IMPROVING CLASS VIII B STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT BY USING THINK-PAIR-SHARE TECHNIQUE AT MTs. AL-HIDAYAH BONDOYUDO LUMAJANG IN THE 2012/2013 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

According to the result of preliminary study in the form of interview with the English teacher of MTs. Al-Hidayah Bondoyudo Lumajang, it was found that the students of class VIII B had difficulties in comprehending reading texts because they were lack of vocabularies that made them unable to understand information from the text. Besides, the students were also lack of participation in the classroom during the teaching and learning process. The researcher tried to overcome the problem by using a new technique that had never been used by the English teacher before that was cooperative learning, especially the model of Think-Pair-Share Technique. ThinkPair-Share technique (TPS) is a cooperative discussion strategy developed by Lyman

(1981) which is emphasized on what students are to be

doing at each of those stages (thinking, pairing, and sharing). The design of this research was Classroom Action Research. The subjects of this research were class VIII B of MTs. Al-Hidayah Bondoyudo Lumajang that consists of 32 students. Based on the preliminary study in the form of interview, it was revealed that class VIII B had the lowest reading comprehension achievement score of English. There was only around 31.25% of the students who got score 75 in the reading comprehension test. The research target was 50% students getting score at least 75 and 75% students actively involved in the teaching and learning process by using Think-Pair-Share Technique. The actions in cycle covered 1) planning of the action, 2) implementation of the action, 3) observation and evaluation, and 4) analysis and reflection. In the planning section, lesson plans for each meeting were constructed with the English teacher. In the implementation section, the lesson plans were applied in the classroom. Then the observation section was done during the xi teaching and learning process. Finally, the analysis and reflection section were done after conducting the teaching and learning process by using Think-Pair-Share Technique. The results of this research were as follows: the percentage of the students who achieved KKM (minimum requirement standard score) improved from cycle 1 to cycle 2 that was 51.85% to 66.67% after being taught reading comprehension by using Think-Pair-Share Technique. In the first meeting in cycle 1, there were 17 students (53.13%) who were actively involved in the teaching and learning process by using Think-Pair-Share Technique. In the second meeting, there were 20 students (62.5%) who were active during the teaching and learning process. In the second cycle, the percentage of students who achieved KKM was 66.67%. In the first meeting in cycle 2, there were 24 students (75%) who were actively involved in the teaching and learning process by using Think-Pair-Share Technique. In the second meeting, there were 25 students (78.13%) who were actively involved during the teaching and learning process. It can be concluded that Think-Pair-Share Technique was able to improve the students’ reading comprehension achievement, as well as their active participation in the teaching and learning process of reading comprehension.