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IMPROVING STUDENTS’ENGLISH READING SKILL

THROUGH

RECIPROCAL QUESTIONING TECHNIQUE

A Classroom Action Research at SMPN 1 Kawedanan, Magetan

in the Academic Year of 2011/2012

By

NANIK YULIATI

S891008059

THESIS

Submitted to Fulfill One of the Requirements for Getting Graduate Degree

SebelasMaret University

GRADUATE SCHOOL

ENGLISH EDUCATIONDEPARTMENT

SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY

SURAKARTA

2012


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PRONOUNCEMENT

This is to certify that I myself write this thesis entitled “Improving

Students’ English Reading Skill ThroughReciprocal Questioning Technique”. (A

Classroom Action Research at SMPN 1 Kawedanan, Magetanin the Academic

Year of 2011/2012).

It is not plagiarism or made by others. Anything related to others’

works is written in quotation, the sources of which are listed on the list references.

If the pronouncement proves wrong, I am ready to accept any

academic punishment, including the withdrawal or cancellation of my academic

degree.

Surakarta, 2012

NANIK YULIATI

NIM.S891008059


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ABSTRACT

Nanik Yuliati.“Improving Students’ English Reading Skill through

Reciprocal Questioning Technique”.(A Classroom Action Research at SMPN 1

Kawedanan, Magetan in the Academic Year of 2011/2012).Thesis.

Surakarta.English Education Department of Graduate School, Sebelas Maret

University. 2012.

The research aims to: (1)find out whether and to what extent

ReciprocalQuestioning technique can improvethe students’ English reading skill;

(2) describe how the class situation iswhen Reciprocal Questioning technique is

applied in teaching reading.The research is conducted through Classroom Action

Research (CAR). It is implemented to find a solution of students’ problem relates

to their low reading skill and motivation in reading.

The research is conducted in two cycles from August 2011 to February

2012 implementing Reciprocal Questioning technique to improvestudents’

English reading skill of the ninth grade at SMPN 1 Kawedanan in the academic

year of 2011/2012. The research procedure consists of planning, action,

observation, and reflection. In collecting the data, the methods used by the

researcher are test, observation, interview, and questionnaire. In the research, the

researcher acts as the teacher who conducts the action research. She is helped by

the previous English teacher who acts as the collaborator. In analyzing the data,

the researcher compares the mean scores of pretestand posttest for quantitative

data and she uses theinterview,field notes,and questionnairesfor qualitative data.

The result of the research shows that Reciprocal Questioning technique

can improve the students’ English reading skill. By being accustomed to

constructing and answering the questions, the studentsimprove their reading skill

more and more. It is proved by a high improvement on the mean scores of pretest

and posttest. The mean score of pretest is 64, the posttest 1 is 66, and the posttest

2 is 82. Besides, the students are active in constructing, delivering, and answering

the questions about a text, so the teaching learning process in the classroom is

more alive and attractive. It influences their motivation in understanding a text.It

can be seen from the fact that there are a bigger proportion of students who

construct, deliver, and answer the questions, their answers are not in short

sentences, and they give good responses to the tasks given. Anyhow, there is

weakness in applying the Reciprocal Questioning Technique in the classroom. It is

less suitable for passive students because they tend to be silent during teaching

learning process in the classroom, so the researcher should give variation in

applying the technique to overcome the situation in order to have an optimal

result.

It can be concluded that Reciprocal Questioning Technique is an

appropriate technique to improve the students’ English reading skill of the ninth

grade at SMPN 1 Kawedanan in the academic year of 2011/2012. By using the

technique, the students’ ability in understanding a text improves. Because of that,

it is recommended to applying the Reciprocal Questioning Technique for teachers

in their teaching learning process.


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MOTTO

Respecting others is

the most important thing in life


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Dedication

to:

Her beloved husband

Her beloved parents

Her beloved brothers and sisters


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the Almighty and Merciful. Praise be to Allah

SWT, the writer can finish the thesis as one of the requirement for achieving the

Graduate Degree of the English Education Department.

The writer is aware that it would be impossible for her to complete the

thesis without help and encouragement from other people. Therefore, in this

opportunity she would like to express her appreciation and gratitude to:

1. The Director of Graduate School SebelasMaret University for giving her

permission to write this thesis.

2. Dr. Abdul Asib, M. Pd, as the Head of the English Education Department of

Graduate School, and also as the first consultant, who has given her support,

suggestion, criticism, and guidance in accomplishing the thesis.

3. Drs. Martono, M. A, as the second consultant for the valuable guidance,

advice, and feedback in writing the thesis.

4. The lecturers of English Education Department of Graduate School

SebelasMaret University, for lectures, guidance, suggestions, and criticisms.

5. The principal of SMPN 1 Kawedanan, for his permission to study at English

Education Department of Graduate School SebelasMaret University and to

conduct research at the school.

6. Her beloved husband who always supports her during the study.

7. Her beloved parents, brothers, and sisters, fortheir prayers,supports, and

everlasting love.

The writer realizes that the thesis is still far from being perfect. That is

why; suggestion is needed for the progress in the next study. The writer hopes this

research give important contribution to the development of English Education.

Surakarta, February 2012

NY


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………….. i

APPROVAL …………………………………………………………………… ii

LEGITIMATION FROM THE BOARDS OF EXAMINERS …………...……. iii

PRONOUNCEMENT ………………………...………………………………... iv

ABSTRACT ……………………………………...……………………………. v

MOTTO ………………………………………...……………………………… vi

DEDICATION ………………………………………………………………… vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………………………...………………….. viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………......……….. ix

LIST OF TABLES ………………….…………………………….………....… xii

LIST OF APPENDICES.………...……………………………….………...…. xiii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….. 1

A. Background of the Study .………………………………… 1

B. Problem Statement………………………………………….9

C. Objective of the Study ……………………………………..9

D. Problem Limitation…………………………………………9

E. Benefit of the Study …………………..…………………… 9

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE……….……………. 11

A. Reading……………………………………………………. 11

1. Definition of Reading …………………………………. 11

2. Purpose of Reading …………………………………... 13

3. Strategy of Reading …………………………………… 15

4. Teaching Reading …………………………………….. 17

B. ReQuest Technique……………………………………...... 21

1. Definition of ReQuest Technique …………………….. 21

2. The ReQuest Technique Procedure ………………...… 24

3. Stages in Teaching Reading using ReQuest Technique 29

4. Guidelines in Preparing Questions …………………… 31

C. Review of Related Research ……………………………… 33

D. Rationale………………………………………………...… 37


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E. Action Hypothesis………………………………………… 39

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………………….…… 41

A. The Setting of the Research…………………………...…... 41

1. Place of Research ……………………...……………… 41

2. Time of Research …...………………………………… 42

B. The Subject of the Research……………………………..... 42

C. The Research Method…………………………...………… 43

D. The Research Procedures …………………………….…… 45

E. Technique of Collecting Data…………………………...… 48

F. Technique of Analyzing Data………………………...…… 51

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………………... 53

A. Pre Research Condition………………………………….... 53

B. The Description of the Result of Cycle 1 ……………….… 56

1. Planning ……………………………………...……….. 58

2. Action ……….………………………………………… 58

a. Sharing Idea with Collaborator …………………… 58

b. Students’ Questionnaires …………………………. 60

c. Students’ Fieldnotes ……………………………… 60

d. Pretest …………………………………………….. 61

e. Treatment …………………………………………. 62

f. Posttest ……………………………………………. 69

g. The Students’ Fielnotes after the Treatment ……… 70

3. Observation …………………………………………… 71

4. Reflection……………………………………………… 76

C. Description of the Result of Cycle 2 …………………….… 79

1. Planning ……………………………………...……….. 79

2. Action ……….………………………………………… 79

a. Sharing Idea with Collaborator ……………….…… 79

b. Treatment …………………………………….……. 80

c. Students’ Questionnaires ……………….………….. 90

d. Posttest ………………………….…………………. 90

3. Observation …………………………………………… 92


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4. Reflection ……………………………………………... 97

D. Discussion ……………………………………………...…. 99

1. Improvement of the Students’ Reading Skill ……….… 99

2. Improvement of the Students’ Reading Achievement .. 103

3. Improvement of Class Situation ……...…………....… 104

4. Improvement of the Students’ Responses …………… 106

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION AND SUGGESTIONS ……. 109

A. Conclusion ……………………………………………… 109

B. Implication ……………………………………………… 111

C. Suggestions ……………………………………………… 112

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………… 114

APPENDICES ……………………...………………………………………… 117


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1. The Differences between Strategic Readers and Poor Reader …….. 20

Table 3.1. Time Schedule of the Action Research ……………………………. 42

Table 3.2. The Features of Action Research ……………...…………………… 44

Table 3.3. Action Research Cycle …………………………………………….. 47

Table 4.1. Students’ Problem in Reading Class ……………….……………… 55

Table 4.2. The Procedure of Research ………………………………………… 56

Table 4.3. Schedule of Cycle 1 ………………………...……………………… 58

Table 4.4. Schedule of Materials ……………………………………………… 58

Table 4.5. Alternative of Problem Solving …………………………………… 59

Table 4.6. Pretest Score Based on the Types of Questions …………………… 61

Table 4.7. Posttest Score Based on the Types of Questions ...………………… 70

Table 4.8. The Comparison between Pretest and Posttest of Cycle 1 ………… 75

Table 4.9. The Improvement of the Students’ Reading Skill ………………….75

Table 4.10. Schedule of Cycle 2 …………..…………………………………… 79

Table 4.11. Schedule Materials ………...……………………………………… 79

Table 4.12.Post Reading Score of the First Meeting ………………………..… 83

Table 4.13.Post Reading Score of the Second Meeting ……...……………..… 85

Table 4.14.Post Reading Score of the Third Meeting ………………..……..… 87

Table 4.15. Post Reading Score of the Fourth Meeting ………………………... 89

Table 4.16. Posttest Score Based on the Types of Questions ………………….. 91

Table 4.17.The Scores of Pretest, Posttest of Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 …...……….95

Table 4.18.The Improvement of Reading Skill before and after Treatment…... 96


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LIST OF APPENDICES

1. Interviewing the Previous Teacher ………………………………………. 117

2. The Students’ Fieldnote 1 ……..………………………...………………. 118

3. The Students’ Questionnaire …………………………………………….. 120

4. Instruments Validity and Reliability ……......…………………………… 121

5. The Validity of Try Out Test ………………………………………….…. 124

6. The Reliability of Try Out Test ………………………………………….. 125

7. Reading Test Blue Print ………………………………………...……….. 126

8. Pretest of Cycle 1 ………………………………………...……………… 128

9. Key Answers of Pretest ………………………………………………….. 137

10. Pretest Score …………………………...………………………………… 138

11. Lesson Plan ………………………………………...……………………. 139

12. The Students’ Fieldnote 2 ......…………………………………………… 158

13. The Researcher’s Fieldnote of Cycle 1 ………………………………….. 161

14. The Collaborator’s Fieldnoteof Cycle 1 ………………………...………. 163

15. Posttest of Cycle 1 ……………………………………………………….. 164

16. Key Answers of Posttest of Cycle 1 ……………..……...………………. 173

17. Posttest Score of Cycle 1 …..………...……………………………..…… 174

18. The Comparison between Pretest and Posttest of Cycle 1 Scores ………. 175

19. Lesson Plan …………………………………..………………………….. 176

20. Post Reading Score of Meeting 1 ….……………………………………. 200


22. Post Reading Score of Meeting 3 …….…………………………………. 202


24. The Researcher Fieldnote of Cycle 2 ……………………………………. 204

25. The Collaborator’s Fieldnote of Cycle 2 ………………………………… 205

26. Posttest of Cycle 2 ……………………………………………………….. 206

27. Key Answers of Posttest of Cycle 2 ……………………………………... 215

28. Posstest Score of Cycle 2 ………………………...……………………… 216

29. The Comparison of Pretest, Posttest of Cycle 1 and 2 Scores…………… 217

30. The Students’ Questionnaire …………………………………………….. 218

31. The Photograph of Research Activities ………………………………….. 219


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

English is used as a means of communication in both spoken and

written. Teaching English is thus aimed at acquiring communicative competence.

Communicative competence is defined as discourse competence because

communicating is creating a discourse or creating a text in context. The text

produced, either spoken or written, is a unified whole that makes sense to the

people sharing the language culture. When two people converse, for instance, they

are involved in the creation of text in context, in the creation of spoken discourse.

When people read or write, they are also involved in the creation of written

discourse although the communicating parties are not involved in face-to-face

communication. In both spoken and written modes, people are wrapped up in the

exchange of meanings.

The English curriculum places discourse competence as the center of

communicative competence that is realized in the four language skills: listening,

speaking, reading, and writing. The four skills can be divided into receptive and

productive skills. Reading belongs to one of the two receptive skills.

Reading is essential skill for learners of English as a second language.

For most of these learners, it is the most important skill to master in order to ensure

success not only in learning English, but also in learning any content subjects in

where reading is required. In short, with the strengthened reading skill, learners

will make greater progress and development in all other areas of learning (Nunan,


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2003: 69). It can be concluded that reading is important in our life. We will get

some information through reading.

Reading is about understanding written texts. Understanding written

texts is really important for students to make their communicative competence

better. We can say that if students have low ability in comprehending texts, they

will have difficulties in gaining the purposes of the texts themselves. Meanwhile,

in their daily life, students are always related to printed words, such as text books,

magazines, newspapers, letters, announcements, advertisements, etc. The students

will be able to catch the information given by writer well if they have good reading

comprehension.

Otherwise, Permendiknas No. 22/2006 states that the competence

standard of reading at the first semester of the ninth grade at Junior High School is

as follows:

“Competence Standard: (5) Memahami makna teks tulis fungsional dan

esei pendek sederhana berbentuk procedure dan report untuk

berinteraksi dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari. Basic Competence:

(5.1.) Membaca nyaring bermakna teks fungsional dan esei pendek

sederhana berbentuk procedure dan report dengan ucapan, tekanan

dan intonasi yang berterima (5.2.) Merespon makna yang terdapat

dalam teks tulis fungsional pendek sederhana secara akurat, lancar

dan berterima untuk berinteraksi dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari

(5.3.) Merespon makna dan langkah retorika dalam esei pendek

sederhana secara akurat, lancar dan berterima untuk berinteraksi

dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari dalam teks berbentuk procedure

dan report.”

In fact, most of students face some problems related to reading skill.

They find problems in comprehending the text, finding general idea of the text,

finding main idea of the text, finding explicit and implicit information stated in the

text, finding word references, and finding the meaning of words related to the text.


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The students’ reading skill is still unsatisfying. It can be seen from their

low scores after having pretest at preliminary observation. The mean score of

pretest was 64. Most of the students scores under the decided minimum mastery

standard (SKBM). The SKBM for the ninth grade is 75. Besides, based on the

observation done by the researcher, they have low motivation in joining the

teaching learning process. It is indicated by their laziness to read English texts,

especially long English texts with a lot new vocabularies. They are not accustomed

to reading English texts if there is no task from their teacher. Further, it can be

seen on the students’ field notes, most of them like reading English without

understanding because the students have trouble in understanding the meaning of

the words. Based on the reasons above, the researcher needs an effort to improve

English reading skill in SMPN 1 Kawedanan Magetan.

According to the researcher, teaching reading is not easy because

teachers should summon their ability on how to make the activities more amusing

and understandable. Students generally have no chance to do something that helps

them reach the comprehension faster during silent reading. They get bored instead.

The boredom they feel may be avoided by giving interesting activities before,

during, and after reading. Moreover, by doing so, students will get the clues to

evaluate whether the messages they caught are right or wrong, and they will be

more confident to answer the questions after reading.

The background knowledge is very important in reading. It is needed to

recall the concept in mind and relate them to the written materials for getting new

meaning. In SMPN 1 Kawedanan, every student has different background

knowledge and ability, so it is not possible for them to have same experience of


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life and ability although they are from the same place and time. As a result, the

students have different schemata and the schemata influence students’ reading

comprehension. In reading process, the students should not only pay attention

to every word, phrase, and sentence but also their schemata. Widdowson in

Nunan (1991: 68) has reinterpreted schema theory from an applied linguistics

perspective. He postulates two levels of language: a systemic level and a schematic

level. The systemic level includes the phonological, morphological, and syntax

elements of the language, while the schematic level relates to our background

knowledge.

There are some students who have tried to comprehend the text by

reading it but they are unsuccessful. It is because they do not know its meaning. In

other words, they have insufficient vocabularies. Without knowing what words

mean, comprehension is impossible. (http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/adlk). So,

a teacher must focus on developing the word power of students. When they

encounter an unknown word in a passage, the teacher must explain that word and

what it means. Then whenever that word pops up again, the teacher can ask

students for what it means so that they remember it. Teaching students to look for

word meanings in the dictionary is important.

On the contrary, there are some students enjoy reading because they

have sufficient vocabularies and know what they read for. The teacher must give

attention to these differences by supplying the students with enough vocabularies.

Besides, the teacher must make students aware of the kinds of text they read, so

they will be able to get the information they look for easily.

The weaknesses of students in comprehending the text are also

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indicated by focusing on the way they pronounce the words only, not in the

meaning of the words. In addition, the teacher believes that the students do not

have problem in comprehending a text. So, when they are asked about the passage

after silent reading, teacher will find that the students don’t understand what they

have read. As the result, the teacher should give some tasks to know the students’

comprehension.

Low motivation in joining teaching learning process is the second

problem. It is because some of students never think that understanding a text is a

challenge. They seldom try to solve the problems stated on the text and always

give up before understanding them. One of the students’ difficulties is in

identifying the main idea of a text. Finding main idea is not easy because it

requires the analysis of the text step by step. Besides, some main ideas are not

directly stated on the text. The students must determine it by discovering the topic

to which all stated details are related. For some students, it is confusing. So they

don’t like reading. Because of this, the class situation is not pleasing. They don’t

pay attention well to the lesson. They never try to do the task perfectly. They

always depend on their friends’ work to copy. Otherwise, they always wait for the

teacher to give the explanation of the text. They are only silent when they get any

difficulties, and they are afraid of asking and expressing their opinion, so it

influences their ability to get a better achievement.

To have a better achievement in understanding a text, the teacher

always motivates the students to read frequently by asking them to read a text at

home after school. This technique gives students little chance to remember

everything they read because they do not know what they read for. In other


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words, they do not have purposes in reading. For this reason, the teacher should

set some purposes in reading a certain text by giving them some questions. It

enables them to know that they are reading to determine general idea, main idea,

detailed information, understand vocabulary terms, or some other defined goals.

In this case, the teacher should use different types of purposeful questions in

order to develop students’ ability to read for a variety of purposes.

To evaluate the students’ reading comprehension is not only done

after reading the whole text but also while they are reading. While reading, the

students can predict the questions that will appear in certain sentences. By making

questions whose answer are in the sentences they have read, they can catch

complete comprehension. When doing this activity, the researcher finds that

students can not construct the questions well and even they are not aware to

differentiate between WH/H- and yes/no questions. They often answer yes or no

to WH/H- questions or in reverse. The teacher always reminds them not to do this,

but they always do this again.

On one hand, when the teacher gives questions to comprehend a text,

some of them can answer the questions those the answers are explicitly stated on

the text only. They cannot answer to the implied one appropriately. When they are

asked about this, they always answer that the sentence in the question is almost

equal to the sentence on the text. It proves that the students cannot differentiate if

the questions need the information which is explicitly or implicitly stated on the

text or they may not be able to infer the messages in the text. It can be concluded

that the teacher should apply a suitable technique to solve the problems.


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If the teacher tries some techniques to improve the students’ reading

skill, but these ways will make the students feel stressed instead. It is caused by the

wrong perceptions that reading is the process of translation. By translating the text

word by word, it will be really time consuming because the students must read the

translation many times to gain the right meaning of the text. If there are no

students’ efforts to solve their problem and teacher’s concern to revise the

technique used, such kinds of difficulties will always exist. If it takes place in the

teaching learning process, it is convinced that the result will be discouraging

because the students’ reading skill will not develop. The students have limited

vocabularies. They often ask the teacher the meaning of the same words in a

chance. It is because they have less attention to the words and fail to keep the

words in their long-term memory.

Besides, most teaching learning processes are teacher-centered which

enable the students keep the information in their short-term memory. They are able

to memorize the information that is asked in the section only. It is not useful for

improving their reading skill.

The ninth grade of SMPN 1 Kawedanan consists of twelve classes;

each consists of approximately 26 students. From the twelve classes, there are

three classes that have the worst condition in teaching and learning process. One of

them is the class where the researcher conducted the research. The condition of the

classes is not comfortable. The classes are actually a school hall that is divided into

three rooms with semi permanent dividers. It enables the students in one class

disturbed by the activity done in the other classes. Besides, they are located near


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school canteen, so it is very crowded that the students can’t concentrate in learning

process.

The solution of the problems is the use of reciprocal questioning

(ReQuest) technique. In ReQuest technique, the students take on the role of the

teacher by formulating their own list of questions about the text. The teacher then

answers the students' questions. The questions are framed around clarifying,

summarizing, inferring and predicting, and deciding on the main idea and writer's

purpose. Mitchell (2010) states that ReQuest stands for “reciprocal questioning”. It

is a useful questioning technique designed to help students formulate questions and

answers based on a text passage. The goal is to move students beyond low-level

literal questions to higher order thinking

It means if Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) technique is used

frequently, the students will be accustomed to answering their teacher’s questions

to make the comprehension easier. Even when the teacher does not provide the

purposeful questions, the students will be guided in the types of questions that

the teacher used in the past.

From the explanation above, the writer is interested in accomplishing a

research using reciprocal questioning (ReQuest) technique because it can make the

students to be active learners even motivate them to learn outside the class and

develop a critical thinking which requires gathering many facts and more

information about the subject that should be understood. Because of the fact, the

writer as the teacher sets forth the way of teaching reading using Reciprocal

Questioning (ReQuest) technique in this research.


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B. Problem Statement

Based on the background of the study, the problems are as follows:

1. Can ReQuest technique improve the students’ English reading skill?

2. How is the class situation when ReQuest technique is applied in teaching

reading?

C. Objective of the Study

The objectives of the study are:

1. To know whether ReQuest technique can improve the students’ English reading

skill.

2. To describe how the class situation is when ReQuest technique is applied in

teaching reading.

D. Problem Limitation

In this research, the researcher intends to improve students’ English

reading skill through reciprocal questioning (ReQuest) technique which is

theoretically can improve students’ reading skill. The researcher also limits the

object of the research that is the ninth grade students of SMPN 1 Kawedanan in the

academic year of 2011/2012.

E. Benefit of the Study

1. for students

The research findings will improve students’ English reading skill, and

make it as a strategy which helps them to have a better understanding. Thus,


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they can evaluate and have responsibility to their own learning. Besides, they

are able to use the skill not only in the classroom but also outside the

classroom.

2. for teachers

The teachers can choose suitable technique or method for teaching

learning activities to students who have low motivation in understanding the

texts to improve their reading skill. Because the technique provides the

students to be able to achieve some skills in teaching learning process, the

teachers construct the relationship of the students to others by using this

technique.

3. for school

It increases the students’ achievement in general. Besides it gives

opinions in deciding policy to develop a better teaching learning process.

4. for other researchers

They can use the result of the research as consideration on their

research. By considering the result they can also find the different result for

using the technique.

5. for decision maker

The decision maker can use the result of the research to inspire the

teachers to use the technique in improving the students’ reading skill because

reading is one of the skills that is valued in the National Examination.


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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In accordance with the topic that will be discussed in this thesis, this

chapter will discuss the theoretical description underlying the research, rationale,

and hypothesis.

A. Reading

1. Definition of Reading

Reading is an active process to get information through written

language. In other word, it can be said that reading is an interactive process that

goes on between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension. Reading is

not an easy learning activity. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and

paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies

to determine what the meaning is.

Stated on http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/teach/def.html, Reading is

the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a complex skill

requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information.

Anderson et al (1985). Reading is the process of constructing meaning through the

dynamic interaction among: (1) the reader’s existing knowledge; (2) the

information suggested by the text being read; and (3) the context of the reading

situation.Wixson, Peters, Weber, and Roeber (1987).

It means that reader interacts with printed material; the reader’s prior

knowledge is combined with the written information. As a result, the messages are

http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/teach/def.html


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achieved. Therefore, reading is actually a sort of conversation between a writer

and a reader. The writer’s message will be a means of communication if only the

reader can react and interpret what the writer actually says or means.

Cline, Johnstone, and King (2006: 2) state that reading is decoding and

understanding text for particular reader purposes. Readers decode written text by

translating text to speech, and translating directly to meaning. To understand

written text, readers engage in constructive processes to make text meaningful,

which is the end goal or product.

Generally, reading is about understanding written texts. But

understanding a written text is not simple. Pang et al. (2003: 6) states that reading

is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. It consists of two

related processes: word recognition and comprehension. Word recognition refers

to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to one’s spoken

language. Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and

connected text.

Reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a

text and their own background knowledge to build meaning. The goal of reading is

comprehension. Nunan (2003: 68). A good reading competence requires many

components. The students should have some indicators that can indicate their

reading competence such as understanding reference in the reading text,

understanding main idea, understanding kinds of paragraph development,

understanding the message of the story, understanding vocabulary, understanding

logical inference, distinguishing between general idea and topic sentence, making


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accurate prediction, making restatement, and understanding grammar (Bermuister,

1974: 83).

From the statements above, it can be concluded that reading is process

of constructing meaning from written texts by translating text to speech, and

translating directly to meaning which combines the information from a text and the

background knowledge to find general idea of the text, main idea of the text,

explicit and implicit information stated in the text, word references, and the

meaning of words related to the text.

2. Purpose of Reading

Learning a foreign language is often for the purpose. It is about the

purpose of reading. Wallace (1996: 6) states that any mode of language, whether it

be listening, speaking, reading, or writing may be used to serve immediate needs,

to learn from, or to give us pleasure in language for its own sake. An important

feature which reading also shares with other modes of language use is its role in

social interaction.

Based on the statements above, it can be said that a person may read for

survival, for learning, or for pleasure. Reading for survival involves an immediate

response to a situation. Reading for learning is also goal oriented. Reading for

pleasure is done for its own sake. Whereas, the point may be lost on children in

school where literature, originally written primarily to offer enjoyment, is required

reading for examinations.

A reader reads a text to understand its meaning, as well as to put that

understanding to use. A person reads a text to learn, to find out information, to be


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entertained, to reflect or as religious practice. The purpose for reading is closely

connected to a person’s motivation for reading. It will also affect the way a book is

read. We read a dictionary in a different way from the way we read a novel. In the

classroom, teachers need to be aware of their students’ learning needs, including

their motivation for reading and the purpose that reading has in their lives.

Good readers read extensively, integrate information in the text with

existing knowledge, and have a flexible reading style, depending on what they are

reading. There are some different skills interacting perceptual processing,

phonemic processing, and recall. Reading has a purpose, it serves a function. It

means that if the readers get the opportunities, the readers will read more texts.

They spend their time on text intending to improve their knowledge on their

language.

Meanwhile, Widiatmoko (2011, 19) states:

“Ketika kita membaca cepat suatu bacaan, tujuan sebenarnya bukan

untuk mencari kata dan gambar secepat mungkin, namun untuk

mengidentifikasi dan memahami makna dari bacaan tersebut seefisien

mungkin dan kemudian mentransfer informasi ini ke dalam memori

jangka panjang dalam otak kita.”

Madsen (1983:76) states that reading speed is especially important for

students with lots of out-of-class reading to do. Furthermore, Dalam membaca

cepat, terkandung di dalamnya pemahaman yang cepat pula. Pemahaman inilah

yang diprioritaskan dalam kegiatan membaca cepat, bukan kecepatan.

(Widiatmoko, 2011: 20).

It can be said that the purposes of fast reading are to identify and to

understand the meaning of the text efficiently. It doesn’t mean that slow reading


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will improve the understanding because the understanding is the prime priority on

fast reading, so we can take big benefit on doing it. Moreover, it can be concluded

from the statement that fast reading ability is a form in choosing the reading gist

based on its purposes that is relevant with the reader without wasting time to read

indispensable parts.

Further, Widiatmoko (2011: 20-21) states that there are several

purposes in fast reading. They are as follows:

a. Mengenali topic bacaan

b. Mengetahui pendapat (opini) orang lain

c. Mendapatkan bagian penting yang diperlukan

d. Mengetahui organisasi penulisan

e. Melakukan penyegaran atas apa yang pernah dibaca

f. Mencari informasi

g. Menelusuri bahan halaman buku atau bacaan dalam waktu yang singkat

h. Tidak banyak waktu yang terbuang

3. Strategy of Reading

Richard (2002: 289) defines reading strategies as plans for solving

problems encountered in constructing meaning. Further he states the aim of

reading strategies as follows:

a. Strategies help to improve reading comprehension as well as efficiency in

reading.

b. By using strategies, students will be reading in the way that expert readers do.


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c. Strategies help readers to process the text actively, to monitor their

comprehension, and to connect what they are reading to their own knowledge

and to other part of the text.

It can be concluded that strategies of reading help students to improve

their performance on test of comprehension and recall.

Informational texts permeate everyday lives. To become reflective

readers and writers, students need extensive and intensive experience with

engaging, high-interest selections. Strategies need to be modeled through many

examples. Students need guided practice with authentic reading materials as they

are learning how to use each strategy. They also need opportunities for

independent application of the strategies. The lessons incorporate the essential

strategies readers use before, during, and after reading.

Before reading a selection, students preview the text. Readers think

about the title of the selection. They make predictions and ponder questions. They

set expectations about what information may be revealed in the text. They skim for

text structure (headings, bold print, italicized words, illustrations and other visual

presentations) that may reveal clues about the text. Readers think about the

author’s purpose for writing the selection. They set their own purpose for reading.

They scan their background knowledge for relevant information that may help

them understand the text. Before reading strategies focus on setting the stage for

reading comprehension.

During reading strategies focus on problem-solving skills. Readers use

to monitor their understanding of the text. The strategies include word attack skills,

vocabulary work, visualizing details, rereading for clarification, and adjusting the


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pace of reading in order to construct meaning. Readers develop a repertoire of

strategies in order to extract meaning from text.

After reading strategies help students read between the lines. They

respond to what was read. Readers revisit a selection to closely examine elements

of the text to achieve deeper levels of understanding. For example, readers revisit

the selection to determine the essential details and themes of the text. Revisit

strategies help readers respond to text, make connections, and evaluate various

aspects of the selection. (http://www.learners.org/jnorth/tm/lessons_RW.html)

From the description above, it can be summarized that reading strategy

is the way used to understand the message of the text involving the determining of

general idea of the text, main idea of the text, explicit and implicit information

stated in the text, meaning of certain word, and word reference.

4. Teaching Reading

Brown (2004: 185) states that reading is likewise a skill that teachers

simply expect learners to acquire. Watkins (2005: 59) states that students need a

reason to read and this can often be achieved in the classroom by setting a

meaningful task. Setting questions is a way of focusing learners on the most

important parts of a text and therefore helping them to understand. The students

also need a chance to think of what they already known about the subject because

this too may help them with decoding it.

Based on the statements above, it can be concluded that students are

expected to acquire the reading skill. Students can obtain the reading skill by

setting tasks in the classroom to help them understand and decode parts of a text.


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Further, Watkins (2005: 59) states that if there are new words in the

text that the learners are unlikely to know, the teacher may also choose to pre-teach

a few of them so that the students don’t get frustrated and disheartened while

reading. However, it is not always necessary to pre-teach vocabulary and the

students need practice in dealing with text where they don’t know every word-this

is much closer to their real life experience.

The statements mean that it is frustrating and discouraging for the

students who don’t know the meaning of words on the text if the teacher doesn’t

realize it. So, the teacher must help the students by conducting pre-teach in

teaching reading although it isn’t always necessary because the students should

relate the words with their real life experience.

Pilgrim states that understanding the written word opens up portals to

the vast stores of knowledge acquired by humans as a society, over centuries.

Many good readers are not good at teaching reading skills. Knowing a skill and

teaching that skill to someone are two different things. So, a good reader may not

necessarily be a good teacher of reading comprehension.

(http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-to-improve-reading-comprehension.html).

Furthermore, he offers some tips on teaching reading. They are as

follows:

a. Develop Vocabulary Powers

Without knowing what words mean, comprehension is impossible. So, you

must focus on developing the word power of children. When you encounter an

unknown word in a passage, you must explain that word and what it means.

Then whenever that word pops up again, you can ask children for what it

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-to-improve-reading-comprehension.html


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means so that they remember it. Teaching students to look for word meanings

in the dictionary is important. A good practice is, to make children underline

words, that they do not understand in the first reading and then discuss them in

class.

b. Do Not Proceed Without Understanding

One good rule to follow in class is teaching children not to continue reading

without understanding. Every sentence must be understood before they go for

the next one. Make students feel free to ask their doubts if they don't

understand.

c. Grasping the Heart of the Matter

Teach them how reading is made simpler when you understand the heart of the

matter or the central idea of a passage. That way, they can easily connect and

understand what binds all the sentences together and what is really being talked

about.

d. Using Contextual Clues

One thing to teach students is that reading is a lot like detective work. You

need to figure out the meanings of sentences through the context in which they

are used. Teach them to question every line until the meaning is made clear,

relevant to the context. It is all a matter of practice.

e. Visualizing What is Written

One of the simplest ways of mastering reading comprehension is visualizing

what you read. Encourage students to visualize what they are reading.

Especially, when you have given a story reading assignment, encourage

children to visualize as they read. It is all about teaching reading strategies that


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help them to look beyond those black words printed on white and see the

thoughts, images and ideas they represent.

Rohim (2009: 3) states that in teaching practices, we should have clear

cut dividing line between good readers against the poor ones. This is very essential

to have realization that actually the ultimate goal of our teaching process is to

move students forward into better condition of their reading ability baseline. There

are a number of differences between strategic readers and poor readers during all

phases of the reading process.

Table 2.1. The Differences between Strategic Readers and Poor Readers

Strategic Readers

Poor Readers

Before Reading

1) Build up their own background

knowledge about reading and the topic

2) Set purposes for reading.

3) Determine methods for reading,

according to their purposes.

1) Start reading without thinking about the

process of reading or the topic.

2) Do not know why they are reading but

merely view the task as "ground to

cover."

During Reading

1) Give their complete attention to the

reading task.

2) Check their own understanding

constantly.

3) Monitor their reading comprehension and

do it so often that it becomes automatic.

4) Stop to use a fix-up strategy when they do

not understand.

5) Use semantic, syntactic, and

graphophonic cues to construct meanings

of unfamiliar words.

6) Synthesize during reading.

7) Ask questions.

8) Talk to themselves during reading.

1) Do not eliminate distractions from

reading.

2) Do not know whether they understand.

3) Do not recognize when comprehension

has broken down.

4) Seldom use fix-up strategies to improve

comprehension.

5) Skip or ignore meanings of unfamiliar but

crucial words.

6) Do not integrate text with prior

knowledge.

7) Read without reflecting on meaning or

text organization

After Reading

1) Decide if they have achieved their goals 1) Do not know what they have read.


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for reading.

2) Evaluate their understanding of what was

read.

3) Summarize the major ideas.

4) Seek additional information from outside

sources.

5) Distinguish between relevant and

irrelevant ideas.

6) Paraphrase the text what they have

learned.

7) Reflect on and personalize the text.

8) Critically examine the text.

9) Integrate new understandings and prior

knowledge.

10) Use study strategies to retain new

knowledge.

2) Do not follow reading with

comprehension self-check.

3) Rely exclusively on the author's words.

4) Do not go beyond a surface examination

of the text.

5) Apply no conscious strategies to help

them remember.

B. Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) Technique

1. Definition of Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) Technique

Comprehending a text is a process of interaction between the reader’s

background and the text. The teacher should help the students improve their ability

to comprehend the text. In order to make the structured teaching of reading, the

researcher uses Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) technique to improve the

students’ ability in comprehending a text.

Richard and Rodgers (2001: 19) propose a reformulation of these

concepts, namely: approach, design, and procedure. An approach defines

assumptions, beliefs, and theories about the nature of language and language

learning. Designs specify the relationship of those theories to classroom materials

and activities. Procedures are the techniques and practices that are derived

from one’s approach and design.

In the different occasion, Anthony in Brown (2001: 14) gives three

hierarchical elements, namely: approach, method, and technique. Approach is a


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set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language learning, and teaching.

Method is an overall plan for systematic presentation of language based upon

the selected approach. Meanwhile, technique is the specific activities manifested

in classroom that are consistent with a method and therefore are in harmony with

an approach as well. Related to these different hierarchical notions about

technique, it can be concluded that technique is a key to effective instructional

decision because it is the real implementation of approach, method, and design.

ReQuest technique is a strategy in which students learn the skills of

summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting well enough to act as an

instructor of content. Students develop these four skills and learn meta-

comprehension skills while reading independently or completing a hands-on

inquiry activity.

Mitchel (2010) defines ReQuest stands for “reciprocal questioning”.

It is a useful questioning technique designed to help students formulate questions

and answers based on a text passage. The goal is to move students beyond low-

level literal questions to higher order thinking; builds background knowledge,

builds vocabulary, and helps readers develop predictions about the reading.

Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) technique is a variation on the

Reciprocal Teaching strategy. Here, students take on the role of the teacher by

formulating their own list of questions about a reading selection. The teacher then

answers the students' questions. This exercise assists reading comprehension at two

levels. Students deeply analyze the reading selection to extract their "teacher"

questions. The teacher, in turn, reinforces learning by answering the questions and,

http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/reciprocal.htm


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if necessary, helping students to refine their work into more focused questions.

(http://www.justreadnow.com/stategies/reciprocal.htm)

Reciprocal Questioning trains students to pick main ideas, engage in

metacognitive thought, and think critically while reading. Initially, it is a verbal

exchange between the teacher and the students. Eventually, the students work

independently in pairs following the same questioning pattern. For the students to

become independent, use Reciprocal Questioning often. This strategy requires the

teacher to have strong questioning skills. (http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/

issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm)

It can be concluded that ReQuest technique is relatively simple

technique that allows the teacher and students to take turn in asking

questions about the sentences of a text. By formulating their own questions, the

students can explore their mind to think critically and their reading will be more

purposeful.

The aim of reciprocal questioning is to have students actively

participate in the discussion of the text or activity. Students read to learn and learn

to apply practices of good readers. If using this strategy with an activity, students

learn to carefully observe, listen, communicate, and participate. This

comprehension technique uses structured discussion based on the four strategies

listed in the description. After learning all four skills, students can work in small

groups, reading portions of a text or following the procedures of an activity, and

taking turns as the teacher.

In Reciprocal Questioning technique, the students take on the role of

the teacher, and ask the teacher questions about the reading material. The teacher

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/%20issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm




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answers the students’ questions. The questions are framed around the following

aspects related to the reading material: clarifying information, summarizing

information, inferring, and predicting main idea and author’s purpose.

2. The Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) Technique Procedure

According to Mitchell (2010), the Reciprocal Questioning procedure is

as follows:

1. The teacher chooses a passage and designates short segments within the

passage

2. The text is read aloud by the teacher or read silently by both the teacher and the

students

3. When it is first introduced, the teacher should be the one to answer questions

generated by students. The students may leave their books open or the teacher

has their book closed. The students ask the teacher questions about what has

been read. The students then check the answers against the text

4. As the students become more familiar with the procedure, the roles can be

reversed.

5. Eventually this procedure will continue with the students pairing up with each

other.

Furthermore, on http://www.justreadnow.com/stategies/reciprocal.htm

states that the steps to ReQuest procedure are:

a. Divide the class into small groups and provide each group with a reading

selection.

http://www.justreadnow.com/stategies/reciprocal.htm


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b. Explain the ReQuest process: the students read a selection and develop

discussion questions directed toward the teacher.

c. Allow time for the students to read their selections independently and to write a

list of potential questions.

d. Have the groups combine and revise the team members' questions into a final

form.

e. During the class discussion, a spokesperson for each group asks the questions

to the teacher. The teacher answers the questions to reinforce learning.

f. In a post-exercise discussion, ask students to identify strategies they used in

writing and refining questions.

Based on the theories above, the researcher formulates the teaching

steps as follows:

a. Providing the students a reading selection.

The teacher chooses a passage and designates short segments within the

passage:

1) Select a well-structured text for the lesson. Preparing possible questions

before the lesson is a necessity.

2) Imagine how the questioning will go in the classroom and think about what

questions the students might ask.

3) Write the questions down and use them as a springboard during the lesson.

b. Explaining the ReQuest process

1) Tell the students that today they are going to practice asking questions

while they read.


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2) Say that you will read the first sentence or paragraph (depending on the

selection) and ask them to ask a question about it and the teacher will

answer.

3) Then it will be the teacher’s turn to ask a question which they will answer.

Model:

1) Read the first sentence or paragraph of the selection orally as the students

follow along in their heads.

2) Tell the students to ask questions about the selection.

3) Answer the student questions carefully.

Use these questions as a guideline to think aloud:

a) Did you use your background knowledge?

b) Did you know it from another text or reading?

c) Was it answered in the text?

d) Did I combine what I read in the text with something I already know?

A Think Aloud might sound like: The answer is _____. I know this because I

just read an article in the newspaper last week about _____.

4) Next, ask the students a question about the sentence or paragraph. The

students answer the question clarifying their thoughts as they answer.

5) In the beginning, the teacher will need to coach the students to clarify. Use

questions such as:

Why do you think that?

Can you elaborate?

Tell me more. Can you give me an example?

Explain how _______.


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Why is _______ happening?

What if _______?

What conclusions can I draw about _______?

What is the best _______ and why?

How does _______ affect _______?

How does _______ relate to what I've learned before?

What is the difference between _______ and _______?

How are _______ and _______ similar?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of _______?

What is another way to look at _______?

What is a new example of _______?

What are the implications of _______?

Why is _______ important?

How does _______ apply to everyday life?

6) Continue this process, moving through the selection.

c. Reading the selection.

The text can be read aloud by the teacher or silently read by both the teacher

and the students.

d. Formulating the questions.

The students are given time to write a list of potential questions. Let them

revise the questions into a final form.

e. Asking the questions to the teacher.

The teacher should be the one to answer questions generated by students for

the first time. The teacher answers the questions to reinforce learning. The


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students may leave their books open or the teacher has their book closed. The

students ask the teacher questions about what has been read. The students then

check the answers against the text.

f. Reversing the role.

When the students become more familiar with the procedure, the roles can be

reversed. The students ask questions about the selection to their friends.

g. Identifying strategies

The teacher asks the students to identify strategies they used in writing and

refining questions in the post-exercise.

In the research, the researcher uses a number of variations for

applying ReQuest technique in the classroom procedures. The variations are:

a. Whole Class

In giving and responding to the questions, sometimes it is useful for

the teacher to model to the whole class. As the model, the teacher encourages

the students to read aloud with her and be an active participant in the class. It

is teacher’s opportunity to introduce new language structures, vocabularies

and context of meaningful text. It provides opportunities to create interactions

where opinions, ideas and interpretations can be shared.

b. Small Group

Because the class is too large, the researcher divides the class into

some small groups. Working with groups that consist of 4-6 students gives more

benefit because the students have much more interaction and are supported by the

teacher to develop the questioning and thinking.

c. Work in Peer


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Some students will be more confident to work in a peer but, it is

better to place them with their fellow student. The interaction among peers is

more powerful learning model than in group.

d. Individual Work

To support the students’ development on questioning and thinking, in

case to improve reading understanding, individual work is a strong model to use

in order to encourage his or herself-confidence.

ReQuest is relatively new technique for the students, ReQuest

technique should be introduced clearly to the students. In this case, the teacher

should be aware of the students’ need to provide the students with the

understanding of the ReQuest technique rules, build students interest to

this technique, introduce related vocabulary, and develop some background

for understanding the message.

3. Stages in Teaching Reading using ReQuest Technique

There are three main stages in teaching reading. They are as follows:

a. Pre reading

Some pre-reading activities simply consist of questions to which the

reader is required to find the answer from the text. Traditionally this type of

question followed the text and was designed to test comprehension, but in more

recent materials questions often precede the text and function as scanning tasks-

that is the student reads the text quickly in order to find specific information

related to the questions.

The aim of this activity is to lead students to predict the content of


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the reading text. It is done before the students read the text. The teacher gives

the brainstorming related to the texts that will be given. Because of being

asked their predictions, the students’ background knowledge or their schemata is

considered important in doing this activity. The questions can be:

“What do you think the story is about?”

“Who do you think is the main character?”

“What do you think will happen? Why do you think that?”

(http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/612/Reading/Reading %20Strategies

/reciprocal%20teaching.htm)

b. Whilst reading

Generally the aim of whilst reading is to encourage students to be

flexible, active, and reflective readers. Flexibility is encouraged by inviting the

students to read in ways which are perceived (by the materials writers) to be

appropriate to the type of text being presented.

The questions given in this activity must relate the story. The

examples are:

“What do you think will happen next?”

“How do you think the problem will get solved?”

Whilst reading is the main activity, there are three functions of this

activity, for instances:

1) To help understanding of the writer’s purpose

2) To help understanding of the text structure

3) To clarify text content

The teacher should help the students in such a way that they learn to

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/612/Reading/Reading%20%20Strategies%20%20/r

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/612/Reading/Reading%20%20Strategies%20%20/r


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read efficiently and effectively, and to develop their comprehension.

c. Post reading

It is done after the students complete the reading. It is generally used

to train the students to do a new ability related to comprehend the texts. Asking

questions at the end of a story allows the students to reflect on their reading and

to relate it to their own experiences. It also allows the teacher to see how well

the students have understood what they had read and whether they have grasped

the main ideas. The questions can be:

“Tell me the story in your own words.”

“Were your guesses right?”

“What surprised you the most in the story?”

“What did you like best about the story? Why?”

“Who was your favorite character? Why?”

“How would you change the ending?”

4. Guidelines in Preparing Questions

Burns in Afida (2008: 27) suggests some guidelines in preparing questions.

They are:

a. When trying to determine overall comprehension skills, ask a variety

of questions designed to reflect different types of comprehension.

Avoid overloading the skill evaluation with a single type of question.

b. Don’t ask questions about insignificant portion of the selection.

Such questions may make a test harder, but they do not convey realistic

data about comprehension.


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c. Avoid ambiguous or tricky questions. If a question has two or more possible

interpretations, more than one answer for it has to be acceptable.

d. Avoid useless questions.

e. Don’t ask questions in language that is more difficult than the language of

the selection the question is about. Sometimes you can word questions so

as to prevent a child who knows the answer from responding appropriately.

f. Make sure the answers to sequence questions require knowledge of the

order of event. Don’t confuse questions that simply ask for lists with

sequence questions.

g. Don’t ask for unsupported opinions when testing for comprehension.

Have students give support for their opinion, by asking “why do you

think that?”, “what in the story made you think that?”

h. Don’t ask for opinions, if you want facts. Ask for the type of information

you want to receive.

i. Avoid questions that give away information. Instead of saying “what

makes you believe that the boy was angry?” say “How do you think the

boy felt? Why?” Questions may lead students to the answers by

supplying too much information.

j. If a question can be answered with a yes or no, or if a choice of answer

is offered, the student has a chance to answer the questions correctly

without having to read the selection at all. Avoid questions that offer

choices.

In this case, it is better if the students are allowed to make mistake in

making questions without feeling fear or timid. It will help them make good


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questions actively.

C. Review of Related Research

The researcher intends to improve students’ English reading skill

through reciprocal questioning (ReQuest) technique which is theoretically can

improve students’ reading skill. Besides, reciprocal questioning technique is one

of the techniques that allows students to evaluate their reading skill by doing the

reciprocal dialogs including students and teacher even among students. As a

consideration in applying the technique is the success of the previous researchers

in carrying out the technique in their research.

Ani Afida from UNS Surakarta applied reciprocal questioning

technique to improve students’ reading comprehension in SMK Diponegoro

Salatiga in the academic year of 2007/2008. She conducted the research from

November 2007 to August 2008. It was a classroom action research. The research

was aimed to know whether reciprocal questioning technique can improve

students’ reading comprehension or not, what happens if reciprocal questioning

technique is used in teaching reading practices, and the strengths and weaknesses

of reciprocal questioning technique when it is used to teach reading. The findings

showed that the students had problem relate to the components of reading

comprehension, therefore she focused on maximizing the students’ awareness to

make the types of questions that they usually omitted by using herringbone

scheme. In result, the students were more interested and interactive in making

reciprocal questioning in all types of questions. In her research, she concluded

that reciprocal questioning technique is empirically able to improve students’


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reading comprehension. Reciprocal questioning technique stimulated students to

be autonomous and active readers. On the other hand, reciprocal questioning is less

effective for the passive learners who prefer reading by themselves without trying

to make questions while reading the texts. Besides, she recommends that teachers

use reciprocal questioning technique in teaching reading comprehension, so that it

can be students’ own reading strategies in order to catch their own reading

comprehension.

Anise M. Stevens had a research on Reciprocal Questioning and

Reading Comprehension in the College Classroom. She conducted the research

during the fall semester of 2011. The participants in this study were enrolled in a

developmental writing course at Pasadena City College that she has taught with

regularity for a near decade. The student demographic ranged in age from 18 to 28

years and consisted of a fairly equal distribution of Asians, Latinos, and African

Americans who lived in either Pasadena or the greater Los Angeles area, had

attended public high schools, and were members of working class families.

Approximately one third of the participants were either bilingual or spoke English

as their second language. The lessons conducted for the study were part of larger

unit on education in the United States. Throughout the duration of this unit,

students were required to read seven essays by various authors and then write a

position paper about an issue concerning education they felt warranted attention.

Her primary goal in using ReQuest to scaffold three of the seven readings

comprised within this unit was to activate schema and promote metacognition in

students. She said that although the ReQuest procedure was a new strategy with

which none of her students were familiar, they caught on to the process quickly.


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And Although further application of the ReQuest procedure is needed to conclude

that it can help students push past literal interpretation and teach them how to

approach text from an aesthetic stance, the results of this study signal that it is an

effective method worthy of facilitating the questioning process, a key component

of critical thinking, and of strengthening students’ aptitude to identify and

assimilate authors’ intended meanings.

Kelly J. Whalon wrote a dissertation on the Effects of a Reciprocal

Questioning Intervention on the Reading Comprehension of Children with Autism.

The research was conducted during the fall semester of 2004 at a professional

development school located in Florida. A multiple baseline design across

participants was used to investigate the effects of reciprocal questioning strategy

instruction delivered in cooperative pairs on the reading comprehension of children

with autism spectrum disorder. Three children with autism spectrum disorder and 9

general education peers participated in the study. Following intervention, children

with autism increased frequency of question generation and responding using a

story map framework. In addition, two participants increased their performance on

standardized comprehension measures. Social validity data indicated children with

autism and their general education peers enjoyed the intervention; and parents

perceived a change in their child’s language, reading fluency and reading

comprehension skills.

James D. Allen (College of Saint Rose, Maui, Hawai, USA, 2011) had

a research paper on the Pedagogy of Reciprocal Questioning: Promoting

Educators’ Understanding and Application of Principles of Learning. The paper

describes how a variation of King’s (2007) Reciprocal Questioning pedagogical


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strategy, as used in a Theories of Learning course, helps pre-service and in-service

educators develop a deeper understanding of theoretical principles of learning and

ways to apply them. It describes the educators’ perspectives on the value they see

in their engagement in the Reciprocal Questioning strategy both in developing a

deep understanding of principles of learning and how they can be applied in

various educational settings through the sharing of diverse perspectives during

peer group discussions. Findings indicate that a majority of students in the

Theories of Learning course believe they learn more, are more motivated to learn,

develop a deeper respect for others’ perspectives, and enjoy learning about theories

of learning through Reciprocal Questioning.

Jeanette Rentas, Prof. Hartman Education, had a research paper on

Reciprocal Questioning. From her perspective, Reciprocal Questioning is a

strategy which helps students to understand material that may not be primarily

understood by them. Many times material is presented by teachers in different

classrooms without any explanation of the strategies that are being implemented.

Without this, students many times find it difficult to internalize or have cognition

about the subject. Although Reciprocal Questioning is not the only strategy, it is

one that creates critical thought and also allows students to make their own

decision about what is important information and what needs to be reinforced. A

disadvantage could arise with Reciprocal Questioning is when the teacher gives a

listing of generic questions for this method of learning. The fact is that some

students may actually use these questions as a model without actively thinking of

questions that they have on their own. Some students may try to take the easy

approach and avoid thinking of questions however, misleading the teacher into


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thinking that they are using the strategy. In turn they really have just memorized

the generic questions and have learned to manipulate them to present themselves

as though they are using the strategy. Nevertheless, Reciprocal Questioning is a

great metacognitive approach to give students an understanding on how to prepare

themselves for cognitive learning.

D. Rationale

Teaching English is challenging. There are many problems in its

process, but there is a moral satisfaction if the knowledge transferring to students

succeeds. Reading is one of receptive skills in language learning. Reading is a skill

that will empower everyone who learns it. They will be able to benefit from the

store of knowledge in printed materials and, ultimately, to contribute to that

knowledge. Reading skill is crucial in teaching learning process because it enables

students to get better understanding on a text although it is not easy to apply.

Most of the students have problem with their reading and although they

know about it, they have low motivation in joining the reading class. They are

indicated by their low scores after having pretest at preliminary observation (The

decided minimum mastery standard (SKBM) is 75. Most of the students got scores

under the SKBM) and their laziness in reading English texts, especially texts with

a lot new vocabularies. They only focus on their pronunciation and ignore the

meaning. They do this only when the teacher gives them a task to read, in fact.

The problems are mostly caused by their limited vocabularies and not

knowing the technique used to understand the text easily. Moreover, the teacher

trusts that the students have no problem in understanding a text, but when they are


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asked about the passage after reading, they don’t understand what they have read.

Besides, most of the teaching learning processes are teacher-centered. So, the

students would like to wait for the teacher giving the explanation of the texts. The

students seldom solve the problem on the text; they don’t know what to do with the

text. They give up before understanding it. Because of that, they don’t pay

attention to the lesson. Furthermore, the ninth grade of SMPN 1 Kawedanan

consists of twelve classes; each consists of approximately 26 students. From the

twelve classes, there are three classes that have the worst condition in teaching and

learning process. One of them is the class where the researcher conducted the

research. The condition of the classes is not comfortable. The classes are actually a

school hall that is divided into three rooms with semi permanent dividers. It

enables the students in one class disturbed by the activity done in the other classes.

Besides, they are located near school canteen, so it is very crowded that the

students can’t concentrate in learning process.

The most important thing that must be gained in this case is the

improvement of students’ English reading skill with their weaknesses on reading.

So, the teacher must use a certain technique to achieve it. The technique is

Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest).

Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) technique is one of the techniques

that allows students to evaluate their reading skill by doing the reciprocal

dialogs including students and teacher even among students. In ReQuest technique,

the students take on the role of the teacher by formulating their own list of

questions about the text. The teacher then answers the students' questions. The

questions are framed around clarifying, summarizing, inferring and predicting, and


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deciding on the main idea and writer's purpose. If the students are comfortable

while being introduced to ReQuest technique and it is frequently used, it will be a

strategy that the students can use on their own. The result is that Reciprocal

Questioning (ReQuest) technique will be a useful technique that helps students to

reach a better understanding in reading.

ReQuest technique is a self-questioning process but it is useful because

it allows students to see the same topic by different understanding brought by

teacher or his/her fellow classmates. Self-questioning is technique in which

students generate story-specific questions about the important elements of a text as

they read in order to better integrate prior knowledge with the text and the reading

context. Because of their differences, the students will realize another person’s

point of view or the way of thought which may also be correct rather than their

own answer. It is a useful questioning technique designed to help students

formulate questions and answers based on a text passage. The goal is to move

students beyond low-level literal questions to higher order thinking. As a result,

the new knowledge will be created and the deep and better understanding will be

achieved.

D. Action Hypothesis

After discussing the theoretical review and rationale, the writer

proposes the hypothesis as follows:

1. Reciprocal Questioning technique can improve the students’ English reading

skill.


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2. Reciprocal Questioning technique can make the class situation alive because

the students are more active in teaching learning process when it is applied in

teaching reading.


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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. The Setting of the Research

1. Place of Research

The classroom action research was conducted at SMPN 1 Kawedanan,

Magetan which is located on Achmad Yani Street, Kawedanan, Magetan, phone

number: (0351)439201, email: [email protected]. SMPN 1

Kawedanan was built in 1961. It is near Goranggareng crossroads and a bus station

which are about a hundred meters from the school. Although it is near the busy

public places, it has good atmosphere to learn because the location of school is

large and surrounded by the high gate that prevents the noise from outside of the

school. Besides, it has good facilities to learn, such as; the sophisticated audio

visual used in each classroom, a language laboratory, the science laboratories, the

internet rooms, an arts room and the complete books in the school libraries.

Besides the great facilities, SMPN 1 Kawedanan is a big school. It has 68 teachers

who teach 32 classes which have about 26 students in each and 15 administrators

who are poised to support the teachers in teaching learning activities. Moreover,

there are two large fields, a big hall, and a sizeable mosque, so it enables all

students to have activities there. It is not a surprising thing because SMPN 1

Kawedanan is one of the two RSBI schools in Magetan since 2009.

mailto:[email protected]


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2. Time of Research

The classroom action research was managed for seven months from

August 2011 up to February 2012 for writing the thesis proposal up to writing the

thesis report. The research’s schedule was as follows:

Table 3.1 Time Schedule of the Action Research

No Activities Aug

2011

Sept

2011

Oct

2011

Nov

2011

Des

2011

Jan

2012

Feb

2012

1 Pre Research x x x

2 Designing Proposal x x x

3 Proposal Seminar x

4 Reviewing Literature x x x x

5 Developing Treatment x x x

6 Collecting and Analyzing

Data x x x x

7 Writing Research Report x x x x x

8 Submitting the Thesis

Document x

B. The Subject of the Research

The subject of the classroom action research was the ninth (i) year

students of SMPN 1 Kawedanan, Magetan in the academic year of 2011/2012. It

consisted of 24 students. There were 11 male students and 13 female students.

Most of them had low motivation in joining the English teaching learning process

because they thought that English was not easy enough for them to understand.

They actually afforded to buy English books to supply their needs in improving

their reading skill, but they tended not to use the books to improve their capability.

They only used the books when the teacher gave tasks. So, the books gave a little

benefit only for them. Besides, there was unwillingness between the students to

discuss their reading problems. It was caused by the students’ opinion that their

reading skill were at the same level that was low. It wouldn’t work if they had

discussion with their classmates. So, the researcher as the classroom teacher of the


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ninth (i) year students of SMPN 1 Kawedanan had intention to improve their

English reading skill through Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) technique.

C. The Research Method

In order to improve students’ reading skill through ReQuest technique,

the research method used in this research is classroom action research. There are

some definitions of action research, such as, Watts (1985: 118) who defines that:

“Action research is a process in which participants examine their own

educational practice systematically and carefully, using the techniques

of research. It is based on the following assumptions: 1. Teachers and

principals work best on problems they have identified for themselves, 2.

Teachers and principals become more effective when encouraged to

examine and assess their own work and then consider ways of working

differently, 3. Teachers and principals help each other by working

collaboratively, and 4. Working with colleagues helps teachers and

principals in their professional development.”

Another definition comes from Borg in Ferrance (2000: 8) who defines

that:

“Action research emphasizes the involvement of teachers in problems

in their own classrooms and has as its primary goal the in-service

training and development of the teacher rather than the acquisition of

general knowledge in the field of education.”

Kemmis and McTaggart in Ferrance (2008: 26) states that:

“Action research is deliberate, solution-oriented investigation that is

group or personally owned and conducted. It is characterized by

spiraling cycles or problem identification, systematic data collection,

reflection, analysis, data-driven action taken, and, finally, problem

redefinition. The linking of the terms “action” and “research”

highlights the essential features of this method: trying out ideas in

practice as a means of increasing knowledge about or improving

curriculum, teaching, and learning.”


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Wallace (1998: 1) defines action research as the systematic collection

and analysis data relating to the improvement and analysis data relating to the

improvement of some aspects of professional practice.

Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that action research

is the systematic study of efforts to improve the quality of teaching learning

process in order that the students’ achievement is satisfying. It can be a critical

research to examine and asses the teacher’s ways in teaching whether the technique

used is effective or not.

Rochsantiningsih in Afida (2008: 35), states the features of action

research are as follows:

Table 3.2. The Features of Action Research

Duration Usually conducted over a short period of time

Project Size Usually small-skill

Context Classroom-based or school-based and may involve one or more

school contexts usually within the same region

Key investigators Involves one or more teachers from a school or several schools

Ethical Consideration Usually informal consent is given as the students participation are

known to the teachers and the purpose is beneficial to the parties

involved

The research design is illustrated by all features of action research on

the above theory. The duration of the research was from August 2011 up to

February 2012, it is not a short period of time. The research is about the small skill,

they are improving students’ reading skill through a limited technique that is

Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest). It is classroom-based context. The research

included collaborator who participated actively from the beginning of the research

to the end as key investigator. The researcher also involved students as the active

participants. They could express their feeling and perceptions when they were

being taught using ReQuest technique freely.


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The main aim of the research is to improve students’ English reading

skill. This practical action is conducted by using reciprocal questioning to improve

students’ English reading skill. To know whether the using of ReQuest technique

can improve students’ English reading skill or not, the reflection is conducted. The

reflection of the effect of action can be identified during and after the activities

applied.

D. The Research Procedures

Ferrance (2008: 9) states that the action research cycles are as follows:

(1) identification of problem area, (2) collection and organization of data, (3)

interpretation of data, (4) action based on data, and (5) evaluate results/reflection.

1. Identification of Problem Area

In this cycle, the teacher often has several questions she wishes to

investigate; however, it is important to limit the question that is meaningful and

doable in teaching learning process to find the problem in the classroom.

In this case, the researcher found that most of students had difficulty

with their skill on reading and low motivation in joining teaching learning process.

The factors were their limited vocabularies, their wrong perception on reading, and

their incapability in answering the questions about the text because they couldn’t

differentiate which one was WH/H-questions or yes/no questions.

Generally, the students had difficulties in understanding the English

texts. It was proved by the unsatisfying marks on their tests after the teacher gave

them pretest.


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2. Collection and Organization of Data

The collection of data is an important step in deciding what action

needs to be taken. Multiple sources of data are used to better understand the scope

of happenings in the classroom.

In this case, the researcher arranged such kind activities:

a. Preparing material, making lesson–plan, and designing the steps in doing the

action.

b. Preparing list of students’ name and scoring.

c. Preparing sheets for classroom observation.

d. Preparing a test.

3. Interpretation of Data

Based on the problem and the causes of it, the researcher planned to use

Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) technique to overcome the problem. The

activities were:

a. Giving pretest

b. Teaching reading using ReQuest technique. The activities i s based on the

planned materials and steps.

c. Giving occasion to the students to ask any difficulties or problems.

d. Giving posttest in every cycle.

4. Action Based on Data

The activity of action based on data was observing the students during

the action and making notes in observation sheets like the students’ feeling,

thinking, and something they had done in English teaching-learning process. The

researcher did this observation flexible and opened to record the unexpected


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students’ responses. This observation was also conducted by the collaborator’s

participation. In this case, the collaborator was the previous English teacher who

gave contribution in giving the ideas, opinions, and shared the experiences

actively in all steps in the classroom action research.

5. Evaluate Results/Reflection

The results of the observation were analyzed and the results of the

reading test was calculated. From these, it could be known whether the students’

reading skill improve or not. The writer’s reflection was done by discussing it with

the collaborator. From the results above, the next cycle could be resolved and

designed.

The cycle was briefly described in the following scheme:

Table 3.3. Action Research Cycle

Identify the

problem area Gather data

Next steps Interpret

data

Evaluate

results Act on

evidence


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E. Technique of Collecting the Data

The data in this classroom action research consists of quantitative and

qualitative data. The researcher found quantitative data by doing tests. The

instrument of tests was based on the blue print. The data were found from

administering pre-test, regular tests after some teaching learning processes, and

post-test. In finding qualitative data, the researcher directed observation in the

classroom, interviewied the teacher, gave interview to the students regarding their

activities studying English, and held meeting with colleagues to find out the

students’ improvement.

To collect data accurately, some methods were used by the researcher.

They were:

1. Test

In this study, the researcher used written test to measure the

students’ achievement in reading comprehension. The researcher gave pretest and

posttest in order to know the students’ reading skill before and after being

taught using ReQuest technique. The aim is to know whether the students’

reading skill improves or not.

The instrument of tests was based on the blue print. The internal

validity and reliability was applied to get the valid test. The formula of internal

validity and reliability is as follows:

a. Internal Valdity

St = n

x 2

St = Standard deviation.


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2x = The total of the square of the deviation score.

n = The number of respondents.

rn = t

tn

s

XX

i

i

q

p

rn = The validity of each item.

nX

= Sum of correct answers within the row divided by sum of correct

answers within column.

tX = The average of the total correct answers.


pi = The total of the correct answers divided by the number of

respondents.

qi = The total of the incorrect answers divided by the number of

respondents.

b. Internal Reliability.

r =

2

11

ts

pq

k

k

r = Internal reliability

k = The total valid items

pq = The sum of the multiplication of the average of the correct answers

and the incorrect answers.



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In this case, the researcher had 60 items to be tried out. After having a

try out, the researcher found there were 32 valid items, and the researcher took 30

of them in order to make them easy to calculate. Then the researcher found that the

try out test was reliable because the coefficient of reliability was 0.9459.

2. Observation

It is an activity to see and record action and behavior of research

participants. The researcher and collaborator observed the students’ activities and

the progress of teaching learning process. Beside the collaborative teacher, the

researcher used the students as observers. In this case, the researcher used field

notes that enabled the students free to express what they felt, what their difficulties

were, when being taught using ReQuest technique.

3. Interview

Interview is an activity to question in face to face interaction. Besides

making the collaborative efforts with the collaborators, in this case was the other

English teachers, the researcher interviewed the students and their teachers about

their personal perceptions, experiences, opinions, and ideas related to all classroom

action research.

4. Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a technique in asking students’ feeling, opinion, or

idea not in face to face interaction. It was given in the form of written question

with the available answers in a ranged degree. The students should read the

questions and ticked the responses.


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F. Technique of Analyzing Data

There are two techniques in analyzing data. They are quantitative and

qualitative. The quantitative technique of analyzing data, the researcher used the

students’ previous mark (pre-test) and the end of the lesson, the researcher gave

the students a post-test in order to know whether Reciprocal Questioning

(ReQuest) technique could improve the students’ English reading skill. In this

case, descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results of the tests. They

analyzed the result of teaching learning process to know the difference in

achievement before and after the treatments by comparing the mean score of pre-

test and the mean score of the post-test.

The mean of the pre-test and post-test could be calculated with the

formulas as follows:

𝑋 = 𝛴 𝑋

𝑁 𝑌 =

𝛴 𝑌

𝑁

In which :

𝑋 = mean of pre-test scores

𝑌 = mean of post-test scores

N = number of students

While qualitative data were analyzed by using Interactive Model of

Data Analysis as suggested by Matthew B. Milles and A.M. Huberman (1992).

This model includes four different interconnected process, including(1) data

collection, (2) data reduction, (3) data display, and (4) conclusion drawing and

verification.


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Finally, by analizing data from test, observation, interview, and

questionnaire, the writer is able to draw a conclusion whether Reciprocal

Questioning (ReQuest) technique can improve the students’ reading

comprehension or not.


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CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A. Pre-Research Condition

This research aims to find out whether the applying of Reciprocal

Questioning technique improves the students’ reading skill and to describe the

class situation when the Reciprocal Questioning technique is applied in teaching

reading. The research was conducted at SMPN 1 Kawedanan Magetan. It is the

biggest school in Kawedanan because it has a lot of teachers and students. Besides,

it has great facilities and good atmosphere that support the students to learn, too.

The teachers and the students are able to use the facilities provided whenever they

are willing to use them.

Based on the questionnaires given to the students and observation done

by the researcher and the collaborator, reading is a difficult skill for them to

understand. Reading is an essential skill for the students because it is the most

important skill to master in order to ensure success not only in learning English,

but also in learning any content subjects where reading is required.

Reading is about understanding written texts. Understanding written

texts is really important for students to make their communicative competence

better. We can say that if students have low ability in comprehending texts, they

will have difficulties in gaining the purposes of the texts themselves. Meanwhile,

in their daily life, students are always related to printed words, such as text books,

magazines, newspapers, letters, announcements, advertisements, etc. The students


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will be able to catch the information given by writer well if they have good reading

comprehension.

The pretest mean score was 64. Most of the students got scores under

the SKBM. It proved that the students’ reading skill is still low. Meanwhile, the

decided minimum mastery standard (SKBM) for them is 75. It is concluded that

the researcher must work extra hard to make the students master the reading skill

so they can reach and exceed the decided minimum mastery standard (SKBM).

Unfortunately, when the researcher gave the students the field note asking their

comment on their interest in English, reading English, and technique used by the

previous teacher, many of them said that they didn’t like English and they didn’t

like reading English because most of them had trouble in understanding the

meaning of the words. The students liked reading English without understanding it.

It can be seen from their statements in their fieldnotes, for example: “Sulit, saya

tidak terlalu suka Bahasa Inggris”, “Suka membaca tapi tidak suka memahami

karena tidak mengerti”.

Moreover, most of them indicated that they didn’t like the technique

used by the previous teacher. They said that the teacher always gave notes about

the materials and explained them softly. They were never asked to have

presentation. The situation tended to initiate the noise. The students kept talking

and the teacher never warned them not to do it. For active students, it was really a

boring and disturbing situation. So, they had low motivation in learning English.

Besides, the condition of the classroom supported their low motivation

in learning English. The ninth grade of SMPN 1 Kawedanan consists of twelve

classes; each consists of approximately 26 students. From the twelve classes, there


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are three classes that have the worst condition in teaching and learning process.

One of them is the class where the researcher conducted the research. The

condition of the classes is not comfortable. The classes are actually a school hall

that is divided into three rooms with semi permanent dividers. It enables the

students in one class disturbed by the activity done in the other classes. so it is

sometimes very crowded that the students can’t concentrate in learning process.

Based on the problem above, the researcher considered that the effort to

improve the students’ reading skill is so difficult. The researcher thinks that the use

of Reciprocal Questioning technique is a good solution because the technique is

theoretically able to improve students’ reading skill and make the students to be

active learners even motivate them to learn outside the class and develop a critical

thinking which requires gathering many facts and more information about the

subject that should be understood.

Table 4.1. Students’ Problem in Reading Class

Indicators Description

1. Students’ reading skill

They have trouble in understanding a text.

The pretest mean score was low.

2. Teacher’s technique

The technique was not interesting.

3. Classroom Situation

The students had low motivation in joining

reading class. Teacher applied conventional

method in learning. The reading class was

boring. The classroom situation was not

comfortable.

The students have trouble to find general

idea, main idea, explicit/implicit

information, word reference, and meaning

of certain words. They have trouble in

differentiating the WH/H and Yes/No

questions

The mean score of pretest was 64.

Most of the students got scores under the

decided minimum mastery standard

(SKBM)

Most teaching learning processes were

teacher centered. The teacher always gave

notes about the materials and explained

them softly. They were never asked to

have presentation.

The students were not active in the

classroom.

The teaching learning processes sometimes

were disturbed by the activity done in the

other classes.


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B. The Description of the Result of Cycle 1

The researcher had to do a series of steps in conducting a classroom

action research; they are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. In doing the

steps, the researcher took considerations and ideas from both the collaborator and

the students during all activities.

Table 4.2. The Procedure of research

Pre-Research Identifying the students’ problem in understanding a text through:

Questionnaire

Field notes

Pretest

Cycle 1

1. Planning

2. Acting

3. Observing

4. Reflecting

Preparing material, making lesson–plan, and designing the steps in

doing the action.

Preparing list of students’ name and scoring.

Preparing sheets for classroom observation.

Preparing a test.

Meeting 1

Introducing reciprocal questioning technique.

Making questions based on the reading aspects.

Meeting 2

Correcting the students’ mistake in constructing and answering

the questions, especially for implicit information and meaning

of certain words.

Giving variation in applying the technique

Meeting 3


the questions in the previous meeting.

Explaining the differences between verbal and nominal

sentences

Meeting 4



Asking the students to be more confident in constructing,

delivering, and answering the questions.

Some improvement:

The students were able to construct and answer the questions

based on the types of questions.

The classroom situation was alive.

The problems:

Several students had troubles in constructing and answering

the questions based on the types of questions.

The students weren’t confident to deliver their questions.

The strengths:

The technique was able to improve the students’ reading skill

because they could predict what questions which are probably

asked in the tasks.


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By using reciprocal questioning technique, the students’

mistakes in making and answering the questions could be

reduced.

For the active readers, this technique could motivate them to

read the other texts and practice this technique as their own

reading strategy.

The weaknesses:

The students felt shy and afraid to make mistakes in

delivering their questions. In this case, the students always

made the notes before delivering their questions to their

friends, so it wasted the time.

The students often forgot the types of questions and

concentrated to make certain types of questions.

For the passive students, this technique was tiring and boring

because they were always asked to construct questions in

order to understand a text.

Recommendation:

The target of next cycle would be emphasized on improving

students’ ability in all types of questions.

To make the classroom situation more alive, it would be

emphasized to students to be more confident in constructing,


Cycle 2

1. Planning

2. Acting

3. Observing

4. Reflecting

It would be emphasized on improving students’ ability in all types

of questions.

It would be emphasized on the students’ confidence in

constructing, delivering, and answering the questions.

Meeting 1

Making questions based on the reading aspects.

Asking the students to be more confident in constructing,


Meeting 2


the questions, especially for implicit information.

Giving variation in applying the technique

Meeting 3



Meeting 4



Some improvement:

The students were able to construct and answer the questions

based on the types of questions.

The classroom situation was alive and attractive, the teaching

learning process ran smoothly.

The strengths:

The students were able to know all the types of questions in a

text and to predict which were given in the task after reading

it.

The students were accustomed to constructing the correct

questions, delivering, and answering them directly, so they

felt more confident attending the teaching learning activity


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The weakness:

The passive students tended to state their idea more slowly

than the active ones. They usually noted their questions first

before delivering them. They were not confident in delivering

their questions.

1. Planning

Planning is the important thing in doing everything in order to make it

more manageable and easy to do. The researcher planned some activities that were

needed to do in the first cycle.

Table 4.3. Schedule of Cycle 1

No Activities Day / Date Place

1 Interviewing the previous English

teacher (collaborator)

Tuesday,

November 1st, 2011

Teachers’ office

2 Giving the questionnaires and the field

notes to the students

Saturday,

November 5th

, 2011

Classroom

3 Pre-test Tuesday,

November 22nd

, 2011

Classroom

4 Treatment

Meeting 1

Meeting 2

Meeting 3

Meeting 4

Saturday,

November 26th

, 2011

Tuesday,

November 29th

, 2011

Friday,

December 2nd

, 2011

Saturday,

December 3rd

, 2011

Classroom

5 Giving the field notes to the students Saturday,

December 3rd

, 2011

Classroom

6 Post-test Monday,

December 5th

,2011

Classroom

Table 4.4. Schedule of Materials

Meeting Materials

Meeting 1 Procedure Text


Meeting 3 Report Text


Planned Solution: Using Reciprocal Questioning Technique

2. Action

a. Sharing Idea with Collaborator


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The research was conducted in the ninth (i) class that consists of 24

students. Their previous teacher was the collaborator of the researcher in this

research. On Tuesday, November 1st, 2011, the researcher and the collaborator

shared ideas about teaching reading. Based on the interview, it could be found that:

1) The students have trouble in understanding a text because of their poor

vocabularies.

2) Most of the students are not active. They tend to cheat the other friends.

3) Many students have difficulties in finding the correct answers in a text.

4) The students can’t construct sentences well and they can’t differentiate

between WH/H- and Yes/No questions.

Based on this interview, the researcher proposed the Reciprocal

Questioning technique to the collaborator and explained the concept of the

technique which enables the students to be more active in the classroom. He was

interested in this technique. The researcher also asked his participations in the

research as a collaborator and he agreed to.

Based on the problem that the collaborator delivered, the researcher

asked the collaborator to mention other problems he had encountered. Then, the

researcher and the collaborator made some planning in order to solve the problems.

It could be described as follows:

Table 4.5. Alternative of Problem Solving

Problems:

1. They have poor vocabularies

2. They cannot differentiate between WH/H- and Yes/No questions.

3. They have trouble in finding the general idea.

4. They have difficulties in finding the main idea.

5. They cannot differentiate the implicit/explicit questions.

Alternative of Problem Solving (Plan of Action 1)

Doing Reciprocal Questioning


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b. Students’ Questionnaires

Before the treatment, the researcher gave questionnaire to the students

in order to know their interest in English. In the questionnaires the researcher

found that almost all the students said that English was a difficult subject and

reading was a difficult skill for them to master. Often, they couldn’t understand the

meaning of the questions about the text so it was impossible for them to answer the

questions correctly. As a result, they seldom got good mark in a test.

Later, more than half of the students didn’t enjoy attending the teaching

learning process. They had low motivation in studying English although the

teacher gave them the understandable method in teaching reading. It was caused by

their insufficient vocabularies. Because of that, they failed in understanding a text

if there was a task from their teacher and it influenced their interest in reading a

text. The students seldom spent their spare time on reading.

c. Students’ Field notes

The researcher and the collaborator took half of the ninth (i) students

who were considered able to represent the students’ characteristics of all students

in the classroom which were the passive and active learner, to know the students’

interest in reading. In the field notes the researcher could find the students have

difficulties in understanding the meaning of the words and the forms of the

sentences. They thought that understanding the text was only influenced by their

vocabularies. They had opinions that reading is the process of translating, so they

had to translate the reading word by word.

Besides, there were different assumptions between the students and the

teacher. The students hoped that the teacher would use a better technique in


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teaching reading in order to make them understand the reading, meanwhile the

teacher thought that he had tried to give his best to the students. It caused the

uncomfortable atmosphere in the classroom. It wouldn’t happen if each other gave

suggestion to make the condition better when there was a chance. Therefore, to

make the class situation more comfortable, the researcher and the student should

be more open to receive suggestions and criticisms.

d. Pretest

In this case, the research aims to solve the problems above. The

researcher gave a pretest in order to measure the students’ reading skill before

being taught using Reciprocal Questioning technique after analyzing the problems.

Based on the pretest score, it could be seen that most of the students got the score

under the decided minimum mastery standard (SKBM). The decided minimum

mastery standard is 75. Meanwhile the students’ mean score was 64. It was

categorized low.

In order to know the students’ ability in answering the types of

questions, the researcher analyzed the students’ answers of the pretest as follows:

Table 4.6. Pretest Score Based on the Types of Question

Types of Question

Numbers

of

questions

Right Answers Student’s

Right Answers

Sum % Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 5 120 16.67 87 12.08 73

Main Idea 4 96 13.33 69 9.58 72

Explicit Information 6 144 20.00 107 14.86 74

Implicit Information 4 96 13.33 37 5.14 39

Reference 5 120 16.67 70 9.72 58

Meaning of certain words 6 144 20.00 90 12.50 63

30 720 100 460 63.89

N = 24


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The table shows that there were 87 student’s right answers in

identifying the general idea and 69 right answers in identifying the main idea. 107

student’s right answers in finding the explicit information but there were only 37 in

finding the implicit information. There were 70 student’s right answers in doing

reference questions, and 90 student’s right answers in answering questions about

meaning of certain words. In this case, the researcher compared the proportion of

the student’s right answers in each aspect and all aspects of reading. The mean

score of each aspect was less than the SKBM (the decided minimum mastery

standard). Based on the data above, it could be concluded that the students’ reading

skill is still low and the efforts to improve their reading skill is required.

e. Treatment

1) Meeting 1

The first meeting was held on Saturday, November 26th

, 2011. The

researcher and collaborator entered the classroom at 08.05, exactly on the third

period. Then, the researcher greeted them and checked their attendance. In meeting

1, all students of class 9 (i) were present. So, it was a good time for the researcher

to introduce a new technique to improve the reading skill to the students,

Reciprocal Questioning. The students looked enthusiastic listening to the new

technique. After that, the researcher previewed what was going to study to the

students. It was procedure text.

a) Pre Reading Activity

After introducing the technique, the researcher showed a picture about

nutrijell to the students and asked them to do this technique directly. In order to

warm them up, the researcher gave the clues of the topic that would be given by


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asking: “What picture is it?”, “Can you make it by yourself?” Most of them

answered enthusiastically “Nutrijell”, “Yes”.

b) Whilst Reading Activity

Responding the students’ answers, the researcher shared the text

“Nutrijell” to the students. Each student had their own text to make them more

intense to the material. Then, the researcher explained the process of Reciprocal

Questioning technique, followed by reading the first sentence or the first paragraph

orally. The students followed the reading in their heads. After that, the researcher

asked the students to create questions about the sentences and gave them time to

revise the questions into final.

After revising their questions, the researcher told them to ask her their

questions. Then, the researcher answered their questions carefully and the students

checked the answers to the text. After that, the researcher asked the students to

continue the process, moving through the whole text. The students did reciprocal

questioning through the whole text and it was time for researcher to give questions.

When the researcher gave the students questions using Yes/No Questions, some of

them couldn’t answer the question correctly. The researcher asked “is sugar

needed in making nutrijell?” Some students answered “five spoonful”. From the

students’ answer, it could be concluded that they had trouble in distinguishing

between WH/H-questions and Yes/No questions. And, they often chose the wrong

question word for a certain thing. They tended to use “How many” for asking

uncountable noun and omitted the auxiliary verb in their questions.

Knowing the students’ weaknesses in creating correct questions, the

researcher explained them for a while how to create a question and gave them the


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examples how to create WH/H-questions and Yes/No questions. Until the end of

the reciprocal questioning process, the students only gave questions asking explicit

information to their friends, so the researcher gave them types of questions. They

were questions which were categorized into general idea, main idea, implicit

information, reference, and meaning of certain word questions.

After that, the researcher explained the general idea of the text, main

idea, explicit/implicit information stated on the text, reference, and meaning of

certain word on the text. The students listened to her carefully.

To measure their understanding of the types of questions, the researcher

distributed another text about “Great Dracula” Tomato Soup. They read silently

and made reciprocal questioning in pairs. Some students had tried to make

questions using the types of questions taught before.

c) Post Reading Activity

The researcher wanted to evaluate the students’ comprehension in post

reading by giving them the task based on the text given before. After finishing the

task, the researcher made conclusion of the text based on the answers of the

questions about the text while the students listened to her carefully and checked

their answers.

At the end of meeting 1, the researcher reflected the activity by asking

the students’ difficulties, benefits, suggestion and impressions during teaching

learning process. Many of them said that the teaching learning process was very

interesting although they still had trouble in answering the questions of the task.

Most of them were still surprised with the new technique of teaching, so they kept

silent when they were asked about the reflection questions.


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2) Meeting 2

The second meeting was held on Tuesday, November 29th

, 2011. The

researcher and collaborator entered the classroom on the seventh period at 11.00.

The researcher greeted the students and checked their attendance as usual. After

that, the researcher reviewed the material on the previous meeting and previewed

what was going to study to the students. It was still procedure text.


The researcher started the activity by asking the students to make a

group of four and gave the clues about the topic would be given by asking “Have

you ever cooked rice?” They answered “Yes”.


The researcher gave a procedure text “Cooking Rice Using a Rice

Cooker” to the students and gave time to them to read it silently. After a few

second, the researcher asked the students to do reciprocal questioning in their

groups. In this case, the researcher found that the students initially still made

mistake in constructing the questions. Later, all their questions were almost right

but the answers weren’t. They could answer the questions correctly if the answers

were stated on the text only.

Then the researcher asked the students to answer the questions given

about the text. They could do the task successfully. Next, the researcher asked the

students to explain the general idea of the text, main idea, explicit/implicit

information stated on the text, reference, and meaning of certain word on the text.


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To make their reading skill better, the researcher gave another text

about “How to charge the battery of your cell phone” and told the students to

make reciprocal questioning still in their groups.


To evaluate the students’ comprehension about the text, the task based

on the text was given. The researcher asked the students to answer the questions

based on their experience on the previous activity. After that she asked the students

to make a conclusion about the text based on the answers of the text given.

The researcher gave reflection to the activity on the second meeting by

asking the students’ difficulties, benefits, suggestion and impressions during

teaching learning process. The students said that they started to enjoy studying

English using the new technique although they tended to be afraid and shy in

expressing their ideas.

3) Meeting 3

On Friday, December 2th

, 2011 the third meeting was held. It was on

the last period at 10.20. Then, the researcher greeted them and checked their

attendance as usual. After that, the researcher reviewed the material on the

previous meeting and previewed what was going to study to the students. It was

report text.


The researcher started the activity by asking the students to pay

attention to the picture shown. It was a picture of a woodpecker. Then, the

researcher gave the clues about the topic would be given by asking “Do you know

what kind of bird is it?”, “Where does it live?” Although at beginning they had


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difficulties in identifying the bird, but they could explain what kind of bird was

finally.


In this occasion, the researcher gave the students a report text “A

woodpecker” and gave them time to read the text silently. After that, the researcher

asked the students to do reciprocal questioning in pairs about the text. In doing this

activity, the researcher found that many students had difficulties in constructing

the questions. They were confused in differentiating verbal and nominal sentences.

They often placed “be” for verbal sentences and in refers, they usually added

“auxiliary verb” for nominal sentences. Even, they used both of them in a

sentence. As a result, the researcher had to explain it more clearly.

After doing reciprocal questioning in pairs about the text, the researcher

asked the students to answer the questions based on it. At last, they had to explain

the general idea of the text, main idea, explicit/implicit information stated on the

text, reference, and meaning of certain word on the text as usual.

The second text given by the researcher in this meeting was “Rain

Forest”. Then, the students had to do reciprocal questioning in pairs by creating

the correct questions based on their previous experience to finish the task of the

text.



reading by giving them the task based on the text given before, “Rain Forest” .

After finishing the task, she asked the students to make a conclusion about the text

based on the answers of the text given.


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learning process. Many of them said that they were afraid of making mistakes in

their sentences and they felt shy when their friends laughed at their wrong

sentences, so they tended to keep silent and to use the previous questions that

according to them that were true. Besides, most of students stated that the materials

given in this meeting was more difficult than those in the previous meetings.

4) Meeting 4

The fourth meeting was held on Saturday, December 3rd

, 2011. The

researcher and collaborator entered the classroom on the third period at 08.05.

Then, the researcher greeted them and checked their attendance as usual. After

that, the researcher reviewed the material on the previous meeting and previewed

what was going to study to the students. It was still report text.


The researcher started the activity by showing a picture of fish and gave

the clues about the topic will be given by asking the students “What picture is

it?”,”Mention some parts of the body!” Then, the students answered the question

and mentioned parts of its body.


The researcher gave a report text “Fish” to the students and gave time

to them to read it silently. After a few minutes, the researcher asked the students to

do reciprocal questioning in the whole class. In this case, the researcher found that

there were several students who were still confused in distinguishing between

verbal and nominal sentences. This time the researcher explained it more patiently


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so the students really understood about the difference and were able to make the

correct sentences.

After doing reciprocal questioning about the report text “Fish”, the

researcher asked them to do the questions about the text. In this case, the

researcher discovered that the students were more spirited in expressing their ideas

although the answers were false. The researcher thought that it was a good

improving. Then, the researcher supported them in order to be more confident by

asking them to explain about the general idea of the text, main idea,

explicit/implicit information stated on the text, reference, and meaning of certain

word on the text as usual.


In this activity, the researcher asked the students to make conclusion

about the text by using the answers of the questions given.

The researcher gave reflection to the activity at the end of the fourth

meeting by asking the students’ difficulties, benefits, suggestion and impressions

during teaching learning process. The researcher asked them to write it on the field

note in order to make them feel free in expressing their opinion.

f. Posttest

The researcher gave a posttest in order to know if there was an

improvement in students’ reading skill before and after the treatment. It was held

on Monday, December 5th

, 2011. The mean score of the posttest was 66. There was

a little improvement in the students’ mean score. In the posttest, there was only

one aspect got score above the decided minimum mastery standard (SKBM). It


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was explicit information. It was a very disappointing result. The posttest result was

as follows:

Table 4.7. Posttest Score Based on the Types of Question

Types of Question

Numbers

of

questions


Right Answers

Sum % Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 5 120 16.67 84 11.67 70

Main Idea 4 96 13.33 51 7.08 53


Implicit Information 4 96 13.33 54 7,50 56

Reference 5 120 16.67 81 11.25 68


30 720 100 476 66.11

N = 24



student’s right answers in finding the explicit explicit but there were only 54 in

finding the implicit information. There were 81 student’s right answers in doing

reference questions, and 94 student’s right answers in answering questions about

meaning of certain words.

g. The Students’ Field notes after the treatment

It could be seen in the students’ field notes after the treatment that the

students had understood the aims of reciprocal questioning technique; that is to

improve their skill on reading by doing reciprocal questions about the reading.

Most of them enjoyed the new technique and could feel the good effects.

Although the students had been aware of its function, there were still

many obstacles in doing the activities, they are: lack of vocabularies, constructing

and answering the questions. For the next step, the researcher decided to

emphasize the students’ abilities in these problems.


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Besides, the students felt difficult in constructing the correct sentences.

Some students were not capable in constructing the questions and answers in good

tenses. They were still confused with the use of auxiliaries in their questions.

Because of this, the students were not confident to deliver their questions and

answers. Based on the previous observation, the researcher concluded that they

were lack of practicing in constructing sentences so they couldn’t construct the

correct sentences. Even for some students, they were able to construct the

sentences well, but they were unconfident and afraid to make mistakes.

Furthermore, for the active students, it might be easy for them to do

reciprocal questioning but for the passive ones, it was not easy to do that. So it was

an unpleasant situation for the students if they couldn’t communicate to others. For

the next chance, the researcher must give more attention to the passive students in

order to have bigger chances to feel comfortable to state their ideas; moreover

most of students stated that they liked studying using reciprocal questioning

technique for the next step.

3. Observation

The researcher was a teacher who presented reciprocal questioning

technique in the classroom, so she had to observe the action in order to know the

effectiveness of the technique in reading class. In observing the action, the

researcher was helped by the collaborator and the students as the active

participants. Based on the field notes and the daily conversations that they

expressed in the meeting, it can be inferred that there were many positive and


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negative responses of reciprocal questioning technique used to improve students’

reading skill.

In the first meeting, the researcher wanted to show that the students did

not need to feel stressed and nervous while joining her lesson, so she gave some

jokes in teaching learning process and told them that there wouldn’t be a task for

them before joining the teaching learning process as usual for that day. The

researcher didn’t point out two or three of the students to retell the last activities

done in the previous meeting. The students looked pleased and paid attention to the

next explanation.

Based on the collaborator view, the students looked enthusiastic in

listening to the new technique introduced by the researcher. Even though there

were many students who did the reciprocal questions actively, there were many

students who were inactive in the classroom. They did other non academic

activities in the classroom. It could be caused by the lack of motivation and being

bored in joining the lesson. Even some of them would be active if only the

researcher got closer to their table.

Related to their reading comprehension, the students could not

differentiate between WH/H- and Yes/No questions, so the researcher emphasized

them to make some questions using WH/H- and Yes/No questions. Often, the

students were confused in using question words for countable and uncountable

nouns. Besides, in creating the questions, the students often forgot placing

auxiliaries in their questions. After feeling the students understand enough to

questions for explicit information, the researcher introduced the other types of

questions. At the beginning, she explained the main idea question, but some of


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them could not find the appropriate main idea yet. In the post reading, the

researcher also gave the task and many students made the mistakes in answering

main idea question, there was a student considered that the main idea is always the

first sentence of the paragraph. Therefore, in the next meeting, the researcher

would emphasize in main idea question.

In the second meeting, a lot of students still made mistakes in

constructing the questions as in the first meeting but the student did not make the

mistakes in answering the questions for explicit information and they had been

able to differentiate between WH/H- and Yes/No questions well. In this meeting

the students’ questions became more various. They not only made both the explicit

information and meaning of certain word questions, but also asked the main idea

and the general idea to their friends and they could answer it well.

Unfortunately, there was no student who made the questions for

implicit information, therefore the researcher asked them to make the questions

whose answers were implicitly stated in the text, but they gave the wrong types of

question. Although they had difficulties in constructing the questions but when

they were asked if they liked the technique, they said that they enjoyed the new

technique very much. Furthermore, the students were more enthusiastic when the

researcher gave the compliment, such as “good”, “great”, “that’s very good

question!” It could be seen from the improvement of the questions frequencies that

they made.

In the third meeting, the researcher gave different material from the

first and second meeting to the students. It was more difficult for the students

because in constructing the questions, they still had difficulties in distinguishing


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verbal and nominal sentences. They often placed auxiliary verb for the nominal

sentence and be for the verbal sentence. As a result, the researcher had to explain

the difference of them more clearly. Besides, to make their understanding better,

the researcher explain it by giving examples. The students practiced it carefully

although there were a few students weren’t attracted with the activity.

The researcher found that there were still several students who were

confused in distinguishing verbal and nominal sentences in the fourth meeting. It

was because they didn’t pay attention to the researcher’s previous explanation

well. In this case, the researcher had to explain it more patiently in order to make it

understood by the students.

Later, the researcher could find that there was a big improvement in

their reading. The students did not feel shy to state their questions to their friends

and they could answer it well. On the other hand, there were many inactive

students who could not deliver the questions without making notes before. Based

on the observation during the first cycle, in each meeting, some students only

handled certain types of questions and ignored the other types of questions in a

text. Therefore, in the next meeting, the researcher would try to cover all types of

questions in the same time in order to make better understanding about a text.

The researcher compared the scores between pretest and posttest of

cycle 1 in order to know the improvement of the students’ ability in reading and to

know their difficulties in understanding a text based on the types of questions.


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Table 4.8. The Comparison between Pretest and Posttest of Cycle 1 Based on the

Types of Question

Types of Question

Student’s

Right Answers

(Pretest)

Student’s

Right Answers

(Posttest of Cycle 1)

Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 87 12.08 73 84 11.67 70

Main Idea 69 9.58 72 51 7.08 53

Explicit Information 107 14.86 74 112 15.56 78

Implicit Information 37 5.14 39 54 7,50 56

Reference 70 9.72 58 81 11.25 68

Meaning of certain words 90 12.50 63 94 13.06 65

460 63.89 476 66.11

N = 24

The improvement summary of the students’ reading skill before and

after treatment in cycle 1 could be seen in the following table:

Table 4.9. The Improvement of the Students’ Reading Skill before and after

Treatment in Cycle 1

Before Treatment After Treatment

a. Improvement of students’ reading skill:

The students had difficulties in

finding the general idea, the main

idea, explicit/implicit information,

word reference, and the meaning of

certain word on a text.

They have trouble in differentiating

the WH/H and Yes/No questions

The students had problem in using

certain question words in their

questions to understand a text.

The students had trouble in

differentiating between verbal and

nominal sentences, so they used the

faulty auxiliaries for their questions.

b. Improvement of students’ reading

achievement:

The mean score of pretest was 64.

The students’ reading skill was low.

The mean scores of all aspects of

reading were less than the decided

minimum mastery standard.

c. Improvement of class situation

The students felt shy to state the

a. Improvement of students’ reading skill:

There was a good improvement in

finding the explicit information on a

text.

Most of the students were able to

differentiate the WH/H and Yes/No

questions

Most of the students were accustomed

to using the question words needed in

understanding a text.

Most of the students were used to

constructing nominal and verbal

sentences although there were few

students who chose wrong auxiliaries

for their questions.

b. Improvement of students’ reading

achievement:

The mean score of posttest was 66.

There was a little improvement in

their reading skill.

The mean score of explicit

information aspect was above the

decided minimum mastery standard.

c. Improvement of class situation

The students were confident in stating


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questions because they were afraid

of making mistake in their questions.

They always wrote the questions

first before stating them, so the

teaching learning process ran very

slowly.

The students were not active, so the

reading class was not alive.

There was no interaction between

teacher and students. Most teaching

learning processes were teacher

centered.

The teaching learning processes

sometimes were disturbed by the

activities done in the other classes.

their questions although their

questions were still wrong and there

were only few students who didn’t

state their questions directly, so the

teaching learning process ran

normally.

The students were active in

constructing and answering the

questions, so the reading class was

attractive.

There were interactions between

teacher and students and among the

students.

The students weren’t bothered by the

activities done in the other classes

because they gave attention more to

teching learning process.

4. Reflection

In analyzing the data, both researcher and collaborator analyzed the

strength and weaknesses of reciprocal questioning technique, the problems that had

been solved during the first cycle based on the activity in the classroom. Based on

the observation in the first cycle, it could be concluded that the students had

understood the concept of reciprocal questioning technique well.

a. The Strengths and the Weaknesses of Reciprocal Questioning Technique

1) The strengths of reciprocal questioning implemented in the first cycle:

a) Students’ reading skill

(1) The technique was able to improve the students’ reading skill

because they could predict what questions which are probably asked

in the tasks. The mean score of posttest was 66. It improved

although there was only one aspect got score more than the decided

minimum mastery standard. It was explicit information (78).

(2) By using reciprocal questioning technique, the students’ mistakes in

making and answering the questions could be reduced.


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b) Teaching Learning process

(1) The students were confident in stating their questions although their

questions were still wrong and there were only few students who

didn’t state their questions directly, so the teaching learning process

ran normally.

(2) For the active readers, this technique could motivate them to read

the other texts and practice this technique as their own reading

strategy.

(3) There were interactions between teacher and students and among

the students.

2) The weaknesses of reciprocal questioning implemented in the first cycle:

a) Students’ reading skill

(1) The students’ reading skill didn’t improve optimally. The mean

scores of all aspects, except the explicit information, were less than

the decided minimum mastery standard. They were general idea

(70), main idea (53), implicit information (56), reference (68), and

meaning of certain words (65).

(2) The students often forgot the types of questions and concentrated to

make certain types of questions.

b) Teaching Learning process

(1) The students felt shy and afraid to make mistakes in delivering their

questions. In this case, the students always made the notes before

delivering their questions to their friends, so it wasted the time.

Teaching learning process didn’t run smoothly.


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(2) For the passive students, this technique was tiring and boring

because they were always asked to construct questions in order to

understand a text.

b. Recommendation

The researcher planned the second cycle because there were some

weaknesses found in cycle one. Based on the students’ activities in the classroom,

the researcher also compared the students’ scores in the pretest and posttest in

order to know the students’ improvement in their reading. There was only one

aspect got score above the decided minimum mastery standard in posttest. In the

pretest, the students’ achieving in implicit information category was very low. It

means that the score of each category wasn’t parallel. But in the posttest, there was

a little improvement in the score of each category although they weren’t still

parallel. Consequently, the students’ mean score improved from 64 to 66.

Based on the different mean score, it could be concluded that there was

not a significant improvement between pretest and posttest. Because of that, the

researcher and collaborator planned to improve the students’ reading skill. In this

case, the target of next cycle would be emphasized on improving students’ ability

in all types of questions. The researcher would measure the result of each category.

Moreover, related to the technique, the researcher would try to make the controlled

reciprocal questioning technique in the next cycle.


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C. The Description of the Result of Cycle 2

In cycle 2, the researcher had to do a series of steps as done in cycle 1

in conducting a classroom action research. They are planning, acting, observing,

and reflecting.

1. Planning

The activities in the second cycle were started by sharing ideas with the

collaborator, then the treatment, interview and post test. In this research, the

second cycle was arranged and done as the table below:

Table 4.10. Schedule of Cycle 2

No Activities Day / Date Place

1 Sharing ideas with the collaborator Monday,

December 5th

, 2011

Library

2 Treatment

Meeting 1

Meeting 2

Meeting 3

Meeting 4

Tuesday,

December 6th

, 2011

Wednesday,

December 7th

, 2011

Thursday,

December 8th

, 2011

Friday,

December 9th

, 2011

Classroom

3 Giving questionnaires to the students

after treatment

Friday,

December 9th

, 2011

Classroom

4 Post-test Saturday,

December 10th

,2011

Classroom

Table 4.11. Schedule of Materials

Meeting Materials





Planned Solution: Using Reciprocal Questioning Technique

2. Action

a. Sharing Idea with Collaborator


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As the first cycle, the researcher asked the previous English teacher, to

be the collaborator in order to have a good result because in the researcher’s

opinion, he had known the problem in the first cycle. In this second cycle, the

collaborator had the same roles as the first cycle that was as the observer and

advisor. On Monday, December 5th

, 2011, the researcher and collaborator shared

ideas about what they should do in the second cycle in order to reach the better

achievement of the next classroom practices.

There were many things that should be revised in the second cycle.

First, the collaborator said that the students were unconfident to state their

questions without bringing and reading their notes. Therefore, in the second cycle,

the researcher planned to accustom the students making their questions directly

without writing them before.

Second, there were many problems that should be resolved in the

second cycle. Based on the little improvement in the achievement of the six

categories, the collaborator and the researcher decided to focus the teaching

learning process in all the types of questions, they were: general idea, main idea,

explicit information, implicit information, reference, and meaning of certain words

questions.

b. Treatment

In the second cycle, the researcher took four meetings as the follow up

of the cycle 1. The researcher did that because she considered the amount of

problems that should be resolved and the limited time that the researcher had.

As the previous meetings, the teaching learning process started with

opening activity. In this case, the teacher greeted the students, checked the


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students’ attendances, and previewed the topic that they were going to study. Then,

it was continued with the main activity. They were pre, whilst, and post reading

activities. The researcher gave the clues about the topic would be given to the

students in pre reading activity. Then, the next activity was whilst reading activity.

It this activity, the teacher was free to manage the class into her own creativity by

using the new technique, reciprocal questioning technique. After that, there was

post reading activity. In this step, the students were asked to answer the teacher’s

task using the technique which the teacher taught before. By doing so, the teacher

hoped that this technique would be their own strategies when they understood the

texts. The last activity of the meeting was closing. In this activity, the researcher

reflected the activity by asking the students’ difficulties, benefits, suggestion and

impressions during teaching learning process.

In the second cycle, the treatment of each meeting could be described

as follows:

1) Meeting 1

The first meeting was held on Tuesday, December 6th

, 2011. The

researcher and collaborator entered the classroom on the seventh period at 11.00.

The researcher greeted them and checked their attendance on the opening activity.

All students were present. So, the researcher was benefited with the situation to

remind the students about the technique to improve their reading skill they used

before, reciprocal questioning technique. The researcher didn’t have trouble in

explaining the technique because all the students still remembered about the

technique. The students listened to the explanation carefully. After that, the

researcher previewed what was going to study to the students. It was report text.


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After reminding the students about the technique, the researcher

showed a writing of the names of ocean to the students. In order to warm them up,

the researcher gave the clues of the topic that would be given by asking: “What do

you think of these names?”,”Can we travel across the ocean?”. Then they

answered the questions. They looked happy because their answers were correct.


In responding the students’ answers, the researcher shared a report text

about the ocean to the students. Then, the researcher asked the students to read the

first sentence and discussed it. After that, she told the students to construct the

possible questions about the first paragraph of the text and allowed time to revise

them into final by making the draft using WH-/H- question words. Then, the

researcher told the students to ask questions about the first paragraph of the text to

her directly without writing it before. The activity ran slowly because most of

students weren’t accustomed to doing that. In this case, the researcher helped them

in order not to be confused in constructing the questions by writing their questions

on the whiteboard and corrected the questions if they were false. Like the activity

when the technique was introduced for the first time, the researcher answered the

students’ questions carefully and the students checked the answers to the text.

After doing the activity, the researcher asked the students to continue

the process, moving through the whole text. The students did reciprocal

questioning through the whole text. In this case, the researcher always reminded

the students not to be accustomed to writing their questions first but directly said

them.


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reading by giving them the task based on the text given before in the form of

multiple choices in order to make it simple to score. After finishing the task, the

researcher asked the students to make conclusion of the text based on the answers

of the questions about the text. They had to conclude the general idea, the main

idea, explicit/implicit information, reference, and the meaning of certain words of

the text. The result of the students’ answers in post reading activity was as follows:

Table 4.12. Post Reading Score of the First Meeting Based on the Types of

Question

Types of Question

Numbers

of

questions


Right Answers

Sum % Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 1 24 10 21 8.8 88

Main Idea 1 24 10 17 7.1 71

Explicit Information 4 96 40 61 25.4 64

Implicit Information 1 24 10 8 3.3 33

Reference 2 48 20 28 11.7 58

Meaning of certain words 1 24 10 3 1.3 13

10 240 100 138 57.5

N = 24



learning process. Many of them said that the teaching learning process was very

interesting although they still had trouble in answering the questions of the task.

They said that they did the task easier than that in the previous cycle because the

task was multiple choices.

2) Meeting 2

On Wednesday, December 7th

, 2011, the researcher held the second

meeting at the last period in the classroom. As usual, the researcher greeted the


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students and checked their attendance before starting teaching learning activity.

Then the researcher reviewed the previous lesson. In this case, she reminded the

use of reciprocal questioning technique and asked the students not to note their

questions first in constructing the questions but directly said it. After that, she

previewed what was going to study, it was procedure text.


The researcher started the activity by dividing the students into two

groups, boys and girls. She wanted to give variation in doing reciprocal

questioning technique in order to make the activity more attractive and the students

were more interested in doing it, so it was easy for them to understand the text.

Then, she gave the clues about the topic would be given by asking “what do you

think of fried rice?”, “Can you make it by yourself?” some of them gave their

opinion on fried rice and most of the girls stated that they could make fried rice.


Each student in their own group was given a procedure text

“MAMAMIA fried rice” and the researcher gave them time to read the text silently.

After reading the text, the students were asked to do reciprocal questioning

between the two groups by making the draft of using the question words WH-/H-.

In doing this, the students looked enthusiastic because most of them stated that it

was a competition between the boys and girls, so each group tried to do the best for

themselves. Before doing reciprocal questioning, the boys were pessimistic able to

answer the girls’ questions. It could be seen from what they said “Pasti kalah ini

nantinya dengan group cewek”. But researcher always gave spirit to them not to

be pessimistic; they had to try their best in the occasion. And in this chance, the


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researcher found that the girls were better than the boys. The girls often could

answer the questions correctly but the boys couldn’t.


In this occasion, the researcher evaluated the students’ ability in

understanding the text by giving the task about it. In the task, she gave multiple

choice questions in order to know the improvement of each aspect of reading. And

after finishing the task, the researcher asked the students to make a conclusion

about the text by explaining the general idea, the main idea, explicit and implicit

information, reference, and meaning of certain words. The result of the post

reading activity was:

Table 4.13. Post Reading Score of the Second Meeting Based on the Types of

Questions

Types of Question

Numbers

of

questions


Right Answers

Sum % Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 1 24 10 13 5.4 54

Main Idea 1 24 10 20 8.3 83

Explicit Information 4 96 40 84 35 88


Reference 1 24 10 23 9.6 96


10 240 100 173 72.1

N = 24

At the end of the second meeting, the researcher reflected the activity

by asking the students’ difficulties, benefits, suggestion and impressions during

teaching learning process. Many of them said that the teaching learning process

was more challenging when it was done like a competition although they still had

trouble in answering the questions of the task. They said that they did the task


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easier than that in the previous cycle because the task was multiple choices and the

material was easier than before.

3) Meeting 3

On Thursday, December 8th

, 2011, the teaching learning process was

held in the classroom at 08.05. As usual, the researcher greeted the students and

checked their attendance before starting teaching learning activity. No one was

absent that day. Then the researcher reviewed the previous lesson. In this case, she

didn’t forget reminding them about the use of reciprocal questioning technique and

asked the students not to note their questions first in constructing the questions but

directly said it. After that, she previewed what was going to study, it was report

text.


The researcher started the activity by showing the students a picture

about “Tsunamis”. Then, she gave the clues about the topic would be given by

asking “what do you think of the picture?”, “Can you tell us how does it happen?”

Some of them gave their opinion on the picture but no one answered the second

question correctly.


The activity started by giving a report text about tsunamis to the

students. As usual, in this chance, the researcher gave time to students to read the

text silently and asked the students to do reciprocal questioning in pairs by making

the draft using WH-/H- question words. In this activity, the students in pairs made

all types of questions that the researcher had taught before although they did it


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slowly but according to the researcher it was very pleased, finally they could do

that well.


In post reading activity, the researcher needed to know the students’

ability in understanding the text by giving the task about it. In the task, she gave

multiple choice questions in order to know the improvement of each type of

questions. And after finishing the task, the researcher asked the students to make a

conclusion about the text by explaining the general idea, the main idea, explicit and

implicit information, reference, and meaning of certain words. The result of the

post reading activity was as follows:

Table 4.14. Post Reading Score of the Third Meeting Based on the Types of

Question

Types of Question

Numbers

of

questions


Right Answers

Sum % Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 1 24 10 23 9.6 96

Main Idea 2 48 20 34 14.2 71



Reference 2 48 20 40 16.7 83


10 240 100 184 76.7

N = 24



learning process. Many of them said that the technique was very useful to improve

their ability in understanding a text so the teaching learning process was enjoyable.

They said that they did the task easier than that in the previous cycle because they

were accustomed to doing such kind activity.


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4) Meeting 4


, 2011, the researcher held the fourth meeting

at the second period in the classroom. As usual, the researcher greeted the students

and checked their attendance before starting teaching learning activity. Then the

researcher reviewed the previous lesson. For the last chance, she reminded the use

of reciprocal questioning technique perfectly and asked the students not to note

their questions first in constructing the questions but directly said it. After that, she

previewed what was going to study, it was procedure text. According to some

students that procedure text was easier to understand than report text so the

researcher told them to do it more quickly than those in the previous meetings.


The researcher initially showed a picture about “How to Make Fried

Potatoes” that would be discussed to the students and asked the students’

brainstorming by asking “What picture is it?”, “Mention the materials needed!”

The students found difficulties in answering the questions. They thought it was the

picture of sweet potatoes so they could not mention the materials needed in making

fried potatoes.


In responding the students’ inability in answering the questions in pre

reading activity, the researcher shared a procedure text “How to Make Fried

Potatoes” to the students. Then, the researcher asked the students to read the text

silently for a moment. After that, the students were asked to do reciprocal

questioning in pairs by making the draft using the WH-/H- question words. In

doing this, the students looked motivated in making all types of questions. Many


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students could present their questions quickly although several students did the

activity slowly.


In this occasion, the researcher evaluated the students’ ability in

understanding the text by giving the task about it. In the task, she gave multiple

choice questions in order to know the improvement of each aspect of reading. And

the questions were categorized into the general idea, the main idea, explicit and

implicit information, reference, and meaning of certain words questions. After

finishing the task, the researcher asked the students to make a conclusion about the

text by explaining the general idea, the main idea, explicit and implicit

information, reference, and meaning of certain words. The result of the post

reading activity was:

Table 4.15. Posttest Reading Score of the Fourth Meeting Based on the Types of

Question

Types of Question

Numbers

of

questions


Right Answers

Sum % Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 1 24 10 24 10.0 100

Main Idea 1 24 10 19 7.9 79



Reference 1 24 10 21 8.8 88


10 240 100 170 70.8

N = 24

At the end of the fourth meeting, the researcher gave reflection to the

activity by asking the students’ difficulties, benefits, suggestion and impressions

during teaching learning process. The students stated that the teaching learning

process was delightful. Many of them said that the technique was very useful to

improve their ability in understanding a text. They said that they did the task easier


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than that in the previous cycle because they were accustomed to doing such kind

activity. Based on the students’ score of the task in post reading activity, it could

be concluded that by using reciprocal questioning technique, the students’ skill in

understanding the text had improved.

c. Students’ Questionnaires


, 2011, after the teaching learning process, the

researcher shared questionnaires to the students. In this case, what the students just

should do was they had to give a tick to one of the four options stated on the

checklist to know whether reciprocal questioning was effective to improve their

skill on reading or not. After analyzing the checklist, the researcher could conclude

that most of the students stated that this technique is effective to improve reading

ability. They enjoyed studying using reciprocal questioning technique. It was

stated on the questionnaires that the students could understand the text well

because they were easier to understand the meaning of the words in the text.

Besides, the students were able to construct good questions by using the new

technique and they were more confident in stating them although there were a few

students who didn’t give the good responses to the new technique. As a result, the

researcher took the conclusion that according to the students’ choices, this

technique made them comfortable and enjoyable to join the teaching learning

process.

d. Posttest

Posttest is the test that should be held after the treatment in order to

know whether there is improvement in students’ reading comprehension or not.

The posttest of cycle 2 was held on Saturday, December 10th

, 2011 in the


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classroom. Based on the result of the posttest, the mean score of the posttest was

82. It meant that there was a significant improvement in the students’ mean score

compared to that in the first cycle. All aspects of reading were above the decided

minimum mastery standard (SKBM).

In order to know the students’ ability in answering the types of

questions, the researcher could categorize the students’ posttest score into the table

below:

Table 4.16. Posttest Score Based on the Types of Question

Types of Question

Numbers

of

questions


Right Answers

Sum % Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 5 120 16.67 98 13.61 82

Main Idea 4 96 13.33 76 10.55 79


Implicit Information 4 96 13.33 73 12.28 76

Reference 5 120 16.67 105 14.59 88


30 720 100 592 82.22

N = 24



student’s right answers in finding the explicit explicit and there were 73 in finding

the implicit information. There were 105 student’s right answers in doing reference

questions, and 129 student’s right answers in answering questions about meaning

of certain words. Based on the data above, it could be concluded that the students’

reading skill had improved, it was a significant improvement.


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3. Observation

The researcher observed all the planned activities when they were being

acted. In this research, the researcher observed and reported both teaching learning

in the classroom and the learning progress that the students had achieved related to

the improvement of students’ reading skill.

In the first meeting, the researcher focused on constructing the all types

of the questions. She instructed students to complete their questions with the six

aspects of reading; they were the general idea, the main idea, explicit/implicit

information, reference, and the meaning of certain words questions for the report

text given. However, some students only completed certain types of questions and

neglected the other types of questions. Therefore, the researcher helped them to

write down all types of questions they delivered in the reciprocal questioning

activity on the whiteboard and discussed them. As usual, they ignored the

questions for the implicit information. And when the researcher asked about it,

they stated that it was so difficult to construct such kind questions, it was needed to

think more intensively to the text. As a result, the students tried to struggle in

constructing the easier questions first.

Moreover, the researcher saw there were many students still wrote their

question first on their notebook before delivering them. She thought it was better if

they were accustomed to doing it without noting it first. So the researcher

reminded them not to do it and it worked although there were several students still

did it. It didn’t matter, the researcher was sure that they wouldn’t do that for the

next meeting.


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Then the researcher evaluated the students’ capability in understanding

each aspect of reading by giving them task in post reading activity and calculated

it. It was because there was not a significant improvement on their post test. The

researcher found that they still had difficulties in answering the implicit

information and meaning of certain words questions. They could be seen from

their low achievement.

In the second meeting, the researcher tried to make better their gaining

and focused on the unsolved problems in the previous meeting. The researcher

gave them the procedure text. According to them, answering the questions of a

procedure text was easier than that of a report one, so the researcher would try it.

In this case, the researcher divided the students into two groups, the

boys and the girls, and asked them to do reciprocal questioning between the two

groups. The researcher did this in order to make the activity more attractive and

supported the students to pay their attention more. The boys were pessimistic with

this situation because they realized their own ability compared to the girls, but the

researcher always gave them spirit to summon their ability.

The activity was more attractive but in this meeting, the researcher still

found many students who wrote their questions first on their notebook before

delivering it. As a result, the researcher had to remind it not to do it. Besides, the

researcher also asked the students to make questions for the implicit information

and meaning of certain words about the text because their scores in the first

meeting were still low for the two aspects. When all types of questions had been

delivered, the researcher gave the task to measure their understanding in post

reading activity. There was a good improvement in achievement for the two


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aspects. The total students who answered the questions correctly increased

compared with the previous meeting. It was a good achievement.

The researcher gave the second report text “Tsunamis” in the third

meeting in order to give variation in the activity and the students weren’t bored.

The researcher then asked the students to do reciprocal questioning in pairs after

reading it in a second. She also reminded them to make all types of questions and

delivered them directly without writing them first.

The activity ran slowly because according to the students, the text was

so difficult to understand, there were new vocabularies on it. But, the students had

no troubles in constructing the all types of questions and could answer them well.

The researcher thought that the students started to be familiarized in doing such

kinds activities. Moreover, they could make conclusion about the text well

although they did all the activities slowly and the students’ scores in post reading

activity showed a good improvement. So, the researcher would like to continue the

next meeting because the activity in the third meeting could run smoothly.

The researcher was interested giving the procedure text to the students

in the fourth meeting because in the two previous report texts, the students could

do every activity given nicely. The procedure text was about “How to make fried

potatoes”. In this case, the researcher would like to know whether there was a

good improvement in the students’ achievement if they were given procedure text

as those if they were given report texts. Besides, the researcher wanted to train the

students constructing all the types of questions and delivering them directly

without writing them first stably.


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In pre reading activity, the students found difficulties in answering the

questions for the clues about the topic of the procedure text. In this case, the

researcher was intentional not to tell the students the title of the text. The

researcher wanted to them to use their brainstorming to answer the questions. In

fact, they couldn’t answer the questions because they failed in comprehending the

picture and the topic was new according to them.

To respond the students’ inability in answering the questions in pre

reading activity, they were shared the text. The researcher asked the students to

read the text silently for a moment. After that, the students were asked to do

reciprocal questioning in pairs as the previous meetings by making the draft using

the WH-/H- question words. The students looked motivated in making all types of

questions. Many students could present their questions quickly although several

students did the activity slowly. The researcher was very pleased seeing their

capability in doing the activities. Especially, when the students could make

conclusion about the text fluently.

The researcher compared the scores of pretest, posttest of cycle 1, and

posttest of cycle 2 in order to know the improvement of the students’ ability in

reading and to know their difficulties in understanding a text based on the types of

questions.

Table 4.17. The Scores of Pretest, Posttest of Cycle 1 and Posttest of Cycle 2

Based on the Types of Question

Types of

Question

Student’s

Right Answers

(Pretest)

Student’s

Right Answers


Student’s

Right Answers


Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

Sum %

Each

aspect

(%)

General Idea 87 12.08 73 84 11.67 70 98 13.61 82

Main Idea 69 9.58 72 51 7.08 53 76 10.55 79


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Explicit

Information 107 14.86 74 112 15.56 78 111 15.42 77

Implicit

Information 37 5.14 39 54 7,50 56 73 12.28 76

Reference 70 9.72 58 81 11.25 68 105 14.59 88

Meaning of

certain words 90 12.50 63 94 13.06 65 129 17.92 90

460 63.89 476 66.11 592 82.22

N = 24

The improvement summary of the students’ reading skill before and

after treatment in cycle 1 and cycle 2 could be seen in the following table:

Table 4.18. The Improvement of the Students’ Reading Skill before and after

Treatment in Cycle 1 and Cycle 2

Before treatment After Treatment in

Cycle 1

After Treatment in

Cycle 2

Improvement

of students’

reading skill

The students had

difficulties in finding

the general idea, the

main idea,

explicit/implicit

information, word

reference, and the

meaning of certain

word on a text.

They have trouble in

differentiating the

WH/H and Yes/No

questions.

The students had

problem in using

certain question

words in their

questions to

understand a text.

The students had

trouble in

differentiating

between verbal and

nominal sentences, so

they used the faulty

auxiliaries for their

questions.

There was a good

improvement in

finding the explicit

information on a text.

Most of the students

were able to

differentiate the

WH/H and Yes/No

questions


were accustomed to

using the question

words needed in

understanding a text.


were used to

constructing nominal

and verbal sentences

although there were

few students who

chose wrong

auxiliaries for their

questions.

There was a good

improvement in

finding the general

idea, the main idea,

explicit/implicit

information, word

reference, and the

meaning of certain

word on a text.

The students were

able to differentiate

the WH/H and

Yes/No questions.

They could answer

the questions well.

The students were

accustomed to using

the question words

based on the six types

of questions.

The students could

construct the

questions well

especially the

questions for implicit

information and

meaning of certain

words.

The students could

answer all the type of

questions well

Improvement

of students’

reading

The mean score of

pretest was 64. The

students’ reading skill

The mean score of

posttest was 66. There

was a little

There was a good

improvement in the

students’ reading


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achievement was low.

The mean scores of

all aspects of reading

were less than the

decided minimum

mastery standard.

improvement in their

reading skill.

The mean score of

explicit information

aspect was above the

decided minimum

mastery standard, the

rest were less.

skill. The mean score

of the posttest was

82.

The mean scores of

all aspects of reading

were more than the

decided minimum

mastery standard.

Improvement

of class

situation

The students felt shy

to state the questions

because they were

afraid of making

mistake in their

questions. They

always wrote the

questions first before

stating them, so the

teaching learning

process ran very

slowly.

The students were not

active, so the reading

class was not alive.

There was no

interaction between

teacher and students.

Most teaching

learning processes

were teacher

centered.

The teaching learning

processes sometimes

were disturbed by the

activity done in the

other class

The students were

confident in stating

their questions

although their

questions were still

wrong and there were

only few students who

didn’t state their

questions directly, so

the teaching learning

process ran normally.

The students were

active in constructing

and answering the

questions, so the

reading class was

attractive although

most of their answers

were in short

sentences.

There were

interactions between

teacher and students

and among the

students.

The students weren’t

bothered by the

activity done in the

other classes because

they gave attention

more to teaching

learning process.

The teaching learning

process ran smoothly

because the students

were more confident

to deliver their

questions directly and

the questions covered

all the types of

questions.

The students were

active in

counstructing and

answering the

questions, both the

active and passive

students, so the

reading class was

more alive and

attractive. They

tended to answer the

questions in long

sentences. They did

the task given by the

teacher

enthusiasticly.

There were

interactions between

teacher and students

and among the

students. They

enjoyed the activites

in the classroom very

much.

4. Reflection

The researcher would like to reflect the conditions of second cycle after

giving the treatment to the students. In the second cycle, the researcher used

reciprocal questioning technique that focused on the students’ abilities in

constructing the aspects of reading; they were the general idea, the main idea,


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explicit and implicit information, reference, and meaning of certain words and

trained them to deliver the questions directly. There was not any obstacle in doing

them because they had known the types of questions before. They should only

accustomize themselves to construct the types of questions, then made them into

reciprocal questioning with their friends.

The researcher spent four meetings in the second cycle. In these four

meetings, the students showed good responses. In addition, the students made and

responded their friends’ questions better than before. It could be seen from the

improvement of the speed in making and responding the questions in each meeting

although they did the activities slowly initially. Besides that, they looked more

confident in expressing their ideas.

Based on the score of pretest and posttest in second cycle, it could be

stated that the students had shown improvement in their reading although they still

needed practicing in order to make their understanding well. Based on the result,

the researcher could interpret that the students had been able to understand the

texts better. It could be seen from the improving percentage in each aspects of

reading between the pretest and posttest in the second cycle. Finally, the researcher

hoped that the reciprocal questioning technique could be their own strategy in

improving their ability on reading a text. Based on researcher’s and collaborator’s

observations, it could be concluded that there were some strengths and weaknesses

that could be reported during teaching learning activity as follows:

The Strengths and the Weaknesses of Reciprocal Questioning Technique.

a. The strengths of reciprocal questioning implemented in the second cycle:

1) Students’ reading skill


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The students were able to know all the types of questions in a text and to

predict which were given in the task after reading it. The mean score of

posttest increased, it was 82. There was a good improvement in each

aspect. All aspects of reading were more than the decided minimum

mastery standart. They were general idea (82), main idea (79), explicit

information (77), implicit information (76), reference (88), and meaning of

certain words (90).

2) Teaching Learning process

a) The teaching learning process ran smoothly. The students were

accustomed to constructing the correct questions and delivering them

directly, so they felt more confident attending the teaching learning

activity.

b) There were interactions between teacher and students and among the

students. They enjoyed the activites in the classroom very much.

b. The weakness of reciprocal questioning implemented in the second cycle:

The passive students tended to state their idea more slowly than the active

ones. They usually noted their questions first before delivering them. They

were not confident in delivering their questions.

Based on the data analysis, all the students’ problems were solved

through reciprocal questioning technique. And it could be concluded that the

technique could improve the students’ reading skill in SMPN 1 Kawedanan.

D. Discussion

1. Improvement of Students’ Reading Skill


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The researcher conducted pre research observations in order to identify

what problems that the students faced before doing the research. Then, the

researcher formulated those problems to be solved. In order to collect the data, the

researcher interviewed the previous English teacher. As a result, they proposed

five problems. The first problem was their poor vocabularies, the second one was

related to the students’ inability to differentiate between WH-/H- and yes/no

questions. The other problems were related to the aspects of reading, they were the

problems in identifying the general idea, the main idea, and explicit/implicit

information of a text. Therefore, the researcher proposed to the collaborator to use

reciprocal questioning technique as the effort to improve students’ reading ability.

As the attempt to solve on differentiating WH-/H- and yes/no questions,

the researcher did not explain the differences between the questions directly. The

researcher liked asking them to practice reciprocal questioning and learn the

differences indirectly better than explaining them. The researcher only made the

correction when the students made the mistakes. In this case, the researcher

assumed that they made and answered the questions more frequently; more

frequently they learnt the differences of WH-/H- and yes/no questions. The

researcher wanted to make students accustomed to using reciprocal questioning as

frequently as the students could do. Besides that the result of the research was

purely caused by the usage of reciprocal questioning technique.

At the beginning of treatment, the technique did not run maximally.

The students felt shy to state their ideas when they were taught in the class room. It

was because they were afraid of making mistakes in their questions. The problem

was not only in differentiating WH-/H- and yes/no questions but also in


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constructing the questions. Many students were still confused in differentiating

verbal and nominal sentences. Besides, they still had trouble to choose the right

question words for their questions. As a result, the researcher had to solve the

problems by explaining them in a second. When it was thought that the students

could create the correct questions needed, the researcher continued to the next

activity.

Although the students had practiced on how to construct the good

questions, the researcher found that few students still had trouble in constructing

nominal and verbal sentences in the fourth meeting but they were more confident

delivering the questions to their friends. Further, as seen in meeting 2, all the types

of questions could be constructed by the students, but they had difficulties in

answering the questions, especially the questions for implicit information. They

could answer the questions that the answers stated on the text. Besides, the

researcher found that there was improvement both in while reading activity and its

post reading tasks related to the students’ ability in the aspects of reading. Based

on teaching learning process, the students made and responded more questions

than previous meetings even a student started to make questions for implicit

information without being instructed by the teacher before.

Moreover, the improvement could be seen in the score of reading task.

Therefore, the researcher decided to conduct posttest in order to measure whether

there is a difference or not. It proved that there were differences of pretest and

posttest. But in fact, the improvement was not maximally reached. As a result, the

attempts to improve students’ reading comprehension were still needed.


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In this case, the first cycle left some problems behind. They were the

aspects of reading; general idea, main idea, explicit/implicit information, reference,

and meaning of certain words. Consequently, certain type of questions was less

practiced and they had low score in some types of question. The students always

had to be reminded in practicing such kinds of questions. Besides, the students

showed that they needed more preparation before delivering their questions to their

friends. In other words, they always wrote them down before stating them.

Therefore, in the second cycle, the researcher planned to accustom the

students making their questions directly without writing them before. There was

only one aspect of reading got score more than the decided minimum mastery

standart, the collaborator and the researcher decided to focus the teaching learning

process in all the types of questions. To know whether the students’ ability on

reading would improve or not, the researcher planned to calculate the student’s

right answers based on the reading aspect in every cycle.

It was in line with Mitchell (2010) who defines that ReQuest stands for

“reciprocal questioning”. It is a useful questioning technique designed to help

students formulate questions and answers based on a text passage. The goal is to

move students beyond low-level literal questions to higher order thinking; builds

background knowledge, builds vocabulary, and helps readers develop predictions

about the reading.

It could be seen in table 4.17. The researcher compared the students’

correct answers of pretest, posttest of cycle 1, and posttest of cycle 2 based on the

types of questions. There was a good improvement in the percentage of each

aspect in reading. It proved that by doing reciprocal questioning technique, the


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students could improve their reading skill, so they could answer the questions

covered all aspects in reading well. Further, it was supported by Pressley (2006)

who states that the use of strategies like summarizing after each paragraph have

come to be seen as effective strategies for building students' comprehension. The

idea is that students will develop stronger reading comprehension skills on their

own if the teacher gives them explicit mental tools for unpacking text.

2. Improvement of Students’ Reading Achievement

The improvement of students’ reading achievement could be analyzed

by comparing the mean scores of pretest and posttest. Pretest was conducted before

the treatment, and posttest was conducted after the treatment in each cycle. The

mean score of pretest was 64, the mean score of cycle 1 posttest was 66, and the

mean score of cycle 2 posttest was 82. Besides, the improvement could be also

seen in the mean scores of each aspect of reading in every cycle. There were no

aspects of reading which got score above the decided minimum mastery standart in

pretaest, there was only one aspect in posttest of cycle 1, and all aspects were more

than the SKBM in posttest of cycle 2.

It could be concluded that the use of reciprocal questioning technique is

very effective to improve the students’ reading achievement. They could choose

the right answers of the questions given splendidly, so their scores improved in

each cycle. Moreover, strategy of reading influenced the students’ reading

achievement.

It was supported by Pang (2003) who states that reading is a set of

skills that allows readers to rapidly decode text while maintaining high

comprehension.


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Before reading a selection, students preview the text. Readers think

about the title of the selection. They make predictions and ponder questions. They

set expectations about what information may be revealed in the text. They skim for

text structure (headings, bold print, italicized words, illustrations and other visual

presentations) that may reveal clues about the text. Readers think about the

author’s purpose for writing the selection. They set their own purpose for reading.

They scan their background knowledge for relevant information that may help

them understand the text. Before reading strategies focus on setting the stage for

reading comprehension.

During reading strategies focus on problem-solving skills. Readers use

to monitor their understanding of the text. The strategies include word attack skills,

vocabulary work, visualizing details, rereading for clarification, and adjusting the

pace of reading in order to construct meaning. Readers develop a repertoire of

strategies in order to extract meaning from text.

After reading strategies help students read between the lines. They

respond to what was read. Readers revisit a selection to closely examine elements

of the text to achieve deeper levels of understanding. For example, readers revisit

the selection to determine the essential details and themes of the text. Revisit

strategies help readers respond to text, make connections, and evaluate various

aspects of the selection. (http://www.learners.org/jnorth/tm/lessons_RW.html)

3. Improvement of Class Situation

In second cycle, the students were more manageable and active than

before although the activities ran more slowly at the beginning. As a consequence,

the students made the reciprocal questions more and more for each meeting. The


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improvement was not only in the teaching learning process but also the scores of

the tasks in the posttest. Based on each aspect of reading’s scores, the researcher

concluded that they were able to find the appropriate main idea, vocabulary, and

implicit information better than before. Considering that all problems were

resolved and the treatment was maximally conducted, the researcher concluded

that reciprocal questioning technique could improve the class situation.

Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) technique is a variation on the

Reciprocal Teaching strategy. Here, students take on the role of the teacher by

formulating their own list of questions about a reading selection. The teacher then

answers the students' questions. This exercise assists reading comprehension at two

levels. Students deeply analyze the reading selection to extract their "teacher"

questions. The teacher, in turn, reinforces learning by answering the questions and,

if necessary, helping students to refine their work into more focused questions.

(http://www.justreadnow.com/stategies/reciprocal.htm).

Furthermore, the steps to ReQuest procedure are:

a. Divide the class into small groups and provide each group with a reading

selection.

b. Explain the ReQuest process: the students read a selection and develop

discussion questions directed toward the teacher.

c. Allow time for the students to read their selections independently and to write a

list of potential questions.

d. Have the groups combine and revise the team members' questions into a final

form.

http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/reciprocal.htm


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e. During the class discussion, a spokesperson for each group asks the questions

to the teacher. The teacher answers the questions to reinforce learning.

f. In a post-exercise discussion, ask students to identify strategies they used in

writing and refining questions.

(http://www.justreadnow.com/stategies/reciprocal.htm).

Reciprocal Questioning trains students to pick main ideas, engage in

metacognitive thought, and think critically while reading. Initially, it is a verbal

exchange between the teacher and the students. (http://www.ncrel.org

/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm)

The technique could stimulate the reading class more alive by the

application of various activities during teaching learning process although it is

initially a verbal exchange between the teacher and the students. Through the

technique, students were more active in constructing and answering the questions

about a text based on the types of questions. The teaching learning process ran

smoothly because the students were more confident to deliver their questions

directly without feeling afraid of making mistakes.

Paul Morgan and Douglas Fuchs (2007) draw on a large body of

research to explain the importance of early reading experiences. Children who read

frequently grow to become skillful readers.

4. Improvement of students’ responses toward the technique

At the end of cycle 2, the researcher delivered the questionnaire to the

students to find out the students’ responses toward the implementation of

reciprocal questioning technique in reading class. More than half students in the

classroom agreed that:

http://www.justreadnow.com/stategies/reciprocal.htm


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a. They felt pleased after taught using reciprocal questioning technique.

b. Reciprocal questioning technique helped them understand the text.

c. They were challenged and confident in doing reading tasks using reciprocal

questioning technique.

d. They were easier to understand the text using reciprocal questioning technique

in group.

e. Reciprocal questioning technique was very effective to improve their reading

skill in understanding a text.

f. Reciprocal questioning technique enabled them to construct questions and

answered them perfectly.

Based on the questionnaire after the treatment, it could be concluded

that the students gave good responses toward reciprocal questioning technique

implementation. Moreover, Walker in Afida (2008: 93) sates that the learner

patterns that produce a high successful rate are:

a. A successive learner who asks questions and enjoys breaking a story into parts,

reading only sections at a time. This technique uses students’ strength to

elaborate their understanding using the text and what they know.

b. A successive learner who asks irrelevant questions when reading and fails to

comprehend the main points of the story. This technique focuses on students’

attention asking important questions and justifying answers.

c. A passive learner who reads words frequently but does not ask her/himself

“what does this mean?” this technique develops self-questioning and

monitoring of comprehension.


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d. A passive reader who reads words fluently but does not use her/his knowledge

to interpret text. This technique asks students to use both textual and nontextual

information to ask and answer questions.

The aim of reciprocal questioning is to have students actively

participate in the discussion of the text or activity. Students read to learn and learn

to apply practices of good readers. If using this strategy with an activity, students

learn to carefully observe, listen, communicate, and participate. This

comprehension technique uses structured discussion based on the four strategies

listed in the description. After learning all four skills, students can work in small

groups, reading portions of a text or following the procedures of an activity, and

taking turns as the teacher.

Further, the researcher would like to conclude that reciprocal

questioning technique is one of the effective techniques which is able to improve

the students’ reading skill. This technique will produce high success rate to the

students who prefer working in group or in pair to ask themselves. It means that

reciprocal questioning technique will be more effective to the students who have

self-confidence to state their idea. For inactive learners, the researcher can help

them to support their confidence by the external factors. As regards, the external

factors are the supporting factors in implementing this technique such as teaching

learning setting and atmosphere.


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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusion

All stages in the action research were completed done from August

2011 to February 2012. The major conclusion of this research is that the

implementation of reciprocal questioning technique has many advantages to

improve the students’ reading skill and to motivate the students to be more active

in reading class. Based on the result of the research, the conclusion can be stated in

three main points. They are: (1) Reciprocal Questioning technique can improve the

students’ English reading skill, (2) Reciprocal Questioning technique can improve

reading class situation, (3) There are some strengths and weaknesses of using

reciprocal questioning technique in reading class. The conclusion can be described

as follows:

First, Reciprocal Questioning technique can improve the students’

English reading skill; the students’ reading skill has improved. It could be seen

from the ability in constructing and answering all types of questions well. Besides,

their achievement has improved from pretest (before action) to posttest (after

action).

Second, Reciprocal Questioning technique can improve reading class

situation; the reading class was more alive. The students were more active and

confident in constructing, delivering, and answering the questions. They weren’t

afraid of making mistake in their sentences. Moreover, the reading class was more

attractive when the teacher gave variations in applying the technique.


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Third, the strengths and weaknesses of using reciprocal questioning

technique in reading class. The strengths of reciprocal questioning technique were

as follows:

1. Reciprocal questioning technique stimulated students to be active readers

because of having their own strategy to understand the texts even without

teacher’s guidance.

2. The students were accustomed to constructing the correct questions and

delivering them directly, so they felt more confident attending the teaching

learning activity.

3. The students knew all types of questions so they could predict what questions

would probably occur in the task after reading and avoid giving wrong

answers, so they were motivated to read more.

4. Reciprocal questioning technique is more interesting and effective to improve

students’ reading skill than previous reading technique where the students read

the texts and translate them. Besides, the technique can also improve the other

skills, such as speaking and writing.

The weaknesses of the technique were:

1. The students often forgot the types question and concentrated to make certain

types of questions only.

2. Reciprocal questioning is less effective for the passive learners who preferred

to read by themselves without trying to make questions while reading the texts

and felt shy to state their idea.

It can be concluded that reciprocal questioning technique is effective to

improve students’ reading skill in SMPN 1 Kawedanan in the academic year of


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2011/2012. Therefore, it is recommended that the teachers apply reciprocal

questioning technique in the teaching learning process.

B. Implication

The result of the research shows that Reciprocal Questioning technique

can improve reading class situation. Based on the result of the research, English

teachers should take Reciprocal Questioning technique as one good alternative

technique in teaching reading. The steps are as follows: (1) Providing the students

a reading selection, (2) Explaining the ReQuest process, (3) Reading the selection,

(4) Formulating the questions, (5) Asking the questions to the teacher, (6)

Reversing the role, and (7) Identifying strategies.

By looking at a fact that there was good improvement achieved by the

students’ reading skill through reciprocal questioning technique, it implies that:

1. Reciprocal questioning technique is a very effective technique to choose in

attempting to improve the students’ reading skill. It is a technique of teaching

learning process where the activities in the classroom focus on the students as

the center of the teaching learning process. The students are asked to be

accustomed to constructing all the types of questions in understanding a text.

By doing such activity, they will easily understand a text. Moreover, by doing

the technique, the students can explore their mind to think critically and their

reading will be more purposeful. In constructing the questions, it is better if

the students are allowed to make mistake without feeling fear because it will

help them make good questions actively.


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2. By using reciprocal questioning technique, the students will try to learn and

to use the vocabularies that are found in the text. In other words, the students

are motivated to read. By reading and doing reciprocal questioning a lot, their

understanding will improve, and it will help them understand the reading text

easily. Moreover, it will improve their ability in speaking as well as writing.

In order to make reading easier to understand and more efficient in this case,

the teacher must provide reading strategies to the students. The students’

achievement will improve when the students succeeded in using strategies as

well as their understanding.

3. Reciprocal questioning technique can be used to make the students more active

and more interested in joining the teaching learning process in the classroom

because it needs familiarization in its application. Besides optimizing the

students’ strength in constructing the questions, it is better to give variation in

the classroom procedures in order to have optimal result. As a result, the

students will enjoy joining the teaching learning process in the classroom, so it

motivates them to read more and the class situation is more alive and attractive.

C. Suggestions

In the researcher, the researcher would like to give some suggestions in

order to make the students’ reading skill better. They are as follows.

1. For the students

a. Paying attention to the instructions given when they are being taught using

reciprocal questioning technique.

b. Reading the texts using reciprocal questioning technique.


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c. Improving the vocabulary by practicing more using reciprocal questioning

technique.

2. For the English teachers

a. Applying the reciprocal questioning techniques by using supporting media

which are able to explore the students’ interest to comprehend the texts

easily.

b. Encouraging the students to use these techniques as their own strategies.

c. Applying the variations of reciprocal questioning technique in the

classroom procedures.

3. For the school

a. Making the policy to conduct Reciprocal Questioning technique program.

It increases the students’ achievement in general and develops a better

teaching learning process.

b. Facilitating the school with teaching media in order to have the

effectiveness of reciprocal questioning technique.

4. For other researchers

a. Conducting classroom action research related to the attempt to improve

students’ reading skill by using different techniques supported by good

medias. The researcher hopes that this research can be used as the

references for the other researchers to conduct a better research.

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