THE INFLUENCE OF STUDENTS’ APTITUDE TOWARDS
THEIR READING AND WRITING ABILITY
RESEARCH METHOD
By: Aan Subekti P, S.Pd
In a research, the research method is the most important one of some research elements. The research method that is chose by the researcher will affect his study. It has very important role to make the concept of planning as guidance of research. According Arikunto (2006: 160), method is the way how a researcher collects the data. Furthermore, to make this research easy to understand by the readers, the researcher will explain the research method that used in this research
A. Research Design
There are two types of research. It is seen from the object of the research, they are library research and field research. A research can be called library research is reference book. If the object of the research is real condition that we can search them directly, it is called field research.
The objective of the research is to know whether the students’ English aptitude will influence the students’ ability in reading and writing. The researcher uses co relational study to know how far the influence of the students’ aptitude toward their reading ability and writing ability, especially in the second semester students of AKPER Seruling Mas Moas-Cilacap by giving three kinds of test: test for aptitude, reading ability and writing ability.
B. Variable of the Research
According to Arikunto (2006: 118), variable is the object of a research, or things that become points of attention of the research. In this research consists of two variables. They are independent and dependent variable. Independent variable is a variable that are easily obtained and can be diversified into free variable, while dependent variable is the effect of independent variable. The independent variable is the students’ aptitude and signed by (X) while the second variable is called dependent variable. They are the students’ reading ability and the students’ writing ability ( and ).
X |
Figure 1: Research Variable
In which:
X : The students’ Aptitude
: The students’ reading ability
: The students’ writing ability
C. Population and Sample
1. Population
According to Arikunto (2006: 130) in Encyclopedia of educational evaluation “a population is a set (or collection) of all elements possessing one or more attributes of interest.” Population is the total sum of the subject in research (Arikunto, 2006: 108). While Nunan (2007: 231) states that population is all cases, situation, or individuals who share one or more characteristics.
In this research, the researcher limits population to the second semester students of AKPER Seruling Mas, especially the students of second semester, in regency of Cilacap, Central Java Province in the academic year 2011/2012. The total number of population is 105 students which are consist of three classes and each class consists of 35 students.
2. Sample
Sample is a subset of individuals or cases within a population (Nunan, 1992: 232). Then Porte (2002: 243) states that a sample is a group of units selected from a larger group (the population) to represent it, because the population is too large to study in its entirety.
The sample is drawn from population in order to estimate the characteristics of the population. Besides, by using sample, the researcher will be easier in her research because the number of sample is limited. It is impossible to investigate all of the population if the observation involves a large number of populations. Limited sample is assumed to be representative of the whole population because from those, the observation results generalize the whole characteristics.
All of the population is difficult to determine if the number of population should be decreased into smaller number. In this research, the researcher took students of class A as samples of the second semester students of AKPER Seruling Mas in the academic year 2011/2012
D. Sampling Technique
Arikunto (2006: 133) states that sampling is the way of drawing a sample in a research. Sugiyono (2007: 62) states that sampling technique is the technique or the way of taking sample. The taking of sample must be done as details as possible so that it would get the real sample which function as sample or can draw the real condition of population.
Arikunto (2006: 146) states that there are eight techniques that we can use in sampling technique. They are:
1. Random sampling
2. Stratified sampling
3. Area probability sampling
4. Propositional sampling
5. Purposive sampling
6. Quota sampling
7. Cluster sampling
8. Double sampling
In this research, the writer takes purposive sampling in taking the sample. Purposive sampling is one technique by drawing out sample based on certain purpose. The reason why the writer chooses this technique is that the writer considers the time and expense.
E. Data Collecting Technique
Data is very important in a research. It is needed to know much information about the subject of research. In this study, several procedures will be used in order to get the empirical data required. The research will be conducted in three ways. They are as follows:
1. Observation: This method will be used to observe the teaching-learning process and the students’ activities.
2. Test: This study will be carried out through four activities. The two activities are teaching-learning process. In the first activity, the students do the pre-test. The two activities are teaching-learning process. And after giving three activities, the writer gives a post-test and questioner.
3. Questionnaire: The writer uses this method to measure how Jigsaw method influences the students’ reading ability in narrative texts.
F. Research Instruments
Arikunto (2006: 149) states that research instrument is a kind of tool which is used by the researcher to collect or to get the data. Generally, there are two kinds of instruments namely test and non-test. Some methods of collecting data included in non-test are questionnaire, interview, observation, rating scale, and documentation. Test is a range of questions used to measure skill, intelligential knowledge, or other talents possessed by individuals or group (Hornby, 1995: 1233). In this research, the instruments that will be used are as follows:
1. Questionnaires
A questionnaire is a number of written questions which are used to gain information from the respondents about themselves or their knowledge, belief etc. (Arikunto, 2002: 128). According to Suharsimi (1992: 124), a questioner is a number of written questions, which can be used to get information about the respondents’ personality or something that he knows. There are four kinds of questioners, they are:
a. Multiple choice questionnaire
b. Essay questionnaire
c. Check list questionnaire
d. Rating scale questionnaire
The writer chooses check list questionnaire for get information from the respondents multiple choice questionnaire.
.
2. Test items
The first aim in constructing an achievement test is to identify the learning outcomes that are measured. It is based on the students’ reading ability and students’ writing ability.
G. The procedure of the Research
The writer arranges steps to get the data as follows:
1. Holding Test for Aptitude Test
The writer conducted pre-test on 26th February 2012. The writer holds aptitude test as standard of comparison the data collecting at the first meeting. In this process, the writer gives aptitude-test. The test is multiple choice, consists 30 questions English aptitude.
2. Holding Reading Ability Test
The writer conducted holding reading ability test on 28th February 2012. The writer holds reading ability test as standard of comparison the data collecting at the second meeting. In this process, the writer gives reading ability test. The test is multiple choice, consists 30 questions reading ability test.
3. Holding Writing Ability Test
The writer conducted holding writing ability test on 29th February 2012. The writer holds writing ability test as standard of comparison the data collecting at the third meeting. In this process, the writer gives writing ability test. The test is multiple choice, consists 30 questions writing ability test.
H. Technique of Data Analysis
To analyze the data of each variable, the researcher used descriptive data analysis of percentage in order to describe the fact. The writer needs the statistical analysis. This analysis is related to the computation in answering the problem statement and the hypothesis testing presents.
1. Descriptive Analysis
Sugiyono (2008: 29) says that descriptive statistic is a statistic that has the function of describing or giving a description on the observed object by the data of population as in the fact, without doing analysis and making conclusion which obtains to the general.
The researcher will take some simple formulas through these following steps:
a) Finding the Mean
Sugiyono (2008: 49) states that mean is the average score obtained by the subjects of the study. The formula which is used to determine the mean is as follows:
Me = (Sugiyono, 2008: 49)
Note :
Me = Mean (average)
= total of scores observed
n = population
b) Finding the Standard Deviation
The standard deviation is the way of showing the spread of scores. It measures the degree to which the group of scores deviates from the mean. In other words, it shows how all the scores are spread out and thus give a fuller description of test scores than range, which simply describes the gap between the highest and the lowest marks and ignores the information provided by all the remaining scores (Sugiyono, 2008: 56). The formula to calculate Standard Deviation is as follows:
SD = (Sugiyono, 2008: 58)
Note :
Fi = frequency
Xi = the median for each interval
n = population
= the mean
The interpretation of reading and writing ability based on the mean to measure the students’ ability is proposed by Arikunto (2002: 244). The table below will show the category of the students’ reading ability.
Table 1 : The range and its category of the students’ ability
Range | Category | Criteria of Ability Stages |
80 – 100 66 – 79 56 – 65 40 – 55 0 – 39 | A B C D E | very good good fair low very low |
The formulas above are just the formula if the writer wants to calculate both mean and standard deviation in manual way. The result of computation will be presented in the next chapter.
2. Test of Hypothesis
Test of the hypothesis in this research is a test used to find out the result of the research. Here the researcher employs formula of product moment correlation that is stated by Pearson in Arikunto, (2002: 146) as follows:
rxy
in which:
rxy : coefisien of corelation between x dan y rxy
N : the amount of subject
X : Item Score
Y : Total Score
∑X : the amount of score items
∑Y : the amount of total score
∑X2 : the amount of item score square
∑Y2 : the amount of total score square
( Suharsimi Arikunto, 2002 : 146 )
(Arikunto, 2002: 275) to make the result of analysis to be more convincible, the writer calculates all of the formulas in descriptive analysis by using two methods. The first method is by calculating them manually and the second method, as a comparison, by using SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solutions).
I. Time and Location of the Research
In this research, the writer will choose AKPER Seruling Mas which is located on Jl. Raya Maos No. 32 Cilacap as the place of the research. It is near from the center town of Cilacap. The object is the second semester students of AKPER Seruling Mas.
J. Research Schedule
This research will be conducted on February until May 2012. It is about four months. The more detail is as follows:
No | Research Schedule | |
1. | 8 - 17 February 2012 | Preparing, finding out the materials and presenting the materials. |
2. | 19 – 22 February 2012 | Comparing the materials ( Aptitude, reading and writing ability) |
3. | 23 – 29 February 2012 | Analyzing the data |
4. | 1 – 10 March 2012 | Counting and adding the data |
5. | 11 – 16 March 2012 | Giving percentage to the data |
6. | 17 – 25 March 2012 | Judging the data |
7. | 26 – 31 March 2012 | Drawing conclusion based on the result analyzing and giving some suggestions |
8. | 1 – 30 April 2012 | Writing the research report ( Chapter I, II, III ) |
9. | 1 – 30 May 2012 | Writing the research report ( Chapter IV, V) |
Aslm wr wb. Maaf boleh saya minta referensix?
BalasHapusBuku arikunto yg d gunakan th 2006 itu judulx apa ya?
Trims