CHAPTER I

INTRODUTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In the global era English is very important, English as an international language

is used to communicate by all people in the world. English has important role to develop
in many aspect, especially in our country, whether in aspect of economics, education,
military and politics. Those aspects use English to communicate by the purpose to
improve good relationship between our country and other countries to share the education
system, share the technology military, etc. So that, the English language has been learned
all of people through course training or in the school and it makes the subject education
try to improve the teaching and learning English language to be better through developing
on the curriculum, the school facilities, teacher’s quality, textbook material, etc.

One of the factors in learning process is textbook. Textbook has an important role
in teaching and learning process. Textbook become the main source of guidance for
teacher and students. The textbook is made to achieve the learning objective. As stated by
Tarigan and Tarigan (1990) that textbook is an important and functional book for student
in the school, it is designed by many expert to achieve the goal and instructional
objective, complete with appropriate facilities in order to make the user of the book
understand easily. The writer agrees with the statement because textbook has function to
support and apply the curriculum. So it’s designed and created based on the curriculum.
as stated by Tarigan and tarigan (1990) said that. The textbook is a manual or
instructional or a standard book in any branch of study. It is usually published by many
publisher to every request for an understanding of every subject that can be taught.

Based on the opinion above, the selection of textbook becomes the importance
process (Ariew, 1982). So teacher should select and choose the appropriate textbook
which is going to be used. Which one of the textbook that make teaching and learning
process run easily, and the textbook is appropriate with the students language, simple,
interesting and effective in sentence, so it can make the student understand and
comprehend the material easily and the learning objective can be achieved.
 As stated in school level-based curriculum (curriculum 2006) that the skills to be
achieved by students are dealing with speaking, reading, writing and listening. Those
skills are expected to be achieved by the students with the expectation that students are
ready to face the globalization. The students are expected to be the competence users of
English in communicative with others, for example, in teaching speaking they are
expected to be able to do and realize the speech (speech act, speech function, language
function). In developing the competency, the students are instructed to do the speech,
such as opening conversation, defending the conversation, closing the conversation, and
asking for help.

One of another skills should be achieved by students is reading, and it can’t be

denied that reading is one of the important thing in the student skill. The definition of
reading According to Nunan (1989:17) in his book said that “Reading is a process of
decoding written symbols, working from smaller units (individual letters) to larges ones
(words, clauses and sentences)”. Another definition is come from Grigg, Daane, Jin, &
Campbel (2003) Reading is an interactive and constructive process involving the reader,
the text, and the context of the reading experience. Reading involve the development of an
understanding of text, thinking about text in different ways, and using variety of text types
for different purpose. In other hand, Snow, Burns & Griffin, (1998) defining that reading
is a complex developmental challenge that we know to be correlate with many others
developmental accomplishments : attention, memory, language, and motivation.

There ere so many definitions about reading. But the important thing in teaching
learning process is the way how to know the students mastering in comprehend the text.
The teacher have to observe their students related with the students difficulties, students
language and students weaknesses. Those information are very important. It can help the
teacher as references in the teaching-learning process. After we have known the
information about that, the teachers can give the reading material according to the students
level.

The way to know whether the student have mastered the material that have been
though or not is by testing. Testing is used to determine the achievement and also the
progress of an instruction. By testing, teacher can see his students weaknesses and
difficulties in order to make any improvement and to find out other strategies in
instructional process. Testing has important role in teaching-learning process. Teaching
and testing can not be separated. As stated by Heaton (1975) “both teaching and testing are
so closely interrelated that is virtually impossible to work in either field without being
constantly with the others.

There are so many ideas about the important of test. According to Harris (1993)
stated that a test is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of an instructional. In other hand
Arikunto (1993:11) states that a test is needed to know how far a programmed can be
applied by the students. And more specific idea is from Heaton (1975:2) , a language test
is needed to enable the teacher to ascertain which part of a language programmed have
been difficult by the students and to give the students an opportunity to show their abilities
in using the correct form of the language.

A test seem to be a sample of behavior. It means that from a limited observation

on a test, inferences will be made about the general competence of the students with the
need of more effective teaching and learning goes to the need for more effective teaching.
In fact, it is not fair if students are always blamed when the result are bad. Actually, the
test result are influenced by the quality of the test administered.

It is important that in testing activity, to get a correct information about students

abilities accurately, The test must have the criteria of good test. There are many ways to
know the quality of good test. Many evaluation expert give their opinion about the
characteristics of good test. Nurkancana and sumartana (1986) point out that qualified test
should be reliable, valid and having high degrees of difficulty and differentiating power.
Harris (1969) stated that a test can be considered as a qualified test if it fulfill the criteria
given. They are validity, reliability and practicable. Arikunto (1993 : 56) stated that a good
test should have validity, reliability, objectivity, practicability and economy. Sudjana
(1991) also state that a quality of a good test can be seen from the validity and reliability.
From those definition it can be said that both validity and reliability are the important
thing to the quality of a good test.

From the explanation above, this study is conducted to analyze the reading
comprehension Question in the English textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa
Terampil Dan Aktif” published by Seti Aji, Cimani. This book is used by the second
grade students in second semester of SMK Ma’arif NU in Mantup - Lamongan. Whether
the reading comprehension question in English textbook have the criteria of good test
those are validity, reliability, item difficulty and discrimination level. and this study is
 only limited on the reading comprehension question because reading has the essential role
in the teaching – learning process.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.

In accordance with the background of the study above, the writer formulates
question in carrying out this study. Those question are :

1. How is the content validity of reading comprehension question in English

textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif” published by
Seti Aji, Cimani that used by second grade students in second semester of
SMK Ma’arif NU Mantup - Lamongan?

2. How is the reliability of reading comprehension question in English

textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif” published by
Seti Aji, Cimani that used by second grade students in second semester of
SMK Ma’arif NU Mantup - Lamongan?

3. How is the index of item difficulty of reading comprehension question in

English textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif”
published by Seti Aji, Cimani that used by second grade students in second
semester of SMK Ma’arif NU Mantup - Lamongan?

4. How is the index of discrimination level of reading comprehension question

in English textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif”
published by Seti Aji, Cimani that used by second grade students in second
semester of SMK Ma’arif NU Mantup - Lamongan?

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY.

As the problems statement that mention in above, this study are conducted to
have some objective, those are :
 1. To find out the content validity of reading comprehension question in English
textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif” for the
second semester of second grade of Vocational High School published by
Seti Aji, Cimani.

2. To find out the reliability of reading comprehension question in the English

textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif” for the
second semester of second grade of Vocational High School published by
Seti Aji, Cimani.

3. To find out the index of item difficulty of reading comprehension question in

the English textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif”
for the second semester of second grade of Vocational High School published
by Seti Aji, Cimani.

4. To find out the index of discrimination level of reading comprehension

question in the English textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil
Dan Aktif” for the second semester of second grade of Vocational High
School published by Seti Aji, Cimani.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The finding of this study hopefully can be useful for :

1. The teacher

The writer expect that this analysis will be useful for the teacher . this study
will give the information about the content validity, reliability, index of item
difficulty and index of discrimination level in the reading comprehension question
in the English textbook, so teacher will know the quality of reading
comprehension question whether the reading comprehension question can measure
the learning achievement that must be measure and the texts are appropriate with
the student language level, and the students response/ answer to the question and
the degrees of students in language acquisition.
 2. The students

By observing the result of this study, the writer hope that students can
measure their real achievement exactly. The reason is if the fact shows that the
reading question in the English textbook have/does not have a good quality, they
will see that their mark got from the test actually reflect/do not reflect their real
achievement.

3. The books writer

This study hopefully can give the information to the textbook writer. The
textbook writer has made the appropriate textbook in reading comprehension
question or not, it can be seen from this study, so it can be references to the
textbook writer in the future for better English textbook.

1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION.

From this study the writer try to analysis reading comprehension question in
English textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif”. Actually there
are so many topics and sub topics in the textbook related to the four skill ( speaking,
listening, reading and writing), but the writer only limited on analyzing the reading
comprehension question in the textbook for the second semester of second grade
students in SMK Ma’arif NU Lamongan..

1.6 KEY WORDS.

In order to avoid misunderstanding about the problems that will be discussed. the
writer list and define the principle terms that used in this research. Those are as follows :

1.6.1 Item Analysis

 Item analysis is performed simply to investigate how well the items on the test are
working with a particular group of students.

1.6.2 Content Validity.

validity of the test is the extent to it measure what it is supposed to measure nothing
else.(Heaton ,1975)

1.6.3 Reliability

Oller (1974) stated that the reliability of a test is a matter of how consistently it
produces similar result on different occasions under similar circumstances. Its mean
that it shows the consistence of the test score or other evaluation result from one
measurement to another.

1.6.4 Item difficulty or Facility Value

The index of difficulty or facility value of an item simply shows how easy or difficult
the particular item proved in the test (Heaton,1988). In one line with this definition is
from Oller (1979) points out that item difficulty is about how difficult or how easy a
test item for the students being investigated.

1.6.5 Discrimination.

The discrimination index is item discrimination between the testes, separating the able
testes from the less able (Heaton, 1988:179). It means that the index of discrimination
level is used to differ the students who achieve well (upper group) on the test and
those who achieve poor (lower groups).

1.6.6 Reading comprehension question

Reading comprehension question is the question that have the purpose to measure
students understanding or comprehension in reading.
 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter consist of some related literature that will be discussed. Those are :
(1) Textbook (2) Reading, (3) Test, (4) Validity & Reliability of the test , and (5) Item
analysis, item difficulty and discrimination.

2.1. TEXTBOOK

Textbook is a media or instructional or standard book of any branch of study. It

is usually published by many publisher to every request for an understanding of every
subject that can be taought. Tarigan and tarigan (1990) state that textbook is standard
book, designed by many expert t to achieve the goal and instructional objective,
complete with appropriate facilities in order to make the user of book understand
easily.

In teaching and learning process, textbook has an important role because of

some reason. First, as stated by Tarigan and Tarigan (1990) that the textbook is an
important and functional book for students in school. The textbook has function to
support and apply the curriculum, so it is designed and created based on the
curriculum. Second the textbook is very important because it’s the main source of
guidance for students and teacher. In here, there will be explained the advantages and
disadvantages of the textbook.

2.1.1 THE ADVANTAGES OF TEXTBOOK

As we know the textbook has important role in teaching learning activity.

It has the function as the guidance to provide systematic experience. Arrew in
Higgs (1982) state that “textbook become the motivator and facilitator for the
 textbooks user ; students and teacher”. Textbook have so many advantages as
said by Tarigan and Tarigan (1990) that the advantages of textbook are : (1) As a
guideline for teachers as a source of practical teaching, (2) As a media for the
students to study the material by themselves, so teacher does not have to be the
center stage all the time, (3) As a source a homework to the students, (4) As
source of discussion and comparison with the other teachers, (5) To make the
students ability increase and progress.

Other advantages of textbook stated by Hasan Ansary and Esmat Babaii

(2002) are : (1) A textbook is a framework which regulates and times the
programs, (2) In the eyes of learners, no textbook means no purpose, (3) Without
a textbook, learners think their learning is not taken seriously, (4) In many
situations, a textbook can serve as a syllabus, (5) A textbook provides ready-made
teaching texts and learning tasks, (6) A textbook is a cheap way of providing
learning materials, (6) A learner without a textbook is out of focus and teacher-
dependent, and perhaps most important of all, (7) For novice teachers a textbook
means security, guidance, and support.

From those argument, the writer can conclude that textbook has big role in
teaching learning process and become the effective tool and guidance to reach the
teaching learning achievement. Teachers can’t avoid using textbook which is
very important in giving instruction at the school. Textbook is a media to achieve
the learning objective. And better for the students to have the textbook to make
teaching learning process easily.

2.1.2 KIND OF TEXTBOOK.

In our society, there are so many kinds of textbooks used by teachers and
students in teaching and learning activity. Grand (1975) stated that textbook has
two type that are mostly used in teaching and learning process, they are
traditional and communicative textbook. Traditional textbook make the student
learn the language as a system. It’s expected that they use the language for their
own purpose in any way they think in their daily life. The traditional textbook
 have criteria as follows : (1) Emphasize the form or pattern of language more than
the communicative language function, (2) Focus on reading and writing activities
rather than listening and speaking activities, (3) focus rather narrowly on a
syllabus and examination, and (4) attractive to some teachers because they seems
easy to use.

The second textbook are communicative textbook. It is try to solve the

problem by creating opportunity for the students to use the language in the
classroom. The criteria of communicative textbook are follows ; (1) Emphasize
the communicative function of language not just the form; (2) Reflect the
students’ need and interest, (3) Emphasize on listening and speaking skill ; (4)
have very specific definition of aims ; (5) Reflect the authentic language of daily
life by the content and methods ; and (6) Emphasize fluency not just accuracy.

2.1.3 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD TEXTBOOK.

Based on Green and Petty (1990) the criteria of good textbook are : (1) It
should arouse students’ interest, (2) It should give motivation for user (students
and teachers), (3) It consist of interesting illustration, (4) It should consider
linguistic aspect to the students’ ability, (5) It content should be integrating to
other subject matter, (6) It should avoid ambiguity concept which can make
students confused, (7) It should have a clear point of view, (8) It should be able to
give stressing point and value to users, (9) It should appreciate the individual
differences of the students.

In other hand, Stevents (2003) add some requirement of good textbook

those are : (1) Realistic, it means capable of being used by the teacher and the
students, (2) Interesting, it means that it varies on interesting topic to the students,
(3) Encouraging, it means that it has quality of making the learners enjoy the
learning to make a progress, (4) Compatible with the approach being followed
with the teachers attitude.

2.2 READING
 Reading is an interactive and constructive process involving the reader, the
text, and the context of the reading experience. Reading involve the development of
an understanding of text, thinking about text in different ways, and using variety of
text types for different purpose (from the framework for the NAEP reading
assessment, Grigg, Daane, Jin, & Campbel,2003, P.3). other definition that reading is
a complex developmental challenge that we know to be intertwined with many others
developmental accomplishments : attention, memory, language, and motivation. For
example, reading is not only a cognitive Psycholinguistic activity but also asocial
activity. ( snow, burns & Griffin, 1998, P. 15).

In here, the researchers will explain the essential aspect related reading, that
is reading comprehension, the stage in reading, some factor influence in reading and
reading material, as in turn.

2.2.1 READING COMPREHENSION

Reading comprehension is an interactive process involving the readers,

the text, and the activity or purpose for reading. These elements interact in and
are effected by the larger sociocultural context(reading study group, 2002).
Reading is a complex and purposeful sociocultural, cognitive, and linguistic
process in which readers simultaneously use their knowledge of the topic of the
text, and their knowledge of their culture to construct meaning with text
( National Council of Teachers of English of America, 2004). Being literate in
contemporary society means being active, critical, and creative user not only of
print and spoken language but also of the visual language of film and television,
commercial and political advertising, photography, and more (International
Reading Association, 1996). Reading should be conceptualized as an
engagement. Engage readers not only have acquired reading skill but also use
them for their own purpose in many context.

It is necessary for the students of Senior or Vocational High School to

master reading comprehension. The definition from Cooper (1986) stated that
Comprehension is a process in which the reader may construct meaning by
interacting with the text. In reading comprehension, a reader should have
knowledge about understanding the reading passage. The common questions on
the passages are primarily about the main ideas, details, and an inference that
can be drawn from the passages.

According to Singer (1985) reading comprehension has been defined as

an interpretation of written symbols, the apprehending of meaning, the
assimilation of ideas presented by the written, and the process of thinking while
deciphering symbols. Further, reading comprehension is related closely to the
cognitive competence of the readers, because this will produce comprehension.

In comprehending a topic, the readers interacts with the text relates to

the pre-questioning of the text to prior experiences of construct meaning which
can be found in the text. Skimming and scanning are two very useful techniques
that will help the reader become a better reader.

In here, there will be explain about Skimming and Scanning, as follows :

1. Skimming
Skimming is a technique used to look for the “gist” of what the author
is saying without a lot of detail (Kustaryo, 1988:5). This reading technique is
used if one wants to get a general impression of a book, essay, article and
determine whether or not to read it more carefully. Moreover, Yorkey (134)
defines that there are two purposes of skimming: to locate a specific word,
fact, or idea quickly, and to get a rapid general impression of the material.

Thus, in skimming the text, a reader needs to practice in order he or

she can learn the key words and phrases which can cover all the material he or
she is reading. To do the skimming, the reader should go through a passage
quickly, jumping over parts of it, in order to get a general idea of what it is
about.

2. Scanning
Scanning is quickly reading to find the specific information Brown
(2001:308) stated that, scanning is quickly searching for some particular
piece or pieces of information in a text.
By scanning, a reader mean glancing rapidly through a text either a
text either to search a specific piece of information (e.g. name, date) or to get
an initial impression of whether the text is suitable for a given purpose”,
 Nuttall in Kahayanto (2005:11). When scanning the reader lets his or her
eyes wander over the text until he or she is looking for, whether it is a place,
a kind of food, a kind of verb, or a specific information. To enable the student
to scan effectively, he or she should know what kinds of information he or
she needs, also, he or she should have the strong belief where he or she will
find such information needed from the text.

2.2.2 THE THREE STAGES OF READING.

There are three stage while reading that is pre-reading, whilst/active

reading, and post-reading (Abbott, 1981) . Pre-reading stage is the activities
before the students read the text. Then, whilst-reading stage is the activities
during the students read the text and try to understand the text and post-
reading stage is the activities to review the content of text. Those three stages
will be discussed in turn.

2.2.2.1 Pre- Reading Stage

The purpose of pre reading stage is to build the students
knowledge of the text and to motivate the students to read. It needed
to focus the students’ attentions; it can be done by using picture,
asking some questions and analyzing word association. Then the
teacher could motivate the students by providing interesting texts. It
will be difficult because each student has different interests. The
different interests are caused by age, sex, and cultural background. In
this case, the teacher can motivate a class by some anticipation.

The anticipation includes: (1) anticipating the content, (2)

anticipating both the content and the form, ad (3) vocabulary work
looking at the key words.

2.2.2.2 Whilst- Reading Stages

In this stage, the students read the text and try to understand
both literal and implied meaning of the text. This activity includes (1)
Identifying the main idea, (2) Finding details in the text, (3)
Following a sequence, (4) Inferring from the text, (5) Recognizing the
 writer purposes and attitude, (6) Recognizing discourses feature, (7)
The teacher role is to help both individual learners with their
particular difficulties and the whole group.

2.2.2.3 Post- Reading Stages

The purpose of post reading stage is intended to review the
content of the text. In this case, the students work on bottom-up
concern such as grammar, vocabulary, and discuss feature and
consolidate what has been read by relating the new information to the
student’s knowledge, interest and opinion. The activities of this stage,
for example the teacher asks some questions for evaluation, asks the
students to write a summary of the text, asks them to retell the
essence of the text.

2.2.3 FACTOR IN READING PROCESS.

2.2.3.1. Cognitive Factor.

A cognitive description specifies what kinds of information

is input to a cognitive action, how this information is processed and
transformed, what data structures are used and what behavior is
generated. Readers are actively engage with the text and build their
own understanding. Engagement presume motivation, interest, and
purpose, even emotional involvement ( both Positive and Negative ).
With comprehension as the goal, readers purposefully sample print,
constructing meaning efficiently and effectively (Duke & Pearson,
2002; Goodman, 1996; Kucer & Tuten, 2003; Smith, 2004).

2.2.3.2 Sociocultural factor.

Reading is sociocultural process that is, it occurs within a

situation whose participants, time, place, and expectation will affect the
reader and the meaning he or she construct with the text (Gee, 1996;
Halliday, 1973, 1975), and from a constructivist perspective, what one
learns about reading is link inextricably to how one learns it. Vigostky
(1934/ 1978) emphasize the importance of social interaction to actually
drive any learning process. Bruner (1975) and Applebee & Langer
 (1983) elaborate on this nation with their description of scaffolding- the
interaction between the learners and more sophisticated others that
provide guidance, support and models as new learning takes place.

Socially scaffold interaction at the edge of the individual’s

independent capability actually support the learners internalization of
skill and strategies, and eventually his or her independent application of
them, and in this process, metacognition develops, that is the ability to
be aware of what one does as a reader, as well as to talk about what is
read, and to consciously realize problem and reach solution (Pressley,
2002; cf Sweet, 1993).

2.2.3 READING MATERIAL

According to Dupois in Neni (2001:14), in selecting and choosing

teaching material the following criteria should be taken into consideration : (1)
the teaching material should reflect student’s interest and whenever possible
reflect the area of interest the students tend to go, (2) teaching material should
be suitable with the curriculum in the school and are sensitive to the need and
attention of the community.

A good reading material is a material which contain a simple grammar or

structure of the sentences. This is supported by Eskey (1983) he state that good
reading assignment should also of course fall within the students range of
proficiency including the grammar or structure complexity of reading material
since complex

2.3 TEST

Arikunto state that “ a test is any series of questions of exercise of other

means of measuring the sill, knowledge, intelligence, capacities of aptitudes or an
individual group (Arikunto, 1999) carrol also state that “ a psychological or
educational test aid a procedure designed to elicit certain behavior from which one
can make inference about certain characteristics of individual (carrol, 1996). In
other hand, Bachman (1990) says “ a test is measurement instrument designed to
elicit a specific sample of an individual’s behavior.

Harris (1969) mention the objectives of the test are : (1) To determine
readiness for instructional program, (2) To classify or place individual in appropriate
language classes, (3) To diagnose the individual’s specific strengths and weakness,
(4) To measure aptitude for learning, (5) To measure the extent of student
achievement of the instructional goal, (6) To evaluate the effectiveness of
instruction.

2.3.1 TYPE OF THE TEST

Amari (1996) groups the test under three major types, according to
characteristics, purpose, and the test maker. There are two kinds the type of the
test, that is standardize and teacher made test. Standardize test is the test
prepare by professional testing service to assist intuition in the selection,
placement, and evaluating of the students. And the meaning of teacher made
test is generally prepared, administered and score by one teacher himself, and it
used by the teacher to the achievement of his own students on his own objective
after finishing the teaching learning process.

2.3.2 TE FORM OF THE TEST

Based on it’s form the test is divided into two kinds (Heaton, 1995) .
they are subjective test and objective test. Subjective test and objective test are
the terms refer to the scoring of the test. Objective test usually has one correct
answer so they can be scored mechanically, while subjective test needed scale
for scoring the test.
2.3.2.1 SUBJECTIVE TEST

Generally, subjective test is formed in essay test. It’s a kind of test

in which the student may give different responses (based on their idea)
from the other towards on the question. Heaton (1969) state that in essay
test candidates must think of what to say and then express their ides as
well as possible. In line with Heoton, Arikunto (1987) state that subjective
test is generally in essay form. It’s a kind of the progressive test that
requires the students’ ability to describe and organize their idea to answer
the test.

There are some strengths and weakness of subjective test

according to nurgiyantoro (1987). The strengths of subjective test are :
(1) it’s suitable to examine the thinking process involving high cognitive
activity, not only reminding and understanding fact and concepts, (2) it
gives student opportunity to express their answer in coherent language in
their own style, (3) it give student opportunity to use their thoughts, (4)
it’s easy to construct and efficient.

The weakness of subjective test are : (1) it has low validity and
reliability, (2) the result ted to be coincidental for the materials tested are
limited, (3) It’s very difficult to determine the standard of the scoring
system, and (4) It’s not efficient in checking the students’ responses.

2.3.2.2 OBJECTIVE TEST

The objective is a kind of test, which is scored objectively. It

means that the teachers give the score based on the students answer
correctly. This kind of test require the students to choose the right answer
or give short answer. Lado (1961) state that objective test are those that
are scored rather mechanically without need to evaluate complex
performance on a scale. It means that in objective test, the students are
demanded to give short answer even only by choosing certain codes
representative of the answer available.

Heaton (1975) state that objective test is a term to refer to the

scoring of the test that can be described as objective. This means that
testee will get the same score, no matter which examiner which mark his
test, since this test usually have one correct answer. Type of objective test
is multiple choice. Moreover, Arikunto (1987) add that the objective test
is the test that can be scored objectively. The number of item is usually
more than of essay test. The testee has to weigh up carefully all the
alternative and select the best one.

It same with subjective test, the objective test also have the
strength and the weakness. According to Nuriyantoro (1987). The strength
of objective test are : (1) It enables us to take the material that will be
tested more completely than essay test, (2) it consist of one correct
answer only, (3) It’s very easy to be corrected for just match the students’
responses to the key answer prepared, (4) The responses can be corrected
fast with reliable result.

The weaknesses of objective test are : (1) Test construction needs

relatively long time, beside carefulness and special ability from the
teacher, (2) The test is not comprehensive since teacher tends to
emphasize the major material only, (3) Students may do the test in
coincidental way, (4) It’s not economical since the test needs a lot of
many.

It can conclude that there is no best form of the test because both
of the subjective test and objective test have the strength and the
weaknesses. There for, the teacher should apply both item in teaching and
learning process. There are several type of objective test. There are several
kinds of objective test. Witherington (1986) state that there are four kinds
of the most commons of the objective test those are true-false, multiple
choice, completion and matching test.
2.3.3 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD TEST

A test can be said as a good test if it is fulfill the criteria of a good test.
According to Harris (1969) state that all good test posses three qualities, namely
Validity, Reliability and practically. In this study, validity and reliability will be
discussed since they are the most important characteristics of good test. Bloom
(1981) state that a teacher who wishes to use a good test to take an important
decision about an individual or group, must be sure that the test possesses two
absolutely essentials characteristics, validity and reliability. In line with bloom,
Bachman (1990) state that reliability and validity are those two essential to the
interpretation and use of language ability.

2.3.3.1 VALIDITY

According to Heaton (1975) state that the validity of the test is the
extent to measure what it is supposed to measure nothing else. If the test is
able to measure what its purposes, than the test has high validity. All type
of test must be valid. Whether the test is short or long and whether it is
informal test or achievement test. There are three types of validity
according to Gronlund (1979) they are Content Validity, criterion related
validity, and construct validity. In this study the writer will focus only on
the content validity.

Content validity is the extent to which a test measure a

representative sample of the subject matter content. The test has content if
the test item can represent all the content stated in the subject matter
(Heaton, 1975). Heaton (1988) also state that content validity depend on
careful analysis of the language being tested and of particular course
objective. The test should be constructed as to contain a representative
sample of course. The relationship between the test items and the course
objective always being apparent. The test has content validity if the test
 item cover the material stated in the curriculum. The test must represent
the objectives state in the curriculum. Weir (1990) stated that the sample
of activities to be include in a test as representative of the target domain as
well as possible. To know whether the test has content validity or not. The
test should be compared with the material stated in the curriculum. The
test has high content validity if the test items cover the material stated in
the curriculum.

2.3.3.2 RELIABILITY

The second characteristic of a good test is reliability, it refers to

the consistence of the measurement. Its mean that it shows the consistence
of the test score or other evaluation result from one measurement to
another. Oller (1974) stated that the reliability of a test is a matter of how
consistently it produces similar result on different occasions under similar
circumstances. If the test administered has the same result or consistent
reliability, then it can be said that the test has reliability. Published test
usually requires test reliability of 0,85 or above while teacher-built testee
usually consider adequate with reliabilities of 0,60 or above (Tuckman,
1975)

Heaton (1975) state that there are five factor effecting the
reliability of the test they are : (1) The extent of the sample material
selecting for testing. It means the test which has bigger items will be
more reliable than the test which small number of items, (2) The
administration of the test. It means that the condition of administrating of
the test will affect the reliability of the test, (3) The instruction. The
clarity of the instruction will affect the students comprehension to answer
the tests, (4) Personal factor. Such as motivation and illness, (5) Scoring
the test. It means that the objective test is more reliable than the subjective
test.
 Heaton’s formula is used since it avoids trouble some and it
involve only the test mean and standard deviation, both of which normally
calculated any how as a matter of routine (Heaton, 1988).

To measure reliability, Heaton’s formula is as follow :

 N  m( N − 1) 
r = 1 − 
 N − 1  Nx 2 

Where :

r = coefficient Reliability
N = The number of items in the test.
M = The mean score on the test for all the testees.
X = The standard deviation of all the testees score.
(Heaton, 1975:157)

Reliability is indicated by a statistical figure known as coefficient

correlation index, ranging from 0 to 1 with intervening degree such as 17,
35, etc. indicating different degree of reliability. For essay test it uses
Kuder-Rechardson, the formula to calculate the reliability of the essay
test.

The formula is as follow :

 K  X(K − X ) 
r = 1 − 
 K − 1  K .SD 

Where :

r = Reliability
K = The number of items in the test.
X = The mean of the test score..
SD = The standard deviation of the test.
2.3.3.3 ITEM ANALYSIS

It is very important to know the effectiveness of the item test on

the evaluation. According to Heaton (1969) the test is not finished yet
once the raw marks have been obtained. Its need further analyzed in order
to get information concerning (1) the performance of the students as a
group, those informing the teacher about the effectiveness of the teaching,
(2) the performance of individual students, and 93) the performance of
each of the item comprising the test .

All item should be examined from the point of view of (1) the
difficulty level, and (2) the discrimination level.

2.3.3.3.1 INDEX OF ITEM DIFFICULTY (FACILITY VALUE)

According to Heaton (1988) the index of difficulty or

facility value of an item simply shows how easy or difficult the
particular item proved in the test. It generally expresses as the
fraction (or percentage) of the student who answered the item
correctly. Oller (1979) points out that item difficulty is about how
difficult or how easy a test item for the students being
investigated. Its mean that a good test item must not to easy or to
difficult for the students. In order to know exactly the index of
difficulty of the test, teacher must analyzed it though the students’
score or students responses. In this study, Heaton’s formula
(1988:182) is used to calculating the index of difficulty.

The formula bellow :

F.V = Correct U + Correct L

2n
 Where :
F.V = the index of difficulty
Correct U = the number of students in upper group who

answer the item correctly .

Correct L = the number of students in lower group

who

answer the item correctly .

n = the number of students in each group.

According to Arikunto (1986:212), the criteria used to

interpret the result above are as follow :

0,00 – 0,30 = difficult.

0,31 – 0,70 = moderate.

0,71- 1,00 = easy.

It’s mean that the test is too difficult since the student can
not answer all the item if the index of difficulty shows 0,00 , it is
not good to be given to the students. Moreover, the test is too
easy since the students can answer all the item if the index of
difficulty show 1,00 , this test also not good to be given to the
students. Actually, the test which is good to be given to the
students is the test with criterion index difficulty between 0,31 –
0,70. Those according to Arikunto (1986:212) state that the test
which is good to be given to the students is the test with the
criteria between 0,31 – 0,70.
2.3.3.3.2 INDEX OF DISCRIMINATION.

Heaton (1988:179) state that the discrimination index of

item discrimination between the testes, separating the able testes
from the less able. It means that the index of discrimination level
is used to differ the students who achieve well (upper group) on
the test and those who achieve poor (lower groups). By
comparing the number of students in the upper group and the
lower group who answer the item correctly the index of
discrimination can be estimate.

The discrimination index can be calculated by using the

Heaton’s formula (1988:182) below :

D = Correct U – Correct L

2n

where :

d = the index of discrimination

Correct U = the number of students in upper group who

answer the item correctly.

Correct L = the number of students in lower group who

answer the item correctly.

n = the number of students in each group.

According to Arikunto (1986:223), the criteria used to

interpret the result are as follow :
 0,00 – 0,20 = Poor

0,20 – 0,40 = Satisfactory

0,40 – 0,70 = Good

0,70 – 1,00 = excellent.

According to Heaton (1988:180) discrimination indices

can range from +1 (=an item which discriminates perfectly)
through (= an item which does not discriminate in any way at
all). It means that all the student in upper group can answer all
the item of the test correctly while the students in the lower group
can not, so the test discriminate perfectly with the index of
discrimination +1. In other hand, if the index of discrimination is
-1 , all the students in upper group cannot answer all the item
correctly but all the students in the lower group can answer all
the item correctly, it means that this kind of test is entirely wrong
way and must be replaced. However, the index of discrimination
is 0 if both students in the upper group and in the lower group
can or cannot answer the items correctly. This kind of test does
not discriminate in any way at all.
 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH

In this chapter, the writer present the description of methodology used in this study. It
involve research design, the object of the study, the data collection, the instrument, and the
data analysis. All of the steps will be explained in the following points.

3.1 DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH

The design used in this study is a descriptive quantitative research method. It

describe the quality of reading question in the English textbook entitle “Pelatihan Intensif
Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif” for the second semester of second grade students of SMK
Ma’arif NU Mantup – Lamongan. According to Arikunto (2000), say that descriptive
research is not meant to test a certain hypothesis, but it is only describes the variables,
phenomenon, situation and condition occur during the research. So that the writer
conduct this study in order to get the description about the quality of the reading
comprehension question in the English textbook.

In analyzing the data, the researchers used quantitative method in order to get
correct result. The quantitative is used because the data include of the student score from
the reading examination. So, it consists of numerical data. Beside the writer used
statistical formula to describe the data as the main point and the result of this study.

3.2 THE SUBJECT OF THE RESEARCH

The subject of this study is reading comprehension question in English textbook

entitled “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan Aktif” for second grade student of
vocational high school, published by seti-aji, Cemani. This textbook is used by students
of SMK Ma’arif NU Mantup-Lamongan. This textbook was chosen because it has not
been analyzed by other researchers and the book used in that school for long time. The
choice of the second grade of vocational high school is based on the consideration that
it’s important to measure how the quality of reading comprehension question in English
textbook for the second grade of vocational high school. the students at this level have
 chosen in any science discipliner, so the student concentrate in two different knowledge
that is general knowledge and specific knowledge in the school.

3.3 COLLECTION OF THE DATA

In collecting the data, its done in four steps. Firstly the writer permit to head
master of the school and the second the writer determine the book that will be analyzed,
and the third , the writer listed down the frequency of reading comprehension question in
the English textbook which will be analyzed. Those steps are done to get a specific
material of reading comprehension question. The fourth, the writer make reading
examination according to the content of the reading comprehension question in the
textbooks which will be tested to the students.

3.3.1 THE INSTRUMENT

In this study, the researchers will analyze the reading comprehension

question in the English textbook entitled “Pelatihan Intensif Siswa Terampil Dan
Aktif” for second grade student of vocational high school, published by seti-aji,
Cemani. whether the reading comprehension question in the English textbook have
the characteristic of good test, those are validity, reliability. And this study also try
to describe the item difficulty and discrimination level, so the instrument to collect
the data uses the reading comprehension question in the English textbook.

The reading comprehension questions which are used in this study are
reading comprehension questions in unit 1, unit 3, unit 4, unit 6, unit 7, unit 8, unit
9, unit 10. The total number of reading comprehension are eleven which contain 67
question and consist of nine multiple choice questions and fifty eight essay
questions.

In answering the reading comprehension questions, the testee are allowed to

use some possible answer. The most important is their answer are not against the
statement in the reading. They are also allowed to use the other words. Which have
the same meaning with the expected answer.
 In choosing the object of the test, the researchers give a test to one
class of second grade at SMK Ma’arif NU in Mantup - Lamongan. The total
number of student are 39 students, they are in department of accountancy.
Actually there are two classes consist of 98 students but this study only take
one class in giving the test, because they are the best class.

3.4 THE ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

The data obtain should be analyzed in order to get the empirical evidence of the
research. The data can be analyzed by using statistical or non-statistical method
(Arikunto, 1996:242). And in this study uses statistical method. The statistical method
was used for the analysis of the content validity, the reliability, the item difficulty and
the index of discrimination level.

3.4.1 Analyzing Content Validity.

Arikunto (1953 : 208) present the way how to analyze the content validity
of a test by checking up of every item of the test with the specific objective stated
in the curriculum. In doing the analysis of content validity of the test, the writer
follow this steps :

1. Making a list of the content curriculum SMK 2006 that is school

level-based curriculum for English language, then putting them
into a table.

2. Placing each of the test item into an appropriate place with the
content of school level-based curriculum to identify whether or
not the content of the test item represent all language aspect that
should be tested.

3.4.2 Analyzing The Reliability.

The writer uses the Alpha’s formula to calculate the reliability in the form
of essay test as stated by Arikunto (1993:104) the writer use the following steps to
determine the reliability.

1. Making tabulation of the testees’ scores for each test item.

2. Measuring the mean of the testees’ scores. It is obtained by dividing the
sum of separate scores with the total number of testees.
Measuring the standard deviation using the formula below :

s.d =
∑d²
N
Where :

s.d = Standard deviation

d = The deviation of each score from the mean.
N = The number of testees.
(Heaton, 1975:157)

3. Measuring the coefficient of reliability since it uses than other method

of estimating reliability since it to avoid trouble some correlation and
involve only the mean and the standard deviation of the scores. Also,
this foremula is the least consuming of all the reliability estimation
procedure.
 N  m( N − 1) 
r = 1 − 
 N − 1  Nx 2 

Where :

r = coefficient Reliability
N = The number of items in the test.
M = The mean score on the test for all the testees.
X = The standard deviation of all the testees score.
(Heaton, 1975:157)

4. Checking the result of the reliability with the criteria to determine

whether or not the test is reliable.
5. For essay test it uses Kuder-Rechardson, the formula to calculate the
reliability of the essay test.

The formula is as follow :

  K  X(K − X ) 
r = 1 − 
 K − 1  K .SD 

Where :

r = Reliability
K = The number of items in the test.
X = The mean of the test score..
SD = The standard deviation of the test.

3.4.3 Analyzing The Item Difficulty

The index of difficulty shows how easy or difficult the particular items
proved in the text.

1. Arranging the students score from the highest score to the lowest one.

2. Finding the top and the bottom 27% of the students score, as upper and
lower groups.

3. Computing the item difficulty by using the formula bellow.

F.V = Correct U + Correct L

2n

Where :

F.V = the index of difficulty

Correct U = the number of students in upper group who

answer the item correctly .

Correct L = the number of students in lower group

who

answer the item correctly .

n = the number of students in each group.

 (Heaton, 1975 : 176).

3.4.4 Analyzing The Discrimination Level.

The discriminating index of item indicates the extend to which the item
discriminates between the testees, separating the students who have achieved
poorly. In this case, the way to analyze the discrimination power is the same with
the item difficulty until the writer find the top and the bottom 27% of the students’
score as upper and lower groups. Then, computing the discrimination index by
using the formula below :

D = Correct U – Correct L

2n

where :

D = the index of discrimination

Correct U = the number of students in upper group who

answer the item correctly.

Correct L = the number of students in lower group who

answer the item correctly.

n = the number of students in each group.

(Heaton, 1975:174).