CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1. The Background of the Problem As an International language, English is very important in our daily life.

Most electronic tools use English in their instructions, such as computer, rice cooker, washing machine, etc. It is very dangerous if those tools are used without its instruction being read. If someone wants to communicate with people from other countries, he should master English well. It is because English is the language used in international communication. So, it is very important for people to learn English. Nowadays, English is one of the subjects that is taught since in the elementary school until university and examined in the national examination to determine the students' graduation. There are four main skills in English: those are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Reading and listening are called receptive skill, in which people need the ability to receive written or spoken language when they do it. While speaking and writing are called productive skill because when people do it, they need the ability to produce written or spoken language (Harmer, 1998: 44). Reading, which belongs to receptive skill, can be defined as a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written (Williams, 1999: 2). It means that, when someone reads, he looks at something written and tries to get the meaning to understand it. It means that reading activity connects the reader and the writer although they are in different time and place; for example reading an ancient book, reading personal letter, etc.

Especially reading is the act of read something to get information. According Francoise Grellet (1981:7), reading is a constant process of guessing, and what one brings to the text is often more important than what one find in it. Reading is an active skill. As mentioned earlier, it constantly involves guessing, predicting, checking, and asking oneself question. This should therefore be taken into consideration when devising reading comprehension exercises. It is possible, for instance, to develop the students powers of inference through systematic practice, or introduce questions which encourage students to anticipate the content of a text from its title and illustrations or the end of a story from the preceding paragraph. The reason for teaching reading to the students is because it belongs to the basic language skills in English, just as important as speaking, listening, and writing. Besides, reading is closely related with other subjects. Most of the materials given by the teacher (in English or other subjects) are presented in written form, for example in handbook, handout, etc. It means that to understand the materials, the students must have the ability to look at and get the meaning of written text, that is called reading skill. Because of that, reading is very important to be taught to the students. The students' difficulties in reading were caused by some factors that might come from the students and the teacher. Most of the students admitted that they often felt bored when they had to read a text, especially a long and uninteresting topic text. In the class, some students were sometimes seemed to lean over their head on the table and talk each other. They just paid attention to the teacher when they did exercises but if the time given to do it was too long, they began to be noisy

again. When they read a long text, they were not so interested because they often did not understand the meaning of the words used in the text. It was difficult for them to understand the content of the text. However, they were reluctant to bring the dictionary. They just waited until the teacher explained it for them or asked them about the difficult words. Besides, there were some problems that came from the teacher. Actually, the teacher's way in explaining the materials was clear enough but she was too rivet on the textbook. She usually taught using conventional way by staying in class and doing the exercises on the handbook. She used various techniques and media in teaching rarely. So, the students felt that English lesson was boring. All of those factors made the students to have low motivation in learning English, especially reading. To improve the students' motivation in learning, the teacher must use interesting teaching approach. Many approaches are used in learning English. One of approach which used in learning English is literature based approach. The students can use authentic text to learn their skills. Authentic literatures divide by various genres including realistic fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, biography, and so on. For example, reading a novel. Novel give the students entertain and make the students feel enjoyable when they learn reading because they will create conducive condition for them to learn a new language without being frightened, embarrassed, or insecure. Based on the background above, this thesis which entitled The Effect of Using Literature Based Approach on Students Reading Comprehension of the Eleventh Grade at SMA Negeri Yosowilangun, Lumajang in Academic Year 2011/2012 will be conducted to know the effect of using literature based approach

on reading comprehension in comprehending words, sentence, and paragraph, and then finding character, setting and moral value in the story. 1.2. The Research Problem 1.2.1. The General Problem Is there any significant effect of using Literature Based Approach on students reading comprehension of Eleventh Grade of SMA Negeri Yosowilangun Lumajang in Academic Year 2011/2012? 1.2.2. The Specific Problem Is there any significant effect of using Literature Based Approach on students reading comprehension to find characters, setting, and moral value of the text of Eleventh Grade of SMA Negeri Yosowilangun Lumajang in Academic Year 2011/2012?

1.3. Objective of the Research 1.3.1. The General Objective of the Research There is significant effect of using Literature Based Approach on students reading comprehension of the Eleventh Grade of SMA Negeri Yosowilangun Lumajang in Academic Year 2011/2012. 1.3.2. The Specific Objective of the Research There is significant effect of using Literature Based Approach on students reading comprehension to find characters, setting, and moral value of the text of the Eleventh Grade of SMA Negeri Yosowilangun Lumajang in Academic Year 2011/2012. 1.4. The Operational Definition of the Variable

In this research, there are two variables namely independent variable and dependent variable. The independent variable is Literature Based Approach and the dependent variable that is students reading comprehension. Both of the terms are operationally defined as follows: 1.1. The Literature Based Approach Literature is broadest sense, includes all written materials. Into this general grouping fall history books, philosophical works, novels, poems, plays, scientific, articles, dictionaries, directories, instructional manuals, travel folders, magazines, school textbooks. While, approach is viewed as an overall theory about learning language, which then lends itself to approaching language teaching and learning in a certain manner.
1.2.

The Reading Comprehension Reading is an active cognitive process to interact with print and monitoring

comprehension to establish meaning. Meanwhile, the definition of comprehension means the process of acquiring meaning from reading. The kinds of reading comprehension can be divided into:
1.4.2.1.

Comprehending Words means, ability to recognizing and

understanding some of word in a text in order can read perfectly. Comprehending Word is measured by the data of students test result.
1.4.2.2.

Comprehending Sentences means, ability in understanding the

meaning of sentences of in a paragraph in order can guess the meaning of the sentence. Comprehending Sentences is measured by the data of students test result.

1.4.2.3.Comprehending Paragraph means, ability to understanding groups of related sentences about the single topic in order can get the main idea. Comprehending Paragraph is measured by the data of students test result.

1.5. The Significance of the Research The results of this study are expected to give important input for the following people: 1.1. Respondents / The Students The result of the study will be useful for the students to improve an experience in learning reading by using Literature Based Approach to increase the students reading comprehension. These games will be an alternative way to enlarge their reading, so that they have better reading comprehension. 1.2. The Teacher The result of the study is expected to be beneficial for the English teacher as an input or information about the positive effect of using Literature Based Approach on the students reading comprehension. So, the teacher can use it a reference to improve the teaching quality of vocabulary and the students reading comprehension.

1.3.

Future Researchers

It is expected that the results of the study provide useful input for other researchers to conduct a further research with a similar area of study by applying a different research designs, different subject, and approach.

1.6. The Scope and Limitation of the Research 1.6.1. The Scope of the research The scope will be discussed consist of two variables, there are literature based approach and reading comprehension. The indicator of literature based approach is strategy which will be used. The indicators of reading comprehension are comprehending words, sentence, paragraph and finding character, setting and moral value of the story. 1.6.2. The Limitation of the research The limitation of this research in the First Year of SMA Negeri Yosowilangun, Lumajang in Academic Year 2011/2012 because they have basic of English lesson that can support this research.