difficult to understand the texts accordingly. To overcome this, the teacher should be ready to provide a new activity related to vocabulary learning in teaching reading
comprehension such as guessing the meaning of words through contexts. Sadly, the English teacher only used a course book during the teaching and learning process. The
course book does not provide enough example of narrative texts. Moreover, the course book has a bad instruction because there is an incorrect spelling in the instruction. There
were also no interesting reading activi ties to arouse the students’ interest in reading. Most
of the learning activities were reading texts aloud in the course book. Furthermore, the teacher did not use techniques that could enable and encourage the students to
improve their reading skill. Based on the observation in the teaching and learning above, the researcher
proposes a mind mapping technique to improve the students’ reading comprehension
ability. In reading, students should have an ability to comprehend the English texts. It can be done by using the mind mapping technique which can encourage the students to learn
reading effectively. Mind mapping provides interesting activities that arouse students’ interest to learn reading. According to Buzan 2006:139, mind maps are particularly
adaptive for reading, revising, note-taking and planning for exams efficiently. They are invaluable for gathering and ordering information, and for identifying the key trigger
words and facts from books, textbooks, primary and secondary source books. They help the students to manage information effectively, and increase the potential for personal
success. Buzan 2006: 139 states that those students who use Mind Maps usually report that they feel a sense of confidence, that their aims are achievable, and that they are on
track for reaching their goals.
B. Identification of the Problem
There are some problems identified in the teaching-learning process in eighth- grade class of SMP BOPKRI III Yogyakarta. The problems relate to the effectiveness of
classroom English. It comes from the teacher, students and environment.
The first problem is how the teacher manages the class. The teacher usually acts friendly to the students. He often has a joke by using Javanese language to attract
students’ attention. Moreover, he also explains the lesson by using bilingual language in order to make them understand the material easily. On the other hand, the teacher
sometimes does not give more explanation about the material so that the students do not understand the material well. Moreover, the teacher does not give more example about
the materials, so the students get confused to do the exercise or homework. On the other hand, he does not care about the behavior of his students during the class, as long as they
do not disturb the other students. On the other hand, most of the students deliver questions in Indonesian language. They
have difficulty to deliver questions in English because they lack English vocabularies and do not know how to ask questions in English. They sometimes ask and answer questions
by using Indonesian even Javanese. Sometimes they get frustrated to try speaking in English because they are afraid of saying the words wrongly. Moreover, the students also
get difficult in comprehending English text. They get confused to understand the idea or the content of the text. They like reading short texts rather than the long ones. They often
consult on their dictionary to know the unfamiliar of difficult words from the text, but it does not help them to comprehend the text. On the other hand, they also get problems in
grammar. Most of them make mistakes in writing sentences. The problems actually not only come both from teacher and students, but also
from the environment. Most of the students tend to speak in Indonesian or often speak in Javanese language outside the classroom. They feel strident to speak English because
their friends mock them when they do so.
C. Limitation of the Problem
Based on the observation and problems toward the teacher and some students, it can be concluded that the students get difficulties in learning reading. Mostly, the
students have difficulties to understand the text. Therefore, the researcher focused the study on the efforts to help the students improving their reading comprehension ability.
