IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION OF EIGHTH-GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 4 GIANYAR IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2024/2025 THROUGH DRTA WITH PICTURE

Reading comprehension is the ability to understand and make meaning from written texts. It involves a set of skills, including decoding words, recognizing grammatical structures, and extracting the main ideas and details from a passage. However, students still faced challenges in comprehending texts, particularly in comprehending narrative text. This study utilised classroom action research conducted in two cycles, focusing on implementing the Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy with pictures. The required data were collected through research instruments: tests and a questionnaire. After the two cycles were conducted, it was found that the DRTA strategy with pictures was an effective teaching strategy to improve the subjects' reading comprehension. This could be observed from the results of the pre-test, Post-Test I, and Post-Test II, which were 41.33, 74.00, and 86.83, respectively. Furthermore, the questionnaire revealed positive responses, with 29.34% of students strongly agreeing and 51.02% agreeing to the effectiveness of the strategy. Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that the reading comprehension of the eighth-grade students of SMP Negeri 4 Gianyar in the academic year 2024/2025 could be improved by implementing the DRTA strategy with pictures.