Abstract :
This research is entitled the ability to read and understand the students' reading comprehension of grade VIII SMP in Bunut District, Pelalawan Regency for the 2020/2021 academic year. Based on the phenomena that occur in the field, the ability to read and understand is still not good enough. The problem of this research is how is the reading comprehension ability of grade VIII junior high school students in Bunut District, Pelalawan Regency for the 2020/2021 academic year? Aims to describe and analyze the reading comprehension skills of grade VIII junior high school students in Bunut District, Pelalawan Regency for the 2020/2021 academic year. The data and information collected will be described and analyzed in a systematic and detailed manner so that the true picture can be known. Theory used in this research is Tampubolon, Dalman, Somadoyo, Razak, Tarigan, Herliyanto, Meliyawati. The method used is this type of research is a qualitative research using the method of description. The subjects of this study were 70 grade VIII students from 3 junior high schools in Bunut District, Pelalawan Regency. Data collection techniques using observation and reading comprehension tests. The validity used is content validity, while the data analysis is done by descriptive statistical analysis. The results of the study showed that the reading comprehension skills of eighth grade students of SMP in Bunut District, Pelalawan Regency were classified as good. In the component of reading comprehension ability, the average score for the main idea is 73.71 which is categorized as sufficient, the explanatory idea is 72.28 which is categorized as sufficient, the mandate is 62.28 which is categorized as moderate, and the conclusion is 61.43 which is categorized as moderate. So, the total average score obtained is 269.7, so the final average score is 77.06 which is categorized as good. Thus, it can be concluded that the reading comprehension ability of grade VIII junior high school students in Bunut District, Pelalawan Regency for the 2020/2021 academic year is an average of 77.06 which is categorized as good.