THE EFFECT OF USING THE CONTEXT CLUE TECHNIQUE ON THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT AT MTsN 2 BONDOWOSO IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Reading comprehension is understanding the message of the text by gaining the meaning from the text. However, when reading a text, sometimes the readers find unfamiliar words, so that they do not understand the message of the text. It is important for the readers to use the Context Clue Technique to get the meaning of unfamiliar words. By using the Context Clue Technique, they can understand the meaning of the unfamiliar words without always using the dictionary because there are some words (clues) surrounding the unfamiliar one to make the readers more easily in understanding the message of text. Therefore, the students can guess the meanings of unfamiliar words. The objective of the research was to know whether or not there is a significant effect of teaching reading by using the context clue technique on the eighth grade students’ reading comprehension achievement at MTsN 2 Bondowoso in the 2011/2012 academic year. The research design was quasi experimental. The type of the quasi experimental research was randomized control group post-test only design. The population of the research was the eighth grade students of MTsN 2 Bondowoso in the 2011/2012 academic year. The research respondents were the eighth grade students of MTsN 2 Bondowoso. The total number of respondents was 77 students, divided into the experimental group and the control groups. The experimental group consisted of 38 students who were taught reading by using the Context Clue Technique. The control group consisted of 39 students who were taught reading without using the Context Clue Technique but by using lecturing technique and giving the exercises. The area of this research was MTsN 2 Bondowoso. It was chosen purposively because the use the Context Clue Technique has never been applied in the teaching learning process of reading in this school, and the students can apply the context clue technique in reading an English text and doing a reading test. If the students know well about the context clue technique, it is very helpful when they do not permit using the dictionary. The primary data of this research were collected from the students’ scores of reading comprehension posttest, while the supporting data were collected by interview and documentation. The primary data were collected from the reading posttest to make the comparison between the two groups after the treatment, and they were analyzed by using t-test formula with 5% of significant level. The result of the calculation showed that t-statistical value of t-test was higher that the critical value of t-table (3.93>2.00) and degree of freedom (df) was 75 (60 is the nearest range). It means that the null hypothesis was rejected, while the alternative hypothesis was accepted. The result of Degree of Relative Effectiveness (DRE) was 9.65 %. It means that the degree of relative effectiveness of using the Context clue technique in teaching reading comprehension was 9.65% more effective than teaching reading by using lecturing technique and giving the exercises. The research results proved that there was a significant effect of the context clue technique on the eighth grade students’ reading comprehension achievement at MTsN 2 Bondowoso in the 2011/2012 academic year. The researcher suggests the English teacher to use the context clue technique in teaching reading comprehension, since it was effective to improve the students’ reading comprehension achievement.