This research was aimed at increasing the students’ reading ability through
STAD technique. It used classroom action research (CAR) which was conducted at
VIII A grade students of SMP Islam Majenang inacademic year 2011/ 2012 as the
subject of the research. The number of the students was 37 students comprised of 17
males and 20 females. This study was done on six months (from October until
March).
CAR was carried out on the Kemmis and Mc. Taggart design. The writer took
2 cycles with 2 actions in each cycle. Each cycle consisted on planning, acting,
observing and reflecting. The writer applied both quantitative and qualitative data
that were test, observation, interview and documentation.
The result of the research showed that the mean of the students reading test in
cycle 1 was 10.35% and in cycle 2 was 15.98%. Therefore, the improvement of
students’ reading mastery from cycle 1 to cycle 2 was 5.63% . It was supported by
the improvement of observation and interview result. The observation result showed
that the mean of the students in reading activities in cycle 1 was 25.95% and in
cycle 2 was 44.32%. Then, the improvement from cycle 1 to cycle 2 was 18.37% .
From the interview result, some students gave positive response and showed that the
students felt happy, enthusiatic and motivated in teaching learning process.Based on
the data above, STAD technique was able to increas the students’ reading ability.