7

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter represents and discusses related literature and studies taken from

different sources and data that could substantiate the conceptual framework of the study.

This includes related literature both foreign and local and related studies both foreign and

local.

Related Literature

Reading

Reading has so many definitions. In linguistic manner reading is define as the

process of getting understanding and catching the content about the text. Meanwhile

Smith (2004) defines reading as the creative and constructive activity having four

distinctive and fundamental characteristics; those are purposeful, selective, anticipatory,

and based on comprehension. Hedgcock(2009) adds that reading is a complex interaction

of cognitive processes and strategies (used by the reader) and various types of

information (contained in the text). Earlier models of reading instruction have tended to

focus primarily either on bottom-up processes(for decoding and comprehending the text)

or top-down skills (for activating the background knowledge and prediction strategies of

the reader) and According to Brown and Yule, reading involves learning how to make-

reasonable interpretations of a written text

Reading covers a lot of things. It does not simply know the meaning of individual

words in a particular text. In other words, reading can be defined as a process of making
 8

reasonable interpretation in apprehending a text which has four characteristics; purpose,

selection, anticipation, and comprehension. Talking about comprehension is one of the

characteristics of reading.

In acquiring English, the students have to be able to master the four basic skills of

English which consists of speaking, listening, reading and writing. From those four basic

skills, reading is considered as the main important skill. It has received more attention

than any other aspects of education. Reading can be categorized into receptive skill, like

listening.

According Sutari (2002) “reading is a process of getting the meaning of

something written of printed by interpreting its characters or symbols. Reading is a

second language that defined as process of comprehending the meaning in the new

language through the symbol used to represent it. While Albert Harris (1962) defined

reading as the meaningful interpretation of printed of written verbal symbols which also

involves sensing, perceiving, achieving meaning, learning reacting in variety of ways.

Oberholzer stated that “understanding the reading text is far more important than

knowing the mechanical skill of reading. Without comprehension, reading would serve

no purpose. ”It means that understanding the text is very important to be achieved by the

students because reading is not simply about mechanical skill. It helps the readers to

understand the world, learn about the past and plan for the future.

Westwood(2001) argues that readers must use information they already possess to

filter, interpret, organize and reflect upon the incoming information they get from the

text. He thinks that efficient interpretation of text involves a combination of word

recognition skills, linking of new information to prior knowledge, and application of

 9

appropriate strategies such as locating the main idea, making connections, questioning,

inferring and predicting. Therefore, understanding the text is not an easy thing, so that is

why there are many students find difficulties in understanding the text.

Reading Comprehension

The purposed of reading is to understand the written text. When students read a

passage or stories they interpret the information and they will add their personal

knowledge in order to produce complex ideas, the process is called comprehension.

According to McKay (2006) reading is both process and product. It is stated that the product

of reading is reading comprehension or construction of idea or there is understanding on what

is being read.in the definition of Snow, 2002 Reading comprehension is refers to the

process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and

involvement with written language. While for Smith and Robinson (1980) they defined

reading comprehension as the understanding, evaluating, and utilizing of information and

ideas gained through an interaction between the reader and the author. Furthermore,

Harris and Smith (1972) stated, reading is a process intimately linked to think, and there

three factors influencing comprehension, these are background experience, ability to use

language, and intelligence.

Reading Comprehension Skills

There are many skills that a student’s can utilize in comprehending a written text.

According to Johnson (2005) reading comprehension skills are strategies that the readers

use in order to acquire information and construct meaning from the written text. it is a
 10

thinking process, braked down into steps to comprehend. These comprehension skills can

be easily learned and flexibly selected to a variety of reading situations. Brown (2001)

stated that the most valuable strategies for learners (as well as native speaker) are

skimming and scanning strategies. Several skills above can be improved, trained and

developed as the way the students grow. Improving reading comprehension skills is

valuable to make them good reader and effective reader.

Mikulecky and Jeffries(2004) state that comprehension is making sense of what

someone reads and connecting the ideas in the text to what he already knows .According

to Smith, comprehension may be regarded as relating aspects of the world including

what has been read, knowledge, intentions, and expectations.

Richards and Schmidt (2002) says that comprehension is the identification of the

intended meaning of written or spoken communication. They also adds that contemporary

theories of comprehension emphasize that it is an active process drawing both on

information contained in the message (bottom-up processing) as well as background

knowledge, information from the context and from the listener’s and speaker’s purposes

or intentions (top-down processing). It is also supported by Smith that readers learn the

meaning by making sense of words from their context, using what is known to

comprehend and learn the unfamiliar.

Extensive Reading Activity

According to Brown (2001) Extensive Reading activity is an activity that aims to

achieve a good understanding from the text. In this activity the text, books, articles,

essays, advertisement, newspaper, magazines and etc. are usually long. Extensive
 11

Reading Activity can be conducted during the class hour or not class hour. The said

activity is beneficial to the students because it can enhance their way of reading, it can

improve their reading ability, vocabulary, writing and spelling. By reading they can gain

something informational. It helps the students to avoid from overanalyzing the words.

According to Day and Bamford (1998) Extensive Reading has several

characteristics, these are: (a). Students read as much as possible, (b). A variety of

materials on a wide range of topics are available, (c). Students select what they want to

read, (c). The purposes of reading are usually for pleasure, information, and general

understanding, (d). Reading is its own reward, (e). Reading materials are well within

linguistic competence of the students, (f). Reading is individual and silent, (g). Reading

speed is usually faster than slower, (h). Teachers orient students to the goal of the

program, (i). The teacher is a role model of reading for the students.

According to Krashen (2006), he formulated a hypothesis called “pleasure

hypothesis “. It is stated that free voluntary (another name for extensive reading) reading

provides the message in a low-anxiety situation. If the activity is pleasurable then it is

good for language and literacy development. Krashen gathered different researches that

will only prove that reading is pleasant. Krashen goes on talking about ―correlational‖

studies that confirm, a person who reads more shows more literacy development,

although it does not mean that self-selected reading is the guarantee of a student‘s

accomplishment of high level of competence in a foreign language. Krashen concludes

that the time spent in free reading surpasses the time spent in traditional instruction in

terms of language development with its efficiency. A further hypothesis that supports

extensive reading is about incidental vocabulary acquisition. It is the part of implicit

 12

learning. Implicit learning involves the incremental growth of the associative knowledge,

learning of skills and language knowledge without being aware of it relying on an

extensive amount of input. Input that supports implicit learning includes frequency of

repetition, co-occurrence of items that build associations, sequences that are repeated and

gradually imprinted as larger units (chunking), and gradual generalization of similar

exemplar forms and features to produce categories and prototypes (Grabe, 2009). In

incidental vocabulary acquisition, the learner‘s attention is focused primarily on

communicative meaning, not on form. Krashen‘s Input Hypothesis makes a stronger

claim—namely, that acquisition occurs only when the learner‘s attention is focused on

meaning. Comparison studies involving the benefits of extensive reading on vocabulary

growth have also indicated that students learn 5–15% of new words from incidental

exposure to these words while reading, and this percentage increases with increasing

numbers of repeated exposures to words (Schmitt, 2008; Stahl & Nagy, 2006; Grabe,

2010).

Nuttall (2000) describes extensive reading as an activity that students can do for

themselves. Nuttall does not recommend regular formal testing of extensive reading.it is

believed that it can be damaging if it makes students read less freely and widely and with

less pleasure. Instead it suggest records of books which students have read. Nuttall also

underlines two main criteria for selecting texts in extensive reading: readability and

suitability of content. It also suggests acronym SAVE which summarizes criteria for

choosing extensive reading materials: Short, appealing, varied, easy. Teacher is

responsible to use every trick to persuade students to ‘get hooked on books‘. Giving
 13

students a purpose for reading is a way of clinging students to reading. Reading is a

purposeful activity.

Nation (2004) examines the goals of extensive reading and separates language,

ideas, and skills. Language goals include learning language issues such as vocabulary,

grammar or discourse features. Ideas can involve subject matter knowledge, culture or

general knowledge. Skills can comprise all four skills, in addition to fluency and

accuracy.

According to Grabe (2009) reading extensively usually requires that a reader

know 98-99% of the words in a text, some level of fluency processing words and

sentences, the knowledge about text structure, applying of particular strategies and skills

as inferencing, monitoring, and evaluation.

Prowse (2002) expends some principles and even adds some new ideas and

introduces the following principles: there should be no comprehension questions; no use

of dictionaries; recordings are used in the program; teachers do not test learners; the texts

which can engage learners in reading should be exploited.

Susser and Robb (1990) characterize extensive reading: (a) reading is

individualized, with student choosing the books they want to read, (b) the books are not

discussed in class. This variety suggests that quantity of reading is not an absolute

number of hours or pages but depends on teacher and student perceptions of how

extensive reading differs from other reading classes; this will vary according to type of

program, level, and other variables.

Day&Bamford (2004) offer a number of activities for extensive reading

elaborated and used in practice by extensive reading teachers. Most of them are done in
 14

the classroom; they are divided into following sections: getting started, introducing

reading material, motivating and supporting reading, monitoring reading, evaluating

reading, oral reading reports, drama and role play, having fun, written reading reports,

writing creatively, developing awareness in reading, increasing reading rate, developing

and consolidate vocabulary. These activities are a helpful guidance for a teacher to orient

a student in extensive reading. The teachers should be able to ask students to describe

either orally or in writing what they are thinking as they read. The amount of reading

learners do in a reading class is crucial.

Furthermore, Macalister (2010) investigated teachers‘ attitudes to extensive

reading in higher educational contexts. The teachers taught at university preparation

courses at language teaching centers in New Zealand. Macalister (2010) concludes that if

extensive reading is to be more widespread in higher educational contexts, it needs to be

promoted through teacher education, new research, changes in course design, raising

awareness among administrators and managers, and improved resource provision.

Moreover, Clarity (2007) concludes scheme of implementation of an ER program

―if the program is managed in an effective, positive, and ongoing manner, extensive

reading may be one of the most valuable lessons in learning you will ever teach.

In addition, Leung (2002) Investigation was conducted on the impact of the

extensive reading on an adult‘s self-study of Japanese over a 20-week period. Data were

collected from a learner diary, audio-recordings from private-tutorial sessions and

vocabulary texts. The results of this study show that extensive reading can enhance

vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension and promote positive attitude toward

reading. The author admits that it is worth incorporating extensive reading into the
 15

reading curriculum. The author emphasizes keeping a record of reading and reading

speed regarding the effectiveness of extensive reading.

Besides that, Grabe (2009) indicates the following benefits: positive attitude and

motivation, vocabulary growth, development of language and literacy skills, conceptual-

knowledge growth and reasoning. These studies were carried out in English as a second

language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL), settings.

Withal, Extensive reading approach provides an opportunity for learners to

acquire cultural awareness. Delanoy (1997 ) highlights that cultural learning is now

viewed as an integral part of communicative language learning; as they have already

mentioned in the previous chapter, reading is a kind of communication between writer

and a reader.

In addition, Extensive reading can result in learner autonomy. Hedge (2000, p.

204) comments that extensive reading can be productive step in developing learner

autonomy; it comes from assuming responsibility for one‘s own learning.

Reading Comprehension Strategies

There are different studies suggested that in order to improve the reading

comprehension of the students they should use the following reading comprehension

strategies:

The Cloze Reading Comprehension Activity , this strategy tries to improve the

reader’s comprehension by means of filling the missing content words in the reading

passage in order for them to read it properly it is prepared by the teacher. Through the

activity it helps the students to build their comprehension as they think about the
 16

appropriate word in order to fill the blank and focus on the content of the text. (Bormuth,

1968).

The Reading Road Map. This reading comprehension strategy sometimes

involves partner in learning. It is provided that the will follow the written set reading plan

that the teachers prepared for them in order for them to improve. Most of the times they

are reading informational text and they do work associated with the plan activities.

(Wood et. al, 2008).

The Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review from the word itself question, read,

recite, this reading comprehension strategy includes scanning the written text or chapter

then making a question out of the heading, and then answering those questions when they

are in the process of reading. If they are done they will recite their formed questions and

their answers, and then afterwards it is time for them to review what they learned from

what they read. (Robinson, 1978).

Predicting, a good readers have always a purposed when reading.it could be for

personal benefit or etc. According to Block & Israel, (2005) one strategy for improving

the reading comprehension is predicting. It helps the reader to set their purpose on

reading.it involve making prediction out of experience and knowledge they have and then

formulating their own ideas as they read. With this activity it helps the students to arouse

their interest to read and it increases their understanding of the written text.it allows the

students to interact with the ideas of the author. (Oczkus, 2003).comparing the actual text

from the prediction is an important aspect in improving the reading comprehension of the

learners without it, it is meaningless, (Duke & Pearson, 2005). They could use graphic

organizer, post it notes and with partner, in predicting the text, this are called teachers
 17

prediction modeling. Using titles, table of content, pictures and keywords is another

prediction strategy, another is students use specific points from the written text, they

evaluate and revise the prediction if needed. (Teele, 2004).

Visualizing, it is a strategy that a good reader should utilize when comprehending

the text (Adler, 2001). Visualization includes making or forming an image out of what is

being read. This image will serve as the representation of the text and it will be stored in

the memory of the readers.(National Reading Panel, 2000). Teachers are a great help to

encourage and motivate the students to make a pictures about the settings, the characters,

and action in the written passage or stories and ask them to make a drawing activity or

writing activity about the images that come to their mind while visualizing the written

text.

Making connections, according to Teele, (2004) by making connection the readers

will actively use their prior knowledge and connect their own ideas in to the text. This

strategy can help the readers to think better and deeper while in the reading process. It is

said reading will become meaningful when there is a connection between the idea of the

text and to their experiences and beliefs and the thing happening in the actual world. It

seems like this text to world, text to self and text to make a connection. Students can

make a self to text connection by making a chart, writing, drawing and etc. about the

text. Students can also make a text to text connection. It could be based on how the

characters in the story relate to another story, how the element of the story relate to

another stories .another is the text to world connection it can be done by comparing the

character in the stories to characters today or comparing the content of the story on what
 18

is happening today.( Teele, 2004). by asking them to find connections would help them

comprehend the ideas better in the text.

Summarizing this reading strategy the readers aims to identify what is only the

important details or information about the text and shorten the information in the readers

own word (Adler, 2001). During the process the readers will able to identify what is the

main ideas, what is the supporting ideas, related knowledge, unrelated knowledge and

etc. by this strategy it will help the reader to organize even the text is very long.

Questioning it can be used before and after the reading, from the word itself

questioning the readers are required to ask question in order to construct ideas, enhance

their comprehension and find answers, solve problems, find information and discover

new information (Harvey &Goudvis,2000).by this strategy the students will enhance their

reading ability, they can be able to practice distinguish prior knowledge from factual. By

using the student generated questioning strategy, text segments are integrated and thereby

improve reading comprehension (NRP, 2000).

Inferring this refers to reading between the lines or thinking beyond what is the

literal meaning of the text. Students need to use their own knowledge along with

information from the text to draw their own conclusions (Serafini, 2004). Through

inferring students will be able to draw conclusions, make predictions, identify underlying

themes, use information to create meaning from text, and use pictures to create meaning

(Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Students can be given techniques to use illustrations, graphs,

pictures, dates, related vocabulary and titles from the text to make inferences.

Text Structure Reading Strategy (TSRS) CALL is a kind of computer assisted

language learning strategy developed by Dentisak Dorkchandrathe, (2010) for teaching

 19

text structure reading strategy via the Internet, focusing on three expository text

structures: sequence, compare/contrast, and cause/effect.

Web-based CALL program have been developed with the purposed of conveying

reading strategy instruction. it was found that most programs were effective in teaching

reading strategies (Cole, 2005et. al.). It has been widely supported by research in reading

because they promote active learning and interactive instruction. With this strategy the

students are encouraged to study at their own learning pace (Klassen and Milton, 1999).

It also supports the acquisition of reading skills through various embedded tools. The

programs has a different levels, it is from easy to difficult exercises according to their

levels and abilities. When students fail to answer correctly during their activities, the

program can provide drills or even explanations. Moreover, it was found that students

generally had positive opinions towards reading strategy instruction via Web-based

CALL programs.

Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy is one of the strategies in

the teaching of reading comprehension. Strategies Directed Reading Thinking Activity

(DRTA) focusing student engagement with the text, because students have to predict and

prove when the students read. In teaching reading comprehension, students can find the

main ideas in the text. Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy which is

attempts to equip readers with the ability to determine the purposes of reading, the ability

to extract, comprehend, and assimilate information, the ability to make predictions to

examine reading materials based on the purposes of reading, the ability to pass

judgments, and finally the ability to make decisions based upon information gleaned from

reading. With the prediction of the strategy of Directed Reading Thinking Activity
 20

(DRTA) strategy students automatically questioning their own questions that are part of

the process of understanding a text. Students will be carefully and will be of critical

thinking in reading so that students understand the reading text.

Models of the Reading Process in L1 and L2

Bottom-up Reading Model. This reading model focuses on developing the basic

skill of matching sounds with letters, syllables, and words written on a page.it was

developed by Gough (1972). Who claims that reading is a process of decoding letter-by-

letter. After readers begin to decode the letters of word they can actually make their own

meaning. The way read is very different on what is usual, they focus more on the

linguistic form of the words and sentences, as they familiarize it, the reader will

automatically recognize the words. In this case it will help them to increase reading

comprehension it will help them to read fluently. But according to Chen, (2002) and

Johnson, (2001) this strategy will not be effective because it is complicated and

unpredictable, they are not supporting it because the process causes slow and

troublesome reading because of short-term memory overload, and readers’ easily

forgetting what they have read at the end of the reading (Adams, 1990et. al.).

Top-down Reading Model This model is contradicted with the bottom-up model,

because it emphasizes “from brain to text” (Eskey, 2005, p. 564). According to this

model, what readers bring to text is more important than what the text brings. The main

characteristic of this model is that the reader relies more on existing knowledge and

makes minimal use of written information (Hayes, 1991; Smith, 2004). Readers’

predictions and background knowledge play a significant role in their reading

 21

(Chinwonno, 2001). In this process, readers read in a cyclical process, making guesses

about the message of the text and checking the text for confirming or rejecting cues,

based on personal schemata and contextual clues. While reading, they fit the text

information into their existing knowledge structure (Carrell and Eisterhold, 1983). The

top-down reading model has a great deal of influence on both L1 and L2 teaching,

especially in promoting readers’ prediction, guessing from context, and getting the main

idea.

Interactive Reading Model, in this model it is stated that comprehension is

achieved through interaction among the two models, the bottom- up and top- down. The

researcher suggested that during the reading process the comprehension is much

complicated than the two models. In conclusion, it has should be balance view between

the language and reasoning process. (Carrell, 1988 et. al). In the process of reading the

readers are trying to combine the models, for example, the ability to decode and

recognize words and grammatical forms with their top-down processes, such as using

background knowledge to predict and confirm meaning (Grabe, 2004) and, consequently

comprehension is the result of the construction of meaning, (Rumelhart, 2004). Readers

interact with the text to create its meaning as their mental processes work together at

different levels (Carrell, 1988 et. al.). The level of reader’s comprehension of the text is

determined by how well the reader variables (interest level in the text, reading purposes,

knowledge of the topic, target language abilities, awareness of the reading process, and

level of willingness to take risks) interact with the text variables (text type, text structure,

and vocabulary) (Hosenfeld, 1979).

 22

Schemata and Reading Comprehension, one of the most important aspect of the

interactive model theory is "schemata," it means the reader's pre-existing structure about

the world and about the text to be read. A reader fits what is found in a passage into this

structure. If new textual information does not fit into the reader's schemata, the reader

misunderstands the new information, ignores it, or revises the schemata to match the facts

within the passage. Basically, there are two types of schemata: content and formal

schemata. Content schemata are background knowledge about cultural orientation or

content of a text. Although text processing requires several processing strategies, it is

accepted that activation of content schemata in the domain of the text is crucial to

comprehension (Weaver and Kintsch, 1996).

Schemata are the bases of planning for retrieval. In reading comprehension,

proper schemata need to be activated to search for information in memory and to rebuild

representation of memory. The experiments by Anderson and Pearson (1984) have

provided adequate proofs for the hypothesis of planning for retrieval.

Related Studies

Foreign

In the study of Baier (2005) entitled “Reading comprehension and reading

strategies” it is found out that the students who is good in comprehending will do better

in comprehension test.in this study it used fourteen grade six students from private and

public school as his respondents. In order to identify their reading levels Baier used the

Qualitative Reading Inventory - 4reading comprehension pretests. The students then

began a six-week long study of the Self-Questioning Reading Strategy. The conclusion of
 23

the study the students were again given the Qualitative Reading Inventory - 4 reading

comprehension posttests. After that, Baier gets the comparison of their correct answers on

the reading comprehension post- test and pre- test. . Twelve out of the fourteen sixth

grade students demonstrated improvement in the reading comprehension scores and the

rest shows having no improvement in their reading comprehension. Luckily there were

no students who decrease their scores. It was concluded that the respondents perform

better on the post- test using the self-questioning reading strategy,

Furthermore the study recommendation included completing this study on different age

groups or using different reading comprehension strategies.

In the study of Dorkchandra, 2010 entitled “Enhancing English reading

comprehension through a text structure reading strategy call program” uses different

strategies in enhancing the student’s comprehension. It compares the different results of

different strategies that have been used. The strategies that used are the Text Structure

Reading Strategy CALL program (herein called TSRS), Web-based CALL programs and

Voice of America (VOA) Special English Program. It also determines the usefulness of

the said program. The participants are consisting of 86 students with a medium and low

English proficiency who registered for Foundation English III during the summer

semester of academic year 2009 at Kasetsart University Chalermphraki at Sakon Nakhon

Province Campus. The participants were divided into an experimental group (n = 42) and

a control group (n = 44). The two groups took the pre-test, then the experimental group

learned with TSRS CALL program, but the control group studied the texts from the VOA

Special English. Then the two groups took the post-test. The data were collected through

a pre-test and a post-test, a questionnaire towards the program and a semi-structured

 24

interview. The results shows that the respondents with medium English proficiency who

learned the TSRS CALL Program does not attain a high post- test scores than the ones

who did not join learn from the program and the students with low English proficiency

who learn with the TSRS CALL Program had higher post-test scores than the low

proficiency students who did not learn with the program. Overall, the students who

learned with the program had significantly higher post-test scores than the students who

did not learn with the program. The students who learned with the TSRS CALL program

had very positive opinions towards the program and its usefulness.

In the study of Plocher, 2016 entitled “The Effect of Three Reading

Comprehension Strategies on Reading Comprehension when Reading Digital

Informational Texts” using the three reading strategies : Cloze Reading Comprehension

Activity, Reading Road Map (RRM), and Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review

(SQRRR) , he investigate its effects in the respondent reading comprehension in reading

a digital informational text. The participants were 48 that have 30% to 75% reading

comprehension ability measured through Scholastic Reading inventory software. In his

conclusion the three reading strategies mention above has the same effect on the reading

comprehension of the respondents in reading digital textbook

In the study of Kucukoglu (2012) entitled “Improving reading skills through

effective reading strategies” it is stated that in improving the students reading

comprehension, it is needed to have a good teaching strategies. In this study it focuses in

building different reading strategies in order to improve the reading skills and

comprehension of the students. The result of the study shows that there is improvement in

different reading strategies applied like tutoring and etc.

 25

In the study of Muhammadiyah, 2014 entitled “Improving reading comprehension

through extensive reading activity (a classroom action research for the second grade

students of SMP Muhammadiyah 3 Mlati, academic years 2013-2014)” in this study it

aims to improve the quality of the teaching and learning process of the students by means

of Extensive reading activity, describe the responses of students in learning and improve

their comprehension through the mention activity above. The respondents of the study

were grade eight students of SMP. This study was conducted in two cycles and there

were three meeting in every cycle. It utilize descriptive qualitative and gather data by

means of observation, conducting an interview and giving a reading test ( post and pre-

test) The result showed that using Extensive Reading activity it was able to improve the

quality of the teaching and learning process of reading in the research setting, he get good

responses from the respondents and the students were performing better response in

following Extensive Reading activity . Most of all the said activity was able to improve

the students reading comprehension improved the students’ reading comprehension.

Before implementing the action, the students score in the pre- test was 56.2 after

conducting the action the students’ score in the post test I increased to 74.8. Then the

Students’ score had significantly improved in the post test II (83.2) after conducting the

action in the cycle II.

In study of Sari, (2017)entitled “Improving reading comprehension through

directed reading thinking activity (drta) strategy for the eight grade students of smp

negeri 17 medan in the academic year of 2016-2017” This research was aimed to find out

the improvement of the students’ reading comprehension through Directed Reading

Thinking Activity Strategy. The subject of this research was eight grade students of SMP
 26

Negeri 17 Medan in the academic years of 2016/2017. It consisted of one class with 36

students as respondents.This research was conducted by using classroom action research.

The technique of analyzing data was applied in this research were qualitative and

quantitative. The qualitative data were taken from observation sheet, interview, and

documentation. The quantitative data were taken from tests. The tests were given to the

students in the form of pre-test, post-test I and post-test II.The result of data analysis

showed that there was an improvement on the students’ improvement in reading

comprehension from each cycle. It was showed from the mean of pre-test which was

46.60, after Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy was applied in the first

cycle, there was an improvement of the result of the students’ .

In the study of Lu (2010) entitled “Senior High School Students Reading

Comprehension of Graded Readers” investigates the reading comprehension of Senior

High School and label them into three levels , level 2, 3 and 4 which comprises of 600

words,1200 words and 1700 word. The results showed that first, females’ reading

comprehension ability had grown significantly. Second, there were no significant

differences between males and females’ comprehension of L2 and L3 readers, but

females achieved significantly higher scores than males in L4 graded reader. Third,

females significantly used more strategies than their counterparts to understand L4

graded reader. Finally, the interpretation of females’ adding and reducing the strategies to

comprehend difficult text were provided. Instructional suggestions for senior high school

students’ outside reading were presented.

 27

Local

In the study of Cayubit (2015) entitled “Vocabulary and reading comprehension

as a measure of reading skills of Filipino children “it is stated that child needs to develop

their higher order skills and functional literacy because any child with sufficient reading

skills will have a greater chance of success in the academic career as well as in their

future compare to child with poor reading skill. Poor reading skills is manifested by poor

reading comprehension, in this case it could affect the academic, social and psychological

growth of a child. In this study it develops a tool use in measuring the reading

comprehension and vocabulary of above mentioned case. Results showed that the tool

used has a good internal consistency.

In the study presented by Cabasan (2011) entitled “The reading comprehension

level of freshman education students: a reading program design, it is stated that there is a

need in designing a program in addressing the inadequacies in reading comprehension of

the incoming freshman students, it says that educational success can be assured if the

students are skill in their reading comprehension and by designing a program it can

enhance their comprehension. Using the descriptive design and Jerry John’s Secondary

and collage reading inventory as a tool in gathering the data, the results shown that

majority of the respondents are in frustration level. The result was use as base in forming

the reading program.

In the study presented by Cabaro (2015) entitled “Reading proficiency level of

students: basis for reading intervention program” develop a program in order to address

the reading difficulties of students, it is called “Reading Intervention Program of HNHS-

Aplaya Extension High School. It is base it in the DepEd Order No. 45 s. 2002 or the
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Every Child A Reader Program (ECARP), it is a national and mandatory program that

has its goal that every child will be a reader.” In this study it is found out that although

many teachers has already made a lot of intervention in addressing the said problem but

still most of the students reaching the grade six and above still has its difficulties. This

study was aiming to decrease the reading difficulties of the students especially within the

Soong Elementary School, Soong, Digos City. It was implemented with the span of three

to six months. Within the said span of time he expected that the students from frustration

level will move into instructional or in independent level, improve the comprehension

and lastly improve the overall reading proficiency of the students

In the study of Imaml et.al. (2014) entitled “Reading comprehension skills and

performance in science among high school students in the Philippines “describe and

correlate the six element of reading comprehension skills which are the understanding

vocabulary in context, identifying main idea, noticing details, making inference,

predicting outcomes, and drawing conclusion, from the students’ performance in science

from the two different school types. imaml selected 666 respondents from first year

students using random sampling, a 50 item competency – based multiple choice test

questions were utilize as their research instrument in gathering the data. The result shows

that the whole performance of the respondents reading comprehension and science was

indicated at low mastery level. In general 4 out of 6 reading skills mention above was

found positively correlated but weak in relationship. In only means that they should

develop their reading literacy in order to participate in global world. Students are

struggling for being unskilled in reading.

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In the study of Baier (2005), used grade 6 as respondents and in identifying their

reading levels, the Qualitative Reading Inventory - 4reading comprehension pretests was

being used. The students then began a six-week long study of the Self-Questioning

Reading Strategy. Thereafter the comparison of their correct answers on the reading

comprehension post- test and pre- test was being determine. In this study the researcher

used grade 7 as its respondents and in identifying the current level of the respondents the

researcher used pre - test. Thereafter the respondents are being exposed to the Enhance

reading program proposed by the researcher, began on November 19 – December 12,

2019 at 1:00-1:30 PM.

In the research of Dorkchandra, (2010) uses different strategies in enhancing the

reading comprehension of the students those are Text Structure Reading Strategy, CALL

program (herein called TSRS), Web-based CALL programs and Voice of America

(VOA) Special English Program. It is kind of similar to the study of Plocher, 2016

different strategies , particularly three those are Cloze Reading Comprehension Activity,

Reading Road Map (RRM), and Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review (SQRRR) was

being used. Meanwhile in this study the researchers only used enhance reading program

in enhancing the reading comprehension of the respondents.

According to Kucukoglu (2012). In improving the students reading

comprehension, it is needed to have good teaching strategies. In this study it focuses in

building different reading strategies in order to improve the reading skills and

comprehension of the students. In this study the researcher use Enhance reading program

in order to improve the reading comprehension of the respondents.

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In the study of Muhammadiyah, (2014 ) aims to improve the quality of the

teaching and learning process of the students by means of Extensive reading activity,

describe the responses of students in learning and improve their comprehension through

the mention activity above. The respondents of the study were grade eight students of

SMP. While in study of Sari, (2017) aims to find out the improvement of the students’

reading comprehension through Directed Reading Thinking Activity Strategy. The

subject of this research was eight grade students of SMP Negeri 17 Medan in the

academic years of 2016/2017. While in this study the researcher’s use Enhance Reading

Activity in improving the reading comprehension of the grade 7 students.

In the study of Lu (2010) investigate the reading comprehension of Senior High

School and label them into three levels , level 2, 3 and 4 which comprises of 600

words,1200 words and 1700 word. Meanwhile in this study the researcher investigate the

reading comprehension of the grade seven students through enhance reading program.

In the study of Cayubit (2015), focused on the developing on the child functional

literacy and higher order skills because he believes that child with Poor reading skills

could affect the academic, social and psychological growth of a child. In this study it

develops a tool use in measuring the reading comprehension and vocabulary of above

mentioned case. Results showed that the tool used has a good internal consistency.

In the study presented by Cabasan (2011). In addressing the inadequacies in

reading comprehension of the incoming freshman students they should formulate a

program, it is stated that educational success can be assured if the students are skill in

their reading comprehension and by designing a program it can enhance their

comprehension. Meanwhile In the study presented by Cabaro (2015) develop a program

 31

in order to address the reading difficulties of students, it is called “Reading Intervention

Program of HNHS-Aplaya Extension High School. It is base it in the DepEd Order No.

45 s. 2002 or the Every Child A Reader Program (ECARP), it is a national and

mandatory program that has its goal that every child will be a reader. This program aims

to improve the comprehension of the students.

In the study of Imaml et.al. (2014) describe and correlate the six element of

reading comprehension skills which are the understanding vocabulary in context,

identifying main idea, noticing details, making inference, predicting outcomes, and

drawing conclusion, from the students’ performance in science from the two different

school types.

Theoretical Framework

Reading is very vital in everyday life. It should be learned outside and inside the

school. It is the basic way in getting information. According to Harmer, the reader need

to use a number of specific skills when reading and their success in understanding the

content of what they see depends on a large extent on these specific skills. The skills of

reading are: predictive skill, extracting specific picture, getting specific picture,

extracting detailed information and discourse pattern, deducting meaning from context.

Furthermore, Westwood states that skilled reading is highly complex capability

involving many component processes. In short, learning reading is a complex process that

depends upon learning specific skills. Reading is the first step in acquisition of

knowledge. Reading is a very important issue which is not only about enjoyment but also

necessity; the basic tool of education.

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Reading is not an easy subject, because in its study the reader should discover the

ideas from a text based on the writer’s point of view. Ur states that reading means

“reading and understanding”. it is also stated some assumptions about the nature of

reading that need to perceive and decode letters in order to read words; it requires to

understand all the words in order to understand the meaning of a text; the more symbols

(letters and words) there are in a text, the longer it will take to read it, gather meaning

from what has been read; understanding of a text comes from understanding the words of

which it is composed. Kalayo states that reading is an interactive process that goes on

between the reader and text, resulting in comprehension. The text presents letters, words,

sentences and paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and

strategies to determine what the meaning is. So reading is communication between the

reader and the written text. The readers should use their skill to understand the content of

the text. Richards states that comprehension means the identification of the intended

meaning of written or spoken communication. Comprehension is the process of making

sense words, sentences, and connected text. Comprehension must be the central focus of

teaching children to read and not something to be emphasized only after children have

learned how to decode and identify words. According to Catherine Snow, comprehension

entails three elements; The reader who is doing the comprehension, the text is to be

comprehended and the activity in which comprehension is a part.

Reading comprehension is a "construction process" because it involves all of the

elements of the reading process working together as a text, read to create a representation

of the text in the reader's mind. Theoretically, reading comprehension is a process of

interaction between the readers with the text or it is a process by which the reader
 33

constructs meaning by interacting with the text. According to Smith in Westwood reading

Comprehension is considered to occur at four levels of complexity. These levels are:

Literal comprehension: reading is to understand, remember, or recall the information

explicitly contained in a passage, Inferential comprehension: reading to find information

which is not explicitly stated in a passage, using the reader’s experience and intuition,

and by inferring, Critical or evaluative comprehension: reading is to compare information

in a passage with the reader’s own knowledge and values and appreciative

comprehension: reading is to gain an emotion or other kinds of valued response from a

passage.

Rubin in Westwood defines that reading comprehension has been described as ‘a

complex intellectual process involving a number of abilities’. Readers must use

information, already acquired to filter, interpret, organize, reflect upon and establish

relationships with the new incoming information on the page. In order to understand text,

a reader must be able to identify words rapidly, know the meaning of almost all of the

words and be able to combine units of meaning into a coherent message. Effective

Comprehension requires that the reader maintains the meaning throughout the reading of

the text.

Jannete et.al. states that reading comprehension involves much more than readers’

responses to text. Reading comprehension is a multi-component, highly complex process

that involves many interactions between readers and what they bring to the text (previous

knowledge, strategy use) as well as variables related to the text itself (interest in text,

understanding of text types. Finally, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is

the process of making meaning from a written text. Therefore, reading comprehension is
 34

a complex process by which a reader tries to reconstruct a message in graphic language

by a writer. It is an interaction between reader and author.

Reading is activity with a purpose. Kalayo states that reading is an activity with a

purpose. In general, the purposes of reading are classified as follows: getting general

information from the text, getting specific information from the text, reading for pleasure.

Furthermore, Rivers and Temperly in Mcdonough and Shaw suggest that there are seven

main purposes for reading: first is to obtain information for some purposes or because

they are curious about some topic. Second is to obtain instructions on how to perform

some tasks for their work or daily life. third is to act in a play, play a game, do a puzzle.

fourth is to keep in touch with friends by correspondence or to understand business

letters. fifth is to know when or where something will take place or what is available.

Sixth is to know what is happening (as reported in newspaper, magazines, reports) and

last is for enjoyment or excitement.

The influential factors of the students’ reading comprehension may not be

separated with the influence of students in learning process. Purwanto states that there

are two big factors that influence students in learning process. They are as follows: The

Internal Factor, the internal factor means the factors which come from the reader himself

or usually we know as personal factors, because the factor has existed inside the reader.

This factor deals with self-motivation and interest. Motivation. When we talk about

motivation, it plays an important role in comprehending the text. The students will be

motivated to read when they feel that they need something from the text.. Interest is being

one of the important factors in order to increase the students’ reading comprehension. If

one has interest to read, it means that the person will get a good comprehension. On the
 35

other hand, if the readers have no any interest to read, it can influence their

comprehension. and The External Factor, The external factor has a close relationship with

reading material and teacher of reading. Reading material. The students’ reading

comprehension depends on the level of the difficulty of the text. Thus, it can influence

students’ comprehension in the text/paragraph given, not at the right level of the

difficulty of the readers or the students. and Teacher of reading. The teacher of reading

should be careful in choosing the text and giving the texts, because they are related to the

students’ reading comprehension.

The teaching of reading comprehension in junior high school is essentially aimed

at preparing the student to be able to read English text that they will understand and they

will encounter in their lives. The goal of learning English language is to develop people’s

skill of communication. There are several instructional practices that the teacher can use

to improve the reading comprehension of struggling reader. Reading comprehension is

supported by integrating variety of instructional practices in teaching reading routines

including reading strategies and skills. Klingner et al. synthesizes, reading

comprehension intervention strategy. Though, there is not specific to students with

reading and learning disabilities, the panel was able to identify intervention practices,

based on 203 studies, associated with improved outcomes with reading comprehension.

These include: Teaching students to monitor their comprehension and to implement

procedures when difficulties in understanding text arise, Using cooperative learning

practices while implementing comprehension strategies in the context of reading,

Providing graphic and semantic organizers that assist students in writing about, or

drawing, relationship from the story, Providing support for questioning strategy trough
 36

(1) structures that assist students in answering critical questions about the passage, (2)

feedback to students regarding their answer to question about text, and (3) opportunities

for students to ask and answer their own the question about the text, Teaching students to

write important ideas about they’ve read and to summarize these ideas after longer

passage are read and teaching students to use multicomponent strategies that integrated

and apply several strategies. Then, in integrating and applying reading strategies, Kalayo

stated that instructors can help students become effective readers by teaching them how

to use strategies before, during and after reading. Before reading: Plan for the reading

task; Set a purpose or decide in advance what to read for, Decide if more linguistic or

background knowledge is needed, Determine whether to enter the text from the top-down

(attend to the overall meaning) or from the bottom up (focus on the word an phrases)

During and after reading: Monitor comprehension, Verify prediction and check for

inaccurate guesses, Decide what is and is not important to understand, Reread to check

comprehension and ask for help and After reading: Evaluate comprehension and strategy

used those are: Evaluate comprehension in particular task or area, Evaluate overall

progress in reading and in particular types of reading task, Decide if the strategies used

were appropriate for the purpose and for the task and Modify strategies if necessary.

Conceptual Framework

One of the most pressing problems encountered in reading the students’

comprehension. In this study, the attempt to understanding such problem is prevalent and

significant. The researchers were able to devise a plan in order help students enhance
 37

their comprehension level. The study also focused on understanding certain difficulties

that the students encounter in terms of reading comprehension.

It was understood that challenges occurred in enhancing the students’ reading

comprehension. The need to address such problem especially among Grade 7 students

where there was an apparent disparity and an obvious decrease in their abilities in reading

most especially in comprehension.

Reading
comprehension
Diagnostic test
(Pre- test)
Enhance Reading
Reading Recommendation
Activity (ERA)
Comprehension
Difficulties

Post test

Figure 1. Paradigm of the study

The figure indicates that the researchers determined and identified the

comprehension level of Grade 7 students through pre – test and through semi structure

interview the researcher determined the reading difficulties of the respondents.

Thereafter, the researcher would like to enhance the reading comprehension level of the

respondents through enhance reading program and by means of post - test the researcher

determined the improvements of the respondents after that Recommendation are given.