Employing pqrst strategy to improve the reading comprehension ability of the eighth graders

Observing

Observing is a process to collect data that later indicates the success of any particular strategy in solving the classroom problem. In this observation, the researcher used three kinds of instruments, i. e. reading comprehension test, and observation checklist, and a questionnaire

Reading Comprehension Test

The researcher made the reading comprehension test to know the students achievement in comprehending recount texts. By this test, the students will know their competence of comprehension easily because they are able to understand the content of every text based on the questions they made, and it was strengthened by the exercise of five open-ended questions asking about main ideas and details of the text (See Appendix 1).

Observation Checklist

The observation was used to check the participation of the students. It gave the detailed information during teaching and learning process. That observation checklist contained the list of what the students did in the teaching-learning process using PQRST strategy. It was filled by the English teacher by giving the number in a particular scale that was suitable with the class condition. The scale was shown in the percentage by using a formula: (the number of active students)/(the number of all students) Г— 100 The percentage will determine the category. There are four categories: poor (0-25%), fair (26-50%), good (51-75%), and excellent (76-100%) (See Appendix 3).

Questionnaire

The participation of the students was very essential to know the success of the strategy. The researcher used the questionnaire to know the students perception and suggestion regarding the application of the PQRST strategy. It consisted 5 yes/no questions which were written on Bahasa Indonesia so that the students will find it easier to answer the questions, a blank space was also given for additional comment or advice (see Appendix 2).

Reflecting

After doing the observing, the next stage was reflecting the action. This stage was conducted to find the result which would be compared with the result of the observation. The data from the observation was discussed and evaluated to know whether the action is successful or not. The result of the reflection is used to decide whether the action should be sustained or revised.

The Researcherєs Role In this research, the researcher acted as the teacher who taught the students in VIII-I and implemented the PQRST strategy in reading recount texts. The teacher also had a role as an observer. The teacher gave comment about the strength and the weaknesses regarding the teaching learning process. The material and lesson plans had been consulted with the teacher.

The Research Setting and Subject

The subjects of this study were the first semester students in academic year 2018/2019 in class VIII-I of SMPN 14 Malang at Jl. Teluk Bayur No. 2, Pandanwangi, Blimbing, Kota Malang, Jawa Timur. The class had 32 students which were 4 boys and 28 girls. This class is chosen because the students achievement of reading pretest is considered low. There were only 10 students who get 80 in that test. It indicates that the rest of the students don’t have the knowledge to comprehend a reading test. Additionally, the researcher had been familiar with the school and the teachers, as the researcher was the alumni of the school. Those reasons have made the communication with the English teachers easier and the researcher could obtain students information and data easily.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

This chapter presents the findings of the research in cycle one and cycle two. The findings consist of the students reading comprehension ability of recount texts and the students response toward the implementation of PQRST strategy. 3. 1 The Students Reading Comprehension Ability of Recount Texts

There were 2 kinds of instruments to check the students reading comprehension ability, pre-test and post-test. Pre-test was done once before doing the research as the preliminary study (PS), and post-test was done in the second meeting of each cycle (See Appendix 6).

The Students Reading Comprehension Ability of Recount Texts in Cycle I The researcher focused on the students reading comprehension score based on the criteria of success to recognize the improvement of students reading ability. The researcher compared the students result in the preliminary study to their result in the post test of cycle one. According to the students score, there was the improvement in cycle one. Of 32 students, 3 (9%) gained 50 points; 4 (13%) gained 40; 8 (25%) gained 30; 9 (28%) gained 20; 7 (22%) gained 10; and only 1 (3%) who did not gain any point.

Based on the findings of the students reading comprehension ability in cycle one, the result after implementing the PQRST strategy showed good result. There were 24 students (75%) who gained ≥ 20 points of their reading comprehension test, but there were 8 students (25%) could not gain up to 20 points. Besides, the criteria of success is 80% of the students or at least 26 students should gain ≥ 20 points in the post-test. It means that the researcher needed to conduct cycle two to improve the students reading comprehension of recount text.

The Students Reading Comprehension Ability of Recount Texts in Cycle II In this section, the researcher found out the students reading ability by counting the gain of the students reading comprehension score of cycle two. The researcher used the students reading comprehension test as the instrument. This result is intended to know whether the research of implementing this strategy was successful or not.

According to the students score, there was a high improvement in this cycle. Of 32 students, 5 (16%) gained 50 points; 14 (44%) gained 40; 11 (34%) gained 30; and only 2 (6%) gained 20. Based on the findings of the students reading comprehension ability in cycle two, the students showed a good enhancement in their ability. It was presented in the students improvement in their reading comprehension score. Regarding the students result in the cycle two, there were 32 (100%) students who gained ≥ 20 points. It means that one of the criteria of success was achieved. As a result, the result has been successful, and the PQRST strategy can improve the reading comprehension of eighth-grade students of SMPN 14 Malang. 3. 2 The Students Responses toward the Implementation of PQRST Strategy

There were 2 kinds of instruments to check the students responses toward the implementation of PQRST strategy, observation checklist and questionnaire. The observation checklists were used in each of the meetings, but the questionnaire was done by the students in the last meeting of the implementation of PQRST strategy. (See Appendix 7) The Students Responses toward the Implementation of PQRST Strategy in Cycle I In the first meeting of implementing PQRST strategy, the students showed positive responses. It could be seen from the observation checklist. Students positive responses were indicated by their enthusiasm to engage in the learning process. When the researcher introduced recount text and PQRST strategy, they listened carefully to the explanation of new kind of reading text and strategy, yet there were only 34% of students who had actively answered the questions because most of the students have not been familiar about recount text.

In the first meeting, they were given a recount text entitled Holiday to Grandma House. But, before the text was given, the researcher did the preview activity as the first step of PQRST strategy by showing the title and the picture of the text to enhance the students prior knowledge and influence the students to be more curious about the text that will be given, but in this meeting only 9% students who were interested. In the step of question activity, there were only 62. 5% of excited students doing this stage, it could be seen by the number of sticky notes on the whiteboard, it indicated that not all of the students participated in this step. The reason of this case was because the students were not asked to write down their name on the sticky note, and the students assumed that they didn’t have to answer their own questions. The question step will be revised in the second meeting. The third step is to read and 100% of them read the text silently and some of them asked me questions about the meaning of some words or phrases.

After doing the reading activity, the students were asked to answer, the questions they had made on the whiteboard, by raising their hands. Next, the students did the summary activity, and 100% of the students wrote the summary of the text. The step was ended by a test that was done in pairs to check the improvement of students reading comprehension after the first implementation of the PQRST strategy. In the confirmation stage, there were 31% students who gave comments on what they had done in that meeting, and there were 19% students who made the conclusion about the meeting.

In the second meeting, the students enthusiasm was getting better. After the excitement of all of the students in the brainstorming stage, It could also be seen by the improvement of percentage on the preview activity, there were 15% of the students who gave their opinion toward the title and picture, but this percentage didn’t indicate a good category yet. Thus the preview activity will be modified in the cycle 2. Next, 100% of the students did the question step as the researcher asked the students to write down their name on the sticky note. The read activity ran smoothly as all of the students read silently, The summary activity was quite well as the observation sheet showed that all of the students did that step. However, the summary step took so much time compared to the other steps in PQRST. It implied that the students still had difficulties in summarizing the text. The summary step will be modified in the cycle two. The last step of this strategy was the test, and all of the students did this step, yet the score had not reached the criteria of success. As the confirmation, 47% of the students shared comments and conclusion of what they had done in that meeting (See appendix 5).