DESIGNING A SET OF ENGLISH INSTRUCTIONAL READING MATERIALS BASED ON RECIPROCAL TEACHING STRATEGY FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER OF THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS IN SMA STELLA DUCE I YOGYAKARTA A THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the
DESIGNING A SET OF ENGLISH INSTRUCTIONAL READING
MATERIALS BASED ON RECIPROCAL TEACHING STRATEGY
FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER OF THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS
IN SMA STELLA DUCE I YOGYAKARTA A THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Agatha Pepy Yerinta
Student Number: 051214007
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
When you keep saying you have no time, then you will never have time When you keep saying you are busy, then you are never free
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, March 10, 2010 The writer
Agatha Pepy Yerinta 051214007
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertandatangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Agatha Pepy Yerinta Nomor Mahasiswa : 051214007
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul: “DESIGNING A SET OF ENGLISH INSTRUCTIONAL READING
MATERIALS BASED ON RECIPROCAL TEACHING STRATEGY
FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER OF THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS
IN SMA STELLA DUCE I YOGYAKARTA ” beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal 10 Maret 2010 Yang menyatakan
ABSTRACT
Yerinta, Agatha Pepy. 2010. Designing a Set of English Instructional Reading
Materials Based on Reciprocal Teaching Strategy for the First Semester of the
Tenth Grade Students in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta . Yogyakarta: English
Language Education Study Program: Sanata Dharma University.
The reading abilities determine the success of reading comprehension. Therefore, the students need to master reading skills to attain the comprehension achievement. Reciprocal teaching strategy proposed by Brown and Palinscar (1984) provides four strategies that support their reading comprehension mastery. They are predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing. This study was conducted to design a set of English instructional reading materials based on reciprocal teaching strategy for the first semester of the tenth grade students in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta. There were two research questions in this study: (1) How is a set of English instructional reading materials based on reciprocal teaching strategy for the first semester of the tenth grade in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta designed? and (2) What does the designed set of English instructional reading materials based on reciprocal teaching strategy for first semester of the tenth grade in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta look like?
The writer adapted Kemp’s and Yalden’s instructional design models to answer the first question. There were nine steps employed. They were: (1) Conducting Needs Analysis, (2) Considering Goals, Topics and General Purposes, (3) Selecting the Syllabus types, (4) Specifying the Learning Objectives, (5) Selecting the Subject Content, (6) Selecting the Teaching-Learning Activities, (7) Designing the Materials, (8) Evaluating the Materials, and (9) Revising the Designed Materials.
The writer employed five steps of Research and Development cycle based on Borg and Gall. The steps were: (1) Research and Information Collecting, (2) Planning, (3) Developing Preliminary Form of Product, (4) Preliminary Field Testing, and (5) Main product Revision.
The result of the materials evaluation, based on Preliminary Field Testing questionnaire, ranged from 3.75 up to 4.25. This showed that the designed materials were good and acceptable. The writer presented the final version of the designed materials after conducting some revisions based on the comments and suggestion to answer the second question. There are eight units in the designed materials. Each unit covers four strategies, called predicting, questioning,
clarifying and summarizing.
ABSTRAK
Yerinta, Agatha Pepy. 2010. Designing a Set of English Instructional Reading
Materials Based on Reciprocal Teaching Strategy for the First Semester of the
Tenth Grade Students in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta . Yogyakarta: English
Language Education Study Program: Sanata Dharma University.
Kemampuan membaca menentukan kesuksesan dalam pemahaman bacaan. Oleh karena itu, para siswa perlu menguasai keterampilan dalam membaca untuk mencapai pemahaman dalam membaca. Reciprocal teaching
strategy yang dikembangkan oleh Brown dan Palinscar (1984) menyuguhkan
empat strategi, yaitu predicting, questioning, clarifying dan summarizing. Kajian ini dilaksanakan untuk mendesain materi membaca instruksional bahasa inggris berdasarkan reciprocal teaching strategy untuk kelas sepuluh semester pertama di SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta. Ada dua pertanyan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: (1) Bagaimana materi membaca instruksional bahasa Inggris berdasarkan
reciprocal teaching strategy untuk kelas sepuluh semester pertama di SMA Stella
Duce I Yogyakarta dikembangkan? dan (2) Seperti apa materi membaca instruksional bahasa inggris berdasarkan reciprocal teaching strategy untuk kelas sepuluh semester pertama di SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta tersebut?
Penulis mengadaptasi model desain instruksional dari Kemp dan Yalden untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama. Ada sembilan langkah yang digunakan. Langkah-langkah tersebut adalah: (1)Melaksanakan Analisis Kebutuhan, (2) Menentukan Tujuan, Topik dan Tujuan Umum, (3) Menentukan Tipe Silabus, (4) Menentukan Objektif , (5) Menentukan Isi Pembelajaran, (6) Menentukan Kegiatan Belajar Mengajar, (7) Mendesain Materi, (8) Mengevaluasi Materi, dan (9) Memperbaiki Materi.
Penulis menggunakan lima langkah dari siklus R & D. Langkah-langkah tersebut adalah: (1) Pengumpulan Informasi, (2) Perencanaan, (3) Pengembangan Bentuk Awal dari Produk, (4) Pengujian Awal Lapangan, dan (5) Perbaikan Produk Utama.
Berdasarkan hasil kuesioner Pengujian Awal Lapangan, hasil dari evaluasi materi berkisar antara 3.75 sampai 4.25. Ini menunjukan bahwa materi yang didesain bagus dan dapat diterima. Penulis mempresentasikan versi akhir dari materi, setelah melakukan perbaikan berdasarkan pendapat dan saran, untuk menjawab pertanyaan kedua. Ada delapan unit dalam materi. Masing-masing unit mencakup empat strategi, yaitu: predicting, questioning, clarifying dan
summarizing .
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to dedicate my deepest gratitude to God, my beloved Jesus Christ, and Holy Mary for the grace and blessing so that I finally accomplished my thesis.
Second, I dedicate my gratitude to my family: my parents (Fx. Suhardi, Ch. Maryati), my brother (Yohanes Benny Marwastu) and his wife (Agustina Lusi Andriyani) for their love, support, and prayers for all the time.
My greatest appreciation also goes to my sponsor, C. Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. for the guidance and consideration during the process of finishing this thesis and also for giving me the incredibly thorough corrections, for all lecturers in English Language Education Study Program and for Maria Martarina Pramudani and Chatarina Artilantari for providing me with their best services for these years.
I would like to thank the teachers in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta: Fr. Awan Tyaswati, S.Pd., Sweet Suzi Maria, S.Pd., and Bernadetha Ajeng, S. Pd. for their willingness and precious suggestion for my designed material. I also would like to give my deepest thanks to the tenth grade students of SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta for their willingness to fulfill the questionnaires. our wonderful times, and great experiences. I also would like to thank his family for giving me great times.
My great thanks are addressed to my dearest Beo 45 friends (Irmina Budi Utari and Anastasia Beni Indrawati). I thank them for giving me support, suggestion in life and always go along with me in my good and bad times.
I give my best gratitude to my best friends (Indriani Kusumastuti, Erythrina Cahyaningsih, Theresia Novitasari, and Ima Putri Wulandari) for their friendship, sisterhood, stories, laugh and love.
Finally, I also want to thank my brothers (Agustinus Wahyu Wasono Putro, Ezra Anggara Yuniarta, Fidelis Windiawan Adhi Purnama and Stephanus Fandi Herbayu Aji) for the wonderful friendship and brotherhood. I thank them for accompanying me and guiding me in this college times.
May God always bless them.
Agatha Pepy Yerinta
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGES .................................................................................... ii DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................. iv STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY .............................................. v PAGE OF PUBLICITY ................................................................................ vi ABSTRACT ................................................................................................. vii
ABSTRAK .................................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. xi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................ xiv LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................... xv LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................... xvi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1 A. Research Background .................................................................. 1 B. Problem Formulation ................................................................... 3 C. Problem Limitation ..................................................................... 4 D. Research Objectives ................................................................... 5 E. Research Benefits ........................................................................ 5 F. Definition of Terms .................................................................... 6 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ............................. 9 A. Theoretical Description .................................................................... 9 1)
Instructional Design Model .................................................... 9 a.
Kemp’s Design Model ..................................................... 10
b.
Skills in Reading Comprehension .................................... 15 c. Basic Principles in Reading Comprehension .................... 18 d.
Level of Comprehension ................................................. 19 e. Facilitating Comprehension ............................................. 20 f. The Teaching and Learning of Reading ........................... 21 g.
Reading Materials ........................................................... 22 h. Reciprocal Teaching ........................................................ 24 B. Theoretical Framework .................................................................... 25
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ............................................................... 28 A. Research Method ........................................................................ 28 1. Research and Information Collecting .................................... 29 2. Planning ................................................................................ 30 3. Develop Preliminary Form of Product ................................... 30 4. Preliminary Field Testing ...................................................... 31 5. Main Product Revision .......................................................... 31 B. Research Participants .................................................................. 31 1. Participants of the Research and Information Collecting ........ 31 2. Participants of the Preliminary Field Testing ......................... 32 C. Research Instruments .................................................................. 32 1. Research and Information Collecting Instruments ................. 33 2. Preliminary Field Testing Instruments .................................... 34 D. Data Gathering Techniques .......................................................... 34 E. Data Analysis Techniques ........................................................... 34 F. Research Procedures .................................................................... 36 CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ..................... 38 A. Research Findings ............................................................................ 38
the Tenth Grade Students ................................................. 40 2. The Competency Standard, the Basic Competence and the Topics .............................................................................. 42
3. The Indicators ........................................................................ 44 4.
The Subject Contents ............................................................. 44 5. The Teaching Learning Experiences ...................................... 46 B. Evaluation and Revision ................................................................... 47 1.
The Evaluation of the Designed Material ............................... 47 a.
The Result of the Preliminary Field Testing Questionnaire ............................................................. 48 b. Participants’ Comments and Suggestions on the
Designed Materials .................................................... 50 2. The Revision of the Designed Material .................................. 51 a.
Responses to the Participants’ Evaluation ....................... 51 b.
The Presentation of the Designed Materials ..................... 52
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .............................. 53 A. Conclusions ....................................................................................... 53 B. Suggestions ....................................................................................... 55 REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 57 APPENDICES .............................................................................................. 59
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
3.1 Table of Central Tendency ...................................................................... 35
4.1 The Topics and Reading Texts ................................................................ 43
4.2 The Sample of Competency Standard and Basic Competence.................. 43
4.3 The Sample of Indicators ....................................................................... 44
4.4 The Description of the Participants ......................................................... 47
4.5 The Result of the Preliminary Field Testing Questionnaire ..................... 48
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
2.1 Kemp’s Model: The Relationship of Each Step in the Plan to the Other Steps (Kemp, 1977: 9) ................................................................... 11
2.2 The Framework of the System in this Study ........................................... 26
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
Appendix A : Letter of Permission ........................................................ 61 Appendix B : Interview Guideline, Research and Information
Collecting and Preliminary Field Testing Questionnaires ............................................................... 63
Appendix C : The Result of the Interview .............................................. 72 Appendix D : The Results of the Research and Information
Collecting Questionnaire ................................................. 75 Appendix E : The Competency Standard and Basic Competence ........... 79 Appendix F : The Indicators ................................................................. 82 Appendix G : The Topics, the Reading Texts, the Sections and
Sub-sections of the Designed Material ............................. 86 Appendix H : The Syllabus ................................................................... 92 Appendix I : The English Instructional Reading Materials Based on
Reciprocal Teaching Strategy for the First Semester of the Tenth Grade Students ............................ 108
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This section consists of research background, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms. A. Research Background English as the lingua franca and the most widely used language is very
important to master. It is needed in several aspects of our life. English takes part almost in all areas such as in science, technology, art, economy, international relationship, socio-culture and education. English is used as a means of communication on those areas in the world.
Realizing that English is very important, the government considers English as a compulsory subject at schools. Based on an informal interview with one of English teachers and my teaching experience in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta, English is still considered as a difficult subject. One of their difficulties is reading comprehension.
Reading is emphasized because English is a means to develop science, technology and culture. Many references and information sources on those areas are written in English. If the development of science, economy, technology and culture is necessary to be gained, the ability to read English texts for students must learning at schools. As they lack reading skills, they may come across difficulties when reading articles in English.
The students still lack reading abilities, especially when they have to read long reading passages and have to answer the reading comprehension questions.
The uninteresting materials, exercise and teaching learning activities also influence the comprehension ability. The students realize the skills in reading, but only few of them who are capable of using the skills effectively. The skilled students are able to employ the skills well, the unskilled students are not.
A lot of educators were trying to find appropriate strategies to develop the readers’ comprehension. Paris and Jacob (1984), cited by Resnick (1987: 23-25), conducted a research on the effect of using skimming, using context to guess the meaning, and note taking. The result proved that there were some students called skilled-readers, who could enhance their comprehension, and some students called unskilled-readers, who could not. Some researchers, such as Bereiter and Bird (1985), Collins et al (1981), Day (1980) and Schoenfeld (1985), as cited by Resnick (1987:26) suggested developing self-monitoring skills where the students could monitor their own comprehension achievement.
Brown and Palincsar (1984: 117) introduced a reading approach called reciprocal teaching that facilitates the students to expand their understanding on the printed texts. These approach sets up four strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing. Based on the research conducted by Brown and enhancement of reading comprehension of the readers even the unskilled-readers (Resnick, 1987: 25-27).
Based on an informal interview with the English teacher, it can be seen that the majority of the students are unskilled-students. Therefore, the writer uses this approach to design reading materials for the first semester of the tenth grade students in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta. The students need to have an appropriate strategy that can improve their reading mastery, both for the skilled and unskilled students.
The reading mastery is determined by the strategy used in implementing the reading material, in this case using reciprocal teaching strategy. Students should be actively participated in the teaching learning activities and they should be able to monitor their development in understanding the passage and conducting the comprehension exercises.
The writer chooses this strategy, as it is an effective means to provide the students with four basic strategies to comprehend the English written texts, namely: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing. Moreover, by applying these four strategies of reciprocal teaching in the reading class, the students will learn to monitor and be responsible for their own learning.
Therefore, the researcher designs and presents English instructional reading materials based on reciprocal teaching strategy so that the students will be able to improve their reading comprehension ability.
B. Problem Formulation
In this study, the writer formulates the problems as follow: 1. How is a set of English instructional reading materials based on reciprocal teaching strategy for the first semester of the tenth grade in SMA Stella
Duce I Yogyakarta designed? 2. What does the designed set of English instructional reading materials based on reciprocal teaching strategy for first semester of the tenth grade in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta look like? C.
Problem Limitation
Reading is one of language skills, which is given priority in the English learning. However, reading comprehension is still considered as difficult for the students. Some aspects, such as the kinds of materials, exercises and teaching learning activities determine the mastery of reading skills and influence the reading comprehension.
The aim of this study is to design and present the English instructional reading materials for the first semester of the tenth grade in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta. It is designed to facilitate the students improve their comprehension ability. The materials are based on reciprocal teaching strategy. It provides the students the materials, exercises and learning activities that can facilitate them to comprehend the reading materials better. SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta so that the students can monitor their own learning and improve their reading comprehension.
D. Research Objectives
Related to the problem formulation, the objectives of this research are mentioned below:
1. To describe how a set of English instructional reading materials based on reciprocal teaching strategy for the first semester of the tenth grade in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta is designed.
2. To present the designed set of English instructional reading materials based on reciprocal teaching strategy for the first semester of the tenth grade in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta.
E. Research Benefits
It is expected that this study will give benefits and contributions to the following people:
1. English Teachers
The designed materials can help the teachers facilitate their students to comprehend the reading passages more. It also helps the teachers to create the materials creatively and facilitate them to use appropriate strategies for different reading texts.
2. Students The materials can help the students to monitor themselves in understanding the reading texts. It also helps the students to do the National
Examination successfully. The designed materials facilitate the students to be accustomed to the strategies so that they will understand how to use appropriate strategy for the reading texts.
3. Future Researchers Hopefully, this research can give contribution to further studies related to the development of English reading materials for SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta.
F. Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding, below are some definitions of terms: 1. Designing
Designing is to prepare a plan to be realized. Designing instructional materials means choosing and organizing instructional materials in a way that facilitates the students learn more efficiently and effectively than they could from natural situation (Merill and Tennyson, 1977: xii). In this study, design is a plan to arrange a set of English reading materials using reciprocal teaching strategy that can facilitate the tenth grade students in SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta to improve their reading comprehension ability.
2. Instructional Material Instructional material is a self-contained or self-instructional unit of instruction that has an incorporated theme, offers students with information desired to obtain specified knowledge and skills, and serves as one component of a total curriculum (Dick and Carey, 1985: 5). According to Dick and Reiser (1989: 3), instructional material is a set of materials that is used to deliver instructions to the learners. In this study, the term instructional materials refer to a textbook or handout selected or made by the writer based on reciprocal teaching strategy.
3. Reading According to Gibson and Levin, reading is digging up information from a text (1979: 5). They state that the text is not only the printed words but also the combination of text and picture, diagrams, graphs, illustration and so on. Christine Nuttal (1982), cited by Simanjuntak (1988: 14) suggests reading as the meaningful interpretation or printed or written verbal symbols. It is an outcome of the interaction between the perception of graphic symbols that signifies language and the readers’ language skills, cognitive skills and the knowledge of the world.
In this study, reading is an activity to comprehend information from a text using the strategy developed by reciprocal teaching strategy.
4. Reciprocal Teaching Strategy According to Brown and Palinscar (1984: 117), reciprocal teaching is a comprehension-fostering activity which emphasizes on four major strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing. Each strategy assists the students to understand and get the meaning of what they read. These strategies also support the students to monitor themselves in their own learning. In this study, reciprocal teaching strategy is applied in the reading exercises in the instructional materials.
5. SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta SMA Stella Duce I Yogyakarta is a senior high school located in Jl.
Sabirin no. 1-3 Yogyakarta. The tenth grade class consists of eight classes with 35-37 students in each class.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This section elaborates the literature review used in this study. It presents
some theories that support the topic of the study discussed. Two major areas of concern are theoretical description and theoretical framework.
A. Theoretical Description
This section discusses the related literature or theory as the theoretical foundation of the research. These include the definition of the instructional design models, theories of reading and theory of reciprocal teaching strategy.
1. Instructional Design Model
Instructional design refers to all aspects that may have a direct effect on the learning. Instructional material is the material that is designed or prepared for teaching. It could be in the form of textbooks, newspapers, journals, or handouts selected or made by the teacher for teaching. In developing a set of instructional reading materials, it needs a system of instructional program design to be followed.
There are many instructional design models proposed by some experts. However, in this study, the writer would refer to two instructional design models reading materials for senior high school students, the writer would adapt some steps from those two models.
The writer chooses two models because they can complete each other. The writer adapts some parts from the first model, and some parts from another model.
The discussion of the two models is presented below: a.
Kemp’s Design Model
Kemp (1977: 8) states that instructional design plan is meant to answer three important questions. They are: 1)
What must be learned? (objectives) 2)
What procedures and resources will work best to reach the desired learning levels? (activities and resources) 3)
How will we know when the required learning has taken place? (evaluation) Then, Kemp (1977: 8-9) adds that the instructional design plan consists of eight parts. They are:
1) Consider goals, list topic, and state the general purposes for teaching each topic.
2) Enumerate the important characteristics of the learners. 3) Specify the learning objectives. 4) List the subject-content that support each objective. 5)
Develop pre-assessment to determine the students’ background and present
7) Coordinate support services to conduct the instructional plan. The support services can be budget, personnel, facilities, equipment, and schedules.
8) Evaluate students’ learning based on their achievement of objectives, revise and reevaluate their weaknesses that need to be improved.
Figure 2.1 Kemp’s Model: The Relationship of Each Step in the Plan to the Other Steps (Kemp, 1977: 9)Teaching/ Learning Activities, Resources
Support Services Evaluation
Revise
Revise
Learning Objectives Learner character- risticsPre- assessment
Goals and
Purposes
Subject Content
b. Yalden’s Design Model
Yalden (1987: 89) defines a communicative syllabus as a syllabus which purpose is to describe classroom experience with a real language use environment.
It means that the syllabus provides the learners with a change to practice the target language in a real language situation to make them familiar with the use of the language. Yalden’s communicative syllabus consists of eight stages of instructional design (Yalden, 1987: 88-89). They are: 1)
Needs Survey It is conducted to gather information about learners’ needs. The gathered information will be used to consider the whole course.
2) The Description of Purposes
Conducting needs analysis will give the course designer choices to choose the purpose of the course, whether it is for occupational or educational purpose.
3) Choice of Syllabus Type
It is done when the general category of the course has been decided. At this stage, the course designer chooses the proper syllabus to be implemented in the course. Yalden provides several types of syllabus as follows (Yalden, 1987: 110-117):
a) Type I: Structural-Functional
It separates the structural and communicative function. The linguistic form precedes the communicative function. b) Type II: Structures and Function
This type involves a structure in a communicative function; thus, it enables learners to study the linguistic forms and communicative function in a line.
c) Type III: Variable Focus This type shifts the language program based on the learners’ proficiency.
d) Type IV: Functional
The communicative function is the objective in this type. However, the structural pattern is not ignored.
e) Type V: Fully Notional
This type of syllabus is appropriate for learners who have adequate English proficiency, but still need to be specified in a particular purpose.
f) Type VI: Fully Communicative
It is also called as learner-generated syllabus where learners are the input source.
4) Proto-Syllabus Design The course syllabus specifies the content of the syllabus.
5) The Pedagogical Syllabus
The course designer designs the pedagogical syllabus. This syllabus provides materials presentation and interpretation about how learning is achieved.
6) The Development and Implementation In Classroom
The course designer sets the materials from the pedagogical syllabus and
7) Evaluation
Evaluating the learners, the teaching techniques and the program are done at this stage.
8) Recycling Stage
At this stage, goals and final performances are set up. If there are differences from the syllabus, the materials and the teaching approaches will be revised.
2. Theories of Reading a. The Nature of Reading Comprehension Some experts have their own definition about the meaning of reading.
However, the idea is more or less the same. Reading is not merely the decoding of printed symbols to sound. Thus, it is a dynamic process, autonomous by the reader in many ways and for many reasons (Gibson and Levin: 1979:5). Urquhart and Weir (1988:14-15) argue that reading deals with language messages in written or printed form. It involves processing language messages, which are knowledge of language.
Kustaryo (1988:11-12) states that reading with comprehension means understanding what has been read. Reading is an active thinking process that depends on student’s experience, prior knowledge and comprehension skills. Comprehension occupies understanding vocabulary, seeing the relationship among words, concepts, organizing idea, recognizing the author’s purpose,
Meanwhile, Clark and Silberstein (1987) as cited by Simanjuntak (1988: 15) characterize reading as an active cognitive process of interacting with print and monitoring comprehension to create meaning. Reading is the instantaneous acknowledgment of different written symbols, simultaneous organization of these symbols with existing knowledge and understanding of the information and ideas communicated.
From those definitions, reading is a process of understanding written information that requires underlying knowledge of the reader in order to be able to obtain the purpose of the writer in a certain text and comprehend the text thoroughly.
b. Skills in Reading Comprehension
In order to be able to gain comprehension in reading, the readers should have skills that are included in the reading activity. Hirasawa and Markstein (1977: v) states that the students should not read word by word but grasping the general ideas of the reading texts. This can be achieved with the use of rapid reading. However, learning how to monitor and changing reading style and reading speed are skills that require a good deal of practice (Anderson, 1985: 433).
According to Heaton (1979:104), the fact that students have mastered some of the required reading skills in the first language is no warranty at all that
1) Automatic decoding
2) Previewing and predicting
3) Specifying purpose
4) Identifying genre
5) Questioning
6) Scanning
7) Recognizing topics
8) Classification of ideas into main topics and details
9) Locating topic sentences
10) Stating the main idea of a sentence, paragraph or passage
11) Recognizing patterns of relationships
12) Identifying and using words which signal the patterns of relationships
13) Inferring the main idea
14) Recognizing and using pronouns, referents, and other lexical equivalents as clues to cohesion
15) Guessing the meaning of unknown words from the context
16) Skimming
17) Paraphrasing
18) Summarizing
19) Drawing conclusions
20) Drawing inferences and using evidence
23) Reading faster
24) Adjusting reading rate according to materials and purpose
Mikulecky (1990: 28) states that if students are aware of the skills and recognize how to use the skills, students can learn to monitor their own comprehension and apply suitable strategies as required to comprehend a text. McNeil (1987:91) as cited by Mikulecky (1990:28) describes this situation as metacognitive process. Three types of metacognitive process as follow: 1)
Self-knowledge Recognizing one’s own reading strengths and weaknesses
2) Task knowledge
Recognizing what strategies to employ in a set situation 3)
Self-monitoring Being conscious of when one does not realize and recognizing what strategies to utilize to deal with it
McWhorter (1990: 13-23) suggests three main skills in reading comprehension. They are previewing and predicting, developing guide questions, and monitoring comprehension. Pearson and Fielding (1991) as cited by Urquhart and Weir (1998: 183-184) support the statement by proposing five skills. They are previewing and predicting, self-questioning and self-monitoring, and evaluation
In order to read with a degree of comprehension to succeed in reading process, the readers must be proficient in each of the reading level. Each reading skill depends on another skill. Since the reading materials that will be designed later is for the first semester of the tenth grade students of senior high school, only some of those basic skills above that will be included.
c.
Basic Principles in Reading Comprehension In order to achieve an adequate understanding of reading comprehension, a number of basic principles must be taken into account. Cushenberry (1985:57-59) notes four principles in reading comprehension, namely: 1)
Reading is a holistic concept, therefore it should not be taught as a single skill. There are large numbers of comprehension skills that are included in the reading process. The teacher should be concerned in promoting the students’ ability in such areas as reading for detail, finding the main idea, getting general information, finding sequence or event, and deducing meaning from context.
2) Some students develop a few of comprehension skills on their own, but the total accomplishment of learning these skills will be seen when the teachers plan for it. The use of test and sample lesson provide the teacher with beneficial data related to each student’s proficiency in a given skill area. This technique will help the teachers understand the problem of their students and
3) One major aspect that causes the poor comprehension is a lack of purpose for reading. Before asking the students to read, the teacher should explain the skills that will be developed through the passage. The assignments and the purposes are not merely from the teacher, some of them, may be suggested by the students.
4) The materials used must help the students to build their comprehension skills and they must be written in the appropriate level of difficulty that matches the reading level of the students. The important principle to remember is that teachers need to be sure that there is a match between the reading level of the book and the instructional reading level of the students.
Nunan (1984) as cited by Nunan (1989: 33) suggests that in reading comprehension for high school students readers, relevant background knowledge is a more significant aspect than grammatical complexity.
d.
Level of Comprehension Kustaryo (1988: 12) states that in a wider sense, comprehension can be divided into three levels of skills. They are literal reading, inferential reading, and critical reading. 1)
Literal Literal reading refers to the ideas and facts that are directly stated on the literal level of comprehension is fundamental to all reading skills at any level, because the readers must comprehend first what the author said before they draw an inference or formulate an evaluation. The literal level is considered to the easiest level of reading comprehension because the readers are not required to go beyond what the author actually said. 2)
Inferential To obtain inferences or implied meaning from the reading material, one must ‘read between lines’. Inferences are ideas that readers obtain when they go beneath the surface to sense relationships, and detect the mood of the material. Building inferences requires more thinking because the readers must depend less on the author and more on personal insight.
3) Critical Critical reading involves a higher degree of skill development and perception.
Critical reading requires reading with an inquiring mind and with active, creative looking for wrong statements. It means questioning, comparing, and evaluating.
e.
Facilitating Comprehension In order to comprehend a text, there are some necessary steps to facilitate comprehension. Comprehension is difficult process since it involves the transmission of an idea through several imperfect media (Fry, 1965: 24).
1) Teaching new vocabulary
Recognizing the meaning of words in a passage is very important in order to comprehend the idea. However, not understanding some words in a piece of text is not main obstruction to comprehension unless one or more of them are central significance to the author’s or the reader’s purpose. In this case, teaching new vocabulary is important. 2)
Providing essential background information Sufficient preparations for reading a piece of text include assisting students either to recall or attain essential information to grasp it. The preparation is aimed to prepare the students entering the text. It is very effective phase in reading activity, in which it facilitates the students to comprehend the text.
3) Establishing purpose for reading
The aim of reading should be established first before starting to read. The purpose for reading is not only to acquire information but also to obtain sufficient comprehension. Purpose will keep readers from wandering through a piece of text, not knowing what to focus on or what to attempt to bear in mind. Establishing the purpose of reading will make the reading more meaningful.
f.
The Teaching and Learning of Reading McNeil, Donant, and Alkin (1980: 11) state that there are two emphases in involved in reading, and the second is focusing on the specific situation in which the pupil is to apply reading skills.
Shepherd (1978) as cited by Simanjuntak (1988: 16-19) proposes ten principles of learning reading: 1)
The students must have a purpose and a motivation to learn 2)
Learning must have meaning for the learner 3)
A background of experience and knowledge is necessary for learning 4)
The learner must be active in his learning 5)
Learning requires the forming of habits 6)
Much learning is by association 7)
Learning requires practice 8)
Favorable attitudes toward learning foster effective learning 9)