Improving Students' Reading Comprehension and Interest by Using Modified Reading Materials at Grade IX.2 of SMP Negeri 4 Pekanbaru

Based on the researcher’s observation and experience at Class IX.2 of SMP Negeri 4 Pekanbaru, it was noted that the students has low reading comprehension scores. This happened because they had low interest in reading so that they did not practice to apply the natural reading strategy to cope with the text such as using their prior knowledge, context clues and prediction. This condition has brought the researcher to link the classroom reading materials to what the students had previously learnt in their social science classes. The reading material was being modified to meet the students’ level so that they practiced the techniques of reading. This research was a classroom action research that was aimed to improve the students’ study and the researcher’s way of teaching. It was done in two cycles and each cycle consisted of two meetings. The data was collected through reading comprehension tests, observation and field notes. The data collected was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The activities of the students and the researcher were observed and analyzed each meeting and the comprehension tests were given after each cycle. The result of this research shows that since the first cycle there was an increasing but it was not satisfactory yet. In the second cycle, there is an increase of students’ reading comprehension score; that is 7% to 23% for each indicator. In the process, the students’ reading interest was also improved. The students were interested in getting involved in every activity carried out. The students’ observation sheet and field notes show that the students’ interest improved 34%. Thus, the researcher can conclude that modified reading materials can improve students’ reading comprehension and reading interest at Grade IX.2 SMP Negeri 4 Pekanbaru.