Learning Strategies

Abstract

This study investigated some aspects of the process of reading of English by Indonesia learner, in particular the role of reading strategies in learners' attempts to understand a text.

The subjects in the research were eight second-year high school students in the natural science stream at SMAN 10 in Bandar Lampung. They were classified as either good or poor readers.

Good and poor readers deal with texts in different ways. The objectives of research were (1) to identify what kind of problems the two groups faced and (2) to identify what reading strategies they used.

Students were presented with an English text and asked to verbalized their thoughts as they tried to understand it -- the so-called 'think-aloud' method commonly used in psychology. Their think-alouds were recorded on tape and transcribed, and then coded for analysis.

The problems faced by good and poor readers were similar in nature. However, poor readers had more problems than good readers. Their reading was slower and their comprehension was impeded by problems with lexis and some grammatical features.

The strategies used by the two groups were similar in many respects. In all, good readers used ten kinds of strategies and poor readers used eight kinds of strategies. An analysis of the types of strategies used, however, suggests that good readers probably use a combination of bottom -up and top-down approaches (an interactive approach), while poor readers tend more on a bottom-up approach.