CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. The Nature of Reading
1. The Definition of Reading
Reading is important to develop our knowledge. By reading lot of
literary works on various kinds of subject, their mind will more develop in
maturiy. According to Grellet ( 1984: 7), reading is constant process of
guessing, and what one brings to the text is often more important than one
finds it. Leu and Kinzer (1987: 9) stated as follows:
Reading is a developmental, interactive, and global process involving learned skills, the process specifically incorporates and individual’s linguistic knowledge and can be both positively and negatively influenced by nonlinguistic internal and external variables or factors.
Reading skills are not invariant. They do not depend solely on a
knowledge of the linguistic elements that make up a text. According to
Nunan (1991: 70), reading is a dynamic process in which the text
elements interact with other factors outside the text, in this case most
particularly with the readers knowledge of the experiental content of the
text.
Based on the definitions above, reading is not only getting the
meaning from printed or written form but also knowing each symbol and
2. The Importance of Reading
Reading ability is very important in a study and society because there
are many reference books and intruction, etc which are written in English.
The students who have lack of reading skill will have difficulty to
understand all references, book, and etc which are written in English.
Reading ability, to large extent, influences one’s life style. How well
one reads is a key factor in determining employment opportunities. This is
recognize by legislators who are deeply concerned with literacy issues.
Reading can help solve depression and boredom. Reading touches our
personal and professional lives. (Leu and Kinzer, 1987: 7)
Reading is the main skill to reach a successful study. Villanuea,
2006:8) said that:
Reading is also crucial skill for the students of English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and understanding the rational behind these methods is essential for teachers who want to improve their reading lesson.
Reading will be of much use for the students since by reading a lot of
literary works on variuos kinds of subjects their mind will be more and
more developed in maturity. (Ramelan, 1989: i)
3. The Aim of Reading
a. Reading for details of facts
It means that students read to get or to know the invention that have
been done by the writer or solve the problems of the writer.
b. Reading for main ideas
The students read the text to know “why are the topic good or
interest, then the problems on the story and make summaries of the
story”.
c. Reading for sequence or organization
The students read the text to know “what is happening in each part
the story in every episode; solve the problems of the story”.
d. Reading to classify
The students read the text to classify some information or actions of
the writer in the text or paragraph.
e. Reading for inference
The students read in order to find out the conclusion from the action
or ideas in the text.
f. Reading for comparing
The students read to compare the plot of the story or content whether
g. Reading to evaluate
The students read to find out whether the characters successful or not
in the end of the story.
(Tarigan, 2008: 9)
4. The Major Component of Reading
The more important things to be considered are the components of
reading. The components of reading will support the succes in
comprehending reading material and contributing an important what to
read. According to Leu and Kinzer (1987: 30), there are six components
of reading comprehension:
a. Decoding Knowledge
It refers to the knowledge reader’s use the determining the oral
equivalent of the written word.
b. Vocabulary Knowledge
The knowledge about word meaning used to determine the appropriate
meaning for a word in a particular context.
c. Syntactic Knowledge
It means knowledge of word rules that determine grammatical function
d. Discourse Knowledge
It means knowledge of language organization at units beyond the
single sentence level including the knowledge of structural
organization of differnt types of reading.
e. Readiness Aspect
It is traditionally refers to the student’s ability to benefit from initial
reading instruction. Also refers to the student’s ability to read and
understand a particular selection.
f. Affective Aspect
It includes a reader’s attitude and interest in reading. It will increase
motivation and facilitate reading.
5. Assessing Reading
The purpose of learning is getting product. Before getting product, all
of learnings have to get assessment. According to Brown (2004: 187),
there are microskills and macroskills that represent the spectrum of
possibilities for objectives in the assessment of reading comprehension.
a. Microskills
Here are some points of microskills involved in reading as follows:
1) Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes and
2) Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short-term
memory.
3) Process writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
4) Recognize a core of words, and interpret word order pattern and
their significance.
5) Recognize grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs,etc.), systems
(e.g., tenses, agreement, pluralization), patterns, rules, and elliptical
forms.
6) Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different
grammatical forms.
7) Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in
signaling the relationship between and among clauses.
b. Macroskills
Macroskills also have some points like microskills. Those are as
follows:
1) Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their
significance for interpretation.
2) Recognize the communicative function of written texts, according
to form and purpose.
4) From described events, ideas, etc., infer links and connections
between events, deduce causes and effect, and detect such relations
as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information,
generalization, and exemplification.
5) Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.
6) Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context
of the appropriate cultural schemata.
7) Develop and use a battery of reading strategies, such as scanning
and skimming, detecting discourse markers, guessing the meaning
of words from context, and activating schemata for the
interpretation of texts.
The purpose of reading in this research is to find specific information
in the text. So, microskills and macroskills which will be evaluated are
1) Microskills
There are two points that is taken to be evaluated in microskills. Those
are as follows:
a.) Recognize grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs,etc.), systems
(e.g., tenses, agreement, pluralization), patterns, rules, and elliptical
b.) Recognize a core of words, and interpret word order patterns and
their signifinance
2) Macroskills
There is only one point that is taken in macroskills. That is as follows:
From describe events, ideas, etc., infer links and connection between
events, deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as main
idea, supporting idea, new information, given information,
generalization, and exemplification.
B. Narrative Text
There are a lot of types of text. In this research, narrative text will be
used for teaching learning process. Narrative text is a text which has purpose is
to entertain, amuse and to deal with actual or various experience in different
ways (Hartono 2005: 6).
The generic structure of narrative text are as follows:
1. Orientation is introducing the setting, characters of the story.
2. Complication is initiation events, subsequent events, problem arising in the
story.
3. Resolution is telling how the problem is solved and ending of the story
containing the writer’s comment.
1. Focus on specific participants
2. Use of simple past
3. Use of temporal conjunctions and temporal circumstances
4. Use of material (or action) processes
5. Use of relational and mental processes
There are a lot of types of narrative text. In this research, it is only
three types of narrative text that will be discussed. Those are as follows:
1. Legend
Legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller
and listeners to take place within human history. Typically, a legend is a
short, traditional and historicized narrative performed in a conversational
mode. Some define legend as folktale. The examples of legend in narrative
text are
a. Sangkuriang
b. Malin Kundang
2. Fable
Fable is a short allegorical narrative making a moral point, traditionally by
means of animal characters that speak and act like human beings. The
examples of fable in narrative text are
a. Mouse deer and crocodile
b. The smartest parrot, etc.
3. Fairy tale
Fairy tale is a story about imaginary beings possessing magical powers.
The examples of fable in narrative text are
a. Cinderella
b. Snow white
c. Pinocchio, etc.
( Ilagomarsino, 2010: 1 )
Types of narrative text above are available on instruments and lesson
plan.
C. The Nature of Circle Chain Game
There are many games that can be used in teaching learning proscess.
It can be using toys, cards, or also in the form of movement only. It means that
1. The Definition of Cirle Chain Game
Nowadays, in the world of EFL, pair work and work in small groups is
very much in fashion. The communicative approach encourages teachers
to use a lot of pair work and therefore increase 'student talking time'. I
believe that for a group to get and for a good group dynamic to prevail
there are times when the class should work together as a whole. Circle
chain game is a good opportunity to bring the group together. Circle chain
game is game or activity that involves the whole class, sitting in a circle
(Budden 2004: 1). The form of the activity is discussion. It must use chain
system to help the student easier in getting the point of the passage. If
students are introduced to the idea of working in a whole group from the
beginning of a course it is easier to establish the rules and acceptable
behavior for this type of activity.
2. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Circle Chain Game
Everything has the advantages and so it is with circle chain game.
Advantage is a quality of something that makes it better or more useful.
According to Allison Boye and Suzanne Tapp (2010: 1), there are a lot of
advantages of circle chain game. Those are as follows:
a. It involves students in active learning.
c. It can encourage students to draw on analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation.
d. It can increase students motivation.
e. It leverages a common experience among the students.
f. It provides intrinsic rewards.
g. It can foster a more positive attitude toward the classroom
experience-more attention, better attendance, better participation.
h. It can improve retention, desicion-making skills, and comprehension
of general principle.
i. It can encourage cooperation.
Some mistakes and risk can be minimized by knowing some
disadvantages of something. According to Pravita (2010: 39), the
disadvantages of circle chain game are as follows:
a. Time consuming
Circle chain game has some steps to be applied in the classroom so it
needs much time.
b. The class will be noisy
It is caused since the style of circle chain game is discussion.
a. Circle
The students make circle form in discussion
b. Chain system
The students have to report their finding or answer in front of the class
in good order. It is based on their turn. If the students number two have
finished finding their answer, they are not allowed to report first. They
have to wait for the students number one reporting their answer.
4. Teaching Reading using Circle Chain Game
Some steps to teach reading using circle chain game are as follows:
a. Preparation
Before starting the lesson/game, the teacher should determine some
roles for each students. Those are
1) First student is as first student who inventigates orientation of the
text.
2) Second student is as second student who inventigates complication
of the text
3) Third student is as third student who inventigates resolution of the
text.
b. Action
In this step the teacher should do some activities as follows:
1) Divide class into some groups and sit in circle form. Each groups
consist four students.
2) Distribute the same text to the group.
3) Give time to discussion.
4) If the time is over, teacher calls one by one to report their finding
about that text depend on their roles in front of the class.
c. Reflection
Teacher explains about narrative text completely and makes summary.
d. Evaluation
Teacher gives the student a test as a evaluation of the learning.
D. Basic Assumption
Reading is one of the important skills in learning English. Reading
itself is a process for getting information in the text. For getting information
all the meaning of text have to be comprehended .Thus, reading
comprehension is much needed for all readers, especially the students to
increase their achievement in study. To take reading the teacher should be
teaching learning process. One of effective methods is using game for
learning. It will make the students active, improve their achievement, and
emphasize in social interaction among them. Circle chain game is an
interesting game that can be applied in teaching reading so the students will be
interested in following the class. By using this game the students will not feel
lazy and bored because they will get only a paragraph to be read. It can help
out the students’ responsibility to get the point in that reading passage. It is
caused since this game uses chain system. It also will help the students to
understand the content of the text easily.
E. Hypothesis
Based on the explanation above this research is hypothesized that
