https://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.

php/eej/article/view/1322/1301

Indonesia merupaka Negara yang menjunjung tinggi pendidikan. mata pelajaran bahasa inggris
merupakanmata pelajaran wajib di sekolah Indonesia. Pemahaman membaca

Kira-kira seberapa penting sih menguasai kemampuan ini?

Dilansir dari Indeed, berikut ada beberapa manfaat yang bisa kamu dapatkan

jika menguasai skill ini:

 mampu memahami, menganalisis, dan menanggapi dokumen serta komunikasi

tertulis atau written communication di tempat kerja

 meningkatkan kemampuan menulis supaya terlihat jelas dan efektif

 dapat meningkatkan fokus membaca dalam waktu yang lama

 pemahaman membaca yang baik mampu membuatmu terlihat profesional

 kegiatan membaca terasa lebih nikmat

2. Membuat ringkasan dari apa yang kamu baca

Selain menambah kosakata, cara ampuh untuk meningkatkan skill reading

comprehension adalah dengan membuat ringkasan dari tulisan yang sudah kamu

baca.

Baca satu artikel, kemudian buatlah ringkasan dari tulisan tersebut. Hal ini akan

membantumu untuk mengingat apa saja poin yang sudah kamu baca dari tulisan.

Selain itu, cara ini juga memastikan apakah kamu benar-benar memahami apa

yang sudah kamu baca atau tidak.

Reading as one of the two receptive skills

has an important role in the learning process
(Anderson, 1999). Reading links the reader, the
text, and the interaction between the reader and
the text in forming meanings as information.
Through reading, students can get much infor-
mation in or out of the classroom. As a set of
skills that involves making sense and deriving
meaning from the printed words , reading gives
some advantages to reader. According to Grabe
and Stoller (2002: 13) reading has seven pur-
poses in general, i.e. “to search for simple
information, to skim quickly, to learn from texts,
to integrate information, to make a written text,
to critique texts, and to get general comprehensi-
on. In the next level, reading helps teaching and
learning process become more effective”.

Reading was the ability to understand the material being read. In the area where English was considered
as a foreign language, teaching reading skill became a vital point for the English teachers. Many experts
asserted that reading was viewed as an active skill rather than a passive skill, which involves constant
brain raking activity (Iwai, 2010; Oakhill and Beard, 1999; Carellet al, 1995; Hennings, 1994; Wood,
1991).

Reading comprehension meant readers were required to comprehend word meaning, sentence
meaning, paragraph meaning and text meaning (McWorther, 1986:90).

The students of the First Semester class of English Education Department of Islamic Institute of
Darussalam Blokagung Banyuwangi in Academic Year 2018/2019 had some difficulties in understanding
text, those were: 1) the students having low motivation in learning English, 2) student had different
capability in understanding the material, and 3) they had no self-management.

Comprehension is the
understanding of the meaning of written material and involves the conscious strategies that
lead to
understanding. The reading strategies are conscious techniques or unconscious processes
employed by
readers in their attempt to make sense of the written text (Barnett as cited by Gascoigne,
2005).

Many people think of reading as a skill that is taught once and for all in the
first few years of school. They see reading as a simple process: readers
decode,
figure out how to pronounce each word in a text then automatically
comprehend
the meaning of the words as they do with their everyday spoken language
(Ruddell
& Unrau, 1994).

. Reading is the process of identification, interpretation and

perception of written or printed material. Comprehension is the
understanding of
the meaning of written material and involves the conscious strategies that
lead to
understanding. The process of reading deals with language form,
while
comprehension has to do with the final result, which deals with the
language
content. Furthermore, reading establishes a link between the writer
and the
reader. It involves the recognition of words, phrases, and clauses, and in
some
respects, it can be considered a simpler process than comprehension
(He Ji
Sheng, 2000).

It is important to have in mind that reading is influenced by many situational issues such as society,
culture, religion, background, likes, and particular purposes. Thus, before proceeding, it will be useful to
look at some more attempts to define reading comprehension. Here are some definitions: Good or
proficient readers do not necessarily read all the text with equal ease or success or poor readers will not
always have a hard time with all texts (Czico, Greenleaf, Hurwitz and Schoenbach, 2000). On the other
hand, effective reading comprehension also depends on the strategies the reader uses. According to
Urquhart (1987), comprehension has to do with the different products of the reading process, the
results of the different standards which readers set for themselves, partly because of their purpose in
reading, and because of the nature of the text. Comprehension is affected by the reader’s background
knowledge which may be related to his/her cultural background (Steffensen & Joag-Dev, 1984).

Bormuth (1969) sees comprehension as an increase in information as the consequence of reading. Other
authors, such as Kucer (2005), affirm that there is comprehension when readers have understood a text
and are able to give a coherent account for various aspects of it. Calfee and Curley (1984) state that
comprehension happens when readers recognize organizational structures and are capable of modifying
them for their own purposes.
Urquhart (1987) states that Baker and Brown do not actually define comprehension, but rather describe
nine activities for achieving good comprehension. Some of them are establishing purposes for reading,
modifying reading rates and strategies in accordance with different purposes, and identifying the
important elements of a passage (Baker & Brown, 1984). Based on Bensoussan’s theory, readers
compare the ideas in the text with their own schemata. Their background knowledge makes it possible
to create models, which include the knowledge itself and information about how it can be used.
Comprehension is produced when new information is connected with old knowledge. However, without
the correct type of pre-existing knowledge and with an inappropriate schema, the readers can miss the
meaning of the text. In this way, comprehension becomes more difficult (Bensoussan, 1998).

Methodology Qualitative research was applied to carry out this research project. Subjects The subjects
at the very beginning consisted of 50 second semester students majoring in business administration,
economics, law, psychology, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electronics engineering, agro-
industrial engineering, social communication and journalism at a private university on the northwest
coast of Colombia. However, 12 of them dropped out of the English course. These individuals were
enrolled in an elementary interdisciplinary class of English. They belonged to the middle and upper
middle social class and their ages ranged between fifteen and eighteen. Instruments It was necessary to
use several samples of data collection that were divided into some categories: Pre-test, Class, Survey,
Post-test, Interviews. • Pre-test: The participants took a written test to determine the reading
comprehension level they had and the strategies that they use to cope with a text in English. HOW 16,
December 2009, ISSN 0120-5927. Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 55-70 61 Improving Reading Comprehension
Skills through Reading Strategies Used by a Group of Foreign Language Learners • Class: The participants
attended some classes where the teacher explained to them the reading comprehension strategies to
realize how they perform when reading a text in the target language. • Survey: The researchers
prepared a Habit Survey to learn what their reading habits and hobbies were. • Post-test: The students
re-took the pre-test, but this time participants were expected to apply some of the reading
comprehension strategies provided in class. • Interview: The learners answered an interview, which was
tape-recorded, which inquired what reading strategies they have used and how they felt while taking
the programmed workshops during the course. • Then, the collected data were analyzed to establish if
there was any difference before and after the post test. To analyze the data, triangulation was applied.
Testing Procedures During the first week of class, all subjects took a reading comprehension pre-test.
Fifteen weeks later, when the subjects finished the sixty-four hour English course, they were given the
same reading comprehension test as a post-test. The rationale for using exactly the same test for both
pre- and post-testing was to assure an exact, comparable test, thus avoiding the problem of equating
different forms of pre-test and post-test. The sixteen-week interval between administration of the test
was deemed long enough to control for any short-term memory effect since subjects were not provided
with the correct answers after the pre-test.
According to Grabe and Stoller (2002), English language learning is one of the important factors that affect
international communication activities. Learners use English language in different areas such as listening, reading,
speaking, and writing for their communication purposes. One of the most important factors for learning is the method
that teachers use in their classes to facilitate language learning. Along with the improvement of international
communication activities in the world, reading motivation is becoming more important and focuses on the four
language skills and reading comprehension is of vital importance in English language learning.

Most of students in Indonesia have difficulties in comprehending English texts although they have
studied English since they were in elementary schools. There are some factors affecting the students’
reading comprehension. According to Ruston (2006: 3 – 5), those factors can be categorized into two
major factors; from the students and the other parties surrounding the students. The factors from
outside the students are related to the teaching technique, material and media while the students’
factors are related to vocabulary, interest and reading strategy.

Comprehension entails three

elements: (1) the reader who is doing the
comprehending, (2) The text that is to be
comprehended, (3) the activity in which
comprehension is a part.

Richard, et al (1985:238), write that

there are four different types of reading
comprehension. The following are commonly
referred to:
1. Literal comprehension: reading in order to
find to understand, remember, or recall the
information explicity contained in a
passage.
2. Inferential comprehension: reading in
order to find information which is not
explicity stated in a passage, using the
reader’s experience and intuition, and by
inferring.
3. Critical or evaluative comprehension:
reading in order to compare information in
a passage with the reader’s own knowledge
and values.
4. Appreciative comprehension: reading in
order to gain an emotional or other kind of
valued response from a passages.
Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension meant readers were required to comprehend word meaning, sentence
meaning, paragraph meaning and text meaning (McWorther, 1986:90).

Reading was the ability to understand the material being read. In the area where English was considered
as a foreign language, teaching reading skill became a vital point for the English teachers. Many experts
asserted that reading was viewed as an active skill rather than a passive skill, which involves constant
brain raking activity (Iwai, 2010; Oakhill and Beard, 1999; Carellet al, 1995; Hennings, 1994; Wood,
1991).

Reading is the third stage of four skills that must be mastered by students in learning languages, as
Ermanto said (2008: 1); reading is one of the skills. Students have various strategies for reading as well
as their understanding of their reading material. Reading strategies are needed by students to complete
various lecture assignments and to obtain knowledge through reading texts provided by lecturers and
print and online media. Strategy or technique is a procedure used to achieve a predetermined goal
(Tarigan: 1991).