by: Rezki Aulia
Teachers of English are demanded to choose suitable
reading materials for their students. The appropriate reading material can
influence the motivation and interest of the students to read. Johnson (2000:
1) points out that “the interest and motivation of the reader are the factors
that affect success in reading and understanding a text”. Therefore, I think
Discourse Readability can be used by teacher to consider whether the text book
has a good reading material that suitable wit the grade level of target reader
or students who will read it. It can be
used to measure readability of reading materials at all level (Burns, et al., 1996: 482). Besides that, it
gives an easy way to the teacher in determining readability of reading material
he or she will be taught, and can help to determine the target reader of a
written text (Harjasujanaet al.,
1996: 123).
Discourse
Describing about discourse in this review is
important, to know the range of the understanding that is explained. Lubis
(1993: 20) argues that the complete language unit actually is not word or
sentence, but discourse. This argument is in accordance with Kridalaksana’
assertion that discourse is the highest
grammatical unit in the grammatical
hyerarchy which contains the complete messages (Kridalaksana, 1984: 209).
Dijk (1977: 42) states that discourse is similar to
text, it is a language unit consists of some sentences, where existthe
interrelationship to form the whole unified. The semanticly coherence of one
sentence to another must be kept and they can not be interpreted individually.
Halliday (1980: 288) asserts that discourse is the
language unit which is spoken or written, long or short. Discourse is a
semantic unity, not grammatical one. The unity of text is not viewed from the
physical form (morphem, clause, sentence), but it is unity of meaning.
According to Halliday, discourse is not restricted to written language only,
but also concerning the oral language.
Samsinar in Dinar (2003: 3) defines discourse as
“the recording about events of communication, usually consist of some sentences
with interconnected meaning. That communication can be in in the form of oral
language or written language”.
A discourse has to fulfill some rules to be used as
an instructional material in teaching reading. One of the rules includes the
readability of the text or discourse. Considering the characteristic and
position of discourse which has important rule in teaching system, Djajasudarma
and Fatimah (2006: 1-440) suggest that a discourse is expected to have four
important elements, such as: topic, information and its description, cohesion
and coherence, and context. Firstly, a discourse should have a topic, which
accords with information or content discussed in it. Secondly, it also should
include information and its description which express a related topic. Here,
the information means sentences or string of sentences which form the reading
texts. Thirdly, cohesion and coherence are part of the system of a discourse,
while cohesion is the structure relationship among sentences in discourse, or
the matching relationship between one proportions to another. Cohesion is also
formal relationship, which is marked by marker that makes connection with the
previous statement in a discourse.
Coherence refers to relations of meaning that exist
within the text. It occurs where the interpretation of some element in the
discourse is dependent on that of another. Coherence can be changed or created
by reader. Here, Tarigan in Saemina (2005) explains that the coherence of
discourse or text depends on the understanding of the writer and reader of
discourse itself.Regarding above explanations, it can be said that discourse is
the discussion of language or analyzing the elements or contents of language
that not just to unit of sentence but must be continued to the higher level. It
also can be concluded that something that produces sense of cohesion for the
reader or listener. A good discourse will have cohesion and coherence from the
efforts of author or the writer of that discourse itself. Lastly, context of
discourse is formed by some elements such as situation, speaker, listener,
time, place, topic, message, and event. Crystal (1985: 71) states “Context is a
general term used in linguistic and phonetics to refer to specific parts of an
utterance or text near or adjacent to a unit which is the focus of attention”.
Discourse Readability
The consideration of teacher herself also has a rule
in determining readability level of fiction discourse (Harjasujana et al. 1996: 62-63). So far, there has
not yet invention about readability formula which can measure deeply about
background experience. Furthermore, readability formula does not measure the
use of slang, satyr, or ambiguous in its measuring about readability level of
discourse, in which those three forms of writing are usually used in fiction
discourse especially a poem.
The term readability refers to the level of
difficulty of a written text. This is mostly assessed by the use of one of
several mathematical formulas which has been developed to assess text
difficulty (Gillet et al., 1994:
151). In relation with difficulty level of discourse, Kridalaksana in Saemina
(2005: 20) assert that if a discourse is too difficult, the readers have to
read the discourse slowly even repeat it. Otherwise, they cannot understand the
content of the discourse. This case can make the readers become frustration,
because they cannot achieve things that they hope. On the contrary, if a
discourse is too easy, readers can feel bored quickly. Therefore, discourses
that are considered readable based on the grade level of readers are needed.
The measurement of readability level of discourses
in the reading material can be useful particularly for teacher of English, who
have duties in giving the reading tasks, selecting good book, or using the
other appropriate reading materials for her or his students. Those duties
should be done to achieve successfulness in teaching reading material.
Discourse readability is usually explained with the
students’ grade level which is the basic of measuring readability by using
readability formula. Therefore, after measuring readability of text, a teacher
can find out whether or not the reading materials he or she gives in accordance
with the grade level of students (Harjasujana in Alimuddin, 2007: 14).In
reference to the grade level of students, readability formula yields the level
to be used as instructional level or middle level at which the written text
given are not too easy or too difficult for the students based on their grade
level (Gilletet al., 1994: 153). This
is accordwith what Krashen in Richards (1986: 132) claims about comprehensible
input with which he maintains that an input should be one level beyond the
students’ capacity. Here, the students are expected to be able to comprehend
the written text about 45-60% when it is given by teacher in teaching reading
process later.
Accordingly, it can be concluded that discourse
readability of this study is the measurement about readable or not a certain
discourse by its reader. In other words, it can be said that the discourse
readability is about measuring readability of a certain discourse based on
certain grade level of students.
REFERENCES
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Dijk,
Van T.A. 1985. Handbook of Discourse
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Cook,
Guy. 1989. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dinar,
Sri Suryana. 2000. An Analysis of The
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Haskvit. 2002. Readability. Retrived
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2001. Readability Levels of English
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Keith. 2000. Readability and Reading Ages
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Jack C. 2001. Curriculum Development in
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