Improving Students' Reading Comprehension Through Student Team Achievement Division Technique

This research was aimed at investigating the process of improving students' reading comprehension through Student Team Achievement Division Technique and examining the effect of its implementation toward students' abilities in reading comprehension. This research was designed in 2 cycles at SMK Prawira Pandeglang Banten in the second semester of 2016/2017 academic year. The focus of this research was the improvement of students' English reading comprehension, whereas the sub-focus was the process of improving students' abilities in reading comprehension through the Implementation of Student Team Achievement Division Technique. The data was collected from observations and interviews. The students' reading comprehension was assessed with multiple choices reading test. The research findings have shown that the implementation of Student Team Achievement Division Technique had improved students' abilities in comprehend the text from 54.2% in the first cycle become 76.25% in the second cycle. Based on the results, it can be concluded that student team achievement division technique can improve reading comprehension of the students of class X SMK Prawira Pandenglang Banten. 


LOQUEN
Vol. 10 No. 2 (July-December) 2017 school is English. Reading English becomes important to students not only because there are so many libraries references written in English but also to improve students' own academic achievement.
According to Goodman in Ilzam (2006: 6) reading is a careful process. It involves precise, detailed and tracing perceptions and the introduction of letters, words, spelling patterns and more wide languange units. As according to William and Stoller (2002: 9) reading is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately. Another sense is expressed by Panda (1999: 17-18) reading is a process that involves the use of eyes and mind to understand the meaning implied in a passage that the author is trying to convey.
In addition, Kheryadi (2016: 378) Whereas as in reading, the students should be encouraged and be focused on to what they want to 'say' rather than the form. While, according to Grellet (1981: 3) Reading comprehension activity is the activity or process of finding information proved by the reader of the discourse efficiently to fill the information gap to the reader. According to Janette, Sharon, and Alinson, (2007: 2) reading comprehension is the process of understanding ideas by coordinating some complex processes that involve reading words, word knowledge and fluency reading.
The efforts to improve students' learning outcomes cannot be separated from the various factors that affect it. In this case, it takes creativity of teachers who can make learning more interesting and liked by students or learners. The classroom atmosphere needs to be planned and constructed using appropriate teaching methods and techniques so that students can have the opportunity to interact with each other to obtain optimal learning outcomes.
As a teacher/educator need a special foresight in terms of choosing the instructional techniques that appropriate with the material being taught. One of the learning techniques that can be developed is cooperative learning; according to Vienna Sanjaya (2007: 240) cooperative learning is a model of learning by using a small grouping system that is between 4 to 6 people who have a differential mastering the subject matter to achieve maximum performance. This technique is very simple because it is only divides the students into small groups consisting of 4 -5 students which a mixture of ability, sex and ethnic (heterogeneous) levels.
STAD of cooperative learning technique is a learning technique that emphasizes the process of cooperation between students in a group, where all group members help each other in mastering the subject matter in order to achieve maximum performance but each student still has individual responsibility.
Learning cooperative STAD technique is a learning that prioritizes the existence of small groups heterogeneous. Learning through cooperative learning prioritizes cooperation in solving problems to apply knowledge and skills in order to achieve learning objectives.
STAD is a very interesting learning to apply because it is a combination of two things, learning with individual and group ability so that students can exchange their knowledge to solve the problem. By choosing learning through cooperative learning STAD techniques are expected to improve students' problem solving skills.
The reality in the field shows that the ability of students of class X SMK Prawira Pandeglang in comprehending English reading text is quite apprehensive. This is evident when they are given some questions based on the text that require understanding, they cannot answer correctly. The ability of students in reading comprehension can be categorized into very low categories, not even reaching 50%. It can also be seen from the daily learning process shows that almost 70% of students are not able to read and comprehend English text properly and correctly.
It is proven from the data record students' reading comprehension. Conventional methods used during this even considered less effective, because it is also cannot improve the ability of students reading English comprehension.
Based on the background above, it can be formulated the following

B. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research uses action research method which combines between qualitative and quantitative. The steps to be used in this classroom action research are the steps of Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1990: 11)

C. RESEARCH RESULT
The data of the research result is the score of students reading comprehension learning of the class X students obtained after the learning process of reading according to the research treatment using STAD cooperative learning technique.
Based on the action procedure, this research will be conducted in two cycles. Each cycle includes planning activities, acting, observing, and reflecting.
Each cycle consists of teaching steps. Reflection will be held in the end of steps to know the results of teaching and find things that must be improved in the next steps and cycle, so the improvement goals will be achieved. To perform the steps action means 80% of students answered correctly. From the data above there is an increase from the first cycle to the second cycle. The results of literal level comprehension tests in the second cycle can be seen in the chart below: In the first cycle the number of questions on the inferential level is 15 items, which there are 5 items in each action; the ideal score on each action is 175.
The results of the inferential reading comprehension test obtained 101 in the first action means 57.7 % of students answered correctly, 110 on the second action means that 62.8% of the students answered correctly, and 135 in the third action means that 77.1% of the students answered correctly. The results of the inferential reading comprehension test can be seen in the graph below:   Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 1 step 2 Step 3 Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 1 step 2 Step 3 Briefing activities conducted in the first stage, namely the introduction of the concept material related to the text that will be read by students, guiding students to understand what they read and used as a guide to do the next activity, so that the reading activity of a text so focused, and student concentration is not broken .
Furthermore, to improve comprehending of the reading content, students do group work. At this stage many activities conducted among them, one of it is discussion, because students are not used to independent, discussion and question answer is a form of appropriate means in the classroom. This means that students who initially comprehend the reading is incomplete because it interprets the content of the text according to experience and knowledge personally, with discussion and question answer that exist at this stage will cover the existing shortcomings in the personal students. At this stage all students are ensured to comprehend the reading content, because each student is required to give each other mutual comprehending. Improvement also occurs in the second cycle, comprehend the text by using STAD techniques used to them. With continuous application they can increase literacy, inferential, evaluation, and appreciation of literature.
The result of action research about the ability of reading comprehension through STAD technique which is done by two cycles has increased and able to reach the due diligence in accordance with predetermined performance indicator.
Thus, the action research conducted has been in accordance with the expected objectives, which can improve the quality of the learning process and the student ability to comprehend the reading text.

E. CONCLUSION
Based on the study findings, the improvement of students reading comprehension through of Student Team Achievement Division technique in the first and second cycle resulted the following conclusions: (1) The application of Student Team Achievement Division technique in reading lesson can improve students' reading comprehension ability. This can be seen from the improvement in the value learning between pretest, cycle 1, and cycle 2 in English lesson, especially on reading ability through STAD technique in grade X students of SMK Prawira Carita Pandeglang; (2) The application of Student Team Achievement Division techniques can create an active, creative, innovative, effective, and fun atmosphere in English reading lesson so it can improve students' ability to comprehend English reading.