THE EFFECT OF RAP (READ, ASK, PARAPHRASE)
STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
IN READING ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION TEXT
A THESIS
Submitted to the English Department Faculty of Languages and Arts UNIMED in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By:
VERONIKA N.
Registration Number: 2103121048
ENGLISH EDUCATION AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
DECLARATION
I have familiarized with the university’s policy on academic integrity. Except where appropriately acknowledged, this thesis is my own work, has been expressed in my own words, and has not previously been submitted for assessment. I understand
that this paper may be screened electronically or otherwise for plagiarism.
Medan, March 2015
Veronika N.
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ABSTRACT
N., Veronika. 2103121048. The Effect of RAP (Read, Ask, Paraphrase) Strategy on Students’ Reading Comprehension in Reading Analytical Exposition Text. A Thesis: English Education and Literature Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of Medan. 2015
This study focused on finding out the effect of applying RAP (Read, Ask, Paraphrase) Strategy on students’ reading comprehension in reading analytical exposition text. This study was conducted in experimental design. The population of this research was the second year of students in SMA Swasta Katolik Budi Murni 2 Medan. There were seventy students of the second year senior high school students as the sample of the research. This study was conducted with two randomized groups namely Experimental Group and Control Group. The experimental group was taught by applying RAP Strategy, while the control group was taught by applying conventional strategy. The instrument of collecting the data was multiple choice tests which consisted of 25 items. To obtain the reliability of the test, the researcher used Kuder–Richardson (KR-21) formula. The calculation shown the reliability was 0.47 (moderate). The data were analyzed by using t-test formula. The calculation shown that t-observed (5.36) was higher than t-table (1.994) at the level of significance (α) 0.05 with the degree of freedom (df) 68. It means that there was a significant effect of applying RAP Strategy on students’ reading comprehension in reading analytical exposition text. So, the null hypothesis (H0) is rejected and alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, the writer would like to express her thankfulness and gratefulness to The Almighty God, Jesus Christ for every good chance, good life, and the very experience which she may accept in one year completing this thesis as one of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan of the English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan (UNIMED).
Secondly, the writer would also like to express her thankfulness to every person who gives all the contributions from the start compiling the proposal up to the currently completed thesis and to every party who is related to administrative matter, which is very meaningful for her. Therefore, her sincere gratitude would be addressed to:
Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si., as the Rector of State University of Medan
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., as the Dean Faculty of Languages and Arts, Vice Dean I, II, III and all the administrative staff
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., as the Head of English Department, and Dra. Meisuri, M.A., as the Secretary of English Department
Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M. Ed., as the Head of English Education study program
Prof. Dr. Lince Sihombing, M.Pd., as the writer’s Thesis Consultant Dra. Yunita Agnes Sianipar, M.Hum., as the writer’s Academic
Consultant
M. Napitu and S. Manurung, the writer’s beloved parents; Albina Mariani Napitu, Roberto Benediktus Napitu, Yogi Fransiskus
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Dra. Lenny Aurelia Tio, the Headmaster of SMA Swasta Katolik Budi Murni 2 Medan, and the English Teacher Hiras P. Hasibuan, S.S., for allowing the writer to conduct the research; and also for all students of SMA Swasta Katolik Budi Murni 2 Medan in academic year 2014/2015 The writer’s beloved friends 7 IKAN (Adi Pranata Singarimbun, Fadillah Alwi, Fransiska Sipayung, Putri Hot Martua Sinaga (+),
Sinde Elisa Lumban Raja, and Syarifah Imroh Tamani Nasution)
and the writer’s best friend, Lerys Hot Marisa Hutajulu, for every support and motivation, prayer, happiness and sorrow, and every little thing; and also for all class member of Edular Bee (Education Regular B) 2010 for the cooperation and shared information during four years lecturing
The participants of PPL-T SMK Negeri 1 Balige 2013 for the support and motivation in accomplishing this thesis
And for everyone who cannot be mentioned one by one that gives contribution in finishing this thesis
The writer realizes that the content of this thesis is still far from perfection, and therefore she is elate to accept any constructive suggestions which will improve the quality of this thesis. Finally, the writer hopes that this thesis is useful for who is interested in this field of study.
Medan, March 2015 The writer
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E. The Significance of the Study... 7
CHAPTER II: REVIEV OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 9
A. Theoretical Framework ... 9
1. The Nature of Reading ... 9
2. Reading Comprehension ... 11
a. Reading Comprehension as Process ... 12
b. Reading Comprehension as Product ... 13
3. The Purpose of Reading ... 14
4. Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension ... 16
5. Levels of Reading Comprehension ... 18
6. Teaching Reading Comprehension ... 23
7. Teacher’s Effort in Teaching Reading in Classroom ... 24
8. Genre ... 27
a. Analytical Exposition Text ... 29
9. Strategy ... 31
10.RAP Strategy ... 31
a. The Advantages of Using RAP Strategy ... 33
b. The Procedure of Applying RAP Strategy ... 34
B. Conceptual Framework ... 34
C. Hypothesis ... 36
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 37
A. Research Design ... 37
B. Population and Sample ... 38
C. The Instrument for Collecting Data ... 39
D. Scoring the Test ... 39
E. The Procedure of Research ... 40
F. The Validity and Reliability of the Test ... 44
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I. Statistical Hypothesis... 48
CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ... 49
A. Data ... 49
B. Data Analysis ... 52
1. Analyzing the Data by Using t-test Formula ... 52
2. Testing Hypothesis ... 53
C. Research Findings ... 54
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ... 55
A. Conclusion ... 55
B. Suggestions ... 55
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A Try Out Scores ...59
APPENDIX B The Calculation of Reliability of the Test ...60
APPENDIX C The Score of Treatment in Experimental Group ...61
APPENDIX D a. The Calculation of Pre-test and Post-test from Experimental Group ...62
b. The Calculation of Pre-test and Post-test from Control Group ...63
APPENDIX E The calculation of the t-test ...64
APPENDIX F Table of t Distribution ...65
APPENDIX G Lesson Plan ...66
APPENDIX H Reading Comprehension Test ...105
APPENDIX I Answer Key ...112
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A Try Out Scores ...59
APPENDIX B The Calculation of Reliability of the Test ...60
APPENDIX C The Score of Treatment in Experimental Group ...61
APPENDIX D a. The Calculation of Pre-test and Post-test from Experimental Group ...62
b. The Calculation of Pre-test and Post-test from Control Group ...63
APPENDIX E The calculation of the t-test ...64
APPENDIX F Table of t Distribution ...65
APPENDIX G Lesson Plan ...66
APPENDIX H Reading Comprehension Test ...105
APPENDIX I Answer Key ...112
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Study
In daily life, people are faced with many kinds of written words. It can be
from book, magazine, newspaper, advertisement board, flyer/pamphlet, e-book and so on. All of them are kinds of reading materials that contain ideas, in which
people are eager to read those to add their own information. Furthermore, some of those readings are also giving warn, offering persuasion, giving instruction, or maybe entertaining them. All of the outputs can be experienced by people through
reading.
Considering the information above, reading seems to play an important role in social life. Everyone gets information such as the up-to-date progress of
technology, the raising of economic, the development of education, and so on almost through reading. Through reading, people can enrich their information,
knowledge, and self-quality. Moreover, the development of a society or a country can also be seen from the quality of reading. In another case, reading also takes
important role in academic succession. It can be obviously said and proved by the educational researchers that there is a strong correlation between reading and academic success (Pretorius in http://esl.fis.edu/ accessed on September 7th 2014).
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In specific, reading is included as one of four language proficient, beside speaking, listening, and writing. Reading and listening belong to receptive skill because these skills aim to receive or get some information or messages from
certain sources. While, speaking and writing are referred to productive skill because the sounds and the messages are produced when these two skills are being
done (Brown, 2001).
Talking about the definition about reading, in the process of taking the intended information, reading is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page
and interpret this information appropriately (Grabe and Stoller, 2002:4). It shows that students as readers try to respond the printed symbols by using right and
appropriate meaning to arrive at logic understanding. So, it can be inferred that readers who have difficulties in recognizing words can be assumed to be hard in getting meaning. However, reading is a very complex process (Westwood, 2001).
It means that reading is much more than simply decoding words and text; it is a complex process of working to create meaning. Reading is multifaceted process
involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and motivation (Leipzig, 2001). Besides, in Alexander et al. (1988:3), that there are three important interacting factors in reading: linguistics, affective, and cognitive function.
Therefore, reading is a process that requires the reader to actively grasp meaning while decoding printed page by involving his/her ability in recognizing language,
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Comprehension is the essence of reading. A reader who is reading tries to connect to the text being read. S/he does not only require an ability to pronounce the words correctly, but more than of how the gist of the text can be taken by
her/him. It is an active and intentional thinking in which the meaning is constructed through interactions between the text and the reader (Durkin, 1973). It
means that a reader brings something to the text; that are purposes and life experiences to be exchanged. Reading comprehension always depends upon the
reader’s background experiences, purposes, attitude, and needs of the moment.
Entering the particular matter, reading comprehension is an important matter to take in concern in teaching-learning process at all level of education.
The Basic Competence of English in Curriculum 2013, specifically for reading in senior high school, students are expected to be able to analyze the text in genre of procedure, report, and analytical exposition, and be able to get the meaning of
those text. Furthermore, the achievement of a student depends more on the reading comprehension. When enrolling the school exam or even National Examination, almost about 75 % of the test is reading test. Therefore, reading
comprehension is greatly needed by students and should be improved to fulfill the needs of the students.
In fact, teaching reading comprehension is not an easy task. Teachers should spend great effort to teach students reading comprehension. Teachers have to make themselves sure that students are engaged into environment while the
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direction while reading. Besides that, teacher is expected to have strategy while conducting reading activity. Such strategy should be modeled well by teacher from the beginning until the end of the class and it is expected can assist the
students in comprehending text. Furthermore, the strategy of reading comprehension is a way to monitor students’ reading comprehension so students
can remember of what they have read.
However, based on some investigations, there are some problems related to reading comprehension. Internationally, sixty nine percent (69%) of
15-year-old students in Indonesia have worst reading performance (Media Indonesia, 2003). Referring to the similar discussion, it is reported in Kompas (2003) that
around 37.6% of 15-year-old students are only able to read the texts without understanding the meaning carried by the text (Sukyadi and Hasanah: Scaffolding Students’ Reading Comprehension with Think-Aloud Strategy). It describes that
many students still have insufficient ability to comprehend the texts.
To prove whether that statement above is correct or not, the writer observed students in SMA Katolik Budi Murni 2 Medan. They expressed that they
had difficulties in comprehending a text. The teacher used conventional strategy. He asked the students to read the passage and to search main idea. Thereafter, he
gave them the instruction to do some tasks referring to the text. However, one thing that needs to be highlighted was that the teacher seemed not teach them how to monitor their comprehension individually during reading. Working on the
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every student could not really comprehend the text and felt meaningless after reading. And as the final result, learning process did not run well because the core purpose of reading activity could not be reached and students’ score in reading
comprehension was not satisfied. Westwood (2001:26) states that students fail to learn to read in school because they are not taught correctly and parallel to that
situation, the point that should be evaluated is the suitable strategy that supposedly must have been modeled or applied by the teacher to the students; teachers should teach a suitable strategy which can help them in comprehending
passages or texts.
Comprehension strategy in reading is important to be learnt and owned
by students in monitoring their comprehension, so they can remind themselves of what to do to store what they have just read and understood in long term memory. And related to the problem above, the writer proposes RAP Strategy as a way out
of this problem. It is so since RAP Strategy is suitable for solving the problem that students encounter. RAP Strategy (for the acronym of its steps: Read the paragraph, Ask yourself what main idea and two details, and Paraphrase the
information into your own words) was developed by Schumaker, Denton, and Desler in 1984. This strategy focuses attention on the main idea and key details
within paragraphs of a passage and active engagement with the text by rephrasing
the main idea and details into a student’s own words. The readers/ the students
should carefully read the text, think about the text, and then transfer author’s
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students to make sense of what they read, to monitor comprehension by themselves, and to remember the main idea and the details in long term memory.
RAP Strategy evidently can improve students’ comprehension. There
have been some previous researchers dealing with RAP Strategy. In a study conducted by Hagaman and Reid (2008) on students’ reading comprehension of
middle school students at risk for failure in reading shown that the use of RAP Strategy increased reading comprehension of three sixth-grade students. Tampubolon (2013) and Dahlia (2014) also conducted study on students’ reading
comprehension by using RAP Strategy and obtained the result that it was significantly affect students’ reading comprehension either in junior or senior high
school.
Therefore, the writer simplifies that to overcome the problem in reading comprehension, in teaching-learning process needs to be applied RAP Strategy, in
which it can help students in monitoring their comprehension and retaining the main idea and details they get. If students already have a strategy when comprehend a text, they will be able to overcome the problems they face.
Applying RAP Strategy is expected to solve the problem and to bring good improvement on students’ reading comprehension.
B. The Problem of the Study
Based on the background of the study, the problem of the study was formulated as the following: “Does using RAP Strategy significantly affect
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C. The Objective of the Study
Parallel with the research problem, the objective of the study was to investigate the effect of using RAP Strategy on eleven grade students’ reading
comprehension in reading analytical exposition text.
D. The Scope of the Study
There are four levels of reading comprehension; they are literal, interpretive, critical and creative comprehension. In this study, the levels of reading comprehension are limited only on literal and interpretive because of the
consideration that literal and interpretive level are mostly found in the reading test of National Examination or school examination and it is still proper to measure the senior high school students’ reading comprehension in literal and interpretive
level. This research focuses on identifying the effect of RAP Strategy on the
students’ reading comprehension in grade eleven of senior high school in
analytical exposition text.
E. The Significance of the Study
The findings of this study are expected to be theoretically and practically
significant and relevant for some matters.
1. Theoretically, the finding of the study is expected to give evidence about the
result of using RAP Strategy in students’ reading comprehension. 2. Practically, the findings of the study are expected to be useful for:
a. English teachers, to provide recommendation in providing strategy for
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b. Students, to give them information of reading comprehension strategy which can increase their reading comprehension of a text.
c. Other researchers, to provide reference in conducting similar research
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusion
Based on the data analysis, the researcher finds that there is a significant effect of applying RAP Strategy on students’ reading comprehension in reading analytical
exposition text. This is supported by the result of data analysis in which
t-observed (5.36) is higher than t-table (1.994) at the 0.05 level of significance. The researcher concludes that the students’ achievements that were taught by using RAP Strategy is higher than that were taught by using conventional strategy.
Therefore, alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted and null hypothesis (H0) is rejected.
B. Suggestions
Based on the finding and conclusion, some suggestions are stated for:
1. English teachers to apply RAP Strategy as reading strategy in comprehending
texts, especially analytical exposition text because it is proved able to improve students’ achievement in reading comprehension
2. Students to use RAP Strategy in helping them to improve their reading
comprehension.
3. Other researchers who want to conduct study related to reading
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