Abstract:
The objective of the research is to know whether using paraphrase in
descriptive text is effective or not to improve students’ reading comprehension at
the eighth grade students of SMP N 22 Purworejo in the academic year
2013/2014.
The sample of the study was 64 students of the eighth grade of SMP N 22
Purworejo, which were chosen randomly. The researcher took two classes of the
students as the samples using purposive sampling, one as the experimental group
and another one as the control group. The data were collected by using essay test.
The data were analyzed by t-test. The type of this research is an experimental
research.
The result of the study showed that the mean of experimental group is
76.56 and it is in good category. The means of the students who were taught
reading descriptive text by using Paraphrase was 76.56 the mean of the students
who were taught reading descriptive text without Paraphrase is 67.81. It could be
seen from the final result of t-test analysis which stated that the t-value was higher
than the t-table (2.59> 2.00). There was a difference in the students’ achievement
in reading descriptive texts between students taught using Paraphrase and those
without using Paraphrase. Having analyzed the data, the researcher found that the
students’ achievement of experiment class was better than that of the control
class.
