41 research involves taking a self-reflective, critical, and systematic approach to
exploring your own teaching context. According to Burns 2010: 2, the central idea of the action part of
action research is to intervene in a deliberate way in the problematic situation in order to bring about changes and, even improvements in practice.
Importantly, the improvements that happen in action research are ones based on information that the researcher collects systematically. In other words, the
improvements are not just based on the researcher‘s assumption but they are based on the data or information collected by the researcher.
There are typically four broad phases in a cycle of action research, Kemmis an Taggart in Burns, 2010: 7. They are plan, action, observe, and
reflect. The first cycle may become a continuing, or iterative, spiral of cycles, which reoccur until the action researcher has achieved a satisfactory outcome
and feels it is time to stop. This model of action research has often been illustrated through the diagram in Picture.1 to show its iterative or recursive
nature. Cycle 1
Cycle 2
Picture 1: Cyclical AR model based on Kemmis and McTaggart 1998
42
B. Setting
The research was conducted in SMP N 1 Mlati, Sleman, Yogyakarta, which is located at Tirtoadi, Mlati, Sleman. This school has twelve classes:
four classes for each grade. Each class consists of about 32 to 36 students. There are four English teachers there. They are English teachers graduating
from University S1 Degree.
C. The Participants of the Research
The participants are the researcher in collaboration with all research members. They are the English teacher, a colleague, and the students of grade
VIII C SMP N 1 Mlati. In the action stage, the subjects of the research are simply the researcher in collaboration with English teacher and her colleague,
and the students of grade VIII C SMP N 1 Mlati.
D. The Instruments and Data Collecting Techniques
In this classroom action research the researcher used tests, observation, interview, and fields notes to collect the data.
1. Class Observation
The observation was done to get the information that was needed. The researcher collected the data by observing the class situation and condition in
the teaching learning processes. The researcher and the English teacher as the collaborator did the observation. The collaborator sat in front of the classroom
and noted down the class activities in the teaching and learning process. The observation results were recorded in the form of field notes.
43 2.
Interview Interview enables the data obtained in deep and complete ways. In this
case, the writer interviewed the teacher and students. The goal is to get information about the teaching of English held in the classroom. She
interviewed the English teacher and some students at the preliminary observation in order to get more information about the teaching. Then, in the
implementation of Schema Activation Strategy, she interviewed Mrs. Ajeng as the English teacher and some students in order to get more information
about the implementation done. The interview is also used to gain the opinions, responses and feedbacks from the research members before and
after the implementation. 3.
Reading Comprehension Tests The reading comprehension tests were administered before and after the
researcher conducted the actions. The reading comprehension tests were used to measure the students‘ reading comprehension. The tests were in the form of
multiple-choice tests. They were discussed as follows. a.
Pre-test The researcher used pre-test and post-test to support the quantitative
data. Pre- test was used to find out the students‘ reading ability. The researcher
conducted the pre-test in the reconnaissance stage. b.
Achievement Test I and II Achievement test I was used to review the student‘ achievement after
the implementation of Cycle I. The test was about the material discussed in
44 Cycle I. The same as achievement test I, achievement test II was also used as
a review of the implementations in Cycle II. c.
Post-test Post-test was used to find out the improvement of reading ability. The
post-test was used at the end of the last cycle. To get the validity of the tests, the researcher used content validity.
The researcher used the existing concept in the current. Here, the researcher developed the test based on the basic competences and the indicators of the
basic competences, which were taken from the current curriculum, the School Based Curriculum. While, to get the reliability of the tests, the researcher used
the help of ITEMAN program where Cronbach‘s Alpha statistic was used to find the reliability of the test.
4. Field Note
The field note did not only aim to note the support data in this research but also it was used to record the teaching learning process related to the
weakness and obstacles that were found in the research. In addition, the researcher and the collaborator were able to see and take a note on students‘
reading comprehension progress in the classroom.
E. Data Analysis
To analyze the data, the researcher referred to the stages of data analysis suggested by Burns 1999: 157-160. They are:
