THE IMPLEMENTATION OF START SIMPLE STORIES TO IMPROVE THE

EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

AT SMP N 1 JELBUK IN 2014/2015
ACADEMIC YEAR
Endang Dewani
Muhammadiyah University of Jember
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
English Department
Jember, East Java Indonesia

Key Word : Start Simple Stories (SSS) Method, reading comprehension achievement.

Reading is an active attempt, on the part ofreader, understand a writer’s message. It is

a good way to develop and understand English. It is also important to improve the students’
reading comprehension.
This research focuses on improving students’ reading comprehension by applying
“Start Simple Stories” method. The implementation of Start Simple Stories (SSS) did not
allow the students to looked up the meaning of the word in a dictionary. The students could
understand the sentence by utilizingthe content and they could understand the text by using
pictures. The students did not force themselves in reading when they were getting bored with
the story. The purpose of this research is to know how Start Simple Stories (SSS) can
improve students’ reading comprehension and students’ active participation. This research
was done in two cycles in CAR (Classroom Action Research). The data was taken from
observation, interview and test. The research was conducted in the eighth grade students at
SMP N 1 Jelbuk in Jember.
The findings of this research indicated that the application of “Start Simple Stories
(SSS) method was able to improve students’ reading comprehension and students’ active
participation in the eighth grade students at SMP N 1 Jelbuk. It was shown by the calculation
score of the test which increased. In cycle 1,the means score of the students’ reading testwas
68.8 and the students’ active participation was 43.3% it shown that there are 13 students
active and 17 students passive. The cycle 2 the means score of the students’ reading test was
76.8 and the students’ active participation was 83.8% it means that there were 25 active
students and there were 5 passive students.
And the conclusion of this reserach wasStart Simple Stories (SSS) method could improve the
eighth grade students’ reading comprehension in 2014/2015 academic year. This method
could improve the students’ reading comprehension because by reading a lot of a simple text
made the students had good habit in reading, so that they couldincrease their reading as good
as possible.
 THE IMPLEMENTATION OF START SIMPLE STORIES TO IMPROVE THE
EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
AT SMP N 1 JELBUK IN 2014/2015
ACADEMIC YEAR
Endang Dewani
Universitas Muhammadiyah Jember
Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan
Program Studi Bahasa Inggris
Jember, Jawa Timur Indonesia

Kata Kunci: Metode Start Simple Stories (SSS), Pencapaian pemahaman membaca

Membaca adalah percobaan yang aktif, pada bagian pembaca, memahami apa yang
ditulis oleh penulis. Ini adalah cara yang baik untuk meningkatkan dan memahami bahasa
Inggris. Ini juga penting untuk meningkatkan pemahaman membaca siswa.
Penalitian ini fokus pada peningkatan pemahaman membaca siswa dengan
mengunakan metode “ Start Simple Stories” pengimplementasian metode ini tidak
meperbolehkan siswa mencari arti suatu kata pada kamus. Siswa diharuskan memahami
kalimat tersebut dengan mengunakan isinya dan mereka harus paham fengan menggunakan
gambar. Siswa tidak memaksa membaca ketika merasa bosan dengan ceritanya. Tujuan dari
penalitian iniadalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana Start Simple Stories bisa meningkatkan
pamahaman membaca dan keaktifan siswa. Pnelitian ini di lakukan pada 2 siklus di Penelitian
Tindakan Kelas. Data pada penelitian ini di ambil dari observasi, wawancara dan tes.
Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada siswa kelas 8 di SMP N 1 Jelbuk Jember
Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pengunaan dari metode “Start Simple
Stories”bisa meningkatkan pemahaman membaca siswa and keaktifan siswa pada kelas 8 di
SMP N 1 jelbuk. Ini ditunjukkan dari hasil penghitungan nilai yang meningkat. Di siklus 1,
nilai rata-rata dari tes membaca adalah 68.8% dan keaktifan siswa adalah 43.3%
menunjukkan ada 13 siswa aktif dan 17 siawa pasif. Pada siklus 2, rata-rata dari test
membaca adalah 76.6% and keaktifan siswa adalah 83.3% , dan ada 25 siswa aktif dan 5
siswa pasif.
Dan kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah metode Start Simple Stories bisa
meningkatkan pemahaman membaca siswa kelas 8 di tahun ajaran 2014/2015. Metode ini
dapat meningkatkan pemahaman membaca siswa karena dengan membaca teks-teks yang
simpel bisa membuat siswa terbiasa dalam membaca, jadi mereka bisa meningkatkan
membacanya sebaik mungkin.
 INTRODUCTION

English language teaching covers four skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing
which have been showed in curriculum development. These language skills cannot be
separated each other. The aim of English teaching is to enable students to hear, speak, read
and write. This means that the students have to master the four language skills.
But the fact is really different, most students still have many difficulties in reading. Based
on the interview with the English teacher of SMP Negeri 1 Jelbuk, most students of eighth
grade still have reading problems for instance difficulty to understand the message of the text,
low mastery of the vocabulary, low habit of reading and low interest of reading. The
students’ reading score is 65. And based on curriculum the score have to be achieved by the
students is ≥ 70. These problems are the result of many factors.For instance the students socio
and economic condition which force them to be lack of school facilities and eventually causes
low interest of studying.In addition, reading is not an easy lesson for students in most
schools. Sometimes reading comprehension becomes one of difficult lessons for students
because they need more time to understand the message of the text.
In this case, the teacher should be more creative to prepare a method that will be used to
achieve the effectiveness of learning. A suitable method is needed as a way for the teacher to
help the students in comprehending a text.Here,the researcher uses SSS (Start Simple Stories)
as a way that can improve students’ reading comprehension. Thomas (2000:2) says that SSS
is an extensive reading program invented by Kunihide Sakai and further, developedby Akio
Furukawa which is the rules are quite simple and use an easy book. So in this method the
learners are introduced with the reading activities using a variety of illustrated stories. This
wonderful way to learn has been successfully used in Japan for many years but in Indonesia
this method are still rarely used.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND ACTION HYPOTHESIS

Reading and comprehension are two things that cannot be separated. Reading means
understanding the text and it is thesame thing as comprehension According to
SimanjuntakinPurwanti (2014:13),reading comprehension is not just reading with aloud voice
but reading is established to understand the meaning of words, sentences, and paragraph as
well as sense relationship among the ideas. Whenever a student just read loudly but cannot
understand the content of the text, it means that he fails in comprehending the passage.
Reading comprehension achievement refers to the scores that students get from their
reading comprehension test. The score indicate the students’ performance in reading
comprehension that deals with comprehending word, sentence, paragraph and text.
According to Furukawa (2007:1) SSS is a unique method.It is also a method that
starts with a simple story to create fun learning in mastering English as a second language.
The students can enjoy when they learn using this method. This method is useful in
improving reading because by reading lots of easy stories is a great way to improve your
English.
The use of Start Simple Stories method can improve students’ reading comprehension
of eighth grade student at SMP N I Jelbuk in the 2014/2015 Academic Year. By giving alot
of a simple text using a variety of ilustrated story. And The activities of Start Simple Stories
can improve students’ active participation of eighth grade student at SMP N 1 Jelbuk in the
2014/2015 academic year.
 RESEARCH METHODS

Classroom action research is intended to improve the quality of teaching and learning
process in the class. This classroom action research is intended to overcome the students’
problem in reading comprehension. According to Arikunto (2010:131), there are four
procedures to do action research: 1) planning of the action, 2) implementation of the action,
3) class observation, and 4) reflection of the action. Design of this action research is
illustrated in the following design.
The subject of the research is the eighth grade students at SMP N I Jelbuk in 2014/2015
academic year. The subject of this research is VIII F class that consists of 31 students, 14 students are
girls and 17 students are boys. The classroom is chosen due to some considerations. Firstly, Start
Simple Stories (SSS) has never been applied by the English teacher in teaching reading. Secondly, the
eighth grade students at SMP N I Jelbuk still face some difficulties in readingcomprehension, such as
difficulties in comprehending the message of some text and understanding the word meaning. Based
on this condition, SSS method can be done at the school as a technique to improve students’ reading
comprehension

THE RESULT OF THE RESEARCH

The research conducted in the eighth grade students at SMP N 1 Jelbuk in 2014/2015
academic year that consist of 30 students. The research consisted of two cycles, each cycle
consisted of two meetings. The first cycle was conducted on 13thand 16th May, 2015 and the
second cycle of the research was done on 23th and 27th May, 2015.
The result of the students’ observation in cycle 1 showed that in the first meeting
there were 11 students actively participated and 19 students passively participated in teaching
learning activity (Appendix 21). In the second meeting there were 13 students actively
participated and there were 17 students passively participated in teaching learning process
(Appendix 21). When the teacher was explaining about the rules of Start Simple Stories
(SSS) method, there were some students talked by themselves and made noise. Thats why
when they startedthe lesson, they werestill confused what they were going to do. Based on
the result above, it could be concluded that there were several problems which had to revised
in the next cycle. The teaching and learning process in the next cycle had to be better than the
previous cycle.
Based on the result of the dataanalysis .it was found that the mean score of the
students’ readingcomprehension through Start Simple Stories (SSS) method in cycle 1 was
68.8 and achieved by 8 students. As mentioned before, the cycle of this research was
considered to be successful if the mean score of the students’ reading test were 75. It means
that the target mean score in this cycle had not been achieved yet. So it was necessary to
continue to the next cycle. As explained before, there were some problems which happened
in the cycle 1. They were;the researcher used full English when the researcher explained
about the rules of SSS method so the students feel confused.The researcher did not guide the
students.The students could not make question what they know about the topic they learnt.
The time arrangement.The students’ participation was still low.
It was based on the result of the students’ participation in the first meeting.There were
19 students actively participated and there were11students that passively participated in
teaching learning activity. In the second meeting there were 25 students thatactively
participated and there were5 students that passively participated in teaching learning activity
(Appendix 21). It can be concluded that most of the students in this cycle were actively
participated during the activity in the classroom. The result of the students’observation in
cycle 2 was better than cycle 1. The most important thing that should be pointed out was in
teaching learning process, the teacher hadcontrol all of the studentsand made sure that the
student understood the material. The teacher should be able to motivate the students in
improving their English readingcomprehension and made all of the students involve in the
teaching learning process.
The result of the data analysis in revealed that from 30 students, there were 26
students who got ≥ 75 and the mean score of reading test was 76.8. It means that the result of
reading test had already achieved the criteria of success,because the average students could
achieve the standard minimum score was ≥ 75 with the mean score test at least 75. It could be
said that teaching reading by using Start Simple Stories (SSS) in cycle 2 could improve the
students’ reading comprehension and could activate the students to be enthusiastically
involved in teaching learning process.
DISCUSSION

The result of the reading test indicated that using Start Simple Stories (SSS) strategy could
increase the students’ reading comprehension achievement. Start Simple Stories (SSS)methodwas
never used by the English teacher of SMPN 1 Jelbuk, as his teaching learning strategy.Start Simple
Stories (SSS) method made the students easier to study English especially in reading subject.
According to Furukawa (2007:2)” many learners who start with simple stories can read a large
number of book and by using Start Simple Stories (SSS) method, students will be easier in reading
comprehension”. They were able to comprehend the meaning of the word, sentence, paragraph and
text as a whole in the recount text.It was in line to Simanjuntak in purwanti statement that reading is
not just reading aloud voice but reading is established to understand the meaning of words,
sentence, paragraph and text. So, Start Simple Stories method was good method in teaching reading.
It was shown based on the result of the reading test and active participation in cycle I there
were 8 students of the students got score ≤75, it means that they did not achieve the target score.
And there were 22 students got score ≥ 75 , it means there were many students difficult in
comprehending the word, sentence, paragraph and the text as whole because they were not serious
doing the test. And only a few students active in the class. It shown that only 43.3% active during the
class and 56.6% passive. So, the students did not achieve the target score. As the result, the action
was continuing in cycle II.
In cycle II indicated that the students’ reading comprehension achievement and the
students’ active participation increased after the use of Start Simple Stories (SSS) method in teaching
reading comprehension. There were 4 students got score ≤70, it means that they did not achieve the
target score. But, there were 26 students got score ≥ 75, It means most of students achieved the
target score. They were able to comprehend the word, sentence, paragraph and the text And the
students who active participation were increase because they are able to discussed the simple story
in front of their friend and they able to asked the teacher a question. It was based on the result of
the observation, that was there were 83.3% students active and only 16.6% students passive. Based
on the explanation on chapter III if in the first cycle the result of research is the means score of the
students reading test is 75, so the action was stopped.
According Furukawa (2007:1) “Start Simple Stories (SSS) method is one of the
simplestmethod oflanguage learning to improve students’ reading comprehension”. This strategy
was one of the strategies that could make the students to be more interested and paid attention
during the teaching and learning process. In this research, the researcher used materialthat taken
from internet that used in teaching learning process.Start Simple Stories (SSS) as a strategy in
teaching learning process, the students had high motivation to take part in English class.
Based on the explanation above, the research hypothesis stated in chapter II which says ‘The
use of Start Simple Stories method can improve students’ reading comprehension of eighth grade
student at SMP N I Jelbuk in the 2014/2015 Academic Year. By giving alot of a simple text using a
variety of ilustrated story. And The activities of Start Simple Stories can improve students’ active
participation of eighth grade student at SMP N 1 Jelbuk in the 2014/2015 academic year’, was
accepted.