Improving students� reading comprehension through KWL (know, want to know and have learned) (A classroom action research at eleventh grade Students of SMA Mandiri Balaraja)

Language is used as communication tool to express ideas and feelings among people everywhere. Language is a structured system of signs, sounds, gestures, or marks that is used and understood to express ideas and feelings among people within a community, nation, geographic area, or cultural tradition. It means that language has an important role in human life for people to communicate. There are four language skills that should be mastered by students. One of the skills is reading. Sharpe and Zwicker (2003:1) state that �reading is the first test in a system of public pedagogy; acquiring its skill is our entrance into the world of letters. Reading is important because through reading we can get a lot of information. It is also one of the ways to open up the world. In teaching, the teaching's method is really important to make the effective teaching learning process. There are many teaching methods; the method that is usually used and most known in teaching is KWL. As Rankin (1999:24) states, The KWL is probably the most widely known and commonly employed research. The K stands for what you already Know about the topic, the W for what you Want to know and the L for what you Learned. Using the KWL method is really useful to make a structured lesson, because it creates an active activity and make the active students. The KWL method is a good technique for the students to give them responsibility in understanding the text during reading. As stated by Lapp, et al (2004:313), The KWL method is a method that moves beyond teacher modeling by having students take responsibility for the questioning prior during and after reading. It means that by KWL method, students can create their own need for their understanding of the text that they read. On the other hand, the students have responsibility during reading in understanding the text; discover what they read and share their ideas freely by groups. For that reason KWL is needed in teaching readin