THE USE OF LEARNING STRATEGIES IN READING COMPREHENSION BY THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT SMA N 1 GEDONG TATAAN

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ABSTRACT

THE USE OF LEARNING STRATEGIES IN READING COMPREHENSION BY THE

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT SMA N 1 GEDONG TATAAN

LIA ANGGRAINI SARI

Language learners have their own learning strategy in learning a languange. Language learners’ capability of using a wide variety of language learning strategies appropriately can improve their language skills. Specifically, language learning strategies play important roles in one of receptive skills i.e., reading skill. The students need to approach the learning strategies that is appropriate for them, so that they can easily comprehend the text.

The research is aimed to find out whether or not there is any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in using different learning strategies in reading comprehension. This research was a quantitative study. The subjects of the research were 64 students in second grade of SMAN 1 Gedong Tataan. Language learning strategy questionnaires (LLSQ) and reading test were used to collect the data. The data were analyzed using One Way Anova.

The results showed that there was no significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in using different learning strategies. In addition, metacognitive strategy was most frequently employed by the students (48.43%), followed by social strategy (29.69%), and cognitive strategy (21.88%). This research also found out that the successful readers most frequently used cognitive strategies when they comprehend the English texts, and the unsuccessful readers most frequently used metacognitive strategies.

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THE USE OF LEARNING STRATEGIES IN READING COMPREHENSION BY THE

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT

Submitted in a Partial Fulfillment of The Requirement for S-1 Degree

Language and Arts Education Department Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

SMA N 1 GEDONG TATATAN

LIA ANGGRAINI SARI

A Script

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF LAMPUNG

BANDAR LAMPUNG 2015

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CURRICULUM VITAE

The writer’s name is Lia Anggraini Sari. She was born on January 6th, 1992 in Kutoarjo, Pesawaran. She is the first child of Mr. Gunanto and the late Mrs. Lilis Suryani. She has one older brother named Gery Rinaldi S.H. She also has a really good step mother named Tri Wahyuni.

She started studying at SD N 1 Kutoarjo and graduated in 2005. In the same year, she continued her study to SMP N 1 Gadingrejo and graduated in 2008. After that, her study was continued to SMA N 1 Gadingrejo and graduated in 2011. After finishing her study in senior high school, she was accepted as a student of Lampung University, at English Study Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty in 2011.

In 2014, precisely in Juli to September she carried on Field Teaching Practice (PPL) at SMP N 3 Pesisir Selatan, Pesisir Barat and KKN in Pekon Negeri Ratu Tenumbang, Pesisir Selatan, Pesisir Barat.

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DEDICATION

In the name of Allah, the most Beneficient and Merciful This script is proudly dedicated to:

 My beloved parents who always pray for me, give me full of love, kindness, spirits, and never ending sincerity

 My beloved brother, Gery Rinaldi

 My dearest friends Erlin, Eva, Reininta, Irine, Chandra, and Yulisa  My almamater

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MOTTO

“Where there is a will, there is a way” (Wise word)

“Do what is right, not what is easy” (Wise word)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Praised be merely to Allah SWT the most gracious and the most merciful that enables the writer to finish her script entitled “The Use of Learning Strategies in Reading Comprehension by the Second Year Students at SMA N 1 Gedong Tataan”. This paper is submitted as a compulsory fulfillment of the requirement for S1 degree at the Language and Arts Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Lampung University.

Gratitude and honor are addressed to all persons who have helped and supported the writer in completing this research. It is necessary to be known that this research will never have come onto its existence without any supports, encouragements and assistances from several outstanding people and institutions. Therefore, the writer would like to acknowledge her respect and best gratitude to:

1. Prof. Ag. Bambang Setiyadi, M.A., Ph.D., as the first advisor, for his motivations and encouragement in encouraging the writer.

2. Drs. Hery Yufrizal M.A., Ph.D., as the second advisor, for his carefulness in giving evaluation, comments and also suggestion during the completion of this script.

3. Drs. Mahpul, M.A., Ph.D., as the examiner, for his ideas, suggestions and critizes to make the writer’s research better.

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4. English teacher of SMA N 1 Gedong Tataan Mrs. Betsu Santi S.E.,M.Pd., who gave me permission and support for this research. I thank to all students of class XI for their participations as the subject of this research.

5. My beloved parents (Gunanto and Tri Wahyuni), my brother (Gery Rinaldi S.H), for their greatest love, kindness, spirits, prays and never ending sincerity.

6. My friend that always accompany me since high school until now Chandra Sasongko, thank you for your support.

7. My dearest friends in English Department, Ire, Eva, Erlin, Irine, Anggi, Widi, Barry (all of my friends from B class) and also all friends in English department 2011 that cannot be mentioned one by one, thank you for supporting and praying each other.

8. My KKN and PPL partners: Yulisa, Mashuri, Irvan, Kiki, Ardan, Fitri, Revisia, Wahyu thank you for everything. It was fated to know you by those campus programs and I really love it.

Finally, the writer believes that this writing is still far from perfection. There are too many weaknesses in the research. Thus, comments, critics, and suggestion are always opened for better research. Somehow, the writer hopes this research would give a positive contribution to the educational improvement, the readers, and to those who want to accomplish further research.

Bandar Lampung, 17 December 2015 The writer,

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Page

ABSTRACT ... i

APPROVAL ... iii

CURRICULUM VITAE ... iv

MOTTO ... v

DEDICATION ... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... vii

LIST OF TABLE ... xi

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xii

I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Problem ... 1

1.2 Research Questions ... 4

1.3 Objectives ... 5

1.4 Uses ... 5

1.5 Scope ... 5

1.6 Definition of Terms ... 6

II. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Learning Strategies ... 8

2.2 Learning Strategies Classification ... 9

2.3 Skill-based Categories of Language Learning Strategies ... 12

2.4 Cognitive Learning Strategy ... 13

2.5 Metacognitive Learning Strategy ... 13

2.6 Social Learning Strategy ... 14

2.7 Reading ... 15

2.8 Reading Comprehension ... 17

2.9 Successful and Unsuccessful Readers ... 18

2.10 Previous Research ... 20

2.11 The Use of Learning Strategies in Reading Comprehension ... 21

III. RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Design ... 23

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3.3 Source of Data ... 24

3.4 Instruments ... 25

3.4.1 Questionnaire ... 25

3.4.2 Reading Test ... 26

3.5 Validity of the Instrument ... 27

3.5.1 The Validity of the Questionnaire ... 27

3.5.2 The Validity of the Reading Test ... 28

3.6 The Reliability of the Instruments ... 29

3.6.1 The Reliability of the Questionnaire ... 29

3.6.2 The Reliability of the Reading Test ... 30

3.7 Procedures ... 31

3.8 Data Analysis ... 32

3.9 Hypothesis Testing ... 33

IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Result of Try Out ... 35

4.2 Result of the Research ... 36

4.2.1 Result of the Reading Test ... 37

4.2.2 Result of Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire ... 37

4.3 Hypothesis Testing ... 38

The Learning Strategies Used by Successful and Unsuccessful Readers .. 39

4.5 Types of Learning Strategies Used by the Learners in Reading ... 40

4.6 Discussion ... 41

V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Conclusion ... 46

5.2 Suggestion ... 47 REFERENCES

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LIST OF TABLE

3.4.1 Spesification Table of Learning Strategies in The Questionnaire ... 26 3.5.2 Table of Spesification of Reading Comprehension ... 28 4.3 Difference Between Successful and Unsuccessful Readers in Using Different

Strategies ... 38 4.4 The Comparison Between Successful and Unsuccessful Readers ... 39 4.5 The Frequncy of Learning Strategies Questionnaire ... 41

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LIST OF APPENDICES

1. Upper and Lower Group Try Out Test ... 50

2. Realibility of Try Out Test ... 54

3. Difficulty Level and Discrimination Power of the Try Out Test ... 56

4. The Coefficient of the Reliability ... 58

5. Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire ... 59

6. The Score of Reading Test ... 61

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I.INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses certain points: introduction deals with background of the problem, research questions, objectives, uses, scope and definition of term.

1.1 Background of the Problem

Language learners have their own learning strategy in learning a languange. Since the amount of information to be processed by language learners is high in language classroom, learners use different language learning strategies in performing the tasks and processing the new input they face. Language learning strategies are good indicators of how learners approach tasks or problems encountered during the process of language learning. In other words, language learning strategies, while nonobservable or unconsciously used in some cases, give language teachers valuable clues about how their students assess the situation and plan, and select appropriate skills to understand, learn, or remember new input presented in the language classroom.

According to Fedderholdt (1997:1) in Somadayo (2011), the language learner capability of using a wide variety of language learning strategies appropriately can improve his language skills in a better way. Lessard-Clouston (1997:3) in Somadayo (2011) states that language learning strategies contribute to the

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development of the communicative competence of the students. Being a broad concept, language learning strategies are used to refer to all strategies that foreign language learners use in learning the target language and communication strategies are one type of language learning strategies. The language teachers need to help the students to develop their communicative competence and also help them to approach the learning strategies that is appropriate for them. As Oxford (1990:1) states, language learning strategies "... are especially important for language learning because they are tools for active, self-directed movement, which is essential for developing communicative competence."

Specifically, language learning strategies play important roles in one of receptive skills i.e reading skill. According to Podek and Saracho (in Rofi’uddi and Zuhdi, 2001:31) reading is a process to get meaning from printed form. Not only to get meaning but reading also to get knowledge from what they have read in the text, it is important for students to have a good reading comprehension. Without comprehension, reading would be meaningless. As Nutall (1982:167) in Somadayo (2011) states, the purpose of reading is a part of reading comprehension process, the readers get the message or meaning from the text they have read, the message or the meaning could be information, knowledge, and expression of happiness or sadness.

It was argued (May, 2001) that what a reader need to focus on is not only every single word in the text but also the semantics of the text. Meanwhile, many language learners mistakenly think that the purpose of reading is only to learn

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new vocabulary. As a result, they only pay attention to correct pronunciation of each word. Consequently, these learners cannot see the very purpose of reading as a result of stumbling and mumbling over the isolated words in sentences (May, 2001; Alvermann & Phelps, 1998). Many language learners do not read for the purpose of understanding the writer’s message, because they have developed a wrong concept of reading.

It is important for the students to know the learning strategies that appropriate for them when they read a text because the strategies that they use in comprehending the message in reading will determine their achievement in reading. Some experts suggest that even the strategies are common; it does not imply that they are all useful for all learners and should be taught to foreign language readers because some strategy investigations are coming from learners when they read. Some strategies are

found to impede the readers’ process to determine meaning (Sutarsyah, 2013:34). It is assumed that the students who used good strategies will be able to answer the reading test items and to comprehend the received message well. In other words, using an appropriate learning strategy might result in the success of study particularly in reading.

However, students achievement in reading particularly in senior high school is not satisfactory. Based on the researcher pre-observation, it was found that students’ reading ability is still low. The learners got difficulty in getting the idea from the text they have read. Besides, their limited vocabulary is also the reason why they do not easily understand the message. The problems which might hinder the

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students to learn in reading English might be also because of their unawareness of the learning strategies used by them. This problem may lead the students into failure in comprehending the text they have read. It means that by having appropriate learning strategies, learners can be successful in reading comprehension and if they use inappropriate learning strategies they can be unsuccessful in reading comprehension.

From the statement above, the writer would like to solve the problem by having an observation to know whether there is any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in using different strategies. The writer also want to know what learning strategies do the students use in their reading comprehension. The writer also want to encourage the students to use the learning strategy used by successful readers in order to help them gain better comprehension. Finally, it will increase the possibility of the students to improve their comprehension of reading text and become a successful readers.

1.2 Research Question

The writer formulates the research question as follows:

1. Is there any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in using different strategies?

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1.3 Objectives

In relation to the research question, the objective of the research as follows:

1. To find out whether there is any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in using different strategies.

1.4 Uses

The findings of the research may be beneficial not only theoretically but also practically:

1. Theoretically, the result of the research are expected to support the previous studies and theories related to theories in this research.

2. Practically, the findings of the research hopefully could be used as a reference in consideration for English teachers to support the learners on applying learning strategies optimally by their own way in learning reading.

1.5 Scope

This research was quantitative in nature. The independent variable was learning strategies. The learning strategy in this research was called skill-based categories, this learning strategy measurement covered cognitive, metacognitive and social strategy. Meanwhile, the dependent variable was learners’ reading ability. The focused of this research whether there is any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in using different strategies. This research also intended to answer which strategies mostly used by the students in their reading. This research was conducted at the second grade students of SMA Negeri 1 Gedong Tataan which consists of 32 students in each classes in academic year

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2014/2015. The researcher determined the sample by using purposive random sampling and chosen 8 students from each classes to be the sample, so there were 64 students (25% of the population) that became the sample of this research. The measurement of learners’ learning strategies was based on the questionnaire proposed by Setiyadi called Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire (LLSQ).

1.6 Definition of Terms

1. Language Learning Strategy is a term that refers to particular thoughts or behaviours used in the purpose of attaining learning objectives independently. 2. Skill-based categories is learners’ use of language learning strategies when learners learn a foreign language and to identify effective learning strategies for each language skill.

3. Cognitive strategy is process of learning in which people use their brain in order to acquire foreign language.

4. Metacognitive strategy is the study in which people monitor and control their cognitive strategy.

5. Social strategy is concerned with the nature and form of social interaction and how people come to influence one another’s behaviour.

6. Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meaning.

7. Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it and understand its meaning.

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8. Successful readers are readers who have good preparation before the class is started, know how to solve their problem in reading, and they also achieve above average-grades.

9. Unsuccessful readers are readers who carelessly prepared, do not know how to solve their problem in reading, and they they earn low average-grades.

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II. LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses about the literature review used in this study such as: learning strategies, learning strategies classifications, skill-based categories of language learning strategy, cognitive strategy, metacognitive strategy, social strategy, reading, reading comprehension, successful and unsuccessful readers, previous research, and the use of learning strategies in reading comprehension.

2.1 Learning Strategies

The meaning of strategy is originally used in military as the art of planning operation war, its is a way or tactic of the movements of armies or navies into favorable positions for fighting. This term is also used in learning and reading strategies and other strategies. They have basically the same meaning, that is, any effort or attempt used to achieve to determined goals.

Several researchers have studied what learning strategies are and why they are effective in the learning process. Setiyadi (2011:45) says that teachers should introduce learning strategies to their students and provide opportunity for their students to implement the strategies which have been proved to be more effective than other strategies. Learning is the conscious process used by the learners to achieve the objectives, while learning strategy is the steps taken by language learners to enhance any aspect of their language.

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Oxford (1990) takes us to a definition which breaks the term learning strategies down to its roots--the word strategy. Oxford continues to expand on this definition by stating that "learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations."

The researcher assumes that students’ learning strategies can be one of the best approach in getting new information and knowledge in order to achieve the learning objectives. O’ Malley and Chamot (1990: 1) in Brown (2005: 5) defines learning strategies as the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information.

Rubin (1987: 19) define learning strategies as “... any sets of operations, steps, plans, routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining, storage and retrieval, and use of information.” Furthermore, Stern (1992: 261) in Hismanoglu states, the concept of learning strategy is dependent on the assumption that learners conciously engage in activities to achieve certain goals and learning strategies can be regarded as broadly conceived intentional directions and learning techniques.

2.2 Learning Strategies Classifications

Language Learning Strategies have been classified by many scholars (Wenden and Rubin 1987; O'Malley et al. 1985; Oxford 1990; Stern 1992; Ellis 1994; Setiyadi 2014, etc). However, most of these attempts to classify language learning strategies reflect more or less the same categorizations of language learning

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strategies without any radical changes. In what follows, Rubin's (1987), Oxford's (1990), O'Malley's (1985), Stern's (1992) and Setiyadi (2014) taxonomies of language learning strategies will be handled:

 Rubin's (1987) Classification of Language Learning Strategies:

Rubin, who pionered much of the work in the field of strategies, makes the distinction between strategies contributing directly to learning and those contributing indirectly to learning. According to Rubin, there are three types of strategies used by learners that contribute directly or indirectly to language learning. These are: (1) learning strategies (cognitive learning strategies and metacognitive learning strategies), (2) communication strategies, and (3) social strategies.

 Oxford's (1990) Classification of Language Learning Strategies:

Oxford (1990:9) sees the aim of language learning strategies as being oriented towards the development of communicative competence. Oxford divides language learning strategies into two main classes, direct and indirect, which are further subdivided into 6 groups. In Oxford's system, metacognitive strategies help learners to regulate their learning. Affective strategies are concerned with the learner's emotional requirements such as confidence, while social strategies lead to increased interaction with the target language. Cognitive strategies are the mental strategies learners use to make sense of their learning, memory strategies are those used for storage of information, and compensation strategies help learners to overcome knowledge gaps to continue the communication.

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Oxford's (1990:17) taxonomy of language learning strategies are: (1) direct strategies and (2) indirect strategies. Direct strategies consists of memory, cognitive and compensation strategies. Memory included creating mental linkages, applying images and sounds, reviewing well and employing action. Next, cognitive included practising, receiving and sending messages strategies, analysing and reasoning and creating structure for input and output. Last, compensation strategies included guessing intelligently and overcoming limitations in speaking and writing. Indirect strategies consist of metacognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies. Metacognitive strategies are: centering your learning, arranging and planning your learning, and evaluating your learning. Affective strategies are: lowering your anxiety, encouraging yourself, and taking your emotional temperature. Last, social strategies are: asking questions, cooperating with others and emphathising with others.

 O'Malley's (1985) Classification of Language Learning Strategies:

O'Malley et al. (1985:582-584) divides language learning strategies into three main subcategories: (1) metacognitive strategies, (2) cognitive strategies, and (3) socioaffective strategies.

 Stern's (1992) Classification of Language Learning Strategies:

According to Stern (1992:262-266), there are five main language learning strategies. These are: (1) management and planning strategies, (2) cognitive strategies, (3) communicative-experiential strategies, (4) interpersonal strategies, and (5) affective strategies.

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 Setiyadi’s (2014) Classification of Language Learning Strategies:

Skill-based categories proposed by Setiyadi’s are: listening category, speaking category, reading category and writing category. The learning strategy measurement consists of cognitive, metacognitive and social strategies.

For this research, the researcher used the learning strategies classification proposed by Setiyadi. The researcher focus on reading categories which have measurement that consists of cognitive, metacognitive and social strategies.

2.3 Skill-based Categories of Language Learning Strategy

Skill-based categories is a new classification of language learning strategies proposed by Setiyadi (2014). This classification is the only one from many learning strategies classification that concern for each language skill (listening, speaking, reading, and writing).

The skill based categories of language learning strategies can be considered to portray learners’ use of language learning strategies when learners learn a foreign language and to identify effective learning strategies for each language skill (Setiyadi, 2014).

The strategies under the categories is grouped into skill-based categories, namely: language learning strategies grouped under listening, speaking, reading and writing categories. The skill-based categories that the researcher focuses on this

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research is reading categories, because the researcher only focus on reading. For each skill-based categories it is cover cognitive, metacognitive and social strategy.

2.4 Cognitive Learning Strategy

A cognitive strategy is all activities that take place in the brain in order to acquire a foreign language. In O’Malley and Chamots’s study (1990) it clarified that cognitive strategy include: rehearsal, organization, inferencing, summarizing, deducing, imagery, transfer and elaboration. Cognitive strategy refers to all the mental process, except processes that involve self-monitoring and self evaluating, in order to learn another language (Setiyadi, 2011:16).

Cognitive strategies are more limited to specific learning tasks and they involve more direct manipulation of the learning material itself, for instance repetition, resourcing, directed physical response, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, key word, contextualization, elaboration, transfer, inferencing are among the most important cognitive strategies.

From the statement above, it can be stated that cognitive strategies are strategies which refer to the steps or operations used in learning or problem- solving that requires direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials.

2.5 Metacognitive Learning Strategy

O’Malley and Chamot’s study (1985) as cited in Setiyadi (2011:15-16) say that metacognitive strategy relates to the awareness of learning, it requires

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planning for learning, thinking about the learning place, monitoring of one‟s production of comprehension, and evaluating learning after an activity is completed. Metacognitive strategies allow learners to control their own learning through organizing, planning and evaluating and are employed for managing the learning process overall.

Among the main metacognitive strategies, it is possible to include advance organizers, directed attention, selective attention, self-management, functional planning, self-monitoring, delayed production, self-evaluation. In short, metacognitive learning strategy is the study in which people monitor and control their cognitive strategy.

2.6 Social Learning Strategy

In social strategy, students have to work with other language learners to obtain feedback and information (cooperation). Besides, they are questioning for clarification and self talk. Stratton and Hays (1988) state social strategy is the nature of social interaction, how people come to influence one another’s behavior. Social strategy is the way that students use towards their learning process that take place in groups. Social strategies includes asking questions, cooperating with others, and empathizing with others. Social strategies will help learners work with and interact with other people. Example for social strategies are: asking questions (for example, asking for clarification or verification of a confusing point), talking with a native-speaking conversation partner, and help the learner work with, cooperating with others (for example, asking for help in doing a language task)

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and empathizing with others (for example, developing cultural understanding and exploring cultural and social norms).

Social strategy includes joining a group and acts as if you understand what is going on, give the impression with a few well chosen words that you speak the language, and count on your friends for help (Fillmore, 1979). As to the social strategies, it can be stated that they are related with social-mediating activity and transacting with others.

2.7 Reading

There are many definitions of reading. Reading is one of language skill which is very important besides other three language skills. It is because reading is an instrument to learn another world that is wanted, so human can increase their knowledge, have fun, and dig written message in the reading materials. However, reading is not an easy work. Reading is a process that can be developed using appropriate techniques which is appropriate with the purpose of that reading.

According to Bonomo (1973:119) in Somadayo (2011) reading is a process to get and understanding the meaning in written language (reading is bringing). Klein (in Farida 2005:3) states the definition of reading covers (1) reading is a process, (2) reading is a strategy, and (3) reading is an interactive. Reading is a process means that the information from the text and the knowledge of the reader has the same role in forming the meaning. Next, reading is also a strategy. An effective reader use some kinds of strategy which is appropriate with the text and context in order to construct meaning when they are reading. The strategy is various, depend

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on the text type and the purpose of reading. Reading is interactive, it means the reader involvement with the text depend on the context, people who like to read the text that has an advantages will fulfill the purpose that they want to achieve.

Crawley and Mountain (1995:22) in Somadayo (2011) states, reading is something that complicated and also involve many things, not only pronounce the word, but also involve visual activity, thinking, and metacognitive because the visual process of reading is a process of translating letter into oral words. Moreover, Davies (1997: 1) states, reading is a mental or cognitive process that the reader is expected to be following and responding to the message from the writer. It is indicate that reading is an activity that active and interactive.

Along with the statement above, Godman (1967:127) states, reading is an activity to get the meaning or definition which is not only reading the lines, but also reading between the lines and also reading beyond the line. He also states that, reading activity is an active process and not a passive process, it means that the reader must be active in trying to get the meaning from the reading material.

Concerning the explanation above it reveals that reading in main skills is not easy since the reader should seriously think, interpret, and able to understand and comprehend the text they have read. Based on the several previous paragraphs, it can be stated that reading is an active skill requiring learners to deal with a variety of complicated tasks, such as getting the main idea of the text and understanding or comprehending the message from the writer. To face this reading process, the

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students should have appropriate strategies in order to get better result in their reading comprehension.

2.8 Reading Comprehension

Eskey (1986) defines reading comprehension as knowing what one does not know or adding new information to what already knows. It means that reading comprehension is the process in which a reader employs his background knowledge to understand the content of the material being read. It is also supported by Smith (1982:45) who says that reading comprehension is an activity which is do by the reader to connect new information with the old one with purpose to get new knowledge.

Finnochario et al (1964) says reading comprehension is the ability which depends on the accuracy and speed of graphemic perception that is perception of written symbols, control of language relationship and structure, knowledge of vocabulary items and lexical combination, awareness of redundancy the ability to use contextual clues, and recognition allusion. It means that there are some aspects of reading comprehension that should be focused by the learners. The learners background knowledge is absolutely needed.

Moreover, Rubin (1982:106) states that reading comprehension is an intellectual process which is very complex that covered two main abilities. The two main abilities involve word meaning and verbal reasoning. Without word meaning and

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verbal reasoning, there could be no reading comprehension; without reading comprehension, there would be no reading.

Based on some opinion above, it can be understood that reading needs comprehension. Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text. According to Doyle (2004) comprehension is a progressive skill in attaching meaning beginning at the same level and proceeding to attaching meaning to an entire reading selection. All comprehension revolves around the reader’s ability in finding and determining main idea and topic sentence from the text.

2.9Successful and Unsuccessful Readers

Successful readers reflect on the knowledge they have gained through previous reading, lectures, labs, experience, etc. to make sense of the new material they encounter in a reading. They make connections between prior information and the new information. It is very helpful to start with a set of questions before reading and continue to reference those questions as well as add new both during and after reading. Successful readers connect to the reading material by making inferences from the information being presented. These inferences are conclusions that can be made from the evidence the author has provided the reader. It is like the reader is a detective that uses the clues (information) from the text to “solve” (make conclusions about) the case. Successful readers make sure that they are understanding the text as they are reading, they do not rush through a reading and then realize they do not understand it. Successful readers make sure to take their

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time and pause to monitor whether or not they are comprehending the material. They do not continue reading when they do not comprehend the text. They will use some strategy or technique that works for them to fix the confusion. Successful readers know that not every single word or piece of information needs to be retained from a reading, they will identify the main ideas, key terms or phrases, and the supporting ideas in a text. When the successful readers encounter new reading material, they take that information and blend it with other information either from the same text, same author, texts on the same subject, or even texts from other subject areas. This blending or synthesis leads to new ways of understanding and thinking about the reading material or subject matter (Elaine, 2008). Successful readers approached the reading text with a seriousness of purpose and often get good grade in reading (Loranger, 1994). In short, successful readers are readers who have good preparation before the class is started, know how to solve their problem in reading, and they also achieve above average-grades.

Besides, unsuccessful readers are readers who are not able to use their schemata from the previous learning. They also tend to rush through a reading and did not realize that they do not understand it. Unsuccessful readers can not distinguish the strategy use to achieve the goals in learning. It means that they use mostly same strategy for every lesson. When they encounter new reading material, they do not try take that information and blend it with other information either from the same text, same author, texts on the same subject, or even texts from other subject areas (Elaine, 2008). Unsuccessful readers also do not take school seriously, low

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motivation, they have no apparent plan in learning, take no notes, and often get below average score (Loranger, 1994). In brief, unsuccessful readers are readers who carelessly prepared, do not know how to solve their problem in reading, and they they earn low average-grades.

Based on statement above, it can be said that successful readers are different from unsuccessful one. They attend to use a variety of learning strategies to improve their language skill and they know exactly when they should apply the right strategy in learning. Meanwhile, unsuccessful readers are confused about the way to improve their language skill. Therefore, unsuccessful readers need to know what kind of learning strategies that could help them to increase reading comprehension. Hopefully it can help the unsuccessful readers to be the successful one.

2.10 Previous Research

The previous research was done by Meila Sari (2012) with title “The Effect of Learning Strategies in Reading Towards Students Reading Comprehension at the Second Grade of SMAN 8 Bandar Lampung”. Meila Sari conducted her research by using simple random sampling and she chose one class which consisted of 40 students. The method that she use was co-relational design of ex post facto design.

The result of her research showed that all three learning strategies (cognitive, metacognitive, and social) were have effect toward students’ reading comprehension, in which cognitive strategies have best ceffect toward students’

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reading comprehension rather than metacognitive and social strategies. It is also found that the strategies that mostly used by the students was cognitive strategies. It can be concluded from her research that learners already used appropriate learning strategies when they read a text.

2.11 The Use of Learning Strategies in Reading Comprehension

Based on the literature review that have been discussed above, the researcher assumes that students learning strategies in reading have a great contribution on the ability of the students in comprehending the information they have read. The researcher assumes that there would be any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in using different strategies.

The researcher used learning strategies classification proposed by Setiyadi (2014) it is called Skill-based categories of language learning strategies. The researcher use this classification because, from all learning strategies classifications this is the only one classification which is based on the language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) and for each skill-based categories it is cover cognitive, metacognitive and social strategy. As explained in the literature review, other learning strategies classifications are for general studies. So, the researcher prefer to use skill-based categories of language learning strategies because this research is only focus on reading.

Finally, the researcher comes to the assumption that different learning strategies will have different impact for the students in reading comprehension. They

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comprehension may be different one and another because they use different learning strategies. Obviously, having a good strategy is the best way to make the students become a successful readers.

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III. RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter illustrates how the research was done; what design of the research, who were the population and the sample, and how the data were collected. It also covers the validity and realibility of the instrument, scoring system, research procedures, data analysis, and hypothesis testing.

3.1 Design

In conducting this research, the researcher used a causal comparative design of ex post facto designs. In collecting the data, the researcher did not apply any treatment or any experiment to subjects. In accordance with Setiyadi (2006), there are two types of ex post facto research design, “co-relational study involves one group and causal comparative study involves two groups.” The researcher used this design because the researcher wants to find out the comparison between successful and unsuccessful readers in using different strategies in reading comprehension.

X1 : Cognitive Strategies X2 : Metacognitive Strategies X3 : Social Strategies

X1 X2

Y2 X3

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Y1 : Successful readers Y2 : Unsuccessful readers

3.2 Variables

This research has two variables they are: learning strategies and reading comprehension. Learning strategies as the independent variable (variable that has a function to affect dependent variable) and reading comprehension as the dependent variable (main variable in a research). In short, reading comprehension would be affected by learning strategies that used by the students.

3.3 Source of data

The source of the data was from the population and sample. The population of the research was the second year students of SMAN 1 Gedong Tataan. The researcher chose the second year students in the second semester of academic year 2014/2015. There are eight classes of the second year students (XI IPA 1, XI IPA 2, XI IPA 3, XI IPA 4, XI IPA 5, XI IPS 1, XI IPS 2, XI IPS 3) and each class consists of 32 students.

The class as the sample was taken through purposive random sampling. The researcher chose eight students from each classes to be the sample of this research, so there were 64 students that became the sample (25% of the population). The researcher also chose the students that have same proficiency level. The researcher decided their proficiency level from their mid-test score in their school that already held a week before the researcher conducted a research. The researcher chose the

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students who get score started from 70 on their mid test. Then, the researcher concluded that the sample of the research came from same proficiency level.

3.4 Instruments

The instruments that used in this research were questionnaire and reading test. The score of the reading test was used as a principle. The researcher then analyzed the comparison between successful and unsuccessful readers by using the questionnaire of learning strategies and students’ reading comprehension test.

3.4.1 Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a list of statements and questions that need to be answered by the students to know the learning strategies that used by the students. The Questionnaire used in this research was LLSQ proposed by Setiyadi. The questionnaire consists of 20 items that have been prepared based on the indicators of cognitive, metacognitive and social strategies. The questionnaire is developed by using Likert-Scale, in which provides the students with these following optional answers:

1= Never or almost never true of me. 2= Usually true of me.

3= Somewhat true of me. 4= Usually true of me.

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Table 1. Specification Table of Learning Strategies in the Questionnaire

Aspects of Questionnaire Number of items

Cognitive strategies 1-11

Metacognitive strategies 12-17

Social strategies 18-20

The student’s choices of preferences on the item selected then scored by counting

all the students answers in each learning strategies. For example: items 1 – 11 belong to cognitive, and then the total scores of students answer divided into 11. items 12 – 17 belong to metacognitive, and then the total scores of students answer divided into 6. items 18 – 20 belong to cognitive, and then the total scores of students answer divided into 3. Afterthat, the data accumulated from the questionnaire were used to analyze the most frequent strategies employed by the learners.

3.4.2 Reading test

The reading test was given in order to know students’ reading achievement in comprehending a text. The reading test consisted of some kind of texts that already taught by the teachers and followed by some questions. The scoring of the reading test was really simple. The correct answer by the students was divided with the amount of the reading test (36) and then times 100. For example: if the students get 30 correct answers out of 36, then it was divided with 36, after that the result times 100 (example: 30:36 = 0.83 x 100 = 83). So, the final score of the student reading test was 83.

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The result of the reading test was used to determine the successful and unsuccessful readers in which the category in specifying them was based on “scores averages” in reading test (Taylor & Russel, 1939). The reading test scores were used to dichotomize learners into successful and unsuccessful category. It means that, the learners who got score above the averages belong to successful readers. Meanwhile, the learners who got score under the averages belong to unsuccessful readers.

3.5Validity of the Instruments

3.5.1 The Validity of the Questionnaire

The validity of questionnaire is also measured to find if the components are proportionally suitable and related to the relevant theories of students’ learning strategies in English reading. According to Hatch and Farhady (1978) there are least two validity should be fulfilled; content and construct validity. The researcher used Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire (LLSQ) in reading ability proposed by Setiyadi. Since the questionnaire is adopted from LLSQ constructed by Setiyadi, the researcher considers that the construct validity of the questionnaire has been standardized. It consists of 20 items that include to three different measurement of skill-based learning strategies in reading categories, namely: cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategy. Via a five point Likert type of scales, the students will be asked to choose the alternative that suits to them (never or almost never true of me, usually not true of me, somewhat true of me, usually true of me, always or almost always true of me) for each item.

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3.5.2 The Validity of the Reading Test

Validity is a matter of relevance; it means that the test measures what is claimed to measure. To measure whether the test has a good validity, it can be analyzed from its content validity and construct validity. Content validity is concerned whether the test is sufficiently representative for the rest of test or not. While construct validity focuses on the relationship between indicators within the test. Construct validity is concerned whether the test is actually in line with theory of what it means to know the language (Shohamy, 1985). Regarding the construct validity, it measures whether the construction had already in line with the objective of the learning (Hatch and Farhady, 1982). To know whether the test is good reflection of the knowledge which the teacher wants the students to know, the researcher compares the test with table of specification.

Table 2. Table of Specification of Reading Comprehension

No. Aspect of Reading Comprehension Item Number Percentage

1 Determining Main Idea 1,5,7,10,16,20,35 17%

2 Finding Specific Information 2,6,8,11,19,21,28 17%

3 Determining Concept of the Text (Generic Structure/ language features)

4,12,24,27,32 16%

4 Finding Reference 3,9,13,18,23,26,31,34 19%

5 Finding Inference 15,29,33,36 15%

6 Understanding Vocabulary 14,17,22,25,30 16%

Total 36 Items 100%

Basically, the construct and content validity are overlap. It is a representative of the material from the subject. In line with Nutall (1985) the relation of the instrument refers to construct validity in which the question represent the reading skills, i.e.

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determining main idea, finding specific information, determining concept of the text, finding reference, finding inference and understanding vocabulary. Skills of reading in the test are part of the construct validity and the item numbers are the part of content validity.

3.6 The Reliability of the Instruments 3.6.1 The Reliability of the Questionnaire

The researcher collected the data by using the quantitative one. First of all, the result of questionnaire was scored based on Likert Scale. The score ranges from 1-5. To make sure that the data gathered from the questionnaire is reliable, the researcher used reliability analysis based on Cronbach Alpha Coefficient of SPSS for window. Cronbach Alpha Coefficient is the most common used to measure the consistency among indicators in the questionnaire which was counted based on the correlation between each items. The Alpha ranges from 0. to 1. The higher alpha, the more reliable the items of the questionnaire (Setiyadi, 2006).

George and Mallery (2009) in „SPSS for Windows Step by Step: A Simple Study Guide and Reference, 17.0’ have a suggestion in evaluating the Alpha Cronbach coefficient:

> 0.9 = very high reliability > 0.8 = high reliability > 0.7 = medium reliability > 0.6 = low reliability > 0.5 = very low reliability

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3.6.2. The Reliability of Reading Test

Reliability of the test can be defined as the extent to which a test produces consistent result when administrated under similar conditions (Hatch and Farhady, 1982:243). Split-half technique was used to estimate the reliability of the reading test and to measure the coefficient of the reliability between odd and even group, Pearson Product Moment formula was used is as follows:

rl=



_





_



y x

rl: Coefficient of reliability between odd and even numbers items. x: Odd number.

y: Even number.

x2: Total score of odd number items. y2: Total score of even number items. xy: Total number of odd and even numbers. (Lado, 1961 in Hughes, 1991:32).

The criteria of reliability are:

 0.80 – 1.00: high.

 0.50 – 0.79: moderate.

 0.00 – 0.49: low.

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3.7 Procedures

In doing the research, the researcher used procedures as follows: 1. Determining the subject of the research

In determining the sample, the researcher used purposive random sampling. This technique was used because the researcher wants to have sample with same proficiency level. The researcher chose 8 students from each classes to be the sample of this research (XI IPA 1, XI IPA 2, XI IPA 3, XI IPA 4, XI IPA 5, XI IPS 1, XI IPS 2, XI IPS 3), so there were 64 students (25% of the population).

2. Determining the try out class of the research

Similar to the subject of the research explained before, the researcher used purposive sampling to choose the students for the try out. So, the 64 students did the try out. It is important to have a try out on the instrument first in order to find out its content and construct validity and reliability. 3. Preparing the Instruments

In this research, the reading test consisted of some kind of the texts that have been learned by the students. The questionnaire used was LLSQ proposed by Setiyadi.

4. Conducting Try Out

Try out was conducted to measure the reliability of instruments. The aim of try out is to know the quality of the test used as the instrument of the research, and determine which item should be revised.

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5. Administering the Questionnaire

The Questionnaire -in this case LLSQ items- was administered to measure the learning strategies used by the students in reading. The items of the questionnaire are in the form of limited statements which have range 1 until 5, explaining from never to always.

6. Administering the Reading Test

The reading test was administered to measure the students’ ability in reading comprehension. The reading test was in the form of the some kind of texts and then the students were required to answer the 36 questions provided in the paper. Each item has four options of answer (A, B, C, D). 7. Analyzing the Data

After conducting the test to the students, the researcher analyzed the data. The data was analyzed by using SPSS 20. One way Anova was used to determine the successful and unsuccessful readers.

8. Making a Report and Discussion of Findings

After having gained all the data, the researcher makes a report and discussion on findings of the comparison between successful and unsuccessful readers inreading comprehension.

3.8 Data Analysis

This research has two variables, dependent and independent variable. The researcher used tests for those two variables to collect the data. They were reading ability test and questionnaire of learning strategies. Learning strategies is the independent variable because the researcher assumes that language learning

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strategies has an influence to reading achievement. The researcher also used skill-based reading categories which coverscognitive, metacognitive and social strategy. The data from reading test is classified as the dependent variable because the ability is influenced by learning strategies.

In analyzing the data, the researcher used causal somparative study. It was used to measure whether ther is significant different between successful and unsuccessful readers in their reading comprehension. In this case, X1 (cognitive strategies), X2 (metacognitive strategies) and X3 (social strategies) are learning strategies as the first variable. Meanwhile Y1 (successful readers) and Y2 (unsuccessful readers) are second variable. The result of the students’ achievement in reading comprehension is analyzed by using One Way Anova of SPSS for windows version 20.0 to determine the successful learners and unsuccessful readers. On the other hand, for knowing which learning strategies the learners used in reading skill at the second year of SMA N 1 Gedong Tataan, the researcher analyzed the questionnaire by comparing the mean of each skill-based reading strategies i.e. metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and social strategies through the use of SPSS 20.

3.9 Hypothesis Testing

The hypothesis testing is needed in order to know the possible difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in reading comprehension.

H0: There is no significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in reading comprehension.

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H1: There is a significant difference between successful and unsuccessful readers in reading comprehension.

The hypothesis is analyzed at the significant level of 0.05 in which the hypothesis is approved if Sig. < α.

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V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

This chapter describes the conclusion of the result of the research and also the suggestion from the researcher to the other researchers and English teachers who want to conduct the research relating to language learning strategies and students’ reading comprehension.

5.1 Conclusion

Based on the result of the data analysis, the researcher would like to conclude that:

1. There is no significant difference between successful and unsuccessful learners in using different learning strategies (cognitive, metacognitive and social) in reading comprehension.

2. In this study, skill-based categories of language learning strategy, which covers cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategies, are learning strategies used by the students. The students mostly used metacognitive strategies, with 31 students (48,43%) used this strategies. The second strategies that mostly used by the learners is social strategies with 19 students (29.69%) and cognitive strategies only used by 14 students

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(21,88%). Most of successful learners in learning reading comprehension applied cognitive learning strategy.

5.2 Suggestions

According to the conclusions above, the researcher would like to give some suggestions as follows:

1. For the Teacher

In order to help the successful readers to be more successful in reading, the teacher can motivate them to evaluate their weakness in reading comprehension. After that the teacher may suggest the students to overcome their problem by practicing or elaborating the strategies in learning. So, it would be better if the learners try to employ and elaborate those kinds of strategies to make them to be more successful readers.

2. For Further Research

Since this research was conducted with limited number of students, further research about learning strategies should be conducted with bigger sample and covers all proficiency level in order to get more valid data. It may be more valuable if the instrument used are not only a questionnaire and reading test. The other researchers can use interviews, observations, and other instruments.

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