IMPROVING THE YEAR EIGHT STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT OF NARRATIVE TEXT BY USING CARTOON VIDEO AT SMP NEGERI 1 SILIRAGUNG, BANYUWANGI IN THE 2012/ 2013 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Language plays an important role in the world since language becomes a means of communication. English becomes one of the most important language that has wide influences in the human live. It is used in every sector in the world, including in education. In Indonesia, English as a foreign language is taught to the students as a compulsory subject from Junior High School up to university level. There are four language skills that must be studied by the students who are learning English. Reading is one of the four skills in English that must be mastered by the students. Sometimes, the students were confused in learning reading because they got difficulties in finding the appropriate information from the text, e.g. the main idea of the text. Therefore, they failed in the reading comprehension test. In this case, cartoon video was chosen to help the students to improve their reading comprehension achievement since cartoon video presented the information of what they read with its moving picture clearly in the audio-visual context. Thus, it could help the students in comprehending the text easier. This research was classroom action research. It was intended to improve the eighth grade students’ reading comprehension achievement and active participation by using cartoon video. This research subjects were the students of class VIII B at SMP Negeri 1 Siliragung in the 2012/2013 academic year. This class was chosen because it had the lowest mean score of reading comprehension test among the other year eighth classes as informed by the English teacher. The improvement of the students’ reading comprehension achievement and their active participation were analyzed quantitatively. xii In this research, the observation and reading comprehension test were used to get the primary data, while interview guide and documentation were used to get the supporting data. This research was carried out in two cycles and each cycle covered two meetings and reading comprehension test. Each cycle covered the four stages that include planning of the action, the implementation of the action, classroom observation and evaluation, and data analysis and reflection. Based on the reading comprehension test, the percentage results of this research showed that the improvement of the students reading comprehension test in cycle 1 that got scores 75 was 66.67% or only 18 students of 27 students. It had not achieved the target of success in this research yet that was 75%; so, the actions were continued to the cycle 2. In cycle 2, the percentage result of the students’ reading comprehension test was 81.48% or 22 students of 27 students in cycle 2. It means that the percentage result of the students’ reading comprehension achievement improved from 66.67% in cycle 1 to 81.48 in cycle 2. Therefore, the criteria of success of this research, that was 75%, had been achieved and it proved that the use of cartoon video in teaching reading comprehension was helpful to improve the students’ reading comprehension achievement of narrative text. Based on the observation, the percentage average result of the students’ active participation in cycle 1 was 62.94%. It means that the target of success in this research had not achieved yet. Further, the observations were continued to the cycle 2. Moreover, the percentage average result of the students’ active participation increased from 62,94% in cycle 1 to 79,63% in cycle 2. It means that the use of cartoon video could arouse the students’ active participation in the learning process of reading activities. Thus, it is suggested to the English teachers to be familiar with technology, so that they can use cartoon video as a media in teaching English to the students, especially in teaching reading comprehension.