ANALYZING ON THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS’ READING ABILITY IN COMPREHENDING AUTHENTIC MATERIAL AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF BUNG HATTA UNIVERSITY

Abstrak

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to describe the ability of the third year students of English Department of Bung Hatta University to comprehend authentic material.  This research aimed at describing whether or not students could identify general statement, main idea and main supporting detail as a reflection of their ability in comprehending authentic material.The number of population was 112 students. Twenty four of them were taken as the sample of this research by using cluster random sampling. The instrument used to collect data in this research was reading test. The test had twenty four questions. It consisted of three articles and each article consisted of eight questions. Before giving the test, the researcher tried out to the students out of sample at English Department, Bung Hatta University to find out the reliability of the test, and it was found the reliability index of this test was 0.77.Based on the result of data analysis, it was found that students’ ability to comprehend internet article was moderate. It was indicated by the fact the most students (70.8%) had moderate ability, 10 students (41.67%) had moderate ability in comprehend general statement. Then, the result of the study also revealed that 19 students (79%) had moderate ability in comprehending main idea. Next, the result showed that identifying main supporting detail there were 16 students (66.67%) who had moderate ability. Based on those findings above, it could be concluded that the students’ ability in comprehending authentic material could be categorized into moderate ability. Based on the findings, the researcher suggested that the lecturer give more strategies to the students to identify general statement, main idea and main supporting detail.