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ETERNAL Volume 8 Number 1 (2022)
P-ISSN 2477-4766; E-ISSN 2580-5347
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24252/Eternal.V81.2022.A8
121
THE EFFECT OF USING QUESTION-ANSWER RELATIONSHIP
STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT THE
FIRST SEMESTER OF ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM UNIVERSITY OF
PASIR PENGARAIAN
Wirda Jannatul jannah, Hamid Syahropi1
University of Pasir Pengaraian
Corresponding E-mail: wirdajannatuljannah@gmail.com
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to find out whether there is or no significant effect of using
Question-Answer Relationship Strategy on students’ Reading Comprehension at first semester
students of English Study Program University of Pasir Pengaraian. This research was experimental
research with a control group design. It involved 42 students in the first semester of the English Study
Program University of Pasir Pengaraian. The data were collected using multiple-choice tests and two
classes as the sample in this research. One class served as an experimental class and the other one as
a control class. Both classes will give a pre-test and a post-test.The data was calculated by using
Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) formula. The data were analyzed by Independent T-test
with t-values was 6.156 with sig. p-value is 0.000 compare with t-table 5% (0.05) = 2.021. The finding
showed that t-value6.156 ≥ t-table 5% (0.05) = 2.021. It meant the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was
accepted and the null hypothesis (H0) was rejected. It could be concluded that there was a significant
effect of using Question Answer Relationship strategy. QARs could improve students reading
comprehension and it could be applied in teaching reading comprehension at first semester students
of English Study Program University of Pasir Pengaraian.
Key words: Reading, , Reading Comprehension, QAR strategy.
A. INTRODUCTION
eading is one of the important skills should master because by having good reading skills
students can enlarge their knowledge and access more information. According to
Guthrie and Wigfield (2005), in order to grasp a book, readers must be interested in the
subject, have an internal reading drive, have a reason for reading, and have technical reading skills.
This is significant because the reader will know what he is reading for and will be essential to
increase their other skills. Many difficulties might occur when pupils are reading, such as a lack of
interest in reading the text, a lack of understanding to comprehend the reading text, a lack of
vocabulary, and so on. Because many people can read, but not all of them can grasp what they
read, understanding the text is critical. This product is known as reading comprehension. If
students lack the ability to comprehend the material, they will be unaware of the text's meaning
and context.
Because the objective of written language is to communicate messages, Duffy (2009) defines
comprehension as the essence of reading. Reading comprehension, in other words, is one of the
R
Wirda, Hamid, The Effect of …
122
foundations of the act of reading, according to Madlambayan et al (2017). Reading without
comprehension is like to reading every word without interpretation. As a result, it may be inferred
that reading and comprehension are behaviors that are inextricably linked. Usually students with
low skill in reading tend to be passive in the classroom because they are lack of knowledge that will
influence their learning achievement. Otherwise students having a good reading skill usually work
more seriously and have great enthusiasm in learning and perform better than those low in reading.
Based on the researcher’s observation towards the first semester students of English Study
Program University of Pasir Pengaraian, there were many problems faced by students in reading
comprehension. First, some students were unable to identify the main idea; second, some students
were unable to identify references; third, students were unable to identify the meaning of
vocabulary; fourth, some students were unable to obtain factual information from narrative texts;
and finally, some students were unable to identify the generic structure of a narrative text.
In order to overcome the students' difficulties and improve their capacity to comprehend the
texts, Raphael's reading comprehension strategy, Question-Answer Relationships, was proposed
(QAR). The Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) is a technique for assisting students in
determining how to begin answering questions based on a given text. This technique focuses on
defining and employing four different types of questions: Right There (explicit), Think and Search
(inferring across sentences in the text), Author and You (inferring between the text and prior
knowledge), and On Your Own (developing a personal responses to text themes) (Raphael, 1986).
Based on the background above, the focus of this study will be finding the effects of Question
Answer Relationship strategy on students’ reading comprehension in Narrative text. The purpose
of this research is the researcher wants to find out: Whether there is or no significant effect of
using Question-Answer Relationship Strategy on students’ Reading Comprehension at first
semester students of English Study Program University of Pasir Pengaraian.
B. LITERATUR REVIE
The Nature of Reading
Reading is one of the linguistic abilities that is more commonly utilized in human life, aside
from speaking, which is the most commonly employed in interpersonal contact. Reading is an
extremely difficult task. According to Karadeniz (2015) states that reading is one of the most
effective learning activities because it allows students to strengthen their critical thinking skills,
establish new and varied perspectives, gain a better understanding of themselves and the world,
Volume 8, Number 1 June 2022
and analyze events and situations they will meet. Reading is a complex process: it involves much
more than adding word meanings together. Cellik (2018)says that, reading in very basic terms can
be defined as the recognition of words, including spelling, and relationships with other words in a
sentence. In other words, it is the process of extracting information and interpreting meaning
through knowledge given in written form.
Reading, according to Karadeniz (2015) is the mental process of approaching a text. Reading,
in its most general sense, entails evaluating a text made up of letters and attempting to interpret it
as a whole. Reading, in a broader sense, is the reader's means of appropriating a literary work. In
other way, it is the process through which a person internalizes and uses what he learns throughout
his life. So it can be concluded reading is one of the fundamental skills in language learning. It is an
active process that includes physical activity such as eye movements and intellectual processes.
The Nature of Reading Comprehension
Reading and comprehension are the activities that are going together and cannot be separated
from each other. According to Tarchi (2017) reading comprehension is the process of reading to
gain a better knowledge of what you are reading or reading comprehension is a process carried out
to get better information from what has been read. To grasp better, the reader must master the
basic comprehension units of reading. The full selection is presented, including words, phrases,
sentences, paragraphs, and the entire selection because comprehension is the ability of a person to
comprehend what he or she reads by drawing on prior knowledge and experience. As a result,
rather than being a passive process, comprehension is a proactive one.
Duchovičová, Kozárová, Kurajda, Bajrami, & Baghana (2019), Duncan, Mcgeown, Griffiths,
Stothard, & Dobai (2016) said that there are various stages in the reading comprehension process
that must be understood in order to determine the level of comprehension, ranging with the literal,
inferential, critical, and creative stages. Basically reading comprehension has been taught to students
from elementary school to college. In junior high school, students are also required to be able to
understand the meaning of a text as well as at the high school level. As for the university level,
reading comprehension is certainly an important component for all, both lecturers and students.
lecturers are required to do research and this is related to reading journals while students have to
make assignments, look for new sources of knowledge and make final assignments. In other words,
reading and reading comprehension are an inseparable process because this process is a process
that integrates activities such as reading texts, journals, articles or other reading materials.
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124
The Nature of Question Answer Relationship (QAR)
QAR is a strategy where students code teacher-generated questions to help the students
understand what type of question is being asked so that they know how to access information to
get the answer. Raphael (1986) said that without QAR instruction, students often over rely on text
information or background knowledge. According to Armbruster and Osborn (2003:57), question-
answering instruction encourages students to improve their question-answering skills and thus learn
more while they read. QAR is a comprehension strategy in which students ask a range of questions
about a book and then react to them according on the type of question they asked.
QAR Categories
Raphael identified two broad categories of QAR for finding information and foranswering
questions: The first category is in the book questions consisting of Right there and Think and
Search questions. These questions require answers that can be found directly in the text. second
category is in your head questions consisting of an author and you and on your own. These
questions require a higher level of thinking. Conner (2006) states that QAR is reading strategy in
which students categorize comprehension questions according to where they got the information
they needed to answer each question. Students are asked to indicate whether the information they
used to answer questions about the text was textually explicit information, textually implicit
information, or information entirely from the student‘s own background knowledge.
According to Raphael and Au (2005), QAR can help to solve problems to enhance students
‘level of literacy:
a. The need for a shared language to make visible the largely invisible processes underlying
reading and listening comprehension.
b. The need for a framework for organizing questioning activities and comprehension
instruction within and across grades and school subjects.
c. The need for accessible and straight forward whole-school reform for literacy
instruction oriented toward higher level thinking.
d. The need to prepare students for high-stakes testing without undermining a strong
focus on higher level thinking with texts.
C. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Volume 8, Number 1 June 2022
This research was an experimental research with a control group design. It looked at whether
the independent and dependent variables have a causal link. Furthermore, according to Loewen &
Plonsky (2016), the independent variable is the influencing variable, whereas the dependent variable
is the influenced variable. One class served as an experimental class and the other one as control
class. Both classes will give a pre-test and a post-test; however, only the experimental class treated
by using QAR strategy. The population of this research is the students in academic year 2021/
2022. Total population of first semester of English Study Program University of Pasir Pengaraian
is 42 students.
D. FINDING AND DISCUSSION
Finding
The researcher conducted the research at the first semester of English Study program
University of Pasir Pengaraian. There were two classes in this research, namely of experiment class
and control class. In the experimental class, the researcher used Question Answer Relationship
Strategy. Therefore in control class the researcher used conventional strategy. In experiment class
consist of 21 students and control class also 21 students. The researcher indicated the description
of pre-test and post-test data. The data was collected by students’ pre-test and post-test scores both
of two classes; experiment and control.
Before doing pre-test and post-test, the research did a validity and reliability test to know which
questions were valid and invalid. After the researcher doing validity and reliability test, the
researcher indicated the result of pre-test and post-test data. The data were collected by
students‘pre-test and post-test score both of two classes: experiment and control. There are 21
students in experiment class and 21 students in control class. Before testing the hypothesis, the data
must fulfill the assumption in which the data must be normally distributed and homogenous. The
data was calculated by using SPSS
3. Normality Data of Experiment Class and Control Class
Statistical Hypothesis:
H0: The data of experiment class and control class are normally distributed.
Ha: The data of experiment class and control class are not normally distributed.
If sig ≥ 0.05 then the data is normally distributed. But, if sig ≤ 0.05 then the data is not
normal. The result of calculated data could be seen on table 4.1.
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126
Table 3.1
Normality Data of Experiment Class and Control in Pre-test
Class
Shapiro-Wilk
Statistic
Df
Sig.
Pre-test Experiment Class
Pre-test Control Class
.919
.914
21
21
.084
.067
Table 4.1 shows that sig. Pre-test score in experiment class is 0.084 and pre-test score in control
class is 0.067. If sig > 0.05, then the data is normal and H0 is accepted. But, if sig < 0.05 then the
data is not normal and H0 is rejected. It meant that both of the data was normally distributed, H0 is
accepted.
Table 3.2
Normality Data of Experiment Class and Control in Post-test
Class
Shapiro-Wilk
Statistic
Df
Sig.
Post-test Experiment Class
Post-test Control Class
.925
.948
21
21
.109
.313
Table 4.2 shows that sig. Post-test score in experiment class is 0.109 and post-test score in
control class is 0.313. If sig > 0.05, then the data is normal and H0 is accepted. But, if sig < 0.05,
then the data is not normal and H0 is rejected. It meant that both of the data was normally
distributed, H0 is accepted.
4. Homogeneity Data of Experiment Class and Control Class
Homogeneity test was used to determine whether the data had the same variance or not. If
sig > 0.05, then the data homogeneous and H0 is accepted. But, if sig < 0.05, then the data is not
homogenous and H0 is rejected.
H0 = both variance is homogeneous
Ha = Both variance is not homogeneous
Volume 8, Number 1 June 2022
The result of pre-test and post-test score in experiment class and control class were explained
on table 4.3.
Table 4.3
Homogeneity Test of Pre-test Score in Experiment Class and Control Class
Test of Homogeneity of Variances
Levene Statistic
df1
df2
Sig.
.256
1
40
.616
After analyzing the data, table 4.3 shows that sig. pre-test experiment class and control class is
0.616. It means that if sig 0.616 > 0.05, then the data homogeneous and H0 is accepted.
Table 4.4
Homogeneity Test of Post-test Score in Experiment Class and Control Class
Test of Homogeneity of Variances
Levene Statistic
df1
df2
Sig.
.062
1
40
.804
After analyzing the data, table 4.4 shows that sig. post-test experiment class and control class
is 0.804. It means that if sig 0.804 > 0.05, then the data homogeneous and H0 is accepted.
The Result of Post-test Scores between Experiment and Control Class
To analyze the result of post-test score between experimental and control class, the researcher
used independent sample T-test. The result could be seen on table 4.5.
Table 4.5
The Result of Post-test Score between Experiment Class and Control Class
Group Statistics
Independent Samples Test
Sample Class
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
Posttest Score
Experiment Class
21
85.33
8.033
1.753
Control Class
21
69.42
8.698
1.898
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128
Levene’s
Test for
Equality of
Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F
Sig.
T
Df
Sig.(2-
tailed)
Mean
Differenc
e
Std.
Error
Differ
Ence
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower
Upper
Posttest_
Score
Equal
variances
assumed
.062
.804
6.156
40
.000
15.904
2.583
10.682
21.126
Equal
variances
not
assumed
6.156
39.75
0
.000
15.904
2.583
10.681
21.127
After analyzing the data by using Independent Sample T-test, table 4.9 shows that the mean of
post-test score in experiment class is 85.33 along with the standard deviation is 8.033. Meanwhile
in control class, the mean of post-test score is 69.42 along with standard deviation is 8.698. Then,
df both of classes are 40, and t-value is 6.156 with sig. p-value is 0.000 compare with t-table 5%
(0.05) = 2.021. The data showed that t-value 6.156 ≥ t-table 5% (0.05) = 2.021. In conclusion, Ha
is accepted and H0 is rejected. Because t-value ≥ t-table. In short, Question Answer Relationship
strategy had effect on students’ Reading Comprehension.
Discussion
Based on the results of data from the test were divided into pre-test and post-test. The students
were taught by Question Answer Relationship strategy had higher score than those who were taught
by without Question Answer Relationship strategy. It was calculated by using SPSS to measure the
post-test results of the two classes. It showed that t-value both of classes was 6.156, and p-value
both of two classes was 0.000 with sig. 5% (0.05). The hypothesis requirement was p-value smallest
than p-value that was (0.000 < 0.05). The result t-value 6.156 with df both of two classes compare
with t-table 5% (0.05) = 2.021. The data showed that t-value 6.156 ≥ t-table 2.021.. It meant that
Ha was accepted and H0 was rejected.
Volume 8, Number 1 June 2022
The result of statistical analysis of implementation of QAR strategy on students’ reading
comprehension revealed that there was a positive contribution of QAR strategy to students’ reading
comprehension proven by the percentage of the effect. This result confirmed the study by Soraya
(2017) which proved that the students had positive responses to the QAR strategy.Students agreed
that QAR strategy had improved their ability in reading comprehension and QAR strategy had been
a very helpful strategy for them. The result also corresponded to the study carried out by Astuti
(2021) which reported that the QAR strategy had successfully helped the students in comprehnsing
texts by the types of questions. The positive results were found and could confirm the former
research findings because of the nature of the QAR strategy. This strategy taught students to answer
questions that require the understanding of information from the text and helps them understand
the relationship between the questions and where the answers to those questions are found.
E. CONCLUSION
Based on the result of the data analysis and discussion, the researcher concluded that using of
Question Answer Relationship had significantly effects on students’ reading comprehension at First
Semester of English Study Program University of Pasir Pengaraian. It could be seen from the t-test
calculation. It was found that the t-value was higher than t-table. Therefore, t-value was 6.156 and
t-table was 2.021 (t-value > t-table, 6.156 > 2.021). It meant that Ha was accepted and H0 was
rejected. There was a significant effect of using Question Answer Relationship strategy on students’
reading comprehension in narrative text. It meant through Question Answer Relationship strategy,
the students’ achievement in reading text and the students could know how to identify some part
of narrative text.
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