THE EFFECT OF SEMANTIC MAPPING STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’
ACHIEVEMENT IN READING RECOUNT TEXT
A THESIS
Submitted to Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of SarjanaPendidikan
By :
DHIAN AYUMI
Registration Number : 2102121004
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, the writer would like to thank to the Almighty Allah SWT for
His blessings, so the writer is able to accomplish her thesis as a partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan at the English
Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts (FBS) in State University of Medan
(UNIMED).
In completing this thesis, the writer realized that she faced some problems
and she had received the academic guidance, suggestions, and comments and got
a lot of assistance and moral support from many people. Therefore, the writer
would like to express her gratitude and special thanks to:
Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd., the Rector of State University of Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English and Literature Department.
Dra. Meisuri, M.A., the Secretary of English Department.
Nora Ronita Dewi, S.Pd, S.S, M.Hum., the Head of Education Program of English Department.
Drs. Willem Saragih, Dipl. Appl., M.Pd., her Thesis Consultant. Dr. Siti Aisah Ginting, M.Pd., her Academic Consultant, and Dr.
Rahmad Husein, M.Ed,. the Reviewer and Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M.Ed., the Reviewer and also Indra Hartoyo, S.Pd, M.Hum., the Reviewer, the writer is also very grateful to all lecturers who have taught, Guided, and advised her throughout the academic
years.
Eis Sri Wahyuningsih, S.Pd, M.Pd and Pantes, the administration staff of English and Literature Department who always help the writer
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A special thanks is given to Muhammad Zubir Nasution, S.Ag., the principal of MTS Al-Jam’iyatul Washliyah and Evi Astuti, S.Pd., the English teacher who helped her during the research in the school, and
also for students in VIII-E and VIII-F for their attention and
participation during the research.
Her beloved parents, Drs. Muhd Yunus and Syafniwati Marbun for their love, great support, pray, and financial support during
completion of her study.
The writer’s special gratitude also goes to her dearest young sister,
Dede Nurul Hidayah who has given her a support to finish her study. Her beloved friends during completing this thesis, Afsyah Trimida
Sari, S.Pd., Yuni Khairani, S.Pd., Nurlaila Amalia, S.Pd., Debbie Ivanalies Tampubolon, S.Pd., Rizki Apriliani Sitanggang, S.Pd., Ika Sari, S.Pd., Nita Wardani Siregar, S.Pd., Desi Jayantri, S.Pd., Muhammad Hanif Sikumbang, S.Pd., thank for the motivation and support. And all her friends in Dik B of English Education 2010.
Special thank to Nurfitriani Padang, S.Pd., Arsi Zahiri, S.Pd., and Sosa Irza Yuliana, S.Pd., who never let down and love her so much. And all of those that can’t mentioned one by one, thank you for their
motivation, support, and also helping.
Finally, the writer hopes this thesis can give contribution to the English
Education students and further pedagogical research.
Medan, September 2015
The Writer
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CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. The Background of the Study ... 1
B. The Problem of the Study ... 7
C. The Scope of the Study ... 7
D. The Objective of the Study ... 7
E. The Significance of the Study ... 7
CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 9
A. Theoretical Framework ... 9
1. Students’ Reading Comprehension Achievement ... 9
2. Approach, Method, Technique and Strategy...10
3. Reading ... 11
4. Reading Comprehension ... 12
a Reading Comprehension Process ... 12
1) Developing a textbase ... 13
2) Building a mental model ... 13
b Levels of Comprehension ... 14
1) Literal Comprehension ... 14
2) Interpretive Comprehension ... 14
3) Critical Comprehension ... 15
4) Creative Comprehension ... 15
c Strategies on Reading Comprehension ... 16
d Students Difficulties in Reading Comprehension ... 17
1) Appropriate Use of Background Knowledge .... 17
2) Vocabulary ... 17
c The Generic Structure and Language Features of Recount Text ... 23
4. Semantic Mapping Strategy ... 25
a. The Procedure of Semantic Mapping Strategy ... 26
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c Classroom Application of Semantic Mapping
Strategy ... 29
1. Pre-Reading ... 30
2. During Reading ... 30
3. Post-Reading ... 31
B. Conceptual Frame Work ... 32
C .Hypothesis ... 33
C. Instrument for Collecting Data ... 36
D. Scoring the Test ... 36
E. The Procedure of Research ... 37
1. Pre-Test ... 37
2. Treatment Procedure ... 37
3. Post –Test ... 39
F. Validity and Reliability of the Test ... 39
1. Validity of the Test ... 39
2. Reliability of the Test ... 40
G. Technique for Analyzing Data ... 41
H. Statistical Hypothesis ... 42
CHAPTER IV : DATA ANALYISIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS .... 43
A. Data ... 43
B. Data Analysis ... 46
1. Analyzing the data Using T-test Formula ... 46
2. The Testing Reliability of the Test ... 47
C. Testing Hypothesis ... 47
D. Research Finding ... 48
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 50
A: Conclusion ... 50
B: Suggestion ... 50
REFERENCES ... 52
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LIST OF TABLE
Table Page
Table 3.1 Randomized Group Pre-Test and Post-Test ... 34
Table 3.2 Specification of Test Item ... 36
Table 3.3 Treatment Procedure ... 37
Table 4.1 The Result of Pre-test and Post-test of Experimental Group ... 43
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
I.Appendix A ... 55
1. The List of Score Pre-Test and Post Test by Experimental Group ... 55
2. The List of Score Pre-Test and Post Test by Control Group ... 56
II. Appendix B ... 57
1.The Calculation of The Reliability of The Test ... 57
III. Appendix C ... 59
1.The Calculation of Mean and Standard Deviation of Experimental Group ... 59
2. The Calculation of Mean and Standard Deviation of Control Group ... 60
IV. Appendix D ... 63
1. Lesson plan of Experimental Group ... 63
2. Lesson plan of Control Group ... 80
V.Appendix E ... 96
1. Test for Experimental and Control Group ... 96
VI.Appendix F ... 106
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CHAPTER I
INTORDUCTION
A. The Background OF Study
There are four skills that must be mastered in English. They are speaking,
listening, reading and writing. In learning English, students can be a versatile
learner by mastering every language skills. One of the important skills that should
be mastered by the students is reading. Reading is one of the important skills to be
taught to students because through reading the students can get more information
from the text which can improve their knowledge. Reading is not only about
reading the words but also understanding the information from printed text.
According to Anthony, Pearson, and Rapheal (1993) as cited in Suci (2009:34) in
which reading is the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic
interaction among the reader’s existing knowledge, the information suggested by
the written language, and the context of reading situation. Therefore, reading
means to find out the message or the required information that the writer puts in
the text as much as possible.
The essence of reading is comprehension. Reading comprehension is
process of readers combining information from a text and their own prior
knowledge to build meaning. Without comprehending the text, the readers do not
understand the text well and are not able to get the meaning from the text.
In Educational unit Educated Curriculum (KTSP) and written in the
standard competence in the syllabus of the second year of junior high school,
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informally text in the forms of Narrative, Procedure, Descriptive, and Recount in
daily life context. Therefore, an ability to comprehend the text is one should be
mastered by the students in the second year of junior high school.
In fact, most of the students are not able to fulfill the expectation of the
curriculum. Based on the writer’s experience in teaching practice program (PPL),
the same case also at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Al-Washliyah. Most of the students
are confused to read the text because according to them reading comprehension is
difficult to do because the students are lack of vocabulary and the students are
difficult to get idea in comprehending the text.
It’s also in line with the writer researcher’s previous conducted in
Madrasah Tsanawiyah Al-Washliyah grade VIII. It was found that most of the
students get difficulties in comprehending a text. Regarding this, the students have
problem in understanding the words and sentences in the text. They do not know
how to activate and develop their prior knowledge. And also the reading method
that is used by the teacher was not effective. The teacher usually asked the
students to translate whole reading material and to answer the question given by
the teacher. In short, the students get bored and lazy to study English.
Considering the condition above, the writers wants to try to carry out
research in teaching reading. In order to make teaching and learning process
interesting and effective, teachers need a good technique, method, or strategy in
teaching reading. By using an appropriate technique, method, or strategy, it is
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The strategy that can be applied in improving students’ achievement in reading is
Semantic Mapping Strategy.
Semantic Mapping Strategy can be described as a web like graphic
display. According to Antonnaci (1991:174), Semantic Mapping is a visual
representation of knowledge, a picture of conceptual relationship. It means that
semantic mapping can be a visual representation of knowledge that support
students to create their own understanding of certain text into their own work by
drawing a figure, table or chart which represent the content of the text. And Zaid
(1995:6) said that, “the students who use semantic mapping manifest considerable
improvement reading comprehension, written expression and vocabulary
development. It means that not only students’ reading comprehension will be
improved by the application of semantic mapping but also the students’ writing
ability. It can also be used in teaching other skills such reading and writing
because it displays the interrelationships among ideas. And the writer believes that
by using semantic mapping strategy in teaching reading and by choosing Recount
Text as the target text in the research will develop students’ comprehension in
reading.
Previous researchers have investigated this Semantic Mapping Strategy in
order to improve students’ reading comprehension. Improving Students’ Reading
Comprehension Through Semantic Mapping Strategy has been done by Muhtar
(2010). The research was done SMP Negeri 1 Sine. The researcher found that
more than 50% of the students cannot achieve the minimum completeness criteria
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comprehending English texts and they got difficulties in identifying the implicit
and explicit information of the text. At the end of the research, after applying the
Semantic Mapping Strategy, the students’ achievement in reading comprehension
is improved.
And another research was conducted by Kumala (2013) on The
Effectiveness of Using Semantic Mapping Strategy in Teaching Reading
Comprehension of Narrative Text of Eight Grade students’ at SMP Negeri 6
Semarang (2012/2013). The researcher used pre-experimental design in this study,
which single group post-test only design. The researcher found that most of
students had a difficulty in comprehend reading a passage. Most of students could
read the passage well but they did not understand the content of the text. At the
end of the research after applying the Semantic Mapping Strategy it was helped
the students more actively engaged in learning and their result of her research
showed that the mean score of experimental class which was taught by using
Semantic Mapping Strategy was higher than control class which was taught
without Semantic Mapping Strategy.
In this study, the writer reuses this strategy. Here, the writer will research
whether there is a contribution of Semantic Mapping Strategy to second grade of
junior high school students in reading recount text. If it is compared with previous
researchers as the writer mentioned above, it is very clear that there are some
differences between the study of the writer and the previous researchers. The
differences are genre of text that is used and the sample or students that will be
5
high school students. Based on syllabus of junior high school, recount text is used
for the second grade of junior high school students whether in the second semester
in improving students' reading comprehension. Muhtar (2010) had researched the
second grade of Junior high school students and only focused on Descriptive text.
Kumala (2013) applied this strategy for Eight grade of junior high school students
and focused on narrative text.
In this case, it is very clear that the level of comprehension among students
of junior high school is different. The previous researchers had successfully
conducted a study of junior high school students by using the same strategy but
different genre of the text and it has been proven that there is a contribution of
Semantic Mapping Strategy in improving students' reading comprehension.
Hence, the writer wants to prove whether Semantic Mapping Strategy can provide
a significant improvement especially in reading comprehension of recount text of
second grade junior high school students.
In this study, the writer chooses recount text as a genre of the text that will
be researched. Reading a recount text is a boring activity for the students. There
are so many an unfamiliar words or vocabularies and it makes the students feel
confused. They have to depend on the dictionary to know the meaning of words. It
seemed to be boring for them. As a result, they stop finding the meaning in the
dictionary. They spend most of their time to find the meaning of the words than
understand what the text talks about. Besides that, the teachers do not care about
the prior knowledge and understanding the students’ reading comprehension of
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fact, the students have a different prior knowledge of the text. For example, one of
the students has a good prior knowledge to comprehend the text. The other
students have no ideas about the text. But, the teacher considers that all of the
students have the same prior knowledge. So, it just part of the students can
understand about the text. The other students are difficult to comprehend the text
and to conclude the ideas of the text. As a result, students lose their pleasure in
reading recount text. It becomes a tedious activity for the students. In this case,
Semantic Mapping Strategy can help the students to comprehend the text easily,
build vocabulary or unfamiliar word. Semantic Mapping Strategy can be used to
help students in comprehending the recount text. Semantic Mapping Strategy
serves as a way to develop the topic of the text through active students’ prior
knowledge’s students that related to the topic. The writer chooses this strategy
because this strategy can develop the students’ thinking skills and reading
comprehension.
In relation to the problem, the writer gives a suggestion to the teacher to
use the suitable strategy in teaching reading. Therefore, the writer would like to
use an alternative strategy by choosing “Semantic Mapping” to improve students’
achievement in reading. Semantic Mapping is a helpful strategy for the students
who want to expand their ideas or comprehend the text. It can also avoid bored of
passive students, and make them more enjoyable because Semantic Mapping can
build the connections and establish the association between the students and the
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B. The Problem of Study
Based on the previous discussion in background of the study, the research
problem is formulated as follows: “Is there any significant effect of applying
Semantic Mapping Strategy on students’ achievement in reading Recount Text?”
C. The Objective of Study
The objective of this study is to find out the significant effect of applying
Semantic Mapping Strategy on students’ achievement in reading Recount Text.
D. The Scope of Study
The research is focused on Semantic Mapping Strategy on students’
achievement, and the type of text to be research on is only recount text.
E. The Significances of Study
The study is conducted in order to know about Semantic Mapping Strategy
and the findings are expected to have both theoretical and practiced importance to
the English teacher, students and the next researchers.
1. Theoretically, this study is to increase the theories for teaching reading,
especially for junior High School level.
2. Practically, this study are expected to:
a. Help to students to increase their reading skill
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c. Make students more active in managing their lesson in their teaching
learning process.
d. Provide the English teachers to plan and conduct a better and
interesting strategy in learning process.
e. Make the teacher knows and understands the characteristics of his
students, so he can handle during teaching learning process well.
f. The next researchers as a candidate of the teacher could help to apply a
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusion
After analyzing the data, it was concluded that there was significant effect
of teaching reading by applying Semantic Mapping Strategy on students’ reading
comprehension achievement. The score of the students who were taught by
applying Semantic Mapping Strategy was higher than the score of students who
were taught without applying Semantic Mapping Strategy. It was proved by the
result of t-test. The result of the t-test calculation showed that t-observed value
(3.4) was higher than t-table value (1.990) with α = 0.05 and df =78, which
implies that the alternative Hypothesis is accepted.
B. Suggestions
Based on the conclusion above, some suggestions can be recommended for:
1. English teachers should be creative so they can improve their ability in teaching reading by using suitable strategy to increase students’ reading
comprehension. In this case, Semantic Mapping Strategy which is help the
teacher and the students work together to developed understanding of the
text, so that the students can comprehend what they had read.
2. Students should be more active and cooperative when they learn about a text
by using Semantic Mapping Strategy because it will help them become
more independent readers, capable of handling increasingly sophisticated
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3. Other researchers to conduct further study dealing with Semantic Mapping
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