A STUDY OF READING COMPREHENSION OF THE STUDENDTS OF PRODUCT-DESIGN ENGINEERING (A. PSYCHOLINGUISTIC APPROACH)

Brain is the most important part ofthe body. Indeed, it has cerebrum as the largest part of the brain. The cerebrum itself consists of two hemispheres, left and right hemispheres. These two hemispheres differ in structure and function. The specialization of the function of the two hemispheres is called brain lateralization (O'Grady, et al, 1989 : 254). The left hemisphere has higher roles in language skills, such as in reading, writing and speech, whereas the right in musical and artistic things, in imagery, dreaming and in the perception of complex geometric patterns (Atkinso~ 1987:47). This study is done to prove the assumption about the theory of brain lateralization and find out the abilities of the students of product~desjgn engineering in comprehending picture story compared to those of written text. Hence, there are two tests which are conducted in this study, test I (picture story) and test II (written text). Here, test I (picture story) is considered to represent the activity of the Tight hemisphere, whereas test II (written text) of the left hemisphere. Using quantitative analysis, the number of the scores of the two tests and the value of chi square test are obtained. The sample (n=30) is the students of product-design engineering of the 10 November Institute of Technology Surabaya (Institute 10 Nopember SurabayalITS). Here, random sampling is applied. The outcome of the study reveals that the students of produet-design engineering have better understanding of picture story than those of written text. It is shown by the chi square value ofthe analysis (X2=20.581 with 95 % confidence level) which is not more than the chi square value from the table (X2=42.557). Considering the result, it is obvious that there might be some factors which affect the scores of the respondents' tests. Most of them get better scores in test I (picture story). They ordinarily get the kinds of the courses dealing with drawing, while the frequency of their study to get in touch with this course is high. Other factors are internal and external factors. The internal factors include the psychological and physical conditions of the respondents (health, temperaments & moods), respondents' habits (the frequency of reading & the kinds of the courses) and the reading materials of the tests. The external factors might be the situation ofthe classroom and its surroundings