ABSTRACT

This research was aimed to find out the improvement of the students reading comprehension
through Directed Thinking Activity Strategy. The subject of this research was eight grade
students of SMP Negeri 17 Medan in the academic years of 2016/2017. It consisted of one class
with 36 students as respondents. This research was conducted by using classroom action
research. The technique of analyzing data was applied in the research were qualitative and
quantitative. The qualitative data were taken from observation sheet, interview, and
documentation. The quantitative data were taken from tests. The test were given to the students
in the form of pre-test, post-test I and post-test II. The result of data analysis showed that there
was an improvement of the students improvement in reading comprehension from each cycle. It
was showed from the mean of pre-test which was 46.60, after Directed Reading Thinking
Activity (DRTA) strategy was applied in the first cycle, there was an improvement of the result
of the students mean which was 64.12 and for the second cycle after reflection on the first cycle
there was an improvement of students mean which was 77.29. Moreover in the pre-test, there
were 16.67% (6 of 36 students) who got score > 75. In the post-test I, there were 27.77% (10 of
36 students) who got score > 75. In the post-test II, there were 55.55% (20 of 36 students) who
got score > 75. So, the total percentage of the improvement from the pre-test to post-test II was
about 55.55%.

CONCLUSION

Related to the finding of this research, it could be said that this research improved students
reading comprehension. It is proven by the test result, in the test, there were 16.67% (6 of 36
students) who got score > 75. In the post-test I, there were 27.77% (10 of 36 students) who got
score > 75. In the post-test II, there were 55.55% (20 of 36 students) who got score > 75.

In conclusion, based on the result of the research and the data found, it can be said that DRTA is
effective to improve the students reading comprehension. In here, based on the hypothesis there
was improvement on the students ability in reading comprehension using Directed Reading
Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy. Therefore, Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)
Strategy can acceptable with the 8th grade students in SMP Negeri 17 Medan.