The Influence of Information Communication and Technology (ICT)

in Learning Reading Comprehension

Erlidawati

Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Lhokseumawe

Jl. Medan-B.Aceh KM. 275 No.1 Alue Awe-Buket Rata, Kec. Muara Dua, Kota Lhokseumawe, Aceh, Indonesia

Keywords: Influence, ICT, Learning, and Reading Comprehension.

Abstract: This study was conducted aimed to know the influence of Information Communication and Technology in

learning reading comprehension to the sixth semester of English department at IAIN Lhokseumawe, Aceh,

Indonesia. The subjects of the research were students in the sixth semester. The researcher only took six

students in different abilities from a high level, middle level, and low level. The instrument used by the

researcher was an interview. The result showed that the students still had difficulty in understanding the texts

because of having a lack of vocabulary, long texts, and limited time to analyze the text in answering the

question. The students studied reading comprehension through Information Communication and technology,

and they learned reading comprehension tests from TOEFL. It is one of the systems used to obtain

information in developing knowledge and science. Furthermore, the finding of this study was: ICT is able to

increase the students‟ ability in analyzing varieties of texts; they could enrich their vocabulary and their

knowledge. The implication of ICT can motivate students to understand the text. They can search many

texts about the test of reading comprehension that one of the skills in TOEFL tests.

1 INTRODUCTION

Reading comprehension is one of the essential skills

in learning English. Through reading

comprehension, the students find out the information

about what they read and using their experiences and

knowledge to comprehend the text. As stated by

Armbruster (2003:41), comprehension is the reason

for reading. If readers can read the words but do not

understand what they are reading, they are not

reading. It means that the students must be able to

recollect, assimilate, and reproduce whatever they

have read. So, the role of the teacher in improving

this skill is significant. The teachers have to choose

a good strategy that relevant to the

student

’

ability

in the success of the teaching and learning process.

Reading comprehension is a partial activity of the

English subject in university to help students to

understand the text. It has to be mastered by the

students in studying English as a foreign language.

Because reading is the first important factor that can

support the process of mastering the other skills and

improving knowledge despite the importance, the fact

shows that not every individual learns it well.

Reading is one of the subjects at the English study

program, and it has to been learned by students from

the third semester to the sixth semester. It consists of

reading one to reading four. In this case, the lecturer

teaches reading comprehension in different ways.

Because

the

material taught by lecturers for each

reading is not the same materials, the lecturers have

to know the

strategy,

method, technique, or approach

in the teaching-learning process. It can improve the

students

’

ability, and they can gain new information

from the passages.

In teaching-learning process needs the right way

how to teach fun and give a good motivation for

students. Information Communication and

Technology (ICT) is one strategy that can use in the

teaching-learning process because it can be

developed in the human being life and educational

development.

Information Communication and Technology

(ICT) had taken a significant role in the world, and it

used not only in the university but also in

Erlidawati, .

The Inﬂuence of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in Learning Reading Comprehension.

DOI: 10.5220/0009984800900096

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on English Language Teaching, Linguistics and Literature (ELITE 2019) - Promoting Global Diversity, Partnership and Prosperity through

English Development, pages 90-96

ISBN: 978-989-758-459-6

kindergarten. The use of Information Communication

and Technology (ICT) has the most positive effect on

teaching and learning languages. Especially in

learning English, listening, writing, reading, and

speaking.

Reading is one of the English skills that the

students learn in the university. They have to study

many kinds of text differently, and they should not

just receive the material from their lecturer. They

should sharpen their comprehensive knowledge

about reading in various ways, like searching from

the internet about some texts and some tests about

reading. So, they can improve their comprehension by

themselves.

ICT is a combination of both Technology and

individual learning. The school system believes that

some countries' policymakers have been convinced to

integrate internet and information technology into

their educational systems in order to produce

workforces that are educated, skilled in new

technologies, and able to face global challenges.

The extensive sources and chances that

computers and the Internet offer language learners

have brought about new tools, methods, and

strategies in language instruction. It means that when

a student has and needs a reference about the material

that they want to learn, ICT will give the solution.

Especially for reading skills, they can search many

passages or texts to develop their knowledge in

reading comprehension; for example, how to analyze

TOEFL tests.

By using Information Communication and

Technology (ICT) strategy, it wished the students

and teachers feel happy in the teaching-learning

process, and they can increase their achievement

because in this strategy, students will get success in

learning both individual and group.

1.1 Research Problem

How is the influence of Information Communication

and Technology (ICT) in learning reading

comprehension?

1.2 Research Objective

Concerning the problem of the research, the

objective of this study is to know the influence of

Information Communication and Technology in

learning reading comprehension.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 The Definition of Reading

Comprehension

To define the reading comprehension, first, it will be

separated between reading and comprehension. It is

known that reading is a verb; it is acting to do

something. Reading is central to learning in school, in

the workplace, and i n everyday life. Moreover,

Alderson (2000:28) defines reading as “…an

enjoyable, intense, private activity, from which

much pleasure can be derived, and in which one can

become totally absorbed. Reading is a

multidimensional cognitive process of decoding

symbols to derive meaning or construct meaning.

Reading is a thinking process that requires some

response on the part of the reader. If the people

utilize the reading they do, they can make a different

generalization, draw the new inference, and plan new

next steps based on it. Reading can provide excellent

experiences.

Besides, the definition of reading as an

interactive process refers to the interaction of many

component skills potentially in simultaneous

operation, the interaction of these cognitive skills.

Finally, Mikulecky (1996: 1) says that Reading is

thinking not just understanding the words of the

grammar, it is not just translated and it is an excellent

way to find out about ideas, facts, and experience.

While to Comprehension, Comprehension is

what reading is all about. Decoding without

comprehension is simply word barking being able to

articulate the word correctly without understanding

its meaning. Duke and Pearson (2001: 423) describe

practical comprehension not only make sense of the

text they are reading, they can also use the

information it contains. Kucer and Rosenblat (2001:

30) give meaning comprehension as it occurs in the

transaction between the reader and the text.

A reader must not only see and identify the

symbols in front of him/her, but also he/she must be

able to interpret and understand what he/she reads.

Based on some definitions given by some experts

above, it can be concluded that Reading

comprehension is a process that has been understood

and explained to find out about the idea, fact, and

experience.

The Inﬂuence of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in Learning Reading Comprehension

2.2 Reading Comprehension Skills

Murcia (1969: 200-203) stated that there are many

different kinds of reading, each requiring different

approaches, techniques, and levels of concept in

reading text. Some of the different types of reading

people may use are listed as follows:

2.2.1 Skimming

Skimming is a quick reading to find the general idea

of a passage. For example, readers can read the

newspaper headline and the first paragraph or two to

determine what it is about and whether or not they

want to read the article.

2.2.2 Scanning

Scanning is a very high-speed reading. When you

do scanning, you have a question in mind. You do

not read every word, only the words that answer your

question. Practice in scanning will help you learn to

skip over unnecessary words so that you can read

faster. Scanning is quick reading to locate specific

information, For example, we scan telephone books,

catalogs, dictionaries, event calendars, book indexes,

menus, basically any source in which we need to

locate specific information.

2.2.3 Extensive Reading

Extensive reading is a text which given us a longer

text. The reader is expected to read quickly and they

must be able to take global information or what they

read.

2.2.4 Intensive Reading

Intensive reading is a shorter text to extract specific

information and to accuracy activity involving

reading for detail. In intensive reading, it is hoped

that the students in developing intensive reading

skills can extract the specific information of the

reading text. From the explanation above, it can be

concluded that reading comprehension has many

ways of reading. So, the readers can read a text with

one of the techniques or approaches above in getting

some information from the text.

2.2 Definition of Information

Communication and Technology

(ICT)

Heinich (1996: 4) says Information Technology

consists of two words Information and Technology. If

you know the two words, you can understand the

word information technology together. Heid (2000:

22) says the term Information refers to any

communication or representation of knowledge such

as facts, data or opinions in any medium or form,

including textual, numerical, graphic Cartographic,

narrative or audiovisual forms. Technology is the

practical form of scientific knowledge or the science

of the application of knowledge to practice.

Information Technology is any equipment or

interconnected system or subsystem of equipment

that is used in the acquisition, storage

manipulation, management transmission or

reception of data or information. Information

Technology is a scientific, technological, and

engineering discipline and management technique

used in handing the information,

application, and

association with social, economic, and cultural

matters.

Darnton said that Information technology is a

systemic study of artifacts that can be used to give

form to facts in order to provide meaning for decision

making and artifacts that can be used for

organization, processing, communication, and

application of information.

From the above discussion, we can conclude that

information and technology refer to the information

processing of the software application on operating

systems or hardware applications that include

computers, videos, telephones and related equipment

of telecommunications, tapes, CDs, etc.

Information Communication and Technology is a

term widely used to describe a range of initiatives

where young people from a similar age group,

background, culture, and social status educate and

inform each other about a wide variety of issues.

Reading can be defined as the ability of the reader

to transfer meaning. Khyade (2018:43) stated that

academic researchers have used the phrase

Information Communication and Technology

method since 1980s, and the term ICT became

popular after it was used in a report to the UK

government by Dennis Stevenson in 1997 and in the

revised National Curriculum for England, Wales and

Northern Ireland in 2000. But in 2012, the Royal

Society recommended that the term ICT should no

longer be used in British schools "as it has attracted

too many negative connotations", and with effect

from 2014, the National Curriculum was changed to

use the word computing reflecting the addition of

computer programming to the curriculum.

Information Communication and Technology is a

method that emphasizes the students' involvement

process to find out the material and relate it with the

real condition, so they can apply what they got in

ELITE 2019 - English Linguistics, Literature, and Education Conference

their life. In ICT, the students are motivated to learn

the material suitable for the topic. In learning ICT

method, Wina (2008:255) stated that the students are

not only listening and writing but also they get

experiences from their activities. In this concept, it

hoped that there is the development not only in their

cognitive but also in their affective and psychomotor.

The purpose of this review is to describe

important factors which have contributed to the

recent interest in this form of introduction, survey

different types of Information Communication and

Technology method, and finally indicate some of

issues and problems that this educational, strategy

presents.

Information Communication and Technology has

not evolved in a vacuum, but it the result of a number

of concurrent developments. It is essential to

understand this wider context if one wants to judge

its value and applicability in a given educational

situation.

According to the explanation above, the

researcher concludes that ICT Method is a method

of learning with friends in a group or through ICT

can learn by self. This method is so enjoyable in the

study because the students study with their friends

and themselves in getting new information.

2.2.1 Use of Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) in

Developing Instructional Material

Amir (2010: 3) said that Information and

Communication Technology has the most positive

effect on teaching and learning languages where it

is targeted at specific areas, with a clear rationale

for its use from a broad research base about ICT,

about pedagogy and about professional

development.

Nowadays, there is a shortage of qualified and

compete teachers in all most all subjects at all levels.

Not only this, even the instructional material

available in the print form is not of quality. This is

because many authors have written on those topics

that they have never read and/or done the research.

Sometimes the information given in the books is

also wrong. The book of reading subject is not very

enjoyable and does not help students in

understanding the concepts and retaining the

information. Many teachers are well known for their

specific subject. Their lectures should be digitalized

and made available to all the users. It will enhance

the quality of instruction in the classrooms.

Sansanwal (2009: 12) stated that the teacher can

use them in the classrooms and can organize

discussion after it wherein the new points can be

added both by the teacher as well as students.

Based on the explanation above it meant that ICT

should be used in the teaching-learning process.

Because it can access any lecture students like, and

they can increase the role of computers in language

education.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This is a qualitative study which meant that in this

study, all the data are collected in the form of the

word rather than a number and described in narrative

text. In this case, Sugiono (2010: 280) said:

“frequent from display data for qualitative research

data in the past have been narrative”. Furthermore,

according to Bogdan (1982:30) “qualitative research

is descriptive, the data collected are in the form of

words or picture rather than the number.”

This research describes the role of information

communication and technology (ICT) in studying

reading comprehension at English Department IAIN

Lhokseumawe. In collecting the data, the researcher

uses as the instrument is an interview. It is used for

some crucial events that occur naturally in the

classroom.

3.1 The Subject and Setting of the

Research

The study was conducted at IAIN Lhokseumawe. It

is one of the stated colleges in Lhokseumawe. The

college is located in Alue Awe Medan-Banda Aceh

Street. In addition, the students in the sixth

semester of the English department are 75 people.

In this research, the source of data is a teacher that

taught in the sixth semester and six students that had

excellent achievement in each class because the

researcher thought they could give information about

the research.

3.2 Result and Finding

Based on the interview result with six students, the

researcher found the factor of learning reading

comprehension from some interview questions. They

got a problem when they want to answer the

questions because of the material given by the

lecturer for reading comprehension-IV was TOEFL

material. It was a new material for the students and

they have to read in long texts. This text used or

written in a high vocabulary and strange for them, it

made the students must know some new vocabulary

The Inﬂuence of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in Learning Reading Comprehension

to comprehend and understand the text. So, they

could not comprehend the containing texts and they

got trouble in answering the test based on the text.

But they had to answer although they still confused

about their answer.

From the TOEFL for reading comprehension

test, the students studied how to find; heading,

definition, and synonym or antonym vocabulary and

inference. The students also got some problems to

prescribe them. Because of lack of vocabulary was

a big obstacle in analyzing some texts in various

texts. In comprehending and answering the TOEFL

test needs focus and serious in learning, if the

students want to get a good result. However, many

students still thought TOEFL is not essential for

them to, because it is only for someone who wants

to go aboard. In learning reading comprehension-IV,

the lecturer gave to the students hand out about

TOEFL in reading comprehension skill. She asked

students to answer the question based on the texts.

After they finished to answer the test, the lecturer

discussed questions one by one with the students.

They have to answer based on their choice. After that,

the lecturer discussed with her students, which one is

the best answer for each question.

In the teaching-learning process reading

comprehension-IV, at first meeting, the lecturer did

not use media. She only used a hand out in

transferring the material. For the next meeting, she

used the laptop to explain the reading comprehension

material. She said that a laptop or computer one of

the information communication and technology to

improve someone's knowledge like; reading

comprehension TOEFL test, listening, structure, and

writing test. In this case, the students can search the

TOEFL test from the internet through information

communication and technology to learn by

themselves. Learning a TOEFL test have three skills;

listening, structure, reading comprehension. So,

reading comprehension one of the skills in the

TOEFL test that can be learned by students through

ICT. It can increase their ability exactly in learning

reading comprehension. From this application, the

students can answer the question, and they get the

score directly. It is one of the techniques on how to

practice their knowledge in English subject.

3.3 Discussion

In learning Reading Comprehension IV, many

theories become like the way in the process of

learning and some difficulties faced by students. The

researcher thought there are several ways in the

teaching-learning process. In learning reading

comprehension IV, many factors affect the ability to

read (reading comprehension). Farida Rahim said

several factors affect the ability of reading

comprehension that are physiological factors,

intellectual, psychological environment.

Physiological factors consist of physical health,

neurological, gender, and fatigue. Irritation speech,

hearing aids, and visual tools also can slow a

child’s

learning process. Then, intelligence is the ability of

individuals that can give rational thinking, and it can

say a child has an excellent intelligence or not. At

last, environmental factors are the background and

socioeconomic factors. The background meant the

children could do anything based on what they get

from their parents, family, and the place in their

life. This condition can influence of their learning

and attitude. Economic status is one of the enormous

impacts on

children’s

attitude in the learning process.

The psychological Factors have two factors;

external factor and internal factor. Internal factors,

the students’ background of knowledge, can

influence their ability to comprehend English text. It

related to their intelligence in studying the course.

Then, students’ talented is one of the factors that can

motivate them to increase their knowledge. Last,

enthusiasm is a significant effort to find something in

reaching the aim of our life. It can be proven by study

hard, work hard to get success.

The second external factors, the students’ parents

always give them advice and facilities to support

them in studying; for example, they asked their

children to take the course to increase their children's

knowledge. Then, the school and teacher can

influence the students’ motivation in the learning

process.

From the explanation above, the factors have a

relationship with the other factor. When the teaching-

learning process can run well, it needs one technique

or method in teaching reading comprehension, one

of them used of ICT. Darnton supports that

Information technology is a systemic study of

artifacts that can be used to give form to facts in order

to provide meaning for decision making and artifacts

that can be used for organization, processing,

communication, and application of information.

D.N. Sansanwal said that the method of learning

is a plan that contains the set of activities designed to

achieve learning objectives. This means that every

learning method should definitely have a goal to be

achieved by learners in the learning process in

schools. The objective which can be obtained from

ICT method are:

a. To develop an understanding and application of

the concepts.

ELITE 2019 - English Linguistics, Literature, and Education Conference

b. To develop expression power

c. To develop reasoning and thinking

d. To develop the judgment and decision-making

ability.

e. To improve comprehension, speed and vocabulary

f. To develop self-concept and value clarification.

g. To develop proper study habits

h. To develop tolerance and ambiguity, risk-taking

capacity, scientific temper, etc.

Based on the explanation above the factors in

learning reading comprehension has two factors there

are; the internal factor is the factor from themselves,

like intelligence, enthusiasm, and motivation. The

external factor is the factor from out of themselves

like their parent, school, curriculum and teacher.

After the researcher conducted the research, the

researcher found some findings based on the

observation, interview results. Therefore, the

students should study hard, build their vocabulary

and read more text to sharpen their knowledge. It is

one of the ways to support their talent through

Information Communication, and Technology (ICT).

4 CONCLUSION

Based on the observation and interviewed with some

students about learning of Reading Comprehension-

IV, the researcher found some findings in the learning

process.

1. Information Communication and Technology

has the most positive effect in t h e learning-

teaching process.

2. Because Information Communication and

Technology can motivate the students in

learning s pecific subject such as; learning

reading comprehension by themselves from

various texts. Therefore, they got many things

from the text that they studied in reading

comprehension-IV.

3. The students should study reading

comprehension not only the material from their

lecturer but also the material from the other

source e.g., the internet or media. It can increase

and add their vocabulary in understanding the

text. So, they did not get some obstacles in

comprehending long texts.

4. TOEFL test for reading comprehension is one of

the strategies for students to improve their

knowledge and they can search it from the

internet. Then, the students can find and study

about; heading, synonym and antonym

vocabulary. However, the students got some

obstacles in analyzing the tests. Because they

never practiced or searched the material from

other media as; computer, books. So, they were

confused about finding the heading from the text

when they had to choose the right answer.

5. Part of students still did not focus and serious in

learning or read the text. Then, the students

should try to learn by themselves about the

reading comprehension in various texts. For

the English department, students must able to

comprehending the TOEFL test in this study is

reading comprehension skill. They can learn or

search for many kinds of reading texts through

the internet, and they can practice their

knowledge by themselves through the computer.

It can motivate them in learning. However, it

was a problem for students that have low their

ability, because of some factors there were;

external factors and internal factors.

6. Parts of students thought that study about

TOEFL is not necessary because of it only for

someone who wants to go abroad.

Learning reading comprehension through media or

computer is one of the media can apply in the

teaching-learning process. This media was

appropriate in learning reading comprehension

because it could increase students

‟

comprehension

and knowledge about the text had read by students.

In this case, the researcher wants to suggest to the

lecturer can use too many media in the teaching-

learning process that it can support the students

‟

learning, motivation, and interest in studying hard.

For English, students have to read many kinds of text

like as; short text or long text. The English

department have four subjects for reading

comprehension. The students must study in a

different semester. So, the students have to study hard

for comprehending the text. From it can enrich the

students

’

vocabulary and they can improve their

comprehending through using the media after they

have read the passage.

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