Using directed reading to improve the students’ reading comprehension  (Classroom Action Research at the Third Year Students of English Department, Faculty of Education, Champasack University in the Academic Year 2010-2011)

Dadivong, Chalearnsouk

This action research is carried out to improve the students’ reading comprehension using directed reading and to know what happens when directed reading are used in classroom. The problem highlighted in this action research in the low, poor and different level reading comprehension of En3/2 class at Champasak University in Lao PDR. That caused by the uninteresting text book that caused students’ low motivation. The action research is conducted in two cycles from June – January 2011 in En 3/2 class of Champasak University in Lao PDR. The procedure of the action research consists of identifying the problems, planning the action, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflecting the result of the action research. In collecting the data, the researcher used observation notes, questionnaires, interviews, diaries and test. The tests were in the form of pre-test and post-test to answer this action research questions. In this research, the researcher acted as a teacher who conducts the action in the classroom and he was assisted by his collaborator. There were two kinds of data such as qualitative and quantitative data. In analyzing quantitative data, the researcher used descriptive statistics. In analyzing qualitative data, the research used constant comparative method. The result of research showed that using directed reading could improve students’ reading comprehension and classroom situation. The improvement of the classroom situation was supported by data which cover the students’ participation, attendance and enthusiasm during the teaching-learning process. The improvement on the students’ reading comprehension reflected from the mean progress of pre-test and post-test. Based on the results of the research, it was concluded that students’ reading comprehension can be improve by using directed reading. It is suggested that the teacher should use other texts beside the text book in teaching language skills, the teacher should be more careful in selecting the texts. The students are encouraged to read more to improve their ability in comprehending the text. Other researcher is encouraged to do the research in using directed reading texts in other areas of language skills.

Abstrak

Using directed reading to improve the students’ reading comprehension (Classroom Action Research at the Third Year Students of English Department, Faculty of Education, Champasack University in the Academic Year 2010-2011)