THE EFFECT OF SNOWBALL THROWING TECHNIQUE ON

STUDENTS IN READING COMPREHENSION

AT SMP NEGERI 1 ADILUWIH

Oleh
Alingga Pratama
17020020

Artikel Ilmiah

LEMBAGA PENELITIAN DAN PENGABDIAN PADA MASYARAKAT

UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH PRINGSEWU LAMPUNG
FAKULTAS KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN
PROGRAM STUDI PENDIDIKAN MATEMATIKA
2023
 HALAMAN PERSETUJUAN

Judul : The Effect Of Snowball Throwing Technique On Students In Reading

Comprehension At SMP NEGERI 1 ADILUWIH
Nama Mahasiswa : Alingga Pratama
NPM : 17050020
ProDI : Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris
Fakultas : Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan

Mengetahui
Komisi Pembimbing
Pembimbing I Pembimbing II

Fitri Wulandari,M.Pd. Kurniati, M.Pd

NIDN. 0225078103 NIDN.0205038501

Kepala LPPM Ketua Program Studi

Dr. Sorwan Adiputra, M.Pd., Kons. Fitri Wulandari, M. Pd.

NIDN. 0213108601 NIDN. 0225078103
 THE EFFECT OF SNOWBALL THROWING TECHNIQUE ON
STUDENTS IN READING COMPREHENSION
AT SMP NEGERI 1 ADILUWIH

Alingga Pratama1), Fitri Wulandari2), Kurniati 3)

Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Muhammadiyah Pringsewu
1), 2), 3)

Email: ira.18030022@student.umpri.ac.id1) rahmafaelasofi@umpri.ac.id2)

sitikhoiriyah@umpri.ac.id3)

abstrack
The reason for conducting this research has to do with students problem in
comprehending English text at second grade SMP N 1 Adiluwih. Where many student
still faced difficulties in comprehending reading text. This research aims to find out
whether the application of Snowball Throwing Technique can improve students’
reading comprehension in terms of identifying main idea, detailed information, and
vocabulary. The method used in this study was quantitative research (experimental
study) with one group pretest and posttest design. The sample of this research was
class VII-1, which consist of 20 students. The researchers used descriptive text as an
instrument in collecting the data. In analyzing the data, the researchers used statistical
formula. The calculation result showed that the mean score of students’ pretest was
53.67 and the mean score of posttest was 74.67. The hypothesis testing by using a t-
test indicates that the obtained t-score was higher than the t-table (9199>1729), so, the
difference is statistically significant, suggesting that the alternative hypothesis (Ha)
was accepted, and null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected. Thus, it can be said that the
application of Snowball Throwing Technique improved students’ reading
comprehension skill. Based on the conclusion above, it is suggested that Snowball
Throwing can be used as an alternative technique in teaching reading comprehension.

Key Words : Snowball Throwing, Reading Comprehension, Descriptive Text.

INTRODUCTION
Reading is one of the most essential skills to master in learning English. As
one of the language skills, reading has important value to improve students’
knowledge and gain much information from the written materials. Besides, to achieve
the student’s ability in reading certain texts, students must be able to comprehend a
text effectively and efficiently. Effectively and efficiently means that students
understand well the idea and the main point of the text they read. According to Grellet
(2001), reading comprehension is understanding a written text that extracting to
required information from it as efficiently as possible. To understand the meaning of
the text, students should have reading comprehension.
Based on the preliminary study conducted on March 31th , 2020 at SMP N 1
Adiluwih,the researchers gave a preliminary test to figure out students’ difficulties in
comprehending English passages, the average score of students’ reading
comprehension was 40 with the minimum achievement criterion (KKM) of 70. Most
of the questions that could not be answered by students were about the main idea,
vocabulary, and detail information of the text. Moreover, when the researchers
interviewed the English teacher, the teacher said that some of the students did not
understand the passage because they could not find the meaning of the word in the
text. Furthermore, the students were difficult to understand the grammatical structure
of the text. Therefore, the students’ achieved got scores were under the minimum
achievement criterion (KKM).
The problem was met due to the way they used to follow while reading. They read the
text as if it consisted of discrete elements. Students did not interact with the passage
they read, did not also build relationships between the terms in the text to build up the
meaning, and then to lead themselves toward reading ability. Students naturally had
no choice if they had not technical ways of how to read. The result is that students
hate to read, they only read the required textbook to be able to set for the achievement
of routine exams. In such cases, students lacked the motivation to read, if they read,
they show negative attitudes.
Many strategies can be used by the teachers to create a more interesting atmosphere in
teaching reading, one which is Snowball Throwing Technique. Snowball Throwing
technique is one of the techniques in the teaching and learning process in form of
making and answering questions through playing and throwing the snowball from one
individual or group to another. According to Bayor (2010) cited in Ukhra (2015),
Snowball Throwing is one of the active learning technique which involves a lot of
students’ practices. Snowball Throwing encourages the students to be active in
participating during the reading class. In addition, Richards (2001), as cited in Gani,
Yusuf, and Erwina (2017) states that Snowball Throwing is a group work strategy or
as a way of having students assume responsibility for randomly assigned parts of the
larger body of information. By implementing this technique, it is expected to help
students in improving their reading comprehension.
In addition,there are some previous studies which have been carried out earlier by
some researchers. The study was conducted by Oktavianti (2019) entiled “The
implementation of Snowball Throwing technique to increase 8th graders’ reading
comprehension”.The result of this study shows that 25 out of 32 (78.13%) students
have increased their reading skill as indicated by their score. It can be seen from the
increase of students’ average score which is from 73.23 to 88.12. Moreover, the final
result of students’ response to the implementation of STT showed a positive response.
All in all, the implementation of STT could improve students’ reading comprehension
because their learning participation increased.
Another previous study was conducted by Aisyah (2012) entitled “Snowball
Throwing could improve the ability of reading of the eleventh year students of class
XI of MA Al-Barokah Purwantoro in the academic year of 2012/2013”. The research
result showed that the use of the Snowball Throwing technique improved students’
reading comprehension. It was seen by the result of the 3 cycles. The final cycles
showed that the mean score was 83. 33, which exceeds the minimum score, where the
minimum achievement criterion was 75. Subsequently, by using this technique, the
researchers hoped that students can reach the minimum achievement criterion (KKM).
Therefore, the researchers is interested in conducting a research entitled the use of
Snowball Throwing Technique to Improve the Students’ Reading Comprehension at
SMPN 1 Adiluwih.
Based on the above belief, the researcher wants to know the effect of snowball
throwing technique on students in reading comprehension at SMP Negeri 1 Adiluwih

METHODS
The method that is used in this research was pre-experimental design. Pre-
experimental designs are research schemes in which a subject or a group is
observed after a treatment has been applied, in order to test whether the treatment
has the potential to cause change.In this research,the researchers used one group
pre-test and post-test design and treatment. The population in this research is all
students SMPN 1 Adiluwih,t of which the population was 115 students. According
to sugiyono (2019) the sampling technique is divided into 2, namely Probability
Sampling and Non-Probability Sampling. Thus, the researchers used non-probability
sampling techniques, also called purposive sampling as an approach. The sample
was selected based on the preliminary study and based on the researcher’s choice
after discussing it with the teachers of grade eight. The researchers took one class to
experiment consisted of 20 students. The researchers selected the VIII-A based on
the teacher's suggestion from the interview that they were qualified as a sample
needed in this research. The primary qualification in selecting a sample of this
research was the reading scores average of the sample was still below the standard
of minimum criteria (KKM=75) determined by the school.
In this research, the researchers used tests (pre-test and post-test). The pre-test was
implemented before using the Snowball Throwing model in teaching reading. It was
used to know the students’ achievement before the experiment is conducted. The post-
test was implemented after the treatment when the Snowball Throwing technique has
been applied. It was used to compare with the result of the pre-test to find out the
students’ improvement of using the snowball technique in improving reading skills.
Both pre-test and post-test were multiple choices and the number of questions is 15
items which were taken from English Books of Grade 8. Since the pre-posttest was
adopted, there was no modification. The questions of both tests were about descriptive
text and reading aspects of descriptive text that had been taught by the researchers
during the experiment.The test was done twice, the first meeting, students were given
a pre-test. After the students were given the pre-test, the students were treated by
using Snowball Technique. The treatment was held within three meetings.The last,the
researchers gave post test.
To interpret the quantitative data, the researchers used some formulas, which are as
follows:a.)Mean score b)standard deviation c.)hypothesis testing.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The following part deals with the comparison of students’ pre-test and post-
test scores. The table is presented as follows

This research was investigating whether or not Snowball Throwing

technique improved students’ reading comprehension skill. The results had
positively answered the research question stated in the beginning of the study. The
result showed students’ mean of pre-test was 53.57, while the mean of post-test was
74,67. The mean of the students’ reading score increased more than 20 points
higher after the researchers gave treatment to the students by using Snowball
Throwing technique in learning reading. From the 20 students in the treatment class,
only 4 students failed to pass the criteria minimum score of the English subject.
Besides, the other 16 students were passed after the treatment. Comparing to the
pre-test, the students’ score in the post-test have given some improvements in
different aspects of reading. Hence, it can be concluded that implementing Snowball
Throwing technique had a positive impact in teaching reading.
This result was also figured out by calculating the number of hypothesis
testing by using a t-test. It is found that the t-score is 1.82 >1.67, which means the t-
score was higher than the t- table. After accumulating the data, the researchers would
like to decide to accept or reject the hypothesis. In determining the acceptance or the
rejection some criteria as follows:
The significance of the criterion for acceptance or rejection is: Ho
is accepted and Ha is if t-score<t; table
Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted if t score>t-table (Arikunto, 2006)
From the description above, it is proven that the t-score of 1.82 was higher
than the t-table which is 1.67. In other words, the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is
accepted and the null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected. It means there was a different
achievement of the score obtained by the students of the experimental class after
they got treatment by using the snowball technique in learning reading ability.
After conducting this research, the researchers found out some reasons why
students failed in answering the pre-test questions, the first reason was they were
lacking of vocabulary which made them difficult to understand the passage. During
the treatment, the researchers helped students to memorize some vocabulary without
forcing them to memorize the word one by one. By using Snowball Throwing
technique, the researchers could treat and teach students to improve their English
vocabulary well. The improvement was seen from the treatment step by step until
the students did the post test. Teaching reading comprehension by using Snowball
Throwing technique made the students more active in understanding what they
read. It was because snowball throwing technique could make students become
more interested in the material and the way they learn. Teaching reading
comprehension using snowball throwing technique helped the students to
comprehend the material by following some steps of the implementation of this
technique. As stated earlier that Snowball Throwing Technique is the activity in
learning which makes the students enjoy and decrease worry in the teaching-
learning process. In line with this, Kisworo (2008) as cited in Arafah (2017) said
that the learning model of snowball throwing begin with the establishment of groups
represented by the group leader to get the materials from the teacher and then each
student makes the question that was shaped like a ball (question paper) and then
throwing to the other students who each student answers questions from the ball
that gotten.
It is clear that snowball throwing technique was not just about hearing
children read, but the teacher should have created a fun atmosphere to make the
students relax and enjoy the process of the reading. In addition, every time the ball
(question paper) was rolled, there should be a specific focus and learning objective
for reading session. In the process of learning, the researchers should create some
groups and follow some procedures as the following. First, the researchers selected
the text that will be just right to support new learning for the group. Second, the
researchers provided introductions to the text that support students’ attempts at
problem solving. Third, Student read the entire softly or silently, if students a
reading orally, the teacher may interact briefly to teach for, prompt, or reinforce
strategic action. Fourth, the researchers invited students to roll the ball which has
provided a question of the related text and discussed the answer of the question. It
made the students became more enthusiastic and enjoy in studying English
especially for reading skill.
The finding also indicated that the use of snowball throwing technique
successfully guided the students to comprehend the source vocabulary in reading
comprehension. According to Suprijono (2011), the technique of Snowball
Throwing technique is one of the active learning techniques for the direct attention
of learners to the material presented. Snowball Throwing Technique is a technique
that the activity in learning is playing games which makes the students enjoy and
decrease worry in the teaching-learning process. Hence, by employing Snowball
Throwing in teaching reading, the students will learn enthusiastically. The students
also remember the vocabulary that they have learnt as they are involved in
constructing the meaning of the word in the learning process.
Moreover, this research is relavant to the previous study conducted by Aliyah (2017)
who found out that the use of Snowball Throwing technique gives positive impact to
the students and motivates the students in learning English, especially on descriptive
text. Because it can be fun, competitive, and develop team working and responsibility
in their groups. So, it can make students’ achievements by using Snowball Throwing
technique to teach students’ reading comprehension on descriptive text is better than
without using SnowballTthrowing Technique. Portraining to the result of this
research, it is consistent with Poma (2018) that Snowball Throwing Technique was
effective to improve reading comprehension ability in descriptive text of the eighth
grade students of SMPK Sta. Theresia Kupang. In addition, the eighth grade
students, especially Class VIII A were so active and happy in reading comprehension
by implementing the Snowball Throwing Technique. The students were so
interested with this technique. The students do have higher level of cognitive
potential that can be developed further if they are given appropriate challenge and
stimulus.
Regarding to the students interest toward the Snowball Throwing Technique, this
research is relavant to the previous study conducted by Nurhanifa (2018) which found
the points that make Snowball Throwing Technique in teaching reading descriptive
text effective are learning stages in snowball throwing technique were able to increase
students’ confidence and vocabulary. The students were able to reduce their anxiety
during reading process so they can focus intensely to the material and increase their
vocabulary in reading. In lined with Nurhanifa, Arafah (2017) figured out that
Snowball Throwing Technique can help the students in understanding descriptive text
easily and make them happy, full of spirit, and enjoy in teaching learning process.
Furthermore, Arafah (2017) also stated that the application of Snowball Throwing
Technique improves students’ ability in finding the main idea of the text.
Another relevant study was conducted by Gani,Yusuf, and Erwina (2017) who
positively found that after Snowball Throwing Technique was applied, the students’
background knowledge became more active when trying to comprehend the texts
given by their teacher. It can be said that there was an interactive process between the
students’ background knowledge and the text. In this case, students’ ability in reading
comprehension means that the students are able to identify main ideas, inferences,
details and vocabulary from a text. They also stated that Snowball Throwing
Technique was also seen to provide the students with more motivation. The teacher
encouraged them while doing group work, stimulated them to pose questions, and
stirred their activeness during the paper ball throwing to other group members.
Accordingly, when one gains bigger motivation, the learning process as well as the
comprehension can expand.
The last point from Gani,Yusuf, and Erwina (2017) explained that in the
implementation of this technique, the students were perceived to learn trust building,
communication and leadership skills. This is because during the group task, the
students resolved any conflict which resulted in their group (such as when a group
member argue or refuse to do a task for the group), problem solving, criticizing ideas
and not people, and building on each other’s information. These characteristics would
surely benefit their lives later on whether in their work place or in their relationships.
To sum up, based on the result of this research, it has been shown the students’ scores
were much higher after the treatment in experimental class using Snowball Throwing
Technique. The use of Snowball Throwing Technique was surely beneficial to
improve the students’ reading ability. Same statement’s from experts that can support
this thesis. According to Herdian (2012), one approach is allegedly able to learn to
create conducive learning; active, creative, and fun is using the Snowball Technique.
Addition, Agus (2009) describe the technique of Snowball Throwing games is one of
the active learning method for the direct attention of learners to the material
presented.
In summary, the researchers asserted that Snowball Throwing technique is one of
various strategies that useful in teaching reading. There were some points that make
Snowball Throwing Technique in teaching reading descriptive text was effective.
They were: the student was able to control their anxiety during the reading in
classroom. It could increase students’ confidence by introducing them the topic of
descriptive text materials. It could help the students to predict the learning material
while reading descriptive text. The students were easy to overcome their problems in
learning because they were able to share and look for solutions in after reading
process. The students were able to verify all points they were not understand. The
students were able to comprehend the paragraph of descriptive text. The students had
a plan for comprehending the task that made the students able to solve their lack in
reading process.

CONCLUSION
Based on the research that has been done at SMP Negeri Adiluwih 1, the
researchers draw the following conclusions: Based on the result data, the calculated
tcount is 1.82 and ttable is 1.67 . Because tcount> ttable, then it means that H0 is
rejected and H1 is received. Means There is a significant effect of the snowball
throwing method on the reading comprehension of SMPN 1 Adiluwih. This can also
be seen from the results of the average posttest score showing a higher posttest score
of 76.44 compared to the control class of 74.96

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