CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background of the Problem
English is one of the important subjects that should be mastered by the
students. The students have to
realize that they need
English to compete in this modern era. The English skills that should be mastered by the students are speaking,
reading, listening and writing but reading as one of those basic skills have a
crucial role in learning English because it is a fundamental skill that allows a person to be able to wide knowledge.
Being successful in teaching English is the
dominant factor that the English teacher should pay attention to, especially in
teaching reading. Through reading, one can enhance experience, develop new
concept, solve problem, and
broaden his horizon of thinking, which are needed to ensure continuing personal
growth and adopt the change in the world yet the importance of reading has not
been realized by most of our society a large number of our population is
classified as poor readers and the majority of the people are content to read
materials of poor quality.
In reading comprehension, the message to be
imposed in the written form is the most important element that the students
must recognize, because the primary purpose of reading is to know the thoughts
expressed in the printed material. Thus, reading with comprehension is only a way for the students
to arrive at what they want to know from the reading material. However, the
problem is how to make them comprehend
Reading is an activity to get the information and the meaning of the text by involving the background knowledge. Background knowledge has been described as the main key to
comprehend the text. Background knowledge or prior knowledge is defined as what
someone already knows about the subject which helps him in gaining new
information. The interaction with parents and other caregivers help them to
establish what they think about the world and the things, including reading,
school, and studying. So, the students need to
integrate the new material into their existing knowledge base, construct the
new understanding, and adapt the existing conceptions while they are reading
the text.
Comprehending the text is not an easy task. The students have to understand the meaning of
vocabulary and the pattern of the sentences and the paragraphs. Moreover, the students need to be engaged with their thought while
they are reading. So that, reading is not a passive skill.[1] When the reader reads the
text, they need to recognize and analyze the text.
For instance, the students recognize the signal words which help them to relate the idea between sentence and paragraph. Then they have to analyze the text in order to find the information on
it.
Based on the observation done by the researcher to the students and the interview with the English teacher in MAN Batumandi Tilatang Kamang, most of the students got
problems in comprehending the reading texts. First, it
was difficult for the students to comprehend the text because they have limited vocabularies.
They got low grade in English test. It can
be seen from the result of examination given
by the teacher.
They did not understand
the most of meaning of vocabularies. Second, it was
difficult for them to study independently .
When they study about English especially comprehending the reading text
individually, they do not understand
the meaning of the text. They just received everything from
the teacher. So, the students needed
teacher to help them in studying. Without teacher, the students do not
know anything. Therefore, they needed other friends to help them in understanding the text. Third, the
students comprehended the text by translating word by word. When they found
difficult words, they directly checked the meaning
of the word
from the dictionary. They had to combine word by word to get the idea
from the text. When the teacher gave text to the students, they got the meaning by translating the
sentences from the first word to the last word without understanding the meaning
of these sentences and do not get the main
idea when they read the text. The teacher always suggested the
students to guess the ideas from the text, but they did not do what their
teacher said. The last problem was related to the teachers’ techniques. The
teacher asked the students to read the text, and then the teacher explained
about the text type and the generic structure. After that, the teacher asked
the students individually to answer the certain questions which are related to
the reading text.
Unfortunately, this way of teaching was not interesting for the students.
Therefore, the students felt bored.
To prevent the students from getting bored and making
them become interested in reading comprehension that the teacher needs to use the appropriate strategies or models, give motivation, making good condition in the class, and so on. In
teaching reading comprehension of MAN Batumandi Tilatang Kamang, the teachers have to teach by using the conventional model
(individual model). It means that the teacher asks students to study
dependently. Therefore, the students are expected to have a good comprehension
on reading text. The appropriate strategy or instructional model can influence
the students to understand the text such as
recount, procedure, explanation and narrative text. Many
instructional models can develop reading comprehension; there are individual, pairs, small group, and large group and it depends on the class instructional objectives.[2]
In this
research, the researcher uses instructional model of
small group discussion to comprehend narrative text, because the students had
learned narrative text in the previous semester. Small group discussion refers to a small group of
people who thereby communicate face to face, in order to fulfill a common
purpose and achieve a group goal.[3] Small group discussion allows everyone to
be the participants. All members in the group can give and share their opinions.
Students are often more comfortable in that group because the members in small
group discussion consist of 5 members only.[4] They have opportunities
and more time to share their information and opinion with others. The students
can understand the ideas of the text easier because small group discussion can
identify the gaps in knowledge. Different students have different assumption and
argument about the text. So that, the ability of each students in a small group
discussion can be seen and explored well by focusing on one text and by sharing
the information and idea about the text to other member in their group. To increasing their vocabulary, they must write the
difficult word in their lesson book and memorize that before they enter to the
class and begin the lesson.
Base on the advantages of the small group strategy, the researcher
assumed that the small group strategy can solve the students’ problem in
reading above, therefore the researcher assumed that the small group strategy
can improve students’ reading comprehension skill. Thus, the researcher was interested in conducting a
research with the
title: “The effect of using small group discussion towards
students’ reading
comprehension on narrative text at the first grade of MAN Batumandi Tilatang Kamang.”
[2] [2] Linda Markstein, Developing Reading Skills Beginning, ( Heinle and Heinle
Publishers, USA 1994), second edition
[3] Ernes Borman G, Discussion
And Group Methods Theory And Practice (New York: Harper &
Row Publishers,Evanston,
San Fransisco, London. 1975) P. 3
[4] Csete, Josie. Facilitating Small Group Discussions Educational Development Unit Lunchtime Topic.November 25, 1998.
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