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STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ON RECOUNT TEXT THROUGH
JIGSAW PUZZLE GAME
Rusviana Bernadeta, Albert Rufinus, Wardah
English Language Education Study Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Tanjungpura University, Pontianak
Email: rusvianabernadeta@gmail.com
Abstract
This research discussed the students‟ reading comprehension on recount text. The problem was on comprehending the specific information of recount text. The 39 students of class
VIIIB participated in this research. The researcher observed the students‟ improvement in
reading comprehension by collecting data through observation checklist, field notes and
reading test. The students‟ attitude towards the learning process was gathered by observation checklist and field note. The data of reading recount text was obtained by reading test which was administered through scoring rubric. Based on the data, the students showed improvement in the process of reading recount text. In cycle I, they could explore the generic structure and language features of the story through jigsaw puzzle game, but less in organizing the time. They took very long time to finish the puzzle and the test. The researcher conducted the cycle II which resulted that, the students could answer the questions and do jigsaw puzzle to comprehend the reading text. The students also got motivation during learning through the game. From all of the result, it can be inferred that jigsaw puzzle can improve students‟ reading comprehension on recount text.
Key words: Reading Comprehension, Recount Text, Jigsaw Puzzle Game
INTRODUCTION
Reading is an activity to take information from the text. To make students be able to get information accurately and make them be able to know what the writer tells from the text, comprehension in reading is needed. Comprehension is the ability to understand, remember, and communicate meaning from what has been read. According to Pang (2003:14) comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text. He says that comprehension is the processes of deriving the meaning of one word to another in a text. To construct the comprehension in reading for students is the role of the teacher (how to make students engage in reading activity). As a facilitator, the teacher has to be able to choose learning strategy to apply in teaching learning process in order makes students engage in.
One of teaching strategy to make students engage in learning process is using game.
According to the syllabus of Curriculum 2013, one of the standard competence for the eighth grade students is to understand the meaning of short functional texts and simple short essay that related to their real life context, in form of personal recount. Based on Curriculum 2013, one kind of text types that the eighth grade students should achieve is recount text. Recount text is retells past events in the time order in which their occurred.
On teaching learning process in the past over the eighth grade students of SMPK Immanuel 2 in Kubu Raya, the researcher found a problem and several factors
regarding the students‟ ability in reading recount text. Based on researcher‟s
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Kristen Immanuel II on March 4th, 2017 the main problem in reading comprehension was the lack in identifying the specificinformation. The reason why students‟
reading comprehensio n was low in SMPK Immanuel II was because the examples of recount text usually was not relevant to the
students‟ background. This situation made
students cannot understand the text.
The other reason was the teaching activity used is book oriented where all the activity only followed what is in the book. This way made students lose their interest in reading activity, because they learn through reading what has written on the book without any interaction with friends or media (besides book itself). Only the students that have good grade (a few) always participate in learning process while the rest of them did another activity out of learning visual perception and analysis, fine-motor control, project completion, and patience. There are many types of puzzle; one of them is jigsaw puzzle. Jigsaw puzzles require a students speaking ability in teaching French as foreign language. Another research that conducted by Ghina Mardhiyah (2015), she found that Jigsaw puzzle game as media is
effective to improve students‟ vocabulary in
teaching Germany. Recently, jigsaw puzzle is very popular as games that persuade students to play with it.
Those previous studies above used as references for the researcher in conducting this study and also as the comparison between those relevant studies with the study conducted by the researcher this time.
The difference between this study and focused on the use of jigsaw puzzle game in
improving students‟ reading comprehension
on recount text. Hopefully it can lead the students to understand the recount text especially in finding details in enjoyable way.
Based on the explanation above, the researcher has conducted a research of Classroom Action Research by using jigsaw puzzle game. By using this media, the teaching learning process was better, and the students could improve their reading comprehension on recount text. Thus, the researcher took the research under the title
“Improving Students‟ Reading
Comprehension on Recount Text through
Jigsaw Puzzle Game”.
METHODOLOGY
In this research the researcher used a Classroom Action Research (CAR), where the researcher paid more attention in teaching learning process. Burns (2010, p. 34) stated that a researcher needs to take into consideration about the purpose of his research because this will be helpful to point to the most appropriate methods that will be used. Hence, in line with the purposes of this research, the researcher decided to apply classroom action research. This is reasonable because to improved teaching and learning process and to solve the problems found in the classroom, indeed research into classroom is needed.
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Figure 1. The Cycle of ClassroomAction Research
The research design of CAR in this study is a collaborative classroom action research. Collaborative action research is a process that enables teachers: (1) to improve students learning, (2) to improve their own practice, (3) to contribute to the development of their own profession, and (4) to overcome the isolation commonly experienced by classroom teachers. In carried out the study, the researcher needs collaborator who is the registered as English teacher in SMPK Immanuel II to use jigsaw puzzle game in teaching reading on recount text.
The Classroom Action Research using Kemmis & Taggart design consists of four phases, they are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting, after doing four phases it can be considered as one cycle. After finishing the first cycle, it might be found a new problem or the previous unfinished problems yet. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to the second cycle in line with the same concept of the first cycle.
Planning phase is all about the researcher preparation for teaching learning process. The teacher designed
teaching
learning activities
to overcome the problem and prepared everything needed in doing research.The second phase is acting phase. This is the implementation of planning. After preparing the lesson plan and material needed, the researcher implemented jigsaw puzzle game in teaching reading comprehension on recount text in the classroom. During teaching and learning process, the researcher roles as the teacher and applied the jigsaw puzzle game.
The third phase is observing phase. In this phase, the English teacher observed all the activities that happened in the class. The aspects in observation were sources of data, the instrument used in collecting the data, and the technique for data collection. The English teacher used field note and observation checklist as a guideline while observing.
The fourth phase is reflecting phase. Reflecting phase was aimed to reflect the data that have been collected to determine whether the process have been done based on the procedures or not and to see how well
the students‟ improvement in learning. In
this phase, the researcher and the English teacher discussed whether the class should go through over the cycle again or not. When the class needed improvement, both of the researcher and teacher rearranged the lesson material regarding to the use of graphic organizer so that the students can improve better in the next cycle.
The researcher conducted the research in SMPK Immanuel 2 Kubu Raya, which is located in Jalan Adisucipto, Kubu Raya. This school consists of 12 classes. The researcher chose the eighth grade of SMPK Immanuel 2 Kubu Raya in academic year 2017/2018. The subject of this research is the students in class 8B which has 39 students.
In collecting the data, the researcher used measurement and observation technique. The measurement technique have done by conducted the test to know the
students‟ progress in every cycles. Meanwhile, the observation technique have done by using observation checklist table and field note as a guidance to notice
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students‟ reading comprehension on recount text through jigsaw puzzle game.Data analysis is used to investigate the percentage of the frequency of students‟ participation during the teaching learning process along this research is conducted. The data was analyzed in descriptive way. The researcher described the result from qualitative technique after the implementation of using jigsaw puzzle game as teaching media. On the other hand, to
know the result of students‟ reading
comprehension after the use of jigsaw puzzle game, the researcher as the teacher used quantitative technique by asking the
students to answer the student‟s worksheet. The test was measured based on scoring rubric on lesson plan.
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND
DISCUSSION
jigsaw puzzle game had improved students‟
reading comprehension on recount text. Later on, the researcher mentioned as the teacher and the teacher mentioned as the observer. The research findings are discussed based on observation checklist table, field note and the result of problem in reading comprehension especially in finding the details, and understanding the meaning from the vocabularies.
The researcher collaborated with the teacher in constructing the lesson plan and preparing the teaching media. The observation checklist and field notes had been prepared by the researcher beforehand. The lesson plan and the teaching media were
constructed in such a way to make the students more interested and got involved in teaching learning process.
The acting was done on September 15th, 2017. In this research, the researcher acted as the teacher used game in the teaching learning process in order to improve
students‟ reading comprehension on recount
text. Meanwhile, the teacher observed the class by taking field notes and observation checklist. The procedures of this research were based on lesson plan which were divided into three phases: pre-activity, whilst-activity and post-activity. text, what is the text telling about, and what type of text is that? Then, the teacher showed a video that explained about recount text on power point.
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checklist, it was found that the students hadless attention toward teacher‟s explanation
during the activity. In the other hand, the student participated in group work and could discuss each other.
The teacher and the collaborator found out that some students gave the positive responses during the teaching learning process. The students felt excited and most of them shout out when the teacher asked them to guess type of the text that showed by teacher on power point. When the teacher explaining about the generic structure and language features of recount text, they felt confused, some of them didn‟t remember each structure, and they did not understand the language features. The teacher and collaborator found that students could not follow the explanation well. The teacher spread jigsaw puzzle to each group and followed by questions section. All groups finished their jigsaw by answering the questions. In the first cycle, not all groups presented their work after the game finish.
From the observation through field notes, it was found that teacher was able to encourage most of the students to do brainstorming from the beginning of the lesson through the text she has given. Some students raised their hand to answer the questions. It showed the participation of the students. What is the suitable title for the text?In your opinion, what is the text telling about?What type of text is that?
The teacher gave the explanation of jigsaw puzzle through video. The students did not pay attention to the explanation, even did not take a note of the explanation. They confused to determine the generic structure and language features of recount text. When the teacher spread the jigsaw because they did not pay attention when the teacher told them the procedure to play the game. The class was not controlled well, the students were noisy. They took very long time to finish game, and did not finish their individual work.
The teacher and the observer calculated
the students‟ individual score after collected the students‟ task in cycle. The result of
the students can be seen clearly in Appendix. The teacher took the standard minimum score which used by the school. It was 75. The result of students showed that from 39 students who were present in first meeting, there are 11 students passed the standard minimum score and 28 students did not.
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Therefore, the researcher tried to use some new ideas to solve the problems found during the acting stage. The researcher obtained a lot of input from the collaborator to develop the actions which were considered to be positive and contributive in the acting stage. This covers the following aspects: (1) the teacher gave different kind of story and explained more about unfamiliar words. The teacher also give more brief explanation about the text and guide the students for finding supporting details of a text; the generic structure and language features; (2) the researcher organized the activity that were going to happen in the next lesson plan; (3) the teacher gave clear explanation how to play the game and make sure that students understand; (4) the researcher had to manage the time carefully, the process should not be as long as the first cycle since the students had known about the material and the teaching learning activities; (5) Did not included the video in the second cycle, and made sure all students have a note.According to the reflection of cycle, it had been stated that there were some problems occurred. The teacher and the observer formulated some solution for the next action. The five problems would be solved in the next cycle.
The teacher needed to find a way to get the students be more active during the teaching learning process. The teacher asked the students to bring their dictionary in order to find the meaning of the vocabularies. scaffold after they finished the game.
The researcher and the collaborator attempted to cover the problems happened in the previous meeting. The researcher also prepared the lesson plan had been discussed with the collaborator before, the media that
would be used for the game, observation checklist, and field note.
The second cycle was conducted on September 22nd, 2017. Similar with previous cycle, the researcher acted as the teacher to help students exploring their idea using graphic organizer. Meanwhile, the teacher observed the class by taking field notes and observation checklist. The procedures also were divided into three phases: pre-activity, whilst-activity and post-activity. learning process was run still. Different with previous cycle, before began the lesson, the
teacher showed the story “Being Late for Class for the First Time” that had been learn
last meeting to be discussed. The students‟
were expected to give some answer about the generic structure and language features of the story. Then the teacher asked them to remember again the specific information of the text by using WH questions.
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that, the students answered the questions onstudent‟s worksheet. The teacher also
reviewed the learning activity by asking the students how they feel after reading through jigsaw puzzle.
From the data taken by observation checklist, it was found that the students gave more attention compared with the previous cycle. It can be seen when the students asked actively during teaching and learning process. They often asked how to pronounce some unfamiliar words to the teacher. They
used one story entitled „Being Late for Class
for the First Time‟ to make students directly can discuss the generic structure and language features of the story given.
The students also already understood the generic structure of recount text. It can be shown when students could re-explain what they had learnt in previous meeting. They were able to determining the parts of orientation (the beginning), events (the middle), and reorientation (the ending) in the
story „Being Late for Class for the First
Time”.
The students were able to answer the questions well when they played the jigsaw puzzle game. The puzzle was complete in short time. Their understanding of recount text was getting better in the second cycle. Each group finish their jigsaw puzzle on time, and were able to answer the recount
scaffold. In the second cycle, all groups were presenting their group work.
From the observation through field notes, during the teaching-learning process,
it was found that students‟ learning process was improved. Firstly, when teacher brainstormed the students, the students felt excited and they look confident when the teacher asked them about the generic structure and language features. Secondly, when the teacher explained material of recount text, the students paid attention to the explanation, they took a note on their book. They understood the material. Thirdly, when the teacher applied the jigsaw puzzle game in teaching learning activity, the students felt excited and understood the procedure to do the game. They answered the questions correctly. The students worked well with their group, and they were active in teaching learning process. Fourthly, when
the teacher gave student‟s worksheet as
individual work, the students finish their task on time and got good score. The class controlled well.
In the next cycle, the students also have to do the same. The students were assessed improvement regarding to their reading assignment. The proportion of students who passed the standard was increased to 39 students.
After doing the observation, the researcher and the collaborator reflected what had done in this cycle. Based on the
result of students‟ achievement score in
reading comprehension, they concluded that the second cycle had been successful. The
students‟ reading comprehension on recount
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Therefore, in this stage the researcher concluded that the second cycle had beensuccessful. The students‟ improvements
were shown and the teaching learning process was better than the first cycle. It means that the cycle could be stopped.
Discussion
Overall, during this research, the students‟ reading comprehension on recount text was improved. The findings showed that the students had positive improvement in identifying the details information, determining the generic structure and understanding the language features of recount text. However, the research revealed some findings which lead the teacher to pay attention to several
considerations.
The way to make students understand the material is how the explanation transferred to them. In the first cycle, the researcher was using video in explanation the material about recount text. The researcher found it was not a good choice because the students did not really pay attention to the video, and they became lazy to take notes. To solve this, in the second cycle the researcher applied another way in explanation. It was to spread the printed out that consists of the material of recount text. The students paid more attention when the teacher gave the explanation. They read the text, and took notes in every explanation.
In the 1st cycle, researcher found that other to understand the generic structure and language features. It was confirmed by Mark (2000: 4) who pointed out that the puzzle can be completed by groups of two to four or more students working together.
Using the jigsaw puzzle game, the students were invited to answer the questions by picking up one piece of jigsaw
of each question. In the cycle, the students focused on identifying the specific information. The finding revealed that the students became more excited and active in identifying specific information of the text with their friends. They could share their ideas in finding the right puzzle and answering the question. It confirmed by Marks (2000: 4) who stated that puzzle game is graphic, attractive and an enjoyable challenge to complete.
However, the vocabulary building is also needed before students do jigsaw puzzle game. Only small numbers of students can understand the text clearly. Thus, in the cycle, the teacher asked them to bring their
The students need jigsaw puzzle game as learning media which puzzle is engaged in tasks that involve looking for patterns, using spatial visualization skills (Morsound, 2007). In the cycle, the students were able to finish the jigsaw puzzle by answering teacher questions. When the students got the question, they picked up the right answer on the piece of jigsaw and read it. It was found that the students were also curious and often asked the teacher whether the answer is correct or not. They also shared idea about the information from the text with their friends.
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the teacher combined jigsaw puzzle game with questioning the students in form of recount scaffold which shared to the groups. The students became motivated finishing the puzzle. After finished the puzzle theyMoreover, the researcher found that jigsaw puzzle game was enjoyable to the students. Students got motivation to arrange the puzzle by answer the questions. They curios how the result of they work after they finished their puzzle. Thus make the process flow clearly. It was confirmed with Ghina (2015) who pointed out that jigsaw puzzle game is effective in teaching learning process.
Based on the findings, the students‟
reading comprehension was improved. The researcher and the collaborator agree to finish the research and categorized it as satisfactory. Therefore, it proves the actions
hypothesis which stated “Jigsaw Puzzle
Game improves students‟ reading
comprehension on recount text of the eighth grade students of SMPK Immanuel II, Kubu Raya in academic year 2017/2018.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion
According to the research findings and discussion, the researcher concluded that the implementation of jigsaw puzzle game can encouraged to read especially recount text. Students got motivation to answer the
the students improved their reading comprehension after implemented the jigsaw puzzle game. Jigsaw puzzle was helpful for the students comprehend recount text. This
was shown by the improvement of students‟
process during playing the jigsaw puzzle in each cycle. They tried to find some appropriate answer in form of pieces of jigsaw to finish their puzzle into a complete recount text. They also could determine the language features of recount text well such as participants, action verbs, simple past tense, connecting words, and adverb of time and place through recount scaffold located behind the text.
Covering all of the findings, this study stated that reading comprehension on recount text through jigsaw puzzle game could positively involve the students in identifying the specific information generic structure and language features of recount text.
Suggestions
For the betterment, the following
suggestions were made from the researcher‟s
reflections: (1) the researcher recommended that the teacher should use jigsaw puzzle in teaching reading recount text because it improves the process in identifying the details, determining the generic structure of the story, and determining the language features of the text; (2) The teacher should be creative in using the jigsaw puzzle game in order to make students interest; (3) before applying the technique, the teacher should prepare the learning aids well, such books or
hand out, pictures, guided question‟s paper,
brainstorming vocabulary that related to the story given and follow the instructional procedures to carry out the teaching and learning process using jigsaw puzzle; (4) the teacher should be open-minded and realize that the students have different level of
English. By realizing the students‟ English
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teacher should give more control and guidance to the students in discussing and giving the opinion about the recount text. It can help to make the instruction to be more effective for the students.REFERENCES
Angga, W, N,. (2014). Efektifitas penggunaan media gambar puzzle dalam pembelajaran ketrampilan berbicara bahasa Prancis. Thesis. Yogyakarta: Univeritas Negeri Yogyakarta.
Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in english language teaching: A guide for practitioners. New York: Routledge.
Chesla, E. (2001). 8th grade reading comprehension success. New York: LearningExpress.
Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. (2013). Kurikulum 2013: Kompetensi Dasar Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP)/ Madrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs). Retrieved 1 April 2017, from www.pendidikan-diy.go.id
Mardhiyah, G. (2015). The effectiveness of jigsaw puzzle game as media to improve students’ vocabulary in Germany. Bandung. Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia.
Marks, J. (2004). Puzzle time for starters: Photocopiable activities for young learners of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moursund, D. (2007). Introduction to using games in education: A guide for teachers and parents. Oregon: University of Oregon.
