TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION TO THE FOURTH GRADERS AT SD LABORATORIUM UNIVERSITAS NEGERI MALANG

ABSTRACT Laelaem, Hendrik K. 2014. Techniques of Teaching English Reading Comprehension to the Fourth Graders at SD Laboratorium Universitas Negeri Malang. Thesis. English Department. Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: Dr. E.D. Laksmi, M.,Pd, M.A. Key Words: techniques, teaching reading, reading comprehension, fourth graders English as a subject matter in SD Laboratorium UM covers the four basic language skills namely, reading, speaking, writing and listening. In every subject, students’ learning activities involve reading. Reading is one of the complex ways in learning English. Students should be trained how to read well in reading comprehension since the early stage of learning in a junior high school. The role of a teacher is very important for students. A reading teacher has an important position in enabling the students to understand reading passages, in creating an interactive atmosphere in the teaching and learning process and in motivating the students to learn. According to Brown (2001), a teacher should subdivide techniques into pre-reading, whilst-reading and post-reading stages. This study is descriptive because it describes what happens in the classroom from the data collection in the form of words. The instruments used were observation checklist, questionnaires, and interview guide. The study was conducted at SD Laboratorium UM. The subject of the study was the English teacher who taught the students of the fourth grade class, semester two academic year 2013/2014. The findings of the study show that the teacher applied were pre-reading activity, whilst-reading activity and post-reading activity. The teacher used various techniques in each stage. In the pre-reading stage, the teacher introduced the text, dealt with new language and asked leading questions. Then, in the whilst-reading activity, the teacher asked the students to read aloud and ask the students some questions. In the process, the teacher drilled them to read. After that, in the post-reading activity, the teacher asked questions about the text and she asked the students to do the exercises in their book by themselves. Also, she asked them to make a summary. Based on the result of the study, it is suggested that the teacher should be more creative in designing the reading activity to become more interesting; for example, the students have to work in groups or in pairs. Also, it is suggested to the future researchers who want to conduct similar studies on the techniques of teaching reading comprehension to extend their focus on larger scopes and different contexts such as the materials and the other techniques which the writer has not mentioned