Post on 08-Jun-2018
IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
USING EXPERIENCE-TEXT-RELATIONSHIP (ETR)
METHOD
(A Classroom Action Research at the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Negeri
3 Mojolaban in the Academic Year of 2011/2012)
By:
Jarmianik
K2208037
Thesis
Written and Submitted to Teacher Training and Education Faculty of
Sebelas Maret University as a Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for
Achieving an Undergraduate Degree of Education in English
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
2012
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PRONOUNCEMENT
I would like to certify that the thesis entitled “IMPROVING
STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION USING EXPERIENCE-
TEXT-RELATIONSHIP (ETR) METHOD (A Classroom Action Research at
the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban in the Academic
Year of 2011/2012)” is really my own work. It is not plagiarism or made by
others. Everything related to other’s works are written quotation, the sources of
which are listed on the bibliography.
If then, this pronouncement proves wrong, I am ready to receive any
academic punishment.
Surakarta, July 2012
Jarmianik
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ABSTRACT
Jarmianik. IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
USING EXPERIENCE-TEXT-RELATIONSHIP (ETR) METHOD (A
Classroom Action Research at the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Negeri 3
Mojolaban in the Academic Year of 2011/2012). Thesis. Surakarta. Teacher
Training and Education Faculty, Sebelas Maret University, 2012.
This research focuses on the implementation of Experience-Text-
Relationship (ETR) method to improve students’ reading comprehension of the
eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban in the academic year of
2011/2012. It is aimed at (1) finding whether and to what extent the use of ETR
improves students’ reading comprehension and (2) describing what happens when
ETR method is implemented in teaching reading at the eighth grade students of
SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban.
This study used classroom action research method. The research was
conducted in two cycles. In the first cycle, the research was done within four
meetings and the second cycle was conducted in three meetings. Each cycle
consisted of four steps namely planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting
the action. The data were collected by means of test, observation, interview, and
questionnaire. The test consisted of pre-test and post test. The scores got from the
tests were quantitatively analyzed by using the formula of descriptive statistics. In
order to know the improvement of students’ reading comprehension, the mean
score before action was compared with the ones got after the action. On the other
hand, the result of interview, questionnaire, and other documents were analyzed
by using qualitative method proposed by Burns. The method included data
gathering, codification, comparison, interpretation, and data reporting.
The results of the research show that ETR method is able to improve both
students’ reading comprehension and class situation. The students always got
improvement in reading scores from pre-test to post test 2. Students’ ability in
finding out all reading indicators including main idea, purpose of text, reference,
explicit information, implicit information, reference, and word meaning improved.
The students’ mean score of pre-test was 39.3. The score increased to 63.8 in post
test 1 and it finally rose to 73 in post test 2. In addition, using ETR method, the
students did not comprehend a text through translating word by word.
Consequently, they did not spend much time for doing any exercises following
certain narrative text. Moreover, the students were interested in reading class
activities. Since the students were interested in the class, they were active in
joining the class. The students’ interest also made the students able to focus on the
lesson. They paid attention during reading class. The students’ full attention made
the class atmosphere conducive for teaching and learning process.
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MOTTO
“Thank God for what you have and trust God for what you need”
-Anonymous-
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DEDICATION
This thesis is obligingly dedicated for my beloved mother and father who always
give me endless love and great support.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the World for pouring the blessing to the
researcher and giving her mercy, health, faith, and everything during working on
this thesis.
This thesis could not be finished without the support, assistance, and
encouragement from many individuals and institutions. Therefore, on this
occasion, the researcher would like to express her gratitude to:
1. The Dean of Teacher Training and Education Faculty for allowing the
researcher to write her thesis.
2. The Head of English Department for her permission to write this thesis.
3. Dr. Ngadiso M.Pd and Endang S, S.Pd, M.Hum for their guidance,
patience, and critical suggestion during the writing of this thesis.
4. All lecturers of English Department for meaningful knowledge and
experience.
5. The Headmaster of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban for her permission to
conduct research.
6. Kuswiyanti, S.Pd for her guidance during the research.
7. The students of class VIII G for the cooperation during the research.
8. Her beloved parents and sisters for their endless love, prayers, and care.
9. All her friends in English Department for the togetherness.
The researcher realizes that this thesis is still far for being perfect. She
gratefully accepts any comment and suggestion for the betterment of the thesis.
Hopefully, this thesis gives meaningful contribution for further research.
Surakarta, July 2012
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TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE ............................... .............................................................................. i
PRONOUNCEMENT ..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. iii
APPROVAL .................................................................................................. iv
RATIFICATION ............................................................................................ v
MOTTO ........................................................................................................ vi
DEDICATION .............................................................................................. vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT .............................................................................. viii
TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................ ix
LIST OF TABLE ........................................................................................... xii
LIST OF FIGURE ........................................................................................ xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATION ......................................................................... xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................... xv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study ................................................... 1
B. Problem Statement ............................................................. 7
C. Objectives of the Study ...................................................... 7
D. Benefits of the Study .......................................................... 8
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Review on Reading Comprehension .................................. 9
1. Definition of Reading .................................................... 9
2. Definition of Reading Comprehension ......................... 10
3. Purpose of Reading ....................................................... 11
4. Models of Reading ........................................................ 11
5. Micro and Macro Skills of Reading .............................. 12
6. Level of Reading Comprehension ................................. 13
7. Factors Interfering Reading Comprehension ................ 15
8. Strategies of Reading Comprehension .......................... 16
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B. Review on Experience-Text-Relationship (ETR) .............. 19
1. Definition of Experience-Text-Relationship ................. 19
2. Steps of Experience-Text-Relationship ........................ 19
3. The Advantages of Experience-Text-Relationship ....... 21
4. The Disadvantages of Experience-Text-Relationship ... 22
C. Teaching Reading Comprehension Using
Experience-Text-Relationship ........................................... 22
1. Principles of Teaching Reading ................................... 22
2. Teaching Reading Comprehension to
the Eighth Grade Students of Junior High School ........ 23
3. Procedure of Teaching Reading Using
Experience-Text-Relationship ...................................... 24
D. Review of Related Research .............................................. 26
E. Rationale ............................................................................ 28
F. Hypothesis ......................................................................... 31
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Context of the Research .................................................... 32
1. Research Setting ........................................................... 32
2. Subject of the Research ................................................ 33
B. Research Methodology ..................................................... 34
1. Definition of Action Research ..................................... 33
2. Models of Action Research .......................................... 35
3. Procedure of Action Research ...................................... 36
C. Data Collecting ................................................................. 40
D. Data Analysis .................................................................... 43
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Research Findings .............................................................. 46
1. Identifying Problem ...................................................... 46
2. Implementation ............................................................ 51
a. Cycle 1 ...................................................................... 51
1) Planning the Action ............................................. 54
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2) Implementing the Action ..................................... 54
3) Observing the Action ........................................... 62
4) Reflecting the Action ........................................... 67
5) Revising Plan ....................................................... 73
b. Cycle 2 ...................................................................... 74
1) Planning the Action ............................................. 75
2) Implementing the Action ..................................... 76
3) Observing the Action ........................................... 82
4) Reflecting the Action ........................................... 86
B. Discussion ......................................................................... 89
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion ......................................................................... 95
B. Implication ......................................................................... 96
C. Suggestion .......................................................................... 96
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................... 98
APPENDICES .............................................................................................. 101
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LIST OF TABLE
Table 3.1 Schedule of the Research ........................................................... 32
Table 4.1 Problems Found Before Action................................................... 46
Table 4.2 Students’ Reading Scores in Pre-Test ......................................... 48
Table 4.3 Summary of the Implementation of Cycle 1 ............................... 51
Table 4.4 Research Findings on Cycle 1 ..................................................... 68
Table 4.5 The Students’ Scores in each Indicator after Cycle 1 ................. 69
Table 4.6 Summary of Implementation of Cycle 2 ..................................... 74
Table 4.7 Research Findings on Cycle 2 ..................................................... 87
Table 4.8 The Students’ Scores in Each Indicator after Cycle 2 ................ 88
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LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 3.1 Action Research Model by Kemmis and McTaggart ................ 36
Chart 4.1 Students’ Score in Each Indicator after Cycle 1 ......................... 70
Chart 4.2 Students’ Score in Each Indicator after Cycle 2 ......................... 89
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LIST OF ABBREVIATION
SMP : Sekolah Menengah Pertama
ETR : Experience-Text-Relationship
LKS : Lembar Kerja Siswa
SKKD : Standar Kompetensi dan Kompetensi Dasar
KTSP : Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan
KKM : Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal
FS : Fitri Setiyowati
KC : Kurnia Cahyati
AT : Agustinus Tegar
RO : Ratri Oktaviani
WN : Wiwid Nugrahani
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Research Schedule ............................................................... 102
Appendix 2 Field Notes (Before Action) .................................................. 103
Appendix 3 Questionnaire (Before Action) .............................................. 106
Appendix 4 Transcript of Interview (Before Action) ............................... 108
Appendix 5 Blueprint and Try Out .......................................................... 116
Appendix 6 Validity and Reliability of Try Out ...................................... 135
Appendix 7 Lesson Plan .......................................................................... 147
Appendix 8 Field Note (During Action) ................................................... 182
Appendix 9 Test Item ................................................................................ 197
Appendix 10 Students’ Scores ................................................................. 210
Appendix 11 Questionnaire (After Action) .............................................. 213
Appendix 12 Transcript of Interview (After Action) ................................ 214
Appendix 13 Photograph .......................................................................... 216
Appendix 14 Letters of Permission .......................................................... 217
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
In many parts of the world, especially in those considering English as
foreign language, reading skill is often important. Pang, et al. (2003: 6) state that
the ability to read opens up new worlds and opportunities. It enables people to
gain new knowledge, enjoy literature, and do daily things that are part of modern
life, such as reading newspaper, job listings, instruction manuals, maps, and so on.
In educational realm, the ability of reading in English becomes a demand.
English learners need to have ability in reading since many professional,
technical, and scientific literatures are published in English. Learners will be able
to master any up-to-date knowledge if they are able to read in English (Alderson
in Alderson and Urquhart, 1984: 1).
The importance of reading ability is also stressed by Carrell. According
to Carrell in Carrell, et al. (1988: 1), for most students, reading is the main reason
why they learn language. Therefore, students are really required to have ability to
read in English. Such idea is also supported by Eskey in Carrell, et al. (1988: 1).
Eskey states that someone can be recognized as good language learner when he
has ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good
comprehension. Without solid reading proficiency, second language learners
cannot be successful in learning. Besides, they cannot compete with native
speakers of English.
Reading is about understanding written text (Pang, et al., 2003: 6).
Similarly, Haison and Smith (1980: 23) define reading as the act of responding
with appropriate meaning to printed or written verbal symbols. It means that
reading requires the reader to be able to recreate or understand the meaning
intended by the writer.
In understanding written text, readers typically make use of background
knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, experience related to the text,
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and other strategies (Pang, et al., 2003: 6). Similarly, Kintsch and Kintsch in
Bringham, et al. (2007) state that readers integrate decoding ability, vocabulary
knowledge, prior knowledge of topic considered, and relevant strategies to make
sense of a text and understand it.
Reading also requires relationship among the readers, the texts, and the
interaction between reader and the text (Rumelhart in Aebersold & Field, 1997:
5). This view implies that someone can be successful reader when he or she
successfully involves and interacts with the text he reads. It means that he
understands the true meaning intended by the writer. He can feel what the writer
feels.
The syllabus of KTSP states that ones can be considered successful
readers when they can achieve some indicators in reading. Those indicators
include: (1) identifying main ideas; (2) identifying information, both explicit and
implicit one; (3) identifying the meaning of words; (4) understanding
communicative purpose; (5) determining reference; and (6) reading aloud with
acceptable pronunciation, stress, and intonation.
Reading is an important language skill; nevertheless it is difficult to
master. Most students fail in learning to read any passages in English. The
students seem to read with less understanding. Most of them think that the activity
of reading is just by loudly pronouncing words by words written in certain
literature (Alderson in Alderson and Urquhart, 1984: 1).
Researcher conducted pre-research toward English class of the eighth
grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban. Based on the data collected through
some techniques including observation, interview, questionnaire, and pre-test, it
can be concluded that most students had difficulty in reading comprehension. The
students had difficulty to understand and comprehend reading passage discussed
by the teacher.
The students’ problem in reading comprehension covered some
indicators: (1) the students had difficulty in identifying main idea of text; (2) the
students got difficulty in identifying communicative purpose of text; (3) the
students had difficulty to find out information, both explicit and implicit, from
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text; (4) the students had problems in identifying meaning of words within the
text; and (5) most of the students also had problem in determining reference.
Besides, the class condition indicated: (1) most students did not pay
attention to the teacher while the teacher was explaining in front of the class; (2)
there were only few students who gave response to the teacher whereas the other
students were only passive; (3) the students were bored in joining the class; and
(4) the students spent much times to do any questions and exercises following a
reading text.
Those problem indicators were caused by some factors. The factors
influencing the condition were from the students themselves, the teacher, and the
other factors including the teaching technique, material, and media. From the
students, the main cause was the students’ low vocabulary mastery. Most of the
students had quite limited vocabularies. Because the students had limited
vocabularies, they did not have willingness to read English text. When they found
that they did not know the meaning of words within a text, they immediately gave
up and thought that the text was difficult to understand. The students always kept
in their mind that English was not an interesting subject. Moreover, they
considered English was difficult to learn. Consequently, their learning motivation
in English also became low. They were always lazy for joining the class.
The causes for the students’ reading problems also came from the teacher
and other factors including technique, media, and material. From the teacher, the
cause was that the teacher never gave explanation on reading strategies. She did
not consider the importance of reading strategies to help the students easily
answer questions following reading text. Then, the teacher also did not firmly
reprimand the students who frequently gave less attention during the class and
disturbed the conduciveness of the class. She tended to give less care to the
students.
The other causes of students’ reading problem also came from the
technique, media, and material. The teaching technique used by the teacher was
monotonous and less appropriate. In teaching reading, the teacher always used
“lecturing” technique to deliver knowledge to the students. Guiding the students
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to comprehend the text, the teacher directly translated the content of the text. After
that, the teacher asked the students to do exercises in the worksheet. So far, this
conventional technique was always used by the teacher in teaching reading. Since
it was repeatedly and frequently used by the teacher, the teaching and learning
process became boring. Moreover, directly translating the content of text was not
helpful for the students. The students, then, tended to be extremely dependent on
the teacher. Comprehending the text, they just needed to wait for the teacher to
translate the content of the text for them. As a result, the students became passive.
The other cause was the absence of media for supporting the teaching and learning
process. Presenting the reading materials, the teacher never utilized any media to
raise students’ attention and motivation. Moreover, SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban
does not provide LCD projector and computer to support teaching and learning
process. Then, the last cause was the less attractive instructional materials
provided for the students. The students were only given material taken from
student worksheet (LKS) with dull and black-and-white colored paper. This factor
made the students bored and less interested in doing reading exercises.
Based on the indicators and causes of reading problems found in SMP
Negeri 3 Mojolaban above, the researcher wants to propose a solution that might
be helpful to overcome the problem. The solution she proposes is experience-text-
relationship (ETR) method. ETR is a reading method found by Kathryn Au in
1979. This method draws on the students’ background knowledge and experience
(Wood & Blanton, 2009: 135). By this method, the students are expected to be
able to activate and use their background knowledge to comprehend a text. The
key principle of this method is that students’ background knowledge is really
helpful for the students to comprehend the text they read. Simply, background
knowledge or experience plays great role in this method. Therefore, in
implementing this method, teacher is firstly required to help the students activate
their background knowledge or experience related to the text that will be
discussed later on.
ETR method basically consists of three steps, namely experience (E), text
(T), and relationship (R). In the first step (experience), the teacher starts a
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discussion to activate students' background knowledge about the topic of the
passage to be read. The teacher has the children discuss experiences they have had
or knowledge they have, which are related in some way to the story.
In the second step (text), the teacher asks the students to read short parts
of the story and answer questions about the content after each section is read. In
this phase, the teacher must directly correct any students’ misunderstanding.
These activities are done until the students finish reading the whole text
(Abisamra, 2001).
Finally, in the third step (relationship), the teacher asks students to draw
relationships between the content of the story discussed in the experience phase
and their outside experience and knowledge.
The researcher proposes ETR as method to improve reading
comprehension of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban because
of some reasons. Firstly, ETR makes the students not much dependent on the
teacher. An important requirement of the ETR method is that the teacher be adept
in leading the students to discover the correct answers for themselves, rather than
telling them the answers directly (Carrell, et al., 1989: 654). In preliminary
research, the researcher found that the students were much dependent on the
teacher. Comprehending a reading text, the just waited for the teacher translated
all words within the text. Hopefully, through ETR, the students become active and
independent since they are trained to discover any information within text and get
the correct answers by themselves.
Secondly, the focus on building background knowledge in experience
phase is helpful for students to have better comprehension. Saunders, et al. (1999:
10) state that building students’ background knowledge prior to reading helps
students contextualize story themes, content, and vocabulary. It means that the
students must have information or vocabularies related to the text before reading.
These clues are important since they can help the students have better
comprehension toward the story. Knowing some clue words related to the story is
beneficial for overcoming the students’ problem on low vocabulary mastery.
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Thirdly, in ETR, the teacher can systematically guide the reading process
and monitor students’ comprehension (Wood and Blanton, 2009: 135). Since the
reading process is done in sections, the teacher can directly check students’
understanding. When there is misunderstanding, the teacher can directly clarify it.
Because any students’ misunderstanding is directly corrected or clarified by the
teacher, it is easy for the students to have well comprehension toward the story.
Fourthly, background knowledge activation in experience step gives
opportunity for the students to explore dimensions of the story as many as
possible and to integrate features of it with their existing store of knowledge (Au,
1998: 104). It means that there must be some different versions of background
knowledge created or had by the students. Different students probably have
different background knowledge toward the story. This activity makes the
students creative. Moreover, various versions of story can make the teaching and
learning process interesting.
Fifthly, answering any questions related to the story gives the students
practice in formulating complex thoughts (Au, 1998: 104). After reading each
segment of the text, the students are given some comprehension questions related
to the segment. This activity provides the students reading practices. It
automatically makes the students accustomed to having comprehension questions.
Then, since the questions cover some indicators of reading (main idea, meaning of
words, explicit and implicit information, communicative purpose, and reference),
the activity of answering these questions can help students improve their reading
comprehension. Besides, the activity gives the teacher an idea of which questions
or reading indicators are still difficult for the students so that the teacher can think
of strategy for teaching the difficult indicators.
Sixthly, drawing upon, sharing, and discussing students’ relevant
personal experiences as required in ETR method sustain motivation and help
students make concrete and conceptual connections to the text, its content, and the
themes under study (Saunders et al., 1999: 10). Hopefully, through the
implementation of ETR, especially in the step of discussing personal experiences
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related to text, the students’ problem in class situation can be solved since their
learning motivation in reading can be improved.
Considering those benefits of ETR method, researcher is interested in
conducting an action research in improving reading comprehension by using
experience-text-relationship (ETR) method to the eighth grade students of SMP
Negeri 3 Mojolaban.
B. Problem Statement
The problems discussed in this study are as follows:
1. Does and to what extent ETR method improve students’ reading
comprehension of the eighth graders of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban?
2. What happens with class situation when ETR method is implemented
in teaching reading at the eighth grade students at SMP Negeri 3
Mojolaban?
C. Objectives of the Study
Based on the research problem statements above, the objectives of the
research are as follows:
1. To find whether and to what extent the use of ETR can improve
students’ reading comprehension.
2. To describe what happens with class situation when ETR method is
implemented in teaching reading at the eighth grade students of SMP
Negeri 3 Mojolaban.
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D. Benefits of the Study
By conducting this action research, the researcher expects the research
results to give following benefits:
1. For the teacher
It is expected that the result of this research can help English teachers
in SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban overcome the reading problem of their
students. The teachers can use ETR method as one of reading method
to teaching reading.
2. For the students
ETR method can ease the students to comprehend an English text. By
using this method, the researcher hopes that the students can increase
their achievement in reading. ETR method may be “something new”
for the students.
3. For the school
After the students succeed in improving their scores in reading, the
researcher really hopes that the result of this research can give
contribution to the school, SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban, to improve its
accreditation.
4. For teacher training and education faculty:
The result of this research can be used as a reference for the students
who want to conduct action research by using ETR method to improve
students’ reading comprehension in English teaching-learning process.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Review on Reading Comprehension
1. Definition of Reading
Reading is one of the four skills in language learning. It is more than
the activity of pronouncing printed material or following each line of written
page. It involves various and complex activities.
Definitions of reading are given by some experts. Kintsch and Kintsch
in Bringham, et al. (2007: 1) state that reading is an active process involving
the integration of decoding ability, vocabulary knowledge, prior knowledge,
and relevant strategies to make sense of a text and understand it. In addition,
Block and Pressley in Bringham, et al. (2007: 1) define reading as an active
process involving clarifying meaning, summarizing, drawing inferences, and
predicting.
Aebersold and Field (1997: 15) state that reading is what happens
when people look at the text and assign meaning to the written symbols in that
text. It means that reading is the activity in which one not only watches words
written on the paper but also looks for the meanings of them. Simply, after
reading, readers are required to know the meaning intended by the writer of the
text they have just read. In line with Aebersold and Field, Grabe and Stoller
(2002: 9-10) propose reading as the ability to draw meaning from the printed
materials. They explain that reading highlights how to draw meaning from a
text and interpret this meaning which varies in line with the second language
(L2) proficiency of the reader.
Pang, et al. (2003: 6) define reading as a complex activity that
involves both perception and thought. Reading consists of two related
processes: word recognition and comprehension. Further, they explain that
word recognition means the process of perceiving how written symbols
correspond to one’s spoken language. Then, comprehension refers to the
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process of making sense of words, sentences, and connected text. They also
state that readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary,
grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help them
understand written text.
Johnston in Mikulecky (1990: 2) defines reading as a complex
behavior which involves conscious and unconscious use of various strategies to
build a model of meaning which the writer is assumed to have intended.
Another definition of reading is given by Nuttal. Nuttal (1982: 5)
defines reading as the meaningful interpretation of printed or written verbal
symbols. This definition means that reading is a result of the interaction
between the perceptions of graphic symbols that represent language and the
reader’s language skills, cognitive skills, and the knowledge of the world. In
this process, the reader tries to recreate meaning intended by the writer.
2. Definition of Reading Comprehension
The fundamental goal of reading activity is reader’s comprehension.
Wren (2003) states that the ultimate goal of reading is to comprehend the
information conveyed in the text. When one can well comprehend a text, he
can be considered as successful reader since he can achieve the goal of reading.
Balsiger (2011: 1) says that reading comprehension is the ability to
derive meaning of written material. Readers can be considered successful ones
when they are able to understand the meaning intended by the writer.
According to Olson and Diller in Ria (2007: 9), what is meant by
reading comprehension is a term used to identify the skills needed to
understand and apply information contained in a written material. This
statement is supported by Harris and Sipay in Ria (2007: 9) who say that
reading comprehension ability is taught to be a set of generalized knowledge
acquisition skills that permits people to acquire and exhibit information gained
as a consequence of reading printed language.
In addition, Harris and Hodges in Torgesen (2006) state that reading
comprehension is the construction of meaning of a written text through a
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reciprocal interchange of ideas between the reader and the message in
particular text.
3. Purpose of Reading
The activity of comprehending reading text has some specific
purposes. Wallace (1996: 6-7) classifies the purposes of reading based on the
personal reasons. The purposes include:
a. Reading for survival
Reading for survival involves an immediate response to a
situation. This kind of purpose is very crucial for life, for example a
warning signs, an admonition sign, an instruction sign, etc. Survival
reading serves immediate needs.
b. Reading for learning
Reading for learning is expected to be exclusively school-
related. This purpose of reading is intended to support learning. The
reader needs to ‘translate’ the text literally or metaphorically, to learn
vocabulary, to identify ‘useful’ structure or collocations, to use a text as a
model for writing and to practice pronunciation.
c. Reading for pleasure
Doing ‘reading for pleasure’ aims at getting happiness. The
reader wants to enjoy the sound, and rhythm or rhyme of the text. The
text being read is written originally to offer enjoyment. The important
by-product of reading for pleasure is fluency.
4. Models of Reading
According to Aebersold and Field (1997: 17-18) there are three main
models of how reading occurs. The three models are as follows:
a. Bottom up
This model argues that the reader constructs the text from the
smallest units (letters to words to phrases to sentences, etc) and that the
process of constructing the text from those small units becomes so
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automatic that readers are not aware of how it operates. Decoding is the
earlier term for this process.
b. Top Down
This model argues that the readers bring a great deal of
knowledge, expextations, assumptions, and questions to the text and give
the basic understanding of the vocabulary. They continue to read as long
as the text to confirm their expectations.
c. Interactive
This model argues that both top down and bottom up processes
are occuring, either alternately or at the same time. This model describes
a process that moves both bottom up and top down, depends on the type
of text as well as on the reader’s background knowledge, language
proficiency level, motivation, strategy use, and culturally shaped beliefs
about the reading.
5. Micro and Macro Skills of Reading
Brown (2004: 187-188) states that aside from attending to genres of
text, the skills and strategies for accomplishing reading emerge as a crucial
consideration in the assessment of reading ability. The micro and macro skills
below represent the spectrum of possibilities for objectives in the assessment of
reading.
a. Micro skills of Reading
1) Discriminate among distinctive graphemes and orthographic
patterns of English.
2) Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short term
memory.
3) Process writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
4) Recognize a core of words, and interpret word order patterns and
their significance.
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5) Recognize grammatical word classes (nouns, verb etc.) systems
(e.g. tense, agreement, and pluralisation), patterns, rules, and
elliptical forms.
6) Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different
grammatical forms.
7) Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in
signaling the relationship between and among clauses
b. Macro skills of Reading
1) Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their
significance for interpretation.
2) Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according
to form and purpose.
3) Infer context that is not explicit by using background knowledge.
4) From described events, ideas, etc, infer links and connections
between events, deduce causes and effects, and detect such
relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given
information, generalization, and exemplification.
5) Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.
6) Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context
of the appropriate cultural schemata.
7) Develop and use a battery of reading strategies such as scanning
and skimming, detecting discourse markers, guessing the meaning
of words from context, and activating schemata for the
interpretation of texts.
6. Level of Reading Comprehesion
Some people say that the act of reading only consists of pronouncing
words. They consider that comprehension is not important. Concentrating on
pronuncing words rather than comprehending the meaning of the passage is a
waste of precious time. Based on the idea above, the teacher needs to
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emphasize the basic comprehension skills. According to Shepherd in
Simanjuntak (1988: 117) there are four levels of comprehension:
a. Literal level
This level is the simplest one. It means that what the readers
need to do is to reproduce the facts as that are clearly stated by the
author. The skills needed for this level are noting factual data, sequence,
chronology, and enumeration. To answer the questions of this level, the
students can state, in a parrot-like manner, what the author has written
with little or no understanding.
b. Interpretive level
This level requires the reader to go beyond the information
given by the author. The reader is now required to see the significance of
the data: to note various relationships such as cause and effect and
relation of the part to the whole, to make comparisons, to draw
conclusions and inferences, and to make generalizations. The teacher can
help the students see how facts are interrelated.
c. Critical reading
At this level, the students learn to evaluate and judge the
information and the author’s presentation of it. Skills at this level are
aimed at evaluating the author’s use of language for guiding the reader’s
interpretation: noting evidence of the author’s bias, qualifications, point
of view, intent, and truthfulness.
d. Creative reading
This level requires the students’ involvement with the
information presented as they use it to formulate or to re-think ideas of
their own. Obviously, the readers are best able to think creatively about
the information they have read when they know what the author has
written, to make interpretations basic to purpose, to evaluate the
pertinence of the information.
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7. Factors Interfering Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is difficult. Therefore, there are many
learners who still have low reading comprehension. Balsiger (2011: 1-2)
mentions six main factors interfering reading comprehension among students.
The six factors are as follows:
a. Weak decoding skill
Many students appear to have weak basic decoding skills. Their
decoding skills cannot keep pace with the written material they are
required to read. This poor reading accuracy results in misread and
omitted words, which can change the meaning of the sentences and
interfere with reading comprehension.
b. Poor reading prosody
Prosody means reading with intonation, inflection, and
appropriate phrasing (pausing at commas and “reading” period). When
the readers run the sentences together and read without appropriate
prosody, it is difficult for them to “chunk” the language for meaning.
c. Weak language processing skill
Some students have weak language skills for higher-level
language syntax. Students with weak language skills lose the meaning of
the sentence when the syntax becomes complex and have difficulty in
parsing and linking the different parts of the sentences.
d. Vocabulary
Weak readers typically have low vocabulary mastery. As the
vocabulary lags, more unknown words are encountered, reading becomes
progressively more difficult, and the vocabulary gap widens.
e. Memory
Reading for comprehension requires the ability to hold
information in memory across sentences, in order to derive overall
meaning from a paragraph or passages. For longer passages, concepts for
multiple paragraphs, must be retained in memory and linked together.
Students with memory weaknesses in holding information as they read.
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f. Lack of active processing
Some students are not actively processing the material they read.
They need to learn how to actively engage with written material, through
techniques such as wondering, predicting, clarifying, linking ideas,
relating material with their own life experiences, and visually picturing
scenes in the story.
8. Strategies for Reading Comprehension
In order to make reading comprehension easy, readers should have
strategies that may be helpful to understand the meaning intended by the writer
of the text they read. Brown (2004: 188) lists some principle strategies for
reading comprehension. These strategies can also be used for assessment
criteria. The strategies are:
a. identifying purpose of reading text
b. applying spelling rules and conventions for bottom up decoding
c. using lexical analysis (prefixes, roots, suffixes, etc) to determine
meaning.
d. guessing at meaning
e. skimming the text for the gist and for main idea
f. scanning the text for specific information
g. using silent reading techniques for rapid processing
h. using marginal notes, outlines, charts, or semantic maps for
understanding and retaining information
i. distinguishing between literal and implied meaning
j. capitalizing on discourse markers to process relationship
In this research, the researcher does not use all comprehension
strategies as mentioned above. Here, she only uses some strategies including:
a. identifying purpose of reading text
In order to identify the communicative purpose, readers can
firstly pay attention to the text itself. From any statements or sentences
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produced by the writer, the students can identify the type of the text.
After knowing the text type, the readers can understand the purpose of
it.
b. guessing at meaning
When we encounter an unfamiliar word, a good strategy is to
infer (or guess) its meaning from the context. We may not always be
able to infer an exact meaning, but we can often get the general
meaning—enough to continue reading with understanding. The
benefits of this strategy are (1) it allows us to continue reading and
stay focused on the ideas in the text; (2) it helps us develop a more
complete understanding of the word and the way it is used; and (3) it
helps us remember the word in the future.
There are some guidelines for inferring meaning from the
immediate context. They are:
1) analyzing the way a word is used in a sentence. What part of
speech is it (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.)?
2) looking at the words that are used with it. These often help
determine meaning. For example, if it is an adjective, what is the
noun? If it is a verb, what is the subject?
3) thinking about the topic and the meaning of the sentence. How
does the word fit in?
(Mikulecky and Jeffries, 2007: 36)
c. Skimming for the gist and main idea
Skimming is a form of rapid reading for finding the general
idea or gist of a passage or a book. When you skim, you have a
general question in mind, something you need or want to know about
the text (Mikulecky and Jeffries, 2007: 170)
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d. Scanning for specific information
Scanning is a strategy used by all readers to find relevant
information in a text (Brown, 2004: 209). The information found
through this strategy is the one usually explicitly stated in the text.
e. Distinguishing between literal and implied meaningPanduan Materi Ujian Akhir Nasional Tahun Pelajaran 2003/2004
Bahasa Inggris (Program Bahasa) gives clear explanation toward literal and
implied meaning. Literal meaning means the meaning explicitly stated
in the text. The readers can directly take certain information from text,
without analyzing it. In order to find explicit information, the readers
may firstly look at the keyword of questions. After getting the
keywords, the readers may allocate the answer in the text. Scanning is
preferable for finding such information.
Meanwhile, implied meaning refers to the ones which are not
explicitly stated in the text. From stated information, the readers still
need to think and make conclusion of the information. In order to find
out the implicit information, the students need to consider the whole
context of text. They can pay attention to the explicit information and
then take conclusion toward the explicit information.
Based on the theories of reading comprehension above, it can be
concluded that reading comprehension is the goal of reading. It is a process of
understanding written or printed text. In order to understand the meaning and
make sense of the text, reader needs to use decoding ability, vocabulary
knowledge, prior knowledge, and relevant strategies. Students can be considered
as good readers when they have ability or skill to find out important indicators of
reading including finding main idea, explicit information, implicit information,
communicative purpose of text, reference, and meaning of words based on the
context. Good readers also need to understand that different purposes of reading
require different reading strategies. The ability of using appropriate strategy in
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comprehending text makes the readers easy to catch the writer’s intended
meaning.
B. The Review on Experience-Text-Relationship Method
1. Definition of Experience-Text-Relationship
Experience-Text-Relationship (ETR) method is one of a variety of
methods developed as a total reading program that emphasizes comprehension
(reading for meaning) proposed by Kathryn Au. In 1979, Au applied the method
to the minority children in Hawaii. The students got better comprehension after
applying it.
Dowhower (2002: 145) simply defines ETR as a method of linking
background knowledge to narrative story. The result of the “link” is the
development of an insight and relationship between the students’ experiences
and the text.
The main point of ETR method is background knowledge building or
experience activation. Wood and Blanton (2009: 135) state that ETR method
draws on English language learners’ background knowledge and experience.
This method can run well when the students have adequate background
knowledge related to the story that will be read. This idea is in line with the
idea given by Lawrence (2007: 59). She states that, in ETR, building prior
knowledge needs to be the focus in the teaching and learning process. In order
to comprehend reading text, English learners are required to firstly activate
their background knowledge.
Besides, ETR mainly stresses on discussion activity. In guiding
students, the reading teacher must conduct discussion through questioning the
students. Discussion is conducted in all phases of ETR method.
2. Steps of Experience-Text-Relationship Method
ETR method has three basic steps. The three steps of ETR are as
follows:
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a. Experience (E) Phase
This initial phase is aimed at activating students’ personal
experience or background knowledge. In this phase, teacher has students
discuss their personal experience or prior knowledge related to the topic
of the text they are going to read. In this first activity, teacher
continuously adds question and answer sections into the discussion. The
discussion is used to activate students’ background knowledge about the
topic of the passage to be read and to motivate the students to read.
Experience phase is important not only because the students activate any
relevant prior background they may have and begin to relate it to the text
to be read, but also because the experience step provides a motivation for
reading the text.
b. Text (T) Phase
This phase requires students to read the text. The reading is done
in segments. After the students read certain segment of the text, the
teacher monitors students’ reading comprehension by questioning them
about the segment that is read by the students. In this step, teacher should
clarify any misconception and misunderstanding that may inhibit
students to understand the text. The reading alternated with discussion is
done until the students finish reading the whole text.
c. Relationship (R) Phase
This phase requires the teacher to guide the students in relating
the ideas from the text to their own experiences. It helps students
integrate the information from the text with their experiences to develop
understanding of the text. It connects the key ideas in the text to the
students’ experiences. A key goal in this step is to show students that
students can use their background knowledge to help them interpret and
understand stories.
In all three steps, the teacher attempts to model and to guide the
students systematically through the cognitive processes related to
understanding a written text. An important requirement of the ETR method is
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that the teacher be adept in leading the students to discover the correct answers
for themselves, rather than telling them the answers directly. The goal of the
method is to enable the students, who have had the processes modeled for them
by the teacher, to use these same cognitive processes on their own.
3. The Advantages of Experience-Text-Relationship
ETR method is really beneficial. It is appropriate to use this method to
teach reading because it has some strengths:
a. The activation and use of background knowledge in ETR is really helpful
for students to improve their comprehension. Saunders, et al. (1999: 10)
state that building students’ background knowledge prior to reading helps
students contextualize story themes, content and vocabulary.
b. ETR lessons provide opportunities for the students to explore many
dimensions of story and integrate features of it with their existing
knowledge (Au, 1998: 102).
c. Guiding questions given to build students’ prior knowledge can create
motivating reading environment (Lawrence, 2007: 60).
d. Answering any questions related to the story gives the students practice
in formulating and expressing complex thoughts (Au, 1998: 104).
e. ETR method provides opportunity for each student to make comparison
and contrast with what they already know and to accommodate new
information into their pre-existing schemata. Through this process,
students’ schemata become redefined and extended (Ajideh, 2003: 1).
f. Since reading materials are related to students’ experiences, the students’
motivation in learning will be increased (Heilman, 1961: 99).
g. In ETR, teacher can systematically guide the reading process and monitor
students’ reading comprehension (Wood and Blanton, 2009: 135)
h. Drawing upon, sharing, and discussing students’ relevant personal
experiences as required in ETR method sustain motivation and help
students make concrete and conceptual connections to the text, its
content, and the themes under study (Saunders, et al., 1999: 10)
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4. The Disadvantages of Experience-Text-Relationship
ETR has some weaknesses to apply. These are the disadvantages of
this method:
a. Since ETR is closely related to directed and guided reading, the teacher
needs to give assistance to help the students. The teacher’s guidance is
really needed. It means that the students tend to depend on the teacher
(Balajthy & Wade, 2003: 111)
b. Method focusing on experience building makes the teacher difficult to
control vocabulary because too many words may be introduced at one
time (Heilman, 1961: 100).
C. Teaching Reading Comprehension Using Experience-Text-Relationship
Method
1. Principles of Teaching Reading
Principles of teaching reading are basic rules which constitute the
theoretical framework out of which all practices are evolved. Heilman (1961:
3-12) proposes eleven principles of teaching reading:
a. Learning to read is a complicated process and is sensitive to a variety of
pressure. Too much pressure or the wrong kind of pressure may result in
non-learning.
b. Learning to read is an individual process.
c. Proper reading instruction depends on the diagnosis of each child’s
weaknesses and needs.
d. The best diagnosis is useless unless it is used as a blueprint for
instruction.
e. No child should be expected or forced to read material which at the
moment he is incapable of reading.
f. Reading is process of getting meaning from printed word symbols. It is
not merely a process of making conventionalized noises associated with
these symbols. This principle means that reading is more than a
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mechanical process, even though mechanics are an essential part of the
process.
g. Any given technique, practice, or procedure is likely to work better with
some children than with others. Hence, the teacher of reading must have
variety of approaches.
h. The concept of readiness should be extended upward to all grades.
i. Early in the learning process, the child must acquire ways of gaining
independence in identifying words whose meanings are known to him
but which are unknown to him as sight words.
j. Children should not be in the classroom if they have emotional problems
sufficiently serious to make them uneducable at the moment or if they
interfere with or disrupt the learning process.
k. Emphasis should be on prevention rather than cure. Reading problems
should be detected early and corrected before they deteriorate into
failure-frustration-reaction cases.
2. Teaching Reading Comprehension to the Eighth Grade Students of Junior
High School
Reading is one of language skills that must be mastered by the
students of junior high school. For reading skill, according to Standar Isi in
Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional nomor 14 tahun 2007, the eighth
graders of junior high school are expected to have ability in comprehending or
understanding meaning of a short written text in the form of narrative and
recount text.
The competence standard and basic competence (SKKD) states that
the eighth grade students of junior high school need to able to understand
meaning of simple short narrative and recount essay in order to interact with
surrounding environment. Furthermore, the syllabus for English mentions that
reading comprehension involves some indicators including identifying main
idea of text, finding explicit and implicit information in the text, determining
the writer’s purpose of making text, determining reference mentioned in the
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text, and guessing word meaning based on the context. Besides, the indicators
also include the ability of reading aloud text with appropriate pronunciation,
stress, and intonation.
For this research, the researcher considers narrative text type as the
focus of the teaching material. Simply, the researcher wants to improve
students’ reading comprehension of narrative text using ETR method.
3. Procedures of Teaching Reading Using Experience-Text-Relationship
Method
By still considering the three steps of ETR method to teach reading to
the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban, the researcher
implements ETR by the following procedure:
a. Experience Phase
1) Teacher divides the students into some groups.
2) Teacher tells the students about the topic or title of story that will
be discussed.
3) Teacher asks the students what they know about the story.
4) Teacher shows some pictures related to the text that will be
discussed later on.
5) Displaying the pictures, the teacher firstly asks the students to
make predictions of the story they will read based on the pictures
displayed. The students make predictions in group.
6) Teacher gives some guiding questions so that it is easy for the
students to activate their background knowledge.
7) Teacher asks each group to orally present their prediction toward
the story. Other groups of students need to listen to their friends’
predictions.
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8) Teacher writes down new vocabularies used by the students in the
presentation.
b. Text Phase
1) Teacher distributes a reading text.
2) Teacher asks some students to read aloud the text. The reading is
done in segments.
3) Teacher orally gives comprehension questions to the students.
4) After the students answer the questions, the teacher directly
explains the strategy of finding the answers (e.g. strategy for
finding main idea of text, guessing meaning, etc).
5) The reading alternated with discussion is repeatedly done until the
students finish reading the whole text.
c. Relationship Phase
1) The teacher invites the students to confirm their previous prediction
or background knowledge.
2) Teacher gives some questions relating the text to students’ life or
experience (i.e. the teacher asks the students whether they have
ever experienced such situation, whether they have a friend having
the similar experience, what they will do if they are the characters
mentioned in story, what they will do to solve the problem, and so
on).
The step of predicting the story is implemented when the story is
considered new for the students. By using some pictures, the researcher helps
the students create prediction before reading the text. When the story is quite
familiar for the students, the researcher only asks the students to activate their
own background knowledge by telling what they have already known about the
story. By giving some guiding questions to the students, the teacher helps the
students easily activate their prior knowledge and experience.
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D. Reviews on Related Research
The use of ETR method to teach reading comprehension to students has
ever been applied by some experts. The first research was done by Kathryn Au in
1979. At the time, Au found that children in Hawaii really got difficulty to
understand an English story. Most of them were not accustomed to using English
in their daily communication. Then, Au thought that, for such students, experience
approach should be preferable. Then, she decided to implement an experience-
based approach which was then called experience-text-relationship (ETR) method.
After implementing this method, she found that the Hawaiian children could
improve their scores in reading. Besides, she also found that the key success of
ETR is the teacher’s willingness to let the students’ experiences be integral part of
reading lesson.
The second related research was done by Carrell, Pharis, and Liberto in
1989. In the research, they tried to compare the effectiveness between ETR
method and semantic mapping to reading. In 1989, Carrell, et al. conducted a
study in the L2 context to examine the combined effects of cognitive and
metacognitive strategy instruction on reading comprehension. High-intermediate
level adult ESL students of varied native language backgrounds participated in the
study. The students were trained by using either in semantic mapping or the ETR
method to activate background knowledge. Each group of students also received
training in metacognitive awareness and regulation of the two strategies. Results
showed that the students exposed to the ETR approach improved their
comprehension of TOEFL passages the most and were able to create semantic
maps without scaffolding. ETR was effective in enhancing reading
comprehension.
The other research implementing the use of experience-text-relationship
to enhance reading comprehension was done by Saunders, O’Brien, McLenon,
and McLean. In the research, they adapted ETR method for studying literature. In
the result, they found that building students’ background knowledge prior to and
throughout the literature unit helps contextualize story themes, content and
vocabulary. Drawing upon, sharing, and discussing students’ relevant personal
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experiences sustains motivation and helps students make concrete and conceptual
connections to the text, its content, and the themes under study.
For this research, the researcher takes those related researches as
reference. By still considering the three basic steps of ETR, the researcher makes
her “own way” of implementing the method. The first difference is in the use of
group work activity. In this research, the students build their background
knowledge through working in group. It is for making the class interesting since
the students never have group work activity before.
The researcher helps students build background knowledge through
predicting activity. Actually, predicting was not the only activity required in ETR
for building background knowledge. Au, the founder of ETR, built her students
knowledge by conducting discussion through giving some questions, without
asking them to make prediction. Predicting is chosen for this research because the
researcher thinks that it is an interesting activity. Through predicting, students are
expected to produce various background knowledge or versions of story. These
various predictions can make the teaching and learning process interesting. Here,
the researcher also uses some guiding questions to help the students in experience
phase. Little bit different with Au’s research, the researcher uses pictures as the
supporting media in teaching and learning process. Since activating background
knowledge in pre-reading is “something new” for the students of SMP Negeri 3
Mojolaban, the researcher thinks that giving guiding questions is not enough. The
students may be difficult to get involved in the phase. Therefore, she decides to
use pictures because the pictures can help the students visualize the story. When
the story is unfamiliar for the students, the researcher conducts background
knowledge activation by asking the students to create prediction. But for familiar
story, the researcher only gives some questions asking about what the students
know about the story.
Besides, in this research, the researcher conducts oral presentation in
experience phase. She decides to conduct oral presentation because she wants the
students to become actively involved in teaching and learning process. Hopefully,
the students’ attentiveness and participation can be improved through this activity.
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The other difference between this research and the previous researches is in the
text phase. Previously, after asking students to read a segment of a text, the
researcher only gave comprehension questions related to the segment. But here,
the researcher gives reading strategies to help the students have better
comprehension. The strategies include the ones for finding main idea,
communication purpose, explicit and implicit information, meaning of words, and
reference. The researcher decides to do this because she thinks that teaching
reading means teaching strategies.
E. Rationale
Reading is very essential because it is one of the basic skills needed in
learning any subjects. Reading is a thinking activity involving comprehension
strategies of the reader to gain the knowledge. When students can read text
effectively, they are successful readers.
The objective of teaching English in junior high school stressed on
reading skill is providing students with comprehending knowledge. Students are
taught to comprehend written recount and narrative text. Teacher, therefore, has
responsibility to make students easier to comprehend text and facilitate them to
get well comprehension, covering the ability to infer meaning of words based on
the context, find main idea, determine reference, understand the purpose of text,
find out specific information stated in certain text (both explicit and implicit), and
read aloud with acceptable pronunciation, stress, and intonation.
Researcher conducted pre-research toward English class of the eighth
grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban. Based on the data got from the pre-
research, it seems that most students had difficulty in reading comprehension.
The students’ problem in reading comprehension covered some
indicators: (1) the students had difficulty in identifying main idea of text; (2) the
students got difficulty in identifying communicative purpose of text; (3) the
students had difficulty to find out information, both explicit and implicit, from
text; (4) the students had problems in identifying meaning of words within the
text; and (5) most of the students also had problems in determining reference.
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Besides, the class condition indicated: (1) most students did not pay
attention to the teacher while the teacher was explaining in front of the class; (2)
there were only few students who gave response to the teacher whereas the other
students were only passive; (3) the students were bored in joining the class; and
(4) the students spent much times to do any questions and exercises following a
reading text.
Those problem indicators were caused by some factors. From the
students, the main cause was the students’ low vocabulary mastery. Most of the
students had quite limited vocabularies. Because the students had limited
vocabularies, they did not have willingness to read English text. The students
always kept in their mind that English was not an interesting subject. Moreover,
they considered English was difficult to learn. Consequently, their learning
motivation in English also became low.
From the teacher, the cause was that the teacher never gave explanation
on reading strategies. She did not consider the importance of reading strategies to
help the students easily answer questions following reading text. She tended to
give less care to the students.
The other causes of students’ reading problem also came from the
technique, media, and material. The teaching technique used by the teacher was
monotonous and less appropriate. In teaching reading, the teacher always used
“lecturing” technique to deliver knowledge to the students. Guiding the students
to comprehend the text, the teacher directly translated the content of the text. After
that, the teacher asked the students to do exercises in the worksheet. So far, this
conventional technique was always used by the teacher in teaching reading. Since
it was repeatedly and frequently used by the teacher, the teaching and learning
process became boring. Moreover, directly translating the content of text was not
helpful for the students. The students, then, tended to be extremely dependent on
the teacher. Comprehending the text, they just needed to wait for the teacher to
translate the content of the text for them. As a result, the students became passive.
The other cause was the absence of media for supporting the teaching and learning
process. Presenting the reading materials, the teacher never utilized any media to
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raise students’ attention. Then, the last cause was the less attractive instructional
materials provided for the students. The students were only given material taken
from student worksheet (LKS) with dull and black-and-white colored paper. This
factor made the students bored and less interested in doing reading exercises.
In order to solve the problems, researcher proposes experience-text-
relationship (ETR) method. ETR is a reading method which is beneficial for
improving reading comprehension. The key point of this strategy is the activation
and the use of students’ experience or background knowledge to comprehend the
text.
There are some reasons why the researcher proposes ETR can improve
reading comprehension of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban.
Firstly, ETR makes the students not much dependent on the teacher. An important
requirement of the ETR method is that the teacher be adept in leading the students
to discover the correct answers for themselves, rather than telling them the
answers directly (Carrell, et al., 1989: 654). It means that the students are trained
to be independent in getting any information within the text.
Secondly, the focus on building background knowledge in experience
phase is helpful for students to have better comprehension. Saunders, et al. (1999:
10) state that building students’ background knowledge prior to reading helps
students contextualize story themes, content, and vocabulary. It means that the
students must have information or vocabularies related to the text before reading.
These clues are important since they can help the students have better
comprehension toward the story.
Thirdly, in ETR, the teacher can systematically guide the reading process
and monitor students’ comprehension (Wood and Blanton, 2009: 135). Since the
reading process is done in sections, the teacher can directly check students’
understanding. When there is misunderstanding, the teacher can directly clarify it.
Because any students’ misunderstanding is directly corrected or clarified by the
teacher, it eases the students to have well comprehension toward the story.
Fourthly, background knowledge activation in experience step gives
opportunity for the students to explore dimensions of the story as many as
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possible and to integrate features of it with their existing store of knowledge (Au,
1998: 104). It means that different students probably have different background
knowledge toward the story. Hopefully, this activity makes the students creative.
Moreover, various versions of story can make the teaching and learning process
interesting.
Fifthly, answering any questions related to the story gives the students
practice in formulating complex thoughts (Au, 1998: 104). After reading each
segment of the text, the students are given some comprehension questions related
to the segment. It automatically makes the students accustomed to having
comprehension questions. Then, since the questions cover some indicators of
reading (main idea, meaning of words, explicit and implicit information,
communicative purpose, and reference), the activity of answering these questions
can help students improve their reading comprehension. Besides, the activity
gives the teacher an idea of which questions or reading indicators are still difficult
for the students so that the teacher can think of strategy of teaching the difficult
indicators.
Sixthly, through ETR, the students’ motivation can be increased since the
activities done were actually related to their own background knowledge.
Drawing upon, sharing, and discussing students’ relevant personal experiences as
required in ETR method sustain motivation and help students make concrete and
conceptual connections to the text, its content, and the themes under study
(Saunders, et al., 1999: 10).
F. Hypothesis
Based on the theories elaborated above, the hypothesis for this research
can be formulated as “ETR method can improve reading comprehension of the
eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Mojolaban”.
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Context of the Research
1. Research Setting
a. The Place of the Research
The research was carried out in SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban,
Sukoharjo. This school is located at Laban Kulon, RT 04/II, Mojolaban,
Sukoharjo. Since it is only surrounded by rice fields and village, it is not
noisy. The students can study well without any noise from outside.
There are many rooms in SMP N 3 Mojolaban. There are teacher’s
office, headmaster’s room, administration office, library, computer rooms,
language room, laboratories, hall, cafeteria, toilet, and mosque. The
environment of this school is also clean. There are many trees planted as
shelters in the school.
SMP N 3 Mojolaban uses KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan
Pendidikan) curriculum as the basis of teaching and learning process.
Teaching and learning processes are done in six days, from Monday to
Saturday. The students start to learn from 7.00 a.m. and they finish the
lesson at 1.00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and
Saturday. Meanwhile, on Friday, they finish it at 11.00 a.m.
b. Time of the Research
The research was conducted in January 2012 to May 2012. The
schedule of the research is:Table 3.1 Schedule of the Research
No Activity Time of Research1 Pre-research (Observation) January-March 20124 Pre-test March 20125 Action Cycle One March- April 20126 Post Test 1 April 20127 Action Cycle Two May 20128 Post Test 2 May 20129 Analyzing the result May 2012
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2. Subject of the Research
The subject of this research is class VIII G students of SMP Negeri
3 Mojolaban in the academic year of 2011/2012. There are 38 students in
the classroom: 17 males and 21 females. Economically, the students are
classified into medium to low level. Most of their parents work as laborers.
The researcher chose class VIII G as the subject of the research
based on the fact that, generally, most students of this class were really
passive. They had low motivation in studying English. Most of them
thought that English was really difficult. Although they were aware of the
importance of English for their future, they did not have any effort to
improve their English. In reading class, most of them always looked bored.
It seems that it was difficult for them to give their full attention to the
teacher because they thought that reading was a boring activity. Moreover,
they had difficulty to comprehend any English text presented by the teacher.
Academically, the students of class VIII G were the ones who had
very low English reading skill. Any scores recorded by the teacher showed
that the students really had difficulty in English class.
Although they were passive during teaching and learning process,
they were very talkative in sharing their problems to the researcher. They
were confident when they had communication with the researcher. Most of
them openly shared their problem, especially in reading comprehension and
what they wanted during teaching and learning process. The students’
openness was really helpful for the researcher to know what to do with the
students.
B. Research Methodology
1. Definition of Action Research
In conducting this research, the researcher used action research.
Action research is a valuable way to extend teaching skill and gain more
understanding of teacher herself, the students, and the classroom. Elizabeth in
Burns (2010: 5) states that action research is research carried out in the
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classroom by the teacher of the course, mainly with the purpose of solving a
problem or improving the teaching/learning process. Further, Irais in Burns
(2010: 5) states that action research is a research carried out by teachers in their
classrooms. Teachers identify a problem they wish to improve and based on
theory or experience or a hypothesis they think of an intervention. They
document the intervention and results of it. If the results are positive they could
lead to the dissemination of the information. If not, the cycle may be started
again.
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that action research is
a research conducted by teacher in the classroom. This research is done by
identifying and gathering information about teaching and learning problems
faced by teacher and students and the causes for the problems. The goals of
actions research are solving problems, improving teaching practice, and
evaluating the teaching.
The researcher preferred using action research to other research
because action research is closely related to educational realm. This method
directly engages the teacher, the students, and any problems and factors around
them. Besides, the benefits of its implementation can be directly felt by both
the teacher (researcher) and the students. For the teacher, action research is
really helpful for improving his or her teaching competencies. Syamsuddin and
Damaianti, (2007: 227) state that by conducting action research, teacher can
solve students’ problems in learning and improve his own competencies in
teaching. Furthermore, Aqib (2006: 87) gives some benefits of action research
for the teacher. The benefits are:
a. action research is really conducive for making the teacher sensitive and
perceptive toward learning dynamics in his class. Teacher gives more
concern on students’ characteristics during teaching and learning
process.
b. action research can improve teacher’s competence.
c. through sensitively considering problems in his teaching, teacher can
make the teaching and learning process better. It means that the
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teacher can be able to improve teaching quality by trying out certain
alternatives to solve the problems.
For the students, action research is also beneficial. According to
Sanjaya (2009: 35-36), action research can reduce students’ boredom during
teaching and learning process because this method is actually aimed at solving
students’ problem. Besides, through action research, students’ learning
achievement can improve as their learning problems can be solved. Therefore,
researcher decided to use action research.
2. Model of Action Research
The model of action research used in this research is the model
developed by Kemmis and McTaggart. According to Kemmis and McTaggart
in Burns (2010: 8), action research involves four broad phases:
a. Planning
In this phase, teacher or action researcher identified a problem or issue
and developed a plan of action in order to bring about improvements in a
specific area of the research context.
b. Action
In this second phase, the plan was carefully implemented into teaching
and learning process.
c. Observation
This phase involved the activity of systematically observing the effects of
the action and documenting the context, actions, and opinions.
d. Reflection
At this point, researcher reflected on, evaluated, and described the effects
of the action in order to make sense of what had happened and to
understand the issue she had explored more clearly.
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O B S E R V E
O B S E R V E
ACT
ACT
REFLECTREFLECT
R E V I S E D P L A N
P L A N
Figure 3.1 Action Research Model by Kemmis and McTaggart
3. Procedure of the Research
The four steps at the model of action research can be expanded into
six steps which include in the procedure of action research. The procedures are:
(1) identifying the problem; (2) planning the action; (3) implementing the
action; (4) observing the action; (5) reflecting the action; and (6) revising the
plan. In more detail, the process done in this research ran with the following
procedures:
a. Identifying the problems
“Problem” is the research term for the issue under investigation.
Before starting classroom action research, the researcher identified the
problem. The problems were identified by using four techniques as
follows:
1) Observation
The observation was aimed at knowing the condition of class
including model and management of the class. Moreover,
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observation was also used to know students’ behavior and problem
during the teaching and learning process, especially in reading
class.
2) Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a
series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering
information from the students. The researcher distributed the
questionnaire for all students. It consisted of some questions about
the students’ interest and motivation in learning English, students’
feeling toward the teacher’s way of teaching, the students’ behavior
during reading class, the students’ problem in reading, and causes
of the students’ problem.
3) Interview
Interview was done with the teacher and the students as
the interviewee. The goal of this technique was to identify what
problems faced by the teacher and the students, the causes of the
problems, and the students’ feeling toward the teaching and
learning process conducted by the teacher so far.
4) Pretest
Pre-test is a test used to know students’ initial reading
comprehension. Before implementing ETR method for teaching
reading, the researcher conducted pre-test. The result of this pre-
test was used to be the evidence of the students’ reading problems.
b. Planning the Action
The researcher needed to make general plan before
implementing the action. The researcher prepared everything needed in
doing the action. In this research, the researcher prepared the planning of
the research as follows:
1) Making lesson plan and designing the steps in doing the action.
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2) Preparing sheets for classroom observation (to know the situation
of teaching-learning process when the ETR method was applied).
3) Preparing media related to the topic (the media used was pictures).
4) Preparing camera (to take the pictures of the teaching and learning
process).
5) Preparing worksheet and test instruments (to know the
improvement of the students’ reading comprehension).
c. Implementing the Action
The researcher implemented the action based on the lesson plans
the researcher had made. The researcher ETR method in teaching and
learning process in order to enhance students’ reading comprehension.
The real implementation was presented as follows:
1) Experience Phase
a) Teacher divided the students into some groups.
b) Teacher told the students about the topic or title of story that
would be discussed.
c) Teacher asked the students what they know about the story.
d) Teacher showed some pictures related to the text that will be
discussed later on.
e) Displaying the pictures, the teacher firstly asked the students to
make predictions of the story they would read based on the
pictures displayed. The students made predictions in group.
f) Teacher gave some guiding questions so that it was easy for the
students to activate their background knowledge.
g) Teacher asked each group to orally present their prediction
toward the story. Other groups of students listened to their
friends’ predictions.
h) Teacher wrote down or listed new vocabularies or key words
used by the students in predicting the story.
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2) Text Phase
a) Teacher distributed a reading text.
b) Teacher asked some students to read aloud the text written in the
worksheet. The reading was done in segments.
c) Teacher orally gave comprehension questions to the students.
d) After the students answered the questions, the teacher directly
explained the strategy of finding the answers (e.g. strategy for
finding main idea of text, guessing meaning, etc).
e) The reading followed by discussion was repeatedly done until
the students finished reading the whole text.
3) Relationship Phase
a) After the students read and comprehended the whole text, the
teacher asked them to confirm their previous “knowledge”.
b) Teacher gave some questions relating the text to students’ life or
background knowledge.
d. Observing and Monitoring the Action
The observation was done during the teaching and learning
process. Here, the researcher observed all activities happening in the
classroom and took notes related to the process of teaching and learning.
The aspects of teaching and learning process observed were class
situation, students’ behavior, and students’ response when they were
given ETR as reading method. The result of the observation was written
in field notes as the data. The English teacher gave some inputs and
suggestions to the researcher.
d. Reflecting the Result
The researcher made an evaluation towards the teaching activity
that was carried out. The evaluation was written down as field note. The
researcher reflected the field note in order to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of the teaching activity that was conducted. Reflection was
the basic consideration to conduct the next teaching.
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e. Revising the Plan
Based on the weaknesses of the teaching activities, the
researcher revised the plan for the next cycle. By doing the reflection, the
researcher arranged a new plan to teach the student better. The researcher
took the teacher’s input into her consideration.
C. Data Collecting
In this research, the data was collected by using quantitative and
qualitative method. The quantitative data was collected from the students’ reading
score, while qualitative data were from observation, interview, questionnaire, and
document analysis. They are elaborated as follows:
1. Test
A test is a systematic procedure for observing one’s behavior and
describing it with the aid of nummerical device or category system. The
researcher tested the students by written test consisting of pre-test and post-
test (1 and 2).
Before giving pre-test, the researcher firstly conducted try-out test.
It was done to know whether or not the instruments for pre-test and post test
were valid and reliable. The tryout was done twice. The first try out was
done before the research. The valid items got from tryout test 1 were used to
the test items for pre-test and post test 1. Then, the valid items got from
tryout 2 were for post test 2.
To get the instrument valid and reliable, the researcher used the
validity and reliability formula as stated in Ngadiso (2006: 1-3).
a. The validity of the instrument
Validity is the degree to which a test measures what it claims
to be measuring. To measure the validity of the test, the researcher
used internal validity. The formula is as follows:
S t=Σ
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St : standard deviation of the square root of the total of
the square of each deviation score divided by the
number of the students.
Σx2 : the total of the square of each deviation score.
n : the number of the students
rn=
rn : the validity of each item
: Sum of correct answer within the row divided by sum
of correct answers within column.
: the average of the total correct score
St : standard deviation of the square root of the total of the
square of each deviation score divided by the number
of the students
pi : the total of correct answer divided by the number of
the students
qi : the total of incorrect answers divided by the number
of students
Then, an item is considered as valid if ro > rt.
b. The reliability of the Instrument
A test is reliable if it is administrated many times
approximately the same result is obtained. As in the validity, the
researcher used the following formula:
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rkk= 1 − ∑rkk : internal validity
k : the total of valid items
Σpq : the sum of the multiplication of the proportion of the
correct answers and incorrect answers
St : standard deviation of the square root of the total of the
square of each deviation score divided by the number
of the students.
2. Observation
Observation is used to collect the qualitative data. It is a technique
of collecting the data by closely watching and noticing classroom events or
happenings, or interaction, either as a participant in the classroom or as an
observer of another teacher’s observation. In this research, the researcher
observed the process of teaching and learning. Observation was done before
and during the implementation of ETR method. The result of observation
was written in the form of field note.
3. Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of
questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from
respondents (the students). In this research, the researcher provided two
questionnaires. The first questionnaire was distributed before she
implemented the action (before giving treatment). It was used to know the
students’ reading problem and causes of the problem. The second
questionnaire was distributed after the action. It was used to know the
students’ opinion and feeling toward the implementation of ETR method in
their reading class.
4. Interview
The researcher held interview to the teacher and the students. In the
pre-research, the researcher interviewed them in order to know what
problems faced, especially in reading, faced by the students. Interview to the
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teacher was done once. Meanwhile, the researcher interviewed the students
twice: in pre-research and at the end of the research. The interview given in
pre-research was used to know students’ problems, the cause, and their
feelings toward the teacher’s way of teaching. Then, the second interview
was done to know students’ feeling and improvement after ETR method was
implemented in teaching reading.
5. Document Analysis
Documents are important source of data in action research.
Document analysis can help researcher complement other observations by
building a richer profile of the classroom for the research. Documents can
also give insight into the theoretical and practical values (Burns, 1999: 140).
There is a wide range of documents that could be related to the research
focus. The documents that were collected by the researcher were
photographs, students’ scores, and students’ worksheet. The results of
English tests here were pre-test and post-test which were used to collect the
data of the improvement in reading comprehension.
D. Data Analysis
The data was analyzed to get conclusion of each cycle. The data analyzed
in this research was divided into two kinds of data, qualitative and quantitative
data. The qualitative data consisted of the result of observation (field notes),
interview, document, and questionnaire. The qualitative data is analyzed using a
method proposed by Burns. Burns (1999: 156) gives several steps of analyzing
qualitative data:
1. Assembling the data
The first step was to assemble the data that had been collected over
the period of the research: field notes, interview, questionnaire, and so on.
At this stage, broad pattern should begin to show up which could be
compared and contrasted to see what fitted together. By scanning the data, it
began to process of more detailed analysis by bringing up possible patterns
which could be adapted and added to as it is processed.
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2. Coding the data
After collecting the data, the researcher coded them. Coding is a
process of labeling the large amount of data that may be collected to more
manageable categories of concepts, themes, or types. Data analysis become
much messier and coding becomes less clear cut when it is dealing with
diary entries, classroom recordings, or open ended survey questions.
3. Comparing the data
Once the data had been categorized in some way, comparison was
made to see whether themes or patterns were repeated or developed across
different data gathering techniques.
4. Building interpretation
This was the point where the researcher moved beyond describing,
categorizing, coding, and comparing to make sense of meaning of the data.
This stage demanded creative thinking as it was concerned with articulating
underlying concepts and developing the theories about why particular
patterns of behavior, interactions, or attitudes had emerged.
5. Reporting the outcome
The final stage involved presenting an account of the research for
others. A major consideration was to ensure that the report set out the major
processes of the research, and those findings and outcomes were well
supported with the examples from the data
The researcher analyzed the data from the result of observation, field
notes, interview, documents, and questionnaire. They described how the process
of teaching reading comprehension using ETR ran in the classroom. After
studying notes, the researcher identified progresses and advantages as well as
problems and its possible solution in teaching reading comprehension using ETR.
Besides, the researcher gave written test to measure the students’ reading
achievement. After the data from written test were collected, they were analyzed
to prove whether teaching reading comprehension using ETR method could
overcome the student’s problems in reading or not. The results of the tests were
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served as the justification of the result of the observation and vice versa. The tests
were scored by looking for the mean by using quantitative method. In analyzing
the quantitative data, the researcher used descriptive statistics.
The mean of pre-test and post-test were calculated with the formula:
nX
X nY
Y
In which:∑ = The sum of students’ score before the action∑ = The sum of students’ score after the action
X = Means of students’ score before the action
Y = Means of students’ score after the action
n = number of student
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CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The research was conducted with the collaboration of the English teacher
at SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban. In this research, the researcher became practitioner
who implemented the action in teaching and learning process and the real English
teacher (Mrs. Kuswiyanti) became the collaborator. The researcher took two
questions regarding: (1) whether and to what extent the use of ETR method can
improve students’ reading comprehension and (2) what happens when ETR
method is implemented in the reading class.
A. Research Findings
1. Identifying Problem
Before doing action, the researcher did preliminary research in order
to identify the problems found by the students of class VIII G of SMP Negeri 3
Mojolaban in the academic year of 2011/2012. The problem identification was
done through four techniques: observation, interview, questionnaire, and pre-
test. The summary of the identified problems found before the action can be
seen in the following table.Table 4.1 Problems Found Before Action
Problems Found DescriptionA. Reading Comprehension
1. Identifying main idea The students had difficulty in identifyingmain idea within a text.
2. Identifying purpose of text It was difficult for the students to identifythe purpose of text they read.
3. Finding explicit information Most students still had problems in findingexplicit information within a text.
4. Finding implicit information The students found difficulty in findingimplied information in a text.
5. Determining meaning of words The students found difficulty in guessingmeaning of words based on the context.
6. Determining reference It was difficult for the students to determinereference stated in a text.
B. Class Situation1. not paying attention There were many students who did not pay
attention when the teacher was givingexplanation. They were busy in doing their
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own non-academic businesses.2. Passive Most students were only passive in joining
the class. There were only few students whogave response to the teacher when theteacher gave questions or instruction.
3. Bored The students were bored in joining readingclass.
4. spending much time The students spent much time for doingexercises following reading text.
Based on the table 4.1 above, it can be concluded that the eighth grade
students of SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban had problem in reading comprehension.
The problems can be classified into two indicators: reading comprehension and
class situation.
In reading comprehension, the researcher found that most students in
the classroom had difficulty in all indicators of reading. The first problem was
in identifying main idea. Although they knew what main idea was, it was still
difficult for them to identify the main idea of each paragraph in certain text.
Next problem was in identifying purpose. The students had difficulty in
understanding the communicative purpose of text they had just read. The third
problem was in finding explicit information. Although the information was
clearly stated in the text, most students still had problems in allocating the
answers of questions covering this indicator. Besides, the students had
difficulty in finding implicit information. It was really difficult for the students
to infer or make conclusion toward the information within a text. In addition,
they found it difficult to determine meaning of unfamiliar words. When the
students found unfamiliar words, they suddenly gave up and thought that the
text was difficult to understand. Moreover, the students had problem in
determining reference.
The students’ reading problems in comprehension could be
quantitatively proven by their result of pre-test. The detailed data for students’
reading score in each reading indicator before the action is shown in the
following table.
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Table 4.2 Students’ Reading Score in Pre-Test
Indicator Mainidea
Explicitinfo
Implicitinfo
Wordmeaning
Reference Purpose
Score 42.11 55.26 34.21 27.89 40 36.32Mean 39.3
As shown in the table 4.2 above, it can be seen that the students had
problems in the six reading indicators. In all those indicators, the mean score
got by the students did not fulfill the passing grade required by the school that
was 61. From 38 students, there were only two students who were considered
successful in doing the pre-test. Besides, the mean score of the reading score
was only 39.3.
Moreover, the reading class before the action also showed some
problems. Firstly, most students did not give their attention during the teaching
and learning process. When the teacher was explaining in front of the class,
there were some students who did not look at the teacher. They precisely
looked at their friends, had conversation with other students, and did their own
non-academic businesses. Moreover, there were some male students who
frequently made noise during the class. They spoke in a laud voice and,
sometimes, they made joke. As a result, the other students laughed at them.
This really disturbed class conduciveness since the students lost their focus on
the teacher. The students paying attention were only the ones who sat in first
row. This observation results were supported by the result of interview. The
teacher said, “Yang memperhatikan itu hanya beberapa siswa yang duduk di
depan, Mbak. Yang lain malah sering ramai sendiri. Apalagi yang laki-laki.
Susah sekali dikondisikan. Jerit-jerit karepe dewe.”
Secondly, most students were passive in joining reading class. When
the teacher gave instruction or question, there were only few students who gave
response to her whereas the others did nothing. When the teacher asked
whether they had problem, the students just kept silent whereas they actually
had problems. This observation result was supported by the result of
questionnaire. About 81.08 percent students said that they were not active
during the reading class. It is also supported by the result of interview. One of
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the students said that only the students sitting in front row gave response when
the teacher gave some questions.
Thirdly, the students were bored in joining the class. When the
researcher did observation, there were some students putting their head on the
desk when the teacher was giving explanation. The data was proven by the
answer given by one of the students stating, “Ga enak, bosen, galak sisan.
Moreover, other student also said, “Tapi kadang ya bosen. Di suruh ngerjain
LKS terus. Caranya gitu-gitu terus”. In questionnaire, it was stated that 51.35
percent students did not consider English as an interesting subject. This result
implied that students were bored in joining reading class.
Fourthly, the students spent much time for doing exercises following
reading text. Asking the students to do an exercise, the teacher needed to repeat
the instruction several times. The students did not directly do the task given by
the teacher. Consequently, they spent much time for the session. Finally, the
teacher had to directly guide them for doing the exercises. This last problem
was also seen when the researcher conducted pre-test. Several minutes after the
researcher distributed the question and answer sheets, most students only
answered few numbers of question. Consequently, when the time was up, there
were some students who did not finish in doing the test.
In the process of problem identification, the researcher also found
some causes for the problems. From the students, the main cause was the
students’ low vocabulary mastery. Most of the students had quite limited
vocabularies. In the interview, the English teacher said, “Sebenarnya yang
paling menyebabakan masalah di sini tu vocab siswa, Mbak. Vocab mereka itu
sangat rendah. Nah, karena mereka tidak tahu artinya, mereka jadi
bermasalah di semua indicator.”
Because the students had limited vocabularies, they did not have
willingness to read English text. When they found that they did not know the
meaning of words within a text, they immediately gave up and thought that the
text was difficult to understand. The students always kept in their mind that
English was not an interesting subject. Moreover, they considered English was
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difficult to learn. Consequently, their learning motivation in English also
became low. They were always lazy for joining the class.
From the teacher, the cause was that the teacher never gave
explanation on reading strategies. When the researcher did observation toward
the reading class conducted by the teacher, she found that, in discussing
reading exercises, the teacher did not give reading strategy to the students.
Instead of letting the students to firstly think, the teacher precisely directly
gave the answers of the questions. Then, the teacher also did not firmly
reprimand the students who frequently made noise and disturbed the class. She
tended to give less care to the students. One of the students said “Kalau ada
yang rame gitu, Ibunya sabar dan diam saja. langsung ga digagas sama Bu
Kus”.
The other causes of students’ reading problem also came from the
technique, media, and material. The teaching technique used by the teacher was
monotonous and less appropriate. The teacher said, “Jujur saya cuma pake
ceramah. Kadang sempat mikir pake metode yang lain, kan sekarang ini
banyak sekali. Tapi saya lagsung mikir, pake ceramah saja siswa tidak bisa
mengikuti, apalagi untuk menerapkan metode yang lain.”
Guiding the students to comprehend the text, the teacher directly
translated the content of the text. After that, the teacher asked the students to do
exercises in the worksheet. Moreover, presenting the reading materials, the
teacher never utilized any media to raise students’ attention and interest. Then,
the last cause was the less attractive instructional materials provided for the
students. The students were only given material taken from student worksheet
(LKS) with dull and black-and-white colored paper. This factor made the
students bored and less interested in doing reading exercises. In interview, the
teacher said, “Saya cuma pake materi yang ada di LKS, mbak. LKS kan
disusun MGMP, ya itu sudah mencakup semua yang memang perlu diajarkan
kepada siswa.”
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2. Implementation
This research was done in two cycles. Each cycle consisted of some
steps: (1) planning the action; (2) implementing the action; (3) observing the
action; (4) reflecting the action; and (5) revising the plan.
a. Cycle 1
Before explaining the implementation of cycle 1 in detail, the
researcher provides the table showing the summary of how the cycle 1 ran.
The following table shows the summary.Table 4.3 Summary of the Implementation of Cycle 1
Procedure Meeting DescriptionIdentifyingproblem
Through observation, interview, questionnaire, and pre-test, the researcherfound that the students had problem in reading. The problems were indicatedfrom both the reading comprehension and class condition.
Planning theaction
The researcher prepared anything related to the teaching and learningprocess including lesson plans, instructional materials, worksheet, camera,pictures, and items for post test 1.
Implementingthe action
The researcher implemented ETR method in reading class in four meetings.Meeting 1 Ss made group Ss told what they knew about the story of Nyi Roro Kidul Ss presented their version of story Ss comprehended the text entitled “Legend of Nyi Roro Kidul Ss did exercises following the text Ss related the text to their life
Meeting 2 Ss discussed the exercises of the previous meeting by trying to use
reading strategy Ss reviewed about narrative text
Meeting 3 Ss made group In group, Ss made prediction based on the pictures distributed by the
T Ss orally presented the prediction Ss read the text in segment Ss comprehended each segment by answering some questions Ss confirmed the prediction Ss related the text to their life. Ss discussed exercises following the text
Meeting 4 Ss made group In group, Ss made prediction based on the pictures distributed by the
T Ss orally presented the prediction Ss read the text in segment Ss comprehended each segment by answering some questions given
by the T Ss confirmed the prediction
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Ss related the text to their life. Ss discussed exercises following the text
Observing theaction
Meeting 1 Ss were passive and ashamed for being active Ss were not familiar with making group and any activity in
experience phase yet Ss could not independently answered comprehension questions Ss had to be appointed Picture of Nyi Roro Kidul was less interesting for students Relating the text to the life seemed interesting and made the class
atmosphere alive Some Ss made noise Some Ss did get involved in the discussion (dependent on other)
Meeting 2 Ss were not accustomed to using reading strategies yet Ss had to be appointed to answer the exercises Ss made mistakes in doing the exercises, especially in task 4 Some Ss made noise Ss paid attention when T explained narrative text
Meeting 3 Making group took much time Pictures of Up made students enthusiastic Ss enjoyed predicting activity Ss had to be appointed to do some instructions and answer questions Some Ss did not get involved in group discussion (dependent on
other) Male Ss easily lost their focus Ss began to be accustomed to using reading strategies. Ss still had problem in some reading indicators (main idea, reference,
word meaning, and implicit information Ss still needed much guidance from T Ss enjoyed relating the text to their life Some students made noise
Meeting 4 Making group took much time Ss began to be familiar with predicting activity Some Ss did not get involved discussion There were some Ss began to be active Picture made Ss enthusiastic Ss could not answer questions in implicit information, reference, and
word meaning Ss enjoyed relationship phase Male Ss easily lost their focus. Consequently, they showed less
improvement than the females Some male Ss made noise
Reflecting theaction
Strengths:Reading Comprehension the Ss’ scores in finding main idea, purpose of text, and explicit
information passed the KKM (passing grade) Reading strategy much helped Ss Keywords got by the Ss in experience phase helped the students in
comprehending the text.
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Class Situation Predicting activity raised Ss’ interest in joining the class Picture could raise Ss’ interest. Relating the text to Ss’ life was interesting for Ss
Weakness:Reading comprehensionSs could not independently use strategies for identifying word
meaning, determining reference, and finding implicit information.Consequently their scores in those three reading indicators could notfulfill the passing grade.
Class Condition Male students easily lost their focus on the learning process.
Consequently, they showed less improvement in both readingcomprehension and reading class. It might be because the male Ss satin a group. When there was a student made noise, other Ss directlyfollowed to make noise.
Making group took much time. Dependence factor among Ss who were in a group was still much. Guidance, in some phases, was still dominant There were still some Ss who made noise Sometimes, T could not manage the time well.
Revising theplan
Since the scores in meaning of word, implicit information, andreference did not fulfill the passing grade yet, in the second cycle, theresearcher planned to give more practices in implicit information,word meaning, and reference.
Because the male students tended to easily lose their focus when theysat in group, the researcher planned to ask the students to sitdispersedly (male students may not sit in a group)
Since making group phase always took much time and some studentstended to be dependent on other students, the researcher planned toeliminate group work. Building background knowledge is done inpair.
For reducing researcher’s domination, the researcher planned not togive guiding questions in experience phase because the students werealready familiar with predicting or building background knowledge(they know what they have to do). It was not so necessary forproviding guiding questions.
Not giving guidance to the students in using reading strategiesbecause the students are already familiar with the strategies.
Providing predicting activity for experience phase because thestudents were more interested in building knowledge throughpredicting.
Considering allocation time that has been made in the plan.
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The detail and further explanation of the table 4.1 above is presented
in the following sub points.
1) Planning the Action
After gathering data regarding students’ reading problems and
the causes, the researcher made a plan to teach in the class. The
researcher made lesson plans and worksheets. The lesson plan was made
for each meeting. The steps of teaching were adjusted to the three basic
steps of ETR method. Actually, for this cycle, the researcher planned to
conduct three meetings. In the first meeting, she chose a text entitled
“Legend of Nyi Roro Kidul”. For the next meeting, she planned to give a
reading text entitled “Up”. Then, in the last meeting, she planned to
discuss a text entitled “The Real Story of Pinocchio”. Besides, she also
prepared the instructional materials, especially reading text and
explanation of reading strategies and anything needed to support the
teaching and learning process.
Researcher also prepared the items for post test 1. The items for
this test were actually the same as the ones used in pre-test. After making
60 items covering six reading indicators (main idea, purpose of text,
explicit information, implicit information, word meaning, and reference),
the researcher tried out the items in order to find which items were valid
and reliable. Using internal validity formula, the researcher got 38 valid
items. In order to make the calculation easy, the researcher decided to
only use 30 items for both pre-test and post test 1.
2) Implementing the Action
The researcher actually planned to have three meetings for
implementing the action. Because the first lesson plan could not be
finished in single meeting, she decided to add a meeting for this cycle.
The following table shows the summary of the implementation of ETR
method in teaching reading.
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a) Meeting 1
The first meeting was conducted on March, 29th 2012. At
8.20, the researcher and the teacher entered class VIIIG. The
researcher opened the class by standing in front of the class and
greeting the students. After greeting the students and checking the
attendance, she directly told the students that she would conduct
research with the students as the subjects of the research. She told
everything related to the research. She also told that she would use
ETR method to teach reading. She simply explained about what ETR
method was.
Experience Phase
Starting the implementation of ETR method, the researcher
asked the students to make some groups. Each group should consist of
3 to 4 students. The students chose their members by themselves.
After the students made the group, the researcher showed
some pictures of Nyi Roro Kidul. Since there was no LCD projector in
the school, the researcher showed pictures which were printed in large
papers. When she showed the pictures, she orally gave some questions
to the students. The questions basically asked about what the students
knew about the story of Nyi Roro Kidul. For this activity, the students
did not work in group yet.
After showing the pictures, the researcher asked students to
start conducting a group work in order to discuss what they knew
about the story of Nyi Roro Kidul. For the discussion, the researcher
gave 15 minutes. The students used dictionary to get some keywords
related to the story. Several minutes later, the researcher asked some
groups of students to orally present their “story”. Each group should
ask one of the members to be the presenter. When the students
presented their background knowledge, the researcher wrote down the
new vocabularies or keywords used by the students on the whiteboard.
At the end of experience phase, the researcher reviewed the meaning
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of the words listed on the whiteboard that were previously used by the
presenters of the groups.
Text Phase
After conducting the experience phase, the researcher moved
on text phase. Here, she firstly distributed worksheet for the students.
In the worksheet, there was a reading text entitled “Legend of Nyi
Roro Kidul”. After all students got the sheet, she appointed a student
to read the first two paragraphs. Because the students only needed to
read the text, for reading session in the text phase, the students did not
work in group. When a student read aloud the segment, the researcher
directly corrected the mistakes on intonation, pronunciation, and
stress. After the student finished reading the paragraphs, the
researcher gave some comprehension questions based on the
paragraphs. The questions covered some indicators of reading. After
that, she directly explained the strategies of reading comprehension.
She wrote the indicators of reading and the strategies to answer the
questions related to those indicators. Next, she gave other questions to
the students. In giving the questions, the researcher appointed some
students since there was no student who raised hand for answering the
questions. The activity of answering comprehension questions in the
text phase was not group work activity. After being appointed, the
students individually answered the questions. When the students could
not answer the questions, she gave the question to other students.
After comprehending the first segment, the researcher
appointed other student to continue reading the next paragraph. The
“reading in segment” was done until the students read the whole text.
After reading each segment, the students were given some
comprehension questions related to the segment of text they had just
read. The reading followed by discussion was repeatedly done until
the students read the entire paragraphs.
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Relationship Phase
After the students read the whole text, the researcher asked
them to compare and confirm their previous story. This activity was
done in group again. After the students finished confirming their
previous knowledge, the researcher appointed some groups to tell the
comparison of their previous knowledge with the story in the text.
Finally, she gave some questions relating the story and their real life.
Since the questions were personal ones, the students did not discuss in
group. The researcher appointed some students to give their personal
answers.
Finishing implementing ETR method to teach reading
comprehension, the researcher asked the students to do exercises on
the worksheet. Actually, in doing the exercises on the worksheet, the
students should firstly discuss in group. But, suddenly, the bell rang
and the researcher could not continue the lesson. She directly asked
the students to do the exercises at home. Then, she closed the lesson.
b) Meeting 2
On Monday, April 2nd 2012, the researcher entered the class
to conduct the second meeting. This meeting was only used to
continue the implementation of lesson plan 1. Therefore, there was no
ETR implementation in this meeting.
After greeting, checking students’ attendance list, and asking
the students to sit in their previous group, the researcher asked
students to open up their homework (the exercises for “Legend of Nyi
Roro Kidul”). The researcher, then, invited the students to discuss the
exercises. Before, she explained about reading strategies again. The
strategies used were still the same as the ones explained before. In
discussing the exercises, the researcher appointed group-not
individual. After a group gave answer for certain question, the
researcher asked other group who had different answer. When the
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researcher found different answer among students, the researcher
invited the students to discuss the question together.
After discussing the exercises, the researcher explained about
narrative text. She utilized the whiteboard to write down the main
points. The explanation included the purpose, generic structure, and
the linguistic features of narrative text. In the end of the explanation,
the researcher asked question about purpose of text that had just been
discussed.
When the bell rang, the researcher closed the lesson by
summarizing the lesson that had just been conducted. After that, she
asked whether the students had questions or problems. Then, she
asked students’ feeling toward the teaching learning process,
especially in the implementation of ETR method in reading class.
Finally, she thanked to the students for their attention and
participation. She left the room by saying “good bye and see you”.
c) Meeting 3
On Wednesday, 4th April 2012, the researcher conducted
meeting 3 for implementing the second lesson plan. At 11.20, the bell
rang. The researcher started the lesson. Opening the class, she greeted
the students and checked the students’ attendance. Then, she
explained the topic that would be discussed.
Experience Phase
The researcher asked students to make some groups. In this
phase, group work was conducted in the step of building background
knowledge. After the students made group, the researcher distributed a
set of pictures for each group of students. The pictures represented
“Up” story. After distributing the pictures, the researcher gave some
questions such as “Have you ever known about the story before”.
Since the students did not have any background knowledge related to
the story, the researcher asked them to make prediction toward the
story. In group, the students generated prediction based on the
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pictures. When the students discussed the pictures, the researcher gave
guidance by stating some questions that might be helpful for the
students to generate the prediction.
Around twenty five minutes later, the researcher asked the
students to choose one of the members to be the presenter. Then, she
asked the presenter students to orally share their prediction. From the
presentation, the researcher listed some new words used by the
presenters. After the presenters of two groups presented their
predictions, the researcher reviewed the meaning of the words listed
from the presentations that had just been conducted.
Text Phase
After conducting experience phase, the researcher moved on
the text phase. The researcher distributed worksheet to the students.
Distributing the sheet, she was helped by some students. After all
students got the sheet, she appointed a student to read the first
paragraph. Since the students only needed to read the text, they did not
need to work in group in this phase.
After the student read the paragraph, the researcher asked
some questions related to the paragraph. In answering the
comprehension questions, the students did not firstly discuss in group.
The questions were directly given to the individuals. Giving the
questions, the researcher randomly appointed and mentioned name of
students. Once again, the researcher guided the students to use
strategies to find out the answers. Reading aloud followed by
discussion was repeatedly done until the students comprehended the
whole text.
Relationship Phase
After conducting text phase, the researcher moved to the last
phase that was relationship phase. Here, she firstly asked students to
confirm the previous prediction. The prediction confirmation was
done in group. The researcher provided 5 minutes to the students to
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discuss the comparison of their previous prediction and the story
stated in the text. Then, the researcher asked some groups to tell their
confirmation. After confirming, the students were given some
questions in order to relate the story with their own life. The questions
were directly given to the individual because they were related to
students’ personal life and experiences.
Finishing conducting three phases in ETR, the researcher
asked the students to do exercises following the text. The students
were given time for discussing the exercises in group. In the last
fifteen minutes, the researcher invited the students to discuss the
exercises together.
After discussing the exercises, the researcher invited the
students to summarize the lesson that had just been conducted. Then,
she asked if the students still had problems or questions related to the
lesson. Next, she asked the students’ feeling toward the teaching
learning process. Finally, she closed the lesson by saying goodbye.
d) Meeting 4
The fourth meeting was conducted on Thursday, 5th April
2012. At 08.20, the researcher entered the classroom. After doing
some opening activities, the researcher was ready to implement ETR
method for teaching reading.
Experience Phase
As usual, the researcher opened this phase by asking the
students to make some groups. Little bit different with the previous
meetings, here, the researcher was the one who decided the group
members. After dividing the students into groups, the researcher told
the students that they would discuss a new story of Pinocchio. She
distributed four pictures representing the story of Pinocchio. Each
group got a set of pictures. Then, the researcher asked the students to
make prediction based on some pictures. For making prediction, the
students worked in group. Several minutes later, the researcher asked
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them which group that would tell the story. When the students acting
as presenters presented their knowledge, the researcher wrote the
keywords and unfamiliar words used by the students. Finally, she also
reviewed the meaning of the words.
Text Phase
After the students presented their “story”, the researcher
distributed worksheet. Each group got two worksheets or a worksheet
was for two students. After distributing the worksheet, the researcher
invited the students to start the text phase. Asking the students to read
the paragraph of the text, the researcher did not directly appoint the
students. She firstly asked the students who wanted to read the text.
When there was student raising hand for taking the chance, the
researcher directly allowed her to read a segment of the text. The
student read aloud the first paragraph of the text. After the reading, the
researcher directly gave some comprehending questions. Here, she
began to let the students independently use the reading strategies to
find the answers. Sometimes, the researcher still gave guidance to the
students. The reading and discussion were repeatedly done until the
students finished reading the whole text.
Relationship Phase
After comprehending the whole text, the researcher asked the
students to relate their previous story with the one stated in the
worksheet. The activity was done in group. Besides, she gave some
life-related questions to the students. The life-related questions were
given to individuals because they were related to students’ personal
life and experiences.
Finishing discussing the exercises, the researcher invited the
students to summarize the lesson that had just been conducted. In this
phase, the researcher tried to ensure the students that ETR method
could help them in comprehending a text. She invited the students to
find the proof of the benefits of ETR method. Then, she asked the
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students about the problems they had and what they felt the teaching
learning process conducted. Most of them said that they enjoyed using
the method. Then, she told the students that there would be test on the
following day. The researcher closed the lesson by saying “see you”.
3) Observing the Action
a) Meeting 1
In the first meeting, there was a student who was absent.
Joining the class, the students were still passive and ashamed for being
active. When the researcher asked them to make group, they just kept
silent and did nothing. It seemed that the students were not familiar
with making group. The researcher needed to repeat the instruction
and told them how to make group. Consequently, the students spent
much time only for making group.
First of all, when they were shown a picture, some students
looked interested and enthusiastic whereas the others looked not really
interested in. It seemed that the picture of Nyi Roro Kidul was less
interesting for the students. It might be because the students ever saw
it before. When they were given some questions related to the pictures
of Nyi Roro Kidul, most of them kept silent. There were only two
students who gave response. Finally, the researcher decided to ask
them to firstly discuss the story. Here, most of the students were still
confused of what to do. Most of them thought that they needed to
make and write the story. The researcher, then, gave more explanation
and guiding questions to them. She said that they just needed to say
anything they knew about the story. After they got what to do, they
directly discussed in group.
When the students conducted group discussion, the
researcher walked around the class. There were some students who
were not actively involved in the discussion. They just kept silent. It
seemed that they were dependent on other members. Moreover, the
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group which all the members were male did nothing but making noise
and doing their own non-academic business such as playing, having
conversation with other students, and making noise by talking in a
loud voice. When the researcher approached and reprimanded them,
they were silent but when she left them, they directly made noise.
When the students were asked to tell their story, no one was
brave to raise hands. Consequently, the researcher had to appoint two
groups to do the presentation. When the presentation ran, there were
some male students who made noise. Since they spoke in a loud voice,
the other students tended to easily lose their focus and the room
became less conducive for the teaching and learning process. From the
presentation, the researcher listed “ocean, disaster, curse, jump, and,
kingdom” as context clues.
Problem also raised in the text phase. When the researcher
gave the students simple question about main idea, there were only
few students who gave response. The others were only in silence.
Then, when she gave questions about explicit information, sometimes
the students could give the correct answers but sometimes they did
not. The students also could not give answer when the researcher
gave questions about word meaning, implicit information, and
purpose. For answering questions about reference, there were only
few students who gave response. After the researcher explained the
strategies of finding the answer, they began to be able to answer some
questions with much researcher’s guidance. The students were not
familiar with the strategies yet.
After comprehending the text, the researcher conducted
“relationship” phase. During “confirmation” phase, the students were
confused what to do in confirmation. The researcher, then, gave
example. Next, the students knew what to do in the phase of
confirming the previous knowledge. Then, when the students were
given some questions relating the text with their own life, they looked
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interested. Moreover, when they were asked what they would do if
they were the queen or king of the south ocean, some students gave
funny answer and made the others laugh. The students looked happy.
Since the meeting was the first meeting, the students needed
much more time to adapt and understand what to do. Consequently,
there was no time for discussing the exercises and explaining narrative
text.
b) Meeting 2
In the second meeting, nobody was absent. First of all, the
researcher invited the students to review about reading strategies.
Most students forgot the strategies. There were only few students who
gave response during the review. Then, the researcher invited the
students to discuss the exercises following the text entitled “Legend of
Nyi Roro Kidul”. When the students were invited to discuss the
exercises, they were not brave to raise their hands for taking chance to
answer the questions. Finally, the researcher appointed some groups to
give their answers. The researcher still gave much guidance for
answering the questions. In the discussion, the students still made
mistakes in answering some questions. The mistakes were mostly
made in task four. The students did well in other tasks since they were
quite easy.
When the researcher was explaining about narrative text in
front of the class, the students paid attention and some of them gave
response. Sometimes, some male students made noise. The researcher
directly reprimanded them. Being reprimanded, the naughty students
directly kept silent. After explaining about narrative text, the
researcher gave question of what the purpose of the text that had just
been discussed and “to entertain or to amuse”.
In the end of the meeting, the researcher invited the students
to summarize the lesson that had been discussed in the meeting but
only few students who gave response. Most students only kept silent.
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When the researcher asked “Any question?”, the students still kept
silent. They were passive in the meeting. Then, when they were asked
about their feeling about the meeting that had just been conducted,
there was only a female student saying, “Menarik pas lihat gambar
Bu tapi masih belum paham tentang strategi”.
c) Meeting 3
In this third meeting, no student was absent. Overall, the
teaching and learning process ran better than the previous meetings.
The students began to have motivation in learning. When they were
given some pictures representing “Up” story, they looked interested
and enthusiastic. The students looked happy when they were asked to
make prediction based on the pictures. When having problems in
generating prediction, the students briefly asked to the researcher. The
room became noisy but it was not a problem since it indicated that the
students began to be active. When the researcher walked around the
class, she saw the students discussed the pictures. Unfortunately, in
this discussion phase, there were some members who still did not get
involved. However, the number of the passive students was less than
the one in previous meetings.
When the students were asked to present their prediction, no
group was brave to do it. Then, the researcher appointed a group.
When the presenter did the presentation, there were some male
students who made noise and the researcher directly reprimanded
them. After the students presented their prediction, the researcher
asked the other students to give applause. The presenter looked happy.
With the pictures, the students could create more context clues. She
listed “fly, waterfall, house, balloon, old, married, hospital, cloudy,
explode, and fight” as context clues.
In text phase, the researcher still needed to appoint the
students to read the text and answer the questions. It seemed that the
students were not accustomed to using the reading strategies yet.
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When the researcher gave comprehension questions and explained the
strategies, only female students who mostly gave response whereas
the males just kept silent. Moreover, sometimes, males made noise
and did not focus on the lesson. However, the researcher could handle
the problem.
In answering some questions covering main idea, implicit
information, reference, and word meaning, the students still made
mistakes. The researcher needed to guide them in using strategies for
finding the answers. They could correctly answer questions about
explicit information and purpose of text. In doing exercises following
text, the students still made mistakes.
The class became alive when the researcher conducted
relationship phase. The students, including the males, were actively
involved in relating the text to their own life experiences.
Then, in discussing the exercises on the worksheet, some
students still looked passive. They did not actively participate in
finding the answers for the questions. When the researcher invited the
students to discuss the exercise together, only female groups who
wanted to take the chance for giving their answers. In this meeting, the
male students were still passive. They showed less improvement.
When the researcher asked the students to summarize the
lesson given in the meeting, there were only some female students
who participated. Regarding to the implementation of the meeting, the
students said that they liked predicting activity, the pictures
representing the “Up” story, and the story of “Up”.
d) Meeting 4
Regarding to the result of observation of previous meetings
stating that there were some students who were dependent on the
others during group discussion, the researcher decided to select the
members by herself. Hopefully, this activity could reduce dependence
factor among the students but the fact was that it spent more much
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time. There were some students who refused to be in the same group
with the other students. Consequently, the researcher needed to firstly
advise the students.
During experience phase, the teaching and learning process
ran better. After the researcher told the students that they would
discuss a new story of Pinocchio, the students looked interested. Being
given pictures, the students looked more interested. Getting the
pictures, they directly generated prediction. The students looked
accustomed to predicting activity. Researcher did not need to give
much guidance in this phase. However, she still saw some students
were still passive in joining the group discussion.
In text phase, there were some students who began to be
active. Being given some instruction and questions, the students were
brave to raise their hands. They became accustomed to using reading
strategies. The students could answer questions covering purpose of
text, explicit information, and main idea. However, they could not
answer questions related to word meaning, implicit information, and
reference. The researcher had to guide them in answering questions
related to those three indicators. During the class, the students kept
their focus and paid attention. The researcher did not need to appoint
the students again.
In this meeting, it found that the students who frequently
answered questions were still female ones. Most male students tended
to easily lose their focus during the class. Some of them still made
noise and disturbed class conduciveness.
4) Reflecting the Action
After conducting the research in four meetings, the researcher gave
post test 1 to the students. The post test was conducted in 9th April 2012. In
the test, there were 30 items covering six indicators of reading including
identifying main idea, identifying communicative purpose of text, finding
explicit information, finding implicit information, determining word
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meaning, and determining reference. When doing the test, most students
seemed do them easily. It seemed that reading strategies really helped them.
In several minutes after the researcher distributed the question and answer
sheets, the students could do some items.
Before stating the reflection of the implementation of cycle 1, the
researcher wants to show the all research findings in cycle 1. The findings
are presented in the following table.Table 4.4 Research Findings on Cycle 1
Findings Before Action After Cycle 1Students’ readingcomprehension.
The students had low readingcomprehension.
Students’ reading comprehensionimproved.
Students’ readingscore
Pre-testHighest: 63.3Lowest : 13.3Mean : 39.3KKM : 61
Post Test 1Highest : 90Lowest : 46.7Mean : 63.8KKM : 61
Students passingKKM
2 24
Score in eachindicator
Main idea : 42.11Purpose : 36.32Explicit I. : 52. 56Implicit I. : 34.21Word Meaning: 27.89Reference : 40
Main idea : 70Purpose : 81.58Explicit I. : 83.16Implicit I. : 46.84Word Meaning: 44.21Reference : 56.84
Students’ readingproblem
Students had problem in:1. identifying main idea2. identifying purpose of text3. finding explicit information4. finding implicit
information5. determining meaning of
word based on the context6. determining reference
Students had problem in:1. finding implicit
information2. determining meaning of
word based on the context3. determining reference
Class Situation Strength:1. not paying attention Most students kept their attention
when the teaching and learningprocess ran.
2. Passive Most students began to be active. Itcan be seen from: there were some students
who raised their hand fordoing some instruction oranswering some questions.
the students briefly askedthe researcher when theyhad difficulty.
The students gaveresponse when theresearcher guided them to
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use reading strategies.3. Bored The students looked interested in
joining some learning phases. It canbe seen from: the students looked
interested when gettingpictures.
the students lookedinterested in predictingstory based on the picture.
The students enjoyed inanswering questions inrelationship phase.
4. spending much time The students did not spend muchtime for answering questions inreading.Weakness:1. Sometimes, researcher’s
guidance was still dominant.2. Some students were dependent
on others.3. Some male students made noise
during the class.4. Male students tended to easily
lose their focus during the class.5. Making group activity took
much time.6. The researcher, sometimes,
could not manage the time well.
Based on the research findings presented in the table above, the
researcher got some reflections, both positive and negative ones.
a) Strength
Reading Comprehension
Before stating the positive reflection on reading
comprehension, the researcher wants to show the table and chart
showing the whole improvement of students’ reading scores in
each reading indicator.Table 4.5 The Students’ Score in Each Indicator After Cycle 1
Percentage of Correctness Mean
MI EI II WM Ref PurPre-test 42.11 55.26 34.21 27.89 40 36.32 39.3
post test 1 70 83.16 46.84 44.21 56.84 81.58 63.8
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The improvement showed in the table 4.5 above can be
clearly seen in the following chart.
Chart 4.1 Improvements in Reading Score in Each Indicator
Based on the chart 4.1 and table 4.5 above, it is clear
that the strength on reading comprehension is the improvement in
the indicators of main idea, purpose, and explicit information. In
those three reading indicators, the students got much
improvement. Before action, the score for main idea was 42.11
for main idea, 36.32 for purpose of text, and 52.56 for explicit
information. After cycle 1, the students’ scores rose to 70 for
main idea, 81.58 for purpose of text, and 83.16 for explicit
information. Those three scores passed the passing grade that was
61.
Other positive reflection regarding to students’ reading
comprehension is that the improvement in mean score. The
students’ mean score in pre-test was only 36.3 and it increased to
6.38 in post test 1. Formerly, the number of student who passed
the passing grade was only 2. Fortunately, the number improved
into 24 later.
Class situation
In class condition, the researcher got some positive
reflections or strengths. The first reflection is that most students
70
The improvement showed in the table 4.5 above can be
clearly seen in the following chart.
Chart 4.1 Improvements in Reading Score in Each Indicator
Based on the chart 4.1 and table 4.5 above, it is clear
that the strength on reading comprehension is the improvement in
the indicators of main idea, purpose, and explicit information. In
those three reading indicators, the students got much
improvement. Before action, the score for main idea was 42.11
for main idea, 36.32 for purpose of text, and 52.56 for explicit
information. After cycle 1, the students’ scores rose to 70 for
main idea, 81.58 for purpose of text, and 83.16 for explicit
information. Those three scores passed the passing grade that was
61.
Other positive reflection regarding to students’ reading
comprehension is that the improvement in mean score. The
students’ mean score in pre-test was only 36.3 and it increased to
6.38 in post test 1. Formerly, the number of student who passed
the passing grade was only 2. Fortunately, the number improved
into 24 later.
Class situation
In class condition, the researcher got some positive
reflections or strengths. The first reflection is that most students
020406080
100
70
The improvement showed in the table 4.5 above can be
clearly seen in the following chart.
Chart 4.1 Improvements in Reading Score in Each Indicator
Based on the chart 4.1 and table 4.5 above, it is clear
that the strength on reading comprehension is the improvement in
the indicators of main idea, purpose, and explicit information. In
those three reading indicators, the students got much
improvement. Before action, the score for main idea was 42.11
for main idea, 36.32 for purpose of text, and 52.56 for explicit
information. After cycle 1, the students’ scores rose to 70 for
main idea, 81.58 for purpose of text, and 83.16 for explicit
information. Those three scores passed the passing grade that was
61.
Other positive reflection regarding to students’ reading
comprehension is that the improvement in mean score. The
students’ mean score in pre-test was only 36.3 and it increased to
6.38 in post test 1. Formerly, the number of student who passed
the passing grade was only 2. Fortunately, the number improved
into 24 later.
Class situation
In class condition, the researcher got some positive
reflections or strengths. The first reflection is that most students
before
cycle 1
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paid attention during the class. Before the action, most students
did not pay attention to the teacher when she conducted teaching
and learning process. They were always busy in doing their own
non-academic businesses. After cycle 1, the researcher found that
most of the students paid attention to the class. When she
conducted the teaching and learning process, most students kept
their focus on the lesson.
The second reflection is that the students began to be
active during the class. Before the action, the students were very
passive. The students who gave response were only the ones who
sat in the first row. The condition changed after cycle 1. The
students began to be active, especially female students. They
began to be brave for raising their hand, asking questions, and
giving response to the researcher during the class.
The third reflection is that students had improvement in
learning interest. Before action, the researcher saw many students
looked bored in joining reading class. They felt that English was
boring activity because they only needed to listen to their teacher
who translated the text for them and do exercises on the LKS
from time to time. The students’ interest improved after ETR
method was implemented in reading class. Being shown some
interesting pictures, the students really looked interested. The
students also looked interested and enthusiastic in generating
prediction. Besides, the students were interested in relating the
text to their own life and experience. In answering questions in
relationship phase, they looked happy and enthusiastic. Regarding
to students’ interest, the researcher also reflected that the students
were more interested in predicting activity than telling what they
knew about a story. Besides, she also found that the students
preferred having new story to the one that they had already
known.
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The last reflection is that the students did not much
time for doing any questions related to reading comprehension.
Before action, the students spent much time for doing the
exercises following reading text and pre-test. They used less time
after cycle 1. Since they had strategies for answering
comprehension questions, they did not spend much time for doing
the exercises and post test 1.
b) Weakness
Reading Comprehension
Based on the chart 4.1 and table 4.5, it is clear that the
weakness of cycle 1 is the little improvement in the indicators of
word meaning, implicit information, and reference. The scores of
those three indicators did not fulfill the passing grade required by
the school. The students’ scores were only 46.84 in implicit
information, 44.21 in word meaning, and 56.84 in reference.
Those three scores were still far from the passing grade that was
61.
Class Situation
The researcher found some weaknesses toward the
implementation of cycle 1. The researcher found that most
students needed to be much guided by the researcher. Her
guidance was still dominant. The students could not be
independent readers yet.
After cycle 1, dependence factor among students was
still much. In group discussion, there were some students who
were not actively involved. They were just dependent on other
members for generating prediction. They did nothing while the
other members were working hard to get context clues.
The next negative reflection is that the students took
much time for making group. Either the students chose the
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members by themselves or being chosen by the researcher, they
still took much time for making group.
The other reflection is that there were still some
students who made noise and disturbed the conduciveness of the
class. Besides, the male students were still passive. They showed
less improvement. They tended to easily lose their focus. It might
be because the male students sat in a group. When there were
some naughty students who made noise, the other males began to
lose their focus on the researcher. The last negative reflection is
that the researcher, sometimes, could not manage the time well.
5) Revising Plan
After reflecting the implementation of cycle 1, the researcher
decided to revise the previous plan. The plan was revised in order to make
the implementation of cycle 2 better than the previous cycle.
The revision was made by considering both strengths and
weaknesses of cycle 1. The researcher used the strength and eliminated the
weaknesses. The revisions she made were:
a) providing predicting activity for experience phase because the
students were more interested in building knowledge through
predicting.
b) eliminating group activity; building background knowledge is done
in pair. It is because the students always took much time for
making group. Hopefully, the dependence factor among the
students could be decreased through this revision.
c) not giving guiding questions in experience phase because the
students are already familiar with predicting or building
background knowledge (they know what they have to do). It is also
for decreasing researcher’ domination during the class.
d) not giving guidance to the students in using reading strategies
because the students are already familiar with the strategies.
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e) asking students to sit dispersedly (male students may not sit in a
group) because when the male students sat in group, they tended to
easily lose their focus (there were some male students making noise
and disturbing them).
f) giving more practices in implicit information, word meaning, and
reference.
g) considering allocation time that has been made in the plan.
b. Cycle 2
The implementation of cycle 2 is summarized in the following
table.Table 4.6 Summary of Implementation of Cycle 2
Procedure DescriptionPlanning The researcher prepared anything related to the research: lesson plan,
worksheet, instructional material, and items for post test 2Action The researcher conducted the action in three meetings:
Meeting 1 In pair, Ss made prediction based on a picture Ss presented the prediction Ss comprehended the text in segment In pair, Ss confirmed their previous prediction Ss related the text to their life and experiences In pair, Ss discussed the exercises on the worksheet. The
exercises consisted of the practices on the three readingindicators that became the problems of cycle 1. The indicatorswere determining reference, finding implicit information, andguessing meaning of word.
Meeting 2 In pair, Ss made prediction based on a picture Ss presented the prediction Ss comprehended the text in segment In pair, Ss confirmed their previous prediction Ss related the text to their life and experiences In pair, Ss discussed the exercises on the worksheet that
consisted of the practices on three reading indicators.Meeting 3 In pair, Ss made prediction based on a picture Ss presented the prediction Ss comprehended the text in segment In pair, Ss confirmed their previous prediction Ss related the text to their life and experiences In pair, Ss discussed the exercises on the worksheet
Observing theaction
Meeting 1 Dependence factor among Ss decreased Ss were interested in pictures and predicting activity Ss were accustomed to predicting activity
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Firstly, Ss rather forgot about reading strategy. researcherneeded to review the strategies for them
Male Ss began to focus on the lesson Ss still needed guidance in answering questions about implicit
information, word meaning, and reference.Meeting 2 Ss could independently answer the questions about explicit
information, main idea, and purpose of text that were orallygiven by the researcher in text phase
Ss’ problems in implicit information and reference decreased Ss still needed guidance in guessing meaning based on the
context Male Ss began to be active Ss paid attention There were still some Ss who made noise
Meeting 3 Ss’ reading problems could be solved Ss’ still had difficulty in word meaning Ss became active Researcher’s guidance decreased Ss liked predicting story Ss enjoyed the relationship phase
Reflecting theaction
StrengthsReading Comprehension Ss’ scores in finding main idea, explicit information, purpose
of text, reference, and implicit information were higher thanthe passing grade.
Reading strategy was helpful for the students.Class Condition Predicting activity was interesting for the students Dispersedly sat, the male Ss kept their focus Male Ss were active in joining the class. Ss were interested in relationship phase Pictures raised Ss’ interest Pictures and predicting activity helped Ss get context clues The class was conducive for teaching and learning process.
WeaknessReading comprehension Ss’ score in word meaning did not fulfill the passing grade Ss still needed guidance in guessing meaning based on the
contextClass Condition Sometimes, there were still some Ss who made noise.
1) Planning the Action
After reflecting the implementation of cycle 1, the researcher
decided to do some revisions in order to make the research result better.
Considering the revised plan, she prepared the instruments needed for the
implementation of cycle 2. Here, she made three lesson plans with three
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reading texts entitled “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, “The Elves and
the Shoemaker”, and “The Princess and the Pea”. She also prepared some
instructional materials and worksheets.
For post test 2, she conducted try out 2. After making 60 items
covering six indicators of reading, she tried out the items. The total of
valid items was 34. In order to make the calculation easy, the researcher
only took 30 items for post 2.
2) Implementing the Action
a) Meeting 1
The first meeting in the second cycle was conducted in May,
2nd 2012. After doing some opening activities, the researcher started to
implement ETR method in reading class.
Experience Phase
Starting the class, the researcher told the students that for the
next three meetings, they would not work in group but in pair. She
explained that pair work was only conducted in the steps of building
background knowledge, confirming prediction, and doing exercises on
the worksheet. She also told the students the reason why she decided
to eliminate group work activity. Besides, the researcher also male
students might not sit in a group. They had to sit dispersedly. The
researcher told the reason.
After that, the researcher was ready to implement ETR
method on reading class. She distributed a picture for each pair. The
picture represented the story of Ali Baba and the forty thieves. She
also wrote the title of the text on the whiteboard. After that, she asked
the students to generate prediction based on the picture and the title.
The activity was done in pair. Since the students had already been
familiar with predicting activity, she did not give any guidance for
them. Not giving guiding question was aimed at decreasing
researcher’s guidance. Several minutes later, the researcher asked the
students to orally present their prediction. A pair was only represented
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by a presenter. When the student presented their prediction, the
researcher wrote down the keywords and new vocabularies used by
the student.
Text Phase
After conducting experience phase, the researcher started to
conduct text phase. In this phase, the students did not do pair
discussion because they were only required to read and spontaneously
answer comprehension questions given by the researcher. First of all,
she distributed a reading text entitled “Ali Baba and the Forty
Thieves” to the students. A pair got a worksheet. Then, she asked a
student to read the first two paragraphs of the text. After the student
finished reading the segment, she gave some comprehension questions
related to the segment. The questions given in text phase only covered
explicit information, purpose of text, and main idea of each paragraph.
The practices on other three indicators would be given later on. Giving
the questions, the researcher appointed and mentioned a name of
students. When the student could not answer the questions, the
researcher gave the question to other students. Here, she required the
students to independently use the reading strategies that had been
taught before.
Next, the researcher asked other student to continue reading
the next segment of the text. The reading in segment was repeatedly
done until the students read the whole text. After reading each
segment, the students were always given some comprehension
questions covering the indicators of main idea, explicit information,
and purpose of text.
Relationship Phase
Starting the relationship phase, the researcher asked the
students to confirm their prediction. Confirming the prediction, the
students worked in pair. The researcher gave five minutes for the
activity. Then, she appointed some pairs of students to tell their result
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of confirmation. After that, the researcher gave life-related questions
to the students. The questions were orally given by the researcher.
Answering the questions, the students did not need to discuss in pair
because the questions were personal ones.
Finishing the implementation of ETR method, the researcher
asked students to conduct pair work to discuss the exercises on the
worksheet. The exercises specially consisted of the practices on the
three reading indicators that still became problems for the students.
The three indicators were finding implicit information, determining
reference, and guessing meaning of word. Before, the researcher
reviewed the strategies for finding those indicators. She provided
some numbers of questions covering those three indicators. The
practices on the three indicators were particularly stated on the
worksheet because the researcher felt that it was difficult to
spontaneously made questions on those indicators. She needed
preparation. The questions on main idea, purpose, and explicit
information could be spontaneously provided by the researcher. After
that, she invited the students to discuss the exercises following the
reading text together.
Ending the class, the researcher summarized the lesson that
had just been conducted. She invited the students to review the
implementation of the meeting. Any students’ problems and questions
were directly discussed by the researcher. She also asked the students’
feeling toward the class. Finally, the researcher closed the lesson by
saying good bye.
b) Meeting 2
The second meeting was conducted in May, 3rd 2012. At
8.20, the researcher entered the class and greeted the students. After
that, she checked students’ attendance and other opening activities.
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Experience Phase
The researcher distributed a picture for each pair of students.
Then, she asked the students make prediction based on the picture and
the title written above it. The prediction was made in pair. The
students used dictionary to find the English of the context clues they
got. When the students discussed in pair, she walked around the class
for observing the students. Several minutes later, she asked students to
orally present their prediction. Each pair was represented by a
presenter. Presenting the prediction, the researcher did not appoint the
students. The students did not need to be appointed anymore. When
the presentation ran, the researcher listed the new vocabularies and
keywords used by the presenters.
Text Phase
The researcher distributed a reading text entitled “The Elves
and the Shoemaker” to the students. Then, she asked a student to read
the first five lines of the text. After the student finished reading the
segment, she gave some comprehension questions related to the
segment. In this meeting, the researcher tried not to appoint the
students to answer the questions. She began to give the questions to all
students. The students who could answer the questions should raise
their hands. Here, the researcher wanted to make the students brave
and active. The questions given in this phase were only the ones
covering main idea, purpose, and explicit information.
Next, the researcher asked other student to continue reading
the next segment of the text. The reading was continuously done until
the students read the entire paragraphs. The comprehension questions
covering the indicators of main idea, reference, and implicit
information related to each segment were also given by the researcher
after the students read each segment.
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Relationship Phase
Starting the relationship phase, the researcher asked the
students to firstly confirm their previous prediction. The confirmation
was dome in pair. Several minutes later, the researcher invited the
students to tell their result of confirmations. After that, the students
answered the questions relating the text to their life and experiences.
The questions were orally given by the researcher. The students did
not work in pair for answering the questions since the questions were
personal ones.
Finally, the researcher asked students to do the tasks on the
worksheet. She gave time for the students to conduct pair discussion
to do the exercises. As the same as the worksheet distributed in the
previous meeting, the worksheet of this second meeting only consisted
of the practices on reference, implicit information, and word meaning.
After that, the researcher and the students discussed the exercises
following the reading text together.
Ending the class, the researcher reviewed the lesson of the
meeting. She also gave opportunity for the students to ask any
questions they had. Next, she asked the students’ feeling toward the
class that had just been conducted. Finally, the researcher closed the
lesson by saying good bye.
c) Meeting 3
The third meeting was conducted in May, 9th 2012. At 11.15,
the researcher entered the class and greeted the students. After that,
she checked students’ attendance and told the students about the topic
that would be discussed.
Experience Phase
The researcher distributed a picture for each pair of students.
Then, she asked the students make prediction based on the picture and
the title written above it. The prediction was made in pair. When the
students discussed in pair, she walked around the class for observing
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the students. As the same as the first two meetings, the researcher did
not give guiding questions for the students. Building their knowledge,
the students were only helped by the picture and title. Several minutes
later, she asked students to orally present their prediction. A pair was
represented by a student for doing the oral presentation. When the
presentation ran, the researcher listed the new vocabularies and
keywords used by the presenter. In the meeting, there were two
presentations.
Text Phase
The researcher distributed a reading text entitled “The
Princess and the Pea” to the students. Then, she asked a student to
read the first paragraph of the text. Since, in the text phase, the
students only needed to read text, they were not required to work in
pair. After the student finished reading the segment, she gave some
comprehension questions related to the segment. As the same as the
previous meetings, the questions given in the text phase only covered
main idea, explicit information, and purpose of text. For answering the
questions, the students did not appoint by the researcher. Anyone who
could answer might raise their hands.
Then, the researcher allowed other student to continue
reading the next segment of the text. The reading followed by
discussion of each segment was done until the students read the whole
text.
Relationship Phase
Starting the relationship phase, the researcher asked the
students to firstly confirm their previous prediction. The confirmation
was dome in pair. Several minutes later, the researcher invited the
students to tell their result of confirmations. After that, the students
answered the questions relating the text to their life and experiences.
The questions were orally given by the researcher. The students did
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not work in pair for answering the questions since the questions were
personal ones.
Finally, the researcher asked the students to do the exercises
on the worksheet. The exercises still covered the indicators of implicit
information, word meaning, and reference. The students did the tasks
in pair. After the students did the tasks, the researcher invited them to
discuss the exercises together.
Ending the class, the researcher invited the students to
summarize the lesson of the meeting. She reviewed the
implementation of ETR in the meeting. Next, she invited the students
to ask any questions and shared their learning problems. Finally, she
asked the students’ feeling toward the class that had just been
conducted. She also told the students that they would have post test 2
in the next meeting and the questions would be different with the ones
in the previous tests. Finally, the researcher closed the lesson by
saying good bye.
3) Observing the Action
a) Meeting 1
In the first meeting of cycle 2, no student was absent. When
the researcher entered the class, the room was so noisy. Before
opening the class, she asked the students to take their seat and keep
silent. She told that the class would not be started when they were still
noisy. The students directly kept silent. When the researcher asked
“Can we start now?”, they said “Yes”.
At the beginning of experience phase, the class condition was
not really conducive. When the researcher messed up the position of
the students in order to separate the male students, most students
directly complained. Some students said “Aku ga mau sama dia, Bu. It
really took time for advising the students that they all were friends.
The other problem also occurred in several minutes later. After the
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researcher told the students that there would not be group work
activity, the students grumbled. The room directly became noisy. The
researcher needed to explain the reasons why she decided to eliminate
group work. Finally, the students wanted to understand.
When the researcher distributed the picture, the students
looked interested. There was a student saying, ”Mesti kon nebak neh”.
It seemed that the students had been accustomed to predicting activity.
During experience phase, the students did not frequently ask the
researcher. They had known what they had to do. They also used less
time for finishing their prediction. When the researcher walked around
the class, she found that the students were actively involved in the
discussion. It might be because the students only worked in pair. They
could not be dependent on other anymore.
However, when the researcher asked who would present the
prediction, no one raised the students. They said that they were
ashamed. Then, the researcher told the students that they had been
familiar with the activity. Therefore, it should be easy for them to do
the presentation. She also said that she would wait until there was
student who wanted to be the volunteers. After that, there was a
female student raising her hand. The researcher allowed her to do
presentation. After the student presented the prediction, she asked
other student. Once again, she found that the student who raised hand
was female. She allowed her to do presentation.
During text phase, the female students looked more active
than the males. They were brave for taking chance for reading aloud
the text in segments. When the researcher gave comprehension
questions, she found that most students did not give response. They
said that they forgot the strategies for answering reading questions.
Consequently, the researcher needed to review the strategies. When
she was reviewing the strategies, the students paid attention, including
the males.
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After getting the strategies, the students could answer the
questions given by the researcher. However, most male students were
still passive. They just kept silent. Sometimes, the researcher found
some male students did not pay attention and made noise. She directly
reprimanded them and they kept silent.
When the students moved on relationship phase, they looked
happy. They liked answering questions relating the text to their life
and experiences. They gave some funny personal answers and it made
the class enjoyable.
However, in discussing the exercises following the text, the
students got difficulty. They could not easily answer the questions,
although they had known the strategies for answering the questions.
Consequently, the researcher guided the students to use the strategies
and find the answers for the questions.
b) Meeting 2
In the second meeting, the teaching and learning process ran
better. When the researcher distributed the picture representing the
story of “The Elves and the Shoemaker”, the students looked
interested because they never knew about the story before. In making
prediction, it seemed that the students did not find any problems. They
knew what they had to do and they did not ask many questions to the
researcher. The class condition was rather noisy but it was fine since it
indicated that the students began to be active. In making prediction,
the students participated actively. When the researcher walked around
and observed them, all students actively discussed the pictures.
When the researcher asked the students to do oral
presentation, there were only two female students who raised hand.
Then, she told the students that for the meeting, she only invited the
students who never did any presentation before, especially male
students. After that, she found no male student raising hands. Then,
she told that she would wait for the “gentleman”. Finally, there was a
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male who raised hand. Surprisingly, the student was the one who
usually made noise. The researcher directly allowed him to present his
prediction. After the student did the presentation, the researcher asked
the students to give applause to him. The student looked happy
because of the applause.
Then, the researcher asked who wanted to be the next
presenter. Surprisingly, there was other male student raising hand. He
did the presentation well. The researcher complimented the two
presenters and they looked happy.
During text phase, the researcher found some students who
wanted to read the text. When the researcher gave questions for each
segment, the students actively gave response. However, there were
some students who did nothing. She decided to appoint the passive
students to answer the questions. Overall, the students could easily
answer the questions given in the text phase.
Doing the exercises following the reading text, the students
still had problems, especially in guessing meaning based on the
context. They began to be able to answer the questions about reference
and implicit information, although, sometimes, they still needed
researcher’s guidance.
Closing the lesson, the researcher asked the students what
they felt about the lesson that had just been conducted. They said that
they were happy. They liked predicting story based on the pictures.
c) Meeting 3
The third meeting ran as well as the second one. During
experience phase, the students were active in discussing the picture
representing “The Princess and the Pea”. When the researcher
approached each pair, they looked serious in making prediction and
using their dictionary. They seemed enjoying the predicting activity
since they knew what they had to do. The researcher did not need to
give much guidance for the students. At the time for presenting the
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prediction, the students also did not need to be appointed. The
students successfully got some context clues or keywords from the
picture given to them.
During text phase, the students also paid attention and kept
focusing on the lesson. When the researcher gave some
comprehension questions, they actively gave response. They only
needed guidance in answering few questions. However, there were
still some male students who made noise but this problem could be
directly handled by the researcher. The male students looked more
active than before. They were involved in answering comprehension
questions given by the researcher.
The students’ interest was also shown during the relationship
phase. The students looked happy and enthusiastic in answering
questions relating the text to their life and experiences. The class
became alive since the students were actively involved in giving their
personal answers.
In answering the exercises on the worksheet, the students,
sometimes, still did mistakes, especially in guessing meaning based on
the context. It was difficult for them to identify the part of speech of
the word and connect the word to other words in the sentence. Their
ability became better in answering questions about implicit
information and reference. However, they still had problems in those
two indicators in some occasions.
4) Reflecting the Action
After observing the implementation of experience-text-
relationship method in reading class, the researcher got some reflections.
The reflections were based on the findings got from the implementation
of cycle 2. The following table presents the findings of research on cycle
2.
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Table 4.7 Research Findings on Cycle 2
Findings Before Action After Cycle 1 After Cycle 2Students’readingscore
Pre-testHighest: 63.3Lowest : 13.3Mean : 39.3KKM : 61
Post Test 1Highest : 90Lowest : 46.7Mean : 63.8KKM : 61
Post Test 2Highest : 96.7Lowest : 56.7Mean : 73KKM : 61
Score ineachindicator
Main idea : 42.11Purpose : 36.32Explicit I. : 52. 56Implicit I. : 34.21Word Meaning: 27.89Reference : 40
Main idea : 70Purpose : 81.85Explicit I. : 83.16Implicit I. : 46.84Word Meaning: 44.21Reference : 56.84
Main idea : 71.05Purpose : 91.58Explicit I. : 83.68Implicit I. : 62.63Word Meaning: 60Reference : 68.95
ClassSituation
Strengths: Strengths:1. not paying attention most students kept their
attention when the teachingand learning process ran.
Most students, includingthe males, kept theirattention when theteaching and learningprocess ran.
The number and thefrequency of the malestudents making noisedecreased.
2. Passive Most students began to beactive. There were some students
who raised hand for doingteacher’s instruction andanswer teacher’s questions
The students briefly askedthe researcher when theyhad difficulty.
The students gave responsewhen the teacher guidedthem to use readingstrategies.
Most students became active.It can be seen from: male students became
actively involved in theclass.
The students did not needto be appointed for doingany activity.
Since the studentsworked in pair inexperience phase, theyparticipated actively indiscussion for makingprediction. It alsoindicates that dependencefactor among studentsdecreased.
the students briefly askedthe researcher when theyhad difficulty.
the students did not needto be much guidedanymore.
The students gaveresponse when theresearcher gave questionsand instructions.
3. Bored The students were interested injoining some learning phases. The students were
interested whengetting pictures.
The students wereinterested inpredicting a story.
The students enjoyedrelating text to their
The students lookedinterested in joining somelearning phases. It can be seenfrom: the students looked
interested when gettingpictures.
the students lookedinterested in predictingstory based on the
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Based on the findings presented on the table 4.7 above, the
researcher got some reflections, in reading comprehension and class
condition.
a) Strengths
Reading Comprehension
Before stating the reflection on reading comprehension,
the researcher wants to present the table and chart showing the
students’ improvement in each reading indicator.Table 4.8 Students’ Score in Each Reading Indicators after Cycle 2
MI EI II WM Ref Pur Mean
Pre-test 42.11 55.26 34.21 27.89 40 36.32 39.3
post test 1 70 83.16 46.84 44.21 56.84 81.58 63.8
Post test 2 71.05 83.68 62.63 60 68.95 91.58 73
The improvement presented in the table 4.8 above can be
drawn into chart below.
life. picture. The students enjoyed
answering questions inrelationship phase.
4. spending much time The students did not spendmuch time for answeringquestions in reading.
The students did not spendmuch time for answeringquestions in reading.
Weakness:1. sometimes, teacher’s
guidance was still dominant2. the students were dependent
on others.3. some male students made
noise during the class.4. Male students tended to
easily lose their focusduring the class.
5. Making group activity tookmuch time
6. The researcher, sometimes,could not manage the timewell.
Weakness:1. sometimes, there were
some students whomade noise anddisturbed classconduciveness but theresearcher coulddirectly handle thisproblem. By firmlyreprimanding thestudents, the researchercould make them silent.
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Chart 4.2 Students’ Score in Each Reading Indicators after Cycle 2
Based on chart 4.2 and table 4.8 above, it is clear that the
strength on reading comprehension is the improvement in the
indicators of main idea, purpose of text, explicit information,
implicit information, and reference. In those indicators, the
students’ scores passed the passing grade that was 61. For main
idea, the students’ score was 42.11 in pre-test, 70 in post test 1, and
71.05 in post test 2. For purpose of text, the score was 36.32 in pre-
test, 81.58 in post test 1, and 91.58 in post test 2. For explicit
information, the score was 52.56 in pre-test, 83.16 in post test 1,
and 83.68 in post test 2. For implicit information, the score was
34.21 in pre-test, 46.84 in post test 1, and 62.63 in post test 2.
Then, for reference, the score was 40 in pre-test, 56.84 in post test
1, and 68.95 in post test 2.
Regarding to students’ reading score, the other reflection
is in the improvement of the mean score. In post test 2, the
students’ mean score increased to 73. It was better than the
previous tests. In pre-test, the mean score was only 39.3 and the
mean score in post test 1 was 63.8. From 38 students, there were
only 4 students who did not fulfill the passing grade. In pre-test, the
number of unsuccessful students was 36 students and the number
89
Chart 4.2 Students’ Score in Each Reading Indicators after Cycle 2
Based on chart 4.2 and table 4.8 above, it is clear that the
strength on reading comprehension is the improvement in the
indicators of main idea, purpose of text, explicit information,
implicit information, and reference. In those indicators, the
students’ scores passed the passing grade that was 61. For main
idea, the students’ score was 42.11 in pre-test, 70 in post test 1, and
71.05 in post test 2. For purpose of text, the score was 36.32 in pre-
test, 81.58 in post test 1, and 91.58 in post test 2. For explicit
information, the score was 52.56 in pre-test, 83.16 in post test 1,
and 83.68 in post test 2. For implicit information, the score was
34.21 in pre-test, 46.84 in post test 1, and 62.63 in post test 2.
Then, for reference, the score was 40 in pre-test, 56.84 in post test
1, and 68.95 in post test 2.
Regarding to students’ reading score, the other reflection
is in the improvement of the mean score. In post test 2, the
students’ mean score increased to 73. It was better than the
previous tests. In pre-test, the mean score was only 39.3 and the
mean score in post test 1 was 63.8. From 38 students, there were
only 4 students who did not fulfill the passing grade. In pre-test, the
number of unsuccessful students was 36 students and the number
020406080
100
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Chart 4.2 Students’ Score in Each Reading Indicators after Cycle 2
Based on chart 4.2 and table 4.8 above, it is clear that the
strength on reading comprehension is the improvement in the
indicators of main idea, purpose of text, explicit information,
implicit information, and reference. In those indicators, the
students’ scores passed the passing grade that was 61. For main
idea, the students’ score was 42.11 in pre-test, 70 in post test 1, and
71.05 in post test 2. For purpose of text, the score was 36.32 in pre-
test, 81.58 in post test 1, and 91.58 in post test 2. For explicit
information, the score was 52.56 in pre-test, 83.16 in post test 1,
and 83.68 in post test 2. For implicit information, the score was
34.21 in pre-test, 46.84 in post test 1, and 62.63 in post test 2.
Then, for reference, the score was 40 in pre-test, 56.84 in post test
1, and 68.95 in post test 2.
Regarding to students’ reading score, the other reflection
is in the improvement of the mean score. In post test 2, the
students’ mean score increased to 73. It was better than the
previous tests. In pre-test, the mean score was only 39.3 and the
mean score in post test 1 was 63.8. From 38 students, there were
only 4 students who did not fulfill the passing grade. In pre-test, the
number of unsuccessful students was 36 students and the number
Pre-test
post test 1
post test 2
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decreased into 14 in post test 1. Finally, the number rapidly
decreased into 5 in post test 2.
b) Weaknesses
Reading Comprehension
The weakness on reading comprehension was in the
indicator of word meaning. For word meaning, the score was 27.89
in pre-test, 44.21 in post test 1, and 60 in post test 2. The score did
not fulfill the passing grade that was 61.
Class Situation
There was still a negative refection toward the class
condition after cycle 2. During the class, there were some naughty
students who made noise and disturbed the class. Although the
frequency much decreased, their noise still disturbed the class.
Fortunately, the researcher could directly handle the problem by
giving firm reprimand and saying that the teaching and learning
process would be stopped if the students were still noisy.
The reflection of the implementation of cycle 2 showed that the
students still had problems in the indicator of word meaning. Besides, in
class situation, the reflection stated that the there were still some students
who, sometimes, made noise and disturbed the class. Since the researcher
found that there were still some weaknesses after the implementation of
cycle 2, she actually needed to conduct cycle 3 in order to solve those
problems. But because of the matter of time, the researcher decided not
to conduct the cycle 3. The results got after the implementation of cycle 2
became the final results of the students’ reading comprehension.
B. Discussion
Considering the research findings elaborated above, the researcher
conducted discussion by justifying the findings with the relevant theories given by
experts. In more detail, the findings are discussed below.
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1. Experience-Text-Relationship method improves reading comprehension
The finding of this research showed that ETR method could
improve the students’ scores all reading indicators. The improvement could
be achieved since the researcher (as required in the implementation of ETR)
always gave comprehension questions after the students read certain section.
The questions covered all reading indicators including main idea, explicit
information, implicit information, word meaning, reference, and purpose of
text. The questions gave practice to the students and made the students
accustomed to having comprehension questions. Thus, it can be concluded
that the step of questioning students in text phase of ETR can improve
students’ reading comprehension and ability in answering questions
covering reading indicators.
The finding is supported by the theory given by Raphael, et al.
(2005: 3-8). They state that effective questioning practices in ETR are
designed to promote reading comprehension, engagement, and monitoring.
Furthermore, they state that ETR provides meaningful sites within which
teacher can think aloud to model and scaffold questioning practices. The
question and answer relationship required in ETR can be helpful in
delineating the boundaries of strategies to be used for responding to
questions asked.
Besides, the improvement in reading indicator can be specifically
discussed in the following:
a. ETR improves ability in finding main idea
After the research, the researcher found that the students
could find main idea easily. Reading in section (in this research, the
section was divided based on paragraph) made the students focused.
Focusing on certain paragraph in a time made the students easy in
getting the main idea. Thus, it can be concluded that ETR improves
ability in finding main idea. The finding is in line with the theory
given by Salataci and Akyel in Lawrence (2007: 60). They state that
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ETR method helps the students activate background knowledge,
summarize, and get main idea more often.
b. ETR method improves ability in determining word meaning based on
the context
ETR requires background knowledge activation prior to
reading. From this activity, the students could get the meaning of
some words that might be found in the text that they would be
discussed in text phase. It made the students easier to comprehend the
text since they had known the meaning of some words. It is in line
with the theory proposed by Saunders, et al. (1999: 10). They state
that building students’ background knowledge prior to reading helps
students contextualize story themes, content, and vocabulary. In
addition, Saunders and Goldenberg (1999: 8-9) state that ETR
provides substantial comprehensible input in which learners can
produce sophisticated structures or vocabulary within the total context
in which they are used.
c. ETR improves ability in finding information within text (explicit)
After research, the students’ scores in the indicator of finding
explicit information improved. ETR method helped them find
information within the text they read. It is in line with the theory
proposed by Raphael, et al. (2005: 3). They state that in ETR,
discussion leaders (teachers) emphasize questions in ways that elicit
and/or build students’ background knowledge at appropriate times,
focus their attention on text specific information, and help them make
links to their own experiences.
d. ETR improves ability in identifying purpose of text
After asking question on purpose of text in text phase, the
researcher found that the students got easier in identifying purpose of
text they read. They became accustomed to having question covered
the indicator. Thus, it can be concluded that ETR method can improve
students’ ability in identifying purpose of text.
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e. ETR improves ability in finding implicit information
The result of the research showed that the students got
improvement in finding implicit information. Thus, it can be
concluded that ETR method can help them make conclusion in order
find implicit information within text. It is in line with the theory
proposed by Ladue (2009: 82). She says that ETR method can help
readers master the meaning vocabulary, literal comprehension, and
non-literal comprehension. Here, the researcher points out on the third
function of ETR that is helping readers have non-literal
comprehension. Non-literal comprehension may include interpretative
comprehension. The comprehension requires the students to be able to
draw conclusion and make inferences. Since the readers are able to
draw conclusion, they are, then, able to find implicit information
(finding implicit information means making conclusion based on the
explicit information)
f. ETR method is able to improve ability in determining reference
After the implementation of ETR method in reading class, the
students were able in determining reference. Their scores in the
indicator got improvement. Thus, it is proven that ETR method can
improve students’ ability in determining reference.
2. Experience-Text-Relationship method improves class situation
a. ETR method improves students’ learning motivation
ETR requires background knowledge activation prior to reading.
The reading teacher should conduct discussion in order to help the students
have adequate background knowledge before reading a text.
In this research, the researcher activated students’ background
knowledge through asking the students what they knew about the story that
they would have and predicting activity. Through those activities, the
students became motivated. They looked interested to continue reading
because they wanted to know whether the content of the text was similar
with the background knowledge they had.
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The effectiveness of background knowledge activation in
motivating the students is supported by the theory given by Carrell, et al. in
Pennington and Young (1989: 654). They state:
“In the experience step of ETR, the teacher leads the students indiscussion of their own knowledge or experiences that are relatedin some way to the passage to be read. This is important not onlybecause the students can activate any relevant prior backgroundthey may have and begin to relate it to the text to be read, but alsobecause the experience step provides a motivation for reading thetext.”Supporting the theory proposed by Pennington and Young above,
Saunders et al. (1999: 10) state that drawing upon, sharing, and discussing
students’ relevant personal experiences as required in ETR method sustain
motivation and help students make concrete and conceptual connections to
the text, its content, and the themes under study.
b. ETR method makes students active and independent
In implementing ETR method, the researcher always let the
students find answers for any questions she provided by themselves. The
researcher did not directly give the correct answers to the students. She
asked the students to think and discover the answers through discussion.
This technique made the students active and independent. They did not
much depend on the teacher. The finding is in line with the theory given by
Carrell, et al. in Pennington and Young (1989: 654). They state:
“An important requirement of the ETR method is that the teacherbe adept in leading the students to discover the correct answers forthemselves, rather than telling them the answers directly. The goalof the method is to enable the students, who have had the processesmodeled for them by the teacher, to use these same cognitiveprocesses on their own.”
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
There are some findings resulted from this research. Based on the
findings, it can be concluded that ETR method can improve both students’ reading
comprehension and class situation. Firstly, ETR method is able to improve
students’ reading comprehension. Question and answer section conducted in text
phase was really helpful for making the students accustomed to having
comprehension questions. Since the students were always trained to discover
answers for comprehension questions covering indictors of main idea, explicit
information, implicit information, purpose of text, word meaning, and reference,
their ability in reading got improvement. The improvement can be clearly shown
in the students’ reading score. Before the researcher implemented ETR method in
reading class, the students’ reading score was really low. The result of pre-test
showed that the mean score of the students was only 39.3. The score was really
far from the passing grade that was 61. After the ETR method was implemented
in the reading class, the students’ mean score increased to 63.8 after cycle 1 and it
finally rose to 73 after cycle 2.
Secondly, ETR method can improve the reading class condition.
Through the implementation of ETR method in reading class, the students became
active and independent. Being trained to discover correct answers by themselves,
the students became independent and actively involved in the teaching and
learning process. They were not much dependent on the teacher in doing any
activities in reading class. Besides, during reading class, the students were
motivated and interested in doing some activities that were the parts of ETR
method implementation. The interesting activities included building background
knowledge through predicting activity, group discussion, oral presentation, and
relating text to students’ life and experiences. Besides, the use of pictures as
teaching media was also attractive for the students. Since the students had interest
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in learning, their boredom decreased. As a result, their attention to the teacher
improved. During the class, most students gave their attention to the researcher.
They kept their focus on the lesson.
B. Implication
In teaching reading, it is important for English teachers to use appropriate
method. Appropriate method can be considered as an influential factor for the
success of teaching and learning process. ETR method is a teaching method that is
effective to improve reading comprehension. ETR method can improve both
students’ reading comprehension and class condition. Question and answer
section implemented in text phase helps the students improve their reading
comprehension. Besides, the use of some activities in ETR makes the students
motivated, active, and independent readers. The activities include building
background knowledge prior to reading and relating students’ background
knowledge and the reading text. Thus, it can be implied that ETR can be used as
an effective method for improving students’ reading comprehension and class
situation.
C. Suggestion
Based on the conclusion made and the implication stated, the researcher
would like to give some suggestions dealing with reading class.
1. For Students
The students should motivate themselves to learn English. They
should get actively involved in the activities during the lesson. They also
need to give their full attention when the teaching and learning process
runs. Regarding to reading comprehension, the students need to do more
exercises on reading.
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2. For teacher
English teacher should realize that providing appropriate teaching
technique or method is really helpful for the students. Since the findings of
the research shows that ETR method can improve students’ reading
comprehension, the teacher can use the method as an alternative way of
reducing students’ boredom caused by the previous monotonous
technique.
3. For school
SMP Negeri 3 Mojolaban should support the teachers to teach
well. It is needed for schools or other educational institutions to conduct
educational trainings. The trainings should be able to train English
teachers to be more creative in managing their class. Besides, the school
should provide complete facilities to support the teaching and learning
process.
4. For other researchers
This research studies the implementation of ETR method in
improving the students’ reading comprehension. Hopefully, other
researcher can use the research findings of this study as additional
reference for their further research and it is better for them to read more
available references in order to get more information about ETR method.
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