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A Comparative Study on the Effect of Student Team

Achievement Division and Directed Reading, Thinking


Activity Strategies on Students Reading Comprehension
of the English Education Department UIN Suska Riau
1.1. Background of the Study.
English is spoken in the most International events
and it is used as the medium of information flow in
science, technology, and culture as well. Thus, it is not
surprising that the teaching of English is carried out in
many parts of the world. Furniture (1975) states that,
language learners should be given insight into the place
and function of various language items and skills in
listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities; that
is, in real communication situation. Among these skills,
reading is the fundamental skill. It is supported by
Moats as cited in Westwood (2001) who states that

reading is the fundamental skill upon which all formal


education depends. Through reading, the students
knowledge will automatically be enriched which
eventually can influence their language skills, such as
speaking, listening, and writing.
Burns et.al (1996) also state that reading can be a
way to share another persons insight, joys, sorrows, or
creative endeavors. Reading helps the reader to
construct knowledge, share experiences, feeling, ideas,
and developing new perspective. It can be said that
reading is a tool for expanding readers knowledge and
helping the readers to communicate with other people.
Bond (1979) also states that reading is the ability to
draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this
information appropriately. Indeed, reading for general
comprehension requires rapid and automatic processing

of words, strong skill in forming a general meaning


representation of main ideas, and efficient coordination
of many processes under much emitted time constraints.
In teaching reading comprehension the teacher has
to have a goal to minimize reading difficulties and to
maximize comprehension by providing culturally
relevant information. What the students read must be
relevant to their need and interest and they must be
ready, willing and able to read it.
However, as

cited

from

The

Jakarta

Post

(September 16th, 2009), youths reading interest in


Indonesia in general is relatively low compared with
young people in neighboring countries like Singapore
and Malaysia. The problem of reading has been found
in young students. As reported in The Jakarta Post (July
4th, 2014), based on a recent nationwide survey

conducted by the United States Agency for International


Development

(USAID)

in

cooperation

with

the

Education Ministry, Religious Affairs Ministry and


Myriad Research, the reading ability of primary school
students in Indonesia was 69 percent. It is found that
many students are not able to read. If the primary
students have a reading problem in their first language,
undoubtedly university students also have difficulties in
reading, especially for English text. In addition, cited
from The Jakarta Post (December 21st, 2002), many
students, even in university level, are still weak in their
reading comprehension.
In the English education department of UIN Suska
Riau, reading is offered four levels, the students learn
reading comprehension I is at the first semester, which
consists of 4 credits, reading comprehension II is in the

second semester, which consists of 2 credits, reading


comprehension III is at the third semester which also
consists of 2 credits, and extensive reading is at fourth
semester.
Based on the interview with one of reading
lecturers of the English education department of UIN
Suska Riau dated on November 2014, there are many
facts such as, reading has been taught by using various
strategies in academic year 2014/2015, the lecturer asks
the students to read the text individually and answer the
questions given. Sometimes, they are also asked to
discuss the text in groups and in pairs, but many of them
still cannot engage the students self-confidence to
participate in discussing the reading text. In teaching
reading, the lecturers often give brainstorming, and icebreaking activities. But as contrary, the students do not

want to participate in discussion, share the ideas after


reading and do not feel that they have a good quality in
reading especially the narrative text.
In consequence of the phenomena above, it gives
negative effects to the students capability in reading
comprehension. Most of the students are not able to
comprehend the narrative text. It makes the students get
many difficulties in reading activity and their difficulty
in comprehending an English text. It makes them slower
in doing task given by lecturer because some of them
are not able to identify the generic structures of the text.
In addition, most of the students are not able to
identify the meaning of new vocabularies in narrative
text; they are not able to find out the topic; they are not
able to find out the main idea; they are not able to
describe the orientation; they are not able to determine

the complication; they are not able to determine the


resolution; they are not able to identify the language
features; and they are not able to determine the
references.
In order to comprehend meaning from the text, the
lecturer should engage students in the learning process
by using strategies or strategies. As Nunan (1992)
states, the students are able to improve their language
skills while interacting with other learners in learnercentered language classroom. One of the ways of
creating learner-centered instruction is by using
cooperative learning strategy.
Cooperative learning is the instructional use of
small groups so that students work together to maximize
their own and each others to learning. Cooperative
learning has been demonstrated to be an effective

method for improving reading comprehension. Student


Team Achievement Division (STAD) is a cooperativelearning strategy in which small groups of learners with
different levels of ability work together to accomplish a
shared learning goal. This strategy facilitates the
students to be more active and confident to work with
the group in accomplishing the task.
Another

way

of

creating

learner-centered

instruction is by using Directed Reading, Thinking


Activity (DRTA). Burgess (1997) states that
DRTA is a group type reading activity in
which all members of group type read at the
same time. The primary objective is to
develop a skill in reading critically. DRTA
strategy was developed by Russell Stauffer
in 1969 in teaching reading comprehension.

Moreover, Crawford (2006) states that the


DRTA is process encourages students to be
active and thoughtful readers. In short, the
use of DRTA strategy can stimulate their
thinking ability and teach them reading good
habit. In other words, these strategies (STAD and
DRTA) can enhance students motivation in reading
instruction and also can increase students reading
comprehension.
Related to the phenomenon above, it is necessary
to conduct a research entitled A Comparative Study on
The Effect of Student Team Achievement Division and
Directed Reading, Thinking Activity Strategies on The
Reading Comprehension of The Second Semester
Students of The English Education Department UIN
Suska Riau.

\
1.2.Statement of the Problem
Reading is one of the four basic skills in
language learning. Reading provides the learners
with a source of comprehensible input and serves
to facilitate communicative fluency in other
language skills. During the reading process,
language learners have to cope with new
vocabulary, structure, culture, and information
written in the target language. Harmer (2011)
states that reading is an exercise dominated by the
eyes and the brain. The eyes receive the messages
and the brain then has to work out the significance
of these messages. Therefore, the brain has an

important role since it processes what has been


read to be interpreted and concluded.
It also can be inferred that reading is an active
activity. Grellet (1981) states that reading is an
active skill that constantly involves guessing,
predicting, checking, and asking oneself questions.
Before the readers read the text, they have to
suppose what the readers will talk about by seeing
the title, pictures, clues, or the first and last
paragraph. Therefore, in reading, the readers do
not only read the printed words, but they also must
understand what is the message that conveyed by
the writer.
However, some biases from the theories above
are found in reading instruction. One of them is

the problem faced the second semester students of


the English Education Department of UIN Suska
Riau. In comprehending a text, they are not able to
find out the topic, the main idea and the meaning
of new vocabularies; they are not able to
determine the complication and the resolution in
narrative

text.

Consequently,

their

reading

achievement is low and unsatisfied. Therefore,


these questions are arisen: What makes students
obtain low reading comprehension? What are the
causes that make the students get many difficulties
in comprehending the text? Have the

lecturers

implemented the strategy or technique in teaching


reading comprehension? What efforts should be

made

to

enhance

students

reading

comprehension? Which strategy or technique is


suitable

to

improve

students

reading

comprehension? Is Student Team Achievement


Division appropriate strategy to improve students
reading comprehension? Is Directed Reading,
Thinking Activity appropriate strategy to improve
students reading comprehension? At last, how is
the comparison between STAD and DRTA on
students reading comprehension?
To solve the problem, one thing that can be
done is using a strategy in reading instruction.
There are two types of promising a better reading
instruction outcome. The first is by using

cooperative learning. The cooperative learning that


used in this research is Student Team Achievement
Division. Student Team-Achievement Division
(STAD) is one of the cooperative learning system
in order to make students work together and check
that all group members can explain what their
group has done. STAD is also to motivate the
students in order to they can support and help each
other (Slavin, 2009).
The second teaching strategy

used in this

research is Directed Reading Thinking Activity.


According to Jennings and Shepherd (1998) state
that the DRTA helps students become aware of the
reading strategies, understand the reading process,

and develop prediction skills. They add that this


strategy stimulates students' thinking and makes
them listen to the opinions of others and modify
their own in light of additional information. Beside
that it can make students more active and
thoughtful readers.
Based on the previous study was conducted by
Talal Abd Al- Hameed Al Odwan (2012), it was
found out that DRTA improved students reading
comprehension. Another previous study was
conducted by Mohammad Akram Al-Zubi and
Amal Riyadh Kitishat (2013), it was found out that
STAD could be a very useful instructional strategy
to improve students reading comprehension.

These previous studies really strengthen this


research to compare the strategies of STAD and
DRTA on students reading comprehension.

1.3.

Limitation of the Problem


This research investigated the comparison

between Student Team Achievement Division


and Directed Reading, Thinking Activity
strategies

on

the

students

reading

comprehension. Reading comprehension is


focused on narrative text. This research was
conducted

at

the

English

Education

Department of UIN Suska Riau. The second


semester students who joined in the reading

class invited in this research as the first


participants, while the second participant of
this research was one of the reading lecturer
of the English Education Department. This
research consisted of two classes. Both of the
classes were experimental groups. Data of the
students reading comprehension was gathered
using a written test. The type of test in this
research is limited into an objective test,
which consists of 25 multiple choice items
that must be answered based on the text given.

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