Research Subjects Research Method

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2. Place of the Research

The place of the Research is IKIP PGRI Madiun, located on Jl. Setiabudi 85, Madiun. This university is one of the favorite universities in Madiun. There are about 8, 000 students who come from different regions, such as Ngawi, Magetan, Ponorogo, Madiun itself and so on. IKIP PGRI Madiun has eleven departments including English Teaching Department. Department of English Teaching has big number of students compared with those of other departments. There are four grades in academic year 20102011. Each grade consists of eight classes. So, the total number of the class is thirty two classes. The facilities which are provided by this university are complete and good enough. Two English Laboratories and two microteaching laboratories are available for the English Teaching Department students. However, these facilities are only occupied by the students who are on the certain subjects such as listening and seminar class. Besides, there are internet, air conditioner, and a central library which provides a lot of books which are needed by the students.

B. Research Subjects

The subject of this classroom action research is 1G, the first grade students of English Teaching Department, in the academic year of 2010-2011 that consists of 40 students. There are fourteen male students and twenty six female students in Class 1G. The reasons for choosing this class as research subjects are the students of Class 1G had low reading competence and their attitude toward reading lecturing process was in such passive atmosphere. This situation is indicated as commit to user l their silence during the class. Furthermore, they are in negative response when they are asked the questions. Another reason is that the students have no interest and curiosity in reading class. They are often late to come. Even, they talk about unrelated topic during the class process. In addition, the students’ cooperation is low. As they get the group-task, they have no courage to share ideas with friends. They tend to work individually. Another important consideration is about their ability in comprehending the content of the text, finding main idea, and organizing the clues of each paragraph. Based on my personal reflection and observation, it can be concluded that the technique should be changed since the last teaching learning process made students passive by dominating the class with broad oral explanation. The students had lack of time for practice both as groups or individuals. So, in this classroom action research, Peer tutoring technique is used to solve students’ problems in reading comprehension. By using Peer tutoring technique, it is hoped that they can increase students’ reading comprehension.

C. Research Method

The research method used in this study was Classroom Action Research CAR. The definition of CAR based on Kemmis in Hopkin 1993: 44 is “Action research is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants teacher, students or participants, for example in social including educational situation in order to improve the rationality and justice of a their own social or educational practices; b their understanding of these practices; and c the situations and institutions in which these practices are carried out.” commit to user li From the definition above it can be concluded that research in this study means the systematic study of attempts to improve the teaching learning process in order that the students’ achievement becomes satisfying. In fact, the students’ capability in comprehending reading passage in Class 1G is still unsatisfying. In order to achieve the purpose of study, there are several steps that would be applied in action research. Each step has five stages: planning, actions, observations, reflection; and revised of planning Kemmis and Taggart in Hopkins, 1998:48. These five stages take place in an ongoing cycle in which the critical reflection is done at every end of cycle in order to make a further revision and planning. The description of the cycle will be shown on the following figure 1: commit to user lii The procedure that is described shows that the plan is made by considering the fact findings from the preliminary observation. Then, the teacher as the researcher conducts Peer Tutoring technique in teaching reading. The selection of CAR is based on some characteristics. They are as follows: first, Action research is contextual, small scale, and localized. It identifies and investigates problems within a specific situation. Second, it is evaluative and reflective as it is aimed at bringing out change and improvements in practice. Third, it is participatory as it provides for collaborative investigation by team of colleagues, practitioners, and researcher. Fourth, change in practice is based on the collection of information or data which provide the stimulus for change. The researcher used CAR for some reasons. First, the characteristics of CAR are focusing on solving problems in the class or specific situation. Second, it is a form of self-reflective undertaken by the teacher to improve the teaching learning process and to improve his or her professionalism in teaching. Third, the cycle will be done until the improvement occurs. Fourth, it is one way to improve the students’ capability in comprehending reading passage.

D. Research Procedures