Meningkatkan Pencapaian Pemahaman Membaca Siswa SMP dengan Menggunakan Strategi SQ3R

Abstract

Reading comprehension is regarded as an important skill to gain new information. It is a basic skill to discover and expand new knowledge as Henning (1997:4) says that reading can be said as the most important skill to be mastered because knowledge and information can only be obtained through reading comprehension. Reading also can be a medium of communication between the readers and the author. It means that while people are reading a text they are having a communication with the author. The communication between readers and author happens when the readers understand what the author‟s intention is. When the readers do not understand the author‟s intention in the text it means they are not reading. Hence, there are many learners who still fail in comprehending the text meaning. This is in line with the result of pleminary study that had been done at SMPN 1 Jember. It was found that the VIII-J grade students of SMPN 1 Jember had problem in comprehending a text that made them got low scores in reading class. It was proved by looking at their mean reading score (69.30) which was the lowest among the other eighth grade classes. Thus, I determined to conduct a classroom action research and gave the students a reading comprehension strategy to be used in reading class. This classroom action research was conducted to enhance the VIII-J grade students‟ reading comprehension achievement at SMPN 1 Jember. The strategy used in this research was SQ3R strategy. SQ3R strategy was created by Francis P. Robinson in 1941. This strategy was designed to help process and increase retention of written information. Al-Ghazo (2015) states that SQ3R presents a detailed step-by step outline of what a reader should accomplish while reading. It means that it helps students think about the text they read while they are reading. The study was done in two cycles to check the consistency of the research result. Each cycle covered two meetings of the action implementation and one meeting for administering the test. Besides, the observation checklist consisted of 5 indicators, namely 1) surveying the title and the picture of the text, 2) formulating questions based on the title and the picture that had been surveyed, 3) underlining the main points and the answer of their own questions, 4) reciting the main points of the text, and 5) reviewing and doing the task given. The students were categorized as active if they could fulfill at least 4 indicators. The observation results in Cycle 1 showed that there was 78% students were actively involved during the teaching and learning process. Besides, the percentage of the students who achieved the minimum of standard score (75) in Cycle 1 was 78% with the mean score was 77.2. It was improved from the previous score that was 69.30. Then, it was continued to Cycle 2 to check the students‟ consistency. The results of Cycle 2 showed much better. It informed that the observation improved about 12% from Cycle 1 (78%) to Cycle 2 (90%). While the results of the mean score of the students‟ reading achievement score in Cycle 2 were also improved. It was 82.5 with the percentage was 92%. The research results above proved that the use of SQ3R strategy could enhace the VIII-J grade students‟ reading comprehension achievement at SMPN 1 Jember. Therefore, it is recommended for the English teacher of SMPN 1 Jember to use SQ3R strategy as an alternative strategy in teaching reading comprehension.