TEACHER’S KNOWLEDGE ABOUT READING
COMPREHENSION AS IMPLEMENTED
IN THE CLASSROOM
A THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By:
YANTI FLORIDA SITORUS
NIM. 2103121052
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, the writer would like to express her deepest gratitude to Jesus
Christ, for His uncountable blessing, love, opportunity and strength given to the
writer during her study and in completing this thesis which entitled: Teacher’s
Knowledge about Reading Comprehension as Implemented in the Classroom.
This thesis is aimed to fulfill one of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana
Pendidikan of the English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State
University of Medan (UNIMED).
In completing this thesis, the writer realized that she faced some problems
and she had received the academic guidance, suggestions, and comments and got
a lot of assistance and moral support from many people. Therefore, the writer
would like to express her gratitude and special thanks to:
Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd., the Rector of State University of Medan. Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts,
State University of Medan.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., as the Head of English Department, Dra.
Meisuri, M.A., the Secretary of English Department Nora Ronita Dewi, S.S,
M.um., as the Head of English Education Study Program.
Prof. Dr. Berlin Sibarani, M.Pd., her Thesis Consultant who has given his great supervision and spent his precious time in guiding, commenting,
suggesting, inspiring, and giving valuable insights in the process of
completing this thesis.
Drs. Muhammad Natsir, M.Hum., herAcademic Advisor,who has
supported herthroughout the academic years.
All the Lecturers of English Department who have taught, guided, and advised her throughout the academic years.
Normawaty Sitorus, Jekson Sitorus, Herti Royani Sitorus, Eva
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sisters and brother for their endless love, advice, motivation and support both
mentally and financially to the writer during her study.
Her brothers and sisters in Christ who have prayed endlessly for the writer
during the process of completing this thesis, especially Dahlia Roma Uli,
Rika Gultom, Henry Panjaitan, Ani Situngkir, Muliani, Risma Sinaga,
Basril Tarigan, Elin Lumbantoruan, Boy Sianturi, Andri, Velin,
Marconi, Yunita and Monica.
Herbestfriends in Reguler Dik. C’ 2010,her great class for the love and
togetherness throughout four years, especially Rut Emi Febriyani, Indah
Cris Rama, Batsyeba Silaen, Maya Sari Sipahutar and Elsa Ernawaty
Nainggolanand for those whose names cannot be mentioned, yet have
inspired and encouraged the writer during the process of writing this thesis.
Her bestfriends in PPLT SMA Panca Jaya Galang for many great
experiences and togetherness.
Medan, July 2015
The writer,
Yanti Florida Sitorus
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ABSTRACT
Sitorus, Yanti Florida. 2103121052. Teacher’s Knowledge about Reading
Comprehension as Implemented in the Classroom. A Thesis. Faculty of
Languages and Arts. State University of Medan. 2015
This study was conducted to investigate the knowledge of English teachers in teaching reading comprehension and the teachers’ teaching practices in the classroom. The objectives were achieved by employing the descriptive qualitative research. The data were collected through in-depth interview and classroom observation. The data were analyzed by the data analysis technique of Miles and Huberman. The result shows that the teachers misperceived the teaching reading comprehension and the teachers implemented their knowledge of teaching reading comprehension in their teaching practices in the classroom.
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1. Teacher’s Knowledge of Teaching Reading Comprehension ... 5
2. Reading Comprehension ... 6
a. The Nature of Reading Comprehension ... 6
b. Reading Comprehension Process ... 7
c. Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension ... 10
1) Schemata ... 10
2) The Purpose of Reading ... 12
3) Reading Comprehension Strategy ... 15
4) Vocabulary ... 21
A.Types of Teacher’s Knowledge of the Nature of Reading Comprehension as Realized in the Classroom Implementation ... 28
1. Superficially Function Based Knowledge ... 28
2. Partial and Incorrect Based Knowledge ... 31
3. Schemata Based Knowledge ... 33
B.The Realization of Teachers’ Knowledge of the Nature
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Implementation ... 36
1. Superficially Function Based Knowledge ... 36
2. Partial and Incorrect Based Knowledge ... 39
3. Schemata Based Knowledge ... 40
C.Research Findings ... 43
D.Discussion ... 44
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ... 47
A.Conclusion ... 47
B.Suggestions ... 47
REFERENCES ... 48
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Pages
APPENDIX A. Interview Transcript ... 50
APPENDIX B. Observation Transcript ... 65
APPENDIX C. Matrix Analysis for Interview Transcript ... 90
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Study
Reading is one of the skills of language that has an essential role for
students. Students can obtain knowledge by reading from various sources. A
student’s success at school and throughout life depends largely on the ability to
read and understanding of texts. Reading is an essential skill for students, as the
development of good reading abilities will greatly help them progress in the
development of their academic areas.
Reading is essential to success in the complex world of today and
tomorrow. Nowadays is the global era. The ability to read is highly valued and it
is important for personal, social, and economic well-being. By reading, students
expose themselves with new things, new information, new ways to solve a
problem, and new ways to achieve one thingbecause exploration begins with
reading and understanding. Through reading, students also begin to have a greater
understanding on a topic that interest them; for example, how to build
self confidence, how to make plan better before taking action, how to memorize
things better and more. All of these self improvements start from the reading.
Reading also increases the understanding of the rules of life, in order for
students to adapt, adopt and accommodate into the society better. When students
are reading, they are actually gaining the knowledge and experience of someone.
It can hasten their success towards a goal.Through reading, students also build a
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that human beings use every day to connect with each other. Whereas if they don’t
read; they can’t even connect with the world and what people are talking about
out there. Reading connects students with the world.
Reading skills are not innate capacities of human being .Therefore to read
effectively students must learn how to read using appropriate strategies.Reading is
not only the process of decoding the words. Reading requires comprehension or
understanding of the text. Comprehension is a part of the communication process
of getting the thoughts that are in the author’s mind into the readers’ mind.
Without comprehension, reading is simply following words on a page from left to
right while sounding them out. Therefore, reading comprehension has involved
understanding what is being read, since the main objective of reading
comprehension is to gain some understanding of what the writer is trying to
convey and utilize that information.
Although reading comprehension is very important to be mastered, there
are many students who have difficulty in comprehending the texts. This is known
from the persistent underachievement of Indonesian students in the area of reading
comprehension that has been documented in numerous high profile reports such as
PIRL (Progress in international reading literacy) and PISA (Program for
International Assessment). The data that have been observed and showed in
International Student Achievement in Reading shows that the reading score of
Indonesian students as reported by PIRL (Progress in international reading
literacy, 2006) was very low. Indonesia got the fourth lowest rank from 45
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wasdone by PISA (Program for International Assessment, 2013); the reading
score of Indonesian students was the second lowest rank. Indonesia was ranked at
64 from 65 countries. The average scores for Indonesian students for reading were
396.
Considering the condition above, we have to take a look at the many
factors that influence the students’ achievement in reading comprehension. One of
the crucial factors that influence the achievement of the students is the role of the
teachers. Teachers play a very important role in determining the successful of
students in reading comprehension. This also emphasizes by the report of the
International Reading Association (2000) that states that it is the teacher’s
knowledge that makes a difference in students’ achievement.The persistent
underachievement of Indonesian students in the area of reading comprehension is
influenced by the teachers. The way teachers teach reading comprehension is
based on the knowledge of the teachers of reading comprehension itself.
Therefore, the writer is interested in investigating the knowledge of teachers about
teaching reading comprehension as implemented during the reading
comprehension classroom implementation.
B. The Problem of the Study
In line with the background of the study research problems were
formulated as follows:
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2. What reading comprehension strategies doteachers implement during the
reading comprehension classroom implementation?
C. The Scope of the Study
This study was limited to the investigation of the types of the teacher’s
knowledge of teaching reading comprehension during the reading comprehension
classroom implementation. The teachers were three English teachers of two
schools in Tanjung Morawa and Galang who taught 10th and 12th grade students.
D. The Objective of the Study
Parallel with the research problem, the objective of the study was to
investigate the knowledge of teachers in the area of teaching reading
comprehension.
E. The Significance of the Study
The findings of this study are expected to be useful for English teachers as
the teachers can improve their understanding of teaching reading comprehension.
This study will also expose to the teachers that the knowledge of teaching reading
comprehension influences the teaching of reading comprehension as well as
development of the reading competences and comprehension among students.
Thus, this study will increase the awareness of teachers of how important it is to
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