- An Analysis of Reading Comprehension Difficulties at the Second Grade Students of SMA Muhammadiyah 2 Yogyakarta in Academic Year 2005/2006

ABSTRACT

This research entitled “An Analysis of Reading Comprehension Difficulties at the Second Grade Students of SMA Muhammadiyah 2 Yogyakarta in Academic Year 2005/2006” is intended to analyze the students’ difficulties in comprehending reading texts.

In this research, the students of the second grade of SMA Muhammadiyah 2 Yogyakarta in academic year 2005/2006 are as the population and the sample. The total number of population is 189 and the writer takes 130 students as the sample of this research. The writer uses a random sampling technique. In collecting the data, a test is used, namely a reading comprehension test in the form of an essay test. The collected data are analyzed by qualitative and quantitative analysis.

The result of the study shows that (1) the students’ ability in reading comprehension is in a poor category because the most frequency of the score category is the class interval 41.63-58.28 or 36.2% of the students in a poor level category, (2) the most difficult reading comprehension skill for the students is in gaining word meaning and critical reading with the percentage of incorrect answer is between interval 60%-80% and it is categorized into a serious category and the easiest reading comprehension skill for the students is identifying detail skills with the percentage of incorrect answers is between interval 20%-40% and it is categorized into a less serious category, (3) the most difficult of the cognitive level for the students is the evaluation level with the percentage of correct answers is 30.73% and the easiest cognitive level is the comprehension level with the percentage of correct answers is 64.30%, (4) the most dominant or the easiest aspect in reading comprehension skill is identifying details with the percentage of correct answers is 64.30% and the most difficult aspect of reading comprehension skill is the critical reading with the percentage of correct answers is 30.73%. So, it is important to increase the teaching and learning process in reading comprehension