IMPROVING STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH PREVIEW, QUESTION, READ, REFLECT, RECITE, AND REVIEW (PQ4R).

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN READING
COMPREHENSION THROUGH PREVIEW,QUESTION,
READ, REFLECT, RECITE, AND REVIEW (PQ4R)

A THESIS
Submitted to the English Department, in Partial Fulfillment
of Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

By:

MEDIANA MANALU
Registration Number: 209421032

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, the writer would like to thank the Almighty God, Jesus Christ,

for His blessings to the writer so she is able to accomplish her thesis as a partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana pendidikan at the English
Department of Language and Arts, Faculty of Languages and Arts (FBS), State
University of Medan (UNIMED).
During the process of writing, the writer realizes that she cannot
accomplish her thesis without support from many people. Therefore the writer
would like to express her sincere gratitude to:
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Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M. Si., the Rector of State University of
Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M. Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and
Arts for formalizing the thesis at the end of her study
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M. Pd., the Head of English Department,
Rika, S.Pd. M.Hum, the Secretary of English Department the Secretary of
English Department and
Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M. Ed., as the Head of Educational Program
of English Department
Drs. Bachtiar, M. Pd., the Writer’s Thesis Advisor who has consciously
guided her in the entire process of the Thesis writing with all of the
constructive comments, which helped the writer made the thesis well.
Beloved father, Pahala Manalu and lovely mother, Mawan Sihombing,
the deepest gratitude for their greatest supports, caring and loves to the
writer. Thanks and love to the writer’s sister and brother, Emma
R.Manalu, Rustina M, Riometi M, Elvrida M, Renata M, Intan M and
Rahmat Salem Manalu, for they are the reason why the writer keeps on

struggling.
Roy Sihombing (Baculku), for his love and support to the writer during the
process of finishing this thesis.
The writer’s best friends, CESS KENTAL Yusniah Tampubolon and
Nurmahari Siregar (Nuncong) for every single help, support and love
that mean a lot to the writer
The writer’s PPL friends, Dian P , Eva , Hery,Geltry, Yonathan(Jobo),
Sutan, and all friends PPLT SMP N 1 PEMATANGSIANTAR 2012
Drs.Andarias Barus, the Headmaster, L.Purba S.Pd as the English
teacher and all the teachers and staffs, and all the Students of SMP Negeri
4 Pagaran for the generosity in supporting the writer while doing her
research in the school.

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Last but not least, the writer extends gratitude for those who cannot be
mentioned here, that give contribution on the writer’s life. The writer realizes that
the content of this thesis is still far from perfect, but she warmly accept any
constructive suggestions that will improve the quality of this thesis. She hopes it
would be useful for those who are interested in this field of study.

Medan,

Januari 2014
The Writer

Mediana Manalu

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... i
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................... vi
LIST OF APPENDIX ..................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 1
A. The Background of the Study ............................................................... 1
B. The Problem of the Study ..................................................................... 4

C. The Objective of the Study ................................................................... 4
D. The Scope of the Study......................................................................... 4
E. The Significance of the Study ............................................................... 5
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ............................ 7
A.Theoretical Framework ......................................................................... 7
B. Reading Comprehension ...................................................................... 7
1. The purpose of Reading ............................................................... 9
2.Reading Comprehension .............................................................. 10
C. Levels of Reading Comprehension ...................................................... 11
1. Literal Comprehension ................................................................ 12
2. Interpretive Comprehension ........................................................ 12
3. Critical Comprehension ................................................................ 13
4. Creative Comprehension ............................................................. 13
D. Students’ Achievement ....................................................................... 14
E. Genre ................................................................................................... 14
1.NarrativeText ................................................................................ 15
2. The purpose of narrative text ....................................................... 15
3. Types of Narrative Text ............................................................... 16
4. The Generic Structure of Narrative Text ..................................... 16
F. Indicator of Students’ Achievement in Reading Comprehension ........ 18

G. Strategy ................................................................................................. 19
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ...................................................... 26
A. Research Design ................................................................................... 26
B. Subject of Research .............................................................................. 28
C. The Procedure for Collecting Data ....................................................... 28
D. The Procedure of the Research ............................................................. 28
E. Instrument for Collecting Data ............................................................. 33
F. The Technique for Data Analysis.......................................................... 34
G. Validity and reliability .......................................................................... 35
1. Reliability ..................................................................................... 35
2. Validity ........................................................................................ 35
CHAPTER IV DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS .......................................... 37
A.
Cycle I ............................................................................................ 37
1. Planning .................................................................................... 37
2. Action and Observation ............................................................ 37
3. Reflection ................................................................................. 39
B.
Cycle II ........................................................................................... 39
1. Planning .................................................................................... 39

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2. Action and Observation ............................................................ 40
3. Reflection ................................................................................. 44
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ................................. 45
A.
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 45
B.
Suggestion ...................................................................................... 45
REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 47

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1
Table 2.2
Table 3.2
Table 4.1
Tabel 4.2

Five components in generic structure of narrative. .............
Modeling steps of learning with the PQ4R .........................
Criteria of Students’ Achievement ......................................
The Score of the cycle I test and cycle II test.......................
Students’ Score of Test III ...................................................

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22
35
37
40

LIST OF FIGURES
1.

Figure 3.1 Simple action research mode. .........................................

25

LIST OF APPENDIX

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Appendix A Lesson Plan .....................................................................
Appendix B The score of students from the test I cycle I, reading test
in cycle II test II and test III cycle II ...................................................
Appendix C Diary Notes ......................................................................
Appendix D Observation Sheet............................................................
Appendix E Interview Transcription....................................................

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A.The Background of the Study
Approximately 80 per cent of the world’s population is reported to be able
to read.An unknown percentage of these readers is also able to read, at varying
ability levels, in one or more additional language.The role of reading in society is
actually quite complex, so a few comments are needed to situate the role of
reading and student learning. Language is basic form of communication. By
using language , human beings can narrate and share their experience to others
and tell some information to the others. Language is a tool used by human beings
to communicate to the others. So, language is an important thing and cannot be
separated from human life. One of the skills in language so the people can
communicate to the other is reading.
Reading is one of the four skills in language and one of the most
important skills in learning besides listening, speaking, and writing. Reading is an
essential skill for all students at all levels. Reading is important because it can

help the student to gain information such as general knowledge which is needed to
insure the continuing personal growth and adapt the change in the world.
Reading for comprehension is not of course an easy task , especially for
senior hight school students. Hence, students must possess interpretation ability to
the meaning of the words, expression and sentences.

Teaching rading of English learners is exciting for teachers who have the ability
to perform it.They have skills and competence to apply the appropriate teaching
strategis and teaching method which can motivated the students to enjoy the
printing materials they distribute . Actually the aim of reading depends on the
reader.But mostly the purpose or the main goal of the reading instruction must be
comprehension ; above all, we want students to understand what is on a page.
Moreover , based on the writer’ experinece

in Teaching Training

Practice(PPL) T the writer observed that most students of Junior High School
where the writer interviewed the students, they told her that it happened because
of some factor. The learning is the teacher oriented.Commonly teacher taught
reading comprehension by using translation method too.
They tended to translate their reading text in the initial stages of their
teaching stategis. First, the conventional tehnique that teacher applied inteaching
reading was not effective, teacher had students underline some difficult words
then find out the meaning from dictionary. Then teacher asked them to translate
all the paragraphs in the text. After that, the teacher asked them to analyze the
generic structure of the text. These are suitable to problems faced by students
based on the interview. In this case, the teacher should make or apply a suitable
strategy in teaching reading comprehension in order to make the students interest
when they are studying.
PQ4R is an acronym for Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, and
Review. Considering the condition preview mention , the writer offers to apply

Preview, Question, Read, Reflect,Recite and Riview (PQ4R) method to overcome
or improve the problems. One part of the elaboration strategy. This strategy used
to help studentsto remember what they have read and this strategy also can help
the students in learning process about reading activities. This strategy will
improve the student's reading comprehension. It also may improve recall of facts
by as much as 70%.

PQ4R was conducted by many researchers on their action research
and experimental. An action research was done by Meilissa in 2012. Meilissa
applied PQ4R terhadap hasil belajar siswa pada materi pokok sistem indera for
eleventh graders.PQ4R very good to apply because it is suitable to use for the
teaching of knowledge in form of concepts, definitions, rules, and knowledge
application in daily life.It can help the students that has the low ability to
memorize the lesson.It easy to apply in all levels of education.It can help students
to improve their skills in the process of asking questions and to communicate their
knowledge.It can rise the lessons in spready.
By using PQ4R method can improve the students reading ability because,
it will help students to understand the text easily and well.PQ4R is one of the
good strategy that can help students to understand and to remember the material
that they have read (Thomas and Robinson (1972).Therefore, in learning reading
comprehension , both teacher and students can be more active to express their idea
or opinion. In this case , PQ4R method can give good solution for teacher and
students to get the education succesfull.As an expectation, by applying this
method can help students in comprehending and understanding the text and

students are able to focus more on reading comprehension easily and well.

B.The problem of the study

Based on the backround of the study , the problem of this study can be
formulated as follows:“ is the students’ achievement in reading comprehension
improve if it is taught by using PQ4R method?”

C.The objective of the Study

In relation to the problem, the objective of the study is aimed at finding
out wheter the application of : Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, &Review
(PQ4R) method improves grade eight student’ achievement of SMP Negeri 4
Pagaran Class VIII-1 in reading comprehension of narrative text.

D.The Scope of the Study
The scope of the study is limiteon finding the second year student’s
achievement in reading comprehension by using Preview, Question, Read,
Reflect, Recite, &Review(PQ4R) method. The levels of comprehension are
limited on literal comprehension and Inferential Comprehension of SMP Negeri 4
Pagaran class VIII-1.

E.The Significance of the Study

The findings of the study are expected to be useful and relevant both
theoretically and practically.

Theoretically the findings are expected to:

1. The horizons on theories of language learning,
2. Apply the theories on the second language learning, and
3. Be thereference for those who want to conduct the other
reseacher who wants to conduct the same researchandinterested
in using: Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, &Review
(PQ4R) in teaching reading comprehension as well.

Practically the findings are relevant and useful for:

1. English teachers to provide the information in their attempt to
decide the using of Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, &
Review (PQ4R) method in teaching reading comprehension.
2.

to improve students’ ability in reading comprehension and to
motivate them to be active in reading.

3.

This research is hoped to give the improvement of students’
participation in reading class so the students can comprehend
reading text easier.

4.

They can recall as much as information after they read the text.

5.

This strategy can improve the people’s reading ability to make
students understand the content of the text, especially
handbook, textbook.

6.

It can improve the professionalism of reader and teaching
reading

7. Give inputs for the teacher use PQ4R strategy to guide
students’ interaction with their text so can comprehend the
passage easily.

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusion
After analyzing the data, it is found out that the students’ reading
achievement improved from the test I cycle I into the cycle II test III. It means
that there was an improvement toward students’ reading achievement by applying
PQ4R technique. It was shown from the improvement of the mean of the students

score namely the mean of the cycle I test was 53.62, and the mean of the cycle II
test was 73.28. It can be stated that the score continuously improved from test I
cycle I to cycle II test. Therefore, it could be concluded that PQ4R Technique can
improve students’achievement in reading comprehension. Beside the mean of the
score, there was percentage of the students who got the score above 70. In the
cycle I test was 20.00% (7 students) and in cycle II test was 77,14% (27students). It

means that there was an improvement of the students in their reading comprehension
about 57.14% compared with the first test and for the second test.

B. Suggestion
The result of this study shows that the uses of PQ4R technique could
enlarge or improve the students’ achievement in reading comprehension in
narrative text. The following suggestions are offered:
a. For the English teacher; is better to use PQ4R technique since it
could make teaching and learningprocess more interesting and
enjoyable.

b. For the students; it is suggested that they study more and active in
teaching learning process using PQ4R technique.

c. For all the readers and the other researcher ;it is suggested to
develop the related technique to make this study better.

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Negeri Medan, Medan.
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