48 doing dialogue among the researcher, the English teacher, and the students to
improve the next actions. The dialogic validity was used to look for the success and weakness in the research.
In checking the validity and reliability of the data, the researcher used triangulation. The aim of triangulation was to gather multiple perspectives on
the situation being studied. In this study, the researcher used time triangulation, space triangulation, and investigator triangulation.
a. Time triangulation: it is used to check the validity of the data which is
related to the changes of the processes and behaviors. That is why the implementation of the action is not only done in one cycle as the
processes and the students‘ behaviors may change from time to time. b.
Space triangulation: the researcher had invited the students, the English teacher, and her colleague as collaborator to participate in this
study in order to ensure that the data were collected across different subgroups of people.
c. Investigator triangulation: three observers were involved in this
research. Those were the researcher herself, her colleague and the English teacher as the collaborators. This helped to avoid observer bias
and provided checks on the reliability of the observations.
G. Research Procedures
To carry out the study, the researcher used the action research procedures suggested by Burns 1999: 161-162. The procedures consisted of
the following steps.
49 1.
Reconnaissance Reconnaissance is used in the classroom to get information and
description of students‘ reading comprehension in English language processes. In reference to the data of observation and interview, the researcher
and the English teacher identified the existing problems related to students‘ reading comprehension and selected the feasible problems which were
possible to be solved. 2.
Planning In this step, the researcher worked together with the English teacher to
plan some actions to be done in English teaching and learning process based on the problems defined in the previous step. The aim of the actions was to
improve the students‘ reading comprehension by using Schema Activation Strategy. The actions planned to be carried out were presented below.
The first was writing the items that were tested in the pre-test and post- test. In this action, the researcher formulated the test items taken from several
resources such as the students‘ worksheet, the examination tryout, and some coursebooks.
The second was determining the topic of the text to be taught. Here, the researcher presented the topic of animals and public figures for descriptive
test. For recount text, the researcher presented such topics as holidays at interesting places and health problem. Besides, the researcher also prepared
the media used in the teaching and learning process such as pictures and power point presentation.
50 The last was determining the activities. In this step, the researcher
planned some interesting activities which could encourage the students to use their ability in comprehending the reading texts. In planning the actions, the
researcher worked together with the English teacher. 3.
Action and Observation In this step, the researcher did the actions that had been planned in the
previous step Kemmis McTaggart in Burns 2010: 8. The actions were done in five meetings; three meetings for Cycle I and two meetings for Cycle
II. After planning the action, the researcher and the English teacher carried out the act in the classroom.
While the researcher did the actions, her collaborators took notes of the class to observe the students‘ behaviors during the activities. The
collaborators used a checklist to observe and evaluate the events in the classroom. It was done to find problems during the class and see how effective
the actions were. 4.
Reflection With regard to the implementation processes, the team members
evaluated the result of the implementation. It was done by discussing the success of the action as problems happening in the classroom during the act
based on the observation and interview.
