Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension of Narrative Text by Implementing Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) Strategy at Grade X5 of SMAN 1 Solok Selatan.

The students‟ reading comprehension of narrative texts at grade X5 SMAN 1 Solok Selatan was still low so that they got difficulties in comprehending narrative texts. It could be seen from the result of the exam given in the previous term. To overcome this problem, the researcher conducted a Classroom Action Research (CAR) by Implementing Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy. The purposes of this research were to explain to what extent DRTA strategy could improve the students‟ reading comprehension of narrative texts at grade X5 of SMAN 1 Solok Selatan and to explain the factors that influenced the changes of students‟ reading comprehension of narrative texts. To collect the data of students‟ reading comprehension of narrative texts through DRTA strategy, the researcher used the instruments; observation sheet, field notes, interview, reading task and test. This research consisted of 8 meetings, 3 tests in 3 cycles and applied plan, action, observation, and reflection in each meeting. The findings of this research showed that there was an increase of the students‟ marks and improving in teaching learning process. The result of the test in cycle I was 62.40, cycle II 70.74, and increased to 78.52 in cycle III. The increase was influenced by the four factors; classroom management, teaching materials, teacher‟s approach and instructional and motivated strategy. From the explanation above, it can be concluded that by implementing DRTA strategy, the students‟ reading comprehension of narrative text improves. Hopefully, this research has significant input for English teachers in teaching reading comprehension of narrative text, especially at Senior High School.