IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION OF THE EIGHTH-GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 1 KUTA UTARA IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2024/2025 THROUGH LISTEN-READ-DISCUSS STRATEGY

Reading is a cognitive process involving perception and thinking to understand a text. Unfortunately, the eighth-grade students at SMPN 1 Kuta Utara struggle with reading comprehension in finding general and specific information, textual meaning and textual references. The objective of the study was to figure out whether or not the reading comprehension of the eighth-grade students of SMPN 1 Kuta Utara could be improved through the L-R-D strategy. To achieve this goal, the researcher conducted classroom action research in two cycles using tests and questionnaires as research instruments. This present study was conducted based on the result of the pre-test in the initial reflection especially in recount text which showed that the students were still low. The findings showed significant improvement in reading comprehension. The mean scores increased from 40.64 in pre-test to 70.62 in post-test 1, and 82.64 in post-test 2. Moreover, this research showed positive responses concerning implementing the L-R-D strategy. The questionnaire result showed that 66.90% strongly agreed, 32.39% agreed, 0.70% were undecided, 0% disagreed, and strongly disagreed. Based on the results of this study it could be concluded that the reading comprehension of the eighth-grade students of SMPN 1 Kuta Utara could be improved through the L-R-D strategy.