IMPROVING THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT BY USING COMIC STRIPS AT SMP AL BAITUL AMIEN JEMBER IN THE 2012/2013 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Based on the result of the preliminary study conducted by semi structured interview with the eighth grade English teacher of SMP Al Baitul Amien Jember, the eighth grade students experienced difficulties in comprehending reading texts. It was proved by the fact that there were 13 students or 52% who got 70 as the minimum standard score or more and there were 12 students or 48% who got below 70. It indicated that they did not actively participate in joining reading class. The above students’ low scores in reading comprehension were the problem in this research. Therefore, this research was conducted to solve the students’ problems by using comic strips as narrative reading material. Comic strips were employed because they had never been used by the English teacher and they also have some strength. Thus, this research is written to: 1) improve students’ reading comprehension achievement and 2) improve students’ active participation in joining reading class. The design of this research was Classroom Action Research (CAR) with cycle model. This research was conducted in two cycles and the data collection methods were observation and test methods. The observer used an observation checklist to identify the students’ active participation in joining reading class. There were five indicators and the students were considered to be active participants when they fulfilled at least three indicators. Meanwhile, the test was reading comprehension achievement test in the form of objective tests which were multiple choice and true/false forms. The data gained were analyzed statistically. xii

In relation to the data gained, there were two requirements to judge whether the actions were successful or not. First, the actions were considered successful if 75% of the students actively participated in joining reading class by using comic strips. Second, the actions were considered successful if 75% of the students got score 70 as the minimum standard score or more. In Cycle 1, the data indicated that the actions were not successful yet. According to the observation results, there were 64% of active students in the first meeting in Cycle 1 while in the second meeting, there were 68 % of active students. Meanwhile, there were 70.8% of students who got score 70 or more in reading comprehension achievement test. These unsatisfactory results in Cycle 1 were because of some factors. First, many students seemed hesitant and reluctant to ask the difficult words or phrases of the comic strips. Second, some students seemed did not understand the storyline of the comic strips. Next, some students did not discuss with their partner in pair when they did a pair activity. The last, many students felt tired and lacked for focus and energy when they were doing the reading comprehension test since the test was administered in the last of the school hours. In Cycle 2, the data indicated that the actions were successful. Before continuing to Cycle 2, some revisions were undertaken from reflecting the actions and the data in Cycle 1 in order to improve the results in Cycle 2. The revisions effectively worked out. It was proved by the results of the observation and the test. There were 84% of active students in the first meeting in Cycle 2. While in the second meeting, there were 80 % of active students. Meanwhile, the number of students who got score 70 or more in reading comprehension achievement test was 84%. Based on the results above, it can be concluded that the use of comic strips could improve both students’ active participation and students’ reading comprehension achievement. Therefore, comic strips can be as an alternative reading material in teaching narrative text.