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IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY THROUGH
COOPERATIVE INTEGRATED READING AND COMPOSITION (A Classroom Action
Research at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the Academic Year of 2009/2010)
By:
H A N D I N I
NIM: S 890908209
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
GRADUATE SCHOOL
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
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APPROVAL
IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY THROUGH
COOPERATIVE INTEGRATED READING AND COMPOSITION (A Classroom Action
Research at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the Academic Year of 2009/2010)
By:
HANDINI
S890908209
This thesis has been approved by the Consultants of English Education of Graduate School of
Sebelas Maret University Surakarta
Consultant I Consultant II
Dr. Sujoko, MA Drs. H. Tarjana, M.A
NIP. 19510912 198003 1002
Approved By:
The Head of English Education of Graduate School
Sebelas Maret University Surakarta
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LEGITIMATION FROM THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS Title:
IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY THROUGH
COOPERATIVE INTEGRATED READING AND COMPOSITION (A Classroom Action
Research at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the Academic Year of 2009/2010)
HANDINI
S890908209
This thesis has been examined by the Board of Thesis Examiners of Graduate School of
English Education of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta on September 3rd, 2010.
Board of Examiners: Signature
Chairman : Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd. ...
NIP. 19621231 198803 1 009
Secretary : Dr. Abdul Asib, M.Pd. ...
NIP. 19520307 198003 1 005
Members of Examiners:
1. Dr. Sujoko, M.A. ...
NIP. 19510912 198003 1 002
2. Drs. Heribertus Tarjana, M.A. ...
Surakarta, September 3rd , 2010
The Director of Graduate School of The Head of English Education of Sebelas Maret
University Graduate School of Sebelas Maret
University
Prof. Drs. Suranto, M.Sc, Ph.D Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd
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PRONOUNCEMENT
I would like to certify that the thesis entitled “Improving Students‟ English Reading
Comprehension Ability Through Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition” (A
Classroom Action Research at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the Academic Year of
2009/2010) is really my own work.
It is not plagiarism or made by others. Everything related to others‟ works is written in
quotation, the sources of which are listed on the Bibliography.
If, then, this pronouncement proves wrong, I am ready to receive any academic
punishment, including the cancellation of my academic degree.
Surakarta, August, 2010
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ABSTRACT
Handini, S890908209, “Improving Students‟ Reading Comprehension Ability Through Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition” (A Classroom Action Research at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the Academic Year of 2009/2010).
The aims of this research are to improve the students‟ reading comprehension ability using Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition technique and to know what happens when CIRC technique is used in the reading class. The problem revealed in this research was the low reading comprehension of Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih that was caused by the internal factor that was from the students themselves and from the external factors such as, the teacher and teaching techniques that were used by the teacher. The teacher in SMP N 1 Matesih never used study groups or pairs in teaching reading. The writer found out that there were gaps among the students. Only some students had good achievements and were active to follow the teaching-learning process and the others were passive. Most of them were sleepy, bored, not enthusiastic to follow the teaching and learning process. So, the interaction in the class was low.
The research was conducted from October 2009 to August 2010 in Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih. The subject of the research was 31 students consisting of 16 male students and 15 female students. The procedure of the research consisting of planning the action, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflecting the action. In collecting the data, the researcher using observation, interview, questionnaire, and the test technique. In this research, the researcher using the objective test type for both pre-test and post-test. There were two techniques in analyzing the data, they were: quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistic analysis. The qualitative data were analyzed using the framework developed by Miles and Huberman (1984) consisting of the following steps: data reduction, data display, and data verification.
The result of the research showed that Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition technique could improve students‟ reading comprehension in terms of: the achievement in reading comprehension increased, and the students were able to comprehend a text well. The
improvement of the students‟ reading comprehension ability could be seen from the mean
progress of pre-test and test. The mean score of pre-test was 54.54, the mean score of post-test 1 was 67.96, and the mean score of post-post-test 2 was 77.87. Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition technique can improve the teaching and learning process, such as: improving
students‟ motivation, increasing students‟ participation to follow the teaching and learning
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DEDICATION
This thesis is especially dedicated to:
My beloved husband, Harry Wuryanto, who always supports and encourages me to study at the Graduate School Program.
My beloved parents, who always motivate me to learn and learn.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all the researcher would like to thank Allah Subhanahu Wa ta‟aallaa,
Alhamdulillahi Robbill‟aalamiin, for only by His blessing this thesis was finally completed. The
researcher realizes that this thesis would not be achieved without the assistance from many individuals and institutions. In this opportunity the researcher would like to express her deepest gratitude to the following.
Prof. Drs. Suranto, M.Sc., Ph.D, the Director of Graduate School Sebelas Maret University; Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd., the Head of English Education Department, Graduate School, Sebelas Maret University Surakarta for the permissions. The great honor and deep gratitude to the following persons: Bapak Dr. Sujoko, MA, as the first consultant who has given plenty information she needed to know about action research. Drs. H. Tarjana, MA as the second
consultant, thank you Bapak, “You are the most critical consultant I ever had”. All lectures in
English Education Department, Graduate School, Sebelas Maret University Surakarta for all the knowledge that have been given to her. Special thanks to Dra. Rahayuningsih, M.Pd as the headmistress of SMPN 1 Matesih who has allowed her to carry out the research in her school, Suwanto, S.Pd as her collaborator who has given her suggestions, evaluations, advise, help, and support in carrying out the research, and also all teachers in SMPN 1 Matesih.
Her beloved husband, her parents, her children, and my brothers and sisters who always give spirit to finish this thesis. The writer also thanks her class of 2008 English Education who have become part of her life in the evening class.
Last but not least, to all her friends in Allah‟s way (including her beloved family in
Matesih and LPMP Banten), Alhamdulillah jazza kumullohu khoiron, also to those who are not mentioned here but give their sincere assistance to her: thank you all.
The writer realizes that this thesis is still far from being perfect. That is why she always expects criticisms and suggestions from the readers in order to make improvement. However, the writer hopes that this thesis can be useful for the readers who want to improve their reading comprehension using Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition technique .
Surakarta, August, 2010
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE ... i
APPROVAL ... ii
LEGITIMATION FROM THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS ... iii
PRONOUNCEMENT ... iv
ABSTRACT ... v
DEDICATION ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... vii
TABLE OF CONTENT ... viii
LIST OF TABLES ... x
LIST OF FIGURES ... xi
LIST OF APPENDICES ... xii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Problem Statement ... 6
C. The Objective of the Study ... 6
D. The Benefits of the Study ... 7
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED THEORIES A. Theoritical Description ... 8
1. Reading Comprehension ... 8
2. The Nature of Cooperative Learning ... 17
3. Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition 24 B. Rationale... 25
C. Hypothesis ... 27
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. The Setting of the Research ... 28
B. The Subject of the Research ... 28
C. The Method of the Research ... 29
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E. The Technique of Collecting Data ... 32
F. The Technique of Analyzing Data ... 35
CHAPTER IV THE RESULT OF THE STUDY A. Introduction ... 38
B. The Preparation of Action Research ... 39
C. Implementation of Cycle 1 ... 41
1. Planning Action ... 41
2. Implementing Action ... 43
3. Observation ... 47
4. Reflection ... 48
D. Implementation of Cycle 2 ... 50
1. Planning Action ... 50
2. Implementing Action ... 51
3. Observation ... 56
4. Reflection ... 57
E. Findings ... 59
F. Discussion ... 66
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION A. Conclusion ... 69
B. Implication ... 70
C. Suggestion ... 70
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 The Score of the Pre-test and the Score of the Post-test of Cycle 1 .. 60
Table 2 The Score of the Post-test of Cycle 1 and the Score of the Post-test
of Cycle 2 ... 61
Tabel 3 The Score of the Pre-test, the Score of the Post-test of Cycle 1, and
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LIST OF FIGURES AND GRAPHS
Figure 1 The Action Research Spiral ... 29
Graph 1 The Score of the Pre-test and the Score of the Post-test of Cycle 1 .. 60
Graph 2 The Score of the Post-test of Cycle 1 and the Score of the Post-test
of Cycle 2 ... 61
Graph 3 The Score of the Pre-test, the Score of the Post-test of Cycle 1, and
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1.a. Transcript of Interview (Pre-Action) ... 76
Appendix 1.b. The Scores of Reading in Pre-Research ... 79
Appendix 2.a. Questionnaire for Preliminary Research ... 81
Appendix 2.b. The Result of Questionnaire in Preliminary Research ... 83
Appendix 3.a. Interview Guide before Teaching Reading using CIRC ... 86
Appendix 3.b. Transcript of Interview before Teaching Reading using CIRC 88 Appendix 4.a. Blue Print of Reading Test (Try-out Instrument) ... 103
Appendix 4.b. Test Items of Try-Out ... 104
Appendix 4.c. Answer Key of Try-Out ... 119
Appendix 4.d. Validity and Reability of Try-Out Instrument ... 120
Appendix 5.a. Blue Print of Reading Test (Pre-Test Instrument) ... 125
Appendix 5.b. Test Items of Pre-test ... 126
Appendix 5.c. Answer Key of Pre-Test ... 136
Appendix 5.d. The Result of Pre-Test ... 137
Appendix 6 Syllabus ... 139
Appendix 7.a. Lesson Plan of Cyle 1 Meeting 1 ... 142
Appendix 7.b. Lesson Plan of Cyle 1 Meeting 2 ... 145
Appendix 7.c. Lesson Plan of Cyle 1 Meeting 3 ... 148
Appendix 8.a. Students‟ Worksheet of Cyle 1 Meeting 1 ... 151
Appendix 8.b. Students‟ Worksheet of Cyle 1 Meeting 2 ... 154
Appendix 8.c. Students‟ Worksheet of Cyle 1 Meeting 3 ... 157
Appendix 9.a. The Seat Position of the Students before Action ... 160
Appendix 9.b. The Seat Position of the Students on Group ... 162
Appendix 10.a. Observation Sheet of Cycle 1 Meeting 1 ... 164
Appendix 10.b. Observation Sheet of Cycle 1 Meeting 2 ... 167
Appendix 10.c. Observation Sheet of Cycle 1 Meeting 3 ... 170
Appendix 11.a. Test Items of Post-Test of Cycle 1 ... 173
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Appendix 11.c. The Result of Post-Test 1 ... 184
Appendix 12.a. Lesson Plan of Cyle 2 Meeting 1 ... 186
Appendix 12.b. Lesson Plan of Cyle 2 Meeting 2 ... 189
Appendix 12.c. Lesson Plan of Cyle 2 Meeting 3... 192
Appendix 13.a. Students‟ Worksheet of Cyle 2 Meeting 1 ... 195
Appendix 13.b. Students‟ Worksheet of Cyle 2 Meeting 2 ... 198
Appendix 13.c. Students‟ Worksheet of Cyle 2 Meeting 3 ... 201
Appendix 14.a. Observation Sheet of Cycle 2 Meeting 1 ... 204
Appendix 14.b. Observation Sheet of Cycle 2 Meeting 2 ... 207
Appendix 14.c. Observation Sheet of Cycle 2 Meeting 3 ... 210
Appendix 15.a. Test Items of Post-Test of Cycle 2 ... 213
Appendix 15.b. Answer Key of Post-Test 2 ... 223
Appendix 15.c. The Result of Post-Test 2 ... 224
Appendix 16.a. Interview Guide after Teaching Reading using CIRC ... 226
Appendix 16.b. Transcript of Interview after Teaching Reading using CIRC . 228 Appendix 17 Fieldnote ... 243
Appendix 18.a. T-test (Pre-Test and Post-Test 1) ... 263
Appendix 18.b. T-test (Post-Test 1 and Post-Test 2) ... 266
Appendix 18.c. T-test (Pre-Test and Post-Test 2) ... 269
Appendix 19.a. The Questionnaire of Positive and Negative Effects when CIRC Applied in Teaching Reading ... 272
Appendix 19.b. The Questionnaire‟s Result in Teaching Reading ... 275
Appendix 20 Transcript of Interview ... 277
Appendix 21 Sample of Students‟ Questionnaire ... 280
Appendix 22 Sample of Students‟ Pre-Test ... 340
Appendix 23 Sample of Students‟ Post-Test 1 ... 345
Appendix 24 Sample of Students‟ Post-Test 2 ... 350
Appendix 25 Sample of Students‟ Worksheets ... 354
Appendix 26 Sample of Students‟ Questionnaire (Post-Action) ... 402
Appendix 27.a. Photographs of Interview ... 496
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Appendix 27.c. Photographs of Pre-Test ... 499
Appendix 27.d. Photographs of Teaching anf Leraning Process ... 500
Appendix 27.e. Photographs of Post-Test 1 ... 504
Appendix 27.f. Photographs of Post-Test 2 ... 505
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Title : Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension Ability Through Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (A Classroom Action Research at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the Academic Year of 2009/2010) by Handini, S890908209
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Study
Language is basic for human, especially for communication. We express
our feelings, thought and stimulate action and reaction through language. It
becomes a mean of communication in its role and function. People can not live
without languages. They interact and communicate with others in the society in
order to fulfill their needs by means of a device called language. Language and
human being are two un-separated components. It is a means of communication
for individuals that brings them into relationship with their environment. It is
defined as a system for encoding and decoding information. Language is used to
communicate and to say things to each others, and to express communication
needs. Language also has functions to communicate general attitude towards life
and others.
Without language, there would be no progress, no civilization, and no
culture. So, it is inevitable that people should study language because people can
get information about some subject and develop science and technology by using
a language.
One of the languages that has an important function in international
communication is English. It becomes popular than other languages. Most fields
of life in the world, such as education, sport, science, medicines and technology
use English. In Indonesia, English serves as a foreign language. It is taught in
schools because it is the most dominant foreign language and also the first foreign
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Considering the importance of English, the government of Indonesia has
put English in a school curriculum. It becomes a compulsory subject that is taught
from elementary school to university. Among foreign languages, English has a
special position because it is the only foreign language that is used as an
international communication around the world. By learning English, the students
of Indonesia are hoped to be able to communicate in English.
English covers four language skills namely reading, listening, speaking,
and writing. Learning English means learning the four language skills
(Widdowson, 1978: 1). Listening and reading are called receptive skills while
speaking and writing are called productive ones. In learning English, Indonesian
learners still find difficulties. Those difficulties are partly caused by different
systems between Indonesia and English, such as vocabulary, grammar, culture,
and so on. The differences of the systems create many problems in learning
English language.
English and Indonesian languages also have a different grammatical
system or rule. Consequently, there is no guarantee that the students who have
good understanding of Indonesian text will have good understanding of English
ones automatically. It is easier to read and understand Indonesian texts than to
read English ones because the students have mastered vocabulary and the
structural system of Indonesian. Many Indonesian students still find difficulties in
reading although English is always stated in every curriculum.
To read English texts is not easy. The students should develop their
comprehensive skills in order to get information or ideas from the text. It means
that the students have to learn about words, phrases, sentences, and English texts.
It is difficult for students to catch the ideas of the text without understanding the
text itself. Teaching reading comprehension should be designed in the particular
way so that a good atmosphere in the teaching-learning process can be created
and students become active in learning. Through students‟ active learning, they
can share and express their opinion freely.
In the formal education, among the four language skills, reading is the
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Reading is one of the language skills which has important roles. Bamman (1963:
1) states that reading is truly a basic mean of learning in all subject. It means that
reading is very important because in every subject, pupils learning activities
involve reading. Carrell (1996: 1) states:
For many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in second language, particularly in English as second or foreign language. Certainly, if we consider the study of English in second year Junior High School around the world-the situation in which most English learners find themselves-reading is the main reason why students learn language.
Based on Carrell‟s statement, in English as foreign language, reading is really
important than the other skills, such as speaking, writing and listening.
Reading text also provides good models for English writing. When a
teacher teachs the writing skill, she or he will need to show students a model of
what she or he is encouraging them to do. Reading text also provides
opportunities to study language including vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and
to study the way of constructing sentences, paragaphs, and texts.
In the Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) for Indonesian Junior
High School, English teaching has a purpose to develop communicative
competence in the form of oral and written language, namely reading, listening,
speaking, and writing. It means that a teacher must teach students to learn to use
the language. Therefore, it is expected that students should learn to use the
language to communicate. The objective of teaching English in Junior High
School is stressed on reading comprehension and provides the students with
comprehending knowledge. It means that the abilty of reading must be followed
by understanding or comprehending a text.
The students should have reading comprehension ability to build a good
understanding of an English text. To attract students‟ attention in teaching reading
is a hard job for a teacher. For this reason, every effort is made to build
wholesome attitudes in children, to give them sense of belonging and a feeling of
being accepted and respected, and to provide many success experiences.
Aebersold and Field (1997: 65) also state that to become better readers, students
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comprehension. Therefore, the use of methods and technique in a teaching-
learning process that relate to the learners is necessary to be considered.
Unfortunately, Indonesian Junior High School students still found
difficulties in understanding the content of English texts that they read. There
were so many factors causing the low reading ability of the students. It was
caused by the internal factor that was from the students themselves and from the
external factors such as, the teacher and teaching techniques that was used by the
teacher. In SMP Negeri 1 Matesih, the researcher found that the students‟ reading
comprehension was low. It was indicated by the low scores of the reading
comprehension ability. This was caused by students‟ problems, especially, in
understanding vocabularies, finding main ideas, finding detail information, and so
on. Dealing with the problems, the writer found that the teaching technique that
was used by the teacher was the main factor causing the students‟ difficulties in
comprehending a text. The researcher noticed that the way the teacher taught
reading was not encouraging students to be active. During the lesson the teacher
just read the written text without knowing whether the students got the
information or not. Besides that, the teacher in SMP N 1 Matesih never used
study groups or pairs in teaching reading. The writer found out that there were
gaps among the students. Only some students have good achievements and are
active to follow the teaching-learning process and the others were passive. Most
of them were sleepy, bored, not enthusiastic to follow the teaching and learning
process. So, the interaction in the class was low. Therefore, the teacher should
seek appropriate ways in teaching reading.
Based on the explanation above, the writer applied Cooperative Integrated
Reading and Composition (CIRC) method in teaching reading comprehension to
Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih. Arends (2004: 356) states that Cooperative
Learning is a teaching method that makes maximum use of cooperative activities
involving pairs and small group of learners in the classroom. Within cooperative
learning groups the students discuss the material to be learned with each other,
help and assist each other to understand it, and encourage each other to work hard.
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cooperative learning group), to ensure active cognitive processing of information
during a lecture or demonstration (informal cooperative learning group), and to
provide long term support and assistance for academic progress (cooperative base
group) (Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec, 1993: 6). Kessler (1992: 8) also states
that cooperative learning offers good learning strategy in which warm atmosphere
at the class can be created. In cooperative learning, there are five key elements,
they are positive interdependence, face to face promotive interaction, individual
accountability, social skills, and group processing. By applying CIRC, students
will learn by themselves, learn more, feel more confident, feel more dedicated,
enjoy the class, teach each other, and become independent learners. By using
CIRC in teaching and learning, the students can also use their own knowledge and
share their knowledge with their friends. CIRC is a teaching method that can form
groups of students. There are some steps in conducting CIRC (Steven and Slavin,
1995), as follow: (1) Preparing the material that would be used in the learning
process and dividing the learning material into some parts. (2) Warming up the
class and giving some questions dealing with the topic. If the students do not
know about the topic, the researcher will give short explanation. (3) Asking the
students to make a study group which consists of four to five students in each
groups (heterogeneous learning teams). They will learn about the reading
material. (4) Giving a text to each of group. They would share information, solve
the problems, read to each other and do the task given by the teacher. (5)
Explaining some points of the material if the students have some difficulties. (6)
Asking each group to presents or reads the result of their discussion. (7)
Concluding.
All the background above supports the researcher to conduct Classroom
Action Research in implementing Cooperative Integrated Reading and
Composition in order to improve the students‟ reading comprehension. Steven and
Slavin (1995: 6) state that CIRC Reading and CIRC Writing are usually used
together, but can be used as separate reading and writing programs. Based on the
problems of the research in SMP Negeri 1 Matesih, the researcher just focus on
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research under the title: “Improving Students‟ English Reading Comprehension
Ability Through Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition”(A
Classroom Action Research at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the
Academic Year of 2009/2010 ).
B. Problem Statements
Based on the background of the study, the writer formulates the problems
as follows:
1. Can Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition method improve
students‟ reading comprehension ability at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1
Matesih in the Academic Year of 2009/2010?
2. How is the teaching learning process when Cooperative Integrated Reading
and Composition is used to improve students‟ reading comprehension ability
at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the Academic Year of
2009/2010?
C. The Objective of the Study
Based on the problem statement above, the objective of the study are:
1. To find out whether Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition
method can improve students‟ reading comprehension ability at Class VIIIA
of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the Academic Year of 2009/2010.
2. To find out the teaching learning process when Cooperative Integrated
Reading and Composition is used to improve students‟ reading
comprehension ability at Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1 Matesih in the
Academic Year of 2009/2010.
D. The Benefit of the Study
The writer hopes that the result of the study will provide some contribution
to improve the quality of the English language teaching and learning.
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1. For the students
The result of the research will make the students realize that reading is an
important thing in learning a language. It can also encourage them to be active
in learning by which they will be able to improve their reading comprehension
ability.
2. For the teachers
The result of the study can be used as a reference in developing the
learning quality and improving the method of learning which is appropriate to
the condition in the class.
3. For the school
The result of this study is expected to give some contribution to the school
in teaching reading at Junior High School.
4. For other researchers
The writer expects that the result of this study can be used as a reference
and as a starting point by other researchers in developing further research about
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition.
5. For the government
The result of this study can give some consideration in making some
education decisions in Indonesia. The government should give regular training
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED THEORIES
A. Theoritical Description 1. Reading Comprehension a. The Notion of Reading
Before discussing the definition of reading comprehension, the researcher
would like to explain about the notion of reading. Reading is a very important
thing in the world education. Everyone can learn anything because he or she can
read some books. It is an essential skill for learners of English since reading skills
in English help learners to make progress in other areas of language learning.
However, the average foreign language learners‟ reading ability is well below that
of the first language. Consequently, this can impede progress in foreign language
reading.
When someone is a student, he/she cannot separated from reading activity.
If someone wants to be good students, they should develop their reading skills.
They are demanded to read more books to get real information, new finding to
another knowledge. It is true that they read what they want to read, if they need
something to solve their problems.
The word „reading‟ comes from the word read. In Oxford Learner‟s
Pocket Dictionary, the word „read‟ means you read printed or written words,
symbols or diagrams when you look at and then understand them. While,
„reading‟ means the activity of looking at and understanding printed words in
books and other publication. Some experts have their own definition of reading. In
this case some definitions of reading will be discussed. Davies (1995: 1) gives the
definition that reading is a private activity. It is a mental or cognitive process
which involves a reader in trying to follow and respond to a message from a writer
to the reader who distances in space and time.
Grellet (1992: 8) states that reading is an active skill. It constantly involves
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Kustaryo (1988: 2) states that reading is the combination of word
recognition, and intellect, and emotion interrelated with prior knowledge to
understand the message communicated.
Nuttal (1982) in Simanjuntak (1988: 4) defines reading as the meaningful
interpretation of printed or written verbal symbols. It means that reading is a result
of the interaction between the perception of graphic symbols that represent
language and the reader‟s language skills, cognitive skills, and knowledge of the
world. In this process the reader tries to recreate the meanings intended by the
writer.
Wiratno (2003: 162) states that based on the way of reading, reading
activity is divided into two points of view. First, reading is dissolved the text to
get understanding to its content. Second, reading is pronouncing the text orally.
Moreover, Wallace (1996: 4) adds that reading is interpreting which means
reacting to a written text as a piece of communication; in other words, we assume
some communicative intent on the writer‟s part in which the reader has some
purposes in attempting to understand.
Based on all the definitions of reading above, it can be concluded that
reading involves some processes that are used to get the meaning and ideas from
the written text which is symbolized in written or printed language. It is an active
and communicative process, that goes on between the reader and the text,
resulting in comprehension. It is a means of communication between the reader
and the writer.
b. The Notion of Reading Comprehension
In reading comprehension, there should be an interaction between the
reader and the writer. Adam (1990) in Howell (1993: 182) states that reading
comprehension is an interactive process through which the reader uses code,
context analysis, prior knowledge, vocabulary to understand the text. Meanwhile
Burns (1990: 151) states that the basic comprehension units in reading are words,
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written material students encounter.
Kustaryo (1988: 11-12) states that reading with comprehension means
understanding what has been read. It is an active, thinking process that depends
not only on comprehension skills but also on the students‟ experiences and prior
knowledge. Comprehension involves understanding the vocabulary seeing the
relationship among words and concepts organizing ideas, recognizing the author‟s
purpose, making judgments, and evaluating.
Reading comprehension means techniques for improving students‟ success in
extracting useful knowledge from text (http://www.wikipedia.
org/wiki/comprehension. meaning)
Grellet (1992: 3) states that reading comprehension is understanding a
written text and extracting the required information from it as efficiently as
possible. The ultimate goal in reading is to make the meaning from text and to
comprehend the information that is conveyed in the text.
Based on the definition of reading comprehension above, it can be
concluded that reading comprehension is a thinking process to get understanding
from what has been read and to get information that the reader needs as efficiently
as possible. In this process, the reader emphasizes the important of prior
knowledge and reading skills in order to find information in the text.
c. Level of Comprehension
To understanding meaning or message resulted from reading is called
reading comprehension. Different types of reading comprehension are often
distinguished, according to the reader‟s purposes in reading and the types of
reading used.
Based on the level of comprehension, Burns (1990: 177) divided reading
into four types: literal reading, interpretive reading, critical reading, and creative
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1) Literal reading
It involves acquiring information that is directly stated in a selection and also
prerequisite for higher levels understanding. The examples of the skills are the
ability to restate the author‟s material. In other words, the basic of literal
comprehensive is recognizing stated main ideas, detail causes and effect, and
sequence. It is important to understand vocabulary, sentence meaning and
paragraph meaning thoroughly.
2) Interpretive reading
Interpretive reading involves reading between the lines or making inferences.
It is the process of deriving ideas that are implied rather than directly stated.
Skills for interpretive reading include:
a) Inferring main ideas of passage
b) Inferring causes and effect relationship
c) Inferring referents of pronoun
d) Inferring referents of adverbs
e) Inferring omitted words
f) Detecting the author‟s purpose and
g) Drawing conclusion
3) Critical reading
Critical reading is evaluating written material, comparing the ideas discovered
with known standard and drawing conclusions about their accuracy,
appropriateness, and timeless. The critical reader must be an active reader,
questioning, searching for facts and suspending judgment until he or she has
considered all of the material.
4) Creative reading
It involves going beyond the material presented by the author. It requires
readers to think as they read and use their imagination.
Based on the theories above, it can be concluded that to comprehend well,
readers must have literal comprehension, interpretive comprehension, critical
comprehension, and creative comprehension. In this research, the writer used the
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discuss four levels of comprehension but only discuss two levels, (literal and
interpretive comprehension) because the texts for SMP students covers literal and
interpretive comprehension.
Based on the curriculum of SMP and level of comprehension above, the
researcher can get some indicators required to the students, they were: literal
comprehension (finding details information, identifying language feature,
identifying generic structure, and identifying word meaning/vocabulary) and
interpretative comprehension (identifying main ideas, identifying referents, and
identifying the author‟s purpose).
d. The Process of Reading
Reading is not a single but a complex process. Davies (1995: 58) defines
the process of reading into two models. They are bottom-up model and top-down
model.
1) Bottom-up model
Eye look-identified and sound out words recognized-words allocated to
grammatical class and sentence structure-sentence give meaning, meaning
leads to thinking.
This model reflect certain approaches to the teaching of reading, in which the
sequence of instruction is intended to reflect the assumed sequence of
processing, from letters to sounds, to words, to sentences and finally to
meaning and to thinking.
2) Top-down model
The processing sequence of top-down model is almost the reverse of the
model above. This model is illustrated below:
Eye-look-thinking and prediction about meaning-sample sentences as a whole
to check further look at words-if still uncertain study letters back to meaning
predictions.
This model includes thinking and meaning at a very early stage, and the
processing sequence proceeds from prediction about meaning to attention of
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e. The Factors Influencing Reading Comprehension
Dallman (1982: 165) points out the factors influencing the reading
comprehension, they are:
1) External Factors
a) Difficulty of material
Difficult material that is beyond the student‟s level is one of the major causes
of lack comprehension.
b) Intelligence
A students ability to comprehend in reading is sometimes limited by his mental
abilty enabling him to carry. The intelligence of the reader will influence the
capacity of the reader in comprehending passage.
c) Environment
The extent of the environment affects comprehension varies with individuals.
d) Teacher‟s method
Methods of teaching that concentrate on the recognation of individual words
without neglecting attention to meaning assist the students‟ quality in
comprehending the text.
2) Internal Factors
a) Motivation
Motivation is one of the important factors of learners in reading
comprehension.
b) Self-esteem
Sefl-esteem has important role in developing reading comprehension. It is a
human being personality that is active, highly confident.
c) Self-actualization
Self-actualization is one of the basic physical needs, students have a feeling to
create and improve their ability in reading to be best.
f. The Types of Reading
As had already been examined that in real life, the purposes of reading is
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make a variation of the question and the activities according to the type of the text
and the purposes in reading it. For example, reading on a page of certain
advertisement. It would need different skills in comprehending of every single
advertisement rather than facing a general book of reading. The different skills of
the reading are related to the ways of reading. Grellet (1981:4) suggests some
ways of reading. The main ways of reading are as follows:
1) Skimming
Skimming consists of quickly running eyes across the whole text (an essay,
article, a chapter) to get the guess. Skimming gives the readers advantage of
being able to predict the purpose of the passage, the main topic, or message,
and possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas.
2) Scanning
Scanning is quickly going through a text to find a particular peace of
information. Scanning exercise may ask students to look for names or dates, to
find a definition of a key concept, or to list number of supporting details. The
purpose of scanning is to extract certain specific information without reading
through the whole text.
3) Extensive reading
Extensive reading is reading a longer text, usually for ones own pleasure. This
is fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding.
4) Intensive reading
Intensive reading means reading a shorter text, to extract some specific
information. This is more an accuracy activity.
The different ways of reading are not mutually exclusive. For instance,
someone often skim through a passage to see what it is about before deciding
whether it is worth scanning for a particular paragraph for the information that
is looking for.
From the explanations above, the researcher concludes that to be a good
reader in reading comprehension, readers must develop and used different
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g. Microskills for Reading Comprehension
Brown (1994: 291) proposes 14 microskills the students of English as a
second or foreign language need to have in order to become efficient readers.
They are as follows:
1) Discriminating among the distinctive graphemes and orthographic patterns of
English.
2) Retaining chuncks of language of different lengths in short-term memory
3) Processing writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
4) Recognizing a core of words, and interpret word order patterns and their
significance.
5) Recognizing grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), systems
(e.g. tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.
6) Recognizing that a particular meaning may be expressed in different
grammatical forms.
7) Recognizing cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in signalling
the relationship between and among clauses.
8) Recognizing the rethorical forms of written discourses and their significance
for interpretation.
9) Recognizing the communicative functions of written texts, according to form
and purpose.
10) Inferring context that is not explicit by using background knowledge.
11) From events, ideas, etc., described, inferring links and connections between
events, deducing causes and efects, and detecting such relations as main idea,
supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and
exemplification.
12) Distinguishing between literal and implied meanings.
13) Detecting culturally specific references and interpreting them in a context of
the appropriate cultural schemata.
14) Developing and using a battery of reading strategies, such as scanning and
skimming, detecting discourse markers, guessing the meaning of words from
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h. Teaching Reading Comprehension
Teaching reading is not only giving a text to the students but also building
their consciousness of reading skill. In teaching reading, the teacher should know
his/her learners and their level. Besides, the teacher should know the capability of
the students and their field. For example, if they are all business people, the
teacher may well want to concentrate on business texts. If they are science
students, reading scientific texts may be a priority, etc.
To improve the students‟ competence in comprehending the text, the teacher
might facilitate the acquisition of microskills for reading comprehension. It might
be conducted by developing a reading program which enables the students to
practice the skills intensively. To check the students‟ comprehension, the teacher
might give the students questions about the text.
The amount of time given to teach reading will depend on the needs and
wants of the learner as specified in the syllabus. Based on Kurikulum Tingkat
Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP), the standard of competence of English reading at the
eight grade students of junior high school is understanding meaning of functional
written text and simple essay in the forms of recount and narrative texts dealing
with surrounding environment. Moreover, the basic competences of English
reading at this grade are reading aloud and meaningfully of functional written text
and simple essay in the forms of recount and narrative texts in appropriate
pronunciation, stress and intonation dealing with surrounding environment; giving
response to meaning of the simple short functional written text accurately dealing
with surrounding environment; and giving response to meaning and to rhetorical
procedure of the simple essay accurately dealing with surrounding environment in
the forms of recount and narrative texts.
Dealing with the standard of competence and the basic competence of
English reading above, the researcher can get some indicators required to the
students, they are as folows:
1) Reading aloud and meaningfully of a short functional text
2) Identifying any information of a short functional text
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4) Identifying language characteristics of recount and narrative texts
5) Identfying main idea of recount and narrative texts
6) Identifying of textual meaning of recount and narrative texts
7) Identifying rhetorical procedure of recount and narrative texts
8) Identifying communicative purpose of recount and narrative texts
Based on the explanation above, the researcher concludes that reading
comprehension is the ability to understand the message from the text that they
read. In teaching reading comprehension, the teacher should choose the texts
which are appropriate to the students‟ level. By knowing the students‟ level, the
teacher will be easier to reach their objective. Reading comprehension is
influenced by external and internal factors. One of the external factors is teaching
technique used in class. In this research, the writer chooses Cooperative Integrated
Reading and Composition to improve students‟ reading comprehension.
2. The Nature of Cooperative Learning a. The Definition of Cooperative Learning
There are many methods to make the teaching and learning process optimal.
One of the method is cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is the most
natural and effective way for learner to practice talking freely in English. It can be
thinking out some problems or situation together. Cooperative learning is
instructional method that students can work together in small group to help each
other. It covers not only talking but also reading and writing that may be entailed
(Ur, 1998: 2).
Another explanation is also proposed by Arends (2004: 356). He explains
that cooperative learning method is to develop and achieve, at least, three
important instructional goals, they are: academic achievement, tolerance and
acceptance of diversity. It means that cooperative method is not only a way to
gain learning objective, but also a way to improve students‟ interaction, and to
make them respect each other. During the process of learning, the students are
demanded to be actively involved. The students should be able to think critically
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Richards and Rogers (2001: 192) state that cooperative learning is a teaching
method that make maximum use of cooperative activities involving pairs and
small group of learner in the classroom. The same opinion is stated by Kindsvatter
(1996: 318) who states that cooperative learning is the most compatible to the
climate of constructivist classroom. He also states that cooperative learning takes
on personal meaning by challenging group to construct their own understandings
of concepts and principles through shared group experiences.
Richard and Renandya (2002: 52) states that cooperative learning is more
than just putting students in groups and giving them something to do. Cooperative
learning principles and techniques are tools which teacher use to encourage
mutual helpfulness in the groups and active participant of all members.
From the definition above, it can be concluded that cooperative learning is
one of the teaching methods in which the teacher gives opportunities to the
students or groups of students to be actively involved to solve problems, to share
information, and to make a conclusion to achieve the goal.
In this method, the teacher‟s roles are as a guide and an organizer. The
teacher should be able to motivate the students to be more active working together
with their friends in their group and also motivate them to help one another. In
cooperative learning, the teaching and learning process is not teacher-centered but
focused on students‟ work activities on cooperative. So that, students able to
elaborate their way of thinking, creativity, and ability to achieve the better
learning output.
b. The Benefit of Cooperative Learning
Kessler (1992:3) states that there are some benefits of cooperative learning.
In cooperative learning classes are more relaxed and enjoyable than traditional
classes. Cooperative learning creates a positive learning environment for all
students. Besides that, cooperative learning also helps address the need of
heterogeneous classes, diverse in home language, English language proficiency,
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of higher order understanding in creative writing, reading, and social studies
(Kindsvatter, 1996: 297).
c. The Types of Cooperative Learning
Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec (1993: 6-8) state that there are three kinds
of cooperative learning, namely:
1) Formal cooperative learning
Formal cooperative learning is students working together, for one class
period to several weeks, to achieve shared learning goals and complete jointly
specific tasks and assignments (such as decision making or problem solving,
completing a curriculum unit, writing a report, conducting a survey or
experiment, or reading a chapter or reference book, learning vocabulary, or
answering questions at the end of the chapter). Any course requirement or
assignment may be reformulated to be cooperative. In formal cooperative
learning groups, teachers: a) specify the objectives for the lesson. In every
lesson there should be an academic objective, specifying the concepts and
strategies to be learned, and social skill objective, specifying the interpersonal
or small group skill to be used and mastered during the lesson. b) Make a
number of preinstructional decisions. A teacher has to decide on the size of the
groups, the method of assigning students to groups, the roles students will be
assigned, the materials needed to conduct the lesson, and the way the room will
be arranged. c) Explain the task and the positive interdependence. A teacher
clearly defines the assignment, teaches the required concepts and strategies,
specifies the positive interdependence and individual accountability, gives the
criteria for success, and explains the expected social skills to be engaged in. d)
Monitor students‟ learning and intervene within the groups to provide task
assistance or to increase students‟ interpersonal and group skills. A teacher
systematically observes and collects data on each group as it works. When it is
needed, the teacher intervenes to assist students in completing the task
accurately and in working together effectively. e) Assess students‟ learning
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is carefully assessed and their performances are evaluated. Members of the
learning groups then process how effectively they have been working together.
2) Informal cooperative learning
In informal cooperative learning students work together to achieve a joint
learning goal in temporary, ad-hoc groups that last from a few minutes to one
class period (Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec 1992; Johnson, Johnson, and
Smith 1991). During a lecture, demonstration, or film, informal cooperative
learning can be used to a) focus students attention on the material to be learned,
b) set a mood conductive to learning, c) help set expectations as to what will be
covered in a class session, d) ensure that students cognitively process the
material being taught, and e) provide closure to an instructional session. During
direct teaching, the instructional challenge for the teacher is to ensure that
students do the intelectual work of organizing material, explaining it,
summarizing it, and integrating it into existing conceptual structures. Informal
cooperative learning groups are often organized so that students engaged in
three to five minute focused discussions interspersed throughout a lecture.
3) Cooperative base groups
Cooperative base group is a long term, heterogeneous cooperative learning
groups with stable membership. The purposes of base group are to give the
support, help, encouragement, and assistance. Each member needs to make
academic progress (attend class, complete all assignments, learn) and develop
cognitively and socially in healthy ways. Base groups meet daily in
elementary school and twice a week in secondary school (or whenever the
class meets). They are permanent (lasting from one to several years) and
provide the long term caring peer relationships necessary to influence
members consistently to work hard in school. They formally meet to discuss
the academic progress of each member, provide help and assistance to each
other, and verify that each member is completing assignments and
progressing satisfactorily through the academic program. Base groups may
also responsible for letting absent group members know what went on in
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within and between classes, discussing assignments, and helping each other
with homework. The use of the base groups tends to improve attendance,
personalize the work required and the school experience, and improve the
quality and quantity of learning. The larger the class or school and the more
complex and difficult the subject matter, the more important it is to have base
group.
d. The Basic Elements of Cooperative Learning
In order for a lesson to be cooperative, five basic elements are essential and
need to be included (Johnson and Johnson, 1989; Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec
1993: 8-10). The five essential elements are as follows:
1) Positive interdependence
Positive interdependence is the perception that you are linked with others in
a way so that you cannot succeed unless they do, that is, their work benefits
you and your work benefits them. It promotes situation in which students work
together in small groups to maximize the learning of all members, share their
resources, and provide mutual support, and celebrate their joint success.
Positive interdependence is the heart of cooperative learning. Students must
believe that they sink or swim together. For a learning situation to be
cooperative, students must perceive that they are positively interdependent with
other members of their learning group. At the same time they need to
understand the social identity of classmates and respect them as collaborators
and friends.
2) Individual accountability
Individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual
student is assessed and the results are given back to the group and the
individual. It is impotant that the group knows who needs more assistance,
support, and encouragement in completing the assignment. It is also important
that group members know that they cannot “hitch-hide” on the work of others.
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individual in his or her right. Students learn together so that they can
subsequently perform higher as individuals. To ensure that each member is
strengthened, students are held individually accountable to do their share of the
work. Common ways to structure individual accountability, include: a) giving
an individual test to each students, b) randomly selecting the student‟s product
to represent the entire group, or c) having each student explain what they have
learned to a classmate.
3) Face to face promotive interaction
In establishing a positive interdependence, teachers need to maximize the
opportunity for students to promote each other‟s success by helping, assisting,
supporting, encouraging, and praising each other‟s efforts to learn. There are
cognitive activities and interpersonal dynamics that only occur when students
get involved in promoting each other‟s learning. This includes orally
explaining how to solve the problems, discussing the nature of the concepts
being learned, teaching one‟s knowledge to classmates, and connecting present with past learning. Accountability to peers, ability to influence each other‟s
reasoning and conclusions, social modeling, social support, and interpersonal
rewards all increase as the face to face interaction among group members
increase. In addition, the verbal and nonverbal responses of other group
members provide important information concerning a student‟s performance.
Silent students are uninvolved students who are not contributing to the learning
of others as well as themselves. Promoting each other‟s success results in both
higher achievement and in getting to know each other on a personal as well as
a professional level. To obtain meaningful face to face interaction the size of
groups needs to be small (2 to 4 members). Finally, while positive
interdependence creates the conditions for working together, it is the actual
face to face interaction in which students work together and promote each
others success that the personal relationships are formed that are essential for
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4) Social Skills
The success of a cooperative effort requires the contribution of interpersonal
and small group skills. Placing socially unskilled individuals in a group and
telling them to cooperate does not guarantee that they will be able to do so
effectively. Persons must be taught the social skills for high quality cooperation
and be motivated to use them. Leadership, decision-making, trust-building,
communication, and conflict-management skills have to be taught just as
purposefully and precisely as academic skills. Finally, social skills are required
for interacting effectively with peers from other cultures and ethnic groups.
5) Group Processing
Group processing exists when group members discuss how well they are
achieving their goal and maintaining effective working relationships. Groups
need to describe what member actions are helpful and unhelpful and make
decisions about what behaviors to continue or change. Students must also be
given the time and procedures for analyzing how well their learning groups are
functioning and the extent to which students are employing their social skills to
help all group members to achieve and to maintain effective working
relationships within the group. Such processing: a) enables learning groups to
focus on group maintenance, b) facilitates the learning of skills, c) ensures that
members receive feedback on their participation, and d) reminds students to
practice collaborative skills consistently. Some of the keys to successful
processing are allowing sufficient time for it to take place, making it specific
rather than vague, maintaining student involvement in processing, reminding
students to use their social skills while they process, and ensuring that clear
expectations as to the purpose of processing have been communicated. Finally,
when difficulties in relating to each other arise, students must engage in group
processing and identity, define, and solve the problems they are having
working together effectively.
So, in order to effectively use cooperative learning, teachers must
understand the nature of cooperation and the essential components of a
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interdependence, promotive interaction, individual accountabilty, social skills and
group processing. They have to a) adapt cooperative learning to their unique
circumstances, needs, and students and b) fine-tune their use of cooperative
learning to solve problems students are having in working together.
3. Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition
a. Review on Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) is developed at
the Johns Hopkins University by Dr. Robert Slavin and colleagues. Cooperative
Integrated Reading and Composition is a comprehensive reading and writing
program for students in grade 2 through 8 (Steven, et al., 1987). Cooperative
Integrated Reading and Composition uses a single text that everyone reads. Slavin
(2005: 24) states that in CIRC reading, students are taught in reading groups then
return to mixed ability team to work on a series of cognitively engaging activities,
such as reading to one another (reading partner), making predictions about the
text, summarizing text/ stories, and vocabulary. Students work in teams to master
the main idea and other comprehension skills. CIRC reading and CIRC language
art/writing provide a structure for teacher to each and students to learn which
helps all students become more effective readers and writers.
(http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EPTW/eptw4/eptw4c.html). Steven and Slavin (1995:
6) state that CIRC Reading and CIRC Writing are usually used together, but can
be used as separate reading and writing programs.
b. Steps of Conducting of Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition In CIRC, all groups work cooperatively on program related activities.
There are some steps in conducting CIRC, as follow:
1) Preparing the material that will be used in learning process. The researcher
divides the learning material into some parts.
2) Warming up the class and giving some questions dealing with the topic. If the
students do not know about the topic, the researcher will give short
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3) Asking the students to make study group which consist of four to five students
in each group (heterogeneous learning teams). They will learn about the
reading material.
4) Giving a text to each of group. They will share information, solve the problems,
read to each other and do the task given by the teacher .
5) Explaining some points of the material if the students have some difficulties.
6) Asking each groups to present or read the result of their discussion.
7) Giving conclusion and states the topic for the next meeting
B. Rationale
Reading is a essential factor that influences one‟s activities in
communication. Reading builds communication with people around us. For the
students reading is a means of learning all subjects. Reading is really important
than the others language skills. Reading English texts is useful, such as: for
pleasure, study purpose, careers, and so on. It also provides good model for good
writing. Moreover, by reading a text one will have a chance to study a language,
such as: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way of constructing
sentences, paragraphs, and texts.
The objective of teaching English in junior high school is stressed on
reading skill. Students are taught to comprehend written English text. Therefore,
teacher has a responsibility to make students easier in comprehending written text
and facilitating them in order to get well comprehension. It is difficult for students
to comprehend a foreign language text, since their mother tongue is different
systematically with a foreign language. The researcher observed and recognized
that students‟ reading comprehension of the Class VIIIA of SMP Negeri 1
Matesih in the academic year of 2009/2010 was still low and far from the
expectation. The writer found out that there were gaps among the students in the
class. Only some students who have a good achievement and are active follow the
teaching-learning process and the others were passive. Most of them were sleepy,
bored, and not enthusiastic to follo the teaching-learning process. So, the
