IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION BY USING

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTIONS

ABSTRACT

This article presents an analysis of students’ comprehension in reading

English as foreign language. One strategy that could help the students
understand or comprehend an English text is differentiated instruction. It is an
effective strategy in which it could accommodate each students’ diversity in
learning foreign language. It would encourage students through assessing
individual students’ readiness and grouping students for instruction,
especially in reading comprehension. The process of differentiated
instruction is started from pre assessment which is conducted by the teacher to
know the students prior knowledge and students’ interest. After finding the
result in pre-assessment, teachers will make and design teaching and learning
plan related to learning objectives as well as adapted it into the students’ result
in pre-assessment. The next step is process of teaching and learning that
involves students trying to figure things out, asking questions, and making
mistakes. Thus it is about how teacher would manage his/her class. The last
process is the final assessment of content. Each student will get different kind
of assessment based on the process they have done. Differentiated instructions
give the students a chance to comprehend the text which is appropriate with
their level of knowledge. Students feel comfortable in reading activities
therefore they can achieve the learning objectives.

Keywords: reading, reading comprehension, differentiated instructions

INTRODUCTION
Reading is about understanding written text. It is a complex activity that involves both
perception and thought. According to Seyler (in Chersia, Radjab, & Refnald, 2015) reading is a
process of obtaining or constructing meaning from a word or cluster of words. When the reader
reads a text, the reader constructs the meaning of that text from the word or combination of the
words. Chastain (in Shiraz & Larsari, 2014) defines reading as an active cognitive system
operating on printed material for comprehension. In the reading process, the reader's task is to
activate background and linguistic knowledge to recreate the writer's intended meaning.
 Reading consists of two related processes, which are word recognition and
comprehension. Word recognition refers to the process of perceiving how written symbols
correspond in spoken language. Meanwhile, Sahin (2013) comprehension is the process of
making sense of words, sentences and connected text. Reading comprehension is the act of
understanding written text based on complex process which depends on reader’s experience and
knowledge about the language, sentence structure, repetition of reading text, difficulty and length
of the reading. In reading process, reader integrates the new information from the text into their
prior knowledge.
Moreover, Karen and Graham (2007) added reading comprehension involves the readers’
respond to the text. Reading comprehension is a multi component, highly complex process that
involves interaction between readers and what they bring to the text (previous knowledge) as
well as variable related to the text itself both interest in text and the understanding of the text. It
is in line with Zwiers (2010), he writes that the purpose of reading comprehension is to construct
the meaning. While reading, a reader tries to make sense of the information stated in the current
sentence by connecting two other information, that is found in preceding sentence and the reader
own prior knowledge.
On the other hands, Legge, et al. (2008) state reading is a complex cognitive process of
decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or delivering meaning (reading
comprehension). It is a complex interaction between the text and the reader which is shaped by
the reader’s prior knowledge, experiences, attitude and language community which is culturally
and socially situated. The readers use variety of reading strategies to assist with decoding to
translate symbols into sound or visual representation of speech and comprehension. The readers
integrate the words they have read into their existing framework of knowledge or schema.
According to Harmer (2007), reading comprehension is important for students in getting
information in a written form, completing homework, taking tests, read for their career, study
purposes, or pleasure. Moreover, reading can provide good models for writing and it provides
opportunity to study language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, the way students construct
sentences, paragraphs, and text.
It is clear that comprehending the text when reading is very important because reading a text
without constructing the meaning of the text will be nothing. By comprehending the text, the
readers can get the points, messages or information from what the author wrote. Any information
that the readers can absorb from the text should be connected to their experience or prior
knowledge that they have. While the readers are able to connect new information of the text with
their prior knowledge, they will be able to imagine or visualize the content of text.

DISCUSSION
1. Reading barriers
There are three common reasons why reading needs to be learned. Firstly, reading many
texts might help students to master other skills. It will be a good model for listening, speaking or
writing. Secondly, it can increase students’ vocabulary and make them familiar with the
grammar. Lastly, students need to read a lot as many as possible, because by reading something
the students will get information, knowledge and entertainment as it is for pleasure and
enjoyment.
Unfortunately, what happens in a real situation is different. There are some difficulties
faced by students of senior high level in reading. Some previous study shown that the difficulties
faced by the students in reading comprehension. First, they are probably not keen on reading
literature, they have low motivation to read English text, because they have to work hard to
comprehend it. They will spend much time to understand to comprehend the text. Second,
several common problems in the EFL reading classroom such as insufficient vocabulary,
problems with ambiguous words, difficulties of pronunciation, troubles with new words,
problems to guess the meaning. Third, they found that the reading material is too complicate, too
long and unfamiliar for them to understand the text. (Kasim, 1991; Qargez, 2017; Satriani, 2018)
These reading could be solved by using an effective strategy in which it could facilitate
students’ needs in learning reading skill; it is called differentiated instructions. Tomlinson (2000)
stated that differentiated instruction is how to adjust the learning instruction or material to the
students’ needs with aimed to maximize all students’ ability and potential. Pham (2012) added
that teachers need to know about cognitive development and readiness levels before continuing
to learning process because it influences the way of students learning and performance.
Basic principle of differentiated instruction is respecting diversity, seeing students in their
own way, respect them with all weakness and strength they have; therefore teachers would take
in turn to accommodate creative learning which is based on the students’ level and needs.
According to Heacox (2012), differentiated instruction is an approach for teaching and learning
for the students who have different interest, level of knowledge, learning style, and background
knowledge. The purpose is to maximize the comprehension of the students to understand the
topic. Teacher can modify the content, the process and the product. The learning process may not
monotonous, besides teacher should create an active learning that could involve all students on it.
It is opposed to “one size fits all” classrooms management; differentiated instruction
recognizes that there are individual differences in prior knowledge, interests, and
abilities of students in every learning situation. Not each student learns from the same
resource, the same process and same sequence, thus it proves that one size doesn’t fit all.
Differentiated instruction is proven to be effective in students’ reading comprehension.
Aliakbari & Haghighi (2014) found that differentiated instruction was effective in fostering the
elementary and intermediate classroom students’ reading comprehension. Flexible grouping,
tiered instruction, and tiered assignment strategies were adopted to differentiate the content,
process, and product. In addition, Little, Mccoach, & Reis (2014) also found that Differentiated
Instruction gave a positive impact toward students in middle school. The result showed
students who were treated with differentiated instruction resulted higher scores for reading
fluency and comprehension compared with regular classes.

Differentiated instruction also gives positive impact for teachers. As found by Ortega,
Cabrera, & Benalcázar (2018) in their research, differentiated instruction helps teachers to be
responsive to learners’ needs, interests, ability and language proficiency levels, and learning
styles, as it puts students at the center of teaching and learning, promotes equity and academic
excellence, and acknowledges students’ uniqueness.

2. Problem solving
According to Tomlinson (2001), differentiated instruction should be applied based on
what is learned (content), how it is learned (process), how learning is demonstrated (product).
Content is what the students learn. Teacher can use different level of difficulty for the same
activity. For example, if the learning goal is to get the main idea from the story, teacher can give
different stories based on their reading level. Even though, the students get different stories but
they learn the same thing, they learn to get the main idea. Process is how they learn to
achieve the content. Teacher can vary activities, techniques, and teaching strategies and
organize the instruction from easy to difficult levels of understanding. And product is how
they demonstrate knowledge or skills they have learnt. Teacher gives allowance to the
students to do different assignments as the product. The product or assignment will match their
learning strengths which reflect style and abilities.

Process of differentiated instructions

Picture. 1 taken from Dinar W. A. (2016)

Differentiated instructions process

The picture above shows the process of differentiated instructions, those are:
1. Pre-assessment
Differentiated instructions began by pre-assessment. Its functions is to know every student’
readiness, interest and learning profile before the teachers make teaching and learning plan,
design and modify the curriculum used based on the result of that pre-assessment. In
conclusion, it is done to get clear picture and understanding of the students’ needs.
2. Content
After finding the result in pre-assessment, teachers will make and design teaching and
learning plan related to learning objectives as well as adapted it into the students’ result in
pre-assessment. The students with high score in pre assessment will get the high level of the
content, and the students with lower score will get the low level of the content.
3. Process
 It is the real process of teaching and learning that involves students trying to figure things
out, asking questions, and making mistakes. Thus it is about how teacher would manage
his/her class. Accordingly, the teaching and learning objectives are reached with this
strategy and hopefully it could accommodate each student in learning.
4. Product
It is the final assessment of content. Each student will get different kind of assessment based
on the process they have done.

Teaching and learning example of differentiated concept is when teacher teach the
students in reading skill. The teacher should know his/her students’ ability in reading, therefore
he/she will give the reading instruction based on the students’ level in reading. The reading topic
can be linked to the students’ interest for a particular topic. Moreover, differentiated instruction
would not give more learning barrier to students, however it would create fun learning
atmosphere and stimulate students to learn actively and continuously. The implication of this
approach is students will motivate the students to comprehend the text better, because they will
learn something that they need and familiar with them and appropriate with their level of
knowledge.

SUMMARY
Reading can be referred as an interactive process of the reader and the text into
automaticity or reading fluency. The ability of students in preparing the reading lesson will be
much better if the teachers can adjust the preparation based on the students ability. The teachers
have to make sure about everything about the students, such as their interest, level of knowledge,
learning style, and background knowledge before the learning process in the class. By using
differentiated instructions, teacher will give the appropriate material depend on their ability.
Teacher can use different level of difficulty for the same activity. Teacher can vary activities,
techniques, and teaching strategies and organize the instruction from easy to difficult levels of
understanding. This approach will help the students to achieve the same learning objectives.

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