CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter deals with previous related research finding and pertinent ideas.

A. Previous Research Findings
Dubin and Olshtain (1993), Schatz and Baldwin (1986) “Context clues” are also called “contextual clues”, “contextual cues” or “context cues”. Whatever name they have, they are generally defined as the clearly stated or implied words or phrases which help to comprehend unfamiliar words in context because they can activate the corresponding context to clarify the contextual meanings of the words concerned. In this sense, context clues serve as hints to the words in question. Context clues vary a great deal, and thus can be classified into different types according to different criteria.

Reading is an interactive and constructive process involving the reader, the text, and the context of the reading experience. Some previous researcher found that the use of contextual guessing technique provided students to improve reading comprehension.

B. Some Pertinent Ideas
1. Reading
Harison and Smith (1987) define reading as the act of responding with appropriate meaning to print or written verbal symbols. It means that reading is the result of interaction between the graphic symbols that represent language and the reader’s language skill, and cognitive skills and knowledge of the words.

2. According to Wallace (1998), reading as interpreting means reacting to a written text as a piece of communication. In other words, we assume some communicative intent on the writer’s part in which the reader has some purposes in attempting to understand.

3. According to Williams (1997) reading is a process of obtaining meaning from written text. Readers carry out knowledge of the writing system, knowledge of the language, and the ability to interpret meaning from a text.

2. The Concept of Reading

Other definition that reading is a complex developmental challenge that we know to be intertwined with many others developmental accomplishments : attention, memory, language, and motivation. For example, reading is not only a cognitive Psycholinguistic activity but also asocial activity. ( snow, burns & Griffin, 1998).

One of another skills should be achieved by students is reading, and it can’t be denied that reading is one of the important thing in the student skill. The definition of reading According to Nunan (1998) in his book said that “Reading is a process of decoding written symbols, working from smaller units (individual letters) to larges ones (words, clauses and sentences)”.

Another definition is come from Grigg, Daane, Jin, & Campbel (2003) Reading is an interactive and constructive process involving the reader, the text, and the context of the reading experience. Reading involve the development of an understanding of text, thinking about text in different ways, and using variety of text types for different purpose.

3. Strategies of Reading

Language instructors are often frustrated by the fact that students do not automatically transfer the strategies they use when reading in their native language to reading in a language they are learning. Instead, they seem to think reading means starting at the beginning and going word by word, stopping to look up every unknown vocabulary item, until they reach the end. When they do this, students are relying exclusively on their linguistic knowledge, a bottom-up strategy. One of the most important functions of the language instructor, then, is to help students move past this idea and use top-down strategies as they do in their native language.

Strategies that can help students read more quickly and effectively include.

a. Previewing: reviewing titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense of the structure and content of a reading selection

b. Predicting: using knowledge of the subject matter to make predictions about content and vocabulary and check comprehension; using knowledge of the text type and purpose to make predictions about discourse structure; using knowledge about the author to make predictions about writing style, vocabulary, and content

c. Skimming and scanning: using a quick survey of the text to get the main idea, identify text structure, confirm or question predictions

d. Guessing from context: using prior knowledge of the subject and the ideas in the text as clues to the meanings of unknown words, instead of stopping to look them up

e. Paraphrasing: stopping at the end of a section to check comprehension by restating the information and ideas in the text.

When language learners use reading strategies, they find that they can control the reading experience, and they gain confidence in their ability to read the language. Reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level because it supports learning in multiple ways.

a) Reading to learn the language: Reading material is language input. By giving students a variety of materials to read, instructors provide multiple opportunities for students to absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and discourse structure as they occur in authentic contexts.

b) Reading for content information: Students' purpose for reading in their native language is often to obtain information about a subject they are studying, and this purpose can be useful in the language learning classroom as well. Reading for content information in the language classroom gives students both authentic reading material and an authentic purpose for reading.

c) Reading for cultural knowledge and awareness: Reading everyday materials that are designed for native speakers can give students insight into the lifestyles and worldviews of the people whose language they are studying. When students have access to newspapers, magazines, and Web sites, they are exposed to culture in all its variety, and monolithic cultural stereo types begin to break down.

When reading to learn, students need to follow four basic steps:

· Figure out the purpose for reading. Activate background knowledge of the topic in order to predict or anticipate content and identify appropriate reading strategies.

· Attend to the parts of the text that are relevant to the identified purpose and ignore the rest. This selectivity enables students to focus on specific items in the input and reduces the amount of information they have to hold in short-term memory.

· Select strategies that are appropriate to the reading task and use them flexibly and interactively. Students' comprehension improves and their confidence increases when they use top-down and bottom-up skills simultaneously to construct meaning.

· Check comprehension while reading and when the reading task is completed. Monitoring comprehension helps students detect inconsistencies and comprehension failures, helping them learn to use alternate strategies.

Instruction in reading strategies is not an add-on, but rather an integral part of the use of reading activities in the language classroom. Instructors can help their students become effective readers by teaching them how to use strategies before, during, and after reading.

Before reading: Plan for the reading task

1) Set a purpose or decide in advance what to read for

2) Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is needed

3) Determine whether to enter the text from the top down (attend to the overall meaning) or from the bottom up (focus on the words and phrases).

During and after reading: Monitor comprehension

1) Verify predictions and check for inaccurate guesses

2) Decide what is and is not important to understand

3) Reread to check comprehension

4) Ask for help

After reading: Evaluate comprehension and strategy use

1) Evaluate comprehension in a particular task or area

2) Evaluate overall progress in reading and in particular types of reading tasks

3) Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task

4) Modify strategies if necessary

Students do not learn to read by reading aloud. A person who reads aloud and comprehends the meaning of the text is coordinating word recognition with comprehension and speaking and pronunciation ability in highly complex ways. Students whose language skills are limited are not able to process at this level, and end up having to drop one or more of the elements. Usually the dropped element is comprehension, and reading aloud becomes word calling: simply pronouncing a series of words without regard for the meaning they carry individually and together. Word calling is not productive for the student who is doing it, and it is boring for other students to listen to.

4. The Purpose of Reading

There are six purpose in reading. They are :

a. To be able to identify and remember specific facts as a main idea.

b. To enjoy/relax

c. To be able to follow instruction to reach a goal

d. To critical the logic or data presented

e. To study according to an assignment or test requirement

f. To solve problems

In while-reading activities, students check their comprehension as they read. The purpose for reading determines the appropriate type and level of comprehension.

a. When reading for specific information, students need to ask themselves, have I obtained the information I was looking for?

b. When reading for pleasure, students need to ask themselves, Do I understand the story line/sequence of ideas well enough to enjoy reading this?

c. When reading for thorough understanding (intensive reading), students need to ask themselves, Do I understand each main idea and how the author supports it? Does what I'm reading agree with my predictions, and if not, how does it differ? To check comprehension in this situation, students may :

1) Stop at the end of each section to review and check their predictions, restate the main idea and summarize the section.

2) Use the comprehension questions as guides to the text, stopping to answer them as they read.

C. Reading Comprehension
1. Definition of Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is influenced significantly by a students level of word knowledge, which includes vocabulary and spelling skills, as well as the ability to decode words in print. “Knowing words” involves understanding both the structure and meaning of words at various levels of complexity. Teachers can facilitate the growth of word knowledge through the explicit teaching of word patterns and word-solving strategies within the context of a word-rich classroom. The goal of instruction in reading, spelling, and vocabulary is to help students develop “word consciousness” and to become independent word-solvers in all subject areas.

Reading comprehension is a complex undertaking that involves many levels of processing. One of the most fundamental aspects of comprehension is the ability to deal with unfamiliar words encountered in text. Readers who struggle with word-level tasks use up valuable cognitive space that could be allotted to deeper levels of text analysis. It is not enough to rely on context cues to predict the meaning of new words, since this strategy often results in erroneous or superficial understandings of key terms, especially in content-area reading (Paynter, Bodrova, & Doty, 2005). Mature readers need to possess a basic knowledge of “how words work” and a set of strategies for approaching new words encountered throughout the day.

It is necessary for the students of Senior High School to master reading comprehension. Cooper (1986) stated that Comprehension is a process in which the reader may construct meaning by interacting with the text. In reading comprehension, a reader should have knowledge about understanding the reading passage. The common questions on the passages are primarily about the main ideas, details, and an inference that can be drawn from the passages.

According to Singer (1985) reading comprehension has been defined as an interpretation of written symbols, the apprehending of meaning, the assimilation of ideas presented by the written, and the process of thinking while deciphering symbols. Further, reading comprehension is related closely to the cognitive competence of the readers, because this will produce comprehension. This idea also supported by Parera in Kahayanto (2005), he states as follows:

“Memahami adalah memperhatikan naskah tertulis dengan maksud memahami isinya. Proses ini dilakukan dengan mata diam atau membaca dalam hati. Hasil pemahaman disebut pemahaman bacaan. Cara membaca yang demikian disebut cara membaca pemahaman”.

Louise Rosenblatt (1938), an English literature professor, became frustrated with this polarity of theories and contended that comprehension of literature is constructed from a dialogue between writer and reader (constructive). Olshavsky (1976), a linguistics professor, expanded this idea of construction of meaning to include the input of others and the environment (social construction). The result is the class discussion in which the students and professor learn about the writer's background, style, and attitudes in order to interpret the selection in light of what the message contributes to the participants today.

As defined by Partnership for Reading (2005), Reading comprehension is understanding a text that is read, or the process of "constructing meaning" from a text. Comprehension is a "construction process" because it involves all of the elements of the reading process working together as a text is read to create a representation of the text in the reader's mind. It is very difficult to define comprehension. Reduced to its simplest elements we might say that comprehension is a part of the communication process of getting the thoughts that were in the author’s mind into the reader’s mind. This is a difficult process because it involves the transmission of an idea through several imperfect media. For example, the author must have a clear idea in his mind, then reduce this idea to written language; this will be printed; and finally the reader looks at the printed word and forms an idea.

Reading can be thought of as being on two levels at once. First of all the reader should get the objective information i.e. facts. According to Fry (1965) these facts require little interpretation or judgment. Then on a higher level, the reader should be able to get subjective information, i.e. the tone and the mood of the story, unstated ideas or the overall information. “It might only hint at other situations with which the reader is supposed to be familiar. Or the reader might be expected to generalize from the specific facts given, in order to get a main idea”

Hussain (2005) writes that a person who comprehends English language has the following capabilities:

a. He can read at normal speed.

b. He is able to understand “the lexical and the structural meanings of the words, phrases and sentences.”

c. He can “take in complete phrases or groups of words at once and when reading aloud, use appropriate sounds, juncture, stress and intonation pattern.”

d. He can guess the meaning of unfamiliar words while reading a text.

e. If he is unable to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word, he can find out it in a dictionary.

f. He can skip unnecessary information while skimming.

g. He is able to read silently without moving his lips.

h. He is able to differentiate between opinion and facts.

i. He can locate the topic sentence in a paragraph.

j. He can make a summary of important points.

k. He can distinguish between various moods of the writer.

l. He can recognize the meanings of various graphic signals such as punctuation marks, etc.

Aebersold and Field (1997) write that reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbols in that text. The text and the reader are two physical entities necessary for the reading process to begin. It is, however, the interaction between the text and the reader that constitutes actual reading.

Buzen (1997), on the other hand, defines reading as a process involving following seven steps:

a. Recognition i.e. the knowledge of the alphabetical symbols. This step takes place the instant before the physical reading begins.

b. Assimilation – by which light is reflected from the word received by the eye and transmitted, via the optic nerve, to the brain.

c. Intra – integration – a process equivalent to the basic comprehension, referring to the linking of all parts of the information being read with all other appropriate parts.

d. Extra – integration i.e. bringing of previous knowledge to the material being read and making appropriate connections, analyzing, appreciating, selecting and reading.

e. Retention i.e. the basic storage of information.

f. Recall i.e. being able to get back from the storage whenever and whatever is needed.

g. Communication i.e. the use to which the information is immediately or eventually put.

Reading is indeed very important in learning a foreign language. To give reading its due importance in Pakistani system of language learning, it is a dire need of time to understand the importance of reading in second language learning with particular to learning English as a second language. Language skills are usually grouped as receptive skills i.e. reading and listening, and productive skills i.e. speaking and writing. “People who use a language have a number of sub – skills within each of the four main skills.” (Lucantoni, 2001).

2. Concept of reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is primarily a matter of developing approproate, efficient comprehension strategy. Some experts have formulated the definitions of reading comprehension, they are:

Robinson (1991) stated that reading comprehension means that the understanding, evaluating and utilizing the information and idea gained through an interaction between reader and authors. Reading comprehension is a lend of dialogue between an author and a reader in which the written language become the medium of communication. It means that with understanding and comprehending the material that have written, the interaction between a reader and author accour effectively.

According to Kustaryo (1988) reading comprehension understands what has been read. It is an active thinking process that depends not only comprehension skill but also the students’ experience and prior knowledge comprehension involves understanding the vocabulary, seeing the relationship amonmg words and concepts, organizing judgment and evaluating.

Anderson (1984) states that reading comprehension is a reader’s comprehension abusively by contracting meaning from interacting with material that is read.

From the above statement, it can be concluded that reading comprehension means a way of discovering, understanding and utilizing the information accurately through the interaction between the reader and author.

3. The Role of Reading Comprehension

One of the most important aspects of teaching reading is the selection of the reading text. There are some fairly considerations. The reading selection should not contain market dialects or slang leatures (many pocket books are unsuitable in this aspect) or old fashioned language use (which rules out many classics in their original versions). The selection should have high interest value to the student and the simple way of establishing this by asking the students their opinions of the readings and the eliminating low interest selection from future curricula. The content should not contrast with is interesting and ideologically compatible, at least at the early stages. Anderson (1985).

Michael west argues against using reading with a local setting as it result in a vocabulary of low frequency: Bullock being much less frequent than horse is the example he gives. We should argue the opposite: student need the vocabulary of what is relevant to their world. It is also easier to learn to read when the culture background is familiar and students can be interested on cultural information in the coding process.

4. Kinds of Reading Comprehension

Harris (1980) classified reading into two kinds as follow:

a. Development reading activities are those in which the teacher main purpose to bring an improvement in reading skill activities in which learning to read is the main goal.

b. Functional reading is includes reading which the primary aim is to obtain information. In other words, reading has enjoyment, entertainment and appreciation as major purpose. Reeading is classified into two kinds namely: silent reading and reading aloud.

1) Silent reading

Silent reading is the activity we normaly engage in when we read books, newspaper read signs, etc. It involves looking in the silences and understanding the message they convey. We could developed our understanding in the silent reading by giving short reading passages in the beginning and by asking question about after word.

2) Reading aloud
Reading aloud is a completely different activity. It is not only to understand a text, but also to convey the information to someone reading aloud.

D. The Contextual Guessing Technique
1. Definition of contextual guessing technique
The technique of finding the meaning of an unknown word through its use in a sentence and then guessing how it is pronounced is known as contextual guessing or context identification, or the use of context clues. The context in which an unknown word is used limits the number of words that could be correct. The problem then is to select from the possible synonyms the exact word used. When the students know the probable meaning of the word and have two or three synonyms in mind, it is easier for them to use structural and phonics analysis to identify the word. Contextual guessing is the most important skill used by most readers in attacking new words. It is closely related to comprehension and this is one of the most practical skills students learn.

Context clues have several uses in reading. The four uses named below are of special importance to readers of foreign languages:

First, context clues help readers to derive the pronunciation and meaning of a known word from its uses in a sentence.

Second, context clues also help to determine the pronunciation and meaning of an unknown word from its use in a sentence. When context is used for this purpose, a student reads around an unknown word, gets the general meaning of the sentence and then guesses at the pronunciation and meaning of the unfamiliar word from the way it is used.

Third, context determines how the accentuation of similar words used in different contexts or with different grammatical usages affects their meanings.

Fourth, context provides clues to the meanings of words that vary according to the subject area in which they are used. Context clues can function only if the material is suited to the reader in terms of difficulty and familiarity or interest. If the context is too involved, or if there are too many unknown words, context is of little value. When the material deals with unfamiliar concepts or is dry and dull to the reader, he is not likely to be able to develop a continuous line of thought suitable for anticipating an unknown word.

The procedures for developing abilities in contextual guessing can be incorporated in class reading presentations or special exercises. Before we go further analyzing contextual guessing we must consider a few preliminary questions concerning this skill. These questions pertain to the usefulness and to the trainability of the guessing skill.

As to the usefulness, the favorable effect of the guessing skill on reading speed and text comprehension can be well noted. It is self-evident that a reader who is not able to use context adequately will have to refer to the dictionary continually and in many cases will not be able to choose the correct alternative. With respect to the trainability of the skill we may refer to an investigation to a varied series of experiments carried out in an English reading class in our university. All the experiments require subjects (three different levels) to try to guess the meaning of unknown words (limited in number) or to fill in blanks in their foreign language texts. Then they were asked to verbalize their thought processes. An analysis was made by contrasting successful and unsuccessful actions of different subjects with respect to the same unknown words or blanks.

The analysis showed that different subjects can act on different levels of language. The subjects were found to be acting on a syntactic level when trying to find out the grammatical structure of a sentence. They were acting on a semantic level when exploring the immediate or wider context of the unknown word or blank in order to find its meaning. Subjects were acting on a lexical level when they inspected the word form in order to derive its meaning. Sometimes, though not always, they were acting on a stylistic level when they tried to appreciate the stylistic usage of a word. These analyses also indicated that guessing skill is trainable.

An analysis of the various errors at different levels in guessing the meaning of an unknown word or blank may help in setting up a training procedure for contextual guessing skills. In syntactic level the subjects sometimes leave some elements of the sentence unexplained, or add themselves some elements that is necessary for their interpretation of the passage. Or, in more cases, they misread some words and distort the context in such a way that it fits in with their premature guessing. At another level, the semantic level, a subject does not check his hypothesis for acceptability within the context, which often results in a total misconception of what is being said.

2. About contextual guessing technique

Contextual redefinition is designed to enable students to use context to make an informed guess about the meaning of words, provides a format for deriving meaning of unknown words that capitalizes on the use of context and endeavors to give students a strategy that can be use in their own independent reading. And contextual redefinition is appropriate for students of all grade levels who may encounter in their reading a few difficult words that may be defined in the context in which they accur.

3. The important of using context

All this time, the English teacher have been using many techniques in teaching. One of them is by using contextual guessing to understand the difficult words of text. Because of many students of English do not aware of the use of contextual guessing. Moreover, When the students encounter unfamiliar word or difficult words, they tend to open and look up the meaning of the word in dictionary. Often the students prefers to read right on past the difficult words without trying to observe the contextual guessing and applying has helper to know the meaning of the words.

The difficult of facing the unfamiliar words of reading always happen to the English learner. The use of contextual as a tool to know the word meaning is fruitful to be introduce to them. Brown in Rahmawati (1997) state the when we encounter an unfamiliar word in our dictionary if we examine the context. One can guess the meaning of the difficult word of reading without glance at the dictionary.