Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension of Hortatory Exposition Texts by Using Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) at Grade XI A2 of Madrasah Aliyah Darul Hikmah Pekanbaru.

Based on a preliminary study, the researcher found that students at grade XI A2 of Madrasah Aliyah Darul Hikmah Pekanbaru had problems in comprehending hortatory exposition texts. They were difficult to understand contents and to identify generic structure of the texts. Besides, the teacher had used some strategies in teaching reading comprehension, but they were still not effective. In this case, the researcher decided to solve these problems in reading by conducting a classroom action research by applying DRTA. The purposes of this research were to find out whether DRTA can improve students‟ reading comprehension of hortatory exposition texts and the factors that influence the changes of students‟ reading comprehension of hortatory exposition texts. This classroom action research was done in two cycles with four meetings in each cycle; three meetings for teaching reading comprehension of hortatory exposition texts by applying DRTA and one meeting for the test. The research was conducted from January 10th up to February 7th 2013. In collecting the data, researcher used reading comprehension tests, observation sheets, field notes, and interview. Then, the data were analyzed in quantitative and qualitative. The research findings showed that there was an improvement of the students‟ score in reading comprehension of hortatory exposition texts tests after applying DRTA. The average score of students in cycle 1 was 65 and in cycle 2 was 78. Then, the factors that influence the improvement of students‟ reading comprehension of hortatory exposition texts were students‟ activeness, teaching material, and teachers‟ role. In conclusion, the implementation of DRTA could improve students‟ reading comprehension of hortatory exposition texts at grade XI A2 of Madrasah Aliyah Darul Hikmah Pekanbaru. It improved students‟ score in reading tests and their interest in reading activities. So, the teachers who have the same problems with the researcher should continue using DRTA in teaching reading and in teaching other language skills. They should be more creative in selecting the teaching material. The students, especially in Madrasah Aliyah Darul Hikmah Pekanbaru should also apply this strategy in reading class.