THE EFFECT OF APPLYING ADVANCE ORGANIZER
STRATEGY
ON STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By:
NOVIKA SARI SIRAIT
Registration Number. 209121030
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, the writer would like to thank the Almighty Allah SWT for His
blessings so the writer is able to accomplish her thesis as a partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of sarjana pendidikan at the English Department
of Language and Arts, Faculty of Languages and Arts (FBS), State University of
Medan (UNIMED).
During the process of writing, the writer realizes that she cannot
accomplish without support from many people. The writer would like to express
her sincere gratitude 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 English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, and also as her examiner.
Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M.Ed., as the Head of English Education Study Program for their valuable administrative advice and guidance in completing
all the procedures required;
Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S., as her Examiner, for the advice and suggestion. the writer’s beloved parents, Bapak Kocik Abu Bakar Sirait and Ibu
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Arda and Fatir, and to all her family members for their endless love, care, support, and prayer;
the Headmaster of SMP Negeri 3 Kisaran Bapak Malanton Lahade
Hasibuan, S.Pd, M.Si, and Vice Headmaster Bapak Gumri Harahap, S.Pd, and also English Teacher Ibu Wardah Sinambela, S.Pd., for allowing the
writer to conduct the research;
the Principal and all of Primagama’s Crew Citra Wisata Medan, for giving a chance to the writer to teach and to educate students;
Arif Muhtarif Isda, S.Pd, for his love and care to support the writer to accomplish this thesis;
last but not least, her beloved friends in KABE (Henny, Eta, Hana, Irma, Ona, Dini, Trisno), in WG ( Orli, Kori, Orde, Dewi, Mimi, Vey, Diana, Cony, kak
Debo, Tini), her best friends ( Lisda, Mellita, Mahari), her field teaching
practice (Praktek Pengalaman Lapangan: PPLT) SMP Negeri 3 Kisaran
friends, and all class members of Reguler A, B, C 2009 English Education.
Medan, February 2014
The Writer
i ABSTRACT
Sirait, Novika Sari, Reg.No 209121030. 2013. The Effect of Applying Advance Organizer Strategy on Students’ Reading Comprehension. A Thesis. Medan : English Departmen, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
The aim of this study was to find out the effect of applying Advance Organizer
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Conceptual Framework by using Advance Organizer Strategy… 26
Table 2.2 Conceptual Framework by using Conventional Strategy……... 30
Table 3.1 Experimental Research design………...……….. 31
Table 3.2 Table of specification………. 34
Table 3.3 Teaching procedures for Experimental Group……….. 36
Table 3.4 Teaching procedures for Control Group……… 41
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LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A The Reliability of the Test……… 52
APPENDIX B 1. The score of Pre-test and Post-test of Experimental Group……… 54
2. The score of Pre-test and Post-test of Control Group……… 55
APPENDIX C 1. The total Score of Pre-test and Post-test of Experimental Group……… 56
2. The total Score of Pre-test and Post-test of Control Group……….. 57
APPENDIX D The Calculation of the t-test………. 58
APPENDIX E Table of Distribution t……….. 60
APPENDIX F Lesson Plan……… 61
APPENDIX G Reading Comprehension Tes……….. 82
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Study
Language is a way to communicate ideas comprehensibly from one person
to another in such a way that the other will be able to act exactly accordingly.
Clark & Clark (1977:3) say that the fundamental function of language is for
communication. It means that language is used by the speaker or writer to express
ideas, feelings, and desires, and to get information from other people. There are
various languages that people can produce to communicate with others, English is
one of them. English is very important, because it is the most used language
around the world for social activities, science, economic, and international
relationship. Therefore, studying English is very important since mastering
English can enrich and improve one’s knowledge.
English as a foreign language consists of four basic skills that should be
achieved by the students who learn English namely listening, speaking, reading,
and writing. In this case, the learners are required to comprehend (listening and
reading) the language and produce (speaking and writing) the language. Among
the four language skills taught in schools, reading is one of important skill to be
taught to the students because through reading they will get information,
knowledge, and science. Grabe & Stoller(2002:9) elaborate that reading is a way
to draw information from printed page and interpret this information
appropriately. From the quotation, reading means to find out the message of the
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Further, Educational unit-Oriented Curriculum (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan
Pendidikan; KTSP) 2006, of Junior high school (Sekolah Menengah Pertama;
SMP) level states that there are four skills that should be achieved in learning
process namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Reading is one of four
skills that must be mastered. It is stated that the students are intended to
comprehend the meaning of the functional and short essay text in report,
descriptive, narrative and recount text in the context of daily life.
In fact, reading is a problem for students. A research on international
reading achievement revealed that the students’ skill particularly in reading
achievement is still far from satisfactory. PIRLS (Progress in Reading Literacy
Study) that held by IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of
Educational Achievement) in 2011 shows that Indonesian students’ reading
achievement is on the lower level. Indonesian students are ranked 42 of 45
nations. This case indicates that Indonesian students have low ability in reading
skills. It is strengthened by the writer’s observation in teaching practice (PPLT
2012) in junior high school.
The writer’s observation during teaching practice (Praktek Pengalaman
Lapangan Terpadu; PPLT) 2012 in State junior high School 3 of Kisaran (Sekolah
Menengah Pertama Negeri 3 Kisaran; SMP Negeri 3 Kisaran) shows that most of
students are not able to understand what they have read. They only read the
material without knowing what they have read. Therefore, reading activities in the
classroom will not be useful for them if they don’t know and understand the
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20 students said that they got difficulties in identifying the implicit and explicit
information of the text. Besides, many students have low motivation in reading
class. The students’ lack of understanding on reading lesson is mainly caused by
an inappropriate teaching technique used. The teacher only uses one technique
namely conventional method which is lecturing. In the reading class, the teacher
presents a subject in the text book and asks students to read silently or loudly, and
then students have to answer the questions that follow. Consequently, the reading
lesson becomes monotonous and boring, students lack motivation to read, even if
they read, they show negative attitudes. As a result, the students are not able to get
good scores in reading.
Reading cannot be separated from comprehension. Therefore, it appears a
lot of problems dealing with reading comprehension. Many English learners find
it is difficult to understand the English text. Very often, they get stuck because of
some problems, such as unfamiliar words, their inability in understanding the
context, being reluctant, and so forth. Reading is not an easy skill to master. It is a
complex process that requires specialized skill of the reader (Dechant, 1977: 21).
Besides, it is also comprehension process as well as writing. According to Nunan
(1998: 33), reading needs identification and also interpretation processes which
require the reader’s knowledge about the language structure used in the text and
his knowledge about a given topic. It is the complexity that makes some students
less interested in this kind of activity. They find it is difficult to understand what
is on the reading passage since they do not know the technique which can help
4
To solve this problem, learning reading by using Advance Organizer
Strategy can be an alternative way in teaching learning process. Advance
organizer is a concept developed and systematically studied by David Ausubel in
1968.
The advance organizer is teaching strategy available to teachers to aid
students in the processing, understanding, and remembering of newly presented
materials. It is designed to strengthen students’ cognitive structures as stated by
Ausubel as quoted by Joyce, Weil & Calhoun (2009:281). The Advance organizer
strategy has some advantages for students. The advantages of Advance Organizer
are the students can explain, integrate, and interrelate with the material in the
learning task with the previously learned material. Students can distinguish the
new material from previously learned material and in teaching reading which is
related to daily situation. Therefore, it will be useful for students to recognize the
material into familiar structure.
All the explanation above inspires the writer to discover the effect of
applying Advance Organizer Strategy on the students’ reading comprehension
achievement.
B. The Problem of the Study
Based on the background of the study, the problem is formulated as
follows:
“Is the students’ reading comprehension achievement taught by applying Advance
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C. The Objective of the Study
In relation to the research problem, this study will attempt to find out the
effect of Advance Organizer strategy in teaching reading on the students’
reading comprehension.
D. The Scope of the Study
In this research, the focus of the investigation is limited to the effect of
Advance Organizer strategy on the students’ reading comprehension. There are
four levels of reading comprehension; they are literal comprehension,
interpretative comprehension, critical comprehension, and creative
comprehension. In this study the level of reading comprehension is limited to
two levels, namely literal and interpretative comprehension. The kinds of the
text will be focused on report text.
E. The significance of the Study
The findings of this research are expected to answer the proposed problem
and it is intended to give many benefits in:
1. Practical perspectives
a) For the students
To assist the students to build reading competency. Thus, they are
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b) For the teachers
To provide the English teacher to plan and conduct a better and
interesting teaching learning process, especially in teaching
reading.
2. Theoretical perspective
a) The result of this research can be a useful input to English
teaching-learning process, especially for teaching reading.
b) The result of this research can be used as reference for those who
want to conduct a research in English teaching-learning process,
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