59 more than one option. They might also add the answer with their own opinion.
Each of the answer was chosen by more than 50 of the students. Only 5 students or 6.67 of the students added with their own answers. Those free answers were;
being up to date; being cool; understanding the meaning of foreign song lyrics; being able to continue to study abroad; not being left behind the other countries.
Question number 4 asked the students to value their own reading comprehension so far. Most of the students stated ‘sufficient’, they were 61.33
of the students. 32 of the students stated ‘good’. 5.33 of the students stated ‘poor’. Only 1 student or 1.33 stated ‘very good’. Most of the students were not
really confident with their reading comprehension since most of them stated that their reading comprehension was sufficient.
Next, the students were asked to give their opinion about the reading materials given by their English teacher so far. Most of the students stated
‘interesting’, their percentage was 78.67. 12 of the students stated very interesting’. Only 6.67 of the students stated ‘average’ and 5.33 of the
stu dents stated ‘not interesting’. It proved that their English teacher was quite
successful to make the students interested in reading lesson. In question number 6.88 of the students stated that the materials given
by their English teacher had supported their reading skill development. Only 12 of the students stated that the materials had not supported their reading skill
development. However, all of the students stated that they still had difficulties in reading English reading texts in question number 7.
60 Since question number 7 allowed the students to mention their difficulties
freely, the researcher got various answers. The researcher categorized the answers based on the same problems. 88 of the students mentioned about the unfamiliar
vocabulary. 22.67 mentioned about the confusing sentence structures. 30.67 mentioned about the difficult pronunciation. 37.33 of the students mentioned
about the difficult questions. 14.67 of the students mentioned about the length of the text with limited time to read. It can be inferred that the lack of vocabulary
became the students’ major problem. Question number 8 aimed to select the topics for designing the materials
according to the students’ interest. The reading texts in the designed materials consisted of 3 kinds of genres; they were descriptive, recount and narrative. Each
genre took 3 topics which reached the highest percentages. The topics listed in the questionnaire were some possible thematic units for every genre. The chosen
topics for descriptive texts were outer space reached 80, animals reached 78.67, and interesting places reached 73.33. The chosen topics for recount
texts were exploration reached 70.67, unforgettable experience reached 68, and biography reached 61.33. The chosen topics for narrative texts were
legend reached 68, myth reached 65.33, and folk tale reached 62.67. The last question asked the students about their reading habits especially
the use of reading strategies. The students were asked to choose the strategies which the used when they were reading English texts. Most of the students or
92 of them opened the dictionary for unknown words. 74.67 of them guessed PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
61 the meaning of a new word by relating it to other words in its sentence or
paragraph. Other strategies, each of them was used by under 50 of the students.
Predicting the content of the next paragraph while reading was used by 46.67 of the students. Reading the text quickly to find specific information in the text was
used by 41.33. The strategies which were used by the students in the percentages from 30 to 40 were: relating the content of the text to the
knowledge they have; identifying sentence structure; and relating one information to the other information in the text. The strategies which were used by the
students in the percentages from 20 to 30 were: trying not to translate the text word by word and reading the text quickly to identify the main ideas or the
content of the text in general before reading carefully. The smallest percentage was for arranging questions they expect the text to answer before reading the
whole text which reached 14.67. In summary, all the students started learning English before they entered
Junior High School. They all agreed if English reading skill was important skill in learning English. They also believed that English reading skill was needed for
various things which supported their success in life. Students’ perceptions about their reading comprehension were mostly sufficient. Most of them stated that the
materials given by their teacher were interesting and had supported their reading skill development. However, all of them still had difficulties in reading English
text. In reading English texts each student stated that they employed several strategies. The top nine topics chosen by the students were: outer space, animals,
62 interesting places, exploration, unforgettable experience, biography, legend, myth,
and folktale. From the analysis of the data gathered above, it shows that the eight grade
students of SMP N 1 Mungkid needed a set of supplementary reading materials that were appropriate to improve their reading skill. It was because the students
agreed that English reading skill was important and this skill could help them to reach success in life. It was true that most of the students admitted that the
materials given by the teacher were interesting and had supported their reading skill development. However, it did not mean that a new set of supplementary
reading materials which would give them chances to improve their reading skill was not important. On the other hand the students did not deny that they still have
problem in reading. The set of supplementary reading materials using Strategies- Based Instruction would give a new and challenging experience in reading
English texts and also support them to be higher lever readers. Their mastery of English vocabulary they had acquired since the first time they learned English
would be a strong basis to explore their ability in reading English texts. It would also
support the students’ enjoyment in reading. From the result of strategies inventory employed in the last question of the
questionnaire only guessing the meaning of vocabulary in context and opening the dictionary for unknown words were the strategies used by more than 50 of the
students. Skimming and scanning were fairly good with more than 40 users. The other strategies were used by under 40 even under 30 of the students.
However, it could not be guaranteed that the students used the strategies well. The PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
63 materials to be developed in this study would give the students chances to practice
reading strategies systematically with the guidance from the teacher.
b. The Results of Interviewing the Teachers
The researcher interviewed the teachers of grade VIII of SMP Negeri 1 Mungkid. It aimed to gain the information that was not covered in the
questionnaire. There were two teachers to be interviewed. In general, the results gained from both of the teachers were similar and completed each other. The
results of the interview are presented in three parts as the following: 1 The Teaching of Reading
The grade VIII teachers explained that English subject was taught twice a week. The teaching lasted for two periods in one meeting. One period took forty
minutes. Reading activities were always given in each unit. Both teachers could not give the exact time allocation for conducting reading lesson in one semester.
One of the teachers said that reading lesson got more time allocation than speaking, listening or writing lesson.
In reading lesson, the students were given the chance not only to read silently but also to read aloud. Reading the text aloud was important for the
students to practice English pronunciation, stress, and intonation. Reading lesson was also impor
tant to develop the students’ vocabulary mastery. Answering questions was the main way to measure students’ comprehension. The tasks in
reading lesson could be done individually or in group. The activities and materials in reading lesson were given to reach the goal
of reading in 2006 curriculum and reading skills development. The texts used in PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
64 reading lesson were taken not only from grade VIII English textbooks and
LKSLembar Kerja Siswa Students’ Workbooks but also from other relevant
references that could be taken from magazines and internet. Therefore the students would not get bored with monotonous texts. Eventough the materials were taken
or adapted from various sources but the materials from compulsory book buku wajib released by the government were still targeted to be mastered by the
students. It could not be denied that there were still final examination in the end of every semester UAS and national final Examination UAN. The teachers were
sure that the examinations took the compulsory books as the main references. However the materials taken from other sources were also important to develop
students’ reading skills. The topics in reading lesson should be interesting for the students. The
teachers gave examples such as legends, tourism objects, animals, unusual experiences and biography of inspiring or famous person. They added, the topics
that gave new information would make the students enthusiast. 2 The Students Competency and Motivation in Reading
According to the grade VIII teacher s, students’ motivation was influenced
by the topics. Reading texts which entertained or gave new information usually motivated the students to read. Moreover, students’ difficulties could influence
motivation in reading. Therefore, teachers’ guidance was very important to help the students to overcome their limitations.
There was a tendency that the students’ motivation in reading lesson was getting good marks. Interesting pre-work was needed to motivate the students
65 such as the use of pictures to stimulate their background knowledge. One of the
teachers even gave the students chance to find interesting texts by themselves. The teachers said that the students’ major difficulty in comprehending a
reading text was the lack of vocabulary mastery. To help the students, the teachers guide the students with several ways to find the meaning of difficult words such
as guessing the meaning from contexts, finding the meaning from the synonym or antonym provided by the teachers and opening the dictionary. To increase the
vocabulary mastery, the teachers suggested the students to make a list of difficult words with their meanings to become their own dictionary.
3 Designing a Set of English Supplementary Reading Materials Using Strategies- Based Instruction
The teac hers noticed that the students’ motivation was influenced by the
topics and difficulties in comprehending the reading texts or completing the reading tasks. The teachers needed various and interesting topics of reading
materials and new method to motivate the students. Therefore, the designing of reading materials using Strategies Based Instruction is expected to be able to
enrich their references in teaching reading. The teachers believed that the students would be motivated to read since the topics came f
rom the students’ interest. Furthermore, the students would be equipped by reading strategies that help them
minimizing their difficulties in comprehending the reading texts or completing the tasks especially for the texts in the form of descriptive, recount, and narrative.
The students did not have significant difficulties in understanding functional such as advertisement, announcement and invitation letter since they
66 were short and simple. Different from functional written texts, Descriptive,
Recount, and Narrative texts have more vocabulary and complex structure. Therefore, the teachers hoped that the materials to be designed in this study would
focus on teaching descriptive, recount and narrative texts.
2. Stating Instructional Goals, Topics and General Purposes
After the data about the students’ characteristics and needs had been gathered through conducting needs survey, the researcher determined the goals of
designing a set of English supplementary reading materials using Strategies-Based Instruction for the grade VIII students of SMP Negeri 1 Mungkid. In the existing
curriculum, 2006 curriculum, goals are stated as competence standards. It is stated that there are two general text types to be comprehended by the students; they are
functional written texts and essays. The materials to be designed in this study only include essays because the teachers expected that the materials would focus on
teaching descriptive, recount, and narrative text. Since the materials in this study only include essays, the researcher did not include functional written texts as the
type of text that should be comprehended in the competence standards of the materials.
The materials in this study were not only for one semester but for two semesters. This consideration was taken because the teaching of the designed
materials would bother the teaching of other materials such as the materials from compulsory book if the whole supplementary materials were taught in one
semester. There were 10 units in the materials. Unit 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 were for PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
67 semester 1. Unit 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were for semester 2. The competence standards
were as the following: a. Semester 1: Comprehending the significance of texts which are presented in
the form of descriptive and recount. b. Semester 2: Comprehending the significance of texts which are presented in
the form of recount and narrative In order to achieve the competence standards, the researcher listed the
topics to be presented in each unit of her design. The selection of the topics was influenced by what were written in the curriculum. According to 2006 curriculum,
the texts for grade VIII consist of three genres, they are descriptive, recount, and narrative. The topics were selected based on the students’ interest as obtained
from the questionnaire. They were: outer space, animals, interesting places, exploration, unforgettable experience, biography, legend, myth, and folk tale. The
topics listed in the questionnaire were in the form of possible thematic units of the three genres. The researcher also added the materials with one unit for
introduction to the text types. Then the researcher gave the title for every unit based on the chosen topics.
There were some considerations in arranging the topics in sequence. There were ten topics in the materials. The first until the fifth topic were for semester 1
and the rest were for semester two. The types of text for semester 1 were descriptive text and recount text. The types of text for semester 2 were recount
text and narrative text. Therefore the topics from narrative texts were not placed in PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
