2 knowledge. Consequently, it is important for the students to be proficient in
reading comprehension. However, the researcher found problems in the English teaching and
learning process from the preliminary observation and some interviews with the English teacher and some students at Grade VIII of SMP Negeri 13 Yogyakarta.
The teaching technique that was used in the classroom was monoton. This problem can decrease the students’ interest in reading. Furthermore, few teaching
media also becomes one of the problems in the English teaching and learning process of reading. Finally, the other problem found is the students’ reading
comprehension abilities. They have difficulties in understanding a text because they are lacked skill in recognizing words. They are also lacked reading subskill
that is finding the main idea of a paragraph. Reading comprehension ability is the heart of reading skill. If they cannot comprehend a text, they cannot get the
information and knowledge from the text. Considering to the facts above, the researcher believes that some efforts
are needed to solve the teaching and learning problems in the teaching and learning processes in the teaching of reading comprehension. In order to solve the
problems, the researcher was interested in conducting research on improving Grade VIII students’ reading comprehension ability at SMP Negeri 13 Yogyakarta
in the academic year of 20132014.
B. Identification of the Problem
Based on the preliminary observation and interview in SMP Negeri 13 Yogyakarta, the researcher found several problems related to the English teaching
3 and learning process of reading in the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 13
Yogyakarta. The problems that are related to the students’ reading skills can be influenced by some factors. Those factors can be from the teaching technique, the
media used in teaching and learning processes and the students’ reading comprehension ability.
The first problem which is found is the teaching technique. The teaching technique that was used in the classroom was monotonous. The teacher read a text
loudly and students must repeat their teacher’s words. After that, the students are expected to answer the questions related to the text individually. The reading
lesson is also a teacher-centered lesson. Lack of media is also one of the problems of the English teaching and
learning process in SMP Negeri 13 Yogyakarta. There are no many media can be used for the teaching and learning process. The teacher usually uses a text and
whiteboards. Media has an important role to the teaching and learning process. The media is useful in scaffolding the students in reading lesson. It can help a
teacher in building the student’s background knowledge of the text. Students can relate their background knowledge in understanding a text.
Besides the general problem above, another problem comes from the students. Their reading comprehension skill was low. Almost all students are very
weak at voabulary mastery. Most of them said that they could not understand the text because it has a lot of unfamiliar words. If they find unfamiliar words, they
rely on finding the word in dictionary or asking their friends. They rarely try to guess the meaning of the word. Furthermore, it seems that students have difficulty
