Using "In the News" Strategy to Improve the Eleventh Grade Students' Reading Comprehension of Hortatory Texts

ABSTRAK Ulya, A. 2018. Using “In the News” Strategy to Improve the Eleventh Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension of Hortatory Texts. Thesis. Department of English, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang. Advisors: (1) Dr. Utari Praba Astuti, M.A., (II) Dra. Sri Andreani, M.Ed. Key words:“In the News” strategy, reading comprehension, hortatory text, senior high school There weretwo instructional problems in Class XI, Language Program,SMA Negeri 9 Malang, i.e. (1) 70% of the students scored below the standard score of 85 and (2) they were passive in the class. To overcome these problems, the researcher implementedthe“In the News” strategy. This strategy consists of five steps: (1) dividing the class into small groups, (2) assigning the groups to read different texts, (3) asking the groups to discuss the text, (4) asking grouprepresentative to present the result of the discussion, and (5) asking students to draw conclusions. The design of this study is classroom action research (CAR). It was conducted in four-step cycles: (1) planning, (2) implementing, (3) observing, and (4) reflecting(Kemmis and McTaggart,1988). The research intruments were reading comprehension tests and observation checklist. The data were analyzed through percentage analysis. The criteria of success were: (1) 70% of the students showed a gain of 10 points in the test and (2) 70% of them showed positive responses towards the implementaion of the strategy. This study was conducted in two cycles. The results of the second cycle showed that 94.2% of the students gained 10 points and (2) 95% of them responded positively towards the strategy. Thus, it can concluded that the implementation of the strategy achieved the criteria of success. The students’ participation during discussion and the teacher’s encouragement determined the success of the study. Based on the findings, this researcher offers several suggestions.English teachers are suggested to implement the “In the News” strategy as an alternative strategy to improve the students’ reading comprehension. Future researchers are recommended to use the results of the study as a reference to conduct researches in similar fields at different levels