The Correlation between Reading Comprehension Ability and Exposures to Reading Items in Video Games

RINGKASAN Anggergian, Tandya. 2018. The Correlation between Reading Comprehension Ability and Exposures to Reading Items in Video Games. Thesis. English Department, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang. Advisors: (I) Dr. Furaidah, M.A., (II) Nova Ariani S.Pd, M.Ed. Key words: video games, reading comprehension ability Reading is one of the most important skills in learning English. Nowadays not many people like to read and they tend to play video games for their leisure activity. The researcher aims to investigate the correlation of video game and reading comprehension. This research used correlation research design and the subjects were 43 gamers who already finished their high school and did not enroll in English language department. The instruments used for data collection were a questionnaire and a reading test. The findings showed that there is a positive correlation between exposure to video games and reading comprehension ability. The computed value of correlation coefficient is .312 and it is categorized as low correlation. Thus, some investigations were conducted to find out the reason of the low correlation. The reason of the low correlation is mainly because of the video game genre. There are some video game genres which are not heavily text-based, such as MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). The number of participants who like to play video game which is not heavily text-based, especially MOBA, is about fifty one percent. Almost all of the participants who play video game entitled “Mobile Legend” in the past few months were playing video game in Indonesian, hence the low correlation coefficient. In conclusion, exposure to video games and reading comprehension have a positive correlation. Thus, in order to use video game in the class, the genre of video game should be specific such as Role-Playing Games, Adventure Games, or Simulation Games, and the video game should implement some narrative aspect such as a story. English educators can use video game as a teaching and learning media, but the genre should be taken into consideration. Future researcher can do experimental research by using video game as a material in reading class, especially in extensive reading class