English Departement College of Teacher Training and Education (STKIP) PGRI West Sumatera Abstrak

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1 TEACHING READING BY COMBINING SAVE THE LAST WORD FOR ME AND MAKING TEXT CONNECTIONS STRATEGY AT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL Oleh: Torkis Dibimbing oleh : Hevriani Sevrika, M.Pd English Departement College of Teacher Training and Education (STKIP) PGRI West Sumatera Abstrak Bahasa Inggris adalah subjek yang harus dipelajari di Indonesia sejak sekolah dasar sampai perguruan tinggi. Walaupun bahasa Inggris telah dipelajari bertahun-tahun, tapi para siswa masih memiliki kesulitan khususnya dalam reading. Diantara kesulitan itu adalah kesulitan dalam menemukan topik, ide pokok, dan informasi tertentu, kesulitan dalam menghubungkan isi teks dengan pengetahuan mereka, dan pengetahuan yang minim tentang pemahaman isi teks. Oleh karena itu, guru harus bisa menemukan strategi yang menarik dalam proses belajar mengajar sehingga membuat para siswa senang dan tertarik untuk belajar bahasa Inggris dan mampu dalam melakukan aktivitas reading. Makalah ini membahas bagaimana mengajarkan reading dengan menggunakan dua strategi yaitu Save the Last Word for Me dan Making Text Connections. Save the last word for me adalah salah satu strategi yang dapat digunakan untuk mengembangkan kemampuan dalam pemahaman reading siswa. Dalam penerapan strategi ini, para siswa dibimbing untuk memahami sebuah teks, kemudian guru meminta siswa mengomentari pendapat penulis atau mempertanyakan ide penulis. Kemudian siswa tersebut akan mendiskusikan pendapat atau opini degan teman kelompoknya. Dengan begitu, semua siswa dapat memahami isi teks yang telah mereka baca. Making text connection adalah salah satu strategi yang dapat digunakan untuk mengembangkan kemampuan reading. Strategi ini merupakan strategi yang tepat untuk membantu para siswa memahami teks dan dapat mengatasi kesulitan mereka dalam memahami teks bacaan. Strategi ini membimbing siswa untuk memahami teks dengan baik, karena dalam strategi ini, siswa dapat menghubungkan isi teks yang mereka baca dengan diri mereka sendiri, dengan teks yang pernah mereka baca dan dengan hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan dunia luar. Maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa penggabungan dua strategi ini dalam pengajaran reading dapat meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam memahami sebuah teks dan menambah kemampuan berfikir siswa. Key words : Save the Last Word for Me and Making Connection Strategy, Teaching Reading Introduction Reading is an important skill that is taught by an English teacher. By reading, the readers can have a lot of information, message, and some points of understanding for enriching their knowledge. While reading is a medium for students to get

2 knowledge, it is also useful for adding their sight of many things, such as: for entertaining, for finding good news, even ideas in the reading itself. Particularly, reading can be said as an activity which is done for getting an understanding of a certain passage. By doing reading, the students can understand the information in their reading text. In other words, reading also be done to enlarge knowledge about everything for the students. Thus, an English teacher has responsibility to make the students have good ability in reading because it is useful for their knowledge field and their environment of learning. In the School Based Curiculum (SBC) Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan curriculum (2006) for the second grade senior high school, the students should acquire reading activity in classroom to learn about many texts which have covered in genre of text. It is also mentioned that students are demanded to be able to improve their reading ability and also study about the structure of the texts. Based on this passage, the students must be able to achieve reading as its function for them. Unfortunately, when the writer held practice teaching at a Senior High School, the writer found that the students had some difficulties in reading. First, they had lack of vocabularies, it is caused by the students did not understand what was the text about. Second, they got a trouble in defining particular information of the texts, such as: topic, main idea, and other information of the texts. Third, they were not able to conclude what did the text talk about, so they could not tell the general information of the text. In addition, the teacher still applied an old monotonous strategy, such as: translation method, in which the students just translated the text without understanding. It made that the students were bored in learning reading. Therefore, the motivation of the students for reading is low. There are many strategies which can be combined by the teacher to teach reading, first, Save the Last Word for Me strategy. This strategy helps the students to process an essential understanding of a text and get the most important word from the text. The second strategy is Probable Passage strategy. Probable passage strategy is included learning reading through prediction, discussion, and writing. This strategy has complete activity to integrate reading into writing form. Third, Partner Prediction strategy, this is a strategy which provides students to predict the events which might be happen in the text with their partner. It

3 activates students creative in thinking in predicting the possible even which may existed in the text before reading the text completely and create their interaction of partnership. Finally, Making Text Connection strategy, it is a srategy which can activate the student thought for connecting the information of the text with themselves, another text, and the world. By combining two or more strategies in teaching reading, the teacher can improve students ability in reading. Especially, the combination of two strategies is done for reaching the goal of reading and improving motivation for reading. Review of Related Literature In the cases, reading is means as an activity which is done to adopt the information existed in a certain text. According to Wallace (1992:2), reading refers to an interpretation the meaning of a written text as a form of communication between the readers and the written text itself. Beside that, Nunan (2003:6 8) proposes that reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning. Also, Seyler (2004:3) says that reading is a process to obtain and construct the meaning or a comprehension based on words existed in the reading text. Then, Linse (2005:69) adds that reading is a set of processes which involves the readers skills in creating sense or desire and deriving meaning from printed words. The definition tells us that reading as same with the printed words. In the definiton is talked that reading is a series of activities which is done to get meaning from the text. Teaching Reading In teaching reading, there many important aspects which must be attended. In order to get what we want, teaching reading includes potentially interesting ways to be taught. Nunan (2003:74-75) states that there are some activities which must be done by the teachers for making the students to read in their classrooms. a. The teacher explores the students background knowledge of reading.

4 b. The teacher prepare the students to build their vocabularies. c. The teacher helps the students to get the comprehension of the text which they read. d. In reading, the teacher also must help the students to increase the students reading rate. e. The teacher makes the students reading by using good strategies. f. The teacher also encourages students to transform strategies into skills. g. The teacher needs to do an assessment and evaluation in the teaching reading. h. Finally, the teacher leads the students to have continuous improvement in his/her teaching reading. Moreover, Linse (2005:71) states that teaching students how to derive as well as analyze and synthesize what they have read is an essential part of the reading process. Furthermore, Hedge (2008:205) notes that there are some goals which must be reached by the teacher in teaching reading. Fisrt, the teacher should make the students are able to read a range of texts in English. Second, the teacher should make the students can adapt reading style according to range of purposes and apply different strategie (e.g. skimming, scanning) as appropriate. Third, the teacher has to make the students build the knowedge of the language which will facilitate development of students reading ability. Fourth, the teacher must be able to guide the students in developing awareness of the structure of the text in reading. Finally, the teacher must lead the students to take critical stance to the content of the text. Save the Last Word for Me Strategy There are some experts who give definitions of save the last word for me strategy. McLaughin and Mary (2002:123) state that save the last word for me is a strategy which provides the the structure to discuss the information and ideas in the text;

5 to make the connections to and evaluations of the information presented in the text. Beside that, Crawford et al (2005:99) states that Save The Last Word For Me strategy guides the students to make the connection between a text and another text. After that, Stone (2009:1 02) also give the definition that Save the Last Word for Me strategy is a strategy in which allows the students for deeper understanding of the text. Stone also adds his idea that the students can get infromation of the text and share it. Then, continuously, Rasinski and Padak in Brunner (2011:85) also states that Save the Last Word for Me strategy is made to enhance students understanding of text material, as well as to foster group interaction and problem solving. Procedure of Save the Last Word for Me Strategy According to Brunner (2011:85) states that the procedures of save the last word for me strategy are: a. The teacher divides the students to sit in some groups. Each group will consist of three students. b. The teacher asks students to read all or part of the text silently. c. The teacher guides the students to use a piece of paper, then instructs them to state agreement/disagreement with the author and gives them some questions while they are reading. d. The teacher has the students discuss the text with their group. Each member of the group should select a comment or question from the notecard to be discussed. e. The teacher asks the students to react to the comment or question by sharing opinion or agreement/disagreement about the material. f. The teacher asks the students to have last word by summarizing the discussion or by offering his or her own opinion. It is based on the comment or

6 agreement/disagreement which they have gotten. Making Text Connection Strategy According to Cappellini (2005:67), making text connection is a strategy for students to learn their reading with another reading. Then, Guinning (2010:4) states that making text connection depends on students comprehension of the text and its connection to their own lives. Students make three connections in doing the strategy: text to text, text to self and text to world. Moreover, Harvey and Anne (2007:133) state that making text connection is a strategy that provides students with an understanding of what the students read. Then, Nettles and Holly (2010:76) explains that making text connections is a strategy which personalizes the connection between the readers and their experience. In the strategy, the students experiences is an important aspect which delivers the meaning of the strategy to the students. The Procedures of Making Text Connection Strategy According to Keene and Zimmermann (2007:252), mention five steps should be done by the learners in following making text connection strategy. The steps are : 1. The teacher reads a short text to the class that interests to the students and discuss the connection of text to self, text to world, and text to text connections. 2. Then, the teacher guides the students to understand the kinds of connection and ask them to state and record these connections on whiteboard underneath the appropriate column heading: text to self connections, text to world connections and text to text connections. 3. After that, the teacher delivers the second text to the students and asks them to repeat the activities above.

7 4. The teacher asks the students to comprehend the second text and make the connection again between the text and themselves, the world, and other texts they have read. 5. When reading and making connection are completed, give students the opportunities to discuss the connections which they have made with their classmates. Discussion The combination procedures of both strategies are: 1. The teacher divide the students into some groups. The groups will consist of three students 2. The teacher asks students to read all or part of the text silently 3. The teacher asks the students to use a piece of paper and leads them to write their opinions and agreement/disagreement with the author and ask them to make the questions about the text which they read. 4. The teacher asks the students to discuss the text content with their group. Each member of the group should select a comment or question from the notecard to be discussed 5. The teacher asks them to response the comment or the question by sharing their opinion or agreement/disagreement 6. The teacher asks the students to share their opinions about the questions or comments then lead them to have last word by getting the summarize from discussion or by offering his or her own opinion. 7. The teacher rereads the text for the students and discuss the connection of the text to self, text to world, and text to text connections. Write these connections on the appropriate column heading: text to self connections, text to world connections and text to text connections. 8. The teacher helps the students to understand the kinds of connections that

8 are possible. Then write the connections using the grid. 9. The teacher gives the students a second the text to be read and make the connections based on it. do for students to get knowledge, it is also useful for adding their sight of many things, such as: for entertaining, for finding good news, even ideas in the reading itself. Particularly, reading can be said as an 10. Then, the students are asked to read the activity which is done for getting an text and make the connections between the text and themselves, the world, and other texts they have read or written. 11. When the reading is completed, the teacher gives students the opportunities to deliver each type of connections. Write it on the board so that all students can see the various types of connections their classmates which they have made. Conclusion Reading is very important point to be learned in English language. Many advantages can be gotten by the students through reading. The crucial function in reading is to make the student have a lot of information, message, and some point of understanding for enriching their knowledge. While reading is an activity to understanding of a certain passage. Therefore, in making the improve of students reading ability the writer combine save the last word for me and making text connection strategy in teaching reading. Thus, the students will be motivated in mastering the process of reading based on steps of combined strategies are given. In addition, teaching reading by combining save the last word for me and making text connection strategy is the way to get the successful result for reading. References Anete, et al Teaching Language Arts to English Language Learners. New York. Routledge. Brunner, Judy Tilton Now I get It. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Inc. Cappellini, Mary Balancing Reading and Language Learning: A Resource for Teaching English Language Learners K-5. Stenhouse Publishers.

9 Crawford, Allan, et al Teaching and Learning Strategies for the Thinking Classroom. New York: International Debate Assosiation Guinning, Thomas G Reading Comprehension Boosters: 100 Lessons for Building Higher-Level Literacy. New York. Jossey-Bass Inc. Harvey, Stephanie and Anne Goudvis Strategies that Works: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding Engagement. Stenhouse Publishers. Keene and Zimmermann Teaching the Dimensions of Literacy. New York. Jossey-Bass Inc. Kendall, Juli and Outey Making Sense: Small-Group Comprehension Lessons for English Language Learners. Stenhouse Publishers. Linse, Caroline T Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners. New York: McGrow Hill Companies. Retrieved on April, 15 th Nettles, Diane and Holly Diehl Strategies to Powerful Comprehension Instruction.London: Shell educational publishing Inc. Nunan, David Practical English Language Teaching. New York: McGraw Hill Companies Inc. Seyler, Dorothy U The Reading Context: Developing College Reading Skill. New York. Pearson Education Inc. Stone, Randi Best Practice for Teaching Reading. New York: Congress Cataloging Publications. Wallace, Catherine Language Teaching: A Scheme for Teacher Education. New York: Oxford University Press. MacLaughin, Maureen and Mary Beth Allen Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8. New York: Congress Cataloging Inc. Mickulecky, Beatrice S Teaching Reading in a Language.