13 TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION USING “SAVE THE LAST WORD FOR ME” STRATEGY TO THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 7 PALEMBANG M. Holandiyah Putri Okva Utami UIN Raden Fatah Palembang ABSTRACT: The objective of this study were to find out whether or not there is any significant difference on students’ reading comprehension achievement taught using Save the Last Word for Me strategy and teacher’s method that usually used by the teacher to the eighth grade students of SMP N 7 Palembang. This study used quasi- experimental design using nonequivalent pretest-posttest design. The population of the study was all the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 7 Palembang. The sample of the study was taken by using convenience sampling method. The total number of the sample was 79 students, 40 students belonged to experimental group and 39 students belonged to control group. In collecting data, the writer used test. The test was given twice to experimental and control groups, as a pretest and posttest. To verify the hypotheses, the data pretest and posttest of the experimental and control groups were analyzed by using independent sample t-test in SPSS program. The finding showed that the p-output (sig.(2-tailed)) was 0.000 lower than 0.05 and the t-value 13.956 was higher than t-table 1.9908. So, it could be stated that the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. The analysis could infer that there was any significant difference between the students who were taught by using Save the Last Word for Me strategy and those who were not taught by Save the Last Word for Me strategy. Key words: Save the Last Word for Me strategy, teaching reading comprehension Introduction Brown (2007:6) states that language is a means of communication. All people use their own language based on where they live. People learn languages in order to be able communicate and interact in different linguistics context. Without language, we can not communicate well, even we can not understand each other. It means that in order to be succesful in communicating, we have to be able to choose one language that we need for communicate. In learning English, there are four skills should be mastered, one of the skills which most important for the students is reading. Kyzykeeva (2006:1) states that reading is the most important academic language skill for foreign language students. In 14 other words, in academic rules, reading is assumed to be central means for learning new information and gaining access to alternative explanations and interpretations. Reading is a process of extracting a messsage from a text which has been constructed by a writer using orthographic symbols (Murphy, 1997:2). A writer encodes a message, a reader decodes it. Reading is also a physiological process. Since the human eye cannot see clearly objects that are in motion across the field of vision, a reader’s eye jumps from one spot to the other, recording separate images, each containing groups of letters and larger combination. Teaching reading nowadays is directly faced to some problems. After doing the informal interview of the teachers of English and some students at the eighth grade students of SMP N 7 Palembang, there were students who were not interested in reading. The writer found that the students faced difficulties in comprehending the text. Some factors caused the failure of students in reading achievement. Firstly, it is about pronunciation. They do not exactly how to pronounce the word, it is hard for them to pronounce the word correctly. Secondly, the students lack of vocabulary, they do not know the meaning of words. It means that the students just read without knowing what the text about, and it can make them get bored in reading process. The students feel comportable if there is something new in their reading class activity. From the facts above, the writer tries to find out the solution how to solve the problems above. The writer found the strategy that can be applied by the teacher to improve the students’ reading comprehension achievement. The strategy is Save the Last Word for Me (Burke and Harste, 1996), devised by buehl (2001), This strategy encourages readers to take an active stance during reading. Save the Last Word for Me allows readers the opportunity to construct their own interpretations and to compare them with other readers. It means, the students should have critical thinking in comprehend the text. Moreover, the students discuss with their partner in group discussion, each group have new idea. The students write their idea in card note. After they comprehend they make good summary in text and share with other friends to more comprehend the text. In addition save the last word for me give a chance for the students participant in group discussion, each students has write their ideas and not depend of the other friend. 15 The writer assumed that using Save the Last Word for Me strategy is a guidance for the teacher in teaching reading. The Save the Last Word for Me strategy can motivate the students’ interest in learning reading because they have shared of the other friend. Moreover it can make the students spend not much time in answering the questions because they have shared and develop their knowlegde in classroom about the text. Therefore, if Save the Last Word for Me strategy is used effectively, students will be helped to understand the text and passage which they learn. It is related to what Wiget (2013), Entitle “The Effect Of Using Save The Last Word For Me Strategy Toward Students’ Reading Comprehension”, She found that Save the Last Word for Me can improved the students reading skill in reading comprehension. Based on the description above, the writer was interested in conducting a research entitled “Teaching Reading Comprehension using Save the Last Word for Me strategy to the eighth grade students of SMP N 7 Palembang”. Concept of Teaching In Islam, teaching is very important to transfer some knowladge to the others. In holy Qur’an verse Al-Kahf no. 66, it says: Meaning : “Mûsa (Moses) said to him (Khidr) "May I follow you so that you teach me something of that knowledge (guidance and true path) which you have been taught (by Allah)?" Based on the verse above teaching is an interactive action between the giver (teachers) and the receiver (pupils). The receiver will get some experience and knowladge of the giver. The receiver could be apply the knowladge in daily life. Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the students to learn, setting condition for learning (Brown, 2007:8). It means that the students must be active in learning process, because teaching is the ability by which the teacher guides and gives lesson by setting condition to create effective learning activities. In addition, teaching is an activity to transfer the knowledge to the students. According to Pica (1992:4) as cited in (Saleh, 1997:19) teaching is an interactive process between the teacher and students and among students themselves. In line with this, teaching has been 16 recognized as a profession because it is an occupation that requires advance education and special training. Concept of Reading Based on the verse above that the first message from Allah SWT to messenger Muhammad SAW is an obligation to read. It means that reading is very important in education field. The people will give much information and knowladge by reading a lot. According to Snow (2002:11), reading comprehension is the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing through interaction and involvement with written language. When we pick up the newspaper and read about the latest election results, call up a web site and read direction on installing a new light switch, or grab a novel off the shelf of the local bookstore, we are using our reading comprehension skills to gather information from text. According to Snow (2002:10), reading comprehension is usually a primary focus of instruction in the post-primary grades, after readers have largely mastered word recognition skills, although comprehension of text should be an integral part of reading instruction with beginning readers as well. Moreover, instruction is in oral language, vocabulary, and listening comprehension should be a focus starting in preschool and continuing throughout the elementary grades. Concept of Reading Comprehension Comprehension is a strategy process by which readers construct or assign meaning to a text by using the clues in the text and their own prior knowledge, Cooper (2000:11). The readers need to comprehend the reading text and understand what they read because comprehend the reading is an active thinking process that depends not only on comprehension skills, but also on the readers’ experiences and prior knowledge. In order to comprehend the reading text, the readers not just transfering the printed symbol from page to the brain but the readers have to comprehend the content of what the readers read. So, reading comprehension is the interaction between a reader and a writer which the reader tries to reconstruct the writer’s massage closely related to all major languages arts (listening, speaking, and writing) for examples, students can learn much 17 about their language while being taught reading skills. The students not only read the text but also they have to find and understand the written information or message from the text. Based on the previous explanation, the writer assumed that teaching reading comprehension means teaching students to improve their reading skill. It is conducted in order to find a strategy of teaching and learning that occurs, especially, in the teaching of reading skills. Concept of Save the Last Word for Me Strategy In this research, the researcher introduces one of strategies that can be used for reading activity. The strategy is Save the Last Word for Me (Burke and Harste, 1996), devised by buehl (2001) Save the Last Word for Me is a useful strategy in all content areas. With this strategy, students are encouraged to take an active role in selecting and responding to sections of a text that they find interesting or about which they have a reaction. They then have an opportunity to discuss their choices with other students. Save the Last Word for Me is strategy in reading. The students should have critical thinking in comprehend the text. Moreover, the students discuss with their partner in group discussion, each group have new idea. The students write their idea in card note. After they comprehend they make good summary in text and share with other friends to more comprehend the text. In addition save the last word for me give a chance for the students participant in group discussion, each students has write their ideas and not depend of the other friend. Concept of Narrative text Save the Last Word for Me strategy can be used in Narrative text. Based on the syllabus in second semester for the eighth grade students, kinds of texts are Narrative. According to Cooper (2000:13), narrative text tells a story and is the type usually found in short stories and novels. Narrative text- often fiction in which the values are used to describe and / or to explain human behavior. Meanwhile, Wahidi (2009:7) states that narrative is a text focusing specific participants. It is social function is to tell stories or past events and entertain the readers. Narrative deals with problematic events which lead to a crisis or turning point of some kind, which in turn finds a resolution. The basic 18 purpose of narrative is to entertain, to gain and hold a readers’ interest. There are five generics structure of narrative. They are: Orientation, evaluation, complication, resolution, reorientation. The characteristics of narrative text are: tells a story, contains well- developed characters, contains a setting describing where or when the story takes places, contains a carefully fashioned plot with a problem and resolution, contains a theme that explains the meaning of the story, contains vocabulary used to enrich understanding of the story, may be written in first, second, or third person. Research Design In this study, quasi experimental method was used. The design involved an experimental and a control group in which both were given pretest and posttest which will be administered by using SPSS 16. The writer used quasi experimental design, non- equivalent pretest-posttest groups design. In this study, there were experimental and control groups. The experimental group was taught by using Save the Last Word for Me strategy. Meanwhile, the control group was taught the method that is usually used by the teacher. Each of them consisted of 79 students. The research design used in educational research can be represented as Best and khan (1995:151): O1 X O2 O3 C O4 Where: O1 : Pre-test of experimental group X : Treatment for experimental group by using Save the Last Word for Me strategy O2 : Post-test of experimental group O3 : Pre-test of control group C : Teacher’s method that used by the teacher at school O4 : Post-test of control group Population and Sample The population of this study was conducted at the eighth grade students of SMP N 7 Palembang in academic year 2013-2014. There are nine classes for eighth grade students. The mounts of students of SMP N 7 Palembang especially for eighth grade 19 students are 359 students that consist of 199 students for male and 160 students for females. In this study, convenience sampling was used. The total amounts of sample of this study were taken from two classes of the eighth grade students were selected as the sample VIII.7 and VIII.9, and both of classes have low interest in learning English especially in reading comprehension, therefore the writer was interested in applying Save the Last Word for me strategy to improve their reading comprehension. Techniques for Collecting Data In collecting the data, the writer used following steps: a. Tests Brown (2000:384) stated that a test is method of measuring a person’s ability, knowledge, and performance in a given domain. In this study, there were two kinds of test that were given to the students. The purpose of giving test is to know the situation, knowledge, ability and performance of the students. They were pre-test and post-test. a. Pre-test The pre-test was given before doing the treatment to the experimental and control groups. Pre-test was given to find out the students ability in responding the conducted before the treatment was given. b. Post-test Post-test was given at the end of treatment to the experimental and control groups. Post-test was given to find out the students ability in responding the conducted after the treatment was given. Validity Test The analysis is done to the instrument of the research before used in pretest and posttest activity. a) Construct Validity Validity refers to the appropriateness, meaningfulness, correctness, and usefulness of the inferences a researcher makes. The validity is the most important idea to consider when preparing or selecting an instrument for use (Fraenkel, et. al, 2012: 147). Fraenkel, et. al, (2012: 148) state that construct validity refers to the nature of the 20 psychological construct or characteristic being measured. The writer asked her lecturer as a validators to estimate her instruments. There were three validators to validate her research instrument. The three validator are Annisa Astrid, M.Pd as the first validator, Muhammad Holandyah, M.pd as the second validator and Manalulaili, M.Ed as the third validator. From the result of three validators analysis of instrument test, it can be stated that her test instrument and lesson plan were appropriate for her research study. It means that the instruments of reading test was appropriate to be tested to the students. b) Validity of Each Questions Item In this study, the writer had already tried out her research instruments to 30 students of SMP NU Palembang which contains 15 males and 15 females. There were 60 questions given to the students. The result of the test was analyzed using Pearson Correlation formula. From Pearson Correlation formula, it was also found that there were only forty test items from sixty were valid. The result analysis of validity of each question item using Pearson Correlation in SPSS 16 was found that there were 19 questions considered invalid. They are questions item number 2, 4, 8, 11, 13 , 16, 17 , 21, 23, 26, 30, 34, 35, 38, 41, 48, 49, 57 since the score of significance are lower than 0.361. Then, 41 questions item were considered valid. They are questions item number 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59 since the score of significance are higher than 0.361. Since there were 41 questions are considered valid, the writer just took 40 valid questions item and one item was deleted. c) Content Validity According to Hughes (1989:22), a test is said to have content validity if its content constitutes a representative sample of the language skills, structure, etc. with which it is meant to be concerned. In order to judge whether or not a test has content validity, a specification of the skills or structures should be made based on the curriculum and syllabus. Reliability Test 21 Reliability test measures whether research instrument used for pretest and posttest activities is reliable or not. The scores of reliability are obtained from tryout analysis which is done twice using Test- Retest with the same sample and instrument. Fraenkle et. al, (2012:154) explain that reliability refers to the consistency of the scores obtained how consistent they are for each individual from one administration of an instrument to another and from one set of items to another. To measure the test retest method, Pearson correlation coefficient found in SPSS. Then, the writer gave 40 multiple choice question for the eleventh grade students’ in SMP NU Palembang. Normality The function of normality test is to know whether the sample is normal or not. In this study to know the normality of the sample was used one sample kolmogronovsmrinov in using SPSS 16.0. The data are obtained from students’ pre-test and post-test scores in control group, pre-test and post-test scores in experimental group. IThe writer used 1- sample kolmogorov-smirnov test to analyze the normality. The result showed that the pretest in control and experimental groups were 0.757 and 0.651. Then, in posttest in control and experimental groups were 1.926 and 1.035. it can be concluded that the data were considered normal since they are higher than 0.25. Homogeneity Test The function of homogeneity test is to determine the students’ scores are homogeneous or not. In this study to know the homogeneity of the sample was used levene statistics by using SPSS 16.0. the homogeneity test to measure students’ pretest and posttest score in control and experimental group in analyzing the homogeneity, the writer used levene statistic. The result showed that the pretest scores was 1.471 and posttest scores 1.320 it can be conluded that the data was homogeneous since the score was higher than 0.05. Result of Hypothesis Testing A significant effect is found from testing students’ posttest to posttest scores in control and experimental group using regression linear. A Significant effect is found whenever the p-output was lower than significant t-table at 0.05 level. The result of the regression 22 analysis showed that f-obtained was 5.669 and the p-output was 0.000. therefore, the value of f-obtained was higher than citical of t-table (1,9913) and the p-output was lower than 0.05. consequently, the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. It means that there was a significant difference on students’ reading comprehension achievement taught using Save the Last Word for me strategy and strategy that usually used by teacher of SMP N 7 Palembang. Conclusion ased on the finding and interpretation in the previous chapter, it can be concluded as follows: First, there was a significant difference from students’ posttest scores in experimental group taught using Save the Last Word for me strategy and control group taught using teacher’s method. Second, the result of teaching narrative text ability in experimental group was significantly higher than control group. It can see from the result of experimental. So it can be concluded the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. Third, it was improvement on students’ reading comprehension. The researcher assumed that Save the Last Word for me strategy has increased the score in students reading ability because it can stimulate, develop, and improve reading comprehension of the students at SMP N 7 Palembang. REFERENCES Arikunto, S. (2010). Prosedur Penelitian. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta. Basrowi & Soenyono. (2007). Metode Analisis Data Sosial. 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