CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

This chapter elaborates several theories that are relevant to this study. In

detail, this chapter explains the definition of reading, reading comprehension,

teaching reading, reading strategies and techniques, definition of skimming and

scanning techniques, and related studies.

2.1 Reading

Reading is an activity or process in getting information. Reading involves

the interaction between the text and the reader. The importance of reading is

crucial, because it is one of the skills which are highly connected with someone’s

language ability. When people read they construct and search for meaning based

on their own perception to the text and what the text brings to them.

There are many definitions of reading. One of the definitions is by Grabe

and Stoller (2007: 9) which defines reading as the ability to draw meaning from

printed page and to interpret the information appropriately. In addition, Hodgson

(Tarigan, 1979: 7) defines reading as a process that is done and used by readers in

order to get messages that are presented by writer through words or written form.

But reading is not merely the ability to gain information in printed page, it is also

an identification of written symbols which function to recall meanings built up

through the reader’s past experience (Bond, et al. 1975:2). On the other hand,

McGinnis and Smith (1982) define reading as a purposeful process of identifying,

interpreting, and evaluating ideas from the reader’s total consciousness.

Another definition of reading is proposed by Cole (in Wiryodijoyo, 1989).

He writes that “Reading is a psychological process in determining the meaning of

printed words. Reading involves vision, eyes movement, memorizing, and the

knowledge in comprehending the meaning of words”.

The definitions above can basically explain the common understanding of

reading. Nevertheless, reading is not just a common element but it is also

considered as a more complex element as Anderson, Durston and Poole (1965:5)

state:

Reading is a very complex process. It requires a high level of muscular,

coordination, sustained effort and concentration. But reading is more is more than

just a visual task. Not only must the reader see and identify the symbols in front

of him but he must interpret what he reads in the light of his own background,

associate it with past experience, and project beyond this in terms of ideas,

judgments, applications, and conclusions.

In line with Anderson, Durston and Poole, McGinnis and Smith (1982: 14-

19) state that reading is a complex process that depend upon the individual’s

language development, experience background, cognitive ability, and attitudes

toward reading.

The ability of reading is developed from the implementation of several

factors mention above. That is why reading is considered as a complex element

because the readers must try to identify, interpret, and evaluate ideas from written

materials with various kind of factors and element.

Besides the fact that reading is a very complex process, it is also an

interactive process. Grab and Stoller (2007: 18) state that reading is an interactive

process in at least two ways. First, the various process involved in reading are

carried out simultaneously, it means that while readers are recognizing words very

rapidly and keeping them active in their memories, they are also analyzing the

structure of the sentences to assemble the most logical clause-level meanings,

building a main-idea model of text comprehension, monitoring comprehension

and so on. Second, it is considered interactive in the sense of linguistic

information from the text that interacts with information the reader’s background

knowledge.

From the explanation above, we can see that reading is basically a very

complex and interactive process and possesses various kind of element. In

conclusion, the definitions of reading are crucial for EFL students and teachers

because it can accommodate both of them in applying reading activities in the

classroom.

2.2 The Purpose of Reading

There are some experts offering the purpose of reading. One of them is

Harmer (2001: 201-202) who proposes six purposes of reading, which are reading

to identify the topic, reading to predict and guess, reading for general

understanding, reading for specific information, reading for detail information,

and reading to interpret the text.

Reading to identify the topic refers to an effort of reader to find out what is

being talked about in the text or main idea of the text, in this respect the process of

picking up the topic or main idea must be done quickly so that the processing of

the text will be more effective. Reading to predict and guess is usually done after

the reader has identified the topic or main idea of the text, in this case the reader

tries to predict what is coming or just makes a guess or supposition of the content

of the text from the initial glance. Reading for general understanding is referred to

as skimming; that is a process of reading to find the gist or general idea of the text

without having to look up for details of the text, usually it is done in order to find

out the general impression of the text. Reading for specific information is often

referred to as scanning; it is a process of searching for the details or specific

information of the text, such as the name of an expert or the year. In doing so, the

reader does not have to pick up all of other information in the text. Reading for

detailed information refers to a process of reading in which the reader must pick

up all information in the text without missing even only a word; generally it is

done when the reader reads written instruction or directions or the description of

procedures. Reading to interpret the text refers to reading process in which the

reader tries to comprehend the text not only from the literal meaning or words, but

also beyond it. In this case, the reader must take into account variety of clues in

the text that may help her or him to comprehend what is implied.

Tarigan (1979: 9-10) also suggest seven purposes of reading, which are

reading for details or facts, reading for main ideas, reading for sequence or

organization, reading for inference, reading to classify, reading to evaluate, and

reading to compare and or contrast. Reading for details or facts refers to as a

process of reading aimed at finding out things what a character has done or made

or what has happened to certain character. In short, it is a process to find out the

details or facts in the texts. Reading for main ideas refers to searching for the topic

of the text, whether it is good topic or not, or picking up what a story in the text is

about. In other words, it is a process of finding out main ideas or topic of the text.

Reading for sequence or organization refers to a process of reading. In

which the reader tries to find out the sequence of a story in the text. Specifically, it

seeks out what happens in sequence of a story. Reading for inference refers to a

reading process in which the reader concludes or infers what an author want to

convey through a story in the text; why an actor changes, or what qualities of the

character that make him or her failed or successful in the story. Reading to

classify can be used to classify a part of a story or a story itself, it seeks out which

story is true and which one is not. In other words, the purpose of the reader in this

case is to classify things in the text. Reading to evaluate is used by the reader to

evaluate whether he or she want to do something or to work as character does in a

story, or to evaluate the whole story. In essence, it is used by the reader to

evaluate the text being read. Reading to compare or contrast refers to a process of

reading in which the reader tries to compare or contrast two texts, whether there

are similarities or difference between them. It is also to compare or contrast a

character in a story with reader.

In addition, Davies (1995: 133) defines reading into five purposes, which

are reading for pleasure, for general impression, for organizing and study, for

learning content or procedures and for language learning.

Reading for pleasure means that it is purposed to follow a narrative and

enjoy the ‘sound’ or rhyme of a literary text. Reading for general comprehension

is mean to gain an idea of the writer viewpoint and an overall impression of the

‘tone’ of a text and also to decide whether nor not to read the text. Reading for

organizing and study is to identify the important content of a text, to answer a

specific question and to decide which section of a text to start studying. Reading

for learning content or procedures means that it is aimed to gain an understanding

of new concepts, to learn certain facts from a text and to follow instructions.

Reading for language learning means that it is aimed to translate the text, literally

or metaphorically, to learn new vocabulary, to identify useful structure or

collocations or to use the text as a model for writing and to practice pronunciation.

The purpose of reading is detrimental for individual, especially for

students who are constantly strive for information in their academic life. On the

other hand not all purposes are taken into account when it comes to the EFL

classroom context. As the activity involves in the classroom is mainly about

teaching and learning, so the dominant purposes applied by students are reading

for general understanding, reading for specific Information, and reading for

organizing and study

In conclusion all reading purposes have their own importance, several

purposes will be a part of this study but only the newest and correlated theories

will be the core, especially theories that deals with skimming and scanning

techniques.

2.3 Reading Comprehension

Reading is a complex process and the process of reading involves the

process of comprehension. Comprehension is defined as recognizing and

understanding general ideas and specific facts and in the process of recognizing

and understanding involves an interpretation on how these ideas and facts are

organized and developed (Sonka, cited in Shofia 2001). In addition,

comprehension is considered as a construction process because it involves the

entire element of the reading process (Hedge, 1985). Based on the definition of

comprehension, reading comprehension itself, in general, is defined as

understanding a text that is read (partnership of reading, 2005).

There are several definitions of reading comprehension. As defined by

Grabe and Fredrica L. Stoller (2007:17), reading comprehension is the ability to

understand information in a text and interpret it appropriately. Reading

comprehension is also defined as a process of meaning elaboration or thinking in

relation of written symbols (Harris, cited in Olson and Dillner, 1982: 5). In

addition, Athey in Finn (1985: 165) explains that reading comprehension is an

activity in which the highest abilities-perceptual, intellectual, and linguistic-

interact and support one another in pursuit as a single goal, the processing and

assimilation of written information. In line with it, Sahu and Kar in Setiasih

(2004: 13) state that “reading comprehension is the process of inferring the ideas

and information that the author intends to convey”.

But reading comprehension is not simply understanding and interpreting

information from a written text, it is also a complex process in which the readers

use their mental content to obtain meaning from written material. The readers

must be able to recognize and decode words, and also to relate the ideas to their

previous knowledge (Weiner 1985, cited in Shofia 2001). Based on the definition

it can be inferred that in comprehending a written text there is a mental process, it

is not merely pronouncing the words but it is also how the readers process the text

into meaningful information by relating the old information stored in the mind and

the new information while they are reading.

Furthermore, Brown (2001) elaborates two processes of comprehending a

text. They are bottom-up and top-down processing. In bottom up processing,

readers must first recognize a variety of linguistic signals and then process the

linguistic signals in order. Meanwhile, in top-down processing, readers draw on

their own intelligence and experience to understand a text. They use their

background knowledge to help them comprehend a text. Therefore, different

readers will interpret the message of the text in different ways.

Lenz (2007) state that beside background knowledge, comprehension is

also affected by the readers’ knowledge of language structure, knowledge of the

text structure, knowledge of cognitive and metacognitive strategies, their

reasoning abilities, their motivation, and their level of engagement. In line with

that, Heilman, et al (in Choate and Rakes 2001: 154) state that “Reading

comprehension as a constructive process-one which the reader relates the text

prior knowledge and experiences to construct meaning”.

Bearing in mind the importance of comprehension, Parrot (1993: 154)

lists some sub skills that are involved in efficient comprehension, which are (a)

recognize the communicative function of a text, (b) obtain the main ideas from a

text, (c) identify specific details, (d) distinguish main ideas from supporting

details, (e) recognize the speaker’s or writer’s attitude towards the topic and

towards the listener to reader, (f) infer ideas and information which is not

explicitly stated, (g) anticipate or predict ‘the content’ of the text, (h) recognize

the familiar words, (i) infer the context of the discourse and (g) use the context to

understand the meaning of unfamiliar words

In line with Parrot, Hedge (1985: 32) also stated that there are some skills

that people should obtain if they want to be a fluent reader who can comprehend

text well. The skills are (a) to make prediction from syntactic and semantic clues

and from their existing knowledge of a subject in the way just describe, (b) to read

in phrases not in single word and actually skip over words if these are not needed

for general understanding, (d) to read ‘between lines’ and work on the meaning of

the text at different levels, (e) understanding information, making inferences and

critically evaluating ideas, (f) to guess the meaning of new words from contextual

clues or by applying knowledge of how words can be formed from others, and ( g)

to distinguish fact from opinion and statement from example to follow meaning

through a paragraph by recognizing signals

From all of the definitions it can be concluded that reading comprehension

is a process of getting new meaning which is derived through the concepts that the

reader already possesses. Bond et al (1994: 2) also state that the reading process

involves both the acquisition of meaning intended by the writer and the reader’s

own contribution in the form of interpretation, evaluation, and reflection in those

meaning.

The writer may also conclude that in EFL context, students may find

difficulties in comprehending an English text, because in nature English is not

their native language and based on the definitions above, in comprehending a text

individuals need to undergo several steps with various kind of factors and

elements. That is why certain technique, such as skimming and scanning

techniques are needed for EFL students in helping them comprehending an

English text.

2. 4 Reading Strategies

Reading is one of the most important language skills, it is also one of the

most complex one. To be a successful reader, in this case as a foreign language

(English) reader, reading strategies are definitely important. Strategies are defined

as specific method of approaching a problem or a task, modes of operation for

achieving a particular end, or planned designs for controlling and manipulating

certain information (Brown, 2001).

In line with Brown, Cohen (1987, cited in Nurmaya 1998) states that

reading strategies are mental process that readers consciously choose to use in

accomplishing reading task. In addition, reading strategies are techniques and

methods that readers use to make their reading successful, they are regarded as an

important aspect of language learning since they can help student to overcome

reading problems (Amanda, 2007). In addition Carrell (1998) state that reading

strategies are reading behaviors recognized as skimming a text to get the general

idea, scanning a text for a specific piece of information, making contextual

guesses about the meanings of unknown words, skipping unknown words,

tolerating ambiguity, making prediction, conforming or disconfirming inferences,

identifying the main idea, rereading, and using cognates to comprehend, to more

recently recognize strategies such as activating prior knowledge and recognizing

text structure.

Therefore, from the definitions above the writer can infers that reading

strategies can be acknowledged as physical or mental action or operation that

readers plan or use and apply consciously to assess their comprehension.

Furthermore, Walter Paul (1984) proposes ten ways or method in effective

reading, which are the intonation way, the vocabulary way, the background way,

the paragraph way, the organizational-pattern way, pivotal-word way, the

skimming way, the page-at-a-time way, the Webster way and the Gibbon’s way.

The intonation way is to read in silent and in variation, the vocabulary way

is to read with the realization that each is a concept that needed to be mastered, the

background way is mean to develop the readers reading coverage so the reader

can own sufficient amount of information, the paragraph way is mean to recall the

content of the paragraph each time the reader finish reading each of the paragraph

itself, the organizational-pattern way is mean to recognize the information

organization in the text, the Pivotal-word way is to give an attention to the idea

being read, modified it and if it’s necessary to change the hypothesis, the

skimming way is a technique in identifying the big picture of the whole text for

the purpose of knowing the information desired, the page-at-a-time way is mean

to retain the idea of what is being read, the Webster way is mean to look for the

table of content first, introduction or other general topics and finally the Gibbon’s

way is mean to remember the idea related to the topic before reading the passage.

In line with Paul, Wulan (1993, cited in Cahyono, 1997) states that there

are six ways in improving efficient reading, which are: don’t pronounce the words

in the passage, don’t repeat something that is not necessary, make a variation of

reading speed, don’t assume that every words are important, vary the type or

reading passage, and practice to guest the meaning according to the structural

context and information.

In addition, Brown (2001) projected few strategies for reading

comprehension, which are identify the purpose of reading, use graphemic rules

and patterns to aid in bottom-up decoding (especially for beginning level

learners), use efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid

comprehension (for intermediate to advanced levels), skim the text for main ideas,

scan the text for specific information, use semantic mapping or clustering, guess

when you are not certain, analyze vocabulary, distinguish between literal and

implied meaning, and last capitalize on discourse markers to process relationship

Since reading strategies are parts of language learning strategies, it also

includes different kinds of techniques. According to Thompson (1993) there are

three techniques in comprehending a text. First is the selective perception which is

a technique in identifying and recognizing the most important idea, second is

skimming which is a technique in identifying the big picture of the whole text for

the purpose of knowing the information desired and third is scanning which is a

technique that directly look for a specific word in a text.

In addition, Amanda (2003) states that from various kind of strategies used

by students they often use skimming and scanning techniques in reading a

passage. They often review the material by using skimming or scanning, and then

they read it more closely while guessing to fill in gaps and finally organize the

material by taking notes or summarizing.

The process of mastering these strategies, which includes few techniques,

will take a long period of time; therefore reader should improve their reading

habit. These strategies should be applied in classroom activities where students

are constantly involve with reading difficulties and boundaries.

A study conducted by Syafrizal (2000, cited in Amanda, 2007) discovered

that the appropriate language learning strategies which are related to reading make

a contribution to students’ reading achievement, it marks how important reading

strategies are to help students in their reading course.

All of the definitions convey the kinds and type of reading strategies as a

language learning strategies which include methods and techniques. In summary,

in each definition we can see the existence of skimming and scanning techniques

as the fundamental aspect in reading strategies and the importance of the

techniques as one of the reading strategies in helping students overcome their

reading tasks.

2.5 Teaching Reading

2.5.1 The Role of Teachers in Teaching Reading

In classroom teaching and learning activities, there is no doubt that teacher

plays an important role. Teacher plays a large part in constructing an interesting

classroom atmosphere that will build an effective reading instruction. Therefore,

teachers have to know well their roles in teaching and learning process. Brown

(2001: 167-188) elaborates five roles in the course of language teaching.

a. Teacher as controller

Teacher is expected to be able to resolve or determine the classroom

atmosphere. It means that they can decide what student will do before,

during, and after the learning teaching process.

b. Teacher as directors

Teacher should be able to maintain the process of teaching learning

running in a good and constructive way in order to make the process

running effectively.

c. Teacher as a manager

Teacher should be responsible for planning the lesson, modules, and

courses for their students.

d. Teacher as facilitator

Teacher should be able to facilitate the process of teaching and learning. It

means that teachers should be able to manage the entire incidental event in

the classroom. Teacher should put aside from the directive role, but they

must permit students to find their own pathway to success with their

assistance.

e. Teacher as resources

Teacher should be able to be a person whom students take initiative to

come to get advice or something relates to their needs in teaching and

learning process.

In line with Brown, Mahon (1986: 98-99) states that the teacher is the

most important element in reading class for her attitude influence students and

their performance. The teacher of this component (reading) should provide the

students an anxiety free atmosphere so they will free to experiment with a new

reading style, to practice so they will master new strategies and to pressure in the

form of persuasion and timings.

Nevertheless, Mahon leaves one essential element of the teacher’s role that

is model reader. Nuttall (1982:192) points out, “readers are made by readers”, she

also states that:

For disadvantages students, you may be the only reader they meet. The only

person from whom they “catch” reading showing that you are a reader means

carrying books around with you, referring to books as you teach, reading out brief

passages that may interest students, talking about what you are reading at the

moment, and handling books as if you loved them. Being a reader means reading.

Another aspect of this is the teacher’s role as model interpreter since

making sense of a text is actually interpretation (Eskey, 1986:97) and since so

much of the interpretation is cultural (Van Dijk and Kintsch 1983; Heath), the

teacher’s modeling of native-speaker-like comprehending is essential in class and

during individual conferences with the students.

Still another aspect of this is the teacher as model thinker. Reading is

problem solving (Olshavsky, 1976), and the teacher can serve as a model by

thinking aloud as she introduces new reading skills and strategies.

2.5.2 Teaching Reading Comprehension

There are many ways that can be used to teach reading comprehension. In

general there are three ways in teaching reading. First is reading the lines, which

means that reader should get what the writer is saying. Second, reading between

the lines, meaning that reader should understand the meaning of the writer. Third,

Reading beyond the line, which means the generalization retain from the process

of reading (Cahyono, 1997).

Furthermore Nutfal (cited in Merawati 2003: 18) states that there are three

types of teaching reading activities. First the process of identifying written words

or letters. Second is reading lesson used to teach pronunciation and to encourage

fluent bad expressive speaking. Third is reading activity to get message from a

text.

There are also some approaches that can be implemented in teaching

reading comprehension. Robinson (1970) in Finn (1985: 221) also promotes five

steps in teaching reading comprehension in the sound systematic approach, which

are survey, questions, read, recite and review. Survey is to read chapter title,

subtitle and headings; read topic and summary sentences and introductory, and

summary paragraphs. Questions are to formulate questions based on the titles,

subtitles, and paragraph headings, and main ideas discovered in step 1. Read is to

seek answers to the questions developed in step 2. Recite is to answer question

orally or silently to check on recall of the content and ability to express the

content. Finally, review is to go over material that presented difficulties in step 4.

Another model of teaching is the interactive approach. Brown (2001: 313)

elaborates seven principles for designing interactive reading techniques, which are

(1) to make sure that readers don’t overlook the important of specific instruction

of reading skill in the interactive curriculum, (2) to use techniques that are

intrinsically motivating, (3) to balance authentically and readability in choosing

text, (4) to encourage the development of reading strategies, (5)to include bottom-

up and top-down techniques, (6) to follow the “SQ3R” sequence (survey,

question, read, recite, and review) and last (7) to subdivide your techniques intro

pre-reading: during reading, and after reading phases.

There are basically many ways including techniques and methods in

teaching reading. The importance of it is inevitable to acknowledge, therefore

teachers should develop themselves in comprehending these techniques and

methods in teaching reading.

2.6 Skimming and Scanning Techniques

There are many definitions of skimming and scanning techniques.

According to Lunzer and Gardner (cited in Davies, 1995) “skimming is a rapid

style used mainly to establish what a text is about before deciding where to read

and scanning is a kind of skimming to see if a particular point is present in the text

or to locate it”.

In line with Lunzer and Gardner , Brown (2001: 308) state that skimming

is the process of fast reading in order to get the gist of a passage. It gives readers

the advantages of being able to predict the purpose of the passage, the main topic,

or message, and possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas. Scanning is

the process of quickly searching for particular pieces of information in a text and

the purpose of scanning is to extract specific information without reading through

the whole text. In addition, skimming is also consider as the process of getting the

general picture, it encourages the reader to pick out the main point and disregard

what is irrelevant in a text. On the other hand, scanning is refer to as extracting

specific information, it only look for a piece of information in a written language

not in the intention to understand it all (Harmer, 1983).

Besides the definition of skimming and scanning, there are also purposes

or advantages that can be taken from the techniques. Davies (1995: 149)

elaborates three basic aims of skimming techniques; firstly, to encourage students

to make efficient use of their time when selecting texts for particular purposes.

Secondly, to provide them with the opportunity to respond effectively to text and

to become familiar to the different point of view of the writers from different

texts, and thirdly to search for the language items, or ‘wordings’, and other signals

that reveal the writer purposes.

Meanwhile, he also describes three purposes of scanning techniques. First

of all, the goal of scanning technique is not to show the learners how to scan but

rather to direct their concentration to items that actually needed to be taken notice,

especially for learning or study purposes. Second, scanning techniques is mean for

organizing and structuring the cognitive processing of text. This can be done by

putting attention to the writer’s procedures and signals so that we can enter the

content of a text. Third, the aim of scanning techniques is to construct a drawing

or a pathway for reflective study.

Furthermore, Foresman (1977: 290) proposes four advantages from

skimming and scanning technique, which are to quickly find the information

needed without looking over through the whole text, to find specific detail or

information in a text, to get the general idea of what the material is about and to

know if a writing is useful for a specific purpose.

Besides the advantages of the techniques, there are also few benefits that

can be obtained from the activities of skimming and scanning. First, by

undergoing skimming exercises readers can be encourage to evaluate different

texts instead of simply obtaining the gist/main idea, it is also useful in helping

learners to put their response to the text they read. Second, the activities in

implementing scanning techniques can help students who are struggling with their

basic interpreting or decoding, whether of a second and foreign language or other

highly academic level in their mother tongue (Davies, 1995: 149-151).

The use of skimming and scanning techniques is practically useful for

readers or in this case the students in overcoming their reading difficulties. But as

skimming and scanning are techniques that needed to be mastered, it takes a long

period of time and determination before students can overall master the reading

technique. From the explanation, the writer may also conclude that the

implementation of skimming and scanning techniques in reading activities can be

tremendously helpful for student both in foreign and second language, especially

for EFL students who are struggling with their basic decoding.

2.7 Related Researches on Skimming and Scanning Techniques

There are few researchers that try to study the usage and advantages of

skimming and scanning in reading. Although the aims of the research do not

specifically emphasize the effectiveness of the techniques, but it covers a large

part of skimming and scanning usage and its benefit in reading. Among the

researches are Joiner, Adkins, and Eykyn (1989), Pavlick (1990), and Smith

(1959). The first research (Joiner, Adkins, and Eykyn, 1989) is entitled Skimming

and Scanning with Champs-Elysées: Using Authentic Materials to Improve

Foreign Language Reading (American Association of Teachers of French). The

second research (Trayer, 1990) is entitled Applying Research in Reading to the

Foreign Language Classroom (Association of Teachers Spanish and Portuguese).

The third research (Smith, 1959) is entitled Teaching Study Skills in Reading

(American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Language).

To begin with, a research conducted by Joiner, Adkins, and Eykyn (1989)

tries to study the complex skill of skimming and scanning and to reevaluate its

role in the acquisition of a second or foreign language. They emphasize and

provide evidence for the importance of reading in language instruction and have

advocated comprehension approached based on the similarity of theory in first and

second language acquisition. The research is also based on the fact that students,

in America, are increasingly expected to obtain information from written sources

and that American is expected to deal more with foreign language because of the

International tourism and commerce which have become more common and

familiar to them.

The research is conducted to elementary and intermediate language classes

both in high school and university levels for the length of three years and the

research, in general, is performed on several activities with texts taken from

Champs-Elysees. The results of the research show that the implementation of

skimming and scanning can enrich the student’s visiuatory and give significant

improvement in their foreign language reading.

Furthermore, another research also performed by Pavlick (1990) which

aims to applied research based - reading in foreign classroom. The foundation of

the research is highlighted by the lack of student’s interest in reading, lack the

ability to comprehend, and lack of daily preparation.

Although the research is not intended to focus on skimming and scanning

but in the discussion of the research it was found that one of the reading strategies

used, which is skimming and scanning, help the students to develop

comprehension on the general theme of the text before actually read the whole

passage and located specific information. The implementation of the techniques

also encourages students in developing their effective and fast reading ability.

The last research discussed is the one performed by Smith (1959). He

dedicated his research in teaching study skills in reading. First he defines study

skills as rapid reading, skimming, scanning and other various speed skills. All of

those are an integral part of the reading process and specially used when we want

to apply it into the reading content.

The experiment was applied to the third and fourth grade elementary

students. The research activities involved the students reading a story book to

apply one of the purposes in reading which is reading for pleasure. In the process

the students are conditioned to use their appropriate eye movements, to identify

the word symbols, to gather meanings from groups of word symbols, to hold these

meanings in mind, and merge them all together into pattern. This longitudinal

research outcomes shows that the elementary students are capable to perform the

activities of using skimming and scanning, if they are conditioned in a well

established and free atmosphere environment. So in conclusion the objective of

the research to applied study skills, one of them is skimming and scanning, is

fulfilled.

Taken all together the entire results of some research mentioned above, the

writer can concluded that (1) the implementation of skimming and scanning can

enriched the student’s visiuatory and give significant improvement in their foreign

language reading (2) it help students to develop comprehension on the general

theme of the text and located specific information and (3) it can encourages

students in developing their effective and fast reading ability.