3.4.2 Skimming and Scanning Techniques Skimming is one of the techniques used when the reader wants to get the
gist of the text quickly. The purpose of Skimming is getting the main ideas and general overview of the content. Further, in the Skimming technique, the students
find the general information of the recount text. Scanning is one of the techniques used when the reader wants to get a
specific information quickly. In the Scanning technique, the students find the specific information of the recount text quickly.
3.5 Data Collection Methods
The data of this research consisted of primary data and supporting data. The primary data were collected by the reading test and observation, while the
supporting data were collected from documentation and interview. The following parts will discuss the methods that were used in this research.
3.5.1 Reading Test A test is an instrument that presents to each subject a standard set of
questions that requires the completion of a cognitive task McMillan, 1992:114. Stay in line with this idea, Brown 2003:3 states a test is a method of measuring a
person’s knowledge, ability, or performance in a given domain. Hughes 2003:11 points out there are four types of test, namely:
proficiency tests, achievement tests, diagnostic tests, and placement tests. In this research, the reading achievement test were
used to measure the students’ reading comprehension achievement.
A good test should have high validity. Hughes 2003:26 explains that a test is said to be valid if it measures accurately what it is intended to measure. In
order to ensure the test and establishing the content validity of the reading test, the content of the materials was constructed based on the 2006 Instructional Based
Curriculum for junior high school used in the school and the indicators of reading
test dealing with word comprehension, sentence comprehension, paragraph
comprehension, and text comprehension, and it was consulted to the English teacher and the consultants.
In this research, the reading test was given to the subjects in each cycle after the actions given. The reading test was in the form of multiple choice.
According to Brown 2003:194, the most popular method of testing reading knowledge is the multiple choice format. Further, he points out that multiple
choice is practical, easy to administer, and can be scored quickly. The test consisted of 25 items in the form of multiple choices with 4 options in each item,
and the test was administered in 50 minutes. The correct answer was scored 4 points. So, the total score was 100. Further, the researcher used the material taken
from other sources which were not used by the English teacher and the students.
3.5.2 Observation Observation in this research was conducted to get the main data about the
students’ active participation in the teaching learning process of reading. According to Arikunto 2010:272, the most effective way for doing observation
is by using observation instrument. The indicators of
the students’ participation were as follows:
1. The students read the text individually
2. The students do reading exercises by using Skimming technique
3. The students do reading exercises by using Scanning technique
4. The students answer the teacher’s oral questions
5. The students ask the questions to the teacher about the material they do not
understand Notes:
The students are considered active if the students fulfilled at least 4 indicators. The students are considered passive if the students fulfilled less than 4 indicators.
The following table is the form of the observation checklist to record the students’ participation.
Table 3.1 Observation Checklist Students’
Name Indicators
Result 1
2 3
4 5
Active Passive
3.5.3 Interview McMillan 1992:132 states that interview is a form of data collection in
which questions are asked orally and the subjects’ responses are recorded. In this research, interview was conducted to obtain the supporting data. The interview
was conducted with the eighth grade English teacher of MTs N 1 Jember. The interview was intended to find the information dealing with the English
curriculum used, the English text book used, some techniques used in teaching reading, the students’ problems in reading, and how to overcome the problems.
The interview was conducted in the preliminary study of the research. The interview guide is enclosed on Appendix B.
3.5.4 Documentation Documentation was used to get the supporting data. In this research, the
data collected from documents were the names of the subjects and the previous English scores of VIII-
C students’ at MTs N 1 Jember taken from the English teacher. The documentation is enclosed on Appendix C.
3.6 Research Procedures
