IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION BY USING KNOW-WANT-LEARN (KWL) STRATEGY AT SMP DHARMA WANITA MEDAN

This study is aimed at finding out the impacts of the use of Know-Want-Learn strategy in improving the reading comprehension among seventh grade students of SMP Dharma Wanita Medan in the academic year of 2016/2017.  The study was action research in two research cycles. In the study, the writer collaborated with the English teachers and the students. The data of this study were qualitative in nature supported by quantitative data. Qualitative data were obtained from the results of classroom observation and collaborators’ discussion. Quantitative data were obtained from pre-test and post test results. The instruments for collecting the data were observation, interview, and the pre-test and posttest. The data were in the form of field notes, interview, and the scores of the students’ pre-test and posttest. A t-test was used for the analysis of the quantitative data.The results of the two cycles show that the use of Know-Want-Learn Strategy is effective to improve the students’ reading comprehension. It is supported by the qualitative data which show that (1) Know-Want-Learn Strategy can help the teacher to increase the students’ comprehension of the text; (2) Know-Want-Learn strategy can help the students to preview the text, assess what they have learned after reading, and attract their interest in reading. The finding is also supported by the quantitative data. The mean of the students’ reading comprehension scores improves from 31 in the pre-test to 58 in the post-test. From the results above, it can be concluded that the use of Know-Want-Learn strategy can improve students’ reading comprehension.