THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEME-BASED TEACHING IN READING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING SKILL : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School.

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEME-BASED TEACHING IN READING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING SKILL

(An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School)

A RESEARCH PAPER

Submitted to the English Education Department of the Faculty of Language and Arts Education of the Indonesia University of Education

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

Written by: Risma Rahmawati

NIM. 0902348

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEME-BASED

TEACHING IN READING ACTIVITIES TO

IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING SKILL

(An Action Research in Grade Three of

Elementary School)

Oleh Risma Rahmawati

Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni

Januari 2014

Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.

Skripsi ini tidak boleh diperbanyak seluruhya atau sebagian, dengan dicetak ulang, difoto kopi, atau cara lainnya tanpa ijin dari penulis.

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEME-BASED TEACHING IN READING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING SKILL

(An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School)

Written by: Risma Rahmawati

NIM. 0902348

Approved by:

Main Supervisor,

Ika Lestari Damayanti, S.Pd., M.A. NIP. 197709192001122001

Co-supervisor,

Iyen Nurlaelawati, M.Pd. NIP. 197709062009122002

Head of English Education Department Faculty of Language and Arts Education

Indonesia University of Education

Prof. Dr. H. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed. NIP. 196211011987121001

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THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEME-BASED TEACHING IN READING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING SKILL

(An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School)

ABSTRACT

This research was focused on investigating the students’ reading skill improvement resulted from the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in reading activities presented in the classroom. Moreover, the students’ responses toward the reading activities were also analyzed. The action research was conducted to 35 students of grade three in an elementary school in Bandung. Action research is type of study which is aimed to identify the problem faced in the learning process and thenceforth to find out the resolution with the intention of enhancing the quality of the teaching process (Alwasilah, 2011). The data were collected through several instruments; namely document analysis, observation, assessment and interview. As a result of data analysis, it was revealed that the students showed improvement in terms of their reading skill. After doing some reading activities which were implemented using Theme-Based Teaching the student were able to read the simple sentence presented accurately and to comprehend the text correctly. Furthermore, the students also responded to the reading activities presented in the classroom positively by actively participating in each activity. According to the finding, the research was expected to give teachers an idea in conducting teaching and learning through Theme-Based Teaching.

Keywords: Theme-Based Teaching, reading skill, reading activity, action research.

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

PENERAPAN PENGAJARAN BERBASIS TEMA DALAM KEGIATAN MEMBACA UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN MEMBACA

SISWA

(Sebuah Penelitian Tindakan Kelas di Kelas Tiga Sekolah Dasar)

ABSTRAK

Penelitian ini difokuskan untuk meneliti peningkatan kemampuan membaca siswa yang dihasilkan dari penerapan pengajaran berbasis tema dalam kegiatan membaca yang disajikan di dalam kelas. Selain itu, respon siswa terhadap kegiatan membaca juga dianalisa. Penelitian tindakan kelas dilaksanakan kepada 35 siswa kelas tiga di salah satu sekolah dasar di Bandung. Penelitian tindakan kelas adalah salah satu studi yang ditujukan untuk mengidentifikasi masalah yang dihadapi dalam kegiatan pembelajaran dan kemudian mencari penyelesaianya dengan tujuan untuk meningkatkan kualitas dari proses pengajaran tersebut (Alwasilah, 2011). Data dikumpulkan melaluui beberapa instrumen yaitu analisa dokumen, observasi, assessment dan wawancara. Hasil dari analisa data menunjukkan bahwa siswa menunjukkan peningkatan dalam hal kemampuan membaca mereka. Setelah melaksanakan beberapa kegiatan membaca yang menerapkan pengajaran berbasis tema, para siswa mampu untuk membaca kalimat sederhana yang diberikan dengan akurat dan memahami teks dengan benar. Terlebih lagi, siswa juga merespon kegiatan membaca yanng disajikan di dalam kelas dengan positif yaitu dengan berpartisipasi aktif di setiap kegiatan. Bersadarkan penemuan diatas, penelitian ini diharapkan dapat memberikan ide kepada guru dalam melaksanakan kegiatan belajar mengajar melalui pengajaran berbasis tema.

Kata Kunci: Pembelajaran berbasis tema, kegiatan membaca, kemampuan membaca, penelitian tindakan kelas.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

APPROVAL ... iii

STATEMENT ... iv

PREFACE ... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... vi

ABSTRACT ... vii

TABLE OF CONTENT ... viii

LIST OF TABLE ... xi

LIST OF FIGURE ... xii

LIST OF EXCERPT ... xiii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1 Background ... 1

1.2 Research Question ... 3

1.3 Purpose of the Research ... 3

1.4 Scope of the Research ... 3

1.5 Significance of the Research ... 3

1.6 Clarification of Terms ... 4

1.7 Organization of Paper ... 5

1.8 Concluding Remark ... 6

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ... 7

2.1 Reading ... 7

2.1.1 What is reading ... 7

2.1.1 Teaching reading ... 8

2.2 Theme-Based Teaching ... 11

2.3 Young Learner ... 13

2.4 Teaching Reading to Young Learners through Theme-Based Teaching ... 17

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 25

3.1 Statements of the Problem ... 25

3.2 Research Design ... 25

3.3 Site and Respondents ... 30

3.4 Data Collection ... 30

3.5 Data Analysis ... 36

3.5.1 Transcribing the data ... 36

3.5.2 Coding the data ... 36

3.5.3 Interpreting the data ... 39

3.6 Concluding Remark ... 40

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ... 41

4.1 The Improvement of Students’ Reading Skill ... 41

4.1.1 The improvement of students’ reading skill based on the assessment ... 42

4.1.2 The role of reading activities in improving students’ reading skill ... 48

4.1.2.1 Cycle 1 – Action 1 ... 50

4.1.2.2 Cycle 1 – Action 2 ... 57

4.1.2.3 Cycle 2 – Action 1 ... 61

4.1.2.4 Cycle 2 – Action 2 ... 65

4.2 Students Responses toward Reading Activities ... 68

4.3 Concluding Remark ... 71

CHAPTER V CONLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 72

5.1 Conclusions ... 72

5.2 Suggestions ... 73

REFERENCES ... 75

OFFICIAL LETTER OF THE RESEARCH PAPER TITLE ... 79

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APPENDIXES ... 82 APPENDIX A (Lesson Plan)

APPENDIX B (Result of Students’ Assessment) APPENDIX C (Observation Sheet)

APPENDIX D (Video Transcription) APPENDIX E (Interview Transcription)

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter gives a brief overview of the whole content of the research, including the background of the research, the research questions, the purpose of the research, the scope of the research, the significance of the research, the clarification of related terms and the organization of the paper.

1.1 Background

During its development, the curriculum of education implemented in Indonesian has undergone several changes. The latest curriculum which is implemented in certain schools in the beginning of Education Year 2013-1014 is Curriculum 2013. One of the subjects that is becoming an issue to deal with the new approach in Curriculum 2013 is by creating learning activities through Theme-Based Teaching. As suggested by the Ministry of Education and Culture, for primary and junior high school levels, integrative thematic approach is used in all subjects. It means that in these levels, the process of teaching and learning is presented based on the themes that will be expanded to other subjects. In line with the previous idea, some experts describe Theme-Based Teaching as an approach to language teaching in which the whole course is structured around certain themes or topics (Brinton, 2001; Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 2003 as cited in Yang, 2009).

According to Yang (2009), “Theme-based teaching has been adopted by primary schools in UK since the 1960s. However, there was not much previous

research devoted to evaluate its effectiveness.” Meanwhile, in Indonesian context, Theme-Based Teaching has been implemented as the approach in teaching and learning process in School Based Curriculum (KTSP) (Sulfasyah, 2013).

Unfortunately, the literature related to the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching especially for teaching young learner has not well elaborated. However, Theme-Based Teaching is regarded as an approach that is suitable to be applied in teaching young learners since “the use of this approach offers exciting

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possibilities for young learners and their teacher” (Cameron, 2001, p. 197). As an example, there was a study conducted by Yang (2009) in an English course for primary English as second language (ESL) students in a non-school setting in

Hong Kong. The study was aimed to investigate the learners’ perceptions and the

impact of Theme-Based Teaching on their levels of interests in an English course. As the result, it was found that most of the participants involved in the study agreed that teaching activities and tasks were more integrated and organized with the adoption of theme-based teaching (Yang, 2009). She also adds that with the adoption of theme-based teaching, many children found learning English became more meaningful and interesting, and more vocabulary items centering on a certain theme could be learned easily (Yang, 2009).

Regarding to the positive achievement of the use of Theme-Based Teaching as described above, this research investigates the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in teaching English young learners. Despite the fact that learning new language will be easier through listening and speaking than from written text, especially for young learners who are still learning to read and write, when they reached where they are already understand how to read and write, reading and writing new language can be started to be introduced, albeit it is still limited (vocabulary and grammar) (Cameron, 2001).

This research is focusing on how the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in reading activities helps young learners improving their reading skill. In this case, the young learners are the students in the third grade of elementary school. The reason behind choosing the third grader of elementary school students as the respondents of this research is that they are already how to read and write in their L1. Consequently, they are considered to be ready to learn another language, in this case is English.

Therefore, this research is intended to find out how the teacher teaches reading skill to young learners by implementing Theme-Based Teaching in the reading activities presented in the classroom according to the theory of Theme-Based Teaching from Cameron (2001) and its principles from Brown (2001) by

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

synthesized it with the theory related to reading activities. Besides that, the

students’ responses toward the reading activities are also intended to be examined.

1.2 Research Questions

Based on the background of the problem that has been mentioned, the issues of this research are formulated as follow.

1. In what ways do the reading activities presented through Theme-Based Teaching help students to improve their reading skills?

2. What are the students’ responses toward learning activities presented through Theme-Based Teaching?

1.3 Purposes of the Research

According to the research questions, the aims of this paper are: (1) identifying the impact of reading activities presented in learning activities for third grader students in one of elementary school in Bandung as a result of implementing Theme-Based Teaching in teaching reading to young learners; and (2) investigating students’ responses toward the activities.

1.4 Scope of the Research

This study focuses on the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in reading activities presented in the classroom as the attempt to help students improving their reading skill. Furthermore, this study also focuses on students’ responses toward the activities that are delivered by using Theme-Based Teaching approach.

1.5 Significance of the Research

Expectantly, this study provides positive contribution for many people, especially for education and those who are interested in this area. In particular, the result of this study is expected to contribute to those who are directly in touch with education such as teachers or educators.

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First of all, this study is expected to give the contribution to enrich the literature in the particular field related to the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in teaching young learners.

Additionally, for teachers or educators, hopefully this study can help to give the idea of how learning activities are conducted through Theme-Based Teaching to teach reading skills to young learners. Moreover, the findings may motivate English teachers to improve their skill and knowledge in teaching reading to young learners to be more professional and creative.

In addition, for other researchers, hopefully the result of this study will be a useful source in terms of making a better contribution for the advancement of education.

1.6 Clarification of the Terms

For this study, there are three terms that need to be defined: - Theme-Based Teaching

Theme-Based Teaching is an approach to language teaching in which the whole course is structured around certain themes or topics (Brinton, 2001; Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 2003 as cited in Yang, 2009).

- Reading skill

In this paper, the terms reading refer to the ability of identifying the visual information and understanding the text that is read by construing meaning (Cameron, 2001; Smelser & Baltes, 2001)

- Reading activity

In this particular study, the terms reading activities indicate to any kind of activities presented by the teacher in classroom activity related to reading experience. In this sense, there should be tasks to be completed by the students, such as predicting, reading aloud, finding specific information from text, storytelling, etc.

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School 1.7 Organization of Paper

The paper is divided into five chapters, as follow.

Chapter I

The first chapter gives a brief overview on the background of the research including the research questions, the aims of the research, the scope of the research, the significance of the research, clarification of related terms, and the organization of the paper.

Chapter II

This chapter begins by laying out the theoretical dimensions of the research, which are: (1) teaching reading, including the elements of reading to be mastered, the problems which commonly appear, and the principles of designing reading lesson; (2) young learners’ characteristics, particularly in relation to language learning; (3) Theme-Based Teaching which starts from the definition, the principles, and also the advantages of Theme-Based Teaching (4) and reading activities that are relevant for young learners according to the characteristics with the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching

Chapter III

Go on to Chapter III, this chapter elaborates the methodology of the research including the research design, site and respondents, data collection, and data analysis.

Chapter IV

Chapter IV then reports the result of the research in form the description of the findings and discussion.

Chapter V

Finally, Chapter V presents the conclusion of the research and suggestions for the next research as well as for teachers based on the results found by the researcher.

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1.8 Concluding Remark

This chapter has discussed the use of Theme-Based Teaching as one of the alternatives that can be taken to deal with the revolution of Indonesia National curriculum. In terms of teaching young learners, the advantage of Theme-Based Teaching has been proven through some prior studies which found that Theme-Based Teaching contributes some positive effects. Reading skill is chosen as the focus of this study for the reason that in the age when children has already learn about written text in their first language, they are also can be introduce to read and write in foreign language, in this case is English.

Some terms have been clarified as well as the organization of the paper that has been stated concisely to provide introduction and description to the study.

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides the explanation of the procedure of the research in order to find the answers of the two questions formulated. It includes the statement of problems, research method, site and respondent, data collection, data analysis and also additional information related to the research.

3.1 Statements of the Problem

This research is projected to discover the answer of the following questions:

1. In what ways do the reading activities presented through Theme-Based Teaching help students to improve their reading skill?

2. What are the students’ responses toward learning activities presented through Theme-Based Teaching?

3.2 Research Design

According to the intention of the research which endeavors to find out the effectiveness of reading activities that are applied to improve reading skill of students who are categorized as young learners through Theme-Based Teaching, qualitative research was conducted. In this particular, classroom action research was taken as the main method to conduct the study.

Young et.al. (2010) describe action research as follows:

Action research is not about hypothesis testing and producing empirically generalizable results; however, it is consistent with the definition of the scholarship of teaching and learning defined as “systematic reflection on teaching and learning made public”. (p. 2)

Action research is considered as the most appropriate method to be used since it facilitates evaluation and reflection in order to implement necessary changes in practice (Alwasilah, 2011). As described by Alwasilah (2011), classroom action research as a type of study which is aimed to identify the

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problem faced in the learning process and thenceforth to find out the resolution with the intention of enhancing the quality of the teaching process. By implementing action research, teachers are able to do the reflection of how the teaching and learning process is conducted and then find the resolution if the problems arose in order to improve their teaching quality.

Along the line with the previous description, Hitchcock & Hughes as cited in Hatch (2002) also explain the definition of action research as follows:

Action research is usually organized in a cycle of identifying a problem through careful observation, reflecting on the dimensions of the problem, designing a change that addresses the problem, implementing the change, and assessing its effectiveness through careful observation. (p. 31)

Furthermore, Ferrance (2000) stated that “action research is a process in which participants examine their own educational practice systematically and carefully” (p. 1). In addition, Kemmis and McTaggart (1990) state that action research is a self-reflective inquiry that is done by a person which aims to improve his or her social or educational practices by evaluating his or her own practices. On the other word, in action research, the researcher is also playing the role as the planner, doer and the one who does the reflection of the action as well.

The main characteristic of action research study is the involvement of spiral of self-reflective cycles which include the process of planning, acting and observing, reflecting, replanning, acting and observing, reflection, and so on (Kemmis and McTaggart as cited in Denzin and Lincoln, 2011). It is supported by Norton (2001) who states that “one of the fundamental characteristics of action

research is its ongoing nature” (p. 21).

In line with the previous explanations, Winter and Munn-Giddings as cited in Young, et. al (2010) describe the reiteration of action research cycle as follows:

The iterative action research cycle starts with faculty (and possibly students) deciding on the focus of the inquiry and creating a plan to observe and record their classroom activities (Plan). The classroom activities are then implemented (Action) and pertinent observations are recorded (Observe) which are then individually and collaboratively critically reflected upon (Reflect) leading to revising classroom activities based on what has been learned (Revised Plan).

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

The following scheme is the illustration of the cycle in action research.

Figure 3.1

The Action Research Cycle (Hopkin, 1985)

The following is the description of the steps illustrated in Figure 3.1. and its implementation in this research.

1. Planning

Planning stage is the first step in conducting the research through action research method. In this research, planning stage was begun with conducting classroom observation which intended to find out the situation of the site and also the respondents. There are two findings that can be resulted from the observation, they were about students’ basic knowledge and classroom atmosphere in teaching and learning process.

The following step was designing the lesson plan which was started studying the Standard Competence and Basic Competence (SKKD) given from

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the school. Ultimately, it was decided to use the theme about “Classroom”. The reason behind selecting “Classroom” as the main theme was based on the Standard Competence and Basic Competence of English subject which had been decided by the school that was in grade 3 the material should be in the context of classroom.

Next, the step was followed by designing the activities for delivering the lesson through Theme-Based Teaching. The theme implemented in each cycle was “Classroom” with different sub theme and language feature in each Action. In Cycle 1, the sub theme was Things in the classroom while in Cycle 2, the sub theme was Activities in the classroom. Detail lesson plan can be accessed in Appendix A.

2. Action

Action stage is the step to implement the plans that have been designed previously. In this research, the action stage was conducted by applying the lesson plan into teaching and learning process. There are two actions in each cycle. In Action 1, students were provided with some activities including the introduction to the vocabularies related to the text that will be learned and also some drilling of how to pronounce it. While in Action 2, students were given the guidance to read and comprehend the text.

As the implementation, in Cycle 1 - Action 1, students were firstly introduced with some objects that they could find in the classroom such as whiteboard, chair and bag. After being familiar with the new vocabularies related to the text they will learn, they were also taught about the language focus for Cycle 1 that is about “There is …” and “There are…”.

Meanwhile in Cycle 1 - Action 2, students were further taught about There

is … or There isn’t … and There are… or There aren’t. In addition, in this action, students also completed the test to measure their reading ability and also their comprehension of the text given.

In Cycle 2, the sub theme was about the activities in the classroom. In the first action, students were introduced to some verbs related to the activities in the classroom, such as write, read, discuss and so on. Next, In Cycle 2 - Action 2,

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

students were taught about ordinal number. In the same way as the first cycle, in this action, students were also assessed to measure their reading ability and also their comprehension of the text given.

3. Observation

Observation stage is the step where the implementation of the plans was examined. The purpose of this stage is to evaluate whether or not the plans that had been designed were applied accurately or there were the improvement needed to maximize the result. At this stage, observation sheet was used to record both positive and negative point in every activity presented in the classroom. The observation sheet used in this research is aimed to verify the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in teaching reading to young learner was truthfully executed.

4. Reflecting

In reflecting stage, the data gathered from the observation stage were analyzed. The purpose of this stage is to evaluate the process of the cycle and then arrange the revision in order make an improvement for the next cycle. Based on the result of observation sheet from the observation stage in Action 1, it was found that respondents showed positive response toward attractive activities such as game. Furthermore, the use of game also gave the beneficial influence in helping students to understand the lesson. In addition, it also disclosed that respondents did like to interact with other and they could stay still in their chair. Therefore, in Action 2 the activities provided were also including group work to accommodate their activeness in moving and talking.

The action research was conducted within 5 weeks starting in the third week of August up to the second week of September. The following table presents the schedule of the research including the process of collecting the data.

Table 3.1

The Schedule of the Research

No Activities Time

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2 Cycle 1

Action 1

August 27, 2013 Theme: Classroom

Sub Theme: Things in The Classroom Action 2

September 3, 2013 Theme: Classroom

Sub Theme: Things in The Classroom

3 Cycle 2

Action1

September 7, 2013 Theme: Classroom

Sub Theme: Activities in The Classroom Action 2

September 10. 2013 Theme: Classroom

Sub Theme: Activities in The Classroom

4 Interview September 17, 2013

3.3 Site and Respondents

The research was conducted in one elementary school in Bandung. This school was chosen because of two reasons. Firstly, this school has a good partnership with Indonesia University of Education, and secondly, the school agreed that the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching was important at this time due to the newest curriculum applied Indonesian Education system.

In this research, the observations were conducted in Class-3A which consisted of 35 students. The class was chosen because, in regard to their ages (8 to 9 years old), they were categorized into the second sub-group mentioned by Scott and Ytreberg (1990) or older learners suggested by Pinter (2006). Further explanation has been explained in Chapter 2.

3.4 Data Collection

There are four instruments used in this research to collect the data, they are document analysis, observation, assessment and interview. Besides for gaining the information to answer the various research problems, more than one instruments are used in order to meet the triangulation which intended to seek the validity of the data collected. According to Guion (2002), “triangulation is a method used by

qualitative researchers to check and establish validity in their studies”.

1. Document Analysis

Patton (1990) as cited in Hatch (2002) perceives document as the device that can provide the original aspect of something that makes it came into being. In

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

this research, the document used is in the form of lesson plans which are designed for four meetings teaching and learning process.

The lesson plans designed contained the activities applied in Action 1 and Action 2 in every cycle. In view of the fact that the main purpose of the research is to discover how the reading activities which implement Theme-Based Teaching help the students to improve their reading skill, the lesson plan designed for this research includes pre-reading activities, while-reading activities and post-reading activities (see Appendix G).

2. Assessment

In this research, the assessment was conducted in each end of the action that is four times. The purpose of conducting assessment is to observe the improvement showed by the students in terms of their reading skill. The assessment conducted in this research was formative assessment. According to Hughes (2003), formative assessment is a kind of assessment which was aimed to check the progress of the students.

In this case, the assessment was intended to find out the answer for the first research problem which is about the how the reading activities presented through Theme-Based Teaching improve students’ reading skill. Through assessment, it is possible to monitor students’ improvement after being given some reading activities as the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in the teaching and learning process.

The following table is the rubric for assessing students reading skill.

Table 3.2

Rubric for Assessing Students’ Reading Skill

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Fluency Read the sentence

smoothly

Read the sentence smoothly most of

the time

Read with many pauses

Articulacy Be able to hear

every word

Be able to hear most words

Be unable to hear most of the word

Correctness Read all the word

correctlyly

Make two or three incorrect words

Make more than three incorrect

words

Comprehension

Response/answer all the task

correctly

Make two or three incorrect responses/answers

Make more than three incorrect responses/answer

3. Observation

Observation, as stated by Hatch (2002), is aimed to understand the culture, setting, or social phenomenon being studied from the perspectives of the participants. In addition, “observing a particular event or circumstance is a way

to see and hear directly what is happening, rather than having to rely on someone else’s account of it” (Naughton and Hughes, 2009, p. 152).

Additionally, Hatch (2002, p. 72-73) identifies some advantages of gathering data through observations for general qualitative research. Some of them are:

1) Observation gives the opportunity to the researcher to look into the real sights of how the situation occurs and gain the actual information for better comprehension of what is happening.

2) Researcher can find any other information that is not fully expressed throughout the other data collection method.

The observation was accomplished four times for around 70 minutes in every meeting. This observation was focusing on investigating the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in reading activities presented in the classroom and observing the responses toward the activities showed by the students.

In this research, the observation was conducted by using two techniques namely video taping and observation sheet.

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Risma Rahmawati, 2014

The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

The videotaping that was conducted in each meeting aimed to observe how the teaching and learning process was conducted in the classroom by implementing Theme-Based Teaching. It was used as the main instrument to collect the data that could be used to find the answer of the research problem.

Videotaping was used to examine the improvement of students’ reading ability in every meeting in two cycles. Videotaping was also used to find the visual information about how the teaching and learning process was conducted and the activities presented in order to improve students’ reading ability.

In addition, videotaping was also managed to investigate students’ responses toward the activities presented during the teaching and learning process. In this case, students’ behavioral responses were intended to be investigated by observing the video tape. The data from video taping can be seen in Appendix E.

Observation sheet

The use of observation sheet was intended to record the phenomenon occurred in the teaching and learning process. According to Olsen (2008), observation sheet can be used to critically evaluate the learning process and identify the actual data of the effectiveness strategies and techniques employed in the classroom. In line with the principle of reflection in action research, observation sheet can also be used to evaluate how the previous teaching and learning process accomplished and plan the strategies for the next teaching and learning process in the following cycle.

In this research observation sheet was used to examine how the reading activities which were design through Theme-Based Teaching help students to improve their reading skill.

Table 3.3. Observation Sheet

No. Reading Process + - Comment

1 Pre-Reading Activity:

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prior knowledge.

- The activities connect students’ prior knowledge to the material that will be taught.

- The activities help students to prepare their knowledge for the material that will be taught.

While-Reading Activity:

- The activities facilitate students’ curiosity.

- The activities help students to comprehend the material.

Post-Reading Activity:

- The activities help students’ to confirm their understanding about the material.

Overall Comment:

The observation sheet’s takers were the observers which were consisted of a university student of ninth-semester from Indonesia University of Education (Observer 1) and an English teacher (Observer 2). The data from this instrument can be retrieved in Appendix C.

In this research, the observation was done by implementing both participant observation and non-participant observation. According to Atkinson and Hammersley (2011), “participant observation is referred to the observation

which carried out the researcher to play an established participant role in the scene studied” (p. 248). This observation was done when the researcher played the role as the teacher who planned, implemented and also did the reflection of the lesson. On the other hand, non-participant observation refers to the state when the researcher was not being involved in the study. In this case, the non-participant observation was done in the process of observing the presentation of reading activities as the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching which was taken by the observers who fill the observation sheet.

4. Interview

According to Hatch (2002), interview helps researcher to gain more interpretation on the perspective of the participant. It explores information which is not explored in the observation. The intention of conducting interview in this

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The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

research was to collect the information from the participant which is more informative related to their view in teaching and learning process deliver through Theme-Based Teaching. It was used to verify the information developed from another instrument (triangulation).

In this research, interview was conducted to 5 students which were chosen randomly. The interviewees were hereafter labeled as Interviewee 1, Interviewee 2, Interviewee 3, Interviewee 4 and Interviewee 5. The interview included four major questions about their opinion related to the activities presented in the classroom as the implementation of Theme-Based teaching in teaching reading. The interview was intended to examine students’ opinion including the following issues:

1) Students’ feeling during the learning process.

2) Students’ opinion toward the lesson presented in the classroom (whether or not it helps them to get better comprehension).

3) Students’ opinion related to the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in their learning process.

By means of the interview, it was expected to find out the affective and cognitive response from the students. According to Eagly and Chaiken (1993) as cited in Kwon and Vogt (2008), “an affective factor is based on emotional

experiences or preferences” (p. 299). In this case, the students were inquired about their feeling and opinion related to the learning process presented in the classroom. Additionally, the interview also explored students’ cognitive response when they were led to recall what they had learned during learning process. The transcription of the interview was attached in Appendix E.

3.5 Data Analysis

Hatch (2002) defines data analysis as “a systematic search for meaning” (p. 148). After gathering data, the next stage is analyzing data to obtain the actual meaning of the data. The procedure of analyzing qualitative data involves the

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process of preparing the data for analysis, comprehending the data, representing the data, and interpreting of the meaning of the data (Cresswell, 2008).

In accordance with Cresswell’s statement, the process of analyzing the data in this research was mainly conducted through three steps namely (1) transcribing the data as the process of preparing the data to be analyze; (2) Coding data as the process of comprehending and representing the data; and then (3) Interpreting the data.

3.5.1 Transcribing the data

The process of analyzing the data beginning with transcribing the data collected through videotaping and interview. Cresswell (2008) explains transcribing the data as the process of converting any forms of data into text data. The purpose of transcribing the data in this research is to textualize the information logging on the video of teaching and learning process and the recording of interview.

3.5.2 Coding the data

The next step after transcribing all the data from observations and interview is coding the textual information from the transcription. As stated by Rossman & Rallis (1998) in Creswell (2002), “Coding is the process of

organizing the material into “chunks” before bringing meaning to those “Chunks” (p. 263).

Alwasilah (2011) says that coding is necessary in helping the researchers to analyze the transcription. Furthermore, he also explains several advantages of coding. Some of them are coding can help researcher to identify the occurrence of certain phenomenon and reckon the frequent of phenomenon existing. In addition, coding is also help researcher in giving the code for the invention. Therefore it will ease the researcher to arrange the categorization of the invention.

In this research, coding data was conducted to the data collected through observation, especially videotaping, which were mainly used to answer the

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The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

research question about students’ responses toward reading activities presented in the classroom. The following table displays some codes used in this stage.

Table 3.4. Code

No. Categories Codes

1. Pre-Reading

Stimulating students’ prior knowledge Connecting students’ prior knowledge with the

new material

Stimulating students’ curiosity Preparing students for new material

2. While-Reading

Facilitating students’ curiosity Introducing students to the new material Helping students to comprehend the material 3. Post-Reading Confirming students’ understanding

By means of giving clearer illustration of how the codes were established, the following table enlightens the indicator of each code.

Table 3.5. Indicator of the Codes

No. Code Classroom Activities

1. Stimulating students’ prior knowledge

-Teacher elicits students’ prior knowledge related to the theme of the material.

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-Teacher asks students to talk about what they know related to the material they will learn.

2. Connecting students’ prior knowledge with

the new material

-Teacher asks students to make prediction of what they will learn from, for example, picture or the title of the text.

-Teacher sets the situation by providing context. 3. Stimulating students’

curiosity

-Teacher shows pictures or other media to attract students’ interest.

4. Preparing students for new material

-Teacher introduces new vocabularies related to the material.

-Teacher reviews what students have learned in the previous meeting.

5. Facilitating students’ curiosity

-Students are introduced with the learning material through several media such as picture.

6. Introducing students to the new material

-Students learn new language and language feature from the reading material.

7. Helping students to comprehend the

material

-Students able to identify the general information from the reading material.

-Students able to identify the specific information from the reading material.

8. Confirming students’ understanding

-Students give the opportunities to show what they have learned

-Students reproduce the essence of the reading material.

In this sense, the process was started by reading the whole transcripts while giving some notes on important points found in the transcriptions. To give clear illustration of how the coding process was carried out, what follow is the example of coded excerpts taken from the transcription of interview.

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The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

(cited in the video-taping transcript Cycle 1 – Action 1 in Appendix D)

3.5.3 Interpreting the data

The next stage of data analysis was interpreting all the data collected. Hatch (2002) rationalizes the term on interpretation as follows:

Interpretation is about giving meaning to data. It’s about making sense of social situations by generating explanations for what’s going on within them. It’s about making inferences, developing insights, attaching significance, refining understandings, drawing conclusions, and extrapolating lessons. (p. 180)

In this research, the data obtained from coding the transcription of video of teaching and learning process and interview were used to answer the second research question by describing the phenomenon found in the transcription. Additionally, the data obtained from observation sheet which is used to find out the effectiveness of reading activities presented trough Theme-Based Teaching to improve students’ reading skill. Then, the data resulted from the test was described to support the data obtained from observation sheet that show the improvement of the students’ after giving the activities.

3.6 Concluding remarks

T : Sekarang kita belajar tentang classroom. Ada yang tau classroom itu apa?

S1 : Kelas.

T : Kelas…

Ya… this is our classroom. This is our classroom.

Coba sekarang kalian bisa lihat apa aja di kelas kalian ini? Ss : (overlap mentioning several objects)

T : Apa ini?

Ss : Table… Table…

T : Yes, table.

S2 : Chair…

T : Terus? Chair… iya…

S3 : Chair…

S4 : Table… Chair… T : Lalu apa lagi?

Ss : Whiteboard.

Stimulating students’ prior knowledge

Connecting students’ prior knowledge with the new material

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This chapter has described the statement of problems, research design, site and respondents, and also the process of gathering and analyzing the data. The following chapter will describe the findings and the discussion of the research.

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The Implementation Of Theme-Based Teaching In Reading Activities To Improve Students’ Reading Skill : An Action Research in Grade Three of Elementary School

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter discusses the conclusions extracted from the conducted research and the suggestions for the further research with the same or similar topic and also for teachers.

5.1. Conclusions

This paper provides the explanation of the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in reading activities presented in the classroom as the attempt to

improve students’ reading skill. In this research, the investigation is projected to discover: (1) how the reading activities presented through Theme-Based Teaching helped students in improving their reading skill; and (2) what the students’ responses were toward the activities presented in the classroom as the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching. As a result of data analysis, some conclusions could be described as follows.

Data from assessment indicated that the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching in reading activities presented in the classroom could help the students in grade three of an elementary school in Bandung to improve their reading skill specifically in terms of vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension. The number of students who were categorized as having good reading skill increased from only 5 students out of 35 students (14.3%) in the first action in Cycle 1 to 22.9% (10 students) in the Cycle 2-Action 2. Moreover, the number of students who were formerly experiencing the difficulties in reading significantly decreased. It decreased for 28.6% from 48.6% in Cycle 1-Action 1 to only 20% or 7 students out of 35 in Cycle 2-Action2.

Furthermore, data from document analysis and observation revealed that the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching could give freedom for the teacher to design the lesson. The teacher became more creative in designing the activities to deliver a lesson so that the students were attracted to learn. Various activities presented in the classroom by implementing Theme-Based Teaching were

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connected each other to achieve the purposes of Pre-Reading activity, While-Reading activity and Post-While-Reading activity. Furthermore, the suitability of the activities with the characteristics of young learners also helped the students to improve their reading.

In addition, the use of several games in Pre-Reading activity could facilitate the students with a fun and enjoyable way to learn new vocabularies that will be included in the text they were going to learn. Variety of activities were also conducted to accomplish the purpose of While-Reading activity. In this case, students were facilitated to comprehend the text interestingly. Moreover, the process of drilling which was included in both Pre-Reading and While-Reading activity could help the students to strengthen their vocabulary mastery. Lastly, the activities presented in Post-Reading activity enabled the students to confirm their understanding of the material given in Pre-Reading and While-Reading activity.

Regarding the data from the interview, the students showed positive responses toward the activities presented in the classroom which was implemented through Theme-Based Teaching. The students mainly considered that the activities presented helped them in understanding the lesson. The implementation of various activities such as games and pictures that were used to deliver the lesson made the students enjoy the learning process so that they found that it helped them to understand the lesson easier. As a result, the students would like to continue learning through this method.

5.2. Suggestion

After conducting the research, there are some suggestions to be proposed to the further study who conducts similar research and also for the teachers. First, for the researchers who are interested to conduct the study with the similar topic, it is suggested to involve more participants in different grades and different levels to obtain more accurate detail of the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching approach. Furthermore, for the reason that this research was focusing on reading skill, the further research should pay attention to the implementation of Theme-Based Teaching to improve the other skills as well.

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Secondly for the teacher, the findings of this research might contribute the illustration of how to implement Theme-Based Teaching approach in conducting teaching and learning process as well as the positive points of implementing the approach. Thus, it is suggested for teachers to be more creative in exploring and designing the activities. The teacher can adjust more activities depend on what theme chosen and also the purpose of the learning process.

However, teachers should also be aware that different students have different preference in learning. It is important to consider students’ need and interest before designing the activities. Next, teachers should have a good classroom management so that all the activities designed previously can be implemented effectively.

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5.2. Suggestion

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Theme-74

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