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helped English teacher a lot in conducting the reading comprehension lesson. Another experimental research written by Institute of Interdiciplinary Business
Research in 2012 which was conducted with Jordanian University students showed that the Semantic Mapping Strategy group performed better than the
control group in the pre-test comprehension test and in the post test. Based on the three studies, it can be concluded that the Semantic Mapping
Strategy has been proven as a useful and effective technique to enhance students‟
reading comprehension.
C. Conceptual Framework
It has been discussed in Chapter I that Grade VIII C students of SMP N 3 Pakem had problems in reading comprehension caused by some factors such as
the lack of their vocabulary mastery, the lack of their comprehension of the content of the text, the use of an inappropriate strategy in reading, the lack of their
enthusiasm of the lesson, and the lack of their participation during the lesson. The s
tudents‟ reading comprehension could be improved by the Semantic Mapping Strategy which was implemented during the teaching and learning process of
reading. The use of the Semantic Mapping Strategy could help the students comprehend texts through visualizing the terms in the text and their relationship in
the form of a map. Semantic Mapping was used in the pre-reading phase to activate the
students‟ schemata of the topic before they read by brainstorming and constructing pre-reading map, the while-reading phase in which they read the text
and modify their own map with new information found in the text, and the post- reading phase in which they had discussions and told the content of the text.
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The conceptual framework can be described as follows.
Figure 3. The Conceptual Framework of the Research
The Students‟ Problems in Reading Comprehension
The Lack of Vocabulary Mastery
The Lack of Comprehension of the
Content of the Text
The Use of an Inappropriate Reading Strategy
The Lack of Enthusiasm towards the
Lesson
The Lack of Participation during the Lesson
The Teaching and Learning Process of Reading
Before Reading
While Reading
After Reading
The Semantic Mapping
Strategy
Improvement in the Students‟ Reading Comprehension
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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design
Based on the objective of this study, the aim of this study was to improve the
students‟ reading comprehension through the Semantic Mapping Strategy especially for Grade VIII C students of SMPN 3 Pakem. Therefore the type of the
research is an action research. This action research study focused on improving the real condition of the English teaching and learning process to reach the
improvement of the students‟ reading comprehension.
The researcher decided to use Kemmis and McTaggart model which consists of five steps: planning, action, observation, and reflection Burns: 2010
with some modification. The researcher conducted the research collaboratively with a collaborator, the English teacher, and the students. The action will be in the
form of cycles based on Kemmis and McTaggart model. Kemmis and McTaggart model can be illustrated as this following picture.
Figure 4. Kemmis and McTaggart Model of Action Research
