Conclusions CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS

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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter presents the conclusions, implications, and also some suggestions of the research. Those items above will be discussed below.

A. Conclusions

This action research aimed at improving the reading comprehension of grade VIII C students of SMP N 3 Pakem using the Semantic Mapping strategy. The subjects of the research were the students of grade VIII C. The research was begun on 15 th of January and ended on 8 th of March 2014. There were two cycles in this research. After implementing the actions in the Cycle 1, there were some changes in the teaching and learning process of reading as well as the students‟ reading comprehension. However, to solve the unsuccessful actions and to bring more improvements, some actions were revised in Cycle 2. The findings of the research in Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 are presented below. 1. The use of the Semantic Mapping Strategy during the teaching and learning of reading was useful to improve the students‟ reading comprehension. This strategy could help the students understand the content of the text especially recount and narrative text better than before. They could also answer multiple choice comprehension questions more easily than before. It was a strategy which was more effective compared with the students‟ previous strategy which was matching the words in the multiple options with the words in the text. 111 2. The activity of personalizing the map improved the students‟ comprehension towards the content of the text such as ordering chronological events, finding details and identifying references. Even though this activity was considered complicated by the students, the complication level could be decreased by giving them blank map to complete as long as the procedure of the Semantic Mapping strategy was completed. 3. The brainstorming activity was useful to enrich the students‟ vocabulary, help th e students predict the words in the upcoming text, and increase the students‟ interaction and participation. The use of pictures in brainstorming activity helped the student brainstorm their ideas related to the topic. This activity could be maximized by giving vocabulary exercises and accustoming the students to opening a dictionary. 4. The discussion and presentation to retell the content of the text in post- assignment synthesis improved the students‟ interaction with their peers and between the students and the researcher. It also improved the students‟ confidence and participation to be volunteers in retelling the content of the text. 5. The use of LCD projector in the teaching and learning process improved the students‟ enthusiasm and engagement towards the lesson. The number of students who made noise during the lesson decreased. 6. The distribution of handouts for the students improved the students‟ activeness towards the activities of the lesson. They more focused towards the lesson and 112 did the tasks in the handouts. They were also more diligent in noting down new vocabulary and important information on their handouts. Based on the quantitative data that can be seen from the result of the pre- test and the post- test, the results showed that the students‟ comprehension ability had improved. The difference between the pre-test score and the post test score was 1.73. This justifies that the students‟ reading comprehension ability had improved.

B. Implications