IMPROVING THE EIGHTH YEAR STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT BY USING NUMBERED HEADS TOGETHER STRATEGY AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 2 KALISAT IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

This classroom action research was intended to increase the eighth year students’ reading comprehension achievement at SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Kalisat Jember. Based on the preliminary study conducted in SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Kalisat by doing an informal interview with the English teacher, it was revealed that the eighth year students still could not achieve the target score of English yet. The standard requirement score was 65. This should be achieved by at least 70% or 22 students. In fact, there were only 45.1% or 14 students who got the standard required score To solve the problems, a classroom action research with cycle model was conducted collaboratively with the English teacher. It was conducted in two cycles in which each cycle covered four stages included planning the action, implementation of the action, classroom observation and evaluation, and data analysis and reflection of the action. The technique applied in this research was Numbered Heads Together (NHT). This research was considered successful if at least 70% of the students got the score ≥65 and 70% of them actively involved in the teaching and learning process of reading comprehension by using Numbered Heads Together. However, based on the results of the observation and the reading test, the actions in the Cycle 1 failed to achieve the target requirement. There were 60.86% who were actively involved in teaching reading process. This meant that the students’ active participation had not achieved the target requirement, that was 70% of the students who actively involved. Meanwhile, the result of reading test showed that there were 15 0f 23 students or 65.22% of the students who could achieve the targeted score that was ≥65. This meant that the result of reading test in Cycle 1 had not reached the target requirement of at least 70% of the students got score ≥65. In Cycle 2, there were some revisions of lesson plan in Cycle 1. It was intended to increase the students’ active participation during the teaching and learning process of writing and the students’ reading score. The students were given more time in the teaching reading process on the stage reading text and put the students’ head together in discussing the answer. They were also a changing time allocation for the test that was 60 minutes for the students in doing reading test. From the result of observation in Cycle 2, it was found that there were 73.91% of the students who were actively involved in the first meeting. This meant that the target requirement of active participation had been achieved, that was at least 70% of the students were actively involved. Meanwhile, the result of reading test in Cycle 2 showed that there were 17 students or 73.91% of the students got score ≥65. This meant that the students had achieved the target requirement that was at least 70% of the students got score ≥65. Based on the result above, it could be concluded that the use of Numbered Heads Together (NHT) could improve the students’ reading comprehension achievement at SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Kalisat Jember in the 2011/2012 academic year. Then, it was suggested to the English teacher to teach reading by using Numbered Heads Together (NHT) to enhance the result of the English teaching and learning process.