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USING PEER TUTORING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE
STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
(A Classroom Action Research in the First Grade Students of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)
By
BRIGITTA SEPTARINI RAHMASARI
S890809202
Thesis
Submitted to Fulfill One of the Requirements for Getting Graduate Degree in English Education
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
GRADUATE SCHOOL
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
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APPROVAL
USING PEER TUTORING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
(A Classroom Action Research in the First Grade Students of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)
By
BRIGITTA SEPTARINI RAHMASARI S890809202
This thesis has been approved by the Consultants of Graduate School of English Education Department of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta, on … February 2011
Consultant I Consultant II
Dr.Ngadiso, M.Pd Drs. Gunarso Susilohadi, M.Ed NIP. 19621231 198803 1 009 NIP. 195403151 198503 1 002
Approved by
The Head of English Education Department Graduate School
Sebelas Maret University
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LEGITIMATION FROM THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS
USING PEER TUTORING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
(A Classroom Action Research in the First Grade Students of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)
By
BRIGITTA SEPTARINI RAHMASARI S890809202
This thesis has been examined by the board of thesis examiners of Graduate School of English Education Department of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta, on … February 2011
The Director of Graduate Degree of Education Program of Sebelas Maret
University
Prof. Drs. Suranto, M.Sc., Ph.D NIP. 19570820 198503 100 4
The Head of Graduate School of English Education Department of
Sebelas Maret University
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MOTTO
A high achievement can be reached by the steadiness
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DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The Holy Mary
3. My beloved parents
4. My beloved brothers
5. All of my families
6. All of my best friends
7. All of my lecturers
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PRONOUNCEMENT
This is to certify that I myself write this thesis, entitled “Using Peer Tutoring Technique to Improve Students’ Reading Comprehension (A Classroom Action Research in the First Grade Students of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)”. It is not plagiarism or made by others. Anything related to others’ works are written in quotation, the source of which is listed on bibliography.
If, it is proved that this pronouncement is wrong, I am ready to accept any academic punishment, including the withdrawal or cancelling of my academic degree.
Surakarta, … February 2011
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ABSTRACT
BRIGITTA SEPTARINI RAHMASARI. Using Peer Tutoring Technique to Improve Students’ Reading Comprehension (A Classroom Action Research in the First Grade Students of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun in the Academic Year of 2010/2011). Thesis. Surakarta. English Education. Graduate School, Sebelas Maret University.
This thesis is aimed at identifying whether peer tutoring can improve students’ reading comprehension or not and describing what happens with the class when peer tutoring technique is applied in reading class. The preliminary research showed that the students had problems on main idea, details, inferences, and word meaning.
The research was done in IKIP PGRI Madiun from November 2010-Januari 2011. The subject of the study was the students of 1G of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun consisting of 40 students. It was a classroom action research. The researcher did some steps for each cycle. They were planning, action, observation, and reflection. In collecting the data, the researcher applied several techniques including observation, interview, questionnaire, and test. The quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. It compared between the scores of pre test (before implementing peer tutoring) and post test (after implementing peer tutoring), while the qualitative data were analyzed by using constant comparative method which consist of; comparing Incidents applicable to each category, integrating categories into their properties, delimiting theory, and writing theory.
The result of the research shows that: (1) peer tutoring can improve students’ reading comprehension, which covers: main idea, detail, inferences, and word meaning. The improvement can also be seen from their results of post test. The means of the scores improve from cycle to cycle. The mean score of pre test is 56.83. Then, it increases to 63.41 in post test 1 and 68.58 in post test 2, and based on the result of t-test, there was significant improvement between pre test and post test, (2) peer tutoring can enhance students’ confidence and motivation in reading class. Besides, the class becomes active and alive. Moreover, they can collaborate with the others well. They demolish their barriers to ask and respond question. Also, Peer tutoring can reduce the dominancy of the teacher.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The researcher’s deepest gratitude is handed to Jesus Christ and The Holy Mary, for giving the mercy, charity, and blessing so that the researcher is finally able to accomplish the thesis entitled “Using Peer Tutoring Technique to Improve Students’ Reading Comprehension (A Classroom Action Research in the First
Grade Students of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun in the Academic
Year of 2010/2011)” successfully and smoothly.
Next, the researcher would like to say the sincere gratitude, especially to Prof. Drs. Suranto, M.Sc., Ph.D, as the director of Graduate Degree of Education Program of Sebelas Maret University and Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd, as the head of Graduate School of English Education Department of Sebelas Maret University. Besides, the researcher would like to say thank you to Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd, as the first consultant, who has given his suggestions, corrections, and wise advices for the thesis. Further, the researcher is grateful to Drs. Gunarso Susilohadi as the second consultant, who always advises and guides in finishing this thesis. Many thanks also go to all of the lectures of English education department of graduate school who have wonderfully taught and enriched with their best knowledge during her study at Sebelas Maret University. The researcher’s great gratitude are also addressed to the Head of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun, Nuri Ati Ningsih, M.Pd, the researcher’s collaborator, Yuli Kuswandari, M.Hum, and the students of IG of English Department of IKIP PGRI Madiun who had helped the researcher so that the researcher could finish the thesis well.
Moreover, the researcher can never thank enough to her parents, brothers, and all of her families (Papa, Mama, Lius, Andre, and so on) who have supported with finance and tremendous encouragement. In addition, special thanks are presented to all of friends (Mbak Yanti, Mbak Vita, Vivien Lee, Mbak Anis, Gusa, Tirsa, Nurina, Afni, and etcetera). Thanks for everything that you have done for her. It is so nice to make friends with you. Finally, it is hoped that this thesis will be valuable and useful for the readers who want to improve their reading comprehension by using peer tutoring technique.
commit to user B. Formulation of the problems……….. C. Objectives of the Study………. D. Benefit of the Study………
1 5 5 6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
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F. Rationale... G. Action Hypothesis...
31 33
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Research Setting……… E. Techniques of Collecting Data ………... F. Techniques of Analyzing Data……….
34
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A Introduction ………. B Description of Cycle 1 ……… C Description of Cycle 2……….. D Research Findings……… E Discussion………
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LIST of TABLES
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LIST of APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Questionnaire in Preliminary Research ……… Appendix 2 Sample of Students’ Questionnaire in Preliminary Research ………
Appendix 3 Result of Questionnaire in Preliminary Research ……….. Appendix 4 Sample of the Interview of the students in Preliminary Research……….. Appendix 5 Blue Print and Try Out Test Items………. Appendix 6 Validity of Test Items ……… Appendix 7 Validity of Test Items-The Valid Items Only……… Appendix 8 Reliability of Test Items………. ……….. Appendix 9 Blue Print and Test Items……… Appendix 10 Lesson Plan of Cycle 1……… Appendix 11 Worksheet 1 of Cycle 1……… Appendix 12 Worksheet 2 of Cycle 1………. Appendix 13 Worksheet 3 of Cycle 1………. Appendix 14 Lesson Plan of Cycle 2……… Appendix 15 Worksheet 1 of Cycle 2……… Appendix 16 Worksheet 2 of Cycle 2………. Appendix 17 Worksheet 3 of Cycle 2………. Appendix 18 Sample of the Researcher’s Field Notes………. Appendix 19 Sample of the Collaborator’s Field Notes………... Appendix 20 Result of Pretest………... Appendix 21 Result of Posttest 1………. Appendix 22 Result of Posttest 2………... Appendix 23 The t-Test of Non-Independent between Pretest and Posttest Of Cycle 1 ……….. Appendix 24 The t-Test of Non-Independent between Pretest and Posttest Of Cycle 2 ……….. Appendix 25 The t-Test of Non-Independent between Posttest of cycle 1
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and Posttest of Cycle 2 ……… Appendix 26 Questionnaire after Cycle 1 ……….. Appendix 27 Interview after Cycle 1……… Appendix 28 Questionnaire after Cycle 2 ……….. Appendix 29 Interview after Cycle 2……… Appendix 30 Sample of Students’ Product ………
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LIST of PICTURES
PICTURE 1 ... PICTURE 2 ... PICTURE 3………...
PICTURE 4………...
PICTURE 5 ... PICTURE 6 ...
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Reading is one of four skills that must be mastered by
university students of English Education Program. Reading taught in
University becomes demanded skill which students have to master.
Through reading, they are able to comprehend the content of the
subject matters and catch the information. Thus, it is very important
for advanced level students to master reading skill. In university level,
there are Reading 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each class of reading has its own
syllabus. Based on the reading syllabus, the lecturer has developed so
far, the students at the first semester are expected to be able to
find main idea, find specific information or details, make inferences,
and predict the word meanings from context.
Based on preliminary research, students’ reading comprehension of 1G,
the first grade students of English Teaching Department, IKIP PGRI Madiun is
still low, worrying, unsatisfying, and far from the expectation. It is indicated by
the following situations: When they were asked questions, they had no response.
They also kept silent during lecturing. They were passive and had no courage to
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to spot or to find the main idea of each paragraph. They had difficulties to
differentiate between the main idea and supporting details. They could not
identify the unstated information from text. They could not relate one clue to
another. And they were not able to recognize the word meanings from the context.
There were three causes of reading problems; from the students, the
teacher and the class conditions. First, the students had low mastery of
vocabulary. Furthermore, the students had low motivation to learn in reading
class. They did not have curiosity and interest on the passage which will be read.
The material was too long and too difficult. Besides, some of them often came late
to the class. Some others often asked permission to go outside. In addition,
students had lack of guided session in group activity. Second, the teacher less
monitored the students’ activities. The teaching learning process was monotonous.
The teacher seldom used various techniques to make the students become better
readers. The technique which was applied during teaching-learning process made
the students passive. Teacher dominated class with broad oral explanation so that
the students faced some difficulties in understanding the passage. The teachers
just read the passage and discussed with the whole class so the students did not
have time to share their ideas with their friends about the passage freely.
Moreover, the teacher’s explanation was considered fast. Third, the class
condition is not alive, uninspiring and boring. Instead of having made a crowd in
the class, students stayed silent when they were in reading class. Badly, when they
are asked, most answers would be “keeping silent”, “smiling”, and “I do not
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To solve this problem, the researcher proposes the use of Peer Tutoring
technique that can be applied in teaching reading. Peer Tutoring is a collaborative
learning strategy in which students alternate between the role of tutor and tutee in
pairs or groups.
Peer tutoring refers to students working in pairs to help one another learn
material or practice an academic task. Peer tutoring works best when students of
different ability levels work together (Kunsch, Jitendra, & Sood in
http://www.nichcy.org/Research/EvidenceForEducation/pages/MathPeerTutoring. aspx). During a peer tutoring assignment, it is common for the teacher to have
students switch roles partway through, so the tutor becomes the tutee. Since
explaining a concept to another person helps extend one’s own learning, this
practice gives both students the opportunity to better understand the material
being studied.
In addition, Peer tutoring is a type of instructional strategy in which
students are taught by their peers, who have been trained and supervised by the
classroom teacher. Peer tutoring involves having students work in pairs, with
another student of the same age or grade. Peer tutoring is an extremely powerful
way to improve student academic, social, and behaviors. (Gresham in
http://www.lehigh.edu/projectreach/teachers/peer_tutoring/peer_tutoring_step_1.h tm)
Peer tutoring works for six reasons: first, students have more opportunities
to respond to academic material. In other words, they have more opportunities to
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Second, students receive feedback and error correction immediately and
more frequently. In large group or teacher-directed settings, it is impossible to
provide feedback and error correction to every student for every response. With
peer tutoring, students receive feedback and correction immediately for every
response.
Third, students are engaged in active learning, not passive learning. For
example, when using peer tutoring, students are actively asking each other
questions, responding, correcting mistakes, and providing positive feedback, as
opposed to simply watching and listening to the teacher (passive learning). Active
learning has been shown to be more effective in promoting student achievement.
Fourth, many students tend to learn more and experience more
engagement and “on-task” behavior when instruction is at a brisk pace. Peer
tutoring allows for a faster pace as students are more frequently responding to
academic material than in a large-group setting. Peer tutoring also allows for
students to be matched based on their learning style, in other words, students who
learn better at a slower pace may be paired together, as can be students who learn
better at a pace that is more brisk, thus allowing for individual adaptation in
instruction.
Fifth, Students are more “on-task” and motivated to learn, which means
they are less likely to engage in behaviors that are disruptive or problematic.
Sixth, Peer tutoring provides students with valuable opportunities to
practice their social skills in a structured environment, whereby the teacher can
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Therefore, this technique is beneficial because students have a chance to
be both the tutor and tutee. The roles are equitable, which can promote an
environment of acceptance. Peer Tutoring gives students the opportunity to make
choices throughout the learning process. By making choices, students enhance
their self-management skills, and enhance control over learning and cooperation
with others. Furthermore, students are accountable for monitoring and evaluating
peer performance. In addition, student can be more active during lecturing and has
high motivation in teaching learning process. Thus, it is believed that Peer
tutoring can improve students’ ability in reading.
B. Formulation of the Problems
Based on the background of the study above, the problems in this study can be
formulated as follows:
1. Can and to what extent Peer Tutoring technique improve students’ reading
comprehension?
2. What happens with the class when Peer Tutoring technique is applied in
reading class?
C. Objectives of the Study
In accordance with the problems formulation above, the objectives of the
study are purposed to point out the answer for the problems. They are as follows:
1. To identify whether and to what extent Peer Tutoring technique can improve
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2. To describe what happens with the class when Peer Tutoring technique is
applied in reading class.
D. Benefits of the Study
Hopefully, this study can be useful to the students, the other lecturers, the
other researcher, the institution, and even to the researcher herself.
1. For the students
This study will improve students’ reading comprehension because they are
taught using Peer Tutoring technique which is theoretically effective for
improving students’ reading comprehension. Moreover, through this
technique, the students can study together in understanding the reading
passage and can review the material together within the members of one team
who are from all achievements level so that they can help one another to
improve their capability in comprehending reading passage.
2. For the other lecturers
This study provide the various teaching techniques that can be used as the
consideration for choosing appropriate technique in teaching reading and the
result of this study can be a useful input in English teaching learning process
especially for improving reading comprehension.
3. For the other researcher
This study can be used as a guide, additional information, and a valuable
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especially about the issue of teaching reading and about the issue of Peer
Tutoring technique.
4. For the researcher
This study will improve the researcher herself in knowing the techniques
which are appropriate to use in teaching reading and will improve in mastering
Peer Tutoring technique implemented in classroom.
5. For the institution
This study will underline the important role of the institution as academic
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the researcher wants to explain some theories which are
relevant to the problems. This chapter is very important to show that this study is
based on the theories. Those theories, which will be elaborated, are reading
comprehension, teaching reading comprehension, definition of Peer Tutoring,
procedures of Peer Tutoring, the strengths and weaknesses of Peer Tutoring.
A. Reading Comprehension
In this sub chapter, the researcher discusses the definition of reading
comprehension and the strategies of reading comprehension.
1. Definition of Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the core of reading activity. It shows that an
influential factor in determining the success of reading process is comprehending
a text in order to convey the meaning. Comprehension is the ability to understand
the text and to get the meaning from text (any types of written material)
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something that happens after reading but it can occur at pre-reading,
while-reading, and post reading. Martin in http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi.bin argues that reading comprehension is the processes of ‘constructing meaning’
from a text. Comprehension is a ‘construction process’ because it involves all the
elements of the reading process working together as a text to create a
representation of the text in the reader’s mind.
Inferring from Martin, it can be highlighted that reading comprehension is
how the reader uses his or her skills in reading process as an integrated skills to
construct or convey meaning from the text that is being read.
Martin also purposes that comprehension is affected by the readers’
knowledge of the topic, knowledge of language structures, knowledge of text
structures and genres, knowledge of reading strategies, their reasoning abilities,
and their motivation.
According to Urquhart and Weir, a focus on comprehending is in line with
feeling that this is what reading is ‘about’, i.e. getting information from written
texts (1998: 85). Urquhart and Weir also state:
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Based on definition above, it can be concluded that reading comprehension
is different from one reader to another since reader is a personal activity. Reading
comprehension is not only conveying the author’s meaning but also interpreting
the author’s mind. The process of comprehending uses background knowledge to
construct an approximate understanding of the author’s message.
Meanwhile, reading comprehension results when the reader knows which
skills and strategies are appropriate for the type of text, and understand how to
apply them to accomplish the reading purpose.
Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of
writing. Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and
effortlessly. Wiener (1978: 7) states that efficient reading requires the ability to
guess the meaning of unfamiliar words by using context (context refers to the
sentence or paragraph in which a word occurs). If word recognition is difficult,
students use too much of their processing capacity to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read.
Reading expert, Maria in http://www.landmark.edu/institute/
assistive_technology/reading_overview.html states that reading comprehension
involves several elements: the ability to recognize errors or contradictions in text,
the understanding of different strategies to use with different kinds of text, and the
ability to distinguish important ideas from unimportant ones.
Klein, et al. in
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/theories-reading state that strategic readers attempt the following while http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/theories-reading:
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· Identifying the form or type of the text before reading
· Thinking about the general character and features of the form or type of the
text, for instance, they try to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting
details toward a conclusion.
· Projecting the author's purpose for writing the text (while reading it),
· Choosing scanning, or reading in detail
· Making continuous predictions about what will occur next, based on
information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained
within the previous stages.
Moreover, they attempt to form a summary of what was read. Carrying out
the previous steps requires the reader to be able to classify sequence, establish
whole-part relationships, compare and contrast, determine cause-effect,
summarize, hypothesize and predict, infer, and conclude.
Strategies are parts of the readers and they enable readers, among other
aspects, to locate specific required information, recognize indicators in discourse,
select and extract relevant points from texts, identify writer’s techniques and
recognize the mood of a passage (Urquhart and Weir, 1998: 94).
Davis (1968) in Alderson (2000: 9-10) defines skills of reading. They are
recalling word meanings, drawing inferences about the meaning of a word in
context, finding answers to questions answered explicitly or in paraphrase,
weaving together ideas in the content, drawing inferences from the content,
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technique, following the structure of a passage, distinguishing facts and opinion,
analyzing structure, annotating, paraphrasing and summarizing.
Munby (1978) in Alderson (2000: 10-11) distinguishes the following
reading “micro skills”: recognizing the script of a language, deducing the meaning
and use of unfamiliar lexical items, understanding explicitly stated information,
understanding information when not explicitly stated, understanding conceptual
meaning, identifying the main point or important information in discourse, and
distinguishing the main idea from supporting detail.
Duke and Pearson in Teele (2004: 93) state that good readers construct,
clarify, summarize, revise, question, and interpret what the text means as they
read. In addition, they also utilize their prior knowledge with the text. Still, they
examine the authors of the text and their style. They monitor what they are
understanding about the text. They also evaluate the quality of the text; read many
different kinds of text, examine setting and characters in a narrative text. Finally
they design and revise summaries when reading expository texts.
Further, Spears (2000: xxvi) states that there are important reading
comprehension skills that help learners to read more systematically. The skills are
comprehending main ideas, determining what unfamiliar words and concepts in
the text mean and how they relate to the text, distinguishing between main idea
and supporting details, and making inference.
Based on the definitions above, to be good readers the students must
master:
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One of the most common reasons for reading is to get the main idea of a text
or to differentiate between main points and supporting details. Spears (2000:
17) defines main idea as the author’s main point, a sentence, or perhaps two
that state what the whole thing is about. The main idea of a passage or reading
is the central thought or message. In contrast to the term topic, which refers to
the subject under discussion, the term main idea refers to the point or thought
being expressed.
2) Reading to make Inference
Mcneil (1992: 77) defines inference as the derivation of some idea that is not
directly stated. An inference is a process by which the readers hint to gather
information. But because the information is not always stated in exact terms,
they must supply their own information based on the hints (Wiener, 1978:
107). Thus, the ability to make inferences is defined as the ability to answer a
question related to meanings not directly stated in text (Alderson, 2000:9)
3) Reading to answer questions
Reading to answer questions is a means of improving the ability to note
significant details, not only should the students gain skill in finding answer to
questions that are stated by others. To avoid overdependence on the teacher,
they also need to develop an ability to formulate significant questions for
themselves as purposes for reading. Wiener says that the ability to find the
significant details is needed to complete the scene for the reader and show
how the ideas relate to other ideas (1978: 53).
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Spears (2000: 12) defines paraphrase as putting someone else’s words into
your own words, restating the ideas without changing their meaning.
Meanwhile, both the ability to select the main idea and to choose significant
details are basic to another commonly sought goal of reading; that of
summarizing.
Therefore, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is the ability to
understand the text and to get the meaning from text. It involves the ability to find
main ideas, find specific information or details, make inferences, and predict word
explicit meanings from context.
2. The Strategies in Reading Comprehension
There are specific comprehension strategies that some teachers are now
using in the classroom. First, teach students about prior knowledge. To help
students comprehend and learn from a specific reading material, they can access
their prior knowledge on a subject to help them relate to the subject that they are
learning at the moment.
Second, making a connection is when a student can relate a passage to an
experience, another book, or other facts about the world. Making connections will
help students understand what the author's purpose is and what the story is about.
Third, questioning is another strategy that will greatly benefit a student.
There are several types of questions that a teacher should focus on: remembering;
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Fourth, visualization is when a student can create a picture or movie in
their mind while reading text. Another way of looking at visualization is to think
about bringing words to life.
Fifth, summarizing is a comprehension strategy that also needs to be
taught. Summarizing is telling what is important about the text. A summary might
include the answers to who, what, where, when, why, and how.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_comprehension).
B. Teaching Reading Comprehension
Urquhart and Weir (1998: 172) state that teaching reading involves
students being given a written text, and being required to read it. Usually, they are
also expected to respond overtly to some task requirement.
A teacher should organize his activities to make the students engaged with
what they are reading. Students should be encouraged to respond to the content of
a reading text, not just to the language. It is important that they should be allowed
to express their feelings about the topic. Meanwhile, teaching reading is not easy.
Consequently, teacher should insert interesting activities before, during and after
reading in order to make reading comprehension activities more amusing and
optimally understandable
Roles of teacher which can help students learn when and how to use
reading strategies are as follows:
1. by modeling the strategies, talking through the processes of previewing,
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how the strategies work and how much they can know about a text before they
begin to read word by word.
2. by allowing time in class for group and individual previewing and predicting
activities as preparation for in-class or out-of-class reading. Allocating class
time to these activities indicates their importance and value.
3. by using cloze (fill in the blank) exercises to review vocabulary items. This
helps students learn to guess meaning from context.
4. by encouraging students to talk about what strategies they think will help them
approach a reading assignment, and then talking after reading about what
strategies they actually used. This helps students develop flexibility in their
choice of strategies (http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/stratread.htm).
C. Definition of Peer Tutoring
Peters in http://www.unicommons.com/node/6975 says that Peer tutoring is a type of collaborative learning strategy in which students support each other’s
learning rather than relying solely on an adult teacher. Peer tutoring is one
collaborative approach where pairs of students interact to assist each other’s
academic achievement by one student adopting the role of tutor and the other the
role of tutee. Peer tutoring has been well validated for promoting the development
of low-level skills, such as reading.
Most teachers expect an effective classroom to be quiet and orderly.
Students are seated and not talking to each other. Students are trained to become
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teachers are themselves taught in such a traditional classroom of teacher-centered
instruction. Hence, Peer tutoring gives teachers more time to work with students
individually and also obtain a detailed understanding of each student’s learning
style and degree of subject mastery. Peer tutoring helps create child-centered
classroom.
Peer tutoring refers to the process of having learners help each other on a
one-to-one basis (Dueck in http://www.ericdigests.org/1994/tutoring.htm). Two types of this kind of peer tutoring are found in adult literacy and basic education:
(1) "near peer" in which one learner is more advanced than the other; and (2)
"co-peer" in which the learners are fairly well matched in skill level (Whitman in
http://www.ericdigests.org/1994/tutoring.htm). Examples of near peer pairings include more academically capable learners working with those experiencing
difficulty. When co-peers are paired, learners are able to work together as equals
and gain a better understanding of the materials by learning from each other.
Although peer tutoring is done with pairs of learners, sometimes having learners
work in groups of three better meets the needs of both the learners and the
learning task (Dueck in http://www.ericdigests.org/1994/tutoring.htm ).
The old adage, "those who teach learn twice," holds true for peer tutoring
and is frequently given as the basis for using the approach. Although a teacher can
anticipate problems, questions, and concerns, no teacher can learn for another
individual. Thus, when peer tutoring is adapted, learning becomes much more
effective because learners are teaching themselves (Whitman in
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Peer tutoring can enhance learning by enabling learners to take
responsibility for reviewing, organizing, and consolidating existing knowledge
and material; understanding its basic structure; filling in the gaps; finding
additional meanings, and reformulating knowledge into new conceptual
frameworks (Dueck; Whitman in http://www.ericdigests.org/1994/tutoring.htm). In either co-peer or near peer situations, both learners are likely to understand the
material better by applying it in the peer tutoring setting.
Both learners and teachers will find that peer tutoring changes their roles
as well as the learning environment. When peer tutoring is used, the instructional
environment usually becomes more learner (as opposed to teacher) directed, and
the learners have a more significant role in helping shape the learning (Imel,
Kerka, and Pritz in http://www.ericdigests.org/1994/tutoring.htm). The teacher becomes a co-learner and facilitator, acting as a guide and a coach. The teacher is
no longer the person with all the answers; instead, the teacher talks with learners
and offers opinions, explores strategies, and helps set goals (Goldgrab in
http://www.ericdigests.org/1994/tutoring.htm).
Peer tutoring is an organized learning experience in which one student
serves as the teacher or tutor, and the other student is the learner or tutee. This
approach to tutoring provides students with an opportunity to use their knowledge
in a meaningful, social fashion. Peer tutors reinforce their own learning process by
reviewing and reformulating their knowledge. Tutees receive the opportunity for
skill development in a non-threatening context. Both tutors and tutees gain
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someone and the tutee by receiving positive reinforcement from peers. All
students with some level of responsibility can be given the opportunity to be
tutors. Guidelines for pairing tutors and tutees are fairly broad and will likely
depend on the material being reviewed and the format of the activity. Peer
tutoring can be implemented on an individual basis (one tutor and tutee pair),
class-wide, or school-wide.
Therefore, Gardner in http://ltrc.edc.polyu.edu.hk/student02_1.html gives the role of peer tutors and tutees. Tutors have four roles. First, they motivate
students or tutees to learn (motivator). Second, they share personal experiences
with tutees (counselor). Third, they provide comments on tutees’ effort (advisor).
Fourth, a peer tutor is the bridge between tutees and subject lecturers (middle
man). Meanwhile, Tutees are expected to review relevant subject matters before
tutorial session, raise questions before or during or after tutorial sessions, be
cooperative and take active part in all tutorial activities, solve problems
individually or as a team, be punctual and attend all tutorial sessions.
Peer tutoring is characterized by specific role taking: at any point someone
has the job of tutor, while the other is in a role as tutee (Topping, 1996: 234). Two
large categories of peer tutoring can be distinguished. Children can be paired with
other children from within their own classroom. This variant is called same-age
tutoring. The specific form of same-age tutoring in which the students alternate on
regular basis between the tutor and tutee role is called reciprocal same-age
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pdf). The second variant is called cross-age tutoring and refers to older students
tutoring younger students.
However, good peer tutoring programs are reciprocal, meaning both
students in a learning pair (or “dyad”) have turns playing the role of the tutor (or
teacher) and tutee (or learner) during the same tutoring session. This prevents
negative feelings of always having to be the learner, as well as prevents feelings
of superiority in always being the teacher.
In conclusion, peer tutoring gives teacher specific instructional methods to
help students improve their skills and critical-thinking abilities. It can become an
important learning element that assists the students in learning how to solve
problems, collaborate with others, and think creatively.
D. Procedures of Peer Tutoring
Peer tutoring is a student mediated instructional procedure in which
student dyads or small learning groups work together on learning tasks. Peters in
http://www.unicommons.com/node/6975 elaborates that in this procedure, students assembled in groups of two or more are trained to work together on a
specific academic task. The students work together to prompt, monitor and
evaluate each other, while working toward group goals. The students alternate
between the roles of tutor and tutee in groups of two. In larger groups of three or
four, roles of a group monitor and an evaluator are added to the procedure.
Students work together in their groups to achieve established goals or rewards that
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During the intervention the tutor would read a passage to the tutee and the
tutee would follow along with a photocopy of the passage. The tutee would then
read the passage back to the tutor, while the tutor followed along providing
corrective feedback. After five minutes the students would switch roles and repeat
the procedure. The higher performing student always began the session as the
tutor. This procedure enabled the weaker reader to hear and see the passage prior
to oral reading. Once the students became skillful at the tutoring procedure, the
teacher introduced comprehension questions to the tutoring sessions. After each
student orally read for five minutes, he/she would summarize what was just read
and answer questions pertaining to the reading such as “what is the first thing you
learned? or “what is the most important thing about who or what in the text?”
Prior to the peer tutoring intervention, the students in both the control group
(standard classroom instruction) and in the tutoring group were assessed on
measures of reading comprehension (Peters in http://www.unicommons.com/
node/6975).
According to Gresham in http://www.lehigh.edu/projectreach/teachers/
peer_tutoring/peer_tutoring_step_1.htm, there are seven steps of peer tutoring.
They are as follows:
1. Selection of tutoring pairs, or "dyads": This step involves putting
students together into pairs.
· Dyad selection does not have to be structured at all; kids respond well with
peer tutoring regardless with whom they are paired, even if high achievers are
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selection is to avoid putting best friends together, as well as pairing "worst
enemies" together. Students are less likely to be productive in these cases.
· Students may be paired with peers who achieve at levels the same or different
from their own. However, if you are concerned with pairing based on
achievement, a good method of pairing is as follows:
o List the students in your class from highest to lowest achievers. This does not have to be very precise, just a general ranking.
o Divide the list in half, now giving you two groups of students
o Number each group. For example, in a class of 28 students, you will now have two groups of 14 students, ranked lowest to highest. Number
each group, which means you will have a 1-14 group and a 15-28
group.
o Pair the highest student with the lowest student for a 1-14 group and a 15-28 group. For example, students 1 and 14 will be paired, 2 and 13,
3 and 12, 15-28 group. And so on. For the other group, students 15 and
28 will be paired, 14 and 27, 13 and 26, etc. If you have a class with an
odd number of students, never fear! It is ok to have one group of 3
students. Furthermore, you will likely have at least one absentee on a
given day, and in this instance you can “mix and match”.
· You should change the dyads every 2-3 weeks to prevent the students from
developing patterns of behavior or responding. Additionally, changing dyads
allows for a “fresh start” and can provide the opportunity for a student to
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2. Task Structure: Deciding how and when to Use Peer Tutoring: Even
though peer tutoring can work for a large number of lessons, academic
activities, and skills, there are some instances when peer tutoring may not
be the best instructional strategy.
· Peer tutoring is well suited for the review and practice of previously
learned or familiar material. For example, an excellent time to use
peer tutoring would be following a teacher-directed lesson on the civil
war. Following the lesson, the students would get into their tutoring pairs
and review the facts presented in the lesson.
· Peer tutoring is particularly well suited for tasks and activities involving a
lot of structure. For example, generating factual or comprehension
questions and constructing practice multiple-choice test questions,
complete with answers, based on the text given are excellent activities to
use for peer tutoring because they involve the simple presentation of
discrete information, with “right-or-wrong” answers.
· Good peer tutoring programs are “reciprocal”, meaning both students
in the tutoring pair have the opportunity to be the tutor and tutee in the
same tutoring session. Typically, one student is the tutor for the first half
of the tutoring session, and the other student is the tutor for the second
half.
3. Conducting Training Sessions: successful peer tutoring programs depend
on well trained students who know exactly what is expected of them
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· It is good to conduct 4-8 training sessions, 15 minutes each, on the peer
tutoring procedure before they begin tutoring.
· Training typically begins with the teaching of the Feedback/Error
Correction procedure.
· Demonstrate how peer tutoring will look. Go through a lesson with
another teacher or a student as the tutee. Be sure to “model” appropriate
tutor and tutee behavior.
4. Preparing the Tutoring Materials: Peer tutoring will go more smoothly
and students will learn more if they have clear, simple materials to use.
Usually, this can simply be a prepared worksheet or a deck of flashcards.
· When you would like your students to tutor each other on factual or
comprehension questions, a simple worksheet like the one shown below
might work best. Each question you would like the students to ask/respond
to are listed. There are columns to mark correct and incorrect responses.
The correct answers to the questions are listed at the bottom.
Question Correct Incorrect
1
Who was the first President of the
United States?
2
Who was president of the United
States during the Civil War?
3
How many years in a row can a person
be president?
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4
True or False: You can be president if
you were born in Canada
Answer key (don't let your partner see the answers!)
1. George Washington
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. 8
4. False. Only people born in the United States can be
president.
While tutoring, the tutor would cover the answer key with his/her
hand or a post-it note.
5. Teaching the Feedback/Error Correction Procedure.
The Feedback/Error correction procedure is perhaps THE MOST
IMPORTANT PART of the peer training program, because this is what
ensures that the tutoring “flows” along smoothly, while ensuring that learning
will be maximized through reinforcement and immediate error correction. But
don’t worry it is simple!
· Here is how it works:
1. Tutor reads the question to the tutee or the tutor presents the problem on a
flash card or says the word.
2. The tutee responds.
o If the tutee responds correctly:
o Tutor checks the "correct" column next to the question or word
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Tutor awards the appropriate amount of points
o Tutor goes on to next question 3. If the tutee responds incorrectly:
d. Tutor checks the “incorrect” column
e. Tutor repeats the question and provides the correct answer (note that the tutor
DOES NOT say “nope” or “you’re wrong”. He/she just simply repeats the
question and provides the answer).
f. Tutor asks the question again
g. Repeat procedure until tutee responds correctly, and then move on to the next
question.
6. Develop System to Request Help
Sometimes students may get stuck on a question. It is good to, prior to starting
peer tutoring, decide on a way to request help from the teacher. This may simply
consist of having both tutor and tutee raise their hands. Or, tutoring pairs could be
provided with red “help” cards to hold up when they need the teacher’s assistance.
Whatever the signal you chose, make sure it is reliable in getting the teacher’s
attention and it is consistent so that students remember it. Remember, the sooner
the students get help for a question or confusion is clarified, the faster they can
move on to the next question.
7. Close Teacher Monitoring
· You will find that when your students are in their dyads and are using the
peer tutoring procedure, you will have more free time on your hands!
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paperwork or do other activities unrelated to the student activity. This time
should be spent by “floating” around the classroom and monitoring the
students while they tutor each other. Teachers can take this time to reward
pairs that are working cooperatively and following the procedure, answer
questions, and provide corrective feedback.
· Use a timer. Typically, peer tutoring sessions are best when they are 15-20
minutes in length. Set the timer for half of the total time. When the timer
goes off, have the students switch roles (tutor and tutee), and continue
until the end of the tutoring period.
E. The Strengths and Weaknesses of Peer Tutoring
As students are trained in preparation to become tutors, their motivation to
learn increases, personal feelings of helplessness are reduced, and the stigma fades
of accepting help from others. Since all students have the chance to participate
and the opportunity to help, peer tutoring empowers them to feel valuable and
worthwhile. From these roots, grows a more cooperative classroom learning spirit.
Peer tutoring can be useful in helping students see added aspects of this material
that prompts new questions. Peer tutoring increase students’ motivation by
enlisting their personal interest with success in mastering something and thereby
gaining the “rank” of tutor.
Once it stimulates the student’s motivation, peer tutoring frequently
generates a curiosity to learn the next steps to be mastered in a subject, so that the
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According to Gordon (2005: 4-5), the strengths of peer tutoring are as
follows:
1. The learning of academic skills. Students will learn better when they help
teach one another than they will incompletely teacher-directed classrooms.
2. Encouraging more positive attitudes toward learning.
3. Gaining a deeper understanding of subject areas.
4. Developing a more positive self-image.
5. Improving attitudes toward school and teachers.
6. For tutee, private instruction will help supplement the teacher’s efforts so
that the student will learn more in the classroom on a day-to-day basis.
7. For tutor, gains a more in depth understanding of how to apply the skills
and lessons he or she knows or more creatively use the information he or
she tutors.
Peer tutoring can also benefit adult learners by helping them to:
1. reach the goal of self-determination as well as develop a tolerance for
uncertainty and conflict
2. move away from dependence on professional authority toward belief in their
own ability to create knowledge
3. polish their communication skills
4. persist in the learning situation because of bonds developed with other learners
5. increase both their motivation to learn and their self-esteem (Dueck 1993;
Goldgrab 1992; Randels, Carse, and Lease 1992; Schneider 1989; Whitman
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Kunsch, Jitendra, & Sood in http://www.nichcy.org/Research/EvidenceFor
Education/pages/MathPeerTutoring.aspx gives some strengths of Peer tutoring for
tutors, tutees, and teachers. They are as follows:
Tutors:
· Help students increase their own understanding of the subject matter as
they tutor students in/on, which boosts confidence and can carry over to
their desire to learn other subjects (Ehly, et al. 21)
· Practice students’ communication skills with other students
· Give tutors great confidence
· Give tutors an opportunity to develop their own leadership skills
Tutees:
· Help tutees feel more at ease, and concentrate better on the subject matter,
with a peer tutor rather than a professional teacher or consultant (Ehly et.
al. 21)
· According to Goodlad and Hirst (1989), there are four main benefits for
tutees when they seek out peer help:
o Tutees receive individualized instruction
o Tutees receive more teaching
o Tutees (may) respond better to their peers than to their teachers
o Tutees can obtain companionship from the students that tutor them Teachers
· Peer tutoring is also beneficial to teachers who may not have the time to
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· Help the subject lecturer break the whole class into small groups so that
students have the chance to learn in a more intimate environment, which
allow them to take more initiative. For example, students ask more
questions at the tutorials and that hardly happen in lectures where there are
over 80 students sitting in the lecture theatre.
On the other hand, Peer tutoring has some weaknesses. Peer tutoring
decreases practice time and physical engagement, increases chance of giving and
receiving incorrect feedback, and increases opportunity for conflict or small-talk
(Peters in http://www.unicommons.com/node/6975).
Furthermore, the weaknesses of Peer Tutoring are as follows (Gordon,
2005:4): too much time and effort to train tutors, tutor impatience, academic
subject suitability for peer tutoring, and lack of expertise on the tutor’s part.
In addition, there may be cognitive consequences. Tutees cannot correctly
solve problems and affective consequences. Students feel that they are poor tutors
and become discouraged (Medway & Baron, 1997
http://www.learnlab.org/research/wiki/index.php/Adaptive_Assistance_for_Peer_ Tutoring_(Walker,_Rummer,_Koedinger).
Moreover, Greenwood, et al. in Topping; http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/
deliberations/seda-publications/topping.cfm say that the quality of tutoring from a
peer tutor may be a good deal inferior to that from a professional teacher
(although this should not be assumed), and the need for monitoring and quality
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Likewise, the tutor's mastery of the content of tutoring is likely to be less than that
of a professional teacher.
F. Rationale
Reading comprehension is not only a receptive of taking information from
page in word by word but also an active process to comprehend the text. In fact,
most of students in my class have low ability in reading comprehension. This
problem was indicated by students incorrectly interpreted main idea with specific
details; they could not identify the unstated information from text. They could not
relate one clue to another. And they were not able to recognize the word meanings
from the context. Also, they kept silent during lecturing. They were passive and
had no courage to share ideas with their friends and tended to work individually.
There were three causes of reading problems; from the students, the
teacher and the class conditions.. First, the students had low mastery of
vocabulary. Furthermore, the students had low motivation to learn in reading
class. They did not have curiosity and interest on the passage which will be read.
They thought that the passage was too long and too difficult. In addition, students
had lack of guided session in group activity. Second, the teacher less monitored
the students’ activities. The teaching learning process was monotonous. The
teacher seldom used varied technique to make the students become a better reader.
The technique which was applied during teaching-learning process made the
students passive. Teacher dominated class with broad oral explanation. The
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did not have time to share their ideas about the passage freely. Moreover, the
teacher’s explanation was considered fast. Third, the class condition is not alive,
uninspiring and boring. Instead of having made a crowd in the class, students
stayed silent when they were in reading class. Most of them could not participate
actively in reading class.
Knowing this condition, Peer Tutoring is selected to solve the problem. It
is so because first, the students work in pairs to help one another learn the material
being studied. This technique gives both students the opportunity to better
understand it. In other words, they have more opportunities to practice what they
are learning by talking about what they are learning. The students gain a deeper
understanding of how to apply the skills and lessons.
Second, students receive feedback and error correction immediately and
more frequently. In large group or teacher-directed settings, it is impossible to
provide feedback and error correction to every student for every response. With
peer tutoring, students receive feedback and correction immediately for every
response.
Third, students are engaged in active learning, not passive learning. For
example, when using peer tutoring, students are actively asking each other
questions, responding with answers, correcting mistakes, and providing positive
feedback, as opposed to simply watching and listening to the teacher (passive
learning). Active learning has been shown to be more effective in promoting
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Fourth, many students tend to learn more and experience more
engagement and “on-task” behavior when instruction is at a brisk pace. Peer
tutoring allows for a faster pace as students are more frequently responding to
academic material than in a large-group setting.
Fifth, students are more “on-task” and motivated to learn, which means
they are less likely to engage in behaviors that are disruptive or problematic. For
example, students ask more questions at the tutorials and that hardly happen in
lectures where there are over 40 students sitting in the class.
Sixth, Peer tutoring provides students with valuable opportunities to
practice their social skills in a structured environment, whereby the teacher can
directly monitor social interaction and provide feedback as necessary.
G. Action Hypothesis
Based on the rationale described above, action hypothesis can be
formulated that Peer tutoring technique is considered as a technique that is
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Research Setting
1. Time of the Research
This research is carried out in ten months from July 2010 until February
2011. Preliminary observation as the first stage was conducted on July. The
second step was designing research proposal that was conducted on August until
September 2010. On October, seminar on research proposal was held. The next
stage was making research instruments. This was on October as well. November
2010 until January 2011 was the time for giving treatment and collecting the data.
Writing research report was conducted in January 2011- February 2011. Finally,
collecting research report was on February 2011. The research schedule is as
follows:
Table 3.1 Research Schedule
MONTH ACTIVITIES
July-September 2010
October 2010
November 2010 – January
2011
January- February 2011
Preliminary Observation and Designing Research
Proposal
Seminar on Research Proposal and Making Research
Instruments
Giving Treatment And Collecting The Data
Writing Research Report and Collecting Research
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2. Place of the Research
The place of the Research is IKIP PGRI Madiun, located on Jl. Setiabudi
85, Madiun. This university is one of the favorite universities in Madiun. There
are about 8, 000 students who come from different regions, such as Ngawi,
Magetan, Ponorogo, Madiun itself and so on. IKIP PGRI Madiun has eleven
departments including English Teaching Department. Department of English
Teaching has big number of students compared with those of other departments.
There are four grades in academic year 2010/2011. Each grade consists of eight
classes. So, the total number of the class is thirty two classes.
The facilities which are provided by this university are complete and good
enough. Two English Laboratories and two microteaching laboratories are
available for the English Teaching Department students. However, these facilities
are only occupied by the students who are on the certain subjects such as listening
and seminar class. Besides, there are internet, air conditioner, and a central library
which provides a lot of books which are needed by the students.
B. Research Subjects
The subject of this classroom action research is 1G, the first grade students
of English Teaching Department, in the academic year of 2010-2011 that consists
of 40 students. There are fourteen male students and twenty six female students in
Class 1G. The reasons for choosing this class as research subjects are the students
of Class 1G had low reading competence and their attitude toward reading
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their silence during the class. Furthermore, they are in negative response when
they are asked the questions. Another reason is that the students have no interest
and curiosity in reading class. They are often late to come. Even, they talk about
unrelated topic during the class process. In addition, the students’ cooperation is
low. As they get the group-task, they have no courage to share ideas with friends.
They tend to work individually. Another important consideration is about their
ability in comprehending the content of the text, finding main idea, and organizing
the clues of each paragraph. Based on my personal reflection and observation, it
can be concluded that the technique should be changed since the last teaching
learning process made students passive by dominating the class with broad oral
explanation. The students had lack of time for practice both as groups or
individuals. So, in this classroom action research, Peer tutoring technique is used
to solve students’ problems in reading comprehension. By using Peer tutoring
technique, it is hoped that they can increase students’ reading comprehension.
C. Research Method
The research method used in this study was Classroom Action Research
(CAR). The definition of CAR based on Kemmis in Hopkin (1993: 44) is
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From the definition above it can be concluded that research in this study
means the systematic study of attempts to improve the teaching learning process
in order that the students’ achievement becomes satisfying. In fact, the students’
capability in comprehending reading passage in Class 1G is still unsatisfying.
In order to achieve the purpose of study, there are several steps that would
be applied in action research. Each step has five stages: planning, actions,
observations, reflection; and revised of planning (Kemmis and Taggart in
Hopkins, 1998:48). These five stages take place in an ongoing cycle in which the
critical reflection is done at every end of cycle in order to make a further revision
and planning.
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The procedure that is described shows that the plan is made by considering
the fact findings from the preliminary observation. Then, the teacher as the
researcher conducts Peer Tutoring technique in teaching reading.
The selection of CAR is based on some characteristics. They are as
follows: first, Action research is contextual, small scale, and localized. It identifies
and investigates problems within a specific situation. Second, it is evaluative and
reflective as it is aimed at bringing out change and improvements in practice.
Third, it is participatory as it provides for collaborative investigation by team of
colleagues, practitioners, and researcher. Fourth, change in practice is based on
the collection of information or data which provide the stimulus for change.
The researcher used CAR for some reasons. First, the characteristics of
CAR are focusing on solving problems in the class or specific situation. Second, it
is a form of self-reflective undertaken by the teacher to improve the teaching
learning process and to improve his or her professionalism in teaching. Third, the
cycle will be done until the improvement occurs. Fourth, it is one way to improve
the students’ capability in comprehending reading passage.
D. Research Procedures
The research applied some procedures as follows:
1. General Plan
In this first stage, the researcher identified the problems referring to teaching
and learning process in my classroom. In this case, the problems were related
