CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

II.1 The Nature of Reading

Reading is both a sensory and mental process which involves using the

eyes and the mind. The eyes receive messages from the text and the brain

processes the messages for the students to get meaning. This means, the students

not only read the text but also understand the meaning within the text.Burnes and

Page (1991:45), propose that reading is a process in which readers engage in an

exchange of ideas with an author via the text.

This idea is also reinforced by Nuttal (2000:2), who states that reading is a

result of interaction between the writer’s and the reader’s mind. It is the way how

readers try to get the message or the intended meaning from the writer. Zintz

(1980:6) states that reading is decoding written words which enable the readers to

produce them arally.

Reading is a basic skill and a foundation for students to get a success in

their lifetime. Without the ability to read well, opportunities for personal

fulfillment and job success will be lost. Reading is the ability to draw meaning

from the print page and interpret this information appropriately. In this case,

according to Grabe (2008), the purposes of reading are to search simple

information, to skim quickly, to learn from texts, to integrate information, to write

(or search information needed for writing), tocriticizetexts, and to get general

information.

14
 15

Although at first glance it may seem to be passive, solitary and simple,

reading is in truth, activepsycholinguistic process that starts with a linguistic

surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the

reader constructs (Goodman in Carrel, Devine and Eskey, 1988). The readers

must be able to translate the written words into meaningful language. In addition,

Gibbons (1991) states reading is the process of getting meaning from printed

materials. It is not a passive, receptive activity, but an active and thinking.

Moreover, reading in a foreign language is essential not only for

promoting the students’ personal and cognitive development, but also for

improving their study and job prospects in this globalization society. Due to the

importance of reading, one of the priorities of language teaching should provide

students with the tools they need to tackle texts with various context and to define

purposes more intensively. Teixeira (2012:1) explains that reading is a key

language skill that has a significant place in the teaching and learning a foreign

language. Itallows students to have an access forideas communicated by people in

different locations and eras. Reading also gives students the opportunity to

broaden their horizons and their knowledge.

Lems.et.al. (2010:33) state that reading is an interactive process that takes

place between the text and the reader’s processing strategies and background

knowledge. It means that reading is a process that can make the readers use some

strategies and combine it with their knowledge in order to comprehend something

that they read. Reading skill depends on the efficient interaction between
 16

linguistic knowledge and knowledge of the world. According to Grimes (2006:5),

reading is an active process of constructing meaning.

Reading is a complex 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 ones spoken language. In addition, Patel (2008:113) defines that

reading is an active process which consists of recognition and comprehension

skill. Furthermore, Wren (2000:13) states that reading comprehension is the

ability to construct linguistic meaning from written representations of language.

Pang et al (2003:3) states that reading is about understanding written texts.

Indeed, most educators would agree that the major purpose of reading

should be the construction of meaning, comprehending and actively responding to

what is read. Two of the most widely cited and agreed-upon definitions of reading

are the following: (1) Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written

texts. (2) It is a complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of

interrelated sources of information (Anderson et al., 1985 in Nunan, 2003). In

addition, Wixson et.al. (1989) cite the new definition of reading for Michigan;

reading is the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction

among: (1) the reader's existing knowledge; (2) the information suggested by the

text being read; and (3) the context of the reading situation.

Furthermore, Izmi (2004) states the essence of reading by deliberating

three roles of reading in learning. Firstly, it supports students to learn the language
 17

by providing many opportunities for students to gain vocabulary, grammar,

sentence structure, and discourse as they occur in real context. Secondly, students

get the content information and this can broaden their knowledge of the subject

they are reading. Lastly, the role of reading is related to cultural information: the

students are given the insight and worldviews of the native speakers or users of

the language they are studying.

In short, reading is a conscious and unconscious thinking process. The

reader applies many strategies to reconstruct the meaning that the author is

assumed to have intended. The reader does this by comparing information in the

text to his or her background knowledge and prior experience (Mikulecky, 2008).

In addition, Al-Issa (2006:1) states that reading is a multileveled and interactive

process in which readers construct a meaningful representation of text using their

schemata. Pang, Muaka, Bernhardt, and Kamil (2000) define reading is a complex

activity which involves perception and thought. According to them, reading

comprises two related processes, that is, word recognition and comprehension.

The former refers to a process of perceiving how written symbols corresponds to

spoken language of someone while the latter means a process of making sense of

words, sentences and connected text.

Based on the definition above, it can be concluded that reading is a

complex linguistic process in which readers simultaneously use their knowledge

of spoken and written language, their knowledge of the topic of the text, and their

knowledge of their culture to construct meaning with text. Furthermore, reading is

the most important skill to master in order to ensure success not only in learning
 18

English but also in learning in any content class where reading in English is

required.

II.2 The Nature of Reading Comprehension

There are many definitions of reading comprehension accepted from some

writers. First, reading comprehension consists of two main words: reading and

comprehension. Reading refers to an active process that requires a great deal of

practice of using text to create meaning and conceptual knowledge or skill.

Meanwhile, comprehension skill means readers’ ability to get information and

construct meaning from text by cognition and motivation (Guthrie and Scafiddi,

2004:227; Moreillon, 2007:10; Johnson, 2008).

There are several components in the definition of reading comprehension.

Two of them are the interpretation of the information in the text by using prior

knowledge and the meaning construction of what the text is about (Brown, 1984

in Oakhill and Cain, 2007:48-49; Kendeou, van den Broek, White, and Lynch,

2007:28; Magliano, Millis, Ozuru, and McNamara, 2007:109-111). Prior

knowledge is considered as the old information that the reader has,whilethe

information available in the text is considered as the given information that the

readers get. Thus, in comprehending reading materials, readers need to connect

their background knowledge into what they read (Hadley, 2001:144; Klingner,

Vaughn, and Boardman, 2007:8). Moreover, when readers do the process of

connecting their own background knowledge to the reading material, it will be

easier for them to comprehend and get involve to the reading materials.
 19

The background knowledge of the readers refers to what the readers bring

to the reading activity. It was what Moreillon called as “crystallized intelligence”

which refers to a type of intelligence that associated with facts, generalizations,

and principles (Moreillon, 2007:19-20). The strong correlation between

crystallized intteligence and academic achievement helps to explain the strong

relationship between background knowledge or prior knowledge and achievement

(Marzono, 2003 in Moreillon, 2007:134). Thus, background knowledge ofreading

comprehension is critical because in comprehending a reading material, the

readers need to connect new information available with itto construct meaning of

reading material.

In addition, related to the meaning construction as one of the components

in making up comprehension ability, there are three higher level skills associated

with it in reading activity (Oakhil and Cain, 2007:49-50). The first level is

inference-making. It is essential to ensure a good understanding of a text. The

writer does not necessarily state every little detail information of the text. That

would result in text that was lengthy and possibly boring. Instead, the reader

needs to fill in details that are not explicitly stated in the text, either by integrating

statements within the text or by incorporating general knowledge with textual

information. The second level is comprehension monitoring. The ability to

monitor someone’s understanding of a text is an important skill for constructing

meaning. Comprehension monitoring is often assessed by requiring readers to

detect inconsistencies in text. The last one is understanding the text structure.
 20

Knowing text structure is useful aids for readers to relate relevant background

information into their construction of a meaning of the text.

People do reading comprehension activity must be on certain purposes.

Reading comprehension is motivated and purposeful (Blachiwicz and Ogle,

2008:26). The purposes of reading comprehension cover reading to search for

information (including skimming and scanning), reading to learn, reading for fun,

reading to integrate information, reading to critique texts, and reading to write

(Nation, 2009:6). Each reader has different purposes depend on what they want to

get from the reading materials.

Dealing with the comprehension skills, there are three types of them which

are shared based on the stages of reading activity (Johnson, 2008:111-116). The

first is pre reading. In this type, comprehension skills are used primarily to

preview the structure of the text to be read or to connect new information to

reader’s prior knowledge. The second one is during reading comprehension. This

type of skills are used to monitor comprehension, to evaluate ideas gleaned from

each paragraph, and to begin organizing ideas within the structure of the text. The

last one is post reading. This type of comprehension skills is used to reconstruct

important ideas, organize those ideas, and evaluate those ideas after reading a

chapter or an article. Thus, every type of comprehension skills are used to

different purposes which is based on the stage of reading activity: pre, during, or

post reading.
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King and Stanley (2004:8) explain that there are five aspects of processing of

reading comprehension. They are; finding factual information, finding main idea,

finding the meaning of vocabulary in context, identifying reference, and making

inferences.” The theory above can be described as follows:

a) Finding main idea

The main idea is the core of a text. To understand a text, a reader must

also able to find the main ideas of the text effectively.

b) Finding detail information of the text

Readers must be able to find the factual information by scanning the

specific details. There are many types of question of factual information

can be found in the text such as; question type of reason, purpose, result,

comparison, means, identify, time, and amount.

c) Guessing the meaning of vocabulary

The readers should develop their ability in guessing some unfamiliar

words. They also need to understand the context of the words or

sentence.

d) Identifying references

Word references are known as pronouns, such as she, he, it, this, those.

By knowing the main subject of the text, the questions are easily can be

answered. Readers need to identify the word reference as a substitution

of pronouns.
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e) Making an inference

The result of reading is comprehends to what the writer wrote. The

Reader is expected to get the messages of the text. In other words, a good

reader is able to draw inference logically and make accurate predictions.

In conclusion, to understand a text material readers need to find the factual

information by scanning the specific details, identify the main idea of a text, find

the meaning of vocabulary in the context by developing their abilities in guessing

some unfamiliar words, identifying the word reference, and able to make

inferences where the students are able take some messages in a text material.

According to Zainil (2005), to understand paragraph involves the process in

identifying the paragraph elements such as; topic, main idea, details of paragraph

and references, paragraph developments such as coherence and cohesion in

between and among the paragraph. From this opinion, it can be described that;

topic, it is the word or phrase as the subject of the paragraph and answer of the

question “what is the whole paragraph about”, and main idea, it is the sentence

that states the topic of the paragraph. It is the answer of the question “what does

the author say about the topic of paragraph”. In short, when the students have the

abilities in identifying the elements of the passage, it means the students find the

essential information in the text.

Based on experts’ opinion above, it can be inferred that reading

comprehensions are one’s ability in comprehending the message of the English

reading materials. It is an interactive and thinking process of transferring printed

letters into meaning in order to communicate certain messages between the writer
 23

and the reader. It involves the process, identifying the text elements such as;

finding main idea, details, the meaning of vocabulary in context, identifying

reference, and making reference. Then, those become indicators for reading

comprehension of this research.

II.3 Teaching Reading

Teaching reading comprehension is essential because reading is the most

important activity in any language classes. Besides, it becomes a medium to get

information. It is also a mean for expanding students’ background knowledge

about language (Rivers, 1981).

According to Nunan (2003: 68), teaching reading has at least two aspects.

Firstly, it can refer to teaching learners who are learning to read for the very first

time. Secondly, the aspect of teaching reading refers to teaching learners who

already have reading skill in their first language. It means that the readers are

demanding to read a lot so that they can have a good skill because in reading, it

has two important aspects which should have the readers. It shows that it can

conclude that the readers must understand two important aspects to teach, in

order the students have a good skill in reading.

Furthermore, Richards (2002: 273) says that reading receives a special focus

on teaching. There are three reasons for this: Firstly, many foreign language

students often have reading as one of their most important goals. Secondly,

written text serves various pedagogical purposes. Thirdly, reading is a skill

which is highly valued by students and teachers alike. It means that the

reading is a skill that has good assessment for the students and teachers.
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Based on the explanation above, it can be inferred that teaching reading

is a process to get information and knowledge, reading is useful for other

purposes; any exposure to English to provide students understand it more, is a

good thing for language students, it also provides good models for English writing

and provide opportunities to study the language.

II.4 The Nature of Narrative Text

A narrative is a meaningful sequence of events told in words. It is

sequential in that the events are ordered, not merely random. Sequence always

involves an arrangement in time (and usually other arrangements as well). A

straightforward movement from the first event to the last constitutes the simplest

chronology. However, chronology is sometimes complicated by presenting the

events in another order: for example, a story may open with the final episode and

then flash back to all that preceded it (Thomas S. Kane 2000).

The purpose of narrative text is to entertain or to amuse the readers about

the story. A summary of the characteristics of narrative text is presented in the

following table. It is important to note that “orientation” and “re-orientation” are

also called “introduction” and “conclusion”.

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Table 2.1
Narrative descriptiom

Main
Type text Purpose Generic structure
Grammatical
Features

Orientation (who, where,

when)

Complication where the Past tense

problem starts.

To entertain Resolution where the crisis is Temporal

Narrative
the reader resolved. conjunction

Re-orientation: the ending of

the story

Evaluation: to evaluate the

moral message of the story

II.4.1 Types of Narrative

There are different types of narrative:

1. Legend: Sangkuriang, MalinKundang, etc.

2. Fable: Mousedeer and crocodile.

3. Fairy tale: Cinderella, Snow white, Pinocchio, etc.

4. Folktale

5. Short story

6. Real-life drama

7. Classic
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8. Fantasy

9. Adventure

10. Science Fiction

11. Myth

12. Mystery

II.4.2 Generic (Schematic) Structure

Thomas S. Kane explained as follow:

1. The focus is on a sequence of events,

2. The narrative generally begins with an orientation

3. Ordered in chronological sequence

4. Sometimes it has a complicated chronology. The story may open with

the final episode and then flash back to all that preceded it.

5. Stories can be very long and complicated, with many characters,

elaborate plots, and subtle interpenetration of character, action, and

setting. In writing that is primarily expository, however, narratives are

shorter and simpler.

6. Characters and action are the essential elements

7. Occasionally characters are animals (as in an Aesop fable), and

sometimes a dominant feature of the environment functions almost like

a character (the sea, an old house).

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II.5 The Nature of Number Heads Together

Number Heads Together is a kind of technique whichfocusmore on the

students’ activities in looking for, processing, and reporting information from

variety sources which finally will be presented in front of the class. Spencer

Kagan introducedit in 1992 and started to develop in 1997. It is usually begun by

dividing class into several groups. Each student in group is given number to make

easier to work on their own group to change position, to arrange materials, to

present, and to get response from other groups. Besides, the structure of Number

Head Together technique is derived from the work of Spencer Kagan. The

purposes are processing information, communication, developing thinking, review

of material, checking prior knowledge (“Numbered Heads Together,” 2003).

Number Head Together as one of the techniques in cooperative learning

usethe formation of small groups in order to make the learners work cooperatively

to maximize the process of individual learning and collective learning (Smith,

1996 in Barkley et al., 2012:7). Working in groups not only increases students’

active participation, it also encourages social skill development, enhances

communication, and increase independence, and facilitates effective learning

(Westwood, 2008, p. 68). Moreover, students who develop social relationship

with the teacher and the classmates tend to be more active in learning process, to

show personal growth and better academic achievement, and to feel more satisfy

with their education condition compared with the isolated students (Barkley et.al.,

2012:8).
 28

Moreover, the students work in group in order to process information,

answer the questions raised by the teacher, and study together with other group

members. Work in group is more effective than work individually. Individual

works better in quality when they were able to see and hear other working, and

they tend to be more productive when they work in groups than that of work alone

(Gillies and Ashman, 2003). It indicates that when someone works together on

group tasks and wants to achieve the group goals together, they would often

provide information, prompts, reminders, and enthusiasm to others’ requests for

help or perceived need for help (Gillies and Ashman, 2003:11).

Regarding the group members in the implementation of the Number Head

Together, students are put based on the different levels of achievement. Theyget

equal roles in supporting the group to achieve the goals (Slavin, 1985:11; Johnson

and Johnson, 1985:118). Hence, in the implementation of the Number Head

Together, the participation of each member of the groups is essential. It would be

significantly seen in the quiz (group competition) session. Therefore, the students

were required to engage in group discussion, knowing that their contribution later

on in quiz would be graded in comparison to those of their classmates (Pepitone,

1985:26).

II.5.1 Teaching Reading by Number Head Together

Number Head Together technique is a kind of technique which focus more

on students’ activity in looking for, processing, and reporting the information

from various sources which finally will be presented in front of the class.

Regarding the advantages, the Number Head Together is beneficial to heighten

 29

students’ confidence in learning process, increase students’ attendance in English

class, increase students motivation in accepting the material given by the teacher,

decrease the existance of annoying behaviour in class, minimize the interpersonal

conflict among students, give the students deeper understanding about the

material given by the teachers, improve students character, sensitivity, and

tolerance, increase students learning achievement (Ibrahim, 2000 in Suprasetyo,

2009:4).

The implementation of the Number Head Together, the teacher’s role is a

facilitator in which he/she gives a task and arranges the learning activities. In this

regard, the teacher asks a question and then calls on one of the students with a

raised hand. Itoffers an alternative to the competitive approach of whole-class

question-answer (Coffey: n.d.).

Morevoer, there are four basic steps of the Number Head Together

(Hubbard and Herminghaus, 2009:3):

1. Students number off in teams. The team or the groups consisted of

students from different level of achievement. It can be called as the

heterogeneous groups. The “engine” that runs Number Heads

Together as one of the cooperative learning is always the same, it was

heterogeneous groups working toward a common goal (Slavin,

1985:7)

2. Teacher provides the reading material. In this step, the students need

to heads together to discuss. The method that is closest to pure

cooperation is called “learning together”.

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3. Students work in small groups to discuss the reading material, for

which the group receives praise and recognition. Afterwards, this

method emphasizes the students to be good group members and

continues evaluation of group functioning by the group members

(Johnson and Johnson, 1971 in Slavin, 1985:8)

4. Teacher calls a number to share from each team. Furthermore, the

game leads the class through a series of steps and principles designed

to promote learning through cooperation, active participation, and

individual accountability (Slavin, 1985; Kagan, 2013). Here is the step

where the competitiveness among the group was revealed.

Competitiveness in classroom activity or among the group particularly

in the implementation of the Number Head Togetheris beneficial. It

could build students effort to excel themselves and to show that they

could do the best.

Based on the explanation above, the writer makes the steps with adding

some steps:

1. The teacher divides the students into some groups. Each group

consists of four or five students,

2. The teacher gives “head number”: head 1, head 2, head 3, head 4, and

etc. for each group members,

3. The teacher provides reading text for the students and gives them

opportunity to read, comprehend and discuss it together in their own

 31

group.They are allowed to consult to the teacher about the obstacles

they face in discussing the reading text,

4. The teacher calls the “heads” from each group which get opportunity

to answer the questions,

5. The teacher asks the students to submit the paper as soon as

possiblebecause the teacher will determine the winner from the

correctness of the answer and the celerity of answer sheets

submission,

6. The teacher together with all students reveal the right answer and

check the answer sheets submitted based on the series of correctness

and submission,

7. The teacher adds up the points for each group then give them grades,

8. The teacher will conduct individual test by giving students some other

more questions which still related to the previous reading text,

9. The teacher gives the students will get two scores: from the group

competition, and the individual tasks.

II.5.2 Effectiveness of Teaching Reading Comprehension through Number

Heads Together

Several experts proposed theories about the effectiveness of teaching

reading comprehension through the Number Head Together techniqueas one of

the techniques which is including in cooperative learning into four main

indicators.
 32

First, it is reflected from how the teacher managedthe classroom activities

to produce better achievement regardless of which curriculum materials,

pedagogical approach, or reading program they use, and how the students set

about their classroom learning (Cooper and McIntyre,1996:1; Hammond: 2001:2-

3; Richard Allington, 2002 in Archer, 2004:14). Teaching and learning process,

particularly in teaching reading comprehension through the Number Head

Togetherwould run effectively when the teachers dotheir job regarding the

curriculum, the teaching program, and any other preparation before they run the

process and tried to collaborate with the students to create a good classroom

learning environment.

Second, it is effective when it could encourage students to participate

equally as active members (Coffey: n.d.; Mohr, 1998 in Archer, 2004:14, 17;

Westwood, 2008:68; Smith, 1996 in Barkley et al., 2012:7). Regarding the

activity includes in the implementation of the Number Head Together technique,

students’ participation is the main focus. All the “heads” in each group have to

actively participated in their own group in processing information of the text,

discussing it with other members, and answering the teacher’s questions in quiz

session.

Third, it is effective when the process of teaching and learning process can

increase students’ enthusiasm in learning (Coffey: n.d.; Johnson and Johnson,

2003; Westwood, 2008:68; Yeh, 2004 in Japar, 2011).

Fourth, it is called effective when it can promote the students’ learning

achievement and improve students’ competence, particularly in reading

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comprehension (Cooper and McIntyre, 1996:1; Gillies and Ashman, 2003;

Westwood, 2008:68; Ibrahim, 2000 in Suprasetyo, 2009:4; Yeh, 2004 in Japar,

2011; Barkley et.al., 2012:8). In short, the more effective teaching and learning

process is the better learning achievement studentswill achieve.

II.6 Pairs Check

II.6.1 The Nature of Pairs Check

There are many experts who have given definitions about Pairs Check

technique. Valenti(2001) says that Pairs Check is a technique to structure pair

work on mastery oriented worksheets. Then, Pairs Check is a technique which a

team work in pair on a problem and check the answer with the other partner in a

team (Stenlev,2003; Moersch,2008). In short, Pairs Check is a technique which

students work in pairs within teams.

Kagan (1992) says that Pairs Check technique assumes standard four-

member teams. The teacher gives several problems and teams are divided into A-

B pairs. A student in every pairs answers the question when the other gives

opinion to answers the questions. In this technique, the students have

responsibilities to follow the rule so that they can be easy to conduct their work

because they can share with their pair. In this case, Pairs Check technique is one-

way of ensuring that students will help each other and that all students will stay on

taskand work together to master.

Then, Wiesendanger (1992) says that studentswork in pairs within

teams.Theycan check with another pair in the team to make the correct answer. It

means that by using Pairs Check technique the students will be easy to solve
 34

problem and get the correct answer because they can share with the other pair in a

team.

Pairs Check technique is an effective teaching technique for teaching a

foreign language.It is also important to generate new ideas.It maintains students'

interest as they remain focused on the task and students can cooperate with their

partner to solve a problem.Working in pairs is the best way to makethe studentsbe

self-confidence with their work. They have the oppurtunity to work in pair and

check the anwers of other pair in a team. Wiesendanger (1992) also says that

Pairs Check techniquecan also be effectively implemented in reading. It is clear

that the use of Pairs Check technique in teaching reading gives many benefit to

the students.

Then, Kagan (1992) says that there are some advantages of Pairs Check

technique. First, it can add a sense of security to one’s ability to actually do the

problems. Second, students have an opportunity to discusstheir thought processes.

Third, it increases understanding and retention of theprocess. Finally, it gives

structure on how to work with another person.

Martin (2009)says that Pairs Check technique can help to provide

motivation. Studentswill often work hard on a group project or performance

which they know is going to be seen by the whole class. It can improve their

ability to cooperate.

The application of Pairs Check technique in the classroom can help the

teacher in teaching reading comprehension of narrative text and it can help the

students in learning activities. Teacher and students get the advantages of this
 35

technique. Because of the advantages, the researcher uses this technique in this

research.

II.6.2 Teaching Reading by Using Pairs Check Technique

Teaching reading in senior high school gives the apportunity to the students

to develop their language skills. The teacher should use the appropriate technique

that can help their students to be cooperative, active and self confidence in learning

reading. One of the techniques that can be applied by the teacher is Pairs Check

technique. Kagan (1992) says that this technique has the procedures. The

proceduresare as follow:

1) Teams are divided into A-B pairs.

2) A partner of pair answers the question and the other partner gives

sugestion and opinion to find the appropriate answer.

3) Every partner changes position to answer the other question.

4) Pairs compare, discuss and check the answers.

5) Teams celebrate correct answers or resolve differences, placing a

check mark in the box next to the completed problems.

Besides, Ray (2001) says that pairs check technique followthree steps

below:

1) Pair work, it means that the students work in pairs to answer the

question.

2) Pair Check, the pair check the answer of the other pairs in a team.
 36

3) Revises and Celebrate, it means that every pair revises their answer

and team celebrates.

Based on the explanation above, the writer combines these steps and fill in
some steps as follows:
1) Students read the reading material (narrative text) that give by the
teacher
2) Teacher asks the students to work in pairs to answers the questions in
reading comprehension. A partner of pair answers the question and the
other partner gives sugestion and opinion to find the appropriate
answer.
3) Every partner in every pairs (A and B) reverse (ask and answer) roles
for every questions.
4) Pairs compare, discuss and check answers of reading comprehension
material.
5) Every pair revises their work Pair .

6) The teacher and all pairs discuss the answers of question and give the

appreciation to Pairs.

II.7 Related Studies

1. Masruroh (2011).“Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension

Using Numbered Heads Together (NHT) Technique at the Tenth

Grade of SMAN I Cerme”. The research findings showed that this

method was effective to teach reading comprehension at the tenth

grade of SMAN I Cerme.There are improvement result of test. Based

on the observation checklist and questionnaire data in the first cycle

 37

and the second cycle, there are improvement averages of score. The

observation check list in the first cycle the process got 60.5 %, in the

second cycle got 85.87% , then the questionnaire in the first cycle got

75.55% and the second cycle got 84.1 %. It could be said that the

students were interested and became active during teaching and

learning process using Number Head Together. Besides, Masruroh’s

research also showed similiar focus to this research in terms of the

used of Number Head Together in reading comprehension. It gives

contribution to this research in elaborating the used of this method,

particularly in the senior high school level.

2. Hatiningsih (2011).“Improving students’ reading comprehension by

using Numbered Heads Together”. It was conducted in form of

classroom action research at the eighth grade of SMP Negeri 1 Jaten

Karanganyar. The findings of the study indicated that teaching reading

through the Number Head Togethercan improve students’ reading

comprehension. From the observations, theresearcher found that

during the action, the students have shown theirimprovements such as

they were able to comprehend the text well.There are improvement

result of test. Based on the observation checklist and questionnaire

data in the first cycle and the second cycle, there are improvement

averages of score. The observation check list in the first cycle the

process got 65.7 %, in the second cycle got 88.83% , then the

questionnaire in the first cycle got 79.55% and the second cycle got
 38

90.81 %. The students were interested and became active during

teaching and learning process using Number Head Together. Besides,

the students’ motivation and the students’ participation alsoimprove.

Then, the contribution of Hatiningsih’s research to this research is in

terms of the classroom observations conducted to investigate the use

of the Number Head Together in teaching reading comprehension.

3. Sholeh (2010).“Using numbered heads together to improve reading

comprehension and students’ participation”. The research was

conducted in MTs Negeri 1 Bangsal Mojokerto. The implementation

of the Number Head Together focused on teaching reading

comprehension particularly in reading narrative texts. This study used

collaborative classroom action research. The research findings showed

that the implementation of the Number Head Together in teaching

reading comprehension could improve students’ reading ability and

also the students’ participation in classroom activity. There are

improvement result of test. Based on the observation checklist and

questionnaire data in the first cycle and the second cycle, there are

improvement averages of score. The observation check list in the first

cycle the process got 60.5 %, in the second cycle got 92.87% , then

the questionnaire in the first cycle got 75.55% and the second cycle

got 89.51 %.. Then, Sholeh’s research gives contributions to this

research in terms of the the study focus and the indicators used to see

the effectiveness of the Number Head Together in teaching reading

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comprehension. It inspired the researcher to observe similar indicators

to see the effectiveness of the method.

4. Rizkiyah Nur Cahyaningtiyas (2016). “Improving Students’ Writing

Skill Using Pair Check Method at the Second Grade Students of

SMPMuhammadiyah 3 Jetis in the Academic Year Of 2015/2016”.The

purpose of this research is to improve teaching writing using Pair

Check Method, to know the improvement of students writing skill

using Pair Check Method. There are improvement result of test. Based

on the observation checklist and questionnaire data in the first cycle

and the second cycle, there are improvement averages of score. The

observation check list in the first cycle the process got 62.5 %, in the

second cycle got 95.83% , then the questionnaire in the first cycle got

77.55% and the second cycle got 82.1 %. It could be said that the

students were interested and became active during teaching and

learning process using Pair Check Method.

5. Benget Roy Sardi Sitinjak (2012) “Improving Students Achievement

on Writing Descriptive Text through Pairs Check Tecnique.”

conducted classroom action research which aims to find the

improvement of students’ achievements on writing descriptive text

through Pairs Check technique. The subject of the study was XA

students of SMA methodist 7 Medan. The number of students was 37.

The technique for data analysis was quantitative data, the mean

students score for the test I in cycle I was 35,14, the mean score of the
 40

test II in cycle II was 68,21, the mean of the test III in cycle II was

73,18. The conclusion is that Pairs Check Technique can improve the

students wtiring achievement in writing descriptive text.

6. Syari’ah (2017) “The Comparison between Jigsaw and Numbered

Head Together Strategy on Students Reading Comprehension”. The

purpose of this research was to investigate a comparison between the

effects of using jigsaw and number head together strategies toward the

students comprehension of reading narrative text. The design of this

study was a quasi-experimental research. This study involved 56

students consisting of an experimental group I and an experimental

group II form SMP IT Al-Izhar Pekanbaru. Four hypothesis were

proposed in this study to determine the significant differences between

Jigsaw and Numbered Head Together strategy on students reading

comprehension. Pre-test and post-test were given to the sample of this

research. Besides, the sample of t-test and paired sample t-test were

used to analyzed the data. The result of the research indicated that

there was no significant different between the experimental group I

using jigsaw and the experimental group II using numbered head

together in reading comprehension of the srudents. The improvement

of the students’ reading comprehension using jigsaw strategy was

99%, while numbered head together was 60%.

7. Desy fitriani (2015) “Pengaruh menggunakan teknik Pair Check pada

motivasi siswa dan kemampuan menulis di SMPN 1 Bangkinang

 41

Kota”. The purpose of this study is to find the effect of pair check

technique through the student writing ability and to find out the effect

wheter the Pair Check Technique through the students motivation on

writing recount text.the research design in this study is quasi-

eperimental. Peretest and posttest. The research was conducted on Mei

to Juni 2015. The population was 60 students. The students of VIII

SMPN 1 bangkinang Kota. The data collected by pretest and post test

and questionnaire. The test conducted by essay test. The result showed

that the mean score of post test was higher than pretest. 72.11 for

pretest and 82.22 for posttest. And also the student motivation in

writing recount text. That is 72,40 for pretest and 78,25 for posttest.

8. Nurdiana (2016) carried out a research entitled “Using Numbered

Head Together Technique of Students ‘ Rading Comprehension”. the

research design was quasi-experimental research. The population was

the third semester students of English Education department of UIN

SUSKA Riau. The sample were two group which consisted of 55

students by cluster random sampling. Both sample were admintered

the pre-test and post-test. The technique of collecting data used test.

The technique of data analysis used was paired sample t-test. The

research found that there was a significant difference of stuednts

reading comprehension of narrative text after being taught by using

the Numbered Head Together for experimental class and non-

treatment of numbered head together for control class. It was stated by

 42

the value of sig. (2-tailed) was 0,000. It was smaller than 0,05. It mean

that the use of numbered head together had a siginificant effect on

students reading comprehenion of narrative text.. the result of the data

analysis was based on inferntial statistics, which has identified that

after conducting the treatment by using NHT was 87%. It means using

NHT could increase students’ reading comprehension on narrative text

and Ha was accepted, there was a significant effect of using NHT

toward students’ reading comprehension on narrative text.

9. Fidalia MR (2014). “Teaching Reading Comprehension through

Number Heads Together with Teacher’s Scaffolding”. Theaim of this

study is to identify the students’ responses to the use of this method in

reading comprehension. This study employed a quasi experimental

design in form of nonequivalent (pre-test and post-test) control-group

design with a touch of qualitative data. This study involved two

classes of the second grade students at one senior high school in Riau.

They were categorized into control and experimental groups. The data

were collected through three techniques, encompassing classroom

observations, reading comprehension tests, and questionnaire.the

results of the questionnaire suggest that the students showed their

positive responses to the use of the Number Head Together with

teacher’s scaffolding in reading comprehension. They argued that this

method was effective in increasing their confidence, attendance in the

classroom, and enthusiasm to learn.In conclusion, the Number Head

 43

Together with teacher’s scaffolding was effective to help the students

improve their reading comprehension.

10. Ukron (2006).“Effects of Cooperative Learning Method of Pairs

Check Technique on Reading Comprehension”. The aim of this study

is to analyze the effects of cooperative learning method of pairs check

technique on reading comprehension in the 3rd grade Turkish course.

The study was conducted on the 3rd grade students attending a public

elementary school in the main district of Hatay in the second semester,

seven-weeksperiod, of the academic year 2006-2007. This study has a

pretest and post test and control group research design. The

experimental and control group consist of 64 students. He found that

cooperative learningmethod of pairs check technique increased

students’ reading comprehension in the Turkish course. He was

successfull to develop students’ skill and he was able to make students

become interdependent. The relationship between researcher’s

research with Ukron is the researcher also will use pairs check

technique. But, the researcher has different level of students in

conducting her research. In his research, Ukron wanted to analyze the

effects of cooperative learning method of pairs checktechnique on

reading comprehension in the 3rd grade Turkish course.

11. Novita (2010).“Improving Students’ Activity, Creativity and

Achievement through Pairs Check Technique”. The purpose of this study

is to determine the increase of activity, creativity, and student achievement in the

 44

MA class Miftahul XA-Ulum Lenteng Sumenep on learning math using Pair

checks. The result showed that Pairs check technique can improve creativity, as

well as student achievement in mathematics. In her research, pairs check

technique can improve students’ activity, creativity and achievement so that this

research has relationship with researcher’s research because both use pairs check

technique.

12. Irawan (2012).“Improving students’ reading comprehension using

Numbered Heads Together (NHT)”. It was a classroom action

research which was conducted in the eleventh grade of SMA Negeri

Colomadu Karanganyar. The research findings showed that Numbered

Heads Together canimprove the students’ reading comprehension and

the classroom situation inteaching and learning narrative text. The

improvement of students’comprehension includes that students

canunderstand word meaning, recognize sentence meaning, identify

specific information, find detailed information, infer main idea

ofparagraph, identify reference, and infercommicative purpose of the

text. Moreover, the improvement was also in terms of classroom

situationwhichincludes: students are not noisy during English teaching

learning in theclassroom, students tend to be active learners, students

are willing to speakEnglish in the classroom, students pay attention

toward the teacher’sexplanation during teaching learning activity,

students are diligent to dohomework, students enjoy and get interested

in the classroomsituation, students are involved in the teaching

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learning process, and studentssolve the problem by opening their

dictionary. Moreover, the contributions of Irawan’s research to this

research are in terms of the study focus, the criteria used in reading

comprehension, and the indicators used in classroom observations.

These contributions inspired the researcher to use the similar criteria

of reading comprehension and indicators to be observed in classroom

observations.

13. Afrilia (2013).“The Effect of Numbered Heads Together Technique on

Reading Comprehension Achievement of the Eighth Grade Students at

SMP Negeri 2 Tamanan Bondowoso in the 2011/2012 Academic

Year”. The research findings showed that the use of the NHTwas

more effective in teaching reading comprehension than without

applying Number Head Together. Besides, Afrilia’s research has

similiar focus to this research in terms of the effect of the Number

Head Together in reading comprehension. It gives contribution to this

research in elaborating the focus of the study including the theoretical

foundation and the implementation of the method.

14. DestiaRahmawati(2004), “The effectiveness of using cooperative

learning type number head together (NHT) improving reading

comprehension of the students at SMP N 20 Tangerang”. this research

was conducted in form of experimental class at SMPN 20 Tangerang.

Among 14related studies, It is proved that Number Head Togetherand

Pairs Check Technique have been investigated by many researchers. Some

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similarities in technique and research design also applied to this research. A

comparative study will be used as a research design in this research with two

independent variables (Number Head Together and Pairs Check) and one

dependent variable (students’ reading comprehension).

II.8Operational Concepts and Indicators.

The operational concept is the concept to give explanation about

theoretical framework in order to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation

toward the research. There are three variables used in this research, they are

variable X1 and X2 as independent variables (Number Head Together and Pairs

Check technique) and variable Y as dependent variable (students’ reading

comprehension). The indicators compared are about students’ reading

comprehension before and after being taught by using Number Head Together

(NHT) and Pairs Check.

Independent Dependent
a) (X)
Variable Variable (Y)

b)
Treatment of
NHT&PC
Reading
c) Comprehension (Y)
NHT (X1)

PCT (X2)
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II.8.1 Indicator of Number Head Together

1. The teacher divides the students into some groups. Each groups consists of

four or five students,

2. The teacher gives “head number”: head 1, head 2, head 3, head 4, and etc.

for each group members,

3. The teacher provides reading text for the students and gives them

opportunity to read, comprehend and discuss it together in their own

group.They are allowed to consult to the teacher about the obstacles they

face in discussing the reading text,

4. The teacher calls the “heads” from each group which get opportunity to

answer the questions,

5. The teacher asks the students to submit the paper as soon as

possiblebecause the teacher will determine the winner from the correctness

of the answer and the celerity of answer sheets submission,

6. The teacher together with all students reveal the right answer and check

the answer sheets submitted based on the series of correctness and

submission,

7. The teacher adds up the points for each group then gives them grades.
 48

II.8.2 Indicator of Pairs Check Technique

1. Teacher asks the students to read the reading material (narrative text) that

give by the teacher,

2. Teacher asks the students to work in pairs to answers the questions in

reading comprehension. A partner of pair answers the question and the

other partner gives sugestion and opinion to find the appropriate answer,

3. Teacher asks the students to work in pair (A and B) reverse (ask and

answer) roles for every question,

4. Teacher asks every pairs to compare, discuss and check answers of reading

comprehension material,

5. Teacher asks every pair revises their work Pair,

6. The teacher and all pairs discuss the answers of question and give the

appreciation to Pairs.

II.8.3 Indicatorsof Reading Comprehension

1. Students are able to identify main idea of the text

2. Students are able to identify the detail information

3. Students are able to guessingthe meaning of vocabulary

4. Students are able to identify reference of the text

5. Students are able to make inference

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II.9 Assumptions and Hypotheses

II.9.1 The Assumption

In the research, there are many technique that can be used by the teacher in

teaching learning process. It was assumed that using Number Head Together

(NHT) technique and Pairs Check technique were suitable technique to teach

reading comprehension, especially reading narrative text. Using both techniques,

students can increase their capability in reading comprehension.

II.9.2 Hypotheses

Ho1:There is no significant effect of teaching reading byusing Number

Head Together technique ofstudents reading comprehensionat

SMAN 1 Kampar Utara.

Ha1:There is a significant effect of teaching reading by using Number

Head Together technique ofstudents reading comprehensionat

SMAN 1 Kampar Utara.

Ho2: There is no significant effect of teaching readingby using Pairs

Check technique ofstudents reading comprehensionat SMAN 1

Kampar Utara.

Ha2: There is a significant effect of teaching readingby using Pairs

Check technique ofstudents reading comprehensionat SMAN 1

Kampar Utara.
 50

Ho3: There is no significant different effect of teaching readingbetween

using Number Head Together technique and Pairs Check technique

ofstudents reading comprehensionat SMAN 1 Kampar Utara.

Ha3: There is a significant different effect of teaching reading between

using Number Head Together technique and Pairs Check technique

ofstudents reading comprehensionat SMAN 1 Kampar Utara.