THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IEPC ( IMAGINE , ELABORATE , PREDICT , CONFIRM ) STRATEGY TO IMPROVE THE TENTH GRADERS ’ READING COMPREHENSION

The objective of the study was to find out whether teaching reading comprehension through IEPC (Imagine, Elaborate, Predict, Confirm) Strategy had a significant effect on the student’s reading achievement or not. The population of the study was the Tenth Grade Students of State Islamic Senior High School 3 of Palembang in the academic year of 2015/2016. In doing the study, the researcher used quasi-experimental design to two groups of students. The total number of students was 369. The sample was 68 students that were taken by using purposive sampling strategy. Thirty four students were in the experimental group and thirty four students were in the control group. There are two instruments for collecting the data i.e. test and questionnaire. The result showed that teaching reading comprehension through IEPC strategy had a significant effect on the students’ reading achievement. The result of paired sample from experimental group was 10.877. Based on the independent sample t-test analysis, it was found that t-obtained was 11.17 (df=66; p=0.025), the critical value of the test was 1.668, it means there was significant difference between students’ comprehension in reading through IEPC strategy and those who were taught through lecturing.


Introduction
English is the foreign language that must be taught at school.The students of elementary, junior, and senior high school study it as one of their subjects.English as a foreign language means English is taught as a school subject or on an adult level solely for foreign language competence which she or he may use to read literature, technical works and scientific books, to understand the dialogue in the films, and to communicate orally or in writing with people of other countries.Moreover, English has become a global language, used in communication, technical and scientific journal and technology.
Furthermore, in this global era students know that the education community emphasizing the importance of reading comprehension, but sometimes they do not realize how important reading actually is.Although reading skills can help the students do well in language arts and reading class that is only the beginning.Students have to use reading skills in every single subject they ever study and in almost every aspect of life.For example, students need to comprehend challenging science textbooks as well as directions and word problems on texts.Students who struggle with reading comprehension may fall so far behind in school that they have limited opportunities as an adult.
Many students find that it is difficult for them to comprehend English reading text.They cannot find the main idea of a paragraph, they cannot find explicit and implicit information in a text, and they also cannot guess the meaning of words from the context.Several reasons that make the students have those difficulties are; the students just know some vocabulary, they are unfamiliar with the topics, and the strategy that is used by their teacher could not stimulate them to read well.
In fact, there are some teachers of English still using the convensional strategy to teach reading in the classroom.For example, they still teach reading by using the directed reading activity strategy.In this strategy, the teacher asks the students to read the text aloud and correct their mispronunciation.After that they discuss the difficult words.Finally, the students are asked to do some exercises.
As a result, the students are not enthuistic to have reading subject, because they always do the same activity all the times.They will not focus on the learning and do other activities.For example, when one of their friends is asked to read the text aloud they just talk to their friend, and when they are asked to do some exercise they just cheat with their friend because they do not understand the text.In short, this strategy could not help the students comprehend the reading text.
Since the convensional strategy makes the students bored, the teachers have to find another strategy to make the students enjoy the subject.By using this new strategy, the students will understand the text easily because they are interested in reading activity.As a result their reading comprehension will increase.One teaching strategy that could help the students in reading subject is IEPC (Imagine, Elaborate, Predict, and Confirm).According to Wood and Harmon (2010), this strategy is designed to motivate students' interest in reading while simultaneously enhancing their ability to comprehend.In the other word, this strategy can help the students to improve their reading comprehend.
IEPC strategy allows the students to have their own imagination related to the text that they will read.Wood and Douville (1999:91) IEPC strategy can encourage students use visual imaginary as a means of enriching their understanding of information which is viewed, listened to or read.This step can help the students to understand about the topic easily, because in this step the students can write everything that come in their mind whenever they heard about the topic.After that they also elaborate their prior knowledge or everything that they know about the text.In this step, the students can write everything that they know about the text, for example they have read something or some article related to the topic.The next step is the students can make their own prediction about the text before they read the whole text.This step is so interesting for the students, because in this step they can guess what will happen in the text or what they are going to read.
After doing the steps the teacher can get students' interest in reading subject easily.The students also can understand the text easily, because they have their own prediction before.As a result, their reading comprehension will increase.Therefore, this study attempts to develop students' comprehension in reading though IEPC strategy.This strategy is expected to improve teaching reading at State Islamic Senior High School 3 of Palembang.

B. Research Questions
The problem of the study is formulated in the following question: -Is there any significant difference in students' reading achievement between the students who are taught through IEPC strategy and those who are taught through conventional strategy?‖

C. Objectives of the Research
Based on the problems above, the objective of the study is to find out whether there is significant difference in students' reading achievement between the students who are taught through IEPC strategy and those who are taught through conventional strategy of the Tenth Grade Students of State Islamic Senior High School 3 of Palembang

D. Research Hypotheses
In this study, the researcher attempts to prove one of the following hypotheses: H0: There is no significant difference in students' reading comprehension between the students who are taught by using IEPC strategy and those who are not.H1: There is significant difference in students' reading comprehension between the students who are taught by using IEPC strategy and those who are not.

E. Research Methodology
The design selected for this study is a quasiexperimental one using pretestposttest design nonequivalent comparison control group design.Gribbons and Herman (1997:1), quasiexperimental designs are commonly employed in evaluation of educational programs when random assignment is not possible and practical.Although two or more groups of subjects are still compared, the subjects are not randomly assigned to the treatment and control group.

F. Population and Sample
The population of this research was all the Tenth Grade Students of State Islamic Senior High School 3 of Palembang in the academic year of 2015/2016.Since the number of population distribution was 369 students.
To select the sample, the researcher used purposive sampling.The researcher selected the sample based on some criteria.First, students might be taught by same English teacher.Second, the students might be in the same level of competence.Two classes out of population as sample, one was the experimental group and the other was the control group.
There were two classes of the tenth grade students in State Islamic Senior High School 3 of Palembang that became the sample of this study.To determine the experimental group and the control group, the reseracher flipped a coin.One class was experimental group, Class X Mia 2 that was a class which will be given a treatment and one class will be the control group, Class X Mia 4 that was a class which did not give a treatment.

G. Concept of IEPC Strategy
IEPC strategy helps students to use their imagination to make connection between their prior knowledge and what they are about to read.Vacca and Vacca in Wood and Harmon (2010:43) state that IEPC requires students to visualize (imagine) and verbalize (elaborate), which is an important for reading comprehension.IEPC strategy is one of strategy that can be used by the teacher to help students organize what they have read and will help them better connect it to what they already know.It is a good Strategy help student's increase comprehension in reading.This make students remember where the important information in the text.
In a similar way, getting students to predict what will occur in a text is a widely accepted means of focusing their attention on the content to be read, thereby improving their understanding of the key concepts.Yet, in order to make predictions about a text, students must have prior knowledge or experiences about the topic and a means for a reason to retrieve this latent information and knowledge.Getting students to make predictions about a text is more than just giving the directive to "guess what will happen in this story."It seems likely that some sort of triggering of the imagination--a retrieval of images of previous experiences--is necessary to ensure adequate predictions and to motivate students to read the text to follow.
It is with this rationale as a basis introduces the Imagine, Elaborate, Predict, and Confirm or IEPC strategy (Wood and Clare, 2004).IEPC is designed to motivate students' interest in reading while simultaneously enhancing their ability to comprehend and write descriptively.It is a whole-class strategy designed to take the predictive process back to its origins in the imagination and extend it throughout the pre reading, reading, and post reading stages of an instructional lesson.IEPC has its greatest potential with any instance where teachers would use prediction or imagery to heighten students' interest in a selection and stimulate their thinking about a topic before reading.

H. Steps in IEPC strategy
"I"-the Imagine Phase In this phase, tell the students that before reading a selection, they are going to explore the pictures in their heads about the topic.Tell them to join you in closing their eyes and imagining everything they can about the selection to be read.This may be based upon the cover of a book, a title, or a topic.Encourage the students to use sensory experiences by imagining feelings, taste, smell, sight, and surroundings.Use question probes to elicit their sensory imaginings such as "What smells/sounds are around you? How do you feel?What do you see?" Write these responses in the "I" column.
"E"-The Elaboration Phase Model for the students how to use their visual images and add details, anecdotes, prior experiences, and sensory information by talking aloud your thinking.Write these responses in the "E" column.
"P"-The Prediction Phase Talk aloud at least one sample prediction, based upon prior visual images and encourage the students to do the same.If necessary, have the students look at some of the pictures or headings in the selection or introduce some key characters to direct the predictions to the information in the text.Write these responses in the "P" column.Tell the students to think about these predictions as they read or listen to the selection.Explain that, as mentioned previously, they will return to the predictions after the reading to either confirm or disconfirm the content.
"C"-the Confirmation Phase After reading, return to the transparency or board and modify the original predictions to coordinate with the newly learned information.Thinking aloud some sample responses is also helpful here.New responses, not previously predicted, are also encouraged.Write down the students' responses in the "C" column of the form.To further enhance understanding, model for the students how to go back to the key parts of the text to confirm or refute the predictions.An example would be "Yes, that's true because on page 62 it says that volcanoes may appear dormant when they really are active."

I. Teaching Reading Through IEPC strategy
In this research, there were two groups, experimental group and control group.The experimental group was taught by using IEPC strategy to help them understand the passage.Meanwhile, the control group was taught by using a traditional method.In the first meeting, before doing the treatment the writer was given the pretest to both groups to read the text and answer some questions.
A pretest was given to assess students' reading skill prior to the treatment.The experimental group was given the treatment intensively for 8 meetings to find out significant different reading achievement between the experimental group and the control group.Each meeting spent one study periods (1x45 minutes).This research was done five weeks in which the researcher taught two times in a week.The students were taught how to understand the text or passage through IEPC strategy.The materials for both groups were the same except the treatment which was only given to the experimental group.At the end of the whole meetings, the students were given a posttest to determine the effect of the treatment and to see the students' progress upon the completion of the treatment.

J. Data Collection
In collecting the data, the researcher gave a test and questionnaire.The researcher used two kinds of test.The test administered twice as a pretest that was given before the treatment and a posttest that was given after the treatment.The test was a reading test in which the students was assigned to read to text or passage and then answer some question related to the text that they had read before.During the treatment, the students were mainly focused on reading process.At the end of the treatment, a posttest was given to see the influence of the treatment received by the students.
After that, the researcher gave the questionnaire to find out whether the students like learning English reading especially read the text by using IEPC strategy.Also, the writer wanted to know their opinion about using IEPC strategy in reading text or passage whether it was easy or difficult for them.The researcher used IEPC strategy questionnaire devised by the reseracher himself.Questionnaire was given to the experimental group after they got the treatment and did the posttest.The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions.

K. Validity and Reliability
In order to get content validity of the test, the researcher devised the test in accordance with the purpose of the study that was to measure students' reading skill in understanding the text or passage through IEPC strategy.To know whether the questions given were valid or not, the questions might be appropriate to students' level of competence of English.Moreover, to get the reliable test.The researcher gave try-out to non sample students at State Islamic Senior High School 3 of Palembang.The students' reading answers sheets were scored by the researcher.
The calculation was done by using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) 19 for Windows.(Wallen and Fraenkel, 1991:99), the reliability coefficient is considered strong and can be used for the test, if the value is higher than 0,70.After run the SPSS the writer got the reliability of the test was 0,938.Since the result of the test was greater than the r table it means that the questions were reliably for the students.The writer also did the analysis for each item of the questions.Since the result of the analysis were higher than the r table it means that each questions were reliably and can be used as the items for collecting the data.

L. Data Analysis
In this study, the researcher used t-test, the linear regression analysis and percentage analysis to analyze the data.The researcher used paired and independent samples t-test.Paired samples t-test was used to distinguish the average scores of reading text gained by the experimental group students in the pretest with the average scores of reading text gained in the posttest.Meanwhile, independent samples t-test was used to see the difference of the average score gained by the students of both groups in the posttest.
Meanwhile, The regression analysis is used to know how deep the influence of IEPC strategy to the students' reading achievement.In addition to the test, the percentage analysis was used to analyze the data from the questionnaire, except for the question number 10. Question number 10 consisted of close and open question.Meanwhile, for the open question, the researcher grouped the some similar answers into some categories.

A. The Result of the Test
In this study, the researcher described and analyzed the results of pre-test and post-test of both experimental and control group.The results of the tests were presented in the form of scores.The researcher classified the students' score in score intervals and certain categories presented in the forms of frequency and percentage.The score intervals were as follows : Based on the results in experimental group, the lowest score in pre-test was 52, the highest score was 72, and the mean was 62.59.The lowest score in post-test was 72, the highest score was 88, and the mean was 79.53.It shows that in the pre-test, no one was in very poor category, 4 students (12%) were in poor category, 22 students were in average category, 8 students in good category, and no one in excellent category.In the posttest, no one was in very poor, poor, and average category, students in good category, and 6 students in excellent category.

C. The Result of Pre-test and Post-test of the Control Group
Based on the results in control group, the lowest score in pre-test was 52, the highest score was 68, and the mean was 58.47.The lowest score in post-test was 56, the highest score was 72, and the mean was 64.94.It 5 shows that in the pre-test, no one was in very poor category, 9 students (26%) were in poor category, 25 students were in average category and no one in good and excellent category.In the post-test, no one was in very poor, and poor, 28 students were in average category, 6 students in good category, and no one was in excellent category.

D. The Statistical Analyses
In this study, t-test was used in analyzing the results of pre-test and post-test of both experimental and control group.The analyses were done by using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science).The analyses consist of (1) the statistical analysis on the experimental group, (2) the statistical analysis on the control group, (3) the difference analysis on the post-test of experimental group and post-test of control group, (4) the results of regression analysis and (5) the results of questionnaire.

E. The Statistical Analysis on Experimental Group
The researcher analyzed both pre-test and post-test of experimental group.Table 2 shows the analysis.Based on paired sample statistics, the mean of pre-test of the experimental group was 62.59, while in the post-test the mean was 79.53.Since t-obtain was 10,88 was greater than the critical value of t-table 2.035 and poutput was 000 which exceeded the value of probability 0.05, it could be stated that there was significant difference in reading achievement after and before the treatment in the experimental group.Based on the paired samples statistics of the experimental group, the mean of the pre-test was 62.59, the standard deviation was 7.36, and the standard error of mean was 1.26; the mean of the post-test was 79.53, the standard deviation was 5.64 and the standard deviation error of the mean was 0.97.The result of paired samples of t-test shows tobtained was 10.88.At the significant level of p<0.05 for two tailed test and degree of freedom 33, t-table was 2.035.Since the t-obtained was greater than t-table, it can be stated that teaching reading comprehension by using IEPC Strategy is effective to improve students' reading comprehension because there was significant difference in students' reading comprehension before and after treatment in experimental group.

F. The Statistical Analysis on Control Group
The researcher analyzed both pre-test and post-test of control group.Table 3 shows the analysis.Based on paired sample statistics (table 5), the mean of pre-test of the control group was 58.47, while in the post-test the mean was 64.94.Since t-obtain was 5.711 was greater than the critical value of t-table 2.035 and poutput was 000 which exceeded the value of probability 0.05, it could be stated that there was significant difference in reading achievement after and before the treatment in the control group.
Based on the paired samples statistics of the control group, the mean of the pre-test was 58.47, the standard deviation was 4.72, and the standard error of mean was 0,810; the mean of the post-test was 64.94, the standard deviation was 5.12 and the standard deviation error of the mean was 0.87.
The result of paired samples of t-test shows tobtained was 5.71.At the significant level of p<0.05 for two tailed test and degree of freedom 33, t-table was 2.035.Since the t-obtained was greater than t-table, it can be stated that teaching there was significant difference in students' reading comprehension before and after treatment in experimental group.

G. The Difference Analysis on the Post-test of Experimental Group and the Post-test of Control Group
Based on the analysis of the independent samples test of the post-test in experimental group and control group, the t-obtained was 11.17.At the significant level of p<0.05 for two tailed test band degree of freedom 66, the t-table was 1.668.Since the t-obtained was higher than ttable it means that teaching reading comprehension by using IEPC strategy is effective to improve students' reading comprehension because there was significant difference in reading comprehension between the students who were taught by using IEPC strategy and those who were not.

H. The Results of Regression Analysis
Based on the result of regression analysis, the R Square was 0.656.R Square is used to show how deep the influence of independent variable (IEPC strategy) to dependent variable (students' reading comprehension) which is measured by percentage.The value of R Square = 0.656 means the influence percentage of IEPC strategy to the students' reading comprehension was 65.6%.Since the significant level of p0.000<0.05so independent variable (IEPC strategy) influenced dependent variable (students reading comprehension).

I. The Results of Questionnaire
After giving the treatment, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to the students.There were ten questions on the questionnaire.The questions were designed based on some thoughts related to the application of the method.Through the questions, the reseracher was also eager to know students feeling and opinion about the use of English in their English class activities.Overall, the data were collected to see the effectiveness of the method as the students felt during the treatment.
For the first question, the rsearcher asked the students whether they like study English or not.The researcher thought that it is the important question, since by knowing students' feeling of English could be use as the first impression to continue the subject.From the answers, it was found that the whole students respond that they like English.It could be show from the respond that they gave.Thirty four students (100%) responded that they liked studying English.
In the second question, the researcher asked whether the students think that English is the difficult skill to learn or not.More than 50% students responded that they have some difficulties in studying English.It can be show from their answered, since 19 students (56%) said that English is difficult skill to learn.The rest, 15 students (44%) responded that English is not difficult skill to learn by them.In the next question, the researcher tried to find out whether the students have an interest in learning reading skill or not.From the responded the writer finds that most of the students do not like to have reading subject.29 students (85%) said that they don't like reading subject and just 5 students (15%) said that they have an interest in learning reading.
In the question number four, the researcher wanted to know students' opinion about the fourth skill in English.In this question the writer asked whether the students think that reading is the most difficult skill to learn or not.Responded that was given by the students were same as the second question.19 students (56%) said that they agreed that reading is the most difficult skill to learn and the rest 15 students (44%) said that they did not agree.
For the next question, the researcher wanted to know whether the students have difficulties in learning reading skill or not.Most of the students, 24 students (71%), responded that they have some difficulties in learning reading skill.For the rest, 10 students (29%) said that they don't have difficulties in learning reading skill.
For the sixth question the rereacher asked whether the students ever learnt reading by using some strategy.The writer thought that it was an important question because from this question, the researcher found out why the students have difficulties in learning reading skill.In the next question, the researcher tried to find out whether or not the use of IEPC strategy can get students' interest in reading skill.More than 50%, 31 students (91%) responded that by using IEPC strategy they feel enjoy and fun to learn reading skill.In the other word, this strategy can get students' interest in reading.The rest, 3 students (9%), responded that they did not agree with the statement.
In the next question, the reseacher wanted to know whether this strategy can help the students didn't feel bored whenever they have reading subject.30 students (88%) responded that they agreed with that statement.And the rest, 4 students (12%), responded that they did not agree with that statement.For the question number nine, the researcher tried to know whether IEPC strategy could help the students to decrease their difficulty in learning reading skill or not.Same as the previous question, 30 students (88%) responded that this strategy can help them to decrease their difficulty in reading subject.For the rest, 4 students (12%) responded that this strategy did not help them to decrease their difficulty in reading subject.
In the last question, the researcher not only asked about students' opinion but also the reason why they thought that IEPC strategy could help them in increasing their reading comprehension.In this question, the writer asked is this strategy can develop students' reading comprehension.Most of the students, 31 students (91%) responded that they agreed, but the rest 3 students (9%) were not agree.From 31 students, 21 students said that this strategy can develop their reading comprehension because this strategy can help them to understand the text easily.And the rest, 10 students said that by using this strategy they could enjoy the reading subject.

J. Discussion
Based on the analyses above, the researcher proposes some interpretation.The rsearcher interprets that after being given the treatment, the students' reading comprehension in experimental group was better that those in control group.It can be seen from the analysis that has been done by the researcher.From the analysis, there was significant difference in reading comprehension between experimental and control group.The t obtain of the test was 11.17, since the t table for two tailed test and degree of freedom 66 was 1.668 it means that there was significant different in students' reading comprehension.
The rsearcher also did another analysis for analyzing the data from both experimental and control group.In this analysis the control group also has some significant difference between pre test and post test.The t table for control group was 5.17, since the t table for two tailed test and degree of freedom 33 was 2.035, it means that there was significant difference in students' reading comprehension in the control group.Moreover, in the experimental group, the result of the test shows that there was significant difference in students' reading comprehension.The t table for control group was 10,88, since the t table for two tailed test and degree of freedom 33 was 2.035, it means that there was significant difference in students' reading comprehension in the experimental group.
Although both of the group, experimental and control group, has significant difference in students' reading comprehension, but there was a different in the number.From the result it can be shows that the t table of experimental group was greater than the t table of control group.For paired sample t-test in experimental group was 10.88 and paired sample t-test in control group was 5.711.Some of these factors explain reason why IEPC strategy can improve students' reading comprehension.First, IEPC strategy allows the students to practice group discussion.It means that they can discuss their problem with their friends.Second, they also follow some easy step that can help them to understand the text easily.The first step is imagination.In this step, they can make their own imagination about the topic.They can write everything that comes in their mind whenever they hear about the topic.After that they can discuss their imagination with the members of their group.Then, they write it down in the answer sheet.
The second step is elaboration.In this step, after do the imagination they can elaborate their prior knowledge about the topic.They can share everything that they know about the topic, for example they ever read or watched movie related to the topic.After doing some discussion in the group they can write their elaboration on the answer sheet.And the last they can make their own prediction about the text.By doing that steps, it can make the students easy to understand the text while they can make confirmation whether their prediction true or not.Therefore, it helped them to improve their reading comprehension.
In the first time of the treatment, the students felt so hard to do elaboration.They did not know the meaning of elaboration and how to start to do that.But, in the third meeting they start to understand how to do the elaboration and them elaboration about the topic start to develop.Moreover, the step that they like most in this strategy is ‗Imagine'.In this step, they can write and share everything that comes in their mind whenever they hear the topic.They also can discuss their imagination with their friend.It makes them feel happy and interest to have reading subject.
Same as the step ‗Imagine', the students also felt happy whenever they do the step ‗Predict'.In this step they can guess what will happen in the text.They felt happy because they can compare they prediction with their friends and whenever their prediction is true or at least have some similarity with the text they will be so happy and they will understand the text easily.It shows from the result of the text.They can answer all of the questions better.
From the post test that was given for the both of group, it can be show that IEPC strategy can help the students to understand the text easily.The result of the experimental group shows that they have the higher score than the control group.Although the result of the pre test from the both, experimental and control group, was not really different.It means that, IEPC strategy can help the students to improve their reading comprehension.
In line with study done by Astarilla and Warman in 2016, IEPC strategy also gets students interest in reading subject, in their study IEPC makes the students happy to have the reading subject and as the result they will understand easily.
Furthermore, based on the students' respond in the questioner, the rsearcher interprets that in general they like English so much.But, they still have some problems to learn English.The first problem is they feel bored whenever they have an English subject, especially reading subject.It happens because their teacher just gives them a text and asks them to read, discuss, and answer the questions.They do the same thing whenever they have reading subject so that's why they feel bored.The second problem is they just have some vocabulary.It makes them hard to understand the text and their reading comprehension become lower.As a result they just look at their friends' answer whenever they have to answer some questions.
Moreover, the researcher interprets that IEPC strategy is appropriate in teaching reading comprehension to the Tenth Grade Students of State Islamic Senior High School 3 of Palembang based on two reasons.By using this strategy students made progress in reading comprehension.This strategy also increased students reading comprehension achievement.It can be seen from the score of the post test of the experimental group.The score of the post test of the students of the experimental group was significantly different from what they had in the pre test.
As the rsearcher found during the treatment through IEPC strategy, the atmosphere of the class was not boring.The students seemed very interested in following each step, from the first step until the last.As a result, students' reading comprehension can develop.
Finally, the researcher assumes that IEPC strategy gave positive effect on students' reading achievement.It can be seen on the achievement of the students who were taught through IEPC strategy were better than those who were not.

Conclusion
After analyzing the result of the study, the researcher finds that the use of this strategy, IEPC strategy has a positive significant effect on students' reading comprehension.It can be seen that the students' reading comprehension in the experimental group are higher than the students' reading comprehension in the control group at the end of the treatment.In the other words, there is significant progress in reading comprehension in the experimental group.
It shows that IEPC strategy is one of a good strategy in teaching English, especially in teaching reading, since the students got positive and fun feeling.Moreover, by using this strategy, the students become more active in the teaching and learning process.

Table 2 .
Paired Sample Statistic of the Experimental

Table 3 .
Paired Sample Statistic of the Control Group