IMPROVING THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH SEMANTIC MAPPING TECHNIQUE AT SMP NEGERI 1 TAPEN BONDOWOSO IN THE 2006/2007 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Semantic Mapping is a teaching technique that has been developed by Johnson & Pearson in 1978 to improve reading comprehension. The objective of this research was to improve the second year student’s literal reading comprehension achievement at SMP Negeri 1 Tapen Bondowoso in the 2006/2007 Academic Year. The reading comprehension achievement in this research covered the students’ word, sentence and paragraph comprehension. To achieve the research objectives, the classroom action research was chosen as the research design. The subjects of this research were the students of class VIII C that was determined purposively. They were chosen because their reading comprehension achievement was the lowest among the five existing classes of the second year students (the mean score was 59.27 that was categorized as “poor”). This research was done in two cycles, in which each cycle covered four activities namely: preparation of the action, implementation of the action, observation and evaluation, and reflection of the action. Each cycle was conducted in two meetings. The main data about the students’ reading comprehension achievement were collected by using reading comprehension test after the actions in each cycle. The result of the mean score of reading comprehension achievement in cycle 1 was 71.03 or “good” score category but only 48.48% of the students who achieved “good” score category. It means the action in cycle 1 had not achieved the target of this research and 75% of the students got good score category, scores in the range 70-80 of each indicator; word, sentence, and paragraph comprehension). Therefore, the actions were continued in cycle 2 by revising the teaching technique. The results of the mean score of reading test by using semantic mapping in cycle 2 was better M=75.27 than in cycle 1 M=71.03(both are in “good” category); and 75.76% of the students got good score category of each indicator. It means the action in cycle 2 had achieved the target of this research. Based on the results, it could be concluded that the use of semantic mapping could improve the second year students’ reading comprehension achievements in two cycles. Hence, it is suggested to the English teachers to use semantic mapping technique to improve the students’ reading comprehension achievements.