methods in teaching reading

Methods in Teaching Reading

English plays the important part in the development of knowledge, science, technology, and communication. In teaching English, there are four Basic English skills –reading, speaking, listening, and writing. According to Harmer, there are two kinds of reading, extensive reading and intensive reading. Extensive reading refers to reading which students do often away from the classroom language. It is called reading for pleasure. On the other hand, intensive reading refers to the detailed focus on the construction of reading texts which takes place usually in the classroom (2007: 99).  By reading, students can be introduced to interesting topics, stimulated discussion, exited imaginative responses, and provided the springboard for well-rounded, fascinating lesson. However, reading is the most difficult skill because in reading students must have good vocabulary knowledge to help them in understanding the passage. Moreover, to be good reader they need to have good pronunciation. Therefore, teachers need to have good and suitable methods for students in order to make successful teaching learning process. Here, two of some effective methods that can be used in teaching reading.

The first method is KWL method. This is a flexible and popular method for guiding students' thinking about the text before, during and after reading. It is aimed to be an exercise for a study group or class that can direct the students in reading and understanding a text. The letters K stands for Know. In this step, students think what they understand about the topic and make a list about that. This activity constructs knowledge of the new material, build a scaffold to support it, and think of it as a pre-reading inventory. The second step is W that stands for Want. It requires students to list a series of questions of what they want to know more about the subject, based upon what they have listed in the first stage (know).  The last step is L which stands for Learned. In this step students need to answer their questions as well as a list what new information the students have learned either while reading or after the students have finished.

The last method is SQ4R (Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Record-Review Method. The first step of this method is Survey which is reviewing the reading material to determine the overall content and organization. In this step, students should skim and scan the text in order to get the general idea of the content, structure, organization, and plan of the text. Question is the second step which is establishing a purpose for reading by reviewing the questions posed by the teacher. Reading for specific purposes positively influences their comprehension. The next step is Read. Reading promotes an active search for answers to the specific questions that students have developed. It forces the student to concentrate for better comprehension and aids in lengthening attention span. Students should read each section of the text to answer questions that were developed in the step before. Recite is the next step. By reciting what the students’ read, the students are able to see how much information the students absorbed, areas the students didn’t understand and need to review, and answers to the questions the students generated for the students. If the students cannot answer the questions, go back to the material and reread. Next is Record that is marking the textbook to increase the understanding of the material for the present and for future reference. The process of selecting and marking requires the students to find the main ideas. Later, when the students evaluate the text for exam purposes, the students will find that the textbook markings and highlights enable the students to grab the essential points without having to read whole paragraphs and text again. The last is Review. Teachers should include regular review periods as an effective strategy for retaining information.

To sum up, no one method of teaching that can be successful in teaching reading, but teacher should have at least an appropriate method to teach student, such as KWL method and SQ4R.

REFERENCES

Harmer, Jeremy. 2007. How to Teach English. New York : Longman.

Mohamad, Nurdin.  2011. Belajar dengan Pendekatan P.A.I.L.K.E.M. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara.

Suprijono, Agus. 2009. Cooperative Learning. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Belajar.

Indrie: ASSUMPTION AND HYPOTHESIS

Indrie: ASSUMPTION AND HYPOTHESIS: ASSUMPTIONS AND HYPOTHESES 1.       The Definition of Assumptions People do things always based on their belief. For example, whe...

LINGUISTICS

LINGUISTICS

There are some definitions of linguistic. Varga argued that linguistics is the scientific study of language, including the sounds, words, and grammar rules. Another definition of linguistics is scientific in the sense that the study of language must be subjected to the scientific processes of observation, data collection, formulation of hypothesis, analysis of data and    formulation of theory based on the structure of the language. Nasr (1984) in Hadi argued that linguistics is concerned with human language as a universal and recognizable part of human behavior and of the human abilities. From some statements above, it can be conclude that linguistics is a study of language. While language is a system by which sounds, signs and gestures are used to communicate meaning. For humans, a system of speech sounds or signs which constitute linguistic knowledge of both speaker and addressee convey and receive information.

The branches of Linguistic are:

A.           General linguistic generally describes the concepts and categories of a particular language or among all language. It also provides analyzed theory of the language. On the other hand, descriptive linguistic describes or gives the data to confirm or refute the theory of particular language explained generally.

B.            Micro linguistic is narrower view. It is concerned internal view of language itself (structure of language systems) without related to other sciences and without related how to apply it in daily life. Micro linguistics covers the basic components or constituents of a language. This is also referred to as theoretical linguistics. Theoretical linguists study the structural aspects of language under the broad label of grammar. Some fields of micro linguistic:

Ø  Phonetics. It is the study of the production, physical properties and perception of the actual sounds realizing the phonemes and of the  suprasegmental  elements  of  speech. Phonetics is divided into three sub-branches : 1) articulatory phonetics, which is the study of made or articulated, 2) acoustic phonetics, which is the study of the sound waves made by the human vocal organs for communication, and 3) auditory phonetics, which is the study of how speech sounds are perceived by the ear, auditory nerve, and brain.

Ø  Phonology. It is the study of sound patterns of language, how speech sounds are grouped by speaker to effect communication. There are several different kinds of phonology processes: 1) Assimilations, which are process that make two adjacent sound more alike with respect to some feature, 2) Deletions, which are processes that eliminate a sound, 3) Dissimilations, which are processes that make two adjacent sounds less alike with respect to some feature, and 4) Insertions, which are processes that add a sound.

Ø  Morphology. It the study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified. Morphology accounts for word formation in languages. The basic unit of analysis in morphology is called the ‘morpheme’. A morpheme is defined as the minimal meaningful unit of grammatical analysis.

Ø  Syntax. It is the study of the structure of sentences and of underlying principles for generating and processing them. It links together sound patterns and the meaning.

Ø  Semantics. It is the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics) and fixed word combinations (phraseology), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences

Ø  Pragmatics. It is the study of how utterances are used (literally, figuratively, or otherwise) in communicative acts.

C.            Macro-linguistics refers to aspects of linguistic study which involve the application of the findings of theoretical linguistics to the analysis of language in use. It is also called Applied Linguistics, because it involves the application of linguistics in relation to other disciplines. It is concerned external view of language itself with related to other sciences and how to apply it in daily life. Some fields of micro linguistic:

Ø  Evolutionary linguistics, the study of the origin and subsequent development of language.

Ø   Psycholinguistics, the study of language and mind. Psycholinguistics is concerned with the psychological mechanism underlying speech production and reception. It also studies how children acquire their first language, speech perception, and loss of the ability to use and understand language. It covers the cognitive processes that make it possible to generate a grammatical and meaningful sentence out of vocabulary and grammatical structures, as well as the processes that make it possible to understand the utterance, word, text, etc.

Ø  Sociolinguistics, the study of society on the way language is used. The main aim of sociolinguistics is to study language in its social and cultural context. This includes the study of language in a society or speech community; language varieties; and language functions. Sociolinguistics relates the differences observed in language use to the problems that arise from those societal aspects.

Ø  Clinical linguistics, the application of linguistic theory to the area of Speech-Language Pathology. The central focus of Clinical Linguistics is the application of the principles and methods of linguistics and phonetics to communication impairment in children and adults. Clinical linguistics plays a key role in the description, analysis and remediation of communication impairment. 

Ø  Neurolinguistics, the study of the brain networks that underlie grammar and communication.

Ø   Biolinguistics, the study of natural as well as human-taught communication systems in animals compared to human language.

Ø  Stylistics, the study of language and literature .It studies the features of situationally distinctive uses (varieties) of language, and tries to establish principles capable of accounting for the particular choices made by individual and social grousing the use of language.

Ø  Computational linguistics, an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical    and/or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective. This modeling is not limited to any particular field of linguistics. Traditionally, computational linguistics was usually performed by computer scientists who had specialized in the application of computers to the processing of a natural language.

Ø  Historical linguistics or Diachronic linguistics, the study of language change and evolution (historical study). The aim of such investigations was to arrive at general hypotheses about how languages change over time.

Ø  Ethnolinguistics, a field of linguistic anthropology which studies the language of a particular ethnic group. It is often associated with regions where ethnicity plays a major role in language description and status. Ethnolinguists study  the way perception and conceptualization influences language, and show how this is linked to different cultures and societies

References:

Ahmadin, Dimjati. 2012. Levels of Meaning in Semantic Course.Unpublished book. Malang: FKIP Universitas Islam Malang.

Alkhazali, Ali. 2012. What are Some the Branches of Linguistics? (online),  (http://www.arts.kufauniv.com/teaching/e/alialkhazali/files/Lecture%20N2.pdf. Accessed in October 14, 2013).

Ofulue, Christine I. 2009. Introduction to Linguistics. Nigeria: National Open University of Nigeria

Varga, Laszlo. 2010. Introduction to English Linguistics a Companion to the Seminar. Budapest: Eὄtvὄs Lorάnd University.

Yule, George. 2010. The Study of Language. Fourth edition. New York: Cambridge University Press.

ASSUMPTION AND HYPOTHESIS

ASSUMPTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

1.      The Definition of Assumptions

People do things always based on their belief. For example, when people want to cross the street they will make sure that it is safe for them by looking at the right or left side. If they do not believe, they will be safe, and it is impossible for them to cross the street. Another illustration, all of us who study in UNISMA to improve our academic competences, and we will get post graduate certificate through studying for two years. So, what did we do before doing that?  Of course, we firstly had belief that we can do it at UNISMA. Unless we had belief, it would be possible for us to do study at English graduate program of Islamic University of Malang. From these illustrations, it can be concluded that assumption is our belief to do things. In this case, the assumption in the research is that everything in this world works under a certain system. These are the examples of assumptions:

a.         There is a correlation between students’ grammar achievement and students’ writing skill

b.        There is an effectiveness of communicative drills toward students’ pronunciation achievement.

c.         There is an correlation between students’ IQ and their achievement in  learning foreign  language

2.      The Definition of Hypotheses

Hypotheses are statements in quantitative research in which the investigator makes a prediction or conjecture about the outcomes of a relationship among attributes or characteristics (Creswell: 2012: 111). These hypotheses are stated at the beginning of a study, typically at the end of introduction. The investigators also place them immediately after the review of the literature or in a separate titled ‘’ hypotheses’’. In addition, Allyn and Bacon (1991:35) stated that hypothesis is a conjecture or a guess at the solution to a problem or the status of the situation. Moreover, according to Latief (2012:53) hypothesis is temporary answer for the research problem. Moreover, according to Saputra (2012:60) hypothesis can be as restatement of research problem by giving the prediction of research findings. The following are the example of hypotheses and assumption:

a.         Problems             : Do students who get high grammar achievement will be good in writing skill?

Assumption          : There is correlation between students’ grammar achievement and writing skill

Hypothesis           : The higher students’ grammar achievement, the better students writing skill         

b.        Problem               : Can communicative drill enhance the students’ pronunciation achievement?

Assumption          : There is an effect of communicative drill to the students’ pronunciation achievement

Hypothesis           : Communicative drill can enhance students’ pronunciation   achievement

c.         Problem               : Do the higher IQ the students have, the better their achievement in learning foreign language?

Assumption          : there is correlation between students IQ and their achievement in learning a foreign language

Hypothesis           : The higher IQ the students, the better their achievement in learning foreign language.

3.      The Types of Hypotheses

According to Latief  (2012:54), the types of hypotheses are

a.        Theoretical Hypothesis

Theoretical hypothesis is the researcher’s prediction of the finding of his or her research based on a theory or a logical common sense. For example:

Problem                : Do the sex effect the achievement in language learning?

Hypothesis           : the female students would make better achievement in language learning than male students of the same level

b.        Statistical Hypothesis

According to Tuckman in Latief (2012:57), the aim of statistical hypothesis is a statement that has to be made by the researcher while computing the data to allow statistical hypothesis testing. It always takes the form of null hypothesis (Ho) and followed with its alternative(s) (H1, H2).  For example:

Problem      : Do the female students make better achievement in language learning than male students of the same level?

Ho              : there is no difference in achievement between female students and male students of the same level in language learning

H1              : the female students make better achievement than male students of the same level in language learning

H2              : the male students make better achievement than female students of the same level in language learning

As stated Creswell (2012:126) null hypothesis is the most traditional a form of writing. It is the prediction of what researcher might study. For example:

Ho       : There is no difference between at-risk and non at-risk students in terms of students’ achievement on math test scores of the third students in a Midwest school district

Independent variable  : at risk students

Dependent variable     : students’ achievements

Site                              : X school district.

In contrast to the null hypotheses is used when researcher predict if there will be differences based on past research or an explanation or reported theory in the literature. The alternative hypotheses are divided into types. They are:

a)             Directional Alternative  Hypotheses

In this hypothesis, researchers predict the direction of change, a difference, a relationship for variables in the total population of people. The researcher selects a sample of people form a population and predicts that score will be higher, better or change in some ways. For example:

 Students who participate in direct learning in four elementary schools will have high achievements score than students who   participate in whole-language learning.

Independent variable         : learning (direct and whole-language)

Dependent variable                        : achievement test score

Researcher site                   : four elementary schools

Key indicator                     : directional, prediction is implied

b)             Non Directional Hypotheses

 In this hypothesis, researcher predicts the direction a change, a difference, a relationship for variables in a population but does not indicate whether the direction of this prediction will be positive or negative or greater or less.

For example:

There is a difference between varsity athletes in high school who smoke and those who do not smoke in terms of athletic accomplishments.

Independent variable         : use of tobacco (smokers and non smokers)

Dependent variable                        : athletic accomplishments

Participants                         : varsity athletes

Site                                     : high schools

Key indicator: the words ‘’ a difference’’ but the direction is not specified.

c.         Empirical Hypothesis

Empirical hypothesis is the first conclusion of the research which is still temporary as it based on initial interview and observation.

4.      The Guidelines of Writing Hypotheses

In writing hypotheses researchers need to include specific components. The guidelines for writing them are:

a.       State variables in this order: independent( first position), dependent and control (the third position)

b.      If we compare groups in our hypotheses, explicitly state the groups: if variables are related, specified  the relationship among the variables

c.       Make a prediction about changes you expect in your groups, such a less or more favorable or no changes (e.g., no differences), then test prediction using statistical procedures.

d.      State information about participants and the side of the study but it may not be necessary if it repeats information stated in our purposes.  

REFERENCES

Allyn and Bacon. 1991. Research Method in Education: An Introduction. United States of America: The University of Toledo press

Creswell, John W. Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Boston: Pearson

Latief, Moh. Adnan. 2012. Research Methods on Language Learning an Introduction. Malang: state University Of Malang Press

Latief, Moh. Adnan. 2012. Tanya Jawab Metode Penelitian Pemelajaran. Malang: Universitas Malang Press

Suharsaputra, Uhar. 2012. Kualitative, Kuantitatif dan Tindakan. Bandung: Reftika Aditama