Summary of Cycle II

111 achievement test II, that was conducted on Tuesday, October 22 nd 2013, and post-test that was conducted on Thursday, October 24 th 2013. The summary of the students‘ results on the tests could be seen in the following table. Table 6: The Summary of the Students‟ Results on the Four Tests Descriptive Statistics N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Pre test 30 4.00 6.50 5.0500 0.63109 Post test 30 4.66 7.66 6.3077 0.61185 Achievement test I 30 5.00 9.00 7.0323 1.01600 Achievement test II 30 6.00 9.00 7.7667 0.77385 Valid N listwise 30 Based on the table above, the students‘ mean scores in achievement test II was higher than the students‘ mean scores in achievement test I. The students‘ mean scores in post-test was also higher than the students‘ mean scores in pre- test. From the result, it could be concluded that the students‘ reading scores improved from pre-test to post-test and from achievement test I to achievement test II. Furthermore, the standard deviation in post-test was lower than the standard deviation in post-test. As said by Burns 2010: 128 that the SD standard deviation tells you how each score deviates on average from the mean. Because the SD averages things in this way, it is more accurate than the range in showing how scores are spread out, and if there are any outliers, their effects are minimized. From the statement, it could be concluded that the students‘ reading scores were homogenous. There were no outliers or extreme 112 scores in both pre test and post-test. Moreover, in comparison to the standard deviation in achievement test I, the standard deviation in achievement test II was lower . It could also be said that the students‘ reading scores were more homogenous. From the reasons above, it could be concluded that there was a significant improvement in the students‘ reading comprehension after the implementation of the action, i.e. using schema activation strategy.

D. Discussion

The research focused on improving the students‘ comprehension using Schema Activation Strategy. There were some steps for implementing the strategy in the research. They were building interest and attention, accessing prior knowledge and exploring key words, building connection between students‘ prior knowledge and the new material, and comprehending the new material. This strategy was implemented both in Cycle I and Cycle II. The findings of the research showed that Schema Activation Strategy was successful in improving the students‘ reading comprehension. The discussion of the findings was written as the following. In the first step of Schema Activation Strategy, building interest and attention, the researcher used pictures as the media, and familiar topics. Based on the findings, the use of pictures as the media i n building the students‘ interest and attention was successful in making the students to be interested in the lesson. It is in line with Willis 2008: 130. Furthermore, the use of familiar topic in each meeting was also successful in attracting the students toward the lesson. This finding was in line with Hassan 2013: 240.