THE CORRELATION BETWEEN
READING RATE AND READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT OF ELEVENTH GRADE
STUDENTS OF STATE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 8 OF PALEMBANG
1. Background
Reading
is one of elements in english that should be master by students english
languange. Reading have many functions in human life such as : every people
will get information, knowledge, news, world progressive and etc. Most
readers, including students senior high school read at the same speed in every different of reading. For example, they spend
the same time when they read different type of materials, such as poetry, textbook, novel,
magazine, newspaper , reference material and nonfiction. Moreover, many readers
spend longer time of reading. They read everything carefully in order to get
high comprehension, i.e. the act of graspin with the mind of ideas, fact, etc.(
New World Dictionary ). This condition makes the students become inefficient
readers because they do not
apply skills that will enable
them to read faster.
Cheek et al., ( 1989 : 150-151 ) proposes
a number of factors that directly make the students become inefficient /
unsuccessful readers. These factors include cognitive experience, sociocultural
factors, experiental background, prior knowledge, interest, purpose of reading,
linguistic experience and reading rate. In this study the reading rate and
reading comprehension achievement become major topics to be discussed. It is
base on the assumption that there will be positive correlation between reading
rate as the independent variable and reading comprehension achivement as dependent
variable of the Eleventh Grade Students Of State Senior High School 8 Of
Palembang. There are some reason why the reasearcher choose State Senior High
School 8 Of Palembang, they are :
a.
The students have less in the reading
b.
The students do not have any technique in the reading
comprehension
c.
The students do not know how fast they can read.
d.
The students get less in the comprehension.
2. Problems
Base on the background above there are
three problems formulated as follows:
- Is there a significant difference between students’ reading rate in scientific text and narrtive text?
- Is there correlation between students’ reading rate and students’ reading comprehension achievement ?
- Does students’ reading rate influence their reading comprehension achievement ?
3. The Objective of the Study
The objectives of this study are ( I ) to
find out whether students’ reading rate in scientific text and narrative text
is the same or not; ( 2 ) to find out whether students’ reading rate is
correlated with their reading comprehension achievement; and ( 3 ) to find out
whether reading rate influences students’ reading comprehension achievement.
4. Hypotheses
1. H0 = There is no significant difference
between students’ reading rate in scientific text and narrative text
H1 = There is significant difference
between students’ reading rate in scientific text and narrative text
2.
Reading rate /RR (WPM)
Reading comprehension Achievment/ RCA

H0 = There is no correlation between
students’ reading and students’ reading comprehension achievement.
H1 = There is correlation between
students’ reading rate and students’ reading comprehension achievement
3. H0 = The correlation between students’
reading rate and student’s reading comprehension achievement is not significant
H1 =
The correlation between students’ reading rate and students’ reading
comprehension achievement is significant.
5. Significance of
the Study
It is expected that the eleventh
grade students of state
senior high school 8 of palembang can increase their reading rate in order
to reduce markedly the time they now require to do necessary reading.
6. Literature Review
In
literature review, the writer discusses (1) reading Comprehension Achievement; (2) Categories Of Reading Comprehension Skills;
(3) Reading Rate; (4) Types of Reading; (5) The Levels of
Reader: (6) How to Conpute Word per Minute (WPM)
6.1 Reading Comprehension Achievement
Reading generally, can be defined as
getting the meaning from the printed page. From this broad definition Rubin (
1993:55-56 ) states that reading is the process in which information from the
text and the knowledge possessed by the reader act together to produce meaning.
Inherent with comprehension she proposed that reading comprehension is a
complex intellectual process involving a number of abilities. The two major
abilities involved word meaning and verbal reasoning. Without word meaning and
verbal reasoning, there would be no reading comprehension; without reading
comprehension, there would be no reading. In relation to achievement, reading
comprehension achievement refers to students’ progress in developing language
skills and it can be measured by answering the reading comprehension tests.
According to Palmer cited in Colley (
1997:114 ) there are three possible outcomes from the comprehension process.
First, the reader may construct an interpretation which matches that intended
by the author. Second, the reader may construct a satisfactory interpretation
of the text which differs from that intended by the author, in which case there
may be ambiguity in the surface ( semantic/syntactic) structure of the text or
the text may be ambigous in the pragmatic sense, i.e. it may be perfectly
plausible in more than one context. Third, the reader may tail to construct an
interpretation of the text. This again may be due to its surface structure or
to the lack of appropriate knowledge ( lexicall or topic related ) on the part
of the reader.
6.2 Categories Of Reading Comprehension Skills
Smith
Cited In Rubin ( 1993:63 ) divides the reading comprehension skill into four
categories. Each category is cumulative in that each builds on the other. The
four comprehension categories are :
first, literal comprehension which represents
the abilty to obtain a low level type of understanding by using only
information axplicitly stated. This category requires a lower level of thinking
skills.
The next
category is interpretation. It
concern with the answer that are not directly stated in the text but are
suggested or implied. To answer questions at the interpretive level. Readers
must have problem solving ability and able to work at various levels or
sbstraction. This category demands a gigher level of thinking ablility.
Obviously, slow learner will have difficulty working at this level.
Critical
reading is the third category. It involves evaluation, the making of a
personal judgements on the accuracy, value, and truthfulness of what is read.
To be able to make judgments, a reader must be able to collect, interpret,
apply, analyze, and synthesis the information. Critical reading includes such
skill as the ability to differentiate between fact and opinion and the ablilty
to differentiate between fantasy and reality.
The last
category is creative reading. Creative
reading uses divergent thinking skills to go beyond literal comprehension,
interpretation, and critical reading levels. In creative reading , the reader tries to come up with
new alternate solution to those presented by the writer.
Moreover,
Barret cited in Dupuis ( 1989:31-32 ) identifies four levels of comprehension.
They are
first, literal recognition/recall ( level 1 ).
This level is considered as the lowest cognitive level because the reader
understand just what the words mean. The information that is stated explicitly
in the text is retrived by the reader in the form given there. Such literal
information may be the main idea, a set of specific details or a sequence of
events.
The next
level is inference ( level 2 ). This
level of comprehension requires the reader to understand the literal
information from level I and go beyond it to hypotheisize about relationship,
unstated ideas and connection between ideas or events. Such inferences are
based upon and can be rererred to the basic information in the text ( the
literal material ). However, infertial comprehension is necessary for
understanding many cause and effect relationship, figurative language,
character development and complex sequence of events.
The third
level is evaluation ( level 3). In
this level the reader is required to make judgements about the reading or to
demonstrate the value placed upon the information. The types of judgements that
can be made about are the “accurancy, acceptability, worth, desirability,
completeness, suitability, timeliness, quality, and truthfulness” of the
selection.
The last
level is appreciation ( level 4 ).
Appreciation relates to the emotional responses of reader to a text. This level
of comprehension refers to the reader’s awerness of the literacy and stylistic
techniques used by an author to encourage a reader’s emotional response. Barret
includes a series of emotional responses, from simple responses to the plot or
theme of reading to sophisticated analyses of imagery and language use
characteristic of a particular author’s style.
6.3 Reading rate
In
the preceding explanation, reading rate is defined as the ability of readers to
speed up their reading in terms of word per minute but it will be meaningless
if it is without comprehension. Spache ( 1981:291 ) proposes that :
Rate of
reading score are relatively meaningless without a related comprehension
measure, for rate should vary from one reading situation to the next according
to the reader’s purposes, attitudes, and reading background; the nature of
content; and the difficulty of the content.
Furthermore,
McWhorter ( 1989:354 ) also states that the factors influence reading rate are
classified into three categories: text characteristics, reader’s
characteristics, and reader’s purpose. Text
characteristics refer to the features of the printed material that
influence how easy or how difficult it is to read. It involves sentence length,
vocabulary complicated ideas and concepts. Reader’s characteristics are the
skill and traits of a person that determine or affect rate and comprehension.
For example, reader’s vocabulary level, reader’s comprehension ability,
reader’s physical state, reader’s state of mind, reader’s interest in the
material, and reader’s background knowledge. The last characteristics is reader’s purpose, that is the reason
material is read and the level of comprehension needed. It will be different
when a reader is reading magazine article for enjoyment, and reading a textbook
to prepare for an exam or the purpose of reading newspaper and reading poem for
English literature class. McWhorter also summarizes the average speed of
reading ( English as a native language ) based on types of reading as follows:
Method of Reading
|
Average Speed
|
Analytical
Study
reading
Casual
reading
Accelerated
|
Below
100 WPM
150-250
WPM
250-400
WPM
Above
600 WPM
|
6.4 Types of Reading
McWhorter (
1989 – 349 ) divides four basic types of reading, ranging from an extremely
slow analysis to an extremely rapid overview of the material. Each type is
related to a specific kind of material which has a definite purpose and is done
at a certain speed. These are summarized in Table2.
Table 2. Type of Reading
Method
of Reading
|
Range
of Speed
|
Purpose
in Reading
|
Types
of materials
|
Analytical
Study-reading
Casual reading
Accelerated reading
|
Under 100 WPM
150-250 WPM
250-400 WPM
Above 600 WPM
|
Detailed comprehension: analysis, evaluation and critique
High Comprehension and high recall
Moderate comprehension of ideas, entertainment, enjoyment,
general information
Overview of material, rapid location of a specific fact
|
Poetry, argumentative writing
Textbook, library research
Novels, newspaper, magazine
Reference material, magazine, novels, nonfiction
|
6.5 The Levels Of
Reader
According to
Dupuis et al., ( 1989:33-35 ) readers ( students ) have a different background,
interest, and learning ability. Therefore, they vary in reading ability. Based
on this statement he distinguishes three levels of reader:
1)
Instructional
level readers. The students read at a level appropriate for their grade and
their subject. Reader in this level still need instruction in new reading
skills, teacher attention, and feedback.
2)
Frustration
level readers. This suggests that much of the material designed for their grade
level is too difficult for them. Frustration readers may enjoy reading if the
material is at their level. However, the readers may be discouraged by
difficult material and may be turned off to reading.
3)
Independent
level. These include readers who can read most materials written for the grade
level without much difficulty.
Further, Cutler
( 1993:19-20 ) distinguishes four very different types of readers. It is based
on “eye-stop” or the fixation made by the readers. Each stop is numbered above
the letter, word, or phrase.
1.
The
very slow reader. The fixation can be seen as follows:
1
2 3 4
5 6 7
8 9 10
11 12 13
14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21
W
h e n
y o u
r e a
d w o
r d b
y w o
r d
22 23
24 25 26
27 28 29
30 31 32
33 34 35
36 37 38
39 40 41
Y
o u w
a s t
e v a
l u a
b l e
t i m e
2.
The
slow word-by-word reader
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8
9 10
When
you read word
by word you
waste valuable time
3.
The
better-than-average reader
1 2 3 4
When you read word by word you waste valuable time
4.
The
accelerated reader
1
2
When you read word by word you waste valuable time
Cutler also
states that the very poor reader and the slow word-by-word reader takes much
longer time to cover the same material than the better-than-average reader and
the accelerate reader.
6.6 How to conpute
Word per Minute ( WPM )
In computing the
reading rate, Howards ( 1980:98 ) and Jacobs ( 1984:64) states that the speed
in reading can be measured by dividing the total number of words with number of
seconds and then multiply that figure by 60. It can be described as follows:
Number of words read

Number of seconds
For example, a reader reads a passage whose length is 870 words in 90
seconds or 1.5 minutes, he or she can calculate his/her speed in this way :
870 : 90 = 9,6 x 60 = 580 words per minutes
McWhorter ( 1989:351 ) also propose four steps in computing words per
minutes. They are:
1.
After
choosing a passage in a book or an article, count the total number of words in
any way three lines. Devide the total by three and round it off to the nearest
whole number. This will give the average number of words per line.
2.
Count
the number of lines in the article or book by counting the number of lines on
one page and multiplying that number by the total number of pages. Multiply the
number of words per line by the total number of line. This will give a reader
fairly accurate estimate of the total number of words.
3.
When
begin to read, record both minutes and seconds of starting time ( for example,
4:20 18 ). Start reading when the second
hand of the clock reaches twelve and then record the finishing time. After that
abstrsct the starting time from the finishing time.
4.
Divide
your total reading time into the total number words. To do this, round off the
number of seconds to the nearest quarter of a minute and then divide. For
example, if your total reading was 3 minutes and 12 seconds, round it off to
3.25 minutes and then divide. The answer will be in word per minute score.
The following example illustrates
computating of words per minutes.
Total number of words on line 3 lines :
23
Divided by 3 and round off : 23 : 3 =
/3 = 8

Number
lines in article : 120
Multiply
number of words per line by number of lines:
8
x 120 = 960 ( total words )
Subtract
finishing time 1 : 13 22
From
starting time 1 : 05

Round off to nearest
/4 minute :
/4 minutes


Divide time into total number of words:
960: 8.5 = 112 + A fraction ( your reading rate )
In counting the reading rate of students, the writer uses theory of
Howard and Jacobs because it is a simple way to count the passages whose length
is more than 1000 words and the results of two theories are more or less the
same.
7. METHODS AND PROCEDURES
7.1Methods of
Research
In this study
there are two methods used. They are descriptive method and describtive
statistics. According to best ( 1993: 125 ) the describtive method is used to
present the data during the research and this method seems appropriate to
present fact encountered during the study. The describtive statistics is a
methods for presenting quantitative description in manageable form, for
example, by describing a single variable and describing the association that
connects one variable with another ( Babbie, 1989: 283 ).
The variables
described in this study are reading rate and reading comprehension achievement.
Reading rate ( independent variable ) is presented by variable X while reading
comprehension achievement ( dependent variable ) is presented by variable Y.
according to dane ( 1990:77 ), independent variable is the variable which
influences other variable while dependent variable is variable which is
affected by independent variable.
According to Cutler ( 1993:17 ) the average speed of native speaker in
silent reading is 150 words per minutes. Since English is not the first
language for Indonesias, the writer assumes that the score that is achieved by
the readers ( eleventh students grade students of state senior high school 8 of
palembang) Can be classified as follows;
> 150 WPM means Fast
Reader
100-149 ` Avarage
Reader
< 100 Slow
Reader
For reading comprehension achievement, the
writer ranges the scores that are achievement by the readers in the following:
80-100 classified
Exellent
60-79 Sufficient
50-59 Insufficient
<50 Poor
7.2 Population and Sample
The
population of this study is the eleventh grade students of state senior high
school 8 of palembang. The total number of the population is 40 students and
the sample is the same as the population. This sample consist of 9 male
students and 32 female students. The distribution of sample can be seen in the
following table.
Table
3. distribution of sample
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
9
|
32
|
41
|
7.3 Techniques for collecting the data
The
instruments used for collecting the data consists of two different reading
passages/text with 25 multiple choice test items for each passage. The reading
passages are taken from Triple Your
Reading Speed by Cutler pages 3-16. The test is given to the students under
the supervision of writer.
7.4 Techniques for analyzing data
The
data were analyzed using frequency analysis, correlation analysis and regression
analysis. The data found from students’ reading rate scores were symbolized as
variable X while the data obtained from reading comprehension achievment were
symbolized as variable Y. to find out the correlation coefficient, pearson
Product Moment was applied and to test the significance of the correlation
coefficient, the t-test was used with the significance level p < 0.05. to
find out whether variable X influenced variable Y which means the value of
variable X determined the value of variable Y regression analysis was used (
Babbie, 1989:43)
7.4.1 The pearson product-moment correlation.
According to Caplovitz ( 1983:64
)
The Pearson
Product Moment is linear and symmetrical measure of association between two
variables. The Pearson correlation is linear because it estimate the patterned
variation of two variables around their means and symmetric because for any
pair of variables the the measure of the correlation is constant, looking at
variable X’s association with variable Y or looking at B’s association with A.
Both of these features are reflected in the manner in which the correlation are
computed and in the substantive interpretation of correlation
The method of
computing the Pearson Correlation builts directly in the information about the
distribution of variables. The comutational definition of correlation between
two variables, X and Y, is given by

7.4.2 The regresion analysis
Regresion is
statical technique for investigating and modeling the relation between
variables. According to Montgomery ( 1992:3 )
Techniques
for analyzing multi-factor data. Its abroad appeal regresion analysis is one of
the most widely used statical results from the conceptually simple process of
using an equetation to express the relationship between a set of variables.
After
applying the regresion analysis ( to test whether variable X significantly
determined variable Y ), the t-test then is applied to test the significance.
If t-obtained is lower than t-table, it means that the variable X does not
significantly determine variable Y. This analysis is used to support the
significance of the correlation analysis.
7.4.3 The frequency Analysis
Frequency analysis is one of the desciptive statistics the deal with
the mean, median, mode, standard, etc. it summarizes the raw data in manageable
form ( table and graphics ). It is useful in deciding the conlusion of study.
REFERENCES
Babbie, Earl. 1989. Practicing Social
Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Inc.
Best, John W & J.F
Kahn. 1993. Research In Education.
7th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Bond, G.L. & M. A.
Tinker. 1973. Reading Difficulties: Their Diagnosis and Correlation.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Printice Hall, Inc.
Broomley, Karen D’ Angelo.
1992. Language Art: Exploring Connections. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon,
Inc.
Brown, James I. 1987. Reading Power. 3rd ed. Lexington, MA:
D.C. Health and Company.
Butler, Cristopher. 1985. Statistics in Linguistics. New York, NY:
Basil Blackwell, Inc.
Caplovitz, David. 1983. The stage of social research. New York,
NY: A Wiley Interscience Publication.
Cheek, H.Earl, Rona Y Flippo, & Jimmy D Lindsey.1989. Reading For Success In Elementary School.
Chicago, IL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,,Inc.
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