1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background These days, most people have to read greats reading of material just to keep from getting buried in paper-at home, at the office, at school. Through reading, we can inform ourselves about something we are interested in, or challenge our knowledge on certain matters. In other words, to extend experience of the world in which we live. In making contact with the text the readers choose to read, purpose and motivation are the first items to be made up. Without purpose and motivation, what the readers do may not be led well. Motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves on to particular action. Therefore, a student who does not get strategyand motivation in reading will be stuck to develop their skill, while the strategy is a necessary
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
These days, most people have to read greats reading of material just to keep
from getting buried in paper-at home, at the office, at school. Through reading, we
can inform ourselves about something we are interested in, or challenge our
knowledge on certain matters. In other words, to extend experience of the world in
which we live. In making contact with the text the readers choose to read, purpose
and motivation are the first items to be made up. Without purpose and motivation,
what the readers do may not be led well. Motivation is commonly thought of as an
inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves on to particular action. Therefore,
a student who does not get strategyand motivation in reading will be stuck to develop
their skill, while the strategy is a necessary part of skill development and motivation
asan effective way to get in.
Reading is a very important skill in learning a foreign language and reading
comprehension is claimed to be the main purpose of foreign language teaching in
schools. But acquiring and mastering this skill seems complex to many learners and
they often find it difficult to exploit this skill in their learning experience. On the
other hand, the findings of many ESL/EFL research projects have shown the positive
effect of learning strategy instruction on enhancing reading comprehension of
learners. But the point is that many individual differences such as age, sex, attitudes,
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motivation, setting, level of proficiency, etc, can influence the use of learning
strategies.
Reading is more than seeing words clearly, more than listening to pronouncing
words correctly. It is one of the basic communicative skills, but it is a very complex
process. It can be said that reading is a process in which reader find information given
by the writer in the written form. In this case reading can be said as an interactive
process. Because while reading someone guess, predict, check, and ask questions
about what the text about.
Based on the researcher’s observation at SMA Negeri 1 Bontonompo Selatan
Gowa on Monday January 5th, 2010, the students’ reading comprehension in reading
English texts at this school is generally still low. It can be seen from their final
examination which showed low scores with 50.00 average scores for English subject.
That’s why; their skills in English should be improved, especially for their reading
comprehension. Generally, some comprehension problems are found by the students
such as, they can’t understand the text well, they misread the text by totally changing
its meaning, and they also misread the text by taking words and phrases out of
context or under reading. The students lack of background knowledge about the text
given. Therefore, the students become frustrated and disoriented when they have to
respond questions of the reading test. The students also lack of strategies to be used in
their reading activity, the only one strategy they apply in their reading is translation
method using dictionary to translate unknown words. Besides, the teacher faces many
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problems in teaching, they also lack of strategies to be used in teaching.
Consequently, the results of the students are still unsatisfactory. It can be seen from
their class activities, their study evaluations in their school or in their national
examinations.
So that, some creative and innovative efforts are primarily needed by the
students in understanding the content of the text in their reading to become successful
readers. A cognitive reading strategy is one of the methods in good reading process
that the researcher will try to observe. A cognitive strategy serves to support the
learners develop their internal procedures that enable them to perform texts that are
complex. According to Luann (2007) reading comprehension is an area where
cognitive strategies are important. Instead, students search the text and combine
information as they generate questions; then they comprehend what they have read.
Clark and Silberstein in Simanjuntak (1998:15) design reading as “an active cognitive
process of interacting with printing and monitoring comprehension to establish
meaning. Rosenshine states that the act of creating questions does not lead directly to
comprehension. Instead, students search the text and combine information as they
generate questions; then they comprehend what they have read. The use of cognitive
strategies can increase the efficiency with which the learner approaches a learning
task. These academic tasks can include, remembering and applying information from
text, constructing sentences and paragraphs, editing written work, paraphrasing, and
classifying information to be learned.
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A teacher who teaches cognitive strategies well will connect learner and task,
especially for comprehending the reading passage. This strategy will be chosen
because it is the best strategy for both, the learner’s characteristics and the task and/or
content that needs to be mastered. By using necessary approaches, the teacher’s
attention turns to the knowledge of the students, so the learner’s characteristics will
be known and considered such as intellectual ability and interest in the subject and
their general motivation to learn. Cognitive reading strategies emphasize on the
importance of the readers’ background knowledge in the reading process, so the
readers make use of both the text and their background knowledge. Readers use pre-
reading information to make some predictions of a text and in this strategy while
reading is meant to be a process of decoding and repetition, identifying letters, words,
phrases, and then sentences in order to get the meaning then post reading, readers
check to see how this information employed by this strategy such as paraphrasing,
inferencing, summarizing and synthesizing to get the gist of a text, etc. Therefore,
interaction of background knowledge, making prediction and the others strategy with
the text are essential for efficient reading. William and Burden (1997;148) state that
cognitive strategies are seen as mental processes directly concerned with the
processing of information in order to learn, that is for obtaining, storage, retrieval or
use of information.
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Based on the discussion above, the researcher carries out a research under the
title “Applying Cognitive Reading Strategies to develop students’ reading
comprehension”.
B. Problem Statement of the Research
Based on the background above, the researcher formulates a research question
as follows:
“Does the application of cognitive reading strategies develop the students’ reading
comprehension of SMA Negeri 1 Bontonompo Selatan Gowa?”
Regarding to the problem statement above, it is divided into three kinds of
research questions relating to the level of comprehension, as follows:
1. Does the application of cognitive reading strategies develop significantly the
students’ literal comprehension?
2. Does the application of cognitive reading comprehension develop
significantly the students’ interpretative comprehension?
3. Does the application of cognitive reading comprehension develop
significantly students’ critical comprehension?
C. Objective of the Research
The purpose of the research is to find out whether the applications of cognitive
reading strategies develop the students’ reading comprehension which contains of:
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1. Whether or not the application of cognitive reading strategies develop
significantly students’ literal comprehension.
2. Whether or not the application of cognitive reading strategies develop
- What do I already know that will help me understand this text?
- Does this information confirm or conflict with other things I’ve read?
- What do I know about the author or genre (i.e. poetry, short story, drama,
essay, etc.) that influenced my reading?
- Did the text make me think of real events in the news or in history books?
2. Sentence Starters for response
- This reminds me of . . .
- I connected to this when . . .
- made me remember a time when . . .
- This relates to my life because . . .
- Makes me think about . . .
- This illustration makes me think about . . .
- This makes me think about . . .
- This part makes me remember . . .
- I really had a strong connection to this part because . . .
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- This is like . . .
- This is familiar to me because . . .
- This is similar to . . .
b) Making Predictions. Strategic readers think about what’s going to
happen and make predictions based on what they know and what they have read.
1. What strategic readers are thinking?
- What text and/or picture clues can help me here?
- What background knowledge do I have that will help me with this text?
- What will I learn?
- Were my predictions correct?
- How did making the prediction help me with this reading?
- What will happen next?
2. Sentence starters for response
- I think this will be about _____ because . . .
- I think _____ is going to happen next.
- I predict that . . .
- _____ make me think that _____ will happen.
- I thought ____ was going to happen, but _____ happened instead.
- I’m guessing this will be about ___.
- Since ____ happened, I think ___ will happen.
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- My predictions were right/wrong because . . .
c) Asking questions. Strategic readers ask themselves questions before, during,
and after reading to better understand the author and the meaning of the text.
1. What strategic readers are thinking?
- What is the author saying?
- What am I wondering?
- What questions do I have?
- What would I like to ask the author?
- What questions might a teacher ask?
- Why is this happening?
- Why did this character ___?
- Is this important?
- How does this information connect with what I have already read?
- How could this be explained to someone else?
2. Sentence starters for response
- I wonder . . .
- I would like to ask the author . . .
- Who?
- What?
- When?
- Where?
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- Why?
- How?
- This makes me wonder about . . .
d) Visualizing strategy. Strategic readers picture what is happening as they
read.
1. What strategic readers are thinking?
- What pictures or scenes came into my mind?
- What do I hear, taste, smell or feel?
- What do the characters, setting, and events of the story look like in my
mind
- Can I picture this new information?
2. Sentences starters for response
- I could really picture . . .
- The description of ____ helped me visualize . . .
- I created a mental image of . . .
- In my mind I could really see . . .
- When it said ____, I could imagine . . .
- If this were a movie . . .
e) Monitoring and clarifying. Strategic readers stop to think about their reading
and know what to do when they don’t understand.
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1. What strategic readers are thinking?
- Is the text making sense?
- Wait, what’s going on here?
- What have I learned?
- Should I slow down? Speed up?
- Do I need to reread?
- How do I say this word?
- What does this word mean?
- What text clues help me fill in missing information?
- I know I’m on track because ___.
- To understand better, I need to know more about ___.
2. Sentences starters for readers
- I had to slow down when . . .
- I wonder what ____ means.
- I need to know more about . . .
- This last part is about . . .
- I was confused by . . .
- I still don’t understand . . .
- I had difficulty with . . .
- I ____ (name strategy) to help me understand this part.
- I can’t really understand . . .
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- I wonder what the author means by . . .
- I got lost here because . . .
- I need to reread the part where . . .
f) Summarizing and synthesizing. Strategic readers identify the most important
ideas and restate them in their own words.
1. What strategic readers are thinking?
- How is the text organized?
- What is the main idea here?
- What essential information do I need to know about the characters, plot,
and setting in order to understand the story?
- How does the text’s organization help me?
- What are the key words?
- Are the ideas supported with convincing evidence?
2. Sentence starters for response
- The text is mainly about ___.
- The author’s most important ideas were___.
- The details I need to include are . . .
- Some important concepts are . . .
- The most important evidence was . . .
- The basic gist . . .
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- The key information is . . .
- In a nutshell this says that . . .
g) Determining what is important. Strategic readers think about the text’s big
idea or message and why it is important.
1. What strategic readers are thinking?
- What is the message or big idea of this text?
- What in the text makes me think about the big idea?
- How did my thinking about the meaning of the text change as I read?
- How can I relate the big idea to events or experiences in my own life?
2. Sentences starters for responses
- At first I thought ___, but then I thought ___.
- My latest thought about this is ___.
- I’m getting a different picture here because ___.
- What this means to me is . . .
- So, the big idea is . . .
- A conclusion I’m drawing is . . .
- This is relevant to my life because . . .
h) Analyzing author’s craft. Strategic readers notice the way the author uses
language to get his or her ideas across.
1. What readers are thinking?
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- What words, phrases, or figurative language is the author using to help
me create mental images?
- What was effective about the author’s style of writing?
- What stands out about the author’s use of details?
- How does the author’s style relate to the message he or she is trying to
convey?
- What did the author of the text do that I’d like to try in my own writing?
2. Sentences starters for responses
- A golden line for me is . . .
- I like how the author uses ___ to show ___.
- This word/phrase stands out for me because . . .
- I like how the author uses ____ to show . . .
- The simile / metaphor / image that caught my attention was . . .
- My favorite quote was . . .
- I like how the author described ____ to show . . .
b. Reading comprehension
1. Definition of reading comprehension
Some scholars have formulated definitions of reading comprehension. Below
are various definitions of reading comprehension.
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Thinker and McCullough (1975:9) state that reading is the identification or
written symbol, which serves as stimulator for the recall of meaning built through
past experience.
“Reading comprehension understanding what has been read it is an active thinking process that depends not only on comprehension skill but also the students’ experiences and prior knowledge comprehension involves understanding the vocabulary seeing the relationship among words and concepts, organizing, ideas, recognizing author’s purpose, making judgment, and evaluating”. (Kustaryo, 1988: 11-12)
Wender and Rubbin (1982: 106-107) states that reading comprehension is a
complex intellectual process involving a number of abilities. Pearson and Johnson in
Burn (1989: 148) state that reading comprehension is at once unitary process and a
set of discrete processes so, they explore comprehension from two angels: The
written units that the reader must understand and the different levels of
comprehension that he or she should achieve.
Smith and Robinson (1980: 205) state that reading comprehension means the understanding, evaluating and utilize of information and ideas gained through an interaction between the reader and the author. Reading comprehension is such a kind of dialogue between an author and a reader in which the written language becomes the medium that cause the dialogue happen when the two persons communicate through the medium of printed papers.
Turner in Alexander (1998: 159) points out that reading comprehension
involves taking meaning to a text in order to obtain meaning from that text.
Pearson and Johnson(1978) state that comprehension is a special thinking
process where the readers comprehend by actively constructing meaning internally
from interacting with the material that is read.
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Clark and Silberstein in Simanjuntak (1998: 15) define reading as an active cognitive process of interacting with print and monitoring comprehension to establish meaning. Reading is the instantaneous recognition of various written symbols with simultaneous association of these symbols with existing knowledge, and comprehension of the information and ideas communicated. Reading also is an active process of interacting with comprehension to establish the meaning. The identification and recognition of printed or written symbol can built our experience about something.
By looking over those definitions above, it can be concluded that reading
comprehension is an active process where the readers try to gain the information
given by the author and understand the reading text well.
2. Level of comprehension
There are various levels of comprehension that would obviously include higher
level of thinking. Burn (1984: 150)divides the comprehension into four levels of
skills. They are literal reading, interpretive reading, critical reading, and creative
reading. Each of these skills could be explained as follows:
a) Literal reading. Literal reading refers to the ideas and fact that directly stated
on the printed pages. Literal reading is the skill of getting the primary direct literal
meaning of a word, ideas, or sentence in context. The basic of literal comprehension
are recognizing stated main ideas, details, cause and effect and sequences. This level
of comprehension is fundamental to all reading skills at any levels because a reader
must first understand what the author said before he can draw an inference or make
an evaluation.
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b) Interpretative reading. Interpretative reading involves reading between the
lines or making inferences. It is the process of deriving ideas that are implied rather
than directly stated. This level demands higher level of thinking ability because the
question in the category of interpretation are concerned with answer that are not
directly stated in the text but are suggested or implied. Smith (1980: 218) states that
in interpretation the readers read between the lines, make connections among
individuals stated ideas, make inferences, draw conclusions, read between the lines to
get inferences, or implied meanings from the text.
c) Critical reading. Critical reading is evaluating written material comparing
the ideas discovered in the material with known standards and drawing conclusion
about their accuracy, appropriateness, and timeliness. Critical reading compares
previous experience to elements in the new material such as content style, expression,
information, and ideas, or values of the author.
In this level of reading skill, the reader must be an active reader, questioning,
searching for facts, and suspending judgment until her or she has considered all of the
material.
d) Creative reading. Creative reading involves going beyond the material
presented by the author, creative reading requires the readers to think as they read just
as critical reading does, and it also requires the reader to use their imaginations. In
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creative reading, the reader tries to propose new or alternate solutions to those by the
writer.
Besides that, levels of reading comprehension are originally described by Bots
in Harris in Rachmawati (2006: 10) those are:
1. Independent reading level. This is the highest level at which the students can
read easily and fluently without assistance, with few words recognition
errors, and with word comprehension and recall.
2. The instructional reading level. In this level students can do a satisfactory
reading provided he or she receives preparation and supervision from the
teacher. In this level, word recognition errors are not preventable, and
comprehension and recall are satisfactory.
3. The frustratingly reading level. The level which the students reading skill
break down, fluency disappears, word recognition errors are numerous,
comprehension is faulty, recall is sketchy and discomfort become evident.
3. Developing reading comprehension
There are some waysto improve reading comprehension. According to the
language expert, Smith (1980: 138-166) points out that there are five comprehension
skills that the students need to learn to become good readers. Those are:
1. Most of the students learn to read sentences with appropriate intonation
pattern. Oral reading is probably the only way to teach students to read with
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appropriate intonation patterns but it is also should always be followed by
silent reading for specific purpose.
2. Most of the students learn to form mental pictures of situations or conditions
that are described in a sentence or a larger passage. Forming mental images
as one reads is important because many written materials requires
visualization in order to be comprehended.
3. Most of the students learn to answer questions about the facts or details
presented in a sentence or a larger passage. Students are hopped gain not
only a general impression from the material they read and for some material
and for certain reading process, but also factual information and many
details are important for a good understanding of the subject matter.
4. Most of the students learn to recall with a minimum of prompting the facts
and details in a sentence or a longer passage. Post reading discussion in
which the students are asks to recount the selection in as much detail as they
can remember are helpful in developing the students recall powers.
5. Most of the students learn to paraphrase the central thought or main ideas in
a passage. The beat manifestation of true understanding of the main ideas in
the passage is the ability to put the passage aside and express the essence of
the massage, using one’s personal vocabulary and personal manner of
expression.
4. Procedure of reading comprehension
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Reading comprehension can be gained by following certain procedure namely:
1. Pre-reading, purpose to motivate students’ interest in reading material, the
students are expected to participate in reading process. In this step, the
teacher checks the students’ understanding and gives clear instruction.
2. Whilst-reading, to help the students to understand researchers’ purpose and
try to clarify the text contents.
3. Post reading, in this step, the teacher presents some communicative activities
to the students such as discussion, problem solving or games (Akmar
Mohammad,1999)
5. How comprehension works, Duffy (2009, P.32-31).
1. Proactive, because a reader must be actively thinking and constantly
monitoring the meaning.
2. Tentative, because predictions made in one moment may change in the next
moment.
3. Personal, in that meaning resides in the reader’s interpretation, which in turn
is controlled by his or her prior knowledge.
4. Trans active, because the reader’s background interacts with the author’s
intention.
5. Thoughtful, because a reader must always analyze the clues the author
provides.
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6. Imagistic, because (in narrative text particularly) a reader uses the author’s
descriptive language to create a picture in his/her mind of what is happening.
6. School-level curriculum of reading subject
School-Level curriculum of English subject in senior high schools established
some of the general competences, which have to be mastered by the students, are the
ability to comprehend, critical analysis and how to use the information from many
sources, text or non-text. The students are expected to comprehend and interpret the
written texts in dialogue, narrative, argumentative and descriptive.
In reading subject, the school-level curriculum of the eleventh grade students of
SMA Negeri 1 Bontonompo Selatan for reading skills contains of competence
standard, base competence, indicator, learning materials, and learning activities.
1. Competence standard is to understand the short functional written text and
the simple essay in the form of narrative, spoof, and hortatory exposition in
the daily living context and to access of the science.
2. Base competence is to respond the meaning and the rhetorical steps in
written text accurately, fluently an accepted in the daily living context and to
access the science in the form of narrative, spoof, and hortatory exposition
texts.
3. Indicators.
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a. To identify the meaning of the words in the text.
b. To identify the meaning of the sentences in the text.
c. To identify the setting of narrative text.
d. To identify complication of the narrative text.
e. To identify events in the text.
f. To identify cases in the text.
g. To identify the argument in the text.
h. To identify the suggestion given in the text.
i. To identify the rhetoric steps of the text.
j. To identify the communication purpose of the text.
4. Learning Materials. Written texts in the form of narrative, spoof, and
hortatory exposition.
5. Learning activities.
a. Read loudly exposition text individually.
b. Discuss the various aspects of the text as contents, text structure in a
group.
c. Practice using a sentence stating the arguments and suggestions.
C. The Cognitive domain of educational activities
The cognitive domain (Bloom, 1956) involves knowledge and the
development of intellectual skills. This includes the recall or recognition of specific
facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual
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abilities and skills. Bloom's Taxonomy provides a structured presentation of human
cognition from low-level thought processes like simple recall to higher-order thinking
skills like synthesis and evaluation. Bloom offers a "stair step" description of the
levels of human understanding. There are six major categories, which are listed in
order below, starting from the simplest behavior to the most complex. The categories
can be thought of as degrees of difficulties. That is, the first one must be mastered
before the next one can take place.
Based on the definition stated by O'Malley et al.(1985:582-584) on page 43
about cognitive strategies, the researcher assumes that the relation between bloom’s
taxonomy and cognitive strategies are needed, where cognitive strategies are the
strategy used by learners to develop their levels of understanding and cognitive
domain of what Bloom’s taxonomy describes the development of intellectual skills
started from low level thought processes to higher order thinking skills including the
level of comprehension.
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Table 2. Cognitive Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy
LEVEL DEFINITIONSAMPLEVERBS
SAMPLEBEHAVIORS
KNOWLEDGE
Student recalls orrecognizes information,ideas, and principlesin the approximateform in which theywere learned.
WriteList LabelNameState
Define
The students are able to define the 6 levels of Bloom's taxonomy of the
cognitive domain.
COMPREHENSION
Student translates,comprehends, orinterprets informationbased on priorlearning.
ExplainSummarizeParaphraseDescribeIllustrate
The student can explainthe purpose of Bloom's
taxonomy of thecognitive domain.
APPLICATION
Student selects, trans-fers, and uses dataand principles tocomplete a problemor task with a mini-mum of direction.
UseCompute
Solve Demonstrate
ApplyConstruct
The student canwrite an instructional
objective for eachlevel of Bloom's
taxonomy.
ANALYSIS
Student distinguishes,classifies, and relatesthe assumptions,hypotheses, evidence,or structure of astatement or question.
AnalyzeCategorizeCompareContrastSeparate
The student cancompare and contrast
the cognitive andaffective domains.
SYNTHESIS
Student originates,integrates, and combines ideas into aproduct, plan or proposal that is newto him or her.
CreateDesign
HypothesizeInvent
Develop
The student can design a classification scheme for writing
educational objectives that combines the cognitive, affective,
and psychomotor domains.
EVALUATION
Student appraises,assesses, or critiqueson a basis of specificstandards and criteria.
JudgeRecommend
CritiqueJustify
The student canjudge the effective-
ness of writingobjectives using
Bloom's taxonomy.
(Bloom, 1956)
Considering the students’ achievement of this research, it is recommended to
use those cognitive domains of learning objective to measure the students’
achievement, especially in their reading comprehension. By using the degrees of
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question verbs of cognitive domain above, it will be easily for the researcher to
identify on what level are the students’ comprehension achievement after getting
treatment about cognitive reading strategies instruction.
D. The Relevance of reading comprehension development and cognitive reading strategies
O’malley and Chamot (1990: 211) assume that a number of metacognitive,
cognitive, and social and affective strategies are taught to develop reading
comprehension in social studies. These include advance organization to skim passage,
selective attention to scan for specific information, evaluation of one’s own
comprehension, elaboration of prior knowledge, making inferences about meanings
of new words, taking notes, decoding, prediction, imagery, self-monitoring,
repetition, paraphrase, while reading the text.
Researchers use the word “Comprehension” to label what takes place when the
reader connects the new information with prior knowledge. Information alone, no
matter how well written, does not create comprehension. Comprehension depends on
the reader’s prior knowledge and reading strategies.
When faced with a new text, readers do not begin by “reading” in the sense of
starting at the first word and moving sequentially toward the last word, they first
predict what the passage will mean. It is the one of cognitive strategy that the readers
may use in reading. The readers not only predict what an article will contain or what a
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statement will mean but they also predict what prior knowledge will be relevant and
which strategies will be useful in approaching the new text.
Furthermore O’malley and Chamot (1990: 216) state that, students who have
had prior experience in using learning strategies in their first language may learn to
apply them with second language tasks through extension of the principle guiding
their use and not require extensive cued repetitions with the new task.
E. Characteristic between poor and successful readers
Table 3. Comparison between poor and successful readers
Characteristics of poor readers Characteristics of successful readers- Think understanding occurs form
“getting the words right” rereading.- Understand that they must take
responsibility for construction meaning using their prior knowledge.
- Use strategies such as rote memorization, rehearsal, simple categorization.
- Develop a repertoire of reading strategies, organizational patterns and genre.
- Are poor strategy users:1. They don’t think strategically about
how to read something or solve a problem.
2. They don’t have an accurate sense of when they have good comprehension readiness for assessment.
- Are good strategy users:1. They think strategically, plan, monitor
their comprehension, and revise their strategies.
2. They have strategies for what to do when they do not know what to do.
- Have relatively low self-esteem. - Have self confidence that they are effective learners; see themselves as agents able to actualize their potential.
- See success and failure as the result of luck or teacher bias.
- See success as the result hard work and efficient thinking.
(Knuth and Jones, 1991)
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In real life, to be successful readers we do not normally read because we haveto
but because we want to. In the table above, the writer presents the comparison
between characteristics of poor and successful readers.
Doff (1988, 170) states that we usually have a purpose in reading: there is
something we want to find out, some information we want to check or clarify, some
opinions we want to match against our own, etc. we also have purposes in reading
when we read stories for pleasure: we want to find out how the story develops, or
what happens next; even we do not usually begin reading with an empty mind but we
have some idea of what we are going to read about. We will usually have certain
questions in our mind (the things we want to know), and we may also be able to make
a number of predictions or guesses (things we expect to find out about).
F. Resume
O'Malley et al. (1985:582-584) state that cognitive Strategies are more limited
to specific learning tasks and they involve more direct manipulation of the learning
material itself. Repetition, resourcing, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction,
recombination, imagery, auditory representation, key word, contextualization,
elaboration, transfer, inferencing are among the most important cognitive strategies.
Reading comprehension is understanding what has been read, it is an active
thinking process that depends not only on comprehension skill but also the students’
experiences and prior knowledge comprehension involves understanding the
vocabulary seeing the relationship among words and concepts, organizing, ideas,
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recognizing author’s purpose, making judgment, and evaluating” (Kustaryo, 1988:
11-12).
Burn (1984:150) divides the level of comprehension as follows:
- Literal reading refers to the ideas and fact that directly stated on the
printed pages.
- Interpretative reading involves reading between the lines or making
inferences. It is the process of deriving ideas that are implied rather than
directly stated.
- Critical reading is evaluating written material comparing the ideas
discovered in the material with known standards and drawing conclusion
about their accuracy, appropriateness, and timeliness.
- Creative reading involves going beyond the material presented by the
author, creative reading requires the readers to think as they read just as
critical reading does, and it also requires the reader to use their
imaginations.
G. Conceptual framework
Since this research applies quasi experimental method which use two groups,
experimental and control group, so the researcher teach reading comprehension by
using two strategies namely cognitive reading strategy for experimental group and
conventional teaching for control group. The researcher teaches three kinds of texts
that based on the syllabus; they are narrative, spoof, and hortatory written text. In this
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research, researcher expects students to reach three levels of comprehensions by
applying cognitive reading strategies. The students’ reading achievement in English
by using cognitive reading strategies is measured through reading test. The students’
achievement is the result of their activities after learning process.
The conceptual framework is presents in the following diagram:
Figure 1. Conceptual framework
H. Hypothesis
H1 : The application of cognitive reading strategies significantly develops the
students’ reading comprehension.
H0 : The application of cognitive reading strategies does not significantly develop
the students’ reading comprehension.
Literal comprehension
Critical comprehension
Interpretative comprehension
Teaching reading comprehension
Students’ achievement
Cognitive Reading Strategies
Non-cognitive reading strategies
Students’ achievement
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
This part presents research design, variables of the research, operational
definition of variables, population and sample, instrument of the research, procedure
of collecting data, and technique of analyzing the data.
A. Research design
In this research, the researcher applied quasi experimental with nonequivalent
group design. Utilizing quasi-experimental with nonequivalent group designs took
much less effort to study due to the assignment to groups was not random. In other
words, the researcher does not control assignments to groups through the mechanism
of random assignment. The experiment involved two groups, an experimental group
and a control group. The experimental group received treatment by using cognitive
reading strategies, while the control group got conventional teaching method where
students were asked to read certain text and then answer the questions directly. The
control group was needed for comparison purposes to see whether the application of
cognitive reading strategies effective or not in improving students’ reading
comprehension as Gay stated that the control group is needed for comparison purpose
to prove if the new treatment is more effective than other (Gay et al, 2006:254).
Both of two groups were given pretest and posttest. Pretest was administered
prior to treatment to assess their competence of reading comprehension. And posttest
administered to measure treatment effects. The aim of this test was to find out the
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effectiveness of cognitive reading strategies in improving students reading
comprehension.
EG O1 X1 O2
CG O1 X2 O2
(Gay et al,2006:255)
Figure 2. Research Design
Symbols:
EG : Experimental Group
CG : Control Group
O1 : Pretest
O2 : Posttest
X1 : Treatment for experimental group by using cognitive
reading strategy.
X2 : Treatment for control group by using non cognitive reading
strategies.
B. Variables of the research
This research has two kinds of variables: independent and dependent
variables. The independent variable of this research was cognitive reading strategies
as a strategy in improving students reading comprehension, while the dependent
variable was the students’ achievement on reading comprehension.
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C. Operational definition of the variables
The variables in this research are described in the following definition:
1. Cognitive reading strategies area bound of strategies which served to support
the students develop internal procedures that enable them to perform tasks
that are complex (Rosenshine, 1997). The use of cognitive strategies can
increase the efficiency with which the learner approaches a learning task.
These academic tasks can include, but are not limited to, remembering and
applying information from course content, constructing sentences and
paragraphs, editing written work, paraphrasing, and classifying information
to be learned.
2. Reading comprehension is understanding what has been read, it is an active
thinking process that depends not only on comprehension skill but also the
students’ experiences and prior knowledge comprehension involves
understanding the vocabulary seeing the relationship among words and
concepts, organizing, ideas, recognizing author’s purpose, making judgment,
and evaluating” (Kustaryo, 1988: 11-12). Burn (1984:150) divides the level of
comprehension as follows:
- Literal reading refers to the ideas and fact that directly stated on the
printed pages.
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- Interpretative reading involves reading between the lines or making
inferences. It is the process of deriving ideas that are implied rather than
directly stated.
- Critical reading is evaluating written material comparing the ideas
discovered in the material with known standards and drawing conclusion
about their accuracy, appropriateness, and timeliness.
D. Population and sample
a. Population
The population of this research was the eleventh grade students of SMU Negeri
1 Bontonompo Selatan, Gowa in 2009/2010 academic year. There were three classes
of natural science department which consist of 32 students for each class. So, the total
number of population was 96 students.
b. Sample
The samples were selected based on cluster random sampling technique where
the researcher took two classes randomly. The number of sample was 96 students.
They were divided into two homogeneous groups (Natural Science classes) of 48
students. One of them was randomly selected as an experimental class and the other
one as a control group at the eleventh grade students of SMU Negeri 1 Bontonompo
Selatan, Gowa.
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E. Research instrument
In collecting data, the researcher used one kind of instrument, namely a reading
test. It used both as the pre-test and the post-test. The purpose was to get data about
the students’ achievement in reading English texts. The model of reading test was
subjective test. It consists of three texts, namely narrative, hortatory exposition, and
spoof text. The total number of questions in the three texts above was 15 questions.
F. Procedures of the data collection
The procedure of data collection of this research is described as follows:
a. Pretest
The pretest was given to the sample to find out the students’ prior reading
achievement.
b. Posttest
The posttest was given to the sample after giving treatment. It aimed at
knowing whether the students have different achievement in reading with using
cognitive learning strategies as a reading method after giving treatments and to
compare their achievement with the control group.
1. Treatment
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Then the writer applied cognitive reading strategies (Making connections,
prediction, asking question, visualizing, monitoring and clarifying, summarizing and
synthesizing, determining what is important, and analyzing author’s craft). The steps
of the implementation in the class are as follows:
a. Experimental group
1) The first meeting
Teacher explained about how to use making connections and prediction
strategy and how to apply it in reading English texts.
Pre-reading activity
1. Giving stimulation and motivation before the process of teaching reading
skill.
2. Explaining about three kinds of written text that will be taught (narrative,
spoof, and hortatory exposition).
3. Introducing Cognitive reading strategy as one strategy in teaching reading
4. Explaining more about narrative text and introduce the reading topic.
a) While-reading activity
1. Teacher explained the first strategy (Making Connections), in this phase the
teacher told the students how to connect what they know with what they are
reading.
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2. The second strategy (making predictions) the teacher taught them to think
about what’s going to happen and make predictions based on what they
know and what they have read.
3. Teacher got students to practice reading the story by using the strategies
above.
4. Teacher gave students exercises related to the reading passage given by the
teacher.
5. Teacher asked some students randomly to read their answer and discusses
the right answer with the class
b) Post-reading activity
1. Teacher asked students about their difficulties in using cognitive reading
strategies in comprehending narrative text.
2. Teacher answered the students’ questions and gave them motivation.
3. Before closing the class, teacher explained briefly about the next material.
2) The second meeting
Teacher explained the way of using asking questions and visualizing strategy
in reading English texts.
a) Pre-reading activity
1. Giving stimulation and motivation before the process of teaching reading
skill.
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2. Review a little bit about previous lesson.
3. Teacher distributed hand out papers which consist of the reading topic to the
students
4. Teacher told the story generally.
b) While-reading activity
1. Teacher explained the third strategy (asking questions),the students asked
themselves questions before, during, and after reading to better understand
the author and the meaning of the text.
2. The fourth strategy (visualizing) the teacher told the students to picture what
is happening as they read.
3. Teacher asked some students to practice the strategies above in reading.
4. Teacher asked students to read the story individually.
5. Teacher asked students to answer the questions about the text individually.
6. Teacher asked some students randomly to read their answer and discusses
the right answer with the class.
c) Post-reading activity
1. Teacher asked students about their difficulties in using the strategies above
in comprehending the reading text.
2. Teacher answered the students’ questions and give them motivation
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3. Teacher closed the class as well after giving a few explanations about the
next material.
3) The third meeting
Teacher explained the way of using the fifth strategy (monitoring and
clarifying strategy) and the sixth strategy (Summarizing and synthesizing strategy) in
reading English texts.
a) Pre-reading activity
1. Giving stimulation and motivation before the process of teaching reading
skill.
2. Teacher introduced the topic of the reading passage that will be given to the
students.
b) While-reading activity
1. Using monitoring and clarifying strategy. Teacher explainedhow to stop to
think about their reading and know what to do when they don’t understand.
2. The students used summarizing and synthesizing strategy, where the
students identify the most important ideas and restate them in their own
words.
3. Teacher gave several times to the students to answer the questions together
4. Teacher asked some students to read their answer and discusses the right
answer with the class.
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c) Post-reading activity
1. Teacher asked students about their difficulties in using those strategies and
in comprehending the text.
2. Teacher answered the students’ questions and give them motivation
3. Teacher closed the class after giving an overview material for the next
meeting.
4) The fourth meeting
Teacher explained the seventh strategy (determining what important) and the
eight strategy (analyzing author’s craft) in reading English texts.
a) Pre-reading activity
1. Giving stimulation and motivation before the process of teaching reading
skill.
2. Teacher reviewed the previous lesson especially about how to use the
strategies that had been explained before.
3. Teacher introduced the reading topic to the students.
b) While-reading activity
1. Teacher explained the seventh strategies (determining what’s important) the
students were asked to think about the text’s big idea or message and why
it’s important.
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2. The eight strategies (analyzing author’s craft) the students were asked to
notice the way the author uses language to get his or her ideas across.
3. Teacher asked groups to read the text and then discuss about the topic by
using the strategies above.
4. Teacher gave several times to the students to answer the questions together.
5. Teacher asked some students to read their answer and discuss the right
answer with the class.
c) Post-reading activity
1. Teacher asked students about their difficulties in using the seventh strategies
(determining what’s important) and the eight strategies (analyzing author’s
craft) in comprehending the reading text.
2. Teacher answered the students’ questions and gave them motivation.
3. Teacher closed the class as well.
b. Control group
The control group was taught with uninformed/conventional strategy for six
meetings. This group learned the same materials as experimental group. The same
activities were conducted for six meetings, as follows:
1) Pre-reading activity
1. Giving stimulation and motivation before the process of teaching reading
skill.
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2. Introduced about the topic to the students.
2) While-reading activity
1. Asked the students to read the text.
2. Asked the students to answer the questions in text.
3. Monitored the students’ activity.
4. Checked the students’ answer.
3) Post-reading activity
1. Teacher gave the chance for students to ask about unclear information during
the lesson.
2. Teacher closed the class as well.
2. Technique of data analysis
This research used descriptive statistic in analyzing the data. Descriptive
statistic data analysis that was used in this research consist of the sum number, mean,
standard deviation number, frequencies table and histogram of the data. To analyze
data the researcher used SPSS 15.0 program for windows. The collected data was
analyzed through scoring the result of the students’ test result. The students’
achievement classification was gained by dividing their total correct answer by the
total score. The result, then, was multiplied with ten, the maximum achievement