USING CHILDREN SHORT STORIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION.
USING CHILDREN SHORT STORIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
A Research Paper
Submitted to Department of English Education of FPBS UPI as a Partial
Fulfillment of One Requirements of Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
Merli Puji Handayani
0807326
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUANGE AND ART EDUCATION
INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION 2013
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PAGE OF APPROVAL
USING CHILDREN SHORT STORIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
By:
Merli Puji Handayani 0807326
Approved by:
Supervisor I
Drs. Prawoto S. Purnomo, M.Pd. 195110081980021002
Supervisor II
Nia Nafisah, S.S, M. Pd. 197104242006042001
Head of English Education Department Faculty of Languages and Arts Education
Prof. Dr. Didi Suherdi, M. Ed 196211011987121001
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STATEMENT OF AUTHORIZATION
I hereby state that this research paper entitled Using Children Short Stories to
Enhance Students’ Reading Comprehension is completely my own work. I am
fully aware that I have quoted some statements and ideas from many kinds of sources. All of the quotations are properly acknowledged.
June 2013
Merli Puji Handayani 0807326
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE OF APPROVAL ... Error! Bookmark not defined. STATEMENT OF AUTHORIZATION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. PREFACE ... Error! Bookmark not defined. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... Error! Bookmark not defined. ABSTRACT ... Error! Bookmark not defined. TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii LIST OF FIGURES ... Error! Bookmark not defined. LIST OF TABLES ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1 Background ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2 Statement of the Problem ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.3 The Aims of the Study ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.4 Scope of the Study ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.5 Significance of the Study ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.6 Clarification of Terms ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.7 Organization of Paper ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1 Reading ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1.1 Purpose of Reading ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2 Reading Comprehension ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3 Reading Strategies ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4 Teaching Reading ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.5 The Use of Literature in English Language Teaching Error! Bookmark not defined.
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2.7 Concluding Remark ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1 Research Design ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.1 Site and Participants... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.2 Data Collection ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3 Research Procedures ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3.1 Research Instrument ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.4 Data Analysis ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.4.1 Data Validation ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.5 Concluding Remark ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1 Findings ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.1 Data from observation ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.2 Data from Reading test... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.3 Data from Questionnaire ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.4 Data from Interview ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.2 Discussion ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.3 Concluding Remark ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER V:CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.1 Conclusions ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 5.2 Suggestions for Further Research ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The chapter starts with the background of the research in which the reasons for choosing the topic are clearly stated. It includes the statement of the problems, the aims of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study, and organization of the paper.
1.1 Background
Reading in a foreign language, in this case English, is considered to be difficult for most Indonesian students. This is supported by numerous research that show the ability of Indonesian students in reading English texts was very low (Syatriana, 1998; Hamra, 1993 and 1996; Mardiana, 1993; Kweldju, 2001; as cited in Syatriana, 2010:28). An observation conducted by the researcher during her fieldwork in a junior high school showed that the students’ capability in comprehending English texts were poor. It can be seen from their narrative test, eighty percent of the students’ scores were below the KKM. KKM requires score of minimum 80 to be considered successful learner.
Furthermore, when they were interviewed, they answered that because they did not know some words, it was difficult for them to understand the story. Eventually, it led them to face difficulty in reorganizing the information from the story. Moreover, some words in the questions seemed to be tricky so that they
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couldn’t answer the question correctly. It can be concluded that students had difficulty in comprehending the reading text.
In fact, reading is a receptive skill that occurred as a mental process of the readers as they actively engage in the creation of meaning (Barnett, 1989, cited in Hadley, 2001:177). When the mental process occurred, there will be connections between what they read with their previous knowledge (schemata). Those will lead the readers to have different purpose of reading (Harmer, 1992:199). For example, when they read a newspaper, they have different expectation to when they read a novel.
However, the process of comprehension becomes more difficult for EFL learners since it is influenced by grammar, vocabulary, and the prior knowledge of the text (Hayashi, 1999 :125). Thus, Hayashi (1999) recommended teachers select texts that stimulate students to read so that the difficulties of grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension can be overcome. Yet, this raises a question on how to make the students interested in reading English text and how the teacher selects the reading material that encourages the students to read.
Therefore, reading children short stories can be a good learning material since it is considered to be adequate for the learners from all levels (from the beginner to the advanced learners) (Collin and Slater, 1991). Pardede (2011) explained that short story seems to be the most suitable to use in public school as it has these characteristics: it is short; it usually has one plot and a few characters; and there is no detailed description about the setting. It is expected that the
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students will follow the storyline easier. Moreover, the story is expected to make the students interested in reading it.
Children short stories use simple language style, contain cultural information, and are comfortable in length so that students will enjoy in reading it (Chen, 2006). Besides, short stories are adequate to be used for EFL learners because 1) the length of the story is appropriate for one or two class session; 2) it is not complicated for the students; 3) it has variety of choices; and 4) it can be used for all levels (from beginner to advance) and for all ages (young learners to adults) (Collin and Slater, 1991:196). Thus, as long as the students read short stories, they can improve their vocabulary, their comprehension, and their analysis in submerging themselves into the story.
Few studies that have investigated the use of literature for teaching the students confirming their positive result (Rudman, 1993). Palardy (1997:67) stated that through literature, students “will have the opportunity to develop insights and understandings of the cultures and people of the world; to develop their imagery and visualization abilities; and to gain new perspectives by testing their ideas with those found in books”. Davis (1995, cited in Harmer, 2001:204) also said that giving enough exposure to L2 reading can lead students to enhance their comprehension skill and add their active and passive vocabulary.
From the statements above, the research is aimed to conduct a study related to the use of children short stories as a reading material to enhance students’ reading comprehension. The study uses qualitative approach through a
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It is expected that children short stories can help students to comprehend English text easier and increase their automatic recognition toward the vocabulary.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The research statements of this study are:
1. How can reading children short stories improve students’ reading comprehension?
2. What are students’ responses toward the use of children short stories in teaching reading?
1.3 The Aims of the Study
The aims of the study are:
1. To find out how the use of children short stories can help students improve their reading comprehension
2. To find out students’ responses toward the use of children short stories in teaching reading.
1.4 Scope of the Study
The present study focuses on the use of children short stories in teaching reading comprehension for students in one of junior high schools in Bandung and
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the students’ responses toward the use of children short stories whether it helps them to improve their reading comprehension.
1.5 Significance of the Study
This study is expected to bring benefits for several aspects:
1. Theoretical benefit
The present study hopefully can provide information for further research regarding the use of literature especially children short stories in English language teaching.
2. Practical benefit
The present study is expected to give description regarding the use of children short stories in teaching reading comprehension in one of junior high schools in Bandung. Hopefully, this study will help English teachers to be able to provide appropriate teaching strategies to improve students’ reading comprehension.
1.6 Clarification of Terms
To avoid misconception, clarification of terms is provided as follow.
1. Reading comprehension can be defined as “an active thinking process through which a reader intentionally constructs meaning to form a deeper
understanding of concepts and information presented in a text” (Blanton et
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2. Short story can be described as a short piece of fiction aiming at unity of characterization, theme and effect. A short story usually focuses on one incident; it has a single plot, a single setting, and a small number of characters; and covers a short period of time (Wikipedia).
3. Children short story here referred to the short story that intended for the children in the native language country. The children short story used in this study is fantasy tales.
1.7 Organization of Paper
The Paper consists of five chapters:
Chapter I
This chapter is the introduction that consists of the background of this study, the statements of the problem, the aims of the study, the scope of the study, the significance of the study, the clarification of terms and the organizations of the paper.
Chapter II
This chapter describes the theoretical framework of the study which is the theory of reading, reading comprehension, reading strategies, teaching reading and the use of literature in English language teaching especially in teaching reading comprehension. Besides, this chapter also provides a review of the previous studies.
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Chapter III
This chapter contains the research method of the study including research design, site and participants, data collection, research procedures, and data analysis.
Chapter IV
This chapter provides the findings related to the statement of the problems stated in chapter one. Then, it is followed by the discussion of the study.
Chapter V
This last chapter covers the conclusion of the study and the suggestions for further study.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes the method used in this study with the intention of finding the answers of the questions stated in Chapter I. The chapter includes research design, site and participants of the study, data collection, research procedures, and data analysis.
3.1 Research Design
Design of this research was qualitative approach which used classroom action research design. Qualitative approach is “a kind of research paradigm which emphasizes inductive, interpretive methods applied to the everyday world which is seen as subjective and socially created” (Anderson, 1987, cited in Hatch, 2002:6). Meanwhile, classroom action research is essentially a research that is based from discontented of the situation, later on there are some efforts conducted to improve situation which is being investigated (Scott and Morrison, 2000).
Classroom action research was used in this study as the researcher tried to emphasize on action applied for improving some problems found especially reading comprehension. The classroom action research used was participatory classroom action research (Carr & Kemmis, 1986) as it involved all the participants on the study from the students, the researcher as the teacher, and the observer that accompany during the study. It was expected that the use of
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classroom action research can enlighten the way of teaching reading especially in improving students’ predicament in reading comprehension.
Qualitative study was used in this study since the study was trying to capture the process that happened from the actors involved in the study. This process includes making sense of actions, intentions, and grasping the meanings from those were being investigated (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992; Hammersley &Atkinson, 1983; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Spradley, 1979, cited in Hatch, 2002:7). In this study, the process captured were how the learning process by using children short stories helped students’ reading comprehension and the students’ responses toward the use of children short stories. Those data which were collected by means of the instruments were then generalized as Lincoln & Guga (1985, cited in Hatch, 2002:10) asserted. They explained that the data analysis in qualitative research is inductive that moved from specific into generalizations.
There are many kinds of classroom action research model. However, the model used in this study was Kemmis and Mc. Taggart model (1988, cited in O’ Brien, 1998). Kemmis and Mc. Taggart (1988, cited in O’ Brien, 1998) proposed that every component in a cycle is viewed as steps and there are 4 steps in a cycle, which are: Plan, Act, Observe, and Reflect. After a cycle has been implemented, a reflection will be performed whether the result has reached the expectation or not. If it is still under expectation, a revision will be made. The revision that consists of a set of plan and act that will be conducted in a class for the next cycle.
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3.1.1 Site and Participants
Site of this study was in one of junior high schools in Bandung. This school was chosen since it was the place where the researcher did fieldwork before. It was assumed that the researcher and the school staff in that school become acquaintances to each other, so it would be easier to have permission for the study.
Participants of this study were the students of VIII D. The total of the students were 43 students comprising 17 male students and 26 female students. They were between 13 until 15 years old. Most of them come from Sundanese ethnics. It can be assumed that most of the students spoke two languages in their regular interaction which were Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Sunda; and they treated English as a foreign language which was uncommon to use in the daily life.
Besides the students, the participants were also the researcher who acted as the teacher when the study was held and the teacher of the class who acted as the observer. The teacher was choosen as the observer since she understood clearly about the situation of her class. It was expected that reliability of the research would be attained by relating the teacher’s observation data and the researcher’s notes.
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the study. To inform, the study was taken on ongoing and natural class since the researcher entered the class as the schedule assigned by the school.
3.2 Data Collection
In collecting the data, this study used three cycles of treatment which was conducted from October 24th 2012 until November 30th 2012. The three cycles of treatment was adapted from Action Research model of Kemmis and Mc. Taggart (1988, as cited in O’Brien, 1998). Description of the action research model which was proposed by Kemmis and Mc. Taggart can be seen in the subsequent picture:
Picture 3.1
Action Research model
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Then, the three cycles which had been applied in the study can be accessed in the following table
Table 3.1
Three Cycles of Treatment
No Step Description
1 Planning After holding a survey in the class and interviewing the English teacher, the planning was designed so that it can be conducted in the class. The result of planning can be seen in the lesson plan. (see appendix A)
2 Implementing the treatments
Treatments in the class consisted of three cycles of treatment. It was intended to help students in advancing their reading comprehension. Each treatment used children short stories that the students would read during the learning. The details of the treatment can be seen in appendix A.
3 Observing The students’ learning process in the class was observed by an observer which is the English teacher of the class. It was aimed to know the situation in the class so that it can be reflected afterwards. The observation sheet of the learning process can be seen in the appendix B.
Besides that, the assessments were held to see students’ improvement in reading comprehension. The assessment were shown by asking students some literal questions during the discussion:
1) Who are the characters
2) Where does the story take place? 3) When does the story take place? 4) What conflicts happen in the story? 5) How does the conflict end?
Besides, the questions were also written in a story-structure analysis worksheet. It was asked in two forms which were in the group work and in the individual work. In the individual work, the students were asked to do an outside reading for their homework and they were asked to answer the questions.
4 Reflection Reflection was conducted between the observer and the researcher so that it can be used in the next cycle for the better treatments.
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In addition, this study used diagnostic test and therapeutic test to know students’ improvement in comprehending the reading material. Diagnostic test was held at the beginning of the cycle, while therapeutic test was held at the end of every cycle.
3.3 Research Procedures
In the following section, procedure when the study was conducted would be explained:
1) Identifying the problems by doing pre-observation in the school
A survey was held regarding students’ predicament in reading comprehension by asking the English teacher. There were some points that found such as limited vocabulary, difficulty in understanding the meaning of the text as a whole, and lack of motivation to read especially reading in English. Moreover, it was noticed that the class is a little bit exceptional because they were too talkative during the class and some students had loud voice that intruded learning process.
2) Designing a plan for the study
The researcher did some steps as suggested by (Cohen, Manion, Morrison, 2000:74):
a) Determining the general research aims and purposes b) Generating research questions
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in the classroom. For the study, it was decided to use children short stories as a reading material for the students. To begin with, the researcher chose some children short stories that will be used during the lesson. The children short stories were fairytale that rather uncommon for the students. The children short stories were explored more for the content and vocabulary so that the activity will be directed to the text from pre-reading activity, while reading, until post-reading activity. By emphasizing the use of the literature in the class, it was expected that the students could be better in terms of reading story and their vocabulary would be increased.
d) Approaching the research design
Read about the information regarding research design that the study used. In this study, classroom action research design was used.
e) Designing the instrument
This study used some instruments such as observation sheets, reading tests, lesson plan, questionnaire, and interview (see Appendix B). The explanation of the research instrument would be explained in the next section.
f) Audiences the research
Administer the research permission by contacting the school. Then, the researcher contacted the teacher of the class regarding the study and the teacher chose the class that would be used during the study.
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Before the research began, the researcher informed the students about the research and purposes of the research.
3) Implementing the action.
During the action, the researcher acted as the teacher in the class, while an observer monitored the learning process. In this study, the researcher conducted the learning by using children short stories. For checking their reading comprehension, the teacher administered some reading tests. In the end, the teacher administered questionnaire and interview to the students regarding their responses toward the learning process by using children short stories. The details of implementation of the action can be seen in the following table.
Table 3.2
The Schedule of the Study
No Date Material
1 October 24th 2012 Diagnostic test 2 October 30th 2012-
October 31st 2012
1st Cycle
Narrative text: Blue Beard
Homework reading: Rip Van Winkle 3 November 7th 2012 Therapeutic test for 1st cycle
4 November 13th 2012 - November 14th 2012
2nd Cycle
Narrative text: The Scatter Brained Fairy
Homework reading: The Selfish Giant 5 20th November 2012 Therapeutic test for 2nd cycle
6 November 21th 2012 - November 27th 2012
3rd Cycle
Narrative text: The Honest Princess
Homework reading: The Ant and the Grain 7 November 28th 2012 Therapeutic test for 3rd cycle
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During the action, the observer who was the teacher of the class paid attention to the learning process. When every cycle had been done, the teacher and the researcher reflected regarding the learning process. The reflection includes the result of the observation, students’ test result, and students’ worksheet of the stories.
4) Data analysis
After the three cycles had been performed, the data that had been collected were analyzed. Then, they were connected to the relevant literature. The data then were connected to each other to see reliability and validity by doing triangulation process.
5) Presenting the result of the study
The result of the study was presented in Chapter 4.
3.3.1 Research Instrument
There were four instruments in this study. They were observation sheet, tests, questionnaire, and interview.
A. Observation sheets
As reflection in teaching process was needed, the teacher was accompanied with an observer to make it objective. The observer filled an observation sheet in every meeting. The observation sheet enriches data analysis since it is designed to understand the context when the situation took place (Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:305).
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The observation sheet used in this study was structured observation (Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:306) with rating scales in judging the observable behavior (see Appendix B). The observation sheet was created by focusing on students’ act in the class and how they responded their teacher. In observation sheet, there was a note column for the observer to conclude overall learning process and a reflection column in which the observer gave comments to the weakness of the learning process.
These comments would be discussed together between the teacher and the observer so that some reflections would be made. The reflection was developed into the form for next cycle so that the next cycle is expected to run better.
B. Tests
There were two kinds of tests given namely diagnostic test and therapeutic test (see Appendix B). Diagnostic test was given only in Cycle 1 before teaching process began. While therapeutic tests were conducted at the end of every cycle from Cycle 1 to Cycle 3. In diagnostic test, there were 25 questions, while therapeutic tests from Cycle 1 until Cycle 3 contain 20 questions for each. It was decided to be 20 questions because the test was done in two sections where each group of students had 30 minutes in doing the test.
To see their improvement in reading comprehension, students’ average score from diagnostic test until Cycle 3 therapeutic test were compared. It is expected that by comparing students’ results, it can give a clear description
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whether the use of children short stories can help them to improve their reading comprehension.
C. Questionnaire
In order to know students’ responses to the teaching learning process, questionnaires were administered to the students after finishing Cycle 3 on November 30th 2012. Before administering the questionnaire, the researcher informed the students about the questionnaire (why it was given and how to answer).
Type of the questionnaire used in this study was structured questionnaire (Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:247) with attitudes scales from strongly agree (sangat setuju) until strongly disagree (sangat tidak setuju) (see Appendix B). The attitudes scale was used as a measurement for the students for 10 statements given.
The structured questionnaire chosen because it was easier to be coded based on the frequency of the answers that the students gave. Here are the steps in processing the questionnaire:
1) Clarifying the general purposes of the questionnaire, then translating it into specific aims
2) Creating the questions that covered the purposed of the study
3) Administering the questionnaire to the lecture for checking its validity 4) Administering the questionnaire to the students
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6) Analysing the data then generalizing the data.
D. Interview
Besides questionnaire, interview was also employed in this study. Interview is a verbal interaction between two persons which are the interviewer and interviewee with the purpose of gathering relevant information for the research (Cannell and Kahn, 1968, cited in Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:268). Besides, the interview facilitates the participants to describe their interpretation about the situation from the participants’ point of view (Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:267).
The type of interview used was semi-structured interview with open-ended questions (see Appendix B). Semi-structure interview was chosen because the interviewer could expound the topics by modifying the questions so that the interviewee could catch the meaning easier; moreover, the interviewer could ask the participants to elaborate the answers. The elaboration of the answers would add the richness, depth of the response, comprehensiveness, and honesty (Patton, 1980:238 as cited in Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:278). In addition, the open-ended questions were selected for giving the interviewee a determination to answer the question in their own way.
In this study, the interview was used to elicit students’ responses towards the use of children short stories whether it helped them to enhance their reading
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the students that improved significantly during the study, while the other one was the student who did not improve significantly. The interview was done after finishing 3rd cycle on November 30th 2012 when the school time was over. It was performed as one by one interview between the researcher and a student in a classroom. The interview was conducted in Bahasa Indonesia so that the students would be at ease in answering the questions.
3.4 Data Analysis
The data that would be analyzed were students’ test result, observation sheet, questionnaire, and interview result. These data were processed from the beginning until the end of the cycle.
There are two methods in presenting the data, they are based on research questions and data instruments (Rudestam & Newton, 1992; Thomas, 2000; Paltridge & Stairfield, 2007, cited in Emilia, 2009:245). In this case, the researcher presents the data based on the instruments.
The students’ test result and observation sheet were administered to answer first research question, while questionnaire and observation sheet were administered to answer second research question. Later, the data analysis was processed and presented through descriptive study.
Descriptive study is “a study that tries to reveal patterns associated with a specific disease without an emphasis on pre-specified hypothesis” (Simon, 2002). It can be noted that descriptive study is not emphasized on exploring the
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hypothesis, but it tends to explain an informal information about condition that happened during the study.
Below were the procedures in analyzing data:
1. Analyzing students’ diagnostic test and therapeutic test
All of students’ data were scored. Those score were calculated to know students’ average score entirely. Then, in every cycle, there would be a calculation for students who pass KKM score in form of percentage.
Below are the formula for calculating students’ average score and students’ success percentage who has exceeded KKM score:
In calculating students’ average score (Sudjana: 2009): Description: = Average score
= Total of the students’ score N = Total of the students
In calculating students’ success percentage based on their test score, (Sudjana: 2009):
Description:
P = Students’ success percentage = students who fulfill KKM criteria
= total of students in the class
After calculating students’ average score, the researcher compared students’ average scores whether there was an improvement in reading comprehension
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2. Analyzing observation sheet
Observation sheet focused on teaching learning process especially on observing whether students could understand the text in the learning process and how they responded their teacher during learning process. The observation sheet consists of 8 statements and it has range from 4 until 1, where 4 is excellent, 3 is above average, 2 is average, and 1 is unsatisfactory. Thus, the maximum score of every cycle is 4x8 = 32 points. Afterwards, the result of scoring, note column, and reflection column from the observation sheet then were reflected so that the whole process which happened in the class can be portrayed and reported descriptively. 3. Analyzing questionnaire
The questionnaire consists of 10 closed questions and it has range from 4 to 1. The description of those number comprising: 4 for strongly agree, 3 for agree, 2 for disagree, and 1 for strongly disagree. The maximum point of the questionnaire is 4x10 = 40 point.
The questionnaire was processed by coding the statements into three main categories: 1) students’ opinion towards children short stories as an interesting media in learning English 2) students’ opinion towards the use of children short stories for increasing their participation in the learning process 3) students’ opinion toward the use of children short stories in helping students improve their reading comprehension.
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Then, the frequencies of students’ total response for each main category would be displayed in percentage form by using chart.
4. Analyzing interview
After conducting the interview, the researcher trancribed the interview result. Then, it was coded into several themes. Those themes would lead into description of few students’ opinion related to teaching learning process in the class. Interview enriched the description since it gave more detail information of students’ attitude toward the learning process.
3.4.1 Data Validation
Validity and reliability is crucial in developing a study. It is supported by Creswell & Miller (2000 cited in Creswell, 2009: 191) who believed that validity is one of strong points in qualitative research since accuracy of the findings is taken from the researcher and participants of the study.
In this study, triangulation process was used to check the reliability and the validity of the data. Triangulation is a strategy to improve reliability and validity of the study by linking the data that taken from different sources (Golafshani, 2003:7). The triangulation is used because the study used multiple instruments which are observation, reading test, questionnaire and interview.
All of data that had been analyzed would be connected to each other and delivered by using descriptive study with the support of the related literature;
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3.5 Concluding Remark
This chapter portrayed the research design, the site and participants, data collection, research procedures, and data analysis. In the next chapter, findings and discussion of the data analysis will be presented.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents the conclusions of the study and suggestion for further research. At first, this chapter presents conclusions of the study related to the theories used. Next, this chapter presents suggestion for further researchers who are interested in conducting similar study, the use of children short stories to enhance students’ reading comprehension.
5.1 Conclusions
This study was concerned with the use of children short stories to enhance students’ reading comprehension. The purposes of the study were to investigate whether the use of children short stories had elevated students’ reading scores and how it helped the students to improve their reading comprehension.
The findings of this study suggested that the use of children short stories improved the students’ reading comprehension. It can be seen from students’ average scores which are slightly improved from diagnostic test until Cycle 3. The diagnostic test score which is 61.09 increased to 76.28 in the Cycle 3 therapeutic test . Furthermore, the amount of the students who have scores above KKM also elevated from 20.93% (9) of students in the diagnostic test become 58.14% (25) of students at the end of cycle 3.
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their reading comprehension. The characteristic of children short stories which is intended for native language learner revealed to be an authentic material for the students. It provides real examples of grammatical structure and vocabulary items which provide the students an exposure of native language that could not be encountered in EFL setting. The content of the story which is appealing made the students motivated to read and increased their personal growth to read the story until finish. Their engagement to the story facilitated them to construct meaning magnificently which leads them to achieve comprehension.
Moreover, the employment of reading strategies helped in improving students’ reading comprehension. The use of multiple reading strategies showed that it can helped the students’ reading comprehension. The reading strangegies used in this study are: activating background knowledge of the students, pre-teaching vocabulary, using predictive skill, sequencing text, cooperative learning, asking and generating question, identifying main idea and synthesizing, and story-structure analysis.
In addition, the result of the questionnaire and the interview showed that children short story is an interesting reading material for them and it motivates them to be actively engaged during the learning process.
In this study, the use of children short stories displayed some advantages: it facilitates the students to enrich their vocabulary; it encourages the students to have critical thinking; it increases students’ motivation; and it accommodates the students to practice their language skill.
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However, there was a disadvantage in using children short stories in terms of level of the text which is difficult especially for struggling readers since it is actually intended for the children in native language country. Nevertheless, it can be overcome by carefully selecting children short stories and planning the activities creatively to make the students have direct experience to the reading process.
Finally, the findings from this study hopefully will influence the teacher to use literature such as children short stories in teaching English. Though this study may be restricted to small scales participants, the implications are clear especially for the teachers who want to use children short stories in teaching reading comprehension.
5.2 Suggestions for Further Research
The suggestions provided below are addressed to English teachers and to researchers who want to conduct similar study.
It is suggested to vary the kind of children short stories which would be used in teaching reading comprehension, for examples, fable, modern short stories, fantasy tales and so on. Moreover, it is suggested that English teachers use group work especially in a big class so that high proficient students can help low proficient students in comprehending the text.
It would be better to select the stories carefully in terms of the text-length, vocabulary, and the content of the story which can stimulate students’ interest and
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in planning activities for the learning process so that the students can enjoy the pleasure of reading, earn how to comprehend and appreciate literature
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Writing Difficulties. Victoria: Acer Press.
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(1)
in planning activities for the learning process so that the students can enjoy the pleasure of reading, earn how to comprehend and appreciate literature
(2)
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Cohen, Mannion, & Morrison. (2005). Research Methods in Education. (5th ed.). London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Collie, J., & Slater, S. (1991). Literature in the language classroom. (5th ed.). Glasgow: Cambridge University Press.
Creswell, J.W.. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed
Methods Approaches. California: Sage Publications.
Elliott, R. (1990). ‘Encouraging reader-response to literature in ESL situations.’ In
ELT Journal. Vol 44. No. 3 page 191-198.
(3)
Erkaya, O. R. (2005). ‘Benefits of using short stories in the EFL context’. In Asian EFL Journal. Vol8. page 38-49. http://asian-efl-journal.com.
Current as of January 5th , 2013.
Gascoigne, Carolyn. (2005). ‘Toward an Understanding of the Relationship
between L2 Reading Comprehension and Grammatical Competence’. In The Reading Matrix Vol.5, No.2. Page 1-14. Current as of January 15th , 2013.
Ghasemi, P. and Hajizadeh, R. (2011). ‘Teaching L2 Reading Comprehension
through Short Story.’ In the IPEDR journal. Vol. 26. Page 69-73.
Current as of January 20th , 2013.
Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L.. (2002). Teaching and Researching reading. London: Pearson Education Longman.
Hadley, A. O. (2001). Teaching Language in context. Third Edition. USA: Thomson Learning.
Harmer, Jeremy. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Education.
Hasbún, Leyla. (2006). ‘The Role of Vocabulary Acquisition in Students’
Attitudes toward Reading.’ In Communicatión enero-julio. Vol. 15.
número 001. http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/pdf/166/16615106.pdf. Current as of December 15th , 2012.
Hatch, A.J. (2002). Doing Qualitative Research in Education Setting. New York: State of University New York Press.
Hayashi, Keiko. (1999). ‘Reading Strategies and Extensive Reading in EFL
(4)
http://rel.sagepub.com/content/30/2/114. Current as of December 28th , 2013.
Jalilehvand, Maryam. (2011). ‘The Effects of Text Length and Picture on Reading
Comprehension of Iranian EFL Students’. In Asian Social Sciences.
Vol. 8, No. 3. Page 329-337. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v8n3p329. Current as of January 15th , 2013.
Khatib, Muhammad. (2012). ‘Enhancing Reading Comprehension through Short
Stories in Iranian EFL Learners.’ In Theory and Practice in Language
Studies. Vol.2. No.2. http://academypublisher.com. Current as of January 15th , 2013.
Littlewood, William (2000). ‘Literature in the School Foreign-Language Course.’
In Brumfit, C.J. & Carter, R.A.. (2001). Literature and Language
Teaching. Oxford: OUP.
Lunzer, E.A., and Gardner, K. (1979) The Effective Use of Reading, Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd.
Moreillon, Judi. (2007). Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading
Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact. Chicago: American Library
Association.
McGinnis, D. J., & Smith, D. E. (1982). Analysing and Treating reading
problems.
New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching
children to read. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Child Health
(5)
Nunan, D. (2001). Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
O’ Brien, Rory. (1998). An Overview of the Methodological Approach of Action
research. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.web.net/~robrien/papers/arfinal.html. Current as of October 3rd , 2012.
Palardy, J. M. (1997). ‘Another look at literature-based instruction.’ Education,
118(1), 67-70.
Pardede, P. (2011). Using Short Stories to Teach Language Skills [Online]. Available at:
http://parlindunganpardede.wordpress.com/articles/language-teaching/using-short-stories-to-teach-language-skills/. Current as of January 15th , 2013.
Patel, M.F., & Jain, P.M.. (2008). English Language Teaching. Jaipur: Sunrise Publishers & Distributors.
Puspita, Intan Dwi. (2007). Using Mind Mapping Technique to Improve Students’
Ability in Reading Descriptive Text: A Quasi Experimental Study at Seventh Grade in One Junior High Schools in Bandung.
http://repository.upi.edu. Current as of January 5th , 2013.
Rice, Melinda. (2009). ‘Making Connections: Reading Comprehension Skill and
Strategies’. In www.fcrr.org/FCRRReports. Current as of January 20th ,
2013.
Rudman, M.K. (Ed.). (1993). Children's literature: Resources for the classroom (2nd ed.).Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
(6)
Sharzad, A. & Derakhsan, A. (2011). ‘The Effect of Instruction in Deriving Word
Meaning on Incidental Vocabulary Learning in EFL Context.’ In World
Journal of English Language Vol. 1 No. 1. Current as of February 3rd, 2013.
Sudjana, Nana. (2009). Penilaian Proses Hasil Belajar Mengajar. Bandung: Remaja Rosdakarya.
Slavin, R.E.. (2009). Instruction Based on Cooperative Learning. [Online]. Available at: www.successforall.org/.../Instruction-Based-on-Cooperative-Learning-09. Current as of November 2nd , 2012.
Syatriana, Eny. (2010). ‘Developing a Model of Teaching Reading
Comprehension for EFL Students’. In TEFLIN Journal. Vol. 3821, No.
1. Page 27-40. Current as of January 10th , 2013.
Urbancová , Žaneta. (2006). Using Stories in Teaching English. [Online].
Available at: http://is.muni.cz/th/104208/?lang=en. Current as of January 20th , 2013.
Wallace, Catherine. (2001). ‘Reading.’ In Carter, R., & Nunan, D.. (2001). The
Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
Westwood, Peter. (2008). What Teachers Need to Know About Reading and
Writing Difficulties. Victoria: Acer Press.
Woods, Martin. (2011). Interviewing for Research and Analysing Qualitative Data. [Online]. Available at: owll.massey.ac.nz/.../interviewing-for-research-and-analysing-qualitative... Current as of October 22nd , 2012.