Mini research

Students’ perception on teaching/learning Reading Comprehension in MTsN 1 Indrapuri

By Najmiatul Fauza

Abstract :

 Reading is a skill that enables readers to acquire knowledge and information from the text that they have read. In the process of learning, students apply different kinds of learning styles to absorb the information. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the perception of second  year students of Islamic Junior High School 1 Indrapuri (MTsN I Indrapuri) towards the  their activities, objectives in learning reading comprehension. The respondents of this research are second year students in second semester of academic year 2016/2017  which consists of 20 students. Three sets of questionnaire containing 13 items were distributed to the respondents to analyze their perspective about learning  reading comprehension.  The method used is survey method. Discussions on recommendations for further research have been made as reference for other researchers who are interested in carrying out researches in this field.

Keywords : students’ perception, reading comprehension

I.                    Introduction

Reading is one important way to improve our general language in English because it helps learners learn to think in English, enlarge the English vocabulary and improve the writing. It is also a good way to practice the English if learners live in a non English- speaking country . Reading can help learners to prepare their study in an English speaking country and a good way to find out about new ideas, facts and experiences. ( Mickulecky and Jeffries: 1996).

Since English in Indonesia is a foreign language, most students at any levels of education get difficulty in reading English texts. Most junior high school graduates are not able to read English with complete comprehension. The Indonesian students need help in reading comprehension. For students, reading is a key to improve learning outcome in many fields of study. Reading comprehension is not only needed for their lesson but it also can improve the score of their national exam.   According to Novita ( 2015, p. 398) stated  many students failed to go to foreign universities because of the low score of their English proficiency test. The test scores do not reach the minimal requirement of passing grade of the universities. The improvement of reading comprehension of the students should be the focus of teaching and learning process in increasing the human quality.  

The writer is interested in conducting this research because the phenomenon  in the reality has shown that in learning process, there are still many problems. From my observation  of  second year students of MTsN Indrapuri in academic year 2016/2017, there are many weaknesses that influence the result of the study, such as: low student’s participant in learning activity, students are not attracted with the teachers way in conveying material  and most of students are not motivated to study.

II. Literature Review

Teaching reading is one of the important components in English class. River (1999)  believes that reading is the most important activity in any language class, not only a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but a means of extending one’s knowledge of the language as well it can be concluded that beside as a source of information, reading also has a lots of advantages in human life to get more knowledge.

It is difficult for us to understand  written materials in foreign language, in this case is English. It is not only cause hardly understanding the topic, but also difficulties in comprehending the sentences of each paragraph. Basicly, the purpose of reading is to understand and get the important ideas and information from the text. It will be useless if the students read without understanding (Sweet, 1997)” without comprehension words or only a series of lifeless symbols. They do not communicate, they do not product learning and they add nothing useful to the students’ life, when learners   understand and interact   with written or printed language. However, the language can summarize the knowledge of word; fulfill many of his or her effective needs. It means that the comprehension is the important element in reading to gain the ideas and information written in the text.

III. Objective of The Study

1.      To identify the students’ perceptions in learning reading  based on their experiences in the classroom, roles of the students and their objective of learning English reading comprehension.

IV. Significance of The Study

This study hopes to find out the student’ perception on learning reading Besides, this study could help the students to discover their own   eagerness in learning reading comprehension. In addition, the findings of the research will contribute some ideas or knowledge to classroom teaching and learning and give the teachers the opportunity to implement  the interesting strategy to attract their students.  

V. Methodology

            5.1. Population and Sample

In this research,  the writer used survey method to conduct this research.  Population is the whole variables related to the problems studied. According to Arikunto (2006) population is the whole subject of the research. In this research the Population are all of the second year students at MTsN Indrapuri, Aceh Besar. Academic-year (2016-2017). There are six classes for the second grade. The total population is 147 students.

Samples are some objects taken from the whole population. As Arikunto(2006) stated that samples are partially or representative of the population studied. In this study, the writer will apply purposive sampling technique. Purposive sampling is a technique of taking resource of data sample based on certain consideration or focusing of the sample. The total sample was 20  of second year students  of MTsN Indrapuri.

            5.2. Research Instruments

The instrument used to collect the data was a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of three main sections. The three  main sections are Section 1: Students’ perception about learning English reading comprehension, objectives,  and teachers’ strategy , Section 2: Students’ experience in learning English language skills, Section 3: Student’ participation in learning reading comprehension. Then, the questionnaire was distributed to each respondent in their classes. The statements of the questionnaire  using Indonesian language to make the respondents easier to understand the purpose of the statements. This questionnaire contains 14 questions, which consists of 4 questions from  section 1, 5 question from section 2 and 4 questions from section 3.

5.2. Data Collection Procedure

To collect the data, the researcher used three sets of questionnaires . So, there are three kinds of scores to be collected, namely one from the first questionnaires, the researcher obtains the items inquiring the students’ perceptions about learning English reading comprehension, objectives,  and teachers’ strategy, while the second questionnaire asking about Students’ experience in learning English language skills and the third questionnaire inquiring student’ roles in learning reading comprehension.

            5.3. Data Analysis

 The data from questionnaires  were  analyzed by using  simple percentage formula :

P = percentage of agreement

f = the number of frequency of the respondent answer

N= the Number of respondent

VI. Result and Discussion

Each item was analyzed separately. A result of this study is given here in 14 tables. The students’perception of learning reading comprehension was evaluated on three basis prescribed by the second year students of MTsN Indrapuri in academic year 2016/2017

1.      Students’perception about learning English reading comprehension, objectives,  and teachers’stretegy.

Table 1.  Learning Reading comprehension of English is very difficult (N=20).

No	Answers’alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
1.	Strongly agree	11	55%
	Agree	5	25%
	Neutral	3	15%
	Disagree	1	5%
	Total	20	100%

Table 1 indicates that students’ perception in question 1, who strongly agree, agree, neutral and disagree with the statement are 11 students or 55%, 5 students or 25%, 3 students or 15% and a student or 5 %. In this way, most of the students are strongly agree that learning reading comprehension of English is very difficult and only a student who disagree with this statement.

Table 2.The strategy applied by the teacher in learning reading English is unattractive (N=20).

No	Answers’ alternative	Frequency	Percentage (%)
2.	Strongly agree	12	60%
	Agree	6	30%
	Neutral	2	10%
	Disagree	-	0%
	Total	20	100%

Table 2 indicates that student’s perception in question 2 about the strategy applied by the teacher is unattractive. The number of students   who strongly agree, agree, neutral and disagree with the statement are12  students or 60%, 6 students or 30%, 2 students or 10% and no one who disagree with the statement. It can be concluded that the strategy used by the teacher in those classes is not attractive enough to attract the students.

Table 3. students learned English reading comprehension in order to answer the questions of  National Examination (N=20).

No	Answers’ alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
3.	Strongly agree	19	95%
	Agree	1	5%
	Neutral	-	0%
	Disagree	-	0%
	Total	20	100%

Table 3 indicates that students’perception about the objective of learning reading comprehension in order to answer the questions of National Examination. 19 students or 95% are strongly agree with the statement, a student or 5% who agree with  the statement and no one who neutral or disagree with the statement. It can be concluded that most of the students learning English reading comprehension is only to pass the examination.

 Table 4. Situation in learning reading comprehension is not fun. (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	Frequency	Percentage (%)
4.	Strongly agree	15	75%
	Agree	3	15%
	Neutral	2	10%
	Disagree	-	0%
	Total	20	100%

Table 4 indicates that students,perception about the situation and environment in learning reading comprehension are not fun.  15 from 20 respondents or 75% are strongly agree with the statement, 3 students or 15% are agree with this statement , 2 students or 10% are neutral about this statement and no one who disagree with the statement. It can be concluded that the situation and environment are not fun enough to make the students feel comfortable in learning reading comprehension.

2.      Students’ experience in learning English language skills.

 Table 5. Playing English language games  (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
1.	Often	-	0%
	Sometimes	2	10%
	Seldom	15	75%
	Never	3	15%
	Total	20	100%

Table 5 indicates that students’ experience in learning English language skills by playing language games. Based on the data above shows that 15 students or 75% from the respondent are seldom learned by playing  language games, 3 students or 15% are never played lnguage games, 2 students or 10% are sometimes played language game to improve their reading comprehension and no one who often play this kind of game in English class.

Table 6. Discussion on the content of the English language texts (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
2.	Often	15	75%
	Sometimes	5	25%
	Seldom	-	0%
	Never	-	0%
	Total	20	100%

According to table 6, the students who often,  sometimes. Seldom and never did discussion about the content of the English reading/text  are 15 respondent or 75%, 5 students or 25%,  and nobody who seldom or never did discussion about the content of English language text.

  Table 7. Reading English texts aloud (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
3.	Often	2	10%
	Sometimes	10	50%
	Seldom	4	20%
	Never	4	20%
	Total	20	100%

Data from table 7 indicates that a respondent or 10% are often performed reading aloud during learning reading comprehension. 10 students or 50% are sometimes did this activity in the classroom and 4 students or 20%  who seldom or never did reading aloud the English reading in English lesson.  

Table 8. Answering question related to the reading from LKS (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
4.	Often	13	65%
	Sometimes	7	35%
	Seldom	-	0%
	Never	-	0%
	Total	20	!00%

Table 8 indicates that students’ experience about answering questions related to the reading from LKS. The data shows that 13 respondent or 65% are often answered the questions from LKS, 7 respondent or 35% are sometimes answered the question from LKS but no one from them who seldom or never answered those questions. It can be concluded that the teacher seldom give other questions except from LKS.

 Table . 9 Reading and giving a title to a text (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	Frequency	Percentage (%)
5.	Often	-	0%
	Sometimes	4	20%
	Seldom	15	75%
	Never	1	5%
	Total	20	100%

  Table 9 indicates that students’ experience about reading and giving a title to a English text. In this way, no body from the respondent who often did this activity in their classroom and most of them or 15 students are seldom did this activity in the classroom.

3.      Students’ participation in learning reading comprehension

 Table 10.  Students participate in English reading class actively (N=20)

No	Answers’alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
1.	Often	9	45%
	Sometimes	8	40%
	Seldom	2	10%
	Never	1	5%
	Total	20	100%

 Table 10  indicates that students’ participation during reading comprehension class. 9 students or 45% are often participated  actively in reading comprehension while 8 students or 40% are sometimes participated actively in the classroom, two students or 10% are seldom participated in the English reading class and unfortunately there is also a student or 5 % who never actively participated in English reading class.

 Table 11. Students observed the example of discourses carefully (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	Frequency	Percentage (%)
2.	Often	7	35%
	Sometimes	6	30%
	Seldom	5	25%
	Never	2	10%
	Total	20	100%

  Table 11 indicates that students’ roles in observing the example of discourses carefully.  7 students or 35 % are often observed the example carefully while 6 students or 30 % are sometimes did this activity during English class, 5 students or 25% are seldom observed the example carefully and there are two students or 10 % who never observed the example carefully. It can be concluded that most of them are not pay much attention to the lesson.

Table 12. Students answered English questions carefully (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
3.	Often	10	50%
	Sometimes	8	40%
	Seldom	2	10%
	Never	-	0%
	Total	20	100%

 According to table 12, 10 students or 50 % are often answered the English reading questions carefully, 8 students or 40 % are sometimes answered it carefully and only two students or 10% who seldom answered the question carefully and fortunately there is no body from the respondent who never answer the English reading questions carefully.

Table 13.  Students figured out materials independently (N=20)

No	Answers’ alternative	frequency	Percentage (%)
4.	Often	2	10%
	Sometimes	3	15%
	Seldom	7	35%
	Never	8	40%
	Total	20	100%

 Table 13  indicates that the students’  activity  in figuring out the materials that they need  independently. 8 students or 40 % are never did this activity in English class and only two students who often figured out the materials by themselves.

            From all tables above , it can be concluded that there are many problems about teaching-learning reading comprehension in MTsN Indrapuri  based on the second year students’ perception. The problems are coming from the teachers’ strategy, environment, students, participation in English reading class and their objective to study reading comprehension are only to pass the National Examination.

VII. Conclusion and Recommendation

This research investigated the perceptions of  learning reading comprehension employed by the second year students of MTsN Indrapuri in academic year 2016/2017. Primary data were collected by distributing questionnaires to 20 students. The following conclusion can be drawn from the study. To begin with, the study has shown that the students   are strongly agree that learning reading comprehension is very difficult. The teacher’s strategy is also not attractive so they did not participate actively during the teaching learning process. the other problems were they often got the question from LKS (students' worksheet) so their ability to answer the questions from other book was very low. The student’s perception on teacher's performance and learning reading comprehension will affect their reading comprehension achievement.  Further studies about this problem are needed to find the students’ problems in learning reading comprehension.

 References

Mickeley, Beatrice and Jeffries, Linda. (1996). More Reading Power. Longman

Novita, P. (2015). The effects of student’s perception on teacher’s performance and learning styles towards student’reading comprehension, Proceeding of The International Conference on Social Science Research. (p. 398). Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Rivers, M. Wilga.(1999). Teaching Foreign Language Skill.USA: The University Of Chicago Press.

Suharsimi, Arikunto.(2006). Prosedur Penelitian:Suatu Pendekatan Praktis,6^th Edition. Jakarta:PT.Rineka Cipta.

Sweet, Quant. (1997).Transforming Ideas for Teaching and Learning to Read.Washington: Office of Educational Research and improvement.

Appendix

Nama :

Kelas :

Tanggal pengisian angket:

1.       Silahkan adik pikirkan tentang pembelajaran mebaca bahasa Inggris, strategi yang guru terapkan dan tujuan mempelajari bahasa memahami teks  bahasa Inggris

1.      Sangat setuju

2.      setuju

3.      netral

4.      tidak setuju

No	Pembelajaran reading, strategi guru dan tujuan	1	2	3	4
1.	Belajar memahami teks bahasa Inggris sangat sulit
2.	Strategi yang guru terapkan dalam pembelajaran bahasa Inggris tidak menyenangkan
3	Saya belajar membaca bahasa Inggris supaya bisa menjawab soal-soal ujian nasional
4.	Situasi dan lingkungan belajar memnaca bahasa Inggris tidak menyenangkan

2.      Silahkan adik pikirkan penalaman mengenai kegiatan membaca di kelas

1.Sering

2. Kadang-kadang

3.                  Jarang

4.                  Tidak pernah

No	Pengalaman mengenai kegiatan membaca di kelas	1	2	3	4
1.	Melakukan pembelajaran dengan permainan
2.	Diskusi mengenai isi teks
3.	Membaca teks dengan nyaring
4.	Menjawab pertanyaan terkait bacaan dari lks
5.	Membaca dan memberikan judul untuk suatu teks

2.  silahkan adik pikirkan tenteng pengalaman belajar adik dan seberapa aktif adik terlibat dalam kegiatan belajar. Berikan tanda centang (Ö) pada kolom yang sesuai dengan keaktifan adik.

1. Sering

2. Kadang-kadang

3. Jarang

4. Tidak pernah

No	Peran sebagai siswa	1	2	3	4
1.	Saya mengikuti kegiatan membaca dengan aktif
2.	Saya mengamati contoh-contoh wacana dengan teliti
3.	Saya menjawab soal-soal dengan aktif
4.	Saya mencari tahu apapun yang saya perlukan secara mandiri