The Teaching Strategies Used By the English Teacher in Teaching Reading at Senior High School

Abstract

Reading is considered an essential skill in the English language because, with reading, students can obtain new knowledge and information. The teacher in teaching and learning has used strategies to make students interested in the class. Therefore, the English teacher should be aware of the student’s problem face during classroom teaching activities, especially in teaching reading comprehension. This research aimed to describe the strategies used by the English teacher in teaching reading comprehension at senior high school, and to describe the reasons the English teacher uses those strategies. I conducted this research at one of Jember's senior high schools, using a Descriptive Qualitative Design to describe the reading strategies and the reasons for using these strategies. I collected the data by classroom observations in four meetings and a semi-structured interview with the English teacher. I analyzed the data by using Thematic Analysis from Braun and Clarke (2006). From the analysis, I developed two themes emerging from the data: (1) Strategies used by the English teacher in teaching reading, (2) Purposes of the English teacher used those strategies. The first themes showed, there are five strategies applied in the teaching reading, (1) Reading Aloud is a strategy where the students read the text with a loud voice, (2) Guided Reading is strategy where the teacher guide the reading with a clear and fluent voice, (3) Skimming and Scanning are strategies with a fast reading to get a general idea of its content while scanning involves searching for specific information, (4) Think-aloud is a strategy where when students read, they think about their reading process, and (5) Conducting Discussion is a strategy which is we can share the ideas. The Purposes used those strategies as a second theme, showing the teacher used reading aloud to know every student’s level, such as intonation and pronunciation, besides the teacher guided the students to help them become more active in the reading process. While reading, the teacher used skimming and scanning to make the students become efficient readers without wasting time. When reading texts, students often do so without understanding their content, so using think-aloud forces them to look for the meaning of the reading; mentally, they have to think hard, and this strategy forces them to become active readers. Last, the teacher conducted a discussion to made the passive students more active by exchanging their ideas with each other. The researcher would like to give some suggestions intended for future researchers, English teachers. First, for the researcher who would like to establish the research relating to the strategies for teaching reading comprehension in senior high school, it will be better to investigate this topic with more than one English teacher participant because each teacher's strategy may differ depending on their expertise, teaching style, and classroom situation. This variety may provide a more comprehensive understanding of good teaching practices. Second, the English teacher should be aware of the various types of strategies for teaching reading comprehension because not all students can accept the strategy well. An English teacher can use a smartphone as a good application for reading because smartphones make the learning process more engaging, allow access to e-books, and enjoy using them. So, it is not only using textbooks because it will be boring. Using technology, students can be more interested in the lesson and make the learning process exciting.