IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION OF THE EIGHTH-GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 5 SUKAWATI IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2022/2023 THROUGH PQRST

Reading is an activity to understand the reading texts to obtain information from the texts. Moreover, reading comprehension is generally used to measure students’ achievement in English, like in the national examination in which reading has a relatively large portion. The result of observation in this research showed the most of the eighth-grade students at SMPN 5 Sukawati in academic year 2022/2023 had problem in reading comprehension especially identifying general information, specific information, textual meaning and textual reference. Moreover, the objective of this study was to know whether or not reading comprehension of the eighth-grade students of SMPN 5 Sukawati in academic year 2022/2023 can be improved through PQRST. Therefore, to achieve the objective of this study, the researcher conducted classroom action research which was done in two cycles. The research instruments consisted of two instruments, tests and questionnaire, which were administered to collect the required data. Then the data were analyzed by comparing the results of the pre-test and post-tests. The data showed there were significant improvements of the subjects’ mean score from the pre-test to post-tests. The questionnaire was also administered as supporting data at the end of the study. The results showed positive responses from the subjects on the implementation of PQRST. Based on the results of the research instruments, it could be concluded that reading comprehension of the eighth-grade students of SMPN 5 Sukawati in academic year 2022/2023 could be improved through PQRST.