MARSELINA DIA Pengarang NOVRIANI RABEKA MANAFE Dosen Pembimbing 1 GRACIA M. N. OTTA Dosen Pembimbing 2 Novriani Rabeka Manafe Ketua Penguji Gracia M. N. Otta Penguji 1 Marcelinus Akoli, S.Pd., M.Ling Penguji 2

The main objective of this research is to know the use of folktales to develop the student’s reading skills of eighth-grade students of SMPK Santa Familia Sikumana Kupang in the academic year 2022/2023. The method used was experimental design. This research was conducted in SMPK Santa Familia Sikumana Kupang. The population of this research was 108 students of SMPK Santa Familia Sikumana Kupang. The researcher selected 20% of the population which was 40 students as a sample. This sample was divided into two classes, such as experimental class consisting of 20 students and the control class consisting of 20 students. The instrument used to collect data to measure the value of variables was a test that is multiple choice that consist of 20 items. In collecting the data, the researcher used pre-test, treatment, and post-test as the data collection procedures, followed by analyzing the data by using the t-test formula. The result shows that using folktales can develop students reading skills of eighth-grade students of SMPK Santa Familia Sikumana in the academic year 2022/2023, because the result of the statistical calculation indicated that the value of t-test was 4,22 and the value of df (degree of freedom) 38 at the level of significance 5% was 2,04. It can be concluded that the t-test was higher than the t-table where 4,22 > 2,04. Since the t-test value is higher than the t-table value thus, the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted and the null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected. It means the use of folktales can develop students reading skills of eighth-grade students of SMPK Santa Familia Sikumana Kupang in the academic year 2022/2023. Key terms: Develop, Folktales, Reading Skills