Abstract :
This study was conducted based on the consideration of the problem that
the students had in mastery their reading comprehension at the seventh grade of
MTs. Nurul Islam Ponganggan. As an English teacher, the researcher found that
the students? reading comprehension was low. Based on the preliminary study, the
fact that the average score obtained from the pre test was 68.80 and the passing
grade ( SKM) for English lesson was 75. It meant that, the students could not
achieve the minimum standard of the school target. It was also found that the
students still got difficult to generate their ideas into sentences. Based on the
problem that the researcher faced in the classroom, this study was focused on
solving the problem related to how the student can understand reading text. This
study proposed cooperative integrated reading and composition to improve the
students? reading comprehension. The research problem here is, ? how does
cooperative learning CIRC type improve reading comprehension for the students
at seventh grated of MTs Nurul Islam Ponganggan??
The design of the study is classroom action research. The researcher
played two roles in this research; as a teacher and researcher. During mplementing
cooperative integrated reading and composition in the classroom, the researcher
was accompanied by a teacher partner. This research was conducted in one cycle,
which was divided in four main activities, planning, acting, observing, and
reflecting. The reflecting based on the findings during the observation and
compared with the criteria of success including, (1) students? average score is 75
(passing grade for English lesson) and (2) student can participate actively in the
class.The research findings showed that this strategy was effective to teach
reading comprehension at seventh grade of MTs. Nurul Islam Ponganggan. It was
indicated on the students? average score of post test in cycle 1. The students?
average score in pre test from the teacher and researcher was 68.80. The score was
improved in post test, the students? average score in post test from the teacher and
researcher was 83.30. The improvement was also shown in the students?
performances in the class.
Based on the research findings, two suggestions are provided. The first the
English teacher are recommended that cooperative integrated reading and
composition was good strategy to teach reading comprehension to the student, the
second, the next researcher who wants to conduct a research using cooperative
integrated reading and composition are recommended to conduct this research in
different areas, levels, and skills.