THE EFFECT OF USING THINK ALOUD PAIR PROBLEM SOLVING (TAPPS) ON THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT AT SMP ISLAM GUMUKMAS JEMBER

Abstract

Reading is one of the crucial and essential aspects in learning a language. However, based on the preliminary study conducted by doing an interview with Mrs. U, the English teacher of the eighth grade at SMP Islam Gumukmas Jember, on 14 July 2014, she admitted that the students were still lack of concentration and had difficulty in comprehending the text. There are many techniques that can be applied in teaching reading comprehension. One of the techniques that can be applied in teaching reading comprehension is Think Aloud Pair Problem Solving (TAPPS). TAPPS is a cooperative learning technique that encourages problem-solving skills by verbalizing one’s thoughts to a listener. TAPPS is believed to have many benefits in reading comprehension. Therefore, the researcher was interested in investigating whether or not there is an effect of using TAPPS strategy on the eighth grade students’ reading comprehension achievement at SMP Islam Gumukmas Jember. The population of this research was all groups of the eighth grade students’ of SMP Islam Gumukmas Jember in the 2014/2015 academic year; they were VIII A, VIII B, VIII C, and VIII D. The research respondents were determined by cluster random sampling by lottery. Based on the result of homogeneity test, VIII B was chosen as the experimental group and VIII C as the control group. The treatment was given to the experimental group, that was, teaching reading by using TAPPS technique, while the control group was taught reading using lecturing and Question- Answer technique. The primary data of this research were collected from the students’ scores of reading comprehension test (post-test). The primary data were analyzed statistically by using t-test formula through SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) program. Based on the output of Independent sample t-test, the value of significant column was 0.043 which was lower than 0.05. Thus, conclusion could be drawn that there was a statistically significant mean difference between the experimental and control groups. It means that the null hypothesis (H0) formulated: “there is no significant effect of using Think Aloud Pair Problem Solving (TAPPS) technique on reading comprehension achievement of the eighth grade students of SMP Islam Gumukmas Jember” was rejected. On the other hand, the formulated hypothesis (Ha): “there is a significant effect of using Think Aloud Pair Problem Solving (TAPPS) technique on reading comprehension achievement of the eighth grade students of SMP Islam Gumukmas Jember” was accepted There were some difficulties that the researcher faced when conducting the research. Some students were shy to think aloud because the researcher tried to pair the students randomly. Thus, the students were unable to think aloud effectively. With regard to that condition, the researcher let the students chose their own partners. Some students were also unmotivated to do the task given by the researcher and were very noisy. The researcher then created a competitive atmosphere by giving rewards to the best pairs who scored the best among the other students. For the noisy students, the researcher asked them to control their voice. Based on the result of this research, it was concluded that there was a significant effect of using TAPPS Technique on reading comprehension achievement of the eighth grade students at SMP Islam Gumukmas Jember in the 2014/2015 academic year. Knowing the significant effect of using TAPPS technique, it is suggested to the English teachers, students, and other researchers to have a good use of TAPPS technique.