THE EFFECT OF GIVING NON-VERBAL REINFORCEMENT ON READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMPN 1 PAKUSARI JEMBER IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Reading is important for the students because by reading, the students will get much information and knowledge in their life. In fact, the students often read books, newspapers, notices, forms, and schedules in daily activities. In the reading activities, the students are expected to get connection between what and how the meanings are made from the text and their comprehension However, the students of the eighth grade at SMPN 1 Pakusari Jember were lack of vocabulary and less interested in learning reading. Therefore, the teacher should apply reinforcement to encourage the students to be more interested in learning reading. Reinforcement is believed as one of the solutions to encourage the students to be interested in the learning process. In this research, the researcher focused on giving non-verbal reinforcement in the form of symbols or things including books, pencils, rulers, erasers, and stars. Variable ratio schedule was applied in the teaching and learning process because the time of giving reward was unpredictable and it made the students response high. This research was intended to know whether or not there was a significant effect of giving non-verbal reinforcement on reading comprehension achievement of the eighth grade students at SMPN 1 Pakusari Jember in the 2011/2012 academic year. The research design was quasi experimental with posttest only control group design, while the research area was SMPN 1 Pakusari Jember which was purposively determined. The population of this research was the eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Pakusari Jember consisting of six classes. The homogeneity test was administered to determine the respondents of the research, and then the result of homogeneity test was analyzed by using ANOVA. After conducting homogeneity test, the experimental and the control groups were administered randomly by using lottery because based on the homogeneity test, the population of the research was homogenous. The total number of the respondents was 68 students, consisted of 34 students of class VIII-C as the experimental group was taught reading comprehension by giving non-verbal reinforcement, while the control group consisted of 34 students of class VIII-A was taught reading comprehension without giving non-verbal reinforcement. Then, both classes were given a posttest to find out the difference of reading comprehension achievement between the groups. Therefore, the result of students‟ posttest as t he primary data was analyzed by using Independent samples of t-test. Based on the output of Independent samples t-test, the value of sig column was 0.001 and it was lower than 0.05. It means that there was a statistical difference between the experimental and control groups. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H ) formulated: “there is no significant effect of giving non-verbal reinforcement on reading comprehension achievement of the eighth grade students at SMPN 1 Pakusari Jember in the 2011/2012 academic year” was rejected. In the other words, the formulated alternative hypothesis (H o ): “there is a significant effect of giving non-verbal reinforcement on reading comprehension achievement of the eighth grade students at SMPN 1 Pakusari Jember in the 2011/2012 academic year” was accepted. The result of data analysis in this research proved that giving non-verbal reinforcement significantly affected the students‟ reading comprehension achievement on the eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Pakusari Jember in the 2011/2012 academic year. Therefore, the English teacher is suggested to apply not only verbal reinforcement but also non-verbal reinforcement including gesture, approach, physical contact, pleasurable activities and symbols or things because they influence the students‟ response and attitude in the learning activities.