A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON LITERAL READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 2 AMBULU JEMBER

Abstract

The location of this research was SMPN 2 Ambulu Jember that was chosen purposively. The population of this research was the eighth grade students of SMPN Ambulu Jember in the 2013/2014 academic year that were divided into 8 classes. The population of the research was homogenous, so that one class was determined as the participants of the research which were determined by cluster random sampling by a lottery. The total number of the participants was 31 students that were derived from class VIII-A.The data of this research were collected from the students’ scores of reading comprehension test, interview, and documentation. The reading comprehension test was administered to obtain primary data about the students’ reading comprehension, while interview and documentation were collected to obtain supporting data. The primary data was analyzed statistically in the form of percentage. Based on the calculation, the eighth grade students’ reading comprehension achievement on literal reading at SMPN 2 Ambulu Jember in the 2013/2014 academic year was 78,16% and the result could be categorized as “good”. The research results concluded that the eighth grade students at SMPN 2 Ambulu Jember in the 2013/2014 academic year had achieved the standard requirement score of the school that was 75. Besides, it is suggested to the English teacher to apply other techniques as an alternative technique in teaching reading.