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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents the theories related to the research. It covers several of
aspect, such as a review of related literature. This chapter reviews the
related literature about the concept of reading, the concept of reading
comprehension, the concept of reading difficulties, the concept of reading
strategies and the classification of reading strategies.

2.1 Previous Related Research Findings

Reading is the most important of the four skills to support

communicative competence. Rossenbalt (1988) eading act is an event,
a transaction involving a particular reader and a particular
configuration of marks on a page, and occurring at a particular time in
a particular context. Certain organismic states, certain ranges of
feeling, certain verbal or symbolic linkages, are stirred up in the
linguistic reservoir. From these activated areas, to phrase it most
simply, selective attention-conditioned by multiple personal and social
factors entering into the situation--picks out elements that synthesize
or blend into what constitutes "meaning." The "meaning" does not
reside ready-made in the text or in the reader, but happens during the
transaction between reader and text. Reading skill is the key to success
because people can develop new knowledge, get information from the
text, increase their ability, enjoy literature, and enlarge the experience.
The difference between the teacher of the target language and
the native reader of that language is that: the teacher knows how it
works and thus can teach these rules to students in a specific period.
Otherwise, without introducing the rules, a teacher will not have any
advantage over any native speaker in that language.
Many strategies can help students improve their reading
comprehension. One of the strategies makes students guide reading
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become masters, and the students will be easily comprehend the text.
This previous study is important enough to the researcher as a guide
in conducting this study. At the least  few previous studies that related
to the present study.
For example, Habók & Magyar (2019). In their research, the
results showed that young language learners reported using reading
strategies more often. They also tested our hypothesized model and
proved its validity for each year. The results indicated a significant
effect of the variables and showed that the attitude to English mostly
influences EFL reading strategies. Proficiency has an indirect impact
on the employment of strategy used through mentality.
Zare and Othman (2013) found that Malaysian ESL learners can
be categorized as high-strategy users. It was also revealed that
significant differences exist between male and female language
learners using reading strategies. Furthermore, using reading strategies
had a strong positive correlation with reading comprehension
achievement. Madhumathi. & Ghosh’s (2012) study showed that the
students who employed problem-solving strategies the most and the
least preferred to use global strategies. The difference in the strategy
used is statistically significant except for the supporting strategy. The
high-proficiency students performed the middle and the low-
proficiency students in strategy use. Overall, the reading strategy use
moderately correlated with the reading comprehension achievement of
the Indian students. There is a significant difference in the use of
strategy by gender, in which the female students reported using more
strategy than male students. The educational implications of these
findings are discussed in terms of practices in Indian society. Thus,
the study identifies the Indian ESL students, reading strategy
preferences and suggests remedial measures for classroom teaching.
And lastly, Mahdieh Naseri and Elaheh Zaferanieh
(Corresponding author) (2012) found the results based on Spearman
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Correlation coefficient, descriptive statistics, and Canonical

correlation indicated that a) there was a significant strong positive
correlation between reading self-efficacy beliefs and reading
comprehension and also between reading self-efficacy beliefs and
reading strategies use, b) the most frequent use of reading strategy was
found to be a cognitive strategy, followed by testing strategy, meta-
cognitive strategy, and finally compensatory strategy, c) regarding the
gender, the relationship between Reading Self-efficacy and Reading
Strategies used by Iranian EFL senior and junior students made no
difference.
Based on previous research that the researcher explained before,
the researcher assumed that even though many research has explored
differences in student’s reading strategies based on gender and reading
comprehension. Still they have not done the research that students
have reading difficulties have to overcome. So researcher’s initiative
to explore the student’s reading strategy and difficulties between
males and females.

2.2 Review of Related Literature

In this section, the researcher would like to elaborate on the
theory related to the research was done by the researcher. It is
improtant for the researcher and reader to recognize the definition or
meaning of the research title to make it easier for the researcher  to
understand and analyze the problem deeply. Follow are theories that
will be discussed globally.

2.2.1 The Concept of Reading

In general, reading can be defined in many ways. According to
Grabe and Stoller (2002), reading is a way to draw information from
the printed page and interpret the data appropriately. In line with the
statement, Urquhart and Weir in Grabe (2009) propose that reading is
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the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in

language via print.
In another study, Grabe (2008) points out that reading can also
be defined as the process in which readers learn something from what
they read and involve it in academic context as a part of education.
Grabe adds that reading requires efficient knowledge of the world and
a given topic and also an efficient knowledge of the language. In
addition, Connor Trados (2014) state “Reading is the process of
constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among (1) the
reader’s existing knowledge; (2) the information suggested by the text
being read; and (3) the context of the reading situation”.
Based on the definitions above, it can be assumed that first,
reading is a process in which interaction between a reader and a text
occurs to extract information from the printed page. Second, in
extracting information, the reader needs to use his or her prior
knowledge and relate it to the content of the text to create meaning.
There are five aspects of reading comprehension, according to
Nuttal (1982) which the students should understand to comprehend a
text well, such as determining the main idea, finding specific
information, making inferences, identifying references, and
understanding the meaning of words. These aspects are regarded as
difficulties the students encounter in comprehending the text.
1) Determining Main Idea
The main idea is a statement that tells the author’s point about the
topic. The main idea is usually a sentence, it is usually the first
sentence but it can be in the middle or the last sentence. Therefore,
this can make the main idea more difficult to find. The students
may get confused to see what the main idea of a passage is, and
where the main idea is located.
2) Finding Specific Information (Scanning)
In finding the specific information, the students must find the
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detailed information or idea mentioned in the text. Therefore,

sometimes it is difficult for a student to see and distinguish
between important and unimportant information in the text to find a
specific piece of information such as names, dates, words or
phrases, and references in the text.
3) Making Inference
In making inferences, the students are expected to comprehend the
text to find the conclusion of the statements. For example, the
question is “what is the meaning of the statement above?” It means
that the students must find the conclusion based on the statement.
4) Identifying Reference
Reference is the relationship between a grammatical unit usually a
pronoun that refers to (or stands in for) another grammatical unit
usually a noun or noun phrase. In identifying references, the
students are expected to understand what the pronouns in the
sentences are, such as the pronouns used to show people, places, or
situations. For example, in the text, there is a simple sentence “The
boys in class 7 go outside to play football. They play in the school
hall.” And the question is “The word do they refer to?”, so the
students should find the word they refer to whom.
5) Understanding the Meaning of Word
In understanding the meaning of words, the students have to
find the meaning of the difficult words in the text context by
comprehending the meaning of the sentence or the text, and then
they will find the suitable meaning of the word. Therefore,
unfamiliar vocabulary about the text needs to be taught to students
before reading the material so that they can easily understand it.

2.2.2 The Concept of Reading Difficulties

To Lovett (2000), reading difficulty is characterized as
individual’s inability to grow “rapid, context-free word identification
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skill. To investigate the reasons for reading difficulties, Hartney

(2011) stated that most problems of today’s adolescents and adults are
because of issues that might have been neglected or avoided in their
childhood. Reading can be affected by reading habits and the use of
digital equipment. Also, according to Akarsu and Dariyemez’s (2014)
studies, reading habit started at a young age can have a good impact
on reading and is effective for academic success too.
According to Joseph when students exhibit difficulty
understanding and deriving meaning from text, explicit instruction on
comprehending needs to be provided. Difficulties in understanding
text can be derived from not knowing the meanings of words or
concepts, not capturing factual information, not inferring about
content, and not forming relationships among content presented in the
text. Therefore, the students have difficulties understanding the
meaning of words or concepts and inferring information.
Joseph (2001) too stated that he shows that one general problem
that less-skilled comprehends seems to have is making inferences
from the text. These difficulties include: a) inferring information that
is only implicit in a text, b) making inferences to connect up the ideas
in a text, and c) inferring the meanings of particular words from
context. Three studies discuss the difficulties in reading
comprehension. The above studies about inferring only implicit
information in a text include the main idea.
According to Wilawan (2012), he found explicitly main idea is
not a difficult reading task for many people due to the fact that they
can search for the main points of text at specific locations of
paragraphs (i.e. the first, second or last sentence) but explicit included
local main idea, it is explicit connective has two types of text require
readers to infer the underlying structure of the text, which is a difficult
task for students. Determining the implied main idea is much more
complex and can be problematic for most readers. Main idea
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comprehension, as noted earlier, is a difficult task involving the

simultaneous application of bottom-up and top-down.
Determining text's main idea is one of the most difficult tasks in
reading comprehension. It is a complex process that concerns the
application of various reading strategies. It is supported too by Asya
stated that students have difficulties in comprehension, particularly in
identifying main ideas and essential details.
The main idea is generally stated in the topic sentences, often
the first sentences in a paragraph. The main idea is easier to identify
when it is the first or the last sentence of the paragraph. It is more
difficult to find when located in the middle of a reading. And it is
perhaps most chalenging to identify when it is inferred and not stated.
According to Kate (2004) inference-making is understanding
language, it is often necessary to make inferences to go beyond what
is stated explicitly in the text or discourse to infer the intended
message. Even very straightforward texts require inferences to be
drawn. Therefore, if the reader reads in text, they will infer the text
they have understood. Besides, the main idea is essential in the text, so
that the main idea must look for first. After that, they do making
inference in the text.
Spivey (2011) shows that most all texts have one sentence
within a paragraph or passage stating the author’s message, or main
idea. The main idea can appear at the a paragraph or passage's
beginning, middle, or end. Finding the main idea becomes more
difficult in the upper grades where the main idea may be explicit (a
complete sentence taken directly from the text) or implied
(summarized by evaluating the details in the text). The sentences in
the text may have too much detail to pick one main idea or so little
information that there is no unmistakable message. The main idea is to
helps readers recall important information. Locating the main idea
helps the reader understand the points the writer is attempting to
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express. Identifying the relationship between these will improve

comprehension.
The researcher assumed that the main idea is important in
reading comprehension because the main idea is important
information that tells more about the overall idea of a paragraph or
section of a text and most paragraphs have a main idea that is either
contained in general sentences or else suggested by several specific
sentences and making inferences make the students difficulty in a text.
So that way, if the students do not find the inferring information that is
only implicit in a text including the main idea, the students will
difficult reading some books especially in reading comprehension.
2.2.3 The Concept of Reading Strategies
Different researchers show different opinions on the definitions
of reading strategies. According to Li (2010), reading strategies are
deliberate, conscious techniques that readers employ to enhance their
comprehension or retention of textual information. Brantmeier (2002)
indicates that reading strategies are the comprehension processes that
readers use to make sense of what they read. Moreover, according to
Amirian (2013) reading strategies show how readers conceive of a
task, how they make sense of what they read, and what they do when
they do not understand.
Even though the definitions of reading strategies have been
defined in different ways, it can be assumed that reading strategies are
actions that readers apply to comprehend the text. Reading strategies
are critical factors that help readers improve reading comprehension
and overcome reading difficulties.
Lien (2011) also stated the role of strategy use in reading
comprehension had been a topic of discussion in second/foreign
reading literature. Reading strategies are essential to assist learners in
overcoming reading difficulties such as inferring the underlying
messages in the texts, dealing with unknown terms, and unfamiliar
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cultural load. It implies that being a strategic reader helps readers

comprehend the text and handle the reading problems. And
Boonkongsaen (2014) declared that to assist learners in being more
strategic readers, EFL instructors are responsible for reading strategy
instruction. It can be said that, to help learners read effectively, EFL
instructors need to know which reading strategy learners have and
which they may lack. Moreover, Bolukbas (2013) also added they
should precisely determine when and how to use these strategies.
The strong relationship between learners‘ reading strategies and
reading comprehension shows the important role of strategy used in
language learning, especially reading skill. The result indicates
learners who frequently use reading strategies more will have better
comprehension. It implies that the use of reading strategies is one of
the factors which can improve reading comprehension. It can be
concluded it is essential to train learners to use appropriate strategies
and use them more often. Moreover, Chen and Intaraprasert (2014)
stated that it is also discovered that that the students may employ
different reading strategies to deal with the content reading.
Employing more different types of reading strategies assists learners
cope reading problems. For instance, they use more reading strategies
when texts become difficult to overcome the difficulties.
Furthermore, Bolukbas (2013) also state some examples of
reading strategies that can be used while reading are reading the first
sentence in each paragraph, using dictionaries when unknown words
cannot be deduced from the context, taking notes while reading,
highlighting the important part, looking for other clues (bold
faced or italics words), and guessing the meaning of unknown words
from the context.
In this regard, Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) have stated a
difference exists between good readers and non-good readers
regarding their reported reading strategies, use of reading
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strategies, and their strategies awareness. It is found that good

readers are aware of what they are reading and why they are reading;
in addition, they use some plans and strategies to monitor their
understanding and overcome the problems they face while reading.
Nezami (2012) also said that skilled readers know how to use
effective strategies to facilitate the functioning of various cognitive
processes and construct a meaningful understanding of the text; these
strategies include understanding vocabulary in the present context,
skimming, scanning, predicting, summarizing, evaluating, self-
questioning, making connections, visualizing and monitoring etc.
Poor readers read the text word by word without using any strategies.
Meanwhile, Chan and Lau (2003) investigated the differences
between poor and good readers on reading strategies. The finding
showed that poor readers were less capable were good readers in
identifying main ideas, decoding unfamiliar words, recognizing text
structures, summarizing main ideas, detecting errors, and inferring
implicit meanings in Chinese texts.
More interestingly, Tzu-Ching and Chia-Li (2015) also declared
that it is assumed that males and females employ different reading
strategies. Some researchers who examined the use of reading
strategies in relation to gender have confirmed though the assumption
that a difference exists between males and females. These study
findings showed that female EFL learners are more active strategy
users than male’s counterparts.
The type of reading strategies used in this study is included in
Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) proposed by Mohktary and
sheory (2002). They classify reading strategies included in SORS into
three types: global reading strategies (GRS), problem-solving
strategies (PSS), support reading strategies (SRS). SORS is adopted in
the present study because it is intended to probe readers' perceived use
of reading strategies while reading English text.
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1) Global Reading Strategies (GRS)

Global strategies involve planning how to read and managing
comprehension, Glob are those intentional, carefully planned
techniques by which learners monitor and manage their reading,
such as having purpose in mind, previewing the text as to its length
and organization, or using typographical aids and tables and figures
GRS contains 13 items and represents a set of reading strategies
oriented toward a global analysis of the text. These strategies can
considered generalized, intentional reading strategies aimed at
setting the stage for the reading act.
2) Problem-solving Reading Strategies (PSS)
Problem-solving strategies involve using strategies when reading
difficult parts of a text. PSS are readers' actions and procedures
while working directly with the text. This is localized, focused
techniques used when problems develop in understanding textual
information, such as adjusting reading speed according to what is
being read contained 8 items that appear in he criened around
strategies for solving problems when the test becomes difficult to
read. Those strategies provide readers with action plans to navigate
through the best skillfully.
3) Support Reading Strategies (SRS)
Support strategies involve using devices and techniques to
understand a text. SRS contains 9 items and  primarily involves
using outside reference materials (such as the use of dictionary),
taking notes, underlining or circling information and other practical
strategies. These strategies provide the support mechanism aimed
at sustaining responses to reading.
2.2.4 Think-Aloud Protocol Analysis

According to Ericsoon and Simon (1998), Think-Aloud Protocol

Analysis is “the act of identify the circumstances where individuals
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could verbalize their thoughts without any, or at worst with minimal,

reactive influences on their thinking.” It is the process of arriving at
the problem solution that the systematic examination is interested in.
The reason why we should use Think-Aloud Protocol Analysis is
while reading comprehension, the product of reading, can be easily
measured quantitatively, for example by counting the number of
comprehension questionnaire a reader can answer, the reading
comprehension process involves qualitative thought processes that
cannot always be measured quantitatively.
The reading comprehension success, which is considered a
word-solving success (Hosenfeld, 1977), involves thoughts that
wander or rush through the minds of readers, the searches and
struggles for meaning (Block, 1986:463). Aspects such as the
frequency of uses of particular strategies, for example, can be counted
or measured quantitatively, but to understand what strategies are used
and how they are used requires a qualitative account of the complex
comprehension processes which can only be achieved through
qualitative approaches.
Also Guss (2018) point out that verbalizations such as those
obtained during the performance of a think-aloud task allow
researchers try to assess sensitive topic, meaning topic subject to bias
and social desirability, and to those that attempt to respectful to the
context and larger dimension of culture.

2.2.5 Theoritical Assumption

The literature review above make the researcher predict that

there would be difference on reading strategies and difficulties
between male and female by using think aloud protocol analysis. It
would have positive effect on students reading comprehension
because think aloud protocol analysis makes students think while they
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read for constructing meaning in an easier way from the text.

Additionally, thinking aloud helps students to learn, think, and reflect
upon the reading process. Moreover, the think aloud protocol analysis
would also help them to reveal their reading difficulities.