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CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS
In chapter VI, the writer sets out to describe the various actions that have been done for two months. Those activities are used to show how students’ texts can
improve the reading ability of the second year students of SMK Farmasi Bina Farma Madiun.
The main objective of the research is to find whether students’ texts influence the students’ reading ability. It will be used as evidence in answering the
problem statements stated in chapter I. The description of the findings is based on the data from the researchers’ field note, the interview, the test, and also the experts’
comments on the actions
A. Research Background
The research was done based on the result of students’ regional TOEIC test when they were at the first year. They joined this test on February 18, 2007. Their
scores of regional TOEIC test were: 28 students got less than 300, 10 students got more than 300 and 2 students got 350. Based on the curriculum, the score of the first
year student at least should be 300. Besides, the research was done based on the result of final semester test which was held in May 2007. The result of final
semester test was: 1 student got 3, 10 students got 4, 18 students got 5, and 11 students got 6, whereas the passing grade of English is 6. It means that the students
were still reluctant to study English. The writer is the teacher for the first year and also second year. When they were in the second year, she wanted her students to
86 improve their English, especially in reading, by increasing their motivation in
studying English and improving their vocabulary. In July 2007, the writer and the collaborators observed all the second year
activities in learning English. The result of the observation was that one class was different from others. It was 2C. As it is described in Chapter III, this class was the
most passive of all. They had difficulties in comprehending reading, were reluctant to study, and had lowest vocabulary. On July 31
st
, 2007, the writer and the collaborators observed the students of 2 C related to reading ability. The results of
the observation were: a.
They were bored with the textbooks module which they had. The reason was that some materials in textbooks were not related to their background
knowledge. Sometimes they didn’t understand the content of the texts. It made them feel difficult to comprehend the text. They never read other English texts
but those found on module b.
They had many subject matters which must be studied. If the texts weren’t related to their background knowledge they made them bored. The effect was
that they were lazy to study. They didn’t have motivation to study. They always collected their assignment late, they neglected the lesson, and they were only
passive in English class c.
They had a few words of English. Their vocabulary was low. Next meeting on August 3
rd
, 2007, the teacher asked the students what they wanted, what kinds of interesting texts they wanted. One of the students said
she wanted texts which were related to her background knowledge. Further she said
87 that the texts in textbook or module weren’t related to their background knowledge,
so she felt difficult to comprehend it. The other students answered, for example, that some of the texts were related to technical vocational high school STM. The
vocabularies found in the texts were so strange for them. So he couldn’t imagine some kinds of vocabulary which were in the texts. The content of the texts had no
relation to their study. Based on the interview with some students in class 2C they were interested in something which was related to health and medicine because they
knew about this materials well. They had background knowledge about that. In this case, texts which contained health or medicine were needed. To help them find text,
the teacher suggested two kinds of media which could be used, magazine and internet.
On August 7
th
, 2007, English lesson was done in class and computer laboratory. She divided the students into two groups. Each group consisted of
twenty students and it had forty minutes to do these activities. The first group was in computer lab and the second group was in class. The first group had forty minutes to
find text through internet, while the second group found texts from magazines which were brought by the teacher. The teacher had to bring the magazine because
most of the students live in a boarding house, and come from outside Madiun. So it was impossible to ask the students to bring English magazine. After forty minutes
they changed the place. The first group was in class to find texts from magazine, while the second group was in computer lab to find text from internet. The teacher
is also the teacher of computer in this school. She guided the students to find the
88 texts through internet. Finally, they were asked to choose one of the interesting
texts. On August 10
th
, 2007, next meeting, the teacher asked the students to choose which one they liked. The teacher gave choices what kinds of text they wanted
whether they liked the texts from internet or from magazine. The results of the research were: 27 students chose texts from internet, 8 students liked the texts from
magazine and 5 students didn’t choose one of them. They didn’t have any argument. They liked both texts from magazine and the texts from internet. From the result of
the students’ choices, it can be concluded that most of the students chose texts from internet.
In doing the research, a certain target should be reached. The target of the research was that the students could improve their ability of reading. Based on the
target above, the writer finally wished that: 1.
80 of the students could gain the main ideas, find the specific information, draw a general idea and gain contextual references from the texts.
2. 80 of the students could study English more active
To gain the target of the research, the writer trained the students by using their own texts.
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B. Cycle 1
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