Journal of Contemporary Issues in Primary Education (JCIPE)
Vol. 2, No. 1, June 2024, page: 68-77
E-ISSN: 3026-4014
- 69 -
1. Introduction
During this period of globalization, English language is very important for our lives and
becoming a tool for communication, Language is a form of communication utilized by all
individuals. According to Fatmawati, et.al (2023:77), “The most language used by humans to
communicate is English because it is an international language”. English language more than
400 million native speakers worldwide, English plays a central role in communication between
countries. At any world-level conference or meeting between countries, English dominates the
stage as a connecting language. Therefore, it is important to study all over the world, including
Indonesia.
Especially in the academic field, the role of English is highly significant in
Indonesia. Apart from that, English is the primary required foreign language in schools, from
elementary to university level. According to Munawaroh (2019:145), “English language is
included as local content subject in education level of elementary school in the country.” Every
level of English instruction is taught differently, as is senior high school teaching. Easy-to-
understand and enjoyable learning materials are essential for students. There are four skills a
learner’s ability to learn a language must acquire namely listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. In the teaching and learning process of these four competencies, teacher in the
classroom must apply these competencies. One of them is reading which students need to learn
from the four language kills.
Reading is crucial for students as it is a fundamental aspect of their education, through
reading people can access information and entertainment, for their professional advancement,
and for educational purposes. Reading can encompass various activities beyond just gathering
information, such as interpreting, analyzing, or making predictions. It can also develop their
knowledge and get many kinds of information which related to their studies through genre of
reading. “Personal reading there are newspapers, magazines, letters, emails, advertisement,”
(Brown, 2019:187).
Comprehension skills are vital for students' everyday lives, such as when a teacher requests
that students identify the main idea of a passage, then students who excel at reading
comprehension would have no trouble identifying the central idea, but who weren’t master the
reading skills will face the difficulties about the text they read, the students find it challenging to
interpret the author's perspective and reaction to an opposing view while also understanding the
word's definition and its significance. Furthermore, the students not only lack expertise in the
material but also have insufficient references to enhance their knowledge.
The problems above are the same with experienced researcher during the Teaching
Practice (PPL) that has been implemented at school SMAN 1 Cijaku, researcher found several
problems in learn English with interview with students and asking some students about their
problems in reading comprehension, then, the several problems are: the students found it difficult
to know the main idea of the text there were many students who consider the material presented
lack interest because they lack knowledge about the topic the author talking about, the students
found it difficult about vocabulary that they did not know before because they didn’t have
enough reading materials resources to increase and practice to face complex vocabulary, the
students had a problem comprehending the text they read because they give up when they see
there is a lot of passage that must be done by several hours, the students were not motivated to
read reading material because schools only provide conventional resources that do not encourage
them to read and do not let students what material they want to read.
One possible solution that can assist students in overcoming these issues is change the
medium that is interesting enough for students to read and easily understood by images that are
in harmony with the narrative story. With this solution, students are much more inclined to seek
out information and knowledge through more accessible means.