ABSTRACT

Jumilah, Retno. 2017. The Reading Ability ofthe Tenth Grade Students of SMAN1Mataraman in Comprehending Narrative Text in the Academic Year of 2016/2017. Sarjana's Thesis, English Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin. Advisors: (I) Moh. Yamin, S.Pd, M.Pd.; and (II)Asmi Rusmanayanti, S.Pd, M.Sc.

Keywords: ability, reading comprehension, andnarrative text

The objectives of this research were to find out the reading comprehension ability of tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mataraman in reading comprehension of narrative text and the problems faced by tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mataraman in comprehending narrative text. This research was conducted by using quantitative approach.The design of this research was descriptive. In this research, the population was the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mataraman and the sample was 62 tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mataraman. The researcher used cluster random sampling.

In obtaining the data, the researcher used reading test as reasearch instrument. Based on the result of the test, it was found that the students of SMAN 1 Mataraman had poor ability in comprehending narrative text. Furthermore, the researcher also found out the students’ problems in comprehending narrative text. Guessing the meaning and making inference were the main problems that the students faced in comprehending narrative text. The students’ difficulty in making inference occurred because the students were required to use two or more pieces of hints from a text in order to arrive at a piece of information correctly. Moreover, the difficulties in using inference skill also occur because of the insufficient vocabulary and the lack of decoding practices. While, the students’ difficulty in guessing the meaning occurred because the students had insufficient vocabulary. The students also did not pay attention to the context hence they failed to guess the meaning from it.

Finally, it is suggested to the English teachers to use appropriate techniques in teaching reading comprehension to improve the students’ ability in comprehending a text. The teachers can teach the students skimming and scanning skills. Moreover, the students are suggested to be aware of their problems in comprehending a text. They need to practice more in making inferences and guessing the meaning from context. They also need to enrich their vocabulary from the sources such as books, film, newspaper, or internet.