The particular dialect or language that a person chooses to use on any occasion is called a code Note-Taking as a Technique an Teaching Reading Comprehension Rusdiansyah rusdiansyah@iainpalopo.ac.id Institut Agama Islam Negeri Palopo Received : 12 September 2019; Accepted : 30 Oktober 2019 Abstract The aim of this study is to explain the effective way in teaching reading comprehension through Note-Taking technique. Reading is an important skill in learning a language besides listening, speaking, and writing. It is an effort to increase our knowledge and achievement. Everyone should have the ability to read, especially in English because the fact shows that most of the scientific books are written in English. This research applied Classroom Action Research method by using four stages, such as; planning, implementation of action, observation, and reflection. This research conducted in two cycles. They were first and second cycle. Each cycle comprises the series of activities which relates each other. The realization of the second cycle was continued and improved based on the evaluation of the first cycle. The results of this research can be explained that note taking technique increase students’ reading comprehension. In this research, the researcher applied note-taking technique to increase students’ reading comprehension ability because by using note-taking technique the students are easier to make note and easy to answer the questions. They can explain about the keywords or the main ideas of the text, and absolutely they can comprehend the text. The result of the students is increasing by looking their score in cycle 1 and cycle 2. Their mean score in cycle 1 only 51 and cycle 2 the score develops to be 76. It means that the student’s reading comprehension was increased. Keywords: reading comprehension, note taking technique. 173 Copyright © 2019 The Author IDEAS is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 License Issued by English study program of IAIN Palopo IDEAS Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Volume 7, Number 2, December 2019 pp. 173 – 184 http://u.lipi.go.id/1457703302 mailto:rusdiansyah@iainpalopo.ac.id Rusdiansyah Note-Taking as a Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension Introduction The most important factors that can influence the learning outcomes are reading comprehension. Reading as a course offered at schools and universities plays an important role in improving human development. Through reading, a learner can get list of knowledge or ideas to improve his grade point average, to change his behavior, and to complete for good place in any aspect of life in the world. Richards (2002) said that good readers those who are read various types of reading comprehension which contain the implementation of the high or useful information that might be implied in developing human development especially education. Good reading texts can provide good models for writing, and provide opportunities to introduce new topics, to stimulate discussion, and to study language (e.g., vocabulary, grammar, idioms). There should be appropriate strategy and technique which can be applied. Strategies and techniques are very important in teaching reading. So, the teacher should realize that if he/she is not able to present the reading material well, the students will be bored and not interested to read and complete tasks in the reading text. The choice of teaching learning strategy should be considered by teacher in getting the teaching goals that have formulated. Related to explanation above, when the students read the text, they difficult to find out what the text talk about. They also cannot answer the question related the text. Therefore, the students also are bored when reading the text, because they read repeatedly the text to understand the text. They just try to know the meaning of each words from the text for getting the main idea of the text. As a result, the students spent a long time to understand the text. Note-Taking assists learners in focusing and understanding information they read by helping them to make summary of the ideas and arguments in the text. Taking notes is a great way of helping them identify important concepts in class, and it allows learners to focus on the points relevant to our purpose. Note taking does not have to be painful or time consuming. The students can spend a little time to understand the meaning of the text Based on the interview results with some lectures (2018), they said that teaching reading comprehension is boring, if they don’t apply good method or technique. To increase reading comprehension ability depends on the students because there are many problems when they reading comprehension. For example, the students seem to focus on the "wrong" aspect of a passage; i.e. they concentrate so much on the details on the other hand they cannot get main idea. They do not pick out the key facts from informational text and sometimes the students can not differentiate the main idea with supporting ideas. 174 IDEAS, Vol. 7, No. 2, December 2019 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Review of Related Literature The Concept of Reading Comprehension Reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning (Nunan, 1991). Cristal (1985) said that comprehension is the ability to understand and interpret spoken and written language. Reading comprehension is techniques for improving students' success in extracting useful knowledge from text. As defined by Partnership for Reading. Reading comprehension is understanding a text that is read, or the process of "constructing meaning" from a text. Comprehension is a "construction process" because it involves all of the elements of the reading process working together as a text is read to create a representation of the text in the reader's mind. Reading comprehension can also define as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language. Using the words extracting and constructing to emphasize both the importance and the insufficiency of the text as a determinant of reading comprehension. Comprehension entails three elements: the reader who is doing the comprehending, the text that is to be comprehended and the activity in which comprehension is a part. Note Taking Note taking is the practice of writing down pieces of information in a systematic way. The importance of note taking has never been greater. Today, when we are all always in a hurry, when we have to be everywhere in time, when we have to remember more than we can, note taking is crucial. Note taking is becoming more important than ever. Unfortunately, no one can remember whatever he wants. Even the wisest person on the planet forgets more than he remembers, and besides that, half of what he thinks he knows is incorrect. According Geraldine Woods in his book “Research Papers for Dummies”, note taking focusing our material on useful information, writing clear and specific notes and omitting unnecessary words. There are six steps note-taking according The Cornell Method (Bauer, A. & Koedinger, K.:2005): a. Record, during the lecture, record as many facts and ideas as possible in the notes column. b. Reduce, after the lecture, read through the notes taken and reduce to key words and phrases, or questions. The key words and phrases are used as cues to help recall the ideas and facts. The questions are to add clarity to the facts and ideas. c. Recite, using only the key words, phrases and questions in the cue word column recite the ideas and facts in the notes column. It is important that you are not just mechanically repeating, but using your own words. 175 Rusdiansyah Note-Taking as a Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension d. Reflect, based on the facts and ideas learnt, reflect upon how this fits in with what you already know, and how this knowledge can be applied. e. Review, on a frequent basis, review your past notes by reciting and reflecting upon them. f. Recapitulate, after you have reduced, recited and reflected upon your note, you should recapitulate each main idea using complete sentences at the bottom of the key word column. Effective note taking leads to an increase in student learning. Helping students recognize how information is structured will help them taking note what they read or hear. For example, note taking of a reading assignment can be more effective when done within note frames, which typically include a series of questions the teacher provides to direct student attention to specific content. Students who can effectively staking note learn to synthesize information, a higher-order thinking skill which includes analyzing information, identifying key concepts, and defining extraneous information. Note taking is a related strategy that teachers use to support student learning. Without explicit instruction in note taking, however, many students simply write down words or phrases word for word, without analysis (or good effect). Successful note-takers summarize to arrive at a nugget of meaning, which they are much more likely to retain. Students also benefit from using their notes as a document of their learning. Teachers can prompt students to review and refine their notes, particularly when it is time to prepare for an exam, write a research paper, or other summative assessment of learning. Text Book Note Taking Although note taking for text books is discussed at length in the note taking page, some of the main ideas are summarized here. Writing summaries from text book material is covered elsewhere in this page. There are at least four reasons for taking notes on text book material. It reinforces learning of the information. It encourages selection of the main ideas and details in order to visualize the overall organization of the text. It creates a shortened version of the text with all the essential information recorded for future exam review. It helps to improve concentration. Five of the most important tips for textbook note taking (Boch, Françoise and Annie Piolat: 2005) are listed below: a. Finish reading before taking notes. Students should not read the entire chapter, but should read through long paragraphs or headed sections of text before recording notes. If one waits until the end to write notes, he/she may forget some of the important ideas and supporting details. But by reading small sections at a time, one has enough 176 IDEAS, Vol. 7, No. 2, December 2019 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) information from which to choose the most important ideas, without losing track of the flow of ideas. The most important concepts are reinforced before the reader moves on to the next section, making learning a cumulative process. b. Be very selective about what is recorded. It takes practice to learn how to select the most important ideas in a reading, but remember that the goal of note taking is to produce a shortened version of the text. Be selective so that only the basic concepts are recorded. In order to decide what information should be noted, skim or preview the text first or see what the instructor has emphasized in the lecture. c. Use your own words. Because the chances of comprehending and remembering information are greatly improved when the work is one's own, take the extra time to paraphrase important material. The time spent trying to understand a passage and record the main ideas in one's own words is the single most important investment of time a reader can make. d. Work quickly and efficiently. Note taking does not have to be painful or time consuming. Read, think, write, and move on. The rewards will come at test time. e. Use organizational strategies. Notes should be organized according to one of the strategies discussed in the note taking page or in the organization page. The Cornell Method is a good choice because it allows one to organize and to recall actively and quickly the main points of the text. Note taking skills help one to pay better attention to an oral presentation or written document because they keep the individual active. In school, good note taking skills aid in understanding of material, effective preparation for exams, and completion of assignments. They also improve reading comprehension. In reading comprehension, we try to understand what is the text about. And note taking can help us better able to retain, remember, recall important information, focus about the key words of the text, so we can understand the meaning of the text. In note taking, we can know the key words in each paragraph of the text. So, absolutely we can comprehend the text. Reading comprehension increases when students learn how to incorporate "summary or note taking frames" as a tool for summarizing (Exter, Marisa E: 2009). Method This research applied Classroom Action Research method by using four stages, such as; planning, implementation of action, observation, and reflection. This research conducted in two cycles. They were first and second cycle. Each cycle comprises the series of activities which relates each other. The realization of the second cycle was continued and improved based on the evaluation of the first cycle (Gnony, Djunaidi: 2008). 177 Problem Planning Acting Observing/data analysis IReflecting I Rusdiansyah Note-Taking as a Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension Procedures of the research Planning Before doing the action research, the researcher needs a preparation like: a. Analyzing the curriculum especially the basic competence after doing the need analysis. b. Made a lesson plan about the use of Note-Taking technique in teaching reading comprehension c. Prepare the test. d. Made the instruments which used in cycle of classroom action research. Acting During the action the researcher gave the students the material reading comprehension through note taking technique then the researcher would give them one text to read. After that, the researcher will ask the students to take note the reading text. Then the researcher will ask them about main idea the text. And then, ask them to answer the question without look at the reading text but use their note taking. Observation In this step, a researcher observed all events or activities during the research. During the learning process going on, the researcher observed about the situation of learning and teaching process, and also the students’ participation and evaluation. Reflecting This step conducted to know how far the students understand the materials which will be given. What the strength and the weakness of this cycle. Results and Discussion Result The findings of the research explained the cycles of teaching and learning process of this current research. In this case, there were two cycles, it can be seen in general through the following chart: Cycle 1 Unfinished 178 Acting Observing/data analysis II Planning Reflecting II Problem IDEAS, Vol. 7, No. 2, December 2019 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Next cycle Cycle 2 Finished Cycle 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Diagram I: Result of the Test in Cycle I Cycle 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Diagram II: Result of the Test in Cycle II Looking at the finding, the researcher presented the discussion of data some of students. The section presents the result of data analysis. It aims describing the students’ improvement in reading comprehension through note taking technique. Based on the data finding, the researcher presented the 179 Rusdiansyah Note-Taking as a Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension discussion of data given to the students. The students were low in the cycle I than cycle II. 1. The First Cycle Based on the analysis from the students’ test in the cycle I, the mean score in the first cycle is 51. The criteria success in this research with the percentage 75%. The observation activities in the first cycle, the researcher found some weakness in learning process. They are: a) Most of the students did not really active in learning activities, only 1 student very active, 2 students active, 8 students less active and 4 students not active. It means that the students’ active in class only 33, 33 % and 66, 67 % did not active. b) Some of the students were still not familiar with using note taking in reading comprehension. c) There were only some students active in giving responds about the material. In this cycle the researcher not success in apply the note taking technique, so the researcher continued in the cycle II. Based on the interview result to the respondents, the respondents were not really active, because they did not understand about the material. Since the teacher did not explain comprehensively about the material. The teacher was quick in teaching the material and less spirit in teaching. Besides that, the teacher should pay attention the condition of the class, like the position of chairs before teaching. And the condition of the students, because sometimes the students felt bored. In addition, the researcher realized that there were still some weaknesses in teaching, like the position of the researcher when teaching or explanation the material. The researcher just sitting down in his chair when he was explaining the material. 2. The Second Cycle This cycle is repaired from the first cycle. There are some changes in teaching process from the first cycle. The researcher was repaired the weaknesses in teaching in this cycle. So, there are development from the students in the second cycle in studying reading comprehension. In the second cycle, the researcher not only gave material to the students, but also gave some motivation. The students also need motivation to gave spirit their self in study hard. The mean score of the students’ test in the second cycle is 76. The result of the observation of the students’ activities showed that most of the students active 73, 33 % in learning activities. The students are easier to make note and easy to answer the questions. They can explain about the keywords or the main ideas of the text, and absolutely they can comprehend the text. So, the students had better achievement and the researcher has known that by using note taking technique in reading comprehension can develop the students’ reading comprehension. 180 IDEAS, Vol. 7, No. 2, December 2019 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) In teaching reading comprehension through note taking, the students quickly grasp how to make connections, ask questions, and visualize. However, they often struggle with the way to identify what is most important in the text, identify clues and evidence to make inferences, and combine information into new thoughts. All these strategies should be modeled in isolation many times so that students get a firm grasp of what the strategy is and how it helps them comprehend text. However, students must understand that good readers use a variety of these strategies every time they read. Simply knowing the individual strategies is not enough, nor is it enough to know them in isolation. Students must know when and how to collectively use these strategies. Students with good reading comprehension use several strategies that help them understand the text. Reading comprehension is essentially the ability to understand what has been read. There is little point in being able to pronounce the words on a page if the words mean nothing to you. Students with good reading comprehension use several strategies that help them understand the text. The term strategic reading refers to thinking about reading in ways that enhance learning and understanding. Students do no only need to understand a strategy, they need to know when, how, and why to use them. The researcher need to monitor the students' progress in reading. When they do this, the students should succeed with the proper guidance from the lecture. Lecture often assume that students will learn to comprehend merely by reading. Although some will, many others will not. Teaching comprehension to children is challenging because reading itself is a complex cognitive process. Teaching comprehension effectively requires appropriate materials, techniques to combine comprehension instruction with subject matter learning, and greatly upgraded teacher knowledge about how and when to do it. Traditional teacher preparation programs provide teachers with a beginning knowledge base about how to teach comprehension, but not in the depth needed to deal with all learners, in particular with second language speakers and students with low vocabularies and restricted world knowledge. The improvement of reading comprehension skills can positively impact many facets of student academic performance. Students who have effectively read and understood reading assignments are better prepared for class, leading to improved class participation and more accurate and complete notes. Performance on exams and quizzes may be greatly improved as students become more proficient and effective readers. Student interest and motivation in a subject is often fostered when one understands the reading assignments. In addition, as students gain proficiency in reading, self-esteem improves. The students’ participation in learning reading comprehension through note taking technique based on the data analysis in cycle II, the students have good response. It can be seen by developing of the students’ spirit and motivation in 181 Rusdiansyah Note-Taking as a Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension learning and feedback from the students about the material. So, students active in learning process and it make developing reading comprehension of the students. Woods (2002) said that note taking help the students’ in understand the reading text by focusing the material on useful information and omitting unnecessary words. It related with the theory of Geraldine Woods in his book “Research Papers for Dummies”. Taking notes in reading comprehension is crucial because it helps the students’ comprehension in regards to the structure and content of the passage. However, note-taking does not mean that the students try to memorize every single detail in a reading passage. Instead, it requires the students to ask questions and to reinforce key ideas in a passage. Effective note taking leads to an increase in student learning. Helping students recognize how information is structured will help them taking note what they read or hear. For example, note taking of a reading assignment can be more effective when done within note frames, which typically include a series of questions the teacher provides to direct student attention to specific content. Students who can effectively staking note learn to synthesize information, a higher-order thinking skill which includes analyzing information, identifying key concepts, and defining extraneous information. Note-taking is a related strategy that teachers use to support student learning. Without explicit instruction in note taking, however, many students simply write down words or phrases word for word, without analysis (or good effect). Successful note-takers summarize to arrive at a nugget of meaning, which they are much more likely to retain. Students also benefit from using their notes as a document of their learning. Note-taking can helps the students better able to retain, remember, recall important information, focus about the key words of the text, so the students can understand the meaning of the text. In note taking, the students can know the key words in each paragraph of the text. So, absolutely they can comprehend the text. Effective note taking technique is achieved by disgeting and compressing information. To be most effective, these skills should be introduced to the individual and illustrated with concrete examples. Note-taking requires the individual to learn some note-taking technique and methods via constant referral to reference material until the ability to quickly and effectively create concise notes become an automatic process. Furthermore, notes are not just random collections of information. The information must be recorded correctly and systematically in an organized manner. This allows the individual to use the material at a later time. Note taking technique therefore are designed to improve the ability to take more accurate, more complete, and more organized notes. Therefore, note taking technique is the effective way in teaching reading comprehension. 182 IDEAS, Vol. 7, No. 2, December 2019 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Conclusion The researcher concludes that Note Taking is quite effective in teaching Reading Comprehension. The effective way in teaching reading comprehension through note taking technique could be described as; a) note-taking is a better technique can be applied in classroom. Using note taking technique in teaching reading comprehension is the effective way in develop students’ reading comprehension. By using note taking technique in teaching reading comprehension, the students easier to make note and easy to answer the questions, they can understand about the material. The students had positive perception that by using Note Taking technique can develop their reading comprehension. Teaching reading comprehension through note taking technique is one of the effective way in teaching, since this technique effective and easy ways that can be applied in classroom. b) the students interesting in studying reading comprehension by using note taking technique. Through note taking technique, the students more spirit in studying reading comprehension. Since they were able to comprehend the text well. The situation of the teaching and learning process became more enjoyable and interesting, and all of the students were involved in the teaching and learning process. It is simple to be apply and very useful to save the students time in reading process. It can be proven by the result of this research where it shows significant increasing reading comprehension through note taking. References Bauer, A. & Koedinger, K. (2005). Designing an Online Note Taking Tool from the Ground Up. In P. Kommers & G. Richards (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2005 (pp. 4181-4186). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Boch, Françoise and Annie Piolat, (2005). Note Taking and Learning, A Summary of Research, The WAC Journal Vol 16. C, Jack Richards and Willy A. Renandya. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching. New york: Cambridge University Press. Cristal, David. A Dictionary of linguiatics and Phonetics, (New York: Basil Blackwell Lid: 1985). p. 63. Exter, Marisa E.; Ying Wang, Max F. Exter, and James S. Damico. (2009). Designing a Tool to Support Critical Web Reading, TechTrends, 53 (1), 23- 28. Gnony, Djunaidi. (2008). Penelitian Tindakan Kelas: UIN-Malang Press. 183 Rusdiansyah Note-Taking as a Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension Nunan. David. (1991). Practical English Language Teaching, (Sidney: Macquarei University. p. 68. Woods, Geraldine. (2002). Research Paper for Dummies, (Indiana: Wiley Publishing Inc. p.129. 184