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 notationor 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 opinions and ?????
EmoticonEmoticon