Improving Student Reading Comprehension Through Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) of Eighth-Grade Students of SMP Widya Sakti Academic Year 2023/2024

Reading is one of the four important language skills that students must master. This research is mainly based on initial observations of 35 subjects in class VIII E at SMP Widya Sakti Denpasar in the 2023/2024 academic year. The results showed that most of the subjects' reading comprehension was still low. Apart from that, this research is intended to find out whether the reading comprehension of eighth-grade students at SMP Widya Sakti Denpasar can be improved through DRTA or not. Researchers carried out classroom action research in two cycles to achieve this goal. Next, the required data is obtained using research instruments, namely tests and questionnaires. The collected data was then analyzed by comparing the pre-test and post-test, which showed a significant increase in the subjects' average scores from the pre-test and post-test. Furthermore, the results of the questionnaire showed that the subjects gave a positive response to the implementation of DRTA. Based on the results of the research instrument, it can be concluded that the reading comprehension of class VIII E students at SMP Widya Sakti Denpasar for the 2023/2024 academic year can be improved through DRTA