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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Teaching Reading
Teaching is not an easy job, but it is a necessary one, and can be very
rewarding when the teacher see our students progress and know that we have
helped to make it happen (Jaremy Harmer, 2008). Some student may have
difficulty and stressful at same times, but teaching can be enjoyable.
In the classroom, reading is one of ways to make the students understand
in teaching – learning process. Every student has different character and skill,
so the teacher is expected to present some ways to make the student
interesting to conduct their lesson.
The strategy of teaching reading which the teacher is present one of ways
in the classroom. The first is summarizing. Summarizing is how we take
larger selections of text and reduce them to their bare essentials: the gist, the
key ideas, the main points that are worth noting and remembering. The
second is questioning. It gives tutors the chance to find out what students
know and understand, and it allows students to seek clarification and help.
The third is skimming. Skimming is aimed at getting quickly the main ideas
and the purposes of reading selection (Cahyono et al, 2011). The fourth is
scanning. Scanning is quick reading to find the general idea, scanning is
quick reading to locate specific information.
From the statement above, it is clear that the strategies influence for the
students’ learning in reading comprehension. So, it can be concluded that
strategies is important for students to learn reading.

B. Reading comprehension
1. Meaning
Reading comprehension is the linguistic process of reconstructing
the intended message of a text by translating its lexical and grammatical
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information into meaningful units that can be integrated with the reader's
knowledge and cognitive structures (Harris and Hodges, 1982:266).
McNeil, 1992 stated that comprehension is making sense out of the
text. Reading comprehension is acquiring information from context and
combining disparate elements into a new whole. According to Cahyono,
2011 reading is means of transferring information between the writer and
the reader. Therefore reading comprehension understands a written text
means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as
possible. Reading with comprehension means understanding what has
been read. It is an active, thinking process that depends not only on
comprehension skills but also on the student’s experiences and prior
knowledge. Comprehension involves understanding the vocabulary
seeing the relationship among word and concepts, organizing ideas,
recognizing the author’s purpose, making judgments, and evaluating.
Reading comprehension depends on many factors;
a. the reader’s ability to attend the printed idea
b. the reader’s background knowledge to which new information must
be added
c. the quality of writing itself
d. the reader’s purpose or goal in reading material.
In this research the reading comprehension understands of the text
idea where in reading there are some interaction between teacher and
students in classroom activity.
2. Strategy in reading comprehension
Adler C.R, (2001) stated that reading comprehension strategies are
conscious plans-sets of steps that good readers use to make sense of text.
Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become purposeful,
active readers who are in control of their own reading comprehension.
There are four kinds of strategies in teaching reading comprehension
according to Vacca & Vacca (1999:53) :
a. Scaffolding
A key change in the delivery of instruction that would make a
difference in the content literacy of all learners, especially students
from diverse backgrounds, is to scaffold the strategies for text.
Gasong, 2007 stated that scaffolding is a lesson in which students are
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given some assistance during the early stages of learning and then
reducing the aid and providing opportunities for students.
Scaffolding allows teachers help diverse learner negotiate meaning
and overcome difficulties in text-related learning situation.
Scaffolding is as a process whereby a student is helped to solve a
particular problem beyond its developmental capacity through the
help of a teacher or other person with more ability. From the
definition described above it can be concluded that scaffolding is a
support, support to students of teachers that enable the development
of learning ability so that there is a higher level of mastery of
material shown by the completion of more complicated problems.
b. Think-aloud
Think Alouds is a strategy that helps students on learning
activities, Aims to recall more significant information from the texts
given by the teacher. The ability of teachers to transfer creativity
Them and control the students in completing each step of the way
think alouds strategy in understanding reading texts and teachers
make their thinking explicit by verbalizing their thoughts while
reading orally. Davey, (1983: 45) suggest five basic steps when using
think-aloud. First, select passage to read aloud that contain points of
difficulty, ambiguities, contradictions, or unknown words. Second,
while orally reading thinking-aloud, have students follow silently
and listen to how trouble spots are through. Third, have students
work with partners to practice think-aloud by taking reading short,
carefully prepared passages and sharing thoughts. Fourth, have
students practice independently, using a checklist to involve all
students while verifying use of the procedures. Finally, to provide for
transfer, integrate practice with other lessons, and provide occasional
demonstration of how, why, and when to use thinkaloud.
c. Reciprocal Teaching
Reciprocal Teaching is a strategy that asks students and teachers
to share the role of teacher by allowing both to lead the discussion
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about a given reading. Reciprocal Teaching involves four strategies

that guide the discussion: predicting, question generating,
summarizing and clarifying. Reciprocal Teaching is a great way to
teach students how to determine important ideas from a reading
while discussing vocabulary, developing ideas and questions, and
summarizing information. It can be used across several content
areas; it works particularly well with textbooks and non-fiction text.
Reciprocal Teaching (Palinscar & Brown in Sarjan, 2017) is a guided
readingcomprehension strategy that encourages students to develop
the skills that effective readers and learners do automatically
(summarise, question, clarify, predict and respond to what they are
reading).
d. SQ3R
SQ3R is a systematic reading strategy to help you organize the
reading process into manageable units. It is only one of many similar
strategies that you can use to improve comprehension. It consist five
steps, they are: Surveying, questioning, reading, reciting, and
reviewing.

C. Scaffolding method
1. Meaning
Scaffolding is defined as the "strategy used by the teachers to
facilitate learners' transition from assisted to independent
performance"(Sukyadi and Hasanah, 2013:4). Another definition is given
by Bradley and Bradley (2004) as the "contextual supports for meaning
through the use of simplified language, teacher modeling, visuals and
graphics, cooperative learning and hands-on learning".
Scaffolding is a teaching learning strategy in which the teacher and
learners engage in a collaborative problem-solving activity with the
support and guidance of the teacher to enable learners become
increasingly independent (Richards and Schmidt, 2002:466).
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An important aspect of scaffolding instruction is that the scaffolds

are temporary. As the learner‟s abilities increase the scaffolding provided
by the more knowledgeable other is progressively withdrawn. Finally, the
learner is able to complete the task or master the concepts independently.
There are several reasons, which support the use of this technique.
In scaffolding learning technique, there are some common ways who
teachers among others: 1) Using simple language, 2). Completing
sentences or paragraphs by selecting the available answer, 3).Using
images to convey information. addition to helping improve students'
writing skills at the same time also able to enhance students' creativity,
because there is scaffolding in learning and understanding the goals
related to the development of students' self- concept. The way that
scaffolding is implemented in the classroom depends on students‟
abilities. Varying levels of support are possible, and the teacher and
learner collaboratively redefine the task so that there is combined
ownership of the task and the learner shares an understanding of the goal
that he or she needs to accomplish it (Van Lier, 2004).
According to Hannafin (2001), scaffolding can be differentiated by
mechanisms and functions. Mechanisms emphasize the methods by
which scaffolding is provided while functions emphasize the purposes
served. Scaffolding varies in complexity according to different contextual
variables. Scaffolding approaches or methods, therefore, vary
accordingly. In some instances, where the problem or the task is very
explicit, simple scaffolding can be closely linked to specific performance
demands. But when the task is not well-known or is ill-defined, a
scaffolding of a generic nature is generally provided.
2. Types of saffolds
The teacher can use different types of scaffolds - conceptual,
metacognitive, procedural and strategic.
a. Conceptual scaffolding is provided when the task is well defined and
guides learners regarding what to consider. Conceptual scaffolding
can be accomplished by several mechanisms such as cueing/hinting,
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coaching comments for motivational purposes, providing feedback

and providing a model.
b. Metacognitive scaffolding provides guidance on how to think and
how to relate the given information to previous knowledge
c. Procedural scaffolding emphasizes, clarifies and aids the learner
while she/he is performing the task until the task is accomplished.
d. Strategic scaffolding takes the form of response-sensitive guidance at
key decision points. (Hannafin, 2001).
In this research, the researcher used procedural scaffolding in
addition to guide, emphasize, and clarify the students in their reading
comprehension activities. It provides the students with systematic
activities so that at the end they can perform the task independently.
3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Scaffolding Technique
a. Advantage
1) Scaffolding is a highly flexible and adaptable model of
instruction that cancbe used to support learners at all levels.
2) Scaffolding engages the learner. The learner does not passively
listen to the information presented. Instead, through teacher
prompting the learner builds on prior knowledge and forms new
knowledge.
3) In working with students who have low self-esteem and learning
disabilities, scaffolding provides an opportunity to give positive
feedback. This makes them feel that they are capable of
performing the task. This leads to another advantage of
scaffolding in that, if done properly, scaffolding instruction
motivates students so that they want to learn.
4) It can minimize the level of frustration of the learner. The
learners will not feel pressure during the learning process
because the teacher assisted them and helped them to perform
better (Rachel & Van Der 2002).
b. Disadvantage
However, scaffolding instruction has some disadvantages.
Rachel & Van Der (2002) mention that the biggest disadvantage of
scaffolding as follows :
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1) If the teacher were to present scaffolded lessons to meet the

needs of each individual, this would be extremely time-
consuming. Implementation of individualized scaffolds in a
classroom with a large number of students would be
challenging.
2) Another disadvantage is that, unless properly trained, a teacher
may not properly implement scaffolding instruction and
therefore will not see the full effect.
3) Scaffolding also requires that the teacher give up some control
and allow the students to make errors. This may be difficult for
teachers to do. Finally, the teachers‟ manuals and curriculum
guides do not include examples of scaffolds or outlines of
scaffolding methods that would be appropriate for the specific
lesson content.

4. Scaffolding strategies
The following are a number of scaffolding strategies:
a. Modeling
Means “a learning process in which a person observes someone‟s
behavior and then consciously or unconsciously attempts to imitate
that behavior” (Richards et al., 1992:233 ). It is according to Roehler
& Cantlon (1997 cited in Bikmaz et. al, 2010:27) instructional
activity which includes think aloud modeling, talk aloud modeling
and performance modeling that shows how learners should think and
act within a given situation.
b. Bridging
“This calls for activating and building on knowledge that students
already have, i.e., going from the known to the unknown. Students
can make connections of the new concepts or behavior to previous
learning. Then, they can show how the new material is pertinent to
their live”
c. Contextualizing
Contextualized instruction, as it suggests, refers to teaching students
the content in a context, i.e., embedding the concepts in meaningful
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activities and in a scenario that makes sense to the students to

enhance their understanding and to make the concept more relatable.
d. Schema building
Refers to clusters of meaning that are interconnected, i.e., how
knowledge and understanding are organized. It is essential for
teachers to building students‟ understanding through helping them to
see the connection of the new information with their pre-existing
structures of meaning through a variety of activities. For example, a
teacher may ask students to preview the text, noting heads and
subheads, illustrations and their captions, titles of charts, etc.
(Walqui, 2006: 173)

e. Developing metacognition
Metacognition is defined as „the ability to monitor one‟s current
level of understanding and decide when it is not adequate. It refers to
the ways in which students manage their thinking, and it includes at
least the four aspects: consciously applying learned strategies while
engaging in activity; knowledge and awareness of strategic options a
learner has and the ability to choose the most effective one for the
particular activity at hand monitoring, evaluating and adjusting
performance during activity; and planning for future performance
based on evaluation of past performance"
D. Previous Study
1. Dwi Ariani. “Scaffolding Strategy Used By English Teacher In Teaching
Reading Comprehension To The Eleventh Grades Students At Smk
Muhammadiyah 2 Surakarta”, Muhammadiyah Surakarta University,
2018.
The conclusion of her thesis found that there are five kinds of
scaffolding techniques which is used by English teacher at SMK
Muhammadiyah 2 Surakarta in teaching reading comprehension namely
asking question, using simple language, using visual, using gesture and
generating question. The students show good response toward the
implementation of scaffolding in teaching reading comprehension. They
state that the support from the teacher in teaching and learning reading
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comprehension is very important in helping them to get higher level

understanding. Scaffolding is useful in anticipating problem which is
faced by the students and reduce students’ confussion when the problem
has already come. Scaffolding is also flexible for the teacher in
modifying or improving learning activity when the teacher diagnosed
difficulty so that it can be eliminated.
The similarity between this research and her research is in the using
of Scaffolding method in teaching reading comprehension.
The difference between this research and her research is the object of
the research.
2. Desy Mutia Sari. “The Effectiveness Of Scaffolding Technique To
Improve Students’ Writing Skill On Analytical Expository Text At The
Second Grade Of Sman 7 Bandar Lampung”. University Of Lampung.
2018.
In relation to results of the study, it was concluded that : it is proven
to be true that with scaffolding, by the teacher‟s guidance the students
were moved from zone of current development to a zone of proximal
development. This happened because scaffolding technique can be used
to build on the previous steps, provide clarifications, and support
resources to help students in the learning process. Therefore, it will help
them to write the analytical exposition text effectively. It is proved from
the statistical result in the previous chapter it can be seen that t-value
( 25.591) was higher than ttable (2.030) and the significant value (0.00)
was lower than (0.05). Besides, it significantly improves students‟ ability
in all aspects of writing especially the aspect of content. Statistically, it
could be seen from the gain of the students‟ mean score of content in the
pretest and the posttest (17.64 to 24.11). Seeing that, the students were
guided to make an outline before constructing a text so that they could
express their ideas and develop their ideas in logical sequencing
The similarity between this research and her research is in the using
of scaffolding method in teaching english.
The difference between this research and her research are: the object
of the research, then this research will study about the use of scaffolding
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method in teaching reading comprehension, while her research was

studying about the use of scaffolding method in teaching writing.
E. Hyphothesis
The hypothesis of this research is “scaffolding strategy can improve the
reading comprehension at SMA N 1 Bulu Sukoharjo in the academic year of
2019/2020”.