A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT TAUGHT THROUGH GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TECHNIQUE AND TRANSLATION TECHNIQUE AT SMAN 5 BANDAR LAMPUNG
i ABSTRACT
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF STUDENTS’ READING
COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT TAUGHT THROUGH GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TECHNIQUE AND TRANSLATION TECHNIQUE AT
SMAN 5 BANDAR LAMPUNG
By
CARLI WIJAYA
Reading is a process of learning that is inseparable from any other kinds of
learning including language learning. In this activity, students are in the process of comprehending the content of the text given by the teacher. In the process, the students perform some tasks given, such as finding main ideas and supporting details of the content of the texts being read. When the students can not get something from what they read, they will not get the knowledge that is a part of learning.
The objective of this research is to find out students’ reading comprehension achievement between the students who are taught through Graphic Organizers Technique and those who are taught through Translation Technique.
The researcher applied true experiment pretest posttest group design (Hatch and Farhady, 1982:22). The researcher selected two classes, one as experimental class one and the other one as the experimental class two. Simple random probability sampling is used to select the samples. The samples are the first grade of SMA N 5 Bandar Lampung. The writer used objective reading test in form of multiple choice that was administrated in both pretest and posttest. Independent group t-test was used to analyze the data and hypothesis t-testing was proved by comparing the means score of posttest of both classes through SPSS version 13.0 at the level of significance of 0.05.
The result showed that there is a significant difference of students’ reading comprehension achievement between students who are taught by using graphic organizers technique and those who are taught by using translation technique. The significant increase of students’ achievement in the experimental class I (graphic organizers class) is (p<0.05, p=0.000) with the increase of mean in pretest and posttest is 17.59 points. Meanwhile, in the experimental class II is (p>0.05, p=0.000) with the increase is only 7 points. It indicates that the graphic
organizers technique is better than translation technique in increasing the students’ reading comprehension achievement.
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V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
After conducting the research at grade X of SMAN 5 Bandar Lampung and analyzing the data, the researcher draws some conclusions as follows:
1. There is a significant difference of student’s reading comprehension
achievement between the students who were taught by applying graphic Organizers technique and those who were taught by applying translation technique. This can be identified from the significant increase of students’ achievement in experimental class I from their mean score of pretest (54.13) to posttest (71.72) with an increase 17.59 points. While in the experimental class II, the mean score of pretest is 55.16 and the posttest is 62.16 with the increase was only 7 point. It can be concluded that the use of graphic organizers
technique is better than translation technique in teaching reading comprehension.
2. Furthermore, applying graphic organizers made the brainstorming process in reading more effective since the process is significant to activate the students’ schemata before they create graphic organizers. In reason that it made them aware of text they are reading hence ease them to find out the relationship among ideas in the text.
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3. The problem in Translation was that the students still translate the words by the literal meaning. Therefore, their translation result was not really proper in Bahasa Indonesia seen from the context of the text.
B. Suggestion
Based on the findings in conducting the research, the researcher would like to convey some suggestions below:
1. Graphic organizers technique can be used as an appropriate way for teaching reading since it can be used to increase the students’ reading comprehension achievement. Therefore, the English teachers are suggested to use it.
2. The teacher should give much attention to the brainstorming process. By
activating students’ schemata and relating it to the topic, it will ease them to
find the connections among ideas in the text. Hence, it maximized their understanding about the text.
3. To make students easier in following teaching reading through graphic
organizers, it is suggested that the students should have enough understanding about the concept of topic, main ideas and supporting details.
4. The translation technique can be used to teach reading, it is proved by the result that the students’ achievement increased significantly.
5. The researcher expects that this research can provide positive contribution and reference for further studies in applying graphic organizers not only in reading comprehension but also in other skills.
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I. INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Problem
English is taught at formal education settings, from Elementary School at grade 4 (there are also schools that start teaching English to their students at first grade) up to University in Indonesia. There are four skills of language to be mastered in learning English, that is: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students are hoped to master these skills.
From the four skills, reading dominates the teaching materials in almost English textbooks where there are some types of reading text that should be mastered by the students of SMA especially. In the curriculum stated that SMA/ MA students should be able to use the language in informational level that is expected to access knowledge by the language skills (Depdiknas, 2006: 307). This objective is basically the same as comprehension of reading texts where the students are faced with the text written in English then they are hoped to read it in order to gather information from it. Here, students use skill of reading in order to understand the written text. Means, they access knowledge by reading skill.
Reading is a process of learning that is inseparable from any other kinds of
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comprehending the content of the text given by the teacher. In the process, the students perform some tasks given, such as finding main ideas and supporting details of the content of the texts being read. When the students can not get something from what they read, they will not get the knowledge that is a part of learning.
To gather the knowledge from the text, it is important for students to have a good reading comprehension. Without comprehension, reading would be empty and meaningless. Comprehension is not only intended to know what the letters stand for, but also involved power of fully understanding. According to Dallman (1982: 23) reading is more than knowing what each letter of alphabet stands for. Reading involves more than words recognition; that without comprehension, no reading takes place. It is supported by Hornby (1972: 63) who mentions that
comprehension is the power to understand fully. It means that comprehension determines the essence of the reading process. Comprehension is the level that should be achieved by students that determines they are doing reading or not.
Reading comprehension requires motivation, mental frameworks for holding the ideas, concentration and good study techniques. There are many ways to be good at reading such as the readers should know the purpose in reading, they also should have awareness of type of material they are reading, and kinds of learning strategies can also be used in reading that can help them in comprehending the reading text.
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Good reading means building frameworks in order for connecting words to thought. But not everyone is good at reading. In general, students still have difficulty in comprehending the idea in a reading text. Nurmalasari (2005) conducted research in SMAN 5 Bandar Lampung found that students there had difficulty in comprehending reading texts. Some factors that cause the students difficulties in comprehending the text which she found in her research, are: (1) interpreting the new vocabulary, (2) unphrasing reading, (3) interest in the materials (the text), (4) schemata, (5) ignoring reading technique.
However, the researcher assumes that the problem in reading comprehension is that the teachers do not use any kind of techniques in teaching reading
comprehension. It is important to be familiar with many kinds of teaching reading technique in order to help the students comprehend the text better.
Translation technique can be used to teach reading comprehension. And, the Translation technique is still widely used by English teachers in Indonesia until now. In here, the teachers administer teaching reading by translating the text written in English into Indonesia. Usually, almost teachers at school use
Translation technique in reading text. Commonly, teachers ask their students to read the text aloud; one paragraph for one person. Discuss the materials in reading text then the teacher asked them to translate together with the class by using dictionary.
Meanwhile, another technique can be used in teaching reading comprehension is graphic organizers. Graphic organizers are basically visual way to represent
(7)
information. It helps the readers to visualize the main concept of what they are reading into organizers such as lines, boxes etc.; hence, graphic organizers ease the readers to comprehend the text. Since, they can see clearly the concepts of topic, main ideas, and supporting after applying a text concept into a graphic organizer.
Brookbank’s research (1999) questioned about the effect of using graphic
organizers toward students’ comprehension ability and vocabulary skills, also how critical thinking/higher order thinking skills were enhanced. He found that the use of graphic organizers help students comprehend better and at least 80% students master key vocabulary skills. He also found that students’ critical thinking skills were enhanced.
According to the previous statement, the researcher is interested to compare the
students’ reading comprehension achievement between the students who are
taught through Graphic Organizers Technique and those who are taught through Translation Technique.
B. Formulation of Problem
Based on the background of the problem above, the writer formulated the problem
as follows: “Is there any significant difference of students’ reading comprehension
achievement between the students who are taught through Graphic Organizers Technique and those who are taught through Translation Technique?”
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C. Objective of Research
In relations with the research problem above, the objective of the research was to find out whether there is any significant difference of students’ reading
comprehension achievement between the students who are taught through Graphic Organizers Technique and those who are taught Translation Technique.
D. Uses of Research
The uses of the research are:
1. Theoretically, to see whether the result of this research supports previous theories of teaching reading through Graphic Organizer Technique.
2. Practically, to see whether the result of this research can be applied in teaching reading to the students of SMA.
E. Scope of Research
The research focused on the students’ reading comprehension achievement. This quantitative research was conducted in SMAN 5 Bandar Lampung. In this research, Graphic Organizers Technique was used to teach students of
experimental class one and Translation Technique was used to teach the students of experimental class two. Related to KTSP 2006, there are three types of reading text in the second semester of level X of SMA which should be comprehended by the students that is Narrative text, Descriptive text and News Item text. However, in this research, the researcher limited the text that was used into News Item text
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since this text was still rarely used in research. There are three topics that were used in this research; they were health, sports and society.
F. Definition of Terms
o Reading comprehension is an activity of understanding printed text through
making sense a written text by relating written language to what we know already and to what we want to know.
o Translation technique is a technique where the students transfer the ideas in
form of written text in language 1 (source language) into language 2 (target language).
o Graphic organizers are visual graphic used to illustrate the concepts of ideas,
such as main idea and supporting details of a written text by using lines, boxes etc. to show the connection of each others.
o Achievement in this research is the change or improvement of students’
reading comprehension after being taught. The achievement can be seen from
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I. INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Problem
English is taught at formal education settings, from Elementary School at grade 4 (there are also schools that start teaching English to their students at first grade) up to University in Indonesia. There are four skills of language to be mastered in learning English, that is: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students are hoped to master these skills.
From the four skills, reading dominates the teaching materials in almost English textbooks where there are some types of reading text that should be mastered by the students of SMA especially. In the curriculum stated that SMA/ MA students should be able to use the language in informational level that is expected to access knowledge by the language skills (Depdiknas, 2006: 307). This objective is basically the same as comprehension of reading texts where the students are faced with the text written in English then they are hoped to read it in order to gather information from it. Here, students use skill of reading in order to understand the written text. Means, they access knowledge by reading skill.
Reading is a process of learning that is inseparable from any other kinds of
(2)
comprehending the content of the text given by the teacher. In the process, the students perform some tasks given, such as finding main ideas and supporting details of the content of the texts being read. When the students can not get something from what they read, they will not get the knowledge that is a part of learning.
To gather the knowledge from the text, it is important for students to have a good reading comprehension. Without comprehension, reading would be empty and meaningless. Comprehension is not only intended to know what the letters stand for, but also involved power of fully understanding. According to Dallman (1982: 23) reading is more than knowing what each letter of alphabet stands for. Reading involves more than words recognition; that without comprehension, no reading takes place. It is supported by Hornby (1972: 63) who mentions that
comprehension is the power to understand fully. It means that comprehension determines the essence of the reading process. Comprehension is the level that should be achieved by students that determines they are doing reading or not.
Reading comprehension requires motivation, mental frameworks for holding the ideas, concentration and good study techniques. There are many ways to be good at reading such as the readers should know the purpose in reading, they also should have awareness of type of material they are reading, and kinds of learning strategies can also be used in reading that can help them in comprehending the reading text.
(3)
Good reading means building frameworks in order for connecting words to thought. But not everyone is good at reading. In general, students still have difficulty in comprehending the idea in a reading text. Nurmalasari (2005) conducted research in SMAN 5 Bandar Lampung found that students there had difficulty in comprehending reading texts. Some factors that cause the students difficulties in comprehending the text which she found in her research, are: (1) interpreting the new vocabulary, (2) unphrasing reading, (3) interest in the materials (the text), (4) schemata, (5) ignoring reading technique.
However, the researcher assumes that the problem in reading comprehension is that the teachers do not use any kind of techniques in teaching reading
comprehension. It is important to be familiar with many kinds of teaching reading technique in order to help the students comprehend the text better.
Translation technique can be used to teach reading comprehension. And, the Translation technique is still widely used by English teachers in Indonesia until now. In here, the teachers administer teaching reading by translating the text written in English into Indonesia. Usually, almost teachers at school use
Translation technique in reading text. Commonly, teachers ask their students to read the text aloud; one paragraph for one person. Discuss the materials in reading text then the teacher asked them to translate together with the class by using dictionary.
Meanwhile, another technique can be used in teaching reading comprehension is graphic organizers. Graphic organizers are basically visual way to represent
(4)
information. It helps the readers to visualize the main concept of what they are reading into organizers such as lines, boxes etc.; hence, graphic organizers ease the readers to comprehend the text. Since, they can see clearly the concepts of topic, main ideas, and supporting after applying a text concept into a graphic organizer.
Brookbank’s research (1999) questioned about the effect of using graphic
organizers toward students’ comprehension ability and vocabulary skills, also how critical thinking/higher order thinking skills were enhanced. He found that the use of graphic organizers help students comprehend better and at least 80% students master key vocabulary skills. He also found that students’ critical thinking skills were enhanced.
According to the previous statement, the researcher is interested to compare the students’ reading comprehension achievement between the students who are taught through Graphic Organizers Technique and those who are taught through Translation Technique.
B. Formulation of Problem
Based on the background of the problem above, the writer formulated the problem as follows: “Is there any significant difference of students’ reading comprehension achievement between the students who are taught through Graphic Organizers Technique and those who are taught through Translation Technique?”
(5)
C. Objective of Research
In relations with the research problem above, the objective of the research was to find out whether there is any significant difference of students’ reading
comprehension achievement between the students who are taught through Graphic Organizers Technique and those who are taught Translation Technique.
D. Uses of Research
The uses of the research are:
1. Theoretically, to see whether the result of this research supports previous theories of teaching reading through Graphic Organizer Technique.
2. Practically, to see whether the result of this research can be applied in teaching reading to the students of SMA.
E. Scope of Research
The research focused on the students’ reading comprehension achievement. This quantitative research was conducted in SMAN 5 Bandar Lampung. In this research, Graphic Organizers Technique was used to teach students of
experimental class one and Translation Technique was used to teach the students of experimental class two. Related to KTSP 2006, there are three types of reading text in the second semester of level X of SMA which should be comprehended by the students that is Narrative text, Descriptive text and News Item text. However, in this research, the researcher limited the text that was used into News Item text
(6)
since this text was still rarely used in research. There are three topics that were used in this research; they were health, sports and society.
F. Definition of Terms
o Reading comprehension is an activity of understanding printed text through making sense a written text by relating written language to what we know already and to what we want to know.
o Translation technique is a technique where the students transfer the ideas in form of written text in language 1 (source language) into language 2 (target language).
o Graphic organizers are visual graphic used to illustrate the concepts of ideas, such as main idea and supporting details of a written text by using lines, boxes etc. to show the connection of each others.
o Achievement in this research is the change or improvement of students’ reading comprehension after being taught. The achievement can be seen from the students’ score shown in the test.