Abstrak

This research was conducted because the students faced problems in reading comprehension. This research aims at: (1) improving the students’ reading comprehension using Think-Pair-Share; and (2) describing the students’ participation when Think-Pair-Share is implemented in improving their reading comprehension.
The study is a classroom action research which was conducted in two cycles. Each cycle consists of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. There are two kinds of data used in this research, qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data were collected using field note, photograph, and interview, while quantitative data was collected using one of the aspects from documents, which is test.
The results of this research reveal that the use of TPS method enhances the students’ reading comprehension and participation in classroom activities. Before being treated by using this method, the students’ mean score was 64.12. Having finished the first cycle, in post-test 1, the students’ mean score increases to 70.58. Then, in the post-test 2, after implementing this method for the fifth meeting, the students’ mean score achieved is 75.42. The students’ improvement covers all indicators of reading comprehension skill including (1) finding the main idea; (2) finding the meaning of selected words; (3) getting the explicit information; (4) obtaining the implicit information; and (5) determining the appropriate discourse markers connecting either the ideas or events in the text. Experiencing three stages of this method namely think, pair, and share; the students began to actively participate in (1) giving attention during the lesson; (2) answering questions from the researcher; (3) doing the discussion; (4) asking questions to the researcher; and  (5) giving opinions or comments related to clasroom activity. Therefore, it is highly recommended for the teachers to implement this method in their teaching reading.

Keyword : TPS, reading comprehension, participation, classroom action research