SURAT PENGAJUAN OUTLINE
Medan, 16 January 2020
Lamp : 5 (Lima lembar)
Hal : Pengajuan Outline Proposal Skripsi
Yth,
Ketua Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris
Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, UNIMED
di Medan
Dengan hormat,
Saya yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini:
Nama : Chrystin Wulandary Sipahutar
NIM : 2163321008
Prodi/Jurusan : Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris/Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris
Fakultas : Bahasa dan Seni
Dosen PA : Drs. Willem Saragih, M.Pd
Mengajukan outline proposal skripsi : “STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN
READING COMPREHENSION OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT SMP
NEGERI 13 MEDAN”
Demikian permohonan ini disampaikan, atas perhatian Ibu saya ucapkan
terimakasih.
Mengetahui,
Pembibimbing Akademik Mahasiswa
Drs. Willem Saragih, M.Pd Chrsytin Wulandary S
NIP. 19581231 198601 1 011 NIM. 2163321008
1. Title :
“STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN READING COMPREHENSION
OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT SMP NEGERI 13 MEDAN”
2. Rationale :
a. Why the problem is problematized supported by empirical data :
In English, there are four skills that should be mastered, they are: listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. The reading skills become very important in the
education field, students need to be exercised and trained in order to have a good
reading skill. Reading is also something crucial for the students because the
success of their study depends on the greater part of their ability to read. If their
study or at least they reading skill is poor they are very likely fail will have
difficulty in making progress. Bronwen (2005) stated that "difficulty with reading
can have an increasingly negative effect on the students' schoolwork and tertiary
education, as reading requirements become greater and more extensive."
From a previous research conducted by Ade (2013) conducted a research
to discover the ability of students and types of difficulties faced by students in
comprehending recount text. The result of this study showed that there are several
common problems or difficulties faced by students such as students still have
difficulties in analyzing the text content of recount text such as purpose, generic
structure and problem in that text and the students have difficulties in
understanding the meaning of sentences. According to the English teacher, still
finds a lot of students who make mistakes while working on reading their low
resulted in mistakes the comprehension, these mistakes happened probably
comprehension achievement, because they do not understand the content of the
text.
Therefore, the researcher believed that it is important to do research based
on this topic with the assumption that every student may have different difficulties
in reading text. Refer to the previous research and source, the writer interests to
investigate the students' difficulties in reading comprehension of descriptive
text and find out what are the factors causing the difficulties in reading
comprehension of descriptive text.
b. Current Issues :
Reading is the receptive skill in the written mode. It can develop
independently of listening and speaking skills but often develops along with them,
especially in societies with a highly-developed literary tradition. Reading known
as passive skills because learners do not need to produce language to do these;
they receive and understand it. The students are not required to understand each
part of the sentence or paragraph, but they should understand the message from
the writer is trying to convey ( Chastain, 1976:309). Without understanding,
reading would serve no purpose. It means that understanding text is the most
important aspect of reading. Reading comprehension and the finding showed that
the students find difficulties in vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. The difficulties
in comprehending English reading text should be known and solved by the
students and the teacher because comprehending reading text is an important skill
and as an achievement indicator in reading that should be achieved by the
students. If the students find difficulties in comprehending the text, it will affect
their study.
c. The significance of the study
- The finding out the the students' difficulties in reading comprehension of
descriptive text at SMP Negeri 13 Medan.
- The finding out what the factors causing the difficulties in reading
comprehension of descriptive text at SMP Negeri 13 Medan.
3. Related Theories
Reading is the ability of an individual to recognize a visual form, associate
the form with a sound and meaning acquired in the past and based on experience,
understand, and interpret its meaning (Kennedy, 1981: 5).
Reading comprehension is the ability of the students to read text, process it
and understand its meaning (Breiseth, 2007). A main idea is author’s primary
point about a topic (Behne, 2010). Supporting details are reasons, examples, steps,
or other kinds of factual evidence that explain the main idea (Behne, 2010).
Paul C. Burns, Betty D. Ro, and Elinor P. Ross in teaching reading in
Today’s Elementary Schools, Burns and friends say, "Reading is a complex
process. Not only process. Reading is complex, but every aspect is there during
the process reading also works very complex ".
According to Guthrie et al. (2007), one of the aims of reading is to teach
students how to comprehend different text genres when students are expected to
read a wide range of material to gain knowledge and literary experience.
Conferring to Snow (2002), comprehension is the process of eliciting and
making meaning through interaction and involvement with written language.
Text can be anything from a few words to one sentence, to thousands of
words comprising thousands of sentences (Richards, 1997: 9). English reading
text is the printed material or written text that has to be studied by students in the
learning process of reading on English Language subject.
McNamara and Magliano (2009) emphasized that this process is a task of
both reader and text factors that happen within a larger social context.
Duke (2003) stated that comprehension is a process in which readers make
meaning by interacting with text through the combination of prior knowledge and
previous experience, the information in the text, and the views of readers related
to the text.
Snow (2002) also explained that texts can be difficult or easy, depending
on factors inherent in the text, on the relationship between the text and the
knowledge and abilities of the reader, and on the activities in which the reader is
engaged. For example, the content presented in the text has a critical bearing on
reading comprehension.
4. Research Methodology
The type of this research is field research by using descriptive qualitative
research. In this research, the researcher used the descriptive qualitative research
method. Qualitative research is also used to uncover trends in thought and
opinions, dive deeper into the problem. Qualitative research is a study that
explores a problem and develops a detailed understanding of a central
phenomenon (Crewell, 2012). In supporting the statement, Best. J.W and Kahn
J.V (2002) defined that a descriptive study described and interpreted what is
concerned with conditions or relationships that existed, opinions that are held,
processes that were going on, effects that were evident, or trends that developing
and occurred in current conditions. Qualitative data sources include observation
and participation observation (fieldwork), interviews and questionnaires,
documents and texts.
5. References
A. Burns & J. C. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to pedagogy and practice
in second language teaching (pp. 207-217). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Fawaz Alqarni. (2015). Collaborative Strategic Reading to Enhance Learners'
Reading Comprehension in English as a Foreign Language. Academic Journal of
Interdisciplinary Studies. Retrieved on March, 2015, from:
10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n1p161
Oakhill, J., Cain, K., Elbro, C. (2015). Understanding and Teaching Reading
Comprehension. New York: Routledge
Mubashir Iqbal, Mehwish Noor, Fakharh Muhabat, Bahram Kazemian. (2015).
Factors Responsible for Poor English Reading Comprehension at Secondary
Level. Communication and Linguistics Studies. Vol. 1, No. 1. Retrieved on April,
28, 2015, from: 10.11648/j.cls.20150101.11
Qrqez, M., & Ab Rashid. R. (2017). Reading Comprehension Difficulties among
EFL. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ). Retrieved on September 2017, from:
https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol8no3.27
Suswati, R. (2014). Reading 2. Medan: UNIMED Press.
Usman Kasim., & Siti Raisha. (2017). EFL students’ reading comprehension
problems: linguistic and non-linguistic complexities. English Education Journal
(EEJ), 8(3). Retrieved on July 2017, from:
http://www.jurnal.unsyiah.ac.id/EEJ/article/view/8920.
