THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RECIPROCAL STRATEGY IN TEACHING READING NARATIVE TEXT.

TABLE OF CONTENTS APPROVAL SHEET

DECLARATION ... I PREFACE

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. ABSTRACT….. ... IERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.1INTRODUCTION ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.2BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.3STATEMENTS OF THE PROBLEM ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.4RESEARCH QUESTIONS ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.5PURPOSES OF THE STUDY ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.6SCOPE OF THE STUDY ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.7SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.8TERMS OF CLARIFICATION ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1.9ORGANIZATION OF THESIS ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... ERROR!

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2.1INTRODUCTION ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.2READING COMPREHENSION ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.3THE TAXONOMIC LEVEL OF COMPREHENSIONERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.3.1 Literal Comprehension ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3.2 Inferential Comprehension ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3.3 Evaluation ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3.4 Appreciation... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES . ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.5THE TEACHING OF READING COMPREHENSIONERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.6THE RECIPROCAL STRATEGY ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.6.1 The Concept Reciprocal Strategy ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.6.2 The Application of Reciprocal Strategies ... Error! Bookmark not

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2.7THE THREE PHASE TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING READINGERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.8GENRE OF READING ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.9NARRATIVE TEXTS ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.9.1 The Characteristics of Narrative Text .... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.9.1.1 Social Function of Narrative Text .. Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.9.1.2 Schematic Structure ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.10STUDENTS’ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE READING COMPREHENSION

STRATEGY ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.11PREVIOUS STUDIES IN RECIPROCAL STRATEGYERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

2.12CONCLUSIONS... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH ... ERROR! BOOKMARK

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3.1INTRODUCTION ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

3.2RESEARCH DESIGN ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

3.3RESEARCH SITE ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

3.4POPULATION AND SAMPLE... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

3.5DATA COLLECTION ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

3.5.1 Materials for treatment... Error! Bookmark not defined.

3.5.1.1 Pre-test and Post-test of Reading Narrative TextError! Bookmark not defined. 3.5.1.2 Validity of the Pretest and Posttest of Reading Narrative TextError! Bookmark not d 3.5.1.3 Reliability of the Pretest and Posttest of Reading Narrative TextError! Bookmark no 3.5.2 Questionnaire ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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3.7SCHEDULE FOR TREATMENT ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

3.8TECHNIQUE FOR COLLECTING DATA ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

3.8.1 Pre-test ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.8.2 Post-test ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.8.3 Questionnaire ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.9DATA ANALYSIS ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

3.9.1 Pre-test and Post-test Analysis ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.9.2 Questionnaire Analysis ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.10CONCLUSIONS... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... ERROR!

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4.1INTRODUCTION ... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

4.2THE PRE-TEST SCORE IN EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINE

4.3THE POSTTEST SCORE IN CONTROL AND EXPERIMENT GROUPSERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINE

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4.4.4 Conclusion of Questionnaire Data the Control GroupError! Bookmark not defined. 4.5THE SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDENTS’ATTITUDES IN IMPROVING THEIR READING

4.6CONCLUSIONS... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... ERROR!

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5.1 INTRODUCTION ... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

5.2CONCLUSIONS... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

5.3RECOMMENDATIONS ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

1 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction

This chapter involves background of the study, the statement of the problem, the research questions, the purpose of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study, terms of clarification, and organization of the thesis.

1.2 Background of the Study

There are four language skills to achieve in the teaching and learning process to give impression of English, namely: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing (English GBPP; Depdikbud 2004). Reading is an essential skill for learners of English. For most of learners it is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success in learning. With strengthened reading skills, learners of English tend to make greater progress in other areas of language learning. Reading should be an active, fluent process that involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning (Anderson, 2003).

As a medium of communication, language is very useful in one’s social life. Without using language, people in the world could not communicate each other in their community, many things could be socialized such as; politics, economics, culture. Through language we build a nice and strong nation by implicating a good information system.

Among other, reading is one of basic communicative skills, which involves a very complex process. Reading is not only the process of eye

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movement on printed materials, but also the process of understanding the text to obtain the information or the process of comprehending the text (Nunan, 1991; Brown, 1994). Furthermore, Anderson (1999:1) defines reading as an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading materials in building meaning. Anderson (1999 in Nunan, 2003:68) also defines reading as a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning. It means that meaning does not only depend on the reader or the text, but depends on the interaction of both.

Teaching is absolutely necessary for learning program in education system. Teaching itself offers a general meaning as “Giving instruction to somebody to know to be able to do something: give somebody knowledge or skills, etc, give lesson” (Oxford Advance learner’s Dictionary of current English, 1989:886). From these definitions, the writer assumes that teaching means the activity to give someone knowledge or skill or giving a lesson.

Regarding the objective of teaching of English at senior high school, the National Curriculum Board of Education (BSNP, 2006) targets the students at the informational level to understand various types of English written texts to access knowledge. This means that teaching reading will not be successful if the students can only read words without understanding the message being read. In other words, whatever we read should be well understood since, according to Smith and Robinson (1980), reading comprehension is a process of thought where the readers understand the writer’s ideas and interpret them with his or her own needs.

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Central to this issue, English teachers have many problems how to improve the student’s ability in reading. Based on the researcher’s experience as an English teacher, many EFL students of one Madrasah Aliyah in Medan may approach reading passively, relying on the use of a bilingual dictionary, thereby direct sentence-by-sentence translations. Despite all the efforts had been made, reading comprehension remains poor. Moreover, the students think that joining reading instruction is very tiring and boring since it obliges students to deal with the meaning of each word. Dymoch (1998, cited in Suharti, 2008) states that difficulty in comprehending a text results from the lack of understanding of the language text. It means that poor language understanding can lead to failure in understanding of comprehension activities and questions. To enhance reading comprehension ability in English, Alfassi (2004:171) states that students should “understand the meaning of text, critically evaluate the message, remember the content, and apply the new-found knowledge flexibly”.

Poor comprehension may also be due to ineffective teaching technique used to address this skill (Yuill & Oakhill, 1991 in Aarnoutse, 1999). Responding to this, Pressly (2000 in Duke, 2004) proposes teaching comprehension strategy to better improve students’ understanding in reading, and that teaching multiple comprehension strategies can have an even more profound impact. Therefore, providing students with various strategies may help them determine the meaning of what is being read.

Referring to those phenomena, this research attempts to investigate the application of reciprocal strategy proposed by Palincsar & Brown, 1986 as one of

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many reading strategies. This strategy intends to help students to improve their understanding of the texts. Reciprocal strategy provides personalized attentions to students who are drifting along, dreaming, or becoming disinterested in reading. Not only do they interact with the teacher but also they get to turn a classroom tradition around and interrogate the teacher for change.

1.3 Statements of the problem

Reading comprehension is a complex cognitive task for many students

and it is usually considered as a difficult skill for students. As a result, students’ achievement in reading comprehension is still far from being expected. Thus, this study attempts to investigate the effects of the application of the reciprocal reading strategy to develop student’s comprehension in reading. Besides, reading also involves the students’ affective aspect which demonstrates their attitude towards it. Hence, this study focuses on investigating the students’ attitude towards the use of reciprocal strategies in reading comprehension activities.

1.4 Research Questions

This study attempt to address the following questions:

1. Can Reciprocal strategies improve the students’ reading ability in comprehending English Narrative texts?

2. What are the students’ attitudes toward the use of Reciprocal strategies as reading instruction?

5 1.5 Purposes of the study

The purpose of this study is of the first grade students at one MAN in Medan by providing them treatment focusing on improving the students’ reading comprehension. The specific objectives are:

1. To investigate whether the Reciprocal strategies can improve student’s reading comprehension ability

2. To identify the students’ attitudes to the application of Reciprocal strategies in reading instruction.

1.6 Scope of the study

This study focuses on investigating the effectiveness of using reciprocal strategies to enhance students’ reading ability in comprehending narrative texts. The reason behind this choice of narrative texts is due to emphasis of the demand of English curriculum (2006) that narrative text get greater time allotment to be taught to the first years of the Islamic Senior High School (MAN) in Medan.

1.7 Significance of the study

This study is expected to contribute to the development of EFL reading instruction especially for the English teachers of Senior High School. Further, this study is hoped to enrich English teachers with varying teaching reading strategies. After finishing the application of Reciprocal strategies, this study is expected to improve students’ achievement in English, especially in the reading

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comprehension themselves. Finally, the result of this study may inspire other researchers to conduct research on other issues in teaching reading.

1.8 Terms of Clarification

In this study, there are several terms that need to be clearly defined in order to avoid misunderstanding and ambiguity. The definitions of the terms in this study are as follows:

a. Reciprocal strategies are defined as instructional activity that takes place

in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text. The dialogue is structured by the use of four strategies: question generating, clarifying, prediction, and summarizing. Teacher and students take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading this dialogue (Palincsar & Brown, 1986; Manzo, 1968).

b. Reading comprehension is defined as a complex information processing

skill in which the students interacts with the text in order to (re) create meaningful discourse (Silberstein, 1994; see also Brumfit, 1980 in Ozek, 2006).

c. Narrative is defined a type text which functions to entertain, i.e. to gain

and hold the reader’s interest in a story. It may also seek to teach or inform, to embody the writer’s reflections on experience (Derewianka, 2004).

7 1.9 Organization of Thesis

This study consists of five chapters. Chapter one presents general

description of the introduction to the topic of the study. Chapter two discusses the theories to support the study. Chapter three elaborates the methodology of the study. Chapter four presents the data, the data analysis result and discussion of the finding. The last present the conclusions and recommendations.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH

3.1 Introduction

This section will discuss some important elements related to research methodology is that the research design, research site, population and sample, instruments, variable and hypothesis, treatment, data collection, and data analysis.

3.2 Research Design

In line with the aim and purpose of this research, to find the effect of Reciprocal strategy on the development of students’ reading ability, the design used in this research is true experimental design, a type of research design which includes experimental and control groups random sampling (Hatch Lazaraton, 1991).This study will employ experimental method. The quantitative method is employed because this study wants to see “the effects of Reciprocal strategies on reading comprehension. To find the data, the researcher will conduct a true experimental research random sampling. The experimental group will be treated with Reciprocal strategy and the control group will treat with a three phase techniques. The treatment will be employed approximately eight meeting. To support the data from the treatment, questionnaire on the students’ attitude towards the application of the strategy is also conducted.

Experimentation provides a method of hypothesis testing (Hatch and Lazaraton, (1991). After the experimenters define a problem, they propose a

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tentative answer or hypothesis. The hypotheses are null hypothesis. The researcher tests the hypothesis, confirm or disconfirm them in the light of the controlled variable relationship that the experimenters observed. Hadi (1988) states it is important to note that confirmation or rejection of the hypothesis is stated in terms of probability rather than certainty. The schematic representation for the experimental on the true design is:

Treatment group G1 (random) T1 X T2 Control group G2 (random) T1 T2 Explanation:

G1: Random G2: Random T1: Pre-test T2: Posttest

X: Treatment using Reciprocal strategy in teaching reading narrative texts The research design has main characteristics. The characteristics are (1) it has two groups of subject namely experimental and control group; (2) the subjects are taken randomly; (3) pretest is administered to capture to initial differences between the groups; (4) the experimental group is manipulated with particular treatment. In this study, the experimental group taught using Reciprocal strategy with reading narrative text, while the control group is taught by a three phase techniques; (5) both group are measured twice (Farhady, 1981).

The pretest is carried out to see the students’ actual ability before the treatment while in posttest, the respondents of the two groups will be given the test after the treatment of the experimental group had been trained about the reciprocal strategies.

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This study attempts to seek the empirical evident of whether independent variable affects dependent variable and to identify the significance of the effect. To know the effect of independent variable, the study used pre-test, treatment, and post-test. The score data of pre-test and post-test were then, counted and compared to find out whether there is a significant difference on students’ reading achievement after conducting the treatment.

Questionnaire is also applied to support the score data in accordance with students’ reading achievement. The questionnaire is administered to find out students’ attitudes toward the application of reciprocal strategy in teaching reading narrative texts. The response involves the students’ attitude, feeling, and thoughts about the application of reciprocal strategy.

3.3 Research Site

The research was conducted at one MAN in Medan for several reasons. The first reason is that the school is located near the researcher’s place. This gave an ease to the researcher in term of time management in executing the research. The second one is that as a teacher in this school, he/she hoped to get access easily to the research site and thus increasing feasibility of the study. And the last reason is based on the researcher experience, in that school, the teachers are not used the strategies in teaching reading, therefore, the data collection of the research would be more accurate and valid. If so, the result of this study will be a great importance and useful input for that school in developing and supporting reading skill particularly for the students as well as the teacher.

41 3.4 Population and Sample

The population of this study was the tenth grade of one MAN in Medan, These graders are taken as the population because the researcher wants to improve the students’ achievement in English especially in reading comprehension. Then the ability of first grade students in reading instruction seems to be lower than it is expected. Moreover, it is intended to help students to look for alternative solution in reading development from the beginning grade to be promoted to the higher grade. Furthermore, first grades’ reading achievement will have great impact to the coming achievement in the next grade.

The sample of this research was selected randomly from the tenth grade student, consisting of 120 students as population. There are 60 students were chosen randomly, with equal number of male and female students. (Sugiyono, 2006, p.56; see also Hatch & Lazaraton, 1991). In addition, Arikunto (1989) said that if the subject is less than 100, it is better to take all of them. If they are more than 100, it can be taken 25% until 50% of population as the sample. To keep their privacy and confidential real identities, their names were disguised. Furthermore, this study divided into two groups, thirty students for control group and thirty students for experimental group. This study use purposive sampling to get equal proportion the data between male and female in learning reading narrative texts by using reciprocal strategy (Maxwell’s, 1996:71).

42 3.5 Data Collection

In collecting the data, the researcher has three kinds of instruments namely: (1) material for conducting a treatment which is in the form of the lesson plan and reading texts of narrative genre; (2) pre-test and post-test item, and (3) questionnaires. Questionnaire in this study is carried out as a means of giving students opportunities to express their thoughts or feelings about the application of Reciprocal strategy whether it gives good impact on their reading comprehension.

3.5.1 Materials for treatment

The material consists of lesson plan and reading materials taught in classroom in term of narrative texts. The lesson plan is written by adopting the Wallace’s model of lesson plan (1992, see appendix I). Furthermore, the reading materials are taken from the English Book for SMU/MAN students used in Madrasah Aliyah Medan (see appendix II).

3.5.1.1 Pre-test and Post-test of Reading Narrative Text

The pre-test is given in the first meeting to know the starting skill of the students’ reading ability before the experimental group and control group are treated. Both pre-test and post-test are in the form of reading narrative texts followed by ten essay questions in order to identify the students’ answer of the question using reciprocal strategy. The result of the pre-test can be used to match the students of control group with those of experimental group, and it can also be

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seen the students’ improvement. Meanwhile, the post-test is conducted at the end of the teaching learning process in order to find out the influence of reciprocal strategy in the students’ achievement on their reading comprehension.

The scoring system used in the row score developed by the researcher. The questions delivered in this test consist of “Summarizing strategy” which is given five points (two questions). “Questioning strategy” (two questions) which is score three points. “Clarifying strategy” which is given one points (three questions). “Predicting strategy” which is given two points (three questions). The total scores are twenty five, then times four, so the maximum score is one hundred. This system of scoring is done since each strategy has different level of comprehension as proposed by Sianipar (2002); literal, inferential, evaluation, and appreciation level of comprehension. The materials of the test are taken from an English book for SMU/MAN students which have not been used in their English class (see appendix III).

3.5.1.2 Validity of the Pretest and Posttest of Reading Narrative Text

Before the materials were tested to the respondents, test of content validity and reliability were conducted. Scarvia et al. (1975) cited in Arikunto (2007) said that a test is valid if it measures what it has to be measured. Furthermore, Heaton (1988) states that there are several types of validity. Some of them which are related with this study are content validity, and external validity. The content validity can be fit if the test items reflect the contents of the curriculum the students have learned, covering literal, inferential, evaluation, and

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appreciation level of comprehension as required by KTSP 2006. The test items should have relationship with the course objectives (Heaton, 1988).

Furthermore, the external validity of the instruments in this study was reached by correlating the results try-out with the students’ English scores they gained in first semester. In this study, the Pearson Product-moment Correlation Formula is used (Hatch and Lazaraton, 1991). The scores will be analyzed by using computer program of Statistical Package of the Social Science (SPSS).

3.5.1.3 Reliability of the Pretest and Posttest of Reading Narrative Text

In term of the reliability of the test, the researcher used test retest method (Arikunto, 2007). In this case, the researcher conducted a try out for the test before the students have the real pretest. And the span period between the tests was about seven days as to avoid students’ memorization about the items test since the given test was the same in terms of the text and the questions. The result of the two tests was compared. Since, the students got approximately the same scores for both test, it can be said that the test items were reliable. In addition, the result of the tests was analyzed using correlation analysis (Pearson Product Moment) to find the significant correlation (Hatch and Lazaraton, 1991). The statistical analysis is computerized using SPSS 12 program.

In order to judge whether the item test given to students was adequate enough based on reciprocal theory, the supervisors of this research had been ask to give a judgment about reading test given to students both for pretest and posttest whether the tests had been fulfilled the requirements as proposed by

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reciprocal strategy. Both supervisors are English lectures and regarded as the experts of education at Indonesia University of Education.

3.5.2 Questionnaire

Questionnaire was administered as a means of giving the students an opportunity to express their feeling, opinion, or thoughts toward the application of reciprocal strategy. In other words, it’s done to see whether the students feel comfortable learning English using reciprocal strategy, especially in reading instruction. There are two sets of questionnaire which used and consisting of 16 items. One set was given to the students involved in the experiment group and the other for the control group. It’s based on cognitive strategy consisting of eight of which were shown to be positively correlated to reading achievement and eight of which shown to be negatively correlated to reading. Positively correlated strategies included: Summarizing, getting main idea (item 1-4); self generated questions, rereading of the story (item 5-8); taking note, guessing meaning,(item 9-12); and imaging, underlining important story part (item 13-16).

To get closer over what respondents did during comprehension, the researcher set up 16 Reading Strategy Questionnaire (RSQ), adopted from Padrón (1992 cited in Laurence, 2007). The questionnaires were translated into Indonesian to assist the respondents understanding those questions. There are thirty students involved in the questionnaire. The questionnaire can be seen in Appendix 15.

46 3.5.2.1 Validity of Questionnaires

Concerning the questionnaires, both questionnaires for control and experiment groups have also been consulted to the advisors of the thesis and stated to have logical validity, i.e. they are understandable by many other people (Neuman, 2003). It also was reviewed and validated by colleges of English Department Indonesia University of Education in terms of the clarity, bias, conciseness, and the possible meaning for all readers.

3.5.2.2 Reliability of Questionnaires

The items were developed following the guidelines from Oppenheim (1982). The type of the questionnaires is Likert-Scale with five options: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Uncertain, Agree, and Strongly Agree. This type of scale was chosen because it is less laborious and a reliability coefficient of .85 is often achieved (Oppenheim, 1982).

The odd items are positive statements, i.e. statements which reflect positive attitude toward the issue being addressed. On the other hand, the even items are negative statements. For example, item number 2 is actually the opposite of statement in item 1. So, there are four pairs of items. Composition like this is aimed at making sure the consistency of students’ attitudes to the questionnaire. The scoring for positive items is 1 for Strongly Disagree, 2 for Disagree, 3 for Uncertain, 4 for Agree, and 5 for Strongly Agree. On the other hand, for the negative statements, the scoring is reversed, thus it is 5 for Strongly Disagree, 4 for Disagree, 3 for Uncertain, 2 for Agree, and 1 for Strongly Agree. The higher

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the total score, the more positive is the students’ attitudes toward the issue being addressed (Oppenheim, 1982).

3.6 Variables and Hypothesis

Variables are condition of characteristics that the researcher manipulates, controls and observe. There are some variables in this study that need to be stated, such as independent variable, dependent variable and control variable. The independent variable in this study is teaching reciprocal strategy to the eleven grade of one MAN in Medan. Meanwhile, the dependent variable in this study is the reading comprehension score. Moreover, control variable which is held constant in order to neutralize the potential effect it might have on behavior. Thus, the control variable in this study is the eleven grade students of one MAN in Medan.

Hypotheses are designed to be a guide of proving the temporary assumption of this research. The hypotheses of this research are the null hypothesis (Ho) (Hatch and Farhady, 1982, p.86). There is no significant difference between reading posttest scores of experiment and control group as the null hypothesis (Ho).

3.7 Schedule for Treatment

The process of teaching learning activity in the experimental group and control group was conducted under the same manner. It means that the actual face to face meeting for each group was conducted twice per week for a month. The

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total meeting for each group is eight meetings. The schedule of experimental group as well as the control group can be seen in the following table:

Table 3.1

The Treatment Time Table

No Month Meeting Topic

Time Control group &

Experi mental

group

1. February, week 1 1 Pre-test 2x45’ 2x45’

2. February, week 2 2&3 A Greedy Dog 4x45’ 4x45’

3. February, week 3 4&5 The Fly and the Bull Thumbelina

The Three Pigs and the New House

4x45’ 4x45’

4. February, week 4 6&7 The Three Pigs and the New House

The Little Girl and the Wolf

4x45’ 4x45’

5. March, week 1 8&9 The Frog Prince The Magic Candle

4x45’ 4x45’

6. March, week 2 10 Post-test 2x45’ 2x45’

The sample of the classroom activities for experimental group and control group can be seen follows:

a. Classroom activities for experimental group • Skill focus : Reading narrative texts

• Level : MAN

• Class : X

• Time : 2x45’

• Material and Equipment : “A Greedy Dog”

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a. Pre-reading activities

1) The teacher hand out a passage of text to each student in the group 2) The teacher asks students to give the responds about the text. 3) Reciprocal strategy about the new vocabulary

4) The teacher explains the new strategy to be employed in reading activities

b. While-reading

1) Both teacher and students will silently read of the text. 2) The teacher asks students the kinds of questions

3) The teacher gives the students oral familiarity with some difficult words

4) Teacher model of good questioning behavior

c. Post-reading activities

1) Students discuss their problem about the prediction of the text 2) Students are permitted to ask some clarification of their difficulties. Evaluation

After the discussion, the students are given essay test about the text.

b. Classroom activities for control group • Skill focus : Reading narrative texts

• Level : MAN

50 • Time : 2x45’

• Material and Equipment : “A Greedy Dog”

• Presentation

a .Pre-reading activities

1) The teacher hand out a passage of text to each student in the group

2) The teacher introduce the passage and students read silently 3) The teacher asks students to give the responds about the text

b.While-reading

1) The teacher reads the text for the students

2) The teacher gives students some questions about words in the text

3) Students discuss the text in a small group

4) The teacher nominates the students to read the text

c. Post-reading activities

1) After reading the passage students independently answer comprehension questions

2) The students asked to note any difficult words and these were discussed with the group

3) The teacher sums up the material

Evaluation

51 3.8 Technique for Collecting Data

The technique of collecting data used in this research are pre-test, post-test and questionnaire, they were tried out to subjects from the same population but not included in the study samples, to make sure the validity and reliability of the instruments and the clarity of the instructions. To get a clear description of the influence of learning through Reciprocal strategy, pre-test and post-test are conducted, to justify the result of the computation; questionnaire is used to cross check the data.

3.8.1 Pre-test

The pre-test is carried out to identify the student’s initial ability in reading skill. It is given in the first meeting to find out the student’s ability before they get the treatment. The test materials are in the form of a reading narrative texts followed by ten essay questions that the students have to answer. The pre-test scores are supposed to serve as a controlled variable to identify the ability of both experimental group and control groups in reading before the treatment about Reciprocal strategy

3.8.2 Post-test

The post-test is conducted similarly as the pre-test. It is used to measure

how effective the treatment of Reciprocal strategy is when given to them. The post-test items are equal to that of in pre-test but the text is different. Finally, the students in experimental group and control group were given questionnaire to find

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out their attitudes toward learning reading comprehension through reciprocal strategy.

3.8.3 Questionnaire

Questionnaire was administered as a means of giving the students an opportunity to express their feeling, opinion, or thoughts toward the application of reciprocal strategy. In other words, it’s done to see whether the students feel comfortable learning English using reciprocal strategy, especially in reading instruction.

3.9 Data Analysis

3.9.1 Pre-test and Post-test Analysis

The data gain from the pre-test and post-test will be analyzed by using case 2 t-test formula to see the different mean of pre-test and post-test score between the two groups, the experimental group and control group with the level significant of 0,05 (Lazaraton and Hatch, 1991, p.288).

The significance of the test will be analyzed by using the computer program of Statistical Package of the Social Science (SPSS). This statistical analysis is used for reason that we want to compare the performance of both students’ groups (control and experiment), and to find out whether the means of two groups are truly differ, in other words, it is to see if there is an influence of reading Reciprocal strategies on reading comprehension.

After the t-obs obtained, this result is consulted with the critical value. If the t-obs is lower than the critical value, then it means that there is no difference

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between using reciprocal strategy and the conventional strategy in term of students’ mastery of reading comprehension. In other words, the hypothesis of this study is accepted. On the contrary, if the t-obs is higher than the critical value, then, it means that there is significant difference between using reciprocal strategy and a three phase techniques in term of students’ mastery of reading comprehension. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.

3.9.2 Questionnaire Analysis

The questionnaire which is aimed at finding out students’ attitude toward

reading reciprocal strategy will be analyzed by using Likert scales (Oppenheim, 1982). The scoring criteria for each item will be determined by that scale with a checklist on the questionnaire sheet. Before they were analyzed, the attitudes were crosschecked with the students to avoid misinterpretation. Having crosschecked, the data were analyzed, interpreted and explained in relation to the theories discussed in chapter II.

Meanwhile, the findings from the questionnaires were discussed related with the students’ posttest scores to support the first question, i.e. if the students’ attitudes toward the reciprocal strategy are significant in improving their reading comprehension.

3.10 Conclusions

This chapter has been written to discuss a detailed methodological description of the research. It includes the discussion of the instruments used in

54

answering the two research questions. The data were collected through pretest and posttest of reading comprehension in narrative text, and questionnaires and then analyzed by the reciprocal theory in teaching reading narrative. The whole research findings will be discussed in chapter IV.

80

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

This chapter presents conclusions which are described from the data. Based

on the conclusions and recommendations are given both for practitioners or further researchers.

5.2 Conclusions

To conclude the result of the study, the researcher will discuss based on the research questions as proposed in chapter I section 1.3. There are two research questions, which underpinned in this study. Each of them, in this part, will be reasserted and it will be followed by its explanation and description in order to answer the problem being raised.

Based on the analysis data got from pretest and posttest scores of experimental group and control group and from the questionnaires. Some conclusions can be presented.

First, related to the first research question i.e. “Can reciprocal strategy develop students’ reading comprehension of English narrative text? The data shows that there is significant difference between the posttest score of students in experimental group and students in control group. Therefore, the implementation of reciprocal strategy in teaching reading narrative text can be considered

81

effective in improving student’s reading comprehension ability. (Palincsar & Brown, 1986); Manzo, (1969).

Second, regarding the second research question: “What are the students’ attitudes toward application of reciprocal strategy in reading instruction?” the data from the questionnaires given to the experimental group shows students’ positive responses toward reciprocal strategy. Meanwhile, data from questionnaire given to control group shows students’ negative responses toward the three face techniques and to certain shows preference to reciprocal strategy. So, it can be concluded that reciprocal strategy can increase students’ interest and motivation in reading English text and can help them to improve their reading comprehension ability. In this study presents the weakness of the research is about the instruction of the three face techniques sometime is taught by summarizing, predicting, questioning, and clarifying strategy but they are not stated in the teaching procedure for control group.

5.3 Recommendations

Based on the finding of the implementation of reciprocal strategy, there are some recommendations proposed both for further research and for practical purposes. The recommendations are intended to enhance and find the best way in teaching reading for senior high school students. Beside, they are also proposed to offer an alternative solution for helping students and institution due to the achievement of the goal of teaching English as demanded by the national

82

curriculum of education. Furthermore, the researcher offers some recommendations as follow.

First, this study focuses only on reading narrative text, it is suggested for further research to involve wider type, such as report text, expository text, to help the students in accessing knowledge in the global era.

Second, based on the result of the study there are some recommendations proposed. For the institution, it is suggested that Madrasah Aliyah School adopts reciprocal strategy since it is an appropriate alternative to develop students’ reading ability. The strategy can encourage the students to determine the meaning of what is being read and provide s simple taxonomy for thinking and generating answers. For the teacher, first it is recommended that English teachers can encourage their students to approach the text by analyzing the text, find the important point in the text in order to help them in gaining better understanding of reading text. Moreover, the students also can use of reciprocal strategy as proposed by Palincsar & Brown, 1986).

Third, scaffolding and guidance should be provide as much as possible in accordance with the students’ lack of background knowledge in order to lead the students to summary the text with their own words since this strategy were rarely solved well by the students who have limited vocabularies and background knowledge.

53 between using reciprocal strategy and the conventional strategy in term of students’ mastery of reading comprehension. In other words, the hypothesis of this study is accepted. On the contrary, if the t-obs is higher than the critical value, then, it means that there is significant difference between using reciprocal strategy and a three phase techniques in term of students’ mastery of reading comprehension. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.

3.9.2 Questionnaire Analysis

The questionnaire which is aimed at finding out students’ attitude toward reading reciprocal strategy will be analyzed by using Likert scales (Oppenheim, 1982). The scoring criteria for each item will be determined by that scale with a checklist on the questionnaire sheet. Before they were analyzed, the attitudes were crosschecked with the students to avoid misinterpretation. Having crosschecked, the data were analyzed, interpreted and explained in relation to the theories discussed in chapter II.

Meanwhile, the findings from the questionnaires were discussed related with the students’ posttest scores to support the first question, i.e. if the students’ attitudes toward the reciprocal strategy are significant in improving their reading comprehension.

3.10 Conclusions

This chapter has been written to discuss a detailed methodological description of the research. It includes the discussion of the instruments used in

54 answering the two research questions. The data were collected through pretest and posttest of reading comprehension in narrative text, and questionnaires and then analyzed by the reciprocal theory in teaching reading narrative. The whole research findings will be discussed in chapter IV.

80

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

This chapter presents conclusions which are described from the data. Based on the conclusions and recommendations are given both for practitioners or further researchers.

5.2 Conclusions

To conclude the result of the study, the researcher will discuss based on the research questions as proposed in chapter I section 1.3. There are two research questions, which underpinned in this study. Each of them, in this part, will be reasserted and it will be followed by its explanation and description in order to answer the problem being raised.

Based on the analysis data got from pretest and posttest scores of experimental group and control group and from the questionnaires. Some conclusions can be presented.

First, related to the first research question i.e. “Can reciprocal strategy develop students’ reading comprehension of English narrative text? The data shows that there is significant difference between the posttest score of students in experimental group and students in control group. Therefore, the implementation of reciprocal strategy in teaching reading narrative text can be considered

81 effective in improving student’s reading comprehension ability. (Palincsar & Brown, 1986); Manzo, (1969).

Second, regarding the second research question: “What are the students’ attitudes toward application of reciprocal strategy in reading instruction?” the data from the questionnaires given to the experimental group shows students’ positive responses toward reciprocal strategy. Meanwhile, data from questionnaire given to control group shows students’ negative responses toward the three face techniques and to certain shows preference to reciprocal strategy. So, it can be concluded that reciprocal strategy can increase students’ interest and motivation in reading English text and can help them to improve their reading comprehension ability. In this study presents the weakness of the research is about the instruction of the three face techniques sometime is taught by summarizing, predicting, questioning, and clarifying strategy but they are not stated in the teaching procedure for control group.

5.3 Recommendations

Based on the finding of the implementation of reciprocal strategy, there are some recommendations proposed both for further research and for practical purposes. The recommendations are intended to enhance and find the best way in teaching reading for senior high school students. Beside, they are also proposed to offer an alternative solution for helping students and institution due to the achievement of the goal of teaching English as demanded by the national

82 curriculum of education. Furthermore, the researcher offers some recommendations as follow.

First, this study focuses only on reading narrative text, it is suggested for further research to involve wider type, such as report text, expository text, to help the students in accessing knowledge in the global era.

Second, based on the result of the study there are some recommendations proposed. For the institution, it is suggested that Madrasah Aliyah School adopts reciprocal strategy since it is an appropriate alternative to develop students’ reading ability. The strategy can encourage the students to determine the meaning of what is being read and provide s simple taxonomy for thinking and generating answers. For the teacher, first it is recommended that English teachers can encourage their students to approach the text by analyzing the text, find the important point in the text in order to help them in gaining better understanding of reading text. Moreover, the students also can use of reciprocal strategy as proposed by Palincsar & Brown, 1986).

Third, scaffolding and guidance should be provide as much as possible in accordance with the students’ lack of background knowledge in order to lead the students to summary the text with their own words since this strategy were rarely solved well by the students who have limited vocabularies and background knowledge.