Teachers’ Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Learning strategies are crucial for gaining proficiency in a foreign language, particularly for students who want to improve their reading skills. Sometimes, students experienced misunderstandings when digesting a text they had read. Teachers, as facilitators, must be able to choose the right strategies to teach reading in order to enhance students' thinking skills in comprehending English texts. This study aimed to determine the strategies used by English teachers in teaching reading comprehension and how they implemented these strategies. It was designed as a descriptive qualitative study. The participants were two eighth-grade English teachers at MTsN 1 Palembang, selected by using purposive sampling. Data were collected through observations checklist and interviews with the interview sessions recorded and transcribed. The results indicated that teachers employed several strategies in teaching reading comprehension, including Tea Party, Say Something, Fascinating Facts, Reciprocal Teaching, Art of Understanding, and Jigsaw. Both teachers implemented and combined strategies across three stages of teaching reading comprehension: the pre-reading stage using the Tea Party strategy, the while-reading stage with the Say Something, Fascinating Facts, and Reciprocal Teaching strategies, and the post-reading stage using the Art of Understanding and Jigsaw strategies. The strategies used were very effective in teaching reading at the school, as evidenced by student motivation, attention, and the ease of the teaching and learning process for the teachers.