an analysis of readability level of the reading texts

AN ANALYSIS OF READABILITY LEVEL OF THE READING TEXTS

IN AN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK BAHASA INGGRIS KELAS X PUBLISHED

BY KEMENTERIAN PENDIDIKAN DAN KEBUDAYAAN INDONESIA

(A Descriptive Analysis Study at the Tenth Grade of SMA NEGERI 7

TANGERANG)

By:

Rizka Isnaini

109014000193

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TARBIYA AND TEACHERS‟ TRAINING

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

JAKARTA

2015

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v

ABSTRACT

Rizka Isnaini (NIM: 109014000193). An Analysis of Readability Level of the

Reading Texts in an English Textbook Bahasa Inggris Kelas X Published by

Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014 (A Descriptive

Study at the Tenth Grade of SMA Negeri 7 Tangerang). Skripsi, Department of

English Education, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers‟ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah

State Islamic University, Jakarta, 2015.

Key Words : Readability, Texts, Textbook, Flesch Reading Ease Formula.

The objective of this study is to describe the readability level of the reading

texts in the textbook Bahasa Inggris Kelas X Published by Kementerian Pendidikan

dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014. The writer used descriptive method in

which the writer describes the readability level of the reading texts in the textbook by

using Flesch Reading Ease Formula and Cloze Tests. The sources of this study are 7

texts. They are all reading texts in the textbook Bahasa Inggris Kelas X Published by

Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014. Based on the

analysis of reading texts by using Flesch Reading Ease Formula, 1 text is in the Very

Easy level, 1 text is in the Easy level, 3 texts are in the Fairly Easy level, 1 text is in

the Standard level. And 1 text is in the Difficult level. As most of the reading texts

level are above 60, it means that most of the reading texts (6 out of 7) are lower than

the average in which the readability level for the tenth grade student is around 50-60.

The result of the cloze test that conducted to the tenth grade students, it shows

that four texts are in the Independent Level. Those texts are: “My Best Friend” which

gained 94%, “Tanjung Puting National Park” gained 89%, “Visiting Niagara Falls”

gained 84.16% and “Alia” which gained 91.15%; it means the students can read and

understand the texts by themselves without any help from the teacher. There is only

one text belong to Instructional level, the text titled “The Secret of Stonehenge”

which gained 55.22%; it means that the students need guidance or help from the

teacher to read and understand the text.

vi

ABSTRAK

Rizka Isnaini (NIM: 109014000193). An Analysis of Readability Level of the

Reading Texts in an English Textbook Bahasa Inggris Kelas X Published by

Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014 (A Descriptive

Study at the Tenth Grade of SMA Negeri 7 Tangerang). Skripsi, Department of

English Education, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers‟ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah

State Islamic University, Jakarta, 2015.

Kata Kunci : Keterbacaan, Teks, Buku Teks, Flesch Reading Ease Formula.

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan level keterbacaan

pada teks bacaan yang terdapat pada buku teks berjudul Bahasa Inggris Kelas X

Published by Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014.

Penulis menggunakan metode deskriptif, dimana penulis mendeskripsikan tingkat

keterbacaan pada teks-teks yang ada pada buku teks dengan menggunakan Flesch

Reading Ease Formula dan Cloze test. Sumber dari penelitian ini adalah ketujuh teks

bacaan yang ada pada buku test Bahasa Inggris Kelas X Published by Kementerian

Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014. Berdasarkan hasil analisis

dengan menggunakan Flesch Reading Ease Formula, satu teks berada pada tingkat

yang sangat mudah, satu teks beradas pada tingkat yang mudah, tiga teks berada pada

tingkat yang cukup mudah, satu teks berada pada level sedang, dan satu teks berada

pada tingkat yang sulit. Sebagian besar teks bacaan tersebut berada pada level diatas

60, yang berarti bahwa kebanyakan teks bacaan (enam dari tujuh) berada dibawah

rata-rata, yang dimana seharusnya berkisar antara 50-60.

Hasil dari cloze test yang ditujukan untuk murid kelas sepuluh

menunjukan bahwa empat teks bacaan berada pada Independent Level. Keempat teks

tersebut adalah “My Best Friend ” dengan 94%, ”Tanjung Puting National Park”

dengan 89%, “Visiting Niagara Falls” dengan 84.16% dan “ALIA” dengan 91.15%;

ini menunjukan bahwa murid dapat membaca dan memahami teks tanpa bantuan.

Sedangkan hanya satu teks yang berada pada Instructional Level berjudul “The Secret

of Stonehenge” dengan 55.22% yang berarti bahwa murid memerlukan bantuan dari

guru untuk memahami teks tersebut.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Bismillahirrohmaanirrohiim…

In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

All praises be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, who always give His mercy and

blessings upon the writer, so the writer can do and accomplish this “skripsi”. Peace

and salutation be upon to our prophet Muhammad SAW, his family, his companions,

and his faithful followers.

First, the writer would like to give the greatest gratitude to her parents: her

mother Yulaicha and her father Ashuri (Alm) who have given their praying, love and

motivation and support for both moral and material to the writer in accomplishing

this “skripsi” as well as possible.

In this occasion, the writer is also deeply grateful to the advisors, Ismalianing

Eviyuliwati, M.Hum and Desi Nahartini, M.Ed., who have spared their busy time for

giving consultation, contribution, guidance, and patience to the writer during

completing this “skripsi”. May Allah SWT bless their kindness. Aamiin.

In addition, the writer realized that she would never finish doing this “skripsi”

without the help of some people; therefore she would like to dedicate her gratitude

and appreciation to:

1. Prof. Dr, Ahmad Thib Raya, M.A as the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and

Teachers Training Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.

2. Dr. Alek, M.Pd., as the Head of the Department of English Education.

3. Zahril Anasy, M.Hum., as the Secretary of the Department of English

Education.

4. Drs. Syauki, M.Pd. as the academic advisor for his advices, guidances,

suggestions and supports.

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5. All the lecturers and the staff of the Department of English Education who

have taught the writer precious knowledge and giving wonderful experience

during her study at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.

6. The writer‟s best friends Anissa Pratiwi, Purnamita Sari who always

encourage me for not giving up on this “skripsi”. Thank you so much for

always being all ears and supporting me in any condition the writer faced.

7. The writer‟s friends Aminah Alonto, Johaina Ali Samsodden, Hamzah Amin

Ali. Thank you for teaching me lots of new things I have never learned before.

8. My former housemates Dita, Elis, Kak Nung, April and Mia. Thank you for

all the things we shared together, for laughs, tears; I learned a lot from you.

9. My Best Classmates Triyanti Kumala and Destiana Uli Rahman thank you for

the support and being all ears listening to my stories, complains, and dreams.

The writer is also aware of the weaknesses throughout this “skripsi”, so that

this “skripsi” is far from being perfect. Even though, the writer hopes this “skripsi”

will be useful not only for the writer but also for the readers. For that reason, the

writer would greatly appreciate all comments, critics, meaningful and helpful

suggestions to make this “skripsi” better.

Tangerang, 10 November 2015

Rizka Isnaini

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TABLE OF CONTENT

COVER .................................................................................................................... i

PAGE OF APPROVAL.......................................................................................... ii

ENDORSEMENT SHEET ..................................................................................... iii

SURAT PERNYATAAN KARYA SENDIRI........................................................... iv

ABSTRACT............................................................................................................. v

ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................... vii

TABLE OF CONTENT.......................................................................................... ix

LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xi

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. xii

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study.................................................... 1

B. Identifiction of the Problem ............................................... 3

C. Limitation of the Problem .................................................. 4

D. Formulation of the Problem ............................................... 4

E. Objective of the Study ....................................................... 4

F. Significance of the Study ................................................... 4

CHAPTER II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................ 6

A. Reading ............................................................................. 6

1. Definition Reading...................................................... 6

2. Purpose of Reading ..................................................... 7

3. Problems of Reading................................................... 9

B. Text .................................................................................... 9

1. Definition of Text ....................................................... 9

2. Kinds of Text ............................................................. 10

3. Criteria of Good Text.................................................. 11

4. Factors that Influence Learning from Text ................. 11

C. Textbook ........................................................................... 12

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1. Definition of Textbook ............................................... 12

2. Advantages and disadvantages of textbook ................ 13

3. Selection of Textbook ................................................ 16

D. Readability ......................................................................... 18

4. Definition of Readability ............................................ 18

5. Factors Affecting Readability ..................................... 20

6. Approaches Measuring Readability .......................... 21

E. Previous Studies................................................................. 28

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................... 29

A. Time and Place of the Study .............................................. 29

B. Method of Research .......................................................... 29

C. Units of Analysis................................................................ 29

D. Technique of Data Collecting ............................................ 30

E. Technique of Data Analysis............................................... 30

1. Flesch Reading Ease Formula ....................................... 30

2. Cloze Test...................................................................... 32

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION..................... 34

A. Research Finding................................................................ 34

1. Flesch Reading Ease Formula ....................................... 34

2. Cloze Test...................................................................... 46

B. Discussion of the Result..................................................... 49

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION .................................. 51

A. Conclusion ......................................................................... 51

B. Suggestion .......................................................................... 52

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................... 53

APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... 56

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 The Fry Graph................................................................................ 25

Figure 3.1 The Flesch Readability Chart ........................................................ 32

Figure 4.1 Readability Level of Text 1 ........................................................... 39

Figure 4.2 Readability Level of Text 2 .......................................................... 40






LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Judgment of Cloze Test Score ....................................................... 24

Table 3.1 Reading Ease Scale of the Flesch Reading Ease Formula............. 31

Table 3.2 Judgment of Cloze Procedure Test Score ...................................... 33

Table 4.1 Description of Sentences, Word, and Syllable Calculations of the

Reading Texts ................................................................................ 34

Table 4.2 Result of ASW and ASL CAlculation ........................................... 36

Table 4.3 The Readability Score of the Seven Reading Texts Based on the

Reading Ease Scale of the Flesch Formula.................................... 38

Table 4.4 Number of Words and Deleted Words .......................................... 46

Table 4.5 Number of the Right Answers of the Tenth Grade Students of SMA

Negeri 7 Tangerang 2014/2015 ..................................................... 47

Table 4.6 Percentage of the Right Answers of the Tenth Grade Students..... 48

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1

A. Background of the Study

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

English has become the first foreign language in Indonesia; for this reason

schools in Indonesia require English as the first foreign language that should be

taught. In elementary school English is learnt as a local content subject; while in

secondary school English is learnt as a compulsory subject and as a complementary

subject for university.

There are many skills that should be mastered by the students; those skills are

listening, speaking, writing and reading; and reading becomes one of important skills

beside speaking, listening and writing. Reading is an activity in learning process that

students should be succeeded, and the student can obtain much information around

them through reading. In the process of teaching reading in the classroom, teachers

and learners need learning material in order to facilitate them. Learning materials

generally serves the students in receiving much of the language input and the

language practice that occurs in the classroom, whether the teacher use the textbooks,

articles, journals, or even their own materials.

However, since long time ago until now, textbook is still widely used as the

primary reading material. There are many kinds of reading texts provided in the

textbook. Each year in school, reading material increases in quantity and difficulty.

Students are expected to gather and understand information through reading in and

outside the school. Improving students‟ reading skills can improve students‟

performance in school as well as students‟ test grades.

In teaching English, the use of the textbook has encouraged many publishers to

produce textbooks to be used in some schools. The publishers offer a variety of

textbooks for some levels of students. Theo van Esl states that textbooks are

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commercial products. Publishers often involve commercial consideration in

producing their textbooks1

Nowadays, there are many English textbooks that have been used in teaching

English. It is difficult for teachers to select a suitable textbook in which the textbook

is appropriate to the students‟ learning needs, because not all the content of English

textbook is appropriate with the students‟ language competency, especially reading

texts section. This problem makes the textbook evaluation becomes important, Celce-

Murcia states:

“even in countries and school systems where the responsibility for the adoption of the

textbook lies with the school board or the state, the teachers still need to know on a daily

basis how to evaluate the text in order to utilize its assets and compensate for its limitations in

applying it to the needs of the students and the objectives of the class. In addition, at the end

of the year, the teachers might be asked to give their opinion as to the worthiness of the

textbook.”2

Nowadays, most schools in Indonesia use the same textbook, because of the

curriculum that required the schools to use textbooks from one publisher. Today most

of schools in Indonesia use the textbooks published by Kementerian Pendidikan Dan

Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia.

According to Nuttall in her book titled „Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign

Language‟ there are three criteria that should be fulfilled in selecting texts:

1. Suitability of the content

2. Exploitability

3. Readability.3

In this research, the writer would only focus on the readability of the reading

texts.

1 Theo Van Esl,et al., Applied Linguistics and Learning and Teaching Language, (London:

Wolters – Noordhoff, 1991), pp. 230. 2Marianne Celce-Murcia, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, (Boston:

Heinle & Heinle, 1991), Second Edition, pp. 432. 3 Christine Nuttall, Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language, (Oxford: Heinemann,

1966), New Edition, pp. 170.

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A good text should be easy to be read. Also, a good text should facilitate the

students in developing their competence. And the last, a good text should be

interesting for the students because they will be encouraged to read the text. The

reading texts which are readable for the students will encourage and help them in

their learning process.

Readability is about how a text must be readable to be read; so the readers could

comprehend the text and make their own schemata from what they read. Readable

means that a text must be fit to be read, interesting, agreeable, attractive and

enjoyable. It is necessary to be realized because through those principals reader could

build their comprehension of a text. The reading texts which are readable for the

students will encourage and help them in learning process.

The writer got information from the students that most of the reading texts they

got from the textbook are too easy for them, so that the writer decided to focus on the

readability of the reading texts.

Based on the statement above, the writer tries to analyze the readability level of

the reading texts on the textbook used in teaching and learning English at the tenth

grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Tangerang. The textbook entitled Bahasa Inggris

SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1 published by Kementerian Pendidikan

Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014.

B. The Identification of the Problem

From what the writer has explained above, the problems that can be

indentified are:

1. The author and the publisher who compiled the English textbook rarely

concern on the aspects of the readability of the textbook.

2. Not all content of English textbook will always be appropriate for students.

3. The students often find difficulty in understanding the reading texts on the

textbook they use.

4

C. Limitation of the Problem

Based on the explanation above, the writer made the limitation of the problem:

1. The writer focused on analyzing the readability of the reading texts titled Bahasa

Inggris SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1 published by Kementerian

Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014. The textbook is used by

SMA Negeri 7 Tangerang. The writer wanted to analyze the readability level of

the reading texts because the readability matter is sometime being ignored by the

publisher and the teacher. Also the writer wanted to know whether the reading

texts in the textbook BAHASA INGGRIS SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X

Semester 1 published by Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik

Indonesia 2014 are suitable with the grade level or not.

D. The Formulation of the Problem

Based on the identification and the limitation of the problem above, the writer

would like to formulate the problem as follow:

1. How was the readability level of the texts in the textbook Bahasa Inggris

SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1 published by Kementerian Pendidikan

Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014.?

E. The Objective of the Study

The objective of this study is to measure the readability level of the reading texts

in the textbook BAHASA INGGRIS SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1

published by Kementerian Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014.

F. Significance of the Study

The result of the present study is expected to be useful not only for the writer in

getting the information about readability analysis of the reading texts; it is also

expected to be useful for teachers and other researchers.

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1. For the teachers

This research can help the teachers in understanding and choosing suitable

textbook and other reading materials which appropriate to students‟ learning needs.

This research also helps the teachers to decide whether to keep using the textbook

they use or not.

2. For other researchers

Other researcher can get the information from the results from the results of this

study related to the field of their study so that it can help them in conducting their

study.

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter discusses several points, there are: reading, text, text book and

readability.

A. Reading

1. The Definition of Reading

There are many interpretations and explanations about reading. It is because that

every people have their own basic knowledge, purposes, and needs which are

different from one another. So, it is better to find out the assumption about reading to

avoid misunderstanding.

As stated in the first chapter reading is one of important skill that students should

be mastered. As stated by Brown “reading is the most essential skill for success in all

education contexts”.1 According to Kenneth Goodman reading is receptive language

process. It is a psycholinguistic process in that starts with a linguistic surface

representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the reader

construct.2

Reading is the process of recognition, interpretation, and perception of written or

printed materials.3 Recognition means that the reader accepts any information from

the written or printed material. After accepting any information from the material the

reader can understand what the material is about. As the reader can understand the

material given, the reader can make their own assumption over the material.

As Sandra Silberstein stated “Reading is a complex information processing skill

in which the reader interact with the text in order to recreate meaningful discourse.”4

1Doughlas H. Brown, Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices, (New

York: Pearson Education, Ltd, 2004), pp. 185. 2 Patricia L. Carrell, Joanne Devine, David E. Esky, Editor, Interactive Approach Second

Language Reading. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 12 3He Ji Sheng, A Cognitive Model for Teaching Reading Comprehension English Teaching

Forum, (October 2000, Vol.38 No.4), pp. 13. 4Sandra Silberstein, Techniques and Resources in Teaching Reading, (New York: Oxford

Univ. Press, 1994), pp. 12.

7

More over reading is not just how to read the written or printed symbol, but it is

also how to comprehend the symbol. Richard R. Day says that reading is using

knowledge to come comprehension.5

From all the definition above, it can be concluded that reading is an activity

which involves two people, the writer and the reader. The writer who is giving

information he or she knows to the reader who wants to get information. Not only

getting information from the writer, by reading the reader can build a new opinion,

assumption or even thought about the knowledge or the information.

2. The Purpose of Reading

Title, picture and or background knowledge are the things that can make

someone interest to read. People will stop reading when they get enough information

or when they get what they want. So, the purpose of reading is to connect what

people already know and what they need to know.

As stated by Harris and Smith “The purpose of reading is similar for the beginner

and the mature reader. The level of thought that is required to achieve the same

reading purpose varies with the difficulty of selection and the skill o the reader

different authorities suggest a variety of purpose for. We believe that most of these

can be organized into five categories: (1) finding main idea, (2) finding supporting

detail, (3) grasping the author‟s plan of organization, (4) following a sequence of

event thought, and (5) critically appraising the author‟s work.”6

Reading is not only to understand words, sentences and paragraphs, but it is also

to understand the whole content and to find the author‟s ideas.

Moreover, Grabe and Stoller identify seven kinds of reading:7

5 Richard R. Day, New Ways in Teaching Reading, (Virginia: Pantagraf , 1993), pp. 43. 6 Harris and Smith, Reading Instruction Through Diagnosis Teaching, (New York: Holt

Riachart Inc., 1992), pp. 268. 7 William Grabe, and Fredericka L Stoller, Teaching and Reading Researching Reading,

(Essex: Pearson Education, 2004), pp.13-15

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1. Reading to develop skill and strategy

Reading a text allows student to reflect on the structure and the use of language

at their own pace without stressful real-time constraints that go with listening and

speaking. It is an important characteristic of reading as an activity that the reader can

control the peace.

2. Reading to present or recycle grammar items and vocabulary

According to Aebersold and Field, introducing vocabulary in the context of the

hope of a reading text and not a list of words separate from the topic of context, is

vital to comprehension. Contextual provides a framework and all the associations that

reader have of the word within that framework help the students learn.

3. Reading to search of simple information

Reading to search is usually used in reading task. In reading to search, readers

typically scan the text for a specific piece of information. Similarly, when the readers

want to get the idea of what they read they usually skim the text.

4. Reading to learn from texts

Reading to learn usually occurs in academic and professionals contexts where a

person needs to learn information from a text. It is carried out at a reading rate than

general reading comprehension. This reading requires some abilities to:

a. Remember main ideas as well as number of details that elaborate the main

supporting ideas in the context.

b. Recognize and build rhetorical frames that organize the information in the text.

5. Reading to integrate information

This kind of reading requires additional supporting information from various

sources in order to integrate the information they already know before.

6. Reading to write

This kind of reading is used as a model for writing. Learners are usually asked to

write something based on the model (reading text). What the reader has read is

actually for the basic knowledge of what the reader will write.

9

7. Reading to general comprehension

This kind of reading is the basic purpose for reading. Reading for comprehension

requires motivation, concentration and good study techniques.

3. The Problems of reading.

In reading a text or a book, there are some problems that the reader might face.

According to Paula Fleming, there are some typical causes which then arise toward

students‟ difficulty in reading:

a. Limited intelligence

b. Overemphasis on word recognition

c. Overemphasis on oral reading

d. Insufficient background for reading selections

e. Failure to adjust reading techniques to reading purpose

f. Lack of appropriate teacher guidance.8

B. Text

1. Definition of Text

According to Nuttall “the text is defined as the core of the reading process, the

means by which the message is transmitted from the writer to the reader”.9 While

Sanggam Siahaan and Kisno Shinoda explain that a text is linguistic unit that is put in

a context and has a meaning.10 The meaning of context here refers to either linguistic

context (the linguistic unit before and after text) or non linguistic context (outside a

text). A text is both written and spoken text.

Moreover, other explanation of text is that “a text is usually longer than just a

word or a sentence; it contains a series of sentences, as in a letter or postcard, in

8 Paula Fleming, Better Reading skills, (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 6. 9Christine Nuttall, Teaching Reading Skill in a Foreign Language, (Oxford: Heineman

International, 1982), pp. 15. 10 Sanggam Siahaan and Kisno Shinoda, Generic Text Structure, (Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu,

2008), pp. 1.

10

which the sentences are connected to one another by grammar and vocabulary and/or

knowledge of the world”. 11

In addition, Alan Davies sated on his book, Dictionary of Language Testing, a

text is any piece of written or spoken language of variable length. It may be as short

as single word (eg. Help!), but is more considered to consist of two or more utterance

or sentences joined together according to rules of cohesion and rhetorical

organization, and may include an extended piece of spoken discourse or any number

pages or writing.12

From the explanations above, it can be concluded that a text defines as group of

sentences which usually become paragraph(s) and it relates each other; it has one

main topic which wants to deliver to the reader.

2. Kinds of Text

There are many kinds of text provide in the textbook used by the students. It is

very important for the students to know kinds of text in order to help themselves to

identify and interpret the text.

There are two main categories of texts; there are literary and functual text.

Literary text includes aboriginal dreaming stories, movie script, limerick, soap

operas, mimes, song lyrics, novel, and fairy tales. They are constructed to appeal to

our emotion and imagination. Literary text is divided into three categories; there are

narrative, poetry, and dramatic. Media text such as films, videos, television show, and

CD can also be told in this category.13

Factual text includes advertisement, announcement, internet website, current

affair show, debates, recipes, report and instructions. The texts present information or

ideas and aim to show, tell or persuade audience. The main text types in these

11 Mary Spratt, Alan Pulverness and Melanie Williams, The Teaching Knowledge Test

Course, ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 21. 12 Alan Davies, Dictionary of Language Testing, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2002), pp. 210. 13 Mark Anderson and Kathy, Text Types in English 2,(Sout Yarra: Macmillan Education

Australia,1997), pp. 2.

11

categories are: recount, response, explanation, discussion, information, report,

exposition, and procedures. Literary text and factual text have different social

function, schematic, structure, and linguistic features.14

Furthermore, Larson classified seven basic kinds of text: narrative, procedural,

expository, hortatory, descriptive, and repartee. The differences of all those kinds of

text can be seen by the speakers‟ purpose. 15

3. The Criteria of Good Text

Reading text is one of important aspects in an English textbook. Since the

reading activities always involve with the reading texts, the selection of a good text

becomes an important thing. It is not that easy selecting a good text. So, it is better to

find out the criteria of a good text.

Nuttall mentions three criteria in selecting the texts:

a. Suitability of the content. It means a text should be interesting to the greatest

number of student and will not get them bore.

b. Exploitability. It means the learning facilitation. When a teacher exploits a text,

the teacher uses it to develop students‟ competence as a reader.

c. Readability, namely the combination of structural and lexical (i.e. vocabulary)

difficulty.16

It can be concluded that readability is one of the criteria of a good text; the

content of the text which is suitable also becomes the criteria of a good text.

4. The Factors that Influence Learning from Text

There are many factors influence learning from text. Allington and Strange state

some factors that influence learning from reading textual material are:

14 Ibid. 15 Mildred L Larson, Meaning Based Translation: A Guide to Cross Language Equivalence,

(Boston: University Press, 1984), pp .365-366. 16 Christine Nuttall, Teaching Reading Skill in a Foreign Language, (Oxford: Heineman

International, 1996). New Edition, pp. 170-176.

12

a. Reading ability; a complex skill and many issues surround its measurement.

b. Readability; to estimate the difficulty level of textual material on a grade-

equivalent scale.

c. Writing style; the style in which the author attempts to communicate ideas can

cause difficulty

d. Learners‟ intention;

e. Teachers‟ intentions; it becomes the basic decision about how they will use text

in general or a single textbook in particular.

f. Vocabulary;

g. Previous knowledge; what we are able to understand is absolutely connected with

what we already know.

In selecting the texts which are readable, understandable and interesting, the

teacher should pay more attention to those factors that influencing the texts in order

to make the students more encourage to read the material well.

C. Textbook

1. Definition of Textbook

Textbook is one of the medium instructions. It is considered as the primary

instructional resource in schools. It has an important role in educational program. It

can facilitate either teachers or the students in teaching learning process.

As one of teaching materials, textbook is used both of teachers and students. It

determines the activities in the classroom. By using the textbook, teacher can decide

what kind of materials which are determined by the curriculum and syllabus.

In 2014, when the curriculum that was used at that time change into the new one,

it requires the teachers and students in all over Indonesia to use the same book.

Nowadays most of schools in Indonesia, especially in public schools, they use the

textbooks published by Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia

2014.

13

Almost in all of schools whether it is public school or private school, textbook is

used as one of instructional sources for teaching and learning activiyies. John

Goodland stated that the textbook predominated throughout as the medium of

instruction, except in kindergarten. With each advance in grade level, dependence on

the textbook increased.17

According to strange, a textbook serves a single repository of information on a

subject, allowing both the teacher and the learner to use a single common source for

acquiring the desired content.18

The term of textbook refers to “a coherent body of teaching materials which may

consist of either just a course (books) but also a learning package consisting of

several parts”.19 As one of teaching material, textbook is used by teachers and

students. Textbook determines the activities in the classroom. By using textbook,

teachers can decide „what‟ and „how‟ materials which are determined by the

Curriculum and syllabus. Textbook is not only as a course book but also a set of

teaching and learning guideline.

By all those explanations above, the writer concludes that textbook is a tool for

teaching and learning process which contains lots of materials which is designed

based on the curriculum. In Indonesia textbook plays the most important role in

teaching and learning process. Teachers in Indonesia use textbook a lot in giving

materials or exercises to the students rather than create a new kind of exercise for

students.

2. Advantages and Disadvantages of textbook

Using commercial textbooks in teaching has both advantages and disadvantages.

It does not only depend on how they use, but also the contexts and the purposes for

17 Jean Osborn, et.al.,Reading Education: Foundation for a Literate America, (Lexington:

DC, Heath and Company,1985)pp. 46. 18 Richard Allington & Michael Strange, Learning Through Reading in the Content Areas,

(Lexington: Dc. Heath and Company, 1980), pp. 4. 19 Theo van Els, et. al., Applied Linguistic and the Learning and Teaching Foreign Language,

(London: Edward Arnold Ltd., 1984), pp. 298.

14

their use. Penny Ur states on her book about this matter clearly. Firstly, the

advantages of the textbook are:

1. Framework; A textbook provides the clear explanation about material that will be

learnt. Therefore, teacher and students can understand the material generally.

2. Syllabus; Sometimes, textbook serves a syllabus that should be followed by the

teachers in teaching process. If the teacher has followed the syllabus in textbook

regularly, whole material will be covered well.

3. Ready-made text and Tasks; Almost in every textbook use in the school provide

the texts and tasks which are likely to be an appropriate level for most of the

classes. Therefore, it can facilitate teachers in making the test

4. Economy; book is cheaper than any other learning sources/materials.

5. Convenience; it is light and small enough to carry around easily.

6. Guidance; it can help the teacher who has no experience in teaching.

7. Autonomy; students can learn the material in the textbook on their own, theyb

can also use it to review what they already learnt.20

Then, The advantages of the textbook based on Penny are:

1. Inadequacy; there is no textbook that can cover every student‟s needs because

every student has different needs. Therefore, choosing the appropriate textbook is

not an easy matter.

2. Irrelevance; the topics on the textbook may not be relevant or interesting for the

students.

3. Limitation; textbook sometime leads to boredom and lack of motivation.

4. Homogeneity; every textbook has their own rationale.

5. Over-Easiness; Teachers find it too easy to follow the textbook uncritically

instead using their own initiative and creativity.21

20 Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching, (Cambridge: Cambrideg University Press,

2009), pp. 184 21 Ibid., p. 185.

15

Moreover, Jack Richard also mentioned some advantages and disadvantages of

the textbook in his own book. The advantages of textbook are:

1) They provide structure and a syllabus for a program

2) They help standardize instruction

3) They maintain quality

4) They provide a variety of learning resources

5) They are efficient

6) They can provide a variety effective language models and input

7) They can train teachers

8) They are visually appealing

As with all examples of created materials, however, there are also some potential

negative effects of commercial textbooks. For examples:

1) They may contain inauthentic language

2) They may distort content

3) They may not reflect students‟ needs

4) They can deskill teachers

5) They are expensive22

In addition, Gebhard states that there can be disadvantages of using commercial

textbooks especially if the teachers cannot select the texts to be used. The texts are

usually based on the author and the publisher‟s ideas about teaching. Given a

prescribed text, teachers feel as if they have to accept the beliefs on the

author/publisher. It can have negative consequences on what goes on the classroom.23

From the explanations above, it can be concluded that the use of a textbook as

teaching materials has some advantages and disadvantages. To reduce the

disadvantages, teachers should be carefully in selecting the textbook which is

appropriate with the students‟ level.

22 Jack C Richards, Curriculum Development in Language Teaching, (New York: Cambridge

University Press, 2001), pp. 254-255. 23 Jerry G. Gebhard, Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language, ( Michigan: The

University of Michigan Press, 2006), pp. 103.

16

3. Selection of Textbook

Every year, many publishers produced many textbooks to be used in schools.

That is why the number of textbook always increases from year to year. In order to

get a good numbers of profit, every publisher should increase the quality of the

textbook they are published.

As textbook becoming important, it encourages many writers and publishers to

produce large numbers of textbooks in various students‟ level. Swan states, “There

are fewer dull courses around their days and many modern courses contain interesting

and motivating material with good texts, attractive visuals, and well-chosen

readings”.24

In foreign language teaching textbook plays dominant role, that is why making

the selection of textbook is an important decision. Based on Jack C. Richard, there are

four criteria in selecting textbook:

1) They should correspond to learners‟ needs. They should match the objectives of

the language learning program.

2) They should help to equip students in using language effectively for their own

purposes.

3) They should take account of students‟ needs as learners and should facilitate their

learning process, without dogmatically inposing a rigid “method”.

4) They should have a clear role as a support for learning; such as teachers, they

mediate between the target language and the learners.

In addition he also mentions other factors that influence textbook selection, there

are:

1) Program factors; relating to the concern of the program

2) Teachers factors; relating to the teachers‟ concern

3) Learners‟ factors; relating to the learners‟ concern.

24 Michael Swan, “The Textbook: Bridge or Wall?, in Roger Bowers and ChristoperBrumfit

(eds.), Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching, (London: Macmillan Publishers Limited,

1991), pp. 34

17

4) Content factors; relating to the content and organization of the materials and

reading texts in the book.

5) Pedagogical factors; relate to the principles underlying the materials and

pedagogical design of the materials, including choice of activities and

exercises.25

In addition, Theo van Els et.al. also stated that as below:

It seems useful to distinguish between the following two stages in the selection of a textbook: (1) Global selection. This is a first selection of textbook

which have sufficient superficial appeal. The information needed to make such a choice can be obtained from textbook reviews, users‟ judgments, information

from authors and publishers, and the teachers‟ own global analysis (based, for instance, on a textbook typology). (2) Analysis of the textbook remaining after

first selection. For this purpose checklists, comparative textbook descriptions, detailed comments from users, and, where available, reports on empirical

research into the effects of the textbook in question can be very useful.26

In addition, Davis‟s statement that is adapted from Lowman points out the

criteria in selecting a textbook as follow: Accuracy and currency of content,

Coherence and clarity of the content, level of difficulty and interest for students, Cost,

Size (heavy large text are hard to carry), and format and layout (ease of reading).27

Selecting textbooks can be done in two aspects: selecting from the textbook itself

and selecting from the users of the textbook. One way in selecting textbook from the

textbook itself is by doing an analysis on the readability of texts in the textbook.

Browers and Brunfits added that readability of texts was investigated to obtain a

standard for the relative degree of difficulty of the textbook of which one would

eventually have to be selected.28

From all the specifications above, it can be concluded that the criteria in selecting

textbook cover the organization and content implicate the level of difficulty and

interest for the students; accuracy not ambiguity; and the attractive cover, size and

25 Jack C Richards, Curriculum Development in Language Teaching, (New York: Cambridge

University Press, 2001), pp. 254-255. 26 Els, et. al., 1991, op,cit., pp. 299-300. 27 Barbara Gross Davis. Tools for Teaching, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc, 1993), p.8. 28Roger Browers and CJ. Brumfit (eds.), Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching

...., p.305

18

layout. That is why the teachers have to be wise and detail in selecting the suitable

textbook for the students in order to succeed the teaching and learning activity.

D. Readability

1. Definition of Readability

There are many textbook that are published by the publishers. However, it is not

an easy matter to decide the appropriateness of the textbook that will be used with the

students‟ level. Therefore, analyzing the readability level can be used to help the

teachers in selecting and assessing the textbook; and selecting appropriate texts and

textbook becomes very essential for them whereas the information about students‟

ability is limited. Therefore, reading texts in the textbook are less appropriate for

students in certain level.

Selecting the textbook becomes the responsibility of the school; teachers also

need to evaluate the contents of the textbook in order to know about the

appropriateness of the textbook. One of the evaluations of the textbook is about the

analysis of the reading texts provided in the textbook. The analysis of the reading

texts can be done by analyzing the readability level of the texts. Readability should be

considered as the most important aspects in selecting a good text for the students.

Since, the achievement of the goal in teaching reading can be determined by the

readability. The analysis on the readability level of the reading texts can help the

teacher predict whether the text is difficult, standard or easy for the students. Some

language experts define the term of readability of a written text differently.

In general, ”readability” is an attribute of a text, referring to whether or not it is

interestingly and attractively written, and easy to understand. In its more technical

usage, the study of readability relates to systematic examination of a wide range of

19

factors that in combination have been found to be associated with the interest and

difficulty level of texts29

Readability is about how a text must be readable to be read; so the readers could

comprehend the text and make their own schemata from what they read. Readability

is a noun form of readable (adj) which means able to read easily.30

Some experts relate the term of readability with the difficulty of the structural

and lexical combination. It is stated by Nuttall that the term of readability is often

used to refer combination of structural and lexical difficulty.31

A statement by Maria “Readability is defined as ease of a written text and its

suitability of writing style and grade level for whom the text is intended to”.32

Readability is not only determined by the length of the texts or the words. It is

determined by how interestingly and attractively the text is written. Klare stated on

Hill‟s book that the term “readability” has come to be used for indicating legibility of

either handwriting or typography, ease of reading due to either the interest value or

the pleasantness of writing, and ease of understanding or comprehension due to style

of writing.33

Likewise, Browning discusses the term more specific as follows:

1. Readability is the absences of jargon and slang.

2. Readability is never hanging to read twice.

3. Readability is consistent terminology.

4. Readability is short paragraph.

5. Readability is short sentences.

6. Readability is continuity, and

29 C. Harrison, “Readability” in Bernard Spolsky (ed.), Concise Encyclopedia of Educational

Linguistics, (Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Ltd, 1999), pp. 428. 30 Merriam Webster‟s, Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. (Massachussets: Meriam). 31 Christine Nuttall, teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language, (Oxford:

Heinemann,1966), New Edition, pp. 174 32Maria H. Soelistio, “The Use of Readability Formula to Predict the Grade Level of a

Written Text”, in MajalahIlmiahWidya, No.211 Tahun XX, April 2003, pp. 53. 33 Walter R. Hill, Secondary School Reading Process, Program and Procedures, (Boston:

Allyn&Abcon, Inc. 1979), pp. 190.

20

7. Readability is clarity.34

From all the definitions above, it can be concluded that readability is a level of

difficulty in reading text. A text is called readable when the reader can easily

comprehend the text and get the information by reading only once.

2. Factors Affecting Readability

The term of readability refers to all factors that affect success in reading and

understand a text. These factors are:

1) The interest and motivation of the reader

2) The legibility of the print (and of any illustration)

3) The complexity o words and sentences in relation to the reading ability of the

reader.35

Furthermore, as Day stated that there are six factors that influence the readability

of a text:

1) Lexical knowledge

It is more difficult for the students to comprehend the text if the numbers of

unknown lexical items in a reading text increase.

2) Background knowledge

As like lexical knowledge, background knowledge is also important in the

readability of a text. The more readers know about a particular topic, the more

quickly and accurately they can read it.

Since the background knowledge of EFL readers play a critical role in their

comprehension of the passage, teachers should make sure that the topic of the

passage is familiar to their students.

19, 2014

34 Soelistio, op.cit. ,pp. 54 35 Keith Johnson, “Readability”, http:/www.timetabler.com/reading.html, retreived on April

http://www.timetabler.com/reading.html

21

3) Syntactic appropriateness

Syntactic constructions in a passage affect its readability. If a passage contains

grammatical constructions that the learners do not know, they might have a hard

time reading it.

4) Organization

Organization refers to both the rhetorical organization of the text and the

clarity of the organization. The EFL reading teacher should carefully examine a

text to see how it is organized. A passage that is not well organized might present

problems for EFL students, especially at the beginning stages.

5) Discourse Phenomena

Textual phenomena at the level of discourse include the arrangement of topics

and comments in a reading passage, and considerations of cohesiveness and

coherence.

6) Length of passage

The final factor of readability concerns the length of the potential reading

passage. The most common mistake of inexperienced teachers or teachers who

are not able to judge the reading abilities of their students is to select a passage

that is too long. If students are unable to finish the reading passage, the lesson is

not successful.36

3. Approaches Measuring Readability

There are some approaches that can be used in measuring the readability of the

text. Basically there are three ways to measure the readability of the text: n testing,

cloze procedures, and statistical readability formulas. 37

36 Richard R. Day, Selecting Passages for the EFL Reading Class, Journal of English

Teaching Forum, Vol.32, No.1, Jan 1994, pp. 20. 37 Nila B. Smith and Alan R., Reading Instruction for Today‟s Children, (New York: Prentice

Hall Inc, 1980), pp. 115-116.

22

The same approaches with different terms in measuring the readability are stated

by Beard. He distinguished three broad approaches to the assessment of the text

suitability. These can be grouped as teacher-based, text-based, and pupil-based.38

Procedures used to measure readability are known as readability formulas.

Today, there are more than 40 different readability formulas used to measure

readability, but some of them are better known and more popular than others.

Among those approaches, the writer would explain about the approaches in

measuring readability.

a) Comprehension Test

Comprehension test can be give to students by asking them to read the text first.

After they read the text, give them question about the author‟s message from the text

they read. If the students understand about the text about 70 or 80 percent of the ideas

they conveyed by the author, across a number of samples, it means that material is

probably suitable for instructional use in the classroom.

b) Cloze Procedure Test

The cloze procedure test was originally intended to measure the reading

difficulty level of a text.39 Cloze procedure is a technique in which words are deleted

from a passage according to a word-count formula or various other criteria. The

passage is presented to students, who insert words as they read to complete and

construct meaning from the text. In the same manner as stated by Anderson that cloze

tests are typically constructed by deleting from selected texts every

The cloze procedure test was developed by Taylor in 1953 as the published

“Cloze Procedure: A New Tool For Measuring Readability”. He argued that words

are not the best measure of difficulty but how they relate to one another. He proposed

38 Roger Beard, Developing Reacting 3−1, Second edition (London: Holder & Stoughton,

1990), pp. 119. 39 J. B. Heaton, Writing English Language Test, (London: Longman Group UK Limited,

1988), pp. 131.

23

using deletion tests called Cloze Test for measuring individual understanding of a

text.40

According to Alderson, Cloze Procedure Test is typically constructed by deleting

every n-th word. The n-th word is said to be the word between every 5th and 12th.

Cloze procedure test requires students to restore the deleted words. To help students

understand the text, one or two sentences of the beginning of the text are usually left

intact.41

After distributing the test to students, teachers have to correct the students‟

answer and find out the percentage. To find out the percentage of the Cloze Procedure

Test, Anas Sudjiono had formulated a formula as follows:

P = Percentage

=

× 100%

f = Frequency of the right answer

N = Number of item42

After finding the percentage of the cloze test, teachers try to find out the cloze

score. Beard classifies the cloze score level as below:

The following judgments can be made on the percentage of words correctly

supplied by the reader to fill in gaps on a cloze test. (Correct words misspelled

are counted as correct in this instance. Up to 40% of gaps correctly filled:

Frustration Level (suggesting that the text is too difficult for this particular

reader); 40%-60% of gaps correctly filled: Instructional Level (suggesting that

the reader may need some continuing assistance with the text); over 60% of gaps

correctly filled: Independent Level (suggesting that the reader is likely to be able

to cope with the text alone.43

pp. 27.

pp. 207.

pp. 43

40 William H. Dubay, The Principles of Readability, (Costa Mesa: Impact Information, 2004),

41 J. Charles Alderson, Assessing Reading, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000),

42Anas Sudjiono, Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan, (Jakarta: PT. Raja Grafindo Persada, 2006),

43 Roger Beard, Developing Reading 3−1…, pp. 125-128.

24

Based on the definition above, the judgments of the cloze test result is presented

in the following table:

Table 2.1

The Judgmen of the Cloze Test Score

No. Percentage of the Correct Answers Score Judgment

1 Over 60% Independent Level

2 40% − 60 % Instructional Level

3 Up to 40% Frustration Level

c) Statistical Readability Formula

A readability formula is a predictive devise that provides quantitative estimates

of the reading ease or written materials, usually through some weighted combination

of the measurement of language. It provides a quick, objective and inexpensive

means of anticipating the reading ease of written materials.

There are some kinds of statistical readability formula that have been used;, Fry

Readability Graph, Dale-Chall formula, SMOG Index and Flesch Formula.

a. Fry Graph

The fry readability formula is readability metric for English texts. Fry Graph

was developed by Edward Fry. Reading difficulty level is calculated by average

number of sentences (y-axis) and syllables (x-axis) per hundred words. These

averages are plotted onto a specific graph; the intersection of the average number

of sentences and the average number of syllables determines the reading level of

the content.

Steps in calculating a grade level score of the Fry Graph are:

1) Select one 100- word passages from near the beginning, middle and end of the

book.

2) Count the total number of sentences in each 100-word passage

3) Count the total number of syllables in each 100-word sample

25

4) Enter the Average number of sentences and the average number of syllable

per 100 words, plot dot where two lines intersect on the graph below44

Picture 2.1

The Fry Graph

b. The Dale-Chall Formula

The Dale-Chall Readability Formula, one if the classic approaches to readability

measurement. First published in 1948, it soon became one of the most widely used

formulas for predicting the difficulty of reading materials. For several decades, it was

acknowledged to be the most popular readability formula in educational circles

(Klare, 1988)

Now Dale-Chall formula becomes the new Dale-Chall formula. The new formula

also suggests ways to make judgments about the influence of cognitive structural

factors in reading difficulty of written text.45

Dale and Chall created the Dale-Chall formula for adult and children above 4th

grade as a way to improve upon the Flesch Reading Ease Formula. It uses a sentence-

length variable plus a percentage of “hard words”− words not found on the Dale-

44 Robert C. Aukermann, Reading in the Secondary School Classroom, (New York: McGraw

Hill Company, 1997), pp. 191. 45 Jeanne S. Chall and Edgar Dale, Readability Revisited: The new Dale-Chall readability

Formula, (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1995), pp. 1-6.

26

Chall “long list” of 3000 easy words, 80 percent of which are known to fourth-grade

readers.

Steps in applying the formula:

1) Select 100-word samples throughout the text (for books, every tenth page is

recommended)

2) Compute the average sentence length in words

3) Compute the percentage of words outside the dale list of 3000 words.

4) Compute this equation

Score = 0.1579PDW + .0496ASL + 3.6365

Where:

Score = reading grade of a reader who can answer one-half of the test

questions on a passage

PDW = Percentage of Difficulties Words (words not on the Dale-Chall word

list)

ASL = Average Sentence Length in Words46

c. SMOG Grading

The formula is created by McLaughin. The directions are:

1) Count 10 consecutive sentences near beginning of the selection to be assessed, 10

in the middle, and 10 near the end.

2) In the 30 selected sentences count every word of 3 or more syllables.

3) Estimate the square root of the number of polysyllabic words counted.

4) Add 3 to the appropriate square root.47

pp. 24

46 William H. Dubay, The Principle of Readability, (Costa Mesa: Impact Information, 2004),

47Robert C. Aukermann, Reading in the Secondary School Classroom, (New York: McGraw

Hill Company, 1997), pp. 191.

27

d. The Flesch Formula

Flesch formula is designed to indicate comprehension difficulty when reading a

passage of contemporary academic English48. Rudolf Flesch has developed a number

of readability formulas; his first readability formula is for measuring adult reading

material and after that he published the second formula with two parts.

“In 1948, Flesch published a second formula with two parts. The first part, The

Reading Ease formula, dropped the use of affixes and used only two variables, the number of syllables and the number of sentences for each 100-word sample. It

predicts reading ease on a scale from from 1 to 100, with 30 being „very difficult‟ and 70 being „easy‟. The second part of Flesch‟s formula predicts human interest by

counting the number of personal words (such as pronouns and names) and personal

sentences (such as quotes, exclamations, and incomplete sentences)”49

One of his formula has been one of the most frequently employed in evaluating

materials for mature readers and is considered among the most accurate formula .The

Flesch formula is a simple approach to assess the grade level of readability and to

assess the difficulty of a reading text written in English. There are two tests of Flesch

formula; The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch Kincaid Grade Level. The formula for

the updated Flesch Reading Ease score is:

= ��. �� − (�. �� × ) − (�, � × )

Where:

ASL = Average sentence length (the number of words divided by the number of

the sentences)

ASW = Average number of syllables per word (the number of syllables divided by

the number or words)50.

In this research, the writer used the Flesch Reading Ease Formula to analyze the

readability level of all the reading texts. The writer used the Flesch Reading Ease

formula because this formula one popular and this formula is the most widely used in

all over the world.

pp. 21

48http://Flesch-Kincaid_Readability_Test.htm, retreived on Thursday, December 19, 2013 49 William H. Dubay, The Principles of Readability, (Costa Mesa: Impact Information, 2004),

50 Ibid.

28

E. Previous Study

There are some researches about the readability; “The Readability of Reading

Textbook Instruction in The Textbook Let‟s Talk English for Students of Grade VIII

for SMP 257 Jakarta Timur”, “An Analysis of The Readability Level of Reading

Texts in Passport to The World 2 Textbook by Using Cloze Test” and “The Analysis

on The Readability of English Textbook „English on Sky 2‟ Focused on Reading

Passages Used at The Second Year of SMP DHARMA KARYA UT, Pamulang”.

The first research is “The Readability of Reading Textbook Instruction in The

Textbook Let‟s Talk English for Students of Grade VIII for SMP 257 Jakarta

Timur”;it is an unpublished research written by Nursanti Handayani. This research is

descriptive analysis; the writer used Flesch formula and comprehension test by using

open-ended and closed-ended questions as the instrument to measure the readability

of the text. The writer was also making interview to the students. The writer of the

research found the result that all the texts in the textbook “Let‟s Talk English for

Students of Grade VIII‟ are readable.

The second research titled “An Analysis of The Readability Level of Reading

Texts in Passport to The World 2 Textbook by Using Cloze Test”. This study used

Cloze test as the research instrument. The researcher also interviewed the linguist,

English teacher and also the students in order to get information about their comment

for the cloze test and to know the students‟ knowledge about English learning. The

finding of this research is that all the texts in the textbook „Passport to The World 2‟

is so easy to be read by the students, it means that the texts is too readable.

The third research is “The Analysis on The Readability of English Textbook

„English on Sky 2‟ Focused on Reading Passages Used at The Second Year of SMP

DHARMA KARYA UT, Pamulang”; it used Flesch Reading Ease formula to measure

the readability and cloze test to measure the students‟ comprehension. From this

research it is found that the texts in the textbook „English on Sky 2‟ is not readable for

the students.

29

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Time, Place and Subject of the Study

This research was conducted by the writer herself on November 24th, 2014. The

writer conducted the research in SMA Negeri 7 Tangerang. SMA Negeri 7 Tangerang

is located on Perintis Kemerdekaan 1 No 2, Babakan, Tangerang, Banten. The

number of the students is about 630 and the number of the teachers is about 53.

B. Method of the Research

The writer used descriptive method in this research, in which she tried to

describe, elaborate, and analyze the readability level of the reading texts in the

textbook Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1 published by

Kementerian Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014. This study

focused only on the reading texts. The writer will not investigate the factors that

affect the readability of the reading texts.

This research also supported by library research method to find out the theory of

textbook, reading, readability, cloze test, Flesch Reading Ease, etc. Furthermore, the

writer also finds out the theories from other resources such as web-sites, articles, and

journals.

C. Unit of Analysis.

The source of the data in this study is all the reading texts in the textbook Bahasa

Inggris SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1 published by Kementerian

Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014. The textbook consists of six

chapters. Each chapter consists of some sections, such as: reading, listeniong,

speaking, writing, and grammar knowledge. The writer took all those seven reading

texts in the textbook to be analyzed by using Flesch Reading ease formula, and also

the writer took 5 of the reading texts to be tested to students by using cloze test

30

procedures. The writer conducted the cloze test to 31 students of SMA Negeri 7

Tangerang which also become the source of the data.

D. Technique of Data Collecting

To collect the data of this research, the writer counted the number of sentences,

words, syllables of each text. After that the writer counted the average number of

syllables per word and average word per sentence from each text. Then, the writer

counted the score and analyzed the data.

E. Technique of Data Analysis.

a. Flesch Reading Ease Formula

For the next step of the research, the writer processed and analyzed the data by

using Flesch Reading Ease Formula.

Flesch Reading Ease Formula is a way to measure the difficulty of reading text.

In this test, if the score is high it indicates that the reading text is easy to be read;

while the low score indicates that the reading text is difficult. The score of the flesch

reading ease formula were analyzed as follow:

1. Count the sentences, words, and syllables of a text.

2. Find the Average Sentence Length (ASL) by dividing the number of words with

the number of sentences. Also find the Average Number Syllables per Word

(ASW) by dividing the number of syllables with the number of words.

3. Find the readability score by using this formula:

= ��. �� − (�. �� × ) − (�, � × )

4. Determine the difficulty level and reading grade based on the reading ease scale

of the flesch reading ease.1

Scores can be interpreted as shown in the table below2

1 William H. Dubay, The principles of Readability, (Costa Mesa: Impact Information, 2004),

p.21. 2 Ibid.

31

Table 3.1

The Reading Ease Scale of the Flesch Reading Ease Formula.

Reading Ease Score Description Predicted reading Grade

0 – 30 Very difficult Collage Graduate

30 – 40 Difficult 13th to 16th grade

50 – 60 Fairly difficult 10th to 12th grade

60 – 70 Standard 8th to 9th grade

70 – 80 Fairly easy 7th grade

80 – 90 Easy 6th grade

90 – 100 Very easy 5th grade

The result can also be put on the Flesch Readability Chart by following this

steps: 3

1. Find the average sentence length and word length of your piece of the writing

chart.

2. Take a straightedge or ruler and connect the two figures.

3. The intersection of the straightedge or ruler with the center column shows the

readability score.

3 Rudolf Flesch, “ How to write Plain English”,

http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide/writing/flesch.shtml, retrieved on March 23rd 2015.

http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide/writing/flesch.shtml

32

Figure 3.1 The Flesch Readability Chart

b. Cloze Test

After analyzing the reading texts by using Flesch Reading Ease Formula, the

writer also conducted cloze test which was given to the students. The test is made by

using the texts that are deleted their words between every 5th and 12th. The students

were asked to complete the texts with the words provided in a list

33

After distributing the test, the writer counts the students‟ correct answers and find

out the percentage by using the formula below:

Where:

P = Percentage


n = Number of items

= × 100%

After finding the percentage, the writer determined the difficulty level of the

reading texts by referring to judgment of the Cloze Procedure Test Score

Table 3.2

The Judgment of the Cloze Procedure Test Score

No. Percentage of the Correct Answers Score Judgment

1 Over 60% Independent Level

2 40% − 60 % Instructional Level

3 Up to 40% Frustration Level

34

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DATA DISCUSSION

A. Research Findings

To get the readability level of the reading texts on the textbook “BAHASA

INGGRIS SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1” published by Kementerian

Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014, the writer used the Flesch

Reading Ease Formula and Cloze Test Procedure.

1. The Flesch Reading Ease Formula

The readability score is gained by counting the characters, syllables, words, and

sentences of the text. The writer counted the characters, syllables, words, and

sentences of a text by calculating it on wordcalc.com

The calculation resulted of the sentences, words, and syllables of each text are

presented as follow.

Table 4.1

The Description of Sentence, Word, and Syllable Calculations of the Reading

Texts

Text Number of

sentences

Number of

words

Number of

syllable

My Best Friend 19 214 252

Tanjung Puting National Park 18 265 385

The Secret of Stonehenge 21 380 581

Visiting Niagara Falls 32 476 701

ALIA 33 323 439

An announcement about concert

cancellation 11 214 301

An announcement about

McMaster Mini-Med School 13 196 287

35

The writer counted the number of average sentence length (ASL) and Average

Number of Syllable per Word (ASW) and the number of word per sentence. ASL is

resulted from the number of words divided by the number of sentence; While ASW is

the result from the number of syllables divided by the number of words.

1) Text 1 (My Best Friend)

ASL = Number of words : Number of sentences

= 214 : 19 = 11.2

ASW = Number of syllables : number of words

= 252 : 214 = 1.2

2) Text 2 (Tanjung Puting National Park)


= 265 : 18 = 14.7


= 385 : 265 = 1.4

3) Text 3 (The Secret of Stonehenge)


= 380 : 21 = 18


= 581 : 320 = 1.8

4) Text 4 (Visiting Niagara Falls)


= 476 : 32 = 14.8


= 701 : 476 = 1.4

5) Text 5 (ALIA)


= 323 : 33 = 9.8


= 439 : 323 = 1.3

36

6) Text 6 (Concert Cancellation Announcement)


= 214 : 8 = 26.7


= 301 : 214 = 1.4

7) Text 7 (McMaster Mini-Med School)


= 196 : 13 = 15


= 287 : 196 = 1.4

The result of the ASL and ASW calculation of each text can be seen in the

following table:

Table 4.2

The Result of ASL and ASW Calculation

TEXT Average Sentence Length Average Syllable per

Word

Text 1 11.2 1.1

Text 2 14.7 1.4

Text 3 18 1.8

Text 4 14.8 1.4

Text 5 9.8 1.3

Text 6 26.7 1.4

Text 7 15 1.4

After counting the number of ASL and ASW, the next step is finding the

readability score by using the Flesch Formula:

Text 1

Score = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

= 206.835 – (1.015 x 11.2) – (84.6 x 1.2)

37

= 206.835 – (11.368) – (101.52)

=93.9 = 94

Text 2

Score = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

= 206.835 – (1.015 x 14.7) – (84.6 x 1.4)

= 206.835 – (14.92) – (118.44)

= 73.4 = 73

Text 3

Score = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

= 206.835 – (1.015 x 18) – (84.6 x 1.8)

= 206.835 – (18.27) – (152.28)

= 36.2 = 36

Text 4

Score = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

= 206.835 – (1.015 x 14.8) – (84.6 x 1.4)

= 206.835 – (15.022) – (118.44)

= 73.3 =73

Text 5

Score = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

= 206.835 – (1.015 x 9.8) – (84.6 x 1.3)

= 206.835 – (9.947) – (109.98)

= 86.9 = 87

Text 6

Score = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

= 206.835 – (1.015 x 26.7) – (84.6 x 1.4)

= 206.835 – (27.1) – (118.4)

= 61.3 = 61

38

Text 7

Score = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

= 206.835 – (1.015 x 15) – (84.6 x 1.4)

= 206.835 – (15.2) – (118.4)

= 73.2 = 73

Table 4.3

The Readability Score of the five Reading Texts Based on the Reading Ease Scale of

The Flesch Formula

Text Readability Score Difficulty Level Reading Grade

Text 1 94 Very Easy 5th grade

Text 2 73 Fairly Easy 7th grade

Text 3 36 Difficult 13th to 16th grade


Text 5 86 Easy 6th grade

Text 6 61 Standard 8th and 9th grade


From all the result above, the writer would also like to interpret what the writer

already found in her research on the readability charts

39

Figure 4.1

Readability level of text 1

Figure 4.1 is the readability chart of the first text titled My Best Friend has 19

sentences, 214 words, and 252 syllables. The ASL of the text is 11.2 and the ASW of

the text is 1.1. The text was calculated by the Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and it is

found the readability score of this text is 94. Based on the rubric of Flesch Reading

Ease table of score it means that the difficulty level of the text is very easy and the

text is suitable for grade 5 in elementary school.

40

Figure 4.2


Figure 4.2 is the readability chart of the second text titled Tanjung Puting

National Park has 18 sentences, 265 words and 385 syllables. The ASL of the text is

14.7 and the ASW of the text is 1.4. The text was calculated by the Flesch Reading

Ease Formula, and it is found that the readability score of this text is 73. Based on the

rubric of Flesch Reading Ease table of score it means that the text is fairly easy. The

text is suitable for grade 7.

41

Figure 4.3


Figure 4.3 is the readability chart of the third text is The Secret of Stonehenge

has 21 sentences, 380 words, and 581 syllables. The ASL of the text is 18 and the

ASW of the text is 1.8. The text was calculated by Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and

it is found that the readability score of this text is 36. Based on the rubric of Flesch

Reading Ease table of score it means that the text is difficult; the text is more suitable

for grade 13 to 16 (college).

42

Figure 4.4


Figure 4.4 is the readability chart of the fourth text titled Visiting Niagara Falls

has 32 sentences, 476 words, and 701 syllables. The ASL of the Text is 14.8 and the

ASW of the text is 1.4. The text was calculated by Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and

it is found that the readability score of this text is 73. Based on the rubric of Flesch

Reading Ease table of score it means that the difficulty level of the text is fairly easy,

and the text is more suitable for grade 7.

43

Figure 4.5


Figure 4.5 is the readability chart of the fifth text titled Alia has 33 sentences,

323 words, and 439 syllables. The ASL of the Text is 9.8 and the ASW of the text is

1.3. The text was calculated by Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and it is found that the

readability score of this text is 87. Based on the rubric of Flesch Reading Ease table

of score it means that the difficulty level of the text easy; and the text is more suitable

for the grade 6.

44

Figure 4.6


Figure 4.6 is the readability chart of the sixth text. The text is about an

announcement of concert cancelation. The text has 8 sentences, 193 words, and 272

syllables. The ASL of the Text is 26.7 and the ASW of the text is 1.4. The text was

calculated by Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and it is found that the readability score

of this text is 61. Based on the rubric of Flesch Reading Ease table of score it means

standard. So, the text is suitable with the level this text is given, grade 9.

45

Figure 4.7


Figure 4.7 is the readability chart of the seventh text. The text is about an

announcement of McMaster Mini-Med School. The text has 14 sentences, 181 words,

and 264 syllables. The ASL of the Text is 15 and the ASW of the text is 1.4. The text

was calculated by Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and it is found that the readability

score of this text is 73. Based on the rubric of Flesch Reading Ease table of score it

means that the difficulty level of the text is fairly easy. So, the text is more suitable

for grade 7.

46

2. The Cloze Test Procedure

The writer also conducted cloze tests from five out of seven reading texts to find

out the readability level of the reading texts. The test was given to the 31 students of

the tenth grade in SMA Negeri 7 Tangerang. The writer deleted between the 5th to

12th words in the texts and the students were asked to complete the text by putting the

words given in the box.

Table 4.4

Table of Number of Words and Number of Deleted Words

Texts Number of Words Number of

Deleted Words

My Best Friend 214 22

Tanjung Puting National Park 265 28

The Secret of Stonehenge 380 43

Visiting Niagara Falls 476 56

ALIA 323 35

After giving the cloze test to the 31 students and correcting the students‟ answer,

the writer counted the students‟ score by using this following formula:

P = Percentage

=

× 100%


N = Number of item

The scores of each student are presented in the following tables:

47

Table 4.5

The Number of the Right Answers of the Tenth Grade Students of SMA Negeri 7

Tangerang 2014/2015

No. Student Number of the Right Answers

Text 1 text 2 text 3 text4 text 5

1 Student 1 22 28 33 48 33

2 Student 2 22 28 26 50 35

3 Student 3 22 26 30 48 35

4 Student 4 20 25 30 46 33

5 Student 5 20 26 25 51 33

6 Student 6 22 28 24 49 35

7 Student 7 22 28 22 46 32

8 Student 8 20 28 18 46 30

9 Student 9 22 25 26 49 35

10 Student 10 19 20 23 48 30

11 Student 11 22 25 22 47 33

12 Student 12 22 22 25 47 30

13 Student 13 18 16 22 37 28

14 Student 14 20 26 20 49 33

15 Student 15 20 23 23 49 31

16 Student 16 20 25 20 49 30

17 Student 17 20 28 24 48 35

18 Student 18 22 24 20 50 35

19 Student 19 22 28 22 50 30

20 Student 20 22 25 20 48 30

21 Student 21 20 26 20 40 28

22 Student 22 18 19 21 36 26

23 Student 23 22 28 23 50 29

24 Student 24 18 19 24 32 27

25 Student 25 20 25 23 50 35

26 Student 26 20 21 26 50 32

27 Student 27 22 28 32 51 32

28 Student 28 16 25 18 50 29

29 Student 29 22 28 31 49 35

30 Student 30 20 24 19 49 35

31 Student 31 22 28 24 49 35

48

Table 4.6

Percentage of the Right Answer of the Tenth Grade Students

NO

STUDENTS

Percentage of the Scores

TEXT 1 TEXT 2 TEXT 3 TEXT 4 TEXT 5

1 Student 1 100% 100% 76.74% 85.71% 94.29%

2 Student 2 100% 100% 60.74% 89.29% 100.00%

3 Student 3 100% 92.86% 69.77% 85.71% 100.00%

4 Student 4 90.91% 89.29% 69.77% 82.14% 94.29%

5 Student 5 90.91% 92.86% 58.14% 91.07% 94.29%

6 Student 6 100% 100% 55.81% 87.50% 100.00%

7 Student 7 100% 100% 51.16% 82.14% 91.43%

8 Student 8 90.91% 100% 41.86% 82.14% 85.71%

9 Student 9 100% 89.29% 60.47% 87.50% 100.00%

10 Student 10 86.36% 71.43% 53.49% 85.71% 85.71%

11 Student 11 100% 89.29% 51.16% 83.93% 94.29%

12 Student 12 100% 78.57% 58.14% 83.93% 85.71%

13 Student 13 81.82% 57.14% 51.16% 66.07% 80.00%

14 Student 14 90.91% 92.86% 46.51% 87.50% 94.29%

15 Student 15 90.91% 82.14% 53.49% 87.50% 88.57%

16 Student 16 90.91% 89.29% 46.51% 87.50% 85.71%

17 Student 17 90.91% 100% 55.81% 85.71% 100.00%

18 Student 18 100% 85.71% 46.51% 89.29% 100.00%

19 Student 19 100% 100% 51.16% 89.29% 85.71%

20 Student 20 100% 89.29% 46.51% 85.71% 85.71%

21 Student 21 90.91% 92.86% 46.51% 71.43% 80.00%

22 Student 22 81.82% 67.86% 48.84% 64.29% 74.29%

23 Student 23 100% 100% 53.49% 89.29% 82.86%

24 Student 24 81.82% 67.86% 55.81% 57.14% 77.14%

25 Student 25 90.91% 89.29% 53.49% 89.29% 100.00%

26 Student 26 90.91% 75.00% 60.47% 89.29% 91.43%

27 Student 27 100% 100% 74.42% 91.07% 91.43%

28 Student 28 72.73% 89.29% 41.86% 89.29% 82.86%

29 Student 29 100% 100% 72.09% 87.50% 100%

30 Student 30 90.91% 85.71% 44.19% 87.50% 100%

31 Student 31 100% 100% 55.81% 87.50% 100% Total 2905% 2768% 1711.89% 2608.93% 2825.72%

Average 94% 89% 55.22% 84.16% 91.15%

49

After counting the students‟ right answer and the score percentage as in the table

4.5 and 4.6, it can be concluded as the statements below:

1) The score percentage of the first text entitled “My Best Friend” is 94%

2) The score percentage of the second text titled “Tanjung Putting National Park” is

89%

3) The score percentage of the third text titled “The Secret of Stonehenge” is

55.22%

4) The score percentage of the fourth text titled “Visiting Niagara Falls” 84.16%

5) The score percentage of the fifth text titled “Alia” is 91.15%

B. Discussion of The Result

Based on the result of the analysis of the readability level of the seven reading

texts by using Flesch Reading Ease Formula, there are no reading texts in the

textbook BAHASA INGGRIS SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1” published

by Kementerian Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014 appropriate

to be given to students grade X. Most of the reading texts are too readable to be given

to students in grade X. Six reading texts got the score higher than 60, which means it

is more suitable for students below grade X. One reading text got the score below 50,

which means that the text is suitable for college students.

Based on the result of cloze tests the writer had already conducted there are four

texts have the score percentage above 60% which means four out of five texts are in

the Independent Level and only one text titled “The Secret of Stonehenge” is on the

Instructional Level. The first text titled “My Best Friend” gets 94%; the second text

titled “Tanjung Putting National Park” gets 89%; the third text titled “The Secret of

Stonehenge” gets 55.22%; the next text titled “Visiting Niagara Falls” gets 84.16%

and the last text titled “ALIA” gets 91.15%.

Based on the analysis and the test that the writer had conducted, it can be

concluded that most of the reading texts in the textbook Bahasa Inggris

SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1” Published by Kementerian Pendidikan

50

Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014 are too easy for X grade students; this

textbook has a little advantage for the teacher and the student. The reading texts in the

textbook cannot be the guidance for the students to improve their reading skill. Based

on Jack Richard‟s list of the disadvantages of the textbook, this textbook reflects 3

out of 5; the reading texts in the textbook do not reflect students‟ needs; the reading

texts on the textbook do not provide a variety effective language models and input.

Also this textbook can lead boredom to the students and make the students lack of

motivation, because the textbook have no challenge as most of the reading texts are

too readable.

51

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

A. The Conclusion

After analyzing and interpreting the data of the reading texts on the textbook

“BAHASA INGGRIS SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1” published by

Kementerian Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014 by using one of

the readability formulas called Flesch Reading Ease formula the result shows that one

of the reading texts titled My Best Friend gets the highest score, 94, which means the

text is very easy and it is more suitable to be learned by students 5th grade. One text

titled ALIA gets 86 and the difficulty level of the text is easy and it is more suitable

for students in the 6th grade. Three texts get the score around 70 to 80; Tanjung

Putting National Park and Visiting Niagara Falls get 73 for each text; and the

announcement text titled McMaster Mini-Med School get 75. It means that the

difficulty level of those three texts is Fairly Easy and it is more suitable for 7th grade

students. The score of one announcement text titled Concert Cancellation

Announcement is 64 and the difficulty level of the text is Standard (Plain English);

so, this text is more suitable for 8th and 9th grade students. The score of a text titled

The Secret of Stonehenge is 36. The difficulty level of this text is Difficult, so this

text is more suitable for college students.

The results from the cloze test conducted, it shows that four texts are in

Independent Level; it means the students can easily read and understand the texts by

themselves without any help or guidance from the teacher. Those texts are: “My Best

Friend” which gained 94%, “Tanjung Putting National Park” which gained 89%,

“Visiting Niagara Falls” which gained 84.16% and “ALIA” which gained 91.15%.

And there is only one text which in Instructional level; the title of the text is “The

Secret of Stonehenge” which gained 55.22%. It means that the students need

guidance or help from the teacher to read and understand this text.

52

From the result above, it can be concluded that some of the text are too readable

because those texts are not appropriate to be learned by the 10th grade students; those

texts are more suitable to be learned by the students in grade 5 to grade 9. And one

text is too difficult to be read by the 10th grade students, the text is more suitable for

the college students. None of the text is suitable with the level the texts are given to.

B. The Suggestion

From all the results above, it will be delivered some suggestions as follow:

1. The principals are suggested to engage the teachers in selecting the suitable

textbook in order to improve the students‟ competency and the quality of

education.

2. The publishers and the authors of the textbook should pay more attention in

publishing the appropriate textbook based on the curriculum which is being

used; so the teachers and the students can reach the objectives of teaching

and learning activities.

3. The teachers should be more open to use other various interesting materials

in order to make the students not getting bored while using the same

textbook.

4. The readability level of the entire reading texts in the textbook BAHASA

INGGRIS SMA/MA/SMK/MAK KELAS X Semester 1 published by

Kementerian Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2014 are not

suitable. While the school cannot change the textbook because of the

requirement of the new curriculum being used; the teachers should use other

materials to support the teaching materials based on the curriculum and the

students can also improve their language competency.

53

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http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide/writing/flesch.shtml

MY BEST FRIEND

I have a lot of friends in my school, but Dinda has been my best friend since junior high

school. We don‟t study in the same , but we meet at school during recess

and after school. I first _ her at junior high school and we‟ve been friends ever

since.

Dinda is good- . She‟s not too tall, with fair and wavy black hair that

she often puts in a . At school, she wears the . Other than that, she likes to

jeans, casual t-shirts and sneakers. Her favorite t-shirts are those in colors

like pink, light green, and . She is always cheerful. Like many other girls, she is also

. She likes to share her thoughts and to her friends. I think that‟s why many

friends enjoy her . However, she can be a bit sometimes. For example,

when she doesn‟t get what she , she acts like a child and stamps her .

Dinda loves drawing, especially the characters. She always has a sketchbook

with her she goes. She would some time to draw the manga characters

from her . Her sketches are amazingly great. I‟m really glad to have a friend

like Dinda.

Class Orientation Uniform Childish Talkative Manga Feet

Everyday Skin Imagination Wear Company Bright

Everywhere Met Looking Ponytail Orange Feelings wants

Spend Best

Visiting Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that cross the international border

between the Canadian province of Ontario and the USA‟s state of New York. They form the

southern end of Niagara Gorge. From largest to , the three waterfalls are the

Horseshoe Falls, the American , and the Bridal Veil Falls. The Horseshoe Falls

on the Canadian side and the American Falls on the side. They are

separated Goat Island. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls is also on the American

side, separated from the waterfalls by Luna Island. There various attractions

that people can in Niagara Falls, six of are described here.

The to enjoy in Niagara Falls is Cave of the Winds. This helps people

get closer to the falls and face-to-face with the pounding of the Falls. People

can get soaked the Hurricane. Deck where they are just feet the thundering waters.

Waterproof clothing and are provided. A trip at when the Falls are illuminated

in a rainbow of color is amazing.

The second charm is Maid of the Mist Boat . It is a world-famous

boat tour of the American Canadian Falls for about a half-hour ride. People

access the tour via the _ Tower elevator at Prospect Point in the state . The

boat operates mid-May until late .

The next to visit in Niagara Falls is Niagara Adventure . Here tourists may

enjoy the most and involving film experience that reality to life on a 45

screen. Audience members are the privilege to discover the thundering falls

from a completely and exhilarating perspective, and plunge them. The

theater shows hourly and free multi-language are made available.

Niagara Science Museum is place to visit. It is a sanctuary for the

and appreciation of old science and philosophical apparatus.

The point of interest is Niagara Museum of History. Here, life-size

wax figures portraying dramatic of a Niagara Falls are presented to the .

They can see Fort Niagara , Indian Village, old store, blacksmith, and barbershop

scenes and electricity is made. Wax of Julia Roberts, Princess Diana and

many are here, too.

Finally people can also enjoy Rainbow Air Helicopter Tours and around the

American and Canadian Falls. The tours from downtown, next to the entrance to the

rainbow bridge, and from 9am to dusk when weather . The tours operate

everyday from _ weekend in May until October 31st.

The Niagara Falls are _ both for their beauty and as a valuable of

hydroelectric power. Managing the between recreational, commercial, and industrial

uses has been a for the stewards of the falls since the 19th .

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TanjungPuting National Park

One of the internationally famous ecotourism destinations in Indonesia is Tanjung Puting

National Park in the southwest of Central Kalimantan peninsula. Tanjung Puting National Park

impressive experience to its . This is called a park, but any

park that you have in your city, this is a jungle! It is a real , which is home to

the most incredible animals in the : orang utans and proboscis monkeys! The male

proboscis monkeys are _ because they have enormous . So, imagine yourself

to be in the jungle and these special animals in their habitat. What will you

when you meet them?

To see orang utans we _ go to Camp Leakey. Camp Leakey is in the

heart of Tanjung Puting Park. This is a rehabilitation (place) for ex-captive orang

utans and also a preservation . This camp was established by Birute Galdikas, an

important who has studied orang utans 1971.

To reach the place, we should a boat down Sekonyer River. The boat is

called perahu klotok which is a boathouse that can four people. The trip

by the to Camp Leakey takes three days and two .

The travelling in the boat offers another experience. You sleep, cook and eat

in that klotok, night and during your journey into the jungle. In daylight, on your

to Camp Leakey, you can see trees with proboscis monkeys. At night, you can enjoy

the clear and the amazingly bright stars as the only for the night.

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THE SECRET OF STOBEHENGE

All over the globe are historical mysteries left to us by the ancient world – lost

civilizations, abandoned cities, and puzzling monuments. One unexplained mystery that has both

inspired and modern man for centuries is Stonehenge. Though it is of the

best-known artifacts in the we have no definitive of why it was built and

what it actually used for. Today, however, two new may offer some answers.

The first theory _ with findings being unearthed not at Stonehenge, but at a

location . Archeologist Mike Parker Pearson and his colleagues have been an

area about three (two miles) northeast of Stonehenge. Here stands Durrington Walls – a

structure to Stonehenge but about 20 times . In and around Durrington

Walls were three circular structures of wood. Evidence suggests that these wooden

circles holy places, or perhaps the of important officials who for

Durrington. Outside Durrington Walls, Parker Pearson and colleagues have also recently

a village of up to 300 houses which date back more 4500 years.

What do the at Durrington Walls have to with Stonehenge? Parker

Pearson there is a connection between the two , and he cites his recent

studies of the Malagasy in Madagascar to help his theory. In Malagasy

culture, is a symbol of hardened bones and death. Wood, in is associated

with life.

Using this model, Parker Pearson sees associations the wooden structures of

Durrington the hard monument of Stonehenge. Durrington, in _ new theory,

is the domain of the , while Stonehenge is a place of the .

In Wales, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) of Stonehenge, archeologists

have another theory about why the monument was and what it was for. In

this region of Wales are the Preseli Mountains. Archeologists traced the origin of

Stonehenge‟s oldest (often referred to as “bluestones” because of their appearance

wet) to this site.

Stonehenge was one of the last great built in ancient England. It was

abandoned about 3500 years , and because its creators no texts to explain

it, they have us forever with one of history‟s great puzzle to .

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Assalamu‟alaikum Alia.

It was very interesting to read your letter about yourself and your hometown. I would

really like to be your pen .

I‟m a sixteen-year- school student from Johor Bahru in . Actually I attend an

Islamic school just outside the city but my family in Kuala Lumpur. My eldest

sister is a doctor. She will get married . My younger brother is an school

student in KL but he often writes to me via .

My favorite subjects are social sciences. I like _ very much; it helps me

more how different countries existed in the . At school we are supposed to use

at all times, even when we in the dormitory, so we have _ quite fluent although

sometimes we back into Malay, which is our mother .

As for hobbies, I‟m really into songs and . My favorite singer is Yusuf Islam

whose former name Cat Steven. He‟s so cool! Another I like is Maher Zein with

his religious songs. My Malay singer is of course Siti Nurhaliza. I also like

movies, especially comedies. The I like best is Tom Cruise.

I‟m really into books. I like novels and short stories, mostly by Malay

who you probably haven‟t of. I like some writers in English like JK Rowling and

writers too, like Andrea Hirata and Ahmad Fuadi. My , when I‟m older, is to

be a of science fiction books ser in the distant .

I‟d really love to to Indonesia some day. I heard it has the number of

Muslims of any country. A that I‟ve just read mentions that there are some magnificent

to visit, such as Bali, Sulawesi, Papua, and ! What about you, do you want

to my country? Wassalam, Saidah.

Friend old medical book places Borneo! Visit

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