Helping teachers in motivating students in practicing reading comprehension through web-based reading materials

MOTIVATING STUDENTS IN PRACTICING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH WEB-BASED READING MATERIALS


Oleh

Zakwan Izmi

LPMP Jambi Jalan Yusuf Singadekane no 31 Jambi. Tlp. 0741-60449
Email: zakizmi@yahoo.com/ zakizmi@gmail.com


ABSTRACT

One of the objectives of Senior High Schools English Curriculum is to prepare students to be competent in reading comprehension. However, a preliminary observation showed that most students have problems in motivation to practice reading comprehension. The problem was caused by the materials used for practicing reading comprehension at school were not interesting. The aim of the research was to know to what extend web-based reading materials could motivate students of SMA Negeri 3 Jambi in practicing reading comprehension. To solve the problems the researcher conducted a classroom action research by implementing teaching and learning reading descriptive text through web-based materials. The study was divided into two cycles in which each cycle consist of planning, action planning, monitoring, and reflecting. The researcher found that web-based reading materials could significantly improve students’ motivation in practicing reading comprehension. It was also supported by the data of observation of interaction, and students’ interview. The data were inductively analyzed. The improvement of students’ motivation was caused by some factors, first, the students were free to choose materials that meet their interest, second, Students felt unburdened because they were free to choose materials which were at or a little bit above their level of competencies, third, brilliant students can practice more than one reading material because they can finish their assignment earlier than their friends, fourth, pre-reading have strong influence in achieving the objective of teaching and learning reading comprehension. In conclusion, the implementation of teaching and learning reading comprehension through web-based reading materials could improve students motivation in practicing reading comprehension.













ABSTRAK

MOTIVATING STUDENTS IN PRACTICING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH WEB-BASED READING MATERIALS


Oleh

Zakwan Izmi


Satu dari tujuan Kurikulum Bahasa Inggris SMA adalah untuk membuat siswa terlatih dan punya kemampuan untuk memahami bacaan Bahasa Inggris. Akan tetapi penulis menemukan bahwa kebanyakan siswa bermasalah dalam memahami bacaan hal ini terjadi karena kurang terlatihnya siswa-siswa dalam memahami bacaan, kurang tertariknya siswa berlatih untuk memahami bacaan karena bacaan-bacaan dari buku teks kurang menarik bagi mereka. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui seberapa jauh materi bacaan dari internet bisa memotivasi siswa SMA Negeri 3 untuk berlatih dalam memahami bacaan. Untuk mengatasi masalah motivasi tersebut, peneliti melakukan penelitian tindakan dengan menerapkan pembelajaran reading deskriptif teks dengan menggunakan materi outentik dari internet. Penelitian dilakukan dalam dua siklus yang terdiri dari perencanaan, pelaksanaan dan pengamatan, dan refleksi. Peneliti menemukan bahwa materi internet secara luar biasa bisa meningkatkan motivasi siswa-siswa dalam berlatih memahami bacaan. Temuan ini juga disokong oleh data observasi dan wawancara siswa. Meningkatnya motivasi siswa-siswa disebabkan oleh beberapa keuntungan dari penggunaan materi bacaan dari internet, pertama, siswa-siswa bebas untuk memilih teks yang mereka senangi, kedua, siswa-siswa bisa memilih bacaan yang kira-kira sesuai dengan atau lebih tinggi sedikit dari kemampuan mereka sehingga mereka tidak terlalu terbebani dengan kosa-kata baru, ketiga, Siswa-siswa yang lebih pintar bisa berlatih lebih dari satu materi bacaan sehingga ini sangat menguntungkan bagi mereka dan tidak jadi fakum setelah mereka selesai mengerjakan tugas yang diberikan.

















INTRODUCTION

Background of the problem
It is clearly stated in the current secondary school curriculum, known as competency based curriculum, that students are expected to be able to communicate with received English either in oral or written form. Oral means listening and speaking, while Written means reading for comprehension and writing.
The ability to read in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) is a must for Indonesian students to acquire. Written texts serve various pedagogical purposes. Extensive exposure to linguistically comprehensible written text can enhance the process of language acquisition. Reading is a skill which is highly valued by students and teachers. But the problems are what source that should meet learners interest, what is reading instruction like in the classroom, and how do teachers teach reading.
Based on discussion with some teachers of English done recently, most students are lack of motivation in practicing the skill of reading for comprehension as the consequence they are not eager to develop their skills of reading comprehension; they found it hard to catch the information of the text they read. The teachers said that various attempts had been done to improve their motivation, but they still found it hard to do so. When they proceed reading for comprehension, many problems could be found as the effect of lack of vocabulary, it should be teachers’ concerns.
The researcher’s experiences and diagnoses, motivation problems of the students in practicing reading for comprehension might be caused of the teachers, materials, and the students themselves. The problems that caused by the teachers might be the teachers’ sensitivity in applying the most meaningful teaching materials. The materials to be discussed might not be so interested for the students and not so related to the students’ real life. And the last from the students themselves, they got difficulties in catching the information of the text. It is the cause of lack of motivation in practicing reading for comprehension. The writer assumed that there should be ways to make students motivated to practice reading comprehension
Based on the problems stated above, the researcher limited the problems on the students’ problems of motivation in practicing reading for comprehension. The problem was solved by using reading material from Web. Hopefully students would be motivated well if the teacher used the authentic materials from internet as the source of reading for comprehension.
For that case, this research was conducted to seek the answer to a question, “To what extent web based reading materials from internet could improve the students’ motivation in practicing reading for comprehension”
The objective of this research was to identify to what extent online reading material could motivate students’ in practicing their reading for comprehension. It is to encourage the students to practice reading intensively, especially for comprehension. And also teaching and learning reading comprehension will be more interesting and challenging by using authentic material from internet.

Definition of the Key Terms
1. Descriptive text is an essay which describe objective characterization of an object or a process, in such vivid detail that the reader can easily form a precise mental picture of what is being read about.
2. Web reading material is any material used for teaching reading for comprehension taken from internet exactly at the time of teaching and learning reading comprehension. The material taken from internet should be limited by the text type (descriptive text) and for not more than 150 words with in the students level of difficulties or a little bit above theirs


LITERATURE REVIEW

Reading
Reading is a process, which involves a reader, a text and the result is the interaction of the two (Singhal, 1998). Reading is a very complecated process involving a variety of factors that interact with one another (Kim, 2002). Due to the complex nature of reading and the fact that it is one of the most important language skills, there is a need for incorporating multimedia into reading instruction (Brown, 2001). Based on the above views, learners need to be provided with sufficient scaffolding to be able to achieve more effective reading comprehension

Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is about understanding written texts. It is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. Reading consists of two realated processes: word recognation and comprehension. Word recognition refers to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to one’s spoken language. Comprehension is the process of making some of words, sentences and connected rext. Readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help them understand written text (Bernhardt 1991). Comprehension is the process of deriving meaning from connected text. It involves words knowledge (vocabulary) as well as thinking and reasoning. Therefore, comprehension is not a passve process, but an active one. The reader actively engages with the text to construct meaning. This active engagement include making use of prior knowledge. It involves drawing inferences from the words and expressions that a writer uses to communicate information, ideas and viewpoints (Block & Presley, 2002)
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that reading is an interactive process between the readers and the writers through their writing that happened when the readers try to understand and reconstruct meanings from the written or printed texts. We can conclude also that reading comprehension includes three elements: the reader who is doing the comprehending, the text that is to be comprehended and the activity in which comprehension is embedded. These three elements occur within the socio-cultural context of the reader's classroom, home, and neighborhood, and they help a reader to interpret information and create personal meaning.
The materials and tasks used should be correctly design, they should not be very long, as they have to be studied on a computer screen; they should model the point to be learned and should be attractive and interesting for the student.

Motivation
Motivation in education is of particular interest to Educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning. Motivation in education can have several effects on how students learn and how they behave towards subject matter. Because students are not always internally motivated, they sometimes need situated motivation, which is found in environmental conditions that the teacher creates (Wikipedia 2008). Texts of the right reading level are neither too easy nor too hard for a particular reader. Choosing texts of the right difficulty and interest levels will encourage children to read and to enjoy what they are reading. It is important to use authentic texts in practicing reading comprehension (Pang, E. S., Muaka, A., & Kamil, M. L. 2008).
Motivated students are usually those who participate actively in class, express interests in the subject-matter, and study a great deal. Teachers can easily recognize characteristics such as these. They also have more opportunity to influence these characteristics than students’ reasons for studying the second language or their attitudes toward the language and its speakers. If we can make our classrooms places where students enjoy coming, because the content is interesting and relevant to their age and level of ability, where the learning goals are challenging yet manageable and clear, and where the atmosphere is supportive and non-threatening, we can make a positive contribution to students’ motivation to learn.
Research shows that as children progress through school their interest in reading for pleasure and their motivation to read to learn diminish. Teachers can draw on technology applications, however, to engage students in challenging, authentic learning.
Based on the conclusion above, writer insist that motivation is one of the key factors in Foreign Language Acquisition (FLA), and suggests, that there are some points that should be considered by teachers in order to be successful in teaching and learning English reading comprehension as a second or foreign language:

Reading online
Electronic texts introduce new supports as well as new challenges that can have a great impact on an individual's ability to comprehend what he or she reads. The Internet, in particular, provides new text formats, new purposes for reading, and new ways to interact with information that overwhelm people taught to extract meaning from only conventional print. Proficiency in the new literacies of the Internet will become essential to our students' literacy future (International Reading Association, 2001). According to Li and Hart, (2005) reading materials from web are potential for language learning. The web possesses a number of features which are particularly suited for foreign language learners’ growing proficiency in the language. The web offers rich data base of authentic material, excellent tool for interactive teaching and learning English, and besides, the web material can reach a wide audience at a relatively low cost. Computer Assisted Language Learning can be a graet answer for achieving learner autonomy and better learning outcomes, because computer technology makes it much easier for learners to access huge amount raeding materials (Sturdridge, 1997; sheerin, 1997). Brandl (2002) investigated the ways of exploration of authentic reading materials on the World Wide Web and found out that there are a lot of possibilities of integrating online reading resources into reading classes whereby higher motivation, more effective and faster reading comprehension can be attained.

The statements above make the researcher interested in using the rich and authentic data source in order to make teaching and learning reading for comprehension more challenging.
Students in online communities, social networking, web conferencing, and interactive problem solving are facilitated, not only by the presence of computers and software, but also by consciously redesigning the context of learning so that technology provides more opportunities for students to achieve goals of collaboration, communication and active learning . Technology integration can be demonstrated in various ways: through the use of the Internet for instruction; interactive activities that are web based; uses of web and other computer based projects that may be outcomes of student initiatives and student creativity; word processing; the incorporation of various media, such as digital photography, and media players. Technology when effectively integrated with instruction can thus be argued to improve both the processes and outcomes of teaching and learning.
Descriptive Text
Descriptive texts are types of texts we used in telling how something looks, smells, feels, acts, tastes, sounds, etc. The texts used as description can be an important part of most other types of writing.

Relevant Studies
PALA (2007) did a research under the title ‘Teaching listening and reading comprehension in Turkish using web based materials’. He concluded that by using web based materials in teaching listening and reading comprehension significantly improve students’ motivation. So that, whereas the researcher himself tended to use web based material in motivating students in practicing their skills of reading comprehension that was hoped could increase students ability and frequency in reading comprehension.

Conceptual Framework
The researcher assumes that the students’ motivation in practicing reading comprehension is influenced by the material used for teaching, while lack of practicing make them get difficulties in comprehending reading materials. The assumptions are based on researcher’s experience, observation, discussion with some teachers, and interview with some students. Based on the problems and tendencies and supported by relevant and strong theories, the researcher assumes that using web reading materials is an appropriate way to increase the students’ motivation in practicing reading comprehension. So, the researcher plans to do research based on the framework bellows:
















RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Types of the reasearch
This research was a classroom action research. Based on Mills (2003: 5) Action research is any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher, principles, school counselor, and any other stakeholders in the teaching and learning environment to gather information about how their particular school operate, how they teach, and how well their students learn. Thus, the main reason for teachers engaging in action research is to learn and improve their own teaching activities. Doing action research can lead the teachers to re-examine their practice and alter their taken-for-granted beliefs and understandings (Gay & Airasian, 2000: 593).
This action research was a cyclical process. Each cycle consisted of several stages. Kemis and Robert (1988) develop a model known as the action research spiral. Every cycle has four steps: planning, doing action, observing, and reflecting or evaluating.
The activities that the researcher planned to motivate the students’ in expressing practicing reading for comprehension were divided into three phases namely pre-reading, whilst-reading, and post-reading.
1) Arising students’ interest, activating students’ schemata related to descriptive text, helping students in vocabulary and language function, and helping students in internet operation are the objectives of pre-reading.
2) Practicing skimming, scanning, and reading for details are belonging to whilst-reading.
3) Reflecting and retelling what have been read are the objectives of post-reading.

In cycle II, the researcher revised the plan in order to get better result based on the data analyses of cycle I.

Setting and Participants of the research
This research had been done at SMA Negeri 3 Kota jambi which is located at about 3 kilometers from the center of Jambi town. The participants of this research were the first year students of SMA NEGERI 3 Jambi. The research participants were the students of class X.1. This class was chosen because the researcher found the problems of motivation in practicing reading comprehension in this class.

Instrumentation
Since it was Classroom Action Research, the researcher was the key instrument. He involved in every steps to collect the data in the three cycles. He was helped by a teacher to do the action in the classroom while the researcher did observation. For the next, the researcher himself used three kinds of instruments:
1. Researcher and teacher’s field-note
2. Observation of interaction which was observed by the researcher himself to collect data to make diagnoses about the problems found in the teaching, while another teacher helped the researcher do the action.
3. Interview to know about what happen in the teaching and learning process and how they think about their development after the action held.
Finally, the data collected were evaluated and reflected by the team and made any revised plans for the next cycle.

Techniques of Data Collection
The researcher and the teacher by wrote field notes, the researcher did direct observation to find out what happen in the class during the process of teaching and leaning reading comprehension. Directly after the process of interaction the students were asked to give their views related to the material given, through written interviews.

Techniques of Data Analysis
To see whether teaching reading comprehension by using web based materials was beneficial, inductive analysis was used in analyzing data, Johnson (2005), inductive analysis is used to look at the group of data and try to induce or create order by organizing into group or defining and describing categories such as items, themes, or patterns
In addition, Mills (2003, p.116), states that the interpretation of research findings can be analyzed by connecting findings with the personal experiences, seeking the advice of critical friends, and turning the theory.

FINDINGS
1. The researcher concluded that all of the students are well motivated in practicing reading comprehension through internet reading material.
2. The students downloaded the materials that met their attention and it affected well to their motivation.
3. The students downloaded material which was at their level or a little bit above their level of understanding
4. Some of the students thought that the teacher explanation about the aims and beneficial of using internet was not enough
5. Most of the students have problems in internet operating system,
6. Most of the students are not familiar with the terms used in browsing and in downloading material.

Based on the data collected through field-note, observation of interaction, and students’ interview in this second cycle, the researcher concluded that web-based reading materials supported by well designed activities were very helpful to improve students’ motivation in practicing reading comprehension.

DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
Based on the result of cycle I There were some activities that need to be revised and in pre-reading. It was seen in explaining the objective of using internet reading materials instead of text-books and also in helping the students in internet operating system, the teacher was not so successful, but he was successful in activating students’ background knowledge related to the descriptive text. That was why the researcher designed more effective activities in cycle II based on the result of the first cycle. The result of cycle II was so significance based on the researcher’s field-note. The findings were also supported by the result of observation of interaction, and the students’ interview. The researcher also found that there are close relations between media used and the activities done during teaching and learning process, suitable media and supported by careful design of activities would improve students’ motivation in practicing reading comprehension. The result improved significantly in the cycle II after improving some activities and clear objectives using the media.
The two cycles which were held in nine weeks to know to what extend internet reading materials could motivate students in practicing reading comprehension are significantly successful. It was related to the statement of PALA (2007), that by using web based materials in teaching listening and reading comprehension significantly improves students’ motivation.
LIMITATION OF ONLINE READING
Like any other technology utilized in education computer/ internet has some pitfalls; high cost of equipment and software, lack of reliability and validity of online materials, technical problems such as speed and accuracy, technical support for programs, etc. Moreover, computers are no more than machines and they fall short in situation where judgment is called for.

CONCLUSIONS, SUGGESTION
Teaching and learning reading comprehension using internet reading materials in order to improve students’ motivation in practicing reading for comprehension at SMA Negeri 3 Jambi can be concluded as the following:
1. Teaching and learning reading comprehension using reading material taken from internet is very good in motivating the students to practice reading comprehension
2. The students were motivated because they were free to choose materials that meet their interest
3. The students may choose material that is at or a little bit above their level, so they felt unburdened
4. Brilliant students can practice more than one reading material because they can finish their assignment earlier than their friends
5. Media used and activities done in pre-reading have strong influence in achieving the objective of teaching and learning reading comprehension

Suggestions
Based on the result of the research, it could be suggested as the following:
1. Reading onlines are very helpful to solve students’ problems in motivation of practicing reading for comprehension. So, it is suggested to the other teachers to implement the same thing in the same context
2. The teacher should be more creative in designing activities to be done for the teaching and learning reading comprehension.
3. Collaborate with other teachers will be more effective in discussing and preparing for the lesson

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