Making Use of ‘Rumah Belajar Portal’ to Improve Students’ Ability to Read Descriptive Texts at Grade VII of SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah

Rumah Belajar Portal (RBP) is an alternative online media that was built by the Ministry of Education and culture (KEMDIKBUD) to provide content learning materials for teachers and students, RBP contains some feature but the researcher focused on Sumber Belajar and Kelas Maya feature.This researcher aimed to find out if the use of Rumah Belajar Portal could improve students’ reading comprehension abilities on descriptive text, to describe the students’ participations in the classroom activities, and to describe the students’ responses. The design was classroom action research, which was conducted in two cycles. The subject comprised the students at grade VII of SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah and consisted of 11 students. Qualitative and quantitative data were used. The instruments were reading comprehension test, observation checklist (field note) and interview. The result showed that RBP could improve the students’ abilities in reading descriptive text. The students who passed the minimum criterion of mastery (KKM passing grade ≥70) improved from 18% in preliminary data to 45% at the end of cycle 1 and to 82% at the end of cycle 2. As for participation, the students were active and enthusiastic in asking and answering the question about the lesson in teaching and learning process. The students’ responses were positive. This shows that RBP was effective to be used in reading descriptive text.


Introduction
The 2013 curriculum for English language teaching aims to develop students' competence in term of language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. Particularly, one of the students' skills in learning English for junior high school is reading. Nation (2009) states that reading is a meaning -focused of the text. The learners' focus is on understanding the message of the sentences in the text. It means that the learners need to get something about what they have read before and they must be able to focus on understanding the meaning of the text. It is in line to the standard competence of reading skill in the 2013 curriculum that asks students to understand various meanings in texts. Based on preliminary data were obtained by the researcher on December 5 th , 2018 at SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah, reading achievements of grade VII were low. It was found that around 18% of students in that class got score higher than the standard score and 82% students got scores under the standard score (KKM ≥ 70) while the standard score (KKM ≥ 70) of English subject in that school were 70. The preliminary data were gotten from regular evaluation result and middle test (Ujian tengah semester). The students had the lowest achievement scores. In addition, based on the interview result with an English teacher in SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah had a problem with reading that was students still lack of understanding the text, and difficult to find the meaning of the sentences in reading texts. They also found that the cause of reading is difficult and boring lesson because students have to read a long text, so it makes the students less motivation to learn. Teachers are often unable to encourage students to find entertaining and interesting information in reading materials. Whereas, the success of implementing reading skill depends on the student's interest.
The aimed of reading in teaching and learning process in junior high school is to develop students' competence in written and spoken communication. As stated in Curriculum 2013, one of basic competences for grade seventh in learning reading is students are expected to be able to identify social function, structure of the text, and linguistic element of short and simple text in their daily life. In addition, the students are expected to comprehend various kinds of texts. Each of text has different purposes and features. One of them is descriptive texts.
In order to make comprehension easier in reading descriptive text, there are many strategies that can be used by teachers. They should select the teaching strategies that are relevant to the student's needs and interests. It can be E-Learning bases Education Social Networking sites. E-Learning is a learning that can be done with computer and networking technology to support and facilitate users in learning process (Wahyuningsih, 2017). E-Learning can be used to give support in teaching and learning process. One of E-Learning in teaching and learning process is Rumah Belajar Portal. The researcher can summarize that Rumah belajar portal as an E-learning media (online) to facilities teacher and students get the available of content learning materials with syllabus in their school. Rumah belajar portal is an official learning portal from the Ministry of Education and Culture (KEMDIKBUD) which provides features for teaching and learning process. Some studies showed that there were many features of Rumah belajar portal that were effective to improve the teaching and learning process. It was an alternative online learning media which was interesting in the classroom. It consisted of some features (Sumber Belajar, BSE, Bank Soal, Laboratoruim Maya, Peta Budaya, Wahana Jelajah Angkasa, Pengembangan profesi Berkelanjutan dan kelas Maya).This studie found that the use of Rumah belajar portal could help both teacher and students in sharing idea and solving problem by using one of feature of Rumah Belajar Portal. In addition, this Portal could be accessed by everyone at any times and in any places.
Based on the title of this research "Making use of ' Rumah belajar portal' to improve students ability to read descriptive texts SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah " a problem that researcher as follows : Firstly, Could the use of 'Rumah Belajar portal' improve students' abilities to read descriptive texts?.
Secondly, What was the students' participation in reading descriptive text by using Rumah Belajar Portal at SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah?. And the last, What was the students' response toward the use of Rumah belajar portal as medium to teach reading descriptive texts at SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah?.
Based on the background of the research above, the researcher identified several problems in teaching and learning of reading comprehension descriptive texts, there are: Students' reading comprehension was low, students had difficulties to understanding the context and get the information of the texts, students were lack of motivation in reading English text, and the problem was related to the media, the researcher found that the teacher has not provided the interesting media for students in teaching and learning process in the classroom.
2. Literature review 2.1 Rumah Belajar Portal One of E-learning in teaching and learning process use Rumah belajar portal. It is a portal built by Ministry of Education and culture (KEMDIKBUD) to facilitate the availability of content learning materials that can be utilized by educators and learners, such as interactive learning materials furnished with supporting media images, animation, video, and simulations. With this Rumah belajar portal expected teaching and learning process will be more effective (pustekkom kemdikbud,2013).
Rumah belajar portal is an E-learning media (online) that can uses for facilities teacher and students get material or material for the pupose of teaching students. Through this portal, teacher and students can be access learning materials, interactive simulation and interaction between education community (Mutmainah, 2018) According Nurhayati (2018) state that Teachers and students will be able to capitalize on this portal with optimized user must register, for user registration is free of charge. The purpose of registration is to the user's statistics can be monitored on this portal. With the registration the user can upload content, download content, communication in synchronous as well as asynchronous form of the forum, as well as virtual tutoring classes that exist in the rumah belajar portal. The material learning resource feature is one of the services feature available in Rumah Belajar portal. The material learning Resources feature service is intended to meet the learning needs of students and teachers at school. In addition to providing various knowledge materials at the levels of education in PAUD, SD, SMP, SMA and SMK, material learning resource also provides learning evaluating online.
b. BSE ( Buku Sekolah Elektronik) Source: https://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id/Dashboard/ The Electronic School Book, also called BSE, is an initiative of the Ministry of Education and Culture in Indonesia which aims to provide electronic textbooks for education levels from elementary, middle, high school and vocational schools. The Government (Kemendikbud) through the Bookkeeping Center bought copyrighted school books at various levels of education and then the book was uploaded to the website. Web BSE is a presents books with a pdf format that can be read online or can be downloaded for reading offline with the address http://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id then selecting the electronic school book feature.
c. Exercise Banks (Bank Soal) Source: https://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id/Dashboard/ The exercises Bank (Bank soal) feature was developed as a forum for teachers to make questions and share with other users, and evaluate online learning outcomes. Evaluation of learning outcomes that are available in the exercises Bank feature are: Exercise, quiz, and Examinations. Exercise is a collection of questions based on one topic as an exercise and its discussion. Quiz is a set of questions based on one particular topic. The exam is a set of questions from several different topics. In order to take advantage of this exercises Bank feature, users must register as a member by accessing the Rumah Belajar address, namely http://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id. After registering, new users can log into the exercises Bank feature by using the username and password that has been created. On the homepage view, there is information on the number of exercises, tests, and exams that have been made by the teachers and can be used by students in carrying out evaluations d. Virtual laboratory (Laboratorium Maya) source: https://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id/Dashboard/ A virtual laboratory is a computer software that has the ability to model computer equipment mathematically that presented through a simulation. In other words, virtual laboratories are an artificial form of a real laboratory that is used in learning activities or scientific research to emphasize a concept or explore a particular concept. Virtual laboratories are needed to strengthen understanding of concepts in the learning process.
e. Culture map (Peta Budaya) source: https://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id/Dashboard/ A Culture map feature is one of the feature services available in the Rumah Belajar portal. Peta Budaya feature service is intended to meet the learning needs of students and teachers at school and the community who want to know the diversity of Indonesian culture. The material contained in culture map feature can be utilized at all levels of education, where the delivery methods and strategies that will probably vary at all levels where the teacher as an Educator will regulate the learning strategies in the school.
f. Spacecraft Rides ( Wahana Jelajah Angkasa) Source: https://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id/Dashboard/ Spacecraft rides (wahana jelajah angkasa) feature is a virtual tour with the terrain of the tour is space. This feature utilizes the Worldwide Telescope (WWT) program with the main operating language presented in English. Its application is easy and practical. In the initial appearance of the feature, users will be offered the option to follow the steps of the very clear and detailed tutorial of the program itself regarding the functions and meanings of each menu and the content available in this feature.
g. Sustainable Profesional Development (Pengembangan Keprofesian Berkelanjutan) Source: https://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id/Dashboard/ The PKB feature was developed as a forum for training providers to provide HR quality improvement services, in the form of online training. This online education and training program is expected to be able to overcome the budget constraints possessed by training providers to improve the quality of their human resources.
h. Virtual Learning Class (Kelas Maya) Source: https://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id/Dashboard/ Virtual learning class (Kelas Maya) in Rumah Belajar is a learning management system (LMS) developed specifically to facilitate online learning between students and educators anytime and anywhere. At certain scheduled times by educator; students can take virtual learning with educators through synchronous communication tools (chat, video conferencing, audio conferencing, desktop sharing, and whiteboards).

The Benefits of 'Portal Rumah Belajar' in Learning Process
Portal rumah belajar is a Ministry of education official learning (http://belajar.kemdikbud.go.id), this portal provides a variety of learning materials as well as communication and interactions between teacher and students in the cassroom. It is also contains learning materials for teachers, student learning materials, community activities/rides forum, question bank and learning media catalog. Rumah belajar is intended for students, teachers and the wider community, anyone who want to learn. Learning portals are expected to belong to a community of learning. In the 'rumah belajar portal' can be seen in the home provided facilities and some of learning sources designed in English materials and intended starting from SD/MI, SMP/MTS, SMA/MA/SMK. In addition to directions make it easier for educators or learners acquire the material of surrounding the English learning in the classroom.The benefits of using a portal rumah belajar.
1. As an source of learning materials 2. Learn independently Rumah belajar portal can enhance interest, motivation and learner independence in learning process. The learners can find English materials images itself in this portal. In the results of this study discusses the implementation of learning by using the rumah belajar portal in terms of the activity from teacher, student activity during English learning process, learner response towards the learning that has been done. This portal will provide an alternative educational media in Indonesia. As we know still less uses education media based on internet. Utilization of portal are expected to provide influence on the formation of : 1. The construction of the teachers on going 2. The development of students ' creativity 3. Community development From the statement above, rumah belajar portal can be seen an increase interest, motivation and learner independence for the English learning in the classroom. Rumah belajar portal is already nice and very helpful teacher in search of learning material especially on the main features of learning resources, teacher's question bank can find and upload problems, and some source about their material by electronic Group (BSE) help students find this sources.

Research Method
In this research, the researcher used classroom action research (CAR) as the method. According to Ary (2010), action research is called practitioner, teacher inquiry or teacher research, although the process can certainly be used by other school personnel beside teachers, include coaches, counselors, principles, superintendents, librarians, technology specialists and other education professionals. It is based on the assumptions; firstly, the research conducted by using action research and secondly, the researcher practice personal reflection on teaching, other conduct formal empirical studies on teaching and learning.
The subject of this research was involved the grade VII students of SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah in academic year of 2018-2019. They consisted of 11 students at second semester. The researchers choose this class because based on preliminary study did by the researcher on December 5 th , 2018. The students' reading skill in this class was below the standard score. It was shown on their achievement in regular evaluation and mid-semester test result. The school is located at Desa Temiang of Pagar Jati disctict, Bengkulu Tengah.
There were some instruments that it used in this research. According to Sanjaya (2010:84), there are several instruments or ways of collecting data such as test, documentation, and observation, using questioners, interview and many more. In this research, the researcher used observation, test and interview as the instruments of this research.
As we know that classroom action research consists of cycles which consist of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. After the lesson planning and CAR design were ready, the researcher had to do the implementation of them in classroom. Thus, from the implementation, the researcher was going to give data to analyze. Finally, the researcher made conclusion of the research. Based on Suryadi (2018)

Result and discussion
This chapter presents the result and the discussion of the research. The result section presents the result of data analysis and are presented for each cycle. It also states the research finding related to a) the improvement of the students' reading ability, b) the students' participation, and c) the students' response, on the implementing Rumah Belajar Portal. The discussion section discusses the findings based on relevant theories, and compares them with theory and previous finding.
a. Preliminary data description Before conducting the research, the researcher got the data from regular evaluation result in the last semester as the preliminary data to see the level of their reading comprehension before using of Rumah Belajar Portal was applied. The preliminary data were collected on December 5 th , 2018. The result of Students' reading scoring category, based on the Kemendikbud's (2017) Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimum or minimum criteria of mastery (MCM passing grade ≥70) scale of the test in preliminary data is presented in table 4.1.  Table 4.1 shows that the students' reading comprehension of category falls into fair and poor categories. Percentages of 18 % of the students belong to fair categories and 82 % of the students belong to poor categories. From the result in the preliminary data, it found that only 2 students from 11 students who have achieved the test. This result was not enough to reach the criteria of success and needed to be improved. There were only 2 or 18% students of the total students who have achieved the standard score (KKM ≥ 70) of students were fair in reading comprehension test and 9 or 82% of the students did not achieve the standard score (KKM ≥ 70) of VII grades students of SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah were below (poor) the Minimum Criteria of Mastery (KKM≥70). Therefore, the researcher concludes that the indicator of success was not fully achieved in preliminary study.

b. Description of Cycle 1
There were two meetings in cycle 1. In this research, the researcher acted as the teacher who applied Rumah Belajar Portal in teaching reading comprehension in the classroom. This cycle consisted of four steps; plan, action, observe, and reflect.  Table 4.2 shows that the students' reading comprehension falls into fair and poor categories. Percentages of 45% of the students belong to fair categories and 55% of the students belong to poor categories. No students belong to very good and good categories. From the result, the number of students who achieved the test of reading comprehension in cycle 1 was 5 students of 11 total students in that class. The percentage was 45%. It shows that the percentage increased after they used Rumah Belajar Portal. Moreover, the percentage of students' who did not achieve the test was 55%. The results of this study had not reached the criteria of success in which the students who reached ≥ 70 were 60% of the total students. Therefore, the researcher concludes that the indicator of success was not fully achieved in cycle 1.
Based on the weaknesses from the cycle 1, the improve use of Rumah Belajar portal need to continue the next cycle. The improve use of Rumah Belajar portal are presented in table 4.3. Table 4.3 The Improvement of using of Rumah Belajar Portal

No The Weaknesses
The Improvement

1
The students did not the task based on the teacher instruction. They had not understood enough about what they need to do with the task.
The researcher made better guidance and clearer instruction 2 the students found difficulties to get the point of difficult words in the descriptive text The researcher also tried to explain the procedure more carefully and not too fast so that the students were not confused.

3
The students were confused in operating their laptop and notebook.
The researcher gave more guidance and monitored them in operating laptop or notebook. 4 Some students who felt unmotivated in reading, completing the task and answering the questions The researcher paid more attention to these students and encourage them. And also, the researcher could give variation of tasks and also the students divide some of groups.

5
There was a problem with time management The researcher gave too much time for students to complete the task in Sumber Belajar feature and Kelas Maya feature. The researcher gives better time allocation.
c. Description of Cycle 2

Journal of English Education and Teaching Volume 3 number 2 2019 Pp. 127-142
Based on the result of cycle 1, the improvement should be done to reach the indicator of the success in cycle 2. The Cycle 2 was done as the result of reflection in cycle 1. The Cycle 2 was conducted on Monday, 11 th February, 2019 and Thursday, 14 th February, 2019. The Cycle 2 was held on two meetings. This cycle 2 consisted of four steps; revised plans, action, observe, and reflect.
The result of Students' reading score category, based on the Kemendikbud's (2017) Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimum or Minimum Criteria of Mastery (MCM passing grade ≥70) scale of the test in cycle 2 is presented in  Table 4.4 shows that the students' reading comprehension falls into very good, good, fair and poor categories. Percentages of 18% of the students belong to very good categories; 27% of students belong to good categories; 37% of students belong to fair categories and 18% of students belong to poor categories. The number of students who achieved the test of reading descriptive text used this portal in cycle 2 was 9 students of 11 total students. The percentage was 82%. Moreover, the percentage of students' who did not achieve the test was 18%. The results of this study had reached the criteria of success namely the students who reached ≥ 70 was 60% of the total of the students at grade VII of SMPN 31 Bengkulu Tengah. The students' response in the use of Rumah Belajar Portal as teaching media in reading descriptive text. In order to answer this question in cycle 2, the students' response are presented the result of interview in cycle 2, the researcher also found that the use of Rumah Belajar portal helped the students in comprehending descriptive texts. The students were also motivated and interested in reading a text by helping the Rumah Belajar portal with Sumber Belajar featrure and Kelas maya feature could be completing the task given. After using this Rumah Belajar portal, the students could implement that online media lesson in improving reading ability in descriptive text.
It can be concluded that reading comprehension of the descriptive text score improved after using of Rumah belajar portal from preliminary data to cycle 2 (from 18% passed score in preliminary data to 45% passed score in cycle 1 and 82% passed score in cycle 2). Moreover, the number of the students who passed the test also improved it can be seen in the table 4.8 as follow: Based on the table 4.5, it can be seen that there was an improvement of the students' reading comprehension (descriptive texts). The data shows that the percentage of students who passed the test from the preliminary data to at (cycle 2) the end of the research. In detail data of students who passed and did not pass the standard score is presented in chart 4.3.
Chart 4: The students' improving of reading descriptive text This chart presents passed percentage. In preliminary data, 18% of the total students in that class were passed. In final result, the data increased became 82%. It shows that Rumah Belajar Portal could achieve the indicators of success in this research. In addition, the result of the reading comprehension test (descriptive texts) that the researcher did at the end (cycle2) of the research shows that 9 students of 11 students who passed the test. Students' participation the use of Rumah Belajar Portal in reading comprehension of descriptive text showed that the analysis of the teachers' and students' observation checklist and field note with the research collaborator teachers' and students' performances in the classroom. It could be concluded that there were some improvements in students' active and, enthusiastic in the classroom. The teacher had successfully implemented the use of Rumah Belajar Portal in teaching and learning process. The students' active and enthusiast were proven that showed the students' attention during giving the explanation of material to them. The students seemed enjoy use this Rumah Belajar Portal activities and the learning process. And also the students' active to asking and answering of the questions about using of Rumah Belajar portal related of the material. The researcher also controlled the time allocation so that the students had a time to make a summary about the material that they have learned. The students' active, and enthusiast in learning process from the start to the end of the lesson became much better than the cycle 1.
The result interview of students' response toward use of the Rumah Belajar Portal. All of the students were positive and interest toward the researcher's explanation using The percentage of students who passed the standard score Rumah Belajar Portal. It seemed from most of the students said that the use of Rumah Belajar Portal helped them to understand and get the information about the text easily. They like with this portal because the students understood of the content of the texts faster, so the students answered the questions easier and practice. Based on this action classroom research, the indicators of success set by the researcher were already achieved. Furthermore, the researcher found that each cycle had improvement of the students' reading comprehension test, students' participation and students' response in learning process after using of this portal. Finally, the researcher decided to stop the action in the cycle 2 which already achieved the indicators of success in this research.

Conclusion and suggestion 5.1 Conclusion
This research attempted to use the Rumah Belajar Portal to improve students' ability to read descriptive text. Based on finding, it could be concluded that the Rumah Belajar Portal could improve the students' ability to read descriptive text. The improvement could result from the reading by using Rumah Belajar Portal. Firstly, the use of Rumah Belajar Portal can improve students' ability in reading descriptive text. The improvement can be clearly seen from the students' who have achieved the standard score (MCC ≥70) from cycle 1 to cycle 2. The implementation of using Rumah Belajar Portal has increased students' reading ability in descriptive texts and it was proven that Rumah Belajar portal helps the students' understanding the material easily. Secondly, improve of students' participation in reading descriptive text by using of Rumah Belajar Portal. The students' involvement was active and enthusiast during learning process. The students' were proven that showed the students' attention during giving the explanation of material to them. They were active in asking and answering the question from the teacher about the material using of Rumah Belajar Portal in learning process. Thirdly, improve of students' response toward the use of Rumah Belajar Portal as teaching media in teaching descriptive text. It seemed from Most of the students said that the use of Rumah Belajar Portal helped them to understand and get the information about the text easily. They interested with using Rumah Belajar Portal. The students understood of the content of the texts faster, so the students answered the questions easier and practice. It is indicated that students were positive learning activity in reading of descriptive texts by using of this Rumah Belajar Portal. 5.2 Suggestion Based on the result of this research, the researcher would like to give several suggestions that may be useful for students, English teacher, and further research in the following points: a. For the students Students have to be able to find out the best way to improve their own reading skill. They should not only follow the instruction on material text book. Relating to these, using of Rumah Belajar Portal should be active and creative in learning process. And also the students should training and socialization about Rumah Belajar Portal application in learning process. b. For the teacher English teachers may implementation of using Rumah Belajar Portal as one of alternative media online to improve students' reading comprehension and teacher should be more creative and innovative in implementing this portal in teaching and learning activity process. And also for teachers, the government should give more training and socialization for the using of Rumah Belajar portal in teaching and learning process. c. For further research The use of Rumah Belajar Portal could be recommended to be implemented on other English skills, such as Speaking, Listening, and Writing.