English language
is a mandatory course for senior high school student. It is also one of the
test subject for state-owned higher learning selection examination. To pass the
final school test, therefore a student has to master English well. Likewise, if
he/she wants to succeed the nationally sanctioned state higher learning
selection test, a good command of English is a necessary requirement. English language mastery requires that a
student has to become proficient at reading comprehension skill. Reading comprehension is most important
aspect of language skill acquisition. To measure whether a student proficient
or not in English command, reading comprehension skills is the common
denominator student’s academic performance. Of the four language skills acquisition,
reading comprehension is the most common criteria to evaluate student’s English
language mastery. Reading skills therefore, is put at English language teaching
top priority.
According
to Urquhart and Weir (1998), reading comprehension is the process by which
readers use their cognitive abilities to help them understand a written text.
These cognitive abilities in reading are composed of two skills, language
comprehension and language decoding. A reader needs to use these cognitive
abilities to comprehend the meaning of a text and the intent of its author
since different reading materials convey different kinds of information. To
better reading comprehension skills, readers must possess the background
knowledge that is relevant to what they are reading as the reading process
involves the prior knowledge that the readers possess, the strategies they use,
and the attitude toward reading they have. Additionally, language decoding
involve a step in which a reader pronounces the written words correctly and
quickly. This step is an important cognitive element for reading comprehension,
one that leads the readers to recognize and process a written text. When
readers encounter words that are frequently used, they become familiar with
them, and word decoding is developed during this process. The ability to decode
a written text also involves guessing unfamiliar words from their context
(Hirsch, 2003; Wren, 2001).
Comprehension
is an ability to get the meaning of something that cannot be observed or
measured directly (Rubin, 1993). Comprehension involves thinking, and as there
are various levels in the hierarchy of thinking, so are there various levels of
comprehension. Higher levels of comprehension would obviously include higher
levels of thinking. Smith (1969) explained that comprehension skills involve
literal comprehension, interpretation, critical reading, and creative reading.
Barrett (1993) has tried to categorize reading comprehension into taxonomy.
Barrett’s taxonomy consists of four levels: literal comprehension, inferential
comprehension, evaluation, and appreciation.
Hood
and Soloman, 1985 states that reading for main idea is a skill that requires
carefully reading a text to identify the main point without worrying about
unnecessary details . The main idea is the statement made about the topic which
is supported by details. Therefore, the main idea is directly related to both
the topic and the details in the paragraph. The main idea of a paragraph is the
central thought of the paragraph and what the paragraph is about. Without a
main idea, the paragraph would just be a confusion of sentences. All the
sentences in the paragraph should develop the main idea. To find the main idea
of a paragraph, a reader must find what common element the sentences share. Some
textbook writers place the main idea at the beginning of a paragraph and may
actually put the topic of the paragraph in bold print in order to emphasize it,
but in literature this is not a common practice.
Reading
for details is a skill that a reader has to get all information of the text
thoroughly (Hood and Soloman, 1985). Readers need to be more careful and slower
assuring that they have correctly understood the massage. While reading a
selection, the first thing students need to do is to find its main idea. The
next important thing is to be able to note and recall details. In order to find
details that support the main idea, the reader should be able to identify which
ideas are more important than the others. The more important details are called
“major details”, and we call the supporting details “minor details.”
Cooperative
learning is one strategy for group instruction which is under the
learner-centered approach. Many
educators give the definitions of cooperative learning:
“Cooperative
learning is an instructional program in which students work in small groups to
help one another master academic content.” (Slavin, 1995)
“Cooperative
learning involves students working together in pairs or groups, and they share
information .They are a team whose players must work together in order to
achieve goals successfully.” (Brown, 1994)
In
addition, Kessler (1992) proposes the definition of cooperative learning
particularly in language learning context:
“Cooperative
learning is a within-class grouping of students usually of differing levels of
second language proficiency, who learn to work together on specific tasks or
projects in such a way that all students in the group benefit from the
interactive experience.”
According
to Johnson (2005), cooperation is not assigning a job to a group of students
where one student does all the work and the others put their names on the
paper. It is not having students sit side by side at the same table to talk
with each other as they do their individual assignments as well. It is not
having students do a task individually with instructions that the ones who
finish first are to help the slower students. On the contrary, cooperative
learning is a teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of
different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve
their under-standing of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not
only for learning what is being taught but also for helping teammates learn,
thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the
assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it.
The
first requirement for an effectively structured cooperative learning
environment is that students believe they “sink” or swim together (Johnson,
Johnson & Stanne, 2000) That is, cooperation occurs only when students
perceive that the success of one depends on the success of the other. Whatever
task students are given to perform, each group member must feel that his or her
contribution is necessary for the group’s success. Students have to learn to
work together in order to accomplish tasks. This is why learning task must be
designed in a way that makes them believe, “they sink or swim together.”
Through the assigned material, students learn to achieve the goal. Therefore, a
number of ways of structuring positive interdependence are carried out such as
reward, resources, or task responsibilities to supplement goal interdependence. The second element of cooperative
learning requires face-to-face interaction among students within which they
promote each other’s learning and success. Johnson (2005) suggests that it is
necessary to maximize the opportunities for them to help, support, encourage,
and praise each other. Such encouraging interaction helps to promote the
following: a). Orally explaining how to solve problems; b). Teaching one’s
knowledge to other; c). Checking for understanding; d). Discussing concepts
being learned; e). Connecting present with past learning.
The
third element is individual accountability. It
exists when the performance of each individual student is assessed, and
the results are given back to the groups. Therefore, the group knows who needs
more assistance, support, and encouragement in completing the job. Johnson
& Johnson (1991) suggest some common ways to structure individual
accountability. These include giving an individual test to each student,
randomly selecting one student to represent the entire group, or having
students teach what they have learned to someone else.
Jigsaw
technique refers to an activity that allows a small group of students to work
together in order to maximize their own and each other’s learning. The process
of activity includes five major steps which are reading, expert-group
discussion, team report test, and team recognition (Slavin, 1995). The key to
jigsaw is interdependence: every student depends on his or her teammates to
provide the information needed to do well on the assessments. In Jigsaw
technique, students work in small teams, composed of four or five students who
represent a cross-section of the class in terms of academic performance, sex,
and race or ethnicity. The team should also have a high performer, a low
performer, and two average performers. The students are assigned chapters or
other units to read, and are given “expert sheets” that contain different
topics for each team member to focus on when reading. When everyone has
finished reading, students from different teams with the same topic meet in an
“expert group” to discuss their topic for about thirty minutes. The experts
then return to their teams and take turns teaching their teammates about their
topic. Finally, students take assessments that cover all the topics, and the
quiz scores become team scores. Also the scores that students contribute to
their teams are based on the individual improvement score system, so students
are motivated to study the material well and to work hard in their expert
groups so that they can help their team do well.
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