Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension Using Pictuures On Report Texts

Abstract. The objectives of this research was to find out the whether using picture in improving students reading ability for the eleventh grade students of MA NW Pringgasela is effective and to find out significant differences in the reading skill between the students who were tauhgt by using picture and those who are not taught by using it.This research was an experimental research. The participant of the research were the tsudents of the eleventh grade of MA NW Pringgasela. Class Xia as an experimental group and class Xib as a control group. The research instrument used by the wriiter was in the form of reading comprehension test. The data in this research were mainly gathered through the test pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was administrated to see the student’s ability in reading comprehension before using picture were used. The post-test was administrated to see the student’s progress in reading comprehension. After the data was collected, the researcher then analyzed them by using t-test to see whether there was any significant difference in reading comprehension after using picture were aplied.in teaching reading to students of MA NW Pringgasela eleventh grade Xia and Xib. The mean score of experimental group in pre test was 61.5 while the mean score for the control group was 61.1. meanwhile, after using picture on report text The findings of the research show that first using picture was effective to be used were used, their reading skill got improved. It can be inferred from the result of the students post test. In the post test, the mean score for the experimental group changed to 79.5. The t-test showed a significantt difference in teaching reading after using picture on report text. Finally, it could be concluded that using picture was good in teaching reading on report text, and the use of it could improve the students’ ability in reading. Teachers can use it as a media in teaching reading. It can also give information for readers and become reference for other researchers


Introduction
Nowadays English has a very important role because it is particularly used in almost all of the countries as a native and international language. Based on the fact above, it becomes one foreign language, which has to be mastered by all people in the world. That is why English has to be taught in all levels of education. The widespread need for English as a second or foreign language needs a considerable pressure on the educational resources of many countries By reading, the students' knowledge will gradually increase which it may cause the increase of the other language skills, such as listening, speaking, writing (Tarigan, 1973:3). Even the knowledge and experience obtained from reading will make wide intellectual abilities. Reading can also be regarded as a process for understanding implisit in the explisit, it is to understand the meaning contained in the writen words. The meaning of reading is not in the written page but at the reader's mind. Thus meaning it will change, because every reader has a different experience which is used as a tool to interpret these words.
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning (reading comprehension) and or constucting meaning (Greliet, 1982:7). Written information is received by the retina, precessed by the primary visual cortex, and interpreted in Wernicke's area. Reading text is now an important way for the general population in many societies to acces information and meaning. Nuttal (1985:65) states that reading ia a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas. Although reading printed text is now an important way for the general population to access information, this has not always been the case. With the some exceptions, only a small percentagr of the population in many countries was considered literate in the Industrial Revolution.
Traditionally, the purpose of learning reading in a language has been to have access to the litarature written in that language. In language instruction, reading materials have traditionally been chosen from literary texts that represent "higher" forms culture (Byrnes, 1998). Students learn to read language by studing vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure, not by actually reading it. Lower level learners read only sentences and paragraphs generated by textbooks writees and instructors.
English instruction as foreign language has caused many students to fail commonly, in teaching reading especially (Grliet, 1981:9). In reality, most of students at senior high school level face some problems related to reading skill. They have difficulties in comprehending reading text, especially related to the understanding of: (1) general idea of the text; (2) main idea of the text; (3) explicityand implicity stated information; (4) certain word references; and (5) the meaaning of the words (Heaton, 1988:105).
Teaching and learning English in Senior High School has its scope including competence to comprehend and to produce spoken and written texts through four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing; competence to comprehend and to create many short functional texts and monolog also essay in the form of procedure, description, recount, narrative, and report.
For this reason the teacher must have various methods in teaching genre to make the students more interested in teaching learning process. Reading, one of the language skills, should be mastered well by the students because reading is an essential factor that influences one's activity incommunication. Reading is a part of daily Teaching English is not easy because it requires motivation and creativity in order to make a good condition and achievement of English Learning and activity, because by reading, people can get some information widely without going anywhere. Teaching English is not easy because it requires motivation and creativity in order to make a good condition and achievement of English Learning and teaching goal. Students in Senior High School still find many difficulties in reading. For example, when the students read a text, they can not comprehend that text because the text is very long. For that reason, the students need an interesting technique to improve their reading comprehension.
Aebersold (1997: 15) defines that reading is something which people look at the text and assign to the written symbols in that text; in other words, we assume that reading activity is people's activity to read a text; there is interaction between the reader and the text when people read that text. Wallace (1992: 3) states that reading in a first or any other language, is an awareness of the way in which we use language. It means that reading is above all to do with language. It can be concluded that reading is a process of reacting and understand a written text as a piece of communication. Reading does not necessarily need to look everything in a given piece of text. It is important to comprehend genre in order to catch the information and message in written text. Text comprehension is related to reading skill, as reading is one of the important skills in order to communicate using English to fulfill daily needs such as reading newspaper, instruction, rule, book, advertisement, magazine etc. Reading is not the activity to read aloud but to comprehend the message and information in the text.
Reading is very important to be given as a skill in English lesson and becomes the compulsory skill in English learning in the Senior High School curriculum.
There are many strategies to be applied in the effort of inproving the students' reading skill. One of the ways that can be used of picture. The use of picture in the teaching learning process will surely attract the students' attention because they feelthat whatever they study in the slassroom is actually useful for daily life. They think that the classroom situation is similar to the one of their daily life. Consequently, they will be much more interested in the teaching and learning process. Picture have a positive effect in taking the students to enjoy and interesting situation in the teaching learning process.
From the description above, it can be concluded that reading is one of English language skills considered important for one's growth as an individual in many aspects of life. Everyone cannot escape from this activity. We read newspaper, reports, messege, books, notes and many other writings. That is why students are taught reading skill in English at school. To improve the students' learning interest and motivation toward reading skill, English Teachers need to know the nature of reading, how to teach reading effectively, and the most suitable instructional materials for their students. One of the ways that can be used is the using picture.

Objective of The Study
There is a main objectives in this reseach in relation to the two research problems stated previously. The objectives of the research can be formulated as follows: 1. To describe the problems what the teacher teaches report texts in the eleventh grade students of MA NW Pringgasela using picture. 2. To identify the effectiveness of picture to improve students' reading comprehension of report texts.

The Definition of Reading
Reading is an exercise dominated by eyes and the brain (Harmer, 1991:190). The eyes receive messeges and the barin then has to work out significances of these messages. Unlike a listening text, a reading text moves at the speed of reader . alderson (2003:28) defines reading as ".....an enjoyable, intense, private activity, from which much pleasure can be derived, and which one can become totally absorbed". Reading can have three main purpose, for survival, for learning and for pleasure. Reading for survival is considered to be in response to our environment, to find out information and can include street sign adverting, and timetables. It depends very much on yhe day-to day needs of the reader and often involves a mediate response to a situation. In contrast reading for learning is considered to be the type of reading done in the classroom and is goal oriented. While reading pleasure is something that does not have to be done.
The background knowledge and past experience are very important in reading. It is needed to recall the concept and relates them to the written materials and get new meaning. Faziaty (2002: 139) states: "Reading is an interactive and interpretative process. The reader processes his background knowledge and the printed text using specific skill and strategies to form expectation about the text, selecting and using the most productive cues to comfirm or reject those predictions".
It is mean that reading is an active process to give interpretatiion to the printed text based on their knowledge to comfirm or reject prediction. It needs knowledge of sounds/symbols relationship, sytax, grammar, and semantics to predict the meanin. The readers use theor background knowledge to understand the topic and the structure. Arends 91997: 246) states that prior knowledge is the sum of an individual's knowledge and experiences gained during the course for their lives and what he or she brings to a new learning experience. Harris (1980: 447) states that reading is the meaningfull interpretation of written or printed verbal symbols. Mason (1990: 1-8) states that reading is a social process and highlighting is importance in the daily life. He adds the aspects of reading process as follow: (1) an active search for meaning, (2) a constructive process, and (3) an applications of different kinds of knowledge and strategies process.

The Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension skills
Many strategies can be used effectively to develop comprehension skill. Comprehension is facilitated by appropriate reading materials, intellectual curiosity, and desire to learn. There are general principles of instruction which can be used as guides in implementing programs to develop the abilities which make up the specific skills of comprehension. According to Kennedy (1984: 197-198), those named below are representative and could be used profitably in most classroom. a. Encouraging the use of oral language Any activity that increases facility in speaking and understanding spoken language will aid in developing a background for comprehension and there should be sample time for classroom discussion, conversation, and oral reporting. b.
Motivating pupils Pupils must want to read if they are to develop comprehension. Each class period can provide opportunities for enlisting their interest in the materials and exercises being used, planning objective to be attained, and doing independent reading. If a pupil can be convinced of a personal need to read, instruction will be much less difficult. c. Providing practice in reading easy material Nothing will facilitate development of comprehension more than relevant practice. Systematic exercises should involve reading materials that are within the experience and achievement range of reader. Unsuitable materials not only keep the thought process intact, they develop increased speed of recognition, which goes hand with comprehension. d. Encouraging purposeful reading A major reason young readers fail to comprehend is that they do not have specific purposes in mind when they scan or read material. Unless they have a reason for reading, they have no incentive to remember the content. e.
Stressing vocabulary development Meager sight and recognition vocabularies make comprehension difficult. A sight vocabulary extensive include 90 percent of the words contained in reading matter usually is required for adequate understanding. One of the surest ways to increase comprehension is to plan a program of vocabulary development that will stress sight and independent word recognition, as well as understanding of words.

The Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension skills
Many strategies can be used effectively to develop comprehension skill. Comprehension is facilitated by appropriate reading materials, intellectual curiosity, and desire to learn. There are general principles of instruction which can be used as guides in implementing programs to develop the abilities which make up the specific skills of comprehension. According to Kennedy (1984: 197-198), those named below are representative and could be used profitably in most classroom. a. Encouraging the use of oral language Any activity that increases facility in speaking and understanding spoken language will aid in developing a background for comprehension and there should be sample time for classroom discussion, conversation, and oral reporting. b.
Motivating pupils Pupils must want to read if they are to develop comprehension. Each class period can provide opportunities for enlisting their interest in the materials and exercises being used, planning objective to be attained, and doing independent reading. If a pupil can be convinced of a personal need to read, instruction will be much less difficult. c. Providing practice in reading easy material Nothing will facilitate development of comprehension more than relevant practice. Systematic exercises should involve reading materials that are within the experience and achievement range of reader. Unsuitable materials not only keep the thought process intact, they develop increased speed of recognition, which goes hand with comprehension. d. Encouraging purposeful reading A major reason young readers fail to comprehend is that they do not have specific purposes in mind when they scan or read material. Unless they have a reason for reading, they have no incentive to remember the content. e.
Stressing vocabulary development Meager sight and recognition vocabularies make comprehension difficult. A sight vocabulary extensive include 90 percent of the words contained in reading matter usually is required for adequate understanding. One of the surest ways to increase comprehension is to plan a program of vocabulary development that will stress sight and independent word recognition, as well as understanding of words.

Teaching Reading
Comprehending a text is a process of interaction between the reader's background knowledge and the text. Teachers should help the students improve their ability to comprehend the text. According to Fauziaty (1998: 86) there are two ways of handing a reading clas: first, it will discuss the prominent theory of the nature of reading and the schema theory. Secondly, it presents the implication of the theory for the English foreign teaching or reading the classroom practices to develop text-based processing skills.
Reading is one of the basic communicative skills, but is a very complex process. It is difficult to arrive at a precise definition of the reading process. Kennedy (1981: 35) sates that there are techniques for instructional plans based on basal reading program using a graded series of teaching materials and on nonbasal programs such as the individualized reading, language-experience, and eclectic approaches. Kennedy adds in schools using a basal program, a daily period is usually set aside for a formal reading presentation in which basic skills are directly taught or practiced. The Definition of Report Text Hyland (2004: 33) states that report genre has purpose to entertain and instruct via reflection on experience. Mc Crimmon (1984: 159) states that narration is a story to make a point. It can be used in an abbreviated form to introduce or illustrate a complicated subject that is, writers often use narration to lead into the body of their writing or in an extended form to provide a detailed, personal account of "what happened". He adds that an effective narration has plot; it is arranged according to a meaningful and dramatic sequence of action, which may or may not follow the order in which events actually happened.
According to Priyan (2008: 20) report text is a kind of text to presenting information about something. They are generally describe an entire class of things, whether natural or made: mammals, the planets, rocks, plants, computers of origin, transportation, and so on. While, Setiadi, et,al. Argues that, reprt provides factual information about a specific subject like social phenomena (e.g. riot, demonstration, unemployment), nature (e.g. eathquake, floods, storm, animal, plants) and man-made things.

The Social Purpose of Report text
To give factual information about a specific subject: 1. General classification (introduce the topic of the report) 2. Identification (describes the subject in detail, e.g. its qualities, appearances, uses, habits, or behaviors). The Language Features of Report Text a. Present tense, e.g. Tropical cyclones always begin over the sea. b. General nouns, e.g. hunting dogs, rather than particular nouns, c. Relating verb to describe features, e.g. Molecules are tiny d. Use action verbs when describing behavior, e.g. Emus cannot fly e. Use technical terms,e.g. Isobars are lines drawn on a weather map; f. Use of paragraph with topic sentences to organize bundles of information; repeated naming of the topic as the beginning focus of the clause.

The Definition of picture
Picture as part of visual aids can be a technique in teaching English reading at junior high school. Visual aids are a situation where the learn can see what is named by the word to be learned. It gives a lot of contribution because with picture, students not only can hear but also can see the sign which is illustrated by the picture to express of idea or words. Allen (1989: 7-8) states that this (pictures) is important because success in learning often depends on the number of sense which are used in learning process, when student can touchsomething's, in addition to hearing and seeing the world that names it, there is stronger chance that the world will be learned.
Picture as one kind of media has some different terminology. Some experts have defined the notion of pictures. Shores (1996: 188) points out that a picture may be defined as likeness of a person, place, things, or idea on flat surface produces by means, drawing, painting, or photography. Besides that, it is described in the Webster's Dictionary (1983: 137) as an image or likeness of an object, person, scene reproduced on flat surface, especially by painting or photography; a mental image or impression; an idea.

Research Method
This research is categorized into an experimental research. Its mean that the writer examined and analyzed the data, which are obtained after giving the treatment to the subject. Creswell (2008) says that experimental is a procedure in quantitative rresearch which the investigator determines whether an activity or material makes a difference in result for participants. In this research, there are two groups: experimental and control group. In the experimental group, the students were though by using picture on report text, while in the control group , the student did not using picture on report text. After the treatment, both groups were given a post test to measure to improvement of the learners reading skill. The scores of the post test were then analyzed.

Subjects of the Research
The subject of the research is the XI grade students of MA NW Pringgasela. At the elevennth grade students of MA NW Pringgasela there was two classes (class Xia and Xib) as subjects of the rsearch. The researcher took the research subjects used simple random sampling. In the sample random sampling, the researcher select participants for the sample so that each member of population under study has an equal chance of being selected and the probability of a member of the population being selected is unaffected by selection of other members of the population.

Research Result
The writer used picture as media to improve students' reading ability on report text. However the success in mastering a language is determined by the size of the vocabulary one has learned (Saleh, 1997: 12). In the process of learning, the students need not only to earn lot of words, but to remember them (Thumbury, 2002: 23). To make the students to remember lot of words, the teacher should be able to choose the appropriate media. Media which help the students to find out the information and the main idea in the text easily. Picture as media it is believedas one of the appropriate media or activities which can be used in teaching reading the ability which involves the essential idea and encourages the ideas. The writer used picture as media is one of media which great help for the student in developing their idea and skill especially in reading on report text.
In the process of teaching and learning using picture in this research the students of MA NW Pringgasela found out some advantages. There was advantages the students could get in the use of picture. Such as concrete on the topic, getting the subtopics, main ideas, and supporting idea what we talk about with focus on the main idea easily. Increasing comprehension is also one of the advantages of picture. Using picture can make easy in understanding the material. Picture as media is a simple think pattern so it is not make us confuse to understand what we have learned and easy to remember the material. Another the advantage is it is enjoyable, imagination and creativity are unlimited in using picture, so it can be fun to learn. By using pictures and colors, it makes the brain enjoy and exited in thinking something what we want about the material.
Based on the result which the writer found in this research, picture can give some contributions to the students. the result of the analysis about the students' achievement in pre-test or the acievement of the students before being treated by using picture in reading comprehennsion that are the lowest score was 70 whereas the highest score was 95. the mean score was 79.5 and standard deviation was 14.5. based on the result above, it indicated that the efect of using picture on report text in improving the sudents' reading ability of the elevent grade students is classified into high category.