




































1 

 ELT FORUM 5 (1) (2016) 

 

Journal of English Language Teaching 

 

http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt 

 

 

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING ILLUSTRATED FOLKTALE “THE 

PRINCESS FARMER” TO TEACH READING COMPREHENSION OF 

NARRATIVE TEXT 

A Quasi Experimental Research at the Tenth Year Students of SMK Diponegoro 

Juwana in the Academic Year of 2015/2016 

 

Badharul Nurtika Sari  

 

English Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of Semarang. 

 

Aticle Info 

________________ 
Article History: 

Received in February 

2016 

Approved in March 2016 

Published in April 2016 

________________ 
Keywords: 

Illustrated Folktale, Reading 

Comprehension, Narrative 

Text. 

____________________ 

Abstract 
___________________________________________________________________ 
This article is about the use of illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” as a strategy to develop the students’ 

reading comprehension. In order to achieve the objectives of this research, the writer adopted a quasi-experimental 

research design. The subjects of this research were class X-AK 1 and X-AK 2 of SMK Diponegoro Juwana, in 

the academic year of 2015/2016 which consisted of 20 students in each class. In this study X-AK 2 was selected 

as the control group and X-AK 1 was selected as the experimental group. There were 5 meetings in this study. In 

the first meeting, there was pre-test, in the second, third, and fourth meetings there were treatments, and in the 

fifth meeting there was post-test. In order to collect data about students’ reading comprehension of narrative text, 

the writer used pre-test and post-test to know the students’ differences. Besides used test, this study also used 

questionnaire.  The result of this study showed that the use of illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” can 

measure students’ reading comprehension of narrative text well. Based on the result of this study, the writer 

concluded that the use of illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” gave a good contribution in English teaching 

and learning, especially in the area reading comprehension of narrative text. 

 

© 2016 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

 
 Correspondent Address:  

   B3 Building  FBS Unnes  

   Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 

   E-mail: badharul73@gmail.com 

 

 

 

ISSN 2252-6706 



 

Badharul Nurtika Sari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

2 

INTRODUCTION 

In this modern world, we are expected to 

have international education and we have to 

master English as an international language. 

Language is one of the most important tools of 

communication among the nations all over the 

world. Language plays as an essential role in 

thinking and interacting. It has an important role 

in the intelligence, social, and students’ 

emotional development. In Indonesia, English is 

considered as the foreign language and taught 

formally from elementary school up to the 

university level. It is so important since we should 

encourage relationship with all people in the 

world. We have to learn it to go international; to 

have a job in an international company, to study 

in an international college, etc. So, English is 

taught as one of the compulsory subjects in 

Elementary School, Junior High School, and 

Senior High School. 

In Senior High School, English is taught as 

a compulsory subject which functions as a 

medium of student self-development in the area 

of knowledge, art, and culture. Senior High 

School students are prepared to master English 

through the selected themes.  

According to Departemen Pendidikan 

Nasional (2006: 277), the teaching and learning 

of English in Senior High School is expected that 

the students be able to achieve the functional 

literacy level, which they can communicate in 

spoken and written form to solve the daily 

problem. In this literacy level, students are 

expected to be able to use language in simple 

communication, such as reading newspaper, 

signs, etc.  

In teaching reading, the students tend to 

use their own ways of reading. They read 

sentence by sentence to understand the meaning 

of a text. However, reading in English as a foreign 

language is not the same as reading in the 

students’ mother tongue that is Javanese and 

Indonesian. It makes the students encounter 

difficulties in vocabulary, structure, 

pronunciation, etc. Those difficulties sometimes 

make them bored to read. So, reading should be 

enjoyable; otherwise, the exercise would not be 

worth teaching. 

For our students who study English as a 

foreign language, learning English is not easy. It 

needs more effort for the teachers and their 

students. The students see that English is 

completely different with their native language. 

In reading an English text, they have to know 

how to pronounce the words and what the text 

tells about. 

It is hard for the students to read a text or 

a book. They think that reading English is not 

interesting and boring since they do not know the 

meaning of the words and do not find an 

interesting book. Ideally, the students also need 

to have individual time to read outside of the class 

besides studying in the class. They can do the 

activities of reading after school, and it will not 

disturb their school time because the allocation of 

time for English at school is very limited. So, the 

students should be active both in the classroom 

and at home. The students also need many kinds 

of interesting materials so that they feel happy to 

learn English. 

The teachers also need to use some 

interesting techniques to achieve the objectives of 

the study and to attract the students in teaching-

learning process. The teachers as persons who 

know the problems of teaching have to choose an 

appropriate method to teach a theme to their 

students. 

In Senior High School Curriculum, Senior 

High School students have to know various of 

text types or genres. One of them is narrative text. 

The teacher should introduce narrative text to 

their students in the tenth grades of Senior High 

School. 

By reading folktales and other literary texts 

and passages regularly, it is expected that students 

will develop their understanding in narrative. In 

this study, the writer discussed reading skill by 

using an illustrated folktale book “The Princess 

Farmer”, since folktale is one of the interesting 

reading materials for the students. The writer 

chose this book because this book contains of 

pictures and it is also not difficult to get the book. 

It is hoped that the students will be more 

interested in reading English materials. 

Considering the reason above, the writer 

would like to study the method of using 

1 



 

Badharul Nurtika Sari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

3 

illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” in 

teaching reading of narrative text. It is expected 

that the use illustrated folktale will make the 

student easy to study English actually in reading, 

because the student can enjoy the video with its 

interested pictures, sounds, characters, and 

animations. Based on the description above, the 

writer is interested in choosing the title “The 

Effectiveness of Using Illustrated Folktale “The 

Princess Farmer” to Teach Reading 

Comprehension of Narrative Text at The Tenth 

Year Students of SMK Diponegoro Juwana in 

the Academic Year of 2015/2016”. 

 

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 

The study that I examine is a combination 

of some related studies that have been done 

before. The previous studies are concerned with 

the use of pictures, stories and songs as tools for 

constructing situational interest and finally 

helping them to understand English better. 

Cathlena Anna Martin in her journal confirms 

that “most picture books follow a conventional, 

continuous narrative pattern presenting one 

strand of a tale in linear sequence with pictures 

illustrating the written text.” A handful of picture 

books deviate from the traditional narrative style 

to produce visually engaging multiple narratives. 

Multiple narratives can be, as Maria Nikolajeva 

describes, either counterpointing with two or 

more mutually dependent narratives, or sylleptic 

with narratives independent of each other. So, 

when the narrative text is made by illustrated 

pictures, it can make the readers more interested 

to read and understand it. 

Styasih (2009) in her study, The Use of 

Indonesian Fables to develop students’ reading 

comprehension skills in Junior High School: The Case 

of the Eighth Grade Students in SMP N 1 Prembun, 

Kebumen in the Academic Year of 2009/2010. She 

held a research on eighth grade students of junior 

high school class VIII-4. The result of her study is 

that after she conducted her study, she found out 

that her students became better after the use of 

fables upon them along the study. She stated that 

fable is an effective tool for mastering reading 

skill, because it is easy to be understood and it is 

quite interesting for anyone. The previous study 

concerned about the illustrated folktale was 

conducted by Rahma Mustikarini (2009) in her 

study, The Use of Illustrated Folktale “The Careless 

Jaka Tarub” to Improve the Students’ Ability in 

Understanding Narrative Reading Text (An 

Experimental Research at the Eight Year Students of 

MTs Abadiyah Gabus-Pati in the Academic Year of 

2009/2010). The result of her study is she found 

out that the experimental group’s understanding 

of narrative text was better than the control 

group. The students were interested and 

understood the story easily from the illustrated 

picture, so it can make them enjoyed it.  

The other studies conducted by Intan 

Permatasari (2012), Improving Students’ Reading 

Skill of Narrative Text by Using Story Mapping 

Strategy In Junior High School. She held a research 

on eighth grade students of SMP N 1 Undaan 

Kudus. The result of her study is that after she 

conducted her study, she found out that her 

students became better after the use of story 

mapping upon them along the study. 

Besides in another studies, there are 

interesting methods use to increase reading skills. 

According to Harmer (1998:79), by far the most 

important reason for teaching reading, of course, 

is that it is a basic language skill. When students 

are doing the process of reading, they do not only 

have to keep their minds, but also develop their 

knowledge and feeling in understanding ideas 

and meanings in the text. 

The study concerned about the technique 

reading was conducted by Fanny Kartikasari 

(2011) who studied about Improving Students’ 

Reading Comprehension in Narrative Text through 

Jumbled Texts (an Experimental Research of the 

Second Grade Students of SMA N 3 Pati in the 

Academic Year of 2010/2011). The objective of this 

study was to describe how to extend jumbled text 

can improve the students’ reading 

comprehension. The other was from journal 

article by Rudi Hermanto (2009) concerned in 

The Use of Cloze Procedure in Teaching Reading 

Narrative Texts  (An Experiment Research in the Case 

of Year Tenth Students’ of SMA N 1 Bangsri Jepara. 

The objective of this study was to describe how 

the influence of cloze procedure in teaching 

reading narrative text. In addition, this study 



 

Badharul Nurtika Sari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

4 

aims to see a separation social skills a group that 

has received special treatment by giving method 

of cloze procedure with who do not get treatment. 

In conclusion, he found out that there was 

significant different for those who taught using 

cloze procedure and those without cloze 

procedure. The experimental class got better 

development in increasing point whereas the 

control class. 

Those researches also produced results in 

which pictures, games, and stories were effective 

media for attracting students’ interest in lesson. 

All of above researches used experimental 

research as the method for solving the problems. 

Those materials are needed to help students in 

increasing their interest toward English. 

Although the writers of those studies used 

different media, the result of the studies showed 

that the subjects of the researches were more 

motivated and they made better achievement 

because they engaged to the teaching process and 

did the tasks given by the teachers.  

 

METHODS 

This study was a classroom quasi-

experimental research with two classes at tenth 

year students of SMK Diponegoro Juwana as the 

subject of this study. In order to collect data about 

students’ reading comprehension of narrative text 

and responses toward the use of this technique 

and media, the writer used pre-test, post-test, and 

students’ response questionnaire as instruments. 

In this study, there were five meetings, the first 

meeting to deliver a pre-test, the second, third, 

and fourth meetings for giving treatments, and 

the fourth meeting to give post-test and 

questionnaire.  

 

RESULT  

This study was conducted to investigate 

the students’ reading comprehension of narrative 

text after learning using illustrated folktale “The 

Princess Farmer”. Below are the research 

findings. 

The average score of experimental group in 

post-test was 90.25, the average score of control 

group in post-test was 82.75. This implies that 

there was significance difference achievement 

between students who were taught using 

illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” and 

students who were taught using non-illustrated 

folktale “The Princess Farmer”. From the result 

enclosed that the mean of the experimental group 

was higher than the control group. It means that 

teaching narrative reading text applying 

illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” was 

better than teaching narrative reading text with 

non-illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer”. 

 

DISCUSSION 

The aim of this study is to find out whether 

or not the use of illustrated folktale “The Princess 

Farmer” is effective to teach reading 

comprehension of narrative text at the tenth grade 

students of SMK Diponegoro Juwana in the 

academic year 2015/2016. In conducting the 

research there were two classes, X-AK 1 as the 

experimental group and X-AK 2 as the control 

group. 

In order to collect data during this 

research, the writer used pretest and posttest. 

There were 20 items in both pretest and posttest. 

The difficulty level of pretest and posttest was 

equal. Before the instrument of the study 

implemented in the two classes, the try-out test 

was held on September, 3rd 2015. The class that 

chosen was different from the object of the 

research itself. Here, the writer chose X-AV of 

SMK Diponegoro Juwana., 

In the first meeting, pretest was given to 

both experimental and control group in order to 

measure students’ ability before treatment. The 

results of the tests showed that the average score 

of experimental and control group was equal 

although there is slight difference, but it is not 

significant.  

The treatment was given after pretest. 

There were three times of treatment given on both 

experiment and control class. The treatment of 

experimental class was held on September, 9th 

2015, September, 14th 2015, and September, 21st 

2015. The treatment of control group was held on 

September, 10th 2015, September, 17th 2015, and 

September, 22nd 2015. The control group was 

taught by non-illustrated folktale “The Princess 

Farmer”. 



 

Badharul Nurtika Sari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

5 

In learning process, it can be seen that in 

experimental group the students were more active 

and enjoy the class than the control group. It 

means that the use of illustrated folktale “The 

Princess Farmer” successed in attracting 

students’ attention. 

After the treatment, the result of students’ 

reading comprehension of the experimental 

group was higher than the result of the control 

group. The difference result can be seen when the 

writer reviewed all the material given in the end 

of the class, they answered correctly. It showed 

that the use of illustrated folktale “The Princess 

Farmer” made materials easier to be understood. 

At the last meeting, the posttest was given. 

For both the experimental group and the control 

group were held on September, 25th 2015. The 

result of the posttest showed that the average 

score of experimental group was 90.25 and the 

average score of the control group was 82.75. It 

can be seen that the average score of experimental 

group was higher than the average score of 

control group. 

To determine the significance of score 

between two groups, t-test was done. The result 

of the t-value was 3.02 and the critical value of the 

t-table was 1.68 since the t-value was higher than 

the t-table, it showed that there was significant 

difference between the two means of pre-test and 

post-test. It means that the use of illustrated 

folktale “The Princess Farmer” to teach reading 

comprehension of narrative text was more 

effective. 

The result of the data analysis showed that 

illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” can be 

used as an alternative way in teaching narrative 

reading text for the tenth grade students of SMK 

Diponegoro Juwana in the academic year of 

2015/2016. Teaching narrative reading text using 

illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” can 

make students easier to understand the story. It 

also makes students more active, even silly 

students. It was more effective than using non- 

illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer”. So, 

based on the result of data analysis, the writer 

concluded that there is significant effect of using 

illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” in 

teaching narrative reading text. 

 

CONCLUSION  

The result of this study concluded that the 

use of illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” 

in teaching narrative reading text to tenth grade 

students of SMK Diponegoro Juwana was very 

useful and effective.  

Learning narrative reading text through 

illustrated folktale “The Princess Farmer” made 

learning process more interesting. Students study 

with pleasure. It made students participate 

actively. Since the students study with pleasure, it 

will be easier for them to understand and 

memorize the learning material. 

  

REFERENCES 

 

Departemen Pendidikan Nasional (Depdiknas). 2006. 

Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP). 

Jakarta: Depdiknas. 

 

Harmer, J. 2001. The Practice of English Language 

Teaching. London: Pearson Education Lit. 

 

Hermanto, Rudi. 2009. The Use of Cloze Procedure in 

Teaching Reading Narrative Texts: an Experiment 

Research in the Case of Year Tenth Students of 

SMAN 1 Bangsri Jepara in the Academic Year of 

2008/2009. Final Project, English Department. 

Languages and Arts Faculty. Semarang State 

University. 

 

Kartikasari, Fanny. 2011. Improving Students’ Reading 

Comprehension in Narrative Text through Jumbled 

Texts (An Experimental Research of the Second 

Grade Students of SMA N 3Pati in the Academic 

Year of 2010/2011. Final Project, English 

Department. Languages and Arts Faculty. 

Semarang State University. 

 

Martin, Cathlena Anna. 2004. Breaking Narrative 

Bounds. Available at 

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/tradmays.ht

m [assessed in 11 March 2015] 

 

Mustikarini, Rahma. 2009. The Use of Illustrated Folktale 

“The Careless Jaka Tarub” to Improve the Students’ 

Ability in Understanding Narrative Reading Text 

(An Experimental Research at the Eighth Year 

Students of MTs Abadiyah Gabus-Pati in the 

Academic Year of 2009/2010). Final Project, 



 

Badharul Nurtika Sari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

6 

English Department. Languages and Arts 

Faculty. Semarang State University. 

 

Permatasari, Intan.2012.”Improving Students’ Reading 

Skill of narrative Text by Using Story Mapping 

Strategy: A Classroom Action Research at the Eight 

Grade Students of SMP N 1 Undaan Kudus in the 

Academic Year 2011/2012”. Final Project, 

English Department. Languages and Arts 

Faculty. Semarang State University. 

 

Styasih, Ratnaning Dewi. 2009. The Use of Indonesian 

Fables to Develop Students’ Reading Comprehension 

Skills in Junior High School: The Case of the Eighth 

Grade Students in SMP N 1 Prembun, Kebumen in 

the Academic Year of 2009/2010. Final Project 

English Department FBS Unnes. 

 


