THE EFFECT OF COOPERATIVE INTEGRATED READING AND COMPOSITION (CIRC) TECHNIQUE ON READING COMPREHENSION OF NARRATIVE TEXT AT GRADE EIGHTH STUDENTS OF SMP SWASTA GKPS 3 PEMATANG SIANTAR

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INTRODUCTION
English is a universally recognized language employed in numerous countries worldwide.It serves as the most prevalent foreign language for global interactions, spanning across business, politics, education, and daily life.According to R. Silalahi, Silalahi, Dumaris, & Herman (2021), " English is a global language required by people from different countries for effective communication.".In the era of 4.0 which is known as the industrial revolution, shows that English language skills are very important, because there are many resources and information in technology, business, and science delivered in English.English is used in technology platforms and applications, such as e-learning platforms and social media, enabling distance learning and global cooperation (Lugina, R, & Suprijadi, 2019).
English plays an important role in the education.English is the initial foreign language formally taught in educational institutions, ranging from primary schools to higher education.(Van Thao, Herman, & Purba, 2020) "English language as learning media such as books, journal, and other information".English is becoming the main language in literature, scientific journals, and books needed in technology and science learning around the world.Learning English is beneficial for everyone, as it equips individuals with the capability to compete on the international stage and engage in effective communication with people from various nations.Learning English encompasses four fundamental skills, which include listening, speaking, reading, and writing.Among these skills, reading is one of the essential components (Purba, Malau, Siahaan, & Napitupulu, 2022).Through reading activities, students can easily obtain information from written sources, which are related to all subjects presented.If students have excellent reading skills, any information or ideas in each textbook will be obtained easily and will help students in learning at school (Uktamovna, 2022).Dalman (2014:5), "Reading is a cognitive process or an activity aimed at seeking diverse information within written content."this implies that reading is a cognitive process aimed at comprehending the text's content.Reading is more than simply perceiving a sequence of letters that make up words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and discourse.It is an activity involving the interpretation of symbols, signs, and meaningful text to ensure that the author's message is effectively grasped by the reader.
Widdowson cited in Awaludin (2020:7), defined reading as the process of getting linguistic information via print.Based on Widdowson's statement, we can infer that reading is the procedure of deciphering or transforming language, presented in linguistic form, into fresh knowledge for the readers.This linguistic form can be found in printed materials like books, newspapers, magazines, and similar sources.Therefore, engaging in reading allows readers to acquire a wealth of information (Cristy, Lubis, & Chunliu, 2023).
The problem found in reading activity is the comprehension of reading.According to Ahmadi (2013:12), reading comprehension is the process of comprehending a text, delving into the meaning, purpose, and conveyed message in the text.Reading comprehension allows students to grasp the text's meaning and effectively read it.Analyzing the content critically is vital for readers to enhance their reading comprehension (Saragi, 2018).
Nuttal in Hidayati (2018:11) Stated that there are five elements of reading comprehension: the ability to identify the text's main idea, locate specific information in the text, and understand the meaning of words or detailed information.All the aspects above are and important things to do for the students because the students did not only earn information, but earn information serves as an instrument to expand knowledge about many things in reading comprehension (Scheibenzuber, Hofer, & Nistor, 2021).
During the teaching practice at SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematang Siantar, the researcher encountered an issue with the students' reading comprehension.Specifically, when students were exposed to narrative texts, many of them struggled to comprehend the text thoroughly.They faced challenges in grasping the narrative text's essence and were unable to easily extract detailed information from it.Not only in narrative text material, this lack of reading comprehension of students is found in almost every English class meeting.This of course greatly hinders the learning process from running well.This problem will also have a negative impact on student achievement, especially on reading comprehension in English language learning.Their lack of understanding of English, makes them assume that English lessons are difficult so they are not interested and unmotivated to learn English (Duong, Luo, Pham, Yang, & Wang, 2020).That's why the students could not achieve the criteria minimum passing grade (KKM).The criteria minimum passing grade (KKM) for the eighth grade was 75.However, the students got the average score was 45.From 56 students grade eighth at SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematang Siantar, there were 85% of students get difficulties in reading comprehension of text especially narrative text.That's mean the reading comprehension of students grade eight at SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematang Siantar is still low.
The social background of the students is one of the factors that influence their interest and way of learning in school.Then researcher conducted interviews with several students, to find out what exactly caused them to have difficulty in understanding the content of a reading text.Based on interviews from some of these students, many students do not have access to English learning support, one of which is a dictionary.Dictionaries can help to know the meaning of every word to sentence in the text which can then understand the meaning of a text, if they don't have a dictionary, they certainly having a limited vocabulary then they will have difficulty understanding the text.They will also find it difficult to pronounce every word or even sentence if there is no access to learning support.Most of them do not have a dictionary to support English learning because they come from underprivileged families (Solovyev, Ivanov, & Solnyshkina, 2018).
Some of them also admitted to lack of parental attention from home.Though good communication between children and parents can trigger a good increase in learning also for children at school.Because the role of parents in a child's learning is very influential.If the communication between children and parents is not good, then at school the child becomes a quiet and closed person.It also greatly affects the way they communicate with their teachers and peers at school.And this is one of the big problems that can hinder the learning process properly and children's achievement will decrease.Therefore, researcher choose grade 8 at SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematang Siantar to be the subject of this study, because they needed a learning technique to motivate and assist them in English language learning is especially on the comprehension of reading narrative texts (Bakir & McStay, 2018).
The technique of Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) is an effective and suitable learning technique to overcome these problems.CIRC teaches the fields of reading, writing, language arts, especially in reading in foreign languages such as English (Slavin, 2005:200).As an example of previous research, namely the results of Sriwahyuni's research (2015) showed that this CIRC technique had a good and real impact on improving students' reading comprehension in language learning in the classroom (W.Rahmawati, Haryanti, & Laila, 2022).Also based on the results of research from Junariyah (2014), revealed that this CIRC technique makes students feel happy and start to be active during the learning process because they are free give ideas for the context of the reading and then present with the group.That way, the CIRC technique helps weak students, quiet or shy students become more active so that it will help increase learning motivation and reading comprehension in English language learning (Simaremare, Silalahi, Sihombing, & Sinaga, 2021).
The researcher does a study based on the explanations and the background written above with the title: "The Effect of Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) Technique on Reading Comprehension of Narrative Text at Grade Eighth Students of SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematang Siantar".

METHOD
This research design is quantitative.The quantitative method is a planned and careful problems solving method.In quantitative, systematically control data collection design, and will focus on constructing inductively concluded theories within the framework of empirically proving hypothesis.The quantitative research imposes objective measuring to collect numeric data that are utilized the answers of questions or test the specified hypothesis (Sakamoto, 2021).This researcher will use a quasi-experimental design in conducting.A quasi-experimental design is derived from the true experimental design and incorporates a control group.However, it lacks the full control over external variables that can influence the execution of the experiment.(Sugiyono, 2010:114).Every student possesses unique characteristics related to their comprehension level, making it challenging to directly compare the experimental class with the control class.Consequently, not all influential variables can be controlled by the researcher.The quasiexperimental method's aim is to discern the causal relationship between the treatment variable and the effect variable (Khair, 2022).
In this quasi-experimental design, a single experimental group and a single control group are utilized, where the independent variable is the application of the CIRC teaching technique, and the dependent variable is the students' reading comprehension.Abusa'aleek and Baniabdelrahman (2020:5).This experimental quantitative research involved observation to determine the impact of the CIRC technique on students' reading comprehension in which the sample was divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group.The experimental group received the CIRC technique as a treatment, while the control group received the usual instruction without the CIRC technique (Rosnani, Rahman, & Mesalina, 2019).
Research location or research setting is the environment, place, or area planned by the researcher to serve as this research.This research will be conducted in school where the researcher does the practice of teaching, it is SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematangsiantar.The researcher will do at the research on grade eighth students in 2023/2024 academic year.
The population is the whole individual who is the object of research with certain characteristic.A population comprises a collection of individuals who share similar characteristics., Creswell (2015:140).The population of this research two classes they are all students of class VIII at SMP GKPS 3 Pematangsiantar for 2023/2024 academic year, each class has a total is thirty (30) students.The total number of the students in class VIII is sixty (60) students.
The sample is important because it becomes a determinant in a study and can provide answers to the results of the research conducted.Sample is part of the entire population that represents certain characteristics (Ary, 2014:160).In this study, the sample size will be determined using the purposive sampling method.Purposive sampling is a sampling approach that relies on specific criteria deemed appropriate for selecting the designated sample based on particular considerations.Researcher will choose two groups as the sample, namely class VIII.1 and VIII.2.The two classes that researcher will choose as sample have studied the narrative text based on school education curriculum.Both classes have the same problem with the narrative text which is the reading comprehension on narrative text.The similarities to the problem between the two classes, then researcher took class VIII.1 and class VIII.2 to be purposive sample.
A research variable is a characteristic, quality, or property of an individual, object, organization, or action that displays specific variations, as determined by the researcher for investigation and subsequent drawing of conclusions (Sugiyono, 2016:68).In this study, the variables are categorized into independent variables and dependent variables.
The independent variable is commonly known as the stimulus, predictor, or antecedent variable.Independent variables are those that exert an influence or trigger modifications or the appearance of dependent variables (Sugiyono, 2016:68).Conversely, the dependent variable is the variable that is impacted or yields outcomes as a consequence of the independent variables (Sugiyono, 2016:68).
The research instrument is a device that the researcher will utilize to facilitate the data collection process.In this study, the researcher plans to employ a test as the research instrument.The researcher will take the test out of "English for Nusantara SMP/MTs VIII 2022 and Jagoan Bahasa Inggris" book that the standard of education in the 8th grade.The test that a researcher will use namely multiple-choice test that related to narrative text.
Data collection is a way to gather, measure, and examine different kinds of information using specific methods.The main goal of data collection is to acquire as much information and data as possible.In the process can use the method of observation, documentation, questionnaires, interviews, to testing (Garrison, 2009).

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter, will discuss the result of the research, which consist of data analysis, findings and discussion.The researcher employed a test as a tool for gathering data to assess students' reading comprehension abilities.

Data Analysis
The data was based on the samples from experimental class and control class, there were 30 students for each group.The researcher got the data from the students' scores of pre-test and post-test.The researcher determined the mean score of the pretest and posttest data from the experimental class and control class.The researcher determined the value of standard deviation, finding standard error of difference mean, finding testing hypothesis, and finding out the degree of freedom (Fitria, 2021).

Experimental Class.
The researcher assessed the student' test in pretest and posttest of experimental class.The researcher determined the Mean score and Standard Deviation.The table below showed the scores which is obtained by the students.In the experimental class, there were 30 students who completed both the pretest and posttest.Based on the provided table, it can be deduced that the lowest score in the pretest was 45, and the highest score was 75.Similarly, the lowest score in the posttest was 70, while the highest score reached 95.The table also reveals that the total sum of all the pretest scores was 1830, resulting in an average score of 61 among the 30 students.Additionally, the total sum of all the posttest scores was 2460, leading to an average score of 82 for the 30 students.

Research Finding
In accordance with the calculation of data analysis above, the researcher summed up that there is an effect of significant of reading comprehension of students taught by Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition technique.

Discussion
The objective of this study is to determine how employing the CIRC technique impacts the reading comprehension of eighth-grade students at SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematang Siantar.CIRC technique is a procedure where by students gathered and shared the information to their groups mates in the classroom when teaching learning activities.From the definition above, in CIRC technique.The students assembled into various groups, with each student being an essential component of the CIRC technique's solution.In reading activity, the CIRC technique mandates that students summarize and rephrase the text, leading to an enhancement in their reading skills (Ficarra & Quinn, 2014).
Drawing from the research outcomes mentioned earlier, the CIRC technique demonstrated an impact on students' reading comprehension.This was substantiated by the posttest results conducted by the researcher following the implementation of the treatment in each class.As indicated by the data analysis, the average score in the experimental class was 82, while in the control class, it was 72.5.Additionally, the table revealed that the highest score in the experimental class was 95, whereas in the control class, it was 85.
Then, about inference of the research, the research analyzed the data by using the theory and formula from Hatch and Farhady (1982).Before analyzing the data, the researcher assessed the test of students' reading in pretest and posttest, then dividing the score of both classes.After that calculating the mean score and the standard deviation of both classes.The last, the researcher counting the degree of freedom (df) and the t-test.According to the results of calculating above, the t-test result was 2,42, as well as the total of degree of freedom (df) used to calculate two tails namely 58 while the t-table result was 2,00.It was proved that the t-test result was higher than ttable result with the level of significance was (0,05) with two tails.Hence, it is clear from the data that using CIRC technique affect the reading comprehension of students (Lismayanti & Pratama, 2019).
Apart from what has been explained earlier, it means that using the CIRC technique significantly improves reading comprehension at SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematangsiantar.This research helps us understand how classroom dynamics change when we use the CIRC technique, assigning tasks based on each student's capabilities, and encouraging students to comprehend the reading material better.Additionally, teachers can inspire students to read the text aloud in front of their classmates (Muhammad, 2020).
Using of CIRC technique in the class experimental, the indicates that students become more engaged, creating a more effective classroom environment, and their reading comprehension improves.On the other hand, in the control class without the CIRC technique, the classroom atmosphere is less favorable, with students displaying lower levels of activity and effectiveness.Thus, the research demonstrates that implementing the CIRC technique is suitable for the learning process.
Other previous research was taken as a part of discussion to find out similarity and differences which been compared with one done by researcher.The research written by Eva Mariana, dkk (2020) with the title: "The Use of Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) technique on Students' Reading Comprehension" had some similarities as well as differences with this research (Carrington, 2021).
As the point of similarity, both researches use of CIRC technique to improving the students' ability in reading comprehension of narrative text.Both researches use pretest and posttest design to measure the effect of the specific treatment (CIRC technique).Both researchers also showed that the class which had been taught by using Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition technique had a higher score than other class which by using conventional technique (without CIRC) (A.Rahmawati & Sujono, 2021).
The differences were seen firstly based on research design.The research by Eva Mariana, dkk applied the pre-experimental method and one group pretest and posttest.Meanwhile, in this research the researcher applied the quasi-experimental design and two group pretest and two group posttests.Eva Mariana, dkk taken the sample by using random sampling.In this research, the researcher taken the sample by using purposive sampling.Finally, it could be concluded that the effects of using CIRC technique was an appropriate teaching technique applying in teaching reading comprehension.It was experimentally proved to improve students' ability in reading comprehension of narrative text.

CONCLUSION
Upon completing the study titled "The Impact of Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) Technique on Reading Comprehension of Narrative Text at Grade Eighth Student of SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematangsiantar, the researcher concluded that by implementing CIRC technique when teaching-learning process, the students are able comprehending the words when students are reading a text or book.When the CIRC technique was applied in the experimental class, the students became capable of determining the main idea of each paragraph when guided by the researcher.During their learning sessions, the researcher prompted the students to collect specific information, make inferences, and recognize references within the text.The students were successful in these tasks because they found the CIRC technique enjoyable and engaging in their lessons.Furthermore, following the implementation of the CIRC technique, students were able to meet or surpass the minimum passing grade criteria when they were tested by the researcher.This is supported by the scores of students in both the experimental and control classes.In the experimental class, the researcher discovered that the mean scores for the pretest and posttest were 61 and 82, respectively.This implies that students enjoyed their learning activities when the CIRC technique was used.On the other hand, in the control class, the researcher observed that the mean scores for the pretest and posttest were 56 and 72.5, respectively.Therefore, it can be concluded that implementing the CIRC technique was more effective than the traditional technique (without the CIRC technique).By calculating the data, we can conclude that the t-test result (2.42) exceeded the t-table value at a significance level of 0.05 (2.00), meaning 2.42 > 2.00.This indicates that the use of the CIRC technique has a significant impact on students' reading comprehension.This is evident from the list of student scores in reading comprehension when using the CIRC technique compared to the conventional technique.In other words, grade eighth students' capacity at SMP Swasta GKPS 3 Pematang Siantar in reading comprehension is significantly impacted by using of CIRC technique.