Lusi Marleni, M.Pd: 2016

LUSI MARLENI

English Study Program, STKIP Pahlawan Tuanku Tambusai

lusimarlenihz@gmail.com

Abstrak: Pemahaman mahasiswa dalam membaca dapat diukur dengan menggunakan tes. Salah satu tes yang dapat digunakan dengan melengkapi teks rumpang. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian deskriptif yang memiliki satu variable yakni kemampuan mahasiswa semester empat Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris FKIP Universitas Riau dalam melengkapi teks rumpang. Haisil analisa data menunjukkan nilai rata-rata mahasiswa dalam melengkapi teks rumpang adalah 58.7. Hal ini menyatakan bahwa kemampuan mahasiswa semester empat FKIP Universitas Riau adalah pada level mediocre dan (23 mahasiswa atau 62.2%) pada level good.

Abstract:

The students’ reading comprehension can be measured by test. One of them is by giving the consisting of blanks for completion in items following the text, or a summary cloze test. This research is a descriptive research which has one variable that is to study the ability of the fourth semester students of English Study Program of FKIP of University of Riau in providing word(s) to complete a text. After analyzing the data of the students’ ability in providing word(s) to complete a text, the writer comes to the conclusions that the mean score of students is 58.7. It means that the level of ability of the fourth semester students of English Study Program of FKIP of University of Riau in providing words to complete a text is in mediocre level and most of them (23 out of students or 62.2%) are in good level.

Keywords: Words, Providing, Ability, Text, Reading IV

Introduction

Reading is an aspect that is inseparable in teaching and learning English. Lecturers, teachers and students use reading skill in their teaching and learning activity. When teachers and lecturers give a written test to the students, they have to read the test before they give it to their students. Then, the students will read the test before answering the test. They should understand the information in the text by using their reading skills.

Elizabeth (2003:6) states that reading is about understanding a written text, which is a complex activity that involves perception and thought. According to Hornby (1995:968), reading is a writer’s way in which something is interpreted and understood. In this case, readers can understand and comprehend something, knowledge or problem in this life through reading activity.

According to Jeremy (1998: 68), people have their own reasons in reading a text, especially English text. Many of them want to be able to read English text for their study, for their profession, or only for pleasure. Students have to read a text for their study. They can get useful information in the text. On the other hand, teachers read an English text too. They have to update the information especially in education world.

Some tests can be used to measure the reading comprehension of the students. They are the answering questions based on the text, finding the main idea of a paragraph or a passage, etc. Another test that can be used to measure the ability of students in finding the information quickly and accurately is by giving the consisting of blanks for completion in items following the text, or a summary cloze test, Hughes (1989:122), Heaton (1988:106). The students provide word(s) to complete a text based on the longer text.

The consisting of blanks for completion in items following the text, or a summary cloze test is a text with some deleted words. The incomplete texts are the summary of longer texts. The students are asked to provide correct word(s) to complete the text. In providing word(s) to complete the text, students are given a longer text. There are no choices, but they can find the words which are suitable in completing the idea of the written by reading the longer text, Hughes (1989: 70).

Word is very important in a language. According to Hornby (1995:1374), word is a group of sounds that expresses a meaning and forms an independent unit of language. In this case, word is a unit language that has meaning.

Words are divided into eight classes in the list below:

1. Nouns

According to Dhanny (2000:206), noun is word that is used to identify person or thing. There are two kinds of noun. They are in the list below:

a. One word noun

There are four kinds of noun; they are common noun, proper noun, material noun, collective noun.

b. Noun phrase

Noun phrase is a phrase or a group of word without a verb whose function in a sentence is equivalent to that of a noun.

2. Adjectives

Adjective is a word to describe noun and can be used in front of noun.

3. Adverbs

Adverb is a word to describe an accident or activity.

4. Verbs

Verb is a word or phrase indicating an action, an event, a state.

5. Conjunctions

Conjunction is a word or a phrase which is used to combine or connect noun, verb, adverb and adjective to show the idea of a sentence.

6. Article

There are two kind of article. They are definite article, such as the. And indefinite article, such as “a and an”

7. Pronouns

Pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a single noun or noun phrase. Pronoun can be divided in to:

a. Personal pronouns stand in place of the names of people or things

b. Possessive pronouns are used to indicate possession or ownership

c. Demonstrative pronouns distinguish the particular objects or people that are referred to from other possible candidates. English example: I'll take these.

d. Indefinite pronouns refer to general categories of people or things. English example: Anyone can do that.

e. Relative pronouns refer back to people or things previously mentioned. English example: People who smoke should quit now.

f. Interrogative pronouns ask which person or thing is meant. English example: Who did that?

8. Preposition

Preposition is a word which is used before noun or pronoun to show place, position, time or method.

2.1 Providing Words to Complete a Missing Idea

Both teachers and lecturers use a test in measuring the ability of their students. They can use written and oral tests. In reading, especially reading comprehension, there are many reading comprehension tests that can be used by English teachers and lecturers in measuring the reading comprehension of their students. Both of them can use a written test. Heaton, (1988: 105) states that the tests that can be used to measure the reading comprehension of students are answering questions based on the text, rearranging items and providing word to complete a text by using completion test.

Providing words to complete a text is useful in developing the reading skill of students. It can be used to measure the ability of students in comprehending an English text. According to Heaton (1988: 124) states that the test that is used in providing words to complete a text is done by completion items that require the learner to supply a word or phrase in the incomplete text. He divides the completion item into two types. They are in the list below;

1. Consisting of blanks for completion in items following the text.

2. Consisting of blanks in the text itself.

We will focus more fully on the consisting of blanks for completion in items following the text or according to Hughes (1989:122), it is also called the summary cloze test which is suitable to measure the ability of students in comprehending a text. There is a short text with the blanks on it. Heaton (1988:131) and Hughes (1989: 56), say that the words that are deleted in the test are the grammar and the vocabulary items. Especially in reading, the texts are the summary of the longer text. In this case, the longer text is provided before the summary. The students should fill the blanks with correct word to complete the text based on the longer text, (Djiwandono, 2002: 107), Hughes (1989: 123).

According to Hughes, (1989:143), in constructing the grammar items, the important thing that is to be clear about what each item is testing. There may be just one element such as definite article, relative pronoun, etc. If two elements are being tested in an item such as relative conjunction, “neither_______nor__”, students should full control to the structure that is used. The test that is used allows the tester to elicit specific structures such as testing interrogative forms, testing definite article, testing conjunction, etc.

In the other hand, in constructing the vocabulary items, according to Heaton (1988:63), a degree of comprehension is necessary before each of the blanks can be completed. The items suffer from testing lexical items from different word classes. It is so much more efficient to test words from the same word classes, example noun only which rely on single words or on definition. For example; snake is an ________(animal). It is one of the ____________________ (dominant groups of reptile).

Based on the title of this research and the level of the students who read English text with complex and compound sentences, the writer took both the vocabulary items and grammar items as the blanks selected, the vocabulary items are noun and compound noun as the vocabulary items, and the grammar items are conjunction and relative pronoun those are used to be tested to the fourth semester students of English Study Program FKIP UNRI.

2.2 Teaching Reading Comprehension at English Study Program FKIP UNRI

Teaching reading at English Study Program FKIP UNRI is very important. As university students, the students of English Study Program FKIP UNRI should be familiar with reading. They do not only learn to read a text, but they read to learn to get information from the text. They are concerned in reading to get the reading comprehension. According to McNeil (1980: 229), the upper grades reading teaching should be change from learning to read to reading to learn. They focus on getting information from the text they are reading.

English Study Program FKIP UNRI provides Reading subject, they are divided in four level. Reading I (one), Reading II (two), Reading III (three), and Reading IV (four). Each reading levels provides different level of reading ability.

1. In Reading I (one), the students read a simple reading with lowest knowledge level.

2. In the Reading II (two), the students learn to read and understand texts with exercises in reading quickly.

3. In the Reading III (three), the students learn to read and understand text with higher level of difficulty.

4. In reading IV (four), the students read and understand text with higher level of difficulty. The texts are from various topics.

(The information from FKIP guide book 2007/2008).

In getting the reading comprehension, the students are introduced to some reading strategies and skills such as scanning and skimming and other strategies in reading text. They get some exercises in the reading class. The exercises are recalling facts in the text, answering the question based on the text, filling the uncompleted text with essential words and other exercises. They are used to measure the ability of the students in comprehending an English text (The information taken from IC Reading book and developing reading skills book)

In reading class, students get some advantages such as developing the vocabulary of the students and getting useful information from the text. They can find word(s) to complete an incomplete text and find the meaning of the unknown words. In conclusion, the vocabulary skill can be required in a reading text, McNeil, (1980: 170). In reading for detailed comprehension, the students are looking for the detailed comprehension or the information in text. They can get information that they need. It must be seen as something different in reading. In this case, the student must concentrate on the text they are reading.

Method

This is a descriptive research. According to Gay (2000:276), the descriptive research involves identifying the problem, selecting the participants, collecting valid and reliable data and analyzing and reporting the conclusion to answer question concerning the current status of the subject of the study. This research has one variable that is to study the ability of the fourth semester students of English Study Program FKIP UNRI in providing word(s) to complete a text.

Finding and Discussion

The data was obtained and were statistically analyzed. The test consists of 40 items which are given to the class A, the fourth semester students of FKIP UNRI as the sample of the research. From the result of the test, the data shows that the highest score is 95 and the lowest is 22.5.

1. The Students’ Ability In Providing Grammar Items

The Students’ Ability in Providing Grammar Items can be seen in the following table:

Table 1. The Students’ ability in providing grammar items

The score	Frequency	Percentage	Category
81-100	2	5.4%	Excellent
61-80	15	40.5%	Good
41-60	11	29.7%	Mediocre
21-40	7	18.9%	Poor
00 - 20	2	5.4%	Very poor

From the table above, it can be seen that 2 out of the 37 students (5.4%) are at the excellent level, 15 out of the students (40.5%) are at good level, 11 out of the students (29.7%) are at mediocre level, 7 out of the students (18.9%) are at poor level, and 2 out of students (5.4%) are at very poor level. In this case, the most students are in at good level

2. The Students’ Ability in Providing Conjunction

The Students’ Ability in Providing Conjunction can be seen in the following table:

Table 2

The score	Frequency	Percentage	Category
81-100	3	8.2%	Excellent
61-80	15	40.5%	Good
41-60	9	24.3%	Mediocre
21-40	6	16.2%	Poor
00 - 20	4	10.8%	Very poor

From the table above, it can be seen that 3 out of the 37 students (8.2%) are at the excellent level, 15 out of the students (40.5%) are at good level, 9 out of the students (24.3%) are at mediocre level, 6 out of the students (16..2%) are at poor level, and 4 out of students (10.8%) are at very poor level. In this case, the most students are in at good level.

3. The Students’ Ability in Providing Relative Pronoun

The Students’ Ability in Providing Relative Pronoun can be seen in the following table:

Table 3

The score	Frequency	Percentage	Category
81-100	4	10.8%	Excellent
61-80	11	29.7%	Good
41-60	13	35.1%	Mediocre
21-40	4	10.8%	Poor
00 - 20	5	13.6%	Very poor

From the table above, it can be seen that 4 out of the 37 students (10.8%) are at the excellent level, 11 out of the students (29.7%) are at good level, 13 out of the students (35.1%) are at mediocre level, 4 out of the students (10.82%) are at poor level, and 5 out of students (13.6%) are at very poor level. In this case, the most students are in at mediocre level

4. The Students’ Ability in Providing Vocabulary Items

The Students’ ability in providing vocabulary items can be seen in the following table:

Table 9. The Students’ ability in providing vocabulary items

The score	Frequency	Percentage	Category
81-100	1	2.8%	Excellent
61-80	18	48.6%	Good
41-60	11	29.7%	Mediocre
21-40	7	18.9%	Poor

From the table above, it can be seen that 1 out of the 37 students (2.8%) are at the excellent level, 18 out of the students (48.6%) are at good level, 11 out of the students (29.7%) are at mediocre level, 7 out of the students (18.9%) are at poor level, and no students is at very poor level. In this case, the most students are in at good level.

5. The Students’ Ability in Providing Noun

The Students’ Ability in Providing Noun can be seen on the table below:

Table 5

The score	Frequency	Percentage	Category
81-100	5	13.5%	Excellent
61-80	14	37.8%	Good
41-60	9	24.4%	Mediocre
21-40	5	13.5%	Poor
00 - 20	4	10.8%	Very poor

From the table above, it can be seen that 5 out of the 37 students (13.5%) are at the excellent level, 14 out of the students (37.8%) are at good level, 9 out of the students (24.4%) are at mediocre level, 5 out of the students (13.5%) are at poor level, and 4 students (10.8%) are at very poor level. In this case, the most students are in at good level

6. The Students’ Ability in Providing Noun Phrase

The students’ ability in providing noun phrase can be seen on the following table:

Table 6

The score	Frequency	Percentage	Category
81-100	2	5.4%	Excellent
61-80	5	13.5%	Good
41-60	25	67.6%	Mediocre
21-40	5	13.5%	Poor
00 - 20	0	0%	Very poor

From the table above, it can be seen that 2 out of the 37 students (5.4%) are at the excellent level, 5 out of the students (13.5%) are at good level, 25 out of the students (67.6%) are at mediocre level, 5 out of the students (13.5%) are at poor level, and no students (0%) is at very poor level. In this case, the most students are in at mediocre level.

7. The Students’ Ability in Providing Word(s) to Complete a Text

The percentage of the students’ ability in providing word(s) to complete a missing idea can be seen on the following table:

Table 7

The score	Frequency	Percentage	Category
81-100	2	5.4%	Excellent
61- 80	23	62.2%	Good
41- 60	4	10.8%	Mediocre
21- 40	8	21.6%	Poor
00 - 20	0	0%	Very poor

From the table above, it can be seen that 2 out of the 37 students (5.4%) are at the excellent level, 23 out of the students (62.2%) are at good level, 4 out of the students (10.8%) are at mediocre level, 8 out of the students (21.6%) are at poor level, and no students was at very poor level. In this case, the most students are in at good level.

a. The Interpretation of the Data Analysis

Based on the findings and the presentation above, the result of the research can be concluded that the mean scores of the four semester students of English Study Program FKIP UNRI in providing word(s) can be seen in the list below:

1. The mean score of students’ ability in providing grammar items is 58.51. It means the ability of the students is in mediocre category.

2. The mean score of students’ ability in providing conjunction is 59.9. It means the ability of the students is in mediocre category.

3. The mean score of students’ ability in providing relative pronoun is 57.6. It means the ability of the students is in mediocre category.

4. The mean score of students’ ability in providing vocabulary items is 58.92. It means the ability of the students is in mediocre category.

5. The mean score of students’ ability in providing noun is 60.3. It means the ability of the students is in mediocre category.

6. The mean score of students’ ability in providing noun phrase is 57. 6. It means the ability of the students is in mediocre category.

7. The mean score of students’ ability in providing words to complete a text is 58.7. It means the ability of the students is in mediocre category.

It can be interpreted that the students’ ability in providing words to complete a text is 58.7. It means that the level of ability of the four semester students of English Study Program FKIP UNRI in providing word(s) to complete a text is in mediocre level. But the most students (23 out of students or 62.2%) are in good level.

Conclusion

This study is a descriptive research which has been setting out to examine the ability of the fourth semester students in providing word(s) to complete a text. After analyzing the data of the students’ ability in providing word(s) to complete a text, the writer comes to the conclusions below;

The mean score of students is 58.7. It means that the level of ability of the fourth semester students of English Study Program FKIP UNRI in providing words to complete a text is in mediocre level and most of them (23 out of students or 62.2%) are in good level.

Suggestion

Based on the result of the research, the writer can offer some suggestions; the students should improve their ability in reading comprehension. They should focus on the text they are reading and read more English text. They can use the consisting of blanks for completion in items following the text or summary cloze to improve their reading skill.

Note: This article was written by the writer at English Study Program of Teachers Training and Education Faculty of University of Riau guided by Prof. Dr. Fakhri Raz, M.Ed. and Dra. Syofia Delfi, M.Pd.

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Lusi Marleni, M.Pd

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