THE USE OF SKIMMING STRATEGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION : A STUDY AT UNIVERSITY OF TIMOR
Penggunaan strategi skimming untuk meningkatkan pemahaman siswa dalam membaca : Studi di Universitas Timor
SEFRINA MARIA SEUK ASA P0600216403
ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
POST GRADUATE PROGRAM HASSANUDIN UNIVERSITY
MAKASAR
2018
THE USE OF SKIMMING STRATEGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’
READING COMPREHENSION (A Study at University of Timor)
Thesis
As a partial fulfillment to achieve Master Degree
Program
English Language Studies
Arranged and Proposed by
SEFRINA MARIA SEUK ASA
To
POST GRADUATE PROGRAM FACULTY OF CULTURAL SCIENCES
HASANUDDIN UNIVERSITY MAKASSAR
2018
THESIS
THE USE OF SKIM M ING STRATEGY TO IM PROVE STUDENTS* READING C O M PR EH EN SIO N S STUDY A T UNIVERSITY OF TIM O R
Written and Submitted by
SEFRINA M ARIA SEUK ASA R egister Num ber: P0600216403
Has been defended in front of the thesis examination committee On August 10^2018
Dr. H. Sudarmm Harnn. M.Hum.
Prof. Dr. Noer Jihad
ProfJ
" M U BCTDAYA
A STATEMENT OF THESIS AUTHENTICITY
The undersigned :
Name : Sefrina Maria Seuk Asa Register Number : P0600216403
Study Program : Bahasa Inggris
States truthfully that this thesis was the result of my own work. If it is proven later that some parts or entire parts of this thesis are the work of others, I am willing to accept any sanctions for my dishonesty.
Makassar, 10th August 2018
Sefrina Maria Seuk Asa
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, the researcher would like to express her great thanks to God, for all His blessing so this thesis can be finished which entitled " The Use of Skimming Strategy to Improve Students Reading Comprehension : A Study at University of Timor”. It is to fulfill one of the requirements to gain Master degree at English Language Studies HASSANUDIN UNIVERSITY for the realization of this thesis, the researcher wishes to express her sincere gratitude and appreciation to the following persons who had helped and supported on the process of completing this thesis:
1. Prof. Dr. Noer Jihad Saleh, M.A. and Dr. H. Sudarmin Harun, M.Hum. as the first and second supervisors who gave their time, guidance, suggestions, encouragement, and supports during the writing of this thesis.
2. Prof. Dr. M. L. Manda, M.A., M.Phiil and Dr. Abidin Pammu, M.A .and Dra.
Nasmilah, M.Hum., Ph.D as the examiners who gave many contributions in my thesis.
3. As the last Dr. Harlina Sahib, M.Hum as the current academic supervisor for all the supports and encouragements.
4. The Decan Fakulty of Cultural Sciences Prof. Dr. Akim Duli, MA and his staff.
5. All the lecturers of English Language Studies.
In addition, the researcher also wishes some critiques and suggestions from the readers to improve quantity and quality of this thesis . Lastly, the researcher also hopes that this thesis can be useful for the readers. Amin.
Makasar . . . . 08 / 2018
Sefrina Maria Seuk Asa
ABSTRACT
S E F R I N A M A R I A S E U K A S A . The Use o f Skimming Strategy to Improve Students Reading Comprehension, s u p e r v is e d b y N o e r J ih a d S aJeh a n d S u d a rm in H a ru n .
T h e re s e a r c h a im e d to fin d o u t th e e x te n t t o w h ic h s k im m in g s tr a te g y im p r o v e th e s tu d e n ts r e a d in g c o m p r e h e n s io n a n d T o e x p lo r e th e u s e o f s k im m in g te c h n iq u e to im p r o v e th e s tu d e n ts r e a d in g c o m p r e h e n s io n . T h e m e th o d u s e d in th is s tu d y w a s q u a n tita tiv e m e th o d b a s e d o n p r e - e x p e r im e n ta l. P r im a r y d a ta o f th is r e s e a r c h w e r e ta k e n fro m th e r e s u lt o f p r e - te s t a n d p o s t-te s t. B e tw e e n p r e - te s t a n d p o s t- te s t th e r e w a s a tr e a tm e n t w h ic h w a s tr a in in g th e s tu d e n ts in d o in g s k im m in g s tra te g y . T h e s e c o n d ry d a ta w e r e ta k e n f r o m th e lib ra ry ,in te rn e t, a n d jo u r n a l.
T h e r e s u lt o f th e re s e a rc h s h o w s th a t, m e a n s c o r e o f p o s t- te s t is h ig h e r th a n th e p r e - te s t. T h e m e a n s c o r e o f p re -te s t w a s 3 9 .3 8 a n d th e p o s t- te s t w a s 7 3 .5 0 . T h is m e a n s th a t, a f te r th e tr e a tm e n t th e s tu d e n ts g a in e d h ig h e r m e a n s c o r e in p o s t- te s t, th e r e a s e a r c h e r f o u n d th a t t- te s t v a lu e w a s 1 3 .6 8 a n d t- ta b le w a s 2 .0 9 3 in th e le v e l s ig n if ic a n c e 0 .0 0 0 < 0 .0 5 . T h e r e s e a r c h e r a ls o s h o w e d th a t th e t- te s t w a s 1 3 .6 8 , g r e a te r th a n t- ta b le 2 .0 9 3 in 5 % le v e l o f s ig n if ic a n c e 1 3 .6 8 > 2 .0 9 3 . T h is s h o w s th a t, th e r e w a s a s ta tis tic a lly s ig n if ic a n t im p ro v e m e n t o f s tu d e n ts ’ r e a d in g c o m p r e h e n s io n . T h is s u g g e s ts th a t th e s k im m in g te c h n iq u e c a n f a c ilita te th e s tu d e n ts to im p ro v e th e ir r e a d in g c o m p r e h e n s io n .
ABSTRAK
S E F R I N A M A R I A S E U K A S A . Penggunaan Strategi Skimming untuk Meningkatkan
Pemahaman Membaca Siswa, d ib im b in g o ie h N o e r J ih a d S a le h d a n S u d a rm in H a ru n . P e n e litia n ini b e r tu ju a n u n tu k m e n g e ta h u i s e ja u h m a n a s tra te g i s k im m in g m e n in g k a tk a n p e m a h a m a n m e m b a c a s is w a d a n u n tu k m e n g e k s p lo r a s i p e n g g u n a a n te k n ik s k im m in g u n tu k m e n in g k a tk a n p e m a h a m a n m e m b a c a s is w a .M e to d e y a n g d ig u n a k a n d a la m p e n e litia n ini a d a la h m e to d e q u a n tita tiv e p r e - e x p e r im e n ta i. D a ta u ta m a d a ri p e n e litia n in i d i a m b il d a r i h a sil p r e - te s t d a n p o s t- te s t. D ia n ta r a p r e - te s t d a n p o s t- te s t ini a d a tr e a tm e n t u n tu k m e la tih s is w a m e la k u k a n s tra te g i s k im m in g .
H a s il p e n e litia n m e n u n ju k k a n b a h w a n ila i r a ta - r a ta p o s t- te s t le b ih tin g g i d a r i p r e te s t. N ila i r a ta - r a ta p r e - te s t a d a la h 3 8 ,3 9 , h in g g a p o s t- te s t a d a la h 7 3 ,5 0 . Ini b e r a rti, s e te la h p e la k s a n a a n tr e a tm e n t, s is w a m e m ilik i n ila i r a ta - r a ta y a n g le b ih tin g g i s e te la h te s , p e n e litia n m e n u n ju k a n n ila i t-te s t a d a la h 13,68 d a n t- ta b e l a d a la h 2 ,0 9 3 b e r a d a p a d a le v e l s ig n if ik a n s i 0 , 0 0 0 0 . 0 5 s e h in g g a t- te s t j u g a m e n u n ju k k a n b a h w a t- te s t 1 3 .6 8 le b ih b e s a r d a r i t- ta b e l 2 .0 9 3 d i le v e l s ig n if ik a n s i 5 % 1 3 .6 8 > 2 .0 9 3 . A d a p e n in g k a ta n p e m a h a m a n m e m b a c a s is w a y a n g s ig n ifik a n s e c a ra s ta tis tik . In i m e n u n ju k k a n b a h w a te k n ik s k im m in g d a p a t m e m f a s ilita s i s is w a u n tu k m e n in g k a tk a n p e m a h a m a n b a c a a n m e re k a .
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE ...i
ACKNOWLEDGMENT... ii
ABSTRACT ... iii
ABSTRAK...iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS...v
LIST OF TABLE ... vi
LIST OF APPENDICES ... vii
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study... 1
B. Statement of the Problems... 5
C. Research Questions... 6
D. Objective of the Study... 6
E. Significance of the Study... 6
F. Scope of the Problems... 7
G. Research Terms ... 7
H. Organization of the Paper... 8 CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
B. Theoretical Background... 11
1. The Concept of Reading ... 11
a. Definition of Reading...11
b. Reading Purposes ... 13
c. Type of Reading ... 14
d. Aspect of Reading ... 15
e. Reading Process ... 17
f. Definition of Reading Comprehension... 18
g. Teaching Reading...20
2. Concept of Skimming Technique ... 23
3. The Advantage And Disadvantages Skimming Technique ... 25
4. Teaching Reading Through Skimming ... 26
C. Conceptual Framework... 31
D. Hypothesis...32
E. Operational Definition... 33
CHAPTER III : METHOD OF THE RESEARCH A. Research Design... 34
B. Research Instruments ... 35
C. Research setting ... 36
D. Population and Sample ... 36
E. Data Collection...37
F. Research Procedure ... 38
G. Technique of Analyzing Data... 40
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Findings ... 43 B. Discussion... 48 CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion... 52 B. Sugesstions... 53 BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES
LIST OF TABLES
Page
1. Table 1. The Score of the Students’ Pre-Test
and Post-Test... 44 2. Table 2. The Classification And Frequency of
Students’ Pre-Test... 45 3. Table 3. The Classifacation and Frequency of the Students’
Post-Test Score... 46 4. Table 4. The Result of Students Reading Comprehension
Mean Score from Pre-Test and Post-Test ... 47 5. Table 5. The Result of T-Test of the Students Reading
Comprehension Score from Pre-Test and Post-Test... 48
LIST OF THE APPENDIES
Appendix page
1. Lesson Plan... 59 2. T e st... 69 3. Key Answer... 77 4. The students’ score of pre-test and
post-test... 78 5. Mean score pre-test and post-test... 79 6. Standar deviation the students pre-test and post-test ... 80 7. Standar deviattion of experimental class... 81 8. Result of the T -test... 82
9. T-table 83
CHAPTER I INRODUCTION
This chapter discusses introduction of the research which deals several points, i.e. background of the study, statement of the problems, research questions, objective of the research, significance of the research, scope of the research, and research of terms, organization of the paper.
A. Background of the study
Reading is an important skill in teaching and learning English since it is one of four basic language skills that students have to master besides listening, speaking, and writing. Comprehension in reading is the process of extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language (Caldwell, 2008: 4). Consequently, it is necessary that the students should be encouraged to apply a good and effective technique in reading so that they are able to get the information from the text.
It is certainly not easy to present the English reading to Indonesian students whose language system is different. Reading in their own language is much easier than that of the language learned because they have mastered the vocabulary and the structure of their own. Reading plays an important role in language learning, would be better that this
teaching is wisely done. To understand a text students must have a good command of the vocabulary of the target language. The reader uses knowledge, skills and strategies to determine what is the text meaning.
Writing is an act of discovery, of communication, of joy. It connects us to work, to culture, to society, to existe knowledge, and to the meanings of our lives.
Based on the observasion at University of Timor, the researcher see the teacher/lecture who taught English subject at University of Timor, a crucial problem was found in relation to comprehension of a text. When he/she taught reading comprehension, he/she found that the students did not understand what they read and the student did not get the information from the text. So, students at University of Timor difference with students at University Hassanudin because the students at University of Timor have low level about reading comprehension especially skimming text and students at University Hassanudin have an understanding of skimming text. Therefor,students at University of Timor need to be taught the skimming strategy to improve students’ reading comprehension and the students have low level of reading awareness and also the students need some particular information from the text quickly, such as the name of a person and place, and date of certain event. Hence, students must have the ability to identify particular information and the main idea from the texts.
Therefore,the students are always required to obtain the information which is written in the text. By acquiring the knowledge and information from the text, the students will be able to develop their mind because if the students understand the written words, their mind will grow in its ability. When the students receive the new information of a text, students will also be able to discover the new things. Therefore, the students who get a new knowledge by understanding the gist of particular text they read, will be able to develop themselves in any areas and capability they are interested in.
Alvermann & Moore (1991) investigate that students are assigned to read increasingly complex materials, but teachers spend little time showing them how to be strategic. Therefore, it is very important to encourage the students to create a different perspectives on why the reading practice is important for themselves. Based on researcher’s experience, the students tended to gain a low reading comprehension score. It was commonly caused by their difficulties in finding main idea and discovering particular information, especially in a limited time. Therefore, it is necessary to guide the students in applying the proper technique to obtain the information from the text appropriately and quickly.
By reading, the students are required to improve their knowledge.
Although the reading activity is quite familiar for students, there were still some confusions among them in discovering specific information from the text. Based on researcher’s experience at the University of Timor, the
students tended to gain a low reading comprehension score. It was commonly caused by their difficulties in finding main idea and discovering particular information, especially in a limited time. The students usually encountered some difficulties in reading comprehension.
So, A well known technique which is recognized as an effective strategy to encourage students’ capability in getting information and main idea is skimming. Skimming the text can be very helpful when the readers could get the gist of what is being written about, without all the details.
When the readers skim certain page, they take the main ideas from the reading material without reading all the words. They look for and apprehend upon words that appear to give the main meaning. Readers also skim when time is short or when they need to understand the general ideas but not the particulars of certain article or book. Skimming is taking the most important information from the page without reading all the words. When the readers perform speed reading, they glance to the extent that they don’t fixate on all the words. In effect, the readers weed out some words and focus on the remaining ones. However, skimming takes the notion of passing by some words to another level. In the act of skimming, the readers focus only on the substantial ideas and skip over the insignificant, marginal, and indegligible parts.
Susanti (2013:84), skimming technique is one of reading strategies which is presumed to help students in overcoming difficulties in reading,
apply the appropriate skimming technique procedure to improve students’
achievement in reading comprehension. It is necessary to provide students’ opportunities in understanding the exact procedure of skimming technique. Skimming is considered as a useful speed reading technique in identifying specific information and main idea, especially the students at University of Timor in comprehending. Based on this background, the researcher wants to conduct a research on the use of skimming technique to improve students’ reading comprehension.
Brown (2004:213) explains that skimming is the process of rapid coverage of reading matter to determine its gist or main idea. When the readers skim certain page, they take the main ideas from the reading material without reading all the words. In the act of skimming, the readers focus only on the substantial ideas and skip over the insignificant, marginal, and indegligible parts. Unfortunately, during the teaching learning process, the teachers rarely applied skimming technique, due to lack of information and knowledge about this technique. The application of skimming which was not optimally organized made this condition is leading the students in to the ability of gaining sufficient reading comprehension.
B. Statement of the problem
Based on the background above there are many students who get problem in English, so the problem is:
1. The students had a low achievement in reading comprehension, which consists of identifying main idea.
2. The students need to be taught the technique of skimming.
C. Research Questions
Based on the explaination above , the researcher fomulated the following reasearch question:
1. To what extent does skimming strategy improve students’ reading comprehension?
2. How does skimming strategy improve reading comprehension?
D. Objective of the research
The objectives of this research are:
1. To find out the extent to which skimming strategy improve the students reading comprehension
2. To explore the use of skimming technique to improve the students reading comprehension
E. Significance of the Research The results are genarally expected to be:
1. Theoretically, the result of this research may give the contribution and support for the previous research concerning the use of skimming technique in improving students’ reading comprehension.
2. Practically, this research can be useful for English teachers to implement the skimming technique to improve the students’ reading comprehension.
F. Scope of the Problems
This research was conducted to analyze skimming technique. The technique that was utilized to improve the students’ reading comprehension. The tests were conducted in multiple choice form. The questions that included in test were the questions associated with reading comprehension concepts, i.e. main idea. The sample is restricted to second semester students at University of Timor.
G. Research Terms
The definitions of certain terms are presented below for making clear what readers interpret toward this research studies about.
1. Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the ability to understanding a reading text especially in finding general information, specific information, textual meaning and textual reference of the reading text.
2. Skimming
Skimming technique is to quickly identify the main ideas in the text. This technique is about reading that uses the faster speed than reading commonly.
H. Organization of the Paper
This research thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one comprises background of the study, statement of the problems, research questions, objective of the research, significance of the research, scope of the research, research terms and organization of the paper. Chapter two consists of previous of study, theoretical background, Conceptual Framework, Hypotheses. Chapter three includes research design, research setting, technique of data collection and technique of data analysis. Chapter four consists of findings and discussion, and the last, chapter five consists of conclusion.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
In this chapter provides previous related studies, theoretical background, conceptual framework and hypothesis.
A. Previous Related Studies
Previous studies are concerned with the presentation of current information and theories available on the subject regarding the study. The point of previous studies is to elaborate a deep understanding of the theories previously. The previous studies include the presentation of previous research done by other researchers. Therefore, it will provide comprehensive information regarding areas that have been covered regarding the topic being investigated in the current study.
The first previous study was conducted by Muawanah (2011) which entitled ‘Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension Ability of Recount Text through Scanning and Skimming Technique’. The result of the research indicated that there was a significant improvement of students’
reading comprehension ability of recount text after being taught through scanning and skimming technique.
The second previous research was conducted by Hutabarat (2012), which intended to find out ‘The Effect of Applying Skimming Technique on
Grade XI Students’ Reading Comprehension’ of SMA Methodist 7 Medan.
The result of the study was that the students who were taught by applying skimming technique had better reading comprehension scores and it also helped the students to get the main idea easily. It was also found that there was significant effect of applying skimming technique on students’
reading comprehension, so that the teachers were advised to apply the most suitable reading technique for students.
The third previous study entitled ‘A Study of Teaching Reading Comprehension of Hortatory Exposition Text Using Skimming and Scanning’ to the eleventh grade students of SMAN 7 Kediri conducted by Anjarwati (2015). It intended to find out how the implementation of teaching reading comprehension of hortatory exposition text using skimming and scanning was. From the findings of the research, it was concluded that skimming and scanning make the students easier and quicker in comprehending the text.
Based on the previous studies above, it can be stated that all above mentioned studies reaffirmed the importance of the use of precise reading technique to improve students’ reading comprehension, in this case is the skimming technique. However, there were still some issues which have not been investigated, those were the detailed information about what the most improved reading aspect is and how the students’ response is after being taught through skimming technique. Therefore, this research was
concerning the use of skimming technique in improving students’ reading comprehension.
B. Theoretical Background
The present investigation is based on the following theoretical background: (1) The concept of reading; a) definition of reading, b) reading purposes, c) type of reading, d) aspek of reading, e) reading process, f) definition of reading comprehension, g) teaching reading and (2) Concept of Skimming technique; (3) The advantages and disavantages skimming technique, (4) Teaching reading through skimming. Each of these headings is briefly discussed in this part.
1. The concept of Reading a. Definition of Reading
Reading is not just a passive and a receptive process, but an active and interactive process between the reader and the writer through the medium of a text. It means that reading cannot stand a part from both the reader and what is written. Williams (1984:2) states that reading is a process whereby one looks at and understand what has been written in it.
According to William (1984:9) Reading is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately.
It means that reading is type symbol, words from our mind to letter, and reader can know also to get information knowledge from the text itself.
According to Harmer (2007:99) Reading is useful for language acquisition.
It means that we can get more knowledge from the reading. By reading we can understand the target language. Students can improve their language with what they read from the texts, they can learn target language from reading comprehension.
Reading is an activity to get idea between the researcher and the reader to understand what they read. In English Foreign Language (EFL) reading is one of the most important factors in assessing learner’s linguistic competence. However, its skill for reader should be master in good reading skill to get information or ideas from the act of communication. Silberstein Sandra (1994:12) says that, reading is complex information processing skill in which the reader interacts with text in order to create meaningfull discourse and reading is an activity or interaction between the reader and the text get information or meaning of the text depends on what the reader need.
In order words, in reading activity the readers have connected between her/his eyes and brain to get the meaning of the text and the readers have to effort to understand of the text by the build readers critical thinking. Reading is number of special focuses to reader or students.
Many students often have reading as one of their important goal to be able to read for information and pleasure for their career and for their study purpose. According to Grellet (1981), reading is continuous process guessing. Moreover there are interacting dynamically from the reader to
process to understand the text by guessing. Thus reading, an active or receptive skill rather than passive skill bacause the reader automatically gets the information or ideas by doing knowledge in his/her brain to get the ideas from the text.
From the explaining above, there are a lot of definitions about reading. It can be concluded that reading is a process to understand the ideas between the reader and the writer to get information from the text to draw a conclusion of the information.
b. Reading Purposes
According to Harmer (2007), there are three reasons why students read English text, such as career, education and pleasure.
Reading for career. Reading for career includes developing knowledge of something that they are interested in by reading. It is possible what they read; it can be useful for their careers later. For example, an EFL student who wants to be an English writer, he must read many books, articles or other reading resources to have a good writing because through reading he can learn how good English writing is written.
Reading for education. One way to get a good achievement in learning process is through reading an English texts, especially for EFL students. Reading activity can support the development of language skill.
As Harmer (2007) wrote down in his book, How to Teach English, reading is useful for language acquisition. It implies that if students read many
books, they will get much input that affect for their English learning development.
Reading for pleasure. For this purpose, students spend their spare times with reading for entertaining themselves, whether magazines, comics, or novels and so on. They enjoy the activity because reading is one of their favourite hobbies.
c. Type of Reading
Reading can be categorized into some types regarding the porposes of the readers. In this regard, Brown (2004 :186 - 187) purposes two types of reading, namely: Extensive Reading and Intensive Reading.
1) Extensive Reading
Extensive reading is extensive reading is focused on understanding in the longer text and then it can be easier because this activity can be done outside the classroom and in any kind of the literary. However, extensive reading concentrates in larger text and can be read outside at the class time.
2) Intensive reading
Intensive reading is associated with short texts used to make students explore the meaning and get familiar with the writing mechanism.The learners will pay more attention on the surface structure details to get the literal meanings, implications, rhetorical
relationships, and others. This reading is sometimes called content related reading which deals with short texts.
d. Aspects of Reading
Nuttal (1982) states that there are five reading skills that the readers should master to comprehend the text profoundly, those are:
1) Identifying Main Idea
Every single paragraph has a main idea, in which it is the gist or conclusion of the whole text. One of the objectives of reading is finding the main idea of a text. It is a common goal in reading
instruction or in reading test (Sutarsyah, 2013:173).
Moreover, Suparman (2011:233) states that,no reading without undertstanding the main idea. Therefore, by identifying the main idea of a text, the students will be able to understand the contents contained in the text. By recognizing the main idea, the students will also take a stance whetherthe reading activity should be read as a whole, or it should not be continued because the contents have been understood. Therefore they will be able to summarize the text effectively. By identifying the main idea, the students will also determine whether the topic of the text is interesting or not.
2) Identifying Details
Segretto (2002:12), supporting details provide the readers more information about main idea or subject of a main idea of the passage. By recognizing the details of a text, the readers will be
able to see the big picture of the text. Therefore a lot of information that readers can obtain by identifying details of a text.
c) Finding Reference
In understanding the text, it is necessary for the readers to understand how the sentences are related. Words like it, they, he, she, his, her, its, that, their, and there refer to other parts of the text.The readers should be able to recognize what those common words refer to. Latullipe in Marsiyah (2009) defines that reference is the words or phrases used either before or after the main subject in the reading material.
d) Making Inference
Developing inference is coming to a conclusion after considering all the facts; one of comprehension strategies to make conclusion of what is not directly stated in the text based on clues given (Suparman, 2011:233). The readers take clues from the text and combine the clues with their experiences to draw a conclusions and inferences since the texts do not always tell everything to the readers.
e) Understanding Vocabulary
Linan et al. (2007:87) states that the role of vocabulary in reading is clearly understood: vocabulary knowledge, the understanding of words meaning and their use, contributes to reading comprehension and knowledge building. The readers
cannot understand a text without knowing what most of the words mean.
e. Reading Process
According to Brown (2007), there are three processes that cover how reading activity works.
1) Bottom-up Processing. It refers to the stage of reading by knowing the meaning of all words in texts to get the idea. The first things the reader must do: 1) knowing a multiplicity of linguistic signals, such as letters, morphemes, syllables, words, phrases, grammatical cues, and discourse markers, and 2) using their linguistic data-processing mechanism to impose some sort of order on these signals to receive the data, then the reader selects the signals that make some sense, that is meaning (Brown, 2007: 358).
2) Top-down Processing. This process considers the reader is at the heart of the reading process than the text (Nunan, 1991: 65).
Nunan (1991) continued that this approach emphasized the reconstruction of meaning rather than decoding of form. It implies that in this process the reader is required to know the core of texts content without identifying the meaning of each word in the texts.
3) Interactive Processing. It is a combined process between bottom- up and top-down processes. This process assumes that a reader uses both processes when reading. According to Stanovich (1980) in Nunan (1991), this process suggests that readers read texts by
using information provided simultaneously from different sources, so they can cover the absences at one level by using knowledge at other levels. These sources include all those looked at separately in bottom-up and top-down processes, that is, phonological, lexical, syntactic, semantic and discourse knowledge.
From the discussion above, it can be concluded that there are three types in the process of reading. They are bottom-up processing, top- down processing, and interactive processing. Bottom-up processing deals with the word recognition. Top-down processing deals with the readers’ background knowledge. The last, interactive processing combines the top-down and bottom-up processing. Here, interactive processing combines word recognition and background knowledge of the readers. The three processes help the readers to comprehend the text they read.
f. Definition of Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning involving the written language by interpreting textual information in the light of prior knowledge and experiences using appropriate and efficient comprehension strategies (Snow, 2002; Mikulecky & Jeffries, 1990;
Johnson 2008). The process of constructing meaning is the process in which the reader combines their prior knowledge with the additional information from a text, draw the meaning of words, and connect it to
reach the clear understanding of the written text (Pang, et al., 2003: 14).
In this process, the reader uses their prior knowledge about the topic, language structure, and text structure to understand the writer’s message (Lenz, 2005:1). In the process of understanding the message which is stated or unstated in the text, the reader also needs to use various strategies such as predicting, clarifying, and confirming. Those are all strategies used by the reader for the negotiation of meaning.
Besides, Jenkins at. all in Klingner (2007 : 8) defines that reading comprehension involves much more than readers' responses to text.
Reading comprehension is a multicomponent, highly complex process that involves many interactions between readers and what they bring to the text (previous knowledge, strategy use) as well as variables related to the text itself (interest in text, understanding of text types). He also states that reading comprehension is not only the process of reading the words correctly but also the reader have to understand what they say. In fact, the reader not only need to understand what they say but also must be able to go beyond the literal meaning of the text, think critically about the message, appreciate what the authors trying to say and understand when the reader do not understand.
From the definition above, reading comprehension can be defined as the process in which the readers construct meaning from a text connected to the background knowledge they have to get the clear understanding of the writer’s message.
g. Teaching Reading
Reading is an activity with a purpose. The readers may read to gain information, verify existing knowledge, or for enjoyment. Suparman (2005: 1) states that there are two major reasons for reading: (1) reading for pleasure; (2) reading for information (in order to find out something or in order to do something with the information readers get).One area of teaching reading skills is to stress the interactive process that takes place between the reader and the text, which results in comprehension of the material. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning. The readers use knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what the meaning of printed or written symbols are.
Hedge (2003) states that any reading component of an English language teaching may conclude a set of learning goals for:
1) The ability to read a wide range of texts in English. This is the long-range goal most teachers seek to develop through independent readers outside EFL/ESL classroom.
2) Building knowledge of language which will facilitate reading ability.
3) Building schematic knowledge.
4) The ability to adapt the reading technique according to reading purpose (i.e. skimming, scanning).
5) Developing an awareness of the structure of written texts in English.
6) Taking a critical stance to the contents of the texts. Therefore it is important to improve students’ ability to apply a proportional reading technique according to reading purpose, as the goal in teaching reading. Suparman (2005: 143) states that in teaching reading, contemporary reading tasks, unlike the traditional materials, involve three-phase procedures: pre-, while, and post
reading stages. The pre-reading stage will helpthe students activate the relevant schema. For example, teachers can ask students some questions that arouse their interest while previewing the text. The aim of while-reading stage (or interactive process) is to develop students’ ability in tackling texts by developing their linguistic and schematic knowledge.
Post-reading includes activities which enhance learning comprehension using matching exercises, cloze exercises, cut
up sentences, and comprehension questions. Pakharee (2011) states that teaching reading is a process by which individuals are taught to derive meaning from the text.
To accomplish this goal, the teacher should focus on the process of reading:
1) Developing students' awareness of the reading process and reading strategies by asking students to think and talk about how they read in their native language.
2) Allowing students to practice the full repertoire of reading strategies by using authentic reading tasks. They encourage students to read to learn (and have an authentic purpose for reading) by giving students some choice of reading material.
3) Showing students the strategies that will work best for the reading purpose and the type of text when working with reading tasks in class. They explain how and why students should use the strategies.
4) Having students to practice reading strategies in class and asking them to practice outside of class in their reading assignments. They encourage students to be conscious of what they're doing while they complete reading assignments.
5) Encouraging students to evaluate their comprehension and self
report their use of strategies. They build comprehension checks into in-class and out-of-class reading assignments, and periodically review how and when to use particular strategies.
6) Encouraging the development of reading skills and the use of reading strategies by using the target language to convey instructions and courserelated information in written form: office hours, homework assignments, and test content.
7) Never assuming that students will transfer strategy use from one task to another. They explicitly mention how a particular strategy can be used in a different type of reading task or with another skill.
To conclude, teaching reading means that the instructor (teacher) encourages the students to acquire the information from the text by applying effective techniques and strategies, which correspond to the purpose of reading. By raising students' awareness of reading as a skill that requires active engagement, and by explicitly teaching reading strategies, the teacher helps their students develop their ability. Hence, the teacher also plays a fundamental role for students’ success in reading comprehension.
2. Concept of Skimming Technique
Skimming is a technique that enables the reader to cover a vast amount of material very rapidly. Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. People often skim when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time. According to Sutz and Weverka (2015), when the readers skim a page, they take the main ideas from the reading material without reading all the words. The readers look for and seize upon words that appear to give the main meaning. Sutz and Weverka also consider that the term comes from the act of skimming milk, when the dairy farmer skims the cream - the richest material - from the top of the milk before it’s processed. In skimming certain text, the readers hunt for
the choicest information and hope important material doesn’t pass by them.
Readers skim when time is short or when they need to understand the general ideas but not the particulars of an article or book. It takes three or four times faster than normal reading. According to Sutarsyah (2013:64), some of the words are not so important to understand that the readers may neglect them since they sometimes do not really connect to the idea being searched. The readers do not need to observe every single words in the text. Skimming takes place while reading and allows the readers to look for details in addition to the main ideas.
Brown (2004:213) explains that skimming is the process of rapid coverage of reading matter to determine its gist or main idea. Skimming is useful when the readers want to survey a text to get a general idea of what it is about in skimming the readers ignore the details and look for the main ideas. Main ideas are usually found in the first sentences of each paragraph and in the first and last paragraphs so that it is also useful to pay attention to the org anization of the text.
Soedarso (2004:16) says that skimming technique is appropriate to be utilized in some reading purposes, such as:
1) recognizing the reading topic,
2) understanding people’s opinion towards the topic being discussed,
3) obtaining substantial part that the readers need without reading the whole text,
4) understanding the writing organization, and 5) refreshing towards the reading material.
The readers need a suitable technique of reading that provides the students’ requirement in comprehending the text effectively. By utilizing the skimming technique optimally, students will be able to identify the particular information from the text more quickly, rather than the conventional reading.
3. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Skimming Technique
The advantages and disadvantages of skimming are explained as follows:
The followings are some advantages of skimming technique:
Advantages
a) The students are able to get the information quickly, directly and specifically.
b) The students are aware of the benefits of the information available inreading materials both authentic and inauthentic since this technique also prepares the students to be readers.
c) The students are aware of reading strategy used to find the stated and unstated information in certain text, as this technique does not only focus on asking the students how to do reading
test, but also focus on equipping the students with the technique used in different texts.
Disadvantages
The followings are some disadvantages of skimming technique, those are:
a) It needs a high accuracy in determining the precise time for reading activity, so the teacher should allocate the time appropriately.
b) If the students have many problems in reading, the teacher will need extra time and creativity to decide the various solutions.
c) It will possibly make the teacher need to prepare students to face the possibility of the occurance of many question types.
4. Teaching Reading through Skimming
It depends on somebody’s purpose for reading so that they must decide the most effective reading strategy to achieve a good reading comprehension. The conventional reading technique, which requires the readers to read the whole passage, will take a longer time. Hence, it also makes the readers bored and eventually eliminate the readers’
concentration. Commonly, in certain reading test, the readers are only required to answer several questions related to the passage. The readers only need the gist of the passage to obtain particular information.
Therefore, it is necessary for the readers to apply a precise skimming technique to get an overview.
In applying skimming technique, the readers should also involve the precise eye movement. To skim a text, the reader should only glance over the text to find the main ideas. They need to find the answers of the questions given by glancing quickly over the surface of the text, andreading selected important parts rapidly in order to get an overview of content and organization. The instruction given to the readers can be to locate facts that are expressed insentences rather than in single word; or they also can be asked to say briefly what the text is about by giving specific questions.
Beare (2017) suggests that it is a good idea to do some awareness raising of the various types of reading skills that the students use naturally in their own mother tongue before beginning the exercise. Therefore, procedures of teaching reading through skimming proposed by Beare can be elaborated as follows:
a) Doing a short awareness raising session by asking the students how to make decision based on schedules and short articles. It means to make the students aware of the goal of skimming the particular text. The teacher should focus on whether they read every word or they read in strict order. The teacher should explain that by skimming text they will be able to find the elements that are worth the most to them and leave what they don't really need or want behind.
b) Asking the students to pay attention to the title of the text. Students should read the title and any subtitles to obtain clues about the nature of the text. Titles will indicate the genre of the text, and it is the shortest possible summary of the content.
c) Providing the initial questions related to the topic in order to make picture of what approximately the students would discover from the text.
d) Guiding the students to perform the main stage of skimming technique to the text, which consists of:
1) Reading the introduction or lead-in paragraph.
2) Reading the first paragraph completely.
3) Reading each one of subheadings, if provided, in order to looking for relationships among them.
4) Reading the first sentence of each remaining paragraph. The main idea of most paragraphs appears in the first sentence. If the author's pattern begins with a question or anecdote, the readers may find the last sentence is more valuable.
5) Dipping into the text looking for:
a. Clue words that answer who, what, when, where, why, how,
b. Proper nouns,
c. Unusual words, especially if capitalized, d. Enumerations,
e. Qualifying adjectives such as best, worst, most, etc,
f. Typographical cues, such as italics, boldface, underlining, asterisks, etc.
6) Reading the last sentence in each paragraph, which summarizes or concludes the ideas in the preceding sentences.
7) Reading the final paragraph completely.
e) Evaluating the students’ comprehension towards the text, by asking them to list some specific information and answer the questions concerning the text.
f) Doing an extend activity by bringing a number of magazines concerning with music, entertainment, traveling or similar activity and asking the students to complete the task; e.g., finding the information of a famous person.The teacher asked the student to do the advanced exercise by proper skimming technique. In guiding the students to perform the proper skimming technique, the teacher should be able to direct the students to think of the text critically.
The teacher could also model how to use the key words to locate specific information. In conducting the reading activity at the class, the researcher used the following procedure:
1) Pre-reading:
a. The teacher brought up the competence that students would attain. The teacher introduced the skimming technique to the students.
b. The teacher asked the students to answer some initial questions related to the text., such as: ‘Have you ever heard this place?’ ‘Have you ever visited this place?’ ‘What is in your mind when you hear the name of that place?’
The teacher could also ask their arguments or comments about the topic. The students would use their schemata to correlate their background knowledge with the topic of text that would be presented.
c. The teacher announced that this reading activity required them to perform it quickly, so the students should apply the skimming technique precisely. The teacher explained the detailed procedure of skimming technique.
2) Post-reading
The teacher inspected the students’ comprehension by doing a brief discussion concerning the materials had been learned. This activity involved the students’ opinion about the use of skimming in reading comprehension.
In explaining the procedures of skimming, the teacher should also emphasize that there are several things that should not be done when applying skimming, those are:
a) Reading every single words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs too detailed. The whole text should be ‘swept’ to find the particular
b) Being too engrossed in reading the whole text, especially the texts in examination, since it can waste the time.
c) Not understanding what to look out of the text or not understanding what he/she want from the text. Persisting on those things would cause the waste of time and make the skimming process.
C. Conceptual framework
This research would investigated the use of skimmming technique in improving students' reading comprehension ( A study at University of Timor). By giving reading comprehension test to the students to know their reading comprehension skill
D. Hyphotesis
Based on the conceptual framework, the researcher has two hypotheses, namely:
1. H1: There is a significant of skimming strategy can improves the students’ reading comprehension
2. H0: There is no significant of skimming strategy cannot improves the students’ reading comprehension.
E. Operational Definition
1. Skimming technique is one of technique strategies with the speed of reading to look for the important things or main idea in the text.
2. Reading comprehension is the power to get an idea or meaning from a written text, understand it according to experiential background or prior knowledge.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the research design, research instruments, research setting, population and sample, procedure of collecting data, and technique of data analysis.
A. Research Design
The research was quantitative based on the pre-experimental by using one group pre-test and post-test. The research was carried out to find out the result of implementing skimming technique in improving students’ reading comprehension. The researcher used one group pre-test and post-test design. The researcher conducted the research to see whether there would be a significant difference of students reading comprehension after treatment using skimming technique. Before the treatments, pre-test was carried out and after six times of treatments, a post-test was conducted
The research design is presented as follow:
T1 X T2 Where:
T 1 = Pre test X = Treatments T2 = Post test
(Setiyadi, 2006: 40)
1. T1: Pre test to measure the students perfomance skimming strategy before treatment.
2. X: the use of skimming strategy in treatment
3. T2: is post test to measure the students after treatment X.
4. To compare the result of T1 and T2.
5. To apply a suitable statistical test in terms of t-test to determine whether the difference significant by use SPSS.
a significant difference of students reading comprehension after treatment using skimming technique. Before the treatments, pre-test was carried out and after six times of treatments, a post-test was conducted.
This study investigates whether the implementation of skimming technique can be used to improve the students’ reading comprehension ability, especially in identifying the specific information and finding the main idea significantly in reading text. The research was organized by comparing the average score (mean) of the pre-test with the average score (mean) of post-test. So, pre-test and post- test to compare the result of the pre-test and post-test.
B. Research Instrument
In collecting data, the researcher used three kinds of instruments;
pre-test, treatment and post-test. In pre-test, students were asked to read
a text and answer the question related to the text. Treatment, the students learn about the skimming strategy. Pre-test was performed to obtain data regarding the students' ability in reading comprehension before the treatment. Meanwhile, in post-test, students were examined by using same level of texts and questions. The purpose is to know the students' development after implementing the technique. As the pre-test, treatment, post-test was also handed to pre- experimental by using one group pre
test and post-test.
C. Research Setting
The research was conducted at University of Timor (UNIMOR) Kefamenanu. The researchers choose one group to compare the result before and after treatment by implementing the Skimming reading technique. The researcher was starting to research on March to April 2018.
D. Population and Sample
The population of this research reflects of the research. Population of every research should be stated in relation with the umber of population and research area coverd (Usman and Akbar 2008: 42). Popuulation is a group which is tearted by research as the object to generalize the result of research (Frankel and Wallen, 1990:68).
The population for this research was second semester students at University of Timor consisting of classes A,B,C and D, the number of students is 25 for each classroom. So, the total of population is 100
students. the writer took two classes for sample: the researcher took the samples randomly in class A and B. The number of students chosen in class A is 10 students and in class B is 10 students, after randomization process the writer chosed only 20 students as an experimental class.
The population is homogenous, because of this condition, the writer chose randomly sampling technique.
E. Data Collection
The instrument of this research was the reading text. The data was analyzed from the result of the following activites, those were :
Pre-test and Post-test
The researcher administred the pre-test which took 45 minutes. The purpose of pre-test was to discover the preliminary ability to comprehend reading text. In conducting the pre-test, the researcher provided a multiple choice test in which the items derive from the selection of reading text.
The researcher administered the post- test which also spent 45 minutes. The purpose of this test was to explore the students’
improvement in comprehending reading text after the researcher treated using skimming technique. The technique of giving post-test is similar to the pre-test because the researcher wanted to analyze the students improvement after six treatments.
F. Research Procedure
Following are the procedure in collecting data of this research : Pre-test
Pre-test was administered to the students before the implementation of treatment. As mentioned before, the aim of conducting the pre-test is to find out the students’ prior knowledge and their level of reading comprehension.
Treatment
After pre-test, the research give the treatment of the students reading comprehension
Meetings Materials Time
Meeting 1 Pre-test 45 menits
meeting 2 Skimming the text
entitled is The Navajo Indias
1 hour & 45 menits
Meeting 3 skimming the text
entitled is Intelligence and Reasoning
1 hour & 45 menits
Meeting 4 Skimmming the text
entitled is Poem Evangeline
1 hour & 45 menits
Meeting 5 Skimming the text entitled is North Atlantic
1 hour & 45 menits
Meeting 6 Post-test 45 menits
The treatment was administrered for 6 meetings. In the first meeting the writer gave the pre-test. The second, reasearcher explained about the definition of skimming strategy to the students and gave example. The third to the four meetings, the researcher gave the students about how to found the main idea in a reading text and they are guided to comprehend the reading text by using skimming strategy and the last meeting the research gave the post-test to meansure the students about skimming strategy.
Post-test
After giving treatments to the students, the researcher conducted the post-test to measure the student’s reading comprehension ability after being given the treatments. The questions in post-test weren’t the same with the pre-test questions. The scoring system was also the same as pre
test.
Analyzing the data (Pre-test and Post-test)
The final step of the research was analyzing the data. The pre-test and Post-test results in reading class and in experimental were analyzed
by using formula by Gay, 2006: 334) to compare the data t-test of the two means score. The researcher analyzed the difference by comparing the scores of pre-test and post-test from the students. The data was computed through Statistical formula. The researcher analyzed the students’ score from pre-test and post-test then made a discussion concerning the result.
G. Technique of Analyzing Data Test results analysis
The methods of analyzing the data from both experimental reseach based on the pre-experimental were calculated as follows:
1. Scoring the students' correct answer in pre-test and post-test using the following formula by Depdiknas (2005) in Rahim (2016).
total correct answer
A Student's score = ---;---;--- —--- x 100 total number o f items
2. Classifying the students' score into the following criteria by Depdiknas (2005) in Rahim (2016)
81 to 100 : Very Good 61 to 80 : Good
41 to 60 : Fair 21 to 40 : Poor 0 to 20 : Very Poor
3. The formulate of calculation the mean score as fallows:
Where :
x EX N
X= means score
YX = the total number of the students score N = the number of the students
(Gay, 2006:320)
4. Calculation the standard deviation of students by using the following formula:
SS= ss
N - 1
Where :
SD = I x 2
(X)2
N
M N - 1
(Gay, 2006:320)
SS : Sum squares
N : the number of subject SD : standar deviation
5. Finding out the significant difference between the pre-test and post
test by calculating the value of the t-test using this faormula:
t= D
y p 2 - ( I D ) L U N
N ( N - l ) 2
(Gay, 2006:334)
where:
t = test of significance D = mean difference
£D2 = the sum of differenceo
(£D)= the square of the sum of the difference
N = total sample
CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This part addresses two important issues that concern the statistical evidence of the data analysis and what the finding imply to the overall research.
A. Findings
The findings consist of data analyses of the instruments that is pre
test and post-test score. The findings report the results of the data analyzed by means of statistical formula by (Gay, 2006:320) to identify the significant difference of the students' reading comprehension between pre-test and post-test.
Test Instrument Analysis
The analysis of the data obtained from the second semester University of Timor is presented in the following table.
1. Students’ score Pre-test and Post-test
Data were collected from 20 participants of pre-test .The pre-test was given to all participants before and after providing treatment. Below is the score of the students pre-test and post-test.
Tablel.The Score of the Students’ Pre-test and Post-test
Students’ Number Score of Pre
test
Score of Post-test
1 62,5 70
2 12,5 90
3 25 80
4 37,5 70
5 50 60
6 50 80
7 25 90
8 37,5 70
9 25 70
10 12,5 70
11 62,5 60
12 50 80
13 50 80
14 25 70
15 50 70
16 37,5 70
17 62,5 90
18 50 80
19 12,5 80
20 50 40
Total 788 1470
Table 1. To see the defference of result pre-test and post-test is post test score the higher than the pre-test. So, the total score of post-test is 1470 and pre-test is 788. It means that, after the treatment of skimming strategy, the post test was carried out. The same reading test as given in the pre-test was re-administered to the students. Even so, during treatment, the students were not given the point in the pre-test to avoid treatment. The result of the post-test used as the data of students reading comprehension after skimming strategy treatment. So, there is a defference of total score between pre-test and post-test.
To facilitate the analysis of data, the writer classifies the score based on the measurements mention before. The percentage of each category is in the table 2.
Table 2. The classification and frequency of the students' pre-test score.
Classification Score Frequency
Very Good 81 to 100
61 to 80 -
Good 3
Fair 41 to
7
Poor 60
7
Very Poor 21 to 40
0 to 20 3
20
Based on the pre-test score, no one student score in very good and three students belonged to a good category. There were 7 students
classified as fair. There were 7 students classified as poor and three of the students classified as very poor.
The analysis of the frequency of the data is classified in the following table.
Table 3. The classification and frequency of the students' post-test score
Classification Score Frequency
Very Good 81 to 100 3
Good 61 to 80 14
Fair 41 to 60 2
Poor 21 to 40 1
Very Poor 0 to 20 -
20
The result of the data analysis indicates that 3 students got very good score, 14 students got good score, 2 students got fair score, one student got poor score and none of student got very poor score. This number provides information that there was an improvement of reading comprehension after the treatment of skimming technique.
The result of students reading comprehension mean score from pre
test and post-test
After analyzing the percentage of the students reading score in both pre-test and post-test, the defference of the significance of the mean score between pre-test and post-test. The calculation was assisted by using formula.
