The purpose of this study was to determine the students' response towards the teaching of reading comprehension using small group discussion. This research involved seventh grade students of a junior high school in Bogor consisting of 28 students. The research used the descriptive qualitative method. To get the data, the researchers used the questionnaire. The assessment of the questionnaire grids were attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. The result showed that the average index score was 81.93 based on the interval chart 80% - 100% this score was very good. It could be concluded that students gave positive response to the use of small group discussion technique

Ani, Siti

Rizqiya, Rissa San

English

Jurnal Mahasiswa IKIP Siliwangi

            PROJECT  (Professional Journal of English Education)  p–ISSN 2614-6320  Volume 7, No. 2, March 2024    e–ISSN 2614-6258    Students’ Response to Small Group Discussion Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension |281 STUDENTS’ RESPONSE TO SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION  Siti Ani1, Rissa San Rizqiya2  IKIP Siliwangi, Indonesia 1 sitiani025@student.ikipsiliwangi.ac.id, 2 rissa.sr@ikipsiliwangi.ac.id   Abstract  The purpose of this study was to determine the students' response towards the teaching of reading comprehension using small group discussion. This research involved seventh grade students of a junior high school in Bogor consisting of 28 students. The research used the descriptive qualitative method. To get the data, the researchers used the questionnaire. The assessment of the questionnaire grids were attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. The result showed that the average index score was 81.93 based on the interval chart 80% - 100% this score was very good. It could be concluded that students gave positive response to the use of small group discussion technique.  Keywords: Small Group Discussion Technique; Descriptive Qualitative    INTRODUCTION  Listening, speaking, reading and writing are four skills of a language, particularly English. Those skills are important to be mastered without ignoring each other. Reading is part four language skills, that should be learned by students. Reading is definitely one of the important language skills that students must read English material for their subject (Andriani, 2019). Furthermore, reading is a part of English competency skills which states the overall understanding of the text. Reading comprehension focuses on making meaning with texts. According to Wolley (2011:5), as cited in Fitriyani (2020) that reading comprehension is the process of making meaning from text. Moreover, Snow as cited in Facharyani et al., (2018) stated, “Reading comprehension is a process ofsimultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language”. In addition, Andriani (2019) states that reading comprehension is a process in which the reader constructs by interacting in the text through a combination of prior knowledge and experience, information from a text, and attitudes that the reader takes in relation to the text. Many students’ in Indonesia fail to comprehend an English text. They read the text, but they cannot understand the whole text. This is because of the low reading habit. Considering the importance of reading skill, teachers of English in Indonesia must improve the teaching reading coprehension. The teachers can use several methods in teaching reading comprehension to students that can make students feel comfortable, interested and not boring, one of which is by using small group discussion techniques. Small group discussion is a learning process in which students work in groups (Djamarah, 2005).  This technique provides the students with skills to solve problems related to subject matter and problems encountered in daily life (Kadwa & Alshenqeeti, 2020). This technique also allows the students to exchange opinion in the group or with the other group (Komalasari: 2010). Based on the Kidsvatter as quoted by Argawati (2014) "a small-group discussion dividing the large classroom into small groups of students to achieve specific objectives permits students to assume more responsibility for their own learning, develop social and leadership skills and become involved in an alternative instructional approach". Hence, the Volume 7, No. 2, March 2024 pp 281-285  282 | Students’ Response to Small Group Discussion Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension students will read the text seriously. They will be also more active in delivering the opinion. As they work in a group, it is expected that the students will be more motivated in reading a text based on the statement above, the aims this research to investigate the students’ response and how to increase small group discussion technique for students’ reading comprehension.    METHOD  This research aims to determine student responses using small group discussion techniques in learning reading comprehension. It took place in a junior high school in Bogor. The respondents were the seventh grade, consisting of 28 students, and the research used the descriptive qualitatative method. According to Apsari (2018) qualitative research is synthecticor holistic, heuristic, with or no control and manipulation of the research content.  Furthermore, Azwar (cited in Syarief, 2020) states that the purpose of descriptive research is to find out systematically and accurately in describing the facts and characteristics of a particular population or field. The descriptive qualitative was apllied in this research to answer the students’ response in using small group discussion technique learningreading comprehension.    RESULTS AND DISCUSSION  Results  To get the data the researchers gave questionnaire to students. The Likert Scale was used. The questionnaire consisted of ten statements developed from Muhlisin (2008), there are four response indicator, namely attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. It was to show  the  interest of students in the  learning process. Here is the table as follows:   Table 1. Respond Categories Respond Categories Points Strongly Agree 5 Agree 4 Neutral 3 Disagree 2 Strongly Disagree 1  The questionnaire consist of 10 questions for students covering attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction.  The questionnaire data was presented based on the students’ questionnaire grid as follows: Table 2. Students’ Responses Questionnaire Grid No Indicator Item No 1 Attention 1,2,3,4 2 Relevance 5,6 3 Confidence 7,8 4 Satisfaction 9,10 Total 10   Volume 7, No. 2, March 2024 pp 281-285  Students’ Response to Small Group Discussion Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension|283 The elaboration of the data was based on four of response indicator: namely attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. Attention Learning activities to improve student responsiveness should include some aspects that must be met, that is awaken and pay to attention during the learning (Maya & Evy, 2014). There were four questions of attention in the questionnaire. The first question asked whether they enjoy the learning. The second question asked whether there is no wrong concept. The third question asked about retention, and the last question asked whether it is easy to learn the subject. Relevance Learning activities to improve student responsiveness should use the subject matter that has relevance to the daily life. (Maya &Evy, 2014). There were two questions of relevance in the questionnaire. The first question asked their interest. Second question asked the time needed to master the concept of learning.  Confidence  Learning activities to improve student responsiveness should include confidence (Maya &Evy, 2014). There were two questions of confidence. The first question about learning motivation. The second question about critical thinking. Satisfaction Learning activities to improve student’s responsiveness shouldcultivate students' satisfaction with learning (Maya &Evy, 2014). There were two questions of satisfaction. The first question  more appreciated in expressing opinions and the second about the courage to express opinions.  After collecting the data, the researchers calculated and put them into the five categories and shown in the point of percentage.     No Questions No STS TS N S SS  Index 1 1 1 3 5 20 4  73.09.00 2 2 1   6 16 11  83.06.00 3 3 1   8 2 22  86.06.00 4 4     1 2 30  97.05.00 5 5 1 2 6 13 11  78.07.00 6 6     4 11 18  88.04.00 7 7 1 4 8 10 10  74.05.00 8 8 1 2 7 12 11  78.01.00 9 9 3 2 8 8 12  74.05.00 10 10 1   10 12 10  78.01.00  Average score for each criteria Attention  : 84.815 Relevance : 83.055 Confidence : 76.03 Satisfaction : 76.03  Each item of the questionnaire was calculated using thr formula (t x pn) t is total respondents and pn is the point of number of Likert Scale. The result was put into index formula namely  Total index score 819.3  Average index score 81.93  Volume 7, No. 2, March 2024 pp 281-285  284 | Students’ Response to Small Group Discussion Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension total score / y x 100. To measure the parameter of this result was put into the index formula namely total score / the interval was used. The final score was gotten by calculating all index score, scores divided by total questionnaire. The result showed the average index score was 81,93 based the interval chart, the range between 80-100% was very good. It means that the small group discussion technique was effective to be implemented in studyingreading comprehension.   Discussion  Based on the analysis of the questionnaire result, it was more emphasized the students’ response of small group discussion technique in the implementation in studying the reading comprehension. The small group discussion technique could help students understand the problem faced by them in studying the reading comprehension. It also the result shows that students were easy to understand the material. In other words, the small group discussion technique got a very good response from students’ because it could improve reading comprehension. This is line with the result of previous  research was conducted by Setianingsih (2020) that small group discussion technique is strongly effective in teaching reading that comprehension to increase reading comprehension. It means that the small group discussion  method got positive response from students. Regarding the average score of each criteria, attention go the highest score. It means that small group discussion can make the students pay more attention to the learning since they collaborate with their peers to discuss the learning materials. However the lowest score was gained both by satisfaction and confidence. It could be implied that the learning process should be balanced by other activities which can improve their confidence and satisfaction for example the use of game or other media.    CONCLUSION  The students’ responses toward the use of small group discussion in reading comprehensionat seventh grade in junior high school in Bogor have a good response. The findings shows that almost all of the students (81.93%) agree that learning reading with small group discussion technique becomes easy and they can understood the text well. And thus, the small group discussion technique is either of alternative ways to teach reading comprehension.    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  The researchers would like to say many thanks to their beloved parents, family, teachers and best friends for their prayers and support in completing this research. The researchers would like to say many thanks profusely to all parties who have been involved in this publication.   REFERENCES  Andriani, D. (2019). An Analysis of Reading Texts. ANGLO-SAXON: Jurnal Ilmiah Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, 10(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.33373/anglo.v10i1.1921 Apsari, Y. (2018). Reflective Reading Journal in Teaching Writing. Indonesian EFL Journal, 4(2), 39. https://doi.org/10.25134/ieflj.v4i2.1374 Argawati (2014). Improving Students’ Speaking Skill Using Group Discussion Facharyani, N., Masrupi, M., & Rahmawati, E. (2018). The Influence of Using Jigsaw as a Method on Students’ Reading Comprehension at the Seventh Grade of SMPN 7 Kota Serang. Journal of English Language Studies, 3(1), 80.  Volume 7, No. 2, March 2024 pp 281-285  Students’ Response to Small Group Discussion Technique in Teaching Reading Comprehension|285 https://doi.org/10.30870/jels.v3i1.2638 Fitriyani, N., Suwandi, & Sutopo, D. (2020). The effectiveness of herringbone and buzz group techniques to teach reading comprehension for students with high and low reading habits. English Education Journal (EEJ), 10(3), 331–339. Kadwa, M. S., & Alshenqeeti, H. (2020). International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (IJLLT) The Impact of Students’ Proficiency in English on Science Courses in a Foundation Year Program. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (IJLLT), 3(11), 55–67. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt Muhlisin, A. (2018). Analysis of Students’ Response of The Implementation Of Rms (Reading, Mind Mapping, And Sharing)Learning Model In Philosophy Of Science Syarif, H., Setianingsih, S., & Harahap, D. I. (2020). The effect of Small Group Discussion on Teaching Inferential Reading. Jurnal Mahasiswa Fakultas Ilmu Sosial Dan Kependidikan, 1(1), 158–167. http://e-journal.potensi-utama.ac.id/ojs/index.php/FISK/article/view/696/960 Solihah, A., & Rustandi, A. (2020). Improving Reading Skill of Procedure Text Trough Picture Walk. PROJECT (Professional Journal of English Education), 3(2), 195. https://doi.org/10.22460/project.v3i2.p195-201 Maya, S. & Evy. (2014). Pengaruh Strategi ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction) terhadap Motivasi dan Hasil belajar TIK Siswa Kelas VII di SMP Negeri 4 Negara. e-Journal Program Pascasarjana Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha Program Studi Teknologi Pembelajaran,4(1), 1-10.    

STUDENTS’ RESPONSE TO SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION

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STUDENTS’ RESPONSE TO SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION

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