CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION, SUGGESTION AND IMPLICATION
A. Conclusion
someone keep thinking to understand the meaning contained in the writing. The more someone reads, the more challenged someone is to keep thinking about what they have read.
Also, Farida Rahim (2005, p. 28) suggests that reading interest is a strong desire accompanied by one‘s efforts to read. People who have strong interest in reading will manifest themselves in their willingness to get reading material and then read it on their own awareness or encouragement from the outside. According to Wahadaniah (2011, p.
16) reading interest is a strong and deep attention accompanied by feelings of pleasure in reading activities so that it can direct someone to read with their own will or encouragement from the outside. The interest in reading is also someone‘s pleasure in reading because of the thought that reading can be of benefit to him.
Furthermore, reading interest is a tendency to ownership of strong desires or interests and is accompanied by continuous efforts on oneself towards reading activities carried out continuously and followed by pleasure without coercion, of his own volition or encouragement from the outside so that the person understands or understand what he reads. Reading interest contained elements of attention, willingness, encouragement and pleasure to read. Attention can be seen from his attention to reading activities, having a high willingness to read, encouragement and pleasure that arise from within and from the influence of others. All of these are activities carried out with perseverance and tend to settle down.
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that interest is an inner attitude from within a person which is a special concern for a particular thing and great interest has an effect on reading, because if the reading material is not in accordance with the interests of students, then students will not read as well as possible because there is no attraction for him. However, if the reading material attracts students‘ interest, the reading material will be easier to learn and be stored by the students themselves so that students can easily pour it back when tested or tested, which in turn increases student learning achievement.
3. Characteristics of Reading Interest
Teaching reading is not only expected to improve reading skills, but it also increases interest and students‘ interest in reading. According to Hurlock (cited in Wicaksana, 2005, pp. 36 – 37), the characteristics of growth and development of interest in children are as follows:
1) Interest in growing along with physical and mental development;
2) Interest depends on the child‘s readiness and maturity;
3) Interest depends on learning opportunities;
4) Cultural influences;
5) Interest related to emotional.
According to Syaiful Rijal (cited in Zaen, 2010, p. 80), it is stated that a child who has a high reading interest has the following characteristics:
1) Always willing to read;
2) Always excited when reading;
3) Having habits and continuity in reading;
4) Take advantage of every opportunity by reading;
5) Have a reading book;
6) Search for reading material, both in the library and elsewhere;
7) Have goals when reading;
8) Take notes or mark important things in reading;
9) Having awareness that reading means learning;
10) Discuss the reading.
4. The Purpose of Reading Interest
According to Prasetiono (2008, p. 60), the following are some of the purposes of reading activities, namely:
1) Reading is a pleasure not to involve a complicated thought;
2) Reading to increase knowledge and insight;
3) Reading to be able to do a job or profession.
Then, according to the reading expert Steve Stahl (cited in Jhon W. Santrock, 2007, p.
420) the purpose of instructional reading should be able to help students to:
1) Identify words automatically;
2) Understand the text;
3) Motivated to read and appreciate reading.
5. Efforts to Increase Students’ Reading Interest
Teaching reading is not only expected to improve reading skills. But it also increases interest and interest in reading students. Wiryodijoyo (2001, pp. 193 – 196), so that reading becomes a pleasant job for students, it requires close collaboration between parents and teachers, namely motivating and seeking reading books. In addition, Prasetiono (2008, p.
151 – 161) identifies the efforts to increase reading interest in students are as follows:
1) Grow reading interest from an early age. This can be done by playing while reading.
2) Provide books that are of interest to the child.
3) Do not force children to always read.
4) Place books that are liked by children in places that are easily accessible by children.
5) Choose books that educate children on good thing, it is because children are very vulnerable to being infiltrated by things that are not good.
6) Get used to children exchange books with each other, or invite children to library to overcome the inability to buy books.
7) Never give up trying on something for the child. Rest assured regardless of the age of their child, they can be directed to love books.
In conclusion, the formation of reading habits should begin as early as possible in life, namely from childhood. In childhood, efforts to establish good interest can be started from about the age of two years, namely after the child begins to be able to use spoken language (understanding what is said and spoken).
6. Factors Affecting Students’ Reading Interest
According to Rahim (2005, p. 16), there are several factors that influence the interest and ability to read a child as follows:
1) Physiological factors
Physiological factors include physical health, neurological considerations, and gender.
Fatigue is a condition that is not beneficial for children to learn, especially when reading.
Apart from these neurological limitations (for example various brain defects), hearing and visual impairments will slow the child into learning, especially when reading.
2) Intellectual factors
The term intelligence is defined as a thinking activity consisting of an essential understanding of the given situation and responding appropriately. In general, children's intelligence does not fully influence the success or failure of children in reading, but from several studies, one of which was conducted by Ehanski (2001) shows there is a positive (but low) relationship between IQ and remedial average reading.
3) Environmental factors
Environmental factors also affect the progress of children‘s reading skills.
Environmental factors include the child‘s background and experience at home. In this case a child will not develop an interest in something, especially reading if they have never before experienced it. In addition, family economic factors also affect a child‘s reading interest, especially in the provision of reading books.
4) Psychological factors
In psychological factors, there are divided into three. They are:
a. Motivation
Motivation is a key factor in reading. Students who have high motivation towards reading will also have a high interest in reading activities.
b. Level of pressure involvement
If students feel that they have some level of choice and lack of pressure, their interest in reading may be higher.
c. Socio and emotional maturity
A student must have emotional control at a certain level. Socio and emotional maturity makes it easier for children to focus on reading material so that the child's ability to understand reading will increase.
Next, Ommagio (cited in Harjasujana, 2004, p. 60) argues that reading comprehension depends on a combination of language knowledge, cognitive style, and reading experience.
In an effort to achieve reading comprehension, Ommagio seems to highlight the readers‘
factors more. If the reader has and controls the three factors above, the reading comprehension process will not have significant obstacles.
Similar opinions were also expressed by Harjasujana (2004, p. 60). According to him there are at least five main things that can influence the process of understanding a discourse. The five factors include:
1) Background experience 2) Language skills
3) Ability to think
4) The purpose of reading
5) Various affections such as motivation, attitudes, interests, beliefs, and feelings.
Harjasujana also seems to highlight the reader more aspects than other aspects in highlighting the problem of reading ability factors. Educational psychologists such as Bloom and Piaget (cited in Rahim, 2005, p. 20) explain that understanding, interpretation, and assimilation are cognitive hierarchical dimensions. However, all aspects of cognition come from affective aspects such as interest, self-confidence, controlling negative feelings, and delaying and willingness to take risks.
In line with this, Mc Laughlin and Allen (cited in Rahim, 2005, p. 8) also say that students who always foster reading interest will increasingly master the reading and the level of ability to understand reading is high, while decreasing the level of reading comprehension ability of students can occur if students‘ reading interest is low.
7. The Kinds of Interest
Hidi (2001, p. 103) distinguish two types of interest that reflect distinct areas of research focus on individual interest and situational interest. Individual interest is develops slowly, tends to be long lasting, and is associated with increased knowledge and value. It has also been equated with ―intrinsic‖ motivation. Situational interest, on the other hand, is evoked by something in the immediate environment, and consequently may or may not have a long-term effect on individual‘s knowledge and value. It focuses on the environment and contextual factors. Situational interest has been associated with
―extrinsic‖ motivation and has been called ―externally triggered motivation‖.
Individual and situational interests are not mutually exclusive. Hidi (2001, p. 193) says that both involve increased attention and cognitive functioning, persistence, and have an affective component. Hidi and Harackiewicz (2000, p. 156) argue that situational interests can lead to sustained and persistent activities that are self-directed, independent and autonomous and that creating an environment that stimulates interest is one of the ways schools motivate students and help them make cognitive achievements in fields that were initially less attractive to them.
The statement above is parallel with Hidi (2001, p. 103) in the other paper argued that interest is the monitor in establishing all of activities or information what we want or what we select. It can be concluded that when we are interested in something, we are attentive and focused of object or activity that make us interest. The students will study regularly or effectively and they will success if they have a high interest.
Based on the statement above, interest is one of the psychological items which have an important role in human beings especially in education. Learning process is going to go well if someone has an interest. The students, who have an interest in learning a subject matter, will comprehend the material at a deeper level than the student who has not.
Krapp have identified three conceptualizations of interest that play an important role in discussion of motivation and interest. They are:
1) Interest as the dispositional characteristics of the person, 2) Interest as a characteristics of the learning environment and 3) Interest as a psychological state.
Those three concepts are related each other as displayed in figure 2.9 below:
Figure 2.9 Three Approaches to Interest Research
Characteristics of the person interest
Individual interest as disposition
Characteristics of learning context Interestingness
Psychological state within the person Actualized individual interest; situational
A first line of research interprets interest as personality trait of motivational disposition (long lasting preference for a certain topic or it is known as individual interest).
The second line is the research which considers interest as a specific psychological state rather than as a disposition or trait. This approach focuses on the cognitive and affective processes and processes that arise when experiencing actualized interests.
8. Indicators of Reading Interest
To know how far the students‘ interest in reading, Crow and Crow (cited in Shaleh and Wahab, 2004, p. 267) state that there are two indicators of interest. They are internal motivation and emotional factors. The writer develops those indicators into reading interest indicators as follow:
Table 2.2
Indicators of Reading Interest No Indicator Sub-indicator
1 Internal Motivation
Focusing attention Curiosity
Time spending Effort
Concluding 2 Emotional factors
Pleasure Enthusiasm Impression
The internal motivation divided into three sub-indicator, they are focusing attention, curiosity, time spending, effort, and concluding. Besides, the emotional factors consist of three sub-indicators. They are pleasure, enthusiasm, and impression. Encouragement of the individual is realized by the curiosity of students who arouse students‘ interest in reading.
Emotionally is manifested by students‘ feeling when reading. Factors from within that influence the emotional factors, perception, motivation, talent, and mastery of knowledge in the form of learning achievement. Outside factors of the students themselves are the influence of the external environment or social environment. Internal factors such as emotions, perceptions, and motivations contain elements of cognition, emotion, and conformity. The element of cognition means that interest is preceded by knowledge and information about the intended object. Emotional elements occur due to participate in a particular participation or experience, while the constituent element is a continuation of the emotional element. All three elements are also manifested in the form of ability and desire to perform an activity.
Based on the description above, it can be concluded that reading interest is an attitude tendency which is shown by doing reading activities done with feelings of pleasure and considered important and useful. Indicators of reading interest include (1) concentration, (2) use of time, (3) motivation to read, (4) emotions in reading, and (5) effort to read.
9. Strategies for Reading Interest
We have all had those students who have a love for reading and the ones who do not.
There may be many factors related to why some students are reluctant to read. The book may be too difficult for them, parents at home may not actively encourage reading, or students are not interested in what they read. As teachers, it is our job to help and to
develop a love for reading to our students. By employing literacy strategies and creating a few fun activities, we can enhance students‘ interest to want to read, and not just because we make them read.
Cox (2009, p. 3), states that the teacher‘s class has some strategies for students‘
reading interest. There are:
a. Let students see the teacher read. If we are going to encourage our students to read, then we better make sure we are leading by example. Instead of assessing paper when students are quietly reading, read books. Talk about the books we read with them, and how we cannot wait to read before going to bed.
b. Allow students to read the whole book before discussing it. Give students the opportunity to read a book before we separate it and talk about literary devices.
Sometimes when everything we do is talking about a plot, setting, or genre, we take out all the fun and pleasure from the story. Give students the opportunity to read it once until it's finished, then we can read chapter by chapter and dissect.
c. Invite a local author to class. A great way to promote love of reading is to invite writers to our class to discuss their books. This may be the only thing that inspires our students to read or even become their own writers someday.
d. Teach students reading strategies. Many students do not like to read because it's difficult for them. Teach children to read strategies like repeated reading to help them feel confident and read fluently.
e. Set up a book club. Book clubs and reading groups are a great way for students to socialize and share thoughts. This interaction makes reading much more enjoyable, and improves their understanding skills.
f. Let students choose their own books. Research has shown that when students choose their own books, it will improve their reading skills. Make sure we have many different genres and themes in our class library from which students can choose.
g. Use technology to create an e-book or e-dictionary when they do not know the meaning. Children love technology, and nothing is better than using this tool to make students like to read. Download applications such as eBook Creator or Magic Book and ask students to make their own work. Children will like to share books with their friends and they can even share their stories to iBooks.
h. Introduce students to a book series. Whether students like adventure or fantasy novels, there is a series of books for everyone. All we have to do is find out what our students like and make them read the first choice. After they feel the set, they definitely want to continue reading to find out what happened next.
i. Allow students to dislike books. Think of it like Facebook - students can give a
―thumbs up‖ if they like it, or ―thumb it down‖ if they do not. This will also help we choose future class novels too.
j. Helps students see the importance of reading. Sometimes just knowing the facts can motivate someone to see their world differently. For example, knowing that maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help us live a longer life can motivate us to make better life choices. Putting down the benefits of reading might be the best way to increase appreciation and encourage them to take their own books.
In short, the hobby of reading will not grow by itself but must be fostered through the learning process. Therefore, to develop reading interest, students are guided to learn to feel not as an obligation but as a necessity.
Many studies have investigated the impact of printed vs. electronic dictionaries on word retention. Koyama and Takeuchi (2004) in their study about ―Comprehending Two
Written Texts without Recourse to a Dictionary and Answering Vocabulary Questions with a Paper Dictionary (text 1) and an Electronic dictionary (text 2)‖ discovered that reference to a printed dictionary resulted in much better vocabulary retention than the consultation of a PED. By way of explanation, they pointed out that accessing the right entry in printed dictionaries is typically an arduous and elaborate task, whereas in electronic dictionaries it usually boils down to inputting the spelling of the headword. The similarity between these studies is they did a research an electronic dictionary. However, they did not do a research students‘ reading interest and the result was contrast as researcher‘s study. They said that printed dictionary is better than electronic dictionary.
Supporting to this study, Dwi Nita Febriyanti‘s research (2013) in ―The Effectiveness of Electronic Dictionary and Vocabulary Knowledge‖, the results of the printeds showed the highly positive response from the students toward the benefit of using electronic dictionary in EFL learning. The highest response of the first printed was shown on the success of using ED as a powerful tool for improving students‘ achievement in vocabulary learning and retention. Meanwhile in the second paper, the highest response was shown on the easiness of using electronic dictionary (ED) than paper dictionary (PD). The possibility of conducting searches easily, easy portability, and time efficiency were important benefits of the use of electronic dictionaries mentioned by the EFL students in the second paper.
Both of them also showed that a great number of students (88.29%) for the first paper and (92.06%) for the second paper use bilingual electronic dictionaries. Considering students 'interest in using electronic dictionaries and their benefits for EFL learning, the use of electronic dictionaries will increase students' motivation to study EFL.
Then, the results obtained by Dziemianko (2010) in ―Paper or Electronic? The Role of Dictionary Form in Language Reception, Production and the Retention of Meaning and Collocations‖. He found that using an electronic dictionary can lead to better retention of both meaning and collocations. It turns out that is not so much the effort put into the extraction of relevant information from the dictionary on printed as the saliency of an entry on the computer screen and, surprisingly, the ease of look-up that prove beneficial to learning. The difficulty of printed dictionary use may actually put off language learners, who might be confused, if not overwhelmed and annoyed, by the wealth of information not immediately relevant to the task at hand, which they are nonetheless bound to note and wade through.
The relevant study is conducted by Reza and Zahra (2013) in ―The Impact of Using Electronic Dictionary on Vocabulary Learning and Retention of Iranian EFL learners‖, This study aims to investigate the effects of electronic dictionaries on learning and long- term retention of the vocabulary of middle-low EFL students in Iran. To ensure the homogeneity of the participants, the Oxford Placement test was given to 74 female students studying in public secondary schools in Sabzevar, Iran. 60 participants were selected as homogeneous and assigned to the Electronic Dictionary (ED) and Paper Dictionary (PD) groups. During five treatment sessions, 35 vocabularies were instructed to the two groups. The ED group received words through the CD-ROM dictionary to find the meanings and definitions of new words being taught, while the PD group followed the usual method of using PD. The two groups immediately took the posttest given immediately after the treatment and the posttest delayed was given two weeks later. The results of the t-test revealed that students in the ED group outperformed those in the PD group. Therefore, it is recommended that ED can improve learning and vocabulary