PSZ 19:16 (Pind. 1/07) DECLARATION OF THESIS / UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT PAPER AND COPYRIGHT Author’s full name : MUHAMMAD CANDRA Date of birth : 20 OCTOBER 1981 Title : READING HABITS AND STRATEGIES OF ENGLISH TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS Academic Session : 2010/2011 SEMESTER I I declare that this thesis is classified as: I acknowledged that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia reserves the right as follows: 1. The thesis is the property of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 2. The Library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has the right to make copies for the purpose of research only. 3. The Library has the right to make copies of the thesis for academic exchange. Certified by: SIGNATURE SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR T335567 PROF. DR. NORAZMAN BIN ABDUL MAJID (NEW IC NO. /PASSPORT NO.) NAME OF SUPERVISOR Date: Date: NOTES : * If the thesis is CONFIDENTAL or RESTRICTED, please attach with the letter from the organization with period and reasons for confidentiality or restriction. UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA √ CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act 1972)* RESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the organisation where research was done)* OPEN ACCESS I agree that my thesis to be published as online open access (full text)
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PSZ 19:16 (Pind. 1/07)
DECLARATION OF THESIS / UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT PAPER AND COPYRIGHT
Author’s full name : MUHAMMAD CANDRA Date of birth : 20 OCTOBER 1981 Title : READING HABITS AND STRATEGIES OF ENGLISH TEACHERS IN PUBLIC
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS
Academic Session : 2010/2011 SEMESTER I I declare that this thesis is classified as: I acknowledged that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia reserves the right as follows:
1. The thesis is the property of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 2. The Library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has the right to make copies for the purpose
of research only. 3. The Library has the right to make copies of the thesis for academic exchange.
Certified by:
SIGNATURE SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR T335567 PROF. DR. NORAZMAN BIN ABDUL MAJID
(NEW IC NO. /PASSPORT NO.) NAME OF SUPERVISOR
Date: Date:
NOTES : * If the thesis is CONFIDENTAL or RESTRICTED, please attach with the letter from the organization with period and reasons for confidentiality or restriction.
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
√
CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act 1972)*
RESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the organisation where research was done)*
OPEN ACCESS I agree that my thesis to be published as online open access (full text)
i
I hereby declare that I have read this project report and in my opinion
this project report is sufficient in terms of scope and quality for
the award of the Master of Education (TESL)
Signature : …………………………………………
Name of Supervisor : PROF. DR. NORAZMAN BIN ABDUL MAJID
Date : …………………………………………
ii
READING HABITS AND STRATEGIES OF ENGLISH TEACHERS
IN PUBLIC SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS
MUHAMMAD CANDRA
A project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Education (TESL)
Faculty of Education
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
DECEMBER 2010
iii
I declare that this project report entitled “Reading Habits and Strategies of English
Teachers in Public Senior High Schools” is the result of my own except as cited in the
references. The project report has been accepted for any degree and is not
concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree.
Signature : ………………………………..
Name : Muhammad Candra
Date :
iv
To my beloved father and mother,
Bakar Bin Rachmad
Rukiah AB Binti Abu Bakar
Especially to my wife Dwi Sukarti,
My children
Syakira Salwa, Muhammad Rizki, Maulana
And my siblings,
Dewi Nurhatimah
Deri Oktaviani,
Novi Andirani
Sualdi Salam
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and will never be end, I want to thank to the Almighty God for giving me
peace, a nice chance in completing this study.
Next, I would like to address my deep gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr.
Norazman bin abdul majid, for his guidance, advice and supports for me to complete this
Master project.
I am also grateful to the examiners and all English lectures in UTM for their
contribution during my project preparation.
Special thanks are given to my mum and my family who motivate me all the time
and also to the most special person in my life Dwi Sukarti. Special gratitude is also given
for English teachers who help me to be the respondents in completing this project.
I also thank to my friends; Toni, Jack, Ellysa, Laksmi, Turiang and all my friends
in Tanjungpinang which I cannot mention your name here.
Finally, thanks to my government to support me on the scholarship.
vi
ABSTRACT
This research was carried out to investigate reading habits and strategies of English
teachers in six public senior high schools. This is a qualitative study which identifies
types of reading materials read and frequency of reading in academic or non academic
materials, factors that influence reading habits and reading strategies used by English
teachers. Twenty respondents of English teachers in public senior high schools were
chosen for the research. The instruments used for this research were questionnaire,
interview and think aloud procedure. The triangulation technique process was used in
comparing information found. Based on the data analyzed, it is concluded that English
teachers have poor reading habits. The results of the research show that English teachers
read both academic and non academic materials to acquire their knowledge and getting
information. Majority of the respondents read reference books for teaching purpose
between 1 - 3 hours per week. The respondents read at home because the atmosphere and
situational were influenced their habits in reading. Majority of English teachers used
skimming and scanning in reported reading strategies while a small number of
respondents used difficult words. Based on think aloud procedure, it is found that
respondents used more clarify mind strategies in reading and minority of them used
repeat word. The English teachers should be aware that reading habits and strategies are
very important in acquiring the knowledge. The finding of this research can be used as
motivation for the English teachers to have more reading habits and strategies in reading.
vii
ABSTRAK
Kajian ini di jalankan bagi mengkaji tabiat serta strategi membaca di kalangan guru
bahasa inggeris di sekolah negeri menengah atas. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah
kualitatif dalam mengenal pasti jenis bahan bacaan dan kekerapan membaca bahan
bacaan akademik atau bukan akademik, faktor yang mempengaruhi tabiat membaca serta
strategi membaca yang di gunakan oleh guru bahasa inggeris. Seramai 20 orang guru
bahasa inggeris di sekolah negeri menengah atas telah di pilih sebagai responden bagi
kajian ini. Instrumen yang di gunakan bagi menjalankan kajian ini adalah soal selidik,
temu duga dan prosedur berfikir. Teknik segi tiga telah di gunakan bagi membandingkan
hasil dapatan. Berdasarkan analisis data, dapat di simpulkan bahawa tabiat membaca
dikalangan guru bahasa inggeris adalah lemah. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa guru
bahasa inggeris membaca kedua-dua jenis bahan bacaan akademik dan bukan akademik
dalam memperoleh ilmu dan mendapatkan maklumat. Beberapa responden membaca
buku rujukan bagi tujuan pengajaran di antara 1-3 jam seminggu. Responden memilih
rumah sebagai tempat membaca karena suasana dan situasinya. Majoritinya guru bahasa
inggeris menggunakan kaedah skimming and scanning seperti yang di laporkan dalam
strategi membaca, sejumlah kecil respon menggunakan perkataan susah, Sementara itu,
berdasarkan “prosedur pemikiran” di dapati responden lebih banyak menggunakan
strategi penjelasan minda semasa membaca dan minority dari pada responden
menggunakan ayat ulangan. Guru bahasa inggeris haruslah sedar bahawa tabiat dan
strategy membaca adalah penting bagi meningkatkan kaedah pengajaran. Hasil kajian ini
boleh digunakan sebagai motivasi bagi guru bahasa inggeris untuk memiliki lebih banyak
lagi tabiat dan strategy dalam membaca.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
ABSTRACT vi
ABSTRAK vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii
LIST OF TABLES xii
LIST OF APPENDICES xiv
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Problem 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 2
1.3 Objectives of the Study 4
1.4 Research Questions 4
1.5 Significance of the Study 5
1.6 Scope of the Study 5
1.7 Definition of the Terms 6
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2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction 7
2.2 Definition of Reading 7
2.3 The Reading Process 9
2.3.1 Bottom-up Theory of Reading 10
2.3.2 The Top-down Theory of Reading 10
2.3.3 The Interactive Model of Reading 11
2.4 Attitude towards Reading 12
2.5 Reading Motivation 13
2.6 Factors Affecting Reading 13
2.6.1 The Nature of Reading Materials 14
2.6.2 Goal of Reading 14
2.6.3 The External Factors 15
2.7 Why don’t people read? 16
2.8 Reading and Teaching 16
2.9 Reading Strategies 17
2.10 Think-Aloud Research Procedure 17
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 19
3.2 Respondents of the Research 20
3.3 Data Collection Instrument 20
3.4 Research Procedure 21
3.5 Data Analysis 22
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4 FINDING AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction 23
4.2 Findings of the questionnaires 23
4.3 Respondents’ Profile 24
4.3.1 Gender 24
4.3.2 Age 24
4.3.3 Race 25
4.3.4 Marital Status 26
4.3.5 Academic Qualification 27
4.3.6 Working Experience 27
4.4 Types of Reading Materials Read by Respondents 28
4.4.1 Types of Books read by the respondents 28
4.4.2 Types of Magazines Read by Respondents 29
4.4.3 Types of Newspaper Read by Respondents 30
4.4.4 Types of Other Publications Read by Respondents 30
4.5 Reading Frequency of Respondents 31
4.5.1 Respondents’ Activity in Reading 31
4.5.2 Reading Materials of Respondents “Academic or Non Academic” 32
4.5.3 Reading Time of Respondents 32
4.5.4 Reading Hours of Respondents in a week 33
4.6 Factors that Influence Reading 34
4.6.1 Reading places of the Respondents 34
4.6.2 Factors that influence respondents in reading 35
4.7 Respondents’ Strategies in reading 35
4.7.1 Respondents’ Reported Strategies used in reading 36
4.7.2 Respondents’ Objectives in reading 37
4.8 Findings of the Interviews 39
4.8.1 Respondents’ Profile 39
4.9 Strategies Used While Reading 40
4.9.1 Strategies used in reading by Mr. A 40
4.9.2 Strategies Used in Reading by Mrs. Y 41
4.9.3 Strategies Used in Reading by Mr. R 42
xi
4.10 Discussions of the Findings 43
4.11 Respondents’ Profile 43
4.12 Types of Reading Materials Read by the Respondents 44
4.13 Reading frequency of the Respondents 44
4.14 Factors that Influence Reading Habits of Respondents 45
4.15 Comparison between Reported Reading Strategies and Actual Reading
Strategies Used 46
4.16 Respondents’ Objective in Reading 46
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction 47
5.2 Summary of the Research 47
5.3 Conclusion of the Research 48
5.4 Limitation of the Study 50
5.5 Recommendations for Future Studies 50
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Problem
Reading is an important activity and it is the window to the world. By reading,
people are able to gain much information. Based on the result of the research about
reading habits society made by National Education Department of Indonesia and National
Library (1997), reading habits of Indonesian society are categorized lower than other
countries event if they are compared to some ASEAN countries. Dominantly, speaking is
one of factors that affect the low of reading habits in Indonesian society. Harian Umum
Kompas (1997) stated that the low of reading habits is caused of some factors in society
cultural for instance people like to chat, they only interested in the programs published by
electronic media and it is difficult to find relevance materials needed by readers. In
Indonesia, reading activity is commonly related to students at school. This activity started
since the students are still in the primary school until the university level. However, the
educators also play an important role to guide the students to have good habits in reading.
Teachers as educators in senior high schools are the people who teach the students to gain
knowledge based on their skill.
2
Teaching is a good profession that has a responsibility to create students character
to bring them to have a good knowledge. Teaching is also a very challenging profession
for the people who have decided themselves to contribute their knowledge in educational
environment. One of the activities that can improve teachers’ knowledge is by reading.
Gold (1990) describes the benefits of reading in his testimonial to reading, Read for Your
Life. Based on the history of reading, Manguel (1996) explores the joy of reading. He
suggests that “we read to understand, or to begin to understand. We cannot do but read”.
Reading is almost like breathing, it is our essential function.
Therefore, teachers should be motivated to read any kinds of materials to support
their knowledge and read a lot to keep with the fast-changing information from time to
time. Eskey (1986. P.21, cited in Reyandya & Jacobs, 2002): states “Reading must be
developed, and can only be developed by means of extensive and continued practice.
People learn to read, and read better by reading.”
Finnochiaro (1989) suggests that teachers need to read to help facilitate their
teaching learning activity in the classroom as information obtained through their reading
will keep in touch with the current issues and to apply them in their classroom discussion.
As professional and effective teachers they should believe that their responsibility
in teaching and learning play an important role to the students education. They should be
able to keep with changes that take place teaching and learning process. Reading is an
important part of learning. William (1984) classifies reading into three purposes; getting
general information from the text, getting specific information from the text; and for
pleasure interest. By reading many texts, readers will gain much knowledge and they will
be knowledgeable. But there is another problem that commonly faced by Indonesian such
as lack of motivation in reading. Based on the problems view above, the researcher would
like to investigate the reading habits and strategies of English teachers in public senior
high schools.
3
This research discusses about reading habits and strategies of public senior high
schools English teachers in Tanjungpinang district. The study focused on the types of
reading materials read and reading frequency of English teachers, factors that influence
reading habits of English teachers’ and reading strategies used by the English teachers.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Research findings in Indonesia on reading habits of Indonesian society is
categorized lower than other countries if it is compared to some ASEAN countries.
Dominantly, speaking is one of factors that influence the low of reading habits in
Indonesian society (National Education Department Indonesia and National Library,
1997). Another factor is the culture of the society. Other recent surveys in Asia also have
shown that books are being put aside for video and CD games, television and other
electronic forms of entertainment (NST Computimes May 3, Normah, 2004) as cited by
Sanjan (2006). In Hong Kong, research about investigating the effects of pleasure reading
among adult learners found that readers made substantial proficiency gains in the
language. They were also motivated to read more (Yang, 2001). Based on the
researcher’s experience and observation in teaching English at Teachers Training
Education Faculty of University of Riau Island, it found that most of the students who
were also teaching at schools did not read. Therefore, according to this view, the
researcher would like to investigate the reading habits and strategies of public senior high
schools English teachers’, in part the types of reading materials read and reading
frequency of English teachers, factors that influence reading habits of English teachers’
and reading strategies used by English teachers.
4
1.3 Objectives of the Study
Since the purpose of this study is to investigate the reading habits and strategies of
public senior high schools English teachers, the objectives of this study are specified as
follows:
1. To identify types of reading materials read by public senior high schools English
teachers and their frequency in reading.
2. To investigate factors that influence reading habits of English teachers.
3. To investigate the reading strategies used by the English teachers
1.4 Research Questions
In order to achieve the objectives of this study the following research questions
are addressed:
1. What types of reading materials read by public senior high schools English teachers
and how frequent they read the materials?
2. What are the factors that influence reading habits of English teachers?
3. What are the reading strategies used by senior high schools English teachers?
5
1.5 Significance of the Study
It is hoped that the result of this study is able to give several contributions to the
understanding of reading habits of public senior high schools level English teachers. This
research also can be used as a primary study by the next researchers to conduct more
studies related to reading habits for instance doing a research how to increase reading
habits of people through teachers training.
1.6 Scope of the Study
This study is restricted to English teachers in public senior high schools in
Tanjungpinang district, Bintan Island, Indonesia. The study looked into the types of
reading materials read by the English teachers and their reading frequency, factors that
influence their reading habits and reading strategies applied by the English teachers.
Time constraint is one of the main factors in this study. Therefore, this study is
only limited to reading habits and strategies of public senior high schools English
teachers. The findings of this research are not in the real situation in all schools but only
related to respondents in public schools. The study also describes the reading habits and
strategies of public English teachers in public schools and there is no comparison of
reading habits and strategies of English teachers from SMA N 1, SMA N 2, SMA N 3,
SMA N 4, SMA N 5 and SMA N 6. The findings of this small sample may not be
generalized all population of English teachers in Tanjungpinang district.
6
1.7 Definition of the Terms
1.7.1 Public Senior High Schools: Schools set up by the government in Tanjungpinang
district.
1.7.2 Academic Materials: materials at academic purposes such as text books, reference
books using at school that useful for teaching and learning activities.
1.7.3 Non Academic Materials: materials read for general knowledge and leisure time
such as novel fiction or non fiction, newspaper, magazines, and books for
personal growth.
1.7.4 Reading Habit: It is an activity relates to English teachers habits in reading any
kinds of materials whether it is in form of academic or non-academic.
1.7.5 Strategies: The strategies used by English teachers while reading in reported
reading strategies and think aloud procedure.
7
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
There are six main parts of this chapter. The first section discusses on the
definitions of reading habits and it key concepts, the second section presents the theories
of reading, the third section of this chapter describes attitude, motivation and the goal of
reading, the fourth section discusses on the reading habits of school teachers, the fifth
section describes on the reading strategies and the last section of this chapter specifically
discusses on the think aloud procedure.
2.2 Definition of Reading
According to experts there are some definitions of reading. Spache and Spache
(1969) as cited in Sanjan (2006) stated there is a variety of definitions of reading due to
the complexity and successive stages of reading development. Reading can be described
8
in a variety of headings such as reading for skill development, as a visual act, as a
perceptual act as a reflection of cultural background and a thinking process.
Byatt (1992, 15) recognizes that reading entails a private relationship between two
people, reader and writer. Spoken language can take cues from the respondent’s face or
situation. Written language is addressed to someone you do not know and you cannot see
and so you have to be very clear. It makes imaginable world, a sustained argument, a
passionate plea, out of a person’s inner life. Reading is a means of encountering the
world outside in a safe way in the world in the head, which can give both experience and
understanding.
Grellet (1981) suggested that understanding a written text means extracting the
required information from it as efficiently as possible. The readers apply different reading
strategies for example reading an advertisement at a notice board and reading an article.
Williams (1984) defined reading as a process in which a reader looks at a text and
understands what has been written. He further stated that reading does not mean a person
needs to understand everything he reads because people read for different reasons and
purpose.
Reading is easy and simple. However, reading is also very complicated process.
Many studies have been conducted to constrict the evidence. According to Ponnusamy
(1997), the first important description of reading and its process can be traced back as
early 1917 by Thorndike, a psychologist who coined reading as reasoning. The process of
reading can best be described in an analogy written by Thorndike (1917) as cited in
Ponnumasy (1997:21) in Sanjan (2006) he described reading process as:
9
“…understanding a paragraph is like solving mathematic. It consists of selecting the right
element of situation and putting them together in the right relations, and also within the
right amount of weight or influence or force for each. The mind is assailed as it was
bothered by every word in the paragraph. It must select, repress, soften, emphasize,
correlate organize all under the influence of the right mental shape or purpose or demand.
Thus it appears that reading an explanatory or argumentative paragraph involves the same
sort of organization and analytic action of ideas as those that occur in thinking
supposedly higher sorts”.
2.3 The Reading Process
Several definitions have been given by researchers about reading process. In
Goodman’s famous article written in 1967 (as in Wallace, 1992) Goodman describes
reading as ‘a psycholinguistic guessing game’. A reader uses three cue system,
represented three levels of language within the text namely: grapho-phonic, syntactic and
semantic. Goodman, Yates and Burke’s (in Williams, 1993) describes model of reading
process, the process of reading involves an interaction between the reader’s and the
author’s knowledge or mind. The reader could use his background knowledge to
understand the text written by the author. For instance Firstly Predicting; in this part,
reader selects cues and predicts materials. Secondly integrating; reader integrates
meaning gained with his world view. Williams (1993) states this process evolves in a
cyclical or repetitious manner while building concepts onto concepts. There are three
main approaches of theories of how reading takes place; Bottom Up, Top Down and
Interactive models. The approaches are discussed in detail in the following section.
10
2.3.1 Bottom-up Theory of Reading
Gough (1972) describes bottom-up model of reading as a serial process involving
letter by letter visual analysis to positive recognition of words through phonemic
encoding. Gough (1972) states readers need to associate letters with their sounds and
from these sounds they formed words and lastly derive meanings.
According to Zakaluk (1998) the bottom-up model of reading consists of three
levels. Firstly, the level involves the process of obtaining meanings from texts by
decoding graphic symbols into sound. Readers need to know the letters to produce sounds
of the letter. Secondly, individual letters are combined to form words, words then
combined to form sentences and sentences combined to form paragraphs. Through these
combinations, the reader’s knowledge is integrated of the world. So, when the meaning
occurs the readers will be easily to understand the texts written. People who subscribe the
bottom up model are the people who believe that reading is the recognition of words and
the text is the main controlling in reading.
2.3.2 The Top-down Theory of Reading
Top-down model of reading is also well known as the inside-out model, the
concept model or the whole to part model. In this model, the readers understand the
structure of the story; draw inferences from an information passage if they relate it to
their background knowledge. According to Hayes (1981) The Top-down approach
emphasizes readers bringing meaning to text based on their experiential background and
interpreting text based on their prior knowledge of the whole language. The idea is
contrary to Smith (1979) He states that reading is not about decoding the written text into
spoken texts or processing individual letter and words but to bring meaning to print.
11
Smith’s also view is in tandem with McCormik’s (1998) that reading is not about
extracting meaning from print but bringing meaning to it.
The top-down processing involves readers to continually make inferences based
on their prior knowledge or schemata (Johnson, 1982; Carrell and Eisterhold, 1983;
Tangliebar, Johnson and Yarbrough, 1988). In other, Reader’s active participation in
using his cognitive or meta-cognitive functions in trying to comprehend the printed texts
contributes to the development of his comprehension (Padron and Waxman, 1988; Shih,
1992). It can be stated that the top-down theory of reading emphasize that reading begins
in the head of the reader because the readers background is the starting point for
recognizing a text and without prior knowledge meaning can not be made from print
(Block, 1992).
2.3.3 The Interactive Model of Reading
Rumelhart (1977, as cited in Walters, 1999), who believes that top-down and
bottom-up processing occur simultaneously in skilled readers. He believes that the
interactive model of reading is the amalgamation of bottom-up and top-down models of
reading. Zakaluk (1998) describes the message board or message centre that regulates the
hypotheses, filter and match the information with that of the existing knowledge and
accepts or rejects it.
Hayes (1991) describes the interactive model as more than just the combination of
the bottom-up and top-down models. In interactive model, reading is the process of
combining textual information with the information the reader brings to a text. The model
stresses both what is written on paper and what a reader brings to it using both top-down
and bottom-up skills (Stanovich, 1980). Then, Eskey (1988) found that good readers are
12
both good decoders and good interpreters of text and their decoding skills become more
automatic but no less important as their reading skill develop.
Smith (1971) characterizes reading as a process by charting the reader’s path
through a text rather than making judgments of comprehension based on reading
outcomes. He described reading as “the reduction of uncertainty’, meaning as we
progress through a text our choices of what to select are constrained, often heavily both
by features within the text itself and those external to it, to do for example with the kinds
of schematic knowledge of the reader.
2.4 Attitude towards Reading
In order to be success in reading, a reader should have a good attitude. According
to Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) attitude is defined as learned disposition on how to behave,
either negatively or positively. Based on the definition, it can be defined that reading
attitude as people disposition in reading activity.
McKenna, et al. (1996) in the McKenna Model of Reading Attitude Acquisition
suggested that the individual’s attitude towards reading develops overtime as result of
three factors: 1. Normative beliefs (how ones friends’ view about reading), 2. Beliefs
about outcomes of reading (whether reading is likely to be pleasurable, useful, frustrating
and boring) and beliefs about outcomes of competing activities; and 3. Specific reading
experiences
13
2.5 Reading Motivation
Taylor, et al. (1988) uses the term ‘interest’ to describe the action orientation that
occurs when positive attitude and motivation are both present in reading. He believes that
attitude towards reading by itself does not cause an individual to read but rather interest
becomes a factor that motivates one to read in reading. Therefore, motivation in reading
is needed by the readers because it is very important to support their activities and
attitude in reading.
As readers, they must have attitude to read texts or materials as much as they can,
by reading the readers will have strong understanding about any kinds of text and have
more vocabulary. According to Grummit (1977) lack of vocabulary puts off readers as
they are unable to comprehend the material they are reading. Unmotivated readers will
influence their reading activities.
2.6 Factors Affecting Reading
There are several factors why readers read texts or materials. According to
Grummit (1982) there are three factors affecting reading. The factors are: 1. the nature of
the reading materials, 2. the purpose of reading and 3. the external factors. Therefore,
before reading readers are suggested to find materials as their needed to motivate them to
read and gain knowledge. So, they will enjoy the time of reading.
14
2.6.1 The Nature of Reading
Grummit (1982) claimed that lacking or poor in vocabulary lets the readers down.
According to him, readers who face difficulties in comprehending the material feel
unmotivated to read where as having interest in the subject can influence readers to read.
2.6.2 Goal of Reading
As readers, they have to know the goal of their reading. Different readers have
different purpose for reading. Therefore, the readers must be able to select the materials
they need. It is to help them to understand easily towards styles of reading used.
Ross (2001) studied the book selection strategies of heavy readers in the USA and
found that readers draw on several interrelated considerations when choosing a book to
read for pleasure. A reader’s selection strategy develops through their entire reading
experiences and is a personalized process.
According to Nuttal (1982) the purpose of reading is to get information such as
facts, ideas, or even feelings from the materials that have been read. Therefore, in
teaching and learning process teachers read before planning their lesson plans. According
to Gan (1999) reading prior to planning a lesson plan can give teachers a better idea of
the lesson. Alderson & Urquhart 1984) and Carrell (1988) maintained that reading is one
of the skills in language teaching and learning.
15
2.6.3 The External Factors
Reading habits can be derived from external factors. According to Grummit
(1982), the environment or surrounding has a tremendous influence on one’s reading
habit. Grummit (1982) states the external factors that affect reading habits are reader’s
state of mind and the time that they choose to read. There are some readers who can
concentrate to read in the morning and afternoon whilst other readers feel better to read in
the evening and night.
Grummit (1982) suggested in his book is relaxation. He states that relaxation is
then most important factor in reading and it also acts as a physical consideration. The
right approach in reading also can help the readers to reduce their stress. Below is table
2.1 concludes the main factors affecting the style of reading.