38 From the table of the characteristics of the selected items for the reading
test above can be seen that for the level of difficulty, there were 11 easy items, 26 medium items, and 3 difficult items. For the discriminating power, there were 4
items in the range of 12.50, 13 items in the range of 25.00, 13 items in the range of 37.50, 6 items in the range of 50.00, 3 items in the range of 62.50, and 1 item in
the range of 75.00. While for the distracter quality, there were 2 items in the level of good, 8 items in the level of very good, and 30 items in the level of good and
very good.
3.4 Variables and Hypothesis
The characteristics of this study including the variables and hypothesis are shown in following table.
Table 3.3 Box Diagram Showing the Characteristics of the Study
Null Hypothesis H0 There is no significant correlation between students’
mastery of reading skills and their reading comprehension ability.
Research hypothesis H1 There is a significant correlation between students’
mastery of reading skills and their reading comprehension ability.
Significance Level 0.1; two-tailed
Dependent Variable Reading comprehension ability
Independent Variable Students’ mastery of reading skills
Design Ex post facto design
Measurement Scores interval
Other Feature Random selection
39 Statistical procedures
Pearson Product Moment, SPSS 12
3.5 Data Collection Techniques
The two kinds of data, questionnaire and reading test were administered twice to the second year students of an SLTP in Lembang. It was done twice in
order to see the consistency of the respondents in answering the questions. Reading test was administered first then followed by questionnaire. Both required
90 minutes for administering. The result of administering the questionnaire is expected to know the
students’ mastery of the reading skills. The questionnaire consisted of ten statements which correlated to the questions from the reading test. Before they
were given to the students, the researcher explained about the use of the questionnaires that were going to be filled by them. In this activity, the English
teacher also helped. During the activity, the researcher and the English teacher stayed in the classroom to watch the students who were answering the
questionnaires and to help them when they found difficulties in responding the questionnaires.
The scores gained from the questionnaire and the reading test was correlated with statistical analysis. This result would be compared to the result of
the test in order to get the correlation coefficient of the two variables and to identify the solution of their problems in reading. The two set of data were
counted statistically in data analysis.
40
3.6 Procedure of the Research
