The technique trains the teacher to interact and conduct two ways communication with the students as an attempt to help them comprehend texts.
The researcher believes that applying reciprocal teaching technique will help teachers lead the students to understand English texts. Therefore, the researcher will
conduct an action research to improve the teaching and learning process of reading at SMAN 1 Kasihan through the use of reciprocal teaching technique.
B. Identification of the Problem
Based on the observation and interview done on Saturday, the 4
th
of April 2015, there were some problems found in the teaching and learning process of
reading at SMAN 1 Kasihan. The problems are as follow. The first problem is
the students’ low motivation in reading. This was indicated by most students who were passive during the teaching and learning
process. They did not show satisfying eager ness in paying attention to teacher’s
explanation. When being questioned, most of them remained silent, showed little response, and stared blankly at the passage. Moreover, the researcher found that the
students’ belief that English language was difficult which caused them to be lazy and unmotivated to be involved in the process. They perceived themselves as incapable to
learn the language which prevents them from trying. Another problem laid on the background knowledge of the students, including
their vocabulary mastery, familiarity with the topic, and linguistic competence. The existence of low-frequency words in a text contributed
so much to students’ comprehension failure. Likewise, unfamiliar or peculiar topics also had the students
lose interest in reading. The lack of linguistic competence also played a role in comprehension breakdown when they come across complex sentences containing
complex noun phrases in the texts. The next problem is related to the teaching techniques implemented by the
teacher in the teaching and learning process. The teacher frankly mentioned that she faced difficulties in choosing the most appropriate way to transfer reading skill to the
students. She figured that the most difficult part in teaching is attracting students’
willingness to engage to the lesson. Though she had prepared various inviting materials, the students did not seem to bother interacting with the teacher and also
with one another. Most students remained passive regardless of teacher’s effort to engage them.
All of the problems mentioned above need to be solved in order to create effective teaching and learning process of reading within which the students can learn
best. Many alternatives can be implemented in order to achieve it.
C. Delimitation of the Problem
