THE EFFECT OF TEACHING STRATEGIES AND LEARNING STYLES ON THE STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN READING COMPREHENSION

The objectives of this experimental research are to investigate whether 1) students achievement in reading comprehension taught by using Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) strategy is higher than taught by using Know, What to Learn, and Learned (KWL) strategy. 2) students achievement in reading comprehension with impulsive learning style is higher than students achievement in reading comprehension with reflective learning style, and (3) there is interaction between teaching strategies and learning styles on the students achievement in reading comprehension. Then, the experimental research design was with 2x2 factorial design. The population of this research was the students of grade XI of Private Senior High School of SMA Harapan Mandiri Medan in 2012 – 2013 academic year. The total number of the population was five classes containing of 200 students. There were two classes containing of 70 students chosen as sample of this research by apllying cluster random sampling technique. The experimental group 1 was treated by using Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) and the experimental group 2 was treated by using Know, What to Learn, and Learned (KWL). Next, students achievement in reading comprehension text was measured by using reading comprehension test which consisted of 40 items which was firstly tried out. The questionnaire was conducted to find out the students learning style upon impulsive and reflective. The data were analyzed by applying two-ways analysis of variance (2x2 ANAVA) at the level of significant &#945; = 0,05. The findings of this research show that (1) the students achievement in reading comprehension taught by using Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) strategy is higher than that taught by using Know, What to Learn, and Learned (KWL) strategy, with Sig. = 0.01 < 0.05 (69 > 65.6); (2) students achievement in reading comprehension with impulsive learning style is lower than that with reflective learning style, with Sig. = 0.87 > 0.05 (66.61 < 67.84); (3) there is interaction between teaching strategies and learning styles on the students achievement in reading comprehension with Sig. = 0.000 < 0.05. Morever, Scheffe Test result also showed that impulsive learning style students got higher achievement if they were taught by using Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DR-TA) strategy while reflective learning style students got higher achievement if they were taught by using Know, What to Learn, and Learned (KWL) strategy. The analysis revealed that the teaching strategies significantly affect the students reading achievement.