Definition of Learning Strategy

Definition of Learning Strategy

   Learning Strategy consists of two words, learning and strategy. The writer would like to give some of the definitions of learning. According to Bull (2009: 250), learning is gain knowledge or skill in a subject or activity”.

                             “Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or in behavioral potentiality that results from experiences and cannot be attributed to temporary body states such as those induced by illness, fatigue, or drugs”(Gregory A. Kimble, 1997 in Sriyanti 2011: 17).

                             Crow and Crow in Educational Psychology (1984) in Sriyanti
(2011: 16) “learning is an action to create a behavior, knowledge and any kinds of attitude, include the innovation to do something, an effort to solve the obstacle and adaption”.

                          From the definition above, learning has characteristic.
According to Baharuddin and Esa N.W (2007) in Sriyanti (2011: 18),
they are:

a. Learning indicated by the change of attitude

b. The changing is permanent

c. The changing of attitude is potential

d. The learning is a train and experiences.

e. The experiences or train it makes fervent.

                 The second word is strategy. Generally, strategy is a technique which is used to get a certain purpose. “Strategy is plan intended to achieve a particular purpose” (Bull, 2009: 439). In the teaching context, strategy is something important which use in teaching and learning process to help the teacher make their students easy to understand the material. Students can analyze the material and solve the problem in making decision. Learning strategy has some meanings as maintained by Subana and Sunarti in Iskanwassid (2008: 5) a. General pattern or abstract from teaching learning process. b. Strategies of instruction c. Models of teaching d. General pattern of learner activity that describes determining process in learning activity‟s realization to builds behavior change.

 Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension

                   A reading comprehension strategy is a cognitive or behavioral action that is enacted under particular contextual conditions with the goal of improving some aspect of comprehension (McNawara, 2007:6). It means that in learning reading comprehension need strategy to help students so that the students able understanding and remember of the material that explained by teacher. Many of reading comprehension strategies that have been associated with highest effect for students that teach the students with strategies can be prompt students to monitor and reflect before, during and after the student reading, and can improve vocabulary knowledge.

                   Pressley (1999) said that good comprehenders are effective users of comprehension strategies when they work with text. A strategy can be defined as a mental plan or action designed to achieve a spesific purpose. And one of the prioritas in any reading program is to teach children, particularly those with reading difficulties, a range of strategies to use to extract meaning and evaluate information from the text. (Westwood, 2001:10).

                   There are some strategies for teaching reading comprehension, they are: identify the purpose in reading, use grapheme rules and patterns to aid in bottom-up decoding (especially for beginning level learners), Use efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid comprehension (for intermediate to advanced levels), skim the text for main ideas, scan the text for specific information, use direct reading strategy or clustering, guess when you aren‟t certain, analyze vocabulary, distinguish between literal and implied meanings, capitalize on discourse markers to process relationships (Brown, 2001:292).

The Definition of “PQ4R Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite and Review” Strategy

                             PQ4R is a study technique developed by Thomas E.L and Robinson H.A (1972). The acronym stands for Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite and Review and this strategy is used mainly to help students with difficulty in reading. Comprehension, retaining and recalling information is a challenge for many students and the PQ4R strategy aims at making reading easier (Slavin, 1997: 297).

                             The PQ4R is strategy that helps the students to understand and remember what they have read. According to Trianto (2009:146), PQ4R is the one of elaboration strategy which is used to help students remember what they have read. The PQ4R strategies are as follows:

   a). Preview

         According to Horby, (1995), preview means view something before it is shown to the general public. In this study, preview deals with the students‟ ability to survey or scan the material quickly to get an idea of the general organization and major topics and subtopics as well.

b). Question

        Question means sentence which by word order, use of interrogative words or intonation (Hornby, 1995). While here, Question is the second phase of PQ4R strategy. In this strategy students need to create several prediction questions that may be answered in the text. The students construct the questions using the information they get from Preview phase.

c). Read

        Read means look at and understand something written or printed (Bull, 2011: 365). In this strategy read is the third phase. In this phase, the students read the complete text in order to find the answer of the question they made in “Question” phase. During the reading activity, students record notes in the margin or underlining the important information and unexpected ideas that answers the predicted questions.

d). Reflect

        Reflect means throw back an image, heat, and sound from a surface (Bull, 2011: 369). In reflection phase, the students try to link together all information, main idea, and unexpected ides that the students record in the margin and the underline ideas. Students need to develop insight into the topic, so that students can store the information to their minds, so that they can memorize them very well.

e). Recite

        Recite means say aloud from memory (Hornby, 1995), in this phase, the students are asked to summarize the main ideas, supporting details, and unexpected ideas of the text. Then, students say the summary aloud or write it down.

f). Review

        Review is the final phase of PQ4R strategy. Review itself means consider or examine again (Hornby, 1995). Here, students entail highlighting key point of the text. Then, students make sure that the predicted questions have been answered and that the author‟s purpose is fully understood. 

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