IMPROVING THE GRADE V111-C STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABOUT RECOUNT PARAGRAPH BY USING PICTURE SERIES WITH JUMBLED SENTENCES AT SMP NEGERI 1 MAYANG

Abstract

Based on the result of semi structured interview with the eighth grade English teacher of SMPN 1 Mayang, the students of the eighth grade especially VIII C had difficulty in comprehending paragraph and they were lack of interest in joining the English reading class. It was proved by the fact that VIII C had low score in the previous English reading test. The result showed that there were 60% of the students got score not more than 60. It was still under the standard requirement score 65. Considering the problems above, this research was undertaken to overcome the problems by using picture series with jumbled sentences. Classroom Action Research with cycle model was applied in this study. The action research was carried out to improve the students’ recount paragraph comprehension by using picture series with jumbled sentences to the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Mayang in the 2009/2010 academic year. This classroom action research was done with a sequence of steps, namely planning of the action, implementing of the action, classroom observation and evaluation, analysis and reflection of the action. In the implementation, there were two meetings in cycle 1 and two meetings in cycle 2. The classroom observation used an observation checklist to identify the students’ interest in joining the reading class, while the recount paragraph comprehension test used objective test in the form of sentence arrangement. There were two criteria used to evaluate the success of the actions in this research. They were: (1) the actions were considered to be successful if 75% of the students were interested in the following teaching and learning process of recount paragraph comprehension by using picture series with jumbled sentences (2) The actions were successful if 75% of the students got at least the score of 65 (≥65). The results of the actions in cycle 1 were unable to reach the research target requirement. There were 16 out of 39 students or 41% of the students who were interested in joining the reading comprehension class by using picture series with jumbled sentences in the first meeting of cycle 1 while in the second meeting of cycle 1 there were 21 out of 41 students or 51% of the students who were interested in joining the reading comprehension class by using picture series with jumbled sentences. In addition, there were 18 out of 40 students or 45% of the students could achieve the targeted score of 65 (≥65). However, there were an improvement on the students’ interest in joining the reading comprehension class and reading comprehension achievement by using picture series with jumbled sentences in cycle 2. There were 24 out of 40 students or 60% of the students who were interested in joining the reading comprehension class by using picture series with jumbled sentences in the first meeting while in the second meeting there were 29 of 38 students or 76% of the students who were interested in it. Then, the number of students who got at least 65 (≥65) also increased from 18 out of 40 students to 31 out of 39 students or from 45% to 79%. Therefore, the actions were stopped. Considering the research result, it is suggested that the English teacher use picture series with jumbled sentences as an alternative material in teaching reading comprehension because it has been proved that the teaching reading comprehension by using picture series with jumbled sentences can improve both students’ interest in joining the reading comprehension class and students’ reading comprehension achievement.