Improving Students' Reading Comprehension of Narrative Text through Group Work Technique (A Classroom Action Research at the Eight Grade of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan)

A ‘Skripsi’

Presented to the Faculty of Educational Sciences as Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of S.Pd. (S-1) in English Education.

By: YULIANTI SARI

1111014000082

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION FACULTY OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY JAKARTA 2016

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Praise and gratitude be to Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful, the lord of universe, for giving strength and guidance for the writer, so that this paper can be finished thoroughly. Pease and blessing be upon Prophet Muhammad SAW who has guided us from the darkness to the lightness.

This paper is written to fulfill one of the requirements to obtain the Sarjana degree at the Departmen of English Education Faculty of Educational Sciences Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.

Firstly, the writer would like to say thank you very much to her beloved parents, Mr. Kasid and Mrs. Sainah who always be patient to educate her, motivate her, and always pray for her every time. They also never stop teaching their previous meaning of life, giving their knowledge, and giving their time wherever and whenever she needs. The writer also thanks to her big family, to her lovely sister Kasih and Munisah, to her dearest brother kang Mamet and kang Gutok who always giving support, motivation and love.

Secondly, the writer would like to address her thank and great attitude to Dr. Alek, M.Pd. and Zaharil Anasy, M. Hum. as the writer‟s advisors who give consultation with full of patience, help and guidance as valuable advice during

developing this “skripsi” and completing her work. Hopefully, Allah always blesses

them with their family, they are always healthy and may Allah grant all of their wishes.

Thirdly, the writer thought that she would never finish this skripsi without their supports and their helps. Her gratitude also goes to:

1. All lecturers in the Department of English Education, for teaching precious knowledge, giving motivation, and for sharing wonderful study experience.

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Teachers Training Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta. 4. Mr. Lukman as the Headmaster of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan, Mr Mamat

as the English teacher for the eighth grade students, and all of the teachers and staff for their cooperation and kindness given to me in doing this research.

5. The writer‟s best friends those she cannot write all names who helped in finishing this graduating paper and have continuously given aid, great support and suggestion to the writer in finishing this paper.

Finally, the writer admits that her writing is still far from being perfect. Therefore, she hopes some suggestions and criticism from the reader for this paper. Hopefully this skripsi will have some values for her and the reader.

Jakarta, September, 2016

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ABSTRACT

Yulianti Sari. 2016. “Improving Students‟ Reading Comprehension of Narrative Text Through Group Work Technique (A Classroom Action Research at the Eight Grade of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan”, Skripsi, Department of English Education, The Faculty of Educational Sciences Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.

Advisor 1 : Dr. Alek, M.Pd.

Advisor II : Zaharil Anasy, M. Hum.

Keywords: Reading Comprehension, Narrative Text, Group Work Technique. The aims of this research are to improve students’ reading comprehension of narrative text through group work technique for the eighth grade students of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan, and to describe the implementation of group work technique that improve students reading comprehension of narrative text. The problem raised in the research is about low scores of reading comprehension of narrative text gotten by eighth grade students of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan. Thus, the students cannot pass the minimal level criterion (KKM). This study is categorized as the Classroom Action Research (CAR) method in which to identify and to solve the problem on students’ reading comprehension. In this Classroom Action Research, the writer implements Kurt Lewin’s design consisting of four phases (Plan, Action, Observe, and Reflect). The subject of this research is eighth grade students of VIII-8 of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan. The number of students is 40. Instrument used in this research is observation, questionnaire, and test. The technique is used in collecting data in the research is qualitative data. The qualitative data consisted of observation within the physical activity in the classroom. Moreover, the questionnaire for student is made to support in collecting the data. In analyzing qualitative data, rating scale table is used to measure the observation of students’ activities during teaching learning process. Meanwhile, some statistical formula is used in analyzing the numerical data. The findings of this study are: 1. Related to the test result, there are 20% or 8 students passing KKM in pre action test, 47.5% or 21 students passing KKM in cycle 1 test and 80% or 32 students passing KKM in cycle 2 test. 2. Related to the observation result, the students were more active and interested in learning reading activity in the classroom through group work technique. Furthermore, they could cooperative well with their group. It could be known that the students’ reading comprehension in term of narrative text has been improved and teacher was helped in finding the appropriate strategy in teaching reading narrative text.

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Grade of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan”, Skripsi, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Ilmu Pendidikan Universitas Islam Negri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

Pembimbing 1 : Dr. Alek, M.Pd.

Pembimbing II : Zaharil Anasy, M. Hum.

Kata Kunci: Pemahaman membaca, teks naratif, Kerja Kelompok.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan pemahaman membaca teks naratif siswa kelas delapan SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan melalui teknik kerja kelompok. Selain itu, penelitian ini juga bertujuan menggambarkan penggunaan kerja kelompok dalam meningkatkan pemahaman membaca teks naratif. Masalah yang diangkat dalam penelitian ini adalah rendahnya pemahaman membaca teks naratif yang diperoleh oleh siswa kelas delapan SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan. Dengan demikian, para siswa tidak bisa lulus kriteria kelulusan minimum (KKM). Metode penelitian ini dikategorikan sebagai penelitian tindakan kelas (PTK) untuk mengidentifikasi dan memecahkan masalah pemahaman membaca siswa. Dalam penelitian tindakan kelas ini, penulis mengimplementasikan desain Kurt Lewin yang terdiri dari empat tahapan (Perencanaan, Tindakan, Pengamatan, dan Refleksi). Subyek penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas VIII-8 SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan. Jumlah siswa adalah 40. Instrumen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah observasi, questioner dan tes. Dua teknik yang digunakan dalam mengumpulkan data dalam penelitian ini adalah data kualitatif. Data kualitatif meliputi observasi dalam aktifitas fisik siswa dalam kelas dan lembar survey yang diberikan kepada siswa sebagai penunjang dalam pengumpulan data kualitatif. Dalam menganalisis data kualitatif, skala peringkat digunakan untuk mengukur pengamatan aktivitas siswa selama proses belajar mengajar. Sementara itu, dalam menganalisis data angka, beberapa rumus statistic digunakan. Temuan dari penelitian ini adalah: 1. Terkait dengan hasil tes, terdapat 20% atau 8 siswa lulus KKM pada tes sebelum siklus, 47.5% atau 19 siswa lulus KKM pada tes siklus 1 dan 80% atau 32 siswa lulus KKM pada tes siklus 2. 2. Terkait dengan hasil observasi, siswa lebih aktif dan tertarik dalam kegiatan pembelajaran pemahaman membaca dikelas dengan menggunakan teknik kerja kelompok. Siswa juga dapat bekerja sama dengan baik dalam kelompok mereka masing masing. Terkait dengan itu, maka dapat diketahui bahwa pemahaman siswa membaca dalam hal teks naratif dapat berkembang dan guru terbantu dalam menemukan strategi yang tepat dalam mengajar membaca teks narrative.

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ENDORSEMENT SHEET ... ii

SURAT PERNYATAAN KARYA ILMIAH ... iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ... iv

ABSTRACT ... vi

ABSTRACK ... vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... viii

LIST OF TABLES ... xi

LIST OF FIGURES ... xii

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xiii

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. TheBackground of Study ... 1

B. Identification of the Problems ... 3

C. Limitation of the Problem ... 3

D. The Formulation of the Problem ... 3

E. The Objective of the Study ... 4

F. The Significance of the Study ... 4

CHAPTER II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 5

A. Reading Comprehension ... 5

1. The Understanding of Reading ... 5

2. The Kinds of Reading ... 6

3. The Purpose of Reading ... 7

4. The Principle of Reading ... 9

5. The Problems of Reading ... 10

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2. The Objective of Narrative Text ... 18

3. The Schematic Structure of Narrative Text ... 18

C. Group Work ... 19

1. Definition of Group Work ... 19

2. The Purpose of Group Work ... 21

3. The Technique of Using Group Work ... 22

4. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Work ... 24

D. The Previous Study ... 26

E. Theoretical Framework ... 28

F. Action Hypothesis ... 29

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 30

A. Place and Time of the Research ... 30

B. Population of Sample of The Research ... 30

C. Research Design ... 30

D. The Instrument of The Research ... 32

E. The Procedure of Data Analysis ... 33

F. Procedure of Data Analysis ... 34

G. The Trustworthiness of Test... 37

H. The Criterion of The Action ... 40

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION ... 41

A. Pre- implementing the Action ... 41

1. The Result of Pre- questionnaire ... 41

2. The Result of Pre- observation ... 44

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b. Acting Phase ... 47

c. Observing Phase ... 50

d. Reflecting Phase ... 51

2. Cycle 2 ... 52

a. Planning Phase ... 52

b. Acting Phase ... 53

c. Observing Phase ... 56

d. Reflecting Phase ... 58

C. Post- Implementing the Action ... 58

1. The Result of Post- Test ... 58

a. The Result of Students‟ Reading Comprehension Achievement Post-Test 1 (Cycle 1) ... 58

b. The Result of Students‟ Reading Comprehension Achievement Post-Test 2 (Cycle 2) ... 60

D. The Interpretation of the Data ... 64

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 65

A. Conclusion ... 65

B. Suggestion ... 65

REFERENCES ... 67

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Observation of Students‟ Activities

Table 3.3 The Criterion of “Koefisien Korelasi” ... 38

Table 3.4 Discriminating Scale ... 39

Table 3.5 Criterion Scale ... 40

Table 4.1 The Result of Questionnaire... 42

Table 4.2 Students‟Reading ComprehensionScore in Pre-Test ... 45

Table 4.3 The Result of Students‟ Activities at the Cycle 1 ... 51

Table 4.2 The Result of Students‟ Activities at the Cycle 2 ... 57

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Figure 4.1 The Percentage of Students‟ Passing the KKM ... 61

Figure 4.2 The Percentage of Students‟ Passing the KKM ... 61

Figure 4.3 The Percentage of Students‟ Passing the KKM ... 61

Figure 4.4 The Percentage of Students‟ Passing the KKM ... 61

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Appendix 2 Classroom Observation Checklist ... 78

Appendix 3 Angket Ranah Belajar Siswa ... 79

Appendix 4 Lembar Kerja Siswa ... 81

Appendix 5 Students‟ Score ... 82

Appendix 6 Anatest Result ... 83

Appendix 7 Surat Permohonan Izin Penelitian ... 95

Appendix 8 Soal Pre- Test ... 96

Appendix 9 Soal Post- Test 1 ... 97

Appendix 10 Soal Post- Test 2 ... 99

1

English has an important role in educational in the world, especially in Indonesia. It could be seen that English has been learnt in some level of education. In Indonesia, this language has been taught from kindergarten level to university level. It says that English is taught for all level of education in Indonesia.

Learning a new language is usually divided by the language-teaching field into four large domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Listening and reading are characterized as receptive, while speaking and writing are productive.1 Based on the syllabus which recommended by the government, reading is one of language skills that Junior High School students should learn. The students should comprehend the reading for certain purpose; however, it needs a practical and suitable method. In other words, by reading, reader can communicate with the writer by using printed or written text in order to get information, ideas to

understand the writer‘s message. Reading also has the value of helping children

learn to express their own thoughts and making them familiar with language patterns and ways of using language effectively.

In addition, based on the standard competency and the basic competencies in the syllabus, there are some types of text that have to be taught in Junior High School, they are narrative, and recount. The students should read aloud with acceptable in pronunciation and intonation, response rhetorical ways actively and fluently.

Based on kinds of text mention above, narrative text is one of reading text types that second grade of Junior High School students should learn. A narrative text is a piece of text that tells a story and, in doing so, entertains, or informs the

1

Kristen Lems, Leah D. Miller, Terena M. Soro, Teaching Reading to English Language Learners, (New York: The Guilford Press, 2010), p. 5.

reader or listener.2 The text consists of orientation, complication, or problems and resolution. Students are expected to understand the text, but many students still find difficulties in reaching the goal. The students sometimes cannot find the ideas of whole the text and they are difficult to comprehend the text. It makes them confused. Finally, the students do not understand the plot of the whole story.

From the observation while doing practice of teaching in SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan, the researcher knew that ideally the policy in determining the minimum passing grade score mastery level criterion (KKM) in that school was 75,00. However, many students‘ reading achievement was still low. The researcher found two causes in teaching learning problems; from the teacher and students. First, from the teacher‘s side, the teacher seldom used varied technique to make the students become a better reader. The teacher asked the students to read and answer the question individually. Then, they submitted the assignment without discussing the answers with other students. Second, from student side, the students admitted that they often felt bored when they had to read a text, especially a long and uninteresting topic of the text. A lot of the student has difficulty in comprehend the text because of limited vocabulary and concentrate as they read. They are able to recognize the words, but they do not understand to convey the meaning of the words. They also have less confident if they are asked to read in front of their friend. They feel shy if they make mistake in reading the text. Sometime their friends are laugh if there is a unique sound. This situation make the lesson crowded because the students do not concentrate with reading activity. Of course, it made the result of reading was not good.

The problem that mention above should be solved. The writer knows that it cannot be solve in a time. However, the writer and English teacher work together to find a technique that is Group Work can be used as solution to overcome those problems. A group may make an atmosphere in which the member feels free because of a kindliness and friendliness. Students can work together; help each

2

Mark and Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 2, (South Yarra: Macmillan, 2003), p.

other, sharing the ideas together so they can learn without anxiety. Hopefully, it could make the students motivated to improve knowledge and information each other during reading activity. It gives much time to get the point of the text or passage and the students can express their analysis freely.

Based on the background above, the writer intended to investigate Improving Students‘ Understanding of Narrative Text through Group Work Technique second grade student of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan.

B.

Identification of the Problem

Based on the background has mentioned above, it can be identified as follow: 1. Students submitted the assignment without discussing the answers with other

students.

2. Student felt bored when they had to read a text, especially a long and uninteresting topic of the text.

3. A lot of student has difficulty in comprehend the text because of limited vocabulary and concentrate as they read.

4. They have less confident if they are asked to read in front of their friend.

C.

Limitation of the Problem

In conducting this research, the writer needs to limit the problem. The writer focuses the study on the use of narrative text through group work technique to improve students‘ reading comprehension in the second grade student of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan.

D.

Formulation of the Problem

Based on the background presented above, the problem of this research could be formulated as follow: How did group work technique improve students‘ reading comprehension of narrative text at SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan?

E.

Objective of the Research

The objectives of the research were to know and describe the students‘ reading comprehension of narrative text through group work technique at SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan.

F.

Significance of the Research

Based on the objective of the research, the significance of the research are expected to give some benefits not only theoretically but also practically go to: - Teacher

It is useful for English teachers at second grade class in SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan to get clearly information about teaching English reading by using group work technique in teaching-learning process. From this, they can get available information that is useful to improve their teaching-learning process.

- Student

The result of this study is to give an easy technique and it is expected to be useful input for students in learning and understanding narrative text to encourage them to master and improve their reading skill.

- Other Researcher

The researcher hope this research can be a tool to make a comparison of other similar research particularly to compare some methods which are used to

improve the students‘ reading comprehension of English texts especially to

improve the comprehension of narrative text. Finally, the teaching learning process will be innovative and effective.

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A.

Reading Comprehension

1.

The Understanding of Reading

Reading is one of the basic skills in learning a language. The term reading has many interpretations. As people have different purposes in reading, different point of view about reading, different background knowledge about reading, so there are many definitions about it. For those reasons, reading can be defined in various ways. According to Francoise Grellet in his book entitled Developing Reading Skill, ―Reading is a constant process of guessing, and what one brings to the text is often more important than what one finds in it.‖3 Based on the statement from Grellet, reading activity requires the readers to guess and predict about the text is going to be about and the background knowledge had by the reader about mutual thing contained in a text is important.

Furthermore, Harmer through his book The Practice of English Language Teaching stated that, Reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brains. The eyes receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of these message. Unlike a listening text, a reading text moves at the speed of the reader (expect where the reader is trying to read an advertisement that flashes past a train window). In other word, it is up to the reader to decide how fast he or she wants to (or can) read a text, whereas listeners often have to do their best with a text whose speed is chosen by the speaker.4

3

Francoise Grellet, Developing Reading Skills, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 7.

4

Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, (New York: Longman, 1989), p. 153.

Sandra Silberstein on her book Techniques and Resources in Teaching Reading defined reading as complex processing skill, ―Reading is a complex processing skill in which the reader interacts with text in order to (re)create a

meaningful discourse.‖5

Richard Allington and Michael Strange also defined,

―Reading as decoding process with the reader processing each letter in turn,

producing the appropriate sounds, and forming words.‖6 Another expert, Savage

and Mooney defined, ―Reading is a process of moving through printed language to meaning.‖7_{According to Penny Ur, ―Reading means reading and understanding}

a foreign language learner who says, ‗I can read the words but I do not know what

they mean‘ is not, therefore, reading, in this sense. He or she is merely decoding – translating written symbols into corresponding sounds.‖8

Based on the definitions about reading above, reading can be defined as a process that requires people to read and to understand what they read. Reading is also a complex skill that people should do an interaction with text in order to recreate or create a meaningful discourse.

2.

The Kinds of Reading

There are two kinds of reading according to Jeremy Harmer.9 a. Extensive reading

The term refers to reading which students do often (but not exclusively) away from the classrooms. Extensive reading should involve reading for pleasure or

5

Sandra Silberstein, Technique and Resources in Teaching Reading, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 12.

6

Richard Allington and Michael Strange, Learning Through Reading in the Content Areas, (Lexington: D. C. Heath Company, 1980), p. 15.

7

John F. Savage and Jean F. Mooney, Teaching Reading to Children with Special Needs, (London: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1997), p. 1.

8

Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 138.

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a joyful reading. This is enhanced if students have a chance to choose what they are willing to read.

b. Intensive reading

It refers to the detailed focus on the construction of reading texts that takes place usually (but not always) in classrooms. Teachers may ask the students to look at extracts from magazines, poems, Internet websites, novels, newspaper, plays, and wide range of other text genres. Intensive reading is usually accompanied by study activities.

While Francoise Grellet divided the kinds of reading into:

a. Skimming, it is a process of reading in which happen quickly running

one‘s eyes over a text to get the gist of it.

b. Scanning, it is a process of reading in which quickly going through a text to find a particular piece of information.10

The writer considers that if people have different purpose in reading, it will as well influence the way they read. For instance, people probably will read some lessons or materials in the limited amount of time then people just skim the text. On the contrary, when people need to look up a name in the address book or word in the dictionary, they should know what they are looking for so they scan it and read it word by word.

3.

The Purpose of Reading

When people read, they may have some different purposes to obtain after reading the text. For instance, when people want to get information or knowledge, they read a textbook, a newspaper, a journal, an article. When people read to get pleasure or to get entertained, they may read some kinds of magazine, comic, or

10

Francoise Grellet, Developing Reading Skills, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 4.

novel. Here are several purposes that may include when people read according to William Grabe and Fredricka L. Stoller:

1. Reading to search for simple information

Reading to search for simple information is a common reading ability, it is used so often in reading tasks that it is probably best seen as type of reading ability. In reading to search, we typically scan the text for a specific piece of information or a specific word. Skimming is also including in this type of aim. It is a common part of many reading tasks and a useful skill. A combination of strategies for guessing where important information might be in the text, and then using basic reading comprehension skill on those segments of a text until a general idea is formed is involved in this skill.

2. Reading to learn from texts

It usually occurs in academic and professional contexts when people need to learn a considerable amount of information from a text. This purpose usually carried out a reading rate somewhat slower than general reading comprehension.

3. Reading to integrate information, write and critique texts

This purpose requires additional decision about the relative importance of complementary, mutually supporting, or conflicting information and the likely restructuring of a rhetorical frame to accommodate information from multiple sources. These skills definitely require critical evaluation of the information being read so that the reader determines what information to integrate and how

to integrate it for the reader‘s goal.

4. Reading for general comprehension

General reading comprehension is the most basic purpose for reading, underlying, and supporting most other purposes for reading. It is actually more

complex than commonly assumed. The term general does not mean ‗simple‘ or ‗easy.‘ It requires very rapid and automatic processing of words, strong skills in

forming a general meaning representation of main ideas, and efficient coordination of may processes under very limited time constraints. These abilities are often taken for granted by fluent reader because they are usually occurring automatically.11

4.

The Principle of Reading

There are some principles of reading according to Jeremy Harmer.12

a. Encourage students to read as often and as much as possible. The more students read, the better.

b. Students need to be engaged with what they are reading. Outside normal lesson time, when students are reading extensively, they should be involved in joyful reading- that is, teachers should try to help them get as much pleasure from it as possible. During the lesson, teachers should also do the best to ensure that the students engaged with the topic and the activities they are asked to do while dealing with it.

c. Encourage students to respond the content of a text (and explore their feelings about it), not just concentrate on its construction. It is important for the students to study reading texts in class in order to find out such things as the way they use language, the number of paragraphs they contain and how many times they use relative clauses. It is as well important that the students should be allowed to show their feelings about the topic.

d. Prediction is a major factor in reading. When someone reads a text, he/she usually have a good idea of the content before he/she actually starts reading. Book covers can give the readers a clue about what is in the book,

11

William Grabe and Fredricka L. Stoller, Teaching and Researching Reading, (London: Pearson Education Longman, 2002), p. 291.

12

photographs and headlines hint at what article is about before reading is a single word.

e. Match the task to the topic when using intensive reading texts. Teachers need to choose good reading tasks; the right kind of questions, appropriate activities before during and after reading, and useful study exploitation when the topic of reading has been set.

f. Good teachers exploit reading texts to the full. Good teachers can integrate the reading text into interesting lesson sequences, using the topic for discussion and further tasks, using the language for study and then activation, and using range of activities to bring the text to life. Where students have been doing extensive reading, the teachers should use whatever opportunities present themselves to provoke useful feedback.

5.

The Problems of Reading

When the readers read a text there are many problem faced, according to John DeBeor and Dallman, there are typical causes that then arise toward

students‘ difficulty in reading such as:13 1. Limited intelligence

In the first problem are, John DeBeor and Dallman stated, ―The fact that the correlation between performance in intelligence test and reading test usually tends to be very high may mean merely that a large part of an intelligence test call abilities closely related to the ability to read. It show that a student who have a high intelligence to go to school usually have an intelligence to understand the material at school.

13

John J. DeBoer, and Martha Dallmann, The Teaching of Reading: Revised Edition, (New York; Holt, Rinehalt, and Witson Inc, 1964), pp. 132—134.

2. Overemphasis on word recognition

In this problem area, students may have a difficulty to recognize the word that they read. They usually find out the word meaning at the dictionary and sometime it makes they confuse when the meaning is not appropriate with the sentence that they read.

3. Overemphasis on oral reading

Reading orally is difficult to do if the reader only sees the text and it make they fail to understand what they are reading.

4. Insufficient background for reading a selection

―Poor comprehension is lack of an experience background essential to the

understanding of what being read.‖ It means that the material should be suitable with the situation of the students.

5. Failure to adjust reading technique to reading purpose and type of reading material

Good reading comprehension requires a flexible approach to the printed page. The appropriate approach should be taught for the reading of specific types of material whenever a new material is assigned.

6. Lack of appropriate teacher guidance

By asking suitable questions before the pupils read a selection or after they have completed it, the teacher can help make otherwise obscure meaning clear. Based on the statement above, the teacher should make certain that everyone understand the meaning of the questions.

In sum up, the teacher should adjust the task to his capabilities to grow his power toward reading and the teacher may explain to introduce new words through illustrating toward familiar words which students have know first. Those problems give big influence in reading comprehension and reading rate. In addition, the one of most crucial problems that influences reading

comprehension is poor vocabulary. Based on the writer‘s observation in the

classroom there are many students hard to understand the text because they do not know the meaning of the word. When they find difficult words in the text, they stop and think about them, it can slow their reading rate. To solve the problem the readers should exercise themselves to read a lot, the more they read the more vocabulary would develop.

6.

Reading Comprehension

Reading is a general cognitive, problem-solving ability which underlies all language processing, including listening and is not specific to reading.14 Reading as a complex skill underlies all language process. As people learn their first language, the attention is primarily on the problem of decoding words. Therefore, people tend to think reading is as a process of looking at words, one after another and then adding them up to see what they (the words) mean.

Reading comprehension is a very complex activity because so much occurs inside the mind of the reader as the eyes glide over the printed words. 15 To accomplish a reading comprehension, it includes some skills to have. Reading comprehension is the process of acquiring or deriving meaning and understanding from printed language; involves cognitive functioning related to what one reads.16 Another definition by Michael Swan, reading comprehension is the process of

14

J. Charles Anderson, Assessing Reading, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p. 48.

15

Larry Lewin, Paving the Way in Reading and Writin, (San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003), p. 2.

16

reading accurately and efficiently to get the maximum of information from a text with a minimum of miss understanding.17

From the definitions above, it can be summarized that reading comprehension is a very complex activity to understand the message from the text that the author tries to convey. To be the accomplished reader(s), it needs a lifetime practice because the comprehension process is complicated.

7.

Major Components of the Reading Comprehension Process

According to Donald J. Leu, Jr to understand issues related to how one reads and how reading ability develops, one must first become familiar with the major components of the reading comprehension process: 18

1. Decoding knowledge

Decoding knowledge refers to the knowledge readers use to determine the oral equivalent of a written word. Decoding knowledge is important for comprehension when determining the oral equivalent of a word helps a reader identify meaning. This is frequently true for beginning readers who know the meanings of many words in spoken form but are relatively unfamiliar with printed word.

2. Vocabulary knowledge

The knowledge one has about word meanings used to determine the appropriate meaning for a word in a particular context. Helping students develop vocabulary knowledge is important at all grade levels, but is a particularly important aspect of reading instruction as children develop and explore less familiar subject areas with somewhat specialized vocabularies.

17

Michael Swan, Understanding Ideas Advance Reading Skills, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 1.

18

Donald J. Leu, Jr and Charles K. Kinzer, Effective Reading Instruction in the Elementary Grades, (Colombus: Merril Publishing Company, 1987), pp. 30—34.

3. Syntactic knowledge

Knowledge of the word order rules that determine grammatical function and sometimes the meaning and pronunciation of words. Knowledge of sentence syntax, or word order, is also crucial for the comprehension process. Syntactic knowledge includes understanding word order lures that exist within sentences and permit you to determine the grammatical function and often the meaning and pronunciation of words.

4. Discourse knowledge

Discourse knowledge is the knowledge of language organization at units beyond the single sentence level. It includes knowledge of the structural organization of different types of writing.

5. Readiness aspects

Reading readiness is the ability of a student to benefit from initial reading

instruction. Also refers to the student‘s ability to read and understand a particular

selection. According to this perspective, reading readiness describes the abilities required for reading and comprehending any particular piece of printed material. The level of reading readiness will influences how children comprehend written text.

6. Affective Aspects

Affective aspects of comprehension include a reader‘s attitude and interest

in reading. All readers comprehend better when they are interested in reading. Affective aspects are important to consider at all age and grade levels. You can

use activities such as the following to heighten students‘ attitude and interest.

B.

Narrative Text

1.

The Understanding of Narrative Text

One of genres that Junior High School students should learn is Narrative text. There are two main categories of texts, literary and factual. Each type has a

common and usual way of using language. In this paper will only discuss one of the texts that are being used for this research that is narrative text.

Narrative is a kind of text. A narrative, on the other hand, tells a story, it presents a unified sequence of events that add up to something, a plot with some kind of moment.19

Mark and Kathy Anderson state that Narrative text type tells a story. The purpose is to present a view of the world that entertains or informs the reader or listener.20 Narrative can be imaginary or factual (fairy tales, mysteries, fables, romances and adventure stories, myths and legends).

Anderson and Kathy describe many different types of narrative; namely humor, romance, crime, real life fiction, historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, diary novel, and adventure.21

From the explanation above, narrative text is a story occurred in past time, which its social function to amuse or entertain the readers. It is written with certain characteristics and its language features.

According to Jane Bechman Gordon and Karen Kuhner, every narrative or story has six basic elements: plot, setting, character, point of view and tone, theme and style. The elements of narrative or story are described in detail below.22

a. Plot

Plot is the author‘s arrangements of the events in a narrative to get a desired

effect. It is a series of actions that are usually organized in chronological order. There are two aspects that construct a plot; causality and conflict. Causality is needed to substitute of two or more events. A conflict is an internal or external

19

Seymour Chatman, Reading Narrative Fiction, (New York: Macmillan, 1993), pp. 7— 8.

20

Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 2, (South Yarra: Macmillan, 2003), p. 6.

21

Ibid., p. 18.

22

Jane Bachman Gordon and Karen Kuehner, Fiction: The Elements of the Short Story, (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1999), pp. 1—247.

fight between the main character and the opposite character. When a story includes internal conflict, it means that the main character is in conflict with himself or herself. In contrast, an external conflict happen between the main character and another character, society, or natural forces.

Furthermore, the plot structure is divided into six events: exposition, initiating incident, rising action, climax, failing action, and resolution. Exposition is giving description of the situations that reader needs to comprehend the story. The initiating incident is the event that changes the situation that is developed in exposition. The rising action means some events happened that develop complication in the story. Then, climax is the point of the greatest conflict, the emotional high point, the turning point in the plot, or the point where the opposite character gains the advantage. It is the event where the main character must choose some action that will make his/her situation may be worse or better. The events that follow the climax are known as falling action. Then, the falling action leads into the resolution of the story. b. Setting

Setting is to describe time and place in the story. It can be general, specific, or very detailed. It may serve some purposes, such as influencing action, defining character, or contributing to mood.

c. Character

Character is a person that the author is created to act in the story. It may autobiographical versions of the author, the people that author knows, the people that may be the author has observed or overhead. The character is divided into two categorize, major and minor characters. Meanwhile, the minor characters are confidant or confidante, foil, a stereotyped character, and piece of furniture character. These characters support to develop plot of the story. Another way to classify the characters is the terms of active and static characters. The active characters are the persons who change because of what

happen in the story. Then, the static characters are the characters have same at the beginning until the end of story.

d. Point of View and Tone

Point of View is where the author places her/him in the story. There are two main points of view: first person (1) and third person (he, she, and they). The first person of view is the author creates a person or mask through which she/he tells the story. The first person of view may be a character in the story, the observer of events. The third person of view is divided in two parts: omniscient and limited omniscient. The omniscient means the author knows the thoughts of all characters in the story. Meanwhile, the limited omniscient means the author just knows and focuses on a character in the story. Furthermore, tone in

writing is the author is the author‘s attitude toward the characters, the topic, or

the readers. It is similar like tone in speech. It is achieved by descriptive details

of setting and characters, dialogue, and a narrator‘s direct comment.

e. Theme

Theme is an author‘s insight or general observation about human nature or

the human condition that is delivered by characters, plot, and imagery. There is rule to put theme in the story. However, it can be identified in the factual details of plot, characters, and setting.

f. Style

Style is an author‘s characteristic way to say things in the story. It is

divided into 3 components: diction, imagery and symbols, and syntax. The first

component is diction. It is the author‘s choice on using words. It can be chosen

as general or specific, formal or informal, abstract or concrete, common, jargon, etc. The second components are imagery and symbols. Imagery is a term of senses. It involves sight, tastes, smell, touch, and hearing. It also associates with figure of speech, like simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and others. Then, a symbol is anything concrete, like an object, a

place, a character, and an action. The last component is syntax or sentence

structure. It is the individual‘s pattern or arrangement of words and phrases.

Based on description above, it concludes that narrative text has six basic elements. They are plot, setting, character, point of view and tone, theme, and style. It relates each other to make a complete story. The readers should identify these basic elements to help them comprehend overall the story.

2.

The Objectives of Narrative Text

People read narrative text might be for enjoyment and pleasure; to gain a

reader‘s interest. It means they like enjoying themselves to read any kinds of

stories because they may possess similar feelings or find themselves in like

situation. This is in line with Mark Anderson‘s statement ―the purpose of narrative text is to present a view of the word that entertains or informs the reader or listener.23 In sum up, the purpose of narrative text is the is the readers as if involved within story to get the pleasure, and to get the feeling of some issue.

3.

The Schematic Structure of Narrative Text

The generic structures of narrative texts are orientation, complication, and sequence of events, resolution, and Coda.24 More detailed about generic structure of narrative text that has been proposed by Mark and Kathy Anderson are:

a. Orientation

In this paragraph, the narrator tells the audience who is in the story, when it is happening, where it is happening and what is going on.

23

Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, op. cit., p. 6.

24

b. Complication

This is the part of the story where the narrator tells about something that will begin a chain of events. These events will affect one or more of the characters. The complication is the trigger.

c. Sequence of events

This is where the narrator tells how the characters react to the complication. It includes their feelings and what they do. The events can be told in chronological order (the order in which they happen) or with flashbacks. The

audience is given the narrator‘s point of view.

d. Resolution

In this part of the narrative where the complication is sorted out or the problem is solved.

e. Coda

The narrator includes a coda if there is to be a moral or message to be learned from the story.

C.

Group Work

1.

Definition of Group Work

Group work is one of the techniques that used in teaching especially teaching reading. By using group work technique, the students have opportunities to share their idea and interpret the text with their friends in a group. It is line with Nuttal, she said that ―In group work mode of organization, much of guidance comes from fellow students. Working together can produce excellent motivation, and a slight sense of competition between groups does no harm if it is not allowed to get out of hand.25 Thus, group work as a technique to make the students can learn and solve the problem together.

25

Christine Nuttal, Teaching Reading Skill in a Foreign Language, (Oxford: Heinemann, 1982), p. 160.

Next, it is about definition of group work. As stated by Brown, group work is one of techniques that consist of two or more students are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self-initiated language.26 This statement means that as a technique, group work gets students to work together in doing their task. Student in-group works are more than two or perhaps six. In addition, Ruppet Brown

defined ―a group exists when two or more people define themselves as member of it and when its existence is recognized by at least one another.27 On the other words, group consists of two or more people join one as a member.

Meanwhile, Ur said that group work is learning task through small-group interaction that is performed by learner to become more active in oral fluency because students in-group get opportunities to talk in class.28 Group work can make students learn actively because they have chance to talk in the classroom.

In addition, Hess explained that, Group work is obviously a key element as it enables students to learn from one another. When working in small groups, students have a greater chance to practice oral fluency. Students are also far less intimidated in a small group, and once they become familiar with the procedures, they usually enjoy sharing ideas and practicing new language structure in this format.29 A group is no more than the sum of traits and actions that exist in separate individuals. Teachers often view their class groups in this manner. They see the class group a number of individual parts, and it is difficult for them to view their classes as organized wholes, or to note that the group itself has characteristic of its own and behavior of its own.

26

H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principle: An Interactive approach to Language Pedagogy, (San Francisco: Longman, 2000). p. 177.

27

Zoltan Dornyei and Tim Murphey, Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 13.

28

Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 232.

29

Natalie Hess, Teaching Large Multilevel Classes, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 112.

A group may be said to exist when two or more persons have as one quality of their relationship some interdependence and process some recognizable unity. The members meet in face-to-face situations and form distinct impressions of each other. There is interaction that is, each member reacts to the behavior of each other member. The individuals comprising the group not only interact, but they often act together in a unitary manner toward their environment.

Based on definition, group work is viewed as a technique that gives students some chance to practice oral fluency, share idea with friends, and practice the new language. Group work is a guidance that comes not only from the teachers but also from fellow-students to understand the text and discuss together on the chance of getting the best interpretation.30

In sum up, group work is one of the techniques that consist of two or more students in a group who are given the same task to finish well. Then, students cooperate to study and share their ideas in-group wok. They may also help and guide each other and they can interpret the reading text cooperatively.

2.

The Purpose of Group Work

There are some purposes of group work. According to Bormann, ―the

primary purpose of much of the talk in a group discussion must be to communicate‖.31 It means that communication is the main purpose of group work. Group work is a team covering a multiplicity of techniques in which two or more students are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self initiated language. Note that we commonly call pair work is simply group work in groups of

two. It is also important to note that group work usually implies ―small‖ group

work, that is, students is groups of perhaps six or fewer. Large grouping defeat

30

Nuttal, op. cit., pp. 159—160.

31

Ernest G. Bormann, Discussion and Group Methods, (New York: Harper and Row Publisher, 1969), p. 4.

one of the major purposes for doing group work that is giving students more opportunities to speak. 32

Based on the statements above, group work is useful for student because the students are given more opportunity to be active in the classroom and they can share the ideas to each other. Beside that in teaching learning process, group work can create enjoyable atmosphere for the student especially in learning reading text. They can together decide types of English text, schematics structure, and language feature. In addition, group work can give the students‘ attention and it

can raise the students‘ motivation and interest in learning English.

3.

The Technique of Using Group Work

Because the teacher has important role, one of the teaching strategies that can be used by the teacher is group work. While the teacher divide the student into

several group, that consist of three or more member of students‘ in group, and

they will work together in learning English reading.

Harmer explained the procedures of group work; he classifies the procedures of group work into three parts. There are before, during, and after.33

1. Before

The teacher has follow the ‗engage-instruct-initiate‘ because students need to feel enthusiastic and understand what they are going to do, and then give an idea of what they will have finished the task they are going to get involved in.

The teacher has to involve the demonstration when gives the instructions for students, in order to give clear instruction but if activity is familiar with students, teacher just give simply instruction.

32

H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principle: An Interactive approach to Language Pedagogy, (San Francisco: Longman, 2000). p. 177.

33

The teacher has to give students a time to finish their activity. It will give the success of group work task because it helps to give a clear framework to work within, then it an encourage groups to be the first finishers, and then it can be a game that has a slight sense of competition between groups are no harm.

The instruction is important thing. The teacher should give students in

understanding and agreeing of the task, and then to check students‘ understanding on the teacher‘s instruction, so the teacher ask them to repeat it, or they can translate into their first language.

2. During

Teachers‘ role is important in organizing group work to make the techniques

can used in the classroom. It is used to consider and ensure that group work activities will work well and know about how to resolve any problems that might occur. It is useful to know how to decide to put individual student into a group with their classmates.

Monitoring the student in-group work activities is teacher‘s important role because it is help to know how well student doing and the cooperation they are making in the activity. When students are doing their task in-group, the teacher can monitor students by standing at the front, side, back or anywhere else in the classroom and keep on what is happening. In this position the teacher can ‗tune in‘ to a particular group, decide whether to go over, and help that group.

A problem that frequently occurs when students are working in-group is that some of them finish earlier than others. Student also needs some activities to do something else when they are finished the work. Teacher should be ready for this situation and know what some way to handle with this situation.

3. After

After work finish, the teacher has to organize feedback from students. The teacher discusses about what happened during the group work season, gives the assessment, and makes correction.

A few group work finish, the teacher‘s feedback by using the target language,

if students make the mistakes, the teacher corrects it. It is used to give them information for future learning and action.

In-group work students discuss an issue and guess the content of a reading text, and the teacher encourages them to give their conclusion. Then the teacher and students compare their different solution, ideas, and problems. It helps them to get an understanding of the topic.

After that, the teacher asks the student to make a conclusion on a piece of paper and give them a chance to demonstrate it in the class, or they can write on the white board, or read the text that they have written.

Finally, the teacher has to construct feedback because it is important to

enhance students‘ motivation in the future. The teacher gives feedback on the

language mistake is only one part of that process.

4.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Work

In general, it is possible to say that small groups of around five students provoke greater involvement and participation than larger groups. They are small enough for real interpersonal yet not too small that members are over-reliant upon each individual. However, group work has advantages and disadvantages.34

1. The Advantages of Group Work

The advantages of group work it is can encourage student‘s skill of

cooperation and sharing the idea. It is help student to feel comfortable to share their idea and involved in participation with their friend. Using group work as techniques in promoting interactive learning have many advantages, they are as follows:35

34

Ibid., p. 117.

35

Penny Ur, Discussion that Work: Task-centered fluency practice, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981), pp. 7—8.

1. The increased participant

If there are have, five or six groups then there will be five or six times the amount of talking. Class discussions, as has been pointed cut, are very wasteful in terms of the ratio of teacher or student-effort and time to actual language practice taking place; group discussions are relatively efficient. Moreover, this heightened participation is not limited to those who are usually articulate anyway; students, who are shy of saying something in front of the whole class, or to the teacher, often find it much easier to express themselves in front of a small group of their peers.

2. Improve the participants‘ motivation

The physical focus of the discussion is close and directed towards the individual student; that is to say, whoever is speaking is only a small distance away, clearly audible, facing the others and addressing them personally. Any visual or other materials are likewise close by; the whole activity is

immediate and ‗involving‘. More important, group-work lends itself to game-like activities. Where this is not supplied by the task itself, the simple institution of an arbitrary time limit or inter-group competition can easily do so.

3. Change the teacher‘s task

Group-work frees the teacher from the usual role of instructor-corrector-controller, and allows teacher to wander freely round the class, giving help where needed, assessing the performance of individual students, noting language mistakes for future remedial work, devoting a little more time to slower learners. Teacher also has an important role to play in leading and encouraging discussions.

4. There is scope for peer-teaching

In the course of group discussion, students will learn from each other,

mistakes, help with a needed word; and of course, they will teach each other some non-linguistic material as well, through the content of the discussion.

2. Disadvantages of Group Work

There are also some disadvantages of using group work as a technique in teaching a foreign language, they are as follows:

1. It is likely to be noisy

Some teachers feel that they lose control, and the whole-class feeling that has been painstakingly built up may dissipate when the class is split into smaller entities.

2. Not all students enjoy

Not all students enjoy it since they would prefer to be focus of the teacher‘s

attention rather than working with their peers. Sometimes students find themselves in uncongenial groups and wish they could be somewhere else. 3. Individuals may fall into group roles that become fossilized, so that some are

passive whereas others may dominate.

4. Groups can take longer to organize than pairs; beginning and ending group work activities especially where people move around the class can take time and be chaotic.36

D.

The Previous Study

The first previous study is conducted by Wahyuning Pratiwi entitled “Developing Students‟ Reading Comprehension of Descriptive Text Through Group Work” (A Classroom Action Research in the First Year of VIII- 1 Class of MTSN 19 Pinang Kalijati). The findings of this study were: (1) related to the test result, there was 17.99% improvement of students‘ mean reading score after using

36

group work method; it gained from the result of test before CAR, there were six students who passed theMinimum Mastery Criterion-Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal (KKM). Then in the result of test after CAR in the cycle 1, there were 30 or 65.21% students in the class who passed the KKM considering their mean score of the test is 64.34. Next in the result of test after CAR in the cycle 2, there were 37or 80.43% students who passed the KKM in which their mean score of reading test derived 73.04. (2) related to the observation result showed that the students were more active and interested in learning reading activity in the classroom. Indeed, they could cooperate with their group. (3) Related to the interview result,

it could be known that the students‘ reading comprehension of descriptive text had

improved and helped the teacher in finding the appropriate strategy in teaching reading descriptive text.37

The second previous study is conducted by Umiyati entitled “The Effectiveness of Using Small Group Interaction in Teaching Reading Comprehension” (Experimental Study at the Seventh Grade of „SMP Sunan Bonang‟ Tangerang). This is an experimental research. The writer taught two different classes employing two different teaching techniques. The writer administered a pre-test to know that the classes have relatively the same background knowledge in the research variable and a post-test to find out the growth of score as the measurement of achievement. The writer used t test to calculate the data and to test the hypotheses. The result of the calculation from this

research is to ≥ t table, it means that the Null Hypothesis (Ho) is rejected and the

Alternative Hypothesis (Ha) is accepted. The interpretation of data is the use of

37

Wahyuning Pratiwi, Developing Students‟ Reading Comprehension of Descriptive Text Through Group Work (A Classroom Action Research in the First Year of VIII- 1 Class of MTSN 19 Pinang Kalijati), (Jakarta: State Islamic University of Jakarta, 2010).

Small Group Interaction is more effective in teaching reading of Descriptive text than Whole Class Teaching.38

There are many differences and similarities from the study above with the researcher study. From the first and second study, both using group work as the technique for learning which the writer will use for this study. Meanwhile the first study using descriptive text as a text in learning reading comprehension. The participants are varies from all of the study above, the researcher mostly pick seventh grade students while the writer will choose eighth grade of Junior High School students in Tangerang Selatan.

E.

Theoretical Framework

Reading is useful for a language acquisition because reading as a respective and basic skill in learning a language. Reading as an activity that is dominated by the eyes and the brain that cooperatively work together. The eyes receive the messages from the text and the brain interprets the significance of the messages contained in a text. Reading is also seen as a complex skill as readers should interact with the text and create it to a meaningful discourse.

However, reading skill can be practiced by reading a lot. To practice reading, the sources can be obtained from textbooks, magazines, articles, journal, newspaper, bulletins, and so on.

There is always a suitable method or technique to teach each English skill.

The method or technique is chosen based on the students‘ need and the objectives

as well. The method also can help both the teacher and the students to reach the objectives. Group work technique is one of the techniques that is included in cooperative learning method. Group work technique is seen to be effective to provide an opportunity for the students to work effectively and independently,

38

Umiyati, The Effectiveness of Using Small Group Interaction in Teaching Reading Comprehension (Experimental Study at the Seventh Grade of „SMP Sunan Bonang‟ Tangerang), (Jakarta: State Islamic University of Jakarta, 2011).

because the students have opportunities to share their idea and interpret the text with their friends in a group. In this technique, students are assigned into groups that consist of four or five member in each group. It gives students an opportunity to work in group with other students and helps each other in teaching learning process in order to master the subject material

Group work technique requires the students to have a more active role in the learning process. Group work technique is seen to be effective in learning reading because each student has different chapters, lessons, materials, or texts given by the teacher and they have responsibility to make their friends in their group to comprehend it well. The learning process in group work technique is not simple because a group may be said to exist when two or more persons have as one quality of their relationship some interdependence and process some recognizable unity. The members meet in face-to-face situations and form distinct impressions of each other. There is an interaction that is, each member reacts to the behavior of each other member. The individuals comprising the group not only interact, but they often act together in a unitary manner toward their environment.

From the explanation above, the writer believes that the use of group work

technique can improve students‘ reading comprehension. So, the writer would like

to do study on teaching reading comprehension through group work technique.

F.

Action Hypothesis

Hypothesis of the action isprovisional answer to the problem that is faced. It is an alternative action viewed by the writer as the appropriate one used in classroom action research to solve the problem that is faced by the teacher and students. The hypothesis is that group work technique can improve students‘ reading comprehension of narrative text on the eighth grade student of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan.

30

of the research, research design, Instrument of the research, technique of collecting data, technique of the data analysis, and criteria of the action success.

A. Place and Time of the Research

This Research was conducted at SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan Academic Year of 2015/2016, which is located at Jl. jalan Beruang II Peladen Pd. Ranji Ciputat Timur Tangerang Selatan. The research was carried out on 18th February to 20 April 2016. The selection of the school was relatively accessible, both administratively and in term of distance.

B. Research Participant

The subject of the research was the students of eighth grade of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan, Academic Year of 2015-2016. There were eight classes from 1 class to 8 class. In this case, the writer chose VIII-8 class as the subject ot the research. There were 40 students which is consists of 22 female students and 18 male students in the classroom. The class was chosen based on the English teacher selection, among other classes, VIII-8 students had the lowest score in English and the writer agreed to applying the strategy in that class. Also, it was to help them to improve their comprehension in reading. That is why teacher needs to find an appropriate technique to improve this class score in reading.

C. Research Design

This research used Kurt Lewin‘s design as a CAR procedure in this research.

It consists of two cycles contains four phases; planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. This research used classroom action research (CAR) in this study, so it followed principle of CAR to collect the data.

Figure 3.1

The Kurt Lewin’s Design of CAR

(Adopted from Wijaya Kusumah, 2009)39

Based on the Kurt Lewin‘s action Research design above, there are four

phases in one cycle. Those are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The writer wants to describe a plan for Classroom Action Research (CAR). Here are details of action plan:

1. Planning Phase

In this phase, after identifying and diagnosing students‘ problems in reading comprehension by interviewing the teacher, observing the class, and conducting the test, some plans related to how solve the problems in the classroom were made. The writer as English teacher makes lesson plan based

on the issue in the classroom and to improve students‘ reading comprehension

in narrative text through group work technique to make students more interesting in learning. Then she and the teacher try to solve the problems by using group work technique to be implemented in the classroom. The writer makes a lesson plan based on the syllabus, material, media, resources, and evaluation which consist of test (pre action and in cycle 1 and 2). The lesson plan will be implemented in VIII-A class of SMPN 13 Tangerang Selatan.Then the form of lesson plan implemented to the students in the class. Post-tests were also prepared in order to know whether there were some improvements on the

39

Wijaya Kusumah and Dedi Dwitagama, Mengenal Penelitian Tindakan Kelas, (Jakarta: PT Indeks, 2009), p. 44.

Planning

Observing Reflecting

students‘ score achievement from each test.

2. Acting Phase

In this phase, the writer and the English teacher work collaboratively in implementing the planned action. The role in this action is the writer as the teacher who conducts a teaching learning plan activity in the classroom. The researcher directly involves in the class research totally, from the beginning until the end of the research. The writer used group work as the strategy in teaching reading comprehension, and the teacher observed the condition of class during teaching and learning process. Here, it begin the process of research problems that the writer found it, and also there were two cycles in which each cycle consisted of three meetings in action.

3. Observing Phase

During the acting phase, the English teacher (observer) observes teaching learning activity in the classroom. The researcher has to make an observational note that is written about all of activities that happened in the class research and check the guidelines of teacher‘s observation. For example, class situation, teacher performance, student response, et cetera. However, observing phase is a phase to collect the data (pre action and post test) that related to teaching learning activity which has the aim to know and to solve the students‘ problem. 4. Reflecting Phase

The reflection is the process to evaluate data that have been collected in the observing phase. Both the writer and the teacher try to reflect the result of previous research, discuss and analyze the data. In this phase, they also discuss some problems that occur in the classroom research. The analysis result is used for reference to next plan or cycle if it is needed. Thus, reflecting phase can be determined after the acting phase and the observing phase. In this step, the teacher has to understand the issue of teaching and learning and the situation in the class that has been taught.

D. Research Instrument

In this research the writer used three instruments which are used for gathered the data. Those are test, observation and questionnaire to complete the data for this research.

1. Test

The test of this research was multiple-choice items. The test items or the numbers of the questions item were 20.

2. Observation Sheets

In gathering data, the writer took field notes. The writer should note down any information about the activities of the learners, the attitudes of the students and the class condition during the implementation of CAR.

3. Questionnaire sheets

To support the data, the writer gave questionnaire to each students of VIII-8

class to find out the students‘ response toward using group technique in learning

Narrative text.

E. The Data Collecting Procedure

In collecting data, the instrument that the writer used are observation, test, and questionnaire. In addition, through observation, the teacher could observe implicit understanding and how theory in use. Then, the questionnaire is used as an additional way in gaining deeper information about something. Then, the test is

to measure the students‘ reading comprehension score. Each technique of data

collection is described below: 1. Observation

The writer exchanged a role in the class became a teacher and the observer was the English teacher. The writer was arranged the rubric list for observation sheets about the process of teaching and learning reading comprehension through group work technique. The first aspect was class structure, what the teacher does to prepare the students in learning new material, then the method used in the class by the teacher and how is the way she/he delivers well-designed materials to the students. Furthermore, teacher-students interaction was quite important; it

involves the students‘ participation in the class, students‘ attention during learning

process and teacher‘s ways to quick-witted the awareness of individual student learning needs. The last the content, does the teacher appears knowledgeable or explains the concept clearly to the students.

2. Questionnaires Sheets

The writer gives the questionnaire sheets for each student. It was done before implementing CAR in order to deeply analyze the problem faced by the

teachers and related the class situation, students‘ achievement, and also students‘ and teachers‘ attitude toward the teaching and learning process. The questionnaire was functioned to find out the students response toward using group work technique in learning reading comprehension. The writer ask the students to check list the answer s (setuju), ss (sangat setuju), ts (tidak setuju), or sts (sangat tidak setuju) that showing expression of student felling in learning reading through group work technique.

3. Test

A kind of test is multiple choices in order to measure the students‘

achievement in reading narrative text. The purpose is to know the students‘ ability in reading narrative text before and after teaching reading narrative text by using

group work technique and to know whether the students‘ reading skill is

improving or not. There are two kinds of test in this research, namely pre-test and post-test. Pre-test is a test before the implementation of this research. Meanwhile, post-test is a test which after the implementation of this research.

E. Procedures of Data Analysis

In analyzing the qualitative data of this research, the writer uses the

observation of students‘ activities during teaching learning process.40

40

`Table 3.1

The Observation of Students’ Activities

No Indicators Rating scale

B E S G VG

1. Listening to the teacher instruction

2. Listening to teacher explanation about the material

3. Paying attention to the materials being explained

4. Obeying what teacher is commanded 5. Reading some parts of reading text 6. Making hypotheses in using group work

technique

7. Paying attention to other students who is reading

8. Involving actively during teaching learning process

9. Asking difficult material to the teacher 10. Paying attention to the teacher‘s conclusion 11. Doing the exercise test

Table 3.2

Rating Scale of the Observation of Students’ Activities

NO

Rating Scale

The explanation

1 Bad The students‘ attitudes toward teacher‘s other

participant is bad.

2 Enough The students‘ attitude toward teacher‘s effort and other participant is not bad but still unsuitable.

3 Satisfactory The students‘ attitude toward teacher‘s effort and other participant is satisfactory but still need improvement.

4 Good The students‘ attitudes toward teacher‘s effort and other participant is good

5 Very Good The students‘ attitudes toward teacher‘s effort and other participant is very good

There were 5 grade of the rating scale, and each of the rating has its own quality. Start from the rating scale 1 that showed the quality of bad, scale 2 showed the quality of enough, 3 showed the quality of satisfactory, 4 showed the quality of good and 5 showed the quality of very good.

The rating scale above was used when the observer did the classroom observation. The observer rates the observation table with the qualification above. On the other side, in analyzing the data the writer uses the tests (pre action, cycle 1 and cycle 2).

In analyzing numerical data, first the writer measures the average or mean of

students‘ reading score per action within one cycle. She uses the formula as

below.41

̅ = Mean

∑x = Individual score N = Number of students

In gaining the class percentage which passes the minimum mastery criteria (KKM) Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal 75 uses the formula:

41

Anas Sudjiono, Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan, (Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada, 2008), p. 81.

̅ = The class percentage F = Total percentage score N = Number of students

The last, after getting mean of students‘ score per actions, the writer identifies whether the students‘ improve their understanding of narrative text from pre-test up to post-test in cycle 1 and cycle 2. She uses the formula as below:

P = Percentage of students‘ improvement

У = pre-test result y1 = Post - Test 1

P = Percentage of students‘ improvement

У = pre-test result

У2 =

Post - Test 2

F. The Trustworthiness of Test

To analyze the examined test items, the writer uses the trustworthiness of test, there are some ways including:

1. Test Validity

Validity is the component criteria for evaluating the test or as a measure of the test. It could be about the representation of test toward the material that is being given for the students. Before administering the pre-test, the writer analyzes the validity and the reliability of pre-test instrument in order to find

̅

such a blow that plenty of figs dropped from his hair!”

The princess shouted, “Father never grew figs in his hair!”

By that Wilson won her! 5. What was the princess habit?

a. She liked to underestimate people. b. She liked to tell lies.

c. She liked to laugh. d. She liked to be angry.

6. What did Wilson do to win the Princess?

a. He created a story about the princess parents.

b. He told a story about the princess parents. c. He asked for his parent‟s help

d. He used his magic power. 7. What is the purpose of the text?

a. To relate someone‟s experience. b. To entertain the readers. c. To describe a particular person.

d. To show how to make something step by step.

The text is for questions number 8-12. A farmer came across a bird with a broken wing. He picked it up, took it home and looked after it lovingly, even though his wife complained bitterly about his wasting too much time on the creature.

After some time, the wing mended and, because the bird did not want the farmer to have kept on arguing with his wife all the time, it decided to go back to its nest.

When the farmer discovered that the bird was gone, he was so upset that he went out to look for it. Eventually, he found it again, and was greeted happily by the whole family of the bird. As a sign of their thanks for his care and attention, the birds gave him a little box, and told him not to open it until he got home.

To his surprise, the farmer found the box full of precious stones. When his wife saw them, she decided that she too deserved a reward, and she went to see the birds. The birds gave her a little casket; but this one was full of devils. The devils jumped on her as soon as she opened the casket and chased her away.

Left alone, the farmer went to live near his friend, the bird. There he built a hut of perfumed wood; and the birds decorated it with flowers of every kind.

8. Which of the following statements do you agree with?

a. The farmer chased his wife away. b. The farmer lived happily with his wife. c. The farmer‟s wife took care of the bird. d. The bird was very thankful to the farmer. 9. The farmer‟s new hut was….

a. Well furnished b. Built by the birds c. Built of perfumed wood d. Decorated luxuriously

10. What do we learn from the text? a. A gift shows kindness.

b. A good deed deserves a reward. c. Arguing makes you distressed. d. Having no heart makes you isolated. 11. What is the main information discussed in

the third paragraph?

a. The bird left the farmer. b. The birds welcomed the farmer c. The farmer got a little casket from the

birds.

d. The farmer was so angry and went out to find the bird.

12. The word “discovered” (p3) means…. a. Proved

b. Invented c. Saw

The text is for questions number 13-17. Once upon a time, there lived group of mice under a tree in peace. However, a group of elephants crossing the jungle unknowingly destroyed the homes of all the rats. Many of them were crushed to death.

Then the king of rats decided to approach the elephant‟s chief and request him to guide his herd through another route. On hearing the sad story, the elephant‟s king apologized and agreed to take another route. Therefore, the lives the rats were saved.

One-day elephant hunters came to the jungle and tripped a group of elephants in huge nets. Then the elephant king suddenly remembered the king of rats. He summoned one of the elephant of his herd which had not been trapped, to go seek help from the king and told him about the trapped elephants.

The rat‟s king immediately took his entire group of rats and they cut the nets which had trapped the elephant‟s herd. The elephant‟s herd was totally set free. They danced with joy and thanked the rats.

13. What destroyed the homes of all rats? a. A group of elephants did

b. The hunters did. c. Elephant hunters did. d. Elephant‟s herd did.

14. What helped the elephant‟s herd free? a. The elephant‟s herd did.

b. The hunter did.

c. A trapped elephant did d. Entire group of rats did. 15. When did the story occur?

a. Deep in the writer‟s mind b. In the jungle

c. In the black forest

d. In the home of mice group

16. At the end of the story, how was the elephants‟ herd?

a. Angry b. Sad c. Happy d. Disappointed

17. The word “summoned” means …. a. Ordered to come

b. Asked to do c. Offered to come d. Got to make

The text is for questions number 18-20. The Good Stepmother

The old witch locked Hansel in a cage and set Gretel to clean the house. She planned to eat them both. Each night the children cried and begged the witch to let them go.

Meanwhile, at home, their stepmother was beginning to wish she had never tried to get rid of the children. “I must find them,” she said and set off into the forest.

Many hours later, when her feet were tired from walking and her lips were dry from thirst, she came to the cottage belonging to the witch. The stepmother peeped though the window. Her heart cried out when she saw the two children. She picked up the broom leaning against the door and crept inside. The witch was putting some stew in the oven when the stepmother gave her an almighty push. The witch fell into the oven and the stepmother shut the door.

„Children, I have come to save you,‟ she said hugging them tightly. I have done a dreadful thing.

I hope in time you will forgive me. Let me take you home and become a family again. They returned to their home and the stepmother became the best mother anyone could wish to have, and of course, they lived happily ever after!

18. The story is about a stepmother who… a. Saved her children from a witch b. Planned to eat her children c. Begged a witch for money d. Tried to run away from a witch 19. Which statement is TRUE about the

stepmother?

a. She was the witch‟s friend. b. She loved her stepchildren. c. She hit the witch with a broom. d. She locked her children in a cage. 20. “The witch fell into the oven and the

stepmother shut the door.” (Paragraph 4) The underlined word can be replaced by the word …………..

a. Closed c. Painted b. Opened d. Marked