Dian Wahyu Susanti English Education Department Teacher Training and Education Faculty. Slamet Riyadi University, Surakarta ABSTRACT

Transcription

1 IMPROVING STUDENTS READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH LITERATURE CIRCLES STRATEGY FOR THE ELEVENTH GRADE OF SMK NEGERI 8 SURAKARTA IN 2015/2016 ACADEMIC YEAR Dian Wahyu Susanti English Education Department Teacher Training and Education Faculty Slamet Riyadi University, Surakarta ABSTRACT This research aims at: (1) finding out the significant improvement of students reading comprehension using Literature Circles Strategy at the eleventh grade of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 academic year; and (2) describing the English learning and teaching process of reading comprehension through Literature Circles Strategy at the eleventh grade of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 academic year. This study was an action research that was carried out at SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta in class XI A Dance consisted of 12 students. To collect the data the researcher used test and non-test techniques. The types of test were multiple choice, essay, matching, and true or false, while for non-test, there were interview, observation and documentation. The techniques of analyzing the data were qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were obtained by doing observation, interview, and field notes. The quantitative data were obtained by calculating the t-test; formula the mean and t-value. There were two cycles in this action research. There was a significant improvement of students reading comprehension. It can be seen from students result. The mean score of pre-test, which was improved into in post-test 1. This number then improved over again into in post-test 2 that was higher than the KKM (75). Besides that, process of teaching learning reading makes the class situation interactive. The students were also enthusiastic to work in small group. They had a better learning acts, such as they became active learner, they had good cooperation, and they improved their knowledge. Based on the research finding, it can be concluded that using Literature Circles Strategy can increase the students reading comprehension. Keywords: English Learning, Reading Comprehension, Literature Circles Strategy, Classroom Action Research. 1

2 2 ABSTRAK Dian Wahyu Susanti. MENINGKATKAN PEMAHAMAN MEMBACA SISWA MELALUI LITERATURE CIRCLES STRATEGY (Sebuah Penelitian Tindakan Kelas pada Kelas Sebelas SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta pada Tahun Pelajaran 2015/ 2016). Skripsi. Surakarta. Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Universitas Slamet Riyadi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk: (1) Mengetahui peningkatan signifikan menggunakan Literature Circles Strategy pada pemahaman membaca siswa pada kelas sebelas SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta tahun pelajaran 2015/ 2016 dan (2) Mendeskripsikan proses belajar dan mengajar bahasa Inggris pada pemahaman membaca melalui strategi Literature Circles pada kelas sebelas SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta pada tahun pelajaran 2015/ Pada penelitian ini, Literature Circles Strategy digunakan untuk meningkatkan pemahaman membaca siswa pada pembelajaran bahasa Inggris. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta kelas XI A Dance terdiri dari 12 siswa. Tipe test adalah pilihan ganda, esai, mencocokkan dan benar salah, sementara itu untuk non-test, menggunakan wawancara, pengamatan dan dokumentasi. Teknik dalam analisa data dengan kualitatif dan kuantitatif. Data kualitatif meliputi menggunakan pengamatan, wawancara dan catatan lapangan. Data kuantitatif meliputi menjumlahkan t-test; formula nilai rata-rata dan t-value. Pada penelitian tindakan ini menggunakan dua siklus. Nilai rata-rata pretest adalah meningkat menjadi pada post test 1. Jumlah ini kemudian meningkat lagi menjadi pada post-test 2, lebih tinggi dari KKM (75). Siswa menjadi antusias untuk bekerja dalam kelompok kecil. Mereka memiliki tindakan belajar yang lebih baik, seperti menjadi pembelajar yang aktif, mereka memiliki kerjasama yang baik, dan meningkatkan ilmu mereka. Berdasarkan data temuan, dapat disimpulkan bahwa menggunakan Literature Circles Strategy dapat meningkatkan pemahaman membaca siswa. Kata kunci: Belajar Bahasa Inggris, Pemahaman Membaca, Literature Circles Strategy, Penelitian Tindakan Kelas.

3 3 INTRODUCTION English is an international language. In Indonesian education system, it is a foreign language. English has four skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. Reading is one of the four important skills which has to be learned by the students in order to master English well. Meanwhile, English in Vocational School dealing with related functional and communicative needs. As a basic life skill, reading is also important for society as well as individual. Anderson et al. (1985: 16) defines that reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information. Moreover, it also provides opportunities to study language; vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts (Harmer, 1998: 68). By reading, students will improve their knowledge up to the level of world. Reading has many functions, then it should be applied in environmental education, such as: young learners, elementary school, junior high school, senior high school and college. The students of vocational high school get different English program from students of senior high school. English for specific purposes involves teaching English with particular attention in certain areas, for example: business, tourism, or job vacancy. At SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta, English becomes one of the main lessons to learn. KKM (The Standard of Minimum Score) of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta is Unfotunately, most of the students did not achieve it yet. It was also shown from the fact that the students of XI A Dance class reading skill

4 4 was still low, under and need to be improved. It can be seen in the following actual symptoms: (1) Many students were lack of vocabularies; (2) Many students were difficult to find detail informations of the text; and (3) There was no significant medium used for teaching English in the classroom. One of the ways that determines the success of teaching learning English is the use of an appropriate strategy. One of the appropriate strategy for teaching learning reading is Literature Circles Strategy. According to Moen (2004: 8) Literature Circles is a group of three to five students gathered together to discuss the book they are reading or have just finished reading. Each student has a role sheet in the group s discussion. Moreover, Daniels (2002: 2) writes that literature circles is small, peer-led discussion groups whose members have chosen to read the same story, poem, article or book. Literature circles engage students in conversations about shared readings. The research is intended to improve the students reading comprehension. There are two aims of the study: (1) To find out the significant improvement of using Literature Circles Strategy towards the students reading comprehension at the eleventh grade of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 academic year; (2) To describe how the English learning and teaching process of reading comprehension through Literature Circles Strategy at the eleventh grade of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 academic year.

5 5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This action research was conducted at SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta. It is located at Sangihe Street, Surakarta, Central Java. This research was conducted from November 2015 up to February 2016 in the 2015/2016 Academic Year. The subject of the research was the students of the eleventh grade of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 Academic Year. In this research, the researcher took one class of the eleventh grade, it was class XI A Dance. This class consisted of 12 students, they were 4 boys and 8 girls. The researcher choose that class because the first, there were some students who had limitation in reading skill. Second, the teacher s method in teaching reading was monotonous. The method used in this research was Classroom Action Research (CAR). Burns (2010: 2) states that action research related to the ideas of reflective practice and the teacher as researcher. In details, he explains that action research involves taking a self-reflective, critical and systematic approach to exploring your own teaching contexts. In the Classroom Action Research, the techniques of collecting the data were tests and non-tests. The tests comprised: pre-test and post-test. While non test, included observation, interview, and documentation. In the procedure of Action Research, the researcher took two cycles. Each cycle used six steps, they were as follows: identifying the problem, planning the action, implementing the action, observing, reflecting, and revising the plan.

6 6 In analyzing of the data, the researcher used Qualitative and Quantitative data analyisis. The qualitative data obtained by doing observation, interviewing the students and the teacher, and writing field notes. These was analyzed by assembling data, coding the data, comparing the data, building meaning and interpretation, and reporting outcomes (Burns (1999:157)). According to Sugiyono (2010: 14), quantitative is a research method that is based on the philosophy of positivism. It is used to examine the population or a particular sample, the technique is generally carried out at random, using a data collection instrument of research, quantitative data analysis or statistics in order to test the hypotheses that have been established. The formula t-test use in analyzing data as follows: a) the mean of the pre test and post; and b) the t-value (Ary, Jacobs, Razaviech and Soensen (2010: )). THE RESULT OF THE RESEARCH The study was carried out at the XI A Dance class of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta. The research was conducted in collaboration with the English teacher of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta. The researcher used Literature Circles Strategy as the learning strategy to improve the students reading comprehension. The researcher took two cycles. Each cycle was held in three meetings. Two meeting of those was conducted for teaching and learning activity and one meeting left was for conducting Post Test. Technically, every meeting took 2 x 45 minutes. The implementation of Cycle 1 was on 26 th November until 17 th December 2015, meanwhile Cycle 2 was on 27 th January until 10 th February Each cycle

7 7 consisted of four steps : (1) planning the action; (2) implementing the action; (3) observing the action; and (4) reflecting. Before implementing cycle one, the researcher conducted pre-test on 19 th Novem ber The mean score of pre-test was It was low because the minimum score of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta is In cycle one, there were two meetings. The first meeting was conducted on Thursday, 26 th November The second meeting was conducted on Thursday, 3 rd December After observing and reflecting the action, the researcher found several strengths and weaknesses. The strengths were as follows: (1) The students got the new experience of learning. This strategy gave the spirit for the students to comprehend the text together with classmate. (2) The student in groups answered the questions or work sheet faster than they worked by herself/himself. They shared the opinion between the groups member. (3) The students motivation to participate in the learning process improved. It made a lively situation in the classroom where every student made efforts to find the answers of task. (4) The mean score increased from pre-test to post-test 1. That was improved into The weaknesses were as follows: (1) In this cycle especially in the first meeting the students did not understand well the role of play or the procedures of this learning strategy, so that the researcher should explain it clearer in the previous part, moreover it would be better if she gave the example. (2) The students did not have more opinion to knew the main idea of the text. Some of

8 8 them just write or answer what they had found in the text just the way it was without any creativity. (3) The scores from pre test to post test 1 improved but some students still not achieved the KKM. The KKM was 75 and some students still got (4) Some students came late into the class. Because they joined dance practice. Therefore, the researcher reminded them to come on time in the next meeting. From the reflection of cycle one, the researcher was not satisfied with the result. So, the researcher held cycle two to improve the result. The first meeting was held on Wednesday, 27 th January 2016 and the second meeting was held on Wednesday, 3 rd February After observing and reflecting the action, the researcher found several strengths and weaknesses. The strengths were as follows: (1) The mean score increased from post-test 1 to post-test 2. That was improved into (2) All of the students were more active and creative than before. It could be seen when the researcher asked them to perform in front of the class. The weaknesses were as follows: (1) Some students were noisy during groups discussion. (2) Some students were confused with new material. The new material related with the current issues which happened in our environment. Unfortunately, some students did not know about it. It took the time for the researcher to explain more about the new material.

9 9 DISCUSSION Improving students reading comprehension is not an easy work, especially for vocational school students of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta. The students were poor of basic comprehension abilities, the indicators of the test as follows: (1) to find out the main idea; (2) to find out the explicit information; (3) to find out the implicit information; (4) to determine reference; and (5) to find the new vocabulary. In this research, the researcher used Short Story and Analytical Exposition as the teaching materials. The researcher found some problems in teaching learning process. The students were still confused to find the detail information of the text. The strategy was also something new for the students. In cycle one, the goal of teaching learning did not achieve as expected. The mean score of post-test 1 was The researcher conducted cycle two to improve the result in the cycle one. In this cycle, the students got involve actively in reading activity. The students were very excited in teaching learning reading through literature circles strategy. The result of improvement of the students could be seen on the result table as follows : Table 1. The improvement of students learning result Mean of Pre-test Mean of Post test 1 Mean of Post test

10 10 Based on the result above, it proves that the use of Literature Circles Strategy improves the students reading comprehension at the eleventh grade of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 Academic Year. That is because the use of literature in teaching learning of English has been a matter of concern for more efficient and more constructive in reading comprehension activities. Then function of circles in teaching learning of English promote the cooperative learning activities. Finally, it can be concluded that, the benefits of literature circles are: First, to build the critical-thinking skills by coming together to respond or to discuss a text. Second, to construct the meaning of a text together as a group, debate and challenge each other. Last but not least, the collaborative learning provided more motivation for students to stretch their ability. CONCLUSION Based on the whole discussion in the previous chapter, the researcher concludes that: 1. The implementation of Literature Circles Strategy as the learning strategy can improve the students reading comprehension at the eleventh grade of SMK Negeri 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 academic year. The result of the research shows that there is a significant improvement of the result between Pre-test, Post test 1 and Post test 2. The mean of Pre-test, that was increased into in Post test 1. This number then increased over again into in Post test 2.

11 11 2. The teaching process of reading comprehension through Literature Circles Strategy make the class situation interactive. Besides improving students reading comprehension in the form of score as the learning result, the teaching process through Literature Circles Strategy also makes the class situation interactive. It because the procedure of group discussion let the class make feedback. The students were motivated to answer the researcher s questions during brainstorming activity. In this case, the focus not on the appropriateness or correctness of the answer, but on the students motivation. The function of specific roles made the groups working more productive and focus. The groups discussion helped the students to find out all of the informations of the text. The students even asked to the researcher many things about topic of the day, and that was good. The students got the new experience of learning.

12 12 BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, R. C., Hiebert, E. H., Scott, J. A., & Wilkinson, I. A. G. (1985). Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commision on Reading. Washington D.C: National Academy of Education. Ary, D., Jacobs, C. L., Razaviech, A., Soensen, C. K. (2010). Introduction to research in education. Cengage Learning. 8th Edition. Burns, Anne. (1999). Collaborative action research for English language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Burns, Anne. (2010). Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching: A Guide for Practitioners. In Eli Hinkel (Ed.), ESL Applied Linguistics Professional Series (pp. 2). New York, NY: Routledge. Daniels, Harvey. (2002). Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Books Clubs and Reading Groups (2nd ed.). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publisher. Harmer, Jeremy. (1998). How To Teach English: An introduction to the practice of English language teaching. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Moen, Christine Boardman. (2004). 25 Reproducible Literature: Circle Role Sheets for Fiction and Nonfiction Books. Dayton: Lorenz Educational Press. Sugiyono. (2010). Metode Penelitian Pendidikan. Bandung: Alfabeta.