USING COOPERATIVE SCRIPT FOR TEACHING READING
IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Suciati Dwi Ningsih
A. Introduction
Reading is one important skill that must be mastered. We can increase our knowledge through reading. Without
reading, we cannot share
others, some useful information. Reading also important for students to develop their language
skill. The success of study depends on the reading skill. Ramelan (1990:1) reported that reading is something crucial and
indispensable for students, because the success of their study depends on the
greater part of their ability to read. It means that students have to have good
ability in reading. The students will find the difficulties to finish their
study if they are not having a good ability in reading. In order to make the
students has good ability in reading, they must often read some text. In the
English classroom, reading takes an important part in learning process. To make
students understand about
the whole content, the students must have good reading comprehension.
One of the problems that experienced by students is comprehending the
text. Most of the students found the difficulty to comprehend the content while
they are reading an English text individually. Finocchiaro (1974:79) stated
that reading is a complex skill. It means that to get the meaning and
comprehend text easily, we have to know the sounds of language, structures and
vocabularies. It is important for the teacher to choose the suitable strategy
in order to make them easier in understanding the content of the text. The
difficulty of understanding the content of the text makes students not
interested in following reading lesson. The teacher must choose the suitable
strategy to make students' enthusiasm and interested in following reading
lesson. Based on those problems, the suitable strategy to solve those problems
is using cooperative script. Cooperative script used to make students not feel
bored in reading class. The students can comprehend the text easily by sharing
the information to others friends. Therefore, it makes the writer want to
describe the process of using cooperative script for teaching reading in Junior
High School.
B. Theories
1. Reading
Reading is a way to know
something that we look, so we can get information from the text that we read.
Leu (1987: 9) stated that reading is process of understanding written language.
When we are reading text on writing form so it consist of our effort how we can
understand it so that we can reach the purpose of reading. Leu (1987:8) stated that reading is
getting meaning from the print. Reading can make us get the meaning from the
text that we read. When we use our eyes and brain maximally in understanding
the text that we read, we can get the information in the text. By reading, we
also can interact with something that have not we seen. It makes us know
something that we never know before.
Reading is one of the language
skills that is considered very important for developing students’ competence in
learning language, especially English learning. Ramelan (1990: 1) said that
even after leaving school, reading will be of much use for students, by reading
a lot of literacy works on various kinds of subject, their mind will be more
develop in maturity, more reading means more knowledge. It means that by
reading students can get a lot of information that make their knowledge be
wider than before. It can also be useful for them either at school or in their
daily activity. Widyanto (1995: 62) said that there are five points in the
importance of reading as way to successful study. They are: First, reading is
the most full learning resources. Second, reading is the cheapest learning
resources. Third, reading the easiest learning resources. Fourth, reading is
the most speed learning resources. Fifth, be up to date. It shows that by
reading, we can get a lot of information and it does not need a lot of fund, so it is very easy to be done by
every person.
The main aim of reading is looking
for and getting information texts. In reading, students must understand the
content, main idea and the meaning of difficult word in that text so that they
can get the information. In learning activities, teaching is not be separated.
It is the most important part of learning. Without teaching, the knowledge
can't be transferred.
2.
Teaching Reading
The teacher has to help
students to understand the content from the various texts. In teaching reading,
helping students to understand the meaning of the texts is an important part.
The students have to know how to access the meaning of the text to solve the
problems. But, make the student’s expert with this skill is more challenging
for the teacher. The
purpose of reading instructions is to help students create a new knowledge from
the text that they have read and apply them to solve their problems. (Leigh
Hall: 2009) stated that
the critical goals in reading instruction are to develop students' concepts about print, phonics
knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, fluency and
comprehension abilities. The concepts about print include how to hold, open and
turn pages in books. This is for the beginning readers. Second is developing
their phonics knowledge. The example of phonics knowledge knows the sound of
letter s is different from the letter n. Reading cannot take place without
understanding the sounds letters make. The third is developing their vocabulary knowledge. The
vocabulary knowledge is one of the techniques to success at reading. If the students
have a lot of vocabulary, they are also good in reading. The fourth is developing
the student’s fluency. The students who have poor fluency will found the
difficulties in reading. The students will read slowly if they poor in fluency.
They will read word by word in reading text. They are not focus to understand
the meaning of the text because of their poor fluency. The last one is develop
the student's comprehension. The students had to find out the main idea and the
fact to make the meaning of the text. The strategies that be applied to
students in making meaning from the text is comprehension strategies. The example of comprehension strategies are
visualizing, asking questions and summarizing.
Scientific Approach is used to
teach reading in Junior High School. McCollum (2009) explained that the important components of
scientific approach are foster a sense of wonder, encourage observation, push
for analysis, require
communication. So, the teacher has to present learning based on those
components. National Education
Ministry (2013) explained that the steps to apply this approach are: observing,
questioning, experimenting, associating and communicating. In observing, the
students read the text by tools or not using tools. In this step, the students
find the information through reading. In questioning, the students ask some
questions about the information that they are not understand. The purpose is to
get the new information about what they are read. In this step, the students
develop their creativity and their critical thinking. In experimenting, the
students doing experiment, read text from another sources, observing the
object, doing activity and interview with informant. In this step the students
develop their attitude, they can respect with another opinion and communicate
with others. In associating, the students cultivate the information that they
have already gotten. In communicating, the students deliver the conclusion from
the text that they have already read.
3.
Cooperative Learning
Junior high students need to
find ways to express themselves as they transition from childhood to
adolescence. The English classroom offers many opportunities to inspire their
individuality through reading and writing. Enhance the students’ experience
with games and activities that give them occasions to use literature and
language creatively. Working together is one of the ways to make students
active in following reading class. One of the methods that apply working
together is cooperative learning.
Slavin (1986) emphasized the
applicability of cooperative learning to planning instruction on school
subjects and formation of heterogeneous groups. His definition on cooperative
learning is that cooperative learning methods are structured, systematic, and
instructional strategies which are used at any grade level and in most school subjects.
Cooperative learning is a method of instruction that has students working
together in groups, usually with the goal of completing a specific task. Slavin
(1995) identified cooperative learning as students work together in four member
teams to master material initially presented by the teacher. This method can
help students develop leadership skills and the ability to work with others as team. However, gifted students are often placed in groups with
non-gifted children, sometimes with the goal of having the gifted student help
the others, either directly or by example. In these instances, the gifted
student is not likely to learn anything new, while the non-gifted students are
not likely to develop any leadership scores. There are many kinds of strategy
in cooperative learning. Those are: Jigsaw, Student Teams-Achievement Divisions
(STAD), Group Investigation, and Cooperative Script.
Cooperative script is a study
method in which students work in pairs and take turns orally summarizing
sections of material to be learned. For the teacher who teach reading in Junior
High School, this strategy is appropriate to be implemented for teaching
reading.
4.
Cooperative script
Cooperative learning in a systematic
and practical intended to be use as a main element in the pattern of
arrangement in the classroom, the influence of the application of this method
has also been applied to a wider curriculum. The idea behind the cooperative
form of learning that is if students want for their group work, then the work
done by motivating members to be better in the learning process, and this will
facilitate the achievement of a material that has been submitted by teachers. A
method of learning where students work in pairs and take turns verbally
explains the parts of the material in the study. The method or methods of
cooperative group work is an effort to help one another script between two or
more persons, among individuals with groups, and between groups with other groups
in carrying out tasks or solve problems faced by or working on various programs
that are prospective in order to realize common prosperity.
As we know, cooperative script
is a method of learning where students work in pairs and take turns verbally explains
the parts of the material in the study. The characteristic of cooperative
script are: First, learning with friends. Second, face to face with friend.
Third, listening among members. Fourth, learning own in a group of friends.
Fifth, learning in small groups. Sixth, productive speak or express opinion.
Seventh, students make decision. The last is an active student.
5.
The procedure of using cooperative script in teaching reading
The
steps of cooperative script reading take an important part in teaching reading.
If the teacher does not apply the right procedure in teaching reading, learning
objective can't reach. The procedures are: First, teacher divides the students
to pair up. Second, teachers share the discourse/materials for each student to
read and create a summary. Third, teachers and students who first set acted as
a speaker and who will act as a listener. Fourth, speaker read out the summary
as complete as possible, by entering the main ideas in summary. While the
audience is listening to correct/show the main ideas that are less
comprehensive and help to remember the main ideas by connecting the previous
material or with other material. Fifth, exchanging roles, initially as a
speaker exchanged into listeners and vice versa, and do as above. Sixth, the
teacher discusses the conclusion with the students. The last is closing. The following is the description of
how to teach reading using cooperative script in Junior High School
.
C. Analysis
1. Learning goal
In this paper, the students are those who sit in their eighth grade
students in second semester of Junior High School. The topic that the teacher
discussed is narrative text. This topic is referred to Curriculum 2013. The
skill that the teacher used is focused on reading only.
The students have to reach the goal in the end of the learning process.
The goal are: First, the students are able to find the general information of
narrative text. Second, the students are able to find the main idea of each
paragraph. Third, the students are able to find the generic structure and
language features of narrative text. Fourth, the students are able to make a
summary of narrative text by their own word. To reach those goals, the teacher
has to deliver based on the indicator in syllabus. The following is the process
of teaching reading using cooperative script in Junior High School.
2. Teaching Learning Steps
a. Pre-activities
There are
three steps to teach narrative text. The first is initial activity. The second is
main activity. The last is close activity. In initial activity, teacher greets
the students. The teacher ask some questions about narrative text that the
students have read as brainstorming. The teacher shows the students the story
of A Wolf and A Dog. By guiding, the teacher ask the students to find out the
general information through answer some questions from the teacher. The teacher
ask the students to find out the main idea from each paragraph, in this
activity the teacher still guide them. The teacher ask the students to find the
generic structure and language features, in this activity, the students still
guided. The following is the story of A Wolf and A Dog.
A Wolf and A Dog
Once there was a wolf that was nearly dead with hunger. He was very thin,
so that the outline of his bones could be seen clearly beneath his thinning
coat of hair. With hardly enough energy to walk, the wolf had little hope of
finding food. As he lay beneath a large tree, a dog out for a walk noticed him.
Seeing how thin and hungry-looking the wolf was, the dog felt sorry for him and
said, "You are in terrible shape! You look as if you haven't eaten for
many days."
"You're right," said the wolf. "I haven't eaten because
you and your friends are doing such a good job of guarding the sheep. Now I am
so weak that I have little hope of finding food. I think I will surely
die."
Then why not join us? Asked the dog. "I work regularly and I eat
regularly. You could do the same. I will arrange it. You can help me and the
other dogs guard the sheep. In that way, we won't have to worry about your
stealing the sheep any more and you won't have to worry about going hungry any
more. It's a good deal for both of us."
The wolf thought it over for a few minutes and then decided that the dog
was right. So they went off together toward the ranch house where the dog
lived. But, as they were walking, the wolf noticed that the hair on a certain
part of the dog's neck was very thin. He was curious about this, for the dog
had such a beautiful coat everywhere else. Finally, he asked the dog about it.
"Oh, don't worry about that," said the dog. "It's the
place where the collar rubs on my neck when my master chains me up at
night."
"Chained up!" cried the wolf, "Do you mean that you are
chained up at night? If I come to live with you, will I be chained up at night
too?"
That's right," answered the dog. "But, You'll get used to it
soon enough. I hardly think about it anymore."
"But, if I am chained up, then I won't be able to walk when I want
to take a walk or to run where I want to run," the wolf said. "If I
come to live with you, I won't be free anymore." After saying this, the
wolf turned and ran away.
b. Main activities
In main activity, the teacher ask
the students to make a partner. The teacher flip a coin to determine who will
be a partner A and who will be a partner B. After that, the teacher ask partner
A reads the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf and partner B read the story of The
Goose and The Golden Eggs. When both are finished, the teacher put the passage
out of sight. The teacher asks one of the partner A orally summarizes the story
of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The teacher allow partner B to ask some questions
about partner A summary. The teacher asks all of partner A work together to
develop summary to make the story memorable. Then, exchanging roles, the
teacher repeats steps above for story of The Goose and The Golden Eggs with
partner B. After finished, the teacher asks both of partners read the story by
their own word.
The following
is story for partner A.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
There was once a young shepherd
boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was
lonely for him watching the sheep all day. No one was near, except for three
farmers he could sometimes see working in the fields in the valley below.
One day the boy thought of a
plan that would help him get a little company and have some fun. He ran down
toward the valley crying, “Wolf! Wolf!”
The men ran to meet him, and
after they found out there was no wolf after all, one man remained to talk with
the boy awhile.
The boy enjoyed the company so
much that a few days later he tried the same prank again, and again the men ran
to help him.
A few days later, a real wolf
came from the forest and began to steal the sheep. The startled boy ran toward
the valley, and more loudly than ever he cried, “Wolf! Wolf!”
But the men, who had been
fooled twice before, thought that the boy was tricking them again. So no one
came to help the boy save his sheep.
The following is story for partner B.
The
Goose and The Golden Eggs
Once a farmer went to the nest
of his goose and found there an egg, all yellow and shiny. When he picked it
up, it was heavy as a rock. He was about to throw it away because he thought
that someone was playing a trick on him. But on second thought, he took it
home, and discovered to his delight that it was an egg of pure gold!
He sold the egg for a lot of
money. Every morning the goose laid another golden egg, and the farmer soon
became rich by selling the eggs.
As he grew rich, he also grew
greedy. “Why should I have to wait to get only one egg a day?” he thought. “I
will cut open the goose and take all the eggs out of her at once.”
When the goose heard the
farmer’s plan, she flew away to a nearby farm. So when the farmer came out the
next day, do you know what he found in the goose’s nest?. Nothing.
c.
Post-activities
In close activity, the teacher
asks some questions about the generic structure and language features of
narrative text. The teacher also asks about the moral value from each story.
The teacher gives them homework. The teacher says good bye.
3. Evaluation
The teacher evaluates students
based on their summary that they have made. Their enthusiasm in following
reading lesson through answer the questions from the teacher and the respond to
help the other students who give less comprehensive summary also become
evaluation.
4.
The role of teacher
The roles of teacher in this strategy are: First, the teacher as a
facilitator is able to make good environment in class. Second, the teacher as
mediator to link the lesson in classroom with the real life. The third, as a
director-motivator the teacher guide the students to direct the discussion
without give them the right answer. Fourth, the teacher as an evaluator. The
teacher evaluates the students in teaching and learning activities are ongoing.
5. The role of students
In this strategy, the roles of the students are: First, the students
become a recorder. They write down the important information as tools to make a
summary and help other student to complete their summary that less
comprehensive. Second, the students as a summarizer. They restate their
conclusions. Third, the students as spokesperson. They represent their summary
in front of the class.
6. Advantages
In applying cooperative script,
of course there is advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of cooperative
script are; through cooperative learning strategies students are not too
dependent on the teacher but it can add. Cooperative learning strategies
develop the ability of an idea or ideas with the word verbally and compare with
other peoples’ idea. Helping children to care for others, and aware of the
limitation students and receive all the difference. Student more responsible in
the learning a powerful effort in developing academic achievement, developing
tolerance for others and develop skills to set time. Student can solve their
own problems. Interaction among students takes place to increase student
motivation and give stimulus to think.
7.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages in
cooperative script are; Assessment in cooperative learning strategy is based on
group work. Effort in developing a group consciousness requires a fairly long
period of time.
D. Conclusion
Teaching narrative text in Junior High School through cooperative script,
students are able to find the general information, find the main idea of each paragraph,
find the generic structure and language features of narrative text, and make a
summary of narrative text by their own word. This strategy can increase the
student’s enthusiasm in reaching the goals because of cooperation among
students, makes the students comprehend the content of the text quickly so that
they can create a good summary, develop the student’s tolerance with other and
also develop students to set time. In short, teaching reading narrative text
using cooperative script is appropriate for Junior High School students.
E. References
Cooperative Learning & Teaching Scripts. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~bobweb/script.html
Scientific Approach. Retrieved from http://kampungjuara.blogspot.com/2013/11/artikel_8544.html?m=1
Learning and Teaching Reading. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/learning-and-teaching-reading Peran Guru dalam Pembelajaran Kooperatif.
Retrieved from http://dedi26.blogspot.com/2013/10/peran-guru-dalam-pembelajaran-kooperatif.html?m=1
Cooperative Learning. Retrieved from https://www.teachervision.com/pro-dev/cooperative-learning/48531.html?page=2&for_printing=1)
The Implementation of Cooperative Script Method in Teaching
Reading to The Eight Grade of MTS Pembangunan Pacitan in Academic Year
2012-2013. Retrieved from http://my-dock.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-implementation-of-cooperative.html?m=1
