The effect of pre-whilst-post reading technique and SPARC technique using magazine articles as supplementary reading material on the reading comprehension achievement of first year students of SMUK St. Louis

Reading is the most important skill to master for the students who study English as a foreign language. The reading skill is a foundation of all intellectual progress and for the advancement of learning. Realizing the importance of reading, students should be able to comprehend the reading material. Therefore the students should use a good technique to help them understand the ideas or main points of the reading material while the teacher just guides the students. Teachers can use supplementary materials which will help to bring motivation in the language learning class. They can give short story, magazine, newspaper, drama, poetry, etc. In this thesis, the writer would like to know whether SPARC technique better than Pre-Whilst-Post reading technique through teaching magazine articles as supplementary reading material on the reading achievement of first year students of SMUK St. Louis. In Pre-Whilst-Post reading technique, students do not discuss about the difficult words but it directly discusses content of ideas of the passage. While in SPARC reading technique, the students discuss the difficult words and supporting details to help them understand the passage. In this study, the writer does a study on the first year students of SMUK St. Louis at the academic year of 1998 - 1999. From the research, the writer concludes that SPARC technique has better effect than Pre-Whilst-Post reading technique through magazine articles as supplementary reading material on the reading comprehension achievement of first year students of SMUK St. Louis