The Effect of pictures on reading english comprehension achievement of the students

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of pictures on reading comprehension achievement at the eight class of SMP Negeri 6 Samarinda in academic year of 2013/2014. Beside, this study also explored the perceptions of using pictures on teaching reading comprehension. The study involved two groups. In the control group, the students did the reading activity without pictures. In the experimental group, the students were supported by using pictures. Before treatment was given a pre test and post test after treatment. The students reading comprehension were assessed using The Reading Comprehension Scoring Guide by Sopris West Educational Services. Result of the study showed that using pictures on teaching reading comprehension increased the reading comprehension achievement of the eight class of SMPN 6 Samarinda. This could be seen from the result T-test which showed that t value was 5.84229, and t table was 2.65427, Because t value was higher than t table (5.84229 > 2.65427). This result also showed that there was significant difference between the students‟ reading achievement before and after having treatment using pictures. The students also gave positive perceptions toward the using pictures on reading comprehension learning. They felt fun and exciting to do the reading by employing the reading strategy. They even felt that their reading achievement was increased by doing this strategy. The researcher hopes that future researcher may elaborate the research into other schools with the same characteristics and label as SMP Negeri 6 Samarinda.