TABLE OF CONTENT
APPROVAL PAGE ... i
DECLARATION ... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iii
ABSTRACT ... iv
TABLE OF CONTENT ... v
LIST OF TABLES ... ix
LIST OF FIGURES ... x
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1. Introduction ... 1
1.2. Background of the study ... 1
1.3. Research questions ... 4
1.4. Purpose of the study ... 4
1.5. Scope of the study ... 5
1.6. Significance of the study ... 5
1.7. Definition of the key terms ... 6
1.8. Organization of the thesis ... 7
CHAPTER TWO: THEORY OF TEACHERS’ STRATEGIES IN TEACHING
READING COMPREHENSION AND STUDENTS’
RESPONSES ... 8
2.1. Introduction ... 8
2.2. The Nature of Reading ... 8
2.3. Reading Comprehension ... 12
2.4. The Strategies of Reading Comprehension ... 15
2.5. The Strategies of Teaching Reading Comprehension ... 17
2.6. The Role of Students’ Responses in Learning ... 20
2.7. The Related Previous Research ... 22
2.8. Concluding Remark ... 25
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ... 26
3.1. Introduction ... 26
3.2. Research Stages ... 26
3.2.1. Preliminary Research ... 26
3.2.2. Research Design ... 26
3.2.3. Research Schedule ... 27
3.3. Research Site ... 28
3.4. Research Participants ... 28
3.5. Data Collection Techniques ... 29
3.6.1. Classroom Observation ... 29
3.6.2. Questionnaire ... 31
3.6.3. Interview ... 32
3.6. Data Analysis ... 34
CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 38
4.1. Introduction ... 38
4.2. Classroom Observation Data ... 38
4.2.1. The Teachers’ Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension ... 38
4.2.1.1. Pre-Reading Stage ... 39
1. Brainstorming ... 39
2. Encouraging the Use of Dictionary ... 40
3. Discussing Text Types ... 40
4. Predicting ... 41
4.2.1.2. While-Reading Stage ... 41
1. Reading Aloud ... 42
2. Rereading for Checking Comprehension ... 43
3. Direct Reading Activity ... 43
4. Discussing of Unknown words ... 44
5. Retelling the Text ... 45
4.3.1.3. Post-Reading Stage ... 46
1. Evaluating Comprehension ... 46
2. Clarifying and Justifying ... 47
3. Asking Questions for Specific Information ... 47
4. Reviewing ... 48
5. Assignment and Following-up Activity ... 49
4.2.2. Students’ Responses toward Their Strategies in Teaching Reading
Comprehension ... 51
4.3. Interview Data Prior to Classroom Observation ... 52
4.3.1. Teachers’ Definition of Reading Comprehension ... 52
4.3.2. The purpose of Teaching Reading Comprehension ... 53
4.3.3. The Meaning of Strategy in Teaching Reading comprehension ... 54
4.3.4. The Stages and Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension ... 55
4.3.4.1. Pre-Reading Activities ... 55
4.3.4.2. While-Reading Activities ... 56
4.3.4.3. Post-Reading Activities ... 56
4.4. Interview Data after Classroom Observation ... 58
4.4.1. Pre-Reading Stage ... 58
4.4.2. While-Reading Stage ... 61
4.4.3. Post Reading Stage ... 64
4.5. Data from Questionnaire ... 68
4.5.1. Students’ Responses to the Teachers’ Preparation and Activating
Students’ Background Knowledge ... 68
4.5.2. Students’ Responses to Teachers’ Instructions to Read the text ... 69
4.5.3. Students’ Responses to the Teachers’ Strategies to help students in
understanding the text ... 70
4.5.4. Students’ Responses to Teachers’ Strategies to Cultivate
Vocabulary, to Use Dictionary and other Teaching Aids ... 70
4.5.5. Students’ Responses to the Teachers’ Strategy to Do the Tasks ... 71
4.6. Concluding Remark ... 73
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 74
5.1. Introduction ... 74
5.2. Conclusions ... 74
5.3. Recommendations ... 76
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 78
APPENDICES ... 82
Appendix 1. Instruments ... 82
Appendix 1.1. The Outline of Research Instruments ... 82
Appendix 1.2. The Form of Classroom Observation Fields Notes ... 84
Appendix 1.3. Instrument Interview before Observation ... 85
Appendix 1.4. Instrument Observation Checklist ... 86
Appendix 1.5. Instrument of Questionnaire ... 88
Appendix 1.6. Instrument of Interview after Observation (T1)... 91
Appendix 1.7. Instrument of Interview after Observation (T2)... 92
Appendix 1.8. Instrument of Interview after Observation (T3)... 93
Appendix 2. The Transcription of Interview before Observation ... 94
Appendix 2.1. Transcription of Interview (T1)… ... 94
Appendix 2.2. Transcription of Interview (T2) ... 95
Appendix 2.3. Transcription of Interview (T3) ... 96
Appendix 3. The Transcription of Classroom Observation ... 98
Appendix 3.1. The Transcription of Classroom Observation (T1) ... 98
Appendix 4. Classroom Observation Checklist ...102
Appendix 5. Field Notes Classroom Observation ...104
Appendix 5.1. Field Notes Classroom Observation (T1) ...104
Appendix 5.2. Field Notes Classroom Observation (T2) ...107
Appendix 5.3. Field Notes Classroom Observation (T3) ...109
Appendix 6. The Mapping of Classroom Observation ...112
Appendix 7. Transcription of Interview after Observation ...118
Appendix 7.1.Transcription of Interview after Observation (T1) ...118
Appendix 7.2.Transcription of Interview after Observation (T2) ...120
Appendix 7.3.Transcription of Interview after Observation (T3) ...122
Appendix 8. Data Tabulation of Questionnaire ...124
Appendix 9. The Students’ Response on the Questionnaire Items ...128
Appendix 10. Recommendations to do the Research ...131
Appendix 11. Data of the Research Field ...134
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Introduction
This study is concerned with investigating the teachers’ strategies in
teaching reading comprehension at a junior high school in one of regencies in
Riau. This chapter will elaborate about backgrounds of the study, research
questions, purpose of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study,
definitions of key terms and organizations of the thesis.
1.2. Background of the study
Strategy is very essential for a teacher in teaching English as a foreign
language in the classroom. The term of strategy is defined as a detailed plan for
achieving success in situations (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary). Then
Herrell and Jordan (2004: 05) also define strategy as a way that can be used across
curricular areas to support the learning of students. It means that it is important for
teachers to apply planned teaching strategies to maintain effective teaching.
One of the strategies which should be managed and applied by teachers
in the classroom is teaching reading strategies. Wallace (1992: 57) states that a
reading strategy is a unitary process which cannot be subdivided into part skills.
This means as a process, a reading strategy involves ways of processing text
which will vary with the nature of the text, the reader’s purpose, and the context
The essence of reading strategy is indicated in the objective of teaching
reading, as one of the four major skills, in learning English as foreign language in
junior high school is to develop the students’ ability to read and to get the
message comprehensively from particular reading texts (BSNP, 2006). Relating to
the essence of this competence, Nuttal (1996: 4) states that one of very important
reading purposes is to get meaning from a text. This means about the process how
the reader decodes the message from the text. In a similar vein, Nunan (1999:
249) exposes that an enormous amount of time, money and effort is spent for
teaching reading in elementary and secondary school around the world.
In getting the meaning from the text, the reader needs a comprehension
strategy. It is supported by Hillerich (1983: 125) that states the major goal for any
reading activities is comprehension. It means that it has to do with strategy to
understand a written text. Many strategies of teaching reading comprehension
have been developed by experts such as Logsdon (2007), Brown (2001),
Anderson (1999), Tierney (1990), and Hillerich (1983). They develop
comprehension strategies as the core of reading, the process of readers interacting
and constructing meaning. Furthermore, Barnet (1988), Wallace (1992) and
NCLRC (2007) consider that teaching strategies in reading comprehension can be
done by using three techniques; pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading
activities.
These strategies indicate an important role of a teacher to reach the
objectives of teaching reading comprehension. Relating to this case, Wallace
course of reading as to assess outcomes in the form of answers to the
comprehension questions which generally follow a reading task.
As one of the previous research that relates to this study, Li and Wilhelm
(2008) explored to compare the reading strategy instruction used by two teachers
in teaching reading in senior middle school classrooms on China’s mainland. This
is a part of a three-year research project which is aimed to investigate the
professional development of English teachers in secondary schools. This study
revealed that the two teachers used brainstorming; skimming and predicting in the
pre-reading phase, used checking students’ comprehension, identifying the text
type, predicting and scanning in during reading phase, and used evaluating
comprehension in particular task, translating, reviewing, and follow-up activity in
after-reading phase. The less-experience teacher was more aware of integrating
theory into actual practice while taking a more learner-centered approach.
Meanwhile the more-experienced teacher was more concerned with testing
outcomes and appeared to be more comfortable with a teacher-direct approach.
Unfortunately, Li and Wilhelm only got the information from the teachers’
activities and perspectives. They did not see from the students’ response.
Therefore, we do not know how the students perceived their teachers’ strategies in
teaching reading.
Although many previous research reports have given a comprehensive
portrait on teaching reading comprehension strategies, the researcher think that it
is important to explore more about the teachers’ strategies used and the students’
this case, this study focused to examine the three English teachers and their
students who were learning reading comprehension in appropriate texts at one
junior high school.
1.3. Research Questions
In line with the background of the study, the problem of this study is
formulated as follows:
1.
What strategies do the teachers use in teaching reading comprehension?
2. What are the students’ responses toward their teachers’ strategies in teaching
reading comprehension?
1.4. Purpose of the Study
As it is indicated in the problem, the purpose of this study is to explore:
1.
the teachers’ strategies used in teaching reading comprehension; and
2.
the students’ responses toward their teacher’s strategies in teaching reading
comprehension.
1.5. Scope of the Study
This study is proposed to describe the process of EFL teaching and
investigate the teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension in one of
Junior High schools in Kuantan Singingi Regency in Riau. The school is SMPN 1
Gunung Toar.
This qualitative study is limited in the findings which are only true to the
respondents involved in this study. So, that is why, it cannot be generalized.
1.6. Significance of the study
The results of the study are expected to contribute and give some
informative ideas. This study can be used minimally as a source of consideration
for theory’s enrichment, the teachers, the decision makers and other researchers.
For the theory’s enrichment, the results of this study are expected to
enrich the theories of teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension. It
can be as an additional input although many theories have conducted by the
experts in the area of teaching reading comprehension.
For the teachers, they can find the certain strategies that they believe as
good strategies and know how to implement them in teaching reading
comprehension. With another said, the results of this study can be used as the
instructions for the teachers in selecting, designing, and using appropriate
strategies in presenting reading materials.
For the headmaster, as the decision maker, it can be used as a
consideration in preparing the general instructions of teaching English as Foreign
Language especially on teaching reading comprehension. It is based on the
information which is gained from the actual condition of teaching and learning
process in reading comprehension.
For other researchers, the findings of this study can be informed to them
who want to carry out other research in the same field. It means that the findings
1.7. Definition of Key Terms
In spite of avoiding of the misinterpretation, misunderstanding, or
ambiguity, there are several term of definitions which relate to the variables of
this study. The definitions of this study are given as follows:
1.
Reading
is a dynamic process in which a reader works actively to construct
meaning from the material or text. It is one of skills in learning English as a
foreign language at junior high school level.
2.
Reading comprehension
is the ability to construct the meaning from the text,
using both print information and prior knowledge. In this study, the term of
reading comprehension is the students’ ability to construct the meaning
from the text which is given by their teacher.
3.
Reading strategy
is defined as a set of abilities of the reader under conscious
control on how to approach the reading passage. It means that the students’
strategy to comprehend the reading text given.
4.
Teachers’ strategy
is a particular plan that is used by the EFL teachers in
SMPN 1 Gunung Toar for the success of teaching reading comprehension in
the classroom that available in pre-reading, while reading, and post reading.
5.
Teaching Reading Comprehension
refers to teaching students of SMPN 1
Gunung Toar how to understand reading text by using both print
information and prior knowledge that involves the organization of the
situations in the classroom, and the design of tasks and the strategies of
1.8. The Organization of the Thesis
The organization of the forward chapters is conducted as the following.
Chapter 2 delivers the perspectives of the research on relevant literature
comprising the theories which are related with the values of teaching reading
comprehension strategies. Chapter 3 explains the research methodology that
elaborate about the description of the research, the research design, the setting and
participants of the research, data collection techniques and the data analysis.
Chapter 4 includes the findings and its discussions which concerning the teachers’
strategies in teaching reading comprehension, the procedures taken in the process
of data collection. Chapter 5 is the last part of thesis which contains the
concluding that taken from chapter 4. In this chapter delivers conclusions and the
26
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
3.1. Introduction
This chapter describes the research methodology used in this study. The
main aspect of this methodology research is divided into six parts including research
stage, participants, data collection procedure, and data analysis.
3.2. Research Stages
These research stages are elaborated into three aspects, covering preliminary
research, and research design and research schedule.
3.2.1. Preliminary Research
The purpose of the preliminary study was to investigate the nature of the
research field condition directly related to the investigated problems in general. This
preliminary study was intended to get the nature on the teaching reading
comprehension, the students’ responses in the interaction between teachers and
students, and to see the school’s facilities.
3.2.2. Research Design
This present study employed a qualitative case study design. A case study was
chosen because this study was to observe and to explore the teachers’ strategies on
teaching reading comprehension and the student’s responses toward their strategy
study observes the characteristics of an individual unit-a child, a clique, a class, a
school, or a community and attempts to shed light on a phenomenon by studying in
depth a single case example of the phenomenon. It is an ideal design to understand
and interpret observations of educational phenomena (Merriam, 1988: 2).
The whole design of this qualitative case study can be drawn as in the
following diagram.
Figure 3.1. Research Design of the Study
3.3.3. Research Schedule.
Principally, in constructing the schedule of this study, it was referred to the
school’s schedule (see appendix 10) that had been conducted for the one academic
PreliminaryResearch
Studying Sources of Materials
Studying the Theories of Teaching Strategies in Reading Comprehension Studying Class
Condition
Observation Interview Questionnaire
Data Analysis
Conclusions and Recommendation
28
year. The schedule was also based on the agreements with the three EFL teachers of
this present study. The research schedule can be seen in appendix 10.
3.4. Research Site
This study took place in Kuantan Singingi Regency, Riau Province, at a
Junior High School which names SMPN 1 Gunung Toar. The reasons for choosing
this school based on some aspects; (1) as a teacher of this school, researcher has
known that the English teachers of this school applied the strategy of reading
comprehension, so the researcher want to know what strategies the teachers use in
teaching. (2) Hopefully, the results of this study will be useful for improving the
quality of teaching and learning English, especially for teaching reading
comprehension in this school.
3.5. Research Participants
The participants of this study were taken from all of EFL teachers who teach
in SMPN 1 Gunung Toar. Three English teachers were chosen because they have
different experiences and the degree of background knowledge. It is not to compare
these three teachers but to get concrete information as much as possible about
strategies in teaching reading comprehension. Besides, some students were chosen
randomly for each class to get the information about their responses toward their
3.6. Data Collection Techniques
As it is mentioned earlier, this study employed qualitative research, precisely
a qualitative case study. So that, to explore the characteristics and phenomenon of the
single case, multiple data collection techniques was intended to use. They were
classroom observation, interviews
and
questionnaire
.
3.6.1. Classroom Observation
The classroom observation was conducted in order to identify the strategies
used by EFL teachers and also to identify the students’ responses toward their
teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension. The idea of using an
observation as the main data collection is related to the Flander (1960) as cited in
Allwright (1988) who proposed observation as the key procedure for a number of
researchers who were interested not so much in comparing ‘methods’ as in
investigating ‘teaching style’ in the hope of being able to find which one was the
most effective.
In this study, researcher used non-participant observation technique that
interacts limitedly with people who we observe (
http://www.qualres.org/HomeObse-3594
). It was chosen in this study because of its benefits in the ways of data
collection of the classroom observation. Related to this term, Fraenkel and Wallen
(2007: 450) state that researchers do not participate in the activity being observed but
rather sit on sidelines and watch in a nonparticipant observation. In this case, they
30
observing. Furthermore, Van Lier (1988: 40) states that the most common form of
observation is undoubtedly a non-participant observation which can be done with the
help of systematic observation instruments such as taking notes and checklist.
Based on the theories above, the researcher as a non-participant observer
conducted the classroom observation for a month period or four cycles for each
participant. The first step, the researcher as a human instrument came into the
classroom, sat at back and observed the teachers’ activities or strategies in teaching
by seeing all the interactions between the teachers and the students. Then, researcher
made the checklist on the available instruments and wrote the main points on a piece
of paper as the first draft of field notes. In this case, researcher focused to note down
the teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension and students’ responses
from the beginning until the end of the teaching learning process. When the teachers
ended the class, the researcher immediately distributed the questionnaire for the
students that will explore in the next section (see the section of questionnaire data
collection).
In expecting to get the valid data as a whole, the researcher also recorded all
the events of teaching reading practice in the classrooms by using audio-visual
recorder. In doing this activity, the researcher was helped by a volunteer assistance to
record all the interactions by using a sonny handy cam. It produced the results in a
detailed recording of the communication and provided the researcher with access to
teachers’ intonation and their body behavior. This could be very useful in the analysis
Then, the data in this audio-visual recording was transcribed into the written
data (see appendix 3) in order to help the researcher in analyze the result and finding
about the teachers’ strategy in teaching reading comprehension. This activity was
done after the researcher had finished the classroom observation. Thus, this
transcription data was used to find the results used as main points in conducting the
second interview after the observation. It was also used to analyze the students’
response toward their teachers’ strategies.
The next step, the researcher wrote the complete field notes (see appendix 4)
after every classroom observations ended. This activity was done in order to complete
the field notes that were written while observed the teachers in the classroom. It was
also done in order not lose the data taken and seen from the classroom observation. In
creating this, the data checklist was also used as a help. Thus the data gathered in this
field notes and from video transcription were used to identify and analyze the
research findings.
3.6.2. Questionnaire
In the present study, the researcher used
Likert Scale Questionnaire
since
this method is simple, versatile and reliable (Dornyei, 2003: 36). Then, Dornyei
(2003) also explained that Likert Scale consists of a series of statements which are
related to a particular target with the respondents are asked to indicate the items of
32
‘strongly disagree’. Then after the scale has been administered, each response option
is assigned with a number of scoring (1 - 5 for strongly agree and strongly disagree).
In administering the questionnaire, the researcher administered
by hand
administration because as Dornyei (2003:76) suggests that it is significant to use by
hand in educational research. Dornyei also breaks down this method into two types;
one-to-one administration
and
group administration
. In this regard, the researcher
used one-to-one administration for the students. The questionnaire was developed
based on the second research questions. The data gathered from questionnaire were
used to support the main data that get from observation. They were considered to
confirm and to find out the students’ responses toward their teachers’ strategy used in
teaching reading comprehension.
3.6.3. Interview
The interview was carried out before and after the classroom observation.
Kvale (1996: 35), and Cohen and Manion (1994) define interview as an interaction
between two-person with the interviewer for the specific purpose of obtaining
research and with equally influencing each other. The interview was used merely to
support the data from observation, because of that; the interview’s questions should
be related to the points that observed in the classroom observation.
The semi structured interview was used for this stage. It was used because
the researcher has general idea where the interview should go and what should come
interviews use semi structured approach involving the asking of structured questions
followed by clarifying unstructured or open-ended questions. He continues that the
unstructured questions facilitate explanation and understanding of the responses to
the structured questions. Thus, a combination of objectivity and depth can be
obtained, and results can be tabulated as well as explained.
In the present study, there were two interviews which named as interview
before classroom observation and the interview after classroom observation.
Sometime, researcher calls with the first and the second interview. The first interview
was conducted before taking the classroom observation which applied to find out the
teachers’ concept on the strategies in teaching reading comprehension. Then, the
second interview occurred two months after the classroom observation to get the
information about the teachers’ reasons in using the strategies used. In this study, the
researcher made individual interview with all the respondents in the two interviews
because the researcher believed that there was enough time to make individual
conversation or interview. Before making an interview with the interviewee, the
researcher as the interviewer made conducive situation for the interview and
explained to them the purpose of any unclear questions which relevance to the
purpose of this study. The researcher controlled everything in the interview to get a
better response which related to the interview’s questions.
Since the researcher wanted to get the complete and detailed responses from
the interviewee, to clarify the responses to other person and to make a short time of
34
interview. In relation with this view, Gay (1992: 233) proposed that responses made
during an interview can be recorded manually by the interviewer or mechanically by
a record device.
In conclusion, there were three main procedures which merely refer to the
data collection techniques in this study. All the procedures conducted independently
to get the data about the teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension and
the students’ responses toward their teachers’ strategies in teaching reading
comprehension.
3.7. Data Analysis
Data analysis was conducted after collecting the data over the study. The data
that was analyzed and interpreted based on the data from
observation
,
questionnaire
,
and
interviews
. All of the data was analyzed by using the major phases of data
analysis:
data reduction
,
data display
, and
conclusion drawing and verification
(Miles and Huberman, 1994: 10).
For data reduction
, the amount of data has to be organized and somehow
meaningfully reduced or reconfigured
.
Miles and Huberman (1994) describe that data
reduction refers to the process of selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting, and
transforming the data that appear in written up field notes or transcriptions. In this
step of data analysis, the researcher sorted the data from observation, interview and
questionnaire which were relevant to the research questions of the study. The
interview transcription which consist of the strategies from the three teachers in every
reading stages (see appendix 5 and 6) and the reduction data from questionnaire (see
appendix 7.1) were collected into tabulation data which consist of the collections’
score from the students’ responses to each questionnaire item.
Data display
is the second element or level in Miles and Huberman's (1994)
model of qualitative data analysis. One technique for displaying data is to develop a
series of flow charts that map out any critical track, decision points, and supporting
evidence that emerge from establishing the data for a single site. In this activity, the
data displayed of observation and interviews were conducted from data reduction was
presented in a matrix table. All of the strategies from three teachers in data reduction
were sorted and combined into a form of a matrix table which divided into the three
main teaching stages (see table 4.1). This data display was used to answer the first
and the second research question of this study.
Questionnaire data was presented in form of data tabulation. In this case, all
the students’ responses on the questionnaire items were sorted from the higher
average of means which symbolized with percentage of strongly agree and agree, or
percentage of strongly disagree and disagree (see appendix 7.4). This symbolization
was addressed to the three teachers. In line with this, Dornyei (2003: 37) suggests that
the scores for the items addressing to the same target are assumed or averaged. The
data display of questionnaire was used to analyze the second research question of this
36
The third activity is conclusion drawing and verification
. According to Miles
and Huberman (1994: 11) conclusion drawing involves stepping back to consider
what the analyzed data mean and to assess their implications for the questions at hand
and verification entails revisiting the data as many times as necessary to cross-check
or verifies these emergent conclusions. In this activity, the researcher considered and
analyzed the data gathered from the data reduction and data displayed for many times
to check and verify the data needed to make conclusions. In doing this, it is
something has to do with considering the important data that related to the research
questions of this study.
After that, the data were interpreted by using the theories related the teaching
reading comprehension strategies and students’ responses in EFL context. First, as
mention earlier, classroom observation was created to facilitate the researcher to
indentify the process of teaching in classroom and to expand the strategies which
apply by the EFL teachers in teaching reading comprehension. It was also attempted
to explore the students’ responses toward their teachers’ strategy in teaching reading
comprehension.
Second, data from interview were used to support data from observation.
There were two interviews in this study; the interview before and after observation.
The data gathered from the first interview was used to analyze the teachers’ concept
on the strategies in teaching reading comprehension. The second interview or
interview after observation was used to explore the teachers’ reasons on the strategies
analyzed in steps. The first step was to put the interview questions into categories.
Then a thematic analysis is developed when the researcher categorize the
interviewee’s responses into themes. In doing this, the researcher applied researchers’
critical analysis.
The last, the data from questionnaire were used to explore the students’ point
of view toward their teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension in the
classroom. In this case, the researcher was to decide the questionnaire’s items into
categories. Then, the researcher was also developed a thematic analysis by
categorizing the students’ responses into themes. Again as done for interpreting the
interview findings, in this questionnaire data, the researcher also applied researchers’
critical analysis.
3.8. Concluding Remark
This chapter has focused on a detail methodology discussion of conducting
of the research which employed a qualitative design case study as its method and
approach. It includes the research stages, research site, research participants, data
collection technique, and data analysis. The discussion and analysis of the research
74
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Introduction
This chapter puts forward the conclusions as the answer of the research
problems and some recommendations for some relevant purposes. The conclusions
are developed on the basis of research analysis and findings taken from observation,
interview, and questionnaire. Then, the recommendations are directed to those who
responsible, interested and willing to carry out the further study on the same field
with the present study.
5.2. Conclusions
In line with the theories, research findings, and the interpretation presented
in the previous chapter, then the conclusions of the present study are related to the
limitation of the research problems.
For the first research problem, it has to do with the teachers’ strategies in
teaching reading comprehension. Based on classroom observation data, it can be
concluded that the teachers used teaching reading strategies to encourage the students
in comprehending the text that formulated in the pre-, while-, and post-reading stages.
In the pre-reading stage, they conducted brainstorming, encouraging of using
dictionary, discussing on text types, and predicting. Then, in the while-reading stage,
they conducted reading aloud, reread to check comprehension and to improve their
retelling the text. In the post-reading stage, they created evaluating comprehension in
particular tasks, clarifying and justifying the students’ answers, asking questions for
specific information, reviewing, and assignment and following-up activity.
From the interview before observation, it is found that they proposed the
theories of strategy based on their own knowledge and their experiences in teaching
reading. Although they proposed some relevant and unique theories, their
understanding was not comprehensive yet. It was because of lack of knowledge and
experience. Therefore, those three teachers need to learn more theories to enlarge
their knowledge.
The next one, from the interview after observation, it is revealed that the
teachers’ reasons for conducting the strategies are to help their students in
comprehending the text selection in reading activity. Although they have their own
intuitive reasons for each strategies used, they are compatible with the theories
proposed in this present study. On the other words, the teachers’ strategies and their
reasons are in line with the theories given from some researchers who work at the
same field with this present study.
On the one hand, they had done what they did not mention as their strategies
in teaching reading comprehension in the first interview. It means that they did not
know the theory but they had done it in practice since they had experience in doing
the activity in the classroom. They also did partly the strategies mentioned in their
concepts. It can be assumed that they did the strategies as theory suggested but they
76
in the classroom; they did not do the strategies in the well-formed of procedures or
steps. So, the three teachers of the present study need to increase their ability in these
two aspects; knowledge and experience, to become the skillful teachers.
For the second research problem, it has to do with the students’ responses
toward their teacher strategies in teaching reading comprehension. Based on
classroom data, the students’ responses can be classified as the low-level association
responses or ill-formed knowledge and also as some prior information about a
concept or partly formed knowledge structure. From the analysis above, it can be
inferred that in order to get more respective responses from their students and they
can understand the reading selection; the teachers of the present study should tell the
students about the instructions to some students before they read the text. The
teachers should also give some guidance to some other students while they read the
text selection.
Then, as found from the questionnaire data, it can be concluded that most of
the students believed the teachers used some extent strategies in teaching reading
strategies. They realized that besides it was clear enough for them, the teachers’
strategies could help them to understand the reading text selection.
5.3. Recommendations
Based on the conclusions above, this study suggests some recommendations
which are addressed to the theories’ enrichment, the teachers’ of the study, the
For the Theories’ Enrichments, the results of this study can be used to enrich
the theories of teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension. It can be as an
additional input although many theories have conducted by some experts in the area
of teaching reading comprehension.
For the Teachers
:
First
, they are suggested to enlarge their knowledge by
learning some relevant theories which considered as the strategies for teaching
reading comprehension.
Second
, they are also suggested to have some teaching
trainings in order to get the ideal strategies for teaching the several kinds of text.
Third
, they are suggested to make a framework of teachers’ strategies for appropriate
texts before teaching practice.
Fourth
, in applying the framework, it is suggested to
expose some instructions about the strategy that they will use in teaching reading in
order to understand the activity and the reading selection.
For the Headmaster or Decision Makers
:
First
, they are suggested to help
the teachers of the present study to get some references of theories for teachers’
strategies in teaching reading comprehension to enlarge the teachers’ knowledge.
Second
, they are suggested to conduct the training activity for these three teachers in
order to enrich the teachers’ experience in teaching .
Third
, they are suggested to
complete the teaching aids, especially for teaching reading comprehension.
For the Other Researchers,
the findings of this study can be informed other
researchers who want to carry out another research in the same field. It means that the
findings can be used by other researchers as the inputs in conducting another
78
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