EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE LEARNING PROCESS OF READING IN CLASS XI IPS OF SMA MUHAMMADIYAH MUNGKID IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2009/2010

The objective of this study is to describe the planning, implementation, evaluation, and reflection of the actions that were conducted as the efforts to improve the English reading teaching and learning process at SMA Muhammadiyah Mungkid in the academic year of 2009/2010. The researcher and the other research team members worked collaboratively in the procedure of the reconnaissance and action. There are two main steps of the research, namely, reconnaissance –the steps of identifying the field problems and actions- and the steps of planning, implementing, evaluating, and reflecting the actions. Data of the research are qualitative in nature. The data are in the forms of obstacles, opinions, feelings, preferences, and expectations, of the students and the research team members in the reconnaissance. The research team members collected the data through observations, questionnaires, and interviews. In the action, the researcher together with the English teacher collected the data needed for planning, implementing, evaluating, and reflecting the actions through observations and in-depth interviews. The data collected are presented in the forms of field notes, interview transcripts, and documentations. There are six feasible field problems to be solved in this research: 1) the students lacked English vocabulary, 2) the students did not like reading English, 3) the students were not interested in learning English, 4) some students talked to each other during the English lesson, 5) the students were bored in the English learning process, and 6) the seating arrangement was not neat and orderly. Some actions executed to solved the problems are: 1) asking the students to bring and use English dictionaries, 2) providing and using authentic texts, 3) conducting and using games, 4) conducting group work, 5) giving rewards, and 6) arranging the chairs. Implementing of the actions shows some positive results: 1) by using English dictionary, the students could find the English words more easily, 2) by providing and using authentic texts, the students were eager to read English texts, 3) by conducting and using games, the students become eager and enthusiastic in learning English, 4) by conducting group work, the students participated more actively in the learning process of reading, 5) by giving rewards, the students became more motivated in the English lesson, and 6) by arranging the chair , the students’ seating arrangement became in good order