Teacher’s Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension of

News Item Text for Grade 12 Students of MAN 1 Medan

Rulyana Manurung
Dr. Isli Iriani Indah Br. Pane, S.Pd., M.Hum
English Education
English And Literature Department
Faculty of Languages and Arts
Medan State University
[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Manurung, Rulyana. Registration Number 2193321038. Teacher’s Strategies

in Teaching Reading Comprehension of News Item Text for Grade 12
Students of MAN 1 Medan. A Thesis, Faculty of Language and Arts, State
University of Medan, 2024.
The objective of this study was to investigate teacher’s strategies used by the teacher in teaching
reading comprehension of news item text and to find out why those strategies used by the teacher
in teaching reading comprehension of twelfth grade students at MAN 1 Medan. The research
design of this study was qualitative research. The subject of this study was one English teacher
who taught twelfth grade students at MAN 1 Medan. The instruments of this study were
observation checklist, video recording and interview. The findings of this study were that, the
teacher used four strategies, Scaffolding, Think aloud, Reciprocal teaching and QARs. Scaffolding
strategy, Teacher frequently used scaffolding strategies to help students learn to read correctly.
Think aloud, teacher used this strategy by talking openly about their thoughts while reading the
text, thus giving students direct insight into the reading comprehension process. Reciprocal
teaching, strategy in which students and teachers share the role of teacher by allowing both to lead
discussions about assigned readings. QARs, the teacher able to know how far their students
understand what the teacher has given to them. According to the analysis interview, the reason why
teachers used those types of strategies on students' reading comprehension was to help the students
understand the reading text and guide the students to focus more on the text. To assist their
students in overcoming difficulties in comprehending texts, particularly the various aspects of
reading, and also to assist students in developing the meaning contained in the text reading.

Keywords : Teachers’ Strategies, Reading Comprehension

INTRODUCTION
One aspect of the 2013 Curriculum's learning process is the emphasis on
language skills as a communication tool, knowledge, logical thinking, systematic
thinking, and creativity. For the teaching of English to be successful, the four
skills, reading, listening, speaking and writing, should be integrated in an effective
way. These skills should be addressed in a way that helps students and develop
their communicative competence gradually (Lorena, 2015). When students speak,
they create sounds, and when they write, they create signifiers. Listening and
reading, on the other hand, are classified as receptive skills because learners

1
receive information specifically through listening and reading. English learners
should be fluent in all of these skills as a matter of fact, many English learners do
not master all of those skills; for example, some English learners are good at
writing but not at reading.
The government policy number 32 2003 on Standard National Education was
implemented in 2013 in order to improve national educational achievements, and
the school-based curriculum known as Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan
(KTSP) has been steadily developed since then. In this case, the 2013 curriculum
aims to improve educational quality at the local level through the development of
local content and national curricular structures. Students are expected to read,
comprehend, summarize, and rewrite texts in their own words when learning a
language.
Based on observation made at MAN 1 Medan, specifically in the twelfth grade,
MIPA 7. To teach reading comprehension, the teacher has certain students read
aloud the entire material first, and the teacher corrects students' pronunciations if
they say something wrong. The teacher then asks the students to recognize
important words for them. The teacher instructs them to use the dictionary for
definitions before responding to the reading comprehension question. When
teaching students about reading comprehension, teachers frequently use this
method.
However, there were only ten students out of thirty-five in that class received
the required minimum score of seventy. Meanwhile, twenty-five students failed to
reach the requirement. They were unable to comprehend the text. The researcher
discovered that students in grade XII of MIA 7 still struggled with reading
comprehension. These issues were caused by a variety of factors. First, the
students lacked vocabulary mastery. They were unable to comprehend what they
read because they did not understand the meaning of many of the words in the
texts. Second, the students had problems understanding the text's content. They
still had difficulty determining the text's topic, main idea, stated and unstated
information, and references.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Reading Comprehension
Rreading comprehension is the process of making meaning from written text.
This definition carries the idea that reading comprehension requires a coordination
of text with context in a way that goes far beyond simply chaining together the
meanings of a string of decoded words (Wooley & Wooley, 2011).
Reading and comprehension are essential skills that we must employ in our
daily lives. According to Hudson (2005; as cited in Melandita, 2019) people can
only learn the speed and skill required for practical purposes when they leave
school by reading. It is difficult to imagine any skilled job in our literate society
that does not require the ability to read. In other words, reading ability is critical
for language learners to master, especially high school students, because it will be
useful when they decide to continue their studies.
Reading is a necessary skill for formal education and a person's social success.
“Reading for general comprehension refers to the ability to understand
information in a text and interpret it appropriately and correctly. However, reading
comprehension abilities are quite complex and difference in numerous ways
depending on tasks, motivations, goals and language ability” (Grabe and Stoller,
2013; as cited in Antoni, 2010).
Reading skills are becoming increasingly important in the world of education.
Reading can provide students with information that teachers cannot provide in the
classroom. Therefore, students should be taught good reading skills because
reading is beneficial for language acquisition it is required for a career, study, or
simply for enjoyment.

Teaching Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension

According to Barnett (1989; as cited in Sastri, 2018) the term strategy refers to
the mental operations that occur when readers intentionally approach a text in
order to make sense of what they are reading. There are at least four suggestions
for understanding a language text, particularly the sentence exposition. First, go
through all of the paragraphs or the entire text. Second, make a list of and cross-
check the main points of the text. Third, rank the main ideas and, finally, draw a
conclusion that covers everything important in the text.
There are some strategies for teaching reading comprehension according to
Vacca and Vacca (1999; as cited in Nurdianingsih, 2021):
1. Scaffolding is a lesson in which students are given some assistance
during the early stages of learning before gradually decreasing the aid
and providing opportunities for students.
2. Think-aloud is a strategy that helps students in learning activities and
aims to recall more significant information from the texts given by the
teacher.
3. Reciprocal teaching is a teaching strategy in which students and
teachers share the role of the teacher by allowing both to lead a
discussion about a given reading.
4. SQ3R is a systematic reading strategy that can help you organize your
reading into manageable chunks. It is just one of many similar
strategies for improving comprehension. It is composed of five steps:
surveying, questioning, reading, reciting, and reviewing.
5. QARS is a reading strategy based on question comprehension and
analysis. In other words, this strategy helps students understand the
questions in order to gain information from the reading.

News Item Text

Sudarwati and Grace (2007; as cited in Handayani, 2017) define news item text
as "text used to inform readers, listeners, or viewers about events of the day that
are considered newsworthy or important." Furthermore, the social function of
news item text is to inform readers, listeners, or viewers about newsworthy or
important events of the day.
Priyana and Mumpuni (2008; as cited in Handayani, 2017) state that the
generic structure of news item text is divided into three parts. The first part is
newsworthy events that consist of a recount of events in summary form. The
second part is background events. This part includes the elaboration of what
happened, to whom, and in what circumstances experts on the event. The last part
is a source which consists of comments by participants, witnesses, and authorities
experts on the event.
News items contains some language features. They are as follows: information
on the use of headlines, information on the use of material processes to recount
events, a focus on circumstance, the use of action verbs, saying verbs, passive
sentences, and the use of adverbs in passive sentences.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research was used a descriptive qualitative study. According to Miles et al.
(2014), qualitative data can provide reasoned and rich descriptions and
explanations of human processes. Qualitative data typically focuses on the life
experiences of people who are suited to discover the meanings placed in their
lives events, processes, and structures and to relate these meanings to the social
world around them. The researcher focused on twelfth grade students at MAN
1Medan 12 MIPA 7 class. This research focuses on describing English teachers’
strategies in teaching reading comprehension of news item text and the reason
why the teacher use the strategies in teaching reading comprehension of news
item text at twelfth grade students of Man 1 Medan.
The data for this research was sourced from the 12 MIPA 7 class in the
academic year 2023/2024 and one English teacher at MAN 1 Medan. The data
was obtained through an interview and observation through video recording. The
first data collected by using a video recorder. A video recorder was used to record
the teaching process while the teacher applies the teaching reading comprehension
strategies of explanation text. Furthermore, to collect the second data, the
researcher was used interviews.

DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Data Analysis
In data analysis the researcher analyzed the data to discover the objectives of
the research. The data was acquired through observation checklist, video
 recording and interview. The data analysis focused on student’s strategies in
teaching reading comprehension of news item text and teacher’s reason of using
the strategies in teaching reading comprehension of news item text.
In order to analyze the student’s strategies in teaching reading comprehension
of news item text, the researcher used observation checklist and recorded a video
of the learning process. Through video recording, the researcher got the
transcription of the dialogues when the teacher was teaching and demonstrating
reading comprehension strategies of news item text.
For analyzing teacher’s reason for using these strategies in teaching reading
comprehension, researchers interviewed teacher to find out the reasons why the
teacher used the strategy in teaching reading comprehension of news item text.

Findings
There were two research problems as stated in chapter I. the first problem was
about teacher’s strategies in teaching reading comprehension of news item text
and the second problem was about teacher’s reasons in using strategies in teaching
reading news item text.

Strategies Used by the Teacher in Teaching Reading Comprehension

The researcher's findings consist of a description of the data found in the

research field including the results of analysis regarding teacher strategies in

teaching reading comprehension which are classified into reading stages, namely

pre-reading, while-reading and, post-reading.

Reading Strategies Indicators Yes No

Stages

Pre- a. Scaffolding 1. Teacher helps students how to read news item text √

Reading 2. Teacher helps students when they are not able to √

mention a word
3. Teacher asks students about things that they do not √
understand
 b. Think- 1. Teachers reads a news item text word by word aloud √
Alaoud to stimulate students’ thinking
2. Teacher asks students to read the same text. During √
this process, teacher read aoud the uncommon word.
c. Reciprocal 1. Teacher devides students into small groups √
Teaching
2. Teacher asks students to discuss about a news item √
text
3. Teacher asks students to find out the word that they √
can not understand
4. Teacher asks students to ask question about their √
discussion
5. Teacher asks students to summarize their discussion √
and explanation their questions
6. Teacher asks students to clarify their result infront of √
the class.

d. SQ3R 1. Teacher asks students to read heading of news item √

(Surveying, text and quickly get the main idea of the heading
Questioning 2. Teacher gives some questions to the students about √
, Reading, the heading
Reciting 3. Teacher asks students to read again to find the √
and answer
Reviewing)
4. In taking conclusion, teacher retells the news item √
text before to students to stimulate them to take
conclusion

e. QARs 1. Teacher asks students to read a news item text √

(Question
Answer 2. Teacher gives some questions to each students about √
Relationshi the news item text that they have read before
p)
3. Teacher makes sure that students answer the √
question by their own
4. Teacher explain the question and answer to the √
students that unable to answer the questions.
While- a. Scaffolding 1. Teacher helps students how to read news item text √

Reading 2. Teacher helps students when they are not able to √

mention a word
3. Teacher asks students about things that they do not √
understand
b. Think- 1. Teachers reads a news item text word by word aloud √
Alaoud to stimulate students’ thinking

2. Teacher asks students to read the same text. During √

this process, teacher read aoud the uncommon word.

c. Reciprocal 1. Teacher devides students into small groups √

Teaching
 2. Teacher asks students to discuss about a news item √
text
3. Teacher asks students to find out the word that they √
can not understand
4. Teacher asks students to ask question about their √
discussion
5. Teacher asks students to summarize their discussion √
and explanation their questions
6. Teacher asks students to clarify their result infront of √
the class.
d. SQ3R 1. Teacher asks students to read heading of news item √
(Surveying, text and quickly get the main idea of the heading
Questioning 2. Teacher gives some questions to the students about √
, Reading, the heading
Reciting
and 3. Teacher asks students to read again to find the √
Reviewing) answer
4. In taking conclusion, teacher retells the news item √
text before to students to stimulate them to take
conclusion
e. QARs 1. Teacher asks students to read a news item text √
(Question
Answer 2. Teacher gives some questions to each students about √
Relationshi the news item text that they have read before
p) 3. Teacher makes sure that students answer the √
question by their own
4. Teacher explain the question and answer to the √
students that unable to answer the questions.
Post- a. Scaffolding 1. Teacher helps students how to read news item text √

Reading 2. Teacher helps students when they are not able to √

mention a word
3. Teacher asks students about things that they do not √
understand
b. Think- 1. Teachers reads a news item text word by word aoud √
Alaoud to stimulate students’ thinking
2. Teacher asks students to read the same text. During √
this process, teacher read aoud the uncommon word.
c. Reciprocal 1. Teacher devides students into small groups √
Teaching
2. Teacher asks students to discuss about a news item √
text
3. Teacher asks students to find out the word that they √
can not understand
4. Teacher asks students to ask question about their √
discussion
5. Teacher asks students to summarize their discussion √
and explanation their questions
 6. Teacher asks students to clarify their result infront of √
the class.
d. SQ3R 1. Teacher asks students to read heading of news item √
(Surveying, text and quickly get the main idea of the heading
Questioning 2. Teacher gives some questions to the students about √
, Reading, the heading
Reciting 3. Teacher asks students to read again to find the √
and answer
Reviewing)
4. In taking conclusion, teacher retells the news item √
text before to students to stimulate them to take
conclusion
e. QARs 1. Teacher asks students to read a news item text √
(Question
Answer 2. Teacher gives some questions to each students about √
Relationshi the news item text that they have read before
p)
3. Teacher makes sure that students answer the √
question by their own
4. Teacher explain the question and answer to the √
students that unable to answer the questions.

Based on the observation checklist, the results of data analysis show that there
are four main strategies used by teachers in teaching reading comprehension.
These strategies are classified into three reading stages, namely pre-reading,
while-reading, and post-reading. In Pre-Reading the teacher uses Scaffolding, in
While-Reading there are two strategies used namely, Think Aloud and Reciprocal
Teaching, while in Post-Reading the teacher uses the Question Answer
Relationship strategy.

Teacher’s Reason for Using the Strategies in Teaching Reading

Comprehension of News Item Text

Based on the interview, teachers use a scaffolding teaching style in teaching

news item text because some students still struggle with learning news item text
and need encouragement to help students become actively involved in the topics
that will be discussed in the text. Teachers can use this to actively guide students
in expressing their own thoughts about the context that will be discussed in the
text. The teacher uses the Reciprocal teaching strategy to create a more interactive
learning environment during the learning process. The teacher encourages
students to be more active in learning by dividing students into several groups and
giving students directions to show the results of their respective discussions. while
the other groups are asked to present arguments to each other based on their
respective understandings. This not only creates active learning where students
interact with each other but also improves their ability to communicate or speak.
While the reason that the teacher uses the QARs strategy is because the
teacher wants to ensure students' understanding of the text that will be discussed,
the teacher uses it at the end of the lesson with the aim of increasing students'
ability to understand the content of the reading by connecting interest between
initial knowledge about the content of the text before reading with new knowledge
after reading text. The teacher also asks questions to students and ensures that
students answer in their own words. So at this stage the learning process runs not
only from one side but there is feedback between the teacher and students.

Discussions
In pre-reading teacher used scaffolding, in while-reading teacher applied
think aloud and, reciprocal teaching, then the teacher used QARs strategy in post-
reading stage. Scaffolding is a process in which teachers model or demonstrate
how to solve a problem and then step back, offering support as needed. Teacher
used scaffolding when students have difficulty in reading. Teachers frequently use
scaffolding strategies to help students learn to read correctly. The second strategy
used by teachers in teaching reading comprehension is think aloud, this strategy is
used by teachers at the while-reading learning stage. Reciprocal teaching is a
strategy in which students and teachers share the
role of teacher by allowing both to lead discussions about assigned readings.
Reciprocal Teaching entails four discussion-guiding strategies: predicting,
question generation, summarizing, and clarifying. The last strategy was the
Question-Answer Relationship (QARs). QARs teach students how to recognize
the various types of questions they ask and where to find the answers.
From the teachers' interview, it can be found that the reasons why the teacher
uses those strategies to help the students understand the reading text and guide the
students to focus more on the text. To assist their students in overcoming
difficulties in comprehending texts, particularly the various aspects of reading
such as the main idea, detailed information, making inferences, and noting
references, teachers could assist students in developing the meaning contained in
the text reading so that students could more easily understand the contents of
reading.

CONCLUSIONS
There is only one teacher as the data. The teacher used four strategies in three
reading stages. In pre-reading teacher used scaffolding, in while-reading teacher
applied think aloud and, reciprocal teaching, then the teacher used QARs strategy
in post-reading stage. Teacher used scaffolding when students have difficulty in
reading. Teachers frequently use scaffolding strategies to help students learn to
read correctly. The second strategy used by teachers in teaching reading
comprehension is think aloud, this strategy is used by teachers at the while-
reading learning stage. Reciprocal teaching is a strategy in which students and
teachers share the role of teacher by allowing both to lead discussions about
assigned readings. The last strategy was the Question-Answer Relationship
(QARs). QARs teach students how to recognize the various types of questions
they ask and where to find the answers. This strategy is used by the teacher to help
students focus more on the reading content that they should understand. This
strategy is used by the teacher to determine whether or not the students have
understood the text that they have read.
From the teachers' interview, it can be found that the reasons why the teacher
of Man 1 Medan uses those strategies to help the students understand the reading
text and guide the students to focus more on the text. To assist their students in
overcoming difficulties in comprehending texts, particularly the various aspects of
reading such as the main idea, detailed information, making inferences, and noting
references, teachers could assist students in developing the meaning contained in
the text reading so that students could more easily understand the contents of
reading.
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Rulyana Manurung pg. 12