CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background
English in Indonesia become one of the compulsory subject lessons
starting from the Junior High School level up to the university level. Focusing on
the lowest level- Junior High School level, of English as the compulsory subject,
it is undeniable the English is highly important to be mastered by the senior high
school students. Students mastery of English will be needed not only for the
present needs but also for the future needs. To do so, there are four main skills in
English that should be mastered by the students they are listening, speaking,
reading and writing (Wilis Aurm Ningtyas 2015: 1).
Reading is one of the English skills which are essential to be mastered by
the students. Reading skills are necessary for students in acquiring knowledge and
new information. Reading comprehension is one aspect of language skills that
must be mastered by the student.
One of the fields of activities and teaching materials in English in high
school which plays an important role is learning read. Reading is a process that is
carried out and used by the reader to get the massage, which is to be conveyed by
writer through the media of word or written language (Tarigan, 2008:7). The
purpose of reading is to understand the contents can achieve that goal. Many kids
who can read fluently a reading material but not understand to the contents of the
reading material (Mulyono Abdurahman, 2003: 201).
Based on the researcher observations in SMA Negeri 5 Palopo, the first
grade students skill in English reading comprehension is still low. The teacher
said low skills of students in reading comprehension is marked by when students
are given reading material, then students are asked to read, then given questions
around the contents of the reading, student cannot answer quickly and must open
the reading material that he has read.
The student ability in reading comprehension can be caused by several
factors, both factors from the teacher and from and students. One of the factors
that cause low levels of reading comprehension is low reading interest which
tends to be influenced by strategy used still conventional teachers. As a result
students are less motivated and consider reading learning to be boring. Therefore
reading comprehension skills of first grade students SMA Negeri 5 Palopo need to
be improved by using effective and fun learning strategies.
One strategy that can be used to overcome weakness conventional strategy
is a Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA). Stauffer’s (1969) said that
Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) is the most appropriate strategy that
meets the requirement of comprehension (build schemata, provide opportunities in
using reading strategy, and enable the students to plan, monitor, and evaluate their
reading process) and is suitable for reading informational text.
In this strategy, students are asked to given their predictions about what is
contained in the reading text before learning with how to predict reading titles,
and during learning activities take during learning activities takes place by
predicting a series image, so that massage the discourse can be understood by
students (Rahim, 2009: 48). In this DRTA strategy, students collaborate in groups
heterogeneous groups for predicting titles and images, looking for ideas principal,
main trough characters and matters relating to reading text.
Therefore, to solve the problems of reading comprehension skills need to
revise through learning strategies that can attract students and to make students’
motivate to improve their skills. In here I suggest a strategy Direct Reading
Thinking Activity (DRTA) as one of the strategies to improve students' reading
comprehension skills. Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy is
one of the strategies in the teaching of reading comprehension. Strategies Directed
Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) focusing student engagement with the text,
because students have to predict and prove when the students read. In teaching
reading comprehension, students can find the main ideas in the text.
Based on the background above, researchers focused entitled "Increasing
Reading Comprehension Through Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)
Strategy for the First Grade Students of SMA Negeri 5 Palopo in the Academic
Year of 2019”.
1.2 Problem Statement
Based on the background above, the research question as follow: What is
the Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy can improve reading
comprehension at first grade students of SMA Negeri 5 Palopo?
1.3 Objective of the Research
The objective of this study is: To improve reading comprehension through
Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy in first grade students of
SMA Negeri 5 Palopo.
1.4 Significance of the Research
The results of this study are expected to provide good benefits theoretical
and practical. The benefits are as follows:
1. Theoretical benefits
The results of this study can contribute to thinking regarding improvement of
learning strategies in general and used of strategies Directed Reading Thinking
Activity (DRTA) to improve reading comprehension skills in first grade students
of SMA Negeri 5 Palopo.
2. Practical benefits
a. For students, Increasing students learning spirit in learning reading
comprehension through Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) and
Increasing students reading skills understanding.
b. For teacher, as the consideration for the teacher in choosing a strategy
learning that will be used in learning English. Can be used as input material for
improve reading comprehension skills English subjects in first grade students of
SMA Negeri 5 Palopo so that they are created active and fun learning.
1.5 Scope of the Research
The researcher focuses on increasing students comprehension in reading
by using Directed Reading Thingking Activity (DRTA).
1.6 Operational Definition
To get the general understanding about the title of the research, the
researcher gives the definition of same important terms related to the title:
1. Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand it is
meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows.
2. Reading strategy DRTA (Directed Reading Thinking Activity) is a
strategy of reading and thinking directly, so students can focus on the text
and predict the contents of the story by proving it when reading.
3. Strategy is a pattern that is planned and established intentionally to carry
out activities or actions. Strategy activities, content activities, process
activities, and means of supporting activities.