CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

II.1 Nature of the study
1. Reading Comprehension
a. Definition of Reading
Reading defines by many experts, they define the term
based on their own thinking and perception. The definitions are
different but seem to support each other. Some definitions of
reading from expert are stated one after another below.
Goodman in Hudson (2007) says that reading is receptive
language process, it is a psycholinguistic process in that it starts
with a linguistic surface representation encoded by writer and
with meaning which a reader construct. In addition, Goodman
states that reading is viewed as an interaction process involved
three

factors,

namely

conceptual

abilities,

background

knowledge and process strategies.

According to Gibgons (1991:51) reading is the process of
getting the meaning from print. It means there is interaction
between the author and the writer in this activity because the
writer delivers her/his idea to the readers through the texts. The

14

readers can also improve their understanding through reading

activity.
Similarly, Ling, (2012: 147) states that reading is getting the text into
the correct meaning. In this case, the readers have to observe, interpret, and
evaluate the printed pages. It is a complex activity that involves both perception
and thought. It consists of two related processes: word recognition and
comprehension.
Scheiner and Renvey (1999) argue that reading is the
interacting

of

an

active

cognitive

process

and

monitor

comprehension to establish meaning. Related to this idea,

Nuttal (1992) defines it in three types of meaning: cognitive
(intelligent, which deals with the process of understanding the
text of comprehension, effective (emotionally, the attitude of
students toward reading), and psychomotor (the physical
process interaction between mind and body), in short, reading is
an active process including guessing, checking and expatiating,
predicting, asking oneself question.
From the explanation above, it can be inferred that reading
is a process of getting information from printed verbal symbol
and this activity will succeed if the readers can understand the
writer message. It means that the readers have to discover

15

ideas from the text based on their background knowledge about

the texts. The readers also should pay attention about
supporting ideas in the text. It will be useful for them to
understand the content of the text as whole. Therefore, the
readers should be the active reader to get the factual
information of the text.
There are some purposes of reading. Actually the purpose
leads someone to do the reading; according to Reinn quoted in
Wallace (1989) the purposes of reading are as follow:
a.

Reading for survival, it is reading immediately in

response to our situation or environment. Survival reading
serves immediate needs or wishes and it is finding out
information on a strictly utilitarian basis.

b.

Reading for learning, it is goal oriented. It serves the

wider role of extending our general knowledge of the world.

c.

Reading for pleasure, it is done for its own sake. An

important by-product of reading for pleasure in any language
is fluency. This can create a vicious circle.
I.S.P Nation (2008) states that there are many different

types of reading skill that the teacher should try to deal with
most of these skills:

16

1.

Knowledge of word forms and their meaning. To read

successfully a learner should be able to recognize word
words and recall their meaning quickly

2.

The ability to see the meaning of the word in a

particular context. The meaning of the word change4s
according to the others words and the sentence around it.
The learner need needs to be able to see the particular
meaning of word in a particular context.

3.

The ability to guess the meaning of unknown words by

seeing them in the context. The skill is important as a way of
learning new vocabulary.

4.

The ability to avoid paying attention to unknown words

that are not essential to understanding the passage.

5.

Knowledge of the main sentence pattern. This is not

difficult to learn because the knowledge needed to be able to
read is far less than the knowledge of the sentence pattern
needed for speaking.

6.

The ability to follow the organization of reading a

passage or book.

7.

The ability to see main thought of the writer and get the
general of a piece of reading.

17

8.

The ability to get the meaning from a piece of writing.

This skill called the skill of study reading

9.

The ability to understand and find certain details. Either

words or ideas in a piece of reading. This is has include the
ability to see how the meaning of sentence effected by other
sentence.
Reading ability refers to the ability of the readers to

comprehend the written text. The aspects of the reading in the

reading taxonomy by Cohen (1987) as follows:
1. Recognition of words and phrase of similar and opposing
meaning
2. Identification of locating of information
3. Discrimination of element of features whiten context, the
analysis of element whiten a structure and of the
relationship among them
4. Interpretation of complex ideas, action, events and
relationship
5. Inference ( the deriving of conclusion and predicting the
continuation
6. Synthesis
7. Evaluation

18

b. The nature of Reading Comprehension

Reading and comprehension cannot be separated
because the purpose of reading is to comprehend what has
been read. Reading without understanding is useless.
Beside that comprehension is the active process of
constructing meaning concepts, making inferences, and
linking key ideas. It is supported by Karen R. Harris and
Steve Graha. They state that reading comprehension is a
multi component highly complex process that involves
many interactions between readers and what they bring to
the text (previous knowledge and strategy use) as well as
variables related to the text itself (interest in text,
understanding of text types). It means that comprehension
is a process that involves prior knowledge and interaction
between readers and text in comprehending the text.
There are also some experts who have an opinion about the
meaning of reading comprehension. Rupp (2008: 57) mentions that
reading comprehension is complex, interactive and integrative and
requires the effective interaction of multiple mental component for the
creation of multiple mental representation of text. It means that reading

19

comprehension is a complex activity that must be done effectively, as well

as interactively by the readers to get the necessary things state in the text.
Moreover, Linse (2005:71) reading comprehension is an ability to
understand a text by the readers. The readers do not only read the text
but also understand what the readers read or what the text talks about.
It needs their knowledge to provide the information so they know the
message of the text itself. From those these statements, it is conclude
concluded that reading and comprehension is are two things unit to be

one, they cannot be separate, and they are in unity. When readers loose
one of the elements, they do not do comprehending yet.
William Grabe (2002: 9) says that reading is the ability to draw
meaning from the print page and interpret this information appropriately.
Purposes for reading is: Reading to search for simple information, reading
to skim quickly, reading to learn from texts, reading to integrate
information, reading to write (or search for information need for writing),
reading for critique texts, reading for general comprehension.
Reading comprehension includes the following:
a. Applying ones knowledge and experiences to the
text
b. Setting goals for reading and ensuring that they
are aligned align with the text

20

c. Using strategies and skills to construct meaning

during and after reding reading.
d. Adapting strategies that match the readers text
and goals
e. Recognizing the authors purpose
f. Distinguishing between facts and opinions
g. Drawing logical conclusions
Nunan (2003) states that comprehension involves
understanding vocabulary, seeing the relationship among
between word and concepts, organizing ideas, recognizing

the author purposes, making judgments, and evaluating. In

addition, Sadoski (2004) says that comprehension is
understanding something, getting its meaning. So the
purpose in reading is to dig out essential meaning, the
central theme, or general information of about the material.
Elizabeth S. Pang (2003: 14) states that reading is a skill that will
empower everyone who learns it. They will be able to benefit from the
store of knowledge in print materials and, ultimately, to contribute to that
knowledge. Good teaching enables students to learn to read and read to
learn. Comprehension is the process of driving deriving meaning from
connects to the text. It involves word knowledge (vocabulary) as well as

21

thinking and reasoning. Therefore, comprehension is not a passive

process, but an active one. The reader actively engages with the text to
construct meaning. This active engagement includes making use of prior
knowledge. It involves drawing inferences from the words and
expressions that a writer uses to communicate information, ideas and
viewpoints.
Moreover,

Snow

(2002)

states

that

reading

comprehension is the process of simultaneously extracting

and

constructing

meaning

trough

interaction

and

involvement with written language. Besides that, Snow

(2002) also states that to comprehend, a reader must have
a wide range of capacities and abilities. These include:
a. Cognitive capacity (e.g. Attention, memory, critical,
analytic ability, interference, and visualization ability)
b. Motivation (a purpose for reading and interest in the
content being read, and self-efficacy as the reader)
c. Various types of knowledge (vocabulary, domain and
topic knowledge, linguistic and discourse knowledge of
specific comprehension strategy).
In addition, Khand (2004:4) states that reading comprehension is
the activity getting the content of the writer wants to explain. It is making

22

meaning from the text. Furthermore, the readers can comprehend the text
through reading process that includes the readers background knowledge.
Reading comprehension is crucial for students to be able to get the
meaning out of their reading. Reading with comprehension means
understanding what has been read. It is an active thinking process that
depends not only on comprehension skills, but also on the students
experiences and prior knowledge. Comprehension involves understanding
the vocabulary seeing the relationships among words and concept.
Similarly, King and Stanley (2004:8) explain that there are five
aspects in of processing of reading comprehension. They are; finding
factual information, finding main idea, finding the meaning of vocabulary
in context, identifying reference, and making reference. The theory
above can be described as follow;
a) Finding main idea
Reading concerns with meaning to a greater extend that it is with
to form. An efficient reader understands not only the ideas but
also their relative significance as expressed by the author, in
order other words, some of the ideas are super ordinate while
other subordinate.
b) Finding factual information/ details
Factual information requires readers to scan specific details.
There are many types of question of factual information such as;
23

question type of reason, purpose, result, comparison, means,

identify, time, and amount. In which most of the answers can be
found in the text.
c) Finding the meaning of vocabulary in context
It means that the readers could develop they their guessing
ability to the word which is unfamiliar with them, by relating the
close meaning or unfamiliar words to the text and the topic of the
text that is read. The words have the same meaning as another
word.
d) Identifying references
Recognizing references words or phrases to which they refer will
help readers understand the reading passage. Students of English
might learn many rules for the sentences. Reference words are
usually short and are frequently pronouns, such it, she, he, this,
those, and so on.
e) Making an inference
The importance of reading is to understand what the writer
wrote; it is expected that the reader can infer the writer wrote. In
order other words, a good reader is able to draw inference
logically and make accurate predictions.
It means that factual information requires the reader to scan
specific detail,

recognition of the main idea of a paragraph is very

24

important because it helps the reader understands understand the

paragraph and contents of reading text, when the students find the
meaning of vocabulary in the context, it can develop his or her guessing
ability to the word which is unfamiliar with him or her by relating the
close meaning of unfamiliar words. In identifying of reference the words
or phrase, the students are is able to identify the word which they refer to
will help the students understand the reading passage. In making an
inference, it is a skill where the students are able to read between lines. It
divides into main attention, draw logical inferences and make accurate
predictions.
According to Zainil (2005) to understand paragraph involves the
process in identifying the paragraph elements such as; topic, main idea,
details of paragraph and references, paragraph developments such as
coherence and cohesion in between and among the paragraph. From this
opinion, it can be described that; topic, it is the word or phrase as subject
of the paragraph and answer of the question what is the whole
paragraph about, and main ideas, it is the sentence that states topic of
the paragraph. It is the answer of the question what does the author say

about the topic of paragraph. In short, when the students have the
abilities in identifying the elements of the passage, it means the students
find the essential information in the text.

25

So, based on experts opinion above, the writer concludes that

reading comprehensions is ones ability in comprehending the message of
the English reading materials. It is an interactive and thinking process of
transferring printed letters into meaning in order to communicate certain
messages between the writer and the reader. It involves the process in
identifying the text elements such as;

finding main idea, details, the

meaning of vocabulary in context, identifying reference, and making

reference. The researcher takes it as indicators of this research. Many
research results indicate that the lecturers lecturers role is an essential
part in forming students to be good readers. Reading lecturers have to
understand the nature of reading teaching, methods of teaching reading,
learning and teaching theories, language theories, and the pedagogical
aspects of teaching and learning. OMalley (1995:97) explains;
To help students learn to read in the content areas, teachers can:
(1) activate and assess prior knowledge as well as teach necessary
background knowledge; (2) teach students how texts are organized and
how to use text structure to increase comprehension; (3) teach reading
strategies that will help students bring meaning to the text, and; (4) give
for assessment of content and organization knowledge.(knowledge
organization)
The opinion above said that the lecturer should activate students
background knowledge include all of the experience that a reader brings
26

to a text: life experiences, educational experiences, knowledge of how

texts can be organized, practice specific reading strategies, give assessing
in the end of the lesson. Similarly, Nunan (2003:74) states;
There are principles for teaching reading. These principles may be
considered by teachers in the classroom techniques and task; (a) exploit
the readers background knowledge; (b) build a strong vocabulary; (c)
teach for comprehension; (d) work on increasing reading rate; (e) teach
reading strategy; (f) encourage readers to transform strategies into skills;
(g) build assessment and evaluation; (h) Strive for continuous
improvement.
The theory above can be described as follows;
1. Exploit the readers background knowledge
Background knowledge includes all of the experiences that a
reader brings to a text: life experiences, educational experiences,
knowledge of how texts can be organized rhetorically rhetorical, and
culturally cultural background and knowledge. Reading comprehension
can be significantly enhanced if background knowledge can be activated
by setting goals, asking questions, making predictions, teaching text
structure, and so on.
2. Build a strong vocabulary base
In reading instruction, basic vocabulary should use context to
effectively guess the meaning of less frequent vocabulary.
27

3. Teach for comprehension

In reading instruction, the instructor does not merely focus on
testing reading comprehension but teach the readers to comprehend the
text. In order to teach comprehension, the readers must monitor their
comprehension process and be able to discuss with the teacher or fellow
readers what strategies they use to comprehend.
During the reading process, the teacher asks questions in order to
make sense of what is being read. Uses this approach engages the teacher
and readers in queries about the text as the material is being read.
Examples of queries (questions) include what is the text about ?what
does the author try to describe for reader ? and etc.
4. Work on increasing reading rate
The teacher must work towards finding a balance between
assisting students to improve their reading rate and developing reading
comprehension skills. To get the objective of target above, readers
independence on a dictionary should be reduced. Skills, such as scanning,
skimming, predicting, and identifying main ideas get students to approach
of reading in different ways.
5. Teach reading strategies
The strategies are not a single event but rather a creative sequence
of events that learners actively use in reading activities. to achieve the

28

desired results, students need to learnt learn how to use a range of reading
strategies that match their purposes for reading.
6. Encourage readers to transform strategies into skills
Strategies can be defined as conscious actions that learners take to
achieve desire desired goals, while a skill is a strategy that has become
automatic. As a learner conscious learn and practice specific reading
strategies, the strategies move from conscious to unconscious; from
strategy to skill.
7. Build assessment and evaluation into your teaching
Assessing growth and development in of reading skills from both
a formal and an informal perspective requires time and training. Both
quantitative and qualitative assessment activities should be included in
the reading classroom.
8. Strive for continuous improvement as a reading teacher
Teachers should view themselves as facilitators, helping each
reader discover what works best. The good reading teacher actively
teaches students what to do. To understand the nature of the reading
process.
Dealing with principle for teaching reading previously, the lecturer
considers applying those principles in her teaching and learning activities
of paraphrase of descriptive text.

29

The explanation above means that there are some strategies or

techniques that the teacher can use in teaching reading comprehension
skill. The teacher should be more selective to choose and use the strategy
or technique in teaching. To build interactive reading and to make various
kinds of tasks will help students to develop their ability in the process of
reading, because the purpose of reading is the students can comprehend
the texts, one of them is descriptive text.
To support students in comprehending in reading texts, knowledge
about the types of texts is needed, Depdiknas (2006) in English Direction
(2012:1) explain that there are thirteen genres of the texts that must be
known by academic students, namely:

Narrative, recount, procedure,

descriptive, news item, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, report,

spoof, explanation, discussion, review, and anecdote.
Furthermore, Brown (2004) states that there two
kinds

of

skill

that

must

be

mastered

on

reading

comprehension:
a. Micro skills
1. Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes and
orthographic patterns of English
2. Retain chunks of the language of different lengths in
short-term memory

30

3. Process reading at an efficient rate of speed to suit

the purpose
4. Recognize a core of words, and interpret word order
patterns and their significance
5. Recognize grammatical word classes (noun, verbs,
etc) system (e.g. tense agreement, pluralization),
patterns, rules, and elliptical forms
6. Recognize

that

particular

meaning

may

be

expressed in different grammatical forms

b. Macro skills
1. Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and
their role in signaling the relationship between and
among clauses
2. Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse
and their significance for interpretation
3. Recognize the communicative functions of written
texts, according to form and purpose
4. Infer

context

that

is

not

explicitly

by

using

background knowledge
5. Infer links and connections between event, ideas, etc;
deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations

31

as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given

information, generalization, and exemplification
6. Distinguish between literal and implied meanings
7. Detect culturally specific references and interpret
them

in

context

of

the

appropriate

cultural

schemata
8. Develop and use a battery of reading strategies such
as

scanning

markers,
context,

and

skimming,

guessing
and

the

detecting

meaning

activating

of

discourse

words

from

for

the

schemata

interpretation of texts.
Beside
comprehension

that
is

according
the

to

process

Catherine
of

reading

simultaneously

extracting and constructing meaning through interaction

and

involvement

with

written

language.

She

also

mentions that comprehension entails three elements

such as:
a. The reader who is doing the comprehending
b. The text is to be comprehended
c. The activity in which comprehension is a part

32

Furthermore, she said that to comprehend, a

reader must have a wide range of capacities and
abilities. These include:
a. Cognitive capacities (e.g., attention, memory,
critical analytic ability, inference, visualization
ability)
b. Motivation (a purpose for reading, an interest
in the content being read, self-efficacy as a
reader)
c. Various

types

of

knowledge

(vocabulary,

domain and topic knowledge, linguistic and

discourse knowledge, knowledge of specific
comprehension strategies)
From the ideas above, it can be concluded that
reading comprehension is process processed and activity
to understand about all of reading text that include
vocabulary and concepts, making inferences, and linking
key ideas, besides the reader will get an idea or meaning
from the written text.
The Major Components of Reading Comprehension:

33

The components of Reading Comprehension will

support the success in comprehending reading material
and contributing in an important way to read. Leu (1987:
30-38), states that there are six major components of
reading comprehension:
a. Decoding knowledge
Knowledge

is

used

to

determine

the

oral

equivalent of a written word. Decoding knowledge

is important for comprehension when determining
the oral equivalent of a word to help a reader
identify meaning. This is frequently true for
beginning reader who knows the meaning of many
words in spoken form but are relatively unfamiliar
with printed word.
b. Vocabulary knowledge
The knowledge one has about word meaning used
to determine the appropriate meaning for a word
in a particular context. Vocabulary knowledge is
important at all grade levels, but is particularly
important aspect of reading instruction as children

34

develop and explore less familiar subject offers

with some what specialized vocabularies.
c. Syntactical knowledge
Syntactical knowledge includes word order rules
that exist within sentences and permit you to
determine the grammatical function and often the
meaning and pronunciation of words.
d. Discourse knowledge
Discourse

knowledge

is

the

knowledge

of

language organizations at units beyond the single

sentence level. It includes knowledge of the
structural organization of different type of writing.
e. Readiness Aspect
Referring to the different concept, traditionally
thraditional reading readiness is the ability of the
students to benefit from initial reading instruction.
Recently, reading readiness has also included
being ready to read and understand a particular
selection.

Reading

readiness,

therefore,

may

describe instruction designed to assist both pre

35

readers and children who have already know how

to read.
f. Affective aspect
In reading, the affective aspect of comprehension
includes both a readers attitude and interest. This
is will increase motivation and facilitate readers to
read.
The major components of reading very influence
someone in comprehending the text well. Every student
has different interpretation based on their understanding
the text. If they can comprehend the text perfectly, they
will know what the writer meant in the text. Thus, students
have to master the major component of reading.
The aims of Reading is looking for and getting
information from books, references, texts or others. In
Reading, the students have to understand the idea, the
context, and the meaning of the texts in the passage.
Anderson in Ismah (2011: 10), states the following aims of
reading:
a. Reading for Details of Facts

36

The students read the text to get or know the

inversion that have been done by the writer or solve the
problems of the writer.
b. Reading for the main Idea
The students read the text (books) to know why is
the topic is good or interesting, then the problems on the
passage, and make summaries of the passage.
c. Reading for the Sequence or Organization.
The students read the text to know what is
happening in each part of the passage in every episode
and solving the problems of the text.
d. Reading to Classify
Students

read

the

text

to

classify

some

any

information or actions of the writer in the text or

paragraph.
e. Reading to Inference
The students read the text in order to find out the
solutions from the actions or idea in the text.
f. Reading to Compare

37

The students read to compare the plot of the text or

content whether having similarity with the readers or even
contrast.
Based on explanation above, it can be assumed that
the aims of reading are to get detail information of text, to
classify some information or actions of the writer in the
text of paragraph, to compare the plot of the text or
content whether having similarity with him or even
contrast etc.
c. The Reading Comprehension in Narrative Text
Comprehension is the process of making sense
words, sentences, and connected text. Phang (2011) states
that comprehension is the process of deriving meaning
from

connected

connecting

text.

It

involves

word

knowledge as well as thinking and reasoning. Readers

must use the information already acquired to filter,
interpret, organize, reflect upon and establish relationships
with new incoming information on the page.
Comprehension is an activity where the reader must
be able to interpret and alter what he/she reads in
accordance with his/her prior knowledge about the text.

38

Therefore, reading comprehension means understanding

what has been read. It is an active process that depends
not only on comprehension skill, but also in readers
experiences and prior knowledge.
In this case, reading comprehension means a
process of understanding the text in order to get the
purposes of reading such to get information and the
meaning of the texts. There were several kinds of
narrative text such as fairy tales, legends, plays, cartoons
and adventure stories (Hasibuan and Ansyari, 2007). All of
the narrative text types have the social purpose to
entertain and instruct the reader. The generic structures of
narrative

text

consist

of

three

parts:

orientation,

complication/problems, and resolution (Sudarwati and

Grace, 2007)
a. Orientation is to describe scenes and introduce
the characters, setting, and time or the story are
is established. Usually answer who, when or
where
b. Complication is to begin where there is a problem
encountered by the character

39

c. Resolution is the character finds the solution of

the problem. The complication may be resolved
for better or worse/happily or unhappily.
In addition, the language features of narrative text
are:
a. Noun phrase: beautiful princess, a huge temple
b. Connectives: first, before that, then finally
c. Adverbial phrases of time and place: in the
garden, two days ago
d. The simple past tense: he walked away from the
village
e. Action verbs: walk, sleep, wake up, run
f. Saying verbs: say, tell, ask
g. Thinking verbs, feeling verbs, verbs of senses:
-

She thought she was clever.

She felt hungry.

She smelt something burning.

40

Example of narrative text: (Sudarwati and Grace,

2007)
Title
Orientation

Complication

Bear and Rabbit

Once upon time there lived as neighbors, a
bear and a rabbit. The rabbit was a goog shot
and the bear, being very clumsy, could not use
an arrow to a good advantage.
The bear was very unkind to the rabbit, every
morning, the bear would call over to the rabbit
and ask the rabbit to take his bow and arrows
and come with the bear to the other side of the
hill.
The rabbit, fearing to arouse the bears anger
by refusing, consented and went with the bear.
The rabbit shot enough buffalo to satisfy the
bears family. Indeed, he shot and killed so
many that there was still lots of meat left after
the bear and his family has loaded themselves
and packed all they could carry home.

Resolution

However, the bear was so greedy and evil that

he didnt allow the rabbit to get any of the
meat. The poor rabbit could not even taste the
blood from the butchering, as the bear would
throw on the blood and dry it up. The poor
rabbit would have to go home hungry after his
hard days work.
The bear was the father of five children. The
youngest boy was very kind to the rabbit.
Knowing that the youngest boy was a very

41

hearty eater, the mother bear always gave him

an extra large piece of meat, instead of eating
this extra meat, the youngest bear would take
the meat outside and pretend to play ball with
it, kicking it toward the rabbits house, and
when he got close to the door he would give a
meat such a great kick that it would fly into
rabbits house. In this way the poor rabbit
would get his meal unknown to the papa bear.

2. The Teaching Reading

Nunan (2003) says that teaching reading usually has at
least two aspects. First, it can refer to teaching learners who
are learning to read for the very first time. A second aspect of
teaching reading refers to teaching learners who already have
reading skills in their first language. To make clear the
teaching reading, there are some principles that should be
considered. Principles of teaching reading are guided that
govern teachers behavior.
According to Nunan (2003), there are some principles
for teaching reading:
1 Exploit the readers background knowledge.
A readers background knowledge can influence reading
comprehension. Background knowledge includes all of the

42

experiences that a reader brings to a text: life experiences,

educational experiences, knowledge of how texts can be
organized rhetorically, knowledge of how ones first language
works knowledge of how the second language works, and
cultural background and knowledge.
2 Build a strong vocabulary base.
Recent

research

emphasized

the

importance

of

vocabulary to successful reading.

3 Teach for comprehension.
In order to teach for comprehension, it is my belief that
readers must monitor their comprehension processes and be
able to discuss with the teacher and/or fellow readers what
strategies they use to comprehend. By doing this, the
readers use both their cognitive and meta cognitive skills.
4 Work on increasing reading rate.
The teacher must work towards finding a balance
between assisting students to improve their reading rate and
developing reading comprehension skills. It is very important
to understand that the focus is not to develop speed readers,
but fluent readers.
5 Teach reading strategies.

43

A good strategy to sensitize students to the strategies

they use is to get them to verbalize (or talk about) their
thought processes as they read.
6 Encourage readers to transform strategies into skills.
Strategies can be defined as conscious actions that
learners take to achieve desired goals or objectives, while a
skill is a strategy that has become automatic. As learners
consciously learn and practice specific reading strategies,
the strategies move from conscious to unconscious; from
strategy to skill.
7 Build assessment and evaluation into your teaching.
8 Strive for continuous improvement as a reading teacher.
Reading teachers need to be passionate about their
work. They should view themselves as facilitators, helping
each reader discover what works best.
Nunan (2003) states that teaching reading has three
activities, they are:
a. Pre-reading activity
Pre-reading activity is the activity before reading
process then, the aims of this activity are:

44

a). To introduce and arouse the interest of the

students to the topic. In this case, lecturer
introduces to the students about the topic which
they will discuss in English class
b) To motivate the students to give a reaction for
reading text. Teacher can ask the students some
questions related to the topic
c). To provide some language preparations, such as:
the words, phrases, or sentences that can be used
to lead the students attention the material.
b. Whilst-reading activity
whilst-reading activity is the core of the lesson. What
need to be done is to develop students reading skill
by skimming and scanning. Skimming is reading
rapidly to get general information while scanning is
reading rapidly to find special information. It means
that scanning involves searching a particular piece of
information in a text.
c. Post-reading activity
Post-reading activity can be done in various activities
related to the passage that has been read. An oral or

45

written follow up activity, the students can be asked

to describe a situation related to the passage or an
incident similar to the passage.
Moreover, Richards (2002: 273) says that reading receives a special
focus on teaching. There are three reasons for this: Firstly, many foreign
language students often have reading as one of their most important goals.
Secondly, written text serves various pedagogical purposes. Thirdly, reading is
a skill which is highly value by students and teachers alike. It means
that the reading is a skill that has good assessment for the students and
teachers.
Based on the explanation above, it can be inferred that teaching
reading is a process to get information and knowledge, reading is useful for
other purposes; any exposure to English to provide students understand it
more, is a good thing for language students, it also provides good models for
English writing and provide opportunities to study language.

II.2. Conceptual or Theoretical Underpinnings of the

Research Areas
a. Student Team Achievement Division as Cooperative
Learning

46

Cooperative learning is generally defined, as will

become clear from the following two definitions, as a
continuum of learners working together in a small group, so
that everyone can participate in the collective task that has
been clearly defined by the teacher. Cooperative learning is
not merely another name for group work as it includes more
than learners simply working together in groups. Cooperative
learning is a practical teaching strategy to offer learners more
active learning experiences, equal access to learning and a
more supportive social environment (Johnson et al.1999).
In addition, Killen (2007) defines cooperative learning as
an instructional design that stimulates peer interaction and
learner-tolearner cooperation in the process of fostering
successful learning by all. Adams and Hamm (1996) state that
cooperative learning as a teaching strategy is a success story
in the transformation of education over the past decade. Their
research focuses on the application of cooperative learning
activities in the classroom where students jointly and
creatively

identify

problems

and

generate

practicable

solutions. Sapon-Shevin and Schniedewind (1992) states that

cooperative learning is necessary in any teaching-learning

47

situation,

because

this

particular

strategy

can

foster

educational excellence for all children regardless of race,

class, or gender, and can provide students and teachers with
the experience and expectations of active participation in
controlling and changing the spheres of their lives.
Furthermore, Cooperative learning is also defined to
consist of five essential elements according to Slavin (1987)
and Johnson and Johnson (1994). These five elements include
positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual
accountability, social skills, and group processing.
Johnson and Johnson state that it is not enough for
teachers just to place students into groups but that the
teacher must be aware of the five essential elements for
cooperative learning to be effective. Furthermore, Krol,
Janssen, Veenman, and Linden (2004), in agreement with
Johnson and Johnson, state that students in cooperative
learning groups were responsible for their own learning and
the learning of the members within their group. In addition,
Johnson and Johnson state that the five essential elements
enable teachers to diagnose ineffective lessons, and it helps
students who may have been struggling with group work to

48

see that they increase their academic ability within student

learning groups in a non-threatening environment.
1. Positive interdependence.
Positive interdependence include all students who
work together in order tosee that the goals of the group
are achieved. According toJohnson and Johnson positive
interdependence

link

students

in

such

way

that

studentsprovide support and share resources to see that

the group tasks meet. Group tasksinclude complementary
roles

such

as

reader,

checker,

encourager,

and

elaboratoraccording to Johnson and Johnson. Dyson and

Grineski (2001), and Krol, Janssen,Veenman, and Linden
(2004), in agreement with Johnson and Johnson, state
thatpositive interdependence occurr when each group
member learn to depend on therest of the group to achieve
shared tasks. York and Stanford (2002) state that positive
interdependence focus on the group and convey a
message of us rather than me
2. Face-to-face.
Johnson

and

Johnson

state

that

face-to-face

interaction maximize the opportunity for students to

49

promote

success

encouraging,

and

through
praising

assisting,

one

another

supporting,
to

enhance

learning. In addition, Krol, Janssen, Veenman, and Linden

(2004) state that face-to-face interaction promote the
notion of group accountability among one another's work.
Furthermore, verbal and non-verbal responses indicate
face-to-face interaction among group members increase
achievement. Johnson and Johnson indicate that for faceto-face interaction to be completely effective. It is essential
that the groups remaine small in size, from two to four
members.
3. Individual Accountability.
According

to

Johnson

and

Johnson

individual

accountability occurr when each student's performance is

evaluated as an individual and the results are given back
to the group and the individual. Johnson and Johnson state
that it is important that each member of the group
participate fully and do not attempt to ride on the laurels of
students

who

do

the

work.

In

order

to

ensure

accountability, each student is assigned some individual

work

to

do

within

the

group.

In

addition,

Krol,

50

Janssen,Veenman, and Linden state that group members

hold responsible for their contributions to the group.
Furthermore, Cook (2005), in agreement with Slavin
(1987), states that in cooperative learning, students share
knowledge by working in smaller groups. In other words,
Cook states that these groups benefit students because it
allow students to depend on others for knowledge and help
make students more accountable for their learning. In
agreement with Cook, Slavin states group goals and
individual accountability were important because, unlike
many groups where the group tasks could be broad and
unproductive, successful cooperative groups engage all the
students where various group tasks such as the reader,
checker, encourager, and elaborator promote an equal
amount of productivity by each member within the group.
When group tasks such as a team captain, group compiler,
task master and progress chairman are implemented, it
ensure that every student within the group contribute to
the learning experience and it motivates students to
achieve, according to Slavin. A team captain's role include
assigning roles and questions to each member within the

51

group. The group compiler will keep a master paper, from

the group work, to be turned in for a grade at the
completion of the group work. The task-master was
responsible for keeping members focus on group goals and
takes attendance weekly. Lastly, the group progress
chairman is responsible for time management and they will
watch the clock to ensure that the group answer all their
questions and their efforts are not being duplicated.
Johnson and Johnson comment that there are several
ways to structure individual accountability. Students hold
accountable for their work through structure individual
accountability tests for each individual student, selecting
one student's project to represent the entire group, and
having each student explain how he or she contributes to
the group or expresses what they learned to a fellow
classmate according to Johnson and Johnson. Individual
accountability can only exist when team members are
assigned various tasks within the group. These various
tasks allow for students to take ownership in mastering the
content (Kauchak and Eggen, 1998).
4. Social skills.

52

Social skills instruction, according to Johnson and

Johnson, must be provided by the instructor. Students are
not skilled to handle group work without a measure of
instruction according to Johnson and Johnson. These social
skills include leadership, decision-making, trust building,
communication, and conflict-management skills. According
to Johnson and Johnson, and Krol, Janssen, Veenman, and
Linden, students did not always have the appropriate social
skills

to

work

cooperatively.

Johnson

and

Johnson

suggested that the teacher instruct students on the

importance of social skills. Dyson and Grineski indicated
that the teacher must verbally praise the students to
reinforce the important social skills by listening, providing
feedback,

resolving

conflicts,

and

encouraging

the

students in order to see the desired goals achieved.

5. Group processing.
Student's assessing their peers is an important
component to cooperative. Johnson and Johnson indicated
group processing occurred when group members discussed
achieving their group goals and maintaining effective
working

relationships.

Group

processing

enabled

the

53

students to focus on group maintenance, learned social

skills, feedback on student participation, and reminded
students to practice collaborative skills. Within group
processing, Johnson and Johnson indicated that students
needed to describe which members provided valuable
input and which ones did not. It was the student's
responsibilities

to

inform

their

peers

that

their

contributions to the group's goals were not being met.

Dyson and Grineski, in agreement with Johnson and
Johnson, stated that group processing was the time
students conversed about the successes and failures they
experienced throughout the group project. Importantly,
Johnson and Johnson stated that students must be
provided with time within class to analyze each students
contribution within the group, and to assess one another
on whether the group achieved its goals. In addition to the
five essential elements of positive interdependence, faceto-face interaction, individual accountability, social skills,
and group processing.
b. Nature of Student Team Achievement Division

54

STAD is a cooperative learning method which is

developed by Slavin (1978) as part of a student learning
approach program

along with other cooperative methods

such as Teams-Games-Tournaments, Jigsaw II (Slavin 1980),

and Team Assisted Individualization (Slavin et al. 1981). In
STAD, students are assigned to four- or five-member learning
teams. The teams are composed of high, average, and low
performing students, and of boys and girls of different racial
or ethnic backgrounds. Thus, each team is a microcosm of the
entire class.
According to Slavin (1982), STAD is defined as a
cooperative group where four to five students worked in
heterogeneous groups. These heterogeneous groups are
grouped according to performance level, ethnicity, and
gender. The teacher presents a lesson, and then the students
work within their teams to make sure that all team members
have mastered the lesson. Slavin, instructes that groups be
responsible for assigning roles where the students master the
material. Tasks include assigning a team captain who would
facilitate roles within the group, a group compiler who would
be responsible for collecting answers from each group

55

member, a task master who keep the group on task, and a

progress chairman who would see that all questions are
answered before the class period end. Students are then
provided worksheets to reinforce the content. Students then
tutor one another until all the students have mastered the
content discussed from that days lecture. Students would then
take individual quizzes on the material, at which time they
may not help one another. Students' quiz scores are compared
to their own past averages, and points are awarded on the
basis of the degree to which students met or exceed their own
earlier performance. Teams with the highest score are
recognized in a weekly class newsletter and also provided
recognition through certificates. The implementation of the
cooperative

learning

strategy

STAD,

improves

students

academic achievement, improve inter-group relations, and

provides the student with higher self-esteem.
Slavin (1995) enumerates three main concepts of STAD
as

team

rewards,

individual

accountability,

and

equal

opportunities for success. Team rewards are certificates or

other awards which are given if a STAD group achieves higher
than a predetermined level. In this way, the spirit of positive

56

competition is reinforced and all or none of the groups would

be rewarded based on how they score. In terms of individual
accountability, the individual learning of each of the group
members determines the success of the teams. Students tutor
one another ensuring that all group members are ready for
the quizzes that students take individually. As for equal
opportunities for success individual improvement of the
students specifies their contributions to the group. In this way,
it is guaranteed that all group members with different levels
are equally motivated to do their best.
Slavin mentions four steps of STAD for implementation
in the classroom.
First

step:

Teaching

in

which

the

teacher

introduces new material through a lecture, class

discussion,

or

some

form

of

teacher

presentation.
Second step: Team study in which heterogeneous
team members cooperate on worksheets designed
to extend and help boost the material taught by
the teacher.

57

 Third step: Tests are individual quizzes. Students

take on the assigned materials. Team mates are
not allowed to help one another during these
quizzes. In this method, students learn new
materials in teams but take individual tests
weekly to ensure individual accountability. After
the teacher teaches a lesson, students work in
teams to make sure that everyone has mastered
the new material. All students take quizzes, and
the scores are compared to their previous test
scores.
Fourth step: Team Recognition stage where quiz
scores are juxtaposed to past averages; points are
given

based

on

improvement

from

past

performance. High-scoring teams are awarded by

gifts or putting their names on bulletin board or by
granting certificates to them.
Principles and Characteristics of STAD:
The

basic

principles

of

cooperative

learning

(Muslims et al, 2000) as follows:

58

Each member of the group (students) are is

responsible for everything that is done in a group.

Each member of the group (students) should

know that all of the group members have similar
goals.

Each member of the group (students) has to split

the duties and responsibilities equally among
group members.

Each member of the group (students) will be

evaluated.

Each member of the group (students) to share

leadership skills and need to learn together during
the learning process.

Each member of the group (students) will be

required to be individually accountable for the
material is handled in a cooperative group.

Characteristics of cooperative learning as follows.

Students in groups learn to cooperatively resolve

the matter according to the basic competencies to
be achieved.

59

The group was formed of students who have

different skills, a good level of high, medium, and
low. If possible, group members are from different
ethnic or religious and gender equality.

Award more emphasis on group rather than

individual.

Advantages and Disadvantages of STAD:

A learning strategy has advantages and disadvantages.
STAD cooperative learning has several advantages (Slavin,
1995:17) in Karmawati Yusuf (2010) as follows:

Students work together in achieving its objectives

by upholding the norms of the group.

Actively assist and motivate students to succeed

shared passion.

Active role as a peer tutor to further enhance the

success of the group.

Interaction among students with by increasing

their ability to argue.

60

In addition, STAD also has disadvantages, according to

the DESS (1991:411) in Karmawati Yusuf (2010) concluded as
follows:

Require a longer time for the students, so it is

difficult to achieve the target curriculum.

Require a longer time for teachers so that

teachers generally do not want to use cooperative
learning.

Require special skills of teachers so that not all

teachers can do cooperative learning.

Specific nature of students demands, such as the

nature of love to work together

c. Nature of Directed Reading Thinking Achievement

The

directed

reading

thinking

activity

(DRTA)

is

developed by Stauffer in 1969. The DRTA is a strategy that

guides students in asking questions about a text, making
predictions, and then reading to confirm or refute their
predictions. In fact, DRTA provides the teacher an opportunity
to

guide

students

to

think

like

good

readers

do

by

anticipating, predicting, and then confirming and modifying

their ideas with the story.

61

DRTA is mostly used with fiction, but it can be used

successfully with non-fiction too. Blachowicz and Ogle (2008)
believed that DRTA is one of the strongest ways which can
help teachers engage students actively in the pieces of
literature they are reading. Al Odwan (2012) mentioned other
advantage of the directed reading thinking activity is a much
stronger model for building independent readers and learners.
Directed Reading Thinking Activity is a strategy that
intended to develop students ability to read critically and
reflectively. The directed reading thinking activity 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.
The directed reading thinking activity is associated with
the DRA (Directed Reading Activity) developed by Stauffer
(1969). The directed reading thinking activity is a lesson plan
which

involves

(a)

preparation/readiness/motivation

for

reading a lesson; (b) silent reading; (c) vocabulary and skills

62

development; (d) silent and/or oral reading; and (e) follow up

or culminating activities. While this is a useful plan for some
reading lessons and is essentially synonymous with the basic
reading lessons of for the elementary grades (Tierney,
Readance & Dishner, 1990).
Directed reading thinking activity is a much stronger
model for building independent readers and learners. Almasi
(2003) states that the goal for of using the directed reading
thinking activity is to foster students independence when
reading. It engages students in an active process where they
must use their reasoning abilities and their own ideas.
The value of directed reading thinking activity is to
make predictions before reading each section. Requiring
students to make predictions encourage use of context clues
and establishes a purpose for reading. This cycle requires
students to use their background knowledge to set purposes
for reading and develop their questioning ability. Verifying
predictions while reading extend thoughts and promotes
interactive learning. The power of the directed reading
thinking activity strategy increases when the teacher guides
students to check their predictions after reading (Allan, 2004).

63

DRTA is one metacognitive strategy that enhances understanding and

comprehension the text. This strategy helps to strengthen reading and critical
thinking skill. It monitors the readers awareness of whether or not
comprehension is occurring (Bauman, 1992: 144). Furthermore, Willis (2008:
155) states that metacognitive is thinking about thinking. Meta cognitive can
be taught to help the students mentally process the information they read and
to recognize what they do and do not understand. Moreover, Westwood (2008:
34) states that the DRTA motivate students to apply the students
metacognitive skills because students think appropriate with train of tough
themselves. In this case, DRTA stimulates the students prior knowledge,
involves the students to be active in taking part of constructing the meaning of
the text and enhance the students comprehension monitoring ability.

Allan (2005: 44) states that Activity steps of DRTA are as follows:
Step 1: Prepare the text by marking four or five good stopping points.
Plan stopping points to fall at moments of suspense in the
story.
Step 2: On the chalk board or on chart paper, prepare a chart like the
one below. Explain to the students that they will be reading
the story, one bit at a time. Remind them that it is important
not to read beyond the stopping points. They will be making
predictions and reading to confirm those predictions.

64

Step 3: Ask the students to read the title of the story. Talk about the
genre. Name the author. Show the cover illustration, and read
the title. Then ask for their prediction about what will
happening the story. Write those predictions in the space
labeled What do you think will happen? after the title. Ask
the students why they think so. Then enter their reasons under
Why?
Step 4: Now, ask the students to read to the first stopping point, and
when they have reached it, they should go back and consider
the prediction they made before, and say what actually
happened. You should record their ideas in the space called
What did happen?
Step 5: The teacher reviews the predictions and asks which ones are
coming true so far. The teacher asks them to read aloud parts
of the text that confirm or disconfirm their predictions.
Step 6: Then, the students should predict what they think will happen
in the next block of text, and offer new predictions, with the
evidence that led to their making those predictions to be
entered in the spaces provided. Then they should read on,
check their prediction against what did happen, make new
predictions, dictate evidence for those predictions, and read
the last section.
65

Step 7: Finally, they should check their last predictions against what
actually happened in the story, and dictate their findings about
what happened, to be recorded in the space on the form.
Leu (1987: 222), states that the first phase of a DRTA
consists of three
procedural steps, repeated as students read and discuss a
selection, those are
a. Predicting
During this first step, students are asked to predict
outcomes and model their inferential reasoning for others. At
the beginning of a story, questions like the following might be
used.
1) What will a story with this title about? Why?
2) Who do you think will be in a story with this title?
Why?
3) Where do you think this story will take place? Why?
Each student is expected to form a prediction and
support it with a reasonable explanation. Teaches should
encourage different prediction as long as a student can justify
them logically.
b. Reading

66

Students

are

asked

to

read

silently

up

to

predetermined point in the story and check their predictions.

Directions like the following might be given. Now that you
have all told me what you think this story is going to be
about, who will be in it, and where it will take place, I want
you to read and see if you were correct. Read up to the end
page 2, please.
c. Proving
During this third step, students are asked to draw
conclusions and to model their reasoning process for others.
In a discussion, students evaluate the available evidence in
relation to their predictions. Questions like the following can
be used to begin the discussion at this step.
1) Was your guess correct? Why or why not?
2) What do you think now? Why?
3) What do you think that X happened?
4) What did A (a character) do X (an event)?
5) Why do you think will happen next?
(Leu, 1987: 222)

67

The Advantages and Disadvantages of DRTA Method for

Reading
Comprehension
a. The Advantages of DRTA Method
Adlit

(2008)

available

http://www.adlit.org.strategies/23356/,

there

in
are

at
some

reasons why using Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)

method in reading class:
1) It encourages students to be active and thoughtful
readers.
The process of predicting, reading, and proving make
the students are not passive in reading class. They use their
mind to be more aware about the topic given may be known
yet by the students.
2) It activates students prior knowledge.
It will appear prior knowledge by predicting about the
topic. New information will add the students knowledge.
3) It teaches students to monitor their understanding of
the text as they are reading. The students understand the
content of the text step by step. It began from activating prior
knowledge, then predicting what they will learn about the

68

topic and the last is proving. From that step, the students will
practice how to understand the text accurately.
4) It helps students strengthen reading and critical
thinking skills.
Reading skill is not passive skill. The readers must think about
the topic accurately.
b. The Disadvantages of DRTA method
1) Only useful if students have read or heard the text
being used.
2) Classroom management may become a problem.
II.3. Related Studies
Related studies require some previous researchers
conducted by other researchers in which they are relevant to
this research itself. Besides, the writer has to analyze what the
point that focused on, inform the design, finding and conclusion
of the previous research, that of:
1. Almanza, Tina (1997) carried out a research entitled
The Effects of the D.R.T.A. and Cooperative Learning
Strategies on Reading Comprehension in New Jersey.
The results of this study attest to the fact that when
the students were in the cooperative learning groups,

69

the majority of them scored higher on their reading

comprehension tests than when they used the Directed
Reading Thinking Activity. There is similarity of result
between Almanzas research and this research. The
similarity is the using cooperative learning strategy or
using STAD strategy in improving students reading
comprehension is more effective than using DRTA.
2. Helmi Oktaviola(2012) carried out a research entitled The
Effect of Directed Reading Thinking Activity strategy
toward Students Reading Comprehension at SMPN 11
Padang. The study found that there is a significant
difference in reading comprehension among students
who are treated using DRTA and those treated using
the conventional reading strategy. In conclusion DRTA
is

likely

higher

in

effectiveness

than

the

other

strategies in improving the reading comprehension.

The result of Helmis study is quite different with this
research. Because Helmi just compare between DRTA
and conventional strategy. But the similarity is that
DRTA can improve students reading comprehension.

70

3. Talal Abd Al- Hameed Al Odwan (2012) carried out a

research entitled,The Effect of the Directed Reading
Thinking Activity through Cooperative Learning on
English

Secondary

Stage

Students

Reading

Comprehension in Jordan. The finding showed that

DRTA strategy was successful in improving students
reading comprehension. The improvement could be
seen from the increase of students average reading
scores.
4. Hasmaniarti(2010)carried out a research entitledThe effect
of

Student

students

Team

reading

Bangkinang.

The

Achievement

Division

comprehension
study

found

at

that

toward

SMPN
there

is

3
a

significant difference in reading comprehension among

students who are treated using STAD and those treated
using the conventional reading strategy.
5. Rofingatun(2013)carried out a research entitledThe effect of
Student Team Achievement Division toward students
reading

comprehension

studentsof

Vocational

at

the

Senior

eleventh
High

grade

School

of

Pembaharuan Purworejo. She concludes that there is a

71

significant difference in reading comprehension among

students who are treated using STAD and those treated
using the conventional reading strategy.
6. Michelle (1999) carried out a research entitled How Do
I Teach My Students to Paraphrase Academic Content
in Order to Improve Their Reading Comprehension?.
The samples of the study were 24 students of J.E.B.
Stuart High School, the finding showed that their
students became better equipped to handle difficult
reading assignments and, in the process, were more
successful at learning the substance of what they were
reading.
7. Bellert, Graham, & Walsh (2004) carried out a research
entitled

Learning

Difficulties

Use

Paraphrasing

Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension. It was

done to those participants from 27 male students were
initially selected for the study from two Year 8
specialist English Enhancement classes at a Catholic
boys semi-private secondary school in the North
Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. This finding showed
that

there

was

an

improvement

in

reading

72

comprehension ability for the students exposed to the

paraphrasing strategy.
8. Maryam, Hossein and Ahmad (2012) carried out a
research entitled The Effects of L1 Translation vs.
Paraphrasing the Literary Texts on Female and Male
Students Reading Comprehension. The data for this
study were collected through two comprehension tests
and a personal questionnaire from 40 English students
who study at University of Isfahan. The findings of the
present

study

would

help

lecturers

and

lecturer

trainers to construct and implement L1 and paraphrase

in literature classes more effectively.
9. Lee and Von Colln (2003) conducted a single-case
quasi-experimental study using an ABAB reversal
design (baseline, RAP Paraphrasing Strategy, baseline,
RAP Paraphrasing Strategy) to measure the effects of
the

RAP

Paraphrasing

Strategy

on

the

reading

comprehension skills of a 12-year-old, African-American

student

(an

extremely

small

sample

size).

The

instructional steps included describing, modeling, and

engaging in verbal practice for the first phase of the

73

intervention, and participating in controlled practice

and feedback, engaging in advanced practice and
feedback, and posttesting and making commitments
for the second phase of the intervention. Relevant data
for this study were based upon a paraphrasing score in
a researcher-designed assessment (based upon the
recommendations

of

Schumaker,

Denton,

and

Deschler, 1984) and a comprehension score in a

researcher-designed assessment, gaven given multiple
times during the study.
10.
an

Guastello, Beasley, and Sinatra (2000) carried out

experimental

study

comparing

the

effect

of

semantic mapping on the reading comprehension of 62

junior high school students when compared with
utilizing

traditional

instruction

on

the

reading

comprehension of 62 other junior-high-school students

with expository text for 8 days (large sample sizes).
The participants in this study were low-achieving
seventh graders. The students in the experimental
condition were introduced to the study unit, were
provided with a model and rationale for using semantic

74

mapping, and with the guidance of their lecturer

produced their own concept maps while reading the
text. The students in the comparison group were
taught with traditional instruction. Data for this study
were obtained from the Comprehensive Assessment
Program (CAP), Level H (in this study comprised of
tests measuring the students achievement in reading
and science) administered as a pretest, and a lecturerdesigned test (measuring the students knowledge of
the content and vocabulary of the text read in the
study) utilized as both a pretest and a posttest. The
students were allowed to take home their instructional
materials (the semantic map for the students in the
experimental condition and the textbook for the
students in the comparison condition) to study in
preparation for the posttest assessment. The results of
this study are as follows. The results suggest that the
experimental and comparison groups scored in a
similar manner on the CAP and the lecturer-designed
pretest. Nevertheless, a large difference was present in
posttest gains. Due to the fact that the pretest was

75

statistically significantly related to posttest scores, an

analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was carried out using
the pretest scores as the covariate. The assumption of
homogeneity of variance did not appear to be violated,
and the pretest was revealed to be a statistically
significant covariate. The ANCOVA also demonstrated a
statistically significant treatment main effect in favor of
the experimental group. In addition, utilizing an
estimate of pooled variance, the effect size for the
experimental condition was 5.98, suggesting that
semantic

mapping

comprehension

scores

augmented
of

the

the

reading-

students

in

the

experimental group by approximately six standard

deviations in comparison with the students in the
comparison group.
11.

Joseph (2002) conducted a quasi-experimental

study to measure the effects of semantic mapping on

the

reading-comprehension

skills

of

tenth-grade

students for 2 days (after the students were taught to

use semantic mapping for 2 months). The students
were divided into groups of 20 and 29 students (the

76

first group reading the first article first and the second
group reading the second article first and both groups
reading the opposite articles the following day). Data
were obtained from two reading-comprehension tests
designed by the researcher, one test administered
after the students read each article. All of the students
received the instruction on semantic mapping. The
students were instructed to create a semantic map
before taking the second test, but not the first. As per
a paired-samples t test, the effects of semantic
mapping were statistically significant for the second
group of students, but not statistically significant for
the first group. Analyzed together, the effects of
semantic mapping for the whole group of students was
not

statistically

significant,

but

was

werestrong

nonetheless. Willits (2002) carried out a study with an

action research design in part to ascertain the effects
of semantic maps and learning styles on the readingcomprehension

skills

of

18

seventh

graders

in

geography, one of whom was diagnosed with attentiondeficit disorder (ADD), one of whom was diagnosed

77

with attention-deficit disorder (ADD) and LD, and one

of

which

was

diagnosed

with

attention-deficit

hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for 15 weeks. Relevant

data were obtained from the Learning Style Inventory
for Grades 5-12 administered before the semanticmapping

intervention,

textbook

chapter

tests

(comprised of multiple-choice, matching questions, and

chapter
questions,

essay
and

questions),
individual

delayed-recall
interviews

essay

with

the

participants on their preference for semantic mapping

conducted with a 5-point Likert Scale (5 indicating a
high preference and 1 indicating a low preference). The
students were to construct semantic maps to answer
the essay questions (for the three chapter essays
following the instruction on semantic mapping and for
the second delayed-recall essay question).
12.

Asan

(2007)

carried

out

study

with

nonequivalent comparison group design to measure

the effects of semantic mapping on the readingcomprehension skills of fifth-grade students in Turkey
for 5 days. Twenty-three students were divided into an

78

experimental group (13 students, provided with an

introduction to semantic mapping with the Inspiration
Program,

traditional instruction,

construct

Program)

and

receiving

only

traditional

semantic

map

comparison

and

with

the task

the

group

Inspiration

(10

instruction).

to

students

Data

were

obtained from a comprehension test (used as a pretest

and a posttest) designed by the lecturer (via consulting
with the researcher), a semantic map scoring rubric,
and an open-ended student interview question. The
students in the experimental group were instructed to
create a semantic map the day before taking the
posttest. The relevant results are as follows. The
results of a paired-samples t test indicated that the
increase in scores for the experimental group (but not
the comparison group) from the pretest to the posttest
was statistically significant. In addition, the correlations
between semantic map scores and the corresponding
map multiple-choice scores (as measured by the
semantic map scoring rubric) were high overall. The
researcher stated that these findings suggest that the

79

students were performing equivalently on the semantic

map items and reading-comprehension test items
designed to measure the same subject matter. Finally,
54% of the students found that semantic mapping was
useful for organizing their ideas, 61% of the students
stated

that

using

the

Inspiration

Program

was

enjoyable, and 61% of the students stated that

learning

to

utilize

the

Inspiration

Program

and

connecting ideas was a simple strategy.

II.4.The Operational Concept
There are three variables in this research. The first
variable is a Student Team Achievement Division as independent
variable or X1 variable. The second variable Directed Reacing
Thinking Achievement as independent variable or X2 variable.
The third variable is students reading comprehension on of
narrative text as dependent variable or Y variable.
Figure II.1 show how the effect of STAD and DRTA strategies toward
students reading comprehension. They can be drawn as follows:

Independent
Variable (X1)

Treatment of
STAD Strategy

Dependent
Variable (Y)

80

StudentsRead
ing

STAD
Strategy

Independent
Variable (X2)

Dependent
Variable

Treatment of
DRTA Strategy

Students
Reading
Comprehensio

DRTA
Strategy

Figure II.1. Conceptual Framework

According to Slavin, (2009), STAD consists of five major

components:

class

presentation,teams,

quizzes,

individual

improvement scores, and team recognition. The detail of each

component are is discussed as follows:
1) Class Presentations
This component is mainly constructed by the teacher.
Materials are presented and explained to students, however
students must realize that they must pay careful attention
because the learning content will appear on the worksheet that
they will be assigned in the next componnent.

81

2) Teams
Students are divided into groups of four of heterogeneous
academic performance, sex, and race or etnicity ethnicity. This
component is important because it prepares students to do
well on the quizzes. All teammates study the worksheets or
materials together and need to explain them to each other
carefully. Students must ensure that all members understand
the material thoroughly before doing the quizzes
3) Quizzes
After studying the material or worksheet, students take
individual quizzes and they cannot help each other. This
component demonstrates individual accountability that each
student is responsible for studying the material and working on
the worksheet attentively. If every member in the group gets
higher scores than before, this will possibly help the team
improve their scores in the next component.
4) Individual Improvement Scores
The idea behind this component is that each student has a
performance goal to work harder and better than in the past.
All students can improve the team scores if they do better in
the quizzes. Students at all levels of achievement: high,

82

average, or low, have equal opportunities to work for the team.

However, each student has a base score deriving from they
their score on their last performance. When the quiz scores
exceed their base scores, they earn the points for their team.
The individual improvement scores are added together and
divided by the number of people in the group.
5) Team Recognition
the Team gets a reward if the teams average scores
satisfy the criteria. Teacher may have a role in creating how to
reward successful groups. However, this component does not
mainly focus on the award: it rather focuses on the recognition
of the students accomplishment. Thus, students will realize the
value of working cooperatively and help their teammates to
understand the lessons.
Stauffer

(1975)

divides

Directed

Reading-Thinking

Activity Strategy into four steps that will be explained below:

1. Predicting
This step requires students to make hypotheses from
small portions of the text. It begins from scanning the title,
chapter headings, illustrations, and other explanatory
materials. Predicting also requires students to reflect on

83

what think will be covered in the text and hypothesize

about what the author might discuss next in the text. In
predicting, the students are referred to activate their prior
knowledge, arouse interest, and develop their vocabulary.
The students are also reffered to establish their purposes
for reading, for example to reach some conclusion, to
grasp general ideas, to understand the sequence of events
to predict events, and to follow directions. The teacher
should encourage students to make several suggestions
and record them. The teacher asks them to make a
prediction about the text using these questions as follows:
(a) What do you think the text with this title might be
about?, (b) What do you think might tell in this text?
2. Reading
In this step, the students are asked to read the text
to verify the accuracy of their predictions. The students
are asked to support their predictions by locating the
material in the text that will verify their responses. There
is are no right or wrong predictions, rather, some
responses are jugged jugging to be more or less accurate
than others. The reading text is divided into small

84

sections. Students read the beginning of the story by read

reading silently or reading aloud. In this step, the students
should be guided in understanding that some text may be
skimmed,scanned, or studied. Students should also be
guided to see if their predictions were correct.
The comprehension activity that should be used
while students are reading is listed below: (a) teacher uses
a

strategy

to

activate

prior

knowledge

about

the

concept/topic to be read about, (b) each students writes

down a prediction about the content of reading, (c)
students read a section of the text silently or the class
reads it aloud. Teacher needs to be sure to give a stopping
point in the text, (d) short class discussion about whether
or not anyones predictions came true. A running list can
be kept of the predictions that are accurate, and students
should cross of their individual lists the predictions that
were not accurate, (e) students predict again for the next
portion of the text, this time adding the reasons for their
predictions.
3. Confirming or Proving

85

This step requires students to engage in a discussion

about what they have read. Initially, in this discussion,
they are led to answer thought provoking or reflective
types of questions. It is the stage the students will either
confirm, reject, or refine their predictions and justify their
ideas with reference to the text. Students then make new
predictions. Misconceptions are also clarified by the
students through interaction with the text. Students can
confirm or reject their predictions by responding to
questions such as: (a) What do you think now?, (b) Can
you prove your predictions, or do you need to modify
them?, (c) What do you think will happen next? Why?, (d)
What will happen if ....?
Those questions will lead students to examine the
proof of their predictions. Oral reading of a particular
sentence will direct students to share their evidence with
others.
4. Resolution
This step requires students to summarize and
evaluate the text. It is also called judgement. The teacher
asks the students to identify and integrate the important

86

information that is presented in the text. In this step the

learner are is asked to initially identify the most important
content of reading section and integrate own information
that indicates understanding.
II.4.1. Indicators of Students Team Achievement Division (X1)
1). The teacher prepares the text.
2). The teacher explains the materials to students
2). The teacher divides the students into some groups, each group
consists of four or five of heterogeneous academic performance,
sex, and race or ethnicity.
3). All teammates study the worksheets or materials together and need
to explain them to each other carefully. Students must ensure that all
members understand the material thoroughly before doing the
quizzes
4). The teacher gives students individual quizzes and they cannot help
each other
5). The teacher gives an individual score from the quizzes.
6). The teacher gives award to the team who get highest team score

II.4.2. Indicators of Directed Reading Thinking Activity (X2)

87

1). The teacher prepares the text by marking four or five good stopping
points.
2). The teacher prepares a chart on the white board or chart paper
3). The teacher asks students to read the title of the story, talks about
genre, names the author, then asks for their prediction about what
will happen in the story.
4). The teacher asks the students to read to the first stopping point, and
when they have reached it, they should go back and consider the
prediction they made before and say what actually happen.
5). The teacher records their ideas in the space what did happen?
6). The teacher reviews the predictions and asks which ones are
coming true so far.
7). The teacher asks the students to predict what they think will happen
in the next block of text and offer new predictions
8). The teacher asks students to check their last prediction against what
actually happened in the story, and dictate their findings about what
happened
II.4.3. The Indicators of Students Reading Comprehension (Y)
The Indicators of Students Reading Comprehension are:
a. The students are able to find the main idea of narrative text

88

b. The students are able to identify the generic structure of

narrative text
c. The students are able to identify reference of narrative text
d. The students are able to identify meaning of vocabulary of
narrative text
e. The students are able to identify information from narrative
text
f.The students are able to identify the language features in of
narrative text
II. 5. Assumptions and Hypothesis
II.5.1Assumption
Traditionally, classes always consist of good students
and weak students. The weak students sit in isolation as they
lose confidence in their ability to learn English. Working in
groups, therefore is believe to solve this problem. Group
members

can

weaknesses

in

complement
English.

each

Each

others

student

strengths

has

and

different

background and ability in English, which he or she can bring to

the group. For example, one student may have a strong
vocabulary that can supply to students with a solid background
in grammar. Furthermore, poor students will benefit from

89

interaction with better ones, and good students will feel proud
that they play an important role in helping their weaker
classmates.
STAD and DRTA will be implemented in this study to
solve the problem. Students will get the better reading
achievement since they work in group and they help each
other. Moreover, STAD and DRTA also will make students enjoy
the learning process because they will be more motivated to do
their best. In sum, it is assumed that STAD and DRTA will give
positive

effects

on

students

reading

comprehension

on

narrative text.
II.5.2 Hypothesis
The hypotheses of this research are formulated as
follows:
Ho1: There is no significant difference on in students reading
comprehension

pre-test

mean

score

between

the

Experimental Group and the Control Group at the

second semester students at the English Education
Department of UIN Suska Riau
Ha1:

There is a significant difference on in students reading

comprehension

pre-test

mean

score

between

the

90

Experimental Group and Control Group at of the second

semester students at the English Education Department
of UIN Suska Riau
Ha2: There is no significant difference on in students reading
comprehension post-test mean score between the
Experimental Group and Control Group at of the second
semester students at the English Education Department
of UIN Suska Riau
Ha2:

There is a significant difference on students reading

comprehension post-test mean score between the
Experimental Group and Control Group at the second
semester students at the English Education Department
of UIN Suska Riau

Ho3: There is no significant improvement on in students reading

comprehension mean score of pretest and posttest mean score of the
experimental group at the English Education Department of
UIN Suska Riau
Ha3:

There is a significant improvement on in students reading

comprehension mean score of pretest and posttest mean score of the
experimental group at the English Education Department of
UIN Suska Riau

91

Ho4: There is no significant improvement on in students reading

comprehension mean score of pretest and posttest mean score of the
control group at the English Education Department of UIN
Suska Riau
Ha4:

There is a significant improvement on in students reading

comprehension mean score of pretest and posttest mean score of the
control group at the English Education Department of UIN
Suska Riau

92