Improving student`s reading ability through local text with scanning technique.

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xiv ABSTRACT

Ansaka, J. Thinneke. 2012.Improving Students’ Reading Ability Through Local Text with A Scanning Technique. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University.

The Papua Province, rich in biodiversity and also representing one of the largest remaining untouched rainforests in Asia, yet its prosperous natural resources, in many other aspects of resources, is left behind by other islands in Indonesia. Two of them are the aspects of education and technology media. The role of technology media is inseparable from the development of teaching and learning process. Learning reading was one of the problems among other learning issues. The use of texts which are not familiar to the junior high school students happen commonly. Most of students likely to lack confidence in their ability to read or even to improve their reading skill. Students tend to notably unmotivated. Many students, especially junior high students find reading activities tiresome, even frustrating at times. This condition has led the children to a halt in their language development.

As an English teacher, the researcher wanted to deepen her understanding of how to improve students reading ability in her professional teaching. She then planned an action research study to investigate: does local text with scanning and skimming can improve students reading.

Ten students of grade seven of State-3 of Junior High School in Jayapura participated in this action research were students who have low interest and outcome in reading ability. Students are taught English by using scanning technique in reading texts and incorporating story or local texts. Teacher’s logs are kept to record what happened in the action research. The questionnaire was distributed to the students to find students interest the Local Text. The result of questionnaire showed that it is necessary to give the students instructions about scanning technique in reading and it is important to introduce local texts as familiar text to students who lived nearby that text within any particular situation in teaching learning process.

During the action research, the teacher researcher reflected on teaching and enhanced the teaching ability. Qualitative data collections were used as the research methods of this study. Classroom observation notes, the reading task scoring sheet and a questionnaire were used to determine the significance of the improvement. The result showed that the students were able to read and able to do the task to achieve the goal and in turn built the student’s confidence and understanding towards the reading so that their reading ability was improved.

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xv ABSTRAK

Ansaka, J. Thinneke.2012. Improving Students’ Reading Ability through Local Text with A Scanning Technique. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Provinsi Papua kaya dengan aneka ragam hayati juga mewakili sisa hutan tropis terbesar yang yang berada di Asia, masih memiliki sumber daya alam yang makmur, dalam berbagai aspek masih ketinggalan jauh dari pulau lainnya yang ada di Indonesia. Dua diantaranya adalah aspek pendidikan dan media tehnologi. Peran tehnolgi tidak dapat dipisahkan dari proses pembelajaran dan pengjaran. Pembelajaran reading atau membaca merupakan satu dari masalah pembelajaran. Penggunaan text-text yang belum dikenal siswa SMP umumnya terjadi dalam proses pembelajaran. Dengan demikian isu glokalisasi dilupakan. Kebanyakan siswa tidak yakin dengan kemampuan membaca mereka atau ketrampilan membaca mereka. Mereka cenderung tidak termotivasi. Beberapa siswa, khususnya siswa SMP menemukan bahwa kegiatan reading atau membaca membosankan dan bahkan membuat mereka frustrasi. Kondisi ini telah menuntun anak-anak untuk berhenti dalam mengembangkan bahasa mereka.

Sebagai seorang guru bahasa Inggris, peneliti ingin memperdalam pemahamannya dengan tentang bagaiman meningkatkan kemampuan membaca siswa dalam mengajar. Peneliti kemudian merencanakan sebuah kajian penelitian tindakan untuk meneliti apakah local teks dengan tehnik scanning dan skimming dapat meningkatkan kemampuan membaca siswa.

Sepuluh siswa kelas tujuh SMP N 3 Jayapura berpartisipasi dalam penelitian tindakan ini, adalah siswa-siswa yang rendah ketertarikannya dan lemah kemampuannya dalam kompetensi membaca. Dalam proses mereka diajarkan dan mengerjakan tugas-tugas bacaan lokal dalam bahasa Inggris dengan menggunakan tehnik scanning. Terdapat juga alat ukur yang digunakan guru untuk mencatat dan merekam hal-hal yang terjadi dalam penelitian tindakan ini. Kuesioner didistribusikan kepada siswa untuk menemukan rasa tertarik siswa terhadap Lokal text. Hasil kuesioner menunjukkan bahwa adalah penting memberikan instruksi tentang tehnik scanning dalam bacaan dan juga penting dalam memperkenalkan Teks Lokal sebagai teks yang dikenal siswa dan tinggal dekat dengan teks tersebut dalam proses belajar mengajar.

Selama penelitian tindakan ini, guru merefleksikan pada pengajaran dan meningkatkan kemampuannya dalam mengajar. Kumpulan kualitatif data digunakan sebagai metode dalam kajian ini. Catatan observasi kelas, lembar skor tugas bacaan siswa dan kuesioner digunakan untuk menentukan signifikansi peningkatan. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa Lokal Text dengan Scanning Technique dalam bacaan mendorong siswa untuk membaca dan mengerjakan tugas-tugas dalam mencapai tujuan pembelajaran dan membangun kembali rasa percaya diri siswa serta memahami kemampuan membaca mereka.

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IMPROVING STUDENTS’

READING ABILITY THROUGH

LOCAL TEXT WITH A SCANNING TECHNIQUE

A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum.)Degree

in English Language Studies

Thinneke J. Ansaka Student Number: 07 6332 008

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2012

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A THESIS

IMPROVING STUDENTS’

READING ABILITY

THROUGH LOCAL TEXT WITH A SCANNING TECHNIQUE

Thinneke J. Ansaka Student Number: 07 6332 008

Approved by

Dr. J. Bismoko _________________________ Thesis Advisor Yogyakarta, 14 Agustus 2012

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iii

A THESIS

IMPROVING STUDENTS’

READING ABILITY

THROUGH LOCAL TEXT WITH A SCANNING

TECHNIQUE

Presented by:

Thinneke J. Ansaka/ 07 6332 008

Defended before the Thesis Committee and Declared Acceptable.

THESIS COMMITTEE

Chairperson : F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D ...

Secretary : Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A. ... Members : Dr. Retno Muljani, M.Pd. ...

Dr. J. Bismoko ...

Yogyakarta,

The Graduate Program Director Sanata Dharma University

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that all the ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise

stated, are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer

understands the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took

somebody else’s ideas, phrases, or sentences without a proper reference.

Yogyakarta, 14 Agustus 2012

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Thinneke J. Ansaka

Nomor Mahasiswa : 07 6332 008

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING ABILITY THROUGH LOCAL TEXT WITH A SCANNING TECHNIQUE

Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam

bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,

mendistribusikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin apapun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal: 14 Agustus 2012

Yang menyatakan

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, my best thanks giving to my Savior-Jesus Christ, because of

His Blessing and His surely goodness, this study has completely written.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the following persons of

my college friends: Pipin, Bunga and Chosak. I am grateful to each for their

advice and support throughout this study. I particularly want to thank both Dr.

Bismoko and Dr. Mokarto for their frank and honest words of wisdom throughout

this process.

I would also like to express my genuine appreciation to my teacher friends

in SMP N 3 Jayapura and for their unending support and words of encouragement.

I would especially like to thank both, my beloved husband, Freddy Lasamahu, and

my beloved son, Jemz Lasamahu, and also my really big family Ansaka who lived

in Jayapura – Santarosa for instilling in me the belief that I could accomplish anything that I set out to do in life.

May God bless you all, always!

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vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL PAGE ... ii

DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ... iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN ... v

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii

LIST OF TABLES ... x

LIST OF FIGURES ... xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ... xii

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xiii

ABSTRACT ... xiv

ABSTRAK ... xv

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ... 2

B. PROBLEM FORMULATION ... 4

C. RESEARCH SCOPE AND LIMITATION ... 4

D. RESEARCH GOAL ………. 5

E. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ... 5

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ... 8

A. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ... 8

1. The Reading Process ... 8

2. The Importance of Reading Ability ... 13

3. Learning Outcome ... 15

4. The Meaning of Local Text ... 16

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viii

B. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ... 23

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ... 26

A. OVERVIEW OF THE METHODOLOGY AND RATIONALE ... 27

1. Action Research ……… 27

2. Working with A Critical Friend ... 32

3. Study Participants and Local Texts Selection Process ... 33

4. Overview of Local Text With Scanning ... 35

B. DATA COLLECTION ... 38

1. Observations ... 40

2. Semi-Structured Interviews ... 41

3. Learning Journal Notes ... 42

4. Students’ Treatment ... 42

5. Learning Outcome Assessment... 43

6. The Learning Process Assessment ... 44

7. Over The Shoulder Miscue Analysis ... 45

8. Class Attendance ... 45

C. DATA ANALYSIS ... 46

1. Quantitative Data ... 46

2. Qualitative Data ... 47

3. Verification of Findings ... 48

4. Triangulation ... 49

5. Independent data ... 49

6. Learning Outcome Comparison ... 50

D. SUMMARY ... 50

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS ... 51

A. FINDINGS PERTAINING TO THE INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS ... 51

1. Amora ... 52

2. Blandina ... 54

3. Christian ... 56

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5. Herry ... 62

6. Insorakhi ... 64

7. Olivia ... 67

8. Petronela ... 69

9. Wellem ... 72

10. Zion ... 75

B. FINDING PERTAINING TO THE GROUP ... 78

C. FINDINGS PERTAINING TO THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS ... 79

1. Reading Ability ... 80

2. Students’ Attitudes ... 83

a. Timely feedback ... 83

b. Oral discussion ... 84

c. Use of technology ... 84

D. SUMMARY ... 85

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ... 86

A. CONCLUSION ... 87

B. IMPLICATIONS ... 88

C. SUMMARY ... 89

BIBLIOHRAPHY ... 90

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

TABLE 4.1 : Data collection summary or Amora ... 52

TABLE 4.2 : Data collection Summary for Blandina ... 54

TABLE 4.3 : Data collection summary for Christian ... 57

TABLE 4.4 : Data Collection Summary for Deki ... 60

TABLE 4.5 : Data Collection Summary for Herry ... 62

TABLE 4.6 : Data Collection Summary for Insorakhi ... 65

TABLE 4.7 : Data Collection Summary for Olivia ... 67

TABLE 4.8 : Data Collection Summary for Petronela ... 70

TABLE 4.9 : Data Collection Summary for Wellem ... 73

TABLE 4.10 : Data Collection Summary for Zion ... 75

TABLE 4.11 : Reading Ability – Learning Process ... 81

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

FIGURE 3.1 : The Action Research Spiral ... 29

FIGURE 3.2 : Action Research Study Timeline ... 37

FIGURE 3.3 : Principle of Triangulation in Action Research ... 50

FIGURE 4.1 : Reading Ability – Learning Process ... 81

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xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

IEP : Individual Education Plan LT : Local Text

Sc : Scanning

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xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

APPENDIX A : Sample Lesson Plan ... 93

APPENDIX B : Sample Completed Lesson Plan ... 95

APPENDIX C : Sample Learning Reading Interest Survey ... 96

APPENDIX D : Learning Reading Attitude Survey ... 97

APPENDIX E : Sample Miscue Analysis January to March 2011 ... 98

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xiv

ABSTRACT

Ansaka, J. Thinneke. 2012.Improving Students’ Reading Ability Through Local Text with A Scanning Technique. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University.

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ABSTRAK

Ansaka, J. Thinneke.2012. Improving Students’ Reading Ability through Local Text with A Scanning Technique. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The researcher designed this action research study to investigate how Local Text with Scanning, could positively influence English Language development especially students‘ reading ability in school more particularly in classroom. In researcher‘ opinion, Local Text with Scanning is a potentially excellent material resource for teacher and students. The teacher researcher select the learning reading material for classroom and plan to looking for needed to build a relevant with what teacher has planned before. The researcher actively teaches English Language skills to four classes of Junior High School. When involved in team-teaching activities, she then creates opportunities to work with a smaller grouping of students to enhance learning reading. These activities may contribute to her school‘s English learning achievement but it is difficult to directly determine that the two variables, Local Text with Scanning, effectiveness. She thinks Local Text with Scanning is under-utilized in the area of English language development, despite her knowledge of learning reading goals across the grades. Consequently, the researcher wished to investigate Local Text with Scanning, with the goal of enhancing reading ability to contribute to students‘ learning reading.

This chapter provides a background of the study formulates the problems, limitation the scope, the purpose of the study and addresses the benefits of the study. It will provide important background material to equip the learner to

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understand the chapters that follow this one. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the structure of the written report.

A. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The researcher conducted this action research study from February to April 2011, in the classroom of the junior high school in which she is the teacher of English. The school, situated in Jayapura city, namely SMP N 3 Jayapura, opened in 1970 and was well equipped for the more than thousands students enrolled. Almost 80 (eighty) percent of students were native Papua. A small group of ten students who low interest and ability were invited to participate in the study.

The researcher investigated students‘ reading ability to use teaching and learning strategies effectively to improve reading ability grades. She decided to teach reading skill that has been successful when used by well-known researchers. The balanced text-type approach is used in the classrooms of her school board; she chooses to use local texts with scanning of instruction with the small group because it would be familiar to them.

Hannay, Wideman, & Seller (2006) describe action research as an interactive process. It starts with the teacher reviewing data about his/her students‘ performance and developing a question of the kind, ―How can local text with scanning improve student reading ability?‖ The teacher then develops and implements a strategy to attempt to improve results. Further formative and summative data is collected as the strategy unfolds, and the

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analysis of the data provides feedback about the effectiveness of the change in practice. The teacher records his/her observations and findings, draws conclusions that will shape future practice, and shares what s/he has learned with colleagues.

In other countries learning reading is more tends to improve their literacy skill. It is needed to be more surviving in every field of life. In Indonesia learning reading is more focus on to do the test. Students are faced on many reading texts inside during national final examination.

Papua especially is the same thing. But students in there are different with other students in other places in Indonesia. They do not like to read. Reading is not the culture, reading is not the habit. Spoken culture is stronger. Many students felt failure to do the test. Students begin to avoid reading from text book when they found difficulties, getting frustration and give up soon. Sometimes they showed their antipathy to English teacher such as get in and out of room, absenteeism on English learning subject. The teacher herself did nothing to change the situation. What are in teacher‘s mind was she only did her job as teacher the best.

In the learning process of English, students are forced to be familiar to additional settings. One fact is that their English text books are, once again, dominated by different settings. It does not a matter to the students who stayed at big cities where information and the learning materials are getting easier to find but it does really a matter to students who lived in a remote area while the process of English learning is ongoing operation. A minimum of

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information from television or internet is also the facts that colorful followed the minimum of information to acquire the knowledge.

The focus of this study is then exploring English learning in Junior high school. There is one main reason why the researcher put her choices on this education level. First, the researcher has spent her professional career teaching at junior high school and really wants to help classroom to be more positive climate in teaching learning process.

B. PROBLEM FORMULATION

Reflected to the background of the study then researcher formulate the problem with important question: How can Local Text with scanning improve students‘ reading ability?

C. RESEARCH SCOPE AND LIMITATION

In this research the coverage of local text is limited to the learning reading of English.

This study is action research and the main data were taken from questionnaire and interview with students and the result were not input into numbers. Interviews were conducted to ten students. Interpreting result of the study should also be considered. Firstly, action research study works on insightful understanding of actual practice of local text, the participants were limited. The result of interpretation, therefore, cannot be used to draw a conclusion on world reality in Indonesia context. Secondly, because of the

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limited time, the interviews were done in Jayapura as the writer‘s address, and a few participants only were involved. This study did not cover the whole aspects in doing local text such as gender, geographical region. Thirdly, there might be misinterpretation in the process of transforming into written English dialogue occurred, because the interviews are done by using two languages.

D. RESEACH GOAL

It will be clearly define research goal. The goal of this study is to improve English teaching and learning so that can help students to improve their reading ability.

E. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study contributed to the teachers‘ experiences as they progress through the training and implementation cycle of action research in their classrooms and the subsequent effects on instructional practices.

In addition, the finding of this study can help teachers to predict how the local text takes part in their students‘ reading improvement. If those benefits are reached, the problem of students‘ reading can be controlled by the teachers or students themselves. Schlechty (1990) stated, ―to improve [schooling], one must invest in people, support people, and develop people‖ (p. 38). Teachers can be liberated to improve their profession with opportunities that promote systemic, collaborative teacher research conducted in the authentic setting of the classroom. Teachers also can use teacher

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research to uncover explanations to their own questions about the best way to improve English teaching and learning practices. Johnson (1993) stated ―teacher research will force the reevaluation of current theories and will significantly influence what is known about teaching, learning, and schooling‖ (p. 3). Likewise, Freeman (1998) stated ―[teacher research] is an important step in transforming education from a practice of implementation to a practice devoted to understanding learning‖ (p. 15). This study will help teachers to understand how local text influences the processes of teaching and learning. It is critical that teachers base their decisions about teaching and learning practices in data-driven, classroom-based research findings.

Educators know that English language rates must improve to better students‘ chances of future success.

Ultimately, the most important issues on this study are because of students awareness to improve their learning reading, because of teacher awareness to select reading texts and technique to teach and also the researcher was ready to know and together with students and teacher to effort to solve the problem in this research.

The researcher believes all teachers in a school can positively influence student achievement and that English teacher can play a significant role in English language development. The school community may also benefit from this study because improving English language rates is this school-based objective.

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Pleasure readers are proficient readers; thus, voluntary reading is an indicator of a successful, literate future.

This action research focused on improving students‘ reading ability and helped the teacher researcher identify practical strategies that she can use as an English teacher to contribute to English language development. Action research uses data to improve practice (Delong, Black & Wideman, 2005). In this school committee and across the province, teachers and English teachers are encouraged to collect data to inform their practice.

Action research uses cycles of action, data collection and reflection to generate new questions about practice and areas for improvement. In this study, the periodic collection of students‘ achievement results was used to help assess the teacher researcher effective teaching of the targeted reading strategies.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

As background to the action research study, the writer investigated literature related to general areas that were directly relevant to the major research questions: the reading learning process, and learning outcome, the importance of reading ability, meaning of Local Text, and Scanning. This chapter will address literature pertaining to each of these areas, in turn.

A. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

1. The Reading Process

There are many theories about how students learn to read. Marie Clay (1991) defined reading, ―as a message-getting, problem-solving activity which increases in power and flexibility the more it is practiced‖ (p.6). Based on the researcher‘ experiences with students in junior high school settings, I believe this statement is true.

In 1993, Louise Rosenblatt‘s theory also described reading as an interactive process. She used the terms aesthetic and efferent (nonaesthetic) reading. Aesthetic reading refers to the act of reading for enjoyment. It is important to foster reading for pleasure in this level school-aged children because it can promote a life-long habit of reading.

Efferent reading is also important, particularly for junior-aged learners who must read for knowledge in the content areas, such as

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science and social studies. It occurs when the student is reading for a specific purpose; it is employed, for example, when reading procedure text materials or analyzing a text in English class. ―The distinction between aesthetic and nonaesthetic reading then derives ultimately from what the learner does, the stance the learner adopts and the activities she carries out in the relation to the text‖ (Rosenblatt, 1994, p.27). Extracting relevant information from a variety of text forms and formats is essential for academic and personal success.

―Reading is a thinking process, is part of everything that happens to learner as a person and comprehending a text is intimately related to her/his life‖ (Fountas & Pinnell, 2006, p. 7). This definition reinforces Rosenblatt‘s theory that reading comprehension requires the reader to interact with the text. The Ministry of Education for Ontario (2004) used a similar definition of the reading process in its latest publications: ―Reading in the junior grades is an interactive, problem-solving process, with the primary purpose of making meaning‖ (p.61). The researcher based her research on the concept that reading is an interactive, transactional process that requires the application of a variety of strategies for proficiency.

In Indonesian traditional classrooms, which practice English as a foreign language, teachers insist that students understand every word in a text to get the general idea for the purpose of looking for required information, and this prompts the students to think for if they do not

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understand each and every word they are somehow not completing the task (Ismini, 2000). This phenomenon reveals the practice of a conventional teaching reading strategies and the writer assumes that those kinds of situations will not help the students to overcome the difficulties they encounter and will not improve their reading abilities. In addition, Wiryodijoyo (1989) stated that the national examination in English subject put a large emphasis on reading aspect, and this situation will assure students who cannot read or comprehend the text and answered the question in the examination to face tremendous difficulties and overwhelm the students.

A study on reading and its strategies conducted by Amanda (2007) found that students apply several strategies such as making prediction of the strategies from the students in overcoming their reading task. The complete process in this study tended to use Hammond Steps in teaching learning process. The clear picture of this process will be put on chapter IV. The words that students do not know, search for words in the dictionary, and many others to help overcome the obstacle in their reading task. This shows the implementation of a conventional reading techniques and the lack of reading.

The Teaching Reading for SMP Students

According to English Syllabus of School Based Curriculum (KTSP), the teaching of reading for SMP students involves the teaching of paragraphs or text. The texts advocated are: narrative,

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descriptive, procedure, recount and report. Descriptive text is a kind of text that is usually found or presented in journals, diary, personal letter, biography, travel report, police report, sport report, brochure, etc. The main elements of descriptive are identification and description. In the identification step the writer identifies phenomenon to be describe. In the description step the writer describes parts, qualities and characteristics.

Recount text is a kind of text that is usually found or presented in journals, diary, personal letter, biography, travel report, police report, sport report, history, etc. The main elements of recount are orientation, list of events, and reorientation. In the orientation step the writer mentions people and things that are involved, time of the event, the place, and the situation. In the list of events, the writer tells the events happen chronologically. In the reorientation, the writer concludes the story by giving comments. Narrative text is a kind of text that tells a story. It is developed in some steps: orientation, complication, resolution, evaluation, and reorientation. In the step of orientation, the writer tells the characters in the story, their names and the place they live, their ages, their condition, and their willing. In the complication step, the writer presents the unexpected event that happens to the characters. In the resolution step, the writer tells how the complication is solved. In the evaluation step, the writer invites the reader to think what meaning or values that are taken from the

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story. In the reorientation step, the writer concludes the story by giving comments.

Procedure text is a kind of text that tells a procedure of making something. Meanwhile, report text is a kind of text to report an event, things in the world, animals, and flora. In this study, the focus is only how the reading scanning using local text improves students ‗learning of English especially reading skill.

In the process of reading using local text, students learn how to read the local texts. Indeed, many students master the process of how to read the local text to grade seven. But, even though students have mastered the process of reading, they will have to learn how to pronounce and read technical terms, symbols, and other features of text strange. It can also be taught by reading guide: paragraph structure can be taught as a means of showing students how to locate main idea. In the process of reading guide, students are given the information shown below by teacher‘s words:

In reading for main idea, students must read the whole of each of paragraph, in the local text. The main idea of the paragraph is the meaning of paragraph, without it there is no point to the paragraph at all. The main idea of the paragraph is usually located in one sentence. This is the sentence to which all the other sentences are related. Most often, this key or topic sentence can be found at the beginning of the paragraph. It may also appear at the end or somewhere in the middle. Sometimes, a paragraph may contain no direct statement of main idea although it may be implied. However, more often than not, one main idea occurs in a paragraph.

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2. The Importance of Reading Ability

Reading is a fundamental skill. Without this essential skill intact students will not be able to meet the demands of the greater society.

According to Scott and Shearer-Longo (2002) academic failure, specifically reading failure is a ―major predictor of larger failures‖ (p. 168) including grade level retention, dropping out and juvenile delinquency (Jimerson & Kaufman, 2003). Students who are retained generally share similar characteristics; most often poor reading ability is present. Other characteristics of retained students often include low socio-economic status, learning problems, minority status, gender (usually male though pregnancy is also a factor of girls), and limited English proficiency (Martin, Tobin & Sugai, 2000). The similarity of characteristics (minority status, economic status, etc.) may indicate that poor reading ability an issue of equity that must be addressed. ―Reading is a crucial tool in the effort to build equity and excellence in society as a whole‖ (Jackson & Davis, 2002, p. 87). This difficulty can generally be traced to early schooling, which is another argument to support aggressive early intervention efforts.

Student Acquisition of Reading Ability

The acquisition of reading ability is complex process. Typically, junior students learn to speak and to understand spoken language within the first three year of junior high. This ability is the precursor learning to read English text. As age of transition they

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begin to realize that what is in written text is made up of individual understanding. Early instruction, whether offered at home or in school, begins with teaching that the clear instruction to do task. During the first year in this level, students continue to have to answer the wh-questions from the text sharply. As the student begins to expand this knowledge, and begins to know this strategy to find the answers from the text. Reading instruction is deliberate and complicated and blends several processes.

Based on the students‘ background, it is taught early in a student‘s understanding through direct instruction and practice. The students able to read effectively acquires of skills simultaneously including phonological awareness, decoding, word identification and reading comprehension (McCardle, Scarborough, & Catts, 2001; Shaywitz, 2003). Students must develop a sight vocabulary otherwise they will laboriously find the information from the text. They must also build background so they have a context for what is being read. Students on this level need to know what they are reading for. By looking at questions before they read, they are better able to understand the text and scan for the necessary information. Marc Helgesen as citied in Richard R. Day (1993: 131) described the three procedures for involving unmotivated students or difficulty concentrating to understand the text and scan:

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1)Divide the reading in half. Post enlarge copies of first half on the front wall and the second half on the back wall.

2)Divide the class into pairs. Divide the questions and assign half to the groups. (―e.g., this group, you must answer the questions 1 through 5. The answer in this part of the reading.‖ (point to the copies on the front wall) that group, you answer 6 through 10. The answers are in that part.‖ (point to the copies on the back wall).

3)When you tell them to start, all this group ask the first question to their partners. The partners run to the texts posted on the front wall and scan for the answer. When they find the answer, they run back to the first group and tell the answer. This group writes it, and then asks the next question. Half-way, through the activity, they change roles; the next group asks while the previous one reads and runs.

3. Learning Outcome

In order to set the research analysis of Local Text with Scanning in the context of curriculum design it is first necessary to consider the nature of the learning outcomes that are sought through educational innovation.

Bloom‘s (1956) taxonomy was originally developed to classify the complexity of questions asked in assessment, but has become used as a general system for classifying learning outcomes. The basic cognitive

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competences to be demonstrated are: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation (see Bloom 1956 for the full schema). There are also competences for psychomotor and affective learning. Teachers are often encouraged to use Local Text with Scanning from Bloom‘s taxonomy to define the desired outcomes of a course or learning session. This is often carried out as a post-hoc justification for teaching decisions that have already been taken and is quite inadequate as a basis for thinking through fundamental pedagogic issues. As students learn, the outcomes of their learning display increasing structural complexity, both quantitatively (the detail in their responses increases) and qualitatively (the detail becomes integrated into a more complex pattern). Biggs (1999) adopts the view that real understanding is performative – the constructivist challenge is to describe what the students can do differently as a result of their developing understanding, which then specifies the assessment and allows us to measure the alignment of learning objectives and learning outcomes.

4. The Meaning of Local Text

A word, when used in a piece of text, usually denotes only one meaning out of multiple meanings it inherently carries. Although it is still unknown to us how does it happen, the general observation is that it is the context that determines which meaning of the word should be considered. The researcher then tried to identify the context responsible for meaning

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variation of a word. The general conviction is that identification of context depends heavily on intuitive ability of a language user. The researcher argues that natural language texts are the best resources for the task, since words are usually represented within these texts with all kinds of context-based information. Language corpora, made with different kinds of natural text, contain numerous examples of contextual use of words to provide useful information for understanding meaning variation of words as well as for deciphering their actual context-based meaning.

In this study the researcher used the term context to refer to an immediate linguistic environment (rarely detached or isolated) in which a particular word occurs. Since it is not always explicit, it may be hidden within the neighboring members of a word used in a piece of text. Taking these factors into consideration, Miller and Leacock (2000) have classified context into two types: (a) local context, and (b) topical context. According to Miller and Leacock (2002), reference to the two contexts is more of less sufficient in understanding the actual contextual meaning used in any text.

In the researcher point of view, the two contexts mentioned above are not enough for understanding the intended meaning of a word, as these contexts often fail to provide the necessary information required for the purpose. In certain readings, information acquired from the local context may be sufficient, but this is not enough for understanding all possible meaning variations of a word. To acquire more information the

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researcher, therefore, argue to classify context into four broad types (Dash 2005a) actually, but the researcher limit them in order to more focus on local context. The local context refers to the immediate circle of text.

Based on the meaning above, then, the researcher used local text in the same term and positions with local context. So, the local text more refers to the immediate environment in where texts used, familiar with people who nearby that text and within any particular situation. Local text and language learning are not separable. In the process of learning reading, texts are the main role. Texts are structured in different ways to achieve their purpose.

In relation to the term ‗genre‘, it should be discussed first about the distinction of the term ‗text‘ and ‗genre‘. According to Macken and Horarol (1997: 305) text is considered as a social construct in which the structure is identified and as a construct, its structure and social function can be deconstruct and analyzed. Text has many kinds of genres in it. Lee (2001: 38) underlies that one way of making a distinction and between ‗genre‘ and ‗text‘ is that the former is based on external, non- linguistic, ―traditional‖ criteria while the latter is based on the internal, linguistic characteristics of texts themselves. . Biber (1988) as cited in Lee (2001: 38) has his own opinion about the definition of genre by statement as follows,

A ‗genre‘, in this view, is defined as a category assigned on the basis of external criteria such as intended audience, purpose, and activity type, that is, it refers to a conventional, culturally

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recognized grouping of texts based on properties other than lexical or grammatical (co-) occurrence features, which are, instead, the internal (linguistic) criteria forming the basis of ‗text type‘ categories.

Meanwhile, besides defining the term ‗genre‘, Biber also explicates the genre in relation to the external criteria. In his opinion, genre categories are determined on the basis of external criteria relating to speaker‘s purpose. Thus, genre is considered as the level of organization which is theoretically and pedagogically most useful and practical to work with since it takes more on the function of communication itself.

Moreover, those two terms, text and genre, are imperative to discuss since sometimes they are confusedly used and thus needs to clarify the relation between two. Therefore, in this research, the definition of ‗genre‘ follows Biber‘s definition. ‗Genre‘ is then understood as a category assigned on the basis of three external criteria which are related to speakers‘ point of view‘s consideration, such as intended audience, purpose, and activity type. ‗Genre‘ is not only defined as a category, but also a level of organization which is considered the most useful and practical level to work theoretically and pedagogically. While genre is on the basis of external criteria, text is built on the basis of internal criteria with linguistic characteristics in it.

Feez and Joyce (1998: 6) point out the difference between those two terms in a simpler way. While text is defined as any stretch of language which is held together cohesively through meaning, genre refers

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to the patterns tied from recognizable patterns of structure and language within texts which have evolved in cultural context to achieve particular purposes and the same general patterns which recur in texts to achieve similar purposes. Thus, this research defines ‗text‘ as any stretch of language formed by a social construct which its structure and social function can be deconstructed and analyzed as well as held together cohesively through meaning.

Using Local Text for Learning Reading to Junior Students

When engaging in reading activities, to avoid boredom, teachers almost always implement collaborative techniques which sometimes proved to be unsuccessful. This condition has spurred from students‘ lack of responsibility and involvement in the activity thus encouraging only clever students to complete the task. Consequently, using Local text is the best way in guarantying the success of collaborative activities in the teaching of reading.

Local text is seen not as something possessed as a skill, but something done or performed as a contextualized practice (Barton 1994, Baynham 1995). Within reading local text, students of junior high level discuss the questions in their own language, assist their student friends who disabilities in read English text. Each student in the team is responsible not only for learning the material being taught, but also for helping teammates learn. The most important goal of learning reading using local text is to provide students with the

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knowledge, concept, skills, and understanding they need to become happy and contributing members of the society.

5. Scanning

Particular reading techniques are needed not only to overcome student difficulties, but also to improve their reading abilities. Those techniques are skimming and scanning. Scanning is the technique for quickly finding specific information in a text while ignoring its broader meaning, it searches for keywords or ideas in a written text (Brown, 2001 : 308). Meanwhile, skimming is a technique in looking over a text to get a quick idea of the gist of a text (Harmer, 2001). By encouraging the students to glance their eyes and take a short look at a text and searching for specific piece of information, it will help them get the general understanding and detail information of the text itself (Harmer, 2001).

Moreover, Anderson et al. (1969: 62) states that scanning skills is using when we want to collect the main ideas from a text quickly, and efficiently. By using scanning skills, the efficiency is occurred. Its aim are getting the work and doing it with minimum wastage of resources ((1969: 4). On the other words, by scanning skills, students can answer the questions in the shortest period of time and will not wasting time. Students only read and take a piece of information that needed.

Scanning skills can also define as a technique to locate specific items of information, as Lunzer and Gardner (cited in Davis, 1995: 137)

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believes that scanning ―is a kind of skimming to see if a particular points is present in the text or to locate it‖. This theory indicates that scanning and skimming have the same purposes; both of them only take the specific information of text.

From the definition above, scanning and reading purpose have a relation. Reading by scanning the local text can be save the time, because it only needs a shortest period of time to take the specific information from the local text. On the other words, reading purpose will be accomplished. So, the purpose of scanning is to extract specific information without reading the whole local text.

Based on that explanation, therefore, scanning technique is required in helping students in comprehending a text, getting detailed information and other reading tasks. Scanning technique is also intended to help students in overcome the junior high school curriculum task in Indonesia, which is to understand the meaning of short functional text and simple essay in the form of report, narrative and descriptive text in the context of everyday situation and also to access knowledge (KTSP, 2005).

Learning Reading Using Scanning

The main purpose for reading is to comprehend the ideas in the materials. Without comprehension, reading would be empty and meaningless (Casper et all: 1988). Students are usually capable to

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read the words, but face much difficulty in expressing their comprehension.

In addition, Davis (1995: 133) defines reading into five purposes, which are reading for pleasure, for general impression, for organizing reading and study, for learning content or procedures, and the last for language learning. Reading for general impression is meant to gain an idea of the writer‘ point of view and overall impression of the ‗tone‘ of a text. Reading for organizing reading and study is to identify the important content of a text, answer the specific question(s), and decide which section of a text to start studying. Reading for learning content or procedures means that it is aimed to gain an understanding of new concepts, to learn certain facts from a text and to follow instructions. Reading for language learning means that it is aimed to ‗translate‘ the text, literally, to learn new vocabulary, to identify ‗useful‘ structures, to use the text as a model for writing, and to practice pronunciation.

B. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Reading is the act of responding with appropriate meaning to printed or written symbols. It is not a passive activity but it is an active activity that involves the readers, act to be active in the process of able to read effectively the written materials. The goal of reading is to comprehend the meaning from text. Then, it can be said that reading involves two components that are

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interrelated. They are texts and readers. Good reading comprehension ability is affected by the quality of the reading materials that can be read. Then, the selection of the materials becomes an important thing to determine the success in able to read effectively.

In the teaching learning process, all students are served by many kinds of learning materials. It is hoped that it can increase students‘ knowledge and experience; of course, they are going to be successful in learning English well. However, all students come from different background, of course, they have brought with them into the classroom a variety of feeling, values, and concept about school, books includes Local Texts, as the learning materials, teachers‘ especially English teachers, and also themselves. Then, it can courage and encourage students‘ motivation to learn and achieve their learning goals.

Each student has their own perception to the learning materials especially learning reading material that they learned. Perhaps, they have different perception in the same learning reading materials. These perceptions support their motivation to learn the materials. If the learning materials are teacher‘ perception-based, they will consider the material difficult to able to read effectively. Then, they will get hard to learn materials. Meanwhile, if the materials are students‘ finding their selves from other resources, they will get bored and tended to think that the materials are not challenging to them. Therefore, the researcher suggested to use Local Text for reading and with compromised English teacher using scanning and skimming.

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The students‘ reading ability refers to learning process and learning outcome. In the learning process, it is important to students ensure the goal of the course, the reason for the way it is organized and taught, and the approaches to learning they will be encouraged to take. Students enter a course with their own views of teaching learning and these may not be identical to those of their teacher. How do students see the roles of teachers and them, what do students feel about such things such as memorization based on their content map, share worked, the importance of grammar and pronunciation, are how students viewed of learning. One more important thing is motivation. It is needed to students to do the task. As mentioned earlier that if students do not have motivation to read effectively, they won‘t able to do the task through Local Text with scanning and skimming or to do the test.

In the learning process, many reading texts include local texts with scanning and skimming is given to check students understanding of texts. As much questions from texts as possible is better also to see students‘ comprehend of what they have read.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

The action research study involved working with a group of ten students to see if Local Text with Scanning could improve their reading ability. The students in this study attended this school in a large-sized of Papuan native. The majority of students walk to school and there is a sense of community even though the school is located in average of students‘ parents‘ educational background are junior and senior school. Approximately more than 300 students attended the school, in grades Junior to Grade 7, at the time of the research. A small percentage (20%) of the students speaks Indonesian language than English at home.

This chapter describes the methodology used in the study. It begins with an overview of, and rationale for, the action research that the researcher employed to conduct the study. There is also information about the selection of participants, and how ethical considerations were addressed. A significant portion of the chapter describes the program the researcher used with the students during the study and the process by which quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The chapter concludes with the methods used to analyses and verify the data.

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A. OVERVIEW OF THE METHODOLOGY AND RATIONALE

This section provides an overview of the action research upon which based this study. Action research was the process that the researcher used to study students‘ reading ability, teacher works with a group of two struggling student learners and will apply empirical research by doing action research in conducting this study. In order to reach the goal and the answers of the research formulation, the research methodology section outlines participants, instrument, and data analysis procedure.

1. Action Research

Action Research is an effective media in improving the quality of English teacher researchers‘ performance in instruction as well as students‘ achievement in learning English in real field. In Action Research, the researcher assesses the effectiveness of her own teaching activities and plan the improvement based on the result of the assessment. The results are innovations in English instructions. Very often, teachers‘ innovations in English instructions are accepted more (bottom up) than innovations forced from outsiders (Top down). Action Research starts from researcher‘ serious concern about her success in her own instructions, her students‘ learning progress, her students‘ behavior, her students‘ learning problems, and the learning environment, which she assess throughout the whole process of instruction for the purpose of planning, implementing, and evaluating improvement (Borgia, S. 2003).

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Action Research for English Instruction is aimed at developing innovative instructional strategy that can help enhance the success in students‘ learning English. English teachers believe that every student can succeed in learning English if appropriate learning strategy is provided. When students fail in learning English, the blame is on the teachers who do not provide appropriate help to the students. When the students fail in learning English, it must be because the teachers have failed in helping them. And this is the teachers‘ problem. Identifying student and teacher problems and trying to solve the problems can be done through the process of Action research. It is the job of professional teacher researchers to identify their field problems and to try to solve the problems.

The researcher completed her study using an action research approach because it suited the investigation of her own practice as an English teacher. Using local text with scanning to inform the way in which the teacher supports students as an English teacher is of interest not only to her as an individual, but also to other English teachers. The action research model required the writer to reflect upon her practice and consider ways to improve, so that she could become a more effective teacher.

Action Research activities involve repeated cycles, each consisting of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The result of one

cycle is used to determine the need for the following cycle, until the problems get solved by the strategy. To prove the significance of the improvement of junior learners‘ reading ability, ―Observation Notes‖ are used. A

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―Questionnaire‖ is used to determine junior learners‘ enjoyable experience in learning reading using local text with scanning. See the below figure that will show the action research.

Reconnaissance

(Assessing classroom problems)

Figure 3.1

The Action Research Spiral

(Kemmis, S., McTaggert, R. (1988)

Action Research is done by teachers in their own field or classroom. As an English teacher, the writer has to solve her classroom problems or improve the quality of her classroom practices to result in better English achievement of their students. As researcher, she has to produce an innovative classroom strategy that contributes to the improvement of English teaching-learning practices in schools of the same level.

The research starts with observing and identifying classroom problems. A classroom problem refers to a classroom practice that can still be improved to result in better learning achievement of the students. A

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professional teacher can always see which classroom practice can still be improved. Then the teacher-researcher searches for alternative instructional strategies from references, by discussing with their colleagues, or by joining seminars or workshops.

The writer likes investigating new ways to improve her teaching; by focusing in on one aspect—students‘ reading ability —she was able to be reflective of her work and become more aware of her teaching practices. For example, through this knowledge creation approach the researcher was able to make tacit assumptions explicit and to reflect on their continued relevance (Hannay et al., 2006). Some of these assumptions had developed during the researcher years teaching in a junior classroom and needed a review to see if they were still relevant to Grade 7 students today. Moreover, the researcher likes to work from first-hand discoveries, as Whitehead (2000) suggests, and then look for research to provide perspective on her discoveries.

By creating a question or identifying a problem to solve, the researcher created an authentic reason to learn about current reading ability research (Hannay, et al., 2006). The researcher knew there were a great many reading ability resources available to teachers. The action research approach prevented the writer from becoming overwhelmed by the mass of information; it allowed her, instead, to apply it to the area of investigation and, thus, to connect it to her daily practice.

There is a great deal of interest in, and emerging information about, the effectiveness of action research to improve one‘s practice (Sykes, 2002).

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Action research can be an effective approach to change, because the investigator focuses on a personal challenge. ―There is a need for educators to take charge of their own professional learning‖ (Hannay et al., 2006, p.16). The researcher sees the benefits of this when she participates in the English teacher meetings in this school board. We are a well-connected association of English teachers who have created our own professional learning community thorough the use of English instruction. Our focus for professional growth is based on the needs of the group.

One best alternative strategy is then selected, and translated into an instructional scenario. All necessary instructional media and assessment instrument are developed to implement the instructional scenario. The teacher-researcher has to learn well how to implement the scenario in the classroom before the action is started. At this stage, there should no question anymore about how well the teacher researcher can implement the instructional planning otherwise the action cannot be started. The researcher is recommended to choose a collaborator to help in observing the implementation of the scenario. Then the action is started with the collaborator observing the process of instruction to record any information indicating the success or the failure of the strategy in solving the classroom problems. The result of the observation is analyzed to reflect how successfully the implemented strategy has solved the classroom problems. When the strategy has not completely solved the problems, then the strategy has to be

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revised in the best possible way to make sure that when implemented again in the following cycle the problems can completely be solved.

2. Working With A Critical Friend

A critical friend is a respected and trusted peer who can bring objectivity to own questions or add insight into potential obstacles that arise when conducting research in the form of critical feedback (Delong et al., 2005). The researcher chose a colleague who taught same subject at the school. The researcher valued her teaching style and she chose her to support her because of her experience as a classroom teacher in the junior level. The writer approached her because she was not directly associated with the students in researcher‘ group and she could rely on her to assist the researcher of teaching reading skill to junior-aged students.

This was the area where the researcher felt the least comfortable because—unlike a classroom teacher—she had no training when she began the study. The school has a strong sense of teamwork, so the researcher received constructive comments and assistance when things were not going smoothly. Her colleague was helpful when she was struggling to keep the students interested in reading. She offered some good suggestions and reminded me that the students need to be engaged in what they are reading. The researcher conversations with her led the researcher to build computer time into the study group‘s lessons, which improved student engagements.

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3. Study Participants and Local Texts Selection Process

The researcher chose to share with Grade 7 students for three reasons. Firstly, those Grade 7 students are in the middle of the junior years and so they are low interest and ability in reading learning process. Finally, the researcher felt that Grade 7 students are not able to read effectively in doing task or test, and these students needed extra time to consolidate their reading ability. The participants are chosen with only one reason; they need to improve their learning ability especially reading. The participants are really wanted to know how to do the task and the test successfully.

In the classroom, students read a passage of local text and then answer questions about what they have read. The questions are designed to test the students‘ abilities in organization a text by answering the questions. In this study, the researcher used the content map to remind students how to organize a text. The content map contained of students writing about how to organize a text and other things which are relevant to learning genre-based. The researcher met the all ten students twice in a week based on time schedule in school.

Principal permission to allow the students to participate in this study was necessary. Even though the researcher is an English teacher in school, conducting this researcher was beyond her regular duties with the

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students. In the parental information letter especially in taking students‘ picture/ photo, the researcher emphasized that she was completing this thesis to improve her own practice and that the anonymity of all participants would be protected. Parents were informed that each student would be assigned during the investigation and that their names would not be used; that data would be securely filed; and that all data would be destroyed when the thesis paper was completed.

The researcher followed the ethical considerations written in Delong et al.‘s 2005 publication, as they mirrored her school board‘s expectations. ―It is necessary to respect and protect those who participated in the research‖ (Delong et al., 2005. p. 52). Parents were able to withdraw their sons from the study at any time; however, none elected to do so.

Cooperation with the principal and the English teacher of the students was very important. The scheduling of the sessions occurred outside of the students‘ extracurricular classes and the researcher considered the English teachers‘ needs when the researcher designed the schedule. It can be very hard to keep a consistent schedule in a busy school where the students are involved in many different events. The writer accommodated the student and English teachers‘ schedules without compromising the students‘ opportunity to learn in their regular classrooms and in other specially planned events.

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It is important to state that the researcher used only her personal planning time to conduct the students‘ lessons. The writer did not withdraw, remove or reschedule school board time away from the school community while completing her research.

It was also essential for these students to feel good about their participation. All of the students were familiar with the researcher as their English teacher too and perceived other classroom as a welcoming place. The sessions were held in other classroom not theirs, where the students felt comfortable. Since all students in the school visit them during the week, the participants did not feel like ―special class‖ students coming out for extra help. They were eager to come out for English lesson times. Although the students were aware that they needed to improve their reading ability, they also understood that their participation would help teach the researcher how to improve her own practice. The researcher repeatedly told the students that she was learning from them. They understood that they were helping her to become a better teacher by letting her try out different reading texts includes Local Texts with them. The researcher respected their privacy and she showed her appreciation of their efforts to help the teacher with this study.

4. Overview of Local Text With Scanning

It is appropriate at this point to describe in some detail the study that the writer developed and used during the classes she held with her small group of ten students. Fountas and Pinnell (2002) indicate that the

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explicit teaching of reading skill works best in small group settings. Consequently, during the course of three months (January to March 2011), the researcher explicitly taught five of the reading texts (Local Texts) with Scanning and Skimming. The researcher was very aware that in the preliminary plans, she more focuses on scanning but still not enough to improve students reading ability. The researcher began to build students perspective of reading texts related to there are so many reading texts inside during national final examination; in second spoken was that the problem was not what reading text talk about, not about what is the title of the text, but how to find the information or answer from the text correct and quickly. Finally, the writer led students to generate correct information from Local texts with scanning and skimming. Students struggled to summarize the main idea from a Local text. The researcher hoped that the students in this study would be using a variety of reading texts independently. This would support them while summarizing.

The Action Research Study Timeline outlined in Figures 3.1 an overview of the action research study. The timeline depicts how the researcher used the study timeline to conduct Local Text with scanning and also skimming, and notes both when and by which learning the different texts were taught. Each of reading text (Local Text) became a focus for about a month. During that time, the lessons were designed to assist the students in their ability to understand and practice the desired study. This timeline also shows that the written summarizing is often

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taught in the early grades and, thus, the students were more likely to see success and achieve more independence. Additional reading texts from text book were practiced too from January to April, to aid in the ability to summarize texts; when the group focused on text features, the writer incorporated think-aloud in this learning technique, in an attempt to improve the quality of their written responses.

Figure 3.2 Action Research Study Timeline

From middle to end of February, 2011, the researcher provided a variety of local texts and other so that the students were able to practice their reading skill with greater flexibility. The writer also wanted the students to become familiar with several kinds of texts. These learning opportunities occurred also in the library to find out other Local Texts, during class time. The researcher felt that before or after school sessions would have reduced the students‘ willingness to participate, because they would have felt that they were being penalized for their low reading ability.

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Appendix B provides an example of some of the researcher‘ anecdotal comments, which were often written directly on the lesson page. After the lesson was over, the writer would reflect back on the successful aspects of it (has been put as the criteria of successful in action research) and attempt to change the approach if the students were inattentive or unsuccessful. She recorded each student‘s attitude and ability to complete the tasks in her learning journal after each lesson. If the students asked for clarification or did not engage in the task, she planned another way to teach the skill. This demonstrates the reflective nature of the action research process and how it allowed her to consider the effectiveness of the learning process through local text with scanning.

All the resources for the preparation and implementation of the study were available in the school. No specialized software or equipment was required. The researcher had a series of guided reading materials that matched the reading level of the students in this study. The writer reviewed a variety of recommended reading ability techniques, organized them and planned a variety of mini-lessons to reinforce the specific reading ability using Indonesian language.

B. DATA COLLECTION

This section describes the data collection process used during this action research study. Figure 3.1 provides a graphic illustration of the process: The Data Collection Timeline runs below the list of lessons (under the line

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indicating the months) and when and what type of qualitative and quantitative data was collected.

The plans to collect the data begin with collecting the data about the school. As mentioned beforehand in the previous section, a preliminary interview and school information record have been done initially to get initial data of the description about four aspects of the school, such as speaking, listening, writing, and reading.

The prime criterion for choosing a particular data gathering method in action research is whether it is anticipated that the method will give useful information about the practice under study. It is sometimes thought that methods used in action research are purely qualitative. This does not have to be true. Although the overall analysis of the data generated by any methods used will be qualitative in nature, numerical or statistical information may be of great value to that analysis. What is most important is that the researcher understands that different research methods illuminate only particular aspects of a situation. None give a whole picture. In seeking evidence of her practice, or the effectiveness of a change in practice, a teacher needs to look at it from different perspectives; she needs to employ a triangulation of methods. This is a simple principle, involving the careful choice of a range of data gathering techniques, each of which might illuminate a different aspect of the same issue. The principle of triangulation is used in the action research as the mark (?) might be children‘s engagement during science sessions. Each method will give access to different aspects of the situation. There will still be areas not

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illuminated, but more is known than if only one method is used. Also, cross-referencing of data from different methods adds to the overall reliability of the research process.

Figure 3.3

Principle of triangulation in action research (Gall, J., Gall, M., & Borg, 2005, p. 320)

1. Observations

The observations were conducted in the classroom setting while the students learnt reading passage using local text with scanning. After each observation was followed by semi-structured interviews where participants were explored their experiences in dealing with local texts they learnt during the teaching-learning process. The researcher conducted two classroom observations while learning reading through local texts with scanning instead of reading passages found in the textbooks. The researcher also carried out the observations by writing down field notes in order to gather data to support the analysis.

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Appendix D

Learning Reading Attitude Survey

Name: ………..

Lingkarilah setiap nomor pada pernyataan di bawah ini yang kamu anggap mendekati yang kamu pikirkan.

1. Saya tidak setuju 2. Saya setuju sedikit 3. Saya setuju

4. Saya sangat setuju Saya senang belajar bahasa Inggris

dengan menggunakan local teks?

1 2 3 4

Saya suka mengerjakan task-task yang ada dalam local teks

Saya lebih suka mengerjakan

pertanyaan yang menggunakan teknik scanning

Saya lebih suka mengerjakan

pertanyaan yang menggunakan teknik skimming

Saya suka mengerjakan pertanyaan yang menggunakan teknik scanning & skimming

Pertanyaan dengan kata Tanya what mudah

Pertanyaan dengan kata Tanya where mudah

Pertanyaan dengan kata Tanya when mudah

Pertanyaan dengan kata Tanya how mudah

Pertanyaan dengan kata Tanya why mudah

Comment:

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Appendix E

Sample Miscue Analysis January to March 2011 Over the Shoulder Miscue Analysis

Name: Amora Text type:………

Student said Scanning said Skimming said Graphic Similarity high some none

Analysis page Student: Amora

Self correct

scanning skimming high some none

Total 20 9 7 4 3 9 8

Percentage 45 35 20 15 45 40

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Appendix F

Sample of LOCAL TEXTS Narrative

A. Study the following text and its generic structure. Generic Structure

A Legend of Lake Sentani A thousand years ago there was an old couple marriagewho lived in a wider and dry land. They had no children. Nobody lived around them, so they lived alone. It was also very difficult to them for having fresh water.

One day, the old man went out looking for some fresh water but he did not know the place was. Then, he decided for having contemplation in CycloopMountain. In his doing so, he met somebody is called Abhu. ―What are you doing

here?‖ Abhu asked. The old man

said: ―I‘m looking for some fresh water‖. Then, Abhu gave something in karachi to the old man and said: “don‟t open this karachi before arrived at home”. The old man agreed.

In his walking home, the old man was anxious to know what were in Karachi. He forgot his agreement to Abhu. When he opened the karachi, some fresh water appeared sudden and dropped out of the karachi until he arrived at home. The fresh water never stopped. All places that have been stepped by the old man were fully with water. The wider and dry land which was an old couple marriage lived has become a biggest lake, Lake sentani.

Orientation

Complication

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Notes:

 Cycloop is the name of mountain located in Jayapura – Sentani.

 Abhu is a man who has a magic power like a god.  Karachi is a traditional bag made in coconut leaf. I. Answer the questions based on the text (Narrative) correctly:

1. Where did an old couple marriage live? 2. Did they have any children?

3. Where did the old man decide for having contemplation? 4. Did he meet somebody in Cycloop Mountain

5. What was in Karachi?

6. Why did the old man go out for having fresh water? Orientation

It is about the opening paragraph where the characters of the story are introduced. Example: an old couple marriage who lived in a wider and dry land.

Complication

Where the problems in the story developed.

Example: the old man went out looking for some fresh water. Resolution

Where the problems in the story is solved.

Example: The fresh water never stopped. The wider and dry land which was an old couple marriage lived has become a biggest lake, Lake sentani.

(5)

B. Study the following text and its language features.

A Legend of Lake Sentani Language Future

Specific Participant

A thousand years ago there was an old couple

Past Tense

marriage who lived in a wider and dry land. They

had no children. Nobody lived around them, so

they lived alone. It was also very difficult to them

for having fresh water. Circumstances of time

One day, the old man went out looking for some

Action Verb

fresh water but he did not know the place was.

Negative Past Tense

Then, he decided for having contemplation in

Past Tense

CycloopMountain. In his doing so, he met

Action Verb

somebody is called Abhu. ―What are you doing

here?‖ Abhu asked. The old man

said: ―I‘m looking

Saying Verb

for some fresh water‖. Then, Abhu gave

Action Verb

something in karachi to the old man and said:

(6)

“don‟t open this karachi before arrived at home”.

The old man agreed.

In his walking home, the old man was anxious to

Mental Verb

know what was in Karachi. He forgot his

agreement to Abhu. When he opened the karachi,

Action Verbs

some fresh water appeared sudden and dropped

out of the karachi until he arrived at home. The

fresh water never stopped. All places that have

been stepped by the old man were fully with

water. The wider and dry land which was an old

couple marriage lived has become a biggest lake,

Lake sentani. C. Identify and Analyze the Schematic structure

Improving student`s reading ability through local text with scanning technique.

IMPROVING STUDENTS’

READING ABILITY THROUGH

LOCAL TEXT WITH A SCANNING TECHNIQUE

IMPROVING STUDENTS’

READING ABILITY

THROUGH LOCAL TEXT WITH A SCANNING TECHNIQUE

IMPROVING STUDENTS’

READING ABILITY

THROUGH LOCAL TEXT WITH A SCANNING

TECHNIQUE

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