RESEARCH PROPOSAL

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN MOTIVATION AND

READING COMPREHENSION OF THE EIGHTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 3 TAMPAKSIRING
IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021

NI PANDE PUTU WIRAYANTI

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
MAHASARASWATI DENPASAR UNIVERSITY
DENPASAR
2020
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

As one of the language skills, reading plays an important role because reading
has become a part of our daily life. Reading is a way a person gets information from
written texts. Through reading, people are able to gain a lot of knowledge,
information, pleasure, and problem solution. According to Healy (2002:3) reading is
a purposeful and active process. A reader reads to understand the text, remember
what is understood and put understanding to use. Comprehending is at the heart of
what it means to really read by thinking and understanding and getting at the meaning
behind a text. Without comprehension reading is nothing because comprehension
becomes the most important factor to indicate how well students read.
Klingners (2007:2) stated that meaning, learning and pleasure are the ultimate
goals of learning to read. The more reading students do the more knowledge they can
understand and get from the text. Reading becomes the main aim of language
teaching. The purposes are to enable students to read and understand the text
materials correctly. Then it is essential to read in the right way in order to understand
the target language. Reading consist of two processes, they are recognition and
comprehension. Word recognition refers to the process of perceiving how, written
symbols correspond to one’s spoken language. Comprehension is the process of
making sense of words, sentences and connected text. According to Van de Broek
(2012: 315) reading comprehension is a complex interaction among automatic and
strategic cognitive processes that enables the reader to create a mental representation
of a text. Comprehension depends not only on no characteristics of the reader, such as
prior knowledge and working memory, but also on language processes, such as
reading skills, decoding, vocabulary, sensitivity to text structure, inference, and
motivation.
 According to Suhag et al. (2016:100) motivation has several effects on the
learning and behavior of students: Firstly, motivation leads behavior to specific goals.
Motivation sets specific goals that people strive for and, thus, influences the choices
of students. Motivation also increases the effort and energy to determine whether a
student will pursue a task that is difficult with enthusiasm or lifeless attitude.
Motivation will be an important factor affecting the learning and success of the
students by affecting the initiation and continuity of the activities, increasing the time
of the students' duties. Motivation affects how information is processed and how it is
processed as it increases the cognitive processing process and, thus, motivated
students get more inclined to understand and examine material than to observe
learning movements just superficially.
Harmer (2007:98) states that motivation is essential to success. We have to
have motivation if we want to be success if to do something.Motivation means to
make somebody willing to feel enthusiastic, interest, and committed to something.
That is why, motivation is an important contributing factor in language learning
because learning will be more effective and efficient if it pushes by motivation.
Motivation involves the process that energizes, direct and sustains behavior. In other
words, motivation can help the students to get their knowledge, comprehension or
skill. Without such motivation we will almost certainly fail to make the necessary
effort.
Some of the students faced difficulties in reading comprehension. It was hard
for them to understand the text because of less motivation. The students just read the
text without really understand the whole text. They only answered the questions
without comprehending all of the text. In here the students’ only answered the
questions because they wanted to get good score for reading. Sometimes the teacher
asked the students to read the book but they don’t really read because they didn’t
have the motivation to read. The teacher saw they are reading but actually the
students just bowed their head. It was hard for the students to answer the questions
given by their teacher. So it looked like they are reading something but actually they
are not.
 Motivation is a key factor for explaining the success or failure of any difficult
activity. To be successful in reading, motivation is an important factor. Students who
are motivated tend to devote all his ability to produce optimal learning results as
expected, as well as raise awareness in reading. Naiman et al (in Ur 1991:275) states
that the most successful learners are not necessarily those to whom a language comes
very easily, they are those who display certain typical characteristics, most of them
clearly associated with motivation. Students with high motivation will be better to
prepare themselves to engage the learning process at school. The teacher or the
observer will be easily recognizing the students with high motivation. They will read
more books, ask many questions, do more exercise, trying to use their skill and
always looks happy during the learning process in the class.
A research was conducted by Manan (2017). He carried out a research
entitled “The Correlation between Student’s Motivation in Reading English Text
Books and Their Achievement in Reading Comprehension”. His research was
conducted for the fifth grade students in a mid-Atlantic school. The objective of his
research was to find out whether there is any positive and significant correlation
between student’s motivation in reading English text book and their achievement in
reading English. The result of his research showed that motivation in reading English
text books influenced student’s achievement in reading comprehension.
Another research was conducted by Ikhsan (2018). The title of his research
was “The Correlation between Student’s Motivation and Reading Comprehension of
Eight Grade Students at State Junior High School N 4 Muaro Jambi”. The objective
of his study was to find out correlation between student’s motivation and their
reading comprehension of the Eighth Grade Students at State Junior High School No
4 Muaro Jambi. The result of his study showed that the null hypothesis (Ho) was
rejected and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. In other words, there was
strong correlation between students’ motivation in reading and their reading
comprehension.
Regarding on the explanation and the research finding, it seemedthat
motivation played an important role in improving the students’ motivation in reading
comprehension. The researcher chose motivation and reading comprehension in this
research because the researcher needed to know how motivation affects the students’
reading comprehension, especially in the eighth grade students of SMPN 3
Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021. Therefore, the researcher formulated a
research entitled “The Correlation between Motivation and Reading Comprehension
of the Eighth Grade Students of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in Academic Year
2020/2021”.

1.2 Research Problem

Concerning to the description above, motivation and reading comprehension
are important especially in learning English. Therefore, it is important to formulate
the research question. Research problem is important to make the discussion clear and
specific. Furthermore, the researcher was interested in finding out the significant
correlation between motivation and reading comprehension of the junior high school
students. Thus, the research question of the present study can be formulated as
follows: is there any correlation between motivation and reading comprehension of
the eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021?

1.3 Objective of the Study

Objective of the study is the goal of which the researcher plans to do or
achieve after the study is carried out. By knowing the objective of the study, it will
help the researcher to concern on the process of collecting the data in this research.
The undertaking of any scientific investigation is certainly to answer the research
question and find out scientific solution of the research problem. This present study
was intended to answer the research problem that had been previously formulated and
determined. Based on the research problem on the background, the objective of the
study was to figure out whether there is any correlation between motivation and
reading comprehension of the eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in
academic year 2020/2021.
1.4 Limitation of the Study
Recognizing the fact that motivation and reading comprehension was too
broad and complex to be dealt in a corretional study. The researcher neededto narrow
down the area of the study. To avoid overlapping and confusion of the reader, the
researcher was focus on finding the correlation between motivation and reading
comprehension. This present study was administered for the eight grade students of
SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021. The researcherhad limit the
genre of the text of reading comprehension that was only descriptive paragraph about
person that they had learnt from their English teacher. For the reading comprehension
that was assessed was the ability to identify four aspects of reading which is general
information, specific information, textual reference and textual meaning.
Furthermore, the motivation aspects were focused in positive task orientation, ego
involvement, need or achievement, high inspiration, goal orientation, perseverance,
and tolerance of ambiguity.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The main practical consideration which was taken into explanation in the
present study is the significance of the reseach finding. This research was concerned
with finding the correlation between motivation and reading comprehension of the
eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021. The
result of the study was expected to provide meaningful and significant outcome of the
research findings. Moreover, the researcher expected that this research would bring
more advantages in terms of theoretical and practical significance. Thus, the findings
of the present study were expected to have both theoretical and practical significance.
Theoretically, the findings of the present study were expected to give
contribution and material for the next researcher regarding to investigate the
correlation between motivation and reading comprehension. The result of this
research also were expected to give a new list of some study about correlational study
which had been conducted before by others or reader to get new information about it.
Therefore, this research was expected to be reference for the next researchers
especially for the correlational study to investigate the correlation between motivation
and reading comprehension.
Practically, the results of the present study were expected to be useful for
English teachers, students, and other researchers. For the English teachers, it was
expected to give information that can be used as a consideration to get better results
for the students being taught in SMPN 3 Tampaksiring. It also gave the teachers
result on how to teach reading. For the students, it was expected that it can help them
to overcome the issue by considering better learning strategies in the future so that
they can increase their motivation and solve their problem in reading comprehension.
The last is for other researchers, this present study were expected to become a
reference which can help future researcher to improve and develop their research
which is related to the correlation between motivation and reading comprehension
especially in descriptive text. The finding of this research may have some weakness
that can be refined by the other researchers in the next research to make it much
better.

1.6 Definition of the Key Terms

Key terms are important to be defined in order to give clear understanding of
the topic. In the present study, the researcher has several key terms that are related in
the research. The key terms were based on the research variables on the present study.
Moreover, the focus of this study was to find out the correlation between motivation
and reading comprehension of the eight grade students of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in
academic year 2020/2021. Thus, the key terms in this present study was motivation
and reading comprehension. In oder to avoid misunderstanding and confusion on the
parts of the readers concerning the key terms significantly used in the context of the
present study, the researcher needs to operationally define the following terms:
1. Motivation
In this study, motivation can be defined as the factors that continually contributed
and committed to attain the goal of the eighth grade students of SMPN 3
Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021. The aspects of the factors were
 positive task orientation, ego involvement, need for achievement, high aspiration,
goal orientation, perseverance and tolerance.

2. Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension can be defined as the ability of the eighth grade students
of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021 to comprehend the
information or content in descriptive paragraph about person that the students
have learnt at school. The focus of comprehending the paragraph was to identify
general information, specific information, textual meaning, and textual references
by using short answer task
 CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical Review

Theoretical review is a review of some theories relate to the study. This is
used to support and built the present study to be more firm and based on the fact.
Therefore, theoretical review was used to support and build this study. The present
study needed to be supported by the theories which have already given by the experts.
There were several sources from several literatures that were related and support this
present study. There were some important points to be explained and discussed based
on the relevant theoretical reviews that were taken by the researcher. The present
study was based on the discussion of the following theoretical framework: motivation
and reading comprehension. For the purpose of the present study, some theoretical
new points as well as empirical evidences were review. Some of the viewpoints were
as follow:

2.1.1 Motivation
According to Brown (2001:72) motivation is an inner drive or stimulus, which
can be like self-esteem, be global, a situational, or task oriented. Motivation is the
extent to which you make choices about goals to pursue and the effort you will
devote to that pursuit. Learning a foreign language requires some of all these levels of
motivation. For example a learner may process high global motivation but low task
motivation to perform well in the written mode of the language. He also states that
success in any task is due simply to the fact that someone is motivated. It is easy, to
claim that in the second language learning, a learner will be successful if they have
high motivation.
Lile (2003:1) stated that motivation is the key to all learning. The main idea of
motivation is to capture the children’s attention and curiosity and channel their
energy towards learning. Motivation is the important aspect in learning. The efforts
and the learning achievement depend on the level of the students’ motivation. Highly
motivated students will have better results of their learning than the low motivated
students. The students with high motivation in learning will have a bigger effort to
reach their goal than the students with low learning motivation.An intrinsically
motivated student studies because he/she wants to study. The material is interesting,
challenging and rewarding, and the student receives some kind of satisfaction from
learning. An extrinsically motivated student studies and learns for other reasons.
In learning activity, motivation is any kind of dimensions plays an important
role that influences the success of learning activity. Even though it is important, but
motivation is not the only factor on the successful of learning activity. Dornyei
(2001:1) states that motivation has a significant role in learning process. Students
who have higher motivation will get better opportunity to succeed in their learning
activity than the lower one. Motivation is necessary but not a sufficient condition for
learning. If a person is not motivated, he or she will not expand the psychological
energy necessary to acquire responses. He or she will avoid learning situations that
will produce the desired changes. Even though motivation holds an important role in
learning activities, it is not the most important one because teaching learning process
will still happens even though with low motivation. It will only decrease learning
achievement.
Slavin (2009:297) states that motivation is important not only in getting
students to engage in academic activities but also in determining how much students
will learn from the activities they perform or from information to which they
exposed. Motivation can be known from their effort and their willing in doing the
activities or learning. It implies that high motivated students differ from low
motivated one. One will be easily known as high motivated or low motivated students
from their effort and their willing in doing the activities. Moreover, motivation
influence learning by determining which instructional goal students attend to and
which they choose or ignore. It also determines the effort they will expand to reach
certain goals.
 Motivation is needed by the students to get good result in learning. By giving
precise motivation, the lesson will be successful, Motivation as an essential condition
which can bring someone to a successful and optimal learning has several
characteristic which later can be easier to categorize the characteristics of someone
who has motivation. Naiman et al (in Ur 1991:275) states that the most successful
learners are not necessarily those to whom a language comes very easily, they are
those who display certain typical characteristics, most of them clearly associated with
motivation. Some of these are:
a. Positive task orientation. The learner is willing to tackle tasks and challenges
and has confidence in his or her success.
b. Ego-involvement. The learner finds it important to succeed in learning in
order to maintain and promote his or her own positive self-image.
c. Need or achievement. The learner has a need to achieve, to overcome
difficulties and succeed in what he or she sets out to do.
d. High inspiration. The learner is ambitious, goes for demanding challenges,
high proficiency, top grades.
e. Goal orientation. The learner is very aware of the goals of learning, or of
specific learning activities, and directs his or her efforts toward achieving
them.
f. Perseverance. The learner consistently invests a high level of effort in
learning, and is not discouraged by setback or aren’t lack of progress.
g. Tolerance of ambiguity. The learner is not disturbed or frustrated by situations
involving a temporary lack of understanding or confusion. He or she can live
with these patiently, in the confidence that understanding will come later.

2.1.2 Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is not a skill or ability that can be developed once
and for all at any level or instruction. It needs process that begins from early
childhood and continues as long as they still reading. Pang (2003:6) states that
reading is defined ad understanding written texts. He says that reading consists of
recognition and comprehension. Word recognition is defined as the process of getting
how written symbols correspond to one’s spoken language while comprehension is
the process of making meaning of words, sentences, and connected text. To
understand the written texts, the reader has to know more vocabularies, grammatical
knowledge and experience with texts.
Healy (2002:3) says that reading comprehension is the understanding of the
content that is being read, and the construction of the meaning of the text. During the
act of reading, the visual information found on the page combines with non-visual
information contained in your head to create meaning. In that way, what’s in your
head is just as important as what is on the page in the process of creating meaning. So
that, when people read, they should be able to recall information afterward. Reading
comprehension is the final stage that should be gained by the students as the essence
of reading activity.
Lems et al (2010:170) reading comprehension is not a static competency; it
varies according to the purposes for reading and the text that is involved. When the
prerequisite skills are in place, reading becomes an evolving interaction between the
text and the background knowledge of the reader. Johnson (2008:5) argues that sound
out word or looking it up in a dictionary would have disrupted the meaning-making,
idea linking process and made comprehension more difficult. Furthermore, it is not
always important that readers know the meaning and pronunciation of every single
word that they read as long as they put ideas together to create meaning. Johnson
(2008:4) states reading integrates visual and non-visual information. During the act of
reading, the visual information found on the page combines with non-visual
information contained in your head to create meaning. In that way, what’s in your
head is just as important as what is on the page in the process of creating meaning.
According to Ahmadi and Hairul (2012) and Ahmadi and Pourhossein
Gilakjani (2012) said reading comprehension is not an easy process because students
need to be able to read the written text, decode the words, and identify the meanings
of the words. Reading comprehension is one of the main significant elements in
English language learning for all learners because it provides the foundation for a
substantial amount of learning in education. Because reading comprehension is so
logical in terms of academic success, it can be argued that motivating a student to
read is essential. In order to understand the importance of what is read one must be a
critical reader. Critical readers have the ability to follow the written text tactfully and
can relate sentences to each other to achieve a deep understanding of it.
According to Klingners (2007:2) reading comprehension is the process of
constructing meaning by coordinating a number of complex processes that included
word reading, word and world knowledge, and fluency. It refers to the ability in
interpreting the words, understanding the meaning and the relationships between
ideas conveyed in a text. He summarized reading comprehension instruction for the
teacher as following a three-step procedure: mentioning, practicing, and assessing.
That is, teachers mention the skills that the students want to use, then they give them
opportunities to practice those skills through workbooks or work sheets, and finally
assess whether or not they use the skill successfully.
Harmer (2007:99) states that reading is useful for language development.
Many students develop their reading skill in purpose either for their careers, study
purpose or pleasure. Reading is also a significant source for students to obtain
language input. In reading, the students are more or less understood about what they
have read. It means that the more they read, the better they will understand about
what they have read. The success of reading activity is often depending on the level
of the reading material which is given. Reading comprehension is the process of
constructing meaning by coordinating a complex process that includes the word
meaning, word, and word reading knowledge and fluency. Therefore, when they read
the text, they should also be able to understand the meaning of the text in
understanding concepts and ideas which in reading text and capture the information
submitted by the author; where they have to catch the reader that the meaning and
information while or after reading.
Pang (2003:15) states that the purpose for reading is closely connected to a
person’s motivation for reading. It will also affect the way a book is read. We read a
dictionary in a different way from the way we read a novel. In the classroom, teachers
need to be aware of their students’ learning needs, including their motivation for
reading and the purpose that reading has in their lives. A reader reads a text to
understand its meaning, as well as to put that understanding to use. A person reads a
text to learn, to find out information, to be entertained, to reflect or as religious
practice.
According to McNamara (2007:3) reading comprehension is an interactive
process between the writer and the readers with the expression and reception of
meaning as the primary goal of both sides. It is the way how the reader tries to get the
messages or the method or the intended meaning from the writer. In this process, the
reader tries to create the meanings intended by the writer; the reader can get the
message, and the writer’s meaning sense. A writer expresses his or her thoughts,
ideas, and feeling through the written words. The reader understands of the reading
text materials will be affected by the comprehension strategies and techniques.
Linse and Nunan (2005:71) state reading comprehension refers to reading for
meaning, understanding and entertainment. Reading comprehension involves high
order thinking skills and more complex than specific words. The thing that is needed
to be taught to the students is to get the meaning or the information of the text. It can
be specific or general information of the text that they have read. Thus, it will prove
the students comprehend the text or not. Moreover, teaching the students about
textual reference and textual meaning is also important aspects of reading. Textual
meaning can be found by thinking the word which has another meaning based on the
content of the text while textual reference can be found based on the pronoun of the
text. In conclusion, there are four aspects that should be mastered by the students in
reading comprehension. They are general information, specific information, textual
meaning and textual reference.

2.1.3 Descriptive Paragraph

Paragraph is a group of sentences that consist of a single main idea and
supported by some supporting details and aims to facilitate the reader in
understanding the meaning that is conveyed by the author. According to Oshima and
Hogue (2007:2), a paragraph is a group of related statements that a writer develops
about a subject. He added that a paragraph can be as short as one sentence or as long
as ten sentences. Descriptive paragraph is a paragraph which express or describes
place, thing, and person that appeals the readers’ senses ( sight, hear, taste, smell and
touch) in vivid detail that the reader can easily visualize the described place, thing,
and person or can feel that they involve the experience.
Based on Fiderer (2002: 17), descriptive paragraph gives a clear picture of
person, place, object, events, or idea. Details for descriptive paragraph come from the
writer’s senses. Those are smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight. Descriptive
paragraph is characterized by sensory details, which appeal to the physical senses,
and details that appeal to a reader’s emotional, physical, or intellectual sensibilities.
Determining the purpose, considering the audience, creating a dominant impression,
using descriptive language, and organizing the description are the rhetorical choices
to be considered when using a description. A description is usually arranged spatially
but can also be chronological or emphatic. The focus of a description is the scene.
Description uses tools such as denotative language, connotative language, figurative
language, metaphor, and simile to arrive at a dominant impression.
According to Savage and Shafei (2007:34), descriptive paragraph is a
paragraph which describes a person, place, or thing so that the reader can picture it in
his or her mind. Moreover, Savage and Mayer (2005:37) stated that sight, smell and
taste are used in words to build an image for the reader in descriptive writing with
something that is described can be felt by the reader clearer. Folse, et al (2010:135)
states that a descriptive paragraph which describes how something or someone looks
or feels. In the descriptive paragraph, the writer uses words that create an image and
help the reader see, touch, feel, smell or taste the topic that he or she is describing.
Descriptive paragraph is a paragraph that describes something in details.
According to Oshima and Hogue (2007:196) paragraph composition in the paragraph
such as format, punctuation and mechanics, contents, organization, grammar and
sentence structures. In the format consist of title of the paragraph, punctuation and
mechanic consist of spelling and the use of punctuation correctly, content consist of
main idea of paragraph, organization consist of generic structure of descriptive
paragraph, grammar and sentence structure consist of grammatical usage. Moreover,
Savage and Mayer (2005:28) stated that descriptive paragraph has descriptive
organization like introduction tells why object or even of description is important for
the writer. Body paragraph gives details information about object. Conclusion gives
the writer opinion or reviewing about the whole description of the text.
According to Evans (2000:42), the generic structures of the descriptive text
are an introduction, main body and conclusion. Introduction or identification is telling
about the general structure of the paragraph. The writer writes some statement which
shows the object that is described in the whole paragraph. The main body or
description is talking about description of the object, for instance the physical
appearance, hobby, characteristic and so on. The last is conclusion which concludes
the paragraph. The conclusion is not absolutely necessary but it normally gives the
signal of the end of the paragraph. It can be summarizing of the paragraph or the
writers’ comment about the object described.
Kane (2000:351) states that description is about sensory experience how
something looks, sounds, and tastes. Mostly it is about visual experience. But,
description also deals with other kinds of perception. Descriptive paragraph has the
purpose to describe an object or a person that the writer is interested in. Thus, in
writing a descriptive paragraph; writer clearly describes a specific subject in vivid
clear drawing words. The writer should bring an experience in their work for the
reader, so they can feel, smell, taste, hear or touch the object described in their text.
The goal of the good descriptive writing is to involve the readers in the story as much
as possible so that they can feel as they are present in the scene.
Moreover, Oshima and Hogue (2007:3) state that a paragraph is a group of
related statements that a writer develops about a subject. The first sentence states the
specific point, or idea of the topic. The rest of the sentences in the paragraph support
the point. That meant descriptive paragraph has a topic to be discusses and tell the
main idea. Moreover, the other sentences in the descriptive paragraph called
supporting sentence. It gives more information about topic, specific details and
explanation. Then the last sentence is conclusion sentence to close the paragraph. The
writers put some descriptive sentences to mak the readers easy to understand.
Therefore, it can be concluded that a well written paragraph is a group of sentences
that consists of specific points or ideas that ar structure into the topic sentence,
supporting sentence and conclusion.
According to Zemach ad Islam (2005:9) a paragraph is defined as a group of
about six until twelve sentences that has one topic. In addition, a good text has some
sentences that refer to the topic. Moreover, to make a new text, the writers should
have a new idea, related to the topic. Moreover to make a new text, the writers should
have a new idea. Moreover, a text can give information, tell opinion and explain
something, or even tell a short story. Therefore, when the writers arrange sentences
appropriately, the readers can easily understand what the paragraph explanations will
tell about the paragraph is easy to understand.

2.2 Empirical Review

Empirical review is the review of the relevant researches that have been
conducted; in which it reviews the previews research that relevant with the present
research. Empirical evidence can help the researcher avoid unintentional replication
of the previous studies results, and to clarify as well as define the concepts of the
study. In conducting this study, the researcher wanted to make a correlation between
motivation and reading comprehension. Several researchers have been done related to
this study which discussed about correlation between motivation and reading
comprehension. The related study which were used as references were described in
chronological order below.
The first research was conducted by Farisa (2017). She carried out an ex-post
facto research entitled “Motivation and Its Relationship with Reading Achievement”.
Her research was conducted for the eighth grade students in Junior High School No. 6
Aceh by using purposive sampling. The research was aimed to investigate whether
gender influences extrinsic motivation to read and to indentify whether extrinsic
motivation to read affects reading achievement. The result of the study conducted by
Farisa (2017) showed there was a high correlation reading motivation and reading
comprehension achievement. Farida used questionnaire to collect data for the
students’ motivation while paper test for the reading achievement. In motivation
questionnaire, she already translated the questionnaire from English to Indonesian
language which was really good to avoid misunderstanding from the students.
The second research was conducted by Marsela (2017). The title of her ex-
post facto research was “The Correlation Between Reading Motivation and Reading
Comprehension Achievement of the Eleventh Grade Students of MAN 2
Palembang”. The objective of her research was to find out whether there is a
significant correlation between reading motivation and reading comprehension
achievement of the eleventh grade students of MAN 2 Palembang and to find out
whether reading motivation significantly influences reading comprehension
achievement of eleventh grade students of MAN 2 Palembang. The result of the study
showed that there was a significant correlation between reading motivation and
reading comprehension. For collecting the data for students’ motivation Marsela used
reading motivation questionnaire by Allan Wigfield, John T. Guthriea, and Karen
Mcgough (1994) and TOELF test for reading comprehension
Both of the researchers find there was a significant correlation between
motivation and reading comprehension. Moreover, both of the researchers did not use
an appropriate test for the reading comprehension. The first researcher used multiple
choice tests to know students reading achievement. It was not really effective because
the students can guess the answer. The second researcher used TOELF Junior
Standard Test to assess the reading comprehension of the students. In her test, the
researcher was not only assessing the students reading comprehension but also their
other skill in English competency like listening comprehension and language form &
meaning. This kind of test was not reliable with the research problem that has been
conducted by the researcher. As the result, in the present study the researcher will use
short answer task to assess the reading comprehension of the students. By using short
answer task, the students have to know well what they have read because they have to
construct their answer.
2.3 Hypothesis
According to Singh (2006:54) hypothesis is defined as a tentative solution for
the problem. Based on the theoretical and empirical above, the writer formulated the
hypothesis of this research: there is a correlation between intrinsic motivation and
reading comprehension. The statistical hypothesis is formulated as follows:
1. Alternative Hypothesis (Ha): there is a significant correlation between motivation
and reading comprehension.
2. Null Hypothesis (H0): there is no significant correlation between motivation and
reading comprehension.
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Research Design

Research design is commonly defined as the way of thinking and doing
preparation to complete and achieve the goal of research. This study can be regarded
an ex-post facto research. Fraenkel and Wallen (2009:363) state that ex-post facto
research method is sometimes called casual comparative because its purpose is to
investigate the cause and effect of relationships between independent and dependent
variable. This type of research puts more emphasizes in collecting data in the form of
number. To express the relationships between data variables this thesis uses
correlation formula. Correlation study is one in which there are no independent
variable. Correlation research produces indexes that show both the direction and the
strength of relationships among variables, taking into account the entire range of
these variables. This index is called a correlation coefficient.
Ex-post facto research is a systematic empirical inquiry in which the
researcher does not have direct control of independent variables because the
manifestations have already occurred or they are inherently not manipulated. Cohen
et al (2007:205) reveal that ex post facto research is a method of teasing out possible
antecendents of events that have happened and cannot, therefore, be engineered or
manipulated by the investigator. Moreover Cohen (2007:264) adds that ex post facto
research is the method that can also be used instead of an experiment to test
hypothesis about cause and effect in situation where it is inaccurate to control or
influence the dependent variable.
Moreover, the purpose of a correctional research is to determine relationships
between variables or to use these relationships to make predictions. Therefore, a
correlational research requires collection of data in order to measure and determine
whether any significant relationship exists between the two or more quantifiable
variables or not. Data are gathered from multiple variables and correlational statistical
techniques are then applied to the data. Creswell (2008:151) stated that the
correlational research design is procedures in quantitative research in which
investigators measure the degree of association. Thus, this research was consisting of
two variables; dependent variable and independent variable.
This present study which dealt the correlation between motivation and reading
comprehension of the eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in Academic
Year 2020/2021 used correlational study as a the research design. This research was
one of the research designs where the researcher assessed the motivation through
motivation questionnaire and short-answer task for the reading comprehension test.
The reason of choosing this method was that the researcher wants to know the
relation of two variables based on the correlational coefficient. Therefore, the
correlational research is used to observe and to measure the relationship between two
different variables at the predetermined time.

3.2 Population and Sample

According to Cresswell (2012:152) population is a group of individuals who
have the same characteristic. Population is the most significant factor in conducting a
research. Population is the generalization region which consists of objects or subjects
who have certain qualities and characteristics that set by researcher to learn and then
draw a conclusion. Ary et.al, (2006: 148) stated that a population can be defined as all
members of any well-defined class of people, events or objects. Selection of the
sample is very important step in conducting a research study. Sample is a part of
population which will to be analyzed. Sample must be representative as one is to be
able to generalize with confidence from the sample to population. Based on Ary
(2002:163) a sample is a group of a population. It means that good sample must be
representative of the entire as possible, so that the generalization of the sample of this
research.
In this present study, the researcher used the eighth grade students of SMPN 3
Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021 as population of the study. SMPN 3
Tampaksiring has 10 classes for the eighth grade. Each class consists of around 32
students. The whole students for the eighth grade students are around 317students.
The researcher used cluster sampling in conducting this study. According to Fraenkel
and Wallen (2009), the minimum acceptable sample size for correlational study is no
less than 30. They also add that if the data which is obtained from a sample is smaller
than 30, it may give inaccurate result of the degree of correlation.
Cluster sampling was chosen for some reasons. One of the reasons was it was
difficult to select random sample of individual, because each student had different
schedule because of the difference of the class. Cluster sampling was easier to apply
in school and less time-consuming. The group or the class was taken randomly
because each class had the same ability and characteristic which was proven by the
raw score of each class in the report cards and based on the testimony of the English
teacher. Cluster sampling was more effective with larger number of clusters. For
those reasons, the researcher decided to choose cluster sampling in conducting this
research study.
In conducting cluster sampling, the researcher will select from the entire
population of the eighth grade students. The researcher will use three classes as a
sample. They are class VIII B, VIII E and VIII J. The total of the samples will be 94.
There were some steps in selecting the sample that show as follows:
1. First, the researcher prepares 10 pieces of paper and wrote down the name of each
class.
2. Then the researcher folds the 10 pieces of paper and put it in the glass.
3. The researcher asks one of the English teachers of the eight grade students to take
three pieces of the folded papers in the glass.
4. The papers that are taken by the teacher are the sample of this study. The samples
were class VIII B, VIII E, and VIII J.

3.3 Research Instrument

The instrument that will be used in this study aimed to measure student’s
motivation and their reading comprehension. Instrument was important in this
research. Instrument was one of the significant steps in conducting this research. The
successful of research was much decided by instrument used, because data which was
need to answer research question and examined the hypothesis gained trough
instrument itself. Also to know about the student’s reading comprehension through
short answer task question. Thus, the selection and construction of structured, valid,
reliable and appropriate research instrument was needed in scientific investigation.
The research instruments of the present study were in form of a structured
questionnaire and short answer task. The use of the questionnaire was to measure the
motivation of the students while short answer task was used to assess student’s
reading comprehension. The instruments that were used by the researcher can be
described as follows:

3.3.1 Questionnaire
The first instrument was questionnaire to measure the motivation of the
students. The questionnaire was in Indonesian language. It was to make the students
understand and to avoid misunderstanding. The sample gave checklist (✓) in the
answer that they chose. There were 30 questions related to the motivation aspects that
need to be measured. Each question consists of five options of answers. It was
strongly agree (sangat setuju), agree (setuju), undecided (ragu-ragu), disagree (tidak
setuju), strongly disagree (sangat tidak setuju). The researcher used Likert Scale to
measure students’ motivation.

Table 3.3.1.1
Score for Motivation Questionnaire
Indicators of Questionnaire Score
Positive Negative
Strongly Agree 5 1
Agree 4 2
Undecided 3 3
Disagree 2 4
 Strongly Disagree 1 5

Table 3.3.1.2
The Blue Print of Motivation Questionnaire

Item
No Aspect Positive Negative Total
1 Positive task orientation 2,7 12, 13 4 items
2 Ego-involvement 19, 23 9, 16 4 items
3 Need or achievement 1, 3 5, 10, 29 5 items
4 High inspiration 4, 14, 26 6, 17 5 items
5 Goal orientation 18, 21 8, 26 4 items
6 Perseverance 11, 30 20, 25 4 items
7 Tolerance of ambiguity 15, 28 22, 27 4 items
TOTAL 30 30 30 items

3.3.2 Reading Comprehension Test

A test was a systematic procedure for observing someone’s behavior with the
aid of numerical or category system. The researcher used test to measure the reading
comprehension of the students. The test was short answer task question. The genre of
the text that was used was descriptive paragraph about person There was six
descriptive paragraphs to read and there were 5 questions for each paragraph. So in
total there were 30 questions to be answer by the sample in 30 minutes. The answer
which was done by the sample must be correct and in accordance with the paragraph.

Table 3.3.2.1
The Blue Print of Reading Comprehension Test
No Aspect of Reading Test Item Total
1 General Information 1, 6, 11,16, 21, 25, 26, 27 8
2 Specific Information 2, 3, 7, 12, 15, 17, 18, 22, 9
28
3 Textual Reference 4, 8, 10, 14, 19, 23, 30 7
4 Textual Meaning 5, 9, 13, 20, 24,29 6
TOTAL 20 Items 20

Moreover, the answers of the sample were assessed by using the scoring
rubric of reading comprehension from Brown (2004:228). It can be seen on the table
below:
Table 3.3.2.2
Rubric of Reading Comprehension

Point Description
2 The answer and grammar are correct
1 The answer is correct but grammar is incorrect
0 The answer and grammar are incorrect

3.3.3 Validity
According to Gronloundin Brown (2004: 21) validity is the extent to which
inferences made from assessment result are appropriate, meaningful, and useful in
terms of the purpose of the assessment. Muijh, (2004: 67) stated that validity is
probably the single most important aspect of the design of any measurement of the
instrument educational research. It can be conclude that validity is the process that
refers to how well the test measures what it is purported to measure. However good
our research design statistical analyses, the results will be meaningless if the
researchers aren’t actually measuring what the researcher is purposing to measure. It
means that when the researcher claim that the result of students writing assessment is
valid, the researchers convinced that the writing assessment result correctly reflects
the students’ writing skill as distinct from their reading skill, or from their knowledge
of vocabulary. Validity is very important because one of main characteristic of test,
without having this characteristic a test is not important. There were three types of
validity: face validity, construct validity and content validity.
The first one is face validity. Brown (2004:26) states that face validity refers
to the degree to which a test look right, and appears to measure the knowledge or
abilities it claims to measure, based on the subjective judgement of the examinees
who take it, the administrative personnel who decide on its use and other
psychometrically unsophisticated observers. It helps the students understand and
believe that the test they are facing is valid through the appearance then they will feel
that the test is testing what is supposed to test. The test that was used by the
researcher already had face validity because its appearance of the test looked like the
other normal test and the instruction was easy to be understood by the sample.
The second one was construct validity. Construct validity is kind of validity
that is concerned with the extent to which a test measures a specific trait or construct.
Brown (2004:25) said that it is essential for test that is used to access one on certain
ability. Construct validity a slightly more complex issue relating to the internal
structure of an instrument and the concept it is measuring (Muijh, 2004: 68). A test is
said to have construct validity if it can be demonstrated that it measures just the
ability which supposed to measure. Reading comprehension test was assessed in the
form of short answer task. Meanwhile, motivation was used questionnaire. The tests
that the researcher used already had construct validity. It was because the test was
already arranged based on Brown (2004) for the reading comprehension and Penny
Ur (1991) for the motivation.
The last one was content validity. Content validity means a test should be
valid in the content. Ary et al (2010:266) stated that content validity or evidence
based on test content involves the test’s content and its relationship to the construct it
was intended to measure. The researcher must seek evidence that the test to be used
represent balance and adequate sampling of all the relevant knowledge, skill and
dimensions making up the content domain. The test that was used by the researcher
already had the content validity because it was already learnt by the eighth grade
students of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021.

3.3.4 Reliability
A reliable test is consistent and dependable. If the students are given the same
test on two different occasions, the test should have similar results. The reliable
instrument will produce reliable result. Reliability is the extent to which the measure
will give the same response under similar circumstances. In other words, reliability
shows a measure of consistency in measuring the same phenomenon. Moreover,
Luoma (2004:176) states that reliability is important because it means that the scores
are dependable so the researchers can rely on them in decision making. Reliability is
related to an observed score that can influence the result of the reliability.
According to Brown (2004:20) reliable test are dependable and consistent. If
the teacher gives the same test to the matched students on two different chances, the
test should result similarly. In other word, tests are used in different places and times
and used to measure different students and then the measure capacity of the test is the
same. Reliability is concerned with the size because of the favoring of objective test,
which allow for a wide field to be covered. Fraenkel and Wallen (2009:154) mention
that reliability is the consistency of the scores obtained how consistent they are for
each individual from one administration for an instrument to other and from one set
of items to another.
Sukardi (2007:122) stated that reliability is the level in the test in a consistent
manner measure at any test. A research instrument can called reliability the tool was
used what to use measure cab used in when and in any time, the result is same. Ary at
al (2002:250) states that reliability is concerned with the effect of such random errors
of measurement on the consistency of scores. Kumar (2011:90) states there are some
factors affecting the reliability of the test. They are the wording of some questions,
the physical setting, the respondent’s mood, the interviewer’s mood, the nature of the
interaction, and the regression effect of an instrument. Furthermore, physical setting
like health is one of the factors that can affect the test reliability.
Cohen et al (2007:117) state that reliability is essentially a synonym for
consistency and explicability over time, over instruments and over groups of
respondents. The reliability is concerned with precision and accuracy, some features,
height, can be measured precisely, whilst other musical ability, cannot the precision
and accuracy of reliable test will show the consistency of the test has been taught.
Some factors that affect reliability are the administration procedures and conditions,
the clarity of the rubrics concerning the various skills are expected to perform by the
tester, and the scoring method. Thus, the test that is used a research instrument should
be reliable because it requirement of a good test to get an accurate data.
In the present study the researcher used motivation questionnaire and reading
comprehension test in form of short answer task. Reliability is a necessary
characteristic of any good test. The researcher test that was used was already reliable
to collect data from the sample. A good research instrument is needed to get accurate
and appropriate data in conducting the research. Furthermore, the research
instruments were already consulted with both of the advisors in the present study to
measure the reliability of the instrument. Moreover, the research instruments that are
going to be used already followed the theory of Brown (2004:20). Thus, the research
instrument was already dependent and consistent.

3.4 Data Collection

Collecting data in the present study was an important step to do to know the
answer of the research problem. To get the data, the researcher has to administer the
research instrument to the sample. The data collection strategies will enhance the
validity and reliability of the research finding. It helps the researcher to make good
quality of the research. Furthermore, the data of the present study was gathered by
administering the research instruments to the eighth grade students of SMPN 3
Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021. The data was collected by administering
the motivation questionnaire and reading comprehension task for the 96 samples that
had been chosen by using cluster sampling.
The data was submitted in same days. The test consists of 30 questions for
motivation questionnaire and 30 questions for reading comprehension test. The
motivation questionnaire was filled through Google Form. For the reading
comprehension test, it was shared through WhatsApp Group. The researcher made the
question in Microsoft Word and the students had to answer the question in a piece of
paper. After finished doing the test, the samples collected it to the researcher. They
took a picture of their answer and sent it through personal chat in WhatsApp to the
researcher. The result was not affect the sample’s final report. Then after getting all
of the samples’ answer, the researcher checked the result of the test. Likert Scale was
used to check the motivation questionnaire and score was used for the reading
comprehension test. After calculating the students’ entire test, then the researcher
tabulated the X variable (motivation score) and Y variable (reading comprehension
score), and it was analyzed for the correlation coefficient.

3.5 Data Analysis

Data analysis is required to answer the researcher problem under study. In
present study, the data was collected by administering motivation questionnaire and
reading comprehension test in form of short answer task at the eighth grade students
of SMPN 3 Tampaksiring in academic year 2020/2021. The motivation questionnaire
was used to investigate how the student’s motivation toward learning English.
However, the short answer task was to measure the student’s achievement in reading
comprehension. The aim of this present study was to investigate the correlation
between two variables mentioned. Before the researcher investigating the correlation
of those variables, it needed to make sure that the data is normal and homogeneous.

3.5.1 Pre-requisite Analysis

The first analysis that should be done in the present study was pre-requisite
testing. Pre-requisite analysis is a basic analysis requirement before doing hypothesis
testing. Furthermore, normality and homogeneity test was included in pre-requisite
testing. In the present study, the researcher used SPSS 21 version for windows in
computed the data. Moreover, before the Pearson Product Moment and T-test were
conducted, normality and homogeneity test should be tested as it was important to do
the inferential analysis. The two tests are important to know whether the data are
normally and homogeneously distributed.

3.5.1.1 Normality Test

Normality test is a test to measure whether our data has normal distribution or
not. A test is called normal if the result indicate that few numbers of participants are
at the right and left tails and most of participants are in the middle. In statistic,
normality is used to determine if a data is well modeled by a normal distribution and
to compute how likely it is for a random variable underlying the data set be normally
distributed. In order to know whether motivation and reading comprehension comes
from the distributed normal the researcher tested the normality by using SPSS 21.00.
The normal distribution was measured by using Shapiro-Wilk’s. Furthermore, a low
significant value indicated that the distribution of the data differed significantly from
a normal distribution. The data can be categorized as having normal distribution if the
significant value was higher than 0,05.

3.5.1.2 Homogeneity Test

Homogeneity testing is intended to make sure that the collected data in
analysis is truly taken from a population which is too different each other. Especially
in a study which is predictive, the model which is used must be appropriate with the
composition and its distribution (Sujianto, 2009:112). Homogeneity testing is used to
investigate whether the data has been obtained is homogeneous or not. In this
research the researcher used statistical computation by using Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS) 21.00 for homogeneity of the test. The testing was computed
by using Lavene’s testing to assess if the groups have equal variance. If the
significant value is lower than 0,05, it indicates that the distribution of the data differ
significantly from homogeneous data. The data can be categorized as homogenous if
the significant value was higher than 0,05.

3.5.2 Hypothesis Testing

After calculating the pre-requisite analysis of normal distribution and
homogeneity of variance in which the data are normally and homogeneously
distributed, hypothesis testing was conducted then to analyze whether there is a
correlation between motivation and reading comprehension. Hypothesis testing is
used to determine the probability that the given hypothesis is true. The hypothesis
testing was computed using SPSS 21 for windows. Furthermore, hypothesis testing
which was carried in is the present study consists of Pearson Product Moment and T-
test.

3.5.2.1 Pearson Product Moment

After getting the result of the normality test, researcher analyzed whether
there is correlation between two variables or not by determining the coefficient of
correlation. The variable of motivation referred to independent variable (X) and
reading comprehension referred to dependent variable (Y). For the correlation
analysis those variables, researcher used Pearson Product Moment Coefficient.
Pearson Product Moment Coefficient can be used to measure correlation between
vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension. Pearson correlation coefficient is
appropriate to variables of the ratio or interval type and it is also assumes that each
set of scores is normally distribute. The coefficient correlation or “r” which indicates
the strengths or weakness the relationship of those variables. Pearson Product
Moment correlation was used to analyze the data in this study. Pearson’s Product
Moment correlation or Pearson’s r used to measure the linear relationship between
two interval or ratio variables and it can have a value between -1 and 1.

3.5.2.2 T-test
 T-test is a type of statistica test that is used to compare the means of two
groups. T –test was used to find out how far the influence of the independent
variables used in this study individually in applying dependent variables. Moreover,
t-test was used to find out how far the influence of the independent variables used in
this study individually in applying partially dependent variables. The basis for this
decision was as follows:
a. If the significant value is > 0,05, then the hypothesis is rejected.
b. If the significance value is < 0,05, then the hypothesis is accepted.
 REFERENCES

Agus Eko Sujianto. (2009). Aplikasi Statistik Dengan SPSS 16.0.Jakarta : PT. Prestasi
Pustaka.

Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C. & Sorensen, C. (2010). Introduction to Research in Education

(Eighth Edition). Canada: The Wadsworth Cengage Learning .

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principle and Interactive Approach to language

Pedagogy. New York: Longman Inc.

Brown, H. D. (2004). Language Assessment Principles and Classroom Practices.

New York: The Longman.

Broek, V.P., & Espin, C. A. (2012). Connecting Cognitive Theory and Assessment:
Measuring Individual Differences in Reading Comprehension, 41(3), 315-
325.

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Marrison, K. (2007). Research Methods in Education (6th
Edition). New York: Routledge.

Creswell, J.W. (2008).Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating

Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall:
Singapore.

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and

Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4th Edition.). Boston,
MA: Pearson.

Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Farisa, F (2017) Motivation and Its Relationship with Reading Achievement.

(Unpublished Thesis). Ar-Nariry Islamic Univerity Darussalam, Banda Aceh.
Folse, S. K., Muchmore-Vokoun A., Solomon V. E. (2010) Great Writing 2 Great
Paragraphs. Boston: Heinle Cengage Learning.

Fraenkel, J. R & Wallen N. E. (2009). How to Design and Evaluate Research in

Education. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Harmer, J. (2007).The Practice of English Language Teaching (Fourth Edition).

Cambridge: Pearson Longman.

Healy, C. (2002). Reading : What The Experts Say. PEATC

Johnson, B. (2008). Educational Research In Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed

Approaches (Fourth Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Kane, T. S. (2000). The Oxford Essensial Guide to Writing. New York Oxford
University Press

Klingners, J. K. (2007). Teaching Reading Comprehension to the Students with

Learning Difficulties (First Edition). New York: The Guilford Press.

Kumar, R. (2011). Research Methodology a Step- by Step Guide for Beginners.(Third

Edition). New Delhi: SAGE Publication Inc.

Lems, K., Miller L. D.,Soro, T. M. (2010).Teaching Reading to English Learners.

London: The Guildford Press.

Lile, W. T. (2003).Motivation in ESL Classroom. The Internet TESL Journal, 8 (1),

1-3.
Manan, M. K. (2017). The Correlation Between Student’s Motivation in Reading
English Text Books and Their Achievement in Reading Comprehension.
(Unpublished Thesis). Walisongo State Islamic University, Semarang

Marsela, S. (2007) The Correlation Between Reading Motivation and Reading

Comprehension Achievement of Eleventh Grade Students of MAN 2
Palembang. (Unpublished Thesis). Raden Fatah University, Palembang.

McNamara, S. D. (2007). Reading Comprehension Strategies. New York: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associate Inc.

Muijh, D. (2004). Doing Quantitative Research In Education. London: Sage

Publications.

Oshima, A. and Hogue, A. (2007). Introduction to Academic Writing. Third Edition.

London: Longman.

Pang, S. E., Muaka.A.,Barnbardt, B. E., &Kamil, M. L. (2003).Teaching Reading.

Switzerland: The International Academy Education IAE.

Savage, A. and Mayer, P. (2005). Effective Academic Writing 2 – The Short Essay.
New York: Oxford University Press.

Singh, Y.K. (2006) Fundamental of Research Methodology and Statistics. New

Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd, Publishers Ltd.

Slavin, R. E (2009). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. New Jersey:

Pearson Education Inc.
Snow, C. E. (2002). Reading for Understanding: Toward a Reasearch and
Development Program In Reading Comprehension. Arlington: RAND
Education.

Suhag, A. K., Larik, R. S. A., Tagar, A. A., &Solangi, S. R. (2016). Student

Academic Motivation of Secondary Schools Of Khaırpur Mır’s 7(1), 100-109.

Sukardi (2007). Metodologi Penelitian Pendidikan. Jakarta: PT Bumi Aksara.

Ur, P. (1991). A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.
Zemach, D. E. and Rumisek, L. A. (2005). Academic Writing from Paragraph to
Essay. Macmillan: Macmilan Published Limited.