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CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS
This chapter relates to the description of the research process which includes the process of the research report of
cycle one, cycle two, and cycle three, and followed by relating the findings and discussions. There are also the displays of
observation result, test, interview, and the strong points and the weak points found during the implementation of QAR as a
reading comprehension strategy.
A. Research Setting
This Classroom Action research was conducted at SMA Negeri 1 Rangkasbitung, Banten, in academic year of
20122013. The school was built in June 11
th
, 1959, SK Mendikbud December 22
th
, 1959, No. 088701959. It is situated in Jl Hardiwinangun, Rangkasbitung-Lebak,. There are two big
hospitals and a traditional market known as pasar Rangkasbitung, not far from it. The atmosphere it possesses is
good for learning as it has wide large building and being protected with high and big gate that prevents the disturbing
noise from the outside. As the best SMA Negeri in Lebak regency, it is unsurprisingly that the school is well facilitated
with sophisticated language laboratory and equipped with audio visual, science laboratory, multimedia laboratory, internet
facility, and library.
Currently, the school has 50 teachers and 14 staffs. Five of them are English language teachers: they are Drs, Dedi Supriadi,
Drs. Ahmad Hidayat, Shofie S.Pd, Wiwi, S.Pd, Hikmat Mulia, S
.Pd.
There are big numbers of students joining the school: 736 students. Class X comprises 240 students, 112 are male and 128
are female. Class XI includes three classes of IPA with 116 students, 50 are male and 66 are female. While class IPS has
three classes with 130 students, 60 are male and 70 are female. Next, class XII includes three classes of IPA with 130 students,
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63 are male and 67 are female. The last, class IPS consists of 3 classes with 120 students including 58 males and 62 females.
B. The Condition Before Research
The condition before the research was identified in pre- research stage. This was aimed at finding out the problems
during the teaching learning process in reading and to find out the current students‟ reading comprehension. Furthermore, the
pre research activity was carried out to id entify students‟
problem in reading comprehension. As the problems were identified, the researcher could decide what kind of solution
would be used. To reach this purpose, the writer conducted interview to the students, giving questionnaire, and pre-test as
well.
The main problems that could be identified are: students‟ problem in comprehending the text and classroom situation.
Furthermore the researcher found out the causes of the problem. They are also written in the table below. The result of pre-
research activities was described in table 4.1.
Table 4.1 The Result of previous condition Condition
1. Students‟ reading comprehension
Students
had difficulty to identify explicit information of the text.
Students had difficulty to comprehend the text as they lack of vocabulary.
Students
were unable to find main idea in paragraph.
Students had difficulty to infer the meaning of the text.
2. Reading classroom situation
Some students often came late
They came to reading class reluctantly
They chatted each other
They had no response when they were asked
questions
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3. The causes of the problem
Students‟ vocabulary mastery was poor
Teacher seldom gave motivation to the students
The teaching method used by the teacher is not
inspiring
Teacher dominated
class with
broad oral
communication 1. Students‟ reading comprehension
The competence of students of class XI IPS3 in reading comprehension was low. An indication that students had low
ability of reading was when they could not answer many questions correctly. Referring to reading comprehension score
of 40 of class XI IPS3 students obtained in preliminary research
reflects that students‟ reading comprehension is low: the mean score is 5.3 with the highest score is 75 and the lowest score is
43. Referring to Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal KKM of class eleven: 70, there are only 10 or 25 students pass the passing
grade while the class‟s target is 75 of students have to achieve the minimal score, 70.
In more detail, for each element of reading comprehension, referring to students‟ comprehension score, it reflects that the
most difficult element is making prediction as the mean score of such questions is 54.8 with 61 for the highest score and 37 for
the lowest score. The second most difficult element is finding implicit information: mean score is 59.5 with 67 for the highest
score and 40 for the lowest score. Then, element of identifying communicative function can be categorized the third most
difficult as the mean score is 61 with the highest is 71 and 40 for the lowest. Next, for the element of main idea, the mean score is
61.3 with the highest is 73 and 40 for the lowest. Then the mean score of identifying explicit meaning is 67.5 with 73 for the
highest and 55 for the lowest.
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2. Classroom situation Before conducting the research, the teaching learning
process was not inspiring. In teaching reading, the teacher explained the students by applying broad oral communication
using full English.
Basically, the English teacher applied there stages of teaching reading that is pre-reading, during reading and post
reading. However, it did not work very well since there were a lot of missing parts which students get from the explanation.
Based on the researcher‟s observation, he found 1 some students came late; 2 they came to reading class reluctantly;
3 They chatted each other in the class; 4 they had no response when they are asked question. Beside that, he saw that
the process of teaching learning was not inspiring.
3. Causes of reading comprehension problems Knowing that reading comprehension was still difficult for
the students, the researcher tried to know what caused their difficulties. The difficulties of reading comprehension were
based on two aspects. They were from the students and the teacher.
Based on my informal interview, 1 the students‟ vocabulary mastery was poor, so the students had difficulty to
comprehend the text. Besides, the students have lack of motivation in language learning since the students get bored
with teaching method used by teacher; 2 in the process of teaching learning, the teacher seldom gave motivation to the
students. So it made students unmotivated to join the instructional process. 3 Furthermore, the teacher still used
conventional method in the process of teaching learning. 4 In addition, the teacher still dominated the class by using English
as the medium all the time. So that, it made the students didn‟t understand what the teacher said. As the result, student‟ reading
comprehension is not satisfying. To overcome the problems above, 1 the researcher would
like to use hortatory text during the research as it easier to
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understand by the students; 2 the researcher recommended the collaborator to give motivation the students regularly; 3 the
researcher would like to employ Question-Answer Relationship QAR strategy which is considered as a good strategy to
improve students‟ reading comprehension. QAR strategy proposed by Raphael and developed by
Klingner Jannette, Sharon Vaughn Alison Boardman
1
. This strategy is aimed at improving students reading comprehension
skill. It helps students realize that the answers they seek are related to the type of question that is asked; it encourages them
to be strategic about their search for answers based on an awareness of what different types of questions look for. Even
more important in understanding where the answer will come from.
There are some benefits in using Question Answer Relationships QAR strategy as a framework for reading
comprehension instruction as well as a framework for comprehension strategy use, for teacher, using QAR Strategy to
frame the questioning activities within the reading cycle guides their modeling of question-asking practices in the before, during
and after reading phases.
2
Furthermore, according to Wilson, et al. the QAR framework was chosen for the professional
development initiative because a common practice for students to be asked to respond to questions in the text. QAR gives a
framework for thinking about these questions and provide students with the tools and language for identifying the
relationships between text and questions. Question Answer Relationships QAR Strategy cannot only guide classroom
1
Klingner Janette K, Sharon Vaughn Alison Boardman, Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students with Learning Difficulties, New York:
The Guilford Press, 2007, pp. 110 – 111.
2
Raphael, Taffy E. Au, Kathryn, QAR: Enhancing Comprehension Test Taking Across Grades and Content Area. The Reading Teacher. Vol. 59,
No. 3 November 2005. P. 214.
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reading discussion but assist students in becoming more strategic as well, or metacognitive, in their reading.
3
Consequently, by employing QAR, it was hoped that students could be much easier to comprehend the materials of
reading. The ultimate target of this QAR implementation were to make students be able to recognize communicative function,
mention main idea, get explicit message, interpret implicit message, and make prediction predict what will happen.
C. Research Implementation
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