12

CHAPTER II
THEORITICAL REVIEW
2.1 Reading Habit
2.1.1 Definition of Reading Habit
Reading is an important activity that should be done by every student,
especially with comprehension to get information from books. Students are
expected to practice a lot of reading to understand the contents and information of
the books. The students with good habit formation of reading tend to read longer
text, much more materials, and comprehend more accurately because they think
that the material is useful. Clark and Rumbold in Muhlise and Akyay (2009: 72)
state that the importance of reading habit as follows:
It can be assumed as a practice that assist individuals to gain creativeness
and develops their critical thinking capacities. In this case, reading habit is
an important tool for the development personalities and mental capacities
of individuals. In addition to personal and mental developments, reading is
an access to social, economic and civic life.
The statement implies that reading habit is a kind of device to upgrade
individual personality, attitude, behavior, and knowledge because it can influence
how people think critically about life in many different dimensions.
Habit itself according to Carter is an action practices continuously until it
becomes a patterned behavior, and it is usually performed without conformed
unconsciously because practice has become familiar and easy (1973: 247). Weiner
puts another definition forward: Habit is a response that has become relatively
automatic

through

practice.

Meanwhile,

Webster

Online

Dictionary

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/habit, accessed January 30, 2012)

states that habit is a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior; a behavior
pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in

13

regularity or increased facility of performance. While, Oxford Online Dictionary

http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/habit, accessed January 30,
2012) states that habit is a thing that you do often and almost without thinking,
especially something that is hard to stop doing. Moreover, Redway (1988: 16)
states that changing habits is no easy task. Habits are engrained deeply, and have
become a part of your routine.
Every human in the world has habit. Habit can be described as a learned
stimulus-response sequence. Swannel (1994: 479) says that habit is:
a. A settled as regular tendency of practice.
b. A practice that is hard to give up.
c. A mental constitution or attitude.
From the explanation above, we can conclude that reading habit is
repetitive regular tendency in reading that finally becomes a patterned behavior
that automatically practiced.
2.1.2 The Aspect of Reading Habit
Every body can improve their reading ability. De Boer (1982) suggests
some habits to improve reading ability. They turn as follows:
a. Maintain a healtful routine
To read well you should be in good physical condition
b. Avoid unnecessary distraction
Read in quite atmosphere, away from distracting, sight, and sounds.
c. Plan a time schedule
For study type reading, it is best to adhere to a regular schedule
d. Have a clear purpose for reading
Reading without objective is just washing time. The purpose in reading will
determine how the reader read
e. Get in habit reading widely
Students can improve their reading by reading abundantly. Get the habit of
reading a great deal. Begin with easy material.
In line with De Boer, Ogunronbi (1995) suggests some aspects that
influence reading habit as follows:

14

a. Parents active participation would promote students interest in reading. On

the contrary, if parents participate less in their childrens reading activities,
students tend to spend less time on reading.
b. Easy access to reading materials is one of the important factors in cultivating
reading habit students.
c. Students would spend more time on reading materials if reading activities are
actively promoted and a reading atmosphere in school.
In this thesis, reading habit is students behavior toward the reading
including reading frequency, motivation of reading, knowing their ability of
reading, attitude, and facility to access reading materials.
2.2 Vocabulary Mastery
2.2.1 Description of Vocabulary Mastery
Broadly defined, vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meanings.
Vocabulary is the all the language and words either used or understood by a
person or group of people

(http://www.prel.org/products/re_/ES0419.htm

accessed February 2, 2012). Hatch and Brown (1995: 1) define vocabulary as a set
list or a set of words for particular language, or a list of words that individual
speaker of a language might use. According to Ur (1996: 60), vocabulary can be
defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language.
Meanwhile, mastery is defined as a great knowledge about or understanding
of a particular thing (Oxford Advanced Dictionary, 2003: 788). Vocabulary
mastery deals with words and meaning. So, vocabulary mastery is a
comprehensive knowledge to recognize, understand, and produce the stock of
words and their meanings.
2.2.2 The Importance of Vocabulary Mastery

15

Vocabulary is one of the elements of language that should be learnt and

taught. It will be hard to master the language without mastering or understanding
a certain number or words. Hiebert & Kamil, 2005 in Moore state that we
understand that vocabulary is essential for success in reading. Students cannot
understand what they read without understanding what they most the words mean.
Decades of research have confimed the important role that vocabulary plays in
reading comprehension and in students overall academic success.
According to Burns and Broman (1975: 295), the position of an individual
in society may be determined by the extent of his knowledge of words and how to
use them in manner appropriate to a particular place, time, and situation. In
addition, Coady and Huckin (1997: 5) say that vocabulary is central and critical
importance to typical language learner. It makes vocabulary as the basic element
to master the four language skills, namely: listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. Without having adequate vocabulary, a language learner will not be able
to master the language skills. Furthermore, Rubin (1991: 1) says that a good
vocabulary and good reading go hand in hand. Unless you know the meaning of
words, you will have difficulty in understanding what is read. The more you read,
the more words you will add to your vocabulary.
So, vocabulary is very essential because it is central to language and it is
basic to comprehend what we read.
2.2.3

Types of Vocabulary
Some experts have mentioned types of vocabulary. Haycraft in Hatch and

Brown (1995: 370) classifies vocabulary into two kinds: a receptive vocabulary

16

and a productive vocabulary. Further, he defines the receptive vocabulary is words

that the student recognize and understand when they occur in a context, but which
he cannot produce correctly. Productive vocabulary is words which the student
understands, can pronounce correctly and use constructively in speaking and
writing.
In line with Haycraft, Aebersold and Field (1997:139) also categorize
vocabulary into two types: receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary. The
readers recognize the word when they see it but do not use when they speak or
write. Readers have a general sense of a words meaning but are not sure of its
many meanings of nuances of meaning. Productive vocabulary is the vocabulary
that people actually use to speak and write.
Some other experts have different terms to call receptive and productive
vocabulary. They call them as active and passive vocabulary. According to Nuttal
(1996: 63), active vocabulary is the words that we know well enough to use
ourselves while receptive vocabulary is the words we recognize and can response
to, but cannot confidently use. Further, Harmer (1991: 159) states that active
vocabulary refers to vocabulary that students have been taught or learnt-and
which they are expected to be able to use, whilst the passive vocabulary refers to
words which the students will recognize when they will be probably not be able
to produce.
2.2.4

Meanings
Considering the previous description about vocabulary, we find out that

vocabulary deals with words in a language. Words must have meanings. To

17

understand a word fully, therefore, a student must know the meaning of that word.
Nuttal (1987: 80-81) states that understanding a text involves understanding
different kinds of meaning at the same time. At least, four levels of meaning exist.
They are:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Conceptual meaning: the meaning a word can have on its own

Proportional meaning: the meaning a sentence can have on its own
Contextual meaning: the meaning a sentence can have only when in context
Pragmatic meaning: the meaning a sentence has only as part of the interaction
between writer and reader
The meanings proposed by Nuttal are supported by Leech (1974: 10). He

wrote seven types of meaning. They are as follows:

a. Conceptual Meaning
It is sometimes called denotative or cognitive meaning. It describes the
meaning in logical, denotative, cognitive and denotative content.
b. Connotative meaning
Connotative meaning is the communicative value an expression has by virtue
of what it refers to, over above its purely conceptual content.
c. Stylistic meaning
Stylistic meaning is that which a piece of language conveys about the social
circumstance of its use.
d. Affective meaning
Affective meaning is a meaning based on the feeling and attitudes of the
speaker or writer.
e. Reflected meaning
Reflected meaning is the meaning which arises in cases of multiple conceptual
meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another
sense.
f. Collocative meaning
This meaning consists of the associations a word requires on account of the
meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment.
g. Thematic meaning

18

This meaning is what is communicated by the way in which a speaker or

writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis.
In addition, Fries (1953: 38) proposes four very important kinds of
meaning (1953: 38). First, it is called as lexical meaning. It means that the words
as listed and defined in a dictionary. The second type of meaning is thus
syntactical. It means that a word will have different meaning if it is placed in the
different position in a sentence. Third is morphological meaning. It relates to the
word formation and also the derivation. The last type of meaning is carried by the
pitch contours with which the words are spoken. Even single words constitute
very different utterances when spoken with different intonations.
Furthermore, Rivers (1968: 216) states that there are three levels of
meaning. There are (1) lexical meaning : the semantic content of the words and
expressions,

(2)

structural

or

grammatical

meaning

deriving

from

interrelationship among words, or parts of words, or from the order words, and (3)
social-cultural meaning: the evaluation which people on his own cultural attach to
the words and groups of words the reader is reading.
2.2.5

Related Meanings of Words

Language learners often find difficulties when they arrive in distinguishing

meaning of words when the words are relatively indeterminate in meaning. How
the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others can also be useful in
teaching. There are various such relationships. Here are some of the main ones
(Ur, 1996: 62):

19

a. Synonyms: items that mean the same, or nearly the same. Example: bright,
clever, smart may serve as synonyms of intelligent.
b. Antonyms: items that mean the opposite, rich is an antonym of poor.
c. Hyponyms: items that serve as specific examples of a general concept.
Example: dog, lion, mouse are hyponyms of animal.
d. Co-hyponyms or co-ordinates: other items that are the some kind of thing.
Example: red, blue, green and brown are co-ordinates.
e. Super ordinates: general concepts that cover specific items. Example:
animal is the super ordinate of dog, lion, mouse.
f. Translation: words or expressions in the learners mother tongue that are
(more or less) equivalent in meaning to the item being taught.
Further, Thornbury (2002: 8) adds some terms about related meaning.
There are as follows:
g. Homonyms: words that share the same form but have unrelated meanings.
h. Polysemes: a term to describe a single word form, having multiple meaning
2.2.6

but still closely related meaning.

The Difficulties of Grasping Vocabulary
It is not easy thing to memorize and understand many words. There are

some difficulties to grasp vocabulary. According to Thornbury (2002: 27-28),

what makes a word difficult are:
a. Pronunciation: research shows that words that are difficult to pronounce are
more difficult to learn.
b. Spelling: sound-spelling mismatches are likely to be the cause of errors, either
of pronunciation or of spelling, and can contribute to words difficulty.
c. Length and complexity: long words seem to be more difficult to learn than
short ones.
d. Grammar: also problematic is the grammar associated with the word
especially if this differs from that of its L1 equivalent.

20

e. Meaning: when two words overlap in meaning, learners are likely to confuse
them.
f. Range, connotation and idiomaticity: words that can be used in a wide range
of contexts will generally be perceived as easier than their synonyms with a
narrower range whereas idiomaticity makes phrasal verbs so difficult.
Meanwhile, Nuttal (1996: 66-68) proposes some factors that make words difficult.
They are as follows:
a. Idioms
An idiom is a lexical item consisting of several words, with a meaning that
cannot be deducted from the individual words. Since it cannot be translated
word by word to get the meaning, therefore, idioms contribute difficulties in
words.
b. Words with several meanings
Any word with more than one meaning is potentially troublesome. Some of
the most dangerous misunderstanding arise when everyday words are used in
specialized fields.
c. Sub-technical vocabulary
In this case, the problem of words will be in conceptual rather than linguistics.
d. Subordinates
These are words of more general meaning viewed in relation to other words of
more specific meaning which could also be referred to by the general term.
e. Transfer of meaning
Metaphor and similar kinds of transferred meaning are always potential
problems.
f. Irony
Irony is chiefly problem of pragmatics rather then lexis. The words may be
simple, but the way the writer uses them is not. The difficulty is the mismatch
between the apparent meaning and the writers underlying intention.

21

Vocabulary mastery in this thesis is the students knowledge concerning

with related meanings of words (synonym, antonym, translation) and word
meaning (word in context and collocative).
2.3 Reading Comprehension
2.3.1 The Nature of Reading
There are some experts who define reading. Heilman (1965: 6) says that
reading is a process of getting meaning from printed word symbols. It is not
merely a process of making conventionalized noises associated with these
symbols. It means that reading is more than a mechanical process, eventhough
mechanics are an essential part of process. Goodman in Patricia et. al. (1993: 12)
states that reading is receptive language process. It is a psycholinguistics process
in that it starts with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and
ends with meaning which the reader construct.
According to Maggart and Zintz (1990: 7), reading is a process by which
readers bring to lines of print the necessary understanding out of their background
of experience so that they can construct new concepts, reinforce old concepts, or
adjust previous thinking to fit a new idea. Harris and Sipay in Maggart and Zintz
(1990: 6) state that reading is the meaningful interpretation of printed or written
verbal symbol.
This definition is supported by De Boer and Dallmann (1966: 17) who said
that reading is much more complex process. Effective reading involves all of the
higher mental processes. It involves recall, reasoning, evaluation, imagining,
organizing, applying, and problem solving. Good reading requires good thinking.
In other words, reading is an activity which involves the comprehension and

22

interpretation of ideas symbolized by written or printed language. They also add

reading is symbolic behaviors. This is a process involving a hierarchy of ranging
from auditory and visual discrimination to such higher order mental activity as
organizing idea, making generalizations, and drawing inferences.
It can be concluded that reading is a process of decoding a symbol in order
to get messages from the text and it involves not only mechanical process but
also mental process.
2.3.2 The Process of Reading
In recent decades, some models of reading have been suggested to define
what actually goes in the eyes and the mind of the readers is comprehending a
text. An early perspective is bottom up reading model. This models primary
emphasis is on textual decoding or reading. However, the process of reading
developes. According to Aebersold and Field (1997: 18), there are three main
models of how reading occurs, namely:
a. Bottom-up theory
The reader constructs the text from the smallest units (letters to words to
phrase to sentences, etc.) and that the process of constructing the text from
those small units becomes so automatic that readers are not aware of how it
operates.
b. Top-down theory
The reader brings a great deal of knowledge, expectations, assumptions, and
questions to the text and, given a basic understanding of the vocabulary, they
continue to read as long as the text confirms their expectation.
c. The interactive school of theories,
It describes a process that moves both bottom-up and top-down, depending on
the type of text as well as on the readers background knowledge, language
proficiency level, motivation, strategy use, and culturally shaped beliefs about
the reading.

23

2.3.3

Essential Elements to Growth in Reading

Teaching is defined as the process of supplying the conditions favorable to
learning. The teaching of reading is no exception. De Boer and Dallmann (1966:
27) give the conditions needed to make maximum progress in learning reading as
follows:
a. Physical Health
A reasonable measure of physical health is essential to all school learning.
Physical discomfort, languor, a low energy level, and similar symptoms of
health problems may often interfere with normal progress in reading. Nervous
tension and even ordinary physical fatigue can reduce enjoyment and interest
in reading, with consequent decline in efficient.
b. Mental Health
Among the basic developmental needs of children that affect growth in
reading is a feeling of security, of being accepted and loved, and of being
adequate to the task they are expected to carry out.
c. Sight and Hearing
A student who has problem in sight usually will not enjoy the process of
reading and tend to avoid reading. He will be delayed to read until he is given
reading materials printed type that he can read comfortably. It must not be
assumed, however, that poor vision is generally the chief cause poor reading.
Cases of nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, muscular imbalance,
and lack of fusion are found among both good and poor readers. While
hearing, auditory acuity is important process of learning to read when child is
taught by predominantly oral-phonetic methods. The child with hearing loss
will have inadequate or inaccurate auditory images of the words he reads, and
consequently may encounter difficulty in word recognition.

24

d. Intelligence
If intelligence is thought of as an inherited ability, the school and the teacher
cannot significantly affect this factor. But there is a reason to believe that in
the early years of childs wife, environment may have an effect upon what is
commonly considered as intelligence.
e. Background of Experience
It is true that success in reading depends on what reader brings to the printed
page, much significance must be attached to the body of direct and indirect
experiences which he has accumulated in advance of the reading.
f. Knowledge of Language
Evidence shows that there is a strong relationship between linguistic ability
and reading achievement, and childs ability to understand and use language
orally is important factor in beginning reading.
g. Desire and Purposes for Reading
The desire to read is the motivating force that leads to reading. It means that
having a need to read. The sense of need can be cultivated by creating the
necessary conditions. While purpose is the direction that we will take when
reading.
h. Interest in Reading
It is closely related to purpose in reading interest. Children are most likely to
read with comprehension those materials dealing with topics of interest in
them.

25

i. Reading Skills
Most children can be materially aided by specific instruction in reading skills.
They can make more rapid improvement if they can be shown how to
recognize letters and phonic elements, how to discover familiar elements in
the longer unfamiliar words, how to use context clues, how to note details,
how to find the main idea of a longer passage, how to compare, evaluate, and
visualize the authors meaning, how to locate and utilize needed information,
how to follow printed direction and how to adapt approach and speed of
reading both to the nature of the material read and to their purposes.
Furthermore, Aebersold and Field (1997: 6) give five common influences
that can influence the readers when they are in reading process. So that, they can
shape the reading past experience. They are as follows:
a. The family influence
A family is the closest scope that the child meets every day. Family members
in the house are the model of reading behaviors, habits, and attitudes. A home
is the first place to interact for children. The home that is filled with
magazines, newspapers, and books send a clear message to children about the
value of reading. By that condition, children note why their family members
read-to gain information. Those who grow up in home where reading is
seldom seen have a very different view of the value of reading.
b. The community influence
Communities provide readers with a set of varied life experiences that shape
their bases of knowledge. The varied experiences of readers not only as the
memories of specific events but also to build mental concepts of an event by
extracting the shared elements of those social events as they occur in that

26

community. The more varied the community experiences and the more readers
participate in community events, the richer the background knowledge readers
will have to draw on when reading.
c. The school influence
Readers bring educational experience to reading. School experiences provide
some common ground for people; they have all shared the experience of
learning how to read. Nonetheless, there can also be very different experiences
in the same school.
d. The cultural influence
Culture is like a filter, blocking or letting through a set of learned patterns and
attitudes that form its core values. Cultural notions about reading are implicit
and hard to identify; people acquire them unconsciously. The cultural
influences that shaped experiences demand a knowledge of our own culture
and cultural values.
e. The influence of individual characteristics
Each individual perceives these experiences and gains knowledge from them
in different ways. It depends on the motivation, learning style, aptitude, and
intelligence influence language learning. All those factors operate in the
reading classroom as well.
2.3.4

The Purposes and Ways in Reading

When people read, they read for purpose. Purpose determines how people

read a text. According to Davies (1995: 133), there are four main reasons for
reading, namely:
a. Reading for pleasure, the reader wants to follow a narrative, to enjoy the
'sound' and rhythm of literary text.

27

b. Reading for a general impression, the reader wants to gain an idea of the
writer's viewpoint, to gain an overall impression of the 'tone' of a text and to
decide whether or not to read the text.
c. Reading for organizing reading and study, the reader wants to identify the
important content of a text, to answer a specific question (s) and to decide
which section of a text to start studying.
d. Reading for learning content and procedures, the reader wants to gain an
understanding of new concepts, to learn certain facts from a text, and to
follow instruction.
Moreover, the purposes above are supported by Wallace (1992: 6). He
states that there are three reading purposes. They are as follows:
a. Reading for survival, the readers need to response to their environment.
Survival reading serves immediate needs or wishes. Obvious examples are
ladies, gentlemen, there are sign in toilet. The sign stop will be matter for
a motorist.
b. Reading for learning, the readers find out information on a strictly utilitarian
basis, wider role of extending general knowledge of the world.
c. Reading for pleasure, the readers want to enjoy the text.
Beside the reading purposes above, De Boer and Dallmann (1966: 134-137)
have different view about reading purposes. Based on them, there are eight
different purposes when the reader is reading. They are as follows:
a. Reading to find the main idea
One of the most common reasons for reading is to get the general idea of a
selection. Reading of fiction is usually done for this purpose.
b. Reading to select significant details
The ability to note important details is closely related to skill in finding the
central thought or main idea of a selection. The readers need to do more than

28

differentiate between main points and supporting details. He must also be able
to decide what points are important for the purpose he has in mind.
c. Reading to answer questions
Reading to find the answer to one or more questions is one of the common
goals for reading in the elementary school. Even in high school and college
and in life outside of school it often forms the purpose for reading. Answers
are relatively easy to find when questions are partly couched in the exact
words of the writer.
d. Reading to summarize and organize
To make an adequate summary or to organize what has been read, it is not
enough for the reader to know what the main idea is and what the significant
details are. Reader must also be able to sense the relationship between the
main points and the details as well as the interrelationships among the details.
Furthermore, he often needs to know either how to make these relationships
clear to others or how to record them for later rereading.
e. Reading to arrive at generalizations
Formulating generalizations is in a sense a specialized form of summarizing.
To arrive at generalizations the reader needs to note specific instances and
then decide whether the data presented are sufficient to warrant a significant
conclusion.
f. Reading to follow the directions
The ability to follow directions is usually a combination of many reading
skills. The ability to note details, to organize, and to note the sequences of
events are among the learning essential to this of reading skill.
g. Reading to predict outcomes
Skill is predicting an outcome is useful in helping the reader to note when he
has misread a world or a sentence. It is also of value because the person who

29

is adapt at predicting outcomes as he reads can usually get the thought more
quickly than others.
h. Reading to evaluate critically
Critical evaluation is not meant the attitude of suspecting every statement read
of being false.
The different skills of the reading are related to the ways of reading.
Grellet (1983: 4) proposes the main ways of reading to improve students skills.
They are as follows:

a. Skimming
Skimming is reading quickly running one's eyes over a text to get the gist of it.
The purpose of skimming is simply to see what a text is about. The reader
skims in order to satisfy a very general curiosity about a text. It also helps the
reader to recognize their thought and specify what information they can get
from a book, so that their subsequent reading is more efficient.
b. Scanning
Scanning is quickly going through text to find a particular piece of
information. Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly
in order to find a particular point of information.
c. Extensive reading
Extensive reading is reading longer texts, usually for one's own pleasure. This
is a fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding. In this type,
students are usually given more freedom to choose reading materials that
interest them. In this course, almost all of reading is done outside of class,
without teachers aid. The text is always to be read for comprehension of main
ideas, not for every detail word.
d. Intensive reading

30

Intensive reading is reading shorter texts, to extract specific information. This

is more an accuracy activity involving reading for detail. In this course, each
text is read carefully and thoroughly for maximum comprehension
2.3.5

Reading Comprehension
Reading cannot take place without comprehension. In order to know the

authors idea, readers must understand the content of the reading passage. A
passage can be read with varifying degree of understanding. The scale of
comprehension ranges from no meaning to complete understanding. It is not
enough to understand the gist of the passage, more detailed comprehension is
necessary.
According to Burton (1982: 53), comprehend is a verb meaning 'to grasp
with the mind, take in. Comprehension, then, is the act of grasping with the mind,
taking in. Though it can be said that comprehension means 'understanding'.
Comprehension is understanding in depth. It is grasping, a taking in, of the
material with which you are required to deal.
Reading comprehension means an ability to understand information from
the written text. According to McNeil (1984: 5), reading comprehension is process
which involves actively constructing meaning among the parts of the text and
between the text and personal experience.
William (1984: 4) suggests some factors which help the reader to gain the
meaning. They are:
a. Knowledge on the language
The important thing is that a reader would have a mastery of the language. An
effective reader knows the language of the text he is reading.

31

b. Ability to interpret
To be an effective reader the abilty to recognize the text as a whole and to see
how the text is organized is very important.
c. Knowledge of the world
Knowledge of the world does not only cover knowledge of a particular topic.
But it may include familiarity with different text-types or knowledge of a
certain culture or way of life.
d. Reason for reading
People do not read unless they have a reason for reading. It may be said that
people are motivated to read a certain passage because they need something
from it.
2.3.6 Factors Influencing Reading Comprehension
There are many factors that can influence the depth and ease of
comprehending the ideas on a page. De Boer and Dallmann (1966: 132) state that
there are many factors that can cause difficulties in comprehension, namely:
a. Intelligence
The slowest learner can grow in comprehension but it considers that the
growth is slow.
b. Environment
Noisy surroundings, inadequate lighting, high or low temperatures,
stimulating or distracting surroundings may interfere with maximum
comprehension. Interest on the part of the learner is one of the determinants of
the effect of potential distracter.
c. Emphasis on word recognition
Methods of teaching that concentrate on the recognition of individual words
but neglect attention to meanings or can be derived from connected discourse
may account for deficiencies in comprehension.
d. Emphasis on oral reading
Oral reading can have effects on comprehension, because the readers not only
see but also hear what he reads.
e. Background for reading a selection

32

A frequent cause of poor comprehension is lack of an experience background

essential to the understanding of what is being read.
f. Adjustment of reading techniques to purpose and type of reading material
There should be an adaptation of reading method to the reading purpose and to
the nature of the material being read.
g. Lack of appropriate teacher guidance
According to Wainwright (1982: 39), there are some factors that can affect
comprehension, namely:
a. Speed of perception
Some people quick to grasp, whilst others are slower. Slow comprehension is
not necessarily a sigh poor comprehension. Speed talks about the time but it
does not guaranty of reading comprehension.
b. The accuracy of readers perception
Inaccuracy can lead to poor comprehension. Inaccuracy invariably leads
sooner or later inefficiency.
c. Memory and the ability to recall information
It is possible to understand without being able to remember much of the actual
content of the material but it is not nearly so useful as if information and ideas
from the material can be clearly remembered. Good retention makes it easier
to defend ones own interpretation of the material and to locate any points
which require checking.
d. Motivation or purpose
It means readers willing to read and have a clear knowledge of your purpose
in order to read effectively and be in a receptive frame of mind for the
information and idea being expressed.
e. Concentration
The source of concentration is divided into two kinds. Internal source like
anxieties or wandering attention and external source like noises and

33

movements. A high level of concentration is necessary for good

comprehension and it affects many of factors which are being mentioned.
Wainwright (1982: 40) also mentions others factors affecting
comprehension, such as the level of difficulty, the nature of the material, the
ability to anticipate when reading, vocabulary general background of knowledge
and experience, and the ability to read critically.
Furthermore, E. L Black in T. Benson et. Al. (1990: 6), mention eight
types of mistakes in comprehension. They are failure to understand a writer's
intention, failure to detect irony, difficult words, difficult allusions, ilustrative
examples or metaphors not understood, inadequate background information,
failure to see how the context influences meaning, and readers' perceptions.
In this thesis, reading comprehension is students ability in understanding
the text dealing with their skills in skimming, scanning, identifying the referents,
identifying the main idea, and identifying the purpose of the text.
2.4 Rationale
Reading is considered as the key to success in all to success all levels of
education. Most of the students learning activities relate to reading. It implies that
reading is an essential tool for getting information and knowledge. The result of
reading activity is comprehension what has been read. Reading habit can be the
device to upgrade reading comprehension because comprehending a text cannot
be done instantly.
Reading in order to understand the whole text needs more in having many
vocabularies. Vocabulary mastery becomes an important factor in comprehending
text because usually language problem such as lack of fluency and vocabulary can
barrier for student in understanding text.
From the theoretical reviews

discussed

previously,

reading

comprehension is influenced by reading habit and vocabulary mastery. Students

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who read a lot and have board knowledge of some field will have better reading
comprehension, so it can be predicted that reading habit contributes to reading
comprehension. Besides, students who have good vocabulary mastery will easily
understand information of written text. So, it can be also predicted that vocabulary
mastery contributes to reading comprehension.
Then it can be assumed that students reading comprehension is greatly
supported by two factors, namely reading habit and vocabulary mastery. Based on
the explanation above, the researcher assumes that those who have good reading
habit and master vocabulary will achieve comprehension in reading better than
those who have not.
2.5 Hypotheses
Based on the rationale above, the researcher can formulate the hypothesis
as follows:
1. Ho: There is no positive significant correlation between reading habit and
reading comprehension.
Ha: There is a positive significant correlation between reading habit and
reading comprehension.
2. Ho: There is no positive significant correlation between vocabulary mastery
and reading comprehension.
Ha: There is a positive significant correlation between vocabulary mastery and
reading comprehension.
3. Ho: There is no positive significant correlation between reading habit,
vocabulary mastery, and reading comprehension.
Ha: There is a positive significant correlation between reading habit,
vocabulary mastery, and reading comprehension.