Students Reading Comprehension; between Effectiveness of Interactive

Approach, Reading Habit and Students’ Self Actualization

Ima Fitriyah
IAIN Kediri
Ima.fitriyah@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

This study attempts to identify the effectiveness of conducting an interactive

approach in improving the students' comprehension in reading instruction viewed from
students’ self-actualization and reading habit. The researcher used a treatment by
applying interactive approach to the experimental class, while on the other hand grammar
translation method is for the control class. Questionaires on students’ self actualization
and reading habit were shared to 2 classes in Intensive Reading course. The data obtained
were calculated by using a t-test for independent sample through SPSS 21.0 for windows
to identify whether there is a significant difference between the test scores of
experimental and control classes. After applying the statistical computation, it can be
concluded that the difference between the two means of scores is significant. By those
facts, Ho hypothesis is rejected and H1 hypothesis is accepted. After correlating post-test
score and self-actualization score, it can be concluded that the better reading ability, the
higher self-actualization of the students, this also occured for the correlation of reading
comprehension and students’ reading habit. Thus, Interactive approach is effective in
improving the students' reading comprehension.

Keywords: reading, interactive approach, self-actualization, reading habit.

INTRODUCTION

Reading is a crucial ability for both English as a Second Language (ESL) and
English as Foreign Language (EFL) students. By reading activities, in the writer's view,
the students can get information that is needed and they can broaden their horizons.
Moreover, ESL/EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in
all academic areas. Besides, indirectly they can communicate and interact with the people
who have a different language and social cultural background through reading activities.
According to Anderson, reading is an active, fluent process that involves the reader
and the reading material in constructing the meaning.(Anderson, 1999) Furthermore, he
notes that meaning does not reside on the printed page, nor it is only in the head of the
reader. It means that reading can be constructed by combining the words on the printed
page with the reader's background knowledge and experiences. Consequently, the teaching

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of reading should involve activities which connect the ideas on the text to what students
already know.
In relation to the objective of teaching English at university level, the curriculum
targets the students at higher level. At this level, the students are supposed to understand
various kinds of English written texts, i.e. argumentative, descriptive, narrative and report.
It means the teaching of reading will not be successful if the students can only read words
without understanding the message being read. In other words, whatever we read should be
well understood. Smith and Robinson argue that comprehension means understanding.
(Smith and Robinson, 1980) This means that reading comprehension is a process of
thought where the readers understand the writer's ideas and interpret them into his or her
own needs.
In achieving the objective above, English teachers sometimes have many problems
on how to improve the students' ability in reading. Based on the researcher's experiences
and informal observation, it is found that most students at university level frequently find it
hard to understand English texts though the text is simple. It is difficult for them to find the
words and sentence meaning contextually, get the main ideas text and find the view of
writer.
The difficulty is due to the students’ linguistic deficiencies. The students often lack
of vocabulary or they may know a word but with a different meaning. Moreover, the
students may be unfamiliar with grammatical structures. These deficiencies may lead
students to inaccurate reading, which results in erroneous interpretation.(Feuerstein &
Miriam S, 1995) In addition, they frequently, in reading English texts, rely more on their
language competency (bottom - up reading text) and less on activating their background
knowledge (top-down reading text).
Another difficulty may also be due to insufficient teaching of the ability in a
structured way. Based on the researcher's observation, in some schools and universities,
reading instruction seems not to focus on the content of passage. Teachers traditionally
teach reading by answering questions based on the text and finding out unfamiliar words in
dictionary. The main activities are mostly dominated by reading aloud, translating the texts
and answering text-based questions presented in the text book used in teaching.
To overcome the students' difficulty in understanding reading and to develop the
students' reading ability, interactive approach becomes an alternative solution to use in
teaching. This approach is considered as more comprehensive one since it emphasizes not
only how students decode the text but also how they interpret the text. Eskey states that

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good readers are both good decoders and good interpreters of text.1 With respect to
interactive approach, there are two approaches of reading that become the basic principle
of interactive approach. The first one is bottom- up processing. This approach emphasizes
developing basic ability, matching sounds to the letters, syllables and words inthe text. The
second one is top-down processing, which stresses on the reader's background knowledge
to comprehend the text. Bottom up approach is associated with teaching methodology
called phonics and top down is related to the schema theory. Both of approaches have
strength and weakness. Bottom-up is more appropriate to use with students in the basic
level while top-down in the higher level.(Elba, 2006)
According to Stanovich (Carrel, 1990), interactive model of reading appear to
provide a more accurate conceptualization of reading performance than strictly top-down
or bottom-up models. From this view, it can be stated that interactive can be best applied
in teaching reading both for lower and higher levels.
A recent research study conducted by Liu, et.al on teaching reading has shown that
an interactive model is effective in improving students' reading comprehension due to the
importance of both processes.2 In practice, a reader continually changes from one focus to
another. It means that besides a reader needs a top-down approach to predict meaning, he
requires bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer said (Brown,
2001).
To examine the effectiveness of interactive approach in teaching reading
comprehension, this study involve grammar translation method as applied in control group.
This method is used in this study as comparison to interactive approach because it has been
commonly used in teaching reading at IAIN Kediri. In teaching reading comprehension,
this method emphasizes translating text from target language to native language. It also
focuses on answering comprehension questions.
Referring to the phenomena above, this research attempt to investigate the
application of interactive approach proposed by Eskey as one of many reading strategies.
This study intends to help students improve their reading ability by practicing both bottom-
up and top-down model reading activities.
Besides, psychological aspect also affect students in reading, i.e self-actualization.
Self-actualization from Maslow is often thought of as having an inner focus i.e.

1
D. E. Eskey, Holding in the bottom: An interactive models approach to the language problems of second
language readers. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, p.93.
2
S.Liu, et all, Strategic Reading Instruction from an interactive approach., available at
www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article, 2007, retrieved in September 24, 2017

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differentiation of self, psychological integration or achieving some level of personal
potential. The goal is to “better” the self. Self-actualization is the “ desire to become more
and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming” Maslow’s
message is that to achieve peak experience, people must move from self to other. Social
justice, generativist, and transformative thinking and acting are all concepts that could be
associated with the orientation. The fundamental idea is that people must move to a focus
and concern for other people to achieve the highest level of human nature.(A. Maslow,
1971) Thus, this study investigates whether there is an interaction between students’
reading ability and their level of self-actualization as the basic of psychological aspect in
relation to reading skill.
However, when an instructor conducts a kind of strategies, instructor cannot ignore
at all on what others factors influent to the reading both in process of learning or in the
result of teaching. Students’ reading habit and their self actualization play an important
role in the success of life as well as in studying. According to Sangkaeo (1999) reading
habit is one of the keys in life succeeds. It refers to the behaviour, which expresses the
likeness of reading and tastes of reading. Finally, the researcher find that some English
students are really reluctant to read English textbook eventhough they have to read them.
They tend to read handout given by the lecturers. In this preliminary research, reseacher
reveals the fact that some third semester students have no a member card of library yet for
they never borrow the book from library. This bring to the questions, how do they study
so far in order to fulfill their necessity in a term of academic achievement?.
Based on the background of study, the research problem can be formulated as
follow; (a) Do the students who are taught using interactive approach have better reading
comprehension than those taught using grammar translation method? (b) Do the students
have high self-actualization have better reading comprehension ? (c) Do the students have
high reading habit have better reading comprehension? (d) Is there any significant
interaction between the teaching learning methods, reading habit and students’ self-
actualization to reading achievement?

1.6 Previous Studies

There are some previous researches that focus on the application of interactive
approach. First, the research conducted by Yan in 1999 from Shanxi Heavy Machinery
Institute who tried to investigate the effectiveness of interactive approach-compared to
both bottom-up and top down- in teaching reading comprehension in college. He found

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that interactive approach is advocated in order to improve the students’ reading
comprehension and encourage them to read extensively and critically and therefore think
independently.
The second study was conducted by Frame in 1997 who took part in six weekly
workshops of approximately two hours duration during term two. At the end of each
session the student teachers completed performs which encouraged them to reflect and
comment on the nature of the interactive teaching used in the workshop. She used
observation, diary and semi-structured interviews instrument for collecting the data. The
findings indicate that the responses of the student teachers conveyed a positive attitude to
an interactive approach to the teaching of reading for information.
The third study was carried out by Song in 2007 which investigated the effect of
teaching reading with an interactive approach on the comprehension achievement of
Korean university students. Over a ten-week period, students in two experimental sections
wrote dialogue journals as a practice for the interactive approach, and their progress was
compared with the progress of students in two control sections who answered
comprehension questions as a practice for a transmission model. The results showed that
writing dialogue journals improved students' comprehension achievement more than
answering comprehension questions, supporting adoption of the interactive approach in
EFL reading courses. Supplementary, involved students' major fields of study had a
noticeable effect on their reading comprehension, and that was statistically significant.
Research on reading habit is done by Aghata Gifty Larson and M. Owusu-Acheaw
in 2014. They assessed the reading habits among students and their effects on their
academic performance. The study was conducted in Koforidua Polytechnic situated
in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The findings showed that majority of the
respondents acknowledge the importance of reading, 81.9% of the respondents neither
read novel nor fiction within the last two semesters while 62.0% of the respondents
only read for the purpose of passing examination. The study confirmed that reading
habit has influence on academic performance and there is a relationship between reading
habit and academic performance. The study recommended among others that lecturers
should be advised to stop providing handouts to students but rather encourage them
to use the library.
The researcher is inspired by those studies in teaching reading. While the studies
mentioned are about how interactive approach can be used in the reading teaching learning
process. Certainly, students’ reading comprehension does not stand alone, it can be some

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factors correlate to the reading achievement. Curious to see the level of students’ reading
habit and moreover how well students’ self-actualization, the reasearcher is eager to
conduct an experiment using the interactive approach and correlate the result to those
outside factors like reading habit and self-actualization. Thus, here, the researcher enrich
the scope of studies wider than those of previous studies above mentioned.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Reading Comprehension
It is commonly believed that comprehension is the primary objective of reading.
Without comprehension, reading would be empty and meaningless.3 Crystal states that the
word comprehension is generally used to refer to the ability to understand spoken and
written language. Ruddell defines comprehension as a process in which a reader constructs
meaning, while, or after, interacting with text through the combination of prior knowledge
and previous experience, information in text, the stance she or he takes in relationship to
the text, and immediate, remembered, or anticipated social interactions and
communication.(Ruddel R B & H. Singer, 1994)
By underlying the statements before, we can try to analyze what a reader does
when he is reading as well as comprehending the text. He has to operate his mental
content, recognize and understand the words in the text, and the most important thing is he
has to be able to connect the ideas of the text with his previous knowledge to extract the
meanings of the text.
In general concept, Rumelhart says that reading involves the readers, the text, and
the interaction between the readers and the text.4 The reader constructs meaning and
interacts with text through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience,
information in text (Ruddel R B & H. Singer, 1994). Thus, based on this view, there is an
interaction between language and thought in reading. The writer encodes thought as
language and the reader decodes language to thought. This perspective, then, becomes the
main problem of interactive approach.
The above statement explains that comprehension skill is considered as an
interactive process which requires the reader to bridge the gap between the information

3
M.Casper, J.Catton, and S.Westfall, Comprehension: Theories and Strategies, School of Education;
Dominican college,1998. Retrieved from www.dominican.edu
4
Jo Ann Aebersold and Mary Lee Field, From reader to reading teacher ; issues and strategies for second
language classrooms. Cambridge Language Education.,1997:5

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read in text and the knowledge the reader possesses.
In the teaching-learning language process we know some terms that often confuses
us. They are approach, method, technique and strategy. There are some approaches in the
teaching of reading. Feuerstein and Scholnik divided the approach into traditional and
current approach.(Feuerstein & Miriam S, 1995). The former focuses on the product - the
correct answer - as the end. The student is expected to understand and sometimes
remember factual information provided by a text. The latter emphasizes on the process of
reading rather than the product. It means that it focuses on what the reader actually does
while reading. The process is viewed as an interaction between reader and text. Elba (2006
in English Forum) mentions three approaches in teaching of reading. They are bottom up
approach, top down approach, and interactive approach. This study is focused on the use of
interactive approach in teaching reading comprehension compared to grammar translation
method.

Interactive Approach Concept

The term interactive may take on a number of meanings and conceptions for
reading researchers. Grabe emphasizes two conceptions of interactive approaches. The
first relates to the interaction that occurs between the reader and the text. This suggests that
meaning does not simply reside in the text itself but that as readers interact with the text of
their own. Background knowledge facilitates the task of comprehending. The second
conception of interactive approaches relate to the interaction between bottom-up and top-
down processes.
The word' interactive’ in this study refers not to the interaction between the reader
and the text, but to the interaction between bottoms -up and top-down. This concept has
some different models. The first concept is proposed by Rumelhart. According to
Rumelhart, information processing models tend to be linear and to have a series of non-
interactive processing stages. Each stage in non-interactive model does its work
independently and passes its production to the next higher text. Linear model which pass
information only in one direction and which do not permit the information contained in a
higher stage to influence the processing of a lower stage contain a serious deficiency. The
other model is given by Eskey. Eskey pointed, the interactive model takes into account the
continuous interaction between bottoms-up and top down processing in the construction of
the meaning of the text. This concept implies that the reader uses the background
knowledge, expectation, context and so on incorporated with recognizing linguistic

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elements to comprehend the text.5 Fluent reading entails both skillful decoding and related
information to prior knowledge.

Bottom-up Approach
The first essential component of interactive approach is based on bottom-up
approach. This approach was influenced by the behaviorist psychology of the 1950s,
which claimed learning was based upon "habit formation, brought about by the repeated
association of a stimulus with a response".(Omaggio, M.A, 1993). Language learning was
characterized as a "response system that humans acquire through automatic conditioning
processes, "where" some patterns of language are reinforced (rewarded) and others are not,
"and" only those patterns reinforced by the community of language users will persist".
(Omaggio, M.A, 1993) Today, the main method associated with the bottom-up approach to
reading is known as phonics, which requires the leaner to match letters with sounds in a
defined sequence. According to this view, reading is a linear process by which readers
decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences. In
addition, Samuels and Kamil treated reading as a word-recognition response to the stimuli
of the printed words in which human can make sense of the printed page.6
Regarding to bottom-up approach, Segalowitz, Poulsen & Komoda point out that
this approach consists of: word recognition and include recognition of letter features, letter
identification, the generation of grapheme-phoneme correspondences, utilization of
orthographic redundancies such as regularities in letter sequences, the association of words
to their semantic representations, possibly the identification of basic syntactic structure
within the portion of text currently being read, and with the generation of propositional
units.(Anderson, 1999)
Gove suggests that advocates of the bottom-up strategy believe that: (a) readers
must recognize each word in a selection to comprehend the selection; (b) readers should
give primary emphasis to word and sound/letter cues in identifying unrecognized words;(c)
reading acquisition requires of a series of word recognition skills; (d) letter, letter/ sound
relationship, and words should receive primary emphasis in instruction; (e) accuracy in
recognizing words is significant; and (f) knowledge of discrete sub skills is important.7

Top-down Approach
5
Eskey and Grabe in Carell, et.al (ed) 1988, Ibid., p.224
6
S.J. Samuel and M.L. Kamil. Models of the reading process; in Carrel, Devine and Eskey., 1988 22-36
7
Dechant 1991, Ibid. p. 23

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 The second basic principle of interactive approach comes from the ideas of top-
down approach. This approach gives benefit to the interactive approach in terms of
developing the readers' background knowledge so that the readers can interpret the text by
making prediction, relating the texts to readers' knowledge. In details, this approach will be
elaborated further.
These new cognitive and top-down processing approaches revolutionized the
conception of the way students learn to read.(Smith, 1994). In this view, reading is not just
extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the
knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading. Reading, in this sense, is “a dialogue
between the reader and the text”.8 It is seen as an active cognitive process in which the
reader's background knowledge plays a key role in the creation of meaning.
In the same notion, Dechant points out that top-down model suggest that
processing of print begins in the mind of the readers with meaning of some unit of text.9
From this perspective, furthermore he elaborates, readers identify letters and words only to
confirm their hypotheses about the meaning of the text. Thus, top down approach has been
described as concept driven.
Another theory closely related to top-down processing also had a major impact on
reading instruction; particularly in interactive approach is Schema theory. This theory
describes in detail how the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the
reading task and illustrates how a student's knowledge and previous experience with the
world is crucial to deciphering a text. The ability to use this schemata, or background
knowledge, is fundamental for efficient comprehension to take place.
According to Nunan, "schema theory is based on the notion that past experiences
lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help us make sense of new experiences".
(Nunan, 1999) Smith calls schemes the "extensive representations of more general patterns
or regularities that occur in our experience". The concept of schemata has been used to
describe the structure of knowledge of ordinary events, organization of linguistic and
discourse knowledge.(Nasaji, 2007)
This theory, according to Carell enables readers to predict events and meaning as
well as to infer meaning from a wider context (Carrel, 1990). These theories mentioned
become the basis for the interactive theory. According to schema theory, comprehending a
text is an interactive process between the reader's background knowledge and the text.

8
William Grabe, Reassessing the term “ interactive” . in Carrel, Devine and Eskey., 1988, p.56
9
Dechant .,1991., Ibid., p.25

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Efficient comprehension requires the ability to relate the textual material to one's own
knowledge.
Schemata theory consists of content schemata and formal schemata. The first refers
to the message of the text, and, if the topic is familiar, the reading task will be more
productive and efficient. As Anderson explains, “a reader comprehends a message when
he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described
in the message”.(Fredricka L. Stoller, 2011) 10
It can be concluded that three concepts of interactive differ each other from the
way bottom-up and top down interact in reading activity. Rumelhart’ model suggests that
the interaction occurs in linear way, from bottom-up to top-down practices. Stanovich’s
model, on the other hand, describes that interaction occurs in compensation way. It means
that practicing both bottom-up and top down depends on the reader's competency.
Meanwhile, Eskey's model suggests the interactive model takes into account the
continuous interaction between bottoms -up and top down processing in the construction
of the meaning of the text.
Parry in Carrel describes that the reader starts with the perception of graphic cues
and interact with the schemata that is derived from both linguistic knowledge and
knowledge of the world.11 In other words, a top down has function to predict the probable
meaning, and the bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer says
(Nuttal, 1996). The process of reading, through interactive perspective, is described in
detail by Eskey, the process starts with cognitive structure in the brain, which is with what
the reader knows, what is stored as schemata in his long term memory. He must, for
example, know the language well enough in its written form and know enough about the
subject matter of the text. His knowledge of form will provide him with certain
expectations about the language of the text. Given these expectations, he can, during the
physical act of reading, make accurate identifications of forms and simultaneously, his
knowledge of substance will provide him with certain expectations about the larger
conceptual structure of the text.
The simple idea behind the Interactive approach is that one can take useful ideas
from a bottom-up perspective and combine them with key ideas from top-down view.
Thus, word recognition needs to be fast and efficient, but background knowledge is a
major contributor to text understanding, as is inference and predicting that will come next

Anderson.,.... 1994, Ibid. p. 469

10

Parry (1987) in Carell, et.al (Ed) 1988., Ibid., p.226

11

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in the text.12
Based on the concepts and research reviews above, applying interactive approach
to the teaching of reading integrate practicing both bottom-up and top down theory. From
the bottom-up processing, the activity involves in the area of developing vocabulary and
grammatical component. Meanwhile, from top-down processing, the activity includes
building and activating background knowledge.
To improve vocabulary identification skill, it is worth giving special attention to
easily prepared rapid word-recognition exercises. For instance, reading words aloud that
are flashed for a few seconds, or having students quickly identify identical words from a
string of similarly spelled ones, trains student in the flash visual recognition of words and
phrases.
Enriching vocabularies is key to improve reading skill, as Eskey and Grabe
explains that all models of reading recognize the importance of vocabulary, but the
interactive model goes further, not only is a large vocabulary important, it is requirement
to fluent reading skill.
There are numerous techniques to introduce new vocabulary, which can be
presented in a variety of ways: in topically related sets; in key word; in exercises to
identify super ordinates, subordinates, and attributes; as synonym and antonyms; as
collocation and idioms and through rules of word formation. Thus, by enlarging
vocabulary we can also build schemata in a parallel way.
Regarding to grammatical skill, Mackay and Cowan in Carell (1987) argued that
recognition conjunction of conjunctions and other inter sentential linguistic devices is
crucial to the information-gathering skills of second language readers. Thus, holding in the
bottom, enhances second language readers’ bottom-up decoding skills.
Another component of reading comprehension that is very important in academic
settings is the ability to recognize discourse organization in texts. Reading research in Ll
contexts has demonstrated that students who recognize and follow a text’s basic discourse
organization recall more information from it. This research has also shown that differing
discourse organizational schemes, or rhetorical frames, in texts e.g. comparison-contrast,
cause-effect, description can lead to different results in recall of information.(Fredricka L.
Stoller, 2011)
It is also important in building discourse knowledge to include exercises that

William Grabe, and Fredricka L. stoller. Teaching and Researching Reading. Harlow : Pearson education
12

Limited.,2002. p. 33

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practice students to identify of textual features and the macrostructure of different genres.
Among the activities that can be used for this purpose are the uses of graphic
representations of text organization. This could include displaying cohesive devices
(substitution, ellipsis, reference, and conjunction); creating headings; unscrambling
paragraphs; and locating discourse markers that signal specific relationship such as
compare-contrast and cause effect.13
From the aspect of top-down processing, building and activating the background
knowledge is necessary in comprehending the reading text effectively. Schema theory
research shows that the greater the background knowledge a reader has of a text's content
area, the better the reader will comprehend the text.14
There are numerous techniques or strategies can be used to activating student’s
background knowledge. In this case, Carell lists some strategies. They are the Language
Experience Approach (LEA), Extending Concepts through Language Activities (ECOLA),
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA), Experience Text-Relationship Method
(ETR), the Pre Reading Plan and Survey Question-Read-Recite-Review method (SQ3R).
For the purpose of teaching narrative text, in this study, the researcher uses DRTA
as a strategy to develop vocabulary and activate the students’ background knowledge.
To develop students' background knowledge and vocabulary, in this case, extensive
reading is suggested to use in the curriculum. According to Carrel and Carson “it extensive
reading... generally involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer reading
(e.g., whole books) for general understanding, with the focus generally on the meaning of
what is being read than on the language.15
With respect to procedures of interactive approach, Brown (2001) divides reading
instruction into three phases; before reading, whilst reading and after reading.
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. Whilst 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 student sense of purpose for reading rather than just reading because

13
Elba, 2006., Ibid. p. 14.
14
Carell et all., 1988.,Ibid., p. 245
15
Willy A. Renandya and George Jacob in Richard and Renandya (ed.), : Extensive Reading,; why Aren’t
we all doing it? Methodology in Language Teaching ., Cambridge University Press. 2002.p. 295

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 you ordered it.
c. After you read: comprehension questions are just one form of activity
appropriate for post reading. Also consider vocabulary study, identifying the
author's purpose, discussing the author's line of reasoning, examining the
grammatical structure, or steering students toward a follow up writing exercise.

Grammar Translation Method

Grammar translation is a way of studying a language that approaches the language
first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by application of this
knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out the target language.
(Richards & Rodgers, 1986) This method emphasizes on reading and writing skill.
The goals of the grammar-translation method is two-fold. Firstly, it set out to give
the student a reading ability to a level where they can read literature in the target language
and secondly it is used to develop student’s general mental discipline.
Grammar-translation classes are commonly conducted in the native language of the
students. Students learn the vocabulary and grammar rules from the teacher or a book and
practice by doing drills and translation exercises both to and from the target language. The
content is not so important and most attention is paid to the form of the
sentences.Translation is the key to this methodology as is reading and writing. There is not
normally any listening or speaking practice carried out moreover, there is virtually no
pronunciation practice for the students.
The Grammar-translation method has some characteristics that it lacks speaking
practice (one of the 4 main skills along side reading, writing and listening), reduces
creativity in the class and leaves students with very little working knowledge of the spoken
language.Where this style of teaching might be appropriate, however, is where a student is
seeking to translate text from one language into English or vice versa. Moreover, it would
also be effective for students to learn grammar, which is essential for most ESL students.
In teaching reading comprehension, the teacher trains the students to read the text
once or twice silently and loudly and asks them to translate the whole text, seek lexical and
structural difficulties, and answer the comprehension question.

Self-actualization
Self-actualization is reached when all needs are fulfilled, in particular the highest
need. Because of the positive feedback,self-actualization is not a fixed state, but a process

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of development which does not end. The word derives from the idea that each individual
has a lot of hidden potentialities: talents or competences he or she could develop, but
which have as yet not come to the surface. Self-actualization signifies that these
potentialities of the self are made actual, are actualized in a continuing process of
unfolding. According to Maslow, self-actualization corresponds to ultimate psychological
health. Health is more than the absence of disease. On the psychological level, diseases
correspond to neuroses due to the frustration of one of the basic needs.
An interesting case is the situation where all the lower level needs have been
satisfied, but the highest need, self-actualization, has not. In that case you have a person
who apparently has everything tobe happy: a comfortable and safe environment, a loving
family, friendship and respect from peers, a sense of personal achievement. Yet the
individual will not be really happy, because he has no longer goal to live for, he has
achieved everything he wanted. This will result in feelings of boredom and
meaninglessness, which might even lead to suicide, unless the person becomes aware that
there is more to life than reducing deficiencies, that is to say unless he becomes aware of
his need for self-actualization.
This definition of self-actualization derives from Maslow's motivation theory.
However, Maslow has also undertaken an empirical observation of existing healthy
personalities, more or less independentlyof the theory. Though he has tried to explain his
empirical results by means of the theory, the observations are more detailed than what the
theory can predict, and as we will see further they sometimes even seem to contradict the
theory. Though he uses the same word, "self-actualizing", to label the personality type
coming out of his observations, and the one coming out of his theory, it is not obvious that
it describes the same phenomenon.(Maslow,1943). Therefore it is important to study his
observations in detail, and to try to correlate them with theoretical explanations.

Reading Habit
Reading habit refers to the behaviour, which expresses the likeness of
reading and tastes of reading. It is a way of how the reader organizes his or her reading.
Similarly, Iftanti identifies reading habits, as how often, how much, and what the readers
read. Rese archers in the past have devoted efforts to examining learners’ reading habits.
(Iftanti, 2012) With their efforts, these researchers have discovered that reading habits
are correlated with gender, age, educational background, academic performance and
professional growth.

13
 A good reading habit is important for the development of personalities and
mental capacities. This habit is necessary for a healthy intellectual growth and plays a very
crucial role in enabling a person to achieve language proficiency.(Fredricka L. Stoller,
2011) Furthermore, an individual's interest to read is determined by the considerable
extent of the amount and intensity of pursuing the reading activity.(Iftanti, 2012). By
reading books frequently and having a good reading habit, the reader is able
analyze other's idea, which makes one think more critically. Reading provides readers
with great knowledge, understanding and a sense of values, which enable them
gradually to develop the greatest of all virtues and the ability to understand other
people beliefs.
Since a habit of reading is nurtured by repeating the desired reading behavior every
day until it becomes the second nature to the learners, repetition is the key. Accordingly,
good reading habits in English of the EFL students are defined as a repeated desired
reading behavior that becomes the second nature of the EFL students.(Iftanti, 2012) A
good reading habit is indicated by fluency, automaticity, accuracy, highly enjoyable
reading practices, vast amount of reading, good proficiency in English (Renandya, 2007 in
Iftanti 2012), positive attitude toward reading, conscious and avid reading, having a
teacher who shared a love of reading, self-selection of books, motivation to read,
eagerness to receive a book as a present, and regular reading after school hours. On
the other hand, poor reading habits can be classified as poor mental habits identified as
passive reading, purposeless reading, and regressing.

METHOD

In line with the objective of this research, to find out the effectiveness of interactive
approach in developing students' reading skill, the design used in this research is a quasi-
experimental design. This design is used because the treatment is not random assignment
of participants to groups (Creswell, 2008). It means that there is no selection in the
population, a group can be experimental or control group. The experimenter cannot
artificially create groups for the experiment. In this study, the researcher used existing two
classes and designed one as the experimental group and one as the control group(Creswell,
2008). Based on the theory, the groups are divided into experimental and control groups
with pre-test and post-test to identify the effectiveness of the treatment.
The research design has several characteristics as follows: (1) it has two groups of

14
subjects namely the experimental and control group; (2) the two groups are compared with
respect to measurement or observation on the dependent variable; (3) both group are
measured twice; the first measurement serves as the pre-test and the second one as the
post-test; (4) measurement on the dependent variable for both groups are conducted at the
same time with the same test; (5) the experimental group is manipulated with particular
treatment(Creswell, 2008). In this study, the experimental group was taught using
interactive approach, while the control group will be taught without using the interactive
approach (using the grammar translation method). During the treatment, the experimental
group was also asked to fill the questionaire in self-actualization and reading habit.
This study tries to find empirical evidence of whether the independent variable
affects the dependent variable and furthermore it identifies the significance of the effect.
Moreover, it also concerns counting of scores data. The scores data of pre-test and post-
test of control group and experiment group were compared to find out whether there is a
significant difference on the students' reading achievement after the treatment.
This research involved two classes of the second semester of English department
students of IAIN Kediri as the subjects. The basic differences of the two approaches of
reading comprehension in their application to the teaching of English reading
comprehension at IAIN Kediri are elaborated as follows.
Teaching procedures of Interactive Approach are as follows:
a) Pre-reading activities
In pre-reading, the researcher did the following activities; (1). Conduct activities and
provide background knowledge. (2) Predict possible information found in the text
b) Whilst reading activities
In whilst reading, the researcher divided this activity into 12 meetings. The first two
meetings, the researcher did the following activities: (1) verify predictions and check
for inaccurate guesses, (2) scan for specific information, (3) skim to find the theme or
main ideas, In the second two meetings, she will do these activities: (1) eliciting
related prior knowledge, (2) identify the schematic structure of the story and to
identify the main idea of each paragraph, (3) understand the author's purpose.
In the third two meetings, she conducted the following activities: (1) to predict, scan
for specific information,(2) infer the meaning from contextual clues, and (3) reread to
check comprehension. In the fourth two meetings: (1) scan the material (2) find the
theme or main ideas and eliciting related prior knowledge (3) identify the author's
purpose and suggestions. In the fifth two meetings, she will ask the students: (1)

15
 summarize the story (2) Discuss the schematic structure of the text, (3) review
vocabulary or grammatical structures.
c) Post reading activities
In post-reading, the researcher did the following activities such as (1) evaluate
comprehension in a particular task or area (2) evaluate overall progress in reading and
in particular types of reading types, (3) review the text (4) answer the comprehension
question.
Teaching procedures of the Grammar Translation Method
a) Pre-reading activities
(1) Previewing the passage (reading the title/ looking for the statement of the possible
main ideas)
(2) Questioning on structure / organization of the passage
b) Whilst reading activities
(1) Reading the whole passage loudly or silently for once or twice
(2) Translating the whole of the text into the first language
(3) Looking for difficult words
(4) Determining the meaning of difficult words
c) Post reading activities
(1) Answering comprehension question
The texts of reading instruction for giving treatment in the research were text taken
from some TOEFL test, the reading class room activities using interactive approach were
focused on the reading instructional objectives such as: (1) to find out the general
information; (2) to find out the main idea of a paragraph; (3) to find out specific
information either explicitly or implicitly stated; (4) to find out the words' meaning; (5) to
understand the author's purpose.

3.2 Research Instrument

To obtain the students data on reading comprehension the researcher used reading
comprehension test as the instrument. The test is multiple choices. It is the commonest
way of assessing reading.16 It is designed in such way in order to suit the students'
proficiency level. Instruments for scoring include instrument for pre-test and post-test.
Both pre-test and post-test instruments are in the form of reading texts followed by 50
multiple choice items to achieve standard of competency. They are (1) identifying main
Charles J.Alderson,Assessing...., Ibid ., p. 76
16

16
ideas, (2) understanding the general information, (3) understanding specific information,
(4) the vocabulary,(5) understanding the author's purpose.
The second data is gained from the questionaires. The questionaires were given to
know the level of students’ self-actualization and reading habit. It was given to both
experimental group and control group to know whether there is an interaction between
interactive approach, students’ self-actualization and reading habit among students.
The techniques of collecting data are pre-test and post-test. To get a clear
description of the effect of learning through interactive approach, pre-test and post-test are
conducted. To know students self actualization, questionaire will be given to both group
the experimental group and control group.To measure students self actualization,
researcher use Maslow questionaire on self actualization. This questionaire is given to
students during the treatment, in some time exclude the schedule of the study. This
questionaire is given to know whether there is correlation or interaction between students
reading ability, self actualization and reading habit.

3.3 Data Analysis

Quantitative data in the forms of pre-test and post-test scores are statistically
analyzed and then compared by using match t-test in order to see the difference in reading
achievement between the experimental group and the control group. There are 69 sample
respondents whose data are considered to be worth analyzing. 35 respondents are from the
experimental group and 34 respondents from the control group. The hypotheses testing is
conducted to see whether Ho is accepted or rejected. The analysis of covariance is done by
using IBM SPPS 20.0 for windows. Meanwhile the data obtained through the questionaires
and the test are then analysed with SPPS as well. The researcher determined the table
interpretation of product moment scales, as follow:
Coefficient correlation Interpretation
0,000 - 0,200 Very low correlation
0,200 - 0,400 Low correlation
0,400 - 0,600 Moderate correlation
0,600 - 0,800 Enough correlation
0,800 - 0,1000 High enough correlation

From this formula, it could be derived that correlation coefficient value (r) is from the two
variables. Those variables are variable X that is students’ self-actualization and variable Y

17
is students’ reading comprehension score. By the interpretation table, the writer can
conclude the strength of the correlation. The analysis is also used to measure the
correlation between the students’ reading habit and students comprehension score.

3.3.1 Hypothesis Testing

Before entering the data into the statistical formula, the hypothesis is needed in
order to have specific measurement. To test null hypotheses (H0), there are some
assumptions that are to be fulfilled. H0 is accepted if:
 There is no significant difference between mean of pre-test and post-test scores either
of the experimental or control group.
Meanwhile, the alternative hypotheses (Hi) with the meaning that interactive approach
is more effective than Grammar-translation method, is accepted if:
 There is significant difference between mean of pre-test and post-test scores either of
the experimental or control group.
To meet the assumptions above, statistic-analysis of t-test is applied in this study to
decide how far the mean of pre-test scores is different from that of post-test score; both in
group itself and between two groups with the level of significance of 0.05.
To test the correlation on the students’ reading comprehension and students’
reading habit, the null hypothesis (Ho) is accepted if :
 There is no correlation between students reading comprehension and students’ reading
habit.
On the other hand, if there is correlation on both variables, alternative hypotehsis (Hi)
is accepted, if:
 There is correlation between students’ reading comprehension and students’s reading
habit.
This hypothesis remains as to be used to test the hypothesis for the correlation of
students’ reading comprehension and students’ self –actualization.

FINDINGS
.
Data Description
The description of data presented in the form of interactive application of the test
result data approach. Distribution presented is the average, standard deviation, and
minimum value, maximum value, includes data from the pre-test (the data of pre-test

18
control class), post-test (the data of post-test control class). Pre-test (the data of pre test
experimental class), and post test (the data of post test of experimental class), and the
result of self-actualization and reading habit questionaire for both group.
Table 4.1 The mean calculation of pre-test result of experimental and control group
Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

experimntal 35 54,97 9,232

control 34 55,29 7,578
Valid N (listwise) 34

Based on statistical computation, it is known that mean of pretest of the experiment

group is 54,97 while the control group is 55,29 from the results, we can say that there is
small difference between the average of experiment group and control group. However,
the researcher needs to confirm whether these slight differences between the two means
are significant or not different after they got the treatment.
Besides the score of pre-test, the researcher also see the achievement of both class
from the GPA. Both of them have relatively similar achievement. It can be concluded that
the two groups are homogenous and appropriate to be used as equivalent classes in the
present study. It means that the two groups are comparable and similar in their
achievement.17 The interactive approach was given to C class for their ability seen from the
GPA are more variative than E class, and to the E class the treatment is conducted with
using GTM.
Table 4.2 Distribution of students’ reading comprehension scores
Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

experimntal 35 80,09 7,278

control 34 77,35 6,963
Valid N (listwise) 34

The lowest-highest
Variable Mean SD
score
Pre-test 54,97 9,232 38-76
Experiment
Post-test 80,09 7,278 70-96
Control Pre-test 55,29 7,578 40-68

17
Cresswell, Research......, 2008.p. 326

19
 Post-test 77,35 6,963 65-90

The table above shows the mean of experiment group pretest is 54,97, with a
standard deviation of 9,232. The lowest individual pre-test score is 38 and highest is 76.
Meanwhile, the mean of experiment group post-test score is 80,09, with a standard
deviation of 7,278. The lowest individual post-test score is 70 and the highest 96.
On the other hand, the mean of control group pre-test is 55,29, with a standard
deviation of 7,578, the lowest individual pre-test score is 40 and the higest is 68.
Meanwhile, the mean of control group post-test score is 77,35, with a standard deviation of
6,963, the lowest individual post test score is 65 and the 90.

4.1 Test of Normality

Before the hypothesis is tested by using independent-samples t-test, there are some
assumption that must be met first, one of which is normality of distribution. To find a
normal distribution of data, the Shapiro-Wilk with the provisions if the value of
significance, and greater of 0.05, it means the data are normally distributed. The
calculation result of tests of normality as follows.
Table 4.3 Normality testing for pre-test and post-test score
Tests of Normality

kelompok Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic Df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

kelompok A ,098 35 ,200* ,969 35 ,408

Nilai
kelompok B ,136 34 ,112 ,957 34 ,192

*. This is a lower bound of the true significance.

a. Lilliefors Significance Correction

Tests of Normality

kelompok Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic Df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

kelompok A ,136 35 ,097 ,959 35 ,216

nilai
kelompok B ,105 34 ,200 *
,959 34 ,230

*. This is a lower bound of the true significance.

a. Lilliefors Significance Correction

20
 From the calculation results with the Shapiro-wilk the two groups of data have
significant values, and the threshold value is higher than 0.05, so that we can conclude the
data are normally distributed.

4.2 The Results of T-test for Reading Comprehension

It is mentioned in previous chapters that the data from the test scores are pre-test
and post-test scores taken from both experimental and control classes. The pre-test is
conducted to identify whether or not the two groups are approximately from almost the
same condition and level before the treatment is given to the experimental groups.
The post-test is used to measure how effective the treatment of interactive approach
applied to them. The post-test score is depicted for the purpose of comparing the score
obtained from both experimental and control classes. The comparison of the result from
both classes is aimed at identifying the effect of the treatment of interactive approach to
the experimental class. Meanwhile, the statistical technique of t-test is used to find out a
significant difference between the scores gained by both classes in line with the influence
of the treatment for experimental class.

4.3.1. Hypothesis Testing

The Test of Different Mean (T-test)

The test is intended to investigate whether there is any effect of the application of
interactive learning methods using interactive approach to learning outcomes, to see
different results between the control and experimental classes.
The calculation of significance value of significance value is computed on
processed by using SPSS. If the significant value is less than 0.05, then Ho is rejected and
HI is accepted, and the other way around, if the significant value is higher than 0,05, then
Ho is accepted and H1 is rejected. The results of t-test between the two mean differences
are follows.
Table. 4.4 Comparative Analysis of Post-test Scores of the Experimental group and
post-test Scores of the Control Group.

Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

experimntal 35 80,09 7,278

21
 Control 34 77,35 6,963
Valid N (listwise) 34

To decide whether Ho can be rejected or not, the researcher should first know if the
means of the two groups are different. To know whether the difference between the two
means is significant or not, the researcher should obtain the significant value of 2-tailed,
independent sample t-test. This 2-tailed significant value is then compared with the value
of alpha 0.05 when applying with SPSS 20 for the above statistical purpose, the researcher
do it by looking at the column indicating the significance, if the significant values is 0.05
or less, reject the null hypothesis, if it is bigger than 0.05, the null hypothesis can be
accepted.
Table 4.6 The analysis of t-test between control group and experiment post-test score.
Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for t-test for Equality of Means

Equality of
Variances

F Sig. t df Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence

tailed) Difference Difference Interval of the
Difference

Lower Upper

Equal
variances 5,105 ,027 2,425 67 ,018 3,71429 1,53176 ,65689 6,77169
assumed
nilai Equal
variances
2,416 62,164 ,019 3,71429 1,53741 ,64121 6,78736
not
assumed

Based on the statistical computation as can be seen in the table, it is known that the
mean of posttest in the experiment group is 80,09, while the control group is 77,35, it
means that there is difference between the two means. And the significant value (2-tailed)
is 0,018, so it is lower than α 0.05, so Ho is rejected and Hi is accepted, the results reveal
that there is significant difference between post-test score obtained by experiment group
and post-test score by control group.
It can be stated that there is a significant difference between the post-test score of
the experimental group and the post-test score of the control group. Meanwhile, the post-
test score of the experimental group is higher than that of the control one. And still, the

22
application of interactive approach has a significant influence on the achievement of the
reading ability. Because the difference of the pre-test score and post-test score of
experiment group is quiet significant. It can be seen from the table below.
Table 4.7 The Result of T-test between pre-test and post-test of experiment group
Paired Samples Statistics

Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

pretest 54,97 35 9,385 1,586

Pair 1
postest 80,71 35 5,518 ,933

Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-

Mean Std. Std. 95% Confidence Interval of the tailed)

Deviation Error Difference

Mean Lower Upper

pretest
-
Pair 1 - 7,652 1,293 -28,371 -23,114 -19,903 34 ,000
25,743
postest

As we can see in the table, it can be concluded that the difference between pre-test
score and post-test scores of experimental group is very significant. It can be seen from t
value 7,652 and the significance (sig 2 tailed) level is 0,00%. It is lower than 1 % , thus, it
means that the interactive approach is effective in improving students’ reading ability.
From the mean of pre-test score 54,97, the score of the post-test mean become 80,09. The
difference is quitely significance, so interactive approach is very effective given to
experimental group, which is the score of pre-test is lower than control group.

4.3 The Correlation Between Reading Comprehension, Reading Habit And Self-
Actualization

After analysing the t-test of post-test score, the other analysis is the correlation
between the score of both control and experimental group post-test score and the score of
reading habit and self-actualization level. The analysis can be seen in the following table.
Table 4.8 The correlation between post-test score, reading habit and self-
actualization level of experimental group
Correlations

reding habit self act reading comp

23
 Pearson Correlation 1 ,206 ,132

reding habit Sig. (2-tailed) ,235 ,449

N 35 35 35
Pearson Correlation ,206 1 ,621**
self act Sig. (2-tailed) ,235 ,000
N 35 35 35
Pearson Correlation ,132 ,621**
1

reading comp Sig. (2-tailed) ,449 ,000

N 35 35 35

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

From the output, the score of Pearson correlation between post-test score and self-
actualization score of experiment group is 0,621.based on the criteria of correlation, this
value is considered as enough correlation. And the correlation is significant at the 0.01
level ( 2-tailed), so it can be concluded that the correlation between post-test score of
experimental group and self-actualization is enough. Unfortunately, the correlation
between post-test score and reading habit score of experiment group is 0,132. It means that
the correaltion between students’ reading comprehension and students reading habit is in
low correlation.

Table 4.9 The correlation between post-test score, reading habit and self-
actualization level of control group
Correlations

reding habit self act reading comp

Pearson Correlation 1 ,672 **

,694**

reding habit Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 ,000

N 35 35 35
Pearson Correlation ,672 **
1 ,845**
self act Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 ,000
N 35 35 35

24
 Pearson Correlation ,694** ,845** 1

reading comp Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 ,000

N 35 35 35

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The score of Pearson correlation between post-test score and self-actualization

score of control group is 0,845. And the correlation is significant at the 0.01 level ( 2-
tailed), so it can be concluded that the correlation between post-test score of control group
and self-actualization is high. Furthermore, the correlation between post-test score and
reading habit score of control group is 0,694, and it is considered as enough correlation.
The correlation is positive, since the higher of post-test score, the higher of self-
actualization and higher reading habit. Thus, it can be summed up that there is an
interaction between teaching methods of interactive approach and the students self-
actualization for teaching reading. The effectiveness of teahing methods depends on the
degree of students self-actualization. Yet, the phenomena araise when the experimental
group has lower reading habit than control group. It can be concluded that theresult of
treatment does not have high influence from the rate of students’reading habit. Thus
although the students’ reading habit is low in the experimental group, yet their score of
post test is high for the correlation of both is very low.

DISCUSSION

The Application of Interactive Approach in Teaching Reading Comprehension

The first research problem as mentioned in chapter one is in relation to the

implementation of interactive approach in teaching reading comprehension. Based on the
data obtained from the result of comparative analysis of the posttest score of the
experiment group and control group, the mean is different between the experiment group
and control group. The difference is significant, and the progress of the score is quite
significant as it is also supported by the improvement of the mean obtained by the
experimental group from pretest and posttest scores in which the mean of the pretest score
is 54,97whereas the mean of the post test score is 80,09. It shows that there are variances

25
between the student’s starting skill and the student’s achievement after getting the
treatment. This result supports the earlier researches done by Liu, et.al (2007) and song
(2007). They found that interactive approach is effective to improve students reading skill.
Based on interactive activities, the students become accustomed to process the text actively, in order to

become efficient readers, the students need to employ both the lower-level bottom up strategies and

top-down strategies. The student needs to read interactively with the bottom-up and top down

strategies functioning harmoniously as suggested by Rumelhart. He states that these strategies help

to improve reading comprehension as well as efficiency. This is supported by Nuttal (Brown, 2001)

he suggests that a reader needs a top-down to predict meaning, he requires bottom up

approaAnderson, N. J. (1999). Exploring Second Language Reading: Issues and

Strategies. Boston: MA: Heinle&HeinlePublishers.

Brown, D. H. (2001). Doughlas H, Brown, Teaching by Principles: An Interactive

Approach to Language Pedagogy, New York: Longman, Inc. 2001. New York:

Longman/Pearson.

Carrel, P. L. (1990). Interactive Approach to second language reading. Cambridge:

Cambridge University.

Creswell, J. W. (2008). Research Design; Qualitative, Quantitative ang mixed methods

approach. Sage Publication.

Elba, V. de D. (2006). Applying current approaches to the teaching of reading, 44(1), 8.

Feuerstein, T., & Miriam S. (1995). Enhancing Reading Comprehension. Alta Book

Center.

Fredricka L. Stoller, W. G. (2011). Teaching and Researching Reading Applied linguistics

in action (2 ed.). Longman/Pearson.

Iftanti, E. (2012). A Survey Of The English Reading Habits Of Efl Students In Indonesia.

TEFLIN Journal, 23(2).

Maslow, A. (1971). The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, Viking; New York, 1971.,

p.42. New York: Viking.

26
Maslow, A. H. (t.t.). A Theory of Human Motivation, 21.

Nasaji, H. (2007). Schema Theory and Knowledge- Based processes in second language

reading comprehension: A need for alternative perspective. Language learning A

journal of research in language studies. 2007.

Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Taeching and Learning. Boston: Heinle-Heinle.

Nuttal, C. (1996). Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Oxford: Heinemann.

Omaggio, M.A. (1993). Teaching Language in Context. Boston: Heinle-Heinle.

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers. (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: A

Description and Aanlysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University.

Ruddel R B, & H. Singer. (1994). Theoretical models and Processes of Reading (4 ed.).

Newark: DE; International Reading Association.

Smith and Robinson. (1980). Efficient Reading: A Practical Guide to Reading

Comprehension Sciences. New York: Cambridge University.

Smith, F. (1994). Understanding Reading; A Psycholinguistics Analysis of Reading and

learning to read. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

ch to check whether that is really what the writer said. This theory is in line with
the finding of this research.

The Correlation between Student Reading Skill, Student’s reading habit and self-
Actualization
The students having high self-actualization have better reading skill than those
having low one. the students having high self-actualization referred to individual’s desire
to become the best that they are able to - that is to develop all the abilities and talents that
they possess to their fullest potential. The students having high self-actualization are
strongly characterized wtih awareness, spontaneity, the capability of free choice among the
ego-states, uncensored and authentic feelings, and high knowledge to improve, recognize
and realize oneself, especially in reading skill. In this case, what they want to be, they must
be. Heylighen (1992) describes three competences related to the high self-actualization
people. The first competence is about material competence. This is about the need for

27
solving problem. The second one is cognitive competence tending to have high
knowledge, intelligence, and creativity. The last one is about subjective awarness, meaning
the capability to find and motivate to do the necessary search for the resources to solve the
problem.
On the contrary, the students having low self-actualization run a ground with their
low potential. They do not have sense of sensitivity of responding or discovering their
abilities and talents in learning reading. They tend to be dragged over with their weakness.
They do not regard a problem faced as a challenge but they are prone to steer clear of it.
The best that they can do is taking the reality as it.
Based upon above elaboration of high and low self-actualization students, it can be
concluded that the students having high self-actualization have better reading skill than
those having low self-actualization. This conclution occur in both experimental and control
group. For, the correlation between self actualization and reading comprehension for both
group are high correlation or positive correlation. Means that the higher the students’ self
actualization, the higher the score they get in reading comprehension and vice versa.
On the other hand, the students’ reading comprehension of experimental group
have such a very low correlation with the students’ reading habit. The result is quiet
shocking when even the group of experimental class has low reading habit. It can be
summed up that there is little interaction between students reading habit and interactive
approach. Yet, the interactive approach can improve students reading comprehension
effectively.
Meanwhile the students of control group who have higher score on reading habit
than the experimental group, have higher score in comprehension. The correlation is very
high. In addition, the score of students’ reading comprehension for control group is not too
lower than those are from experimental. Thus, their reading habit may be one of the factors
-besides self actualization- in improving the students’ reading comprehension, although
they were taught by Grammar Translation Method.
This is new phenomena, when we believe that those who likes to read must have
good ability in comprehending. By then, this belief can be said as expired, since the
application of interctive approach is effective eventhough the students have low reading
habit.

The interaction between Interactive Approach, Reading habit and Students self-
Actualization

28
 The interaction between teaching methods, reading habit and students’ self-
actualization can be seen one by one. Firstly, interactive approach demands students to
actively using their background knowledge applied to the new material or challenge they
face. On the other hand, interactive approach makes the students try hard to know the
meaning of the passage from the context. Interactive approach let students enjoy to use
their potential in reading rather than they get meaning of reading text from the teacher.
Besides, high self-actualization is about how students are able to utilize their
potential, talents and even limitations to become the best what they want to be. The
concept of high self-actualization is in general creative personality factor pervading
behaviors which consist of awareness, spontaneity intimacy and knowledge. Therefore,
interactive approach is more effective than GTM for the students who have high self-
actualization. And interactive approach is still effective for the students who have low
reading habit.
Based upon the above explanation between methods of interactive approach and
GTM and self-actualization, it can be summed up that interactive approach is more
effective to teach reading for students having high self-actualization. GTM has good
impact applied for the students who have high reading habit. Therefore, there is an
interaction between teaching methods and students’s self-actualization in teaching reading.
And, little interaction between interactive approach and students’ reading habit.

CONCLUSION

This study investigates whether interactive approach can be used effectively

to develop students’ ability in reading and how students who are trained through
interactive approach differ significantly from the grammar translation method. Based
on the theories, findings, and discussion explored in the previous chapter, some
conclusions can be drawn as follows:
1. The findings of this study indicate that interactive approach is more effective for
reading instruction for second semester of experiment group than the control
group. It can be seen in the results of both scores in the experimental class that
the scores of the post-test have significantly different comparing to the post-test
scores in the control group.

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2. The use of interactive approach makes students develop their ability in reading
comprehension. They regard it very helpful for them in term of developing their
reading comprehension.
3. The students having high self-actualization have better reading skill than those
having low self-actualization for the second semester students of IAIN Kediri.
4. The students have low reading habit, yet their reading comprehehnsion is still
high due to the application interactive approach. Meanwhile the students have
high reading habit also have high score reading comprehension with the
application of GTM.
5. There is an interaction between the teaching methods, students’ self-actualization
and reading habit in teaching reading.

Based on the findings of the implementation of interactive approach, there

are some suggestions proposed both for further research and for practical purpose.
The suggestions are intended to enhance and find the best way in teaching reading
for English department students. Besides, they are also proposed to offer an
alternative solution for helping students and institution due to the achievement of the
goal of teaching English as demanded by the national curriculum of education.
For further research it is suggested that, as this research only employs quasi
experimental design which involve experimental and control groups without random
sampling, further studies employ true experimental design in which the subjects are
randomly selected, so both external and internal factors that might influence the
students achievement can be controlled well. The second, the other researchers who
are willing to conduct the same method as their research are able to use the result of
this research as a supporting data or material to conduct their research in more detail.
For practical purposes, based on the result of the study there are some
recommends proposed. For the institution, it is suggested that IAIN Kediri adopt an
interactive approach since it is an appropriate alternative to develop students reading
ability. The strategy can encourage the students to determine the meaning of what is
being read.

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