ABSTRACT Abshor,wildan nafis dzul.2022.The Application of Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)Strategy using picture and Short Story to Improve The Reading Comprehension of VIII Grade Students of SMPN 2 Laren.. Department of English Language Education, Faculty of Tarbiyah State Islamic Institute (IAIN) of Kediri, Advisor: (1) Dr. Mukhammad Abdullah, M.Ag And (2) Muhammad Afifi, S.Hum., M.Pd. Keywords: Reading comprehension, DRTA (Direct Reading Thinking Activity), using picture and Short story. Reading is an important ability for students to succeed in their learning process. The teachers have to provide the students with an effective and nteresting strategy in teaching reading comprehension. DRTA (direct reading thingking activity) is a strategy introduced and developed by to Russel G. Stauffers. DRTA (direct reading thingking activity) is a statistic used by teachers to make students more active and responsible in the learning process with more interesting and challenging techniques. The objectives of this research is to find out the improvement in students learning outcomes by applying DRTA strategy using picture and Short story on students reading comprehension in narrative text. The design of this research is Classroom action research and was conducted in two cycles that each cycle consisted of four steps: plan, action, observation, and reflection. The research was conducted at SMPN 2 LAREN in March 2022 until April 2022. The subjects of this research were the eight grade students at class VIII A and VIII B that consist of 45 students. The data was collected by using test and observation. These data was analyzed using the students’ mean score, the percentage of observation sheet, and the percentage of the total students’ who can pass the test to see the improvement pre-cycle test and cycle-test and to get a conclusion as the result of this research. The researcher makes an agreement that students’ achievement improves if at least there are 80% of the students who get score at least 75 and the average score is at least 75. The research finding shows that, there were 9 students (36%) class VIII A and that were 11 students (55%) VIII B who got a score of at least above 75. Also the mean score of the students in the pre-test was 68,6 Class A and 73 Class B. In cycle I, there were 24 students (48%) Class A and (80%) Class B got a success, the mean score of the students in cycle 1 were 73,6 Class A and 79 Class B so the percentage of observation sheet was 53.84% class A and 69,23% Class B. According to the result of cycle I, it still needed to be improved in cycle II. Meanwhile in cycle II, there were 45 students Class A and B, (64%) Class A and (85) Class B got a success, the mean score of the students in cycle II was 75,6 Class A and 83,75 Class B so the percentage of observation sheet was 100%. The result in cycle II has fulfilled the criteria of success. The researcher can conclude that the implementation of DRTA strategy Using picture and Short story in teaching reading can improve the students’ reading comprehension in class VIII A and VIII B of SMPN 2 Laren.

abshor , Wildan Nafis Dzul .   (2022). The Application of Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) Strategy Using Picture And Short Story to Improve The Reading Comprehension of VIII Grade Students of SMP 2 NEGERI LAREN. IAIN Kediri