Improving the Students’ Reading Comprehension through Semantic Webbing
Strategy.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
In learning
English, there are four skills we must study. They are listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Reading' is a complex cognitive
process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning (reading comprehension) and/or constructing
meaning. It is the mastery of basic cognitive processes to the point where they
are automatic so that attention is freed for the analysis of meaning. Reading
is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of
sharing information
and ideas. Like all language, it is a complex interaction between the
text and the reader which is shaped by the reader’s prior knowledge, experiences,
attitude, and language community which is culturally and socially situated. The
reading process requires continuous practices, development, and refinement. Readers
use a variety of reading strategies to assist with decoding (to translate
symbols into sounds or visual representations of speech) and
comprehension. Readers may use morpheme, semantics, syntax and context clues to identify the meaning of unknown
words.
Readers integrate
the words they have read into their existing framework of knowledge or schema (schemata
theory). Other types of reading are not speech based writing
systems, such as music notation
or pictograms.
The common link is the interpretation of symbols to
extract the meaning from the visual notations. Reading is complex process.
Teaching reading material to the students can be obtained from many sources.
Those that magazines, articles and tourist brochures
Students must
assimilate the information read into their own schemata to facilitate long-term
memory. Isolated and unconnected pieces of information easily fade from memory,
but post reading activities provide the glue to make a cohesive picture of what
is read. Semantic Webbing organizes information and relationships in a visual
display (Freedman. G. and Reynolds. E. 1980: 677). It assists in reading
comprehension and concept attainment and in the setting of purpose for reading
through prediction and used as a tool for prediction in a story,
with continued reading to verify or disprove points raised. It can follow
a story to chart character or plot analysis. It assists in clarifying
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