IMPROVING THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT BY USING QUESTION-ANSWER RELATIONSHIPS (QARs) STRATEGY AT SMPN 3 BALUNG IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

This Classroom Action Research was intended to improve the eighth grade students’ reading comprehension achievement by using Question-Answer Relationships (QARs) strategy at SMP Negeri 3 Balung Jember in the 2011/2012 academic year. The research subjects were the students of class VIII E that were determined purposively by consulting to the eighth grade English teacher. Based on the information from the teacher, this class had the lowest reading comprehension achievement among other six classes of grade VIII. The average score of reading was 66.3 (fair category). It is below the mastery score level of reading at that school that is 70. This classroom action research was done in two cycles in which each cycle covered four stages of activities, namely planning the action; implementing the action; observing and evaluating; and analyzing the data and reflecting the action. Each cycle was conducted in two meetings. The data about the students’ reading comprehension achievement were collected by administering the reading comprehension test after the actions given. Observation was used to monitor the process of teaching reading by using QARs strategy and the students’ active involvement in the classroom. In cycle I, the results of the reading test showed that the mean score of the students’ achievement test was 68.75 (fair category). Then, there was 63.8% of the total students could achieve the target score that was at least ≥70. In other words, the percentage of the students who got score at least ≥70 was below 75%. Then, based on the classroom observation it was revealed that there were only 27 of 36 students (75%) who were actively involved in the teaching learning xiii activities in the first meeting and there were 31 of 36 students (86.1%) who were actively involved in the teaching learning activities in the second meeting. It means that the result of the observation in cycle I achieved the requirement of the research because the result of the observation in the first meeting achieved the requirement of the research that was at least 75% of the students. It showed that this research result of observation had fulfilled the criteria of the success of the action, but considering the students’ reading comprehension; the mean score of the students reading test was still under the success criteria, it means that it was necessary to conduct the second cycle to do some improvement. The actions were continued to the second cycle by revising some necessary aspects. The English teacher and the researcher collaborated in doing the actions. The students were asked to do the reading test in cycle II and the observation was done by the observer during the actions in cycle II. Besides, the teacher gave more attention to the students whether or not they had understood the materials. Moreover, the English teacher and the researcher tried to give the students a list of unfamiliar words taken from the text being read and the meanings, pair the students in the activity of reading exercise in order they could share their knowledge with their partners and give prompting questions to the students to encourage their arguments in order to answer the open-ended questions. It was hoped that the revisions could help the students in improving their reading comprehension achievement. In the second cycle, the results of reading test showed improvement. The mean score of the students’ reading comprehension test was 72.14 (good category). It was higher than the mean score in cycle I that was 68.75. Then, there was improvement of the students who could achieve the target score required, that was at least 75% of the students. There were 29 students or 80.5% of the total students got scores at least ≥70. Regarding the students’ active involvement in the teaching learning process of reading, it also improved. Then, based on the classroom observation it was revealed that there were 33 of 36 students (91.6%) who were actively involved in the teaching learning activities in the first meeting and there were 34 of 36 students (94.4%) who were actively involved in the xiv teaching learning activities in the second meeting. These results indicated that this research fulfilled the criteria of the success of this action research. Based on the results, it could be concluded that the teaching of reading by using QARs strategy could improve the students’ reading comprehension achievement as well as their active performance in the process of reading teaching learning. Then, it is suggested that the English teachers to use QARs strategy as an alternative strategy in teaching reading to improve the students’ reading comprehension achievement. It also showed the students that they can improve their reading comprehension achievement by applying QARs strategy in their reading activity as one of the alternative strategies in improving reading comprehension and for the future researchers who have the similar problem in teaching reading are suggested to use this research result as information and a reference to conduct a further research for teaching reading or other skills with the same design, such as the use of QARs strategy to improve the students’ writing ability.