Investigating Readability of Texts from the Perspective of Discourse Analysis

  • Mochamad Rizqi Adhi Pratama Universitas Ngudi Waluyo
  • Akbar Syahbana Universitas Negeri Semarang
https://doi.org/10.19105/ojbs.v12i2.1894
Abstract views: 292 , PDF downloads: 190
Keywords: Texts Readabilities, Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Investigating readability of texts for use in teaching reading becomes crucial as teachers should adjust the readability of the texts to suit the level of students’ reading skill. If the students learn the inappropriate level of readability of reading texts, it might decrease the success of teaching reading or even the learning of reading might be absent. This paper is aimed at investigating how to analyze readability of the texts in the perspective of discourse analysis; thus, English teachers can choose and apply the appropriate texts as the teaching materials for their students. The objects of this study are three different texts about butterflies taken from three different sources. The study employed descriptive qualitative with concerning the all aspects of the texts which contribute to the readabilities of the texts using Gerot and Wignell (1995) and Eggins’ (2004) theories. Based on the result, there are three central elements of the texts which substantially contribute to the texts’ readabilities such as technical terms, noun phrases, and finiteness. Finally, it is suggested that the teachers analyze the three elements of texts as the consideration in adjusting the texts’ level of readabilities with the students’ level of reading skills.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

“Butterfly.” Wikipedia, August 27, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Butterfly&oldid=862212825.

Eggins, Suzanne. Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. 2nd ed. London: Continuum, 2004.

“English Genres: The Two Butterflies.” English Genres (blog), August 27, 2018. http://enes-ainenglish.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-butterflies.html.

Gerot, Linda, and Peter Wignell. Making Sense of Functional Grammar. Cammeray: Antipodean Educational Enterprises, 1995.

Habibullah, Mosleh. “Techniques in Teaching Reading Comprehension.” OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra 6, no. 2 (2012): 8. http://dx.doi.org/10.19105/ojbs.v6i2.431.

Hamidah, Nuriyatul. “Story Grammar Strategy: An Approach to Teach Reading Narrative Text.” OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra 10, no. 1 (2016): 44–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.19105/ojbs.v10i1.810.

Hinkel, Eli. Teaching English Grammar to Speakers of Other Languages. New York: Routledge, 2016.

“Monarch Butterfly Population Revives after Years of Low Numbers.” Popular Science. Accessed August 27, 2018. https://www.popsci.com/monarch-butterfly-population-revives-after-years-low-numbers.

Owen, Amanda J., and Laurence B. Leonard. “The Production of Finite and Non-Finite Complement Clauses by Children with Specific Language Impairment and Their Typically Developing Peers.” Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 49, no. 3 (2006): 548–71. https://doi.org/10.1044/10902-4388(2006/040).

Shanahan, Timothy, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey. “The Challenge of Challenging Text.” Reading: The Core Skill 69, no. 2 (March 2012): 58–62.

Sugiyono. Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif, Kualitatif Dan R & D. Bandung: Alfabeta, 2013.

Thornbury, Scott. How to Teach Speaking. London: Pearson Educational Limited, 2005.

Published
2018-11-30
How to Cite
Pratama, M. R. A., & Syahbana, A. (2018). Investigating Readability of Texts from the Perspective of Discourse Analysis. OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra, 12(2), 167-178. https://doi.org/10.19105/ojbs.v12i2.1894
Issue
Vol. 12 No. 2 (2018): OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra
Section
Articles

The journal operates an Open Access policy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.