IMPROVING THE READING COMPREHENSION OF THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS OF MAN PANGKEP THROUGH TOPIC SENTENCE TRANSLATION ACTIVITY (TSTA)

Abstract

Purpose: the purpose of this research was to study the influence or the effect of Topic Sentence Translation Activity (TSTA) in improving the reading comprehension of the second-grade students of MAN Pangkep. Method: the design of this research applied quasi experimental research design which involved one controlled group with a treatment and one common group with no treatment applied. The population of this research was 4 classes of science class, 2 classes of social class and 1 class of language class. Each class consisted of 29 to 33 students so the total population was about 231 students. The research technique sampling was purposive sampling technique involving 62 students as the sample. The instrument was in the form reading text test from which the result was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) application. Result: There was a significant difference and improvement in reading comprehension specifically literal and inferential comprehension between the students who were taught by using TSTA. The findings also showed that t-test value (-5.94) in posttest was significant (0,000 < 0.05). Conclusion: this research concluded that TSTA strategy gave a significant effect to improve students’ literal and inferential comprehension in MAN Pangkep, rather than general explanation. Suggestion: In applying the TSTA strategy it is important if the treatments are combined with some reading strategies and reading models even not all at once. This will help to both students and researcher to run the main strategy learning effectively