By Endah Ismiati
English language
is a mandatory course for senior high school student. It is also one of the
test subjects 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 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 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.
