THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING PARAPHRASE IN DESCRIPTIVE TEXT TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 22 PURWOREJO IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

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.