SMART Journal Volume 2 No. 2, Agustus 2016 Hlm 121-127 121 Published in: http://ejournal.stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id/index.php/smart English Department of STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung DIRECTED READING THINKING ACTIVITY (DR-TA) STRATEGY TO TEACH READING Seftika English Department, STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsweu email: seftika@rocketmail.com Abstract This study aims to investigate the implemetation of Directed Reading Thinking Activity( DR-TA) in enhancing students’ reading comprehension. The process of DR-TA includes predicting, reading, and proving. This study employed quasi experimetal design. As the lecturer guides the process, the DRTA teaches students to determine the purpose for reading and make adjustments to what they think will come next based on the text. The finding shows that students’ reading comprehension increased after applying Directed Reading Thinking Activity( DR-TA). By using this strategy students can activate their prior knowledge of a topic/content of the text to be read, hypothesize about what might be addressed in the text, and establish meaningful purposes for reading the text. Keywords: Directed Reading Thinking Activity strategy, reading, comprehension. 1. INTRODUCTION Target language input is primary in learning English as foreign language. Students can enhance their English input through reading. In order to have amount of English input, students should read a lot and should be able to comprehend what they have read and to comprehend the text for getting the writer purposes. Usually the students are indicated as good readers if they can comprehend the text well. In reality, reading comprehension has become a problem among students of foreign language. These condition were identified as the students get difficulty to answer the questions especially for finding main ideas and inferences. In order to solve the students’ problem in comprehending the text, it is a need to use a strategy for enhanching sudents’ reading comprehension. As Grabe and Stoller (2002:9) stated that reading as the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately. Then reading as a set of skills that involves making sense deriving meaning from printed word (Linse, C.T, 2006: 69). In other words reading is communication process in which the writer transfer a message in writen text then the reader should construct the meaning while reading. Therefore reading comprehension requires the use of strategy before, during, and after mailto:seftika@rocketmail.com SMART Journal Volume 2 No. 2, Agustus 2016 Hlm 121-127 122 Published in: http://ejournal.stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id/index.php/smart English Department of STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung reading. To ensure that students learn to read well, lecturer should help them to be good readers by providing sistematical instruction including Strategies for understand, remember and communicate what has been read. One of the strategies that can be used in teaching reading is Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) strategy. As quoted by Amoli and Karbalaei & Amoli, (2011: 229-245) “ Strategy instruction is a promising method for the purpose of enhancing comprehension skills”. In other words, Students need to be taught comprehension strategies in order to make sure they understand text. It also helps students overcome difficulties in text comprehension. Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA) is instructional strategy that focuses on students thinking using prediction and open ended questions before going to the text. As Stauffer stated in Ruddell (2005:86) “ Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DR- TA) is a means of developing reading comprehension which guides students through text by having the teachers ask students to make and support preditictions before reading and the examine their predictions, conclusions, and logic as a reading progresses”. It is also supported by Smith which stated that DR-TA is like instruction that focuses on students’ predictions and subsequents reading of text (Ruddel, 2005:86). Furthemore, McKenna (2002:88) Write as” the directed reading thinking activity is a reading strategy use to introduce a reading selection and to encourage students to form predictions as a means of making their reading more purposeful.” It means that, prediction is emphasized in DR-TA strategy. In making prediction the students use their background knowledge. Then the lecturer can show objects and pictures related to the text in order to help students making prediction. Each predictions will be different because students think as their own mind, and the leturer must accept all of the students prediction. After that students are given reading material. Having read and comprehended the reading text they can prove whether their prediction is true or not. Several studies have investigated the use of Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) strategy to assist students in reading. An earlier study conducted by Al Odwan (2012) SMART Journal Volume 2 No. 2, Agustus 2016 Hlm 121-127 123 Published in: http://ejournal.stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id/index.php/smart English Department of STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung investigated the effect of Directe Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) strategy on English secondary students in Jordan. The finding shows that the use of directed reading thinking activity through using cooperative learning is effective strategy to improve students’ reading comprehension. Then Yazdani (2015) revealed that impact of Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) and Guided Reading (GR) on reading comprehension for Sixty three Iranian students. Directed Reading Thinking Activity had a more significant positive effect than Guided Reading. Directed Reading Thinking Activity improves students’ reading comprehension because these activities are rich with more interactive tasks and consequently provide students with new concepts, ideas, suggestions, styles of thinking, emphasizes the development of thinking skills and involves the students in processes to enhance learning. Other studies also conducted in Indonesian EFL Classroom, Rukminingsih (2014) investigated the implentation DRTA in extensive reading class. This study was conducted at college students. The observation result shows that this strategy makes the students to be active reader; helps students increase their knowledge, information, new expression, and new vocabulary from the text; helps students can easily understand the text or story; makes the students to have more self- confident to read; encourages silent reading; makes students understand the main of topic from the text and explores their idea by own language. The previous studies shows that strategy is beneficial in students’ achievement in reading. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the enhancing students’ reading comprehension using Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) strategy. 2. RESEARCH METHOD In this research, the researcher applyed quasi experimental design. The design involves two groups namely experimental group and control group. The experimental group used Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) and control group without DRTA. The participant was the second semester of students majoring in English. Sixty students took part in this study. Then in collecting the data the researcher used reading test. SMART Journal Volume 2 No. 2, Agustus 2016 Hlm 121-127 124 Published in: http://ejournal.stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id/index.php/smart English Department of STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung 3. FINDING AND DISCUSSION The process of DR-TA includes predicting, reading, and proving. The steps in teaching reading using DR-TA strategy are described as follows: The first step is pre reading. In this step, the lecturer selected the reading text, then wrote the title of the book or passage on whiteboard. After that asking students, for example; "Given this title, what do you think the passage will be about?"; “Why?”. These questions are given to active students prior knowledge. In this steps students have to predict the text. Beside questions, lecturer can show objects or pictures which related to the text in order to helping students making prediction. Then lecturer Acceped and recorded all predictions on the whiteboard. Then asking students again, "Why do you think that?" to encourage them to justify their responses and activate prior knowledge. After that, Previewed the illustrations of the passage, Asked students to revise their predictions based on this new information. The last, Made changes to the predictions on the whiteboard. The second step is while reading. The lecturer asked students to read silently. Stop them after the first section of the passage, and leading a class discussion to verify or modify predictions. Then asking students to cite the text which caused them to confirm or change a prediction. The question that can be given such as "What in the passage makes you think that? Can you prove it?". After getting students’ answer, Made changes to the predictions on the whiteboard (Repeated this process until students have read each section of the passage). Then verifying or modifying the predictions made at the beginning of the lesson. As students become more comfortable with this process, have each student write predictions in alearning on a piece of paper. Then, in small groups students can discuss their predictions and share their thinking processes. The last of this step, asked students to write summary statements about how their predictions compared to the passage. The last step is post reading. At the end of each section, reviewing the lesson. The lecturer may ask questions such as:” What do you think about your predictions now?”; “What did you find in the text to prove your predictions?”; and “ What did you read in the text that made you change your predictions? “. SMART Journal Volume 2 No. 2, Agustus 2016 Hlm 121-127 125 Published in: http://ejournal.stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id/index.php/smart English Department of STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung Having conducted the research, the research found the result of pre-test and post-test score of the reading test. Figure 1. Pre-test in control group and exerimental group Figure 2. Post-test in control group and experimental group Based on the result of research, it was found that in control class, the total score that students achieved is 1377 up to 1853. The mean was from 43.03 up to 57.90. In experimental class, the total score that students achieved is 1723 up to 2279. The mean was from 53.84 up to 71.21. It means that the variance of the data from both of classes are homogeneous. Based on calculate of testing criteria where: H0: t-observed < t- critical, and Ha: t-observed > t-critical, the writer found that tcount = 4.63 ttable = 1.999. Two tail test means negative value (-) is conversed into positive value (+), after that tcount is compared ttable and the Pre-test in control group & experimental group lowest score of control class highest score of control class lowest score of experiment al class highest score of experiment al class Post-test incontrol group & experimental group highest score of control class lowest score of control class highest score of experimental class lowest score of experimental class 6 0 43 63 30 76 0 40 86 56 SMART Journal Volume 2 No. 2, Agustus 2016 Hlm 121-127 126 Published in: http://ejournal.stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id/index.php/smart English Department of STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung result tcount > ttable. So, H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted. Seeing the data from the pre test and post test score of experimental class, the students’ score increased. Comparing the result of the pre test and the post test from this group, it could be seen that the average of the students’ score was improved from 53.83 to 71.21. It means that Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) can enhance students’reading comprehension. In view of the theory and empirical studies, Ruddel (2005) stated that DR- TA strategy helps students to build reading comprehension. Then Yazdani (2015) stated that in reading comprehension, Directed Reading Thinking Activity had a more significant positive effect than guided reading because it emphasizes the development of thinking skills and involves the students in processes to enhance learning. The finding and previous researches support the implemetation of Directed Reading Thinking Activity to enhance reading comprehensio. It is effective way to encourage students to be active thoughtful readers, adaptable to many different text style, and useful for students in constructing new knowledge. 4. CONCLUSION Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) is an effective strategy in teaching reading. There are many advantages of using DR-TA strategy. Firstly, it can improve students’ reading comprehension. Through DR-TA they are able to answer WH- question, they are able to identify the paragraph topic and main idea well, and they can understand what they have read. Secondly, this strategy is very helpfull both in individual and group work task because DR-TA also enhance the students’ participation in class interaction both in individual and group work discussion. 5. REFERENCES Al Odwan, A, T. (2012). The Effect of the Directed Thinking Activity through Coopertive Learning on English Secondary Stage Students’ Comprehension in Jordan. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science. Vo.2 (16), pp. 138-151. Grabe, W., & Stoller, F.L.(2002). Teaching and Reading. London: Longman Karbalaei, A., & Amoli, F. A. (2011). The Effect of Paraphrasing Strategy Training on the Reading Comprehension of College Students at the Undergraduate Level. The SMART Journal Volume 2 No. 2, Agustus 2016 Hlm 121-127 127 Published in: http://ejournal.stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id/index.php/smart English Department of STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung Asian Journal Quartely. Vo.13(3), pp.229-245. Available online at http://www.asian-efl-journal.com. Accesed on 22 Oktober 2011. McKenna, M.C.(2002:88). Help for Struggling Readers. New York: The Guildford Press. Linse, C.T. (2006). Practical English Language Teaching Young Learners. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Ruddell, R. M. (2005). Teaching Content Reading and Writing. United States of America: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Rukminingsih. (2014). Incorporating Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) Technique into Extensive Reading Class. Cendikia. VO.12 (2), pp 261-279. Yazdani, M.M. (2015). TheExplicit Instructionof Reading Strategies: Directed Reading Thinking Activity vs Guided Reading Strategies. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature. Vo.4(3), pp. 53-60.