The type of this research was action research. The study attempted to solve
the problems related to the students’ reading comprehension. The objective of this
research study is to improve reading comprehension of Grade XI students of SMAN
1 Kalasan through jigsaw technique.
The steps of this research were reconnaissance, planning, conducting action
and observation, and having reflection. The participants of the research were the
researcher, the English teacher, and the students of Grade XI IPA of SMAN 1
Kalasan. There were two forms of the data in this study. They were qualitative and
quantitative data. The qualitative data were obtained by doing observation,
interviewing the students, the principal, the researcher’s assistant and the English
teacher, making field notes, and holding the discussion with the English teacher as a
collaborator. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were obtained from the students’
reading score of pre-test and post-test and they were analyzed by using descriptive
statistics in SPSS 17 program. There were four elements of descriptive statistics in
describing the result of test. Those were frequencies distribution, mean, standard
deviation, and conversion table. Moreover, to know whether or not there was a
significance of the students’ reading improvement between pre-test and post test
score, the researcher used t-test. This research applied theoretical and time
triangulation to get trustworthiness in analyzing the qualitative data. In addition, the
validity of the qualitative data was obtained by applying democratic validity, outcome
validity, and process validity.
The results of the research show that using jigsaw technique can improve the
students’ reading comprehension and the students’ reading involvement in the
reading class because the findings reveal three results. First, the use of jigsaw can
improve students’ reading comprehension. The students’ improvement is supported
by the result of t-test analysis. According to the t statistic, t value = - 7.595; sig. =
0.000; it means that the score difference is significant because sig. < 0.05. Second,
there were improvements of students’ involvement in the reading class toward the
application of jigsaw technique. They were more active in every activity, they were
willing to participate in the group discussion, and they were more serious to finish the
tasks in groups. They were also motivated to work in groups and they were motivated
in reading the English text
