Strategy is very important in teaching learning process. It has an essential part in supporting the success of teaching and learning process. Relating to the strategy which is used in teaching learning process of reading narrative text, Nunan (1999:63) says that the use of strategy in teaching learning process has a significant effect on students’ motivation, knowledge and appreciation in learning language. In order to make teaching learning process of reading narrative text runs better, more lively, and more actively.
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA) is an instructional framework that views reading as a problem-solving process best accomplished in a social context (Stauffer, 1969). The teacher’s role is to select an instructional level text, divide the text into meaningful sections, and facilitate discussion of each section of text. Students are responsible for establishing their own purposes for reading, generating predictions, justifying those predictions, independently reading the text, and verifying or revising predictions based on evaluations of information in the text during the teacher-led discussion of each section. Stauffer recommended using DRTA with narrative or non-narrative text at all grade levels.
More research has been conducted on the effectiveness of DRTA than the other two instructional methods (see Davidson & Wilkerson, 1988). First- and third-grade Title I DRTA participants were able to recall more story elements than groups that listened to a narrative text without discussion, at a level of statistical significance (Biskin, Hoskisson, & Modlin, 1976). Two studies which were primarily interested in newer techniques, found secondarily, that DRTA was effective in promoting students’ reading comprehension.
Reutzel and Hollingsworth (1991) found that there was no significant difference between first graders in the DL/RTA (Directed Listening/ Reading- Thinking Activity) group and those in a literature webbing group (the object of the study) with regard to answering comprehension questions about the story.
There was a large effect size favoring both intervention groups over the control group. Baumann, Seifert-Kessell, and Jones (1992) reported that an experimental group of fourth graders engaging in DRTA out performed a think-aloud group and the control group on general comprehension measures and an error detection measure. The effectiveness of DRTA in earlier studies makes it important to test its relevance and effectiveness in today’s primary classrooms.
The directed reading thinking activity (DRTA) strategy in which this Strategy is given as a means delivery of material history, here the researcher made a prediction based on materials or user title images and instructions so as to encourage them to formulate questions land conclude with their respective versions. Besides that, the researcher asked students to predict the continuation of a story by reading text.
Herber (in Eanes 1997) emphasized the importance of predictions in motivating students for two reasons. First, it can increase the interest in students, when they discovered that many of the background behind the students' knowledge and author pages relevant to the topic. Second, their interest is also maintained when the background of knowledge and experience an Important part of a subject.
Furthermore, according to Eanes (1997), students not only enable their previous knowledge and experience, but also connect them with the content. Prediction involves personal response topics, so students have an interest to check the accuracy of predictions, students who make predictions automatically when they read, motivated by involvement of students actively with the text. In addition, it can encourage students to formulate questions, this strategy also improve memory of children. At which time the researcher gives information or repetition of the child will read and try to remember to think about text messages in making predictions, students use background of knowledge about the topic in which they try to confirm one or more predictions from other students in groups to confirm or reject his ideas.
By having some definitions above, the researcher concludes that DRTA is one of strategy that guides students in asking questions about a text, making predictions, and then reading to confirm or refute their predictions. The DRTA process encourages students to be active and thoughtful readers, enhancing their comprehension. In the last the researcher hopes that this thesis will give advantages for the readers. In order to more understand about the kinds of techniques in teaching reading we must understand first the model of reading first.