students are expected to determine which one of the statements is correct or which one of the statements is incorrect from the given text.

Meanwhile, in the SKL (Standard Kompetensi Lulusan) of SMP it is stated that in reading students are able to understand the meaning of short written text both functional and simple essay in the form of descriptive, procedure, report, narrative, and recount in the daily contexts ( Depdiknas, 2007: 2). Further, it is stated that in reading comprehension, students are intended to get general idea and main idea, get explicitly and implicitly stated information, get meaning of certain word, and word references.

commit to user 5. Extensive and Intensive Reading

There are two kinds of reading performance that are well-known seen from the teacher’s role in choosing the reading text namely extensive and intensive reading. According to Harmer (2002: 210) extensive reading means teacher encourages students to select for themselves whatever reading materials to choose in the purpose of pleasure and language improvement while intensive reading means teacher selects the reading material in the purpose of developing specific receptive skills.

Likewise, the same opinion is emphasized by Brown (2001: 312). He emphasizes that intensive reading is the classroom activity which focuses on the “surface structure details text”, while extensive reading is the outside-classroom activity which attempts to achieve a “general understanding of a longer text book”. Recently, Richards and Schmidt says “extensive reading means reading in quantity and in order to gain a general understanding of what is read” (inYamashita, availableat http://nflrc./Yamashita.html).

According to Waring as cited in Jarrel (2003: 200) “[intensive reading]……to learn new vocabulary, to look at text organization, to help (learners) discover and develop reading skills, and so on”. Then, he reveals Nation’s opinion:

…….the procedures involved (in Intensive Reading) direct a lot of attention to the vocabulary, grammar and discourse of the text. This deliberate attention to language features means that intensive reading fits within the strand of language-focused learning”

(2003: 201).

On the other hand, extensive reading “…………is generally associated with reading large amounts of text with the aim of getting an

commit to user

overall understanding of the material” (Bamford & Day, as cited in Jarrel, 2003: 201).

Furthermore, Jarrel’s research shows that extensive reading appears to be more effective than intensive reading of turning a weak reader into a good reader. Jarrel’s says that extensive reading emphasizes on “motivation,” “comprehensible input,” and ‘building confidence” that can help the weak reader to improve reading speed and deepen understanding of what is read.

To conclude, the activity done by both teacher and students in the classroom holds on intensive reading, vice versa, the activeness of students to improve their skills outside school time holds on extensive reading. In intensive reading programs, students are expected not only to read a text but also demonstrate understanding to a degree as detailed as possible which is usually concerned with vocabulary, text organization, and overall, improve reading skills, while in extensive reading students read relatively large amount of the text with the purpose of getting general understanding of what is being read.

Provided that one reads outside school time simultaneously, from time to time, one can develop his/her reading habit. In other words, one is considered as high reading habits-person if he/she always reads the books, and other reading materials such as magazines, newspapers, etc. wherever he/she is, the reading activity is involved. It is stated by Richards and Schmidt, 2002: 193-194) as cited in Yamashita (http://nfyamasita.html).

commit to user

“[extensive reading] is intended to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structure, and to encourage a liking for reading”.

6. Strategies for Reading Comprehension

In order to get beneficial result in every single effort, people are advisedly to do their effort maximally with both best strategies and approaches, and so does reading. According to Barnet and Ken as cited in Nishino, reading strategies can be broadly defined as the mental process operations formed by a reader to achieve the goal of textual comprehension (www.cooperation-org/pages/CL and D.htm#nature).

In addition, strategies can be operationalized as “learning techniques, behaviours, and problem-solving or study skills that enhance learning more effectively and efficiently” (Oxford and Crolkall, in Pan, 2006: 1). Further, Phan cites Branmeier’s opinion about the strategies as follows:

The strategies may involve skimming, scanning, guessing, recognizing, cognates and word families, reading for meaning, predicting, activating general knowledge, making inferences, following references, and separating ideas from supporting ideas (2002: 1)

Brantmeier’s strategies for reading comprehension seem to be overlapped with what the writer has discussed on the micro skills for reading comprehension. She advocates that micro skills as well as strategies might be used interchangeably since those strategies show how readers tackle a reading task, how they interpret their reading and what they do when they do not comprehend, above all, how to acquire the micro skills.

commit to user

In the same way, Nuttal (1996: 16) proposes the well-known strategies ever known, namely top-down and bottom-up approach. In Nuttal’s opinion, the former approach relies on schema theory (a reader’s intelligence, experience, and background knowledge is essential for understanding the text); while the latter focuses on the smaller units of language that help the reader decodes a message: word and structure recognition, the sound-letter relationship, making meaning of syntactic units (phrases and sentence).

Top-down approach or knowledge/background/schemata-based as well as bottom-up or text-based processing has limitations. Eskey (in

http://www.nadasisland.com/reading/) points out “this model [top-down approach] is good for the skillful, fluent reader for whom perception and decoding have become automatic, not for the less proficient, developing reader”. Further, he points out:

The decoding model [bottom-up approach] is inadequate because it underestimates the contribution of the reader who makes predictions and processes information. It fails to recognize that students utilize their expectations about the text, based on their prior knowledge of language and how it works

The above statement shows us that only if the reader is skilful, the top-down approach is more appropriate to be used than bottom-up approach. Meanwhile, in bottom-up approach, there is the ignorance of the importance of the student’s way to predict the content of the text using background knowledge.

commit to user

In spite of appearance limitation above, teacher ought to use these approaches interchangeably with the reason it influences one another; if bottom-up approach is underestimated there is the risk of misunderstanding the basic meaning from which top-down approach is built. On the other hand, if bottom-up approach is underestimated learners become passive readers and do not develop the skills to be good readers. So, it is necessary to create a balance between those two approaches. As there is no single/best approach, the combination approach is needed so that result on a couple beautiful approaches, then the skills learnt get into the reader’s mind completely. It is known as interactive approach.

According to Eskey (in http://www.nadasisland.com/reading/),

interactive approach in reading means “interaction between reader and text”. Moreover, he explains that good readers are good decoders and good interpreters of text, their decoding skills become more automatic but no less important as their reading skills develop.

Notwithstanding, in the preceding discussion on micro skills of reading comprehension, the writer has mentioned some reading skills that is used in this research, which (in the writer’s perception) also have to be taught using interactive approach. For example, in identifying the topic; in order to be able to identify the topic, reader’s experience becomes important because reader points out it after reading the text in which bottom-up approach relies on. By contrast, for predicting and guessing such as guessing the synonym, antonym of certain words, use top-down approach.

commit to user

From all the explanation about reading, it can be concluded that reading is the activity of getting the message and understanding the written symbols that are written by the authors. In reading comprehension, students are able to understand the meaning of short written text both functional and simple essay in the form of descriptive, procedure, narrative and recount in the daily contexts There are six skills in reading comprehension, they are getting general idea, getting main idea of the paragraph, getting explicitly stated information, getting implicitly stated information, getting meaning of certain words as well as synonym and antonym from the text provided, and word references.

B. The Nature of Cooperative Learning 1. The Definition of Cooperative Learning

Nowadays, in the era where everyone demands improvement in education quality, the sound of active, creative, and innovative teachers resound everywhere. The teachers whose learning strategies are monotonous become left behind. Similarly, students who are taught by monotonous approach seem to be less motivated in learning that results in low achievement.

Alternatively, teacher had better attempt to other approaches to fresh student’s mind, emerge the motivation, improve the skills, elevate good habits, above all to have long impact on student’s improvement. One of the methods proposed is cooperative learning, which implements cooperative activities by emerging small groups in the classroom. In this

student-commit to user

centered approach, as its name proposed, students become the center of the learning as they are actively involved in the teaching and learning process.

Cooperative learning stems from the word ‘cooperation’. Johnson & Johnson remark that cooperation is working together to accomplish shared

goals (www.co operation.org/pages/CLandD.htm#nature). Further, both say

that within cooperative learning group students are given two responsibilities: to learn the assigned material and make sure that all other members of their group do likewise. Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec say that Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other learning (www.co

operation.org/pages/CLandD.htm#nature).

Olsen and Kagan, as cited in Richards and Rodgers (2001:192) acknowledge:

Cooperative learning is group learning activity organized so that learning is dependent on the socially structured exchange of information between learners in groups and in which each learner is held accountable for his/ her own leaning and is motivated to increase the learning of others.

Based on the theories above, it can be concluded that in cooperative learning students are involved in small group activities formed by the teacher, where each group has the same aim to tackle the problem given by the teacher, and in order to embark this purpose, everyone in each group is responsible for the success not only his/her own but also other members in the groups.

commit to user

Teacher may think their classroom activities reflect cooperative learning, for instance having students sit side by side at the same table, doing the task (from teacher), and then assigning to write a report to a group. The most possibility happening in such activities is, one (the high-achieving student) does all the work alone while the others (average and slow-achieving students) only put their name on the paper without knowing the content of the task.

As a consequence, in order for a lesson to be cooperative, five basic elements are essential and need to be included. Here are the five elements which are taken from Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993) as cited in http://www.co-operation.org/pages/and http://.kennesaw.edu/intech.

a. Positive interdependence

Positive interdependence is the perception that one is linked with others in a way so that one cannot succeed unless they do (and vice versa), that is, their work benefits him/her, and one’s work benefits others. It promotes a situation in which students work together in small group to maximize the learning of all members. As students are in the group they must believe that they “sink or swim” together. For a learning situation to be cooperative, students must perceive that they are positively interdependent with other members of their learning group so that the success of the group depends on the efforts done by each member.

commit to user

b. Individual Accountability

Individual accountability exists, when the performance of each individual student is assessed and the result given back to the group and the individual. It is crucial to bear in mind that each student knows who needs more supports in completing the assignment. It is also important to let each student know that he/she has his/her own responsibility in their groups.

c. Face-to- Face Promotive Interaction

Students meet in the learning group which promotes each other’s success by helping, assisting, supporting, encouraging, and praising each other’s effort to learn. The cores of this activity are praising the difference and fulfilling the weaknesses among students.

d. Social Skills

Contributing to the success of a cooperative effort requires interpersonal and small group skills. Social skills must be taught: leadership, decision making, trust-building, communication, and conflict management skills.

e. Group Processing

Group processing exists when group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships. In addition, group processing describes what members’ actions are helpful and makes decisions about what behavior to continue or change.

commit to user

2. Theoretical Background of Cooperative Learning

In his book Classroom Instruction and Management, Arends (1995:

114-118) clearly exhibits the roots of cooperative learning practiced which started from John Dewey up to Slavin. To sum up, Dewey gives the concept that every classroom should mirror the “larger society” and function as “real life learning” (1995: 114). Like Dewey, Thelan argues that classroom should be “a laboratory or miniature democracy the purpose of which was to inquire into important social and interpersonal problems” (in Arends, 1995: 114). Then, Sociologist, Allport argues “unmediated, interethnic contact occurring under conditions of equal status was needed to reduce racial and ethnic prejudice” (in Arends, 1995: 115).

The writer emphasizes Dewey, Thelan, and Allport view that classroom is not only as the place where teacher transfers knowledge, but also as media to equip students for real life situation they will face later on, in the society they will live in, where problems may occur.

The trace of cooperative learning comes from the work of educational psychologist and pedagogical theorists where two theories are as a basis of cooperative learning, namely as social learning theory and cognitive constructivism (Arends, 1995: 10). Meanwhile, according to Slavin (1996) the theories are motivation and cognitive, in which motivation theory is divided into developmental theories and cognitive elaboration theories (17-18). In the writer’s perspective, what is stated by Arends as “cognitive constructivism” is the same as “cognitive” stated by Slavin,

commit to user

while “social learning theory” is the same as “development theory”. Arends’s view as well as Slavin’s view comes from schools of thought, namely as constructivism with Vygotsky and Piaget as the expert on the theory.

Despite the different name of theory used, the writer intends to draw out it under the umbrella of motivation theory and cognitive theory in which cognitive theory is divided into development theory and cognitive constructivism. To obtain what does the theory mean, below are clear definitions of each.

a. Motivation Theory

There are three types of social interdependence; positive (cooperative), negative (competition), and none (individualistic efforts) in which every type has its own values. The example is competition where “individuals work against each other to achieve a goal that only one or a few can attain” (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). In such kind of social interdependence, if one can succeed, others fail. Thus, success depends on beating, defeating, and getting more than other people. While individuals’ effort means “when a situation is structured individualistically, there is no correlation among participants’ goal attainments” (Johnson & Johnson, 1989 in http://www.co-operation.org/pages/CLandD.html#nature). In other word, each individual perceives that he/she can reach his/ her goal regardless of whether other individuals attain or do not attain their goals thereby success depends on one’s own efforts. The last, “cooperation is

commit to user

working together to accomplish shared goals” (Johnson & Johnson in http://

www.co-operation.org/pages/CLandD.html#nature). Within cooperative

activities individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and beneficial to all other group members. Within cooperative learning students are given two responsibilities: to learn the assigned material and make sure that all other members of their group do likewise. In cooperative learning situations, students perceive that they can reach their learning goals only if

other students in the group also do so (

http://www.co-operation.org/pages/CLandD.html#nature).

This does not mean, however, the competitive and individualistic efforts should be banned in schools. Students should learn how to compete appropriately for fun and enjoyment, work individualistically on their own, and work cooperatively as part of team. Cooperative learning, then, should be used in the majority of the school day.

b. Cognitive

Constructivist views learning is constructed. It is elaborated by Spipey as cited in Brown (2000: 11) as follows:

An emphasis on active process of construction (of meaning), attention to texts as a means of gaining insights into those processes, and an interest in the nature of knowledge and its variations, including the nature of knowledge associated with membership in a particular group.

Furthermore, the constructivist theory views that learning is constructed. New knowledge is built using what the students already know. (http://stemnet.nf.ca/~acahve/~maj_index.htmlational technology).

commit to user

From a couple theories above, it can be drawn out that learning as the result of mental construction. Needing either understanding or insight, students are actively constructing their own understanding by fitting new information together with what they already know. That is, their prior knowledge influences what they construct. Learner autonomy and initiative is accepted and encouraged that is not like traditional model.

There are many different schools of thought within this theory, all of which fall within the same basic assumption about learning. The main two are social constructivism and cognitive constructivism. Vygotsky is well-known in social constructivism while Piaget is well-well-known in cognitive constructivism.

Vygotsky’s social developmental theory has also been termed social constructivism. The primary assumption of the social developmental perspective is that interaction among students increases the mastery of the concept in the task. Vygotsky (1978: 57) as available at http://stemnet.nf.. argues:

Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (inter psychological) and then inside the child (intra psychological).

The writer concludes that learning first takes place in interaction among students before it becomes mental processes for the individual.

On the contrary, Piaget gives more emphasises on “the importance of individual cognitive development…….social interaction was claimed only to trigger development at the right moment in time” (Brown, 12: 11). It

commit to user

seems that Vygotsky and Piaget are little bit different in the extent of emphasizing social context. Vygotsky maintains that social interaction emerges first that becomes foundation in cognitive development, while Piaget maintains that individual cognitive development emerges first as well as emphasizes that social interaction as an additional factors which appear at the right time.

3. Types of Cooperative Learning

There are three types of CL, namely formal CL, informal CL and cooperative base group. Below are clear definitions of each.

a) Formal CL

It is students working together for one class period to several weeks with outcomes to achieve shared learning goals and complete jointly specific tasks and assignments. For instance, reading a chapter or reference books, learning vocabulary, or answering questions at the end of the chapter.

It should be bear in mind that in every lesson there should be an academic objective specifying the concepts and strategies to be learned and social skills objective specifying the interpersonal or small group skill to be used so that teacher should emphasize on these. Furthermore, teacher has to decide on the size of the group, the method of assigning students to groups, the roles students will be assigned, the materials needed to conduct the lesson, as well as the way the room will be arranged. In addition, he/she ought to clearly define the assignment, teach the required

commit to user

concepts and strategies, specify the positive interdependence and individual accountability, and give the criteria for success. Besides, he/she monitors students’ learning and intervenes within the group to provide task assistance or to increase students’ interpersonal and group skills. Finally, at the end of the lesson teacher had better assess students’ learning and help students process how well their group functioned.

It can be concluded that formal CL may be used to teach specific content since teacher should ensure that students have adequate understanding of the purpose of the lesson and all the values in CL so that students see the importance of CL.

b) Informal CL

It consists of having students work together to achieve a joint learning goal in temporary, ad-hoc groups that last from a few minutes to one class period. In this case, CL can be used to focus students attention on the material to be learned, set a mood conducive to learning, help set expectations as to what will be covered in a class session, ensure that students cognitively process the material being taught and provide closure to an instructional session during a lecture or demonstrations.

c) Cooperative base groups

It is long term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with stable memberships that are permanent (lasting from one to several years) and provide the long-term caring peer relationships necessary to influence members consistently to work hard in school.

commit to user

The purpose of cooperative base groups are to give supports, help, encourage, and assistance each member needs to make academic progress (attend class, complete all assignments, learn) and develop cognitively and socially healthy ways. The use of base groups tends to improve attendance, personalize the work required and the school experience, and improve the quality and quantity of learning.

4. Kinds of Cooperative Learning

Some kinds of CL are proposed by experts from the easiest to the most difficult to be implemented in the classroom, above all, they can be used interchangeably in different classrooms, not only in mathematic class for instance, but also in science, reading class, etc. Due to the importance of knowing some kinds of CL, below are short explanations of these which are often used.

a) Students-Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD)

STAD is originally researched and developed by the Hopkins University. This method emphasizes that the success of the group (which consists of different gender and achievement) can only be gained through the way in which each group member maximizes their ability to solve the content being studied. Each of the members in the team should know the strengths and weaknesses of each other so that they are able to do the test because finally all students must take individual test on the materials where they do by themselves.

commit to user

b) Teams-Games Tournament (TGT)

Actually, learning activities used in TGT is the same as STAD by using teacher’s presentations and teamwork. This has purpose that the cooperation among member team is necessary because in the next time they join tournaments which make it different from STAD in which the students play academic games with members of other teams to contribute points to their team score. The clear explanation will be discussed separately in special section.

c) Jigsaw II

Jigsaw II is an adaptation of Aronson’s jigsaw technique in 1978. This is most appropriate to be used in teaching concept than ability. Students work in heterogeneous teams as in STAD and TGT with four-member where they are assigned chapters, short books or other material to be read, usually social studies, biographies, or other expository materials. Each member in all groups is assigned to be the expert on some aspects of the reading assignments. After reading the material given, experts from all groups meet in order to discuss their topics, and they return to their own group to tell topics to their teammates. At the end of the jigsaw class, there should be assessments which cover all topics.

5. Advantages of Cooperative Learning

According to Arends (2007: 8-9), CL gives three effects: (1) cooperative behavior: students in cooperative learning class show that they can cooperate rather than compete; (2) diversity tolerance: CL class supports

commit to user

the better relationship among students from various race; and (3) academic achievement: CL promotes better academic achievement than those who are not taught by CL.

6. Teams-Games Tournaments (TGT)

Before conducting TGT, teacher had better recognize five components of it: Class presentation, Teams, Games, Tournaments, and Team recognition.

a. Components of TGT

1) Class presentation: teacher explains the material and ensures that all students are really focused on the lesson. Teacher may use audiovisual presentation, gives encouragement, and gives motivation.

2) Teams: each team consists of four or five members consisting of different gender, academic performance, race or ethnicity. It is group member’s responsibility to ensure that their member know well on the material since it will be tested in the tournaments. To ensure it, they may discuss the material, compare the answer between members, or evaluate the answers of each other.

3) Games: students answer the questions from numbered-card and

allow other two students as challenger to challenge it, is the games in TGT. In short, the games in TGT is played in tournament table. 4) Tournaments: tournaments are held after teacher’s presentation as

commit to user

teacher places three highest students on the table 1, the next three to table 2, and so on. It is a hope that each student gives their best to their team by giving their maximal score on tournament. In the second tournament, the place of each student is changed based on their last score in the first tournament. The winner of each table move to the higher table, the looser moves to the lower table, while the student with the constant score is still in his/her previous table. For instance, table 5 consists of student A, B, C where the winner is B, the constant score is A, and the looser is C, so B moves to table 6, A is still in table 5, and C moves to table 4. Figure 1 clearly illustrates it.

Team A

Team B Team C

Figure 1. table tournament A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4

High Average Average Low

C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 High Average Average Low B-1 B-2 B-3 B-4

High Average Average Low Tournament

Table 1

Tournament Table 2

Tournament Table 3

Tournament Table 4

commit to user

5) Tim Recognition: teacher ought to give reward for each group based on their score whether they are, for instance, super team or good team. It is very essential because students feel that their teacher takes care of their achievements.

b. Schedule of Activities

Teacher should prepare as perfectly as possible so that it runs beautifully. In preparation section, first teacher should prepare material that will be used together with numbered-card to be used in tournament. Second, it is necessary for assigning students to teams. Since each team represents a cross-section of the class, teacher should rank the students (whether one is high, average, or low-achieving students), then, distribute it in balance in each team. Students, however, do not need to know that they are placed based on their performance. Third, teacher also needs to prepare how to assign students to initial tournament table. It is based on students’ performance on the team work.

After the teacher has proper preparation, the next activities are: 1. Teach: the main idea is teacher presents the lesson so lesson plans

are needed

2. Team study: students work on their teams tackling the problems or

commit to user

3. Tournament: after students on their team, they work individually on ability-homogenous tournament tables. First, ask students to pick cards to determine the first reader in which student who picks the highest number is the first reader. The first reader must read and answer the question. After answering the question, the first challenger (the student to his or her left with highest number) is permitted to challenge and give different answer or pass it and give it to the second challenger. The second challenger may challenge either the first reader or the first challenger if he/she has different answer (challengers must be careful because they must return the previous won card to the deck if they are wrong, but for the reader, if he/she is wrong, there is no penalty). Finally, the second challenge checks the answer sheet, whoever right keeps the card. In the next round, the first challenger becomes the reader, the second challenger becomes the first challenger and the reader becomes the second challenger.

4. Team Recognition: first, see the tournaments points of each table from game score sheet. Second, transfer each students tournament point to the summary sheet for his/her team, add all the team score and divide by the number of team members present. The criterion of recognizing team accomplishments is as follows:

commit to user

Criterion Award

40 Good team

45 Great team

50 Super team

Table 1. The criterion of recognizing team accomplishment

C. The Nature of Direct Instruction (DI) 1. The Definition of Direct Instruction

Conventional method which is contrasted to Cooperative Learning is Direct Instruction (DI). In the previous discussion it is obvious that CL is learner-centered model, but DI is teacher-centered model. When teacher becomes the center of the teaching and learning, it means he/she is the real actor in the classroom. Teacher gives explanation, presents the material thereby it can be concluded that DI is also closely related to “lecture and presentation” (Arends, 1997: 64). Nunan (1996: 49) argues “………….in direct instruction, the teacher explicitly instructs the learners”. It seems that both Arends and Nunan agree with its name proposed, the essential thing in DI is “instruction”. Teacher instructs the students while students listen to teacher’s instruction as well as do the required things by teacher.

There are two phases of DI ”Planning Tasks and Interactive Tasks” (Arends, 1997: 75). The clear phases are as follow:

a) Planning Tasks

1. Preparing Objective

commit to user

3. Performing Task Analysis

4. Planning for Time and Space

b) Interactive Tasks

1. Providing Objectives and Establishing set

2. Presenting and Demonstrating

3. Providing Guided Practice

4. Checking Understanding and Providing Feedback

5. Providing Independent Practice

Before conducting DI model, first, teacher must prepare the objective of the teaching and learning process and decide whether the objectives are appropriate with the students. Second, choose contents either from books or other resources which must be in line with the curriculum. Third, it must be considered that complex skills cannot be learned at one time so that it needs tasks analysis. Arends (1997: 77) states that it can be done by:

Find out what a knowledgeable person knows or does when the skills is performed, divide the overall skills into sub skills, order sub skills logically so that some are prerequisite to others, design strategies to teach of the sub skills and then combine them”

The last in the planning tasks is planning time and space. It means teacher should clearly state in his/her lesson plan time and space that will be used so that the learning process does not go around the bush since it has allocated time.

Interactive task takes place in the main point (in the teaching and learning process). First, teacher must establish set by explaining the objective or purpose of the material that will be learnt. Only by explaining

commit to user

objectives, students will compensate that their learning will be beneficial as well as fruitful for their future. Second, he provides presentation and demonstration of the material in the purpose that students achieve clarity of the material given. In this section, teacher must ensure that his/her presentation does not embark students’ confusion but embark on students’ understanding. Third, provide guided practice by considering some principals as follows:

1. Assign short, meaningful amount of practice

2. Assign practice to increase over learning

3. Be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of massed and distributed practice

4. Attend to the initial stages of practice (Arends, 1997: 84-85) The next is, checking understanding and providing feedback. “Teacher asks students and students give answer” is the closed example in this section. This is the salient thing in DI model with the reason that without knowing how far students understand, teacher’s guided practice seems nonsense for students because teacher does not check it anymore. It is better that feedback is given as soon as possible after the practice because students can remember clearly their own performance earlier. In addition, feedback should emphasize on praise as positive feedback. Likewise, as students perform negative feedback, teacher must show how to perform it clearly. In providing good feedback, teacher can do this by, for instance: “verbal feedback, video or audio taping of performance, tests, and written comments” (Arends, 1997: 85).

After giving feedback in the classroom, it is important to give additional practice or independent practice. They must do it either

commit to user

individually or in groups without teacher’s help. Arends (1997: 88) comments that most independent practice assigned to students as the final phase of a DI lesson is homework.

From the definition and phases above, it can be concluded that DI is teacher-centered model which is straightforward and can be done in step-by-step fashion.

2. Theoretical Background of Direct Instruction

Arends (1997:69) states that the learning theory which contributes most to Direct Instruction model is Behavioral Modeling theory. Further, he explores that it is originated by Dollard and Miller in the 1930s and 1940s. It is attempted “to use mechanisms of observation and vicarious reinforcement to explain the acquisition of various social behaviors such as aggressions and cooperation”.

In the same way, Bandura as cited in Arends (1997: 296) declares that human learning is done by selectively observing and memorizing the behaviors of others. Further, he argues that it is a three-step processing: attention, retention, and production. In order to get students’ attention, teacher may use gesture as expressively as possible. Retention is used to link the new skill to the students’ prior knowledge and production is used to practice the new skills.

Reading the backgrounds above, the writer can take some points: Direct instruction focuses on teacher’s behavior imitated by students where it is firstly introduced by teacher’s way to get students’ attention continued

commit to user

by retention and ended by production; it is where Behavioral Modeling theory takes places.

D. The Nature of Reading Habit

It has been discussed in the previous section the importance of reading in nearly all subjects. Further, it is most often said that reading opens the door for knowledge so that the nurture of the love for reading cannot be overemphasized. The curiosity on students’ real reading habit, then, emerged. However, the definition of reading habit should be clearly exhibited together with its importance and factors influencing it. The next discussions are on those issues.

1. The Definition of Reading Habit

Habit refers to a person does regularly and has been settled, especially something which is hard to be given up (Hornby, 1987: 385). Meanwhile, in catholic encyclopedia it is stated that habit is an effect of repeated acts and an aptitude to reproduce them (http://www.cath.ency). Further, habit is something which is stored in someone’s mind because it has been done regularly in long period (Jacoby and Keley, 1987: 476). It means that someone who has certain habit has done it regularly in long period. For example, if one is in the habit of reading, he/she reads regularly. Wood and Tam (2005: 91) states “Habits reflect the cognitive, neurological, and motivational changes that occur when behaviour is repeated”.

Reading habit is closely related to what so called “reading attitude” since it is about learner’s feeling which causes him/her to “approach or

commit to user

avoid” a reading situation (Alexander and Filler as cited in Nishimo

available at www.cooperation-org/pages/CLD.htm#nature). It means that

one is said to have good reading attitude if he/she feels that reading is important so that he/she approaches it, and vise versa, one is said to have bad reading habit if he/she feels that reading is not important at all so that he/she avoids it. More recent opinion is stated by Sangkaeo as cited in Tella and Akande “Reading habit refers to the behavior which expresses likeness of reading and taste of reading” (www.readingmatrix.com/).

Nearly all teachers may agree with the writer’s opinion that nowadays students have low reading habit. She argues that this kind of thing happened because some factors hindering students from developing reading habit. She postulates Tella’s and Akande’s research which is concerned with children reading habits and availability of books in Botswana Primary School and its implication for achieving quality education. To sum up, Botswana students do not have a good reading habit and most read only textbook just for the purpose of passing examination. Furthermore, it was revealed that pupils depend largely on the notes given by their teachers as the major source of reading material based on inadequate availability of books. In addition, lack of interesting children’s literature and watching television are identified as factors hindering students from developing reading habit. Finally, it is showed that students spend only one hour per day to read (Tella and Akande, available at www.readingmatrix.com/).

commit to user

Finally, the research done by Kaur and Thiyagarajah showed that the students spend less than one hour to read (http://ultibase.rmit.edu.auarticles). An international survey has shown that nearly one-half of the UK students read for relaxation while a majority of the children from developing countries read books for passing examinations (Books Aid International, in

Majid and Tam, 2007: 187-198 at www.journalofeduationalmedia). Further,

it is also stated that “watching TV” was the most popular leisure activity

(Liu in Majid and Tam, 2007: 188 at www.journalofeduationalmedia).

From all the explanation of reading habit it can be concluded that reading habit is pattern of both likeness and taste of reading which can make people either approach or avoid reading situation.

2. Factors Influencing Reading Habit

There are five essential factors that influence the growth of reading habit, they are: repetition, frequency, uniformity, interest, and pleasure (http://www.catholic.encyclopedia.org/artc.html). Meanwhile, it is stated that there are seven aspects that influence reading habit, they are: attitude, motivation, pleasure, willingness, consciousness, attention, and facility (http://www.readingrockets.org/article.php?ID, in Perdana, 2007: 24). Further, there is belief that “reading children become reading adult” (Tella and Akande, available at www.readingmatrix.com/). Home characteristics can encourage children to explore and experiment with language and various forms of texts. There are six major aspects of the home that contribute to the reading literacy development:

commit to user

level of reading habit by giving them exercises on reading

comprehension in classroom activity.

3. The implementation of TGT and DI depends on the level of students’

reading habit. TGT classroom which needs students’ activeness to

approach reading situation is suitable for the students having high

reading habit. While DI classroom; which places students as passive

learners, is suitable for the students having low reading habit. Since the

implementation of both teaching methods is effected by the level of

students’ reading habit, it is important that teacher knows the level of

students’ reading habits before he/she uses the method. He/she can use

the methods based on the level of students’ reading habit.

C. Suggestion

1. For Teachers

a. Teacher should use TGT to teach reading interchangeably to improve

students reading comprehension.

b. Teacher should consider that the implementation of the method

depends on reading habit so that teacher should know the level of

reading habit

c. Teacher should give extra attention for students having low reading

habit so they can improve the level their reading habit and come to

commit to user 2. For Students

a. The students should improve reading comprehension in small group

activity with different background through TGT

b. The students should be active in their teams and help each other

c. The students should ask teacher in tournaments to ensure that they

know their duties

d. The students who have low reading habit should increase the level of

reading habit by spending more time in reading and have positive

attitude toward reading

3. For other researcher

a. The researchers can implement TGT in different field with different

point of view

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aeborsold, Jo Ann.& Field, Mary Lee (1997). From Reader to Reading Teacher:

Issues and Strategies for Second Language Classroom. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press

Arends, Richard I (1997). Classroom Instruction and Management. New York: Mc.Graw Hill Companies

_______________ (2007). Learning to Teach (7th ed). New York: Mc.Graw Hill Companies

Arikunto, Suharsimi (2002). Prosedur Penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktek.

Jakarta: Bina Aksara

Ashmore, Rea (2001). Promoting the Gift of Literacy. Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Brown, H.Douglas (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (4th ed). Pearson Education: Long March

Brown, J.D (1988). Understanding Research in Second Language Learning. Cambridge: CUP

________________(2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to

Language Pedagogy (2nd ed). A Pearson Eduation: Longman

Davis, A.R (1988) Study Skill. In Alexander (ed), Teaching Reading (p.241-265). USA: Foresman and Company

Day, Richard R (2005). Developing Reading Comprehension Question. Reading

in a Foreign Language Journal. 17,(1).available at http:// nflrc.hawaii.edu/

rfl/ April/ 2005/ day/ day.html

Depdiknas (2007). Standard Kompetensi Lulusan. Jakarta

Edge, Julian (1993). Essential of English Language Teaching: Longman Keys to

Language Teaching Series. England: Longman

Eng, Gan Say. (2006). Reading Habits of English Studies Optionists of Maktab Perguruan Teknik, Kuala Lumpur. available at http://mptkl.tripod.com/rnd/gan_02.htm

commit to user

Harmer, Jeremy (1991). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Cambridge: Longman

______________(2002). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Cambridge: Longman

Hornby, AS (1987). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Pres

http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/cooperativelearning.html http://readingisgood.com.com/2008/05/comprehension-4-defi http://stemnet.nf.ca/~achave/~maj-index.html/technology http://thefreedictionary.com/comprehension

http://www.brainyquote.com/comprehension http://www.catholic.encyclopedia.org

http://www.cooperation.org/pages/CLandD.html#nature

Jacoby, Larry L & Kelley, Collen M. 1987. Handbook of Motivation and

Cognition: Foundations of Social Behaviour. New York: The Gullford

Press

Jarrel, Douglss S (2005). Extensive Reading for Weak Readers. The Journal

49,199-205

Kaur, Ms Sarjit & Thiyagarajah, Ms Rosy (1999). The English Reading Habits of

ELLS Students in University Science Malaysia. Available at

http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/may00/thiyag1.htm

Kondo-Brown, Kimi. (2006). Affective variables and Japanese L2 reading ability

Reading in a Foreign Language Journal. 18,(1).available at

Lei, Simon A. (2010). Strategies for Improving Reading Skills among ELL

college students.

available at http://www.faqs.org/periodicals/201007/2100153311.html

Leppanen, Ulla (2005). Beginning readers' reading performance and reading

habits. Journal of Research in Reading, 28(4). Available at

http://www.citeulike.org/group/214/article/354082

Liu, Meihua. (2010). Chinese Students’ Motivation to Learn English at the Tertiary Level. Reading in a Foreign Language Journal. 18,(1).available athttp://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/april2006/kondobrown/kondobrown.html

Majid, Shaheen & tan, Venus (2007). Understanding the Reading Habit of Children in Singapore. Journal of Educational Media And Library

Science, 45(2). Available at www.journalofeduationalmedia).

Mohamad, Akmar (1999). What Do We Test When We Test Reading

Comprehension. The Internet TESL Journal, 5(12). Available at http:

//iteslj.org/Techniques/Nunn.Interacting.html

Nishino, Takako. Beginning to Read Extensively: A Case Study with Mako and Fumi. Reading in a Foreign Lnguage 19, (2). Available at www.cooperation-org/pages/CL and D.htm#nature

Nunan, David (1992). Research Method in Language Learning. New York: CUP

___________ (1996). Hidden Voices: Insiders’ Perspective on Classroom Interaction. In Balley, Kathleen&Nunan, David (ed). Voices from the

Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.41-57

Nuttal, Christine (1996). Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Heinemann: The Path Press

Pan, Ngah (2006). Effective Reading. The Asian EFL Journal

Perdana, Adi (2007). A correlational Study on the Students’ Reading Habit, the

Ability to Translate Written Text and Reading Comprehension Ability of the Second Year Students of SMAN 2 Kebumen in 2005/2006 Academic Year. A Thesis

commit to user

Pratheeba, N (2009). Correlating the Performance of ESL Students in Reading

Comprehension Passages with Their Reading Habits (Research

paper).available at

http://eltweekly.com/more/2009/11/41-research-paper-

correlating-the-performance-of-esl-students-in-reading-comprehension-passages.

Richards, Jack C & Rodgers, Thodore (2001). Approaches and Methods in

Language Teaching (2nd ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Saleh, M (2001). Pengantar Praktik Penelitian Pengajaran Bahasa. Semarang: IKIP Semarang Press

Slavin, Robert E (1995). Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and

Practice.(2nd ed). Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Tella, Adeyinka & Akande, Samson (2007). Children Reading Habits and Availability of Books in Botswana Primary Schools: Implications for Achieving Quality Education. The Reading Matrix 7,(2), 117-141. available at http:// www.readingmatrix.com/articles/adeyinka.article.pdf.

Tuckman, Bruce W (1978). Conducting Educational Research (2nd ed). New York: Harcout Brace Jovanovics

Ur, Penny (1996). A course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Wood, Wendy & Tam, Leona (2005). Changing Circumstances, Disrupting Habits. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology. Vol 88, no 6.

Yamashita, Junko (2004). Reading Attitudes in L1 and L2, and Their Influence on L2 Extensive Reading. Reading in a Foreign Language Journal 16, (1). Available at http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/RFL/April2004/Yamashita/html