ABSTRACT
This final project is an action research. In this study the writer limits the discussion by stating the problem : To find out the students’ interest in reading short passages, to find out the students’ achievement in reading short passages and to find out whether there is correlation between students’ interest and their achievement in reading short passages. The population of this study is the year 8th students of Private Junior High School MARIA GORETTI Semarang in the academic year of 2008/2009 who have already been given the unfamiliar reading materials. The number of the sample in this research is 40 students representing 176 students. Before conducting the research, the writer gave a try-out to 40 students at the same class.
The techniques used for obtaining data are: first, collecting data from reading short passages test and students’ interest questionnaire, second, computing and classifying the students’ achievement in reading short passages test and the students’ interest questionnaire in reading short passages, analyzing the score of the students’ test in reading short passages and the students’ interest questionnaire in reading short passages, and the last, drawing the conclusions based on the data.
The result of the data analysis shows that there was a significant correlation between the students’ interest and their achievement in reading short passages. It is reasonable since the average of the students’ reading short passages test was 64 and for the students’ interest questionnaire was 70, 4 from the number of 40 students. Having analyzed this result using the formula of Pearson Product Moment Correlation, it was found that the correlation score was 0, 626. Based on the fact that the table of the critical values of the r product moment with 5% is 0,312 and 1% confidence level is 0, 403. It was understandable the correlation coefficient with 0, 312 is lower than 0, 626 and 0, 626 is higher than 0, 403.
After finding the result by using the Pearson Product Moment Formula, the writer gives some suggestions that the teachers should give many exercises to improve the students’ interest in reading short passages and the second one is from learning many reading materials, the students can get better achievement in reading short passages.
