e-ISSN: 2746-380x English LAnguage Study and Teaching (ELASTE) 18 Students’ Difficulties in Reading Comprehension
1Muchasanah Nur Balqis*
1*,2English Education Department, University of Serambi Mekkah, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Reading is one of the most challenging language skills for many students. They often find it difficult to comprehend a text they are reading, while in fact, reading comprehension is the indicator that one has mastered reading skill. The aims of this study were to find out the factors behind the difficulties faced by the students of SMP Negeri 16 Banda Aceh in reading comprehension. This was a case study using quantitative descriptive method. The result showed that difficulties frequently faced by the students in comprehending a text were their unfamiliarity with a complex word or vocabulary, difficulty in comprehending sentences, difficulty in comprehending a paragraph, difficulty in comprehending the whole selection or content of a text, and the difficulty in identifying the main idea, the plot of a text, the kinds of texts, and English structure without the help of a dictionary.
Keywords: Difficulties; Mastering; Reading Comprehension; Reading Skill
A. Introduction
Reading is the foundational skill that supports the others, including writing, speaking, and listening. To achieve better results in the learning process, students must read widely and grasp the reading content.
According to Grabe and Stoller (2002), reading may be taught as a strategy to obtain information from a text and develop an interpretation of that information. This implies that reading is also a technique used by students to gather information and knowledge during the educational process.
Students who enjoy reading and have a large amount of time for reading tend to write well. Students will improve their language and writing skills through reading. On the other side, students with low achievement may struggle with the instructional process. Moreover, they can feel ashamed of adapting themselves to their college atmosphere. Conversely, a teacher should have skills in synchronic linguistics and vocabulary understanding.
The teaching is important to create the flexibility and data of scholars to know the fabric of the reading text, such as the flexibility to scan varying texts in English, the flexibility to regulate reading designs in step with the aim of reading (i.e., skimming, scanning), and the the ability to have a significant point of view on the text's content (Hedge, 2003).
Reading successfully implies understanding of what the author is attempting to express through his or her words. This means that readers should have previous data and ability to read. Razali and Razali (2013) expressed that some readers use their data and knowledge to create the meaning from the text throughout the reading method, then the readers connect the ideas within the text to what they already recognize to realize in the comprehension of the text.
Even most people will perceive what they scan once reading word for word, and that they pay a large amount of time repetition the robust terms of the book. Reading comprehension is that the capability to understand information in a text and properly interpret what it suggests (Grabe & Stoller, 2002). Reading comprehension is outlined because of the capability to scan text, process it, and comprehend its meanings.
The capability to interpret a text is wedged by their nature and skills among that is that the ability to draw a conclusion. Reading comprehension can also improve vocabulary and writing skills. According
to Nuttal (2001), the five aspects of reading comprehension that students should understand in order to comprehend a text well are determining the main idea, finding specific information, making inferences, identifying references, and understanding the meaning of words or detailed information. These elements are regarded as obstacles that students generally face when reading a text.
Reading taught at junior high school aims to improve students' reading comprehension skills. Every school follows a curriculum tailored to the needs of their students. The curriculum is more positive in nature, with the goal of stimulating learning, improving knowledge and abilities, and creating good values or even attitudes. Curriculum 2013 is now used in the majority of schools as the most updated curriculum, as well as in SMP Negeri 16 Banda Aceh who were found to have difficulties in comprehending English reading texts.
Based on the statements above, the problems of this study is
“What difficulties are faced by students of SMP Negeri 16 Banda Aceh in reading comprehension?”
B. Method
This was a case study that employed a quantitative descriptive method. According to Creswell (2012), this descriptive method used to identify participants’ responses to a single variable or question. This single variable may be an independent, dependent, or intervening variable. The total population of this study was 86 students divided into several classes;
VIII1, VIII2, VIII3, and VIII4. Every class consisted of around 22 students.
The samples were selected using the simple random sampling technique.
The students were chosen randomly from the four classes. There were also four classes for the current study; each of which consisting of 15 students. Thus, there was a total of 60 students in the study. In this research, the writer used a questionnaire and survey as the instruments to collect the data to find out the students’ difficulties in mastering reading comprehension. Next, this study described and analyzed the factors of the students’ difficulties in reading comprehension. The data were presented in percentages. The following formula was used to calculate the results of the questionnaires:
P = n x100%
f
(Hatch & Farhady, 2002).
Notes:
P= percentage F=frequency n= sum of sample
C. Research Findings
Based on the information above, the issues experienced by SMP Negeri 16 Banda Aceh in reading comprehension were the difficulty in answering major concept questions, forming inferences, and identifying reference questions. Finding major idea questions is considered the most challenging component of reading comprehension. The table below describes factors in the students’ reading difficulties.
Table 1. Factors in the Students’ Reading Difficulties
No Statement Always Often Rarely Never
1 The students get difficulties in mastering reading text comprehensively
39 (65%)
11 (18,3%)
7 (11,7%)
3 (5 %) 2 The students’ time is limited
to reading English text
30 (50%)
15 (25%)
9 (15%)
6 (10%) 3 The students feel difficult in
learning reading because they do not understand English Structure.
30 (50%)
18 (30%)
8 (13,3%)
4 (6,7%)
4 The students get difficulties reading magazines and newspaper in English
30 (50%)
15 (25%)
10 (16,7%)
5 (8,3%) 5 The students practice
reading English text
5 (8,3%)
10 (16,7%)
17 (28,3%)
28 (46,7%) 6 The English teacher
motivates students to read English text
10 (16,7%)
12 (20%)
16 (26,7%)
22 (36,6%) 7 The teacher’s motivation
makes a significant change in learning reading comprehension
38 (63,3%)
14 (23,3%)
6 (10%)
2 (3%)
8 The time that the students need to comprehend a text
40 (66,7%)
12 (20%)
6 (10%)
2 (3,3%)
is very limited
10 The students’ effort to get books that they need
6 (10%)
18 (30%)
16 (26,7%)
30 (50%)
11 The students’
understanding of idioms in a text
8 (13,3%)
12 (20%)
16 (26,7%)
24 (40%) 12 The students’ difficulties in
understanding the meaning of every paragraph
28 (46,7%)
20 (33,3%)
7 (11,7%)
5 (8,3%)
13 The students’
understanding of the meaning of the text
6 (10%)
11 (18,3%)
19 (31,7%)
24 (40%)
14 The students’
understanding of the terms in a text
5 (8,3%)
12 (20%)
17 (28,3%)
26 (43,3%)
15 The students’
understanding of English word orders in a text
8 (13,3%)
12 (20%)
15 (25%)
25 (41,7%) 16 The students’ mastery of
vocabularies in English texts
6 (10%)
10 (16,7)
18 (30%)
26 (43,3%) 17 The students do the
research before reading the English book
6 (10%)
14 (23,3%)
16 (26,7%)
24 (40%) 18 The students get difficulties
understanding the meaning of the texts that they read
27 (45%)
19 (31,7%)
8 (13,3%)
6 (10%)
19 The students’
understanding of the words in English text
6 (10%)
13 (21,7%)
17 (28,3%)
24 (40%)
20 The students’
understanding of the function of the words in the text that they have read
8 (13,3%)
10 (16,7%)
14 (23,3%)
28 (46,7%)
21 The students’
understanding of the words in an English text
5 (8,3%)
11 (18,3%)
16 (26,7%)
28 (46,7%) 22 The students have a
dictionary that is used to find the meaning of the words
8 (13,3%)
10 (16,7%)
15 (25%)
27 (45%)
23 The use of a dictionary in finding the meaning of the words
7 (11,6%)
10 (16,7%)
18 (30%)
25 (41,7) 24 The students’ difficulties in
understanding the whole meaning of the text
26 (43,3%)
18 (30%)
12 (20%)
4 (6,7%)
25 The students’ difficulties in understanding the teachers’
intonation in reading
25 (41,7%)
16 (26,7%)
3 (21,6%)
6 (10%) 26 The students’ difficulties in
understanding the plot of a text they have read
29 (48,3%)
16 (26,7%)
9 (15%)
6 (10%) 27 The students’ difficulties in
finding the main idea of a text they have read
32 (53,3%)
15 (25%)
10 (16,7%)
3 (5%) 28 The students’ difficulties in
understanding the whole meaning of the text
30 (50%)
15 (25%)
10 (16,7%)
5 (8,3%)
29 The students’ difficulties to find the supported idea and the main idea of a text
28 (46,7%)
17 (28,3%)
10 (16,7%)
5 (8,3%) 30 The students’ difficulties to
conclude the content of a text.
26 (43,3%)
16 (26,7%)
13 (21,7%)
5 (8,3%)
D. Discussion
According to Grabe and Stoller (2002), reading may be taught as a strategy to obtain information from a text and develop an interpretation of that information. This implies that reading is also a technique used by students to gather information and knowledge during the educational process.
The students' results in tabe1 shows that the number of students who usually have difficulties in mastering reading comprehension was 39 or 65%. It also shows that there were 28 students (46.7%) who always had difficulties finding the supported idea and the main idea, and there are 50% who always have difficulties understanding the entire meaning of the text. In addition, there were 66.7 % who felt the time to comprehend a text is very limited
E. Conclusions
After analyzing the test data, the writer arrived at several conclusions as follows:
1. The students have difficulties in comprehending words or vocabulary, sentences, paragraphs, the whole selection or content of a text, identifying the main idea, the plot of a text, the kinds of texts, and English structure without the help of a dictionary.
2. The most difficult factors faced by the students of SMP Negeri 16 Banda Aceh is time pressure in quick reading and comprehending the content of a text (66.7%), difficulties in finding the main idea of a text (53.3%), difficulties to understand the whole meaning of the text (50%), and difficulties in reading comprehension because they do not understand English structure (50%).
References
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hatch, E. & Farhady, H. (2002). Research design and statistics for applied linguistics. Massachuetts: Newbury House Publisher, Inc.
Hedge, T. (2003). Using reader in language teaching. London: Macmilan Publisher Hall.
Grabe W. & Stoller, F. L. (2002). Teaching and researching reading.
Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Nuttal, C. (2001). Teaching reading skill to the students. London:
Heineman Education Book.
Razali, K., & Razali, I. (2013). Strategies in improving reading
comprehension through vocabulary acquisition. Englisia: Journal of Language, Education, and Humanities, 1(1), 1-16.
