CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background of the Study Based on curriculum (KTSP) 2004, the target of English study includes: (1) Developing communicating ability in English in the form of oral and also written. The ability including listening, speaking, reading, and writing; (2) To develop reality awareness and the important of English as one of foreign languages to be special material in learning; ( 3) developing relevance comprehension among culture and language, and also extend variety of cultural. So students have knowledge of cross culture and involving their selves in cultural manner. In this study the researcher will investigate the reading ability. Reading is an important skill to be taught, Djiwandono (in Arifuddin, 2007: 108), states that reading is important skill and it is more and more important in the modern societies. For children, adult and even for every people, the ability to read opens up new worlds and opportunities. It enables us to gain new knowledge, enjoy literature, and do everyday things that are part of our modern life, such as, reading the newspapers, instruction manuals, announcement, job listings, maps, etc. Most people learn to read in their native or first language without difficulty. Others learn to read a second language, with or without having learned to read in their first language. Reading instruction needed to take into different types of learners and their needs. In teaching reading English texts, teachers must have the right technique, method or way to make students understand and fluently in reading, because reading texts in the first language is usually differ from

reading texts in the second language. Reading texts in the first language is easier than the second language, because most people have been mastered language structure and vocabulary of their own. Reading texts in the second language on the other hand is difficult for students. For Indonesian students, reading English texts is particularly difficult for those who do not know language structure and enough vocabulary. But, for students who have mastered language structure and enough vocabulary, reading English text is not too difficult. They only need to open dictionary and find out words they were looking for. Reading plays is an important role in language learning. It means that in teaching reading, a teacher should consider on facilities, students background knowledge, and method or ways. The students will meet some difficulties in giving information if they do not have any ability in conveying an idea or a topic. They have some difficulties, i.e. they might have limited vocabulary items, do not know language structure and they might have poor ability in understanding and grasping the point of story. If we want to increase students reading ability as the problem in this study, the teacher must have many kinds of methods to improve their reading skill. Arifuddin (2007: 108) considering students must acquire high reading skill, as he states that: To improve their reading skills, language teacher should use meaningful reading material and assess the teaching process properly. To assess reading skills, teachers should use materials appropriate to reading basic competencies and purposes of the tests. Reading comprehension tests material should be closely related to the type of practice material used by the teacher to develop the reading skills.

Based on the problem, the researcher choose comic as the media in teaching reading comprehension, because in Indonesians schools, most of the teachers use comics as reading material. It based on many researcher uses comic as media in teaching reading comprehension as the writer read on lots of thesis in internet. This is probably because comic contains some texts and pictures. It can make readers easier in grasping and understanding a story. Therefore comic is very interesting too for readers who are quickly bored and tired if reading long texts. The picture will help them to know and to understand the points of the story. In other reasons comic use simple language and dialogue and also the vocabularies is not difficult. Then through comic as a media, the teacher can motivate the students to learn reading English text in more enjoyable and interesting ways. Moreover, students can enrich their new vocabularies and may learn more about the structures so that they able to know, understanding and grasping the point of story and topic easily. They will get new atmosphere, skill and knowledge in reading English text by using comics. Based on the foregoing, the writer is interested on investigating the use of comic for teaching reading at the eleventh grade students of SMA N 3 Mataram in academic year 2011/2012. Because, as the writers experiences in learning reading English texts at school, teachers use particular textbooks, which are stated in the curriculum without trying to find some other suitable sources. The teachers, in this case, do not attempt to find other materials that support and motivate students in reading English texts. The writer believe that by giving comics as media in teaching reading will increase students reading skill.

1.2

Statement of the Problem To what extent can the use of comics improve students reading ability?

1.3

Purpose of the Study To find out whether there is any significant difference in the improvement of students reading ability using comics and without using comics.

1.4

Significance of the Study The result of this study can contribute some benefits to students, teachers and the body of knowledge in general. Here are the benefits: 1. To students Students will be motivated to increase their ability in learning English to understand the reading text. 2. To the English teachers The technique applied in this research can enrich their knowledge and their insights to teach reading. 3. This study can give contribution for the body of knowledge in general to be used as one of the sources and references.

1.5

Limitation of the Study The writer limits this study by the following limitations:
1. This research is conducted on eleventh grade students of SMA N 3

Mataram in academic year 2011/2012.

2. The students reading skill in using comic for reading comprehension

in English.
1.6

Assumption of the Study To avoid misunderstanding of this study, the writer proposes the following assumptions:
1. The ability of the second year students of SMA N 3 Mataram in

reading are the same. 2. 3.

4.

The score objective is obtained in this research. The method of collecting data is accurate. The subject of this research must have used comics as reading text.

1.7

Hypothesis of the Study

1. Nul hypothesis (H0): The use of comic is effective for teaching reading

ability at the eleventh grade students of SMA N 3 Mataram.

2. Alternate hypothesis (Ha): The use of comic is not effective for

teaching reading ability at the eleventh grade students of SMA N 3 Mataram.

1.8

Definition of the Key Terms The definition of key terms in this research as follows:

1.

Comic According to Sudjana (in Royanti, 2012: 12-13) defines comics as a kind of cartoon form expressing character and playing a story in sequences of closely related drawing and designed to give fun to the readers. It contains several continued stories. The stories are brief and interesting, completed with action. Comics also appear in newspaper and book.

2.

Reading Reproduce mentally or vocally the words of an author, book, etc. (Hornby, 1995).

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Reading on First and Second Language Reading is an important skill, and it is more and more important in the modern societies described by Arifuddin (2007) as cited in Djiwandono (1996). In education, reading is the key to educational process. Therefore, students must acquire high reading skills. To improve their reading skills, language teacher should use meaningful reading material and assess the teaching process properly. To assess reading skills, teachers should use materials appropriate to reading basic competencies and purposes of the tests. Reading comprehension tests material should be closely related to the type of practice material used by the teacher to develop the reading skills. Few language teachers would argue against the importance of reading: what is still urgently required in many classroom tests is a greater awareness of the actual processes involved in reading and the production of appropriate exercise and test materials to assist in the mastery of these processes described by Arifuddin (2007) as cited in Heaton (1991). It is now suggested that reading skills be assessed with authentic assessment described by Arifuddin (2007) as cited in Alverman and Commeyrats (1998). Before reading tests in the second or foreign language can be successfully constructed, the first language reading skills of the students must be ascertained. Clearly, there is often little purpose in testing in the second language those basic reading skills which the students have not yet developed in their own language. However, the more fact that a student has mastered some of required reading skills in the first language is no guarantee at all that he or she will be able to transfer those skills to reading another language.

However, according to OMalley and Pierce (Arifuddin, 2007: 109), argue that reading process in a second language are similar to those acquired in the first language in that they call of knowledge of sound or symbol relationships, syntax, grammar, and semantics to predict and confirm meaning. Other issues include the selection of genres, topics and texts according to testing purpose and learner background. A more theoretical difficulty, common to the testing of reading and listening, concerns the justification of comprehension tests, especially where high-level inference is assessed. The difficulty in justifying tests of inference abilities is that differences will inevitably be found among different readers or listeners in the background knowledge and values they bring to texts, and consequently in the inferences and connections that they may legitimately make. Designing test that ere relevant and cognitively demanding, as well as fair, is a challenging and uncertain process, whereas it is relatively easy to design more trivial items that ascertain accurate retrieval of what are presented as facts in a passage of writing. 2.2 Skills in reading Specific skills involved in reading: recognize words and word groups, associating sounds with their corresponding graphic symbols; deduce the meaning of words by: a) understanding word formation and b) contextual clues; understand explicitly stated information; understand relations within the sentence; understand relations between parts of a text through both lexical devices;

perceive temporal and spatial relationships; understand conceptual meaning; anticipate and predict what will come next in the text; identify the main idea and other salient features in a text; generalize and draw conclusions; understand information not explicitly stated by: a) making inferences and b) understanding figurative language; skim and scan; read critically; adopt a flexible approach and vary reading strategies according to the type of material being read and the purpose for which it is being read described by Arifuddin (2007) as cited in Heaton (1991) If divided into macro- and micro skills, the detail is as follows: Macro-skills:

scanning text to locate specific information skimming text to obtain the gist identifying stages of an argument identifying example presented in support of an argument extensive and intensive reading activities advantages and drawbacks of separating reading as far as possible from other skills, or testing aspects of reading in a more integrative fashion (as in short answer and summary writing tasks) described by Arifuddin (2007) as cited in Hughes (1993).

Micro-skills: -

identifying referents of pronouns using context to guess meaning of dissimilar words understanding relation between parts of texts by recognizing indicators in discourse, specially for the introduction, development, transition, and conclusion of ideas described by Arifuddin (2007) as cited in Hughes (1993: 117).

2.3

Teaching Reading Traditionally, the purpose of learning to read in a language has been to have access to the literature written in that language. In language instruction, reading materials have traditionally been chosen from literary texts that represent "higher" forms of culture. This approach assumes that students learn to read a language by studying its vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, not by actually reading it. In this approach, lower level learners read only sentences and paragraphs generated by textbook writers and instructors. The reading of authentic materials is limited to the works of great authors and reserved for upper level students who have developed the language skills needed to read them. The communicative approach to language teaching has given instructors a different understanding of the role of reading in the language classroom and the types of texts that can be used in instruction. When the goal of instruction is communicative competence, everyday materials such as train schedules, newspaper articles, and travel and tourism Web sites become

appropriate classroom materials, because reading them is one way communicative competence is developed. Instruction in reading and reading practice thus become essential parts of language teaching at every level (Byrnes, 1998). 2.4 Goals and Techniques for Teaching Reading Instructors want to produce students who, even if they do not have complete control of the grammar or an extensive lexicon, can look after themselves in communication situations. In the case of reading, this means producing students who can use reading strategies to maximize their comprehension of text, identify relevant and non-relevant information, and tolerate less than word-by-word comprehension. Focus: The Reading Process To accomplish this goal, instructors focus on the process of reading rather than on its product. They develop students' awareness of the reading process and reading strategies by asking students to think and talk about how they read in their native language. They allow students to practice the full repertoire of reading strategies by using authentic reading tasks. They encourage students to read to learn (and have an authentic purpose for reading) by giving students some choice of reading material.

When working with reading tasks in class, they show students the strategies that will work best for the reading purpose and the type of text. They explain how and why students should use the strategies. They encourage the development of reading skills and the use of reading strategies by using the target language to convey instructions and course-related information in written form: office hours, homework assignments, test content. They do not assume that students will transfer strategy use from one task to another. They explicitly mention how a particular strategy can be used in a different type of reading tasks. By raising students' awareness of reading as a skill that requires active engagement, and by explicitly teaching reading strategies, instructors help their students develop both the ability and the confidence to handle communication situations they may encounter beyond the classroom. In this way they give their students the foundation for communicative competence in the new language (Byrnes, 1998). 2.5 2.5.1 Strategies for Developing Reading Skills Using Reading Strategies Language instructors are often frustrated by the fact that students do not automatically transfer the strategies they use when reading in their native language to reading in a language they are learning. Instead, they seem to think reading means starting at the beginning and going word by word, stopping to look up every unknown vocabulary item, until they reach the end.

When they do this, students are relying exclusively on their linguistic knowledge, a bottom-up strategy. One of the most important functions of the language instructor, then, is to help students move past this idea and use topdown strategies as they do in their native language. Effective language instructors show students how they can adjust their reading behavior to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and reading purposes. They help students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to each reading situation. Instructors can help students learn when and how to use reading strategies in several ways: By modeling the strategies aloud, talking through the processes of previewing, predicting, skimming and scanning, and paraphrasing. This shows students how the strategies work and how much they can know about a text before they begin to read word by word. By allowing time in class for group and individual previewing and predicting activities as preparation for in-class or out-of-class reading. Allocating class time to these activities indicates their importance and value. By using cloze (fill in the blank) exercises to review vocabulary items. This helps students learn to guess meaning from context. When language learners use reading strategies, they find that they can control the reading experience, and they gain confidence in their ability to read the language (Byrnes, 1998).

2.5.2

Reading to Learn Reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level because it supports learning in multiple ways. 1. Reading to learn the language: Reading material is language input. By giving students a variety of materials to read, instructors provide multiple opportunities for students to absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and discourse structure as they occur in authentic contexts. Students thus gain a more complete picture of the ways in which the elements of the language work together to convey meaning. 2. Reading for content information: Students' purpose for reading in their native language is often to obtain information about a subject they are studying, and this purpose can be useful in the language learning classroom as well. Reading for content information in the language classroom gives students both authentic reading material and an authentic purpose for reading. 3. Reading for cultural knowledge and awareness: Reading everyday materials that are designed for native speakers can give students insight into the lifestyles and worldviews of the people whose language they are studying. When students have access to newspapers, magazines, and Web sites, they are exposed to culture in all its variety, and huge cultural stereotypes begin to break down (Byrnes, 1998).

2.6

Integrating Reading Strategies Instruction in reading strategies is not an add-on, but rather an integral part of the use of reading activities in the language classroom. Instructors can help their students become effective readers by teaching them how to use strategies before, during, and after reading.

2.6.1

Using Authentic Materials and Approaches For students to develop communicative competence in reading, classroom and homework reading activities must resemble (or be) real-life reading tasks that involve meaningful communication. They must therefore be authentic in three ways:
1. The reading material must be authentic:

It must be the kind of material that students will need and want to be able to read when traveling, studying abroad, or using the language in other contexts outside the classroom. When selecting texts for student assignments, remember that the difficulty of a reading text is less a function of the language, and more a function of the conceptual difficulty and the task(s) that students are expected to complete. Simplifying a text by changing the language often removes natural redundancy and makes the organization somewhat difficult for students to predict. This actually makes a text more difficult to read than if the original were used.

Rather than simplifying a text by changing its language, make it more approachable by eliciting students' existing knowledge in a pre-reading discussion, reviewing new vocabulary before reading, and asking students to perform tasks that are within their competence, such as skimming to get the main idea or scanning for specific information, before they begin intensive reading. 2. The reading purpose must be authentic: Students must be reading for reasons that make sense and have relevance to them. "Because the teacher assigned it" is not an authentic reason for reading a text. To identify relevant reading purposes, ask students how they plan to use the language they are learning and what topics they are interested in reading and learning about. Give them opportunities to choose their reading assignments, and encourage them to use the library, the Internet, and foreign language newsstands and bookstores to find other things they would like to read.
3. The reading approach must be authentic:

Students should read the text in a way that matches the reading purpose, the type of text, and the way people normally read. This means that reading aloud will take place only in situations where it would take place outside the classroom, such as reading for pleasure. The majority of students' reading should be done silently.

2.6.2

Reading Aloud in the Classroom Students do not learn to read by reading aloud. A person who reads aloud and comprehends the meaning of the text is coordinating word recognition with comprehension and speaking and pronunciation ability in highly complex ways. Students whose language skills are limited are not able to process at this level, and end up having to drop one or more of the elements. Usually the dropped element is comprehension, and reading aloud becomes word calling: simply pronouncing a series of words without regard for the meaning they carry individually and together. Word calling is not productive for the student who is doing it, and it is boring for other students to listen to (Byrnes, 1998).

2.7 2.7.1

The Use of Comics for Teaching Reading The definition of comics According to Encyclopedia (in Royanti, 2012: 12), comic as term applied to a series or sequence of closely related highly stimulating drawing which differs from the ordinary cartoon in that they are not necessarily, but some artist make some of them serious, mysterious, and adventurous. Generally, there are several categories of comics such as adventurous, war crime, real stories, and biography, jungle adventurous, animal cartoons, fun and humor, love, interest, and retold classics. According to Hornby (in Royanti, 2012: 12), comic is books or magazines containing stories etc. in the form of drawing.

According to Sudjana (in Royanti, 2012: 12-13), comics as a kind of cartoon form expressing character and playing a story in sequences of closely related drawing and designed to give fun to the readers. It contains several continued stories. The stories are brief and interesting, completed with action. Comics also appear in newspaper and book. According to Nashir (in Royanti, 2012: 13), comic, generally, is a pictorial story in magazines, newspaper, or books that is usually easy to understand and funny. From the various definitions above, it can be concluded that comic is an art work which has sequence of stories about characteristics, events in picture form which can be humorous, mysterious, etc.
2.7.2 The Strengths of Comics in Education

According to Yang (2012), strenghts of comics in education can be described as follows: 1. Motivating By far, the most frequently mentioned asset of comics as an educational tool is its ability to motivate students. In Hutchinson's (1949) experiment with a curriculum built around Puck - the Comic Weekly, 74% of teachers surveyed found comics "helpful for motivation" (p. 244), while 79% claimed comics "increased individual participation" (p. 244). One teacher even complained that comic books made "learning too easy" (Hutchinson, 1949, p. 244). When DC Comics, Thorndike, and Downes introduced their Superman language arts workbook to classrooms, they reported "unusual interest" (Sones, 1944, p.233) among the students, which "presented the

annoying difficulty of causing the youngsters to complete a whole week's task in one evening" (Sones, 1944, p. 233). Haugaard (1973) shares that comics was the only way to motivate her son to read: "The first thing which my oldest boy read because he wanted to was a comic book" (p. 54). She goes on to describe a similar phenomenon in her younger children. Alongi (1974) also testifies to "the magnetic attraction comic books wield for children" (p. 801). For students in Kakalios' (2002) "Science in Comic Books" class, comics provides enough motivation for them to overlook the oversimplification of example problems appropriate for an introductory physics course. Diamond observes that students in her high school art class are consumed by comics-based art projects, despite the many hours such projects usually require (Wax, 2002). William Marston theorizes that the appeal of the comic medium is woven into the very fabric of its nature. The potency of the picture story is not a matter of modern theory but of anciently established truth. Before man thought in words, he felt in pictures... It's too bad for us "literary" enthusiasts, but it's the truth nevertheless, pictures tell any story more effectively than words. (Sones, 1944, p. 239) Children - and if Marston is to be believed, all of humankind - have a natural attraction to comics. By inviting comics into their classrooms, educators can take advantage of the "fantastic motivating power of comic books" (Haugaard, 1973, p. 55).

2. Visual Comics, being composed of "pictorial and other images" (McCloud, 1993, p. 9), is a fundamentally visual medium. Brocka (1979) sees this as comics' primary advantage over other literary forms. Pictures and text shoulder the burden of the story together. Versaci (2001) welcomes this "interplay of the written and visual" (p. 62). He feels that comics can "quite literally 'put a human face' on a given subject" (Versaci, 2001, p. 62) resulting in an intimate, emotional connection between his students and characters of a comics story. In a study comparing comics to text, Sones (1944) found that comics' visual quality increases learning. Sones divided four hundred sixth- through ninth-grade students into two groups, balanced in terms of both school grade and intelligence. To the first group he presented a story in comics, with both pictures and text; to the second, only the text. Afterwards, each group was given a test on the content of the story. One week later, the process was reversed: the first group given the text version and the second group the comics. Both groups were tested again. In the end, Sones (1944) concluded that "a strong trend in favor of the picture continuity was indicated by the two sets of results" (p. 238). On the first test, the first group scored significantly higher than the second group. On the second test, the second group showed a significantly higher improvement than the first. Sones inferred from this that children in the first group had neared saturation after reading the comics, so were unable to learn much more from the text. Those in the second group did not reach saturation until after they had reread the material in comics. Sones (1944) noted that students of

"low and middle intelligence levels" (p. 239) were especially helped by comics' visual quality. Sones' conclusions foreshadow the trend towards teaching to multiple intelligences among educators today. He writes, "An assumption implied in most school instruction is that all children will read the printed materials with equal effectiveness... The absurdity of this practice is patent" (Sones, 1944, p. 240). Visual learners benefit from visual media. In the struggle to engage students of all learning dispositions, comics can prove to be a formidable tool. 3. Permanent Williams (1995) cites comics' "permanent, visual component" (p. 2) as one of his many reasons for using comic books in his ESL class. Film and animation, in contrast to comics, are visual but time-bound. Language and actions in film and animation are fleeting. The medium, rather than the audience, dictates how quickly the viewing progresses. The same is true of a traditional face-to-face lecture; the speaker has primary control over the speed of the lecture. The text medium, on the other hand, shares comics' "permanent" component but not its "visual." "Visual permanence," then, is unique to comics. McCloud (1993) describes this quality in another way: "In learning to read comics we all learned to perceive time spatially, for in the world of comics, time and space are one and the same" (p. 100). Time within a comic book progresses only as quickly as the reader moves her eyes across the page. The pace at which information is transmitted is completely determined by the reader. In educational settings, this "visual permanence" firmly places control over the pace of education in the hands (and the eyes) of the student.

4. Intermediary

Comics can serve as an intermediate step to difficult disciplines and concepts. Many language arts educators have used comics in this manner with tremendous success. Karl Koenke (1981) suggests that comics can lead students towards the discipline of reading, especially those who don't enjoy reading or have a fear of failure. A study at the University of Pittsburgh supported this suggestion, finding comic books useful in remedial reading instruction (Sones, 1944). In Hutchinson's (1949) experiment, many teachers "discovered comic strips to be particularly useful in special classes or for slow learning pupils in regular classes" (p. 240). Haugaard (1973) credits comic books with transforming her reluctant reader son into an avid fan of Jules Verne and Ray Bradbury. Versaci (2001) takes the intermediary quality of comics one step further. Using comics, Versaci challenges college literature students to consider, evaluate, and question the very concept of a "literary canon." Because comics are rarely considered literature, Versaci can surprise his students with well-written comics dealing with mature themes. Versaci then leads his class in a discussion on literary worth. He has found that discussions on comics are generally livelier than those on classic novels, possibly because of a misguided notion that books in the traditional canon are above question. Through comics, Versaci encourages his students to think critically about the literary worth of books and the formation of the literary canon. Comics can also scaffold to disciplines and concepts outside of the language arts. For example, Jay Hosler's Sandwalk Adventures, a comic book starring Charles Darwin and a talking follicle mite, introduces readers to evolutionary biology (Eakin, 2002). The syllabi of many history courses

already include the aforementioned Maus (Kendricks, 2000). Beyond specific works, the very act of creating comics is an interdisciplinary activity. In addition to reading and writing, comics-based projects can develop drawing, computer, and research skills. Many of the skills used in comics creation can be applied to film-making, illustration, and even Web design (Sturm, 2002). 5. Popular American children are steeped in popular culture. While some educators simply ignore this reality, many others struggle to address it adequately. Timothy Morrison, Gregory Bryan, and George Chilcoat (2002) suggest that, by incorporating popular culture into the curriculum, teachers can bridge the separation many students feel between their lives in and out of school. Hutchinson (1949) agrees, stating that "there should be harmony between the child's on-going life activities and his experiences in the school new learning always is a continuation or expansion of learning already possessed by the learner" (p. 236). In addition, the inclusion of popular media promotes media literacy. It encourages students to "become critical consumers of media messages, having developed the ability through exposure to accurately appraise media content or quality and accuracy" (Morrison, Bryan, & Chilcoat, 2002, p. 758). Teachers can introduce popular culture into their classrooms easily and effectively through comics. Comic books have been a vital part of American popular culture for the last century. As examples, Emily Wax (2002) points to the Spider-man and Star Wars blockbuster movies, both of which have comic book counterparts. There are also examples with considerably less marketing hype. Versaci (2001) asks English teachers to consider Judd Winick's comic book Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned. Pedro and Me is a

touching account of the author's friendship with Pedro Zamora, a young AIDS activist who eventually succumbed to the disease. Many students will recognize Winick and Zamora as cast members of MTV's Real World: San Francisco. Through comic books such as these, teachers can lead their students in a study of "contemporary lifestyles, myths, and values" (Brocka, 1979, p. 31). 2.7.3 Related studies on the use of comics for teaching reading. Some studies have been conducted on the use of comics to teach reading in the second language. The researcher is Royanti (2007). She conducted a research entitled The Use of English Comics to Improve Students Ability in Story Retelling. In this research the researcher analyzed whether there is any significant difference in improvement of students' ability in story retelling between the group that using comics and the group that without using comics. The researcher applied statistical analysis method. The result of this study is the students in the experiment group got better development in the average scores than the control group in speaking test.

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Design of The Study The researcher applied true experimental design. Sandjaja & Heryanto (2006), states that the experimental research is aimed to observe the causeeffect correlation between the variables. The writer will perform the data by treating the subject will be investigated. In this case, the writer will analyze the effect of using comic for teaching reading at eleventh grade students of SMAN 3 Mataram in academic year 2011/2012. The research experimental design is illustrated in the following table. Subject E C Where E C X T1 T2 : Experimental group : Control group : treatment : Pre-test : Post-test (Arikunto, 2002: 308). Pre-test T1 T1 Independent Variable X Post-test T2 T2

3.2 Population

The population of this study is the eleventh grade students of SMAN 3 Mataram in academic year 2011/2012. There are 12 classes at eleventh grade which are 40 students in each class. The total number of the population is 480 students. 3.3 Sample The researcher takes two classes as a sample. All subjects will be divided into two groups, 40 students as experimental group and 40 students as control group. This sample was investigated for seeking the answers of the proposed research questions. 3.4 Research Variables According to Brown (in Royanti, 2012: 12), a variable is something that may vary or differ. A variable is essentially what we can observe or quantity of the human characteristics or abilities involved. 1. Dependent variable According to Tuckman (in Royanti, 2012: 12), dependent variable is the factor that is observed and measured to determine the effect of the independent variable, that is, the factor that appears, disappears or varies as the experimenter introduces, removes, or varies the independent variable. Based on the definition, dependent variable in this research is the students achievement. The students test score indicates the students achievement. 2. Independent variable

According to Tuckman (in Royanti, 2012: 12), independent variable is the factor which is measured, manipulated, or selected by the experimenter to determine its relationship to an observed phenomenon. Based on the problem, independent variable in this research is the use of comics in teaching reading English text. 3.5 Method of Data Collection 1. Kind of data The data used by researcher in this research is primary data. The researcher write a fact or information obtained from students score resulted from pre-test and post-test. 2. Source of data The data is obtained from pre-test and post-test, toward experiment and control group. 3. Data collection procedure 1. Pre-test The researcher distributes the English reading text and 25 questions which have been copied to each student to read and answer the questions before the researcher applying treatment. In this test, the researcher have started to evaluate students skill in reading English text. Each items will get 1 score for the right answer and 0 for the wrong answer. 2. Post-test

The researcher distributes the English comic and 25 questions which have been copied to each student to read and answer the questions after researcher applied the treatment by using comics for experimental group and without using comics (texts only) for control group. In this test, the researcher have started to evaluate students skill in reading English text. Each items will get 1 score for the right answer and 0 for the wrong answer. This test aimed at knowing the effect of using comic for teaching reading. 3. Instrument According to Arikunto (1998), instrument is a tool used to collect data. In this case, the kind of instrument will be used in this study is English reading texts. It is designed as English text without comic and English text with comic. There are multiple-choices items, completion items and truefalse type. There are twenty five (25) questions. Five (5) questions are in multiple-choices items, five (5) questions are in completion items and fifteen (15) questions are in true-false type. 3.6 Method of Data Analysis To calculate each of students score, the researcher will use the formula proposed by Sudiono (in Susilowati, 2007) as follows: N = RS/FS x 100 Where: N : The individual raw score RS : The amount of individual correct answer FS : The amount of test items. 100: The maximum raw score

To differentiate the result of the pre-test and the post-test of this investigation the researcher will analyze and calculate the hypothesis significantly that is to know whether the null hypothesis (Ho) is accepted or not. The researcher will use the t-test formulas as proposed by Arikunto, (2010) as follows:
t= Mx My x2 + y2 Nx + Ny 2 1 1 + N x N y

Where : M : Mean deviation of each group N : Number of sample X : Deviation score between pre-test and post-test (the experimental group) Y : Deviation score between pre-test and post-test (the control group) Nx + Ny- 2 (Degree of freedom) : Sum of score Before calculating the t-test, the researcher calculated deviation score, mean deviation score and sum of square mean deviation score of experimental and control group as follows: 1. Deviation score Deviation score is calculated by using the formula: X = X2 X1 Where: X: Deviation score between pre-test and post-test (the experimental group) X1: Score of pre-test (experimental group) X2: Score of post-test (control group)

Y = Y2-Y1 Where: Y: Deviation score between pre-test and post-test (the control group) X1: Score of pre-test (experimental group) X2: Score of post-test (control group) 2. Mean deviation score Mean deviation score is calculated by using the formula: Mx = X/N Where: Mx : Mean deviation of experimental group X : Deviation score between pre-test and post-test (the experimental group) My = Y/N Where: My : Mean deviation of control group Y : Deviation score between pre-test and post-test (the control group) 3. Sum of square mean deviation score Sum of square mean deviation score is calculated by using the formula: X2 = X2 (X)2/N Where: X2 : Sum of square mean deviation score (experimental group) X : Deviation score between pre-test and post-test (the experimental group)

Y2 = Y2 (Y)2/N Where: X2 : Sum of square mean deviation score (experimental group) X : Deviation score between pre-test and post-test (the experimental group) Then, the criteria will be used is as follows: 1. If t-test (tt)-table (to) in significant rank of 0.05, H0 (Null Hypothesis) is rejected. It means that rate of mean score of the experimental group are higher than control group.
2. If t-test (tt)-table (to) in significant rank of 0.05, H 0 (Null Hypothesis) is

accepted. It means that rate of mean score of the experimental group are lower than control group.