Abstract

The  objectives  of  the  research  are:  (1)  to  reveal  whether  Cooperative Reading Groups is more effective than Direct Instruction method to teach reading; (2) to know whether the students having high intelligence have better reading skill than those having low intelligence; and (3) to prove whether there is an interaction between teaching method and students’ intelligence to teach reading.
The research was conducted at MTs Arrahmah in the academic year of
2016/2017. The research method was experimental research by using factorial design        . The population  in  this  research  was the second  graders  of MTs Arrahmah. It was used cluster random sampling to obtain the sample. The sample consisted of 60 students which were divided into two classes, VIII A consisting 30 students as an experimental class and VIII B consisting 30 student as a control class. The instruments used to collect the data were reading test to obtain the score of  reading  skill  and  documentation  that  was  used  to  collect  the  data  of  the students’ intelligence. Before the instrument were used, the tryout was done to know the validity and reliability of instruments. Reading skill test was conducted by using valid and reliable instrument. The collected data were analyzed by the writer in term of their frequency distribution, normality, and homogeneity. Then, ANOVA test (multifactor analysis of variance) and TUKEY test were used to test the research hypotheses.
Research findings show: (1) Cooperative Reading Groups is more effective than DI method for teaching reading; (2) The students having high intelligence have better reading skill than the students having low intelligence; and (3) There is  an  interaction  between  teaching  strategies  and  students’  intelligence  for teaching reading. The effect of teaching strategies on the students’ reading skill depends on the students’ intelligence for the eighth grade students of MTs Arrahmah. Thus, it can be concluded that Cooperative Reading Groups  is an effective  method  to  teach  reading  for  the  eighth  graders  who  have  high intelligence.

Key  word:  Reading  skill,  Cooperative  Reading  Groups,  Direct  Instruction,
Students’ intelligence.