OPTIMIZING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH ‘LEARNING STYLE’ BASED ON BUILDING LEARNING POWER

Abstract

Persepsi dan pikiran siswa mempengaruhi salah satu ketrampilan Bahasa Inggris yaitu ketrampilan membaca. Latar belakang pengetahuan mereka membawa mereka untuk memahami sebuah teks yang mereka baca seperti teks eksposisi yang menggabungkan fakta, ide, dan opini. Memiliki pemahaman dalam membaca dibutuhkan untuk dapat mempelajari informasi yang tersedia dalam suatu teks. Pentingnya pemahaman membuat guru harus mengembangkan strategi membaca. Salah satu strategi adalah ‘Learning Style’ berdasarkan Building Learning Power. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan implementasi ‘Learning Style’ berdasarkan Building Learning Power dalam membaca teks eksposisi serta menggambarkan respon siswa terhadap implementasi strategi tersebut. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Instrumen yang digunakan adalah observation checklist, field-note, interview, dan questionnaire. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa implementasi ‘Learning Style’ membuat siswa menaruh minatnya pada kegiatan membaca. Siswa dapat memilih topik sendiri dan menentukan teks yang mereka baca. Mereka juga terlibat dalam diskusi kelompok untuk menjawab permasalahan dari topik yang mereka pilih dan membuat presentasi berdasarkan gaya mereka. Siswa merasa santai dan nyaman ketika belajar. Mereka setuju bahwa strategi ini dapat membantu mereka memahami teks.

Kata Kunci: Building Learning Power, ‘Learning Style’, ketrampilan membaca, teks eksposisi.

Abstract

The students’ perception and thought affects to one of English skills that is reading skill. Their background knowledge leads them to comprehend a text they read such as exposition text which combines facts, ideas, and arguments. Having comprehension in reading that text is needed to learn about information provided. Due to the importance of comprehension, teacher should develop reading strategy. One of the strategies is ‘Learning Style’ based on Building Learning Power. This research aims to describe the implementation of ‘Learning Style’ based on Building Learning Power in reading exposition text as well as describe the students’ responses toward the implementation of this strategy. The research method applied in this research is descriptive qualitative research. The instruments are observation checklist and field-note, interview, and questionnaire. The result shows that the implementation of ‘Learning Style’ makes the students put their interest in reading activity. The students can choose the topic by themselves and determine what text they want to read. They also engaged in a group discussion to answer the problem of topic they chosen and make a presentation based on their style. From the interview and questionnaire, the students feel enjoy and comfortable while learning. They do agree that this strategy can help them to comprehend exposition texts.

Keywords: Building Learning Power, ‘Learning Style’, reading skill, exposition text.