Kepada Yth,
Ketua Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Di
Tempat
Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.
Salam sejahtera dan silaturahmi saya sampaikan semoga Bapak berada dalam lindungan Allah SWT dan selalu sukses dalam menjalankan aktivitas sehari-hari (amin).
Selanjutnya saya yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini: Nama : Yuli Darmayanti
NIM : 105014000367
Fakultas : Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan Jurusan/ Smstr: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris/ IXB
Bermaksud mengajukan perubahan judul skripsi, dari judul semula:
”An Analysis of the Functional Expressions on Look Ahead 2nd Semester For First Year of Senior High School Based on Curriculum”
(A Case Study at the first grade of MA Manaratul Islam, Cilandak, Jak-Sel) Menjadi:
”The Readability level of the Reading Texts on Linked to the World: An English Textbook for Senior High School”
(A Case Study at the Tenth grade of MA Pembangunan UIN, Jakarta) Sebagai bahan pertimbangan bapak, bersama ini saya lampirkan:
1. Outline 2. Abstract, dan
3. Daftar Pustaka Sementara
Demikianlah perubahan judul skripsi ini saya ajukan, dengan harapan Bapak berkenan menyetujuinya. Atas segala perhatiannya saya ucapkan terima kasih.
Kepada Yth,
Ketua Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Di
Tempat
Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.
Salam sejahtera dan silaturahmi saya sampaikan semoga Bapak berada dalam lindungan Allah SWT dan selalu sukses dalam menjalankan aktivitas sehari-hari (amin).
Selanjutnya saya yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini: Nama : Yuli Darmayanti
NIM : 105014000367
Fakultas : Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan Jurusan/ Smstr: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris/ IXB
Bermaksud mengajukan perubahan judul skripsi, dari judul semula:
”An Analysis of the Functional Expressions on Look Ahead 2nd Semester For First Year of Senior High School Based on Curriculum”
(A Case Study at the first grade of MA Manaratul Islam, Cilandak, Jak-Sel) Menjadi:
”The Readability level of the Reading Texts on Look Ahead : an English Textbook for the Ten Grade Students of Senior High School” (A Case Study at the Ten Year Students of MA Pembangunan UIN Jakarta) Sebagai bahan pertimbangan bapak, bersama ini saya lampirkan:
4. Outline 5. Abstract, dan
6. Daftar Pustaka Sementara
Demikianlah perubahan judul skripsi ini saya ajukan, dengan harapan Bapak berkenan menyetujuinya. Atas segala perhatiannya saya ucapkan terima kasih.
Wassalamualaikum Wr. Wb.
Menyetujui, Dosen Pembimbing
THE READABILITY LEVEL OF THE READING
TEXTS ON
LINKED TO THE WORLD
: AN ENGLISH
TEXTBOOK FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
(A Case Study at the Tenth Grade of MA Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta)
A “Skripsi”
Presented to the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree S.Pd. (Bachelor of Arts) in English Language Education
By
Yuli Darmayanti NIM. 105014000367
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS TRAINING STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH”
JAKARTA 2010
THE READABILITY LEVEL OF THE READING TEXTS ON
LINKED TO THE WORLD
: AN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
(A Case Study at the Tenth Grade of MA Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta)
A “Skripsi”
Presented to the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree S.Pd. (Bachelor of Arts) in English Language Education
By
Yuli Darmayanti NIM. 105014000367
Approved by Advisor
Dr. Fahriany, M.Pd. NIP. 197006111991012001
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS TRAINING STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH”
JAKARTA 2010
ENDORSEMENT SHEET
The “skripsi” (Scientific Paper) entitled “The Readability Level of the Reading Texts on Linked to the World: An English Textbook for Senior High School” (A Case Study at Tenth Grade of MA Pembangunan UIN, Jakarta), written by Yuli Darmayanti, student’s registration number 105014000367, was examined in the examination session of Faculty of Tarbiya and Teachers’ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta on July 30th, 2010. The “skripsi” has been accepted and declared to have fulfilled one of the requirements for the Degree of S. Pd (Bachelor of Arts) in English Language Education in the Department of English Education.
Jakarta, July 30th, 2010
The Examination Committee
Chairman : Drs. Syauki, M.Pd (..…………..….……...) NIP. 19641212 199103 1 002
Secretary : Neneng Sunengsih, S.Pd (…..……...….………..) NIP. 19730625 199903 2 001
Examiner I : Drs. Sunardi Kartowisastro, Dip. Ed (…...…...…...) NIP. 150 022 779
Examiner II : Drs. Syauki, M.Pd (……...…………..) NIP. 1964121 199103 1 002
Acknowledged by:
Dean of Faculty of Tarbiya and Teachers’ Training
Prof. Dr. Dede Rosyada, M. A NIP. 19571005 198703 1 003
ABSTRACT
Yuli Darmayanti. “The Readability Level of the Reading Texts on Linked to the World: An English Textbook for Senior High School (A Case Study at the Tenth Grade Students of MA Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta)”. Strata I (S1). English Education Department, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta, 2010.
This research is aimed to analyze and measure the readability level of the reading texts on an English textbook for the tenth grade students of Senior High School entitled Linked to the World published by Yudhistira in 2007. The limitation of the problem is focused in analyzing the readability level of the six selected texts by using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula and the Cloze Procedure Test. Furthermore, in this research, the writer uses the Descriptive Analysis method since this research is aimed to describe the readability level of the reading texts in the textbook. She uses the Flesch Reading Ease Formula as the instrument to find out the readability level of the six texts, besides that, she also uses the Cloze Procedure Test to find out whether the texts in the textbook are readable or not for the tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta. In conducting the Cloze Test the writer provides the six selected texts that taken from the textbook and deleting between the 5th – 12th words in each text. Then, she gives the test to the 36 students. Finally, the writer conclude that by using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula she finds that the texts entitled John’s English Teacher has the readability score of 66.14, Lions; 80.07, Life in Ancient Rome; 58.28, Steve’s Favorite Sport; 77.09 and An Unforgettable Experience; 77.96, means that five of the six texts are readable for the tenth grade students of Senior High School but, among all the texts there is only one text which is appropriate for the tenth grade students that is a text entitled Life in Ancient Rome. Whereas the text entitled Rossi Sweeps to Australian GP victory has the readability score of 36.82, means that it is appropriate for the level of college students; while, based on the Cloze Test result that is given to the 36 students the writer finds that there are four readable texts for the tenth grade students of MA Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta. Since four of the six texts have the cloze test score over 60%. The four texts are John’s English
Teacher, Lions, Steve’s Favorite Sport and An Unforgettable Experience.
Whereas, the Cloze Test score of texts entitled Life in Ancient Rome and Rossi Sweeps to Australian GP Victory are in the Instructional Level, because they have the cloze test score approximately 40%-60%.
Key Words: Readability Level and Reading Texts
ABSTRAK
Yuli Darmayanti. “Tingkat Keterbacaan dari Teks-Teks Bacaan pada Linked to the World: Buku Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris untuk Sekolah Menengah Atas (Studi Kasus di Kelas X MA Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta)”. Strata I (S1). Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2010.
Penelitian in bertujuan untuk menganalisis dan mengukur tingkat keterbacaan dari teks bacaan pada buku bahasa Inggris untuk kelas X (sepuluh) SMA yang berjudul Linked to the World yang diterbitkan oleh Yudhistira pada tahun 2007. Peneliti membatasi penelitian ini dengan menganalisis tingkat keterbacaan dari 6 teks bacaan yang dipilih dengan menggunakan rumus Flesch Reading Ease dan Cloze Procedure Test. Dalam penelitian ini penulis menggunakan Metode Analisis Deskripsi karena penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menggambarkan tingkat keterbacaan dari teks-teks bacaan pada buku tesebut. Penulis menggunakan rumus Flesch Reading Ease sebagai instrument dalam penelitiannya untuk mendapatkan tingkat keterbacaan dari keenam teks tersebut, selain itu ia juga menggunakan Cloze Procedure Test untuk mengetahui apakah teks-teks tersebut dapat dibaca (dapat dipahami) oleh para siswa kelas sepuluh di Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta. Dalam mengadakan Cloze Test penulis menyediakan 6 teks bacaan yang dipilih dan di ambil dari buku tersebut dan menghapus antara kata ke 5-12 pada tiap-tiap teks. Kemudian ia memberikan tes tersebut kepada 36 siswa. Akhirnya, penulis menyimpulkan bahwa dengan menggunakan rumus Flesch Reading Ease ditemukan bahwa teks yang berjudul, John’s English Teacher mempunyai nilai kerterbacaan 66.14, Lions; 80.07, Life in Ancient Rome; 58.28, Steve’s Favorite Sport; 77.09 and An Unforgettable Experience; 77.96, berarti bahwa 5 dari 6 teks dapat dibaca (dipahami) oleh siswa kelas X SMA, diantara semua teks hanya ada 1 teks yang sesuai untuk siswa kelas X yaitu, teks yang berjudul Life in Ancient Rome. Sedangkan, teks yang berjudul Rossi Sweeps to Australian GP victory mempunyai nilai keterbacaan sebesar 36.82, berarti teks tersebut sesuai (dapat dipahami) untuk tingkat mahasiswa; sedangkan, berdasarkan hasil Cloze Test yang diberikan kepada 36 siswa, penulis menemukan ada 4 teks yang dapat dibaca (dipahami) oleh siswa kelas X MA Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta. Karena keempat teks tersebut mempunyai nilai Cloze Test diatas 60%. Keempat teks tersebut adalah John’s English Teacher, Lions, Steve’s Favorite Sport dan An Unforgettable Experience. Sedangkan nilai Cloze Test dari text yang berjudul Life in Ancient Rome dan Rossi Sweeps to Australian GP Victory adalah pada level Instructional, karena kedua teks tersebut mempunyai nilai Cloze Test kira-kira 40% - 60%.
Kata Kunci: Tingkat Keterbacaan dan Teks-Teks Bacaan
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful May peace and Blessing of Allah be upon all of us
All praises be to Allah, Lord of the Universe, Who gives the writer guidance and strength in doing this “skripsi” until it finished. Then Peace and Prayers be upon to the Prophet Muhammad shalallahu ‘alaihi wassalam, to his family, his relatives, and his followers.
First, the writer would like to give thanks to her parents: her beloved mother, Hj. Aliyah, and her beloved father, H. Alimin (Alm.), and to her brother, Ibnu Hajar and her sister Ratna Dewi Susanti who have given their love, support, contribution both moral and material to her.
The writer is deeply grateful to her advisor, Dr. Fahriany, M.Pd., who guides the writer in finishing this “skripsi” for the great contributions, guidance, kindness, and patience.
Moreover, the writer would like to give thanks and appreciation to:
1. Drs. Syauki, M.Pd., the Head of English Department, Mrs. Neneng Sunengsih, S.Pd., the secretary of English Department, Ms. Aida, and all staffs of English Department who helped the writer.
2. Prof. Dr. Dede Rosyada, the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta.
3. All lecturers in English Department, who have taught and given knowledge to the writer, whose names cannot be mentioned one by one.
4. The headmaster, the English teacher and the administration staffs of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN, Jakarta, who has given the writer opportunity to do the research in the school. Special thanks for the tenth grade students for their cooperation as the respondents of this research.
5. The staffs of the libraries whose books she used for the references of this research; Main Library Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Library of Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training, and Unika Atmajaya Library. 6. Her friends who give contributions: Oci, Nana, and Anita. She really
appreciates it. Thank you!
7. All her friends who care and always give support and help for her, especially for B-Class ’05 Community. May we all get success.
May Allah Subhanallahu wa Ta’ala bless us all. And finally, the writer realizes that this “skripsi” is still far from being perfect; therefore, she hopes some suggestions or criticisms to make it more scientific. Then she wishes that this “skripsi” be some a valuable writing. Amin.
Jakarta, June 2010
Yuli Darmayanti
TABLE OF CONTENT
WRITER’S REFERENCE SHEET ……….i
APPROVEMENT SHEET ………...ii
ENDORSEMENT SHEET ………..iii
ABSTRACT ………..iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ……….…....vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……….……….viii
LIST OF TABLES ………...… xi
LIST OF FIGURES ………... xii
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ………..……1
A. The Background of Study ……… 1
B. The Identification of the Problem ……… 4
C. Limitation and Formulation of the Problem ………. 4
D. Method of the Study ………. 4
E. Objective of the Study ……….. 5
F. Significance of Study ………... 5
CHAPTER II : THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK ……… 6
A. The Nature of Textbook ………... 6
1. Definition of Textbook ……….. 6
2. Textbook Selection ……… 7
a. Textbook Description ………. 8
b. Textbook Evaluation ……….. 8
3. The Criteria of Good Text ……… 8
B. Concept of Readability ………... 9
1. Definition of Readability………. 9
2. Factors Influence Readability ……….. 11
a. Lexical Knowledge ……….. 11
b. Knowledge of the World …………...………... 11
c. Syntactic Appropriateness ……… 12
d. Organization ………. 12
e. Discourse Phenomena ……….. 12
f. Length of Passage ……… 12
C. Approach of Measuring Readability ………...13
1. Instructor’s Judgment ………13
2. Cloze Procedure ……….…….. 14
a. Concept of Cloze Procedure ………. 14
b. Types of Cloze Test ………. 15
c. Constructing Cloze Procedure Test ……….. 16
d. Method in Scoring the Cloze Test ……… 17
3. Statistical Readability Formula ……… 19
a. Dale-Chall Formula ……… 20
b. Fry Graph …...………..……….. 21
c. Flesch Reading Ease Formula ……… 22
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ………. 26
A. Objective of the Research ……….. 26
B. Method of the Research ………. 26
C. Population and Sample ……….. 27
D. Time and Place of the Research ………... 27
E. Instrument of the Research ………. 27
F. Technique of Data Analysis ………...…… 28
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS ……… 29
A. The Description of the Textbook ……….. 29
B. Data Description ……… 30
1. The Flesch Reading Ease Formula ……….. 30
2. The Cloze Procedure Test ………... 31
C. Data Analysis ………...…..31
1. The Flesch Reading Ease Formula ……….. 31
2. The Cloze Procedure Test ………40
D. Data Interpretation ……….45
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ……… 47
A. Conclusion ……….. 47
B. Suggestion ………... 48
REFERENCES ………..……. 50
APPENDICES ...………. 52
APPENDIX I: The Reading Texts………. 52
APPENDIX II: The Cloze Tests ……… 59
APPENDIX III: The Percentage Calculation of the Cloze Tests...…………. 67
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 The Judgment of the Cloze Test Score ………19 Table 2.2 The Adjusted Score of the Dale-Chall Readability Formula ……….. 21 Table 2.3 The Description of the Flesch Readability Score into School Grades
and Its Difficulty Level ..…..……….. 25 Table 4.1 The Number of Sentences, Words and Syllables Counting ………… 30 Table 4.2 The Result of ASL and ASW Calculation ……….. 33 Table 4.3 The Frequency of the Students’ Right Answers in Each Text ……… 41 Table 4.4 The Percentage of the Students’ Correct Answers in the Cloze Test
……….……… 42
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Fry Graph for Estimating Reading Ages (in Years) …..……… 22 Figure 2.2 The Flesch Readability Chart ……… 24 Figure 4.1 The Readability Chart of the Text entitled John’s English Teacher
………….……… 35 Figure 4.2 The Readability Chart of the Text entitled Lions ……….. 36 Figure 4.3 The Readability Chart of the Text entitled Life in Ancient Rome…... 37 Figure 4.4 The Readability Chart of the Text entitled Steve’s Favorite Sport … 38 Figure 4.5 The Readability Chart of the Text entitled Rossi Sweeps to Australian
GP Victory ……….. 39
Figure 4.6 The Readability Chart of the Text entitled An Unforgettable
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of Study
The widespread of English as one of international languages has influenced many aspects of people’s life. Education is one of several aspects which are influenced by the development of English, because the language is considered as an important means of communication between people in many countries over the world. Therefore, in order to take part in the globalization era (mainly in educational field) many countries including Indonesia, establish the role of teaching English which is stated in their curricula.
In Indonesia, English is considered as a foreign language. It has been taught since the elementary level as the local content subject and it is as a compulsory subject in the levels of junior and senior high school. The role of teaching English in Indonesia is stated in the curriculum and the latest one named KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan) or School Based Curriculum.
However, there are some objectives of teaching English which is stated in the curriculum; one of them is to develop the ability to communicate in that language, either in spoken or written form. The communicative competence in the whole definition means the discourse competence that is, the ability to comprehend and/or to produce the written and oral text which is realized in the four language skills, they are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Therefore, to achieve the goal of the teaching learning, both the teacher and the students need some medium of instruction in order to facilitate them in the teaching and learning process.
Textbook is one of the medium of instruction which is used prominently in every grade levels of students in the schools. Since the dependence of textbook always increase especially in the field of education, many writers and publishers make some offering of varying English textbooks they write and publish for various levels of students. Consequently, the teacher task is to select the textbook which is appropriate for their students and their class. The process of selecting the English textbook is not an easy matter. The teacher frequently has to consider whether or not the materials in the textbook are appropriate with the curriculum, the students, and even with the teacher herself.
One technique to assess the appropriateness of the textbook is by analyzing the reading passages in that book. Since, in many English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes reading receive a special focus in the teaching learning activity. In the same manner as stated by Jack C. Richards and Willy A. Renandya, (eds), “…. In fact, in the most English as a Foreign Language (EFL) situations, the ability to read in a foreign language is all
that students ever want to acquire…., written texts serve various pedagogical purposes. Extensive exposure to linguistically comprehensible written texts can enhance the process of language acquisition.”1 Hence, it can be concluded that the comprehensible text become important for students, because it facilitates them in the process of language acquisition.
Moreover, according to Nuttall there are three main criteria that influence the choice of texts: suitability of the content, exploitability, and readability.2 A good text should interest the students. If the text bores the students, they frequently feel discouraged to read it. Furthermore, a good text should facilitate the students in developing their competence as the reader. And the last, a good text should be easy to read and to understand by the students. If the reading texts too difficult to understand by the students, they will feel bored and even frustrated to read it and
1
Jack C. Richards and Willy A. Renandya, (eds.), Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 273
2
the consequence are the text cannot be used successfully in order to achieve the objective of teaching reading.
In fact, in the teaching of reading the teacher often finds that the students encounter difficulties in understanding the reading text they used in the textbook. They frequently cannot answer the questions based on the text correctly such as, the question about the main idea, the question about the writer’s message of the text, etc. They cannot answer the question because they perceive that the text is too difficult to understand by them. So, in order to prevent this matter the teachers needs to evaluate their textbook especially the reading passages of the book before they use it in the classroom. They need to know whether or not the book is suitable for his students.
The most common way in evaluating the textbook is by analyzing the readability level of the text. Readability itself refers to the difficulty level of the written texts according to the level of the students’ educational background. The analyzing of the readability level of the texts can help the teacher to predict whether the text is difficult, plain or easy for his students. Since the easy-reading text improves comprehension, retention, reading speed, and reading persistence. Examinations of the text readability provide information in comparing appropriateness of the text content, both semantic and syntactic, for specific audiences or grade levels.3 Furthermore, there are three ways in measuring the readability level of the text those are, by using the instructor’s judgment, comprehension testing by cloze procedure, and the last by using statistical readability formulas based on some type of tally of linguistic elements.4
Thus, based on the background above the writer is aimed to analyze the readability level of the reading texts of an English textbook for senior high school entitled “Linked to the World”. Since, the readability analysis can help her in finding out whether the reading texts on the textbook are easy, plain, or difficult
3
“In Reading, Writing and Typography”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/readability, retrieved at 18/02/2010
4
for the tenth grade students of senior high school. Linked to the World is an English textbook for the tenth grade of senior high school. It is written by F.A. Soeprapto and Mariana Darwis and it is published by Yudhistira in 2007. Hence, the writer will do her research entitled “The Readability Level of the Reading Texts on Linked to the World: An English Textbook for Senior High School (A Case Study at the Tenth Grade of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta).”
B. The Identification of the Problem
Textbook is one of the most important of the medium instructions, since it can facilitate both the students and the teachers in the teaching learning activities. But, not all the content of the English textbook will be appropriate for students. Especially, in the section of reading texts the students frequently find the difficulty in understanding the reading passages of the textbook. So they became discouraged in reading the passages and the consequence is the texts cannot be used successfully in achieving the goal of teaching reading.
C. Limitation and Formulation of the Problem
In this research, the writer focuses her study in the subject matter in analyzing the readability level of the selected reading texts on an English textbook entitled “Linked to the World” which is used at the tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, by using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula and the Cloze Test.
Based on the limitation of the problem above, the writer would like to state the problems as follows:
1. How much does the readability of the reading texts meet on Linked to the World?
D. Method of the Study
In doing her research the writer uses descriptive analysis method in which she tries to describe, elaborate and analyze the readability level of an English textbook entitled Linked to the World for the tenth grade students of Senior High School. This method is done by using two techniques. The first technique is by using statistical readability formula of Flesch Reading Ease Formula. The second technique is reading comprehension test by using Cloze Procedure. Besides that, she also conducts library research in which she tries to compile the data or theories to support this study.
E. Objective of the Study
The objectives of the study are stated as follow:
1. To find out the readability level of the reading texts on English textbook for Senior High School entitled Linked to the World.
2. To find out whether the reading texts in the textbook is readable for the tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN, Jakarta.
F. Significance of the Study
The significance of this study is to know the readability level of the reading texts on Linked to the World and to find out whether the reading texts on the book are readable or not for the tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. The Nature of Textbook 1. Definition of Textbook
Most teachers using textbook as their medium of teaching in the classroom, since it provides the materials that should be taught by the teacher. It can be a guided for the teacher about what to teach in the classroom which is appropriate with the syllabus and curriculum that is used by the teacher. Therefore, textbook is considered as one of the most important of medium instructions. It is used prominently in the school because it can facilitate either the teacher or the students in the teaching learning activities. As stated by John Goodland, “The textbook predominated throughout as the medium of instruction, except in kindergarten. With each advance in grade level, dependence on the textbook increased.”1
As one of teaching materials, textbook is used both by the teacher and the students and it determines the activities in the classroom. By using textbook, the teacher can decide what and how to teach the materials that are determined by curriculum and syllabus. Moreover the term of textbook refers to a
1
Jean Osborn, et .al., Reading Education: Foundation for a Literate America, (Lexington: DC. Heath and Company, 1985), p. 46.
coherent body of teaching materials which may consist of either just the course book(s) but also of a learning package consisting of several parts.2
The similar opinion that textbook can be used by the teacher and the students as their sources in achieving the goal of teaching and learning are stated by Allington and Strange, “a textbook serves as a single repository of information on a subject, allowing both the teacher and the learner to use a single common source for acquiring the desired content.”3
Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that textbook is one of a primary instructional medium which is provide teaching materials and it is used in order to facilitate the teacher and students in the teaching learning activities.
2. Textbook Selection
Textbook is used in almost all school as one of instructional media in teaching learning activities. So that, the demanded number of textbooks always increase from year to year. This condition leads many authors and publishers to produce a large number of textbooks for varying levels of students. They produce their textbooks as good as possible in order to increase the sale number of their textbooks. Since textbook has an important role in the teaching learning activities therefore, teachers must have the ability in deciding a good textbook for their students and even for themselves. They should have much information about the textbook they want to use.
Information about textbooks can be obtained from two aspects; they are textbook description and textbook evaluation. The term textbook description refers to the collection of textbook and description of data on the form and content of the textbook itself, and the term textbook evaluation refers to the collection and description of data on the effects textbook have on their users.
2
Rogers Browers and CJ. Brumfit (eds.), Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching, (London: MacMillan Publishers Limited, 1991), p. 298.
3
a. Textbook Description
Textbook description refers to the description of data on the textbook itself. It can be seen from: (1) Author’s and publishers’ information; (2) Textbook reviews; (3) Checklist; (4) Textbook descriptive tools.
b. Textbook Evaluation
Textbook evaluation is usually conducted in two ways: 1. Users’ judgments (teachers and learners)
2. Experimental research into the effects of textbooks.
Hence it can be concluded that the selection of textbook can be done in two ways. The first is the selection from the textbook itself and the selection from the users of the textbook. One technique of selecting textbook from the textbook itself is by analyzing the readability level of the reading texts in the textbook. As stated by Browers and Brumfit that the readability of texts was investigated to obtain a standard for the relative degree of difficulty of the textbooks of which one would eventually have to be selected.4
3. The Criteria of Good Text
Reading text is one of important aspects in an English textbook. Since in the reading activities always involve the reading passages therefore the selection of a good passage become an important thing. Selecting a good passage is not an easy matter. As states by Richard R. Day in his article entitle Selecting a Passage for the EFL Reading Class, “One of reading the more
complex tasks facing the EFL reading teacher is the selection of appropriate reading passages…. Since the focus of EFL reading class should be on some aspect of reading, the selection of an appropriate reading passage is critical. If the passage chosen is inappropriate for whatever reason, the chances of success for that particular lesson are substantially lessened.”5
4 Rogers Browers and CJ. Brumfit (eds.), Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching…, p. 305.
5
Richard R. Day, “Selecting a Passage for EFL Reading Class”,
Since reading texts plays an important role in the reading activities, therefore it is better to find out the criteria of good text. According to Day there are seven factors involved in selecting an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading passages, those are: interest, exploitability,
readability, topic, political appropriateness, cultural suitability, and appearance.6 Furthermore, Nuttal states that there are three main criteria influence the choice of texts. The first is suitability of content that is the text should interest the readers. The second is exploitability that is, facilitation of learning. When teacher exploit a text, s/he makes use of it to develop the students’ competence as readers. The last criterion is readability that is the combination of structural and lexical difficulty.7
Among all criteria which states by Day and Nuttall, both of them include readability as one of the criteria in selecting a good passage. Thus, it can be concluded that readability is an important aspects from a text. Since readability can be used to measure whether a text is appropriate for a particular level of students.
B. Concept of Readability 1. Definition of Readability
Readability is one of the most important aspects that should be considered in selecting a good passage for students. Since, readability can determine the achievement of the goal in teaching reading. Some language experts or researchers define the term readability of a written text or readable text differently. In general readability is defined as ease of a written text and its suitability of writing style and grade level for whom the text is intended to.8
Readability is not only determined by the length of the passages or the length of the words, but it is also determined by how interestingly and
6
Day, “Selecting a Passage for EFL Reading Class”…, retrieved on Monday, March 1, 2010.
7
Christine Nuttall, Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language, (Oxford: Heinemann, 1996), New Edition, pp. 170-174
8
attractively the text is written. In general sense, ‘readability’ is an attribute of a text, referring to whether or not it is interestingly and attractively written, and easy to understand.9
Some experts relate the term of readability with the difficulty of the structural and lexical combination. This opinion is stated by Nuttall that the term readability is often used to refer to the combination of structural and lexical difficulty.10
Furthermore, Klare adds some more characteristics of what is called a readable text namely legibility of either the hand-writing or typography, ease of reading owning to the interest value of writing, and ease of understanding owning to the style of writing. Among the three meanings, he states further that the usage now clearly favors the third meaning, namely ease of understanding, owning the style of writing especially in the field of writing. In addition, Webster’s defines “readable” as: fit to be read interesting, agreeable and attractive in style, and enjoyable.11
Likewise, Browning discusses the term more specific as follows: 1. Readability is the absence of jargon and slang.
2. Readability is never having to read twice. 3. Readability is consistent terminology. 4. Readability is short paragraph.
5. Readability is short sentences. 6. Readability is continuity, and 7. Readability is clarity.12
Based on the above definitions it can be concluded that readability is the difficulty level of the reading text according to the level of a particular audiences or readers.
9
C. Harrison, “Readability” in Bernard Spolsky (ed.), Concise Encyclopedia of Educational Linguistics, (Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Ltd, 1999), p. 428.
10
Nuttall, Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language…, p. 174
11
Cheryl Stephens, “All About Readability”,
http://plainlanguage.com/newreadability.html, retrieved on Thursday, February 18, 2010
12
2. Factors that Influenced Readability
There are many factors can influence readability of a written text. The term readability refers to all factors that affect success in reading and understanding a text. These factors include:
1. Interest and motivation
2. The legibility of the print (and of any illustration)
3. The complexity of words and sentences in relation to the reading ability of the reader.13
According to Gray and Leary, ease of reading (readability) is the result of the interaction between the text and the reader. In the reader, those features affecting readability are: (1) prior knowledge; (2) reading skill; and (3) motivation. In the text, those features are: (1) content; (2) style; (3) design; (4) and structure.14
Moreover, according to Day there are several factors that influence a text’s readability those are:
a. Lexical Knowledge
Lexical knowledge and background knowledge are the two most important elements that determine a text’s readability. It is clear that as the number of unknown lexical items in a reading passage increases; the more difficult it is for students to read it with comprehension.
b. Knowledge of the World
Along with lexical knowledge, background (or world) knowledge is very important in the readability of a text. The more readers know about a particular topic, the more quickly and accurately they can read it.
Since the background knowledge of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) readers plays a critical role in their comprehension of the passage,
13
Keith Johnson, “Readability”, http://www.timetabler.com/reading.html, retrieved on Monday, March 8, 2010.
14
teacher should make sure that the passage is on a topic that is known of familiar to their students.
c. Syntactic Appropriateness
Syntactic constructions in a passage affect its readability. If a passage contains grammatical constructions that the learners do not know, they might have a hard time reading it.
d. Organization
Organization refers to both the rhetorical organization of the text and the clarity of the organization. The English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading teacher should carefully examine a text to see how it is organized. A passage that is not well organized might present problems for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, especially at the beginning stages.
e. Discourse Phenomena
Textual phenomena at the level of discourse include the arrangement of topics and comments in a reading passage, and considerations of cohesiveness and coherence.
f. Length Passage
The final factor of readability concerns the length of the potential reading passage. The most common mistake of inexperienced teachers or teachers who are not able to judge the reading abilities of their students is to select a passage that is too long. If students are unable to finish the reading passage, the lesson is not successful. Then would be learner become frustrated and often blame themselves, feeling that they are poor readers.15
Hence, it can be seen that the factors which influence the readability can be divided into two categories. The first is the internal factors that are the factors from the reader itself such as, motivation, background knowledge, reading skill, etc. While the second is the external factors that
15
are the factors from the text such as, design, style, structure, length of passage, etc.
C. Approaches of Measuring Readability
There are several approaches that can be used in measuring the readability of the text. Teachers as well as text writers have used different methods in determining the level of difficulty of written texts which are suitable to the student’s educational background level. Basically, the readability of a text can be measured in three ways: (1) instructor’s judgment; (2) comprehension testing by cloze procedure; and (3) statistical readability formulas based on some type of tally of linguistic elements.16
The same approaches with different terms in measuring of the readability are stated by Beard. He distinguished three broad approaches to the assessment of the text suitability. These can be grouped as teacher-based, text based and pupil-based.17
Among the three approaches, the writer will use the two approaches in measuring the readability of the texts. The two methods are the statistical readability formula by using Flesch Reading Ease formula and the Cloze Procedure Test.
1. Instructor’s Judgment
Many people tend to use their feelings in judging difficulty level of a written text instead of applying a readability formula as a tool. Teachers or text writers with longer experience have developed a feeling for knowing which materials will be suitable for their particular students. They assess their drafts intuitively; they sense that a piece needs work, or that a text is too difficult, or do not flow well.18
16
Renate A. Schulz, “Literature and readability: bridging the gap in foreign language reading”, in FORUM, vol. XX number 4, October 1982, p.10
17
Roger Beard, Developing Reading 3-1, (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1990), Second Edition, p. 119
18
Langer and others have attempted to “objectivity” evaluator judgment through a system which requires an impressionistic assessment of specific text qualities, using a five-point semantic differential scale. Four main textual “dimensions” are presented for evaluation, with each containing several sub-categories. The principal text qualities to be judged are text simplicity in terms of short, simple sentences, and use of common words; visible external organizational structure and logical internal sequence of text; length of text and concentration, and conciseness of essential information; presence of special “interest simulators” within the text such as exclamations, direct speech, rhetorical questions, direct address of reader, etc.19
2. Cloze Procedure
a. Concept of Cloze Procedure
The “cloze” procedures for testing written text is often treated as a readability test because a formula exists for translating data from “cloze tests” into numerical results. “Cloze” is derived from “closure”, a term used is Gestalt psychology and referring to the human tendency to complete mentally familiar yet incomplete patterns (e.g., seeing a broken circle as a whole one).
Cloze procedure is a technique in which words are deleted from a passage according to a word-count formula or various other criteria. The passage is presented to students, who insert words as they read to complete and construct meaning from the text. In the same manner as stated by Anderson that cloze tests are typically constructed by deleting from selected texts every n-th word (n usually being a number somewhere between 5 and 12) and simply requiring the test taker to restore the word that has been deleted.20
19
Renate A. Schulz, “Literature and readability: bridging the gap in foreign language reading”…, p. 10
20
Cloze test became a popular method for measuring the suitability of the text for a particular audience. It was popular because its scoring was objective; it was easy to use and analyze; it used the text itself for analysis; and it yields high correlations to other formulas.21
b. Types of Cloze Test 1. Fill in the Blank
This form of the cloze test is adapted from the traditional fill-in-the blank type activities. The difference is that traditional type activities were often sentence based, whereas a cloze activity involves a passage with every nth word deleted. The deleted words are listed and the students are required to fill in the blanks with appropriate word from the list.
2. Deleting a Particular Class of Words
Sometimes the testers, especially the teachers, are interested in deleting a particular set of words to check the students’ ability in using these words. In some cases the value of n cannot be fixed because the blank may correspond to a word that should not be deleted. Therefore, the teachers use random ratio deletion procedure. That is, n is not fixed and it is determined by the test developer prefers to delete a particular word. In this version, which is most useful for instructional purposes, a particular group of word is deleted. For instance, the teacher might be interested to see the extent to which students have command over the use of prepositions, articles, verb forms, adverbs, adjectives, etc.
3. Catered Technique
In some versions of cloze, to facilitate the students’ task, some pieces of information related to the deleted words are given to provide a cue. Depending on the kind and extent of cueing, certain varieties have been developed. In its simplest form, it resembles a spelling test known as the letter cloze. In this version, one or more letters of the
21
word in the blank are left out and the students are required to fill in the blanks with the missing letters.
4. Random Deletion procedure
Another version of cloze that is also based on the rate of the deletion of the word is called random deletion procedure. In this version, there is neither fixed ratio deletion nor deleting a particular class of words in the mind. Words are deleted on the basis of pure randomization. To construct such a test, all the words in the passage are numbered and every number is written on a piece of paper. These pieces of papers that carry the numbers corresponding to the words in the passage are located in a hat. Then the numbers are drawn out of the hat one by one. The word that corresponds to every number is deleted from the passage.
5. The Cloze-Elide Test
A different variety of cloze test is known as the cloze-elide test. In this type, instead of deleting a set of words from the passage, a certain number of words are added to the text. The students are required to read the text and identify the extra or redundant words and cross them out. In fact, in the cloze-elide test, the processing of the text is somewhat opposite to that of the standard cloze test. In the cloze test, the students should read the text and add some words; whereas in the cloze-elide test, the students should read the text and delete some words.22
c. Constructing Cloze Procedure Test
To prepare materials for cloze tests, any of the following techniques may be used:
1. Select a sample of written text about 250 words length from the assigned textual material.
22
Horsein Farhady, Varieties of Cloze Procedure in EFL Education,
2. Begin with the first sentence in a paragraph.
3. Leave this first sentence intact - that is, delete no words.
4. Beginning with the first word in the second sentence, delete every fifth word.
5. The blanks for deletions should be of equal length and large enough for written responses.
6. Continue deleting every fifth word until you have fifty blanks. 7. Leave the remainder of the sentence containing the fiftieth deletion
intact.23
d. Method in Scoring the Cloze Test
When a cloze passage is given to the students as a test, it should be somehow scored. To score a cloze test, every blank is considered an item. Among many available techniques, two methods are quite practical: Exact Word Method (EWM) and Acceptable Word Method (AWM).
1. Exact Word Method of Scoring
In Exact Word Method (EWM), the words produced by students
receive credit if and only if they correspond to the originally deleted words. However, there are the advantages and disadvantages in Exact Word Method (EWM). The advantage of Exact Word Method (EWM)
is that it is objective and easy to apply. That is no scorer judgment is needed in order to score the test. However it has the disadvantage of lowering students’ score.
2. Acceptable Word Method of Scoring
The procedures followed in Acceptable Word Method (AWM) are the same as those in Exact Word Method (EWM). The only difference is that in this method, any word which makes sense in the context of the passage is considered correct and given credit. On the other hand,
23
Acceptable Word Method (AWM) increases the students’ score but it is
somehow subjective and difficult to apply.24
In addition, according to Allington and Strange there are several steps in scoring and interpreting a cloze passage those are:
1. Scoring is facilitated if students have transferred words from the blanks to a separate sheet of paper.
2. Score only exact word replacements as correct.
3. Compute the percentage of correct responses. If a standard fifty deletion selection is used, the simply multiplying the number of correct responses by two provides this percentage.
4. Arrange students by score into the following for groups: • 60% or above correct - text is predicted to be quite easy. • 35% - 59% correct – text is predicted to be appropriate
difficulty.
• 20% - 34% correct – text is predicted to be very difficult. • 0% - 19% correct – text is predicted to be inappropriate, far
too difficult.
5. Begin to plan instructional differentiation based on results.
If at all possible, at least three cloze passages should be constructed and administered from a text, with the results averaged across all passages for placement into groups. Several measures are more reliable than a single measure. With the cloze procedure the same is true – using three passages reduces the risk of drawing an unrepresentative sample from the text – one that is either too difficult or too easy.25
24
Farhady, “Varieties of Cloze Procedure in EFL Education”…, retrieved on Monday, April 12, 2010.
25
While according to Beard, the following judgments can be made on the percentage of words correctly supplied by the reader to fill in gaps on a cloze text. (Correct words misspelled are counted as correct in this instance.):
Up to 40% of gaps correctly filled: Frustration Level (suggesting that the text is too difficult for this particular reader);
Approximately 40%-60% of gaps correctly filled: Instructional Level (suggesting that the reader may need some continuing assistance with the text);
Over 60% of gaps correctly filled: Independent Level (suggesting that the reader is likely to be able to cope with the text alone.26 Based on the definition above, the judgment of the Cloze Test result can be seen in the following table:
Table 2.1
The Judgment of the Cloze Test Score
No. Percentage of the Correct Answers Score Judgment
1. Over 60% Independent Level
2. 40%-60% Instructional Level
3. Up to 40% Frustration Level
3. Statistical Readability Formula
Readability formulas are formulae for evaluating the readability of text, usually by counting syllables, words, and sentences. They were first developed in 1920s in the United States of America. At least seven formulas are in general use in education (Dale & Chall, 1948; Dolch, 1948; Flesch, 1954; Fry, 1968; Gunning, 1952; Spache, 1978; Stricht, 1972, 1975).27 But there are three of the most widely known devices for measuring readability of English texts those are the Flesch formula, Dale-Chall formula and the Fry Readability Graph.
26
Roger Beard, Developing Reading 3-1…, pp. 125-128.
27
a. Dale-Chall Formula
Dale and Chall created the Dale-Chall Formula for adult and children above 4th grade as a way to improve upon the Flesch Reading Ease Formula. The Dale-Chall Formula was unique; unlike other formulas that use word-length to assess word difficulty, the Dale-Chall Formula uses a count of “hard” words. The Dale-Chall Formula calculates the US grade level of a text sample based on sentence length and the number of “hard” words. These “hard” words that words that do not appear on a specially design list of common words familiar to most 4th-grade students.
The following is some steps that have to be done in order to find out the Dale-Chall Readability Formula:
Step 1: Select a text sample of 100-150 words from an intermediate or advanced level text.
Step 2: Compute the average sentence length by dividing the number of words by the number of sentences.
Step 3: Compute the percentage of words not on the list of 3,000 familiar words.
Step 4: Compute the following equation:
Raw Score = 0.1579 PDW + 0.0496 ASL + 3.6365
Where Raw Score = Reading Grade of a reader who can answer one-half of the test question on the passage.
PDW = Percentage of Difficult Words ASL = Average Sentence Length in words. Step 5: Use the following table to get the Adjusted Score:28
28
Table 2.2
The Adjusted Score of the Dale-Chall Readability Formula
Raw Score Adjusted Score
10 and Above Grades 16 and above (College Graduate) b. Fry Graph
The Fry readability formula or Fry readability graph is readability metric for English texts, developed by Edward Fry. The grade reading level (or reading difficulty level) is calculated by average number of sentences (y-axis) and syllables (x-axis) per hundred words. These averages are plotted onto a specific graph; the intersection of the average number of sentences and the average number of syllables determines the reading level of the content.
There several steps to calculate a grade level score of the Fry Graph: 1. Randomly select three 100 word passages. (Count every word
including proper nouns, initialization, and numerals.)
2. Count the number of sentences in each 100 word sample (estimate to nearest tenth).
3. Count the number of syllables in each 100 word sample. (Each numeral is a syllable. For example, 2007 is 5 syllables (two-thou-sand-se-ven) and word).
4. Plot the average sentence length and the average number of syllables on the graph.
5. The area in which it falls is the approximate grade.29
29
The following is the example of the Fry Readability Graph: Figure 2.1
c. Flesch Reading Ease
Flesch Reading Ease Formula is considered as one of the oldest and the most accurate readability formulas. It is devised by Rudolf Flesch. It is a simple approach to assess the grade-level of the reader. This formula is best used on school text. Flesch counts average sentence length in words and average word length in syllables to arrive at a “reading ease” score.
Moreover, there are several steps in using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula that is:
Step 1: Count the words
Count the words in your piece of writing. Count as single words contractions, hyphenated words, abbreviations, figures, symbols and their combination, e.g., wouldn’t, full-length, TV, 17, &, $15, 7%.
Step 2: Count the syllables
accepted, pronunciations, use one with fewer syllables. If in doubt check a dictionary.
Step 3: Count the sentences
Count the sentences in your piece of writing. Count as a sentence each full unit of speech marked off by a period, colon, semicolon, dash, question mark or exclamation point. Disregard paragraph breaks, colons, semicolons, dashes or initial capitals within a sentence. For instance, count the following as a single sentence:
You qualify if-
• You at least 58 years old; and
• Your total household income is under $5,000.
Step 4: Figure the average number of syllables per word Divide the number of syllables by the number of words.
Step 5: Figure the average number of words per sentence Divide the number of words by the number of sentences.
Step 6: Find your readability score
Figure 2.2
The Flesch Readability Chart
Multiply the average sentence length by 1.015. Multiply the average word length by 84.6. Add the two numbers. Subtract this sum from 206.835. The balance is the readability score. 30
As describe in the specific mathematical formula below: RE = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW) RE : Reading Ease score
ASL : Average Sentence Length (the number of words divided by the number of sentences)
ASW : Average number of syllables per word (the number of syllables divided by the number of words).31
30
Rudolf Flesch, “How to Write Plain English”,
http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide/writing/flesch.shtml, retrieved on Thursday, March 18, 2010.
31
The scale shows scores from 0 to 100. Zero means practically unreadable and 100 means extremely easy. The minimum score for Plain English is 60, or about 20 words per sentence and 11/2 syllables per word. Furthermore, Flesch describe how to translate the scores into school grades as follows:32
Table 2.3
The Description of the Flesch Readability Score into School Grades and Its Difficulty Level
Score Difficulty Level School Level
90 – 100 Very easy 5th grade
80 – 90 Easy 6th grade
70 – 80 Fairly easy 7th grade
60 – 70 Plain English 8th and 9th grade 50 – 60 Fairly Difficult 10th – 12th grade
30 – 50 Difficult College
0 – 30 Very Difficult College Graduate
Among all of the statistical readability formula, the writer will use the Flesch Reading Ease Formula, since it is easy to use and it is consider as one of the most
accurate readability formula that used by most of people especially in educational field.
32
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. The Objective of the Research
The objective of this research is to find out the readability level of an English textbook for tenth grade students of senior high school entitle Linked to the World that is published by Yudhistira in 2007. Since this book is used by the tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, therefore, this research is also aimed to find out whether or not the reading texts in the textbook is readable for the tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta.
B. Method of the Research
In this research, the writer uses descriptive analysis method in which she tries to describe, elaborate and analyze the readability level of an English textbook entitle Linked to the World 1 English for Senior High School grade X. This research also supported by library research method to find out the theory which is related to the topic of this research such as, the theory of readability, cloze procedure test, etc. Besides that, she also finds out the theories from another source such as, web-sites, articles, and journals.
C. Population and Sample
The population of this study is all the tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan UIN Syarif HIdayatullah, Jakarta. The number of the tenth grade students is 71 students which are divided into two classes. The writer took 50% of the students (36 students) as the sample on this research. She chose all the students from the two classes who did the 6 texts. Among the 71 students there are 48 students who did the 6 texts. Then, from the 48 students she chose the 36 students randomly as the sample in this study. They are as the respondents to do the cloze test which is taken from the texts in the textbook they used.
In addition, this textbook is divided into 7 units and each unit consists of two cycles, they are oral cycle and written cycle. In the oral cycles there are 14 reading texts while, in the written cycle there are 12 reading texts. Since this study
is focusing in the reading therefore, the writer took the texts from the written cycle. From the 12 texts, the writer took the 6 texts randomly as the sample on this
research for constructing the cloze procedure tests.
D. Time and Place of the Research
The research took place at Madrasah Aliyah Pembangunan which is located at komplek UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jalan Ibnu Taimia IV Ciputat, Jakarta Selatan. The writer took the data for six times since there are six reading texts that are tested to the students. The research starts on March 19, 2010 and finished on May 7, 2010.
E. Instrument of the Research
To collect the data in this research the writer used two instruments. The first is by using test that is the cloze procedure test and the second is by using statistical analysis that is by using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula.
1. Cloze Procedure Test
students are asked to fill in the blanks with the words given. Each reading texts has different number of deletion words depend on the length of the texts. 2. Flesch Reading Ease Formula
The second instrument is statistical analysis by using Flesch Reading Ease Formula. The writer counts the number of sentences, words and syllables of each text. Then she counts the average number of words per sentence and the average number of syllables per word and then use the Flesch Reading Ease Formula in order to get the readability score from the each text.
F. Technique of Data Analysis
For the next step of the research, the writer will process and analyze the data. In analyzing the data of the reading texts, the writer will use two techniques those are:
1. Flesch Reading Ease Formula
RE = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW) Where RE : Reading Ease score
ASL : Average Sentence Length (the number of words divided by the number of sentences)
ASW : Average number of syllables per word (the number of syllables divided by the number of words).1 2. Cloze Procedure Test
In order to analyze the data of the cloze test, the writer correct the students’ answer and find the result by using statistical method which is called as relative frequency distribution by Anas Sudjiono, the formula is as follow:2
Where P = Percentage retrieved on Tuesday, March 9, 2010.
2
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS
A. The Description of the Textbook
The subject of this study is an English textbook entitled Linked to the World 1 English for Senior High School grade X first and second semester published by Yudhistira in 2007. This textbook is developed based on the 2006 curriculum and it is written by F.A. Soeprapto and Mariana Darwis.
The textbook consists of 135 pages and 7 units which are divided into two semesters. The first semester consists of 3 units while the second semester consists of 4 units. Each unit presented in two cycles of language those are oral and written cycle. Oral cycle include listening and speaking, while written cycle include reading and writing. There are also pronunciation and functional skill which are available in oral cycle; and grammar which is integrated in written cycle. The whole units are presented based on the genre of the texts. They are 2 narrative themes, 2 news items themes, 1 descriptive theme, 1 recount theme and 1 procedure theme. Furthermore, there are 18 texts in the book; 6 texts are available in oral cycle and 12 texts are available in written cycle.
B. Data Description
As the writer’s previous statement that she will use the Flesch Reading Ease Formula and the Cloze Procedure Test to get the readability level of the reading
texts in the textbook.
1. The Flesch Reading Ease Formula
To gain the readability score by using Flecsh Reading Ease Formula, the first step that has to be done by the writer is by counting the number of sentences from each text. Then, the second step is counting the number of words of each text. The third is counting the number of syllables of each text. She counted all the number of sentences, words and syllables manually and she uses dictionary to help her in counting the syllables.
Then, after she gets all of them, the next step is finding the Average Sentence Length (ASL) that is the number of words divided by the number of
sentences. Furthermore, to gain the Average Syllables per Word (ASW) score she divided the number of syllables by the number of words of the texts. The last, she counted all of them by using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula to find the readability score.
The following table is showing the calculation results of the sentences, words and syllables of the six texts.
Table 4.1
The Number of Sentences, Words and Syllables Counting
No. Text
Number of Sentences
2. The Cloze Procedure Test
The second technique that is used by the writer in finding the readability of the textbook is by using the cloze procedure test. The writer gave the cloze procedure test to the 36 of the tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah
Pembangunan UIN, Jakarta. She deleted between the 5th to 12th words in the texts and the students are asked to complete the texts by using the words which are given in the box.
The percentage of the deleted words of each text is described below: 1. The first text entitled John’s English Teacher
The number of words in this text is 290 and the number of the deleted words is 40. Therefore, the percentage of the deleted words is 13.79%. 2. The second text entitled Lions
The number of words in this text is 300 and the number of the deleted words is 37. So, the percentage of the deleted words is 12.33%.
3. The third text entitled Life in Ancient Rome
The text consists of 372 words and the number of the deleted words is 50, means that the percentage of the deleted words is 13.44 %.
4. The fourth text entitled Steve’s Favorite Sport
The text consists of 256 words and the number of the deleted words is 31, means that the percentage of the deleted words is12.11%.
5. The fifth text entitled Rossi Sweeps to Australian GP Victory
The number of the words in this text is 408 and the number of the deleted words is 47, means that the percentage of the deleted words is 11.51%. 6. The sixth words entitled An Unforgettable Experience
The text consists of 311 words and the number of the deleted words is 40, means that the percentage of the words deletion is 12.86%.
C. Data Analysis
1. The Flesch Reading Ease Formula
RE = 206.835 – (1.015 X ASL) – (84.6 X ASW)
Furthermore, to find out the number of the Average Sentence Length (ASL), the writer divided the number of words by the number of sentences. While, to gain the Average Syllables per Words (ASW) she divided the number of syllables by the number of words.
The following is the calculation of the Average Sentence Length (ASL) and Average Syllables per Word (ASW) of the six texts:
1. Text 1 (entitled: John’s English Teacher; 19 sentences, 290 words, and 429 syllables)
ASL = Number of words : Number of sentences ASL = 290 : 19 = 15.26
ASW = Number of syllables : Number of Words ASW = 429 : 290 = 1.48
2. Text 2 (entitled: Lions; 26 sentences, 300 words and 409 syllables) ASL = Number of words : Number of sentences
ASL = 300 : 26 = 11.54
ASW = Number of syllables : Number of Words ASW = 409 : 300 = 1.36
3. Text 3 (entitled: Life in Ancient Rome; 24 sentences, 372 words and 586 syllables)
ASL = Number of words : Number of sentences ASL = 372 : 24 = 15.5
ASW = Number of syllables : Number of Words ASW = 586 : 372 = 1.57
4. Text 4 (entitled: Steve’s Favorite Sport; 20 sentences, 256 words and 354 syllables)
ASL = Number of words : Number of sentences ASL = 256 : 20 = 12.8
5. Text 5 (entitled: Rossi Sweeps to Australian GP Victory; 14 sentences, 408 words and 678 syllables)
ASL = Number of words : Number of sentences ASL = 408 : 14 = 29.14
ASW = Number of syllables : Number of Words ASW = 678 : 408 = 1.66
6. Text 6 (entitled: An Unforgettable Experience; 28 sentences, 311 words and 432 syllables)
ASL = Number of words : Number of sentences ASL = 311 : 28 = 11.11
ASW = Number of syllables : Number of Words ASW = 432 : 311 = 1.39
To get more clear description, the writer put the calculation result of Average Sentence Length (ASL) and Average Syllables per Word (ASW) in
the following table:
Table 4.2
The Result of ASL and ASW Calculation No.
After counting the number of ASL and ASW, the next step is finding the readability score by using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula:
Text 1 John’s English Teacher (for ASL and ASW score see table 4.2)
Text 3 Life in Ancient Rome
ASL = 15.5
Text 5 Rossi Sweeps to Australian GP Victory
ASL = 29.14
