PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING TO PROMOTE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT SMPN 1 JETIS

Fajrina, Rizky Aprilia. 2024. Problem-Based Learning to Promote Students’ Reading Comprehension. Thesis. English Department, Muhammadiyah University of Ponorogo. Advisor (1) Siti Asiyah, M.Pd., (2) Dr. Diyah Atiek Mustikawati, M.Hum.
Keywords: Problem-Based Learning, Students’ Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension at the Junior High School level is basic. Reading only focuses on the process of the students comprehending the text. But some teachers sometimes neglect it and only focus on improving the other skills. Many students tend to be too lazy to read a book. The students do not want to read the long text, they only read it based on the title. The impact of being lazy to read a text will affect the learning outcomes. One of the factors that influences students' laziness about reading is because teachers teach it using inappropriate methods.
After implementing the Merdeka Curriculum, teachers are required to design learning according to student needs. In the Merdeka Curriculum, Project-Based Learning and Problem-Based Learning are very popular. Many teachers choose to
apply Project-based learning as a learning method rather than Problem-based learning. The researcher wants to investigate the research with the topic of Problem�based learning. The purpose of this research was to explain the teachers’ implementation of Problem-Based Learning in teaching reading comprehension and to describe the impact of Problem-Based Learning implementation towards students’ reading comprehension.
The researcher used descriptive qualitative research. There are 5 procedures in this research such as: 1) prepare the questions of interview, 2) do the interview face-to-face with the teachers, 3) set up the recorder, 4) listen to the teachers’ explanation, and 5) write the result of interview. The subjects of this research were 2 English teacher who teach at SMPN 1 Jetis with the criteria that the teacher have implemented Problem-Based Learning in teaching reading. To collect the data, the researcher used instruments such as interview and documentation. This research uses the data analysis model from Miles and Huberman. There are 4 steps of the data analysis model from Miles and Huberman such as: data collection, data reduction, data display, and conclusion or verification.
The result of this study showed that English teachers implement Problem�Based Learning in different ways. The first teacher implemented Problem-Based Learning by using fill-in-the-blank text while the second teacher used role play and written text. The researcher concluded that the implementation of Problem-Based Learning not only improved students’ reading comprehension at SMPN 1 Jetis but also increased the students’ motivation.