Abstract
The study applied is a classroom action research
design. This study was conducted to improve the students’ reading comprehension
in descriptive text through PQRST technique of the tenth grade students of SMKN
5 Madiun. As it found in preliminary study that most of students had some
problem, They were lack of vocabularies, so they felt difficult to get the
meaning of the text. And many of them did not know several strategies usually
used in reading. Therefore, the criteria of success were directed to the
mentioned problems. The result of the treatment during two cycles showed that
the implementing of PQRST technique could improve the students’ reading
comprehension in descriptive text.
Keywords: reading comprehension, descriptive text, PQRST
technique
Snow (2002, p. 11) defines reading
comprehensions as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning
through interaction and involvement with written language. The emphasis is
merely on the words extracting and constructing. In line with some definitions
above, Aebersold and Field (1997, p. 15) also argue that the processes of
comprehending, then, involves decoding the writer’s words and then using
background knowledge to construct an approximate understanding of the writer’s
message. Furthermore, they state that the process of comprehending of the text
is not exact since reading is a personal activity. It means that reading
comprehension differs from one reader to another reader.
The
technique has been shown to improve a readers understanding, and his/her
ability to recall information. In other words, the reader is more likely to
learn, and to learn more, of the material he/she is reading. According to the
Thomas and Robinson (1990), this
technique of reading comprehension of text so that the information which
students get in the text really does enter in their long term memory.
This technique consists of five steps. Preview, Question, Read, Self-recite
and Test (PQRST). The
middle three steps apply to every section within a chapter whilst the first and
last steps apply to the chapter itself
In this technique you follow
five steps - Preview, Question, Read, Self-recite
and Test (PQRST). The
middle three steps apply to every section within a chapter whilst the first and
last steps apply to the chapter itself. It may find that many textbooks are
compiled in a way which makes this method easy to apply, using an introductory
passage, and questions at the end.
These
are the procedure of PQRST technique, as follows:
1.
Preview
In the first step, the students preview the
entire chapter by skimming through it to get an idea of the major topics. This
is done by reading the chapter outline, and then skimming the chapter, paying
special Attention to headings of main sections and sub-sections and glancing at
pictures and illustrations. If there is a summary, take time to consider each
point in the summary, questions will come to mind that should be answered later
as the students read the full text. The preview stage will give the students an
overview of the topics covered in the chapter and how they are organized.
2.
Question
In this step, the students try to ask
specific questions in their mind about a reading assignment. The students can
start this stage by turning the chapter headings and sub headings into
questions.
3.
Read
Next, the students read the material in
detail. As the students read, they try to answer the question which asked in
the step Question. Besides, they can give underline the difficult word and pay
attention the main idea.
4.
Self-Recitation
After the students have finished reading
the section, the students try to recall the main ideas and recite the
information. Self-Recital is a powerful means of fixing the material on the students’
memory. The students try to recite the information loudly. Self-Recitation will
reveal blanks in the students’ knowledge and help them organize the information
in their mind.
5. Test
In this final step of
PQRST technique, to know and remember what the
students have read. The students try to test themselves and review all
the materials. If the student made notes, read through these. Think about the
relevance of what the students learn and how it all fits together. Reread any
chapter summaries.
Method
Based on the focus of the research, this research
intends to improve the students’ reading comprehension by implementing PQRST
technique. Therefore, the design of the research is Classroom Action Research
(CAR). The researcher designed planning, actuating, observing, and reflecting.
Planning
In this step, the
researchers apply PQRST
technique in teaching learning process. Meanwhile, the students’ problem is how
to improve the students‘comprehension
in reading comprehension and how to be able to comprehend the content of a
reading text. The researcher also gives the minimum passing grade of score for
reading comprehension to know the students’ comprehension
in reading comprehension and to determine whether they are success or failed. The researcher did
some preparations to implement the PQRST technique. The preparation included:
sharing ideas with collaborator, designing lesson plan, preparing the suitable
text, preparing observation instrument, designing posttest. The reading text
used in this research is descriptive text because these text types were taught
in second semester of X grade of senior
high school. In this research the researcher used some pictures as a media for
teaching-learning process. Time and schedule of this research were confirmed
with the situation in the school.
Designing the
lesson plan. The researcher designed lesson plan with
the purpose of equipping the teacher with a guideline of the teaching and
learning activities. In designing the lesson plan, the researcher considers the
following items: a) standard competence, b) basic competence, c) learning indicator, d) learning objective,
e) teaching and learning instruction, f)
material and media, g) worksheets,
h) evaluation.
Criteria of success. The criteria of success were vital to know
whether the implementation of PQRST technique was conducted successfully. In
line with the problems find in the preliminary study, the criteria of success
are determined as follow; (1) 75% of the students’ reading achievement obtains
the minimum passing grade. The minimum passing grade for the students is 70. It
means that if a student was able to achieve a final score of 70 she/ he was
categorized successful. (2) Suppose the targeted minimal score of reading
comprehension does not reach seventy (70), the next action will become
important to conduct in the following cycle.
Implementation
This study was applying PQRST technique to overcome the
students’ problem in reading descriptive text. The implementing of the first
cycle was only one meeting. If the criteria of success have been reached, the
next cycle will applay.
The
first meeting ran two meetings, each meeting was about 2 x 45 minutes. It
contained prereading stage. In this stage, first the researcher integrated
reading instruction to involve the students in an inquiry into features of the
descriptive text. Next, the researcher established the students’ understanding
of descriptive text and explained the generic structure and language features
of descriptive text.
Observation
It was the
process of recording and gathering the data during implementing PQRST technique
in teaching reading comprehension. The observation stage was the same time as
the implementation.
The researcher tried to obtain two types of data from the implementation
stage. The first data was hard data which related to the students’
achievements. They were obtained through reading final test which was evaluated
in the end of the cycle. The second data was soft which represented the
students’ difficulties, interest and behavior. They were portrayed using
observation and questionnaire.
Reflection
In this step the
researcher analyzed all the data taken from the observation stage. The data
were analyzed to get the result that lead to draw the conclusion about the successful
of the implementation of the strategy after being applied in teaching and
learning process.
When the students get improvement after applied the strategy, the result
finding will contribute a good position to draw the conclusion that strategy
implemented is success and the researcher as the teacher is successful in
implementing the strategy. In addition, the students’ achievement in reading
descriptive text will be linked to the criteria of success of make the judgment
of the effectiveness of the strategy in improving the students’ comprehension
in descriptive text.
Result
Based
on the test result of the students’ reading comprehension in the end of the
second meeting (May 8th, 2014), there was and improvement of the
students’ score from preliminary test to first cycle test. The average Score in
preliminary 60.38, improved in cycle became 70.38. And total of the students
who passed the minimum passing grade in preliminary were 7 students or 27%, it
improved became 18 students or 69%.
And
the test result of the students’ reading
comprehension in the end of the second meeting in cycle 2(June 5th,
2014), there was and improvement of the The score of students’ reading
comprehension in descriptive text using PQRST technique showed the average
score was 80.76. The students’ improvement compare between cycle 1 and cycle 2
was 10.38 points. The students’ highest score was 100, and the lowest score was
60. The number of students who could pass the criteria of success improved from
69% (18 students) to 85% (22 students).
Discussions
In this study, PQRST
technique is categorized into interactive text which taught top-down process.
It begins with the reader’s hypotheses and prediction about the text and his or
her attempts to confirm them by working down to the smallest units of the
printed text (Rebecca,1993: 94). The teaching learning process divides into
three steps. They are pre reading, whilst reading, and post reading.
As
the first step in PQRST technique, the students preview the entire chapter by skimming through it to get
an idea of the major topics. This is done by reading the chapter outline, and
then skimming the chapter, paying special Attention to headings of main
sections and sub-sections. The researcher asked students to read first sentence
in each paragraph. But based on observation and questionnaire, the students
still difficult to do that. So, in cycle 2, the researcher decided to give
model or picture to illustrate about descriptive text. Picture is used as
media, Clark (in Way Meng, 2010), media is as mere vehicles that deliver
instruction in teaching and learning. So, by giving picture the students are
easy to illustrate the text.
Next, the students read the material in
detail. As the students read, they try to answer the question which asked in
the step Question. Besides, they can give underline the difficult word and pay
attention the main idea.
After the students have finished reading the
section, the students try to recall the main ideas and recite the information.
Self-Recital is a powerful means of fixing the material on the students’
memory. The students try to recite the information loudly. Self-Recitation will
reveal blanks in the students’ knowledge and help them organize the information
in their mind.
In
this final step of PQRST technique, to know and
remember what the students have read. The students try to test themselves and review all the
materials. If the student made notes, read through these. Think about the
relevance of what the students learn and how it all fits together. Reread any
chapter summaries.
There is a significance
increasing on students’ reading comprehension with the teaching and learning
process before the implantation of PQRST technique in teaching reading
descriptive text. The students’ highest score in preliminary study was 70 and
it increased significantly 80 in cycle 1 to 100 in cycle 2. While for the
number of students could pass the criteria of success increased from 27% (7
students) in preliminary to 69% (18
students) in cycle 1 to 85% (22 students) in cycle 2.
Implementation
PQRST as a teaching technique in teaching reading descriptive text had improved
the student’s participation. It showed the average students’ participant in
teaching learning process in the cycle 1 was 2.26 and improved in cycle 2 was
3.59.
Based
on the all discussing presented, both in discussion of PQRST as technique in
teaching learning linked the related theory and discussion of research finding,
it is found that the implementing of PQRST technique is effective to improve
the students’ comprehension in reading descriptive text.
Conclusion and Suggestion
Conclusion
The main aim of this study is to implement PQRST as
teaching technique in order to improve the students’ reading comprehension in descriptive
text. Based on the result of the research, it concludes that PQRST technique
can improve the students’ comprehension in reading descriptive text.
The research applied is a classroom
action research design. The research procedure was repeated cycle for planning,
implementing, observing and reflecting. The subject of the study was 26
students of tenth grade students of AP 3 SMKN 5 Madiun in the academic year
2013/2014. The research instruments were questionnaire, observation checklist,
and reading test. The PQRST technique was implemented into five steps. They are
preview, question, read, self-recite, and test. The research divided into two
cycles, each cycle consists of two meeting. It was about 4 x 45 minutes.
The main steps were implemented in teaching and learning process: “Preview” step, the researcher gave some
picture and the students looked and observed the picture. After observing the
picture, in “question” step the
students made some questions about the picture. Then “read” step, the researcher gave the descriptive text and asked the
students to read it. In “self-recite” step,
the students answered the questions which made before. Next step was “test”, in this step the researcher gave
test of descriptive text. Then the researcher scoring the students’ work to
know the improvement of reading comprehension.
There is a improvement on
students’ reading comprehension with the teaching and learning process before
the implantations of PQRST technique in teaching reading descriptive text. The
students highest score in preliminary study was 70 and it increased significantly
80 in cycle 1 to 100 in cycle 2. While for the number of students could pass
the criteria of success increased from 27% (7 students) in preliminary to 69% (18 students) in cycle
1 to 85% (22 students) in cycle 2.
Implementation
PQRST as a teaching technique in teaching reading descriptive text had improved
the students’ participation. It showed the average students’ participant in
teaching learning process in the cycle 1 was 2.26 and improved in cycle 2 was
3.59.
Suggestion
Based on the outcomes of the present study, there are
some suggestions for English teacher, for the students and for the next
researcher dealing with applying PQRST technique in teaching learning process, especially
in teaching reading.
For
the English teachers, make a well prepared lesson plan which focuses on the
selection of the instructional material and media, provide the students with an
opportunity to comprehend texts and further develop the skills that with help
them to comprehend text.
For
the students, get more reading habit by spending much time in reading any kinds
of articles, also try to use to dictionary as the supportive tools instead
applying this PQRST technique,
For
the next researcher, to gain more success for the future researchers, it is
suggested and favored to plan the action well, to arrange the lesson plan and
the students’ test to create good relationship to the subject and the
technique. In addition, the next researcher should select the befitting reading
text and give specification types of reading passage.
References
Nunan, D. (2003). Language teaching methodology: A textbook
for teachers.
London: Prentice Hall International
Snow, C. E. (2002). In reading for understanding: toward an r
&d program
reading comprehension. Pittburgh: RAND
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