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Wednesday 5 June 2013

EFFECTS OF PRE-QUESTIONING ON THE READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT OF THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS AT SMAN-2 JEKAN RAYA IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2006/2007



                                                            CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1  Background of the Study
            Language is one of the most important things in communication and it is used as a toll of communication among the nations in all over the world. As an international language, English is very important and has many interrelationships with various aspects of life owned by human being. In Indonesia, English considered as the first foreign language and taught formally from elementary school up to the university level.
            In English, there are four skills that should be mastered, they are: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The reading skill became very important in the education field, students need to be exercised and trained in order to have a good reading skill.
            Reading is also something crucial and indispensable for the students because the success of their study depends on the greater part of their ability to read. If their reading skill is poor they are very likely to fail in their study or at least they will have difficulty in making progress. On the other hand, if they have a

        In reading, to comprehend the text the readers should be able to manage every part of the text, because it is easy to gain the comprehension in reading when the readers are able to organize the text. Sometimes, they may find form of pre-questioning and it is important for them to comprehend a reading text with having knowledge in general view of the text. Theoretically, pre-questioning itself can build the students’ interest and motivation before students read the whole text. Moreover, the students can predict what will be discussed on the text. In line with this study, students may improve their reading comprehension if they know about pre-questioning and it is very important to understand about pre-questioning in order to get good comprehension in reading. 
            Based on the explanation above, the writer is interested in finding out the effects of treatment with pre-questioning and without pre-questioning on students’ reading comprehension achievement and concluded that the pre-questioning consist of some questions provided before the students read the whole text. It tends to build the students’ interest and motivation to read the text.

1.2  Problem of the Study
Based on the background of study above, the problem of the study is as follows:
1.      What is the effect of treatment with pre-questioning on the Reading Comprehension Achievement of the Second Grade Students of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya in Academic year 2006/2007?”
2.      What is the effect of the student’s gender on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya in academic year 2006/2007?
3.      What is the effect of treatments and student’s gender on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya in academic year 2006/2007?

1.3  The Objective of the Study
The objectives of the study are:
1.      To find out the effect of treatment with pre-questioning on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade student of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya.
2.      To find out the effect of the student’s gender on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes of SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya in academic year 2006/2007
3.      To find out the interaction effect between treatment and student’s gender on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya in academic year 2006/2007.

1.4  Assumptions
In relation to the study, the writer states some assumptions as follows:
1.       Pre-questioning can help the students to comprehend the reading text.
2.       The students have been taught about how to identify the main idea and           supporting details of a paragraph and how to recognize kinds of text.
1.5  Hypothesis
The hypotheses of this study can be mastered alternative and null hypotheses. The hypotheses are, as follows:
1. Ha:  There is significant effect of treatment with pre-questioning and without pre-questioning on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya.
    Ho:  There is no significant effect of treatment with pre-questioning and without pre-questioning on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya.
2. Ha: There is significant effect of the student’s gender on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes of SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya.
     Ho: There is no significant effect of the student’s gender on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes of SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya.
3. Ha: There is significant effect of treatments with pre-questioning, without pre-questioning and student’s gender on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya.
    Ho:  There is no significant effect of treatments with pre-questioning, without pre-questioning and student’s gender on the reading comprehension achievement of the second grade students of IPS classes at SMAN-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya.

1.6  Delimitation of the Study
In this study, the writer delimits the study only to meet the effect of treatments (with pre-questioning, without pre-questioning) and students’ gender on the reading comprehension achievement of second grade students of IPS classes at SMA N-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya in academic year 2006/2007.

1.7   Limitation Of The Study
In this study, the writer only focuses the effects of treatment (with pre-questioning, without pre-questioning) and student’s gender on the students’ reading comprehension. It is conducted only for the second grade student of IPS classes of SMUN-2 Jekan Raya in Academic year 2006/2007.Thus, the result of this study only generalized or applied to the target population, specifically to the Second Grade Students of IPS classes of SMAN-2 Jekan Raya in Kodya Palangkaraya.    

1.8   Significance of the Study
The study is expected to be significance as follows:
1.      Giving a description about the effects of treatment with pre-questioning and without pre-questioning on the students’ reading comprehension achievement.
2.      To prove the result in reading comprehension scores between experimental and control classes of students’ gender (female and male) on the second grade students of IPS classes at SMA Negeri 2 Jekan Raya are different.
3.      Giving a reference to development of teaching learning process especially in reading, that pre-questioning can make the students’ reading comprehension will be better.
4.      Giving a contribution to the students how to improve their skill in comprehending about the reading text.
5.      Giving a profitable description to any further researcher which wants to study the same case, so this study becomes a helpful information and useful reference for the next study.

1.9  Clarification of Key Terms
There are some terms in this study that should be clarified, as follows:
Pre-questioning
            Some questions which are provided before the students read the whole text, in order to build the reading schemata and background knowledge of the students and also to rise their interest, and their cognitive aspect to predict what will faced by them in the next whole text.

Reading Comprehension
Theoretically, reading comprehension is a process of interaction between the reader with the text and the reader relates the idea from the text to prior experiences and their knowledge. In other words, comprehension is a process by which the reader constructs meaning by interacting with the text.
            In this study, reading comprehension achievement operationally defined as the students’ scores in comprehending the text on the reading comprehension tests, after having and without having the pre-questioning.           

SMAN-2 Jekan Raya
            It is clearly stated on the research problem that the SMAN-2 Jekan Raya is the location or site of the research.  

CHAPTER II
                                                     REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1   The Essence of Reading
There are four skills in English which should be mastered, they are: reading, speaking, listening and writing and it cannot be denied that reading is one of the most important. According to Harmer in The Practice of English Language Testing (1985:153) “Reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain”. Specifically, Nunan (1989:17) in his book also said that “Reading is a process of decoding written symbols, working from smaller units (individual letters) to larges ones (words, clauses and sentences)”.
Based on explanation above, the writer concludes that reading is a process to convey the message or information. By reading, the reader will know what they read and challenged to response the ideas of the author. In order to make the messages or information that comes from the author can be understood and comprehended easily by the reader.

2.2   Reading Comprehension
It is necessary for the students of Senior High School to master reading comprehension. Cooper (1986:11) stated that Comprehension is a process in which the reader may construct meaning by interacting with the text. In reading comprehension, a reader should have knowledge about understanding the reading passage. The common questions on the passages are primarily about the main ideas, details, and an inference that can be drawn from the passages.
According to Singer (1985) reading comprehension has been defined as an interpretation of written symbols, the apprehending of meaning, the assimilation of ideas presented by the written, and the process of thinking while deciphering symbols. Further, reading comprehension is related closely to the cognitive competence of the readers, because this will produce comprehension. This idea also supported by Parera in Kahayanto (2005:9), he states as follows:
“Memahami adalah memperhatikan naskah tertulis dengan maksud memahami isinya. Proses ini dilakukan dengan mata diam atau membaca dalam hati. Hasil pemahaman disebut pemahaman bacaan. Cara membaca yang demikian disebut cara membaca pemahaman”.

In comprehending a topic, the readers interacts with the text relates to the pre-questioning of the text to prior experiences of construct meaning which can be found in the text. Skimming and scanning are two very useful techniques that will help the reader become a better reader.
1.      Skimming
Skimming is a technique used to look for the “gist” of what the author is saying without a lot of detail (Kustaryo, 1988:5). This reading technique is used if one wants to get a general impression of a book, essay, article and determine whether or not to read it more carefully. Moreover, Yorkey (134) defines that there are two purposes of skimming: to locate a specific word, fact, or idea quickly, and to get a rapid general impression of the material. Azies & Alwasilah (1996:114) said “Aktifitas skimming melibatkan proses membaca, sekalipun dengan kecepatan melebihi kecepatan membaca pada umumnya”.
Thus, in skimming the text, a reader needs to practice in order he or she can learn the key words and phrases which can cover all the material he or she is reading. To do the skimming, the reader should go through a passage quickly, jumping over parts of it, in order to get a general idea of what it is about.

2.      Scanning
Scanning is quickly reading to find the specific information Brown (2001:308) stated that, scanning is quickly searching for some particular piece or pieces of information in a text.
By scanning, a reader mean glancing rapidly through a text either a text either to search a specific piece of information (e.g. name, date) or to get an initial impression of whether the text is suitable for a given purpose”, Nuttall in Kahayanto (2005:11). When scanning the reader lets his or her eyes wander over the text until he or she is looking for, whether it is a place, a kind of food, a kind of verb, or a specific information. To enable the student to scan effectively, he or she should know what kinds of information he or she needs, also, he or she should have the strong belief where he or she will find such information needed from the text.

2.3 Schema Theory Background and Knowledge in Reading
Schema Theory is the source of some questions like: How do readers construct meaning? How do they decide what to hold on to, and having made that decision, how do they infer a writer’s message? The reader brings information, knowledge, emotion, experience, and culture – that is, schemata (plural) – to the printed word, Brown (2001: 299).
Beside that, this idea also support by Clarke and Silberstein in Brown (2001) capture the definition of schema theory as follows:
“Research has shown that reading is only incidentally visual. More information is contributed by the reader than by the print on the page. That is, readers understand what they read because they are able to take the stimulus beyond its graphic representation and assign it membership to an appropriate group of concepts already stored in their memories…….Skill in reading depends on the efficient interaction between linguistic knowledge and knowledge of the world”.

            There are two categories of schemata, as follows:
1.       Content Schemata include what we know about people, the world, culture, and the universe
2.       Formal Schemata consist of our knowledge about discourse structure.
                In line with the explanation above, the writer conclude that the use of pre-questioning is to build readers’ content schemata which are related to the background of knowledge.

2.4 Cognitive Factors in Reading
                According to Harris and Sipay (1980:251) there are several cognitive factors in reading such as perception, attention, memory, and cognitive style.
2.4.1 Perception
Perception starts with the stimulation of sense organs such as the eyes and ears, but it is far more than simple sensing. In perceiving, the brain selects, groups, organizes, and sequences the sensory data so that people perceive meaningful experiences that can lead to appropriate responses. Among the important characteristics of perception, several seem to have particular relevance for reading, such as follows:
1.      Figure and Ground
Normally, one major unit or group of units is perceived clearly against a background that is more vaguely perceived.
2.      Closure
The abilities to get the correct meaning of a sentence in which not all the words are recognized, and to pronounce a word correctly when some letters are blotted out, are examples of closure.
3.      Sequence
In reading, all the stimuli are on the page and sequence is imposed by the reader.
4.      Learning
Perception becomes meaningful units as they become associated with learned concepts and their verbal labels. 
5.      Set
One’s immediate mind set provides an anticipation of what is likely to come that is helpful when the anticipation is correct, but leads to errors when the anticipation is incorrect.
6.      Discrimination
The abilities to analyze a whole perception into its parts, and to synthesize the parts correctly are basic to success in visual and auditory discrimination of words.  
2.4.2        Memory
                Psychologists distinguish between iconic memory, the fraction of a second that a sensory impression lasts before it fades out. Short term memory, which lasts a view second and long term memory. A distinction is also made rote memory, in which the material may be without structure (as in a sequence of digits), and memory for meaningful material.

2.4.3        Attention
                According to Harris and Sipay (1980:277) attention based on the cognitive is the ability to attend and concentrate is basic to efficiency in perception, learning, and memory.
                Related to this study, it means the person can maintain focus on particular stimuli and disregard or suppress other stimulation that reaches him at the same time, thus maintaining a stable figure in the focus of attention, against a non interfering background. 
2.4.4        Cognitive Style
                Cognitive style refers to the tendency to prefer certain ways of handling cognitive tasks to other ways. The preferred may be a relatively strong aptitude or a fairly consistent behavioral tendency. Some explorations of cognitive style seem relevant to the understanding of reading disabilities.      

2.5          Reading as a Process of Predicting
                Reading has been considered only as a visual activity, because we do with the eyes. But, in The Book of Study Skills for Students of English, Yorkey (1982:100) stated reading is not only a visual activity. It is more than just simply run your eyes accumulating information as each words, phrase, and sentences is progressively recognized. Reading is also an active process of predicting what is likely to come next. Our brain processes the visual information from our eyes, rapidly forming and revising hypotheses about the form and content of what you are reading.
                Thus, in this study the writer conclude that pre-questioning as the strategy to build up and to rise the students’ skill in predicting what will face by them in the whole text.

2.6          Some Factors that Influence Students’ Reading Comprehension Achievement  

                There are two factors that influence the students’ reading comprehension achievements and they are related one another, they are: internal factor and the external factor.

2.6.1        The Internal Factor
       The internal factor means the factor which come from the reader himself (Kahayanto, 2005:13). Or usually known as personal factor, because the factor has existed inside the reader. This factor dealt with self-motivation and interest.

2.6.1.1  Motivation
                Motivation plays an important role in comprehending the text. The students will be motivated to read when they fell that they need something from the text. Brown (2001:75) divided the motivation theory into two kinds, they are: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
                Edward Deci in Brown (2001:76) defined intrinsic motivation, as follow:
“Intrinsically motivated activities are ones from which there is no apparent reward except the activity itself. People seem to engage in the activities for their own sake and not because they lead to an extrinsic reward. It is aimed at bringing about curtaining internally rewarding consequences, namely, feelings of competence and self-determination.”  

                On the other one, extrinsic motivation defined by him as extrinsically motivated behaviors that carried out in anticipation of a reward from outside and beyond the self. Such as; money, prizes, grades, and even certain of positive feedback.
    
2.6.1.2  Interest
                Interest is being one of the important factors in order to increasing the students’ comprehension achievement in reading. If one has interest to read, it means that he or she will get a good achievement. On the other side, if the reader has no any interest to read, it can influence his or her achievement.
                In line with the explanation of motivation and interest above, in this study the writer interested to use pre-questioning to build up the students’ motivation and interest, and also want to see the effect of using pre-questioning in relationship with the students’ reading comprehension achievements. Because, it is impossible for the students to understand the text if he or she has no interest and motivation to read. So, it can be concluded that the good interest and motivation result the good achievement of the students.

2.6.2        The External Factor 
                The external factor has a close relationship to reading material and teacher of reading. They are related one another.
2.6.2.1  Reading Material
                The students’ achievements’ in reading depends on the level of the difficulty of the text. Thus, it can influence students’ achievement if the text given is not at the right level of the difficulty of the readers or the students.

2.6.2.2  Teacher of Reading  
                The teacher of reading should be careful in choosing the text and giving the tasks because they are related to the students’ reading comprehension achievements.

2.7          Questioning Strategies
                The most important key to create an interactive learning is the initiation of interaction from the teacher by using question, Brown (2001:169). Appropriate questioning can fulfill a number of different functions, such as:
1.      Teacher questions give students the opportunity to produce language comfortably without having to risk initiating language themselves. It is very scary for the students to have to initiate conversation or topics for discussion.
2.      Teacher question can serve to initiate a chain reaction of students interaction among themselves. 
3.      Teacher questions giving immediate feedback about students’ comprehension.
4.      Teacher questions provide students with opportunities to find out what they think. As they are nudged into responding to questions about, say, a reading, they can discover what their own opinions and reactions are. This self-discovery can be especially useful for a pre-reading activity.     
                Perhaps the simplest way to conceptualize the possibilities is to think of a range of questions, beginning with display questions that attempt to elicit information already known by the teacher and the students. In this study, the writer interested to use pre-questioning in order to make the general frame of the knowledge.   

2.8          Pre-questioning
                Based on Brown’s (2001) explanation of display questions, schema theory and students’ background knowledge explanation. He also defined pre-questioning implicitly as some questions which are provided before the students read the whole text, in order to build the students’ interest and motivation, also their cognitive factors and pre-questioning is very useful to activate the schemata, thus the students can predict what will be faced by them in the reading text.
2.9          Kinds of Pre-questioning
                According to Harmer (1985:153), there are some kinds of pre-questioning, they are: Pre-questioning before reading to confirm expectations, pre-questioning before reading to extract specific information, pre-questioning before reading for general comprehension, and pre-questioning before reading for detail comprehension. The explanations are as following:
-          Pre-questioning before reading to confirm expectations
          The use of pre-questioning as a tool for placing great emphasis on the lead-in stage (where students are encouraged to become interested in the subject matter of the text), encourages students to predict the content of the text, and gives them an interesting and motivating purpose for reading.
-          Pre-questioning before reading to extract specific information
          Pre-questioning as a tool to force the students to extract specific information from the text. They are going to answer before reading the text. If they do this it will be possible for them to read in the required way, they should seen the text only to extract the information the questions demand. 
-          Pre-questioning before reading for general comprehension
          In this case pre-questioning used to build up the students’ prior knowledge.
-          Pre-questioning before reading for detailed comprehension
          This kind of pre-questioning intends to give the students some detailed information that should be found by them in the whole of the text.
                Based on the explanation above, in this study the writer only concern two kinds of pre-questioning, they are: Pre-questioning before reading for general comprehension and the pre-questioning before reading to confirm expectations. In order to deal with students’ background knowledge and activating schemata.     Related to this study, the writer used pre-questioning with Indonesian version, because the form of pre-questioning is only to deal the students’ background knowledge. Thus, the students can predict easily what will be discussed on the text, after they read and answer the pre-questioning.

2.10      Kind of Questions in Reading Comprehension
According to Loughed and TOEFL Information Bulletin in Djiwandono (2002:97), usually the questions in reading comprehension tests are about:
1.      Main idea
2.      Supporting details
3.      Inferring meaning
4.      Passage structure
5.      Author’s aim
6.      Knowledge about certain vocabulary
7.      Defining vocabulary based on the context

In this study, the writer only concerns on main ideas and supporting details, because two kinds of reading comprehension test above are most important specific comprehension skills.
a.   Main Ideas
         The question about main idea asks the reader to determine the main idea or topic from a reading text, and commonly it is signed by words such as: main point; mainly discussed; main idea; best title; main purpose; mainly concerned; main topic.
Here are some examples of questions to ask about main idea:
- What is the main idea of the passage?
- With which of the following is the passage mainly concerned?
- What is the main part of the passage?
- Which of the following would be the best title?
                                                                                  (Djiwandono, 2002 : 98)
b.   Supporting Details
         The question about supporting details asks the reader to find detail information that is printed explicitly in the text. It is commonly signed by words such as: according to the author…; according to the passage…; who, what, when, where, why, how, which.
Here are some examples of questions to ask about supporting details:
- Which of the following question does the passage answer?
- According to the passage, which statement is true?
- When did ‘something’ happen?
- Who did ‘something’?
                                                                                              (Djiwandono, 2002:99)

2.11      The Differences between Male and Female in Learning Attitudes and Reading Habit

2.11.1    Learning Attitudes
All the human brain works for the same purpose. But, there is a difference in the way of working between the male’s brain and the female has. It is because there is a difference on the density of cells of nerve or the neuron between the male’s and female’s brain.
Moreover, female speaks clever, reads and occasionally has interference experience on learn than male. This fact is guessed by the scientist relating to female’s ability in using both of her hemispheres, left and right, in reading and doing verbal activity. Meanwhile, male only uses his one of his hemisphere that is usually the left.
Abdul Chaer (2002: 134) said, “the adult women are more energetic in case of verbal because they use their left and right brain jointly”. This statement support the fact that female has better development of linguistics ability compared to male.
The attitudes on reading give influence on the linguistics ability. According to Callaghan in an article of Editorial Jurnal Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan no 37 (2002: 34), there is a little influence on the performance and linguistics ability given by the women’s superiorities linguistics.
2.11.2 Reading Habit
Attitudes toward reading will influence the male and female linguistics ability. For examples male likes talking spontaneously and has courage to do that. Meanwhile, female, though talkative, is not firm in making decision. But, the female could see the cases that male could not see. It is because male has problem in reading and writing has problems in reading and writing. Supported by Maubach and Morgan in article of Editorial Jurnal Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan (2002: 472) says, “Men have more problems on reading and writing field.”
Haris in the article of Editorial Jurnal Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan (2002: 471), “Men choose the factual information and only look for the definite information that they want than read from start to finish.”

CHAPTER III
METHOD AND PROCEDURES

3.1    Data
3.1.1      The Data Needed
The data needed of this study were taken from the students’ scores that are collected by the test. The source of the data was collected from the Second Grade Students of IPS classes at SMA N-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya in Academic year 2006/2007.

3.1.2      Criteria for the Admissibility of the Data
The writer took the students answer sheets as the valid out of data. In this study, the data concern to the students’ reading comprehension achievements after and without having pre-questioning.

3.1.3      Data Collection and Data Processing Procedures
The writer used a test to collect the data. After collecting the data, they were processed with the following procedures:
1.      Editing
Find out the data of the Second Grade Students of SMA N-2 Jekan Raya.
2. Coding
Each answer sheet is coded by giving code such as A1, A2,B1,B2,…and so on in order to keep the students privacy.


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3Scoring
In this step, the writer gives the score for the students’ work based on the correct answer that the students make by using the following formula: X 100
 (Depdikbud, 1989:7)
4. Tabulating
After scoring the students’ works, the data will be classified on the table.

3.2    Instrumentation
3.2.1        Instrumentation Development
The writer used the test as an instrument to collect the data. There were two kinds of instruments in this study, they were: Instruments for the experimental class and for the control class. The tests were in the form of essay and multiple-choice. The multiple-choice used for the reading comprehension tests and essay used for the Pre-questioning questions. The total numbers of test items for the experimental class were 30 items and 20 test items for the control class. Below are the descriptions of content specification of the test:
3.2.2 Instrumentation Try Out
In order to know whether the instrument is suitable or not, the writer tried out the instrument. The try out was held on SMA Negeri-1 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya.
The result of try out was useful for the following:
1.      To decide the time allocation.
2.      To find out whether the instruction is understandable or not.
3.      To gather evidence to support the instruments validity and reliability.
Before the writer made instrument try out, there were some procedures need to be followed:
a.       Getting the permissions letter from:
-          The Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of Palangka Raya University
-          Dinas Pendidikan Kota Palangkaraya
b.      Asking the permission from the Head Master of SMAN-1 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya and the second grade English teacher in IPS classes.
In the process to try out the instruments, the writer found some problems to get the permission letter from the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of Palangka Raya University. It needed a long time to get the letter. Whereas, the writer needed to conduct the try out as soon as possible. Realizing this reason, the writer had an initiative to ask the second grade English teacher of IPS classes for the permission to conduct the try out while the letter was in process. Fortunately, the writer got it. 
Thus, the instrument was tried out to the second year students of IPS classes in SMA Negeri 1 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya. The writer took 2 (two) classes to become the sample of try out. The classes were: XI IPS 2 which consisted of 33 students, and XI IPS 4 which consisted of 35 students. The try out for the instrument without pre-questioning treatment was held on Wednesday, January 17th , 2007 (10.45 - 12.15 am) and with pre-questioning treatment was held on Thursday, January 18, 2007 (08.15 - 09.45 am). The time allocation for try out was 60 minutes for each class.
            In this study, the writer did not measure and use the index of items difficulty, because this study belongs to proficiency test. In other words, the writer only gave the test to measure the students’ comprehension in text.
Based on the result of try out, it can be concluded that:
1.      In experimental class, the testees could answer the 30 try out items in 2 x 45 minutes, it means they did one items in 3 minutes. Based on the instruction, the time allocation provided for the sample of the study, was 2 x 30 minutes. So, the time allocation for the experimental class was added to 2 x 45 minutes.
In control class, the testees could answer the 20 try out items in 2 x 30 minutes, it means they did one items in 3 minutes. Based on the instruction, the time allocation provided for the sample of the study was 2 x 25 minutes. So, the time allocation for the experimental class was added to 2 x 30 minutes.
2.      Based on the result of the try out, the testees could answer the test based on the instruction. As evidence, the students did not ask too much about how to answer the test. It meant the instruction of the test was not needed to be revised because it was understandable for the students.
3.      From the result of the try out, the writer could get the data needed to count the reliability of the instrument. In calculating the result, the writer eliminated two of the students’ scores in XI IPS 4 from the list to make the equal group. So, the numbers of students from both of class were same.

             Instrumentation Validity
Arikunto (2002:145), said “Sebuah instrumen dikatakan valid apabila mampu mengukur apa yang diinginkan”. Furthermore, Sudjana and Ibrahim (1989:117) have opinion that: “Validitas berkenaan dengan ketepatan alat ukur, sehingga betul-betul mengukur apa yang seharusnya diukur”.
In this study, the writer used two kinds of validity, they are; construct validity and content validity.
3.2.3.1  Construct validity
                Based on Toendan (2006:133), construct validity refers to the extent to which the results of the data collection process can be interpreted in terms of underlying psychological construct. The instrument has construct validity if there is a relationship between theory and concept of the competence needed to accomplish the tests in this study. In this study, the theories are about pre-questioning and reading comprehension. Those, theories can be seen in Chapter II, Review of related literature, on page 18 (theory of pre-questioning) and on page 6 (theory of reading comprehension). The competence in this study means that the students ability in answering the reading comprehension tests with pre-questioning treatment and without pre-questioning treatment. The instrument in this study belonged to proficiency test, it meant the test is not measure the students’ ability after learning process. The form of the reading comprehension tests for experimental and control classes are multiple choices and form pre-questioning for experimental class is essay.   

3.2.3.2  Content Validity
                According to Toendan (2006:132), content validity refers to the extent to which data collection process measures a representative sample of the subject matter or behavior that should be encompassed by the operational definition.
                Related to this study, the test content is about reading comprehension, about main idea and supporting details, with or without pre-questioning. The following are the tables of content specification of test instrument:
3.2.4        Instrumentation Reliability
According to Arikunto (2002:154): “Reliabilitas menunjuk pada satu pengertian bahwa sesuatu instrumen cukup dapat dipercaya untuk digunakan sebagai alat pengumpul data karena instrumen itu sudah baik”. Based on that opinion, the writer measured the reliability of the instrument by using the following formula:
rxx = 1-

Where :
rxx           = Coefficient Reliability
VEM   = Variance Error of Measurement
Sd         = Standard Deviation
VEM   = 1/5 n
n          =  Number of Items
 (Kasiram, 1984.80)



To find out the standard deviation, the writer used following formula:
Sd =  
Where :
Sd = Standard deviation
n   = Number of students tested
∑  = Sum Total
The value will be consulted to the standardization of coefficient reliability.
Where:
(+0.90) – (+1.00)          : Excellent Reliability
(+0.85) – (+0.89)          : Very Good Reliability
(+0.80) – (+0.84)          : Good Reliability
(+0.70) – (+0.79)          : Fair Reliability
Less than (+0.70)         : Poor Reliability
( Soehartono, 1998: 86 )
            Based on the result of instrumentation try out, the writer fulfilled them on the table, as follows:
The Number in the table were fulfilled into the standard deviation formula, as follows:
Sd = 
Sd = 
Sd = 
Sd =  14.22

Then, this value was fullfilled into the previous reliability formula, as follow:
rxx = 1 - 
rxx = 1 - 
rxx = 1 - 
rxx = 1 – 0,019
rxx = 0,98

The value was consulted to the standardization of coefficient reliability.
Where:
(+0.90) – (+1.00)          : Excellent Reliability
(+0.85) – (+0.89)          : Very Good Reliability
(+0.80) – (+0.84)          : Good Reliability
(+0.70) – (+0.79)          : Fair Reliability
Less than (+0.70)         : Poor Reliability
( Soehartono, 1998: 86 )
            Based on the calculation above, the instrumentation try out for theexperimental class was categorized into “Excellent Reliability”.

The Number in the table were fulfilled into the standard deviation formula, as follows:
Sd = 
Sd = 
Sd = 
Sd =  12.56

Then, this value was fullfilled into the previous reliability formula, as follow:
rxx = 1 - 
rxx = 1 - 
rxx = 1 - 
rxx = 1 – 0,025
rxx = 0,97

The value will be consulted to the standardization of coefficient reliability.
Where:
(+0.90) – (+1.00)          : Excellent Reliability
(+0.85) – (+0.89)          : Very Good Reliability
(+0.80) – (+0.84)          : Good Reliability
(+0.70) – (+0.79)          : Fair Reliability
Less than (+0.70)         : Poor Reliability
( Soehartono, 1998: 86 )
            Based on calculation above, the instrumentation try out for the control classwas categorized into “Excellent Reliability”.

3.3            Population and Sample
3.3.1        Population
The population of this study was all the second grade students of SMA Negeri 2 Jekan Raya Palangka Raya in academic year 2006/2007. There were five classes on the second grade in SMA Negeri 2 Jekan Raya Palangka Raya. The following is the description of population of the study:
Table 3.7 The Description of Population
No
Population
Number of the
Population
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Class XI IPA 1
Class XI IPA 2
Class XI IPS 1
Class XI IPS 2
Class Bahasa
40
40
38
39
41

Total

198 students

3.3.2        Sample
In taking the sample, the writer used the cluster sampling technique. According to Toendan (2006:93), the cluster sampling is used when it is more feasible or convenient to select groups of individual then it is to select individuals than it is to select individuals from a defined population.
Based on the theory of Toendan above, it is clear that the result of this study can be interpreted or generalized to the target population, as long there are some similarities and homogeneities on the sample and target population.
But, this technique also has the weaknesses that the results of this study cannot be generalized to the all the SMU in Indonesia, especially in Palangkaraya, and this technique is less accurate than simple random sampling technique.
Related to the explanation above, the populations of this study was the sample and it is clear that the sample of this study was the Second Grade Students of IPS classes of SMA N-2 Jekan Raya in Kodya Palangkaraya. The step in taking the sample, first, the writer randomized the three programs: IPA, IPS, and Bahasa. As a result, IPS had been chosen as the sample of the study. From the result of the observation, there were two classes of IPS that the writer divided into experimental and control classes. The results were XI IPS 1 as the experimental class and XI IPS 2 as the control class.

3.4      Research Methodology
3.4.1        Research Method
In this study the writer used the experimental method. According to Toendan (2006: 230) this study belongs to Factorial Experimental Design.
In this study, the writer investigated:
1.      The effect of using pre-questioning and without using pre-questioning on the students’ reading comprehension achievement.
2.      The effect of students’ gender on the students’ reading comprehension achievement.
3.      The effect of treatments with pre-questioning, without pre-questioning and student’s gender on the reading comprehension.
            The writer focused his study on the second grade students of IPS classes at SMA N-2 Jekan Raya Palangkaraya in Academic year 2006/2007. The writer gave the treatment to the experimental groups in the form of reading comprehension tests with pre-questioning as the beginning before the students answer the reading comprehension test and the control group had no Pre-questioning as the beginning of the reading comprehension text.


3.4.2        Variables of the Study
There are two variables on this study, that can be explained as follow:
1.      Independent Variable
The treatments (with pre-questioning and without pre-questioning) and Students’ Gender
2.      Dependent Variable
Students’ reading comprehension scores

3.4.3        Data Analysis Procedures
To analyze the data, the writer followed the procedures:
1.      Checking the students’ answers and give scores.
2.      Analyzing the data by statistic technique of ANOVA using statistical computerized program named SPSS version 13.
3.      Taking the conclusion based on the statistical result.
There are some steps should be fulfilled in order to use ANOVA. According to Usman and Akbar (1995:159):
Langkah-langkah menghitung ANOVA:
1.     Uji atau asumsikan bahwa data masing-masing dipilih secara acak.
2.     Uji atau asumsikan bahwa data masing-masing berdistribusi normal.
3.     Uji atau asumsikan bahwa data masing-masing homogen.

Moreover, Usman and Akbar (1995:251) said that: “sebelum ANOVA digunakan, maka persyaratan yang harus dipenuhi adalah: data setiap kelompok berdistribusi normal, data semua kelompok harus homogen, dan data dipilih secara acak (random).
Furthermore, there is a value level whether to know that data were resulted from normal distribution of population and from homogen variance. Safari (2004:84-85), said that:      
Kaidah penetapan normalitas data:
·   Jika signifikan > 0.50, sampel berasal dari populasi berdistribusi normal.
·   Jika signifikan < 0.50, sampel berasal dari populasi berdistribusi tidak normal.
Kaidah penetapan homogenitas data:
·   Jika signifikan > 0.50, variansi setiap sampel sama (homogen).
·  Jika signifikan < 0.50, variansi setiap sampel tidak sama (tidak homogen).

In statistical analysis, the writer used significance based on Saphiro-Wilk formula. Finally, in order to see whether Ho or H1 was accepted, the calculation of the data can be seen in ANOVA table. According to Welkowitz, Ewen, and Cohen (1982:251), the result was consulted to the level significant below:
If significant > 0.50, Ho was accepted
If significant < 0.50, Ho was rejected

3.5      Validity of the Study
There are two validity factors to support this study:
1.      External Validity
In this study, the writer used cluster-sampling technique, therefore the result of this study can be generalized to the target population, as long as there are some similarities and homogeneity on the sample and target population, but the generalization is less accurate than simple random sampling technique.
2.      Internal Validity
There are two variables that have strong relationship, cause and effect. Thus, the result of this study can be interpreted. According to Toendan (2006:209) there are several ways to control the treats, as follows:


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