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Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension….. IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH THE USE OF RECIPROCAL TEACHING TECHNIQUE AT STMIK RIAU PEKANBARU LIYA ASTARILLA DEDE WARMAN liya.astarilla@gmail.com Sekolah Tinggi Manajemen Informatika dan Komputer (STMIK) Riau ABSTRACT This research aimed to describe and explain to what extent Reciprocal Teaching could improve the reading comprehension of semester II/E students of STMIK Riau Pekanbaru and the factors that influenced the change of their reading comprehension through Reciprocal Teaching. This research was a classroom action research, every cycle consisted of four four fundamental aspects namely, planning , action, observation, and reflection. The participants of this research were the semester II/E students majoring in Computer Science/Informatics STMIK Riau Pekanbaru totalling 35 students. The instruments of this research were a reading comprehension test, an observation sheet, field note, and interview. There were two main findings of this research: (1) Reciprocal Teaching could improve the students’ reading comprehension; (2) Teaching material, class acitivity, class management, and lecturer’s approach were the factors that could influence the change of students’ reading comprehension. Keywords: reading comprehension, reciprocal teaching, factors. INTRODUCTION Reading is one of the skills that information which is commonly the students should master in learning provided in the form of electronic media English in order to get information from and printed materials such as textbooks, the English materials. The aim of journals, articles, newspapers, teaching reading is to enable students to magazines, email, etc. read English texts effectively and Based on the researcher’s efficiently. They do not only have to experience and observation in teaching understand the structure of the texts Reading subject to semester II/E explicitly but more importantly they students majoring in Computer must comprehend the meaning Science/Informatics at STMIK Riau implicitly. Reading is the common Pekanbaru in the academic year 2014, it source to achieve and develop students’ was discovered that the students had knowledge and skills. Therefore, low achievement in reading students need to have effective reading comprehension tests, most of them had skills in order to improve their problems in comprehending texts. It knowledge of foreign language and was also found that the students still had their ability to access the world difficulties in finding information in the Journal of English Education Vol. 1 No. 2 December 2015 ISSN: 2459-9719 |1 Liya Astarilla Dede Warman texts and did not know the components comprehend the texts that could affect of reading comprehension, namely; their reading comprehension. finding factual information, finding Realizing the phenomenon main ideas, finding the meaning of above, appropriate techniques in vocabulary in context, identifying teaching reading should be implemented references and making inferences. The in the classroom because using various students’ difficulties were noticeable teaching techniques could give a great from the results of the test given by the effect to the students’ success in lecturer. The result of reading reading. The technique used by the comprehension test showed that none of lecturer should be appropriate to the the students got A (>85) or A- (81-85). students’ comprehension level. The There were only 2 students who got B+ technique that might be implemented is (76-80), 5 students got B (71-75), and reciprocal teaching that is suggested by others failed. The lowest score was 45, Palinscar and Brown (1984). This and the highest score was 80. The result technique of teaching deals with a of the test showed that the average score problem-solving approach to reading. It was only 62.13. For reading skill, the helps the students to find solutions to minimum standard of score is 71 (B) or the problems they encounter during higher based on reading scoring rubric. their reading. It seemed that the students had low Related to the description above, ability in comprehending texts. the researcher was encouraged to The above phenomenon must implement reciprocal teaching during have been influenced by some factors. teaching and learning reading in order This was based on the interview to solve the problems in her class. For conducted towards the students. First, this purpose, a classroom action the students were not interested in research was carried out. The objectives reading so that they had low motivation of this research were to explain to what in learning reading. Second, the extent Reciprocal Teaching could students lacked vocabulary; so, it was improve the reading comprehension of difficult for them to comprehend the semester II/E students of STMIK Riau texts. The third factor was teaching Pekanbaru and the factors that technique and teaching material used by influenced the changes of their reading a lecturer in teaching reading. The comprehension. lecturer only used a discussion technique, where she gave an Reading Comprehension explanation, asked students to read the Reading is one of the skills that text and answer the comprehension should be learnt by the students. It is a questions. This way of teaching reading thinking process for the students to was less effective in teaching reading comprehend or analyze a text or a because it did not encourage and paragraph that encourages them to gain motivate the students to improve their more information from what they are comprehension. The lecturer very much reading. Neufeld (2005) states that relied on using reading materials from comprehension is the process of one book whose materials might not be constructing a supportable appropriate for Computer understanding of a text. He added that Science/Informatics students. Such a comprehension involves two important mistake in choosing reading texts could features: being actively involved with cause the students to have difficulties to the text and using appropriate 2| Journal of English Education Vol. 1 No. 2 December 2015 ISSN: 2459-9719 Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension….. background knowledge to interpret the required to identify the key idea of each text. Therefore, when students are paragraph. Students have to recall and comprehending the material their brain arrange the information and construct works to try to make meaning of the overall understanding of a text. information presented. According to According to Oczkus (2003:14) Klingner (2007:8) reading Reciprocal Teaching is different from comprehension is a multi component, other strategies because the strategies highly complex process that involves used may not be fixed, being flexible many interactions between readers and depending on the text and the reader. what they bring to the text as well as Thus, the lecturer should consider the variable related to the text. Based on the material to be presented before using a definition, it can be concluded that certain strategy. He also states that reading comprehension is a process of Reciprocal Teaching can be used in a interaction between readers’ variety of classroom settings to enhance background knowledge with the students’ reading comprehension, such information from the text while they are as whole class sessions, guided reading, reading. and literature circle. In addition, Herrel and Jordan (2008) viewed that Reciprocal Teaching Reciprocal Teaching is a reading The goal of Reciprocal Teaching strategy in which students take turns in is to instruct students with specific predicting, summarizing, clarifying, and strategies that they can apply to all kind questioning until all section of text have of texts. In the process of Reciprocal been read and work in a small group. It Teaching, the students work in groups, supports learning in several ways and discuss the material through some steps encourages students to self-monitor for of strategies that will lead them to be understanding. As a result, this effective readers. Reciprocal Teaching technique increases the students’ self- consists of four strategies: predicting, confidence and success in their clarifying, questioning and understanding. Therefore, the lecturer summarizing. needs to provide guided practice in the Predicting involves previewing use of the four comprehension strategies the text to anticipate what may happen of reciprocal teaching. It means that next. The students make predictions before the students use these four about what the author might discuss in strategies, the lecturer models the use of the text by using text clues, background the strategies and provides guidance in knowledge, or picture clues. Then, the discussion that follows. To make the clarifying is the strategy that readers use learning process run well both lecturer while monitoring comprehension. The and students should follow all indicators students identify when they do not of Reciprocal Teaching strategies; that understand and take necessary steps to is, predicting, clarifying, questioning restore meaning. In questioning and summarizing. strategy, the students make or create From the definition above, it can questions based on the text that they be concluded that Reciprocal Teaching have read. The purpose of this strategy is a scaffold discussion method that is is to test whether the readers understand based on reading comprehension the text and to help students to identify strategies of Reciprocal Teaching the important information. The last strategy lecturer has to model all strategies to the is summarizing in which readers are students, then show them the scaffold Journal of English Education Vol. 1 No. 2 December 2015 ISSN: 2459-9719 |3 Liya Astarilla Dede Warman until they are really independent to the lecturer monitors their own thinking implement this technique, and finally through reading process. RESEARCH METHOD This study is kind of an action problems being faced by participants in research. It is used to help the teacher to the classrooms and schools. The improve the way of teaching in participants of this research were the classroom. Kemmis et al (2014:5-10) researcher, a collaborator and the state that action research is a form of semester II/E students majoring in collective self-reflective enquiry Computer Science/Informatics STMIK undertaken by participants in social Riau Pekanbaru totalling 35 students in justice of their own social or the academic year 2014. The researcher educational practices, conducted by the decided to choose this class because she teachers or researchers to gain knew this class had lower ability in information about how well their reading comprehension than other particular schools execute their classes. The instruments of this research educational programs, how well were a reading comprehension test, an teachers teach their students and how observation sheet, field note, and well their students. There are four interview. To analyze the quantitative fundamental aspects of action research data, the researcher evaluated and namely; planning, action, observation, analyzed the students’ reading and reflection. In short, action research comprehension test scores in order to is done to give an improvement to the know the significance of their progress situation where the research is applied. before and after learning through It is commonly applied to solve some Reciprocal Teaching. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Based on the results during showed that students’ scores of reading cycle 1 and cycle 2 conducted for eight comprehension through Reciprocal meetings, it was found that the scores of Teaching in each indicator increased the students’ reading comprehension in significantly. The difference between each indicator in cycle 1 was not yet the improvement of students’ satisfactory. Therefore, the process comprehension before and after using continued to cycle 2; in fact, students Reciprocal Teaching can be seen in the made some improvements. The data following diagram . 100 80 e 60 u l a 40 V 20 0 Factual Meaning of Information Main Idea Vacabulary Reference Inference Pre-Test 73.8 71.3 53.1 60.6 52.5 Cycle 1 80.0 72.5 63.1 66.3 60.6 Cycle 2 81.0 74.4 71.0 72.5 71.3 4| Journal of English Education Vol. 1 No. 2 December 2015 ISSN: 2459-9719
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