CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Theoretical Framework

1. Reading Comprehension

Reading is one of the most important language skills that should be developed

inside and outside the classroom. It is also one of the most common ways to get

information. According to Harmer, the reader employs a number of specific skills when

reading and their success in understanding the content of what they see depends on a large

extent on these specific skills. The skills of reading are: preductive skill, extracting specific

picture, getting specific picture, extracting detailed information and discourse pattern,

deducting meaning from context1. Furthermore, Yekovich in Westwood states that skilled

reading is highly complex capability involving many component processes 2. In short,

learning reading is a complex process that depends upon learning specific skills.

Reading is the first step in acquisition of knowledge. Reading is a very important

issue which is not only about enjoyment but also necessity; the basic tool of education.

Reading is not an easy subject, because in its study the reader should discover the ideas

from a text based on the writer’s point of view. Ur states that reading means “reading and

understanding”3. She also states some assumptions about the nature of reading that we

need to perceive and decode letters in order to read words; we need to understand all the

words in order to understand the meaning of a text; the more symbols (letters and words)

1
Jeremy Harmer. Op Cit. p. 130
2
Peter Westwood. Reading and Learning Difficulties: Approaches to Teaching and Assessment. ( ACER
PRESS,2001). p. 13 9
3
Penny Ur. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. (UK: Cambridge University
Press,1991). p. 138
 there are in a text, the longer it will take to read it; we gather: meaning from what we read;

our understanding of a text comes from understanding the words of which it is composed.

Kalayo states that reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader

and text, resulting in comprehension. The text presents letters, words, sentences and

paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to

determine what the meaning is4. So reading is communication betweeen the reader and the

written text. The readers should use their skill to understand the content of the text.

Richards states that comprehension means the identification of the intended

meaning of written or spoken communication 5. Comprehension is the process of making

sense words, sentences, and connected text. Comprehension must be the central focus of

teaching children to read and not something to be emphasised only after children have

learned how to decode and identify words. According to Catherine Snow, she mentioned

that comprehension entails three elements6:

a. The reader who is doing the comprehension

b. The text is to be comprehended

c. The activity in which comprehension is a part

Reading comprehension is a "construction process" because it involves all of the

elements of the reading process working together as a text, read to create a representation

of the text in the reader's mind7. Theoretically, reading comprehension is a process of

interaction between the reader with the text or it is a process by which the reader constructs

4
Kalayo Hasibuan and Muhammad Fauzan A. Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL).
(Pekanbaru: Alaf Riau Graha UNRI press. 2007) p. 115
5
Jack C. Richards and Richard Schmidt. Op Cit. p.99
6
Catherine Snow and Chair. Reading for Understanding toward an Reseacrh and Development. Santa
Monica, CA: RAND Reading Study Group 2002. p.11
7
Http://en.wikepedia.org/wiki/techer /on Sunday, 12th may,2011
meaning by interacting with the text. According to Smith in Westwood reading

comprehension is considered to occur at four levels of complexty. These levels are8:

a. Literal comprehension: reading is to understand, remember, or recall the information

explicitly contained in a passage.

b. Inferential comprehension: reading to find information which is not explicitly stated in a

passage, using the reader’s experience and intuition, and by inferring.

c. Critical or evaluative comprehension: reading is to compare information in a passage

with the reader’s own knowledge and values.

d. Appreciative comprehension: reading is to gain an emotion or other kinds of valued

response from a passage.

Rubin in Westwood defines that reading comprehension has been described as ‘a

complex intellectual process involving a number of abilities’. Readers must use

information, already acquired to filter, interpret, organize, reflect upon and establish

relationships with the new incoming information on the page. In order to understand text, a

reader must be able to identify words rapidly, know the meaning of almost all of the words
9
and be able to combine units of meaning into a coherent message .Effective

comprehension requires that the reader maintains the meaning throughout the reading of

the text.

Jannete et al states that reading comprehension involves much more than readers’

responses to text. Reading comprehension is a multi component, highly complex process

that involves many interactions between readers and what they bring to the text ( previous

knowledge, strategy use) as well as variables related to the text itself ( interest in text,

8
Peter Westwood. Op Cit. p. 21
9
Peter Westwood. Op Cit.p.10
 understanding of text types10. Finally, It can be concluded that reading comprehension is

the process of making meaning from a written text. Therefore, reading comprehension is a

complex process by which a reader tries to reconstruct a message in graphic language by a

writer. It is an interaction between reader and author.

a. The Purpose of Reading Comprehension

Reading is activity with a purpose. Kalayo states that reading is an activity with

a purpose. In general, the purposes of reading are classified as follows: getting general

information from the text, getting specific information from the text, reading for

pleasure. Furthermore, Rivers and Temperly in Mcdonough and Shaw suggest that

there are seven main purposes for reading:

1 To obtain information for some purposes or because they are curious about some

topic.

2 To obtain instructions on how to perform some tasks for their work or daily life.

3 To act in a play, play a game, do a puzzle.

4 To keep in touch with friends by correspondence or to understand business letters

5 To know when or where something will take place or what is available

6 To know what is happening (as reported in newspaper, magazines, reports)

7 For enjoyment or excitement11

b. The Factors Influencing Students’ Reading Comprehension

10
Jannete K Klingner, et al. Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students with Learning
Difficulties.(New York: The Guilford Press, 2007). p.8
11
Jo Mcdonough and Chistopher Shaw. Material and Method in ELT. ( Malden : Backwell publishing,
2003). p. 90
 The influential factors of the students’ reading comprehension may not be

separated with the influence of students in learning process. Purwanto states that there

are two big factors that influence students in learning process. They are as follows:12

a. The Internal Factor

The internal factor means the factors which come from the reader himself or

usually we know as personal factors, because the factor has existed inside the reader.

This factor deals with self-motivation and interest.

1. Motivation. When we talk about motivation, it plays an important role in

comprehending the text. The students will be motivated to read when they feel

that they need something from the text.

2. Interest. Interest is being one of the important factors in order to increase the

students’ reading comprehension. If one has interest to read, it means that he/she

will get a good comprehension. On the other hand, if the readers have no any

interest to read, it can influence their comprehension.

b. The External Factor

The external factor has a close relationship with reading material and teacher

of reading.

1. Reading material. The students’ reading comprehension depends on the level of

the difficulty of the text. Thus, it can influence students’ comprehension in the

text/paragraph given, not at the right level of the difficulty of the readers or the

students.

12
Ngalim Purwanto. Psikologi Pendidikan (Bandung: Rosdakarya, 2004), p.107
 2. Teacher of reading. The teacher of reading should be careful in choosing the text

and giving the texts, because they are related to the students’ reading

comprehension.

c. Teaching Reading Comprehension

The teaching of reading comprehension in junior high school is essentially

aimed at preparing the student to be able to read English text that they will understand

and they will encounter in their lives. The goal of learning English language is to

develop people’s skill of communication. There are several instructional practices that

the teacher can use to improve the reading comprehension of struggling reader. Reading

comprehension is supported by integrating variety of instructional practices in teaching

reading routines including reading strategies and skills. National Reading Panel in

Jannete K. Klingner et al13 synthesizes, reading comprehension intervention strategy.

Though, there is not specific to students with reading and learning disabilities, the panel

was able to identify intervention practices, based on 203 studies, associated with

improved outcomes with reading comprehension. These include:

a. Teaching students to monitor their comprehension and to implement procedures

when difficulties in understanding text arise.

b. Using cooperative learning practices while implementing comprehension strategies

in the context of reading.

c. Providing graphic and semantic organizers that assist students in writing about, or

drawing, relationship from the story.

d. Providing support for questioning strategy trough (1) structures that assist students in

answering critical questions about the passage, (2) feedback to students regarding
13
Janette K. Klingner, et al. Op Cit. p. 102
 their answer to question about text, and (3) opportunities for students to ask and

answer their own the question about the text.

e. Teaching students to write important ideas about they’ve read and to summarize

these ideas after longer passage are read.

f. Teaching students to use multicomponent strategies that integrated and apply several

strategies.

Then, in integrating and applying reading strategies, Kalayo stated that

instructors can help students become effective readers by teaching them how to use

strategies before, during and after reading.

Before reading: Plan for the reading task

a. Set a purpose or decide in advance what to read for

b. Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is needed

c. Determine whether to enter the text from the top-down ( attend to the overall

meaning) or from the bottom up (focus on the word an phrases)

During and after reading: Monitor comprehension

a. Verify prediction and check for inaccurate guesses

b. Decide what is and is not important to understand

c. Reread to check comprehension

d. Ask for help

After reading: Evaluate comprehension and strategy used

a. Evaluate comprehension in particular task or area

b. Evaluate overall progress in reading and in particular types of reading task

c. Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task
 d. Modify strategies if necessary14

2. Descriptive Text

Descriptive is one of the types of the texts in reading that should be mastered by

students especially for the second year students at junior high school. Description is used in

all forms of writing to create a vivid impression of a person, place, object or event 15.

Descriptive reading or text is usually used to help a writer develop an aspect of their work,

e.g. to create a particular mood, atmosphere or to describe a place, so that the reader can

create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects etc. According to Emilia the purpose of

description is to describe a particular person, place or thing16. In conclusion, descriptive

text is a text which creates an impression in the reader’s mind of an event( for example

birthday party, graduation party, dinner, etc.) a place( for example Kuta beach, Toba lake,

Borobudur temple, etc.), a person( for example my beloved mom, my best friend, mrs.

Maria, etc.), or thing ( for example my bag, the blue bycle, my umbrella, etc). Descriptive

text will bring words to life and makes the text interesting to read.

a. The Communicative Purpose of Descriptive Text

The communicative purposes of descriptive text is:

1. To describe person, place and thing in detail.

2. To engage a reader's attention

3. To create character

b. The Generic Stuctures of Descriptive Text

A descriptive text consist of:

14
Kalayo Hasibuan and Muhammad Fauzan Ansyari, Op cit. p. 117
15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_types
16
Emilia Iragilianti et al. Interactive English Junior High School Grade VIII. (Bandung :Yudistira,
2007). p.18
 a. Identification ( introduces person, thing, or place that will be described), and

b. Description ( pictures or characteristics of person, thing or place that’s talked about).

c. The Language Features of Descriptive Text

For the language features descriptive text are usually focused on:

a. Specific participants

b. Using adverbs

c. Using adjectives

d. Using nouns

e. Using simple present tense.

3. Paired Summarizing Technique

Before going to explain about paired summarizing technique, writer will define the

deference among approach, method and technique. H. Douglas Brown states that approach

is theoretical positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of language

learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings. Method is a generalized set

of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives. And technique is any

of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or devices used in the language classroom for

realizing lesson objectives.17

In line with Brown, Edward Anthony (1993) in Brown’s book defined that an

approach was a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language, learning and

teaching. Method was described as an overall plan for systematic presentation of language

based upon a selected approach. And techniques were the specific activities manifested in

17
H. Douglas Brown. Teaching Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents 1994), p. 16
the classroom that were consistent with a method and therefore were harmony with an

approach as well.18

According to Jeremy Harmer, approach refers to theories about the nature of

language and language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles in

language teaching. It also describes how people acquire their knowledge of language and

makes statements about conditions which will promote successful language learning.

Method is the practical realization of an approach. Methods include various procedures and

techniques as part of their standard fare. When methods have fixed procedures, informed

by a clearly articulated approach, they are easy to describe. Then, technique as a single

activity rather than a sequence, and as such is a technique rather than a whole procedure. 19

Jack C. Richard defines method as a way of teaching a language which based on

semantic principles and procedure which is an application of view on how a language is

best taught and learned.20Technique is different kind of classroom activities that is used by

the teacher.21

Kalayo stated that approach is different theories about the nature of language and

how language is learned. Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of

language material-procedural-based on selected approach. Technique is a kind of

classroom activities based on certain methods such as drills, dialogues, role-play, sentence

competition, etc22.

18
Ibid. p.14
19
Jeremy Harmer, Op. Cit, p. 78
20
Jack C. Richard, John Platt and Heidi Platt. Op. Cit, p.228
21
Ibid, p. 20
22
Kalayo Hasibuan and Muhammad Fauzan Ansyari, Op cit. p. 4
 From those definitions about techniques above, we know that using technique in

teaching learning process, a teacher can be easy to apply theories of language and learning

that are appropriate and effective for the classroom situation that teacher works with. For

teaching English as foreign language, the teacher may use paired summarizing technique as

a mediator to convey knowledge to the students.

Paired summarizing is a technique in which partners help each other read with

understanding. The technique is intended to encourage different kinds of thinking, all of

technique used to develop fluency and improve comprehension by reading with partner 24.

This technique provides opportunities for students to read aloud with peers, increases

students’ time reading and maximizes student engagement, and provides a model for

struggling readers. Paired summarizing encourages peer teaching and learning. Students

are divided into pairs and read along together or take turns reading aloud to each other.

Pairs can have the same reading ability or can include more fluent readers with less fluent

readers. Each student reads and provides feedback about themselves in reading or partners’

reading behaviors.

Paired summarizing is one of the techniques that can be used in reading

comprehension. Paired summarizing technique provides such an opportunity, while giving

the reader supports from a partner. Using this technique not only stimulates the students’

ability in reading but also corrects their mistake, such as how to pronounce, spelling,

intonation, stress, expression and style their reading given by their friends. It happens

because in paired summarizing, the teacher will pair up the students. Santrock in Rani

23
Alan Crawford et al, Op Cit. p.22
24
www.louisianaschools.net/ide/uploads/20254.pdf/on December 2011
 Nofrianti has stated that, usually a peer can influence the motivation of the students by

social comparison, social competency and motivation to study together, and the influence

of their peer itself25. Briefly, a peer can give stimulation in reading activity.

Paired summarizing can be used with many types of reading materials including

students to produce stories, and poetry. Paired summarizing can be used with any books,

taking turns reading by sentence, paragraph, page or chapter. This technique frees up the

teacher to observe paired summarizing sessions and work with different students while

other students continue reading together. Paired summarizing can also be used to build oral

skills that reluctant readers can work toward reading in front of a large group.

a. The Purposes of Paired Summarizing Technique

The purposes of paired summarizing technique are as follows:

a. Give students practice in oral reading

b. Provide practice summarizing

c. Promote active engagement with reading

d. Develop specific skills related to reading comprehension

b. The Procedure of Paired Summarizing Technique

The procedures of paired summarizing technique are as follows:

1. Choose an informative text of reasonable length. It should have short paragraphs (not

more than three sentences each), or a teacher should mark it into short sections.

2. If the students are new to the procedure, the teacher should demonstrate the procedure

first:

25
Rani Nofrianti.” The Influence of a Peer Assisted Writing Activity on Narrative Writing Skill at the
First Year Students of SMAN 2 Dumai” . (Unpublished, 2011). p.19
a. Read a passage aloud and give a summary of it. Explain that this is one role in the

activity. Explain the features of a summary: it is shorter than the original text, but it

contains all of the important ideas.

b. Ask two questions about the text for the students to answer. Explain that this is the other

role in the activity.

3. Ask the students to pair up. Explain that one student will read the first paragraph or

marked section of the text and then give a summary of it, as you have demonstrated.

Allow time for everyone to do this. Then check for understanding by asking several

students to share their summaries. Offer suggestions as necessary.

4. Once the students understand the procedure, have them proceed on their own to read,

summarize, and ask questions about the text, passage by passage. Remind them to

switch roles after each passage has been read and discussed26.

According to Jim Wright the procedures of paired summarizing are as follows:

1. Basic paired reading requires establishing ground rules about when and how help will

be asked for/offered when reading, how turns will be taken, and what each role will

include. One basic set of ground rules might be the following:

a. In pairs, take turns reading a paragraph at a time from an assigned reading.

b. The reader reads in loud enough only for the listener to hear.

c. When the reader completes the paragraph, the listener provides a summary of the

paragraph that needs to be “approved” by the reader. If the summary is not clear

or accurate, the pair goes back to the text and rereads silently to add what is

necessary.

26
Alan crowford et al, Op Cit, p.25
 d. Then, the two switch roles, with the first reader becomes the active listener and

summarizer.

e. If the reader stumbles on a word or is having difficulty, the reader can ask for

help from the partner. If help is not asked for, then the listeners should give the

reader the opportunity to figure it out.

2. Give directions for what the pair should do when they are done with the reading. This

might include: discussing what they each found interesting about what they have

read, answering questions or completing a graphic organizer together or separately,

interviewing another pair about their reading session (what went well/what did not),

asking pairs to contribute three interesting words (or words that meet specific criteria)

from their reading to the Word Wall, adding to their learning log or journal based on

what was read, or asking the partners to write a collaborative summary of what they

read27.

B. The Relevant Research

According to Syafi’i, relevant research is required to observe some previous

researches conducted by other researchers in which they are relevant to the research you

are conducting28. The researches were done by:

1. A research from Iskandar Sudarsono Syarif Husen

Iskandar Sudarsono Syarif Husen conducted research entitled “Students’

Participation on Reading Comprehension Class Taught by Paired Storytelling

27
http://www.iterventioncentral.org/strategies/paired_reading/on october 01 2011
28
M. Syafi’I S. From Paragraph to a Research Report: A Writing of English for Academic Purpose.
(Pekanbau: LBSI, 2007). p. 122
 Strategy”29.From the result of his research, he concluded that the students of SMAN 1

Teluk Batang participated actively on reading comprehension class taught by Paired

Storytelling Strategy. It was proved that the average percentage from all activities being

observed was 61% that was belonged to ‘active’ catergory. In this research, the writer used

the paired summarizing technique in order to find out the effect of this technique in

students’ reading comprehension on descriptive text.

2. A research from Tuongvi N. Vo

In August 2011, Toungvi N. Vo conducted a research entitled “Paired Reading

Intervention for Limited English Proficient Students”30. From the result of her research,

she concluded that at the end of intervention, the group had increased their average words

to read correctly per minute and oral reading fluency. In this research, the writer used the

paired summarizing technique in order to find out the effect of this technique toward

students’ reading comprehension on descriptive text.

While in this research, the writer found the second hypothesis was accepted because

to is higher than T-table in either at 5 % or 1 % grade of significant. It can be read that

2.01< 4.018>2.68, it means that there is significant effect of using paired summarizing

technique toward reading comprehension on descriptive text of the second grade students

at SMPN 1 Siak Hulu Kampar Regency.

C. The Operational Concept

In order to clarify the theories used in this research, the writer would like to explain

briefly about variables of this research. This research is quasi experimental research which

29
Iskandar Sudarsono Syarif Husen. Students’ Participation on Reading Comprehension Class Taught by
Paired Storytelling Strategy. (Unpublished :2011)
30
Toungvi N. Vo. Paired Reading Intervention for Limited English Proficient Students. (Unpublished:
2011) retrieved from https:///ohiolink.edu/ap/0?0:application_process%download _etd_sub_docaccnum:::ID:
Dayton 1317774375%2cinline/on December 2011
 focuses on gaining the effect of using paired summarizing technique toward students’

reading comprehension. Therefore, in analyzing the problem in this research, there are two

variables used, they are:

1. Variable X is Paired Summarizing Technique. Paired Summarizing Technique is an

independent variable.

2. Variable Y is students’ reading comprehension. Students’ reading comprehension is

dependent variable.

Variable X

The followings are the procedures of using paired summarizing technique that can

be seen as follows:

1. The teacher chooses descriptive text, and the text should be in short paragraph.

2. The teacher demonstrates procedure first by reading aloud the descriptive text and

giving summary of it and asking two questions about the text for the students.

3. The teacher pairs the students and asks the first student to read a descriptive text aloud

and gives summary of it.

4. The teacher asks the second student to offer suggestion or ask question to check the

understanding.

5. Then, the teacher asks the students to switch role to the second student. The second

student reads aloud the same text and gives summary of it.

6. The teacher asks the first student to offer suggestion or ask question to check the

understanding.

7. The teacher asks the students to continue the steps until completing the text. 31

Variable Y

31
Alan crowford et al, Op Cit, p.25
 The writer determines the indicators of students’ reading comprehension in reading

subject as follows:

1. The students are able to find the main idea in descriptive text.

2. The students are able to find the specific information of descriptive text.

3. The students are able to find the meaning of unfamiliar vocabularies in descriptive text

4. The students are able to identify the generic structure in descriptive text

5. The students are able to identify the language features of the descriptive text.32.

D. The Assumption and Hypothesis

1. The Assumption

In this study, the writer assumes that the students who are taught by using Paired

Summarizing Technique will have better reading comprehension. Furthermore, the better

implementation of Paired Summarizing Technique in reading subject is the better reading

comprehension will be.

2. The Hypothesis

There are three hypotheses in this research, as follows:

a. The first hypotheses

: There is no significant difference on students’ pre-test reading comprehension

mean score between experimental class and control class.

b. The second hypotheses

: There is no significant difference on students’ post-test test reading

comprehension mean score between experimental class and control class.

32
Syllabus at the Second Grade Students of State Junior High School 1 Siak Hulu.
c. The third hypotheses

: There is no significant difference on students’ pre-test and post-test test reading

comprehension mean score between experimental class and control class.