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.
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:
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.
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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