CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS
This chapter covers the following sections: type of the research, setting of the research, subject of the research, instruments of the research, data collection
techniques, data analysis techniques, validity and reliability and the steps of the research.
A. Type of the Research
The type of the study was action research because it tried to find and to apply some actions for improving reading fluency through multimedia running texts. Burns
1999: 30 stated that action research was the application of fact finding to practical problem solving in a social situation with a view to improve the quality of action in it,
involving collaboration and co-operation of researchers, practitioners, and laymen. The researcher and the other research team members collaboratively found obstacles
and weaknesses of the reading fluency learning process, identified some problems, and planned and implemented the proposed actions. After that, the researcher made a
reflection and discussion related to the implemented actions. The structural research was adapted from the model proposed by Kemmis and Mc Taggart 2010 that action
research occured through a dynamic and complementary process, which consisted of four essential steps: planning, action, observation, and reflection.
Figure 3: Action research model proposed by Kemmis and Mc Taggrat in Burns 2010
B. Setting of the Research
This section consisted of two parts, the place and the schedule of the research. Each part would be explained below:
1. Place of the research
The research place was in the grade VIII-G classroom of SMPN 1 Jogonalan, Klaten. The location was on Jogja-Solo street kilometer 30.
2. Schedule of the research
The researcher conducted the action research in the second semester of the academic year of 20152016. The research was conducted from February to March
2016. In conducting the actions, the researcher followed the English schedule of VIII G in SMP Negeri 1 Jogonalan. The schedules were on Tuesday and Thursday at
07.00 – 08.20 am. It only took five meetings because reading aloud was not the major
competences. Reading aloud in syllabus only spent eight hours in a semester. The activities in the schedule were the interview, the observation, and the action. The
schedule and the activities could be seen in the following Table 2.
No Date
Activities Sub Activities
Time 1
29 February 2016 Having a teacher’s
interview Getting data of the
problem 30
minutes 2
1 March 2016 Observation, Taking
a pretest Getting
quantitative data 40
minutes 3
3 March 2016 First meeting
Applying media. 2 x 40
minutes 4
8 March 2016 Mid test
2 x 40 minutes
5 9 March 2016
Observing Interviewing
students and teacher.
30 minutes
6 14 March 2016
Observing by using questionnaire
Getting qualitative data.
40 minutes
7 22 March 2016
First meeting of cycle 2
Applying media 2 x 40
minutes 8
26 March 2016 Observing
Getting qualitative data.
40 minutes
9 30 March 2016
Post test Individual test
2 x 40 minutes
Table 2: Schedule of the Research
C. Subject of the Research
This research was conducted collaboratively. The participants were 38 students consisting of 19 female and 25 male, the English teacher, and the researcher.
D. Instruments of the Research
There were two types of instruments used in this research: test instruments and non test instruments. The test instruments involved the reading fluency
assessment and reading scoring rubrics. The non test instruments were interview guidelines, questionnaires, observation sheets, and smartphones. Furthermore, the
detail instruments of the research were presented below:
1. Observation sheet
The observation sheets were in the form of fieldnotes and teacher’s or
collabolator’s observation checklists. The fieldnotes were used for observing the teacher’s and or the researcher’s activities. They told about how the teaching learning
process was hold. They were used to evaluate the teaching and learning process in the classroom.
Meanwhile, the collabolator’s observation checklists were used for
evaluating and giving feedback to the researcher about the process of action research. It was evaluated by the teacher in every meeting.
2. Questionnaires
The questionnaires were used to get the information of students’ necessities,
lacks, and wants. The researcher asked the students to answer the questionnaires related to the teaching and learning process of reading aloud skills in their class.
Then, the results of the questionnaire could be formulated to create pre-test and to reflect the teaching learning process.
3. Interview guidelines
Interview guidelines were used to get the data about teacher’s and students’ opinion before, while and after teaching and learning process. The interview was
done after the researcher made an interview guide. It was used as a guidance for the researcher in doing the interview. It means that the researcher asked the teacher and
students some questions and gave opportunities to them for saying everything related to teaching and learning process of reading fluency.
4. Reading fluency assessment
The reading fluency assessment was in the form of papersheets of test which were used as an instrument of conducting the test. The students should vocalize their
voice by reading the papersheet of test loudly. The researcher or the student’s tablemate would record the voice. The voice recordings were counted by using
reading fluency scoring rubric.
5. Scoring rubric
The quantitative data were measured by using reading fluency scoring rubrics. The rubrics consisted of reading accuracy rubric, reading rate rubric and reading
prosody rubric. Reading accruracy and reading rate would be scored by adapting CBM Curriculum B
ased Measurement rubric from Student’s progress monitoring Unied States of America Office of Education Program. Both reading accuracy and
rate would be assessed in the same sheet of scoring. The reading prosody rubric was developed by Hudson, Lane and Pullen 2005: 707. The sample of each rubric would
be explained below:
a. Reading Accuracy Scoring Rubric
The reading accuracy was assessed by crossing every single mispronounced words from the reading fluency recording of the students. For example, Budi made 6
mistakes while reading the passage. They were in the “Sunday”, “bought”, “some”,
“about”, “decided” and “lunch”. The example of reading accuracy rubric could be seen on the Figure 4 below:
Figure 4: The Sample of Reading Accuracy Scoring Rubric
After assessing the reading accuracy rubric above, the next step was counting the score. To count the correct words, the manner was by counting the total words
minus the mispronuced words. After that, the number of correct words were multiplied by 100. Then the result was divided by the total words. The way of getting
the scoring data was explained as follow: Correct words = total words
– mispronounced words Scoring System for Reading aloud:
- Total Score =
X 100 =
b. Reading Rate Scoring Rubric
The reading rate scoring was by counting the number of words pronounced in a minute. The rate should not too different from the multimedia running text as a
model. The assessor noticed where the reader reached the word in a minute. The next step was counting how many words read in a minute. This following sample CBM
PRF scoring rubric was for checking the reading rate. It can be seen in the Figure 5. For example, the last word
read was “and” and a bracket was drawn after this word. In a minute, Budi attempted 89 words 83+6.
I Lost My Wallet
On Sunday, I went down town to do some shopping in one of the best shopping centers. It was called Matahari Mall Klaten.
I bought a lot of things; snacks, shoes, and some clothes. I was very happy because that day everything was 30 discounts. I spent around
500 thousand rupiahs. After about an hour I was wondering in, I decided to leave and went to a restaurant nearby to have lunch. I ordered sop
Ayam Klaten Pak Min and es dawet ayu Banjarnegara. I enjoyed my meals and asked for the check. Did you know what happened? I was so
surprised when I tried to get my wallet in my backpack. I could not find it, it was stolen.
I felt so stupid and did not know what to do next. Fortunately, I still kept some in the pocket of my shirt. Using the payphone available there, I
tried to call my parents at home. Fortunately they were at home and promised to come soon. No more than 20 minutes, they got in. then the
check was paid. After that, we went home with some goods in my shopping bag.
I was so relieved and promised to myself that I should be more careful in lots of ways.
16 23
39 51
68 83
97 113
120 138
153 167
183 191
209 210
Figure 5: The Sample of Reading Rate Scoring Rubric
c. Reading Prosody Scoring Rubric
The scoring rubric of reading prosody can be seen in the following Table 3 and 4.
o Description
Student placed vocal emphasis on appropriate words.
Students voice tone rose and fell at appropriate points in the text.
Students inflection reflected the punctuation in the text e.g., voice tone rose near the end of a
question. In narrative text with dialogue, student used
appropriate vocal tone to represent characters mental states, such as excitement, sadness, fear, or
confidence.
Student used
punctuation to
pause appropriately at phrase boundaries.
Student used prepositional phrases to pause appropriately at phrase boundaries.
Student used subject-verb divisions to pause appropriately at phrase boundaries.
Student used
conjunctions to
pause appropriately at phrase boundaries.
Table 3: The Sample of Reading Prosody Scoring Rubric 1
No. Students’
names 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 Total
Score 1
Budi 2
3 3
2 1
1 1
3 16
Table 4: The Sample of Reading Prosody Scoring Rubric 2
Scoring System for Reading aloud: -
Total Score = X 100 = 50
6. The smartphone
The last instrument used in the research was smartphone. It was utilized to collect the voice recording. The data recorded were in the form of interviews,
fieldnotes and students’ assignment.
E. Data Collection Techniques
The data collection techniques were qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data were obtained by interviewing the students and teacher and also by
doing observation during the teaching-learning process and during the implementation of the action in the field. The data were in the forms of field notes,
questionnaires and interview transcripts. The instruments for collecting the data were interview guidelines, questionnaire, observation sheets and field notes
Meanwhile, the quantitative data that were in the form of students’ reading fluency score were collected through the reading fluency assessments. The first was
pre-test. It was conducted to know the students’ reading fluency. The second was
mid-test. It was done to know whether there was a significant improvement on the students’ reading fluency ability before and after multimedia running text being
applied in the first cycle. After reflecting the result of students’ score in mid-test, the
last data were obtained by conducting post-test. The post-test was for measuring whether there was a significant improvement on reading fluency of the students.
F. Data Analysis Techniques
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