COMPARATIVE STUDY ON READING COMPREHENSION SKILL
BETWEEN THE FIRST CLASS OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
FROM THE ORDINARY PROGRAM AND THE NON ORDINARY
PROGRAM AT AL-HASANIYAH NW JENGGIK
EAST LOMBOK
IN ACADEMIK YEAR 2005/2006
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
The relationship between human beings and language is formed by the symbol of sound which is produced by organs of speech (Keraf, 1979). To be able to communicate effectively, one is suggested to have enough language competency.
With regards to the advance of civilization in the world, communication has played an important role to develop human being in the field of science and technology. Technology is like a spider web net that every single component is interconnected and is developed constantly. This communication network not only unifies different countries, but also facilitates international relations.
English, as an international language has become the global connection of worldwide communication. It is now widely spoken by many people in six continents and as a language daily life. So, its role as an international language becomes established and permanent. Computer based technology, for example, has led to a massive extension in the use of English, especially through mediums such as the Internet. Someone can contact someone else anywhere in the world, but in practice he/she can only do this if he/she is sufficiently proficient in English. In order to know English well, someone has to learn and master English through four skills, namely: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
In the foreign language classroom, teaching language is a process of guiding the students in order to communicate actively in the target language. From the four integrated skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) as Wardaini (1997) cited from Henry Guntur Tarigan (1987: 2) says that the third skill children gain after speaking and before writing is reading. Successful reading can be achieved through comprehending the text we read. As a language skill, reading has received a great emphasis in the teaching learning process compared with the other language skills. Before 1970, reading was viewed primarily as a supplement to oral language skill (Fries, 1971 and Wardaini, 1997).
The writer it is very interesting to compare the reading comprehension skill between the first class of SHS students from the ordinary program and the first class of SHS students from the non ordinary program. The writer assumes that reading comprehension skill of the first class from the ordinary program who already have four years experience studying English is better than that of the first class of SHS students who have had one year experience of studying English.
AL-Hasaniyah NW Islamic Jenggik
Al-Hasaniyah is an Islamic NW school, located in Jenggik, east Lombok. At present, there are 315 female students and approximately300 male students. The writer decided to research the reading comprehension skill of the female students. The writer chooses the female students of Al-Hasaniyah NW Islamic Jenggik because she wants to know how far the comparative study on reading comprehension skill between the first class of SHS student in this Islamic school. They are divided into two groups according to their graduation based on the program provided, namely ordinary program and non ordinary program.
As a good educational school, Al-Hasaniyah is emphasizing on the teaching of English and Arabic. The reason for this is that both languages are THE “crown” – is identify of Al-Hasaniyah NW Islamic School to remind students to speak only in English and Arabic inside and outside of the school. Just as a crown gives a king authority and position, learning English and Arabic to vie for better future in life – of this Islamic school. Further, the language they learn is considered to open the large part of science, knowledge and experience of both students and alumni. It is of great importance for Al-Hasaniyah to concentrate on the teachings of English as well as Arabic.
The medium of instruction is Arabic and English, excepts for a few subjects, which are still taught in Indonesian such as chemistry, mathematics. The educational system used at Al-Hasaniyah is a combination within the curriculum which is created institutionally and curriculum provided by of the Education Department of Religious affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, is that the students have to be able to perform in Arabic and English as well. Unfortunately, in many cases the students are not so qualified in English.
Looking at learning and teaching English activity at Al-Hasaniyah from its operational characteristic, it can be divided into: formal learning and non formal learning activities. Formal learning activities are learning and teaching English which is directly undertaken by teachers either in the classroom or out of the classroom. Non formal activities consist of English encouragement group sessions where teachers and students help to correct each others use of English everyday, and to motivate students to use English-, an English course, English magazines, English role plays, English drama, English information which is announced by the information section of student organization and also discipline for using English, which is done by exclusively using English on school grounds.
Both students of ordinary and non-ordinary programs have the same daily general, students from both groups have better language competency in Arabic compared to English. In the writer opinion, this is caused by their background knowledge in which they were used to reading the Al-Qur’an since they were children. The other reason might be the correlation between Indonesia people and Arabic people with their oral ability. In other words the students’ English ability is weak. In terms of language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), the students have problems especially in reading skills compared to other skills in English. This information is known by the writer as an English teacher of this situation for about four years.
Through this research, the writer investigated about the success of the first as of SHS students in reading comprehension skill because previous study in other schools which have the same system teaching have shown surprising result. The previous studies showed that students in the non-ordinary program showed better result than ordinary program in reading comprehension skill (Huda, 2000). Therefore, the writer is motivated to discover the difference between the first class of SHS students from ordinary program and non-ordinary program in reading comprehension skill and also to investigate whether curriculum and teaching is working properly or not.
1.2. Scope and Limitation of the Study
This study is limited to the observation of the students’ ability in answering reading tasks which comprised of:
· Factual questions
· Determining a title
· Determining a main idea
1.3. Statement of Problem
Based on the above background, the writer summarizes the statement of the problems as follows:
1.3.1. The general statement
Is there any different English competency especially in reading comprehension skill between the first class of SHS students from the ordinary program and the first class of SHS students from the non ordinary program at Al-Hasaniyah NW Islamic Jenggik?
1.3.2. The More Operational
1. Is there any significant difference between the two groups’ achievement in answering a factual question of reading comprehension text?
2. Is there any significant difference between the two groups’ achievement in determining a title of reading text?
3. Is there any significant difference between two groups’ achievement in determining the main idea of reading text?
1.4. Objective of Study
The purpose of this study are as follows:
1.4.1. General Objective
To know whether there is a difference in reading comprehension skill between the first class of SHS students from the ordinary program and the first class of SHS students from the non ordinary program.
1.4.2. Specific Objective
1. To know whether there is any difference between the students ability to answer a factual question of a reading text.
2. To know whether there is any difference between the students ability to determine a title of the reading text.
3. To know whether there is any difference between the students ability to determine a main idea of a reading text.
1.5. Hypothesis of the Study
There are three hypotheses to be answered in this study:
1. The first class of SHS students from the ordinary program are better than the first class of SHS students from the non ordinary program at reading comprehension skill.
2. The first class of SHS students from the ordinary program are worse than the first class of SHS students from the non ordinary program at reading comprehension skill.
3. There is no difference in reading comprehension skill between the first class of SHS students from the ordinary program and the first class of SHS students from the non ordinary program.
1.6. Significance of Study
This study is aimed at giving a contribution to the following points.
1. Guardians of Al-Hasanyah and the Headmaster of Al-Hasaniyah about comparative English ability between the first class of SHS students from the ordinary program and ones from non ordinary program, especially in reading comprehension skill.
2. English teachers of Al-Hasaniyah, especially those who teach the first class in order to improve the English competency of their students.
3. The students, so that they can use the results of this research as a support to improve their achievement in reading comprehension skill.
4. Future researchers to continue this basic study, so it can contribute new significant changes to Al-Hasaniyah.
1.7. The Definition of Key Terms
In this section, the writer would like to give some definition of terms, to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation. The terms are as follows:
Ordinary program is a program which specializes for the students having graduated from Junior High School at Al-Hasaniyah.
Non ordinary program is a program which specializes to the students having graduated from other schools.
The ordinary program emphasizes on the same English curriculum as the non ordinary program.
Reading skillis the capability of understanding or getting information from reading material.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. Language and Its Development
Historically, a language in the beginning was restricted to explain the object only, but according to a linguist, Herder (1984) cited that language was in fact no limited to say the object, in addition it can explain about its matter and its sound Huda (2000). According to another linguist, Jes Persen, (1987) language is important to clarify the feeling such as repulsive, digested, sorrow, pain and surprise. It means that language is important to express the five senses. (in Sitorus, 1979 and Huda, 2000)
Huda (2000) further states that every psychologically and mentally normal person has learned the main structure and basic vocabulary of his mother tongue by the end of childhood. It has been pointed out that the process of first language acquisition as a spoken medium of communication is largely achieved from random exposure. In the subsequent development, language is not merely an instrument to explain an object, a sound, feeling and sensation, it is also not to change the meaning only towards sounds, yet language becomes or it is used an extending usage. It also can be used extensively in every aspect of life. In the following, because of the differences among one separated too far from another, then as a logical consequence is the speech and language itself are different automatically and each language becomes strange among the nations.
In this globalization era, when English is now used by so many people on an international scale and in so many areas of everyday life, it is not surprising if English nowadays, expands into all aspects of human life, including informative aspect, for example, that majority of international telephone cells, are made in English, seventy percent plus of international mails are also written and addressed in English, eighty percent of all computer’s texts are stored in English, sixty percent of the world’s radio operates in English (compact disk, 1998).
2.2. Reading Process
Tejakusuma (1987: 1-3) writes in his paper that nowadays there is no knowledgeable person that would say that reading is not a passive or receptive skill. Now we know that reading is not only absorbing meaning from the text, but it involves putting meaning into the text. We can read a text in our language but fail to get the message from the text because of different interpretation of the text.
Thorndike (1917) as cited by Robinson (1977) and also cited by Tejakusuma (1987), described the reading process as:
“A very elaborate procedure, involving a weighing of each of the proper relation to one another, the selection of certain of their connotations and the rejections of others, and the operation of many forces to determine final responses.”
Tejakusuma (1987) cites Spiro, Bruce and Brewer who describe the reading process as “multilevel, interactive and hypothesis-based.” It is multilevel because it consists of several stages, the lowest being orthobiographic and the highest the semantic level.
In line with the information above, Wardhaugh (1974) also rejects the notion that reading is passive or receptive. He maintains that is active, interactive, productive and cognitive. Reading involves and active search for information besides the interaction with the text. The reading is constantly required to be constructively involved and to use his higher order mental abilities, further will develop his/her ability to make interference and go beyond the text.
2.3. Reading as a Language Skill
From the four integrated skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing skill), the writer is interested to come up with a more elaborate description about reading skill as what Tarigan (1987) cited from Huda (2000) calls that reading skill as the third skill that the children have gained after speaking and before writing.
To the same extent reading should be stimulated when the students need to create the sense condition. In other words, the students will be guided to find the real answers of question they have in mind. Purposeful reading is encouraged by creating an interest in content, by trying in the new experience with personal background of the learning, by systematically extending the reading vocabulary (Betts).
Ying (2001) states that “reading is the process of recognition, interpretation and perception of written or printed material. Meanwhile Godman says reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game, consisting of cycle of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.
Ying continues her statement that “reading is a process of hypothesis formation and verification, it is communicative act between a writer and reader. Consequently, the reader’s understanding is unlikely to be 100% accurate, as Wallace (1982) cited from Ying (2001) puts it: “The mother tongue speaker learns to be content with approximate meaning…. (H)e is satisfied with a meaning which makes sense of the context.”
Still, to the same extent, reading is not just the recognition of the printed words or understanding the meaning it carries. In the similar meaning, George Pappas (1970: 11) pointed out that reading is predominantly a visual thinking still utilizing the eyes and the higher mental process. It is the method by which the perception or the printed symbols causes same forms reaction in the mind (Cited in Finnonchiro, 1983 and Suhirman, 2002).
According to Grellet (1981) reading may be classified as four simply categories, intensive reading, extensive reading, skimming and scanning (Cited in Ommagio, 1986) Suhirman (2002) further mentions as follows:
· Firstly, intensive reading is reading activity that is being related to further progress in language learning under the teacher guidance. In this type of reading, control from a teacher is compulsory and it will provide a basis for elucidation of difficulties of structure, and for the extension of vocabulary. To the same extent, Finnonchiro (1983) also glanced that the intensive reading when the student’s attention should be focused on all expression, nations sound, structure and cultural allusions will be unfamiliar to them in passage.
· Secondly, extensive reading is developed at the student’s own pace according to his individual ability (Rivers, 1968 and Suhirman, 2002). In this extent, the activity is not completely controlled by the teacher. The students have learner to read without the teacher’s role. The extensive reading activity is mostly concerned with the purpose of training students to read directly and fluently by his/her own employment, without the aid of the teacher. Structures in the test will be already familiar to him and new vocabulary will be introduced slowly in such a way that its meaning can be deduced from the context.
· The third is skimming
There are great many materials related to each professional area, the students must be taught to be selective. Skimming techniques will enable them to select the worth reading.
Method of Skimming
§ Preview
By previewing, the student can find out whether a specialist in a certain fields written book or article and whether it contains the information he/she is seeking.
§ Overview
In over viewing, the student can discover the purpose and scope of the material, and can find sections that are the special interest to him.
§ Survey
Through survey, the student will get the general idea of what the material contains.
In short, skimming is the skill that helps the students read quickly and selectively in order to obtain a general idea of the material.
· The fourth is scanning
Scanning helps the student search quickly of the specific information he wishes to get from the material, such as finding the meaning of a word in a dictionary, finding the heading under which required information appears an index, finding statistical information in tables, charts, or graph, and finding the answers to certain questions from the text.
The procedures for scanning are as follows. First, specific information must be located. Next the clues which will help to find the required information have to be decided, then, find the clues. Finally, read the section containing the clues to get information needed. In this technique, the students are trained to think of clues to help them find the specific information. These clues may be a word or words, punctuation, alphabetical order, numbers, etc. the students are also trained to move eyes rapidly and look only for the clues in order to obtain the information quickly. It requires a great deal of practice to develop scanning skill. Therefore the students are encouraged to use this technique randomly throughout the program. This technique is challenging to the student and helps to alleviate freedom during the class.
From linguistics point of views, reading is recording and decoding process. Not like speaking which just involves an encoding process reading applies decoding process by which a reader must grasp and guess the meaning of written words used in writing scripts, reading the symbols to the oral language meaning (Anderson in Tarigan (1991) and Suhirman (2002)). In short, reading can be defined as “bringing meaning to and get meaning from points or written materials” (Finnochiro and Banama in Tarigan, 1987, and Suhirman, 2002). It is true by reading people get to know the other people scientific achievement, or some happening in other region of the country. Through reading we can improve our skill and enlarge our human development achievement.
2.4. Aspects of Reading Comprehension
According to Sheng (2003) reading comprehension questions measure student’s ability to read with understanding, insight and discrimination. This type of question explores the ability to analyze a written passage from several perspectives, including student’s ability to recognize both explicitly stated elements in the passage and assumptions underlying statements or arguments in the passage as well as the implications of those statements or arguments. Because the written passage upon which the questions are based presents a sustained discussion of a particular topic.
There are six types of reading comprehension questions. These types focus on these aspects.
(1) The main idea or primary purpose of the passage;
(2) Information explicitly stated in the passage;
(3) Information or ideas implied or suggested by the author;
(4) Possible applications of the author’s ideas to other situations, including the identification of situations or processes analogous to those descried in the passage;
(5) The author’s logic, reasoning, or persuasive technique;
(6) The tone of the passage or the author’s attitude as it is revealed in the language used.
2.5. Comprehension Skill
According to Hilerachi (1983) most of the reading professional list three categories of reading comprehension.
· Literal comprehension has to do with understanding or with answering questions about what an author said.
· Inferential comprehension refers to understanding what an author want by what was said.
· Critical reading has to do with evaluating or making judgments about what an author said and meant. Edgar put it well when he referred to these three categories as “reading the lines ….reading between the lines…..and reading beyond the lines.”
2.6. The Role of Background Knowledge in Comprehension
Ommagio (1986) writes that cognitive psychologist in the late 1960s place great emphasis on the importance of meaningfulness and organization of background knowledge in the learning process. Ommagio (1986) quotes Ausubel’s (1968) views that learning which involve active mental process must be meaningful to be effective and permanent. In the second language comprehension process, at least three types of background knowledge are potentially activated:
Godman describes that reading as a “psycholinguistic guessing game” involving the interaction between thought and language. Efficient readers do not need to perceive precisely or identify all elements of the text. Rather, they select the fewest, most productive cues necessary to produce guesses about the meaning of the passage and verify the hypothesis as the process discourse further (In Ommagio, 1986).
Along with Godman’s idea, Ommagio (1986) also maintains that the efficient language users will take the most direct routine to their goal comprehension. He describes reading as a sampling process in which readers predict structures. Clearly, Ommagio (1996) included as in the comprehension process all three types of background knowledge: comprehenders make use not only of the linguistic information of the text, but also of their knowledge of the world and their understanding of discourse structure to make sense out the passage. In line with the above statement, as Ommagio (1986) cited from Kolers (1973) also maintains that reading is only incidently visual. Thus, the reader then contributes more information by the print on the page.
Finally, Ommagio (1986) presents Yorio’s statement who isolates the following factors in reading process, those are:
1. Knowledge of the language.
2. Ability to predict or guess in order to make correct choice.
3. Ability to remember the previous cues, and
4. Ability to make the necessary associations between the different cues selected.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
Research Design
This research is about the comparative study on reading comprehension skill between the first class of SHS students from the ordinary program and the non ordinary program. The research is categorized as “EX POST DE FACTO”, characterized with descriptive quantitative.
According to Waluyo (1994), ex post de facto means that the data were only collected after finishing the study, so the researcher should be able to see the results of the study. This research makes a symmetrical and factual description by using a quantitative method.
Population
The participants of this research are the first year students of senior high school in their academic year 2005/2006 consisting of 40 students and were divided into two classes, 17 students from the ordinary program and 23 students from the non ordinary program. Further details are given in the table below:
| NO | CLASS | NUMBER |
| 1 | ORDINARY PROGRAM | 17 |
| 2 | NON ORDINARY PROGRAM | 23 |
| | TOTAL | 40 |
Data Collection
The method of collecting data for this research is used testing. A test is a group of questions, tasks or exercises for measuring individual or groups skill. The contents or the reading task include factual question, determining a title and determining the main idea.
The test of those three aspects of reading comprehension was compiled by the writer herself collecting information about the subjects, which are learned at Al-Hasaniyah. For those reason, the writer has compiled 25 items of multiple choice and 10 items of essay question taken from various sources. Those choices from multiple choice questions are as follows:
a. Factual questions : 16 items
b. Determining a title : 4 items
c. Determining the main idea : 5 items
Every question is valued at 4 points, thus a total of 100 points.
So, the essay questions are described a follows.
a. Determining a title : 4 items
b. Determining the main idea : 6 items
There are 4 band scales to measure reading comprehension test in essay questions described by Lucky Prang, an Australian PhD candidate (2003), the are as follows:
4 - Suitable title of reading passage given
- Idea of the text understood
3 - Title of reading passage suitable but not perfect
- Some difficulties in understanding some of the passage
2 - Title of reading passage is not very fitting
- Difficulties in connecting the different passage
1 - Not able to create a title
- Main idea of the text lost
“Try-out” of Test’s Question
In order to be able to present valid questions for measuring reading comprehension test, the writer presented the “try-out” test. Therefore the writer performed the “try-out” test on Monday, April 28, 2003 8 pm until 9.30 pm for the first class senior high school male students. Consisting of twenty-one students, 10 students from the ordinary and 11 students from the non ordinary program. The test contained 45 items.
The writer, in analyzing the result of this “try-out” test applied the following formula.
1. Degree of Difficulty
Note:
DD : degree of difficulty
NRA : number of right answer
NS : number of students
(Gronlund, 1985)
The following are the result of “try-out” test in reading comprehension of twenty-one students from the first class of SHS for boys. The data below were analyzed trough a computerized system.
Table of “Try-out” of reading comprehension text
| NO | TEST’S NUMBER | % | RECOMMENDATION |
| 1 | 1 | 100 | Refused |
| 2 | 2 | 52,4 | Accepted |
| 3 | 3 | 42,9 | Accepted |
| 4 | 4 | 14,4 | Refused |
| 5 | 5 | 38,1 | Accepted |
| 6 | 6 | 42,9 | Accepted |
| 7 | 7 | 23,8 | Refused |
| 8 | 8 | 42,9 | Accepted |
| 9 | 9 | 61,9 | Accepted |
| 10 | 10 | 66,7 | Accepted |
| 11 | 11 | 71,4 | Refused |
| 12 | 12 | 23,8 | Refused |
| 13 | 13 | 9,5 | Refused |
| 14 | 14 | 47,6 | Accepted |
| 15 | 15 | 71,4 | Refused |
| 16 | 16 | 57,1 | Accepted |
| 17 | 17 | 61,9 | Accepted |
| 18 | 18 | 81,0 | Refused |
| 19 | 19 | 52,4 | Accepted |
| 20 | 20 | 33,3 | Accepted |
| 21 | 21 | 23,8 | Refused |
| 22 | 22 | 52,4 | Accepted |
| 23 | 23 | 23,8 | Refused |
| 24 | 24 | 66,7 | Accepted |
| 25 | 25 | 42,9 | Accepted |
| 26 | 26 | 85,7 | Refused |
| 27 | 27 | 71,4 | Refused |
| 28 | 28 | 52,4 | Accepted |
| 29 | 29 | 38,1 | Accepted |
| 30 | 30 | 4,8 | Refused |
| 31 | 31 | 90,5 | Refused |
| 32 | 32 | 57,1 | Accepted |
| 33 | 33 | 19,0 | Refused |
| 34 | 34 | 71,4 | Refused |
| 35 | 35 | 66,7 | Accepted |
| 36 | 36 | 19,0 | Refused |
| 37 | 37 | 76,2 | Refused |
| 38 | 38 | 9,5 | Refused |
| 39 | 39 | 23,8 | Refused |
| 40 | 40 | 66,7 | Accepted |
| 41 | 41 | 33,3 | Accepted |
| 42 | 42 | 42,9 | Accepted |
| 43 | 43 | 42,9 | Accepted |
| 44 | 44 | 52,4 | Accepted |
| 45 | 45 | 33,3 | Accepted |
Having performed the try-out test, it appears that the accepted questions are what represent the conditional degree of difficulty. Thus, the result of “try-out” test between 30% to 70% was accepted. But those scores that reflected a very easy and very difficult performance were not accepted.
00% to 29% : very easy
30% to 70% : enough/accepted
71% to 100% : very difficult.
Based on the formula above, there are 25 accepted items and 20 refused items. Those number are :
02, 03, 05, 06, 08, 09, 10, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 32, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45.
Data Analysis Procedures
The data gained from the individual’s scores of the two groups of students’ were analyzed statistically using the formula below:
1.
Definition:
MX : Mean score of x
X : total score of variable x
N : the number of the sample
S : the sum of …...
2.
MY : Mean score of y
Y : total score of variable y
N : the number of the sample
S : the sum of …...
The result of the statistical computation is then analyzed by using t-test in order to find out the significance level of two groups by using 5% level of significance (95%). The computation is as follows:
(Arikunto, 1996)
Note:
M : the average or total
N : the number of the sample
X : deviation every score x2 and x1
Y : deviation every score y2 from mean of y1
: is the result from
: is the result from
REFERENCES
Arikunto, Suharsimi. 1993. Prosedur Penelitian. Bandung: Bina Aksara.
Bolgar, Robert Ralph. 1998. Teaching Methods. England: Encyclopedia Compact Disk.
Furchan, Arif. 1982. Pengantar Penelitian Dalam Pendidikan. Surabaya: Usaha Nasional.
Grondund, NE. 1985. Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Hillerich, L. Robert. 1987. The Principal’s Guide to Improving Reading Instruction. USA: Bowling Green State University.
Huda, S. 2000. English Competency of KMI Students of Pondok Modern Gontor (a thesis). Ponorogo: Islamic Studies of Darussalam Gontor.
Hornby, AS. 1974. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. USA: Oxford University Press.
Keraf, Gorys. 1984. Linguistik Bandingan Historis. Jakarta: PT. Gramedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment