STUDENT’S LEARNING STYLES IN LEARNING
READING COMPREHENSION
A THESIS
Submitted to Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By:
SINTA SASMITA
Registration Number: 2123321091
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
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ACKNOWLADGEMENT
First and foremost, the writer would like to express the deepest gratitude to
Allah SWT, the Almighty and the Most Beneficial for the Blessing, Grace,
Guidance, and Mercy that have been given to the writer to complete this thesis entitled “Students’ Learning Style in Learming Reading Comprehension”. This Thesis has been written in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) at the English and Literature Department, Faculty of
Language and Arts, State University of Medan.
During the process of writing and conducting the research, the writer was
assisted and supported by many people. This thesis cannot be accomplished
without guidance, suggestion, and comment from them, for which the writer
would like to express his sincere appreciation which directed to:
Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd., the Rector of State University of Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Languages and Arts Faculty. Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English and Literature
Department as well as his Reviewer.
Dr. Meisuri, M.A., the Secretary of English Department.
Dr. Siti Aisah Ginting, M.Pd., her Thesis Consultant I and Drs. Johan Sinulingga, M.Pd., her Thesis Consultant II.
Marisi Debora, S.Pd., M.Hum. her academic consultant.
Prof. Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S. and Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M.Ed., the Reviewers, the writer is also very grateful to all lecturers who
have taught, guided, and advised his throughout the academic years.
Eis Sri Wahyuningsih, M.Pd and Mr. Pantes as the Administration Staffs of English and Literature Department who always helped the writer
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H. M. Wahyu Amami K. J. D, M.Pd., the Headmaster of SMK Swasta Harapan Stabat who has gave the permission to conduct the research in the
school. And also for students in IX AP 2 for their intention and
participation during the research.
Riyani, S.Pd., the English teacher who gives permission to conduct the research in the class as well as his evaluator of the media.
Pasiyanto and Jumariah her beloved and super power parents who gave her love, prayer, moral and financial support in completing her education. Hadi Atmoko and Ika Pertiwi, Am.Keb, her beloved brother and sister. Heru Candra, SE. her beloved boy who give suuport in completing her
education.
Her lovely best friends, Supra Cipto, S.Pd., Rizki Ramadhansyah S.Pd Yuli Astuti, S.Pd, Putri Widyaningsih, S.Pd, Novita Sari Lubis,
Dessyana Nasution S.Pd and all of his friends and classmates in Extension C 2012 and also all alumni of Students’ Council of English and Literature Department, as his great class and great organization for the
love and togetherness throughout four years.
Finally, the writer hopes this thesis would be useful for those who are read
and interested in the field of this study.
Medan, Januari 2017
The Writer
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E. The Significance of Study ... 8
CHAPTER II REVIEW AND RELATED LITERATURE ... 9
A. Theoretical Framework ... 9
1. Learning Style……….9
C. Conceptual Framework ... 21
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 24
A. Research Design ... 24
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C. The Instruments for Data Collection ... 25
D. Techniques of Collecting Data ... 27
E. Techniques for Analyzing Data ... 28
CHAPTER IV RESULT AND DISCUSSION ... 29
A. Research Result ... 29
. 1. Data ... 29
2. Data Analysis ... 29
3. The Most Dominant Learning Styles in Reading Comprehension ... 30
4. Student’s Learning Style in Reading Comprehension ... 32
5. The Fastest Student’s Learning Style in Reading Comprehension... 36
B. Discussions ... 38
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGESSTIONS ... 41
5.1 Conclusions ... 41
5.2 Suggestions ... 42
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Pages
Table 4.1 Students Learning Style in Reading Comprehension ... 31
vii
LIST OF FIGURE
Pages
viii
LIST OF APPENDIX
Pages
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of study
Learning is one of the most important individual processes that occurs in
organization, higher education, and training programs (Kimble & Garmezy
1963:2). Learning is a relatively permanent change in a behavioral tendency and is
the result of reinforced practice. It means that the behavior that occurred after
certain learning probably settled. Someone’s capabilities will not be disappearing,
but will keep developing even more when someone continues keep practicing.
There are some learning styles and every students the materials in different
ways. The students are created differently. The teachers should know the types of
the students learning style so the teacher know what the teaching strategy or
teaching method each be applied in the teaching learning process in order to get
the purpose of the teaching.
Based on the explanation above, it is important to educators or the teachers
to understand the differences of the students’ learning style, so they can
implement best practice strategies into their daily activities, curriculum and
assessments. The students will get interest and comprehend if the teacher knows
the students’ learning style.
In learning English language, there are four skills should be taught to the
students. They are speaking, listening, reading and writing. Each has an important
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that must be taught to the students. In fact the students’ difficulties in reading
comprehension are affected by many factors, such as lack a vocabulary, the
concept of the words, unfamiliar syntactical grammar, etc. Beside that the students
feel monotonous and are not interesting when they are and learning reading from
their teacher..
The learning styles can apply from any subjects such as speaking, reading,
listening. In this study the researcher only focused on reading comprehension. The
purpose is to make the easy the researcher and get the data from the receive skill.
There are different learning styles in teaching learning process. Three of
the most popular ones are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic in which studentstake
in information. Some students are visual learners, while others are auditory or
kinesthetic learners. While students use all of their senses to take in information,
they seem to have preferences in how they learn best. In order to help students
learn, teachers need to teach as many of these preferences as possible. Teachers
can incorporate these learning styles in their curriculum activities so that students
are able to succeed in their classes. Students learn in many different ways. Some
students are visual learners, while others are auditory or kinesthetic learners.
Visual learners learn visually by means of charts, graphs and pictures. Auditory
learners learn by listeningto lecturesand reading. Kinesthetic learners learn by
doing. Students can prefer one, two, or three learning styles. Because of these
different learning styles, it is important for teachers to incorporate in their
curriculum activities related to each of these learning styles so that all students are
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information, we each seem to have preferences in how we learn best. In order to
help all students learn, we need to teach to as many of these preferences as
possible (Curasma: 2008).
There are two factors that influence students’ learning, namely internal and
external factors. Internal factor is the factors which come from students
themselves. Meanwhile, external factor is the factor which is outside of students.
The examples of internal factors are the physical condition, skill, interest,
intelligent and learning style. Meanwhile, the examples of external factors are
family, friends, school, environment and learning strategy. The dominant factor
that influences students’ learning is learning style. It factor that determines the
success of learning is to know and understand that every individual has unique
style of learning, they are visual auditory, or kinesthetic are different each other.
Those learning style are most common. According Kolb’s (1984) experiential
learning model (ELM) as a framework for understanding ways in which the
learning process and individual learning styles can affect learning. Thus, the
effective management of the learning process by faculties in institutions of higher
education requires that they create environments that facilitate a productive
learning climate. This chapter builds on this recent work by discussing the concept
of learning, accepted principles of learning, and the importance of understanding
individual learning differences in higher education. The chapter draws attention to
what actually constitutes learning (that is, the learning process) and provides a
4
also discusses the importance of understanding how people learn and examines a
model of experiential learning and thinking and learning styles.
Learning style is important for many reasons; however, there are three
vital ones. First of all, people’s learning styles will vary because everyone is
different from one another naturally. Secondly, it offers the opportunity to teach
by using a wide range of methods in an effective way. Sticking to just one model
unthinkingly will create a monotonous learning environment, so not everyone will
enjoy the lesson. In other words, learning and teaching will be just words and not
rooted in reality. Thirdly, we can manage many things in education and
communication if we really recognize the groups we are called to. Of course, we
may not know every detail; however, being aware of our students’ learning styles,
psychological qualities and motivational differences will help us regulate our
lessons appropriately and, according to the conditions (McCarthy, 1982; Felder,
Silverman, 1988; Coffield et al., 2004).
The characteristics of learning style differs one learner from another, such
as visual auditory and kinesthetic. It will helps learner to determine their strategies
in learn certain subject. Strategies are general characteristics that differentiate one
individual from another. It help learner to solve their problem in certain learning.
Both learning style and strategies have strong influence in learning. Based on the
explanation above, learning style and strategies have correlation and influence by
5
strategies in learning certain subject and use it in effective way. It helps them to
improve their achievement.
According to Sims (1993: 5), learning may not take place if the teaching is
not structured to facilitate learning, even when the teaching mode is appropriate.
Learning factors (principle) that will affect the learning of students and the
success of teaching efforts are : setting the stage providing clear instructions and
modeling appropriate behavior when emphasizing particular skills or
competencies, increasing learning during teaching, providing active participation,
increasing self-efficacy, matching teaching techniques to students’ self-efficacy,
providing opportunities for inactive mastery, ensuring specific, timely diagnostic,
and practical feedback, and providing opportunities for students to practice new
behavior, and maintaining basic knowledge in particular areas-developing
learning point to assist in knowledge retention, setting specific goals, identifying
appropriate reinforce teaching students how to reinforce their learning and
teaching students how to take responsibility for their own learning. These factors
indicate that the instructor must ensure that the environment is made ready
learning.
The purpose of learning style analysis is to identify student strategies for
learning and to well them with instructional or training material, experiences,
instruction, and methods that foster a high rate of return efficient, lasting
achievement within a logical amount of time (Corbett & smith, 1984).
Reading is a part of language skills that needs to be increased by the
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to be able to master the four basic skills of English which consists of speaking,
listening, reading and writing. Reading is one of the four language skills taught in
English language learning process besides listening, speaking and writing.
Comprehension is the main goal of reading skill is very important, the
reader attempts to help the students to able to read and comprehend the text. The
learners have to able to discover the meaning which is as the purpose of the text.
The learner read to construct the meaning of the text by analyzing, learning and
organization the information that is logic to the learners.
Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it, and
understand its meaning. An individual's ability to comprehend text is influenced
by their traits and skills, one of which is the ability to make inferences. If word
recognition is difficult, students use too much of their processing capacity to read
individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read.
There are a number of approaches to improve reading comprehension, including
improving one's vocabulary and reading strategies.
It is observed that the ability of students are so low that it caused by
several factors. First, it is very difficult to understand by the students to get the
word, phrase and sentence. Second, finding the main idea of the text becomes the
hard activity of the student because of the lack of vocabulary. Third, students are
not accustomed to practice reading in the classroom every day. Lastly, teacher
does not identify her students learning style. Teacher just give the text to the
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other hand, it is found that teacher feel so hard to find out the students learning. In
finding students’ learning style, teacher
The reality is the teachers feel so hard to teach their students based on the
learning style. There are some ways that teacher must prepare such as material
that support teaching learning process, the way she applies the material and how it
could be the good entertainer to her students to provide the material. Whereas, if
she provides the learning styles of the students, it will make teacher easily to
provide the method for learning reading. Based on the factor mentioned above, the
biggest problem are what are the types of students’ learning style of SMK
Harapan Stabat, and what are the types of students’ learning style of XI grade in
SMK Harapan Stabat.
Based on the explanation above, the researcher conducts the research that
is title students’ learning styles in learning reading comprehension.
B. The problem of the study
1. What are the types of students’ learning styles of XI grade in SMK Swasta
Harapan Stabat?
2. What are the types of students’ learning styles which has higher
achievement in reading comprehension?
C. The objective of study
1. To describe the types of students’ learning styles of XI grade in SMK
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2. To explain of students’ learning styles which has higher achievement in
reading comprehension.
D. The scope of study
The scope of study will be focused on students’ skill in reading
comprehension by applying VAK ( visual, auditory, and kinesthetic
E. The significance of the study
The study is expected to have both theoretical and practical perspectives :
1. Theoretical Perspectives
a. The result of the research will be useful to improve the teaching
learning process, especially in learning reading comprehension.
b. The result of this research can be used a reference for those who want
to conduct a research about learning reading comprehension.
2. Practical Perspective
a. For the teacher
The writer hopes that this research will be inspiring for English
teacher to know student’s learning styles in learning reading
comprehension.
b. For the students
This study also expected to encourage the students to know their
41 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
Based on the analyzing data in the previous chapter, it could be drawn
the conclusion of the present study which were designed to suit the objectives
the study. This study was obtained to find out what is the most dominant
learning style in reading at the eleventh grade students at SMK Swasta Harapan
Stabat. There are three types of learning styles, visual, auditory and kinesthetic.
The conclusion of the present study can be drawn as follows:
1. Auditory learning style is the most dominant learning style at the
eleventh grade students at SMK Swasta Harapan Stabat, the percentage
was 71,87%, it means 23 from 32 students prefer to hear than read and
move. The second was kinesthetic learning style, score 21,88%, means
that 7 from 32 students prefer to move. Then, visual learning style, the
sore, 6,25%, means that only 2 students prefer to read. The main data
gathered through questionnaire and observation.
2. Auditory learning style was the most dominant learning style, followed
kinesthetic learning style 21,88% and visual learning style that has the
lowest score 6,25%. For the fastest students in reading comprehension
came from auditory students or auditory learners. They get score 69,56%,
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students’ auditory learning style is the fastest in learning reading
comprehension.
Means that 23 students as auditory learning style more comprehend from
32 students, it shown in figure 4.1.
B. Suggestion
The researcher gives some suggestion in this study. The suggestion is:
1) For the students
Hopefully by knowing their learning styles students are able to improve
their ability in English speaking and also they can explore their strategies
based on their learning styles. For students suggested to keep on
motivating to improve reading comprehension, it can be better again, for
students on their students learning style. Students must to try study be
better again.
2) For the teachers
The English teacher of the tenth grade students at SMK Swasta Harapan
Stabat was suggested to keep on motivating their students to improve
their reading comprehension. It will be better again, if the English teacher
teach their students based on their students learning style, may be it is
good for their academic. Try to search the new technique to provide the
material, until their students not feel bored with the explanation from
43
students. Teacher can get more information. The English teacher should
be improve their ability on learning styles, so that the students can
comprehend what they had read.
3) For the other researchers
The reseacher are suggested to attempt to hold the same kind of research
with different sample in applied learning style in order to know whether
learning style can improve the student academic achievement in reading
comprehension but the researcher suggested to be more creative in
implementing this in reading comprehension, especially in
comprehending the text. The researchers use some instrument to know
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