READING EXERCISES FOR VIII GRADE STUDENTS
BASED ON BLOO
M’S
TAXONOMY
A THESIS
Submitted to Fulfill the Partial Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By:
INTAN PERMATA SARI Registration Number: 2123321039
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
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ABSTRACT
Sari, Intan Permata. Registration Number: 2123321039. Reading Exercises for VIII Grade Students Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. A Thesis. English Educational Program, State University of Medan, 2017.
This study is aimed at (1) analyzing reading exercises based Bloom’s taxonomy for 8th grade in English on Sky textbook. (2) Found the distribution of the lower and higher order thinking skill in reading exercises. (3) To reason for level reading exercises. After analyzed the data, the result of the data analysis also infers that the six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy in reading exercises weren’t
applied totally. The creating skill doesn’t have distribution in reading exercise,
and the understanding – remembering level more dominant than another levels. The distribution of the higher order thinking level was lower than the lower order thinking level and the six levels are not appropriate with the proportion for each level of education based Bloom’s taxonomy, such as the distribution of the creating level in the reading exercise must be a concern because no question that belong to the creating level. It was concluded that reading exercises in English on Sky textbook cannot improve students' critical thinking skills for VIII grade.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the name of Allah SWT, The Most Gracious and The Most Merciful, The Lord of Universe. Because of Allah SWT and the Prophet Muhammad SAW, the researcher could finish this graduating paper as one of the requirements for Sarjana Pendidikan in English Education Department State University of Medan in 2017.
This success would not have been achieved without those supports, guidance, advice, help and encouragement from individual and institution. During the process of accomplishing this thesis, she would like to express her deepest gratitude and appreciation to:
Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd., Rector of State University of Medan Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Language and Arts Faculty,
State University of Medan.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., Head of English and Literature Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan. Dr. Meisuri, M, A., the Secretary of English and Literature Department.
Nora Ronita, S.Pd, S.S, M.Hum., the Head of English Education Study Program, English and Literature Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
Dr. Anni Holila Pulungan, M.Hum, her thesis advisor, for the valuable time, knowledge, and guidance with all their patience and wisdom during the process of accomplishing this thesis.
Indra Hartoyo, S.Pd, M.Hum, her thesis advisor and also academic advisor for the valuable time, knowledge, and guidance with all their patience and wisdom during the process of accomplishing this thesis. Prof. Dr. Prof. Amrin Saragih, M.A., Ph.D and Drs. Willem Saragih,
Dipl. Appl., M.Pd. Thesis Reviewers, and also all lecturers who have
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Eis Sri Wahyuningsih, M. Pd., and Mr. Pantas, the Administration Staffs of English Department.
H. Syafril Penyalai and Hj. Evi Warnis Jambak, her beloved parents. And also Krisna Savindo, S.E. and Dodi Alfayet, her beloved brothers. Thank you for the patience, pray, love and financial support.
Her beloved friends Khairani Nur Adha, Dibasari Putri, Nisha Tita Mutiarni, Amna Apriani Delima Batubara, Nurima Pasaribu and
Uswatun Hasana. Thank you for the laugh and friendship.
Her beloved classmates, Extention B 2012 who have made cheerful and spirit days at class.
The researcher hopes that the help and support which were given to researcher will be repaid by God. Finally, the researcher admits this thesis is still far from being perfects. Therefore, the researcher wants to invite all of the readers to give more suggestions.
Medan, March 2017
Intan Permata Sari
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CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 8
A. Theoretical Framework ... 8
4. The Lower and Higher Order Thinking Skill ... 14
5. Bloom’s Taxonomy ... 15
a) Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy ... 18
b) Levels of Knowledge – Revised Bloom's Taxonomy ... 21
B. The Relevant Studies... 23
C. Conceptual Framework ... 25
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 28
A. Research Method ... 28
B. Data and Source of Data ... 28
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D. Technique of Data Analysis ... 29
CHAPTER IV. DATA, DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 31
A. The Data ... 31
B. The Data Analysis ... 31
1. The extent of reading exercises ... 33
2. The distribution of the lower and higher order thinking skill ... 39
3. The reason of levels exercises ... 41
C. Findings ... 47
D. Discussion ... 48
CHAPTER V.CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 52
A. Conclusions ... 52
B. Suggestions ... 53
REFERENCES ... 55
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LIST OF TABLES
Pages
Table 1. The Type of Cognitive Processes Identified in Bloom’s Taxonomy ... 20
Table 2. Distribution of Exercises in Genre ... 32
Table 3. Distribution of The Cognitive Domain in Essay Reading Exercise ... 34
Table 4. Distribution of Lower Order Thinking Skill ... 40
Table 5. Distribution of Higher Order Thinking Skill ... 40
Table 6. The Questions of List Remembering ... 41
Table 7. The Questions of List Understanding ... 43
Table 8. The Questions of List Applying ... 45
Table 9. The Questions of List Analyzing ... 45
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LIST OF FIGURES
Pages
Figure 2.1. Bloom’s Taxonomy ... 16 Figure 2.2. Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy ... 21 Figure 2.3. Figure of Conceptual Framework ... 27
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LIST OF APPENDIX
Pages
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.The Background of the Study
Reading is an activity to get information or to draw the meaning about something that a writer wants to share in a printed. Reading is included in one of the skill in English instruction, because it is very necessary for students to the success of their studies. Sri (2012) states that the goal of English teaching is the acquisition of communicative competence that is emphasized on reading skill as the receptive skill, and not on oral skill. This is the reason why reading skill is so important. If their reading skill is poor they are very likely to fail in their study or at last they will have difficulty in making progress. On the other hand, if they have a good ability in comprehending reading, they will have a change to succeed in their study. There are some problems in reading comprehension one of them is the difficulty in understanding and answering the reading exercise.
Exercise is one of important components in the teaching learning process. Because it helps students to practice their skill in the learning process to get good result and also help the teacher to know the students' skills of the material. Ur
(2009) says that, “Practice, then, is the activity through which language skills and
knowledge are consolidated and thoroughly mastered. As such, it is arguably the most important of all the stages of learning”. That’s why exercise becomes
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teacher will be able to measure how far students an able to understand a certain topic. The reading exercise can be found in textbook.
Textbooks are a source of learning that is very important in the teaching learning process. By using the textbook, teacher and student can know the material to be studied such as reading. In English textbook, reading is a crucial part that stimulates thinking skills. Textbook provides texts and exercises which are likely to be of an appropriate level for most of the class. It is in line with Ria (2014) who says that it could not be denied that course book is an essential part in curriculum, including in learning foreign language.
An effective English textbook must have relevant reading text followed by exercises and questions. By doing reading activity, the readers can get the meaning and information the writer wants. However, Cunningsworth (1998) states that no course book designed for a general market can be completely ideal for particular group of learners, but the purpose of selecting and evaluating the textbook is to find the best possible fits. In line with Cunningsworth’s idea, the
exercises of reading text can measure the capability of students’ understanding by
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In the textbooks there are many aspects that need to be evaluated such as layout, exercises, and materials. Some of these aspects could influence the quality of textbooks and results in the learning process. One of the results in the analysis conducted by Igbaria (2015) in the EFL textbook based on Bloom’s Taxonomy showed 224 questions represent low order thinking skill and only 177 questions emphasized high order thinking. Moreover the textbook has to provide varied
topics and tasks for different learners’ levels, learning styles, and interest
Lower order thinking skill consists of the top three domains in the cognitive skills from Bloom’s taxonomy, knowledge, comprehension, and
application. Higher order thinking skill consists of the top three domains in the cognitive skills from Bloom’s taxonomy, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Bloom’s taxonomy itself is one of the most famous taxonomies in educational
matter which is introduced by Benjamin S. Bloom (1956). Moreover Indonesian government applied the proportion for each level of education based on Bloom’s
Taxonomy is surely different based on the guidance for assessment which is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Culture. For Junior High School itself the proportion is remembering - understanding 20%, applying-analyzing 55%, evaluating 15%, and creating 10%. Based on the explanations above, the writer will analyze of level in reading exercises.
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Curriculum. Therefore, the writer will analyze one of English textbook for VIII grade entitled “English on Sky”. The textbook contains four basic skills of English. However the writer focuses on analyzing of level in reading exercises
based on revision of Bloom’s taxonomy.
In the English on sky textbook for the reading skill, there are 17 reading 3. Who is described in the text?
4. What does barly do in his spare time? 5. How often does he play football? 6. What does he think about Yongyakarta?
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C6 or the creating is no question. The questions which are classified to remembering level: number 3 and 4; which the total is 2 questions. The question which are classified to understanding level: number 1, 2 and 5; which the total is 3 questions. The question which are classified to analyzing level; number 6; which the total 1 question. The distribution of the lower order thinking skill obtains 5 while the higher order thinking skill only obtain 1 question.
The questions have been categorized as understanding because they are suitable to the definition of understanding level of revised bloom’s taxonomy, which is constructing meaning through interpreting, inferring, and explaining. The questions demand the students to understand the texts they are studying. And the other questions which had been categorized, they are suitable with each definition
of categorize level of revised bloom’s taxonomy.
Based on the first observation done by the researcher, it was found that the reading exercises in English on Sky are the most in understanding level of revised bloom’s taxonomy. This data shows that the objective of teaching and learning
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B.The Problems of the Study
From the identification of the background of the study, the problems are formulated as follows:
1. To what extent do the reading exercises in English on Sky apply the six levels of the Bloom’s taxonomy revision?
2. How is the distribution of the lower and higher order thinking skill in the reading exercise of English on Sky textbook based on Bloom’s taxonomy revision?
3. Why are the levels exercised?
C.The Objectives of the Study
Based on the formulation of the research problems above, the reading objectives of this study are:
1. To analyze the levels of reading exercise in English on Sky textbook based
on Bloom’s taxonomy revision.
2. To find out the distribution of the lower and higher order thinking skill in the reading exercise of English on Sky textbook based on Bloom’s taxonomy.
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D.The Scope of the Study
The study is limed to analyze reading exercises based on Bloom’s taxonomy in English on Sky textbook that used in the school; it will be applied in the grade VIII junior high school. This study is focuses on the essay questions of the reading exercises only which available on the textbook.
E.The Significances of the Study
Theoretically, the findings of the study can contribute to theories of language learning as applications of linguistics. In addition, the findings can be references for further studies.
Practically the findings are expected to be useful for:
a. The teacher to give broader insight or perception about the textbook selection, the reading exercises and the higher order thinking skills.
b. The students to choose and analyze the English textbook that will be used in their English learning.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A.Conclusions
As one of the main instructional resources in the teaching and learning process, the textbook plays prominent role for accomplishing the learning objectives. However, there are many conclusion and suggestions about the textbook usage. Some of those conclusion and suggestions say that the textbook could be improved by having varied exercises or tasks, fluency practicing the four basic language skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing and more emphasizing on the problem solving and cognitive process.
After analyzing the data and elaborating the findings, conclusions were drawn as the following:
1. Extent of reading exercises in English on Sky textbook for VIII grade, comprise of 95 essay questions that dominate remembering level of
revised Bloom’s taxonomy. The result of the data analysis also infers that
the remembering level gets 53 items (55.7%), the understanding level gets 35 items (36.8%), the applying level gets 3 items (9.5%), the analyzing level gets 2 items (2.2%), the evaluating level gets 2 item (2.2% )and the create skill doesn’t has item.
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shows that the higher order thinking skill obtains only 4 out of 95 questions or 4.4% while the distribution of the lower order thinking skill obtains 91 out of 95 questions or 95.6%.
3. It can be concluded that level Bloom’s taxonomy in English on Sky textbook not appropriate with the proportion for each level of education
based on Bloom’s taxonomy. Therefore, the writer thinks that the
distribution of the higher order thinking level in the essay reading questions is unequal because the range of the total score is too far from the distribution of the lower order thinking skill. Finally, it concludes that the higher order thinking skill is not properly treated and practiced by the reading exercises in the English on Sky textbook, particularly the creating level which is not distribution in the reading exercises.
B.Suggestion
Based on the conclusion to the findings pointed above, the following suggestions are needed to be considered in conducting the related research.
1. For English teachers need to evaluate the materials and the exercises in
the textbook are appropriate for the students’ need and level. And the
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2. For the textbook authors need to generate a more complete range of educational objectives which involve cognitive processes that go beyond the lower order thinking skill by enriching some exercises which could train the students to have the higher order thinking skill or they can use this study to present the next textbook in balancing composition between content lower order thinking skill and higher order thinking skill.
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