INCREASING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH SCANNING AND SKIMMING TECHNIQUE AT GRADE VIII OF SMP NEGERI 8 BANDARLAMPUNG, 2009

ABSTRACT

INCREASING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH SCANNING AND SKIMMING TECHNIQUE AT GRADE VIII OF

SMP NEGERI 8 BANDARLAMPUNG, 2009

By IIS SUGIANTI

This research is conducted at the second year of SMPN 8 Bandar Lampung. One of the objectives of teaching reading to the students is that the students are able to comprehend the content of the text given. The study investigates the use of scanning and skimming technique in increasing students reading comprehension achievement especially in identifying specific information. In the process, the students do some tasks that are given such as: finding certain information and main ideas from the texts and gathering the general description from the content of the texts.

The objective of this research is to find out whether or not; scanning and skimming technique can be used to increase students’ reading comprehension achievement significantly. The study applied one group pretest posttest design. The students were given four treatments. As the instrument, the researcher used objective reading test, that is, multiple choice test that was administered in both pretest and posttest.

Repeated Measures t-test was used to analyze the data and the hypothesis testing was computed using SPSS version 15.0 at the level significant of .05. Based on the calculation of t-test, the result shows that there is significant increase on students’ reading comprehension after being taught through scanning and skimming technique (p<.05, p=.000), which can be seen from the mean score of the pretest 53.00 to posttest 72.67 with the increase of 20.67. It indicates that scanning technique could be used to increase students’ reading comprehension in identifying the specific information significantly. However, it is recommended that the teacher should clearly explain about the types of the text to the students.

V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions

Based on the results of the data analysis, the following conclusion can be drawn: 1. In teaching reading comprehension through scanning and skimmimg

technique, the students’ reading ability in identifying the specific

information increases. It is proved by the evidence on the gain score and computation of matched t-test. The mean score of posttest is higher than the mean score of pretest. That is, students’ mean score of the pretest is 53.00 , while the students’ mean score for posttest is 73.67. The gain score between the mean of pretest and posttest is 20.67. T-value is 16.673 which is higher than T-table (16.673>1.699) at the level of significance .01 (α>.01; α=.000). Hence, scanning and skimming technique can be used to help the students increase their reading comprehension in identifying the specific information significantly.

2. The use of authentic texts in this research is proved to give positive effects towards students’ reading. It gives the students more real language, because the students can apply the reading technique with their experience

in daily life. It can be seen from each meeting that the students were enthusiastic in following the teaching learning process and it can be proved by the scores of each evaluation that their score always increase from 30 for the lowest to 85 for the highest.

3. The students in the class seems to be more active and more lively in the process of teaching learning by using scanning technique.

B. Suggestions

Based on the conclusions above, some suggestions are proposed as follows: 1. In teaching reading through scanning and skimming technique, the teachers

should explain the types of the texts that are going to be presented especially monolog and functional texts suitable for Junior High School students. 2. The teachers have to select the level of difficulty and the themes of the texts. It has to be suitable for the ability and competence of Junior High School Students.

3. In the classroom activities, the teachers should be wise and careful. The students should be trained in the procedures of scanning and skimming technique well and be familiar with the texts.

4. In testing the students’ reading ability in identifying the specific

information, it will be better for the next researchers to enrich the types of students’ assessments, not only by using the multiple choices test, but also the close tests, in order to make the test more various and really measure students’ ability.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Background

Reading involves two skills, i.e. receptive and active skills. First, receptive skill refers to the fact that readers have to infer meaning, using their knowledge of the world. “Receptive” means that the reader receives input from a writer. The readers rarely have the opportunity to question the author about what he or she really had in mind when writing a text. The readers are not actually producing anything quite in the same way as the writers. Secondly, reading as an active skill, which the readers interact with the text and to some extent with the writer. It means if a reader finds a reading passage interesting, his/her mind is fully engaged in trying to understand the reading material. In short, reading includes two

process, those are receiving messages and information from the writer and interacting with the texts by trying to understand the text.

There are some factors that influence reading; among of them are reading

materials, reading techniques, and schemata. Reading materials refer to the written things to be read, e.g. short articles, brochure, advertisement, and schedule.

Reading techniques refer to the way we use in reading, e.g. scanning, skimming, and mapping. Schemata refer to the readers’ background knowledge and the

previously acquired knowledge to understand the reading topic (Carrel, in Simanjuntak, 1988:4), e.g. students’ thought when they read a title of a text. The three techniques depend on each other and affect the process in achieving reading.

Reading always has a purpose. It is something that we do everyday, it is an integral part of our daily lives, taken very much for granted and generally assumed to be something that everyone can do. The reason for reading depends very much on the purpose for reading. Such as reading an advertisement (e.g. job vacancy), we want to know and get the information about a job. To be able to read effectively and

efficiently, readers should have particular purpose in their mind before they interact with the texts. For that reason, they know what they have to do with the text based on their reading purpose.

The aim of reading in 2006 Curriculum, the students are able to understand

monologue and functional texts. Monologue text is a text that should be mastered and known by the students of Junior High School. It can be in forms of short article, narrative text, recount text, procedure text, descriptive text and report text while functional text is a text used for everyday information. It is called functional because it helps the reader function in day-to-day life, it can be in form of invitation card, TV schedule, advertisement, a memo and a pamphlet notifying the public of grand opening. The texts contain a lot of specific information (date, name, amount, time, etc.). Students’ of Junior High School have to interact with types of texts while they do not know what have to do with the texts. It is difficult for them to answer the question from the text. It was found and observed by the researcher when she had her teaching practice at SMPN 8 Bandar Lampung from January, 5th to April, 8th, 2009.

This problem rises because they can not match and fit the technique with the texts. When they want to identify the specific information in a text, they read the whole text. Finally, they are confused to identify the information in the text.

The students (especially Junior High School) do not realize the appropriate techniques of reading which are needed to be applied in various types of text they interact. During reading process, they only apply the same technique for all types of reading texts. The result is that they fully understand the main idea of their reading text. The goals and purposes of their reading are not achieved. The Junior High School students are still difficult to get the information in the text i.e. the main idea or the specific information. For example, the students have to identify the specific information in a text quickly; they always read the whole passage words per words. It is ineffective and inefficient, since they do not know and apply the appropriate technique for this purpose. What they have to do is fit the technique of reading with the type of text they read. In addition, to be efficient and effective readers, the students must realize that different texts need different techniques.

It is stated in Yamin (2003: 24) in his previous research at SMP Muhamadiyah Metro that the students are still confused in scanning technique process especially for the students who had low ability in English, since the procedures in scanning and skimming are not clearly explained in the teaching learning process. In addition, the teachers do not use the authentic materials and only adopt the course book. It causes the students do not realize and understand how to apply reading technique. Tania (2005:28) who has conducted a research at SMUN 10 Bandar

Lampung says that there are still some reasons to believe that factors that caused low comprehension are: (1) Sentence length; (2) Vocabulary; (3) Ideas and concept of the text. A research which is used scanning technique should consider students’ comprehension not only their reading speed.

From the problems that have been investigated by the previous studies, the researcher tried to apply scanning and skimming technique in reading as a

technique for the Junior High School students. This technique helps student locate information quickly. The reader must know how information is arranged in a reading and how a text is organized as in Ghani’s study (1993: 1) that scanning is a type of reading that involves finding a particular piece of information located in materials that are otherwise of no interest to the reader. It is considered since Junior High School students have monologue and functional texts as their reading material stated in 2006 Curriculum . This research also used authentic texts as reading materials in order to make the students familiar with the texts they will find in their daily life. In applying the authentic texts the researcher gives and selects some materials that are still related to 2006 Curriculum during the treatments.

Junior High School students read various types of texts in their activities, both in their school and in their daily life. They should be familiar with the techniques of reading, such as scanning, skimming and mapping. When they want to identify the specific information in a text, they should use scanning technique as their technique in reading. The types of text that junior high school students find as their reading include monologue/essay e.g. descriptive, recount, procedure, narrative, report texts and functional texts e.g. advertisement, brochure, schedule, message, notice, personal

letters, invitation (Depdiknas, 2006). The teacher should know the reading techniques for various types of texts appropriately in order to increase her/his students’ reading ability.

In this case, the researcher proposed that a possible technique was considered to be applied in various types of texts for Junior High School students’ reading. Scanning and skimming as a technique in reading was useful to be used to identify the specific information in various types of texts for junior high school students. Thus, the students can apply the technique in their reading texts appropriately.

B. Formulation of the Problem

According to the background above, the writer has a question as the main problem of the research was :

Is there significant increaseof students’ reading comprehension achievement in

identifying the specific information after being taught through scanning and skimming technique ?

C. Objective of the Research

In relation to the problem sated previously, the writer’s objective is to find out whether there is significant increase of students’ reading comprehension achievement in identifying the specific information after being taught trough scanning and skimming technique.

D. Uses of the Research

1. Theoretically, the result of this research is expected to confirm the previous theories of teaching reading by using scanning and skimming technique.

2. Practically, the result gives information to the English teachers especially in Junior High School, that Scanning and Skimming technique is needed to increase students’ reading comprehension

F. Scope of the Research

This research is developed to increase the reading comprehension of 2nd grade Junior High School students at SMP Negeri 8 Bandar Lampung. The texts used for scanning and skimming technique in this research are functional and

monologue texts because these texts are learnt by Junior High School students based on 2006 Curriculum . Scanning and skimming technique is used for

identifying the specific information within the texts. The materials are taken from various types of reading materials and sources e.g. English magazines, newspaper, students’ textbooks in form of advertisement and schedule (functional texts), and short articles (monologue/essay texts), and the test is given in form of multiple choice of 20 items for both pretest and post test.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Background

Reading involves two skills, i.e. receptive and active skills. First, receptive skill refers to the fact that readers have to infer meaning, using their knowledge of the world. “Receptive” means that the reader receives input from a writer. The readers rarely have the opportunity to question the author about what he or she really had in mind when writing a text. The readers are not actually producing anything quite in the same way as the writers. Secondly, reading as an active skill, which the readers interact with the text and to some extent with the writer. It means if a reader finds a reading passage interesting, his/her mind is fully engaged in trying to understand the reading material. In short, reading includes two

process, those are receiving messages and information from the writer and interacting with the texts by trying to understand the text.

There are some factors that influence reading; among of them are reading

materials, reading techniques, and schemata. Reading materials refer to the written things to be read, e.g. short articles, brochure, advertisement, and schedule.

Reading techniques refer to the way we use in reading, e.g. scanning, skimming, and mapping. Schemata refer to the readers’ background knowledge and the

previously acquired knowledge to understand the reading topic (Carrel, in Simanjuntak, 1988:4), e.g. students’ thought when they read a title of a text. The three techniques depend on each other and affect the process in achieving reading.

Reading always has a purpose. It is something that we do everyday, it is an integral part of our daily lives, taken very much for granted and generally assumed to be something that everyone can do. The reason for reading depends very much on the purpose for reading. Such as reading an advertisement (e.g. job vacancy), we want to know and get the information about a job. To be able to read effectively and

efficiently, readers should have particular purpose in their mind before they interact with the texts. For that reason, they know what they have to do with the text based on their reading purpose.

The aim of reading in 2006 Curriculum, the students are able to understand

monologue and functional texts. Monologue text is a text that should be mastered and known by the students of Junior High School. It can be in forms of short article, narrative text, recount text, procedure text, descriptive text and report text while functional text is a text used for everyday information. It is called functional because it helps the reader function in day-to-day life, it can be in form of invitation card, TV schedule, advertisement, a memo and a pamphlet notifying the public of grand opening. The texts contain a lot of specific information (date, name, amount, time, etc.). Students’ of Junior High School have to interact with types of texts while they do not know what have to do with the texts. It is difficult for them to answer the question from the text. It was found and observed by the researcher when she had her teaching practice at SMPN 8 Bandar Lampung from January, 5th to April, 8th, 2009.

This problem rises because they can not match and fit the technique with the texts. When they want to identify the specific information in a text, they read the whole text. Finally, they are confused to identify the information in the text.

The students (especially Junior High School) do not realize the appropriate techniques of reading which are needed to be applied in various types of text they interact. During reading process, they only apply the same technique for all types of reading texts. The result is that they fully understand the main idea of their reading text. The goals and purposes of their reading are not achieved. The Junior High School students are still difficult to get the information in the text i.e. the main idea or the specific information. For example, the students have to identify the specific information in a text quickly; they always read the whole passage words per words. It is ineffective and inefficient, since they do not know and apply the appropriate technique for this purpose. What they have to do is fit the technique of reading with the type of text they read. In addition, to be efficient and effective readers, the students must realize that different texts need different techniques.

It is stated in Yamin (2003: 24) in his previous research at SMP Muhamadiyah Metro that the students are still confused in scanning technique process especially for the students who had low ability in English, since the procedures in scanning and skimming are not clearly explained in the teaching learning process. In addition, the teachers do not use the authentic materials and only adopt the course book. It causes the students do not realize and understand how to apply reading technique. Tania (2005:28) who has conducted a research at SMUN 10 Bandar

Lampung says that there are still some reasons to believe that factors that caused low comprehension are: (1) Sentence length; (2) Vocabulary; (3) Ideas and concept of the text. A research which is used scanning technique should consider students’ comprehension not only their reading speed.

From the problems that have been investigated by the previous studies, the researcher tried to apply scanning and skimming technique in reading as a

technique for the Junior High School students. This technique helps student locate information quickly. The reader must know how information is arranged in a reading and how a text is organized as in Ghani’s study (1993: 1) that scanning is a type of reading that involves finding a particular piece of information located in materials that are otherwise of no interest to the reader. It is considered since Junior High School students have monologue and functional texts as their reading material stated in 2006 Curriculum . This research also used authentic texts as reading materials in order to make the students familiar with the texts they will find in their daily life. In applying the authentic texts the researcher gives and selects some materials that are still related to 2006 Curriculum during the treatments.

Junior High School students read various types of texts in their activities, both in their school and in their daily life. They should be familiar with the techniques of reading, such as scanning, skimming and mapping. When they want to identify the specific information in a text, they should use scanning technique as their technique in reading. The types of text that junior high school students find as their reading include monologue/essay e.g. descriptive, recount, procedure, narrative, report texts and functional texts e.g. advertisement, brochure, schedule, message, notice, personal

letters, invitation (Depdiknas, 2006). The teacher should know the reading techniques for various types of texts appropriately in order to increase her/his students’ reading ability.

In this case, the researcher proposed that a possible technique was considered to be applied in various types of texts for Junior High School students’ reading. Scanning and skimming as a technique in reading was useful to be used to identify the specific information in various types of texts for junior high school students. Thus, the students can apply the technique in their reading texts appropriately.

B. Formulation of the Problem

According to the background above, the writer has a question as the main problem of the research was :

Is there significant increaseof students’ reading comprehension achievement in

identifying the specific information after being taught through scanning and skimming technique ?

C. Objective of the Research

In relation to the problem sated previously, the writer’s objective is to find out whether there is significant increase of students’ reading comprehension achievement in identifying the specific information after being taught trough scanning and skimming technique.

D. Uses of the Research

1. Theoretically, the result of this research is expected to confirm the previous theories of teaching reading by using scanning and skimming technique.

2. Practically, the result gives information to the English teachers especially in Junior High School, that Scanning and Skimming technique is needed to increase students’ reading comprehension

F. Scope of the Research

This research is developed to increase the reading comprehension of 2nd grade Junior High School students at SMP Negeri 8 Bandar Lampung. The texts used for scanning and skimming technique in this research are functional and

monologue texts because these texts are learnt by Junior High School students based on 2006 Curriculum . Scanning and skimming technique is used for

identifying the specific information within the texts. The materials are taken from various types of reading materials and sources e.g. English magazines, newspaper, students’ textbooks in form of advertisement and schedule (functional texts), and short articles (monologue/essay texts), and the test is given in form of multiple choice of 20 items for both pretest and post test.