THE EFFECT OF USING PICTURES IN SERIES ON READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT OF GRADE 8 STUDENTS AT SMP NEGERI 5 TANGGUL JEMBER

Abstract

Reading is the essential part in teaching learning activities especially in Indonesian English classroom. The students start, almost all the activities, in English teaching learning activities by reading. In other words, reading almost dominates all the students’ activities before having other language skills. To read English texts is not easy. That is why the English teacher’s role is needed to take part in selecting ways to help students get better understanding. One of the ways that can be used and applied by the teacher is using pictorial material. Pictorial material has proven effective to enhance students’ understanding of the text (Pan and Pan, 2009). Moreover, pictures especially pictures in series increase comprehension (Chih, 2005). At last, the presence of pictures in series along with text made the students able to answer the questions that related to the text. In other words, the presence of pictures especially picture in series facilitates comprehension of the text. The design of this research was experimental research that purposed to investigate whether or not there was a significant effect of using pictures on reading comprehension achievement of grade 8 students of SMP Negeri 5 Tanggul Jember in 2011/2012 academic year. The respondents of this research were grade 8 students of SMP Negeri 5 Tanggul Jember that were determined by using cluster random sampling by lottery. The total number of the respondents was 77 students. The experimental group consisted of 38 students who were taught reading by reading aloud and lecturing technique using pictures in series. While the control group consisted of 39 students were taught reading by using reading aloud and lecturing technique and without pictures in series. The primary data of this research were gained from the students’ reading comprehension achievement in the form of post test scores. The mean score of experimental group was 71.05 while the control group was 61.02. The supporting data was gained from the interview with the English teacher and documentation. The primary data that had been collected was analyzed statistically by using the t-test formula. The result of this research showed that the statistical value of t-test was 5.74 while the value of t-table at significance level 5% with df (75) was 2.00. It indicated that the value of t-statistic was higher than that of the t-table (5.74>2.00). It meant that the alternative hypothesis (h ) that was formulated: “there is a significant effect of using pictures in series on reading comprehension achievement of grade 8 students of SMP Negeri 5 Tanggul Jember” was accepted. a Based on the explanations above, it can be concluded that; there is a significant effect of using pictures in series on reading comprehension achievement of grade 8 students at SMP Negeri 5 Tanggul Jember.