Developing Senior High School Students’ Reading Comprehension Through Video-Based Reading Materials: An Action Research

Abstract

This classroom action research was intended to help the tenth grade students’ reading comprehension through video based materials in one of senior high schools in Jember (SMA Negeri 2 Jember). Based on the preliminary study, it was found that the tenth MIPA 8 grade students had problem in reading comprehension. This issue showed on the result of preliminary study where the students were required to answer 20 comprehending questions and only 54.2% of them or 29 students passed the minimum score (80). The students had problems with unfamiliar vocabularies and the low rates of background knowledge. They also had problems with unfamiliar vocabulary because English was only used inside the classroom. The study was done in one cycle only which consisted of two meetings. The implementation of the action in the first and second meeting covered two stages; In the first meeting the students read the scrolling texts appeared in the video then they did the task from the video. The task or activities varied gradually from group work to individual work. At the end of the lesson, the students discussed the task altogether. The action was conducted based on the lesson plans for Meeting 1 and 2. The researcher in collaboration with the English teacher taught the students reading comprehension focusing on descriptive text of popular places all around the world through the use of video-based materials. The findings of this action research revealed that video-based reading materials could help senior high school students comprehend the reading text and improve senior high school’s reading comprehension. The students indeed understood the reading as it was showed in the result of their post-cycle test that increased from their pre-cycle test. The mean score of reading before the action was 76.28. Meanwhile, the mean score after the action was given was 86.71. Additionally, it was also revealed that there were only 54.2 % of the students who achieved the minimum standard of score before the action. Meanwhile, after the action given there was 88.57 % of the students who achieved the minimum standard score (there was an increase of 34.37 % of the students who achieved the minimum standard of score). Theoretically, the findings of the present study confirm most of the theories claiming that by using video-based materials the senior high school students’ reading comprehension can be developed.