What did They
Say about Their Reading Materials?
(Sebuah Investigasi Mengenai Kesulitan yang dihadapi
Siswa Kelas Satu SMP dalam Membaca Teks Deskriptif Berbahasa Inggris)
Alma Prisilya
English Education, School of Postgraduate Studies, Indonesia University of Education
Abstract
Reading is one of language skills, but the lack of Indonesian
students’ proficiencies in reading; and/ or understanding the reading material
this time is being public concern. The data from PISA showed that Indonesia is
in 57th place out of 65 countries in terms of its reading
proficiency. The failure of students in understanding the reading materials is
not fully their faults, moreover that they are expected to read foreign
language (English); textbook or e-book. So, it is important for them to
understand the English reading materials to support their reading spirits. This
study aims to investigate the problems facing by students in reading English
descriptive texts and their efforts to overcome those problems. This study
applies qualitative method; using observation and open- ended questionnaire as
the instruments. The result of this study shows that level of difficulty of the
texts is causing difficulties in reading, as well as the illustration of the
texts (pictures) at some point is not clear enough. Students’ reading frequency
also becomes their problem. They solve the problems by making group or pair
work, asking for help, looking up their dictionary, and repeating to read the
text.
Keywords: problems,
reading, descriptive text, English
*Copyright Alma, 2014
*Copyright Alma, 2014
