Accordingly, the researcher believes that it is necessary to use semantic mapping strategy for teaching reading comprehension. Students need to read
about what they are interested in and to interact and communicate effectively. English is a compulsory subject in junior high school. They are required to
master all skills of English including reading. By using semantic mapping, it will promote students’ ability in comprehending texts. The concept of this study is
shown by this following diagram:
D. Hypothesis
Based on the related theories explained above, the writer proposes the following research hypothesis:
“The use of semantic mapping strategy can improve the reading comprehension of class VII E students of SMP Negeri 1 Jetis in the academic year of
20132014.”
Figure 2. The Concept of the Study
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design
This study is categorized into action research. Bassey 1998: 93 describes action research as an enquiry which is carried out in order to understand, to
evaluate and then to change, in order to improve educational practice. The aim of this study is to show the process of improvement of the students’ reading
comprehension. Semantic mapping was used in the reading activity. The participants for this study were students from a class in grade VII SMP Negeri 1
Jetis. The data of the improvement of the student s’ reading comprehension were
obtained by doing observation in the English class, conducting interviews after the class, and administering the reading comprehension test. Field notes were taken
during the class.
B. Setting of the Research
This study took place in SMP Negeri 1 Jetis, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta. The location of the school is about 20 kilometers from the center of Yogyakarta
city. The school has 18 classes six of the ninth grade, six of the eighth grade, and six of the seventh grade. There were five English teachers in the school and all of
them are SI graduates. Time allotment for English is 4 x 45 minutes a week 2 x 45 minutes for each meeting. This research was conducted in March to May,
2014.
C. The Subject of the Research
The subject of the research was class VII E students of SMP Negeri 1 Jetis. There were 30 students in the classroom. The English teacher and the
30
researcher were the agents. The English teacher of VII E and a student of the English Education Department of UNY assisted the researcher. They were the
analysts or observers. There were some reasons for choosing class VII E students as the subject
of the research. The first reason was they lacked vocabulary and grammar which obstruct them in understanding or comprehending reading texts. The second one
was that they had low interests and motivation in joining the reading class.
D. Instruments of the Study
The instrument for collecting data in this study were non-test instruments and a test instrument. The non-test instruments included an observation guide and
an interview guide, and test instrument included the test items. The data of the non-test instruments were in the form of field notes and interview transcripts of
the teaching and learning processes. 1.
Observation guide The observation guide was used to determine the aspect observed in the
reading class when the action plan was conducted. The observation guide was in the form of a checklist. It contained some aspects with some indicators of each
aspect. In this study, four variables were observed. They were related to the
students’ behavior, the teacher’s role in the teaching of reading, the learning materials and the teaching technique. Every aspect involved several indicators to
be observed in the English class.
