The Implementation of Jigsaw Technique in Reading Class of Young Learners

Traditional reading class is carried out by the teacher’s reading the text being discussed then by some students’ reading in turns. The classroom interaction to discuss the text is then typically teacher-centered. The teacher asks a question; the students wanting to respond raise their hands; the teacher calls on one student and the student called on tries to state the correct answer. This particular classroom structure can be altered to make the class more interactive by jigsaw technique. Studies related to the implementation of jigsaw technique in Indonesia language classes have in fact been carried out. Most of them have focused on high school settings. Although much work has been done to date, more studies need to be performed to ascertain the implementation of jigsaw technique in other settings, in this case in elementary schools. This particular concern triggers the writers to research on the implementation of jigsaw technique in young learners reading class. The writers are then conducting this study to achieve the objectives of (1) finding out if there is a significant difference between the reading achievement of young learners taught using jigsaw technique and the one of those taught using the traditional technique, (2) revealing elementary students’ perception on the implemented jigsaw technique, and (3) depicting the classroom interaction patterns in jigsaw classroom of young learners. A quasi-experimental research applying a non-randomized pretest-posttest control group design was administered to obtain the first research objective. The data used in this study were taken from the scores of the reading test of the fifth grade students of SDK St. Theresia II and SDK St. Yohannes Gabriel belonging to the academic year of 2006-2007. As this study was also a descriptive study concerning the second and third objectives, the data were also obtained from the questionnaire, interview, observation, and audio as well as video recordings. This study statistically revealed that there was no significant difference on the reading comprehension achievement between the students who were taught using Jigsaw technique and the ones who were taught using traditional technique. However, positive perception on jigsaw technique was revealed from the questionnaire distributed. This study under report also found out that the students initiated the discussion by asking others to commence, volunteering themselves to start, or reminding others to start the discussion. The students responded one another by doing what was expected - reading, answering, translating - or refusing what was expected. The students evaluated or acknowledged responses or initiations by giving correction, giving confirmation, giving other answers, or terminating the discussion neutrally