THE EFFECT OF USING PARTNER READING STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ READING ABILITY IN NARRATIVE TEXT OF THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT MAN KOTA PALANGKA RAYA

The problem focused in this research was to determine whether there was a significant impact of the Partner Reading Strategy in improving the students’ reading ability
in narrative text of the eleventh-grade students at MAN Kota Palangka Raya.
The research used quantitative approach. The research design used in this research was One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design. The population consisted of eleventh-grade students of MAN Kota Palangka Raya, with a sample of 30 students from XI Bahasa selected through stratified random sampling. The data collected were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test method in SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science)
Version 27.
The results indicated a Sig. value of 0.001, and it was lower than the significance level of 0.05 (5%) for two-tailed test. This led to the acceptance of the Ha (alternative hypothesis) and the rejection of the H0 (null hypothesis), due to the value of Sig. was lower than the significance level of 0.05 (5%) for two-tailed test. Additionally, the findings from the questionnaire showed that the students responded positively, with "Strongly Agree" ratings for all questions after being analyzed using the percentage index formula. The Partner Strategy was a collaborative strategy that enhanced students’ reading skills in narrative texts in several ways, 1). Improved Reading Fluency by listening to and mimicking their partner’s reading, stronger readers provided a model for weaker readers to follow. 2). Enhanced skill, its allowed students to discuss elements of the narrative, work together to solve challenges. This suggested that the Partner Reading Strategy was effective in improving students’ reading ability in narrative text of the eleventh-grade students at
MAN Kota Palangka Raya.