The Procedures of Directed Reading-Thinking Activity

F. Previous Related Studies

The first study was conducted by Talal Abd Al-Hameed Al Odwan from The World Islamic Sciences and Education University Amman, Jordan. His research title is The Effect of the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity through Cooperative Learning on English Secondary Stage Students’ Reading Comprehension in Jordan. He conducted his research to two classes; experimental group consist of 22 students and 20 students in control group. The DR-TA through using cooperative learning is designed to teach four units to the experimental group. The result of his research; there is a statistically significant difference in reading comprehension in favor of the experimental group among English secondary stage students in Jordan due to the instructional strategy. 43 The second study was conducted by Muhtatimatul Halimah in her study entitled The Effectiveness of Using Directed Reading-Thinking Activity Strategy to Improve the Students’ Ability in Finding Main Idea and Word Meaning of the Eleventh Grade Students of MAN Kutowinangun. The subjects of the study consisted of 58 students which are divided into experimental group class XI.IPS1, 29 students and control group class XI.IPS4, 29 students. The result of her research is using directed reading thinking activity is effective to improve the students’ ability in finding main idea and word meaning. 44 The third study was conducted by Teguh Satrio Hermawan in his skripsi entitled Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension of Descriptive Text by Using Directed Reading-Thinking Activity A Classroom Action Research in the First Year of SMA Muhammadiyah 25 Pamulang. The subjects of the study were students of X-1. There were 28 students. At the end, the result showed that the application of DR-TA the students were more active and interested in learning reading activity in the classroom. There are 2 students passing the minimal level 43 Talal Abd Al-Hameed Al Odwan, The Effect of the Directed Reading Thinking Activity through Cooperative Learning on English Secondary Stage Students’ Reading Comprehension in Jordan, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 16, Centre for Promoting Ideas: USA, August 2012. 44 Muhtatimatul Halimah, The Effectiveness Of Using Directed Reading Thinking Activity Strategy To Improve The Students’ Ability In Finding Main Idea And Word Meaning Of The Eleventh Grade Students Of Man Kutowinangun, Thesis at Muhammadiyah University of Purworejo, 2013. criterion KKM before cycle test, 11 students passing KKM in cycle 1 test and 26 students passing KKM in cycle 2 test. 45

G. Conceptual Framework

According to the theories, reading comprehension is an activity of understanding and constructing meaning from written language into an organized way to create representation of the text in readers’ mind. Narrative text is a text that tells an imaginative story which contains some events in form of series and also makes the readers have the messages of the text. Directed Reading-Thinking Activity DR-TA strategy is a strategy that encourages students to use their minds while reading a text. It guides students to ask questions based on what they read, make predictions on the story line and read further to confirm if their predictions were right. The writer thought that those definitions have close connection to one another. Based on some theories stated by many linguists, it can be said that narrative text is effective to be used in teaching reading. Because narrative text is a text telling a story, it can make the readers imagine the story so that the readers will be easier in comprehending the story. Directed Reading-Thinking Activities allow students to begin thinking about the text before they actually begin reading. Since this strategy is set up as a sort of predicting game, students are motivated to read and become engaged with the text in order to determine whether their predictions are correct. DR-TA strategy is usually used for narrative texts. As students predict the plot of one part of the story, it often helps them figure out the next part of the reading. Based on the explanation above, the writer thought that there will be significant influence on students’ reading comprehension of narrative text by using DR-TA strategy. 45 Teguh Satrio Hermawan, Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension of Descriptive Text by Using Directed Reading-Thinking Activity A Classroom Action Research in the First Year of SMA Muhammadiyah 25 Pamulang, Skripsi at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta: 2012.

H. Research Hypothesis

The hypotheses of this research can be seen as follows: H 1 : Directed Reading-Thinking Activity DR-TA strategy gives influence on students’ reading comprehension of narrative text. H : Directed Reading-Thinking Activity DR-TA strategy does not give influence on students’ reading comprehension of narrative text.