IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH SUMMARIZING ACTIVITIES TO THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 8 YOGYAKARTA IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2013/2014

摘要

The objective of this study is to improve reading comprehension through summarizing activities to the eighth grade students of SMP Muhammadiyah 8 Yogyakarta in the academic year of 2013/2014.udThe study is action research. The steps of this research were reconnaissance, planning, conducting action and observation, and reflection. The subjects of the research were 20 students of grade VIII. There were two types of data. They were qualitative data and quantitative data. The qualitative data were obtained by observing the teaching and learning process and interviewing the students and the teacher. The data were in the form of field notes and interview transcripts. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were collected through assessing the students’ reading comprehension by means of the pre-test and post-test.The data were the students’ reading comprehension scores. The validity of the data was obtained by applying democratic validity, outcome validity, process validity, catalytic validity, and dialogic validity. In addition, this research applied the time triangulation and the investigator triangulation to get trustworthiness.udIn reference to the actions conducted in two cycles, it is evident that summarizing activities could improve students’ reading comprehension as justified in the following results. First, there is an improvement on students’ reading comprehension. Most of students are active in making sense of texts (18 out of 20 students actively participate in reading comprehension activities). Second, most students of grade VIIIC have high enthusiasm to share their reading comprehension. Third, there is an improvement on students’ reading comprehension as it is displayed in the increase of the mean score (the result of the post-test 78.70 is compared to the result of the pre-test 67.05). In conclusion, summarizing activities could improve students’ reading comprehension.