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THE CORRELATION AMONG SELF-CONCEPT, READING ATTITUDE AND

READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT THE SIXTH SEMESTER OF


ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM STUDENTS OF PGRI UNIVERSITY
PALEMBANG

Ferri Hidayad
2012 601 2052
English Language Education Program of Graduate School
University of PGRI Palembang
Abstract
This study was aimed at finding out (1) whether or not there was a
correlation between students self-concept and reading attitude? (2) whether
or not there was a correlation between students reading attitude and reading
comprehension achievement? (3) whether or not there was contribution of
students self-concept to reading attitude and reading comprehension
achievement?
The population of this study was the Sixth Semester Of English Study
Program 193 students. From population, 60 students were represented as the
samples. The samples were taken using Stratified Random Sampling.
The data distribution were considered normal. It was proved by statistic
calculation of normality test which shows that p-output (0.034, 0,200, and
0,040). then based on the calculation of Levene Statistic, it was found that pvalue is higher than (0.05). Based on the result of statistic calculation
using correlation. It was found the significant value (r) between students
self-concept and reading attitude was 0.122 which more than (0.05). It
means that H1 was received. While the significant value (r) between
students reading attitude and reading comprehension 0.290 which also more
than (0.05). It means that H2 was accepted. It was also found contribution
of self-concept to reading attitude (r2) was 15 %, while contribution of
reading attitude to reading comprehension achievement was 84 %. It means
H3 was received and H0 was rejected .
Keyword: Self-concept, Reading Attitude and Reading Comprehension Achievement

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, reading becomes the most important skill, because by reading people can
understand the information they read on the printed text, such as magazines, journals, daily
news and non printed text, or internet. Widdowson (1983:63) in his book Teaching Laguage
as Communication says that the ability to read and the ability to write were the same and it
was neutral with regard to production or reception. It means that the ability to read and the
ability to write were the same. In reading, the students need to use their skill to produce voice
action, tones, rhythms, which the new language uses to express meaning, while in writing the
students were trained to express their interest, feelings, ideas, needs and knowledge from
what they read in the form of written text.
Furthermore, Check (2009: 113) reading is a complex phenomenon, consisting of both
cognitive and linguistic processes which develop with in a broad socio-economic and cultural
context. Reading ability is not only about the ability to decode the written word but also
involves other skills such as comprehension and interpretive skills and these are interactive
and simultaneous. This means that during the reading process readers are not passive but
continuously construct meaning as they read.
However, numerous studies have examined the influence of affective factors on
students reading achievement such as motivation (Baker & Wigfield 1999:20, Wigfielf &
Guthrie, 1997:57), attitudes (McKenna, Kear & Ellsworth, 1995:12), expectancies,
attributions and learned helplessness (Butkowsky & Willows, 1980:45), and self-efficacy
(Shell et al., 1995;67). Typically, positive attitudes and high self-perception towards reading
are linked to higher attainment in reading. In contrast, negatives attitude and low selfperception towards reading are linked to lower attainment in reading.
Therefore, an important issue appears in which how the students find themselves
motivated to read and how they reflect themselves towards reading. This issue was known as
self-direction or more popular with the term of self-concept. Self-concept has been
recognized as both an important educational outcome and an important factor that contributes
to other desired outcomes (Marsh & Yeung, 1997:22). In addition, Mclnerney et al. (1999:23)
found that there was a hierarchical relations or higher order English self-concept that
represent self-concept in listening, speaking, reading and writing ability.
The link between reading comprehension achievement and self-concept was
important since readers self-concept clearly influences their subsequent reading behavior,
habit and attitude (Henk & melnick, 1995:23 cited in Rider & Colmar, 2004:34). Students
who experience difficulty in reading especially in English and feeling bad about themselves

as readers are less likely to want to read, and are more likely to avoid reading related
activities. Chapman & Tunmer (1997:20) suggest once students have entered the swamp
of negative expectations, lowered motivation, and limited practice, it becomes increasingly
difficult for them to get back on the road to proficient reading. On the other hand, Marsh
(2002:66) cited in Rider & Colmar (2004:45) note that self-concept and academic
achievement are reciprocally related and mutually reinforcing. We may say that self-concept
in one way or another gives a positive contribution to someone to achieve better in any cases
including reading achievement (Cotton, 2001; Diem, 1998; and Pack, 1998:11). In other
words, self concept has functioned as a trigger to success in life especially in a global era
where people with strong self-concept and people who are able to represent their knowledge
and capability can survive. Due to the consideration above, it can be concluded that the
students self-concept positively related to reading achievement.
Moreover, according to Kubisyn, Tom an Borich (1993:171), attitude was description
of people typically feel about or reach to other people, places, things, or ideas and how are
attitudes are classified positive if they lead increased contact with the stimulus or negative if
they decrease the contact with th stimulus.
It means that students refer to attitude as appropriate or in appropriate or as good or
bad. Students need to decide what kinds of indicators or behaviors in order they can do this
by considering what individuals with differing attitudes do or say in the presence of some
stimulus. Therefore, in this study, the writer was interested in involving students self-concept
and the students reading attitude that can influence students reading comprehension
achievement because through reading the students are able to develop other skills.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1) Is there any correlation between students self-concept and reading comprehension
achievement?
2) Is there any correlation between students reading attitude and reading comprehension
achievement?
3) Is there any contribution of students self-concept, and students reading attitude to
reading comprehension achievement?

LITERATURE REVIEW
1) The Importance of Students Self-concept
Self-concept was now enjoying renewed popularity and attention by both researchers
and practitioners since now people live in more and more complicated world that needs
certain characteristics of personality in facing the life. There was growing awareness that all
the perceptions we experience in the course of living, none has more profound significance
than the perceptions we hold regarding our own personal existence, our concept of who we
are and how we fit into world.
Self-concept may be defined as the totality of a complex, organized, and dynamic
system of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinion that each person holds to be true about his or
her personal existence (Purkey, 1998:11). Self-concept was a powerful factor in developing
the temperament of all students. It was the emotional sum of the positive and negative
feelings that we attach to our life experience (DeMoulin, 1998:25).
2) Reading Attitude
Following were some concepts defined by some choose researchers about reading
attitude. Reading attitude was a complex theoretical construct. It was defined in various ways,
for example, "a system of feelings related to reading which causes the learner to approach or
avoid a reading situation" (Alexander and Filler, 1976: 1) or "a state of mind, accompanied
by feelings and emotions that make reading more or less probable" (Smith, 1990: 215).
According to an extensive and in-depth review of literature by Reeves (2002), there is
considerable agreement among contemporary researchers that reading attitude is defined by
three components: cognitive (personal, evaluative beliefs), affective (feelings and emotions),
and cognitive (action readiness and behavioral intentions).
Furthermore, Sherwood (2010: 29) reading attitudes seem to be as much linked to the
amount of reading an individual does, as they are to ones success in reading activities and
assessment (Elley, 1991: 90). Access to reading resources, it seems, acts as an external
motivator, as Mathewsons (2004) model depicts. The more a person reads the more gains the
person makes in the development and entrenchment of a positive attitude to reading (Guthrie
& Greaney, 1991).

3) The Importance of Measuring Reading Attitude


Attitude as the description of how people feel was an important factor to build, in this
case positive attitude, whether it is to people, things or ideas. When looking at attitudes, they
are usually referred to as positive or negative, since these terms do not necessarily imply
value judgments about the attitude itself, as good/bad or appropriate/inappropriate might
(Kubiszyn & Borich, 1996).
Attitudes were measured for various reasons. These reasons can help most classroom
teachers:
1. Identify early in the school year those students who are turned on or off to school,
certain subjects, or certain teachers;
2. Assess general changes that may take place in attitudes over time; and
3. Determine the effects on student attitudes of specific aspects of the school or
classroom experience.
4) The Relationship between Reading Attitude and Students Reading Comprehension
The affective side of learners was probably one of the very biggest influences on
language learning success or failure (Oxford, 1990:140) she also adds that the term affective
refers to emotion, attitudes, motivation, and values. That statement get stronger and stronger
when Wixon and Lipson cited in Kear (1990) state that one of factors affecting reading
performance is students attitude him/herself toward reading. Then, on the other hand,
Richek, Litst & Lerner (1989) reveal that reading attitude strongly determines the base of
successful instruction.
5) Self-concept
The term self-concept was a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about
or perceives themselves. The self concept was how we think about and evaluate ourselves. To
be aware of oneself was to have a concept of oneself. Baumeister (1999) provides the
following self concept definition: "the individual's belief about himself or herself, including
the person's attributes and who and what the self is". Furthermore, self-concept, strictly
defined, was the totality of our beliefs, preferences, opinions and attitudes organized in a
systematic manner, towards our personal existence. Simply put, it was how we think of
ourselves and how we should think, behave and act out our various life roles.

6) The Importance of Students Self-concept


Self-concept was the image that we have of ourselves. This image was formed in a
number of ways, but is particularly influenced by our interactions with important people in
our lives. Therefore, students with positive self-concept have accepted themselves. They are
more capable of accepting others and also perceive themselves to be accepted by others. On
the other hand, students with negative self-concept are uncertain about them and feel rejected,
unwanted and uninvolved. Because of this, they feel out of touch with the reality that a world
is not a fun place to live. This leaves these students feeling insecure and dependent to others.
Fearing failure and incomplete they often have difficulty accepting responsibility. They
demonstrate signs of apathy and anxiousness, often being prone to academic failure.
7) Reading Comprehension
Reading was one of necessary language skills that any learners need. Most learners
think that reading was an extremely task that requires integrated body of skills since it
concerns not only assigning the English sounds to written words but also the understanding
what is written.
8) The Importance of Reading
Cheek, (1989:33) says that reading was a basic tool of learning, preparing students for
life outside of school especially when they live in a global era in which information comes to
them in many ways. Reading is more important today than it ever was it is crucial to being
an informed citizen, to succeed in ones chosen career, and to personal fulfillment. According
to Sherwood (2006) states that reading is critical if you want to succeed in a professional
career. Thats has been true for a long time, but now, in todays information technology
world, its difficult to even get by if you arent a pretty good reader.
9) Related Previous Studies
There are two related previous studies dealing with the writers present study. The
first was Vetos graduate thesis that was entitled The Correlation among the Fourth Semester
Students Reading Attitude, Reading Comprehension Achievement and Writing Achievement
at English Education Study Program in PGRI University of Palembang. She concluded that
there was significant value between students reading attitude and students reading
comprehension achievement based on the result of statistic calculation using correlation.

Meanwhile, Endang (2005), in her graduate thesis entitled The Correlation among
the Sixth Semester Students Reading Attitude, Reading Strategies, Students Self-Concept,
and Reading Comprehension Achievement at English Education Study Program of Sriwijaya
University. She interpreted that there was significant correlation between reading students
self-concept and students reading comprehension achievement.
This study deals with the self-concept and reading comprehension achievement,
however this study is discussed in different analysis item both of the previous study above.
METHODOLOGY
In doing this research, descriptive method especially correlation study have used.
According to Gall, et al (2003:320) correlation research refers to studies in which the purpose
is to discover relationship between variables through the use of correlation statistics.
The writer used correlation research because the writer wanted to find out the
students self-concept, reading attitude and reading comprehension achievement and also
among reading attitude, reading comprehension achievement.
As the following diagram,

X1

r1

Y
r2

X2
Where
X1

: students self-concept

X2

: students reading attitude

: reading comprehension achievement

In addition, Henriwtch (2010:12) states that the goal of correlation research is to find
out whether one or more variables can predict other variables. Correlation research allows us
to find out what variables may be related. However, the fact that two things are related or
correlated does not mean there is a causal relationship. It is important to make a distinction
between correlation and causation. Two things can be correlated without there being a causal
relationship.

Population and Sample


1. Population
Polit and Hungler (1999:43) define a population as the totality of all subjects that
conform to a set of specifications, comprising the entire group of persons that is of interest to
the researcher and to whom the research results can be generalized.
The population of this study was the students of English Study Program semester VI
in the academic year 2013/2014 from PGRI University. The total number of the students in
the population is 193.
2. Sample
LoBiondo-Wood and Haber (1998:250) describe a sample as a portion or a subset of
the research population selected to participate in a study, representing the research population
In order to get the sample of the study, the writer use simple random sampling. Since
the total number of population 193 students, the writer will took only 15% out of the
population as the real sample. Nasution (in Rekawati:2011) states that the research may take
10% populations randomly as the sample of research. The sample as follows:
TABLE 1
Sample of the Study
Class
A
B
C
D
E
F

Sample
10
10
10
10
10
10

Total
10
10
10
10
10
10
60

Source: English Education Study Program of PGRI University of Palembang in Academic Year of 2013/2014

So, the sample of the study is 60 of 193, it is around 31 percent of all population.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


1) Students Self-Concept (X) and Reading Attitude (Y1)

The calculation of self-concept (X) and reading attitude (Y1) states the average score
of students self-concept was 77.75 and the standard deviation was 5.943. while the minimum
score was 67.20 and the maximum score was 89.60. Based on that analysis, it could be said
that the sixth semester of English Program at PGRI University of Palembang have a positive
self-concept showed 77.75.
Furthermore, average score of students reading attitude was 67.20 and the standard
deviation was 5.273. While the minimum score was 67.20 and the maximum score was
89.60. Based on that analysis, it could be said that the sixth semester of English Program at
PGRI University of Palembang have good reading attitude because the average score of
reading attitude showed 67.20 Because the average score or reading attitude showed 77.78.
Independent variable (self-cocept) gave 15 % contributions to independent variable (reading
attitude), while the rest ( 100 % - 15 % = 85 %) could be verified by other factors, such as
aptitude, motivation, interest, and culture.
From the explanation above, it could be concluded that students self-concept had
contribution to their reading attitude. It meant students self-concept and reading attitude had
close relationship. In other words, the greater students self-concept level the higher their
reading attitude level would be.
2) Students Self-Consept (X) and Reading Comprehension Achievement (Y2)
The data of average score of students Reading Comprehension achievement was
80.35 and the standard deviation was 5.98. While the minimum score was 70 and the
maximum score was 90. Based on that analysis, it could be said that the sixth semester of
English Program at PGRI University of Palembang have good reading attitude because the
average score of reading attitude showed 77.78 Because the average score or reading attitude
showed 77.78. Independent variable (reading attitude) gave 84 % contributions to
independent variable (reading comprehension achievement), while the rest (100 % - 84 % =
16 %) could be verified by other factors, such as aptitude, motivation, interest, and culture.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

Based on the results, it was concluded that first, the students self-concept was
concreted positively with the reading attitude. In other words, the better the students selfconcept, the greater their reading attitude would be.
Second, the students self-concept was concreted positively with reading
comprehension achievement. In other words, the better the students reading attitude, the
greater their reading comprehension achievement would be.
Third, the students self-concept gave some contributions to the students process the
more enthusiastic they become the better their reading attitude. In other words, the higher the
students self-concept, the better their reading attitude would be; and the students selfconcept gave some contributions to the students reading comprehension achievement. In
other words, the higher the students reading attitude, the better their reading attitude
achievement would be.
On the average and findings, it was found there was a significance correlation
between students self-concept (independent variable) and reading attitude (dependent
variable); and there was contribution of students self-concept to reading attitude. It was
known that independent variable (X) had great influence to dependent variable (Y1). It can be
seen from the result of correlation between variable X and Y. According to some respondent,
they made reading as their favorite activity when they were at home. They had a lot of books
in their room at home and they spent their free time by reading books. The students got much
information that was really useful in their life. They also like to improve their vocabulary so
they can use more words. They like to broaden their interest through reading.
Besides it was found a significance correlation between students self-concept
(independent variable) and reading attitude (dependent variable) but it was low; and there
was contribution of students self-concept to reading comprehension achievement. It was
known that independent variable (X) had lower influence to dependent variable (Y1). Some
students said that they liked to write and enjoyed it. It could be started from reading their
daily activity. They could improve their reading comprehension achievement because reading
constitutes their daily routine, good grammar, vocabulary, mechanics could influence their
reading. By starting that all, they are hoped to be able to read well.
2) Suggestion
Teaching reading comprehension, in English as a foreign language demands the
expenditure of energy, it requires so much mental, physical activity partly because of the
complexity of learning reading, the teacher has to see self-concept and reading because selft-

concept and reading instruction typically focus on specific skill such as sounding words,
grammar and building vocabulary.
However, the development of positive reading attitude was often overlooked. So, the
lecturer should apply the creative techniques how to motivate students positive self-concept
to reading attitude and reading comprehension achievements.
By giving them interesting reading texts to read such as reading for pleasure of
providing a variety of high interest reading materials of various grade levels in the class.
From those materials, the lectures could ask their students to retell the stories from reading
text materials through writing or making conclusion about that story. This can be
accomplished by obtained magazines, newspapers, books, dictionaries, diaries, and other
references materials that contain that matches students interest.
The lecturer should also create enjoyable self-concept and reading attitude class in
order to make students participate in teaching and learning better. Besides that, to improve
students reading comprehension achievement the lecturer can give them assignment. For
example, every week students should write a short composition that has been selected them
by him. To check students reading comprehension achievement, the lecturer can ask them to
retell what they had written in front of the class. By such activities, the lecturers hope the
students can improve reading comprehension achievement.

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