An Investigation of Teachers’ Scaffolding Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension at Junior High School

Pemahaman membaca adalah kemampuan dasar yang dibutuhkan siswa untuk memahami teks bahasa Inggris, namun banyak siswa SMP yang masih mengalami kesulitan. Scaffolding adalah strategi mengajar yang dapat membantu siswa memahami teks bacaan secara bertahap, mulai dari bantuan penuh dari guru sampai siswa bisa membaca sendiri. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui strategi scaffolding apa saja yang digunakan guru bahasa Inggris, bagaimana guru menerapkan strategi tersebut di kelas, dan bagaimana respons siswa terhadap strategi tersebut. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain studi kasus kualitatif. Data dikumpulkan melalui observasi kelas selama tiga pertemuan, wawancara semi-terstruktur dengan guru bahasa Inggris, dan kuesioner yang diberikan kepada 30 siswa kelas VIII di MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Banjaranyar, Bojonegoro. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa guru menggunakan enam jenis strategi scaffolding, yaitu modeling, bridging, contextualizing, schema building, re-presenting text, dan developing metacognition. Guru menerapkan strategi ini secara bertahap, dimulai dengan bantuan penuh pada pertemuan pertama dan berkurang sampai siswa bisa membaca secara mandiri pada pertemuan ketiga. Pola ini dikenal sebagai model Gradual Release of Responsibility. Seluruh 30 siswa memberikan respons positif, dan menyatakan bahwa scaffolding membantu mereka memahami teks serta membuat mereka lebih percaya diri. Meskipun begitu, sebagian siswa masih merasa kesulitan dalam membuat inferensi (menyimpulkan makna tersirat), walaupun sudah mendapat bantuan scaffolding. Penelitian ini menyarankan agar guru menambahkan lebih banyak kegiatan untuk membantu siswa memahami makna yang tidak tertulis secara langsung dalam teks.

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Reading comprehension is a basic skill that students need to understand English texts, but many junior high school students still find it difficult. Scaffolding is a teaching strategy that can help students understand reading texts step by step, from full teacher support to independent reading. This study aimed to find out what scaffolding strategies English teachers use, how they apply these strategies in the classroom, and how students respond to them. This study used a qualitative case study design. The data were collected through classroom observation across three meetings, a semi-structured interview with the English teacher, and a questionnaire given to 30 eighth-grade students at MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Banjaranyar, Bojonegoro. The findings showed that the teacher used six types of scaffolding strategies: modeling, bridging, contextualizing, schema building, re-presenting text, and developing metacognition. The teacher applied these strategies gradually, starting with high support in the first meeting and reducing it until students could read independently by the third meeting. This pattern is known as the Gradual Release of Responsibility model. All 30 students gave a positive response, saying that scaffolding helped them understand the text and made them feel more confident. However, some students still found it difficult to make inferences, even after receiving scaffolding support. This study suggests that teachers add more activities to help students understand meaning that is not directly written in the text.