Implementing kwl technique to enhance reading skill for the 10 th grade students at ham rong high school

This study aims to enhance students‘ reading comprehension through the implementation of K-W-L strategy for the 10th grade students at Ham Rong High School.. Trang 4 LIST OF TABLES No Na

DECLARATION

I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution of

tertiary education Information derived from the published or unpublished work

of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given

Thanh Hoa, May 2023

Student Pham Thi Thao Van

ABSTRACT

Reading is a dynamic process of catching the words' meaning and getting the text's information While reading is a very important part of an individual‘s personal and educational growth, it is the concept of comprehension that may be even more important Reading comprehension is a complex, multiple task ability Thus, reading interest is still a big problem with students in Thanh Hoa

This study aims to enhance students‘ reading comprehension through the implementation of K-W-L strategy for the 10th grade students at Ham Rong

High School The KWL strategy stands for what I know, what I want to learn, and what I did learn The purpose of K-W-L strategy is to offer construction for

stimulating and building students‘ schemata, to create a determination of their reading, and to conclude what they acknowledged before

This research this research applied, consisting of five stages: preliminary study, planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting The students were asked what they know about the topic, what they wanted to know about the topic and then what they learned from the text after they had read the written text Based on the findings of the study, this K-W-L strategy trained students to be brave to present in front of the class to share their ideas with their friends, and it also assured other students to keep on listening and appreciating their friends‘ comprehension of the text being studied It is, therefore, strongly suggested that the English teachers at High School use the K-W-L strategy to improve students‘ reading comprehension

LIST OF TABLES

1 Table 1.1 KWL strategy sheet

2 Table 1.2 The example of implementation of KWL strategy

3 Table 1.3 The students and weakness of KWL strategy

4 Table 2.1 The distribution of the 10th grade students of Ham Rong High

School in the academic year of 2022/2023

5 Table 2.2 The sample of the experiment group (10C5)

6 Table 2.3 The sample of the control group (10C2)

7 Table 2.4 Research schedule

8 Table 3.1 Frequency distribution of pre test students‘ reading

comprehension score of experimental class (10C5)

9 Table 3.2 The categorization pre test students‘ reading comprehension

score in class 10C5

10 Table 3.3 Frequency distribution of pre test students‘ reading

comprehension score of control class (10C2)

11 Table 3.4 The categorization pre test students‘ reading comprehension

score in class 10C2

12 Table 3.5 Frequency distribution of post test students‘ reading

comprehension score of the experimental class (10C5)

13 Table 3.6 The categorization post test students‘ reading comprehension

score in class 10C5

14 Table 3.7 Frequency distribution of post test students‘ reading

comprehension score of the control class (10C2)

15 Table 3.8 The categorization post test students‘ reading comprehension

score in class 10C2

16 Table 3.9 Class observation sheet in class 10C5

LIST OF DIAGRAMS

1 Figure 1.1 Model of reading comprehension proces

2 Figure 3.1 The chart of reading ability of experimetal group

and control group before the experiment

3 Figure 3 2 The chart of reading ability of experimetal group

and control group after the experiment

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

In this part, the researcher explains rationale of the study, aim of the sudy, research questions, scope and limitation of the study, methods of the study and design of the study

1 Rationale of the study

Reading is one of important skills that should be acquired and learned by students in learning English Reading is not only used in teaching and learning process but also in daily activities, for example: reading a newspaper, magazine, book More importantly, reading functions as a tool to access information By reading, the students will get much information and knowledge that is very useful for them in learning process

In addition, according to Nunan (2003), reading is a fluent process of readers combining information form a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning It means that it is an activity to find information and produce the meaning from sentences or paragraph that have read Furthermore, according to Hughes (2017), reading is complex interaction between the text, the reader and the purposes of reading, which are shape by the reader‘s prior knowledge and experiences, the reader‘s knowledge about reading and writing language community which is culturally and socially situated

Reading is a complex activities activity that involves both perception and thought Reading consists of two related processes: word recognition and comprehension Word recognition refers to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to one‘s spoken language Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text This comprehension comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text or message Readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical of knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help them understand written text

The goal of reading is comprehension Reading comprehension is the process

of making meaning from text The goal, therefore, is to gain an overall understanding of what is described in the text rather than to obtain meaning from isolated words or sentences There are basically two types of reading comprehension skills: concrete and abstract Concrete comprehension skills are the easier of the two to master They include the ability to answer questions when the information being asked is explicitly stated in the reading selection Concrete skills includes vocabulary, main idea, fact or opinion, sequencing, following directions and reading for details Abstracts reasoning includes inference, analysis, evaluation, drawing conclusions, and cause and effect; and requires the reader to draw on prior knowledge and processing to identify what is not explicitly stated In reading comprehension, the students not only read for comprehending or just answering the text but also should know the meaning of the text they read Reading without understanding seem useless Understanding the meaning for the chain of words, sentences, paragraphs which create a passage

is the purpose of reading When students cannot comprehend and understand the text well, they will find the difficulties to find the main ideas and the purpose of the text

In fact, many students still found the difficulties to comprehend of text This condition also happened to students at Ham Rong high school Some of students did not understand what they read They read the text, but they were not able to identify and comprehend the text They could not answer the questions correctly because they had difficulties in comprehending the reading text Some difficulties faced by students studying English are: (1) the students lack of vocabulary and grammar; (2) The students‘ difficulty to understand the meaning

of the text; (3) The students do not have good motivation in reading class because the students feel that reading activity is boring and not interesting So, most of students become passive and lazy to read exactly to read book

To increase the students‘ reading comprehension, it needs appropriate technique and strategy helping them as solution for their problems By using a strategy in comprehending a text, it can make the teaching and learning process more effective and make students more active A strategy can be defined as a mental plan of action designed to achieve a specific purpose The strategy helps

to improve reading comprehension as well as efficiently in reading

In reading, there are many strategies that can be used to teach reading comprehension One of them is using Know-Want-Learned (KWL) strategy According to Marzano et al in John Barell (2003) state, ―KWL strategy known as

a pre-reading strategy, this approach is effective in tapping into readers‘ prior knowledge, thereby preparing them for learning‖ In addition, according to Westwood (2001), the KWL strategy has subsequently been recommended in many reading methodology texts The strategy can be used with a class, a small group or an individual involves the preparations of a KWL chart

Being a teacher of English in the future, I choose the topic: ―Implementing KWL technique to enhance reading skill for the 10th grade students at Ham

Rong High School‖ for my graduate thesis to investigate reading skill learning

situation and introduce KWL technique to improve reading skill for students at grade 10 at Ham Rong high school

2 Aims of the study

The specific aims of this study are:

- Investigate current situations in learnning reading comprehension of 10thgrade students at Ham Rong high school

- Examine the students‘ attitude toward KWL strategy

- Know the effectivemess of KWL strategy to the grade 10th students at Ham Rong high school

3 Research questions

There is a weakness in the English reading skill of students studying English

as a specialized subject at Ham Rong high school They usually feel bored when

learning English reading skill so that they cannot get high scores on their tests The thesis mainly pays attention to answer three following research questions:

a How are learning reading comprehension situation at Ham Rong high school?

b What is the students‘ attitude towards KWL?

c How effectively does KWL strategy help students improve reading skills?

4 Scope and limitation of the study

The study is restricted to focus on using KWL strategy in enhancing reading skills The subject of the study is limited to the 10th grade students at Ham Rong high school

5 Methods of the study

In order to examine the situations of teaching and learning reading skill at Ham Rong High school and suggest KWL technique, the following methods can

be used in this research:

- Data collection: experimental results, interviews, observations

- Data analysis: This is used to result ensure validity and reliability

All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study were based on the data analysis of the study

6 Design of the study

This study includes three parts:

- Part one: INTRODUCTION: In this chapter, the researcher explains rationale

of the study, methods of the study and design of the study

- Part two: DEVELOPMENT: This part has three following chapters:

+ Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW: In this chapter, the researcher reviews theories and the previous study related to the main topic of this research + Chapter 2: METHODDOLOGY AND PRODURE: In this chapter, the researcher tries to present the way to classify the research and what methods the researcher chooses In this research, the researcher thinks that the method is an important thing The researcher explains the methods which is used in this research It contains data collection, type of research, technique of collecting the data and research schedule

+ Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION: In this chapter, the researcher describes the results of interviews, observations and tests to analysis

- Part three: CONCLUSIONS: The conclusion is a summary of the study, future directions for future research and limitations of the study

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the researcher reviews theories and the previous study

related to the main topic of this research

1.1 Theoretical background of reading skill

Richards and Schmidt (2002) stated that reading perceives a written text in order to understand its contents This can be done silently (silent reading) The understanding that results is called reading comprehension Or saying a written text aloud (oral reading) This can be done with or without an understanding of the contents According to Hornby (1995), reading is act of one who read Reading is the skill or activity of getting information from books

Based on explanation above, the researcher concludes that reading is a process

to convey the message or information By reading, the reader will know what they read and challenged to response the ideas of the author In order to make the messages or information that comes from the author can be understood and

comprehended easily by the reader

1.1.2 The traditional view of reading

According to Dole et al (1991), in the traditional view of reading, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension ability Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read Readers are passive recipients of information in the text Meaning resides in the text and the reader has to reproduce meaning According to Nunan (1991), reading in this view is basically a matter of decoding a series of written symbols into their aural equivalents in the quest for making sense of the text He referred to this process as the ―bottom-up‖ view of reading McCarthy (1999) has called this view ―outside-in‖ processing, referring to the idea that meaning exists in the printed page and is interpreted by the reader then taken in This model of reading has almost always been under attack as being insufficient and defective for the main reason that it relies on the formal features of the language, mainly words and structure

Although it is possible to accept this rejection for the fact that there is reliance on structure in this view, it must be confessed that knowledge of linguistic features is also necessary for comprehension to take place To counteract over-

over-reliance on form in the traditional view of reading, the cognitive view was introduced

1.1.3 The cognitive view of reading

The ―top-down‖ model is in direct opposition to the ―bottom-up‖ model According to Nunan (1991) and Dubin and Bycina (1991), the psycho-linguistic

model of reading and the top-down model are in exact concordance Goodman (1967; cited in Paran, 1996) presented reading as a psycholinguistic guessing game, a process in which readers sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, make new hypotheses, and so forth Here, the reader rather than the text is at the heart

of the reading process The schema theory of reading also fits within the cognitively based view of reading Rumelhart (1977) has described schemata as ―building blocks

of cognition‖ which are used in the process of interpreting sensory data, in retrieving information from memory, in organizing goals and sub-goals, in allocating resources, and in guiding the flow of the processing system He has also stated that if our schemata are incomplete and do not provide an understanding of the incoming data from the text we will have problems processing and understanding the text

Cognitively based views of reading comprehension emphasize the interactive nature of reading and the constructive nature of comprehension Dole et al (1991) have stated that, besides knowledge brought to bear on the reading process, a set of flexible, adaptable strategies are used to make sense of a text and to monitor ongoing

understanding

1.1.4 The meta-cognitive view of reading

According to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on "whether reading

is a bottom-up, language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process." It

is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on both L1 and L2 readers Research has gone even further to define the control readers execute on their ability to understand a text This control, Block (1992) has referred

to as meta-cognition

Meta-cognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading Klein

et al (1991) stated that strategic readers attempt the following while reading: (1) Identifying the purpose of the reading before reading; (2) Identifying the form or type

of the text before reading; (3) Thinking about the general character and features of the form or type of the text For instance, they try to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a conclusion; (3) Projecting the author's purpose for writing the text (while reading it); (4) Choosing, scanning, or reading in detail; (5) Making continuous predictions about what will occur next, based on information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within the previous stages

Moreover, they attempt to form a summary of what was read Carrying out the previous steps requires the reader to be able to classify, sequence, establish whole-part relationships, compare and contrast, determine cause-effect, summarize,

hypothesis and predict, infer, and conclude

1.1.5 Types of reading

Afflerbach, et al (2008) state that the balance between effortful intentional strategy use and automatic reading skills application is a central characteristic of successful reading; and that the main difference between strategies and skills is automaticity, which occurs quickly and without conscious decision on part of the

reader Al-Mekhlaf (2018) establishes that ―It is contended that with enough practice,

a consciously deployed reading strategy can become an automatically employed reading skill.‖; which implies that there is a complementary cycle of strategies and skills that is continuously active during reading, and that interchanging strategies and skills to adapt to different situations and goals is necessary Spratt, et al (2011) reveal that these reading skills also take the name of sub-skills, and that they assist reading

in multiple ways depending on the reading purpose; which implies that purpose directly influences the way it is approached and which sub-skills are applied

Krashen & Terrell (1998) identify the four main sub-skills of reading as skimming, scanning, intensive reading and extensive reading; notwithstanding, it is important to keep in mind that these sub-skills complementary interact with the reading strategies mentioned in the previous section

a Scanning: Spratt, et al (2011) state that scanning refers to searching for specific information within a text, where a quick glance is taken to find the relevant information without reading the whole text

b Skimming: Krashen & Terrell (1998) mention that this reading sub-skill follows scanning in the way it is performed, which means a quick glance to extract superficial information of a text without major details, but instead of trying to find specific words or information if focuses on the general essence of the different parts

or sections of a text Spratt, et al (2011) says that this sub-skill is also known as reading for global understanding Additionally, it could be said that scanning and skimming complement each other since many times it is necessary to find specific elements that reveal the gist or main idea of a text; nevertheless, each could be used independently to achieve the desired or required goal

c Extensive Reading: Yamashita (2015) identifies this sub-skill as that where great quantities of easy and interesting reading materials are consumed, allowing the reader to enjoy reading and to read quickly which leads to the high volumes of consumption This pleasure reading is mostly done out of the enjoyment of discovering and learning from the text Yamashita (2008) reveals that it is possible to increase automaticity of lower-level processes through extensive reading due to the quantity and repeated exposure to the language that fosters their development Likewise, strategy use here amplifies reading pleasure and comprehension

d Intensive Reading: Spratt, et al (2011) describe it as the opposite of

extensive reading, where general comprehension is not the focus and examining and studying the language takes center stage, which is also called reading for detail Hatami & Asl (2017) add that intensive reading consists in extracting specific linguistic elements from short portions of text, which means that the text is used as a linguistic object to analyze grammatical patterns as well as particular and concrete

lexical items

1.1.6 The purpose of reading

Reading is an activity with a purpose A person may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge A person may also read for enjoyment, or

to enhance knowledge of the language being read Reading also plays an important

role in civic life Through reading, the individual keeps informed on the political, social, and economic and cultural problems of his country Reading affects our attitudes, beliefs, standards, morals, judgments, and general behavior; it shapes our thinking and our actions The purpose of reading is to correlate the ideas on the text

to what you have already known The reader must understand about the subject that he/she read to connect the ideas

Grabe and Stoller (2002) point out that this is the purposes of reading:

a Reading to search for simple information: Reading to search for simple information is a common reading ability, though some researchers see it as a relatively independent cognitive process It is used so often in reading tasks that is probably best seen as type of reading ability In reading to search, we typically scan the text for a specific piece of information or a specific word As an example, we usually search through a telephone directory to find key information, either and address or a phone number In prose texts, we sometimes slow down to process the meaning of a sentence or two in search of clues that might indicate the right page, section, or chapter

b Reading to skim quickly: Reading to skim quickly is a common part of many reading task and a useful skill in its own right It involves, in essence, a combination of strategies for guessing where important might be in the text, and then using basic reading comprehension skills on those segments of the text until a general idea is formed

c Reading to learn from text: Reading to learn typically occurs in academic and professional contexts in which a person needs to learn a considerable amount of information from a text, it requires abilities to: (1) Remember main ideas as well as a number of details that elaborate the main and supporting ideas in the text; (2) Recognize and build rhetorical frames that organize the information in the text; (3) Link the text to the reader‘s knowledge

d Reading to integrate information: Reading to integrate information requires additional decision about the relative importance of complementary, mutually supporting or conflicting information and likely restructuring of a rhetorical frame to accommodate information from multiple sources

e Reading to write and reading to critique texts: Reading to write and reading

to critique texts may be task variants of reading to integrate information Both require abilities to compose, select, and critique information from a text

f Reading for general comprehension: Reading for general comprehension when accomplished by a skilled fluent reader, require very rapid and automatic processing of words, strong skills in forming a general meaning representation of main idea, and efficient coordination of many processes under very limited time constraint

Purposes of reading are not only for students, but also the people in general They must read extensively to get information and knowledge of social living It can help a person keeps informed on the social, political, and economical problems of his country

1.1.7 Stages of reading comprehension:

In teaching reading, there are number of steps or stages which can be applied

by the teacher to achieve the objectives stated and to make the students effective and skilled reader There are three stages of teaching reading: Pre-Reading; While-Reading; Post-Reading

1.1.7.1 Pre-Reading

This reading stages is intended to arouse the students‘ interest The students can answer the all of the teacher question Pre-reading is based on the students‘ experience or knowledge Pre-reading can be done by some activities, those are: (1) Using picture: It means that a teacher will give a picture to get response of the students about the topic of reading In this case, the students will try to tell about the essence of the picture that the teacher gives and the students will answer some questions that have relation with the picture (2) Completing the title: After determining the picture, the teacher will ask the students what is the possible title for

the picture and the students will answer it

1.1.7.2 While-Reading

During the activity, the teacher gives the task before the students read the text

It is called ―surface problem‖ It can be done with several activities, those are: (1) Asking simple wh-question (factual), not yes-no question (2) Completing a table (3) Making a list

In this step, the students read the text quickly and do the task individually, while the teacher checks them After finishing the surface problem activities, the teacher provides the tasks which are given after the students read the text It is called

―deep problem‖ it can be done by: (1) Giving more difficult wh-question; (2) Giving true or false statement with reason; (3) Giving problem with new words by deducting

the meaning from the context

1.1.7.3 Post-Reading

Post-Reading is a final activity that the students have to communicate in English It also meant to develop the students‘ understanding This activity can be done by: (1) Retelling the content of reading text In this case, the teacher is going to know the student‘s preparation in mastering reading text The students retell the content in their own words (2) Summarizing the content It can be done by using the key word to summarize the content of text (3) Giving other suitable communicative activity in the form of jumble sentences In this case, the students will give a response

to the problem found in the text During this activity, the students do the task given

by the teacher, while the teacher monitors and check the whole groups The teacher should be certain that the class clearly knows about the objectives in reading class The objectives or aim must be placed where it can be seen by all of the students all

times It can be put on the poster or a chart

1.1.8 Process of reading comprehension

Spratt et al (2005) define reading as a process of responding to, making sense a text being read and connecting it with readers‘ prior knowledge In making sense of information, readers connect new knowledge to the knowledge they know already It

is believed that relating to readers‘ prior knowledge will make readers memorize the new knowledge longer

Brown (2004) states that reading is a process of negotiation meaning In this process, the readers bring their understanding about the meaning of texts they read It implies that the readers‘ understanding about the text is the result of interaction between their thought and the meaning of the texts they read Reading comprehension process must be occurred in reading process Therefore, there are many theories which underlie the notions of reading comprehension

One of them is proposed by Boardman, et.al (2007) They define reading comprehension as a multi component highly complex process that involves many interactions between readers and what they bring to the text Then, Merisou (2007) proposes that reading comprehension is a complex process in which the reader constructs meaning by interacting with the text using his previous knowledge and experience and information that can be found in the text The more background information related to the text the reader processes, the easier it is for him to understand the text He asserts that when reading the text, someone activates their previous knowledge about the topic Sadoski (2004) describes that reading comprehension is the process in getting meaning of the texts It is an active process in which readers try to interpret the meaning of the texts Without any effort to interpret the texts‘ meaning, the texts will remain meaningless The meaning of the text is not something which is instantly offered It requires the readers to do reading comprehension process Davies in Alderson (2000) defines eight sub-skills of reading processes They are presented below (1) Recalling word meanings; (2) Drawing inferences about the meaning of a word in context; (3) Finding answers to questions answered explicitly or in paraphrase; (4) Weaving together ideas in the content; (5) Drawing inferences from the content; (6) Recognizing a writer‘s purposes, attitude, tone and mood; (7) Identifying a writer‘s technique; (8) Following the structure of a passage

Davies (2002) simply proposes a model of reading comprehension process Based on his framework, reading comprehension employs some processes Initially, the readers set up some expectations and ideas which are related to the texts they are going to read Then, the readers identify the vocabularies, grammar and generic structure of the texts to help them understand the meaning Besides, the readers should activate their background knowledge and link it to the topic of the texts Based

on the points that are previously built, then the readers establish guess of what will come next The process is described as follows:

Figure 1.1 Model of reading comprehension process

Regarding to the theories above, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is the core of reading since it is intended to get the meaning of the texts Reading comprehension does not occur in vacuum, it requires active interaction between the readers and the texts The readers have to establish their reading purposes Then, they bring their knowledge connecting with the topic of the texts, vocabularies, grammar and the text structure The readers should also apply some strategies to deal with the texts Finally, they are expected to establish their own argument to give responses toward the texts they have read and to make prediction

about the texts

1.2 The importance of enhancing students’ reading comprehension

1.2.1 The importance of reading comprehension

There are some reasons why reading is important to get students to read especially reading English texts Harmer (1998) states that there are some reasons why reading becomes so important Reading gives many exposures to students‘ language acquisition They will unconsciously learn a new word, grammar and extract meaning of the word in contexts When they read, they get many kinds of language exposures from many different kinds of texts, they repeat the exposures and easily memorize them

Before reading, good readers tend to set goals for their reading They note the structure, or organization of the text, and often create a mental overview or outline of the text to help them decide whether it is relevant to their goals Reading fluency is a very important part of reading comprehension as readers who spend their time decoding words tend to lose the understanding of what is being read A major goal of reading comprehension instruction, therefore, is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and experiences they must have if they are to become competent and enthusiastic readers

In addition, Harrison (2004) argues that the importance of reading is not only related to the development of knowledge but also it is related to the people thinking capability This capability will be the basic development of emotional, moral and verbal intelligence Moreover, these developments determine what kind of person people would be Goodman in Burt (2003), Peyton, and Adam states that it is important to learn reading since it (1) helps people learn to think new language, (2) helps people build better vocabulary, (3) helps people more comfortable with written English, (4) can help people plan to study in English - speaking country Reading not only helps us in the reading ability but also helps us at the other skills too To get more knowledge the good readers realize about the importance of reading

From the benefits of reading above, those benefits will help the students a lot

in their life then Reading is important for students both to develop their knowledge and develop the way they think related to the development of moral, emotion, as well

as verbal intelligence Reading is a very important skill that students have to master Any exposure from reading gives many benefits for the students in the process of acquiring language and developing their thinking and emotional Opportunities to

expose English texts more helps the reader accustom to written English texts It will

develop their awareness in decoding a printed language and recalling the meaning 1.2.2 Strategies in Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension strategy is way of accessing the meaning of texts, which are employed flexibly and selectively in the course of reading Reading strategies are often divided into three stages; (1) pre reading, (2) while reading, and (3) post reading To be able to read texts, students should have their strategies Process of reading is not a merely instant process that occurs without any strategy and sequence

There are some strategies in reading proposed by Brown (2004) They are: (1) identifying the purpose of reading; (2) using graphonic rules and patterns to aid in bottom up decoding; (3) using efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid comprehension; (4) Skimming; (5) Scanning; (6) guessing when the reader is not understand; (7) analyzing vocabulary; (8) distinguishing between literal implied meaning, and the last; (9) capitalizing on discourse markers to process relationship

Aside Browns‘ strategies, Pearson (2006) isolates seven strategies used by successful readers The seven strategies are: (1) using existing knowledge to make sense of new information; (2) drawing inferences from the text; (3) monitoring the reader‘s own comprehension; (4) using ―fix-up strategies when meaning breaks down; (5) determining what is important; (6) synthesizing information to create new thinking Referred to Brown‘s and Pearson‘s, strategies in reading help the teacher to assist students into efficient and successful readers

By applying strategies in reading the teacher and students are expected to be more organized in understanding a text However, this research focus only on some strategies which are linear to the students‘ reading problems in identifying the purpose of reading, guessing meaning from context, analyzing vocabulary, using existing knowledge to make sense of new information, and asking questions about the

text before, during, and after reading

1.3 The factors influence reading comprehension

According to Klingner, Vaughn and Broadman (2007), there are some factors from readers‘ basic skills which cause difficulties in reading comprehension Those factors are word reading, fluency, vocabulary mastery, and world knowledge When the readers have difficulties in decoding or reading words, they feel hard to understand the meaning of the text If they read slowly and inaccurately, it also becomes interference for their reading comprehension

In addition, according Torgesen in Peter Westwood (2001), a readers‘ understanding of text is influenced by a broad range of factors, including his or her motivation, interest, vocabulary, general knowledge, knowledge of the particular subject, word identification skills, reasoning ability, use of effective strategies to identify main ideas and supporting detail, and an appreciation of text structure Reading with understanding involves the smooth co-ordination of higher order cognitive processes (thinking, reasoning, analyzing, connecting, reflecting) and lower order processes (word recognition, decoding)

Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded, the knowledge of the words in varied contexts and background knowledge of the topic discussed also affect reading comprehension Although, the readers have high fluency, it will be difficult

to comprehend the text without sufficient knowledge of the words in the context Also the readers‘ strategy in comprehending text is important to important to gain

more knowledge from the text

1.4 Theoretical background of KWL

1.4.1 Definition of KWL technique

KWL strategy comprises three basic concepts: Know, Want and Learnt Ogle (1986) developed the KWL strategy is a plan to activate the reader's background knowledge and to show students how text can be related to what they know and what they want to learn KWL is a strategy that develops active reading of expository text According to Lester and Head (2002) say that KWL strategy helps students to create their own meaning KWL strategy provides a framework that students can use to construct meaning from new material It is a strategy that can be used at any level and

in any content area In this strategy, the teacher serves as a guide and facilitator in the process

Based on the explanations above, the researcher concludes that this strategy is intended for use by instructors, but some responsibilities fall on students as well KWL strategy ensures that teachers have a structure allowing students to control their own inquiry and extending the pursuit of knowledge beyond one reading selection Students identify their own content-related questions and attempt to determine the

author's purpose of reading the text

1.4.2 The basic elements of KWL technique

The strategy was first developed by Ogle (1986) on the basis of the idea that language learners gain knowledge by constructing meaning As pointed out by Ogle, some researches (Anderson, 1984; Steffenson, Joag-Dev, and Anderson, 1979, Taboada and Guthrie, 2006) agree that good learners relate their prior knowledge to new information, reorganize it, and create their own meaning Furthermore, she emphasizes that KWL strategy provides a framework for learning which can be applied across content area to help them construct meanings

In addition, the strategy is designed to be used by a teacher and group of students working together It later might directed to a method for students‘ independent study In implementing the strategy, the teacher initially conducts an oral discussion of each of the components of KWL and let the process continue to students‘ individual writing of their own ideas and questions on a personal worksheet

(Asri, 2014)

The process of constructing meaning, using this strategy, starts with recalling what the students know, continued to jotting down what they want to know, and ended with listing what they have learned and is yet to be learned By doing this strategy in teaching reading, Ogle (1986) argues that the teacher is likely to actively involve students, firstly by using their prior knowledge and relating it with the information that will be found in a text In this stage, before reading, the teacher

guide the students to brainstorm everything they know about the topic Then, they specify what information they want to know, usually in forms of questions It may be done either before or during reading and intended to stimulate the students‘ interest and to help provide with the purpose for reading Finally, during and after reading, the students give remarks about what they have learned and still need to learn to link between questions asked and information encountered All of those ideas coming from the students should be recorded in the provided sheet By the end of the teaching and learning process using this strategy, the students not only improve their speaking but also their writing skill as well since the scheme of KWL also works efficiently in writing instruction (Fengjuan, 2010)

Table 1.1 KWL Strategy Sheet

1.4.3 The procedures of KWL strategy in reading comprehension

According to Jo Anne L.Vacca, et al, there are three main steps in making

KWL strategy The procedure of using KWL strategy is described as the following: 1.4.3.1 Column K (Know)

The first step is pre-reading activities The teacher involves brainstorming with

a group of students to help them focus on their current knowledge of a topic The teacher‘s questions should lead children to think about an and to respond specially to the topic being discussed The purpose of this brainstorming process is to activate children prior knowledge so that they can understand what they will read in the text

The children‘ s answers are recorded on the board or on the worksheets in column K 1.4.3.2 Column W (Want to know)

The second step, the teacher evolves naturally from assessing the results of the brainstorming and categorizing activities This step is done mainly as a group activity, each student write the information that he/ she is interested in learning about on the worksheet in column W Students‘ personal interests guide and motivate their reading

1.4.3.3 Column L (Learned)

During the last step of KWL process, the students record their findings on their worksheets They have the option of writing down the information when reading or immediately after they finish reading Thank to the teacher‘s guides and assistances, the students assess whether their concerns were answered by reading text When students need or want to additional information about the topic, they should be

guided to other sources of information in column L

Table 1.2 The Example of the Implementation of KWL Strategy

Teacher‘s Activities Students‘Activities

- Explain about KWL Strategy - Listen and understand the teacher‘s

- Introduce the students with the topic

(Website) and the task, i.e finding

out types of websites and their

purposes

- Provide the students with the KWL

Strategy Sheet (Table 1) and the

worksheet

- Guide the students to brainstorm the

topic based on their schemata and ask

them to fill in the K column

- Ask the students to read some

articles from the given links related to

the topic and to fill in the W column

as they read them

- Ask the students to fill in the L

column after they finish reading the

articles

- Ask the student fill in the worksheet

to sum up their understanding about

the topic

- Ask the students to read their

summary and evaluate it

- Encourage the students to find out

more information about the texts that

they still do not understand or need to

know

explanation

- Get and read the sheet

- Activate their prior knowledge (from the previous different subjects such as the Introduction of the Internet and Website Basic) to brainstorm the ideas about the topic

as well as to make prediction about the articles they are going to read

Then, fill in the K column on the sheet

- Go online, open the given links, read the articles, and filling in the W column

- Continue their reading and fill in the

L column after finishing it

- Complete the worksheet based on what they have learned from the texts

- Read the summary and get the feedback from the teacher

- Find out more information about the texts if there is still information need

to know

1.4.4 The strengths and weaknesses of KWL (Know, Want, Learned)

There are some strengths and weaknesses in KWL (Know, Want, Learned) strategy:

Table 1.3 The strengths and weaknesses of KWL strategy

1 Elicits students‘ prior knowledge

• Students have to brainstorm their

ideas and try to listing everything they

know about the topic

Difficult for students with no prior knowledge

• Students have a problem to listing

in ‗K‘ column and hard for them to have a general idea of the topic

2 Easy to use and organize

• Students could divide the important

and not so important points by dividing

them into the appropriate column

• They could see clearly the points in

order to answer the comprehension

questions

Take time to complete

• Students have to draw the framework and use a lot of time to think about what to list in each column

• Not appropriate to use in exams because the time is limited

3 Sets a purpose for reading

• Readers have the idea about the text

before reading the whole text

• Readers are more focus to find the

important points while reading

Not effective for reading fiction materials

• Readers do not have any idea about the story or novel So, this strategy is not suitable

4 Encourage students to make a critical

thinking

• Students need to fill in the ‗L‘

column by thinking what they had

learnt after reading the text

• Students think hard want to know

more about the topic by questioning in

5 Helps students to monitor their

comprehension and knowledge

• Students know their vocabulary level

and understanding ability

• Students learn new topic and put an

effort to study more about the topic in

order to update their knowledge

Students will give up and get bored easily

• When students fail to make a critical thinking by filling in the three columns, they would give up and refuse to complete the

framework

1.5 Previous study

In this section, the researcher quotes from the other theses that the researcher quoted as a reference in this thesis In this section, the researcher quotes from the other theses that the researcher quoted as a reference in this thesis

The first is ―The effectiveness of using KWL strategy to improve the students‘ reading comprehension ability in descriptive text at the seventh grade students of SMP N 4 Purworejo in the academic year of 2012/2013‖ (Listya Ningrum, 2013) The objectives of this research are to describe whether the KWL (know, want, learned) strategy to improve the students‘ reading comprehension ability in descriptive text is effective or not at the seventh grade students of SMP N 4 Purworejo in the academic year of 2012/2013 The use of KWL as the strategy for treat the VIII B class is improves the students reading comprehension It shown by the means of pre test (61.00) and post test (68.60) The conclusion of this research is

there are some improvements of the student in reading comprehension using the KWL technique The first difference between this previous study and this research is the subject of the previous research that is the seventh grade students of SMP N 4 Purworejo and subject in this research is the tenth grade students of Ham Rong High School The second one is the previous study using two cycles and the instrument is only test, meanwhile this research uses tests, interview, and class observation to collect the data

The second one is ―The effect of using KWL strategy on students‘ reading comprehension to the eighth grade students of MTs‘ Ma‘ arif Balong in academic year 2016- 2017‖ (Sri Wulandari, 2017) The objective of this study is to know whether there is any ssignificant difference on student‘s reading comprehension before and after using KWL strategy to the eighth grade students of MTs Ma‘ arif Balong in academic 2016/2017 the researcher concluded that the KWL strategy is effective to improve the students‘ reading comprehension ability in descriptive text at the seventh grade students of SMP N 4 Purworejo in the academic year of 2012/2013 This statement is supported by the value of t-test that is 2.97 For the 5% significance level and 62 degree of freedom the critical value of t-table is 1.999 The value of t-test was higher than t-table (2.97>1.999) Based on the hypothesis testing above, it can be concluded that Ha is accepted Therefore, the hypothesis of this research which says ―teaching using KWL (Know, Want, Learned) strategy is effective to improve the students‘ reading comprehension ability in descriptive text at the seventh grade students of SMP N 4 Purworejo in the academic year of 2012/2013 In addition,

it can be proven by the result of the Mean score of the experimental group increased from pre-test to post-test The mean score before treatment is 69.25, while the mean score after treatment is 76.50 From the results of the mean scores between pre-test and post-test, it can be concluded that there is increasing after researchers given treatment to students

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE

In this chapter, the researcher tries to present the way to classify the research and what methods the researcher chooses In this research, the researcher thinks that the method is an important thing The researcher explains the methods which is used

in this research It contains data collection, type of research, technique of collecting the data and research schedule

2.1 The setting of the study

2.1.1 An overview of research place

The study was conducted at grade tenth form, Ham Rong High School This school is situated in Thanh Hoa city; the students are taught all subjects follow the regulation of Ministry of Education and Training such as Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Physical, etc and English is one of main subjects to students

2.1.2 The population and sample of the study

Nunan (1992) states that population is all cases, situation, or individuals who share one or more characteristics Population is all individuals from whom the data are collected In this research, the population is the 10th grade students of Ham Rong High School in the academic year 2022-2023 There are 13 classes and the numbers

of students are 565

Table 2.1 The distribution of the 10 th grade students of Ham Rong High School

in the academic year of 2022-2023

According to Arikunto (2010) a sample is a part or representative of population which is investigated Sugiyono (2011) states that sample is part of the number and characteristics possessed by the population

In this research, the number at 10th grade students of Ham Rong High School is

565 students Here, the researcher takes 2 classes which the researcher was teaching directly as the sample to be analyzed, and the number of sample is 84 students The quantity of students in the two classes are equal The English ability is almost identical, about A2 level

Table 2.2 The sample of the experiment group (10C5)

Table 2.3 The sample of the control group (10C2)

Before conducting the research, the researcher prepares some research instrument The researcher makes the tests for pre-test and post-test, the questions for the interviews and observation sheet Then the researcher interviewed 20 grade 10 students randomly to investigate learning reading comprehension situation at Ham Rong High School There are 5 questions for each student After that, the researcher gives pre-test to the students in class 10C2 and class 10C5 before treatments The students have to finish it 45 minutes and work individually

The next step is giving treatment to the students in class 10C5 The teachers gives material and use KWL strategy to teach the students The researcher asks the student to apart them to be 8 groups Each group consists of 5 or 6 students Then, the

students work in group During the treament process, the researcher observes class 10C5 to examine the students‘ attitude toward KWL strategy

Following that, the researcher gives a post-test to the students in class 10C2 and class 10C5 to know the results of treament Questions in this post-test are different with pre-test and treatment The students also have to finish it 45 minutes and work individually To ensure about the effectiveness of KWL and the students‘ opinion about it, the researcher interviews 42 students in class 10C5 who are taught

by KWL

Finally, the researcher analyzes the data pre-test, post-test, observation and interview After the researcher calculating the results of this study, the researcher can conclude the current situation in learning reading comprehension of the students, whether KWL strategy is effective or not, and examine the students‘s attitude

There were seven meetings in this researcher: interview after the experiment pre test, first, second, and third treatments with KWL strategy; post test and the last is interview after the experiment The schedule of this research could be seen as follow:

Table 2.4 Research schedule

1 February, 8th 2023 Interview 10C5 5 questions

4 March, 2nd 2023 Second treatment

using KWL strategy

10C5 Unit 8 -

Reading, P.89

5 March, 16th 2023 Third treatment using

2.3.1.2 The reading tests

Test was the technique to collect data in this research The researcher used a test as an instrument to collect data of this study because the students‘ reading scores could be known by using test Thus, the research can measure the ability of students easily There were 20 multiple choice items in a test It took 45 minutes to complete

In this study, the students did pre-test given by the researcher Therefore, the researcher knew the students‘ reading comprehension before giving the treatment The treatment that used in this research was Know - Want to Know - Learned (KWL) strategy After that, the students did post- test to know the results of the treatment

There are 2 tests for the students in 2 classes: the experimental class (10C5) and the control class (10C2) The English ability of the students in the two classes is almost identical, at A2 level

2.3.1.3 The observation

In the process of collecting data indicating the success of the strategy in enhancing students‘ reading comprehension skill, the observation was done during the action research in the experimental class The researcher used an observation checklist to gather information during the guidance procedure The observation checks by the instructor which us continually joining to the class while the educating and learning progress occurring The observation checklist contains about the specialist and the students‘ exercises during the implementation of KWL in the classroom

The researcher used observation checklists to gather information during the guidance procedure The observations were checked by the teachers while the educating and learning progress was occurring in class 10C5 for 3 lessons It has a rundown of potential choices or answers from which the instructor must choose

2.4 Type of Research

Commonly, there are two types of research method are used They are quantitative and qualitative research Quantitative research related numeric data and using statistic to count the data while qualitative research only present describes the words into a long sentence

This type of research employed both of types of research method to find out the result of using KWL (Know, Want, Learned) strategy to improve the students‘ reading comprehension ability as well as examine the students‘ attitude toward this at the tenth grade students Ham Rong High School in the academic year of 2022-2023

is effective

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Findings

3.1.1 The learning reading comprehension situation of 10 th grade students at Ham Rong High School

The results were collected from the interviews to the students at Ham Rong High School The author interviewed 20 students randomly who are in grade 10 at Ham Rong high school some questions:

(1) How often do you prepare for reading lessons?

(2) What do you do before reading?

(3) What kind of reading do you use in reading the texts?

(4) What do you do when reading the texts?

(5) What do you do to summary the knowledge you learned from reading text?

According to their answers, the researcher received the results below

First of all, the writer found that students had some activities to prepare before

a new reading comprehension lesson Most of students read textbook before the new lesson started, while some students preferred to discuss the topic with their partners The rest of students would like to search information related to the new lesson This

is an indication that the students have the preparation before starting the new lesson Student A said: ―I usually prepare before the lesson start by reading textbook Thus, I have an overview about the new lesson It helps me understand it better Nevertheless, they still found difficulties in reading the text and doing question tasks in each reading text It may be explained that they have not had strategies to memorize the information they got

Second, almost students were interested in observing pictures or heading (if there are) to predict the content of reading texts It is quite easy way to guess the content of the texts Some students would rather discuss with their friends about the reading texts It helps them to share ideas, thoughts, feeling and whatever they thought about the topic There were by 10 students read the requirements of the reading tasks Surprisingly, no one made questions themselves or investigated the purposes of reading texts before reading

Third, there are approximately a half of students using reading aloud while the rest of students using silents one It can be explained that they preferred practicing reading texts rather than focusing in the content of the texts Students B said: ―When reading the texts, I focus on the question tasks most And I tried to look for the information to answer the question Seldomly, I read the texts to get information clearly‖

According to the results, one can see that most of students asked teachers or friends whenever they met new words, while a third of them had other strategies when facing to new words They read from the beginning to the ending of the text

without paying any attention to the new words Only a quarter of them tried to guess the meaning of words, which they thought that those words were important in reading texts No one looked up dictionary because they had no dictionary as well as no using cellphone in class

Last but not least, the students were not using to summarizing the knowledge and information they got from reading texts Therefore, they forgot most of the reading text This can be due to the fact that they did not know the way to sum up the lesson

3.1.2 Effectiveness of KWL strategy in 10 th grade students in reading comprehension

3.1.2.1 The results of pre test

The researcher used a test with 20 item questions to analyze the level score of the students‘ reading comprehension The table below showed the score of students‘ reading comprehension before they are taught by using KWL strategy

a The reading ability result of experimental group

Experimental group is group which was given the treatment by researcher used KWL as a strategy in reading comprehension The classification of experimental

group pre-test was listed below:

Table 3.1 Frequency distribution of pre test students’ reading comprehension score