CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
C. The Students‟ Reading Achievement
Nowadays, learning English has become a necessity all over the world. English is the most common language in the world. Learning English requires mastering four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. Anderson states, “reading as an essential skill which is the most important skill to master for most of the learners of English in order to ensure success in learning”.33 This implies that reading is an important skill of the four skills in English that students must master in order for them to ensure the success of their English studies.
Reading is the most important academic skill. Reading plays an important role in the development of any academic domain; therefore, reading competence is a key competency in efforts to succeed in other competencies. Reading is one of the most important things in student activities. Without reading, students will not be able to acquire knowledge that is fundamental to their intellectual growth. Through reading they become experts in their field. Sipahutar (2016) also explained that reading is an important aspect in the learning process. By reading, students can get
32 Widya Zulfa Ulwiyah, Muhammad Widda Djuhan "Kepribadian Ekstrovert Dan Introvert Pada Siswa Kelas VII G SMP Negeri 2 Ponorogo Pada Proses Pembelajaran Dalam Prespektif Psikologi Sosial" JIPSI: Jurnal Ilmiah Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial IndonesiaNomor 1 Volume 1 Tahun 2021, hal 119
33 Sri Yuliani, Fitri Barokah, "The Influence of Online Reading Habit on Reading Achievement of The Eleventh Grade Students of Senior High School Muhammadiyah 1 of Palembang" English Community Journal (2017), 1 (1), P. 53
more information to enrich their knowledge in understanding English. The students will also make better progress and achieve more significant developments in academic areas such as understanding English with reading skills.34
Reading has an important role in learning a language. Talebi (2015) states that reading is one of the important skills in the language learning process because when reading a text, students can add knowledge and information. Students will learn as much information and knowledge as they want by reading. They will catch the success of their studies if they read a lot. According to Nacer (Nacer Bouhedjam, 2015) reading is one of the most important ways of learning, because it is related to literacy and civilization development as well. Reading is most important skills for future success in school as well as throughout life.35
Reading can be defined as a process to understand the meaning of a written text. Alyousef explains that in the process of reading, a reader will extract meaning from a text by interacting dynamically using various types of knowledge because “reading is a complex, multi-faceted activity, which
34 Ferawaty Puspitorini, Haris Hamdani,”The Correlation Between Learning Motivation and Reading Comprehension Achievement at the X Grade Students of Sman 8 Bekasi”, IJEAL (International Journal of English and Applied Linguistics) Volume 1 Number 2(August 2021); p.
127
35 Vitria , Ika , "An Analysis of Students‟ Achievement in Reading Comprehension at the Tenth Grade of SMKN 1 Rejotangan", BRIGHT: A Journal of English Language Teaching, Linguistics and Literature
Vol.4 No.1, (January 2021); p. 48
involves a combination of lexical and text-progress skills which are widely recognized as interactive”.36
Reading is the most useful skill that is needed to improve our ability to understand information from the texts we read especially for students who are still in the learning process to gain more knowledge. Reading receives special concentration in many second and foreign language teaching situations. However, many students are not used to reading English material because reading as a foreign language context is not easy.
This problem is one of the reasons why students tend to hesitate to read.
Therefore, students should practice reading more, so that their reading skills and reading experience will improve. They may find it difficult and frustrating, but if they keep practicing, they will have a good grasp of English and it will help them to understand the overall meaning of the words. Harmer argues that reading is important for language acquisition, as long as students more or less understand what they read, the more they read, the better they understand it. This means that the importance of reading textbooks, articles, newspapers, and magazines will improve students' ability to understand their reading skills. Through reading students will gain information and knowledge.37
Reading is an important language skill because it allows students to read textbooks or other references written in English, because the success
36 Raihani Ferdila "The Use of Extensive Reading in Teaching Reading" Jurnal Bahasa Inggris dan Pendidikan 2(2), 2014, P. 69
37 Sari, Rosmalina, & Erlina "Correlation Between Conscientiousness and Reading Comprehension Achievement" The Journal Of English Literacy Education, Vol. 6, Number 2 (Nov 2019); P. 107-108
and failure of students in school depends on reading ability. In this case, reading should give the reader a meaningful message. Therefore, students are expected to increase their knowledge, which is mostly written in textbooks. 38 Reading is one of the most important skills that need to be well understood. Through reading, students can enlarge their vocabulary directly. In addition, they are able to understand the development of science, science, and technology. Goodman states that reading is an active and creative process in which the reader interprets a message based on his prior knowledge, predicts and anticipates further strategies and rhetorical information. He adds: “In doing this, the reader uses the linguistic cues the author provides, selects information relevant to the purpose of his reading, matches the information with prior knowledge and experience, evaluates it based on that knowledge and then applies this information to new experiences.39
Based on the statements above, it can be concluded that, reading is the most important tool and activity in learning for academic success, because it is important in individual development. Reading is one of the essential and essential components that language learners need to learn not only for their academic practice but also for their future professional life.
38 Widhyastika, Sutarsyah, Suparman "Developing Student-Team Achievement Division (Stad) Technique to Encourage Student Reading Comprehension Achievement Based on Extrovert and Introvert Personality" Vol. VI, No. 2 (2017), p. 2
39 Prihatin Puji Astuti, “The Effect of Reading Strategy and Personality Traits in Improving The Students‟ Reading Comprehension Achievement” UHAMKA International Conference on ELT and CALL (UICELL) Jakarta, 22-23 November 2018, p.153
So, reading is needed by students who want to progress and improve themselves.
2. Kind of Reading
Reading is an important skill in learning which involves the use of learning strategies that can effectively help students gain content knowledge in any field and subject. By reading, students are expected to be able to think critically when they receive, process, and produce information. Because with increased reading comprehension, students will be given the opportunity to add insight into the importance of science.
Besides this, linguists say there are several types of reading, namely intensive reading and extensive reading.
a. Intensive Reading
Intensive reading is a program of reading activities carried out carefully. In this reading, students only read one or several choices of existing reading materials. The intensive reading program is one of the efforts to grow and hone critical reading skills. Intensive reading is a reading activity that is carried out carefully which aims to grow and hone critical reading skills so as to lead to high understanding.
Intensive reading is a careful study, careful study, and detailed understanding of a reading. Intensive reading is aimed at developing students' ability to understand texts through directing students' attention to the features of the text and strategies for dealing with the text. Therefore, intensive reading is a language-focused learning
activity, and intensive reading practice plays an indispensable role in consolidating students' reading comprehension skills.40
Intensive reading is text reading or passage reading. In this reading the students read the text to get knowledge or analysis. The purpose of this reading is to read shorter text. This reading is done to carry out to get specific information. Learners read book to acquire knowledge is a type of intensive reading. There are several characteristics of intensive reading; (1) this reading helps the learner to develop active vocabulary, (2) the teacher plays a main role in this reading, (3) linguistic items are developed, (4) this reading is aimed at active language use, (5) intensive reading is reading aloud, (6) In intensive reading speaking habits are emphasized and accent, stress, intonation and rhythm can be improved.41
Studying reading texts intensively can mean increasing students' knowledge of language features and their mastery of reading techniques. The classic procedure for intensive reading is the grammar translation approach in which the teacher works with students.
Intensive reading requires deep understanding and is closely related to grammar and correct arrangement through language features.
Broughton defines that intensive reading usually relates to texts of less than 500 words. The aim is to achieve a full understanding of the
40 Sijing Fu, “The Roles of Intensive and Extensive Reading Activities in Chinese EFL University Students' Reading Comprehension Skills", Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 8, No.
1(2022); p.3
41 Albert Efendy Pohan, “Students‟ Reading Achievement Trough Think-Aloud-Strategy” Journal Anglo-Saxon Vol.7 No.1 (2016); p.67
logical argument, the theoretical arrangement or pattern of the text, of its symbolic, emotional and societal tone, of the author's and linguistic attitudes and goals. 42
b. Extensive Reading
Extensive reading is a technique in teaching reading which is defined as a situation in which students read a lot of material at their level in a new language; they read publicly, for overall meaning, and for information as well as pleasure. It is projected for build positive attitude toward reading, to develop good reading habit, to construct vocabulary and structure knowledge.43 Extensive reading is reading the entire contents of the text from the reading in the shortest possible time with the aim of understanding the important content in the reading so that efficient reading can be carried out.
Reading Extensive is a reading program that is carried out extensively. Students are given freedom and discretion in terms of having both the type and scope of the reading materials he reads. The concept of extensive reading is exposing students to an input-rich and enjoyable environment, with the intention that their language knowledge will increase and their enthusiasm for learning will develop naturally.44
42 Titin Tria Agustin, “ correlation between students‟ reading attitude and their reading achievement” (Thesis, UIN Raden Intan Lampung, 2020) ; p.28
43 Raihani Ferdila "The Use Of Extensive Reading In Teaching Reading" Journal of English and Education 2(2), 2014; p. 69
44 Raihani Ferdila "The Use of Extensive Reading in Teaching Reading" Journal of English and Education 2014, 2(2); p. 69
Brown explains that extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding of a usually somewhat longer text (books, long articles, or essays, etc.). It says that extensive reading comes with longer text than intensive reading but its purpose is just to find the general information instead of specific and complicated reading text.45 Extensive reading is similar to speed reading. This activity requires students to do reading activities quickly. In addition, students are expected to get ideas from the text they have read. Extensive reading is an activity to find extensive information, meaning that it takes time to read the text quickly. Extensive reading aims to gain understanding from short duration readings. Readers are given the breadth and freedom in determining the text to be read. The reader's attention is focused on understanding the content of the text and does not focus on the language or content of the text in detail.
According to Broughton, extensive reading activities are grouped into 3 kinds namely:
1) Reading Surveys
Reading the survey is done before the reader reads, that is, by researching what he will read in advance by: if what is being read is a book, the index is researched first to see the title of the chapter (topics), the chart, the outline of the book. For a second language learner it is useful to select material before he starts
45 H. Douglas Brown,” Teaching by Principles an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (New Jersey: Practice Hall; p.313
reading. Thus reading surveys is basically not a real reading activity. So, it can be said to be a kind of pre-reading activity.
2) Skimming
Skimming is a technique for reading comprehension that entails reading very quickly to get the general idea or gist of a passage. Skimming allows you to make inferences about the content of a particular passage, to identify the author‟s point of view, or to form an impression of the author‟s tone (happy, sad, ironic, foreboding, and so on) in order to anticipate in a general way.46 This reading can be done with quick eye movements in looking at reading materials to obtain information or lighting.
Skimming can help the students to find the key words that permit them to infer the general sense of a text to interpret text faster and advance the reading process.47
3) Shallow reading
Shallow reading or superficial reading is basically a reading activity to gain a shallow or not too deep understanding of the reading material we read. Reading this type is usually done when we intend to seek pleasure or happiness. Therefore, the type of
46 Andi Hidayat, Anita Nurinayah, "The Effectiveness Of Extensive Reading Approach To Improve Students‟ Reading Comprehension", PROJECT: Professional Journal of English Education Volume 1, No. 1, January 2018, p. 3
47 Intan Rani Aritonang, Sandi Lasmana, Deti Kurnia, "The Analysis Of Skimming And Scanning Technique To Improve Students In Teaching Reading Comprehension", PROJECT: Professional Journal of English Education Volume 1, No. 2, March 2018, p.103
reading is really a type of light reading. For example, entertainment magazines, short stories, novels, and the like.
From this explanation, it can be concluded that there are two types of reading: intensive reading and extensive reading. Intensive reading involves reading short texts to extract specific information along with deep understanding of grammar, language features and some aspects in linguistics, students have to focus on the text to get the right meaning and understand the text well. Meanwhile, extensive reading involves students reading long texts for general understanding, with the intention of enjoying the text.
3. Factor of Affecting Reading
According to Surya there are several factors that affect someone's reading interest, that came from internal and external. Internal factor including:
a. Physical factors or individual physiology which is innate, such as vision, hearing, body structure, and so on;
b. Psychological factors, both innate and hereditary, consisting of:
intellectual factors, consisting of potential factors (intelligence and talent), as well as actual factor or actual skills (achievement or accomplishment).
c. Non-intellectual factors, namely certain personality components such as attitudes, habits, needs, motivation, self-concept, self- control, emotion, and so on.
d. Maturity factors, both physical and psychological.
Factors from external (external factor) including:
a Social factors, which consist of family environmental factors, cultural factors, such as customs, science, and so on.
b Physical environmental factors, such as home facilities, learning facilities, climate, etc.,
c Spiritual factors and the religious environment. 48