This research aimed to improve the students’ reading comprehension using
Numbered Head Together technique. It used Classroom Action Research, which was
conducted at VII A Grade of SMP N 2 Kalibagor in Academic Year 2012/2013 as the
subject of the research. The numbers of the students were 30 students comprised of
13 males and 17 females. This study was done from November 2012 until February
2013.
The writer worked collaboratively with the English teacher in the class. The
Classroom Action Research was carried out based on the Kemmis and McTaggart
design. The writer took two cycles with two actions in each cycle. Each cycle
consisted of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The writer applied both
qualitative data and quantitative data that were taken from questionnaire, observation,
reading test, and documentation.
The result of the research showed that there was a significant improvement in
the students’ reading comprehension after implementing the Classroom Action
Research using Numbered Head Together technique. The average score of the
students in reading was 38.17% in test (pre-test and post-test). The mean of the
students’ reading test score was as follows; pre test showed 47.50%, Cycle One
showed 58.00%, and Cycle Two showed 85.67%. Therefore, the improvement of
mean from pre-test until Cycle Two was 27.67%. It was supported by the
improvement of observation and questionnaire result. The data of observation
showed that the average of the students’ improvement in reading activities in Cycle
One was 32.50% and Cycle Two was 59.15%. Then, the improvement from Cycle
One to Cycle Two was 45.83%. The data from the students’ questionnaire which
were gained from the ten questions showed that the students gave positive response to
the implementation of Numbered Head Together technique in their reading activities.
The average of the students’ questionnaire was 79.30%. Those data proved that
Numbered Head Together technique could improve the students’ reading
comprehension and the students’ reading activities. It means that the technique could
solve the problem reading class.