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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of The Study
Reading is a way to get the information and knowledge in books, magazines, newspapers, and other material. In reading comprehension, the students need concentration and skill in comprehending the text. Thus, the readers not only have to know the meaning of words but also be able to comprehend the meaning contains in texts.
According to McNamara (2007), reading comprehension is a product of complex interaction between the properties of the text and what readers bring to the reading situation. Students must be active in reading to catch the required points from written texts. It is a strategy and process of making a connection between ideas in the text material and the student’s mind or idea.
Smith, Banton, and Robinson (in Surjosuseno, 2011) stated that reading comprehension means the understanding, evaluating, and utilizing of information gained through an interaction between the reader and the author. From the definition above, we can say that reading comprehension is the way to understand the meaning of the text in written language. It is because reading is an important skill. By reading, students will get a lot of useful information for their learning.
Reading as one of the language skills, should be mastered well by the students because reading is an essential factor that influences one’s activity in communication. Reading is a part of daily life for those who live in literate
communities. People consider reading as an important activity so that people usually say that reading is the way to open the world. Reading is an interesting activity because, by reading, people can get some information widely without going anywhere.
Report text, as one of the genres which are taught in ninth grade of junior high school, is a piece of text that talks about animal and location. The report gives information about a subject which is being the topic of the text, but students have some difficulties in learning this material. The students usually do not know about the kinds of topics that can be chosen and how to develop them to produce a report text. The students lacked in reading English text because they are not used to it.
Nurhalimah, Subroto, and Askurny (2021) stated that the students cannot learn English because they think it is difficult. This will lead to a lack of vocabulary that will affect their comprehension toward the text and this problem will make the students confused to understand the meaning of the text that they read.
According to the School-Based Curriculum, some genres are taught in Junior High School. They are narrative, recount, descriptive, report, and procedure.
In this research, the researcher chose report text as a genre of reading text to research on reading comprehension, because the reading comprehension of report text of the students of SMP Negeri 2 Bintan is still not good enough. As we know a report text is an information report in a form of factual text, which means provides information about something. An information report is used as a way to gain a better understanding of a living or non-living subject.
The basic competence about reading stated in the syllabus of this school is that the students have to be able to get meaning contextually about social function, the structure of the text, and language features of the text. In teaching reading activity, the teacher asks the students to pay attention when reading the report text.
Students will try to understand the text about social function, generic structure, and language features. At the end of the lesson, students will be asked to rewrite the story about the text that had been read before.
Based on the researcher’s observation during PLP (Pengenalan Lingkungan Sekolah) from August to December 2019 at SMP Negeri 2 Bintan, the researcher found that students lack of reading the English text, students’ lack of vocabulary, students not attracted to read English text and students were confused to understand the meaning of the English text. Then, from the explanation above, the researcher is interested in doing the research entitled: An Analysis on Students’ Reading Comprehension of Report Text at SMP Negeri 2 Bintan.
1.2 Identification of The Problem
Based on the background above, the researcher identifies some problems that exist at SMP Negeri 2 Bintan.
1. Students not interested in English text.
2. Students are confused to understand the meaning of the English text.
3. Students’ lack of reading English text.
4. Students’ lack of vocabulary.
1.3 Limitation of The Problem
Based on the identification of the problem, the researcher limits the problem to be investigated to analyze students reading comprehension on report text about the animal at SMP Negeri 2 Bintan.
1.4 Research Question
Referring to the limitation of the problem, the writer would like to state the research question as follow:
How is the student’s reading comprehension ability in report text at SMP Negeri 2 Bintan?
1.5 Purpose of The Research
To know the student’s reading comprehension in report text at SMP Negeri 2 Bintan.
1.6 Significance of The Research
The significance of this research is as follows:
1.6.1 Theoretically
This research is expected to contribute through analysis of students in reading comprehension of report text.
1.6.2 Practically
1. Teacher
This research can be a reference for teachers to improve the teaching process in the class to increase students’ reading skill.
2. Students
From this research, the students can improve their ability in reading skill.
3. Readers
From this research, the reader can know to make students have the ability to comprehend a text in English
4. Researcher
From this research, the result of this research can be useful for other researchers for further research.
1.7 Definition of The Key Term
1. Reading comprehension is the process of understanding and acquiring meaning from the text.
2. Report text is a text which contains about animals.
