Adaptasi Lintas Budaya Strategi SMART-R untuk Optimalisasi Pembelajaran Membaca EFL di Sekolah Pedesaan Indonesia

Abstract

In this globalization era, reading skill has became essential for EFL students in Indonesia for cross-cultural communication and access informations. Nevertheless, the limited exposure of the language outside the class and effectiveless reading strategy caused lacks of understanding for English texts for Junior High School students, especially those in rural area. The current research aims to design and examine a framework of reading strategy “SMART-T” (Metacognitive-Affective & Reading Circle Strategy to Foster Resilience) that adapted from cross-cultural studies which contextualized to the Muhammadiyah Kembaran Junior High School. The method employed in this study was Classroom Action Research for two cycles, with two weeks each, for 15 8th Grade students whose scores below minimum passing grade (≤70). Moreover, the research instruments were including reading profficiency test, motivational questionnaire, and student reflection journal. The results of this research shown a signficant improvement of reading profficiency with the average scores raised from 64.2 to 80.1 (N-gain = 0.64), as well as the improvement of reading motivation by 8.6 points, and the reducing in reading anxiety by 8.9 points. The qualitative findings indicate that collaborative activities and effective-affective reflection are succesfully improve confidence and engagement of the students. This research provides empirical evidence that integration of metacognitive strategy, collaborative learning, and affective support are simply and contextually can improve EFL students literation in a middle school with limitted resource. The practical implications including reccomendation for teachers in implementing metacognitive practice, management of heterogenous group, and short affective-reflection session as part of reading lesson.