Improving Eight Graders’ Reading Comprehension of Decriptive Text Using

Reciprocal Teaching in Mixed-ability Classroom at SMPN 7 Jambi.

Nurlaili

October, 2016

mynameisnurlaili@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Dealing with learning English, students are always faced by reading text at
school, but they have some problems within. VIIIB students at SMPN 7 Jambi
had difficulties in comprehending a text. The researcher conducted an action
research to improve eight graders’ reading comprehension in mixed-ability class
at SMPN 7 Jambi through Reciprocal Teaching. This research was conducted in
three cycles. In each cycle, the researcher apply Reciprocal Teaching stages which
consist of four stages, predicting, clarifying, generating questions, and
summarizing. In cycle I, there were many students who had not been able to pass
the score of passing grade and who were not active and enthusiastic in the
teaching learning process, and some groups did not look serious, so that the
researcher needed to conduct cycle II. In cycle II, there were many students who
could not pass the score of passing grade, students were not enthusisatic to give
response to the group which was doing presentation, and some group were late in
finishing their works. The reflections of cycle II still required the researcher to
revise the plan and to conduct the next cycle that was cycle III. The reflections of
cycle III showed that many students had become active participants and had been
abe to pass the passing grade. Based on these reflections, the researcher with the
collaborator decided that the next cycle did not need to be conducted because all
criteria of success had been achieved.
The data of this ressearch were qualitative data supported by quantitative
data. The qualitative data included interview transcripts, fieldnotes, and
observation checklist. The quantitative data were pre-test and post-tests results.
The result of this research were analyzed qualitatively by using the technique of
data triangualition in which the results of one data were cross-checked with other
data to strengthen the validity and reliability of the data. The findings of the
research showed that; (1) students became active participants in the teaching
learning process. The observation checkists in cycle three showed that more than
65% lists in students’ observation checklist were done by the researcher and the
students. This is supported by the fieldnotes that the researcher wrote in cycle

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three; (2) more than 50% of students could pass the score of passing grade, that is
75.The mean score of students’ test increased from 61.70 to 82.56.
Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the implemenation of
Reciprocal Teaching can improved students’ reading comprehension of eight
graders’ of SMPN 7 Jambi. This result of this study can be one the considerations
for other English teachers to apply reciprocal teaching when they would like to
teach reading to the students.

Keywords: Reading Comprehension, Reciprocal Teaching, Mixed-ability

Classroom, Descriptive Text

Introduction

Teaching English in a country whose first language is not English is quite

difficult. Teachers should struggle hard to teach the students. Many challenges

may be faced by the teachers, the basic challange is to build students’ interest and

motivation to learn English. There are four English skills that must be taught to

the students namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Teachers face

different problems to teach each of the skills.

In SMPN 7 Jambi especially in VIIIB class, the students were having some

problems with their English skills. In listening skill, they were difficult to

understand the English speaking they hear. The English teacher could not speak

full English to teach them and must translate any sentence they utter. They also

difficult to deliver their opinions in English, spokenly or writtenly. They needed

to take very long time to arrange what they wanted to deliver by using

dictionary. The students also had problem with their reading skill. The students

had low motivation to read, and when they were reading a text, they find some

difficulties to comprehend the text.

Among the four English skills, the researcher would like to improve students

reading skill since reading has the power to help students collecting as many

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information as possible to improve other English skills. Another consideration is

that reading plays a main role of English teaching assessment because one of the

ways to assess English is through reading. Although English can be assessed

through other English skills, but reading takes larger portion. This can be seen

from semester examination and final examination. Almost all questions can be

answered by involving reading skill. That is why the students should have good

skill in reading. However, being able to read fluently does not mean that students

have good skill in reading. Grabe and stoller (2002) argued that reading is the

ability to draw menaing from the printed page and interpret this information

appropriately. So that, beside being able to read fluently, the students should also

be able to comprehend the text.

Based on the the preliminary study that has been done in SMP N 7 Kota

Jambi, the researcher found that students’ problems in reading comprehension

were caused by some causes; some of them were because of the lack of

vocabulary mastery or because of the way they were treated. It was found that

teachers treat the students in the same way. Students were taught by using the

same kind of activities everyday. Teacher was seldom to hold group discussion in

the classroom. Meanwhile, It can not be denied anymore that almost all schools in

the world consist of mixed-ability classrooms including SMPN 7 Kota Jambi.

Mixed-ability class is a class in which students have great differences in terms of

their abilities, their English learning motivation, needs, interests, background of

education, learning styles, anxiety, experiences, etc (Ainslie in Svard, 2006).

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Tomlinson (2001) argued that by making small groups and differenciating

instructions in the process of learning, mixed-ability classroom can be managed.

In order to overcome the problems of reading comprehension of eight graders

at SMPN 7 Jambi stated above, the researcher would like to apply Reciprocal

Teaching (RT) technique based on some considerations such as; the use of RT

will be helpful to help students improve their reading comprehension and

motivation since it allows students not to work alone, they will be in a small group

to play different reading strategies and activities namely predicting, clarifying,

generating questions, and summarizing. Palincsar (1993) stated that RT is

designed to teach students in difficulty to engage in the kinds of activities which

skillful readers seem to spontaneously engage in. Beside it, the use of RT will also

be able to prevent the students from easily getting bored. Another reason is that

the use of RT is appropriate to be implemented in mixed-ability classroom. As

what has been stated above, mixed-ability can be managed by grouping the

students and differenciating the instructions in the process of learning. Those

categories were provided by RT technique in which in applying RT, the students

will be grouped and will be given different kinds of reading strategies to be

played. Based on those backgrounds, the researcher will conduct a research

entitled ‘Improving Eight Graders’ Reading Comprehension of Descriptive Text

Using Reciprocal Teaching in Mixed-ability Classroom at SMPN 7 Jambi.

Review of Related Literature

Reading is not as simple as it is heard, because reading is not merely about an

ability to read a text, but also an ability to comprehend the text. It is supported by

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Linse (2005) who said that reading is a skill which involves making sense or good

text and constructing the meaning from the words which are printed. Moreover,

Broughton, Brumfit, Flavell, Hil & Pincas (2003) argued that reading is an

intellectual skill; it is the ability to connect the words on the paper with the

meaning which are symbolized by those words. Based on those statements, the

students who can read a text fluently does not mean that their reading skill are

good. They should have an ability to comprehend what is being discussed in the

text.

Seymour and Osana (2003) stated that Reciprocal Teaching is a researcher-

developed instructional technique which is designed by Palincsar and Brown in

1984 to increase students’ reading comprehension. Reciprocal teaching can be

used to teach students how to implement the use of four comprehension strategies:

predicting, clarifying, generating questions, and summarizing (Pilonieta and

Medina, 2009. In reciprocal teaching, the students will be divided into some

groups, one group consists of at least four students. Each of them play different

roles as predictor, clarifier, questioner, and summarizer.

All teachers know that every classroom is a mixed-ability classroom. There is

no class which all the students have the same abilities, the same learning styles,

and the same interests. Svard (2006) stated that some classrooms maybe more

multileveled than others, even there are some classrooms who challenge the

teachers more, but all classrooms are mixed-ability classes. So that as the one who

plays an important role in teaching the students, the teacher should be responsible

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to help all students to improve their abilities by teaching them based on their

ability levels, interests, and learning styles.

Methodology

The researcher would conduct a research by applying Classroom Action

Research. Action researchers explore a practical problem with the purpose of

developing a solution to solve a problem appearing in the classroom (Creswell,

2012). The research would be conducted for the second year students of junior

high school at SMPN 7 Jambi in academic year 2016/2017. The location of

SMPN 7 Jambi is in Jln. Jendral A. Thalib Pematang Sulur Telanai Pura Jambi.

This research was started from July to September 2016. The subject of this

research would be the 8th graders of SMP N 7 Jambi in academic year 2016/2017.

This reserach has been conducted in VIII B which consists of 38 students. The

researcher would carry out the model of action research which was designed by

Kemmis and Mc Taggart. There are four stages that must be done in

implementing this model: Planning, Acting, Observing, and Reflecting.

To collect the data, the researcher used some instruments. They were tests,

observation checklist, field notes, and interview protocol. The data from some

instruments that have been collected would be analyzed qualitatively supported by

the quantitative data from the pre-test and post-tests. In gathering and analyzing

those data, the researcher would use the technique of triangulation to strengthen

the data and to cross check the data obtained from different instruments. Hopkins

(2008) stated that triangulation includes comparing the perceptions of the one who

does the research in a certain situation with other people who are in the same

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situation with the researcher. In addition, Cresswell (2007) argued that

tringulation is process to strengthen the fact gotten from different individual, types

of data, method of data collection in description.

Finding and Discussion

As stated in the chapter IV, this research is a classroom action research.

The procedures are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The research was

conducted at SMP N 7 Jambi on the 27th of July 2016- 19th of September 2016 in

VIIIB class. The research was conducted in three cycles. Before implementing the

actions, the researcher did preliminary study by interviewing the English teacher

who teaches in VIIIB and gave pre-test to VIIIB students. The interview and pre-

test were done for getting information about students’ reading comprehension

level, students’ difficulties in comprehending a text, and students’ reading scores

before the actions were conducted. After doing preliminary study, the researcher

started to implement the actions; planning, acting, observing, and reflecting.

No Subject Pre-test Post-test I Post-test II Post-test III

1. Student 1 60 86,7 73,3 86,7
2. Student 2 66,7 66,7 73,3 80
3. Student 3 53,3 66,7 73,3 80
4. Student 80 73,3 80 86,7
5. Student 80 80 80 86,7
6. Student 53,3 73,3 66,7 80
7. Student 60 66,7 73,3 86,7
8. Student 40 60 7 3,3 80
9. Student 46,7 86,7 80 86,7
10. Student 80 80 80 86,7
11. Student 73,3 86,7 86,7 93,3
12. Student 60 60 73,3 73,3
13. Student 60 66,7 73,3 73,3
14. Student 66,7 66,7 73,3 80
15. Student 46,7 53,3 66,7 73,3
16. Student 73,3 86,7 80 86,7

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17. Student 73,3 73,3 73,3 80
18. Student 53,3 73,3 80 93,3
19. Student 66,7 66,7 73,3 80
20. Student 73,3 73,3 80 80
21. Student 80 80 73,3 80
22. Student 73,3 86,7 73,3 93,3
23. Student 66,7 66,7 73,3 86,7
24. Student 66,7 66,7 73,3 80
25. Student 33,3 53,3 60 73,3
26. Student 53,3 53,3 60 73,3
27. Student 60 80 73,3 86,7
28. Student 60 80 73,3 86,7
29. Student 40 73,3 80 80
30. Student 33,3 60 73,3 86,7
31. Student 66,7 73,3 66,7 80
32. Student 73,3 80 73,3 86,7
33. Student 26,7 46,7 60 73,3
34. Student 73,3 80 80 86,7
35. Student 46,7 66,7 73,3 80
36. Student 73,3 86,7 80 86,7
37. Student 80 80 80 86,7
38. Student 80 73,3 86,7 86,7
Total 2406.5 2706.8 2899.5 3220.2
(61.70) (71.23) (74.34) (82.56)

Conducting gave all students chance to be active. All of students were free

to learn and had a chance to practise their reading comprehension. Based on

the fieldnotes of the researcher and the observation checklist from the

collaborator, it could be seen that RT could increase students’ active

participation from cycle 1 to cycle 3. The significant improvment happened in

cycle 3. This finding was in the line with Pilonieta and Medina (2009) who

stated that Reciprocal teaching can be used to teach students how to

implement the use of four comprehension strategies.

Teaching reading by using reciprocal teaching was also appropriate to be

applied in SMPN 7 especially class VIIIB. All schools consist of mixed-

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ability classroom including SMPN 7 Jambi. RT facilitated the students in

VIIIB to work in group so that they could comfortably share their ideas or ask

for some parts of the lesson they could not understand to their friends. RT

also gave VIIIB students a chance to play different roles in different stages of

RT. This did not make the students easily getting bored and they also had

freedom to choose their role based on their interest and their ability. This

finding was in line with Tomlinson (2001), he argued that by making small

groups and differenciating instructions in the process of learning, mixed-

ability class can be managed.

From all findings that had been stated above, it could be concluded that all

criteria of success had been achieved by the researcher. The researcher could

make a conclusion after applying the data triangulation technique, because the

researcher used various intruments to collect the data. The researcher

strengthened the validity and reliability of the data by cross-checking one data

and other data. The criteria of success that have been achieved by the

researcher are:

1. Students became active participants in the teaching learning process. The

students are considered to participate in the teaching learning process if

more than 65% lists in students’ observation checklist are done. The

observation checkists in cycle three showed that more than 65% lists in

students’ observation checklist were done

2. More than 50% of students could pass the score of passing grade, that is

75.

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Conclusion

The research findings and discussion in chapter IV showed that the use of

Reciprocal Teaching (RT) has improved the 8th graders’ reading

comprehension of Descriptive text in mixed-ability classroom at SMPN 7

Jambi, involved the following procedures: First, the researcher introduced RT

to the students by explaining the definition and some stages in RT. Second, the

researcher gave the examples of how to apply each stage of RT. Third the

reseracher divided students into some groups, the memebers of group were

given freedom to choose the role based on their ability and interest. Fourth, the

rsearcher gave a worksheet for each group and asked them to work with their

friends applying the role they had chosen; the students predicted the topic of

the text based on the picture or que words available in the text, the students

clarified the difficult words or sentences they found in the text, the students

made some questions based on the information from the text, and the students

summarized the text based on the information they got from the previous

stages. Fifth, the researcehr asked members of group to present their works

and asked members of other groups to give their responds.

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