IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION OF THE GRADE VIII STUDENTS AT SMP N 9 MAGELANG THROUGH DIRECTED READING THINKING ACTIVITY (DRTA) IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2014/2015

摘要

This research is action research that aims to improve the grade VIII students’ reading comprehension at SMP N 9 Magelang by implementing Directed Reading Thinking Activity. It was conducted in class VIII G that consisted of 29 students in the academic year of 2014/2015. udThis study was carried out in two cycles. Each cycle consisted of two meetings which included reconnaissance, planning, actions, observation and reflection. DRTA was implemented during the actions of the research. It consisted of three steps. They were predicting, reading, and confirming prediction. It was also supported by making use of LCD projector to optimally show the teaching and learning materials and the media, providing vocabulary assistance, giving more explanation related to the social function of the texts, giving worksheets and providing guidance. This research used four out of five criteria of validity namely democratic validity, outcome validity, process validity and dialogic validity. Furthermore, to enhance the trustworthiness of the study, the researcher implemented two out of four kinds of triangulations, namely time triangulation and investigator triangulation. The data collected were qualitative in nature and also supported by quantitative data. The qualitative data were gained through observation and interview. It was done by observing, assembling, coding, comparing and building the interpretation of the data and also reporting the outcomes descriptively. The data were in the form of field notes, interview transcripts and photographs. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were collected from the students’ scores in the pre-test and post-test. The data were analyzed by comparing the mean scores and the standard deviation of the tests using SPSS 16.0. udThe result showed that the students’ reading comprehension was significantly improved through DRTA. The actions made significant improvements of the students’ reading comprehension in the aspects of vocabulary interpretation, generating main idea, identifying the detail information of the text, and also students’ participation during the reading lesson. The findings were supported by the students’ mean scores which increased by 5.32 point from 73.68 in the pre-test to 79.00 in the post-test. Moreover, the students be more motivated and interested to read by using DRTA.