CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter deals with literatures related to the research. The first explains

English Language Teaching (ELT) which covers the meaning of language

learning, the meaning of language teaching, the effectiveness of language learning

and teaching, and approaches in ELT. The second is reading comprehension. It

explains the nature of reading, the purpose of reading, and kinds of reading

strategies. The third is Styles and Strategies Based Instruction (SSBI). The fourth

is the rationale of how Styles and Strategies Based Instruction can improve

students’ reading competence. Last but not least is action hypothesis.

A. Theoretical Description

1. English Language Teaching

a. The Meaning of Language Learning

Richard (2001: 22) says that learning refers to formal study of

language rules and is a conscious process. It means that someone who

learns (acquires) language by intention under experts’ guidance in

mastering the language. When someone is taking a language class as his

major, he learns language. He deals with language learning. The focus

role in language learning is the learners.

Learning responses are with two questions. They are what the

psycholinguistic and cognitive processes involved in language learning

17

are and what conditions that need to be met in order for these learning

processes to be activated are. Psycholinguistic and cognitive processes

are those within the individuals. How they think and act the language

they learnt. The condition is something outside the individuals. The

dimension of both psycholinguistic (and cognitive) and the condition

might be different but can not be separated in promoting language

learning. Strong individuals’ psycholinguistic and cognitive combined

with supporting condition will promote good learning.

Learning theories associated with a method at the level of

approach may emphasize either one or both dimensions. Process-oriented

theories build on learning processes, such as habit formation, induction,

inferencing, hypothesis testing, and generalization. In other words it is

more on something within the learners. Condition-oriented theories

emphasize the nature of the human and physical context in which

language learning takes place. Condition-oriented relates to something

outside the learners. In conclusion, language learning is the activity of

acquiring language by intention which deals with both something within

the learners (psycholinguistic and cognitive process) and something

outside the learners (the condition).

b. The Meaning of Language Teaching

According to Stern (1996: 21) language teaching can be defined

as the activities which are intended to bring about language learning. It

18

was in nineteenth century that language teaching dealt with Grammar-

translation method. According to its exponent, Richard (2001:5) states

that language teaching under grammar-translation method is teaching

circumstances where: (1) the goal of foreign language study is to learn

language in order to read its literature, (2) reading and writing are the

major focus, (3) vocabulary selection is based on texts used, dictionary

study and memorization, (4) the sentence is the basic unit of teaching and

language practice, (5) accuracy is emphasized, (6) grammar is taught

deductively, (7) student’s native language is the medium of instruction. It

is clear that language teaching under grammar-translation method

concerns more on language theory rather than language performance in

real-life use. The correctness of grammar is important since accuracy is

emphasized. It deals with something within the language rather than

something outside the language.

c. The Characteristics of Effective Learning and Teaching

To some educational theorist, the process of teaching and

learning is a science that should be underpinned by research and

experimentation. To others, it is an art that involves a constant exchange

between knowledge and action. Although some people may be natural

teachers., it is generally agreed that effective teaching is a learned rather

than an innate ability. Regardless of whether teaching is viewed as

science or art, learned or innate, a number of universal concepts and

19

principles have emerged through educational research that can be

observed and applied in real-lifesettings. This section describes concepts

and principles that are most relevant for educating healthcare providers

(World Health Organization and JHPIEGO, 2005: 1-7)

Teaching can be defined as the concious manipulation of the

students’ environment in a way that allows their activities to contribute to

their development as people and clinicians. Learning can be defined as a

change in behavior, perceptions, insights, attitudes, or any combination

of these that can be repeated when the need is aroused. Learning takes

place in each person’s head. People learn for themselves.; no one can do

it for them. Good teaching supports learning. Even though formal

teaching is not required for learning to take place, learning is clearly the

expected goal of teaching.

Effective teaching considers how students learn best. For

example, some students learn better through listening, others by reading,

and still others by viewing and doing something at the same time.

Students can be more effective learners if they are aware of their

preferred learning style. Although it is impossible to accomodate the

individual learning styles of an entire group of students, it is feasible to

engage students in a variety of learning activites: to listen, look at visual

aids, ask questions, stimulate situations, read, write, practice with

equipment, and discuss critical issues.

20

Teachers need to give students good reasons for learning, help

them define what they need to learn, help them organize and make sense

of what they should learn, ensure that students participate and are

involved, make the learning environment interesting and pleasant, give

students plenty of practice, and let them know how they are progressing.

d. Approaches and Method in ELT

Harmer (2004: 79-92) discussed English Language Teaching

methodology into several approaches and methodology, these are:

1) Audio-Lingualism

Audio lingual methodology owed its existence to the

Behaviourist models of learning. Using the Stimulus-Response-

reinforcement model, it attempted, through a continuous process of

such positive reinforcement, to engender good habits in language

learners. Audio-lingualism relied heavily on drills to form these

habits; substitution was built into these drills so that, in small steps,

the students was constantly learning and moreover, was shielded from

the possibility of making mistakes by the design of the drill.

The following example shows a typical Audio-Lingual drill:

Teacher : There’s a cup on the table ... repeatStudents : There’s a cup on the tableTeacher : SpoonStudents : There’s a spoon on the tableTeacher : BookStudents : There’s a book on the tableTeacher : On the chair

21

Students : There’s a book on the chair

This kind of patterned drilling has some drawbacks quite apart

from whether or not it can be shown to lead to grammatical and/or

lexical mastery of the structures being focused on. In the first place

the language is de-contextualised and carries little communicative

function. Second, by doing its best to banish mistakes, so that students

only use correct language, such teaching runs counter to a belief

among many theorist that making (and learning) from errors is a key

part of the process of acquisition. Indeed Audio-lingual methodology

seems to banish all forms of language processing that help students

sort out new language information in their own minds.

2) Presentation, Practice, and Production (PPP)

A variation on Audio-lingualism in British-based teaching and

elsewhere is the procedure most often referred to as PPP, which stands

for Presentation, Practice, and Production. In this procedure the

teacher introduces a situation which contextualises the language to be

taught. The language, too, is the presented. The students now practise

the language using accurate reproduction techiques such as choral

repetition (where the students repeat a word, phrase, or sentence all

together with the teacher “conducting”), individual repetition (where

individual students repeat a word, phrase, or sentence at the teacher’s

arguing), and cue-response drills (where the teacher gives a cue such

22

as cinema, nominates a student by name or by looking or pointing, and

the student makes the desired response, e.g. would you like to come to

the cinema). These have similiarities in the classic kind of Audio-

lingual drill we saw above, but because they are contextualised by the

situation that has been presented, they carry more meaning than a

simple substitution drill. Later the students, using the new language,

make sentences of their own, and this is referred to as production.

3) PPP and Alternatives to PPP

The PPP procedure came under a sustained attack in the 1990s.

It was, critics argued, clearly teacher-centered and therefore sat

uneasily in a more humanistic and learner-centered framework. It also

seems to assume that assume that students learn in straight lines that

is, starting from no knowledge, through highly restricted sentence-

based utterances and on to immediate production. Yet human learning

probably is not like that; it is more random, more convoluted. And by

breaking language down into small pieces to learn them, it may be

cheating the students a language.

4) The Communicative Approach

The Communicative Approach or Communicative Language

Teaching (CLT) is the name which was given to a set of beliefs which

included not only a reexamination of what aspects of language to

teach, but also a shift in emphasis in how to teach. The “what to

23

teach” aspect of the Communicative Approach stressed the

significance of language functions rather than focusing solely on

grammar and vocabulary. A guiding principle was to train students to

use these language forms appropriately in a variety of contexts and for

a variety of purposes.

The “how to teach aspect” of the Communicative Approach is

closely related to the idea that “language learning will take care of

itself” and that plentiful exposure to language in use and plenty of

opportunities to use it are vitally important for a student’s

development of knowledge and skill. Activities in CLT typically

involve students in real or realistic communication, where the

accuracy of the language they use is less important than succesfull

achievement of the communicative task they are performing.

5) Task-Based Learning

The idea of Task-Based Learning (TBL) was greatly

popularised by N Prabhu who working with schools in Bangalore

Southern India, speculated that students were just as likely to learn

language if they were thinking about a non-linguistic problem as when

they were concentrating on particular language forms. Instead of a

language structure, in other words, students are presented with a task

they have to perform or a problem they have to solve. For example,

after a class performs some pre-task activities which involve questions

24

and vocabulary checking (e.g. What is this? It’s a timetable. What

does “arrival” mean?), they task and answer questions to solve a

problem such as finding train-timetable information, e.g. When does

the Brindavan express leave Madras/arrive in Bangalore? Prabhu

(1987: 32 in Harmer 2004: 86). Although the present simple may

frequently be used in such an activity, the focus of the lesson is the

task, not the structure.

6) Four Methods

Four methods, developed in the 1970s and 1980s , have had a

considerable impact upon language teaching even if they are rarely

used exclusively in “mainstream” teaching.

a) Community Language Learning

In the classic for of Community Language Learning (CLL)

students sit in a circle. It is up to them to decide what they want to

talk about. A counsellor or a “knower” stands outside the circle.

The knower provides or corrects target language statements so that

if, for instance, a student says something in their own language, the

knower can then give them the English equivalent for them to use.

Student says what he or she wants to say either in English

or in his or her first language. In the latter case the knower

translates it into English, in effect “teaching” the student how to

make the utterance. The students can now say what he or she wants

25

to the circle. Later, when students are more confident with the

language, they can be put in lines facing each other for pairwork

discussion.

b) The Silent Way

One of the most notable features of the Silent Way is the

behaviour of the teacher who, rather than entering into conversation

with the students, says as little as possible. This is because the

founder of the method, Caleb Cattegno, belived that learning is best

facilitated if the learner discovers and creates language rather than

just remembering and repeating what has been taught. The learner

should be in the driving seat, in other words, not the teacher.

In the Silent Way learners interact with physical objects too,

especially Cuisenaire Rods. There is a problem solving element

involved too, since students have to resolve language construction

problems for themselves. In a classic Silent Way procedure, a

teacher models sounds while pointing to a phonemic chart-or to an

arrangement of Cuisenaire Rods. A student imitates the teacher and

the teacher indicates (silently) if he or she is incorrect. If not,

another student is prompted to help the first student. A third or

fourth student is prompted if necessary until a correct version of

phoneme is produced. The class continues with the teacher ponting

to different phonemes while the students work out what they are-

26

and then how to combine them. Later, students can point to

elements on the chart or arrange the Cuisenaire Rods in such a way

that they have provided a stimulus for the language in the same

way as the teacher did. They and their colleagues have to work out

what the correct language is.

Through all this procedure the teacher indicates by gesture

or expression what the students should do and whether or not they

are correct. Examples and corrections are only given verbally if not

student can do it first time round. Thus it is up to the students-under

the controlling but indirect influence of the teacher-to solve

problems and learn the language.

c) Suggestopedia

It is developed by Georgi Lozanov, Suggestopedia sees the

physical surroundings and atmosphere of the classroom as of vital

importance. By ensuring that the students are comfortable,

confident and relaxed, the affective filter is lowered, thus

enhancing learning. A feature of Suggestopedia is referred to as

“inflantilisation”; that is the teacher and students exist in a parent-

children relationship where, to remove barriers to learning, students

are given different names from their outside real ones. Traumatic

themes are avoided, and the sympathy with which the teacher treats

the students is vitally important.

27

A suggestopaedic lesson has three main parts. There is an

oral review section in which previously learnt material is used for

discussion. This is followed by the presentation and discussion of

new dialogue material and its native language equivalent. Finally in

the concert session, students listen to relaxing music (slow

movements from the Baroque period at about sixty beats per

minute are preferred) while the teacher reads the new dialogue

material in a way which synchronises with the taped music. During

this phase there are also several minutes of solemn silence and the

students leave the room silently.

d) Total Physical Response

The originator of TPR, James Asher, worked from the

premise that adult second language learning could have similiar

developmental patterns to that of child language acquisition. If

children learn much of their language from speech directed at them

in the form of commands to preform actions, then adults will learn

best in that way too. Aaccordingly, TPR ask students to respond

physically to the language they hear. Language processing is thus

matched with physical action.

Like many other methodology devisers, Asher sees the need

to lower the affective filter and finds that organising physical

actions in the classroom helps to do this. A typical TPR class might

28

involve the teacher telling students to pick up the triangle from the

table and give it tome or walk quickly to the door and hit it (Asher,

1977:54-56 in Harmer, 2004:90). When the students can all

respond to commands correctly , one of them can then start giving

instructions to other classmates.

7) Humanistic Teaching

Humanistic teaching has a greater acceptance at the level of

procedures and activities in which students are encouraged to make

use of thier own lives and feelings in the classroom. Such exercises

have a long history and owe much to a work from the 1970s called

Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Classroom by Gertrude

Moscowitz in which many activites are designed to make students feel

good and remember happy times whilst at the same time practising

grammar items. Students might be asked to make sentences with was

and were about their favourite things, for example When I was a child

my favourite food was hamburgers or When I was a child my favourite

relative was my uncle.

A more recent example of the same kind of thinking is the

following “choosing the passive” activity. Students are asked to read

paired active and passive sentences and to underline the sentence from

each pair which best fits their personal story. They can change words

too (e.g. from loved and ignored) if they want.

29

PASSIVE AND ACTIVE LIST

I was born I pushed out of my mother’s wombI was taught to yawn I gave my first yawnI was shown how to crawl I crawled all over thhe floorI was loved by my Dad I loved my Dad

Students then explain their choices to each other and, later,

write their own passive and active sentences. By the end of the

activity they will have said a lot about themselves, reflected on thier

lives, and will have come to understand a lot about the relationship

between active and passive verb forms.

8) Lexical Approach

The Lexical approach is based on the assertion that language

consists not of traditional grammar and vocabulary but often of multi-

word prefabricated chunks (Lewis 1997:3 in Harmer 2004:91). Lewis

proposes that fluency is the result of the acquisition of a large store of

fixed and semi-fixed prefabricated items which are available as the

foundation for any linguistic novelty or creativity.

This highlighting of an area of language that was, perhaps,

previously undervalued has played a valuable role in provoking debate

about what students should study. A lexical approach would steer us

away from an over-concentration on syntax and tense usage (with

vocabulary slotted into these grammar patterns) towards the teaching

of phrase which show words in combination, and which are generative

30

in a different way from traditional grammar substitution tables. Thus,

instead of teaching will for the future, we might instead have students

focus on its use in a series of “archetypical utterances” such as I’ll

give you a ring, I’ll be in touch, I’ll see what I can do, I’ll be back in a

minute, etc.

2. Reading

Reading is the on-going understanding of what is read while

reading. It is the ability to transform written text into meaningful

understanding. It requires the reader to be able to read the words, know the

vocabulary, be relatively fluent, and understand the language structure

underlying the text. In addtition, a reader must be able to relate the current

text being read to the previous text in order to develop a clear

understanding of the entire passage. This requires on-going monitoring of

one’s ability to “build the story” or comprehend as the text is read.

A good way to understand reading is to consider what is required

for fluent reading. Fluent readers, especially good L1 readers, typically do

all of the following: (1) Reading rapidly for comprehension (2)

Recognizing words rapidly and automatically (3) Drawing on a very large

vocabulary store (4) Integrating text information with their own

knowledge (5) Recognizing the purpose for reading (6) Comprehending

the text as necessary (7) Shifting purpose to read stategically (8) Using

31

strategies to monitor comprehension (9) Recognizing and repair

miscomprehension (10) Reading critically and evaluate information

(Grabe&Stoller, 2001:188).

1. The Nature of Reading

Reading consists of making out the meaning of written

language. An analysis of reading must embody an analysis of writing.

1) Reading is Visual

Reading is carried out through the sense of sight, which

carries some limitations but many advantages. Effective reading

requires the training of the muscles of the eye to perform a number

of tasks: to change focus as necessary; to seek a brief, large scale,

general view of the text; to find a starting-point; to change focus and

scale so as to identify the language at the starting-point; and then to

follow along the text altering direction as needed, and proceeding at

a speed which meets the understanding rate of the learner’s brain.

2) Reading is Organised and Systematic

Written language possesses beginnings and endings (if this

seems trivial, consider a text in an unfamiliar language with a very

different writing system; where does the text begin? In which

direction should the eye travel? Where is the end?) it contains many

internal breaks and divisions-spaces between letters or characters;

bigger spaces between words; bigger ones still between sentences;

32

spaces between lines; paragraph divisions; chapter divisions; the

conventions of punctuation; etc. It selects, separately for each

language, a set of visual symbols-letters or characters, together with

diacritics, upper case/lower case distinctions, different styles of

representation of the same shape (roman, italic, gothic, printed or

handwritten, etc.) and it arranges these symbols in sequences or

strings of varying length. The strings are always arranged in a linear

sequence, at the lines may be either horizontal or vertical, and if

horizontal they may run either from left to right as in English or right

to left as in Arabic. Sometimes the symbols may be arranged on the

page in a way which evokes artistic or aesthetic meaning, as in

poetry, or as in the ‘Mouse’s Tale’ in Alice in Wonderland. The

reader has to learn to be familiar with all these conventions of shape,

sequence, arrangement, and visual effect.

3) Reading is Arbitrary and Abstract, but Meaningful

With some rare and partial exceptions (e.g. Egyptian

hieroglyphics; some characters in Chinese) the shapes of the symbols

used in written language are arbitrary-they are unrelated to the real-

life forms of whatever it is they refer to. Letters, words, sentences

and longer streches of text relate to meanings of several kinds, and

these relations are specific to each particular language. At the same

time, written language always embodies visual clues to information,

33

of three kinds: of a grammatical kind, a lexical kind, and a semantic

kind; and in most writing systems the written language is a direct

transform of the spoken language. Writing represents speech, not

vice versa.

4) Related to A Particular Language and Society

Writing is not solely a mechanical process. It has great

social and cultural importance. It can become the embodiment of the

history, achievement, customs, literature, values, beliefs, of a whole

people, because it can build up and fix over a long period the

reflection of a society’s organized thought. However, the

transmission of culture and ideas is only one of the functions which

writing performs: it is to these functions that we should now turn.

2. The Purpose of Reading

When we read, we read for a variety of purposes, we

sometimes read to get the main idea but not much more (e.g.,

skimming a newspaper story), and sometimes we read to locate

specific information (e.g., scanning for a name, date, or term).

Commonly we read texts to learn information and sometimes we are

expected to synthesize information (i.e., reading to learn) from

multiple texts, or from a longer chapter or book, in order to take a

critical position with respet to that information. Perhaps most often,

we read for general comprehension (i.e., reading to understand main

34

ideas and relevant supporting information). We also read for pleasure,

with the intention of being entertained or informed, but not tested.

In academic settings, almost every major purpose for reading

comes into play. Thus, an EAP reading curriculum must account for

how students learn for multiple purposes, including at least the

reading (1) to search for information (2) for general comprehension

(3) to learn new information (4) to synthesize and evaluate

information (Grabe&Stoller, 2001: 187).

3. Reading Skills

Students, like the rest of us, need to be able to do a number of

things with a reading text. They need to be able to scan the text for

particular bits of information they are searching for (as, for example,

when we look for a telephone number, what’s on television at a

certain time or search quickly through an article looking for name or

other detail). This skill means that they do not have to read every word

and line; on the contrary, such an approach wouls stop them scanning

successfully.

Students also need to be able to skim a text-as if they were

casting their eyes over its surface- toget a general idea of what it is

about (as, for example, when we run our eyes over a film review to

see what the film is about and what the reviewer thought about it, or

when we look quickly at a report to get a feel for the topic and what its

35

conclusions are). Just as with scanning, if students try to gather all the

details at this stage, they will get bogged down and may not be able to

identify the general idea because they are concentrating too hard on

specifics. Whether readers scan or skim depends on what kind of text

they are reading and what they want or need to get out of it. They may

scan a computer “Help” window to find the one piece of information

they need to get them out of a difficulty, and they may sim a

newspaper article to pick up a general idea of what’s been happening

in the world.

Reading for detailed comprehension, whether this entails

looking for detailed information or picking out particular examples of

language use, should be seen by students as something very different

from the skills mentioned above. Many students are perfectly capable

of doing all these things in other languages, of course, though some

may not read much at all in their daily lives. For both types of student,

we should do our best to offer a mixture of materials and activities so

that they can practise using these various skills with English text

(Harmer, 2007:100-101).

4. Reading Principles

Harmer (2007:101-102) divided students’ reading principles

into six categories. These are:

36

Principle 1: Encourage students to read as often and as much as

possible

The more students read, the better. Everything we do should

encourage them to read extensively as well as-if not more than-

intensively. It is a good idea to discuss this principle with students

Principle 2: Students need to be engaged with what they are reading

Outside normal lesson time, when students are reading extensively,

they should be involved in joyful reading-that is, we should try to help

them get as much pleasure from it as possible. But during lessons, too,

we will do our best to ensure that they are engaged with the topic of a

reading text and the activities they are asked to do while dealing with

it.

Principle 3: Encourage students to respond to the content of a text

(and explore their feelings about it), not just concentrate on its

construction

Of course, it is important for students to study reading texts in class in

order to find out such things as the way they use language, the number

of paragraphs they contain and how many times they use relative

cluses but hte meaning, the message of the text, is just as important as

this. As a result, we must give students a chance to respond to that

message in some way. It is especially important that they should be

allowed to show their feelings about the topic-thus provoking personal

37

engageent with it and the language. With extensive reading this is

even more important. Reading for pleasure is-and should be-different

from reading for study.

Principle 4: Prediction is a major factor in reading

When we read texts in our own language, we frequently have a good

idea of the content before we actually start reading. Book covers give

us a clue about what is in the book; photographs and headlines hint at

what articles are about; we can identify reports as reports from their

appearance before we read a single word. The moment we get these

clues-the book cover, the headline, the web-page banner-our brain

starts predicting what we are going to read. Expectations are set up

and the active process of reading is ready to begin. In class,

researchers should give students “hints” so that they also have a

chance to predict what is coming. In the case of extensive reading –

when students are choosing what to read for pleasure-we should

encourage them to look at covers and back cover copy to help them

select what to read and then to help them “get into” a book

Principle 5: Match the task to the topic when using intensive reading

texts

Once a decision has been taken about what reading text the students

are going to read (based on their level, the topic of the text and its

linguistic and activation potential), we need to choose good reading

38

tasks,-the right kind of questions, appropriate activities before during

and after reading, and useful study explotation, etc.

The most useful and interesting text can be undermined by boring and

inappropriate tasks; the most commonplace passage can be made

really existing with imaginative and challenging activities, especially

if the level of challenge (1.e. how easy it is for students to complete a

task) is exactly right for the class.

Principle 6: Good researchers exploit reading texts to the full

Any reading text is full of sentences, words, ideas, descriptions, etc. It

doesn’t mae sense, in class, just to get students to read it and then drop

it and move on to something else. Good researchers integrate the

reading text into intersting lesson sequences, using the topic for

discussion and further tasks, using the language for study and then

activation (or, of course, activation and then study) and using a range

of activities to bring the text to life. Where students have been doing

extensive reading, we should use whatever opportunities present

themselves to provoke useful feedback.

5. Reading Strategies

1) Strategies for Reading Comprehension

The following are ten strategies which are proposed by Brown

(2001: 306-311).

39

a) Identifying the purpose in reading

Efficient reading consists of clearly identifying the purpose in

reading something. By doing so, readers know what they are

looking for and can weed out potential distracting information.

b) Using graphemic rules and patterns to aid in bottom-up

decoding (especially for beginning level learners)

At the beginning levels of learning English, one of the

difficulties students encounter in learning to read is making the

correspondences between spoken and written English. In many

cases, learners have become acquainted with oral language and

have some difficulty learning English spelling conventions.

They may need hints and explanations about certain English

orthographic rules and peculiarities. While you can often

assume that one to one grapheme phoneme correspondences

will be acquired with ease, other relationship might prove

difficult. Consider how you might provide hints and pointers

on such patterns as these:

(1) “short” vowel sound in VC patterns (bat, him, leg, wish,

etc)

(2)“long” vowel sound in VCe (final silent e) patterns (late,

time, bite, etc)

(3)“long” vowel sound in VV patterns (seat, coat, etc)

40

(4)Distinguishing “hard” c and g from “soft” c and g (cat vs

city, game vs gem, etc)

These and a multitude of other phonics approaches to reading

can prove useful for learners at the beginning level and

especially useful for teaching children and non literate adults.

c) Using efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid

comprehension (for intermediate to advanced levels)

If you are teaching beginning level students, this particular

strategy will not apply because they are still struggling with the

control of a limited vocabulary and grammatical patterns.

Intermediate-to-advanced level students need not be speed

readers, but researcher can help them increase efficiency by

teaching a few silent reading rules:

(1) It doesn’t need to “pronounce” each word

(2)Try to visually perceive more than one word at a time,

preferably phrases

(3)Unless a word is absolutely crucial to global understanding,

skip over it and try to infer its meaning from its context.

Aside from these fundamental guidelines, which if followed

can help learners to be efficient readers; reading speed is

usually not much of an issue for all but the most advanced

learners. Academic reading, for example, is something most

41

learners complete the material. If students can read 250 to 300

words per minute, further concern over speed may not be

necessary.

d) Skimming the text for main ideas

Perhaps the two most valuable reading strategies for learners

(as well as native speakers) are skimming and scanning.

Skimming consists of quickly running one’s eyes across a

whole text (such as an essay, article or chapter) for its gist.

Skimming gives readers an advantage of being able to predict

the purpose of the passage, the main topic or message and

possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas. This

gives them a head start as they embark on more focused

reading.

e) Scanning the text for specific information

The second in the most valuable category is scanning, or

quickly searching for some particular piece or pieces of

information in a text. Scanning exercise may as students to

look for names or dates, to find a definition of a key concept or

to list a certain number of supporting details. The purpose of

scanning is to extract specific information without reading

through the whole text. For academic English, scanning is

absolutely essential. In vocational or general English, scanning

42

is important in dealing with genres like schedule, manuals,

forms, etc.

f) Using semantic mapping or clustering

Readers can easily be overwhelmed by a long string of ideas or

events. The strategy of semantic mapping, or grouping ideas

into meaningful clusters, helps the reader to provide some

order to the chaos. Making such semantic maps can be done

individually, but they make for a productive group work

technique as students collectively induced order and hierarchy

to a passage.

g) Guessing when you aren’t certain

This is an extremely broad category. Learners can use guessing

to their advantage to:

(1) Guess the meaning of a word

(2) Guess a grammatical relationship (e.g.,

pronoun reference)

(3) Guess a discourse relationship

(4) Infer implied meaning (“between the lines”)

(5) Guess about a cultural reference

(6) Guess content messages

The key to successful guessing is to make it reasonably

accurate. Researchers can help their students to become

43

accurate guessers by encouraging them to use effective

compensation strategies in which they fill gaps in their

competence by intelligent attempts to use whatever clues are

available to them. Language based clues include word analysis,

word association, and textual structure. Nonlinguistic clues

come from context, situation, and other schemata

h) Analyzing vocabulary

One way for learners to make guessing pay off when they

don’t immediately recognize a word is to analyze it in terms of

what they know about it. Several techniques are useful here:

(1) Look for prefixes (co-, inter-, un-, etc) that may give clues

(2) Look for suffixes (-tion, -tive, -ally, etc) that may indicate

what part of speech it is.

(3) Look for roots that are familiar (e.g., interviewing may be a

word a student doesn’t know, but recognizing that the root

ven comes from Latin “to come” would yield the meaning

“to come in between”).

(4) Look for grammatical contexts that may signal information

(5) Look at the semantic context (topic) for clues.

i) Distinguishing between literal and implied meanings

This requires the application of sophisticated top-down

processing skills. The fact that not all language can be

44

interpreted appropriate by attending to its literal, syntactic

surface structure makes special demands on readers. Implied

meaning usually has to derive from processing pragmatic

information, as in the following examples:

(1) Bill walked into the frigid classroom and immediately

noticed Bob, sitting by the open window.

“Brrr!” he exclaimed, simultaneously eyeing Bob and the

open windows, “It’s sure cold in here, Bob.”

Bob glanced up from his book and growled, ‘Oh, all right,

I’ll close the window.”

(2) The policeman held up his hand and stopped the car

(3) Mary heard the ice cream man coming down the street. She

remembered her birthday money and rushed into the house.

Each of these excerpts has implied information. The request in

(a) is obvious only if the reader recognizes the nature of many

indirect request in which we ask people to do things without

ever forming a question. We can’t be sure in (b) if the

policeman literally (physically) stopped the car with his hand,

but the assumption is that is a traffic policeman whose hand

signal was obeyed by a driver. Rummelhart’s classic example

in (c) leads the reader, without any other context, to believe

45

Mary is going into the house to get money to buy ice cream

until the last few words are supplied:”… and locked the door!”

j) Capitalizing on discourse markers to process relationships

Many discourse markers in English signal relationships among

ideas as expressed through phrases, clauses, and sentences. A

clear comprehension of such markers can greatly enhance

learners’ reading efficiency. Table 2.1 enumerates almost one

hundred of these markers with which learners of intermediate

proficiency levels ought to be thoroughly familiar.

Table 2.1Types of Discourse Markers (Mackay 1987: 254 in Brown 2001:311)

Notional Category/Meaning Marker1. Enumerative. Introduce in order in which points are to be made or the time sequence in which actions or processes took place.

Firstly, secondly, thirdly one two three / a, b, c, next, then, finally, lastly, in the first/second place, for one thing/for another thing, to begin with, subsequently, eventually, finally, in the end, to conclude.

2. Additive2.1 Reinforcing. Introduces a reinforcement or confirmation of what has preceded.2.2 Similarity. Introduces a statement of similarity with what has preceded.2.3 Transition. Introduces a new stage in the sequence of presentation of information.

Again, then again, also, moreover, furthermore, in addition, above all, what is moreEqually, likewise, similarity, correspondingly, in the same way.Now, well, incidentally, by the way, O.K, fine

3. Logical Sequence3.1 Summative. Introduces a summary of what has preceded.

3.2 Resultative. Introduces an

So, so far, altogether, overall, then, thus, therefore, in short, to sum up, to conclude, to summarize.So, as a result, consequently, hence,

46

expression of the result or consequence of what preceded (and includes inductive and deductive acts)

now, therefore, thus, as a consequence, in consequence.

4. Explicative. Introduces an explanation or reformulation of what preceded.

Namely, in other words, that is to say, better, rather, by (this) we mean

5. Illustrative. Introduces an illustration or example of what preceded

For example, for instance

6. Contrastive6.1 Replacive. Introduces an alternative to what preceded6.2 Antithetic. Introduces information in opposition to what preceded6.3 Concessive. Introduces information which is unexpected in view of what preceded.

Alternatively, (or) again, (or) rather, (but) then, on the other handConversely, instead, then, on the contrary, by contrast, on the other hand.Anyway, anyhow, however, nevertheless, nonetheless, notwithstanding, still, though, yet, for all that, in spite of (that), at the same time, all the same.

6. Types of Classroom Reading Performance

Variety of reading performance in the language classroom is

derived more from the variety of texts (refer to the list earlier in this

chapter) to which researcher can expose students than from the variety

of overt types of performance.

Figure 2.1 Types of Classroom Reading Performance

Classroom Reading Performance

Oral Silent

Intensive Extensive

Linguistic Content Skimming Scanning Global

47

1) Oral and Silent Reading

Occasionally, researcher will have reason to ask student to read

orally. At the beginning and intermediate levels, oral reading can

a) Serve as an evaluative check on bottom up processing skills

b) Double as a pronunciation check, and

c) Serve to add some extra student participation if you want to

highlight a certain short segment of a reading passage.

For advanced levels, usually only advantage (c) can be gained by

reading orally. As a rule of thumb, you want to use oral reading to

serve these three purposes because the disadvantages of too much

oral reading can easily come into play:

a) Oral reading is not a very authentic language activity

b) While one student is reading, others can easily lose

attention (or be silently rehearsing the next paragraph)

c) It may have the outward appearance of student

participation when in really it is mere recitation.

2) Intensive and Extensive Reading

We need to make distinction between extensive and

intensive reading. The term extensive reading refers to reading

which students do often (but not exclusively) away from the

48

classroom. They may read novels, web pages, newspapers,

magazines or any other reference material. Where possible,

extensive reading should involve reading for pleasure-what Richard

Day calls joyful reading. This is enhanced if students have a chance

to choose what they want to read, if they are encouraged to read by

the researcher, and if some opportunity is given for them to share

their reading experiences. Although not all students are equally

keen on this kind of reading, we can say with certainty that the ones

who read most progress fastest.

On the other hand, the term intensive reading refers to the

detailed focus on the construction of reading texts which takes

place usually (but not always) in classrooms. Researcher may as

students to look at extracts from magazines. Poems, internet

websites, novels, newspapers, plays and a wide range of other text

genres (that is, styles or types of text). The exact choice of genres

and topics may be determined by the specific purposes that students

are studying (such as business, science or nursing). In such cases,

we may well want to concentrate on texts within their specialities.

But if, as is often the case, they are a mixed group with differing

interests and careers, a more varied diet is apropriate, as the reading

sequnces in this chapter will demonstrate. Intensive reading is

usually accompanied by study activities. We may ask students to

49

work out what kind of text they are reading, tease out details of

meaning, look at particular uses of grammar and vocabulary, and

then use the information in the text to move on to other learning

activities. We will also encourage them to reflect on different

reading skills.

7. Principles for designing interactive reading techniques

1) Follow the “SQ3R” sequence

One effective series of procedures for approaching a reading text

has come to be labeled the SQ3R technique, a process consisting of

the following five steps:

a) Survey: Skim the text for an interview of main ideas

b) Question: The reader asks questions about what he or she wishes

to get out of the text

c) Read: Read the text while looking for answers to the previously

formulated questions

d) Recite: Reprocess the salient points of the text through oral or

written language

e) Review: Assess the importance of what one has just read and

incorporate it into long-term associations.

This series of techniques of course may not fit all classes and

contexts, but it serves as a general guide for a reading class.

50

2) Subdivide your techniques into pre-reading, during-reading,

and after-reading phases

a) Before you read: spend some time introducing a topic,

encouraging skimming, scanning, predicting, and activating

schemata. Students can bring the best of their knowledge and

skills to a text when they have been given a chance to “ease

into” the passage.

b) While you read: not all reading is simply extensive or global

reading. There may be certain facts or rhetorical devices that

students should take note of while they read. Give students a

sense of purpose for reading rather than just reading because

you ordered it.

c) After you read: comprehension questions are just one from of

activity appropriate for post-reading. Also consider vocabulary

study, identifying the author’s purpose, discussing the author’s

line of reasoning, examining grammatical structures, or

steering students toward a follow up writing exercise.

3) Build in some evaluative aspects to your techniques

Reading is totally unobservable, it is as important in reading to be

able to accurately assess students’ comprehension and development

51

of skills. Consider some of the following overt responses that

indicate comprehension:

a) Doing: the reader responds physically to a command

b) Choosing: the reader selects from alternatives posed orally or in

writing

c) Transferring: the reader summarizes orally what is read

d) Answering: the reader answers questions about the passage

e) Condensing: the reader outlines or takes notes on a passage

f) Extending: the reader provides an ending to a story

g) Duplicating: the reader translates the message into the native

language or copies it (beginning level, for very short passages

only)

h) Modeling: the reader puts together a toy, for example, after

reading directions for assembly

i) Conversing: the reader engages in a conversation that indicates

appropriate processing of information.

3. Styles and Strategies Based Instruction (SSBI)

a. What is Styles- and Strategies-Based Instruction?

Styles and Strategies Based Instruction (SSBI) is a learner-

focused approach to language teaching that explicitly combines styles

52

and strategy instructional activities with everyday classroom language

instruction (Cohen & Weaver, 2005:5). The underlying premise of the

styles- and strategies-based approach is that students should be given

the opportunity to understand not only what they can learn in the

language classroom, but also how they can learn the language they are

studying more effectively and efficiently.

Traditionally, it was assumed that if L2 researchers did their

jobs well, students would learn and retain the language. It has become

clear, however, that if students are not taking responsibility for their

own language learning or are not motivated to learn, it may not matter

how well the researchers are teaching. With this realization, the

development of SSBI began.

b. The Evolution of Styles- and Strategies-Based Instruction

1960s – Psychology of Learning

In the 1960s there emerged a focus on the learner and on learning to

learn. Educators drew from cognitive theory, based on the information

processing model with two kinds of knowledge; declarative

knowledge; which dealt with the facts; and procedural knowledge,

which focused on the procedures for using declarative knowledge. The

cognitive theory approach was a departure from the behaviorist

stimulus-response approach to learning which had spawned the audio-

53

ligual method of having learners practice patterns over until they

learned them. The tendency was now directed toward a more

reasoned, controlled learning of rules and accepting that some rules

were learned or “acquired” automatically.

1970s - Good Language Learner

The 1970s saw the advent of a rather prescriptive approach to

language learner strategies, with the emphasis on what the good

language learner can teach us. The following strategies used by good

language learners:

1) Making an effort to communicate and to learn through

communication

2) Finding strategies for overcoming inhibitions in target language

interaction

3) Making reasoned guesses when not sure

4) Paying attention to meaning

5) Monitoring their speech and that of others

6) Attending to form (i.e., grammar)

7) Practicing the language whenever possible

Decades later, these strategies are still among the most significant for

language learners the world over.

54

1980s – Classifications of Strategies and Descriptions of

Learners

The 1980s was marked by effrots to classify strategies. Language

educators like O’malley and Charnot (1990), Oxford (1990) and

others created classification schemes which labeled strategies

according to whether they had a primarily “metacognitive,”

“cognitive,” “social,” “affective” or other function, drawing primarily

on the rich L1 literature about reading strategies.

1990s – Strategies-Based Instruction (SBI)

In the 1990s there was a shift from simply describing and classifiying

strategies to experimenting with different kinds of interventions in the

classroom. The interest was now on whether learners could enhance

their language learning by either using new strategies or by using

familiar ones more effectively. An example of such an intervention

was the University of Minnesota experiment with intermediate

learners of french and Norwegian. It was also during this decade that

summer institutes in strategies-based instruction were started at the

University of Minnesota. Chamot and colleagues initiated strategy

institutes for language researchers through the National Capital

Language resource Center in washington, D.C.

200s – SSBI

55

This decade has seen styles and strategies-based instruction become

one entity. Some language educators have long insisted that language

learner stratgeies need to be viewed through the perspective of the

style preferences of the learners. As strategy classification systems

have been sorted out and categories become more fine-tuned, there is

a growing interest in how specific tasks might favor certain learning

style preferences and call for certain language strategies. In other

words, the one-size-fits-all approach is becoming custom fitted.

c. Self-Directed Learning

As language teaching has become more learner-focused and

interactive, there has also been an emphasis on helping students take

more responsibility for meeting their own language learning needs.

Students are asked to self-direct the language learning process and

become less dependent on the classroom researcher. SSBI helps

learners to become more aware of different learning strategies, to

understand how to organize and use strategies systematically and

effectively (given their learning-style preferences), and to learn when

and how to transfer the strategies to new language learning. SSBI has

a series of components that develop the students’ relationship with

learning strategy:

56

1) Strategy Preparation

The given learners already have. There is no sense in assuming that

students are a blank slate when it comes to strategy use. They most

likely have developed some strategies, but may not use them

systematically and well. The goal is to find out how much students

know about strategies and if they are able to use them.

2) Strategy Awareness-Raising

SSBI tasks explicitly raise the students’ general awareness about:

a) what the learning process may consist of, b) their learning style

preferences or general approaches to learning, c) the kinds of

strategies that they already use, as well as those suggested by the

researcher or classmates, d) the amount of responsibility that they

take on for their learning, or e) approaches that can be used to

evaluate the students’ strategy use.

3) Strategy Instruction

Students are explicitly taught how, when, and why certain

strategies (whether alone, in sequence, or in clusters) can be used to

facilitate language learning. Researchers describe, model, and give

examples of strategies.

4) Strategy Practice

57

Knowing about a given strategy is not enough. Learners must have

the opportunity to try them out on numerous tasks. These activities

are designed to reinforce strategies that have already been

discussed and allow students time to practice the strategies at the

same time they are learning the course content. These activities

should include explicit references to the strategies. Students either:

a) plan the strategies that they will use for a particular activity,

b) have their attention called to the use of particular strategies

while they are being used, or

c) "debrief" their use of strategies (and their relative

effectiveness) after the activity has ended.

5) Personalization of Strategies

Learners evaluate how they are using the strategies and look at

ways they can use of them in other contexts.

In SSBI, it is the curriculum researchers’ and the researchers’ role

to see that strategies are integrated into everyday class materials

and are both explicitly and implicitly embedded into the language

tasks to provide for contextualized strategy practice. Researchers

may:

a) start with the established course materials and then insert

strategies

58

b) start with a set of strategies and design activities around them,

c) insert strategies spontaneously into the lessons when

appropriate.

These strategies-based activities are designed to raise awareness

about strategies, to train students in strategy use, to give them

opportunities to practice strategy use, and to encourage them to

personalize these strategies for themselves. Researchers also allow

students to choose their own strategies and do so spontaneously,

without continued prompting from the language researcher.

d. Learning Style Preferences

Why do some students have trouble understanding directions in the

second language while other students get them easily? Why do some

students do well in large groups, while others are at their best when

they can work alone or with a single partner? What can you do to help

each student when there can be such a variety of learners in your

classroom? Those are because of the diversity of students’ learning

styles preferences.

1) What are Learning Style Preferences?

Learning style preferences refer to the way you like to learn.

According to Oxford and Anderson (1995 in Cohen 2005:12) have

five interrelated aspects:

59

a) The cognitive aspect includes preferred or habitual patterns of

mental functioning (usually referred to as cognitive styles)

b) The executive aspects is the extent to which learners look for

order, organization, and closure in managing the learning

processes

c) The affective aspect relates to preferred degree of involvment

with other people while learning

d) The psychological element involves what are at least partly

anotomically based sensory and perceptual tendencies of the

learners

e) The behavioral aspect concerns the learners’ tendency to

actively seek situations campatible with their own learning

preferences

There are no positive or negative traits, only preferences, and even

strong preferences can change. Students tend to learn better when

the classroom instructor nurtures their learning style. If researcher

can present language material in a variety of ways, the language

styles of all of students are morelikely to be nurtured. For example,

researcher could teach the present and past perfect tenses in the

target language by having students listen to a tape and then draw a

chart in their notebook of a timeline that describes when to use

60

each form of the perfect aspect. In this way, researcher teaches to

both the auditory and visual learners.

2) The Value of Learning Styles

Research suggests that the greater the number of styles students can

use, the more successful they will be at learning language.

Research also shows that we all have learning style preferences and

thus may tend to favor our preferred approaches in our learning.

You can help students by getting them to think about learning in

strategic terms and to expand or stretch their learning approaches.

You can laso accomodate to style differences by prviding

opportunities during class for your students to learn in different

ways. You may already do this, but the idea is to vary the tasks so

as to continually favor one style preference over another.

Consider the perceptual style dimensions:

Visual – relying more on the sense of sight, and learning best

through visual means (either through text-based resources such as

handouts, lists, flashcards, and other verbal sources; or through

spatial information, such as charts, diagrams, pictures, and videos)

Auditory – preferring listening and speaking activities (e.g.,

discussions, debates, audiotapes, role-plays, and lectures); and

61

Hands-on – benefiting from doing projects, working with objects,

and moving around. For those who remember words best by seeing

them spelled out, you may want to write new words on the board or

in a handout (when it doesn’t detract from the activity).

So, when it comes to learning new vocabulary, students who learn

visually may benefit from writing the new words in their notebook

or from seeing a still picture or video of the object or action which

involves the new vocabulary in some way. Learners with an

auditory preference may want to hear the words pronounced clearly

several times or to hear themselves pronouncing them. For hands-

on learners, it may help to perform the action to which the new

words refer.

3) Types of Learning Styles

There were three types of students’ learning styles, these are:

(Sensory/Perceptual, Psychological/Personality Type, and

Cognitive) which give an overview of the characteristics of each

learning style and ways to facilitate learning for each type. But, this

Classroom Action Research only choose one of types of learning

styles related to students’ sensory or perceptual which is divided

into three different characteristics of learners. These were as

follow:

62

Table 2.2Sensory /Perceptual Learning Style

Sensory /Perceptual

Characteristics of Learners

Support Researchers Can Provide

Visual Preferring to charts, graphs, something to read, or a picture

Using flash cards, videos, or other visual aids

Tactile/ Kinesthetic

Preferring to aids that can be touched, manipulated, or written; and may practice language by drawing and/or tracing

Providing hands-on experiences to understand language and culture (e.g., cultural interchanges using nonverbal communication strategies)

Auditory Preferring to listening to lectures, conversations, tapes, etc., when learning

Providing opportunities to listen to lectures and discussion. Recap verbally

e. Teaching Learning Process in Ganesha Operation

1) Cornel Method

This kind of method is adapted from the cornel note-taking

system which is a widely-used note taking system devised in the

1950s by Walter Pauk, an education professor at Cornell University.

In this method, students divide the paper into two columns: the note-

taking column (usually on the right) is twice the size of the key word

column (on the left). Students should leave five to six lines, or about

two inches, at the bottom of the page. Notes from a lecture or

teaching are written in the note-taking column; notes usually consist

of the main ideas of the text or lecture, and long ideas are

63

paraphrased. Long sentences are avoided; symbols or abbreviations

are used instead. Relevant questions (which should be recorded as

soon as possible so that the lecture and questions will be fresh in the

student's mind) or key words are written in the key word column.

The student also writes a short summary on the last four lines.

Students then cover up the note-taking (right) column to

answer the questions/keywords in the key word or cue (left) column.

Students are encouraged to reflect on the material and review the

notes regularly. The Cornell method provides a systematic format for

condensing and organizing notes. After the notes have been taken,

the student writes a brief summary at the bottom of the page. This

helps to increase understanding of the topic. When studying for

either a test or quiz, the student has a concise but detailed and

relevant record of previous classes. (in Walter Pauk:1950

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes (adapted at 14/9/2010))

This method is adapted by Ganesha Operation which

divides its book into two columns, the left column is the printed

lesson and the right column is an empty column. It is for students to

take note of the lesson given, important information, and draw short

summary. This method is applied because students often lose their

notes after classes and it is to ease them review and learn their

lesson. The same method is also applied at the whiteboard which is

64

divided into columns. It means to give advantages for teacher and

students in drawing the materials at the whiteboard, make it

sistematic and rapi.

2) Mind Map

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas,

tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key

word or idea. Mind map is used to generate, visualize, structure, and

classify ideas, and as aid in study, organization, problem solving,

decision making, and writing. In other words, mind map is a creative

and effective way to place whatever stated in mind which then is

visualized into a diagram started with central key words on it.

It is one of ways to ease the learners to arise imagination

and memory. In order to memorize words and vocabulary,

everybody may use mind map since there are rules to make the mind

map succeed helping the maker. There are association, imagination,

ideas, colors, lines and symbols inside it. Tony buzan (2007: 15)

gives seven steps how to make a mind map. The steps are:

a) Write down central key words in the centre of a blank sheet in

landscape way because it gives freedom for the maker to spread

out ideas in any direction.

65

b) Use pictures or photos as central key word since pictures or

photos are considered helping the maker to have lots of

imaginations

c) Use different colors, because colors create the imagination more

vividly than only use one or two color, such as, black and white.

They also appeal the brain’s pleasure in building the mind map,

and the learners’ interest in returning to, reviewing, and using it.

d) Make a series of connect lines from the central key words to the

sub-key words. Because brain works with association. It means

that association will tie one thing to the others.

e) Connect every sub-key word to the ideas which relate to the

theme with unlinear line, the reason is because the use of

straight lines is boring for the brain.

f) Give one key word in every branch of idea. It means do not write

the key word with complete sentence.

g) Draw pictures to describe the ideas. Just like central picture, it

represents thousands words to say.

In Ganesha Operation, mind map is used to lock student’s

learning focus. It was given in the beginning of the class. Teachers

write and draw it in the whiteboard by using three different colors of

boardmarker, then explain it to students about what will be learned

and discussed at the lesson.

66

3) Memory technique

Memorizing well in the process of learning needs ways to

make it remain in longer period. For instance, by plotting or

chunking the longer words or number into small words. This way

will give better result if the memory techniques are weird, odd,

vulgar, funny, or even absurd forms Buzan (2007: 121-122) strongly

advises seven rules to strengthen memory as follows:

a) Exaggerating the size of the important parts of the image. The

more exaggerate the information, the easier the brain memorizes

the information.

b) Using humor because funny or peculiar things are easier to

remember than normal ones.

c) Applying sense to code information of an image. Everybody

has sense to see, to hear, to feel, to taste, to touch and to smell.

All of them are trigger to memorize.

d) Using vivid, colorful image and ignore black and white color

only or traditional color. Use different colors of the information

that need to remember since right brain loves colors.

e) Making rude rhyme of the mnemonic. If the words are

combined into mnemonics or acrostics, they could be more useful

by rhyming them.

67

f) Creating positive, pleasant images. By and large, it will be

easier to memorize words by having a positive thinking on the

word itself. In other words having interesting information will

stimulate the memory well.

g) Giving pictures and symbols, it can be code quite complex

message quickly and effectively. Pictures represent thousands

words to say.

4) Break

Another way of learning suggested by Buzan (1984: 43-55) is giving

break time as many as possible during teaching learning process; it is

because our brain will be tired if it is used in a long period. Although

the materials given is interesting and well prepared. It can be

inappropriate for those who learn something in a long period.

Because the longer the students study, the harder the brain works and

this causes tiredness of the brain. Therefore, Ganesha Operation

applied break time. Applying lesson with breaks, it means many

starts and many ends of lesson. In Ganesha Operation, break is given

after 45 minutes of learning process takes place which took for 5

minutes. At this time, students will listen a ringing bel first, then a

motivated message from audioline was delivered by Mr. Jack-the

leader of Ganesha Operation Semarang- followed by a popular music

prepared and sometimes requested by students. The core is make

68

students forget the lesson for a while and make them fresh to

continue the lesson.

5) Music

Prashnig (2007:185) said that another way to succeed in

learning is through listening to music. Why? The following

explanation will discuss the importance of music for learners. Music

has become central culture and plays important role to influence

people’s mind and emotion. Music is also believed to be a favorite

choice to accelerate learning. Prashnig belived that music gives great

benefit to brain while music is used to stimulating the brain to work

well. He made a very well known research in revealing the

correlation between listening to classical music and learning. The

result explained that the students who listened to Mozart had greater

score than those who did not have the music while they were

studying.

6) Teacher Centered

Teacher has a very important role in teaching and learning

process since the teacher is the model for the students to do activities

in class and out of class. However, the role of the teacher sometimes

is used only as a motivator, and facilitator. These two points of view

bring the writer to underline two teaching methods. The teaching

69

methods can be grouped into namely pupil centered and teacher

centered.

According to Alabi (2008: 843) teacher centered method puts

teachers as the main actors while the pupils are passive listeners. The

pupils remain silent most of the time during the lesson. On the other

hand, pupil-centered is the opposite of the teacher centered. Pupil

centered methods tend to use the teacher act as a guide or an advisor

to the pupils, suggesting activities that are appropriate. The pupils

are actively doing the study under the leadership of the teacher. In

other words the teacher is the central of all activities to manage and

to advise the students in the teaching process.

Therefore, GO adapts teacher-centered methods in its

learning process. Mostly, the teacher gives teaching presentation in

front of the class and the students listen and do exercise based on

what the teacher act, teacher centered method is the most appropriate

methods than learner-centered method used in teaching learning

process in the classroom. Because Ganesha Operation -an

institutional course- has limitation time and syllabus which must be

completed in each meeting, so every teacher must be able to present

a whole material and discuss the exercise from the handbook.

Besides, there is no other activity requiring communication between

70

learners such as small group, work in pairs, conversation, and group

discussion.

B. Rationale

As reading becomes the major requirement in passing State

University Entrance Test, every student is encouraged in mastering this kind

of competence. But students’ achievements at Alumni Class of Ganesha

Operation Semarang 2010-2011 academic year are far from satisfaction and

need to be improved. Therefore, this research implement Classroom Action

Research which was mainly purposed to improve students’ reading

competence through Styles and Strategies Based Instruction.

This technique was considered the solution of students’ problems in

reading and was able to improve students’ reading competence. It is based on

several reasons. (1) in Styles and Strategies Based Instruction, teacher

becomes the instructor and facilitator to guide students in finding certain clues

for getting the best answer. So, students are encouraged to be active and eager

since they have to listen and follow certain instruction. (2) The

implementation of reading strategies will give advantages for passive,

unskilled, shy, afraid, nervous, and unself confident students to learn reading.

These strategies will avoid them being laughed by their friends. (3) since these

strategies are based on students learning style, the teaching learning process is

created as close as students’ learning style by applying certain equipment such

71

as: three different colors of boardmarker, using mind map, playing classical

music, and doing break. (4) institutionally, it is meant to accomodate Ganesha

Operation’s regulation related to teaching learning processes where teacher

becomes the source of learning while students become the passive listeners.

So, Styles and Strategies Based Instruction are chosen to bridge this kind of

condition. (5) Ganesha Operation’s teaching concept is based on students’

learning style, so it is in line with the Styles and Strategies Based Instruction

because this technique is based on students’ learning style in learning. (6)

Ganesha Operation is kind of informal institution or course which facilitates

its students with quick solution concept in answering items quickly and

accurately. The applying of Styles and Strategies Based Instruction becomes

the right choice because it offers certain strategies in answering items quickly

and accurately. Hopefully, Students will master English reading and make

maximum improvement in their reading competence, psychological changes,

and classroom atmosphere. So, Students will feel more comfortable and

enjoyable in having reading lesson and get easier in doing reading items.

C. Action Hypothesis

Styles and Strategy Based Instruction (SSBI) can improve

students’ reading competence at Alumni Class of Ganesha Operation

Semarang 2010-2011 Academic Year.