THE CORELATION BETWEEN STUDENT’S READING

FLUENCY AND READING COMPREHENSION OF THE

ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT UIN SYAHADA
PADANGSIDIMPUAN

A PROPOSAL

Sumbited to State Islamic University Syekh Ali Hasan Ahmad Addary

Padangsidimpuan as a Partial Fulfilment of Seminar Proposal

Written by:

AYULIA SOMA
Reg. Numb :1920300048

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTEMENT

TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING FACULTY

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SYEKH ALI HASAN
AHMAD ADDARY PADANGSIDIMPUAN
2022/2023
 1

THE CORELATION BETWEEN STUDENT’S READING

FLUENCY AND READING COMPREHENSION OF THE
ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT UIN SYAHADA
PADANGSIDIMPUAN

A PROPOSAL

Sumbited to State Islamic University Syekh Ali Hasan Ahmad Addary

Padangsidimpuan as a Partial Fulfilment of Seminar Proposal

Written by:

AYULIA SOMA
Reg. Numb :1920300048

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTEMENT

Advisor I Advisor II

Dr. Eka Sustri Harida, M.Pd. Sokhira Linda Vinde Rambe, M.Pd
NIP. 19750917 200312 2 002 NIP. 19851010 201103 2 007

TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING FACULTY

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SYEKH ALI HASAN
AHMAD ADDARY PADANGSIDIMPUAN
2022/2023
 2

The Correlation Between Students Reading Fluency And Reading

Comprehension Of The English Department UIN SYAHADA
PADANGSISIMPUAN

A. Background of Problem 

Reading is a complex process that included the physical and mental

process. The physic activities occur by stimulation of the eyes.1 This activity is

begun by obsevesing pictures or sound of the written language. Reading olso

one of fourth important language skill for educational purpose or every day

life demands.2 not only that reading is also an important skill in English,

students can get information and the key can increase their knowledge and

experience through reading. Is easier for students to get information from

various sources from books, magazines, newspapers, and brochures. On the

other hand, if students have good reading skills, they will be successful in

learning and understanding what the text is about.

According to Alderson, reading is a special skill as reading can be a

media to obtain a lot of important information from a written text. 3 reading is

also language, and language is made up of words and words can reflect

experience. On the other hand, the more experience they have, the more likely

they are to become good readers.

1
Ken Fujita and Junko Yamashita, ‘The Relations and Comparisons between Reading
Comprehension and Reading Rate of Japanese High School EFL Learners’, Reading Matrix: An
International Online Journal, vol. 14, no. 2 (2014), pp. 34–49.
2
NIRWANSYAH HARAHAP, ‘The Correlation Between Social Learning Strategy And
Students’ Reading Comprehension at Seventh Semester of English Education Department IAIN
PADANGSIMPUAN’, 2017. H. 1
3
Alderson, J. C. and A. H. Urquhart (Eds) Reading in a foreign Language. London:
Longman. (1989)pp. 70-75
 3

As stated by Snow that reading comprehension is a process of

extracting and constructing meaning simultaneously through interaction and

engagement with written language. The emphasis is only on words of

emphasis and construction. He further stated that the process of understanding

the text is not appropriate because reading is a personal activity.4

This means that reading comprehension is different from one reader to

another reader. In addition, Armbruster states that comprehension is the reason

for the reading.5 If the rader can read the words but don’t understand what

they’re reading, they’re not really reading. On the other hand, reading

comprehension is the act of understanding who you are reading.

Reading comprehension is a very complex skill. This is much more

than decoding. These are the most important elements involved: skills in

reading texts accurately and fluently, adequate background knowledge and

vocabulary to understanding content, improved skills in using reading

strategies understand or fix it when it breaks, the ability to think and reason

about information and concepts in the text, motivation to understand and learn

from the text.6

One of the purposes of teacing English as a foreign language to

Indonesian people is that they can read, grasp the idea and understand the

book written in Englinsh. To achieve those purposes, the English teacher has

4
Jerry G. Gebhard, Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language (Second
Edition), (Michigan: the University of Michigan, 2009), pp. 198—204.
5
Diane McGuinnes, Early Reading Instruction, (London: A Bradford Book,2004), p.
211.
6
M.F Patel and Praveen M. Jain, English Language Teaching (Methods, Tools &
Tecniques) (Jaipur: Sunrise Publisher & Distributors, 2008). p.120-121
 4

to be able organize in learning activities. Stated that comprehension is the

basis for reading, and in order for students to obtain and use effective

comprehension skills and strategis they must process a variety of skills,

including decoding and fluency.7

Hanik Biba state.8 from the result, there is a significant correlation

between reading fluency and reading comprehension. For many readers

problems with word recognition can cause problems with help, which can

cause problems with comprehension. Readers who do not understand their

attention to decodeng words, little attention to understanding.9

When students start develop decoding and word recognition skills to

be natural and automatic, gain in fluency and understanding. That also

supports the reader to notice that meaning is not only carried by words, but

with expressions, punctuation marks, and phrases.10 After a student, especially

an English major at UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan, can learn to decode

words accurately, effectively, and easily, he or she can start reading and telling

stories naturally, and they can focus on understanding.

From the results of interviews with several students majoring in

English at UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan, most students experience

difficulties in reading fluency and reading comprehension, lack of

7
Therrien, J.w dan Kubina M.R Developing reading with repeated reading journal
intervention in school 2006, p. 156-60
8
Hanik Biba The corelation between student reasing fluency and reading comprehension
achievement of the eight grade student of Mts Paradigma palembang(2015)
9
Armbruster, B.,&Anderso, T. Ostertag, Does Text Structure Summarization Instruction
Facilitate Learning From Expository Text ?, Reading Research Quarterly, ( 1978) 22 (3), 331-346
10
Timothy V. Rasinski, Assessing Reading Fluency (Pacific Resources for Education and
Learning (PREL), 2004) p.19
 5

understanding, the ability to get meaning from a text, is basically the ultimate

goal of reading.11 Understanding is something that happens in the reader.12

So, to achieve success in the language teaching and learning process,

especially English, Reading fluency is one of the important factors related to

reading success. For example, background knowledge, vocabulary, fluency,

comprehension skills, and more. Fluency is the ability to read text accurate, fast,

and with expression. This is important because it gives bridge between word

recognition and understanding.

In contrast, less skilled readers are constrained by inefficient word

recognition. It is a resource of attention and memory capacity necessary for

understanding.13

UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan is one of the public universities in

Padangsidimpuan. As a higher education institution, which provides a variety of

majors, one of which is English as a subject that must be mastered of English

education. Based on the results of this observation and research, the researcher

will write a thesis entitled, “The Correlation Between Student Reading

Fluency And Reading Comprehension Of The English Department Of UIN

SYAHADA PADANGSIDIMPUAN”

11
Wawancara dengan beberapa Mahasiswa UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan
12
Jean Wallace, etal, Understanding Reading Problems (Eight Edition), (Boston:
Pearson, 2012), pp. 98—99
13
Schwanenflugel, P. J., Hamilton, A. M., Kuhn, M. R., Wisenbaker, J. M.,& Stahl, S. A.
Becoming a fluent reader: Reading skill andprosodic features in the oral reading of young
readers. Journal ofEducational Psychology, (2004). 1,119 –129.
 6

B. Limitation of Research Problems.

Based on the background above, the researcher therefore wants to know

whether there is a relationship between students' reading fluency and reading

comprehension and especially students majoring in English at UIN Syahada

Padangsidimpuan.

C. Formulation of the problem

Based on the formulation of the problem regarding the relationship

between reading fluency and reading comprehension, the researcher can formulate

the research problem as follows :

1. How is the students' reading fluency in the English class at Uin Syahada

Padang Sidimpuan?

2. How is the reading comprehension of students majoring in English at Uin

Syahada Padangsidimpuan?

3. Is there a significant correlation between students' reading fluency and

reading comprehension at the English Department of Uin Syahada

Padangsidimpuan?

D. Objectives of the Research

1. To find out the reading fluency of students majoring in English at Uin

Syahada Padangsimpuan.

2. To find out the reading comprehension of students majoring in English at

Uin Syahada Padangsidimpuan.

3. To find out whether there is a significant relationship between students.

 7

4. Read and understand their reading at the English department of Uin

Syahada Padangsidimpuan.

E. Significance of the Research

1. To complete the author's task in fulfilling the requirements for bachelor's

degree in the Department of English Education and the Teaching Faculty

of Uin Syahada Padangsidimpuan.

2. The finding of this study can get a lot of information to the writer that can

be very useful to enlarge knowledge, especially about reading fluency in

reading comprehension.

F. Definition of Key Terms

Based on before explanation, the writer has conveyed some theory of each

key terms. Therefore, writer can conclude the key terms as follow:

1. Correlation is a single number that describes the degree of relationship

between two variables indicating a positive or negative relationship

between variables. In this study the researcher wanted to know the

relationship between the two variables. The correlation between the two

variables is where variable X (students' reading fluency) influences

variable Y (students' reading ability).

2. Reading is a receptive language process. It is a psycholinguistic process.

ends with meaning that the reader constructs. In other words, there is an

interaction between language and thought in reading.14

14
Kristin Lems, Leah D. Miller, and Tenena M. Soro, Teaching Reading to English
Language Learners, (New York: The Guilford Press, 2010), p. 33.
 8

3. Reading Comprehension to understand what has been read, whereas

comprehension is the reason for reading. Comprehension is to understand

something, and to get it’s meaning. Besides, Snow defined reading

comprehension as the process of simultaneously extracting and contructing

meaning through interaction and involvement with written language.15

4. Reading Fluency the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with

expression. It is important because it provides a bridge between word

recognition and comprehension. Fluency is often considered the bridge

between word recognition and comprehension.

15
Janette K. Klingner, Sharon Vaugh, et.al., Teaching Reading Comprehension to
Students with Learning Difficulties, (New York: The Guilford Publication, Inc., 2007), p. 131
 9

A. Description of Reading Fluency

1. Definition of Reading Fluency

a. Fluency

Fluency is a student’s ability to have clear meaning from

reading comprehension, no hesitation throughout reading the given

texts, and appropriate speed of delivery.

In simply meaning fluency means reading fast. Fast here is read

the text with speed and clear. In short, Fluecy is read the text accurately

and quickly. There are a lot of definitions about reading fluency from

the experts. Hudson, Lane, and Pullen define that reading fluency is

gaining new recognition as an essential element of every reading

program, especially for students who struggle in reading. Fluency

enables readers to quickly span the gap between recognizing a

word and understanding its meaning.

That is where the magic of reading takes place. Because fluent

readers dont have to concentrate on decoding words, they can focus

more on interpreting the meaning conveyed by words and sentences.

Fluency is something that comes as a child develops their

phonemic awareness, phonics skills and vocabulary. Regular reading

practice is essential to developing fluency. Reading regularly to your

child can also provide them with a vocal model to help them understand

what fluent reading sounds like.

 10

According to Rasinski16 fluency is more than reading fast: it is

reading an appropriately fast rate with good expression and phrasing

that reflects solid understanding of the passage. As a reader reads a text

it is important that he/she is able to efficiently decode and comprehend

the individual words and complete phrases and sentences that

encounters. Reading fluency is the ability to read with accuracy, and

with an appropriate rate, expression, and phrasing.

Readig fluency as the ability to read text quickly, accurately,

and with proper expression. The way we are reading is a factor that

influence our mind to make sense the text and easier to understand.

Because, each word is very clear in sound out. 17 State fluent readers is

particularly important skill for students as they move through the year

level as they increasingly use longer textbook, read lenghtier narratives

and research topics in depth and are most often working with set

timelines.18

Being a fluent, or automatic reader should not be thought of as a

stage of development in which all words can be processed quickly and

easily. In the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of

Students; reading fluency demonstrates a reader’s ability to create

meaning from text, integrating everything previously learned about

16
Rasinski, T. V., Padak, N. D., McKeon, C. A., Wilfong, L. G., Friedhauer,J. A., &
Heim, P. Is reading fluency a key for successful high school reading? Journal of Adolescent &
Adult Literacy, (2005). 49,22–27.
17
Dowhower, S. L. Speaking of prosody: Fluency’s unattended bedfellow. Theory Into
Practice, (1991). 30, 165–175.
18
Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Hosp, M. K., & Jenkins, J. R. Oral reading fluency as an
indicator of reading competence: A theoretical, empirical, and historical analysis. Scientific
Studies of Reading, (2001). 5,239 –256.
 11

printed and spoken the language states that reading fluency is the ability

to read text aloud with accuracy, speed, and proper expression. It is

important for students to read quickly and still keep attention to their

accuracy and expression when reading the text.19

2. The Components of Fluency

Skills of reading fluency is comprised of three component skills, or

fluency indicators:

a. Accuracy of word decoding, refers to the ability to correctly generate a

phonological representation of each word, either because it is part of

the reader‟s sight-word vocabulary or by use of a more effortful

decoding strategy such as sounding out the word, means that the sound

out the words correctly.

b. Automaticity of word recognition, refers to the ability to quickly

recognize words automatically, with little cognitive effort or attention

and decode the words. Automaticity is gained through practice to the

point where previously effortful tasks, such word decoding, become

fast and effortless-freeing up cognitive resources for other tasks, such

as text comprehension.

c. Prosody of oral text reading refers to naturalness of reading, or the

ability to read with appropriate phrasing and expression, imbuing text

with suitable volume, stress, pitch and intonation. Prosody is an

indicator that the reader is actively constructing the meaning of

19
Dowhower, S. L Effects of repeated reading on second-gradetransitional readers’
fluency and comprehension. Reading ResearchQuarterly, . (1987). 22, 389 – 406.
 12

passage as they read. In conclusion, prosody is how words are read and

interpreted and so can have direct impact on whether students

understand what they are reading.

besides that also according to Rasinski, there are three main

component. Currently reading are.20

a. Accuracy or accurate decoding of words in the text (refers to the

person’s ability to read words correctly

b. Automaticity (rate) or decoding words with minimal use of attention

resources (the speed a person reads)

c. Prosody or the appropriate use of phrasing and expression to convey

meaning (refers to as reading with feeling and involves the stress,

intonation and pauses when reading). They should be interconnected to

each other because they can allow readers to maintain a high

comprehension.21 Argues that readers must be able to decode words

correctly and effortlessly and then put them together into meaningful

phrases with appropriate expression to make sense of they read.

Reading fluency as the ability to decode and comprehend at the same

time, also support it.22

Since this study will focus on prosody as reading fluency

indicator, as Torgensen stated in his research that it is an indicator that

20
Rasinski, T.V., Magpuri, L.,T., David, D,D & Smith, G., S. Interpreting the
Relationships among Prosody, Automaticity, Accuracy, and Silent Reading Comprehension in
Secondary Students. Journal of Literacy Research, (2014). 46(2) 123–156.
21
Rasinski, T.V., Padak, N.D., McKeon, C.A., Wilfong, L.G., Friedhauer,J. A., & Heim,
P. Is reading fluency a key for successful high school reading? Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, (2005). 49,22–27.
22
Samuels, S. J. The method of repeated readings. Reading Teacher, (1979). 32, 403–
408
 13

the reader is actively constructing the meaning of a passage as they

read. There are four essential components of prosody which are:

a. Intonation some of the primary components of prosody are

recognized as intonation. Intonation can be assumed to contain pitch

accent, tune, pitch resetting, and tones and breaks. However, all of

these contributors work collectively to formulate intonation, which

is only one of the necessary components of fluency. A pitch accent

can be referring to the word or syllable which is accented rather

than several of the weaker syllables that are regarded as unaccented.

The tune refers to the generally as movement of the phrase.

b. Timing the next main component of prosody is acknowledged as

timing. Timing is the duration or prosodic structure a reader

provides to a sentence. It varies from intonation in the fact that it is

not a correction to the tone, palette, or any other audible structure.

Timing merely refers to the pace the readers provide to a selection

with the mere modification of a Reading Rate; a reader can add

clarity to a piece.

c. Even stress the next element of prosody is recognized as stress. In

elementary school, we were trained to hold our forehands up to our

chins and speak a multi-syllabic word quite slowly to notice how

many times our chins strike our hands. This assist in helping us

decides how many syllables the word included. Nevertheless, there

was not a simple technique to help us find out which syllables hold
 14

a stress and which syllable did not. Since there is no standard

technique, stress can often be a tricky component for youthful

readers to master.

d. Gnificant deficiency in prosodic development. d. Focus While there

are varying components of prosody according to specific

researchers, almost all researchers can agree upon one final

component. Focus is repeatedly said to be the trickiest part of

fluency since it has numerous layers. It has both semantic and

phonological feature. Focus may be indicated by applying a

particular form of grammatical structure, or it can be shown only

with sound, by the use of a pitch accent. But amusingly when a

syntactic device for centering is used, pitch accenting appears to

take place as well. For example, when someone put a question there

is a semantic pause at the end to indicate a question.

Based on the statement above, the writer concludes that the

fluent readers can decode, recognize, and comprehend the meaning

of the text at the same time, so they can directly and efficiently. In

addition, students who read the text smoothly they will be easier to

read the text quickly, and also more confident in expressing a text

with appropriate intonation, timing, stress and focus.

3. Reading Fluency for EFL

 15

Learner in second and foreign language learning, Pearsall defined

fluency as the ability to speak or write a particular foreign language easily

and accurately. In addition, Nation defined reading fluency as making the

most effective use of what skills are already known. In particular, reading

fluency has received relatively scant attention nowadays. However, a few

types of research have consistently regarded foreign reading fluency as the

ability to read and comprehend a text in the foreign language at an adequate

speed and observable.

4. Assessing of Reading Fluency

Various means in assessing reading fluency, it can be assessed by

all of the components of fluency.23 According to Schatschneider, reading

fluency is usually measured as a combination of the rate and level of

accuracy at which a student reads. Reading rate indicates reading speed.24

States that reading speed is one of a factor in fluency, but it is not

the whole picture, and reading rate suggests automaticity of word

recognition.25 It means that automaticity is one of the components in the

fluency process, and reading fluency can influence comprehension. Kuhn,

et al describe that automatic word recognition is central to the construct of

fluency and fluency’s role in the comprehension of text. Assessing fluency

is important for teachers. The purpose of fluency assessment described

23
Nora wahyuni “ the correlation between lecturer’s teaching technique and students’
reading comprehension at third grade of English department in IAIN padangsidimpuan “
(unpublished thesis ), Padangsidimpuan : IAIN , 2016
24
Schatschneider, Does the growth rate in oral reading fluency matter for reading
comprehension, (2010). 652–667.
25
Rasinski, T.V. Reading fluency instruction: Moving beyond accuracy, automaticity,
and prosody. The Reading Teacher, (2006). 59, 704-706.a.
 16

that a teacher needs to know at what level a student demonstrates fluency

and in what kind of text.

5. Reading Techniques for Fluency

Fluency is one of several critical factors necessary for reading

comprehension. There are two instructional techniques, each of which has

several variations, have typically been used to teach reading fluency.

a. Guided repeated oral reading, encourages students to read passages

orally with systematic and explicit guidance and feedback from the

teacher.

b. Independent silent reading encourages students to read silently on

their own, inside and outside the classroom, with minimal guidance or

feedback.

B. Definition of Reading Comprehension

1. Definition of Reading Comprehension

Talking about reading comprehension is interaction between

thought and language and bases evaluation of success in comprehension

on the extent to which the reader’s reconstructed message agrees with the

writer’s intended message. Reading comprehension also the active process

of constructing meaning from text it involves accessing previous

knowledge, understanding vocabulary and concepts, making inferences,

and linking key ideas.26

26
Sharon Vaughn and Sylvia Linan Thompson, Research Based Methods Of Reading
Instruction, (USA : ASCD), p 98.
 17

According to Oxford’s Dictionary, comprehension is the power of

understand.27 As have been explained above about reading and

comprehension, Golden Wainwright explains also, “The complex process

which takes part ofuseful of good and poor ability”.28 Then, Jeremy

Harmer states Reading comprehension is not stopping for every word, not

analyzing everything that the reader or speaker includes in the text.29 It

means that readers are able to take in a stream of discourse and understand

the gist of it without worrying too much about the details. Next, The main

goal of reading is comprehension.30 It means people can define reading

comprehension as the process of simultaneously extracting and

constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written

language.

1. Reading

According Deborah Daiek Nancy Anter, Reading is a form of

communication, using written language or symbols (text). Reading is

two way communication between an author and a reader. Reading is

interpretation and understanding. All of these responses are correct. 31 It

27
Hornby, Oxford advanced Learner’s dictionary, (New York : Oxford University Press,
1995), p. 174.
28
Golden Wainwright, Speed Reading Better Recalling, (Jakarta: PT. Gramedia, 2007),
p. 42.
29
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, (Malaysia: Longman,
2003),
p. 202.
30
David Nunan, Practical English . . . . . , p. 68.
31
Deborah Daiek Nancy Anter, Critical Reading for College and Beyond, (McGraw-
Hill :
Newyork,2004),p.5
 18

means that reading can also as the process of teaching and learning

using the written laguage and symbols that written in the text or not,

reading is essentially a complex that involves many things.

In reading an individual consrtuct meaning through a transaction

with written text it involvels the readers acting on interpreting the text

and readers expriences, language background and their cultural

framework influence interpretation, reading is a transactional between

the reader and the text in a specific context that the results in the

creation of a new in the mind of the reader.32

From the above the definitions, it can be concluded that reading

means that to find out messager or information that the writer put into

the text as efficient as possible. Reading is the interacting between the

reader and the writer through the printed text which requires the readers

to brings their own knowladge of a language to recognize that print of

the words, sentences and pragraph and to interpret the author’s

message.

2. Comprehension

Comprehension is constructive process in which students creates

meaning based on their background knowladge, reading becomes an

involving between a text and a readers background knowladge.

Comprehension is the relationship among the elements of reading skills,

they are competence, reading techniques, and good comprehension, it

32
Elizabeth Chesla. Eight Grade Reading Study Sucsess (New York: United) p.20
 19

means it is dependent on several cognitive processes, including

decoding, word recognition, and knowledge.

Moreover comprehension also a complex skill includes

understanding the text an the components inside, it is the process of

understanding the text to get the purpose and also to get the information

or knowladge from the text.

In other words, the science has to search as life guidance for be

loyal. Reading also helps the students to answer the question that refers

to the subject matter they are studying. They search the answer in

reading the information about the question they have.33

C. Kinds of Reading Comprehension.

1. Intensive Reading Comprehension.

Intensive reading is the text or passage reading. In this reading the

learner read the text to the get knowledge or analysis. The goal of this

reading is to read shorter text. This reading is done to carry out to get

specific information. Learner reads book to acquire knowledge is the kind

of reading. Intensive reading will provide a basis for explaining difficulties

of structure and for extending knowledge of vocabulary and idioms. It will

also provide material for developing greater control of the language in

speech and writing.

2. Extensive Reading Comprehension

33
Dewi Fatimah Sitompul, EkaSustri Harida, and Sojuangon Rambe, “Improving
Students‟ Reading Comprehension Through Guessing Strategy,” English Education : English
Journal for Teaching and Learning 7, no. 1 (June 2019): 127–39
 20

Extensive reading is silent reading but done outside of class. Order

for language learners to have less problems in extensive reading, the

teacher should explain first difficult passages or new words.

According H. Douglas Brown. Extensive reading is carried out to

achieve a general understanding of a text. All pleasure reading is

extensive. Technical, scientific, and professional reading can (and should)

also be extensive.34

Material for extensive reading will be selected at a lower level of

difficulty than that for intensive reading, the purpose of extensive reading

will be to train the students to read directly and fluently in the target

language for enjoyment, without the aid of the teacher.

3. Aloud Reading Comprehension

Reading aloud also play important role in teaching of English.

Teacher should know that the training of reading aloud must be given at

primary level because it is the base of words pronunciation. Reading loud

may sometimes have meaning beyond the oral transmission of the text in

that gives insight into current conceerns or transmission of the reader.

Finally aloud moreover play significant role in teaching of English.

Teacher who knows that the training of reading aloud given at primary

level is create the base of words pronunciation. If it is not concerned, it

will be very difficult at secondary level. According to Daulags brown be read

aloud, which have been written to read aloud like poetry, dialogue, and

34
H.Doughlas Brown, Teaching by Principles,(New Jersey : Prentice Hall Regents,1994),
p.291 - 296
 21

other form of text. The texts that have no necessity to not read aloud

should not be read aloud.35

4. Silent Reading Comprehension.

Silent reading is very important skill in teaching of English. This

reading should be employed to increase reading ability among learners.

Silent reading is done to acquire a lot information. Teacher has to make

them read silently as and when they are able to read without any

difficulties. Silent reading using visual memory and condition not speaking

and not sound track, to train students to really pay attention to can

understand the text.36

a. Purposes of Reading.

Reading comprehension is very important for the students, the

ability to interpret and evaluate what students read and to understand of

written or

printed material the function are:

1. To understand the text more easier

2. To image what the information in content

3. To follow the construct of a passage

4. To recognize a researcher purpose, attitude, tone and mood.

b. The Reading Process

35
Daulands, Brown. H, Principle Of Language Learning and Teaching, (San Francisco:
San Prancisco Satate Universit, 1993) P.283
36
M.R. Patel and Pravin Jain (2008),p.118
 22

Models of the reading process often describe the act of reading

as a communication event between a sender (the writer) and a receiver

of information (the reader). Those models may be placed in the three

categories: bottom–up, top–down, and interactive states that in bottom-

up processing, the reader or listener focuses on individual words and

phrases, and achieves understanding by stringing these detailed elements

together to build up a whole.37 Furthermore, Brown defines that in

bottom-up processing, readers must first recognize a multiplicity of

linguistic signals (letters, morphemes, syllables, words, phrases,

grammatical cues, discourse markers) and use their linguistics data-

processing instrument to oblige several kind of order on these signals.

that this is where a complementary method of processing written

text is imperative:38 top-down or conceptually driven processing in which

we draw on our intelligence and experience and experience to understand a

text. Furthermore, that in the top-down reading model, the reader or

listener gets a general view of the reading or listening passage, in some

way, absorbing the overall picture. The interactive model is a reading

model that combines top-down and bottom-up during the reading

process.39

D. The Components of Reading Comprehension

37
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching (Harlow, England:
Pearson Longman, 2007)p.210
38
Douglas H. Brown, Teaching by Principles: and interactive approach to
language pedagogy (New York: Longman, 2001).p.298
39
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching (Harlow, England:
Pearson Longman, 2007)p.201
 23

According to Ary reading has five components contained in reading

texts, which are appropriate with the Junior High School Curriculum, they

are:40

1. Finding Main Idea (Skimming)

Recognizing of the main idea of a paragraph is very important

because it helps you not only understand the paragraph on the first

reading, but also helps you to remember the content later. It means

that you have to understand and remember the content of the

paragraph simultaneously.41

Skimming is the one of the most valuable reading strategies for

learners. Skimming consict of quiqly running one eyes across a whole text

(such as an essay, article, or chapter) to find out what the text tells about or

to find out the main idea of the text.

2. Finding Detail Information (Scanning)

Detail information requires readers to scan specific details. It is

certain requires by the reader because it is one of the purpose reading.

Finding detail information. Or scanning is quickly searching for same

particular piece or pieces of information that the reader needs in reading

text. Scanning is a technique for locating specific data points. Readers may

benefit from the presence of any additional material that is relevant to their

40
Meredith D. Gall, Joyce P. Gall, and Walter R. Borg, "Educational Research:
An Introduction ", pp. 148.
41
Nora wahyuni “ the correlation between lecturer’s teaching technique and students’
reading comprehension at third grade of English department in IAIN padangsidimpuan “
(unpublished thesis ), Padangsidimpuan : IAIN , 2016
 24

comprehension. There is no requirement for them to read the entire book in

order to understand and retain its contents.

3. Finding the Meaning of Vocabulary in Context

One way for learners to make guessing pay off when they don’t

immediately recognize a word is to analyze it in terms of what they know

about it.42 It means that the reader could develop his or her guessing

ability to the word, which is not familiar to them, by relating the

close meaning of unfamiliar words to the text and the topic of the text that

is read.

4. Identifying References

In english, as in other, it would be awkward and boring to

have and repeat the same word or phrase every time you used it.

Grammatical relationship (e. g. a. pronoun referens) is one of the

advantages for learner to guess when they aren’t certain when the text read.

Reference words are usually short and very frequently pronoun, such as it,

she, he, they, this, etc.

5. Making Inference

42
Ying, Y. S. Acquiring vocabulary through a context-based approach. Forum, (2000).
39/1: 18.
 25

Inference is a skill where the reader has to able to read

between lines. It means that in making inferences, the readers are able to

catch and guess when they arent certain when read the text.

E. Level of Reading Comprehension

Level of reading comprehension refers how far the students

understand the information gotten from the text and which level that has

been achieved. Smith in Wayne Otto indicates that there are some levels of

comprehension:

1. Literal comprehension

is the lowest level and simple form of locating information in the

text since the information is stated directly in the text.

2. Interpretative Comprehension

Interpretative comprehension understands the ideas and

information which are not explicitly stated in the passage.

Draw conclusion and make generalization and also detect the mood of the

materials.43

Readers must possess the following abilities:

a. Defining the reason with information presented to understand the

author’s tone purpose and attitude.

b. Inferring factual information, main ideas, comparison, cause effect

relationship that not explicitly stated in the passage.

c. Summarizing the content of story.

43
Anmarkrud, Ø., & Bråten, I Motivation for reading comprehension. Learning and
Individual Differences, . (2009). 19(2), 252–256.
 26

3. Critical Comprehension

Critical comprehension is the process of evaluating and

personally reacting to information presented in the passage. Critical

reading contains an inquiring mind with active, creative looking for

false statement automatically when the reader reads the text. In this

category.

F. Aspect in Reading Comprehension

Reading is a complex language skill. Each aspect of reading has its

own skill set and only when all of these skills sets are linked together are

students able to achieve the ultimate goal of reading to read to learn.44

Stated that reading can be considered as an information

processing skill, which is composed of a number of cognitive sub-skills.

There are some aspects in reading comprehension.45

1. Phonemic Awareness

It is the most fundamental skill children need to acquire when

learning to read. Word games, language play, rhymes and simply reading

are all very effective ways to develop phonemic awareness.

2. Phonics

Building directly from phonemic awareness, phonics is a method

of instruction that introduce children to the link between letters sounds,

44
Jean Wallace, et al, Understanding Reading Problems (Eight Edition), (Boston:
Pearson, 2012), pp. 98—99.
45
Janette K. Klingner, Sharon Vaugh, et.al., Teaching Reading Comprehension to
Students with Learning Difficulties, (New York: The Guilford Publication, Inc., 2007), p. 131.
 27

known as the alphabetic principle. One of the major difficulties children

can have when learning to read understands the alphabetic principle.

3. Vocabulary

Every child approaches reading with different levels of ability.

The larger a child’s speaking and listening vocabulary, the more words

they will be able to easily map to their reading and writing

vocabularies. Reading a wide variety of books is one of the best

ways for a child to expand their vocabulary.

G. Process of Reading Comprehension

Three phases comprise the process of establishing the text's meaning:

1. Processing from the bottom up

Bottom-up processing considers reading to be a phonemic unit.

Bottom-up processing requires the reader to detect a variety of linguistic

signals, such as letters, morphemes, syllables, words, phrases, grammatical

cues, and discourse markers.

2. Processing from the top down Top-down

Processing entails the reader using their syntactic and semantic

expertise to derive meaning from the text their own ideas to the material

being read, the reader creates meaning from it.

3. processing that is interactive

It's possible to blend top-down and bottom-up approaches in an

interactive way. The reader predicts a possible interpretation of the text

before performing a bottomup check to determine that the researcher really

 28

said what he said in an interactive. In order to build meaning, the reader

must be able to identify words while also expecting implicit information.

H. The Factors Influence Students’ Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension as the process of simultaneously extracting and

contructing meaning though interaction and involvement with written

language. There are two factors that influence students‟ reading

comprehension and they are related one another, they are: internal factor

and the external factor :

1. The Internal Factor

a. Motivation

Motivation plays an important role in comprehending the

text. The students will be motivated to read when they fell that

they need something the text.

b. Interest

Interest is being one of the important factors in order to

increasing the students‟ reading comprehension. If one has interest

to read, it means that he or she will get a comprehension.

2. The External Factor

a. Reading Material

The students‟ comprehension in reading depends on the

difficulty of the text. Thus, it can influence students’

comprehension if the text given is not at the right level of the

difficulty of the readers or the students.

 29

b. Teacher of Reading

The teacher of reading should be careful in choosing the

text and giving the tasks because they are related to the students’

reading comprehension.

H. The Relentionship Between Reading Fluency And Reading

Comprehension

1. Poor fluency can have an effect on Reading Comprehension. According

Vaughn, aspect of fluency has a clear connection to reading

comprehension.46 For example, inaccurate word reading can lead to

misinterpretations of the story, poor automaticity can strain the

reader‟s ability to construct ongoing interpretation of the story, and

poor prosody can lead to confusion through inappropriate groupings of

words or the inappropriate use of expression. In their theory that readers

have limited amount of mental power that available for reading. In their

reading model, they described a concept called automatic information

processing or automaticity. 47

2. Fluency instruction can have an effect on Reading Comprehension the

study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress found a close

relationship between fluency and reading comprehension. Students who

46
Hall, C., Vaughn, S., Barnes, M. A., Stewart, A. A., Austin, C. R., & Roberts, G. The
Effects of Inference Instruction on the Reading Comprehension of English Learners With
Reading Comprehension Difficulties. Remedial and Special Education, (2020). 41(5), 259–
270.
47
La Berge, D., & Samuels, S. Toward a theory of automatic information processing in
reading. Cognitive Psychology, (1974). 6, 293-323.
 30

scored lower on measures of fluency also scored lower on measures

of comprehension.

Repeated reading is considered the most commonly recommended

procedure for improving reading rate. Repeated reading of text aimed

at developing fluency also may be related to improvement in students‟

reading comprehension.

I. Review of the Related Findings

There are some related findings in this research; the first is by script

Bedrimiati, entitle “Teaching reading comprehension to students with learning

difficulties” the research method used pre-experimental design. The research

using pre-test and post-test in the collecting data. The result that t-test was

bigger than t-table, that was 2.06 < 3.43 > 2.79. The researcher said that

students’ reading comprehension increased significantly after the researcher

implemented the use of story face when teaching narrative text.

It can be proved from the result of pre-test and post-test. 48 The conclusion

of this thesis is the students’ reading comprehension achievement increased

significantly after the researcher implemented the story face when teaching

narrative text.

The second, Zahriyatul Mufidah, entitle is “The effect of story face on

students’ reading comprehension of narrative text in grade VIII 0f islamic

junior high school nurul hidayah pematang kayu arang” the research method

which used in this experimental research. The research using pre-test and post-

48
yoo Karen R. Harris & Steve Graham, Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students
with Learning Difficulties. . . p. 75
 31

test in the collecting data. The result that t-test was higher than t-table (2.24 >

2.00) it means that Ha was accepted and Ho was rejected.49 The conclusion of

this thesis is teaching English is difficult, so to make the students interest

teacher should use various strategy in learning process. The teacher can

choose appropriate strategy according to the situation and topic. Teacher can

use story face strategy to teach reading comprehension and makes students

achievement improved.

The third, Nabila Aulia Zakiya Firdaus, entitle is “Improving students’

reading comprehension in narrative text by using story face strategy at x-ips 2

grade students of 12th state senior high school surabaya” the research used a

qualitative data to see significant improvement of the students in reading

comprehension. The result of the test showed students’ improvement in

reading comprehension, in the first cycle was 60% and second cycle was 81%,

so students reading score calculates improved 21%.50 The conclusion of this

thesis is story face strategy can improve the ability of the students in reading

comprehension.

J. The Operational Concept

Operational concept is a concept used to give explanation about

theretical framework to avoid misunderstanding and misterprenting to this

research. For this reason, operational concept must be defined a clear

49
Zahriyatul Mufidah, “The Effectiveness of Story Face in Teaching Reading
Comprehension at X Grad SMK Batur Jaya 2 Ceper Klaten”, retrieved from
http://eprints.iain.surakarta.ac.id/1835/1/ZAHRIYATUL%2520m.pdf& at December 2018.
50
Nabila Aulia Zakiya Firdaus, “Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension in
Narrative Text by Using Story Face Strategy at X-IPS 2 Grade Students of 12th State Senior High
School Surabaya”, retrieved from http://erepository.uwks.ac.id/1557/1/NABILA%2520AULIA, at
Desember 2018.
 32

statement to obtain the needed data at the research location. The indicators are

as follow :

1. Variable X (Reading fluency)

Reading fluency is determined by the students‟ performance to

recognize words. It means that, the readers must be able to connect the text

and its meaning.

the indicators of variable X are:

a. The students are able to read a text quickly.

b. The students are able to read a text with accuracy.

c. The students are able to read a text with full of expressions.

2. Variable Y (Reading comprehension)

a. The students are able to know main idea in reading text.

b. The students are able to know meaning of vocabulary in reading text.

c. The students are able to identify the detail information of the text.

d. The students are able to find out word reference in reading text.

e. The students are able to find out inference in reading text

3. The Assumption and The Hypothesis

a. Assumptions

In this study, researchers assume that the results of this

research shows there is a significant correlation between reading

performance andreading comprehension in the English department of

Uin Syahada Padangsidimpuan.

 33

Hypothesis :

1. H0 : There is no significant relationship between students' reading

fluency in reading and understanding of the English department of

Uin Syahada Padangsidimpuan

2. Ha : There is a significant relationship between students' reading

fluency in reading and comprehension in the English department of

Uin Syahada Padangsidimpuan.

 34

A. The Place and Time of the Research.

The research location is UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan. It is lelocated on

Jl. T. Rizal Nurdin No. Km 4, RW. 5, Sihitang, Kec. Southeast

Padangsidimpuan, Padang Sidempuan City, North Sumatra 22733 . This

research had been from conducted from November 2022 up to finish.

B. Kind and Method of the research

In this study, the author built a design called correlational research as a

quantitative research.51 So the kind of research is quantitative research with

correlation method. In this research wanted to make a verification about the

correlation between students’reading fluency and reading comprehension of

the English Department UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan.

C. Population and Sample of the Research.

1. population

The population the whole of the students majoring in English at

UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan.The total population is 88 people students

are divided into 3 classes.

Table. 1
The total population of students majoring in English at
Uin Syahada Padasidimpuan.

NO Class Total
1 TBI-1 25
2 TBI-2 20
2 TBI-3 33
Total 88

51
John. W. Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, (Boston: Pearson Education Inc., 2012), 4th ed., p. 338.
 35

2. Sample

The population of this research is 88 students. Because The

population is large, so the researchers will use random sampling. Random

sampling is the way to select the sample that the number of population

can be selected randomly. 52 Correlationalstudies selected using an

acceptable sampling method, and 30 participants generally considered to

be the minimum acceptable sample size.53 Based on the statement above,

the researcher considers taking 20 students as research sample. The reason

is because the researchers took 20% of 88 students. So, 20 students will be

taken as a sample.

Table.2
Sample of the Research of students majoring in English at
Uin Syahada Padasidimpuan.

NO Class Total Student Total sample

2 TBI-2 20 20
Total 20 20

D. Research Instrument.

1. Test

In this research, the writer uses test as the techniques of collecting

data. The purpose of the test is to measure students’ ability. We can know

how their understanding with material has been learnt by the

students if the test is used. Test is important point in this research

52
Fraenkel, op.cit., pp. 104—105.
53
Jack R. Fraenkel and Norman Wallen, How to Design and Evaluate Research in
Education, (New York: Mc Graw Hill, Inc.,2003), p. 94.
 36

because the researcher wants to know the students’ ability in reading

comprehension. There are two sets of tests:

2. Oral Test (Reading Fluency Test)

For the reading fluency test, the students requested to read a text

in front of the class for about 1-3 minutes. The students’ oral

production was recorded, analyzed and scored by the raters.

3. Written Test (Reading Comprehension Test)

Reading comprehension test given to the students that considered

of 20 questions (multiple choices). The items of the test constructed

based on the indicators of reading comprehension in descriptive text. In

measuring the score, the researcher the scale from :

Table. 3
The Classification of Students’ Score

NO The Score Level Category

1 80-100 Very Good
2 66-79 Good
3 56-65 Enough
4 46-55 Less
5 0-45 Fail

E. Validity and reliability of the Data

1. Validity

The test would have content validity only if it included a proper sample of

the relevant structure. On the other hand, the design of the test should be based

on the material that the students have learned. Hence, the researcher gave the

test based on the related material that the students have learned. The test given
 37

to the students was considered too difficult or too easy, often showing the low

reliability. means that validity is whether the test is suitable to be tested to the

students or not.

2. Reliability

Realibility of reading fluency and reading comprehension using by

instrument a reliable test is consistent and dependable . It means that a

reliable test will stay giving unchangeable results in a few test conducted to

the same group of people.

F. Tecnique of Collecting Data

In collecting data. The researcher colected questioner for reading fluency

and reading comprehension. data collection technique will be described as

follows:

1. come to the campus UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan to do research

2. Meet the English teacher who sharing about the student

3. Prepare for exams

4. come to class and give the test

5. Explain what the test is and what students will do with the test

6. Determine the time to complete the test

7. Provision of tests to be done by students.

8. provide opportunities for students to answer the test

8. Collect student answer sheets for analysis.

9. Interview with English teacher at UIN Syahada Padangsidimpuan to find

out how teachers overcome students' difficulties in mastering reading.

 38

G. Teqnique of Data analysis

Data anlysis is the proses organizing the data in orther to obtain

regularity of pattren of form of the research. The data analysis is used after

the data have been collected. Based on the collecting data, the data is result

of nterview and written test. The researcher will analyze the data proposed

with data reduction, data display and conlusion drawing or verification.54

after collection data, the researcher will do to analyze the data. analyze

will be conducted in some steps as follow :

1. Identified and corected the answer the subject researc from the tests.

Identified mean, median and modus by using SPSS to arrange and

to categorize the score of variabel X and Y. It is the second ways of

presenting the data analysis.

2. Identified the normality test

Normality test is used to know wether the data of research is

normal or not. To know the normality, the researcher calculated by using

SPSS.

3. Homogeneity test

Homogeneity test will be used to see from the two classes whether

there are several different variants. calculated using SPSS.

4. To test Hypothesis

To know the correlation between variable X and Y is calculated by

SPSS.

5. To axamine the significanses variable

54
D Sugiono, Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif, Kualitatif, dan Tindakan,2013
 39

To examine signivicanses variable X and Y was calculated using

SPSS.

6. To know the contribution coefficient data termination variable.

To know the contribution of coefficient correlation between

variable X and variable Y, It can be defining. The formula determinant

correlation.

CD ¿ r 2 x 100%

Where :

CD = Contribution of coufficient determination

r = Coefficient correlation55

The result should be appropriate with the interpretation to the index

correlation of product moment, the interpretation of the result can bee seen
in the following table.

Table 4.
The table interpretation of XY

No The Value Degree

1 Between 0.00-0.20 Very Low
2 Between 0.21-0.40 Low
3 Between 0.41-0.70 Enough
4 Between 0.71-0.80 High
5 Between 0.91-1.00 Very High

Source, sogiyono. Statistika untuk penelitian

55
Sugiono, Statistika untuk Penelitian. (Bandung : Alfabeta.2008)p.98