ENGLISH THESIS (PTK) ----------- CHAPTER 1 - 4 )

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.      Background of the Study

Reading is the most useful skill and has an important role in human being’s life. Through reading, everyone can get information about science, and technology that perhaps they do not know  before. Reading is the most efficient way to acquire information about many aspects in the life, since most of available information is delivered in printed media such as journals, newspapers, magazines  and books. Therefore, having a good reading skill is needed to know the content of that information. Even in the internet, the information is presented in written form, so the users need to read the information.

So far, as stated in many educational guidelines, reading is the most important skill to be mastered without ignoring the others. As stated by Carell (1998: 1) for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second language or foreign language. Certainly, if they consider the study of English as a foreign language around the world, the situation in which most English students find themselves reading is the main reason why students learn the language. It is also stated in the curriculum of the lesson unit level for the junior high school level which has been published by the Department of Education of Cilacap District (2007: 23), the purpose of teaching reading for the junior high school is to understand the meaning in the simple written interpersonal and transactional discourse formally or informally,especially in the form of recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, and report, in the context of daily life.

 From the quotations above, the writer can see how important reading for the students are, particularly in English as a second or foreign language. It seems, it is acceptable when the writer  refers to learning situation for academic purposes. In order to succeed, the students should be able to have solid reading proficiency. In reality, to have solid reading proficiency or capability is very difficult, especially for the students. The students’ passiveness in comprehending English texts becomes the common problems faced by the teacher in teaching reading. The students feel difficult in comprehending the text. They also experience a lot of difficulties in answering the reading questions. They are not active, lazy, bored, no spirit and tend to make a noise in the classroom, especially when the teacher asks them to comprehend the text. The problems also happen at SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja. Based on  the writer’s experience during teaching in SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja especially in  reading class,  it seems that the most students are very passive, bored, and not motivated when they are trying to comprehend a reading text. Therefore, they are very difficult to answer the reading questions given by the teacher.

 There were three causes of the students’ passiveness in comprehending a text. First, the students do not master the vocabulary, or have lack of vocabulary. These problems also make them difficult to understand or comprehend the text because many words are new for them. Second, a lot of students who have no dictionaries because of their parents’s low economic condition. Even some of them feel reluctant to bring dictionaries because most of complete dictionaries are heavier than other books they bring. Third, especially for the students who have low competence also need long time for thinking, so they are easy to be disturbed by his/her friends and tend to prefer not to think. They prefer playing with his/her friends to comprehending the difficult texts.

Dealing with the problems above, the writer as the English teacher in SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja needs to give positive response concretely and objectively, and tries to motivate the students, looks for the way to make the class more interesting and thinks what technique or approach is appropriate in teaching reading in his school, particularly in comprehending the English text.

Based on the fact, the students’ reading comprehension quality at SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja is still low, and it needs a solution. To solve the problems, the writer thinks that it is very necessary to change the students’ attitudes and behaviors in teaching and learning process, especially by improving the students’ activeness in reading class. So, in this research the writer does not discuss or talk about the product or result or score. The students’ result of reading comprehension will not be discussed in this research. One of the alternatives the writer chooses is by implementing a certain tehnique, that is a discussion technique. The implementation of this tehnique would be used in a research entitled “ Improving Students’ Activeness in Reading Comprehension through Discussion Tehnique.” ( A Classroom Action Research at Grade 8E of SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja in the  Academic Year 2011/2012). The technique which the writer usually uses in teaching reading before is translating reading clasically and sometimes the writer asks students to translate the reading individually, too. In fact, most of the students look bored and passive in comprehending the texts through translation which is conducted both individually and clasically. It is based on what the teacher (writer) has experienced in teaching reading comprehension in SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja since 1984. It is also proved with the low result of students’ achievement in reading class. That is why the writer would like to implement the discussion technique in teaching reading, because  of feeling not succesful in teaching students, particularly in comprehending the texts.

B.       Reason for Choosing the Topic

The writer chooses discussion technique to improve the students’ activeness in reading comprehension or reading class in the grade 8E of SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja in the academic year 2011/2012 for the following reasons:

1.    Reading is the most important skill that has to be mastered. However, the   students have problems in this skill.

2.    The writer as an English teacher and the two other English teachers as collaborators agree to improve the   students’ activeness in comprehending text through discussion tehnique. The writer expects the discussion technique can improve the students’ activeness in reading class, especially in comprehending English texts or reading comprehension.  

C.      Problems of the Research

The problem of this research can be formulated as follows:

Is discussion tehnique able to improve the students’ activeness of SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja in reading comprehension?

D.      Aims of the Research

Based on the problem formulation above, the aim of this research is to know whether the use of discussion technique can improve the students’ activeness in reading comprehension or not.   

E.       Research Contribution

This Research is expected to give some contribution to students, English teachers, and language researchers. The contribution are as follows:

1.      For students

This researh can hopefully give motivation to the students to be more active in reading English, particularly in comprehending the English texts.

2.      For English teachers

The result of this research hopefully can provide the information to the teachers, that using discussion technique in teaching reading can improve the student’s aactiveness, particularly in comprehending the English texts.

3.      For language researchers

The procedures and outcomes of the research hopefully can inspire other researchers to do research concerned with similar themes.                                                      

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A.      Reading

1.    Definition of Reading

Reading is one of the four language skills besides listening, speaking, and writing. Among them, reading has been decided as the first main goal in language problem. Yet, the four-language skills are closely one another. The definition of reading depends on the theory employed. Principally the definitions of reading are the same. Reading does not mean just looking at words but also more than an interaction between a reader and a text.

Concerning the definition of reading, there are many kinds of ideas. Many linguists view reading as a process. Hornby (1995: 1037) states that the word “reading” as a noun comes from the word “to read” (infinitive verb with to). To read means to look for and to be able to understand something written or printed.

Kustaryo (1988: 2) states that reading is the meaningful interpretation of printed or written symbols. He also states that combination of words recognition; intellect and emotion interrelated with prior knowledge in order to understand the message communicated. (from internet on http://www .mahdum. yolasite.com/ resources/Reading.pdf)  accessed on Friday 14 October 2011). Frederick Cline (July, 2006) stated: “Reading is decoding and understanding written text. Decoding requires translating the symbols of writing systems (including braille) into the spoken words they represent. Understanding is determined by the purposes for reading, the context, the nature of the text, and the readers’ strategies and knowledge.” From internet (http://www.narap.info/ publications/ reports /focusgroup reading.pdf /) accessed on Friday, 14 october 2011. Nuttal (1982: 14) defines reading as the meaningful interpretation of printed or written verbal symbols. It means that reading is a result of interaction between the perception of graphic symbols that represent language and the reader’s language skills, cognitive skills, and the knowledge of the world. In this process, the reader tries to create meanings intended by writer. From internet (http://www.mahdum. yolasite.com/ .pdf/) accessed on Friday 14 October 2011).

From the definitions of reading above, the writer can describe that reading process happens when a writer has messages in her mind, and she wants to share it with the reader. Then the writer writes her messages in a text and communication happens when a reader understands what the writer means through her written text.

That reason of the readers for reading will influence their skills of reading, but those skills are not determined by the text but by the readers’ reasons for reading. The skills of reading are: scanning, that is looking through a text for a particular piece of information; intensive reading, that is reading carefully and slowly perhaps checking back from time to time to know completely; skimming, that is going through the text fairly rapidly for the ‘gist’; and the last is extensive reading, that is relatively rapid of a long text. The effective reader is one who is able to adapt his style to his purpose and does to read everything slowly and intensively.

2.        Definition of Reading Comprehension

There are a lot of reading comprehension definitions, and one of them is proposed by Finochiaro (1986: 77). He said that reading comprehension means understanding information from it as effeciently as possible. There are some steps of reading comprehension such as prior knowledge, reading text, comprehension tasks and language exercise. The first step is prior knowledge which consists of activities aimed to activate the prior knowledge of the students through two methods. Those two methodes are vocabulary preview: the students will try to elicit the meaning of some difficult words before they read the text. The second method is anticipation of context: the students will be given time to anticipate the content of the text based on a given direction. The second step is reading text which consists of a reading passage, which is needed to be read.  The third step is comprehension tasks which consist of three main activities, namely literal level (there are a number of statements which can be found in the text), interpretive level (there are a number of statements, each of them must be an implicit conclusion of the text), and the last level is applied level (there are also some statements, each of them must be an appropriate generalization of the text). The fourth step is language exercise focuses on the reviewing the linguistic device from the text in order to reinforce the students’ comprehension ability.

From those discriptions, the writer concludes that reading comprehension is defined as an ability to comprehend the message from printed or written materials.

3.        The Components of Reading Comprehension

            Before going on to further explanation about reading comprehension, the most important thing that needs to be considered is the components of reading itself. According to Donald, et. all (1987: 31-38), there are six mayor components of reading comprehension, they are: decoding knowledge, vocabulary knowlede, syntactic knowledge, discourse knowledge, readiness aspect and effective aspect. The six components explaned as the following:

a.       Decoding Knowledge

Decoding knowledge is used to determine the oral equivalent of a written word. It is important for comprehension when determining the oral equivalent of a word to help a reader. Decoding is the ability to apply the knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns to correctly pronounce written words. Understanding these relationships gives students the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure out words they haven't seen before. Although students may sometimes figure out some of these relationships on their own, most children benefit from explicit instruction in this area.

b.      Vocabulary Knowledge

The knowledge is what one has about word meaning used to ditermine the the appropriate for a word in a particular context. Vocabulary knowledge is important at all grade levels, but it is particularly important aspect of reading instruction as develop and explore less familiar subjects offers with some what specialized vocabularies.

c.       Syntactic Knowledge

Knowledge of the word order rules determines grammatical function and sometimes the meaning and pronounciation of word. Syntactical knowledge includes understanding word order rules that exist in the sentences.

d.      Discourse Knowledge

Knowledge of language organization at units beyond the single sentence level includes knowledge of the structure organization of different type of writing.

e.       Readiness Aspect

Refering to the different concept, traditionally, reading readiness is the ability of the student to benefit from initial reading instruction. Reading readiness, therefore, may describe instruction designed to assist both preferred and children who have already know how to read, traditional readiness skill are important instruction during kindergarten and beginning of the first grade: recently, reading readiness has wider definition, it includes reading to read and understand a particular selection.

f.       Effectiveness Aspect

Reading comprehension includes both interest and attitude, increases motivation and facilitates reading comprehension. Thus, to facilitate comprehension always makes reading and reading instruction as interesting and enjoyable as possible. Affective aspects are important to consider at age and grade level (Donald, et. all. 1987: 54).

Based on the description above, there are six components of reading that must be achieved by the students, so that the students can be categorized as a comprehensive students in reading.

                     

4.        The Aim of Reading

The main aim of reading is to catch the idea or information in paragraph or text like what has been stated before. Some of other reading aims are: First is reading for details or facts, that is reading to get detail information or fact, for example we want to know some new invest in medical, health, etc. Second is reading for main idea, that is to know the reasons of some activities, idea of human being. Third is reading for squence or organization, that is we read it to know what happen in each part of stories, action, etc. Fourth is reading for inference, that is to find out the conclusion from the action of the idea in the text. Fifth is reading to classify, that is reading to classify some information of action of the writer in the text or paragraph. Sixth is reading to evaluate, that is to evaluate the writer has done or what he tries to explain or contrast. Seventh is reading to compare or contrast, that is the reader compares the plot of story or contents, whether having similarity with himself or contrast. Tarigan (1984: 8) states that reading is complex activity because it depends on the student ability in using a language and their intelectual activity.

5.        Reading Technique

There are some different thoughts in the readers’ mind when they read a text. It happens because the readers might not passively receive the message and they must actively get the meaning. Hornby (1980: 887) defines technique as “method of doing something expertly and well.” In relation to reading technique is the method/ability to read the text expertly and well.

Krashen and Terrel (1980: 134) distinguish at least four types of reading tehniques/skills. They are scanning, skimming, extensive reading, and intensive reading. The description of four techniques is as follows:

a.       scanning is making a quick overview of a passage, looking for specific

information,

b.      skimming uses the same approach, except that instead of concentrating

      on specific information, reader are looking for the main idea or the

      general gist of a passage,

c.       extensive reading, i.e. rapid reading for main ideas of a large amount of text (books, long articles, or essay, etc.). Most extensive reading is performed outside a classroom. Technical, scientific, and personal reading can be extensive when is simply striving for global or general meaning from longer passages, their tendency to understand the world they have not understood and read for understanding/comprehending.

d.      intensive reading is reading for complete comprehending/ understanding of an entire text. Intensive reading calls the students’ attention to grammatical forms, discourse makers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meanings, implications, rethorical relationship and the like.

To have the reading skills as described above, therefore the teacher will activate the students in comprehending the text through discussion technique. In this research, the writer as a teacher activates the students in eight main activities to help them in comprehending the texts. The students’ activeness in eight main activities to comprehend the text through discussion technique is as follows:

a)   active in opening the dictionary to find the meaning of new words in

discussion,

b)    active in comprehending the text in discussion,

c)    active in discussing the text in discussion,

d)   active in asking questions or problems in discussion,

e)    active in responding the others in discussion,

f)     active in answering the reading questions in discussion ,

g)    active in holding up his/her hands to represent his/her group in

 answering the reading questions,

h)    active in doing the instruction and tasks in discussion.

      In this resesearch, the writer as the English teacher in learning and teaching process has an agreement with collaborators to improve the students’ activeness in reading comprehension through discussion technique by activating the students in the eight main activities above.

6.        The Importance of Reading

Reading is very important in a study and society, because there are many books, references, and instruction, which are written in English. So students who have lack of reading skill will have difficulty to understand all references, book etc that are written in English.

“Reading plays a very important role in our life. Through reading we can explore places or countries that have never been visited before, and minds or ideas of great people in the past. By reading, people can enrich their experience and knowledge and broaden their horizon. For the students, reading is something crucial and indispensable  since the success of their study depends on their activeness and ability to read. If their reading is poor, they are very lively to fail in their study or at least they will have difficulty in  making progress. On the other hand, if their reading is good, they will have a better chance to succeed in their study.”

Reading is the main skill to reach a successful study. Students who only confine in what their teacher gives in the class without having an effort to read much reference will not pass and succeed in time

Widyanto (1995: 62) says that there are five points in the importance of reading as way to successful study. The first, reading is the most learning resource. The second, reading is the cheapest learning resource. The third, reading is the easiest learning resource. The fourth, reading is speed learning resource and the last, be up to date to reading comprehension.

As the study which gives English lesson, reading is very important to English as a target language to build vocabulary. It is realized that reading skill or reading activity will open knowledge widely and give more vocabularies and more information.

7.        Reading in Language Learning

The aim of the teaching English is to develop the four language skills. They are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The English teaching learning integrates the four language skills and its emphasizes on the reading skill. There are two different approaches in teaching reading; they are reading for language and reading for purpose. In the first approach the passage is to provide practice in learning certain aspect of language, for example to learn certain items of grammar. The real reason for reading in this view is to learn language. In the second approach, the focus is on reading for purpose. The purpose of reading here are reading for information and reading for interest and pleasure. That’s why in reading comprehension the students must be always active and spiritful in order to succeed in their study.

B.                Discussion

1.    Definition of Discussion

In human being’s life, people sometimes face a difficult problem that they can not overcome with one answer or one day only. It is why they conduct a discussion to find out the best solution. Every teacher has to find out the way to overcome the problem in order that the teaching learning process runs well. The problem doesn’t come from the students and the teacher only, but it also comes from all factors that support or hamper the teaching learning process, such as the class situation, time of learning, teaching tools, and teaching material. Tarmuji et. al. (1982: 70, cited in Yudi Triono 2001: 13) stated that discussion is the scientific deliberation which contains ideas exchange carried out by several persons who gather in the group to find the truth.

According to Hasibuan and Moedjiono (1985: 20), discussion is a process of two or more persons who interacted in verbally about a certain purposes or target by changing the information, defend the ideas, or problem solving. They also state that the discussion technique is more suitable and needed if the teacher wants to.

First, exploiting the various capacities of the students. Second giving chance for the students to channel their capacity. Third getting feedback from the students whether the teaching learning succeeds or not. Fourth helping the students for critical thinking. Fifth helping the students to learn their capacity or participation in the learning process. Sixth helping the students in order that they can formulate the various problems, whether the problems come from their experience or their school lesson.

The discussion technique is the way to present the teaching materials in which the teacher gives chance to the students or the group for a scientific discussion in order to collect an oppinion, take a conclusion or arrange the various alternatives to solve a problem.

Discussion can be applied to students, because it helps the students become more confident and fluent communicators and it makes the students aware of certain communication strategies. Another definition is given by Semiawan at. all. (1985: 76) that discussion is the way to present the teaching material through opinions exchange to solve the problem. This technique also called conference technique includes the activity to develop ideas change between teacher and students and also students to other students.

2.      The Characteristic of Discussion

There are some characteristics of discussion. According to Zuwariyah (2001: 19), there are four characteristics of it. First, discussion is a social activity where several people react to each other. Second, discussion is also a corporate ending without winner or loser unlike the argument or debate, which trick on competition. Third, unlike the free conversation among friend, reason and purpose and focus on an agreed upon-topic can distinguish the discussion. Participants are required to think reflectively and to weigh argument. Fourth, discussion is creative. It is through the participant asking, responding, and reacting to question so that, remarks are shaped and the discussion is created.

Based on descriptions above, the main characteristic of discussion is interaction between two or more persons. Through this kind of discussion, the students will be able to solve the problem that are faced by them.

3.      The Aim of Discussion

When we have been discussing something, we can exchange the idea, opinion, and experience. More than that, discussion gives an extra point to the students who participate actively.

Discussion may happen in formal and informal situation, and both are parts of the teaching learning process. The good discussion does not come from the teacher’s role only but it is more appropriate if it comes from the students. So, the argument and debate can carry out transparently and in free atmosphere. And this experience can develop the students’ hobbies, interest, and creativity.

According to Hartono (1991: 106), there are some aims of discussion technique. The first aims, discussion is to involve the students as a part of the component system. The second aims, discussion is to stimulate and motivate the students. The third aims, discussion is to train the students for critical thinking. The fourth aims, discussion is to develop their team work ability.

The discussion not only helps teach material, but it also develops the thinking process, promotes a positive attitude toward learning, and develops interpersonal skils. Group discussions foster interaction between students whose skill, attitudes, and interest differ, and allow the students to use democratic leadership skills to lead the direction of the discussion and participation. In this manner, discussion helps the students extend their knowledge through higher-level independent throught.

4.      The Advantages and Disadvantages of Discussion

Discussion is very useful technique in learning process. It has many advantages and disadvantages for the students. According to Hartono (1991: 106), there are some advantages and disadvantages of discussion technique written in table, these are:

Table 1

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Discussion

Advantages	Disadvantages
1.    Share ideas and experiences from group 2.    Be able to improve the comprehen- sion of important problems 3.    Allow everyone to participate in an active process 4.    Evectively to convey the information 5.    Train the students for critical thinking 6.    Develop their team work ability 7.    Be able to foster or guide a spirit of cooperation	1.    Not practical with more than 20 students 2.    A few students can domi- nate 3.    Some students may not par- ticipate 4.    It is time consuming 5.    Can get of the track 6.    The members who are quiet, shy, less aggressive often do not get a chance to talk

Discussion is one of the teaching techniques used in communicative language teaching. Discussion is the most easily communicative activity. It is not limited by a special topic, but all topics that are considered it. Discussion is a very effective way to solve the problem. Each person has different problems, not all people can solve the problem that they face. So, discussion is a good technique to solve the problem together.

C.      Teaching Reading Using Discussion Technique

Teaching reading using discussion technique must rely on teaching steps. The steps of using discussion technique for teaching reading below are quoted from Hasibuan and Mudjiono (1985: 23-24),

1.         The teacher proposes the problem/text to be discussed and gives a necessary direction to the students how to solve the problems.

2.         The teacher and the students can determine the main problems together and the problem that will be discussed have to be formulated clearly in order that students can get a good comprehension.

3.         The students led by the teacher make discussion groups, choose the discussion leader (leader, secretary), arrange the seats, the place, etc.

Some criterias to choose discussion leader are that. First, he should master the discussion problem. Second, he should be “authoritative bearing” and his friends like him. Third, he should speak fluently. Fourth, he should be distinct in taking the measures, fair, and democratic.

4.         The students discuss an issue/text in their group while the teacher walks around from one to another group and takes care that each member has active participation. Each of members has exactly known the discussion material and how to discuss. The discussion has to run in the free situation and every member has the same right to speak.

5.         Then, each group has to report their discussion result, and other groups gave reaction, protest, or question.

6.         Finally, the students make a note about the discussion result and the teacher collect the discussion result from each group.

In this research, after the students finish in discussing reading texts, and finish in answering the reading questions, the teacher inquires or asks the reading questions to each of groups which is represented by the leader of group  or by one of his/her friend in his group. After that the teacher asks or inquires the group’s answer to other group, whether the group’s answer which is the result of discussion in his/her group right or not. If the other groups answer “No” or the answer is wrong, so the teacher begs to the vice of one of groups who answer “No” to answer it. The other questions are treated in the same way.

In the last meeting of each cycle, the teacher asks each student to make the text like the model of the text given, that is in the Independent Construction of the Text step. This case is also to know the students’ activeness individually after the teacher implements the discussion technique.

D.      Activeness

1.      Definition of activeness

Teaching and learning process is not only a matter of transmitting knowledge but it is also to do with the activeness of both the teachers and students. According to Hornby (1994: 57), activeness is a trait of being active, moving or acting rapidly and energetically, “the level of activity declines with ages”.

According to Nana Sudjana (2000: 72) suggests that the students’ activeness in following the teaching-learning process can be seen in:
a. taking part in a learning task.
b. involving in problem solving.
c. asking other students or the teacher if he or she does not understand the     faced issues or problems.
d. trying to find a variety of information needed to solve the problem.
e. conducting discussion in groups in accordance with teacher’s guidance.
f. Assess the ability of her/himself and the results obtained.

(From internet :  http://andrianifadly.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/keaktifan-belajar/)  accessed on Saturday, 28 January 2012.

From the definitions above, the writer can conclude that activeness is someone’s action being active to achieve a success. The activeness of learning  is an effort to study actively to achieve the success in studying.

2.      The Activeness in Reading Comprehension

The activeness in reading comprehension is an active effort to be able to understand the messages of the written texts, in order to achieve the success in reading. The teachers have to be responsible to make the students active in class. To make the students active in the class the teacher must have some keys to succeed the learning for the students. 

There are some keys to make the students active in class. First, teacher must be creative, invent new stategies and adapt existing one to our needs. Second, teacher develops a plan for an active learning activity in class, try it out, collect feed back, then modify and try it again. Third, start from the first day of class with it. Students will come to expect active learning and perform better. Forth, be explicit with students about why we are doing this and what we know about learning process. Fifth, request students vary their seating arrangements to increase their changes to work with different people. Have students occasionally pair up the students behind them, since friends often sit side by side.

Hopefully, through those activities, students can improve their activeness in teaching and learning process, particularly in reading comprehension. So that, class environment will be better and more attractive.

E.       Basic Assumption

Discussion technique is one way that can simulate students’ activeness and cooperation in reading activity in class, especially in comprehending the English texts. By conducting discussion technique, the students can share their experiences or opinions with their friends in their group. They can give experience, input, information, message or opinion one another which they  don’t know before.

Hopefully through applying discussion technique in teaching reading, the students’ activeness  to comprehend the texts will improve, so the the problems faced by the teacher in reading activities can be solved.

 

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

A.      Type of the Research

Type of the research the writer uses in this research is Classroom Action Reasearch (CAR). Rochiati Wiraatmaja stated, “Classroom action research is how a group of teachers can organize the condition of teaching and learning process from their own experiences, and try the improvement of idea in their learning and teaching, and see the real effect of the effort” (Asep Yoni, S.S, et. al.: 2010: 165-165)

B.       Subject of the Research

The subject of this reasearh is the students of Class 8E of SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja in academic year 2011/2012. There are forty students of calss 8E. It consists of twenty boys and twenty girls. All the students of this class would be the subjects of this research. The students of class 8F are the most passive among the students of the eighth grade, especially in reading lesson and in comprehending the text.

C.      Place and Time of Research

This study would be held in Januari 2012 at the second semester at class 8E of SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja in the academic year 2011/2012. The writer chooses this school because the writer has been teaching there since 1984, so the writer has been familiar with this school. The table below discusses about the writer’s activities in doing this research.

 

Table 2

 The Activities and Time Allocation of Research

No	Activities	Months (2011-2012)
		Septem- ber				October				Novem- ber				Decem- ber				January				Februa- ry
		1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4
1	Observation
2	Making Proposal
3	Making Instrument
4	Seminar of Thesis Proposal
5	Cycle 1
6	Cycle 2
7	Making Report
8	Thesis Examination

In this research the writer will take two cycles, and each cycle consists of two actions (meeting).

Table 3

The Schedule of the Research

CYCLE I
The Meeting	The month’s Name	The days’  Names	Date	Period	Time
1	January	Tuesday	10	6-7	2 x 40’
2	January	Thursday	12	5-6	2 x 40’

Table 4

The Schedule of the Research

CYCLE II
The Meeting	The month’s Name	The days’  Names	Date	Period	Time
1	January	Tuesday	17	6-7	2 x 40
2	January	Thursday	19	5-6	2 x 40

D.      Design of the Research

This research is conducted on the basic of classroom action research procedure. It is concerned with the improvement of students through action which would be given

. Here the writer uses the research design the Spiral model by Kemmis and McTaggart (1988: 48). The main concept of the action research of spiral model by Kemmis and McTaggart consists of four components, they are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. This four phases are considered one cycle. After finishing one cycle, it was continued by the second one.

This aim of this research is improving students’ activeness in reading class especially in comprehending the English text using discussion technique. There are two cyclus, and each cycles consists of two meetings.

The action research cycles can be drawn as follows:

Figur 3.1

The Cycles of the Action Research

1.        Planning

In order to get the optimal result to solve the problems, the writer tries to make a plan in the cycles based on the problems that are faced by the students in reading class especially in comprehending the text in the classroom. Here, the writer exposed the plans for the research as follows:

a.       preparing and selecting the materials

b.      making the lesson plans which woud be taught to the students using discussion technique,  and designing the steps in doing the action

c.       preparing teaching aids/media

d.      preparing observation instruments that would be brought into classroom and used to know the situation of teaching and learning process when the method is applied, and to know whether the students’ activeness in reading class especially in comprehending the English text using the discussion technique is improving well or not

2.        Acting

The activity is done based on the planned material, lesson plan and planned steps. The steps in action: when the problems are found in action one (cycle I), the problem must be solved in action two (cycle II). While in teaching learning process, the researcher presents to monitor and evaluate the process and observe whether the teaching learning process is done as it is planned. Observation is very important to do, because it is done to know the student’s improvement in learning. Observation is done during the implementation of the action while the students are doing the activities.

3.      Observing

Meanwhile the writer as a teacher does the actions, the  collaborators observe the process during the lesson. The writer whenever as a teacher or observer keeps on making records or notes of process by making field notes. Moreover, the observers/collaborators are surely having observation checklists on their hands to be filled up during the process.

4.    Reflecting

It is the last step. All the actions are evaluated and reflected in the end of each cycle. The writer as a teacher and the collaborators try to analyze the result of the observation and questionnaire to know the effect of using discussion technique in reading class especially in comprehending the English text. In this step, the researcher evaluates the teaching based on the data in interview, the observation during the class, the questionnaire and field notes. The reflecting can be in the format of progress or improvement, weakness, etc during the teaching process. The result of reflection is considered to do in the next cycle. This research has two cycles. Having done the reflection, next, the researcher revised the plan that has been implemented before. The revised planing is used to conduct the action in the cycle II, and the reflection at the second cycle is used to compare the result of cycle I with the cycle II, whether there is students’ activeness improvement during learning and teaching process or not. If there is no students’ activeness improvement, so the second cycle can be repeated once more.

E.       Instrument of Collecting Data

Instrument is used to collect data in the  research. According to Arikunto, S. (1998: 37) there are many kinds of instruments such as test, questioner, interview, observation, rating, scale and documentation.

Instrument for collecting data aims to support the success of the research. It helps the reseacher to get the data and the information about the process of students’ activeness improvement in reading class especially in comprehending reading through discussion technique more early.

In conducting the research, the writer use some instruments for collecting data. The data of the research would be collected from observation sheet, interview, questionnaire, and field note or informal note. The description is as follows:

1.    Observation

The observation used in this reasearch is to see the process by eyes observation. The writer used observation because he wants to know the students’ activeness during teaching and learning process, in the reading lesson especially in comprehending the English text through discussion technique.

On the observation, the writer provides the observation lists as the instrument for collecting data. There are two kinds of observation checklists. Those are provided for observing the students’ activities and also the teacher’s activities during the teaching reading process using discussion technique. In this case, the result percentage of the students’ activeness the writer used is the individual activeness, although the learning process is done in groups.  To know the qualivication of class’ activeness percentage, the writer uses formula as follows:

   

Information:

P = percentage, that is students’ activeness percentage

F = the students’ achievement score of each indicator

N = number of all students in class

2.    Interview

John (1970: 181) states that through interview technique, the reseacher may stimulate the subject to get  a greater insight into his own experiences and there by exploring significant areas, not anticipated in the original plan of investigation.

In this study the interview is done to collect data by asking questions to the collaborators who helps in observation during learning and teaching process in reading class especially in comprehending the text through discussion technique. The interview with collaborators is done after doing learning and teaching process in the cycle 1 and cycle 2.

The interview with collaborators is to ask about the merit and lack of the teacher in teaching reading comprehendsion using discussion technique. By knowing the lack, the writer as a teacher can make improvement in the next meeting in teaching.

3.    Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a number of written questions which is used to gain information from respondents about their knowledge, belief, etc. ( Suharsimi Arikunto in Asep Yoni, S.S, at.al: 2006: 174).

In this research, the writer as a teacher uses the questionnaire to know the students’ responses by giving questions to the students related with the English teaching and learning process, especially in reading class using the discussion technique. It is given at the last of cycle I and II, and in this case the writer uses the closed questionnaire.

The result percentage of the students’ responses the writer uses is the individual responses, although the learning process is done in groups.  To know the qualivication of class’ responses percentage, the writer uses formula as follows:

   

Information:

P = percentage, that is students’ responses percentage

F = the students’ achievement score of each indicator

      (number of students who answer Y/N in each indicator)

N = number of all students in class

4.    Field notes

 Informal notes are written by the writer. He makes field note  described as follows:

a.    The Students

This part is made to know what the students do before the lesson and during the teaching learning process.

b.    The Teacher

It is aimed to make notes what the teacher as the reseacher does during the teching learning process.

c.    The Discussion Technique

At this part, the notes are made to know whether the technique works or not in the teaching process. It is also made to know the students’ activeness in reading comprehension through the discussion technique, by means to know the failure and successes of the technique, the effect of the technique in the students’ behaviour and development.

d.   The Class

The general situation in the classroom when the discussion technique is applied to improve the students’ activeness in reading comprehension.

F.       Technique of Analyzing Data

The data of observation and questionnaire result in this research can be seen from the score result on the sheet of observation and questionnaire used. The percentage of score achievement on the sheet of observation and questionnaire is accumulated to determine the improvement of students’ activeness in learning and teaching process, particularly in reading class through discussion technique in each cycle. The percentage is gained from the average of students’ activeness percentage every meeting in each cycle.

To calculate the result of the students’ activeness observation data and the questionnaire, the writer used the class percentage. The formula is as follows:

 

Information:

P= the percentage of observation or questionnaire score

F= number of student’s activeness or responses score in each indicator

N= number of all students in class

Table 5

The Qualification of the Students’ Activeness and Respond Percentage

for Each Indicator

PERCENTAGE	CRITERIA
90% - 100%	Excellen
80% - 89%	Good
70 % - 79%	Fair
0% - 69%	Poor

G.      Criteria of Action Success

According to Sumarno in Sukidin et.al (2002: 141) in the evaluation, the criteria have a function as the standard of comparison to determine the level of the action success based on the consideration that has been agreed by the teacher as a reseacher and collaborators who helps the teacher to observe the action.

In this research, the teacher and the collaborators determine criteria of successful action. The action’s success is based on observation , questionnaire and interview. If the observation result shows 60% of the students’ activeness  in teaching and learning proccess, the questionnaire shows 60% of students state “Yes” toward the learning style and interview result shows the students give positive response or argument of their feeling in joining the lesson using discussion technique, this research was regarded success by the writer and collaborators, and the action would be stopped.

CHAPTER IV

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A.      Result of the Research

This research got the success in improving the students’ activeness in reading comprehension through discussion technique at grade 8F of SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja at basic competence “Responding the meaning and rhetorical steps in a simple short essay accurately, fluently and acceptable  related with the environment in the form of descriptive text and recount”.

In every action of the learning process, the teacher used the instructional media in the form of a laptop, LCD and other teaching aids, such as dictionaries and other supporting tools. Based on the research conducted, the writer tried to concluded the result of the research. The search result was got from the score result on the sheet of observation and questionnaire used. The percentage of score achievement on the sheet of the students’ activities observation was used to determine the improvement of students’ activeness in teaching and learning process, particularly in reading class through discussion technique in each cycle, and the percentage of the questionnaire was used to strengthen the result of the percentage of score achievement on the sheet of the students’ activities observation. While the observation list of the teacher’s activities was used to know and analize the teacher’s lacks in teaching and learning process.

B.       Discussion

The  action research was conducted in two cycles. It began from  10 February  2012 to 19 February 2012. The result of the research is as follows:

1.    Cycle 1

In Cycle 1, the action of the learning process ran well. The rate of the average of students’ activeness percentage is  55.16%. It  indicates that the students’ activeness is good and appropriate with the teacher’s expectation. The achievement result of each indicator of students’ activeness can as well as be seen from the tabel below:

Table 4.1

The Result of the Observation List of Students’ Activeness for Each Indicator at Cycle 1

No	Indicator	Percentage
		Action 1	Action 2
1	active in opening the dictionary to find the meaning of new words found in the text in discussion	50 %	45 %
2	active in comprehending every phrase, sentence and paragraph in discussion	57.5 %	60 %
3	active in focussing or concentrating his/her mind to comprehend the text in discussion	57.5 %	67.5 %
4	active in finding problems or difficulties in the text in discussion	32.5 %	52.5 %
5	active in responding both questions and opinions from others in discussion	60 %	55 %

6	active in finding the right answers in answering the reading questions through discussion	62.5 %	70 %
7	active in holding up his/her hands to represent his/her group in answering the reading questions	45 %	40 %
8	active in doing the instruction and tasks given by the teacher through discussion	62.5 %	65 %
Average in each action		53.44 %	56.88 %
Average in Cycle 1		55.16 %
Improvement		3.44 %

From the tabel above, it can be known that the percentage of students’ activeness in opening the dictionary to find the new words from the text is low. Even the activeness of opening the dictionary in Action 2 is lower than in Action 1. In reality, the teacher still found one or two students who did not bring dictionaries in every group. This caused some students not active  and unable to find the meaning of new words in the text. In this case some students became not active in comprehending the text. It can be seen in the indicator of the students’ activeness in opening the dictionary to find the meaning of new words found in the text in discussion in which the percentage shows 50% in Action 1, and 45% in Action 2. This case had to need more attention from the teacher in the learning process in the next cycle. The teacher was necessary to give pressure to the students so that they all brought dictionaries in English teaching and learning activities.

In Action 1 at Cycle 1, the teacher also found some students who were confused to find the difficulties or problems which would be discussed in discussion, especially for the students who did not bring dictionaries. This case can be known from the students’ activeness in finding problems or difficulties in the text in discussion, those are 32.5%  in Action 1, and 52.5% in Action 2. This case as well as needed more attention from the teacher in the next cycle. The teacher needed to involve himself to help students. He needed to ask the students the problems and difficulties they faced, and tried to help to resolve the problem, such as in translating the phrases, in comprehending the sentences or others.

The problems of not bringing dictionaries and not being able to find the problems for the students in reading comprehension in discussion caused them afaraid to hold up their hands to represent their groups in answering the reading questions. That’s why, in this cycle the average result of students’ activeness in holding up his/her hands to represent his/her group in answering the reading questions is low, those are 45% in Action 1, and 40% in Action 2. This case needed more attention from the teacher in the learning process in the next cycle. The teacher also needed to grow the students’ courage, especially in expressing their ideas and the result of their discussion.

From the data above, it can be known there were some students not active in the learning process in Cycle 1. It happened because of two factors, from the students themselves and the limitation of the teacher’s capability. However the teacher tried to find the resolution to improve the students’ activeness in reading comprehension through discussion technique in the next cycle.

The teacher’s lacks or weakness in the learning process conducted can be seen on tabel as follows:

Table 4.2

The Result of the Observation List of Teacher’s Activeness at Cycle 1

No	Indicator	Category
		Action 1	Action 2
1	Explaining the rules of discussion before the teaching and learning process	Fair	Fair
2	Following the group discussion and helping students to resolve the problem	Excellent	Good
3	Writing the purpose of  teaching and learning process on the board	Excellent	Good
4	Giving questions to the students individually and in group	Good	Good
5	Giving chance or occasion to other group, if there is student’s answer which has not been right yet	Good	Good
6	Giving praise as reward to the students who answer right	Good	Good
7	Using media or teaching aid  to help students easier in understanding the material	Fair	Fair

From the tabel above, it it can be known that there are two prominent lacks from the teacher in the learning process. First is the teacher’ lack in explaining the rules of discussion before teaching and learning process both in Action 1 and Action 2. The second is the teacher’s weakness in using the media or teaching aid. In this case the teacher used lap top and LCD in presenting the reading materials. The teacher did not use the media well. Therefore the use of media in the students’ learning needed more attention from the teacher to improve the students’ activeness in teaching reading comprehension through discussion technique in the next cycle, especially to help the students in order to be easier in comprehending the text.

2.    Cycle 2

In the Cycle 2, the action began from riminding students about the rules which must be done by them in discussion. In this case the teacher emphasized or stressed highly about everything which should be done by the students during the learning process, especially in discussion. It was meant to activate students in discussing the materials and problem maximally and  avoided the things which were not desirable. The process of further action was in accordance with the lesson plans.

The result of the observation list of students’ activities in the Cycle 2 was 70.16% indicated that the students’ activeness was good, and the result was better than in the Cycle 1. It proved that the students’ activeness in reading comprehension through discussion the teacher used improved. It means that using discussion technique in teaching and learning process can improve the students’ activeness in reading comprehension. It was strengthened with the the result of the questioner which showed the rate 70.94%. The result indicated that there was an enhancement in the Cycle 2. It was showed by the result of the observation list of students’ activities for each indicator as follows:

Table 4.3

The Result of the Observation List of Students’ Activeness for Each  Indicator at Cycle 2

No	Indicator	Percentage
		Action 1	Action 2
1	active in opening the dictionary to find the meaning of new words found in the text in discussion	60 %	62.5 %
2	active in comprehending every phrase, sentence and paragraph in discussion	70 %	70 %
3	active in focussing or concentrating his/her mind to comprehend the text in discussion	82.5 %	82.5 %
4	active in finding difficulties in the text in discussion	52.5 %	65 %
5	active in responding both questions and opinions from others in discussion	67.5 %	70 %
6	active in finding the right answers in answering the reading questions through discussion	80 %	82.5 %
7	active in holding up his/her hands to represent his/her group in answering the reading questions	60 %	62.5 %
8	active in doing the instruction and tasks given by the teacher through discussion	75 %	80 %
Average in each action		68.44 %	71.88 %
Average in Cycle 2		70.16 %
Improvement		3.44 %

  From the data above, it can be known that there was an enhancement/improvement of the students’ activeness in reading comprehension through discussion technique when it was compared with the students’ actveness in the Cycle 1. The students’ ativeness in Action 1 at Cycle 2 was good in general, but the activeness in Action 2 was better than in Action 1. It was shown by the percentage of the students’ activeness at every indicator in Cycle 2 showed higher than in Cycle 1. However, there were still some lacks or weakness in the learning process done by the teacher. It can be seen in the tabel of the result of the observation list of teacher’s activities as follows:

Table 4.4

The Result of the Observation List of Teacher’s Activities at Cycle 2

No	Indicator	Category
		Action 1	Action 2
1	Explaining the rules of discussion before the teaching and learning process	Good	Good
2	Following the group discussion and helping students to resolve the problem	Excellent	Excellent
3	Writing the purpose of  teaching and learning process on the board	Excellent	Good
4	Giving questions to the students individually and in group	Excellent	Excellent
5	Giving chance or occasion to other group, if there is student’s answer which has not been right yet	Excellent	Good
6	Giving praise as reward to the students who answer right	Good	Good
7	Using media or teaching aid  to help students easier in understanding the material	Good	Fair

The observation list of the teacher’s activities conducted by the two collaborators above is to know and analize the teacher’s lacks or weakness in teaching and learning process. Having seen the tabel or the observation list of the teacher’s activities, it can be known that the teacher’s  skill in teaching reading comprehension had still weaknesses both in Action 1 and Action 2. First, in explaing the rules of discussion before the teaching and learning process to improve the students’ activeness. In this case the teacher was necessary to explain the rules of discussion more detailed and clearly to make students more active in comprehending the text. The second teacher’s weakness was in giving praise as reward to the students who answer right. In this case the teacher was necessary to give more praises to the students although he conducted effort and improvement in his teaching’s skill. The third was the teacher’s weakness in using the teaching and learning media. The use of the teaching media in the form of  laptop and LCD used by the teacher, it was not been able to give the good effect in reading class. Therefore the teacher is necessary to use the media well, and as maximal as possible in teaching reading comprehension to improve the students’ activeness in the learning process, so that they have good skills in the reading learning.

However, the teacher’s skill in Cycle 2 had improvement  highly, that was when it was compared with the teacher’s skill in teaching reading comprehension through discussion technique in Cycle 1.

Based on the analysis above, it can be concluded that accompanion result of the classroom action research observation was able to increase the absorption and exhaustiveness of the students’ learning.

The complete result of observation of Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 can be seen in following table:

Table 4.5

The Result of the Observation List of Students’ Activeness

at Cycle 1 and Cycle 2

	Cycle 1		Cycle 2
	Action 1	Action 2	Action 1	Action2
Mean	53.44 %	56.88 %	68.44 %	71.88 %
Average	55.16 %		70.16 %
Improvement	15 %

Based on the result above, it can be seen that the percentage of the students’ activeness in Cycle 2 was compared by the students’ activeness in Cycle 1 improved. It was strengthened by the result of the questionnaire in which the percentage shows 70.94% in Cycle 2. This research got success based on target. The writter felt satisfy and decided to stop the action in the classroom action research because discussion technique was able to improve the students’ activeness in reading in teaching and learning process.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A.    Conclusion

After conducting the Classroom Action Research, it can be concluded as follows:

1.      The implementation of discussion technique can improve the students’ activeness in reading comprehension.

2.      The implementation of discussion technique at the students of grade 8F of SMP Negeri 1 Wanareja at semester in the year 2011 can make the student happy in receiving the lesson.

3.       The implementation of discussion technique in class reading, especially in comprehending the text can make students’ mind  relaxed in thinking and not depressed

4.      The implementation of discussion technique can make students solve the problems they face in reading comprehension.

It can be seen from the result of the students’ activeness observation in every cycle. The result of the observation list of students’ activeness at Cycle 1 is 55.16% and at Cycle 2 is 70.16%. It means that there was improvement 15% in Cycle 2.

B.     Suggestions

Related with the result of the action conducted, therefore in the conclusion of this research, there are some suggestions addressed to the following groups:

1.        The Headmaster

He is expected to complete the facilities needed, and he also expected to control the teaching and learning activities.

2.        The Teacher

In this case is the English teacher. He is expected to use the the best tecnique in carrying out in the teaching activities.

3.        The Students

They are expected to study hard and implement the discussion technique in comprehending the English texts to help them in the effort of achieving the reading comprehension skills, by having more exercises, or by reading the intensive and extensive reading.

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