Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 4 No. 1, July 2014, pp.

123-139

THE PQRST STRATEGY, READING COMPREHENSION,

AND LEARNING STYLES
Alfi Hidayatu Miqawati
Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bondowoso, East Java
email: alfi_hidayah@yahoo.com

Gunadi Harry Sulistyo

Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang, East Java
email: emailgun.now@gmail.com

Abstract: This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of the PQRST strategy in
students‟ reading comprehension, the effectiveness of the PQRST strategy in reading
comprehension of students with different learning styles, and the interaction between
the PQRST strategy and the students‟ learning styles. This study employed a 2x2
factorial design. The subjects were the second semester students of Public
Administration Department, Faculty of Political and Social Science, University of
Bondowoso. Two classes were randomly selected as the samples of this study. The
experimental class was taught by using the PQRST strategy and the non-experimental
class by translation and reading aloud. The data were analysed by utilizing non
parametric testing: Mann–Whitney U and Kruskall-Wallis. The findings showed that
the PQRST strategy statistically impacted students‟ reading comprehension compared
to the one taught using the translation and reading aloud. But, it was revealed that there
was no difference in the reading comprehension of students with different learning
styles taught under the PQRST strategy and translation and reading aloud, and there
was no interaction between teaching strategies and students‟ learning styles.

Keywords: PQRST, learning styles, reading comprehension

STRATEGI PQRST, MEMBACA PEMAHAMAN, DAN GAYA

BELAJAR
Abstrak: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meneliti keefektifan strategi PQRST terhadap
membaca pemahaman siswa, keefektifan strategi PQRST terhadap membaca
pemahaman siswa dengan beragam gaya belajar, dan interaksi antara strategi PQRST
dan gaya belajar siswa. Penelitian ini menerapkan desain faktorial 2x2. Para partisipan
penelitian adalah mahasiswa semester 2 jurusan Administrasi Umum, Fakultas Ilmu
Sosial dan Ilmu Politik, Universitas Bondowoso. Dua kelas dipilih secara acak sebagai
sampel penelitian. Strategi PQRST diajarkan di kelas eksperimen, sementara strategi
menerjemahkan dan membaca keras diajarkan di kelas non-eksperimen. Data kemudian
dianalisis menggunakan uji non-parametrik, yakni Mann–Whitney U dan Kruskall-
Wallis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa strategi PQRST secara statistik
mempengaruhi membaca pemahaman dibandingkan strategi menerjemahkan dan
membaca keras. Namun, tidak ditemukan perbedaan antara membaca pemahaman siswa
dengan gaya belajar, baik di kelas yang diajari strategi PQRST maupun strategi
menerjemahkan dan membaca keras. Selain itu, tidak ditemukan interaksi antara
strategi mengajar dan gaya belajar siswa.

Katakunci: PQRST, gaya belajar, membaca pemahaman

The effectiveness of the teaching of at the college level has largely been
English to non-English department students questioned. As indicated by the findings of

123
 Miqawati & Sulistyo, The PQRST strategy, reading comprehension, and learning styles

a study by Winarni, et al. (2005), most optimum learning is sought in the practices
graduates of non-English departments were of teaching ESP, essentially the teaching of
low in their English proficiency and ESP needs to shift its focus from English in
belonged to the elementary level category. isolation to English as medium for subject
The condition is even worsened by the fact matter exchanges (Aniroh, 2009:169). With
that most students are not serious in taking this teaching orientation, both students and
the course and they are not motivated to ESP lecturers will obviously have a clear
learn English. They consider English as a picture of what to learn and how to learn
non main subject so that English is ESP at college levels.
considered less important. They can pass At the conceptual level, Hutchinson &
the subject examination without knowledge Waters (1987:16) note that ESP is divided
of English (Robinson, 1991). More into two main types and differentiated
elaborately, a study conducted by Sulistyo according to whether the learner requires
(2012:128-129) reveals that college English for academic study (EAP: English
students‟ mastery in their reading for Academic Purposes) or for
comprehension seen from their origin of work/training (EOP/EVP/VESL: English
institutions-private or public universities- for Occupational Purposes/English for
and the students‟ major-social or natural Vocational Purposes/Vocational English as
sciences-have a significant difference. a Second Language). As Sulistyo
More surprisingly, it is also revealed that (2012:130) asserts, in the Indonesian
the students on the average have low context essentially the teaching of English
abilities in comprehending detailed to college students of non-English
information of various academic texts, departments, in which English as a course
identifying meanings seen from different is only offered in one semester with 2
sentence structures, and comprehending credits semester, needs to be classified into
meanings through text structure attack EAP since it aims to equip the students
skills, the reading skills of which have been with academic reading study skills. It is
the focus of six years‟ previous teaching different from the purpose of the teaching
English in both the lower and the higher of EOP of which orientation is to equip the
secondary levels of education students with English competences related
accumulatively. to their specific field of study for future
Beside empirical problems faced by occupational purposes. With this view, one
the students described previously, the ESP essential point to note is that the ESP
lecturers as well as ESP teachers also course certainly need to have clear
experience difficulties in delivering their relevances to the students‟ academic and
instructional materials to their students. occupational immediate needs, can
According to Hutchinson & Waters improve their motivation to learn, and
(1987:158), three problems are identified, shows significant effectiveness in making
which matches the results of discussions learning English better and faster.
with teachers of ESP. These are lack of All in all, in the context of the teaching
ESP orthodoxy to provide a ready-made of reading to non-English department
guide, the new realm of knowledge the students who take EAP course, it is
ESP teachers have to cope with, and the obvious that the students are expected to be
change in the status of English language able to convey implicit and explicit details
teaching. It is believed that these from various texts they read. However,
challenges inevitably lead to practical several studies revealed that the reading
problems encountered by the students in ability of many non-English department
their learning English. With these issues as students was still inadequate. One of them
practical and empirical evidence, if is a study conducted by Baker (1985) as

124
cited by Fahim (2012:141) who found that explain the meaning of a text, sentence by
college students with lower verbal abilities sentence. The use of translation is believed
were able to identify individual words and that that learners will understand, and when
facts but were unable to combine the the learners do some of the translation
information in the text with the previously themselves, it allows the teacher to check
acquired information. This inability to whether they understand (Nation, 2008:25).
integrate ideas was accompanied by an Sulistyo (2011:24) asserts that ability to
inability to draw logical inferences and to translate word by word of a passage is no
check ideas while reading to see if the warranty of abilities to comprehend the
ideas contradict each other. Since reading passage content as a whole.
comprehension plays a central role in Wilson (2010) defines that when
academic instruction and it is what the students are asked to read a reading
students need to succeed both in an passage in a course book line by line, it is
academic environment and real-life called reading aloud. Intensive work on a
situations or occupational matters later, it reading text may focus on several aspects,
seems necessary to provide explicit one of which is regular and irregular
training in the specific reading strategy sound-spelling relations which can be done
skills in which students are expected to through reading aloud (Nation, 2008:27).
demonstrate adequate proficiency in Reading aloud has not been looked on very
reading. favorably in the second language reading
At the Public Administration class, mainly because of the misuse of the
Department, Faculty of Political and Social technique around the class. However, in the
Science, University of Bondowoso , an first language classroom, reading aloud is a
EAP course-Bahasa Inggris 1-is offered in very important step to gain fluent decoding
semester two with two credits. An and comprehending skills. Reading aloud
interview with three ESP lecturers was has as much value in the second language
conducted to gain information on the class as in the first (Nation, 2008:66-67).
teaching of EAP in the department. They The three lecturers at the Public
mentioned that when teaching, they Administration Department, Faculty of
delivered a text to the students and asked Political and Social Science, University of
them to read sentence per sentence and to Bondowoso employed this kind of strategy
translate word by word or sentence per for several reasons. First, they said that the
sentence. Also, the students were asked to students‟ English low proficiency and low
report when they found difficulties in the motivation made it difficult for them to
grammar constuctions of the sentences and comprehend a text, let alone academic
the meaning of words for comprehending ones. Second, they thought that translation
the reading passages. They also added that and reading aloud can facilitate the
most of the time, they taught English in the students‟ learning process since it can
students‟ native language, Bahasa accommodate a big class comprising of 35-
Indonesia. Taber (2006) states that 45 students in learning and invite them to
translation of literary passages from the participate and pay adequate attention.
target language into the native language Third, they mentioned that they had limited
constitutes one feature of the Grammar- time to teach, which is only 100 minutes
Translation Method. The classical per week. By applying this strategy, they
procedure for intensive reading utilized in could save the time. This is in line with
the department is certainly close to the what Hamra & Syatriana (2010:31) remark
practice of the Grammar-Translation about teaching skilled and unskilled
Approach in which the teacher works with readers. They argue that skilled and
the learners, using the first language to unskilled readers recognize words

125
 Miqawati & Sulistyo, The PQRST strategy, reading comprehension, and learning styles

differently. In reading comprehension, an 1993:36-41). In relation to cognitive and

unskilled reader may be helped by saying affective factors, learning strategies and
the words loudly. Meanwhile, Wilson learning styles are often seen as
(2006) and Ronald (2012) oppose the use interrelated. Brown (1991) cited in Cohen
of reading aloud in the teaching of reading (1996:10) notes that learning strategies do
comprehension. They note that reading not operate by themselves, but rather are
aloud has drawbacks in these areas. It does directly tied to the learner's underlying
not bring the text to life, limits reading learning styles (i.e., general approaches to
speed and habit, and is only useful in learning) and other personality-related
initially developing basic reading skills but variables (such as anxiety and self-concept)
can be an obstacle to reading faster. in the learner. It is supported by Oxford
Certainly, reading aloud is not for (2003:315) who mentions that styles are
comprehension purposes (Sulistyo, 2011). made manifest by learning strategies.
Reading comprehension can be To outline an overall picture of
improved by employing certain strategies learning styles, Reid (1995) as cited in
in the form of study skills. One of the Sadeghi et al. (2012:117) presents a
widely used study strategies to gain comprehensive and categorical framework
students‟ comprehension especially in of learning styles; they have been divided
content area reading is PQRST, which into three major categories: cognitive
stands for Preview, Question, Read, learning styles, sensory learning styles, and
Summarize, and Test (Ahuja & Ahuja, personality learning styles. Cognitive
2007:21). PQRST is an instructional learning styles include field-independent
strategy that has been shown to be effective vs. field-dependent; analytic vs. global; and
to improve a reader‟s understanding, and reflective vs. impulsive. Sensory learning
his/her ability to recall information. In styles may be divided into two other sub-
other words, the reader is more likely to categories: perceptual learning styles:
learn, and to learn more, of the material auditory learner, visual learner, tactile
he/she is reading. Steps in PQRST are also learner, kinesthetic learner, and haptic
beneficial for aiding the students in learner; environmental learning styles:
comprehending a text. This strategy is also physical vs. sociological learner.
suitable for teaching expository reading Personality learning styles comprise
which EAP students learn (Wormeli, extroversion vs. introversion; sensing vs.
2005:131). The PQRST strategy has been intuitive; thinking vs. feeling; judging vs.
empirically shown to be able to improve perceiving learners.
students‟ reading comprehension. Learning styles in this study deals with
Haeriyanto (2012) conducted classroom the personality learning styles and are
action research (CAR) and found out that specified into two: sensing and intuitive.
the PQRST strategy could improve the Marrapodi, (2004:7) defines sensing
reading comprehension skills of the learners are practical, are interested in facts
eleventh graders. and details, and like direct and concrete
However, the success of second experience while intuitive learners are
language learning is affected by a host of “holistic” learners who are interested in
interrelated factors (Sulistyo, 2011). It is possibilities and want to explore concepts,
due not only to cognitive factors but also to ideas and abstractions. Unlike sensing
affective factors of the learners (Brown, learners who need a practice-to-theory
2007:152), some of which are intelligence, model to succeed, and often need to know
aptitude, personality, motivation and what to expect before doing something,
attitude, learning style, and age of intuitive learners are good at grasping
acquisition (Lightbrown & Spada, concepts and want to deal with the

126
imaginative possibilities rather than on area so far, especially in the context of
concrete realities. English Language Teaching (ELT) for
There is abundant evidence on how college students of non-English
successful learners with sensing learning departments in Indonesia. Thus, this
style and those with intuitive learning present study aims at examining the
achieve their learning. For example, effectiveness of PQRST in college
Ehrman and Oxford (1990) found that students‟ reading comprehension,
students with sensing learning styles have especially those students with different
the most difficulty with learning compared personality learning styles, in particular
to the intuitive ones. They concluded that sensing and intuitive, and any interaction
intuitive ones seemed to have a learning between teaching strategies and students‟
advantage in the classroom and they are personality learning styles.
better readers. Meanwhile, sensing types
were poor in both reading and speaking. METHOD
Meanwhile, a different study conducted by This study was experimental with a posttest
Pfister (2000) showed an opposite finding. only design. The design employed in the
The result of her study showed that present study is called a two-by-two
intuitive learners did not achieve well even factorial design as the active variables
being outperformed by sensing students. under study were the PQRST strategy and
The results of the findings these translation and reading aloud. In addition,
studies are then not as comprehensive and students‟ different personality learning
congruent as they are supposed to be, i.e. styles, sensing and intuitive, are postioned
one cannot conclude which type(s) of as the attribute independent variables or
personality contribute more to reading factors. The dependent variable was the
comprehension. While conceptually it students‟ reading comprehension.
cannot be ignored the importance of The subjects were the second semester
predicting students‟ performance in reading students of Public Administration
comprehension and detecting their reading Department, Faculty of Political and Social
disabilities, dominant affective variables Science, University of Bondowoso. The
like personality have not beeen taken into samples of this study were Class A1 and
serious considerations together with the B1 selected randomly with Class A1 taught
other cognitive and non-cognitive variables by using the PQRST strategy and B1 by
(Sadeghi, et.al., 2012:121). Therefore, it is translation and reading aloud. Class A1
logical to state that more empirical studies consisted of 21 students and B1 consisted
to find more conclusive results in of 20 students. To show that the classes
personality and reading comprehension were homogeneous, a homogeneity test on
research are still of the need, interest, and the scores of the English entrance test was
importance. conducted. The result showed that the
All in all, it is important to gain a observed significance level was .068. Since
deeper analysis on the effectiveness of the significance level that the researchers
certain strategies toward particular learning used was .05 and the observed significance
styles so that learners can be optimally level was higher than the level of
facilitated and promoted in learning. There confidence (Sig. .068 > Sig. .05), it showed
is a compelling need to make a thorough that the data from the groups‟ variances
investigation through the effectiveness of were not homogeneous.
the PQRST strategy on the teaching of The experiment was carried out in
reading students of non-English eight meetings based on the consideration
departments as there have been that not only the PQRST strategy was
inconclusive findings in research in this relatively new for the students so that they

127
 Miqawati & Sulistyo, The PQRST strategy, reading comprehension, and learning styles

had to be accutstomed to the strategy reading comprehension after the treatment.

before the researchers measured the The students‟ personality learning style
effectiveness of the strategy, but also questionnaire was the secondary
experimental treatments in eight sessions instruments of this study. The students‟
were considered sufficient to have the personality learning style questionnaire
impact on students‟ comprehension. Both was constructed to classify the students
groups were taught on the same day, one into two different personality learning
after another. Threats to internal validity styles: sensing learning style and intuitive
caused by time of implementation (history) learning style.
could be minimized because the Before devising the instruments, the
possibilities of interaction between groups researchers validated the instrument to
were minimized. The lesson plans used for three experts, one language assessment
both groups were designed by the expert and two reading experts, to ensure
researchers. Both groups also had the same the content validity of the reading
materials which were carefully selected. comprehension test, and tried out the
The reading passages were taken from instruments. The try-out administration
several sources, such as books and the was intended to know the item difficulty,
Internet reliable sources. There were seven item discrimination, item validity,
different reading passages with various text distracter effectiveness and the reliability
types related to politics and social studies. of the test. Based on the result of the try-
Both groups followed the prepared out test, it was found out that the reliability
schedule for the implementation without coefficient of the reading comprehension
awareness that experimental treatments test was .722, showing that the instrument
were being employed. In this study, the was considered sufficiently dependable as
researchers taught the experimental group an instrument to collect data.
using the PQRST strategy and a lecturer of The questionnaire for students‟
Bahasa Inggris 1 taught the control group personality learning style was aimed at
using Translation and Reading Aloud finding out whether or not the students
strategy. The researchers taught the were categorized into sensing and intuitive
experimental group for two reasons. The learning styles. The questionnaire was
first reason was that the researchers was adapted from Index of Learning Styles
the one who knew the strategy as well as Questionnaire (ILS) by Soloman (Felder &
its implementation thus the researchers Soloman, 1991). The questionnaire was
could confidently conclude that the result adapted for its appropriateness of the
obtained was definitely caused by the content, easier calculation, and
strategy. The second was because the practicability. The questionnaire was
researchers had limited time to train other adapted from the test sheet constructed and
lecturers. Training other lecturers took designed by Soloman and had been shown
some time so it is the constraints in this to be reliable (r =.705). Since the
study. After being given the treatment as questionnaire covered questions related to
designed, the two groups were post-tested. many learning styles, the researchers
There were two instruments applied in selected several points in the test related to
this study: a reading comprehension test two learning styles being investigated in
(for posttest) and a set of questionnaires. this study, sensing and intuitive learning
The instruments were used to collect the styles. After having a final revision on the
primary and the secondary data. The first test, the reading comprehension test was
instrument, a reading comprehension test, conducted after the treatment process while
served as the primary instrument and was the personality learning style questionnaire
constructed to measure the students‟

128
 was distributed at the beginning of the The result of the homogeneity testing
study. analysis showed one of the observed
Prior to analyzing data for hypotheses significance level was lower than the level
testing, the researchers carried out of confidence used in this study (Sig. .033
homogeneity and normality testing as the > Sig. .05). Since the significance level that
fulfillment of statistical assumptions. The the researchers used was .05 (95%
criteria of acceptance or rejection of the confidence), it indicated that there was not
assumption was set at a level of enough evidence to accept the hypothesis
significance .05 (95 percents confidence). that the data obtained from the two groups‟
The data used for the fulfillment of the variances were homogeneous. The result of
statistical assumptions were the primary the homogeneity testing of the variances is
data obtained from the result of the reading presented in Table 1.
comprehension posttest.
Table 1. The Result of the Test of Homogeneity of Variances
No Factors Levene Statistic df1 df2 Sig.
1 Teaching Strategies .009 1 39 .924
2 Students‟ Personality
3.227 3 37 .033
Learning Styles

The next step was examining testing the statistical hypotheses. To

normality of the data. The result of the answer research problems, statistical
analysis of the test of normality is hypotheses need to be established for
presented in Table 2. The result showed statistical examination of mean differences.
that the observed significance values (z- The first step to test the hypothesis was to
values) of the six sets of data obtained from establish the null hypothesis. The null
the experimental and control groups‟ hypotheses were formulated as follows:
reading scores were greater than .05 (Sig. there is no difference in the students‟
.193, Sig. .71, Sig. .134, Sig. .200, Sig. reading comprehension taught by using the
.200, and Sig. .200 > Sig. .05 PQRST strategy and translation and
respectively). It means the data obtained reading aloud, there is no difference in the
from the posttest scores were normally reading comprehension of students with the
distributed. sensing style of learning and intuitive style
According to Erceg-Hurn and of learning, and there is no interaction
Mirosevich (2008), since one of the between the PQRST strategy and the
statistical assumptions was violated, non students‟ personality learning styles.
parametric statistical analyses-Mann- Alternative hypotheses were also
Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests-to formulated stating the reverse formulation
analyze the data was employed to examine of the null hypotheses.
the mean differences. The next step was
Table 2. The Result of the Tests of Normality
Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk
No Factor
Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
1 Experimental (PQRST) .157 21 .193 .963 21 .580
2 Control (Translation and
.134 20 .200 .957 20 .484
Reading Aloud)
3 Sensing – experimental group .206 13 .134 .903 13 .147
4 Intuitive – experimental *
.219 8 .200 .915 8 .388
group
*
5 Sensing – control group .157 11 .200 .961 11 .788
6 Intuitive – control group .180 9 .200* .938 9 .561

129
 Miqawati & Sulistyo, The PQRST strategy, reading comprehension, and learning styles

After the null and the alternative the experimental and the control groups
hypotheses were formulated, the last step obtained from the posttest. The posttest
was to conduct a test of statistical was carried out based on the schedule of
significance to accept or to reject the null Bahasa Inggris 1 and was also considered
hypotheses. The criteria of acceptance or as a mid-term examination. All students of
rejection of the null hypotheses was a level both groups took the posttest. Based on the
of significance .05 (95 percents of analysis on the students‟ personality
confidence). It is acceptable to claim that learning styles, the researchers found out
the result is 95 percent correct as Ary, et that there were 13 students in the
al., (2006:179) suggested that .05 was experimental group belonged to the sensing
acceptable in the field of education. learning style and 8 of them belonged to
. the intuitive learning style. In the control
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION group, 11 of the students belonged to the
The Posttest Results of the Experimental sensing learning style and 9 of them
and the Control Groups belonged to the intuitive learning style. The
The main data in this study were the general summary of the result of the
students‟ reading comprehension scores of posttest analysis is presented in Table 4.

Table 3. The Descriptive Analysis Summary of the Posttest Result of the Design
Teaching Strategy (A)
Translation and Reading
Personality PQRST (A1)
Aloud (A2)
Learning Style (B)
Sensing (B1) ΣX = 820 ΣX = 595
ΣX2 = 672400 ΣX2 = 354025
X = 63.08 X = 54.09
SD = 10.516 SD = 11.14
N = 13 n = 11

Intuitive (B2) ΣX = 475 ΣX = 445

ΣX2 = 225625 ΣX2 = 198025
X = 59.38 X = 49.44
SD = 18.408 SD = 17.579
N =8 N =9

Total ΣX = 1295 ΣX = 1040

ΣX2 = 1677025 ΣX2 = 1081600
X = 61.67 X = 52.00
SD = 13.723 SD = 14.179
n = 21 n = 20

It was found out that the mean score of was 9.67. Specifically, for the reading
the experimental group was 61.67 while levels, the experimental group achieved
the mean score of the control group was higher scores in all five indicators tested
52.00. It could be concluded that the mean than the control group. The detailed
score of the experimental group was information of the means of the reading
greater than that of the control group. The levels is presented in Table 4.
mean difference between the two groups

130
Table 4. The Means of the Reading Levels of the Experimental (E) and Control (C) Groups
Content Literal Inferential
Indicators E C E C
a. to deduce word meanings and use of 80.00 66.00 - -
unfamiliar lexical items (words,
phrases, or sentences)
b. to find explicit and implicit main ideas 59.52 54.00 50.00 37.50
c. to find details and specific information 61.90 50 42.85 32.50
from the text
d. to identify pronoun referents 80.90 72.00 - -

Hypothesis Testing .05 (Sig. .039 > Sig. .05). It showed that
To answer the first research problem there was sufficient evidence to reject the
related to the effectiveness of the PQRST null hypothesis that there was no difference
strategy in students‟ reading in the students‟ reading comprehension
comprehension, the researchers applied taught by using the PQRST strategy and
Mann-Whitney U test and the result of the the Translation and Reading Aloud
inferential statistical analysis is presented strategy. It meant the reading
in Table 5. The result showed that the comprehension of the experimental and the
observed significance level was lower than control groups were statistically different.
Table 5. The Result of Mann-Whitney U Test
reading comprehension score
Mann-Whitney U 131.500
Wilcoxon W 341.500
Z -2.060
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .039

To answer the second research is a data analysis to test the mean

problem related to the effectiveness of the difference of more than two groups if the
PQRST strategy in reading comprehension statistical assumption (homogeneity or
of the students with the sensing style of normality) was not fulfilled. The result of
learning and intuitive style of learning, the the analysis is presented in Table 6.
researchers used Kruskal Wallis test, which
Table 6. The Result of Kruskal-Wallis Test
Statistics
Chi-Square 4.959
df 3
Asymp. Sig. .175

The result of data analysis using the comprehension of students with the sensing
Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the style of learning and intuitive style of
significance value was .175. This learning under the PQRST strategy and the
significance level was greater than .05 (Sig. translation and reading aloud strategy.
.175 > Sig. .05). It showed that although To answer the third research problem
there were mean differences among the related to the interaction between teaching
groups descriptively, the differences were strategy and the students‟ personality
not statistically significant. It implies that learning styles, the researchers analyzed
there was no sufficient evidence to accept the data with the help of ANOVA as non
the alternative hypothesis. In other words, parametric tests (e.g., Mann-Whitney and
there was no difference in the reading Kruskal-Wallis tests) do not provide an

131
 Miqawati & Sulistyo, The PQRST strategy, reading comprehension, and learning styles

examination on interaction effects. The .917 > Sig. .05). It showed that there was
result of the analysis is presented in Table not enough evidence to reject the third null
7. hypothesis, meaning that there was no
The result of the analysis showed that interaction between teaching strategies and
the significance value was .917. This personality learning styles.
significance level was greater than .05 (Sig.

Table 7. The Result of Two-Way ANOVA

Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Corrected Model 1131.973a 3 377.324 1.884 .149
Intercept 126429.258 1 126429.258 631.129 .000
Personality 172.538 1 172.538 .861 .359
Strategy 885.859 1 885.859 4.422 .042
Personality * strategy 2.209 1 2.209 .011 .917
Error 7411.929 37 200.322
Total 141525.000 41
Corrected Total 8543.902 40

The Effectiveness of the PQRST outcomes on one of chemistry topics, the

Strategy in Teaching Reading atomic structures and periodic system of
Comprehension elements.
The result of the first hypothesis testing With aview to supports by theories and
showed that there was a significant empirical evidence, there are several
difference in the students‟ reading factors that are assumed to cause the
comprehension taught by using the The effectiveness of PQRST in teaching the
PQRST strategy compared to those taught students reading compared to the
using the translation and reading aloud translation and reading aloud strategy.
strategy. It meant that the PQRST strategy First, according to Sulistyo, (2011:94-95),
was effective in making the quality of conceptually the PQRST strategy is one the
students‟ reading comprehension teaching strategies which comprises of five
significantly better than those who were stages/schemes - Preview, Question, Read,
taught by using translation and reading Summarize, and Test. It provides a step-by-
aloud. step guidance to students prior, during, and
This finding supported the existing after their reading process which is
theory and other similar studies. It matches essential for their comprehension. Each
with the findings of a study conducted by stage gives benefits to students in
Haeriyanto (2012) who conducted a facilitating their learning.
classroom action research (CAR) in In the preview stage, the students were
teaching reading comprehension for asked some basic questions related to the
secondary school students using PQRST. topic to activate their background
The improvement of the students‟ reading knowledge. Then, they tried to find out the
comprehension was reflected in the gain topic of the text by looking at a glance or
score after implementing The PQRST by skimming over the text features
strategy. The effectiveness of the PQRST including the title, figures, graphs, major
strategy was also empirically supported by headings, paragraphing, or the point in the
other studies other than English Language reading text. From this activity, the
Teaching (ELT) fields. Miswadi, et al. students could obtain a general picture of
(2010:563) conducted experimental what they learnt. It was in line with the
research on secondary school students and theory mentioning that the benefits of
found that The PQRST strategy was previewing are giving the students the
effective to improve the students‟ learning general picture of material being presented,

132
helping them look for and recognizing the an unanswered question, they rewrote the
most important points, aiding them in question and tried to find several possible
seeing the organization of the subject sources to find the answer. To ensure the
matter, and forming the “big picture” of the students‟ comprehension, the students were
material presented. asked to answer comprehension questions
In the question stage, the students were given by the teacher. The activities were
asked to make questions as inquiry aimed to check the students‟ understanding
activities related to the topic or theme they of the reading materials. The students
had held in the previous activity. It was could test themselves by thinking about the
aimed at helping the students stay focused relevance of what they learnt and how it all
when reading. They could know exactly fitted together and reviewed the materials
what to look for and focused on the and/or the teacher administered a reading
important information when learning. comprehension test.
These activities matched with what the Second, schemes or stages in the
theory states about the PQRST strategy that PQRST strategy underline the
strategy encourages the students to watch constructivist nature of learning noting that
for details when reading, helps them pay reading is an active, often necessarily
closer attention to what they read, increases selective, effortful and iterative process
their concentration by giving them (Johnston & Anderson, 2005:13). The two
something to hunt for their study, and experts also mention that techniques like
enables them to spot more test questions. PQRST work partly because they
In the read stage, the students read the encourage use of some of the memory
passage carefully and reacted to what they strategies alluded to above (Johnston &
read effectively. During the process of Anderson, 2005:13). It could be seen from
reading, they focused on processing the the teaching and learning process of this
information and grasping the main ideas study. For example, when the students
and details of the passage. While reading, generated a question(s) to focus reading,
they also jotted down some important they made an elaborative link between
points and difficult words in the passage. what is learnt wand what information is to
This stage has several advantages. They are look for.
preparing the students‟ mind to soak up Third, the PQRST strategy promotes
knowledge, increasing the amount that can „deep‟ approaches to learning. Much
be learned, and decreasing study time. The research now shows that a student‟s broad
next stage was the „summarize‟ stage in „approach‟ (including intention and
which the students went over the main strategy) to learning material has a strong
points of the information from the text by influence on the outcome of learning
any means they can make, such as writing (Johnston & Anderson, 2005:10). They
important pints, mind mapping, and also highlight two aspects of deep learning.
making flowcharts. They summarized the The first is a holistic, global attempt to
passage individually or in groups. Through understand the underlying core meaning of
this activity, students could check on what the material and the second is a much more
they really learnt, demonstrating that they localized, close attention to the detailed
had a topic clearly in mind if they could logic of the argument. It is different from
put it into words, and removed doubts surface approaches to learning which
about how well they had learned the involve attempts to memorize information
material. by rote. The weakness with rote learning is
In the test stage, the students looked that it implies a passive reading or listening
back to the questions they constructed style. In this study, the PQRST strategy has
previously and answered them. If they got been shown to give significant benefit to

133
 Miqawati & Sulistyo, The PQRST strategy, reading comprehension, and learning styles

students, such as increasing the student‟s the average level and it has not reached the
attempts to extract meaningful excellent level.
relationships within the material through Based on the researchers‟ experience
the five stages. during the treatment to the students, it was
Fourth, the PQRST strategy helped the found out that in the first four meetings,
students become motivated and actively most students spent more time constructing
participate in the teaching and learning their own questions because they were
process. As shown by the students‟ opinion never trained to do such activities before.
during the treatment, most of the students Even, the researchers needed to give the
in the experimental group enjoyed being exercise on worksheets as homework
taught with the PQRST strategy. This because they could only finish
finding is supported by Nunan (1997) as summarizing and or answering their own
cited in Oxford (2003:11) that in ESL/EFL questions. It was thought that 100 minutes
studies, strategy instruction led to increase were not sufficient to complete doing the
EFL learning motivation. Ehrman et al. five stages in the PQRST strategy
(2003:320) also highlight that by providing optimally. Based on the analyses of the
students with learning experiences that data collected using the questionnaire, it
meet their needs for competence, was found out that 6 students stated that
relatedness, self-esteem, and enjoyment, they found stages in the PQRST strategy
teachers can increase their students‟ confusing and time consuming. Further
intrinsic motivation analyses showed that those students were
During the treatment process, when the the low achievers, namely students who
students did the review stage and raised scored less than 60 in the posttest in the
questions, they were given opportunities to experimental group. During the
formulate their own questions related to the implementation of the treatment, the
topics being learned and to engage in an students‟ low English proficiency made the
active search for information to find teaching and learning process run slowly.
answers to their questions. It is highlighted Johnston & Anderson (2005:13) note that
by Williams & Burden (1997:121) that the downside of such schemes in the
predicted questions raised by the students strategies like SQ3R and PQRST is that
can be categorized as initiating motivation they are time-consuming for the learner,
in which students have strong reasons for rendering them impractical at times. In
reading the text. In addition, the teaching addition, younger learners/low proficient
and learning process should emphasize that learners especially may not be adept at
learning is not a matter or accepting and generating suitable questions on which to
memorizing but is should involve the focus with their reading.
students to actively engage in any
classroom activities (Arsana, 2012:140). Effect of the PQRST strategy on
Based on theoretical and empirical Reading Comprehension of Students’
bases, the PQRST strategy was more Sensing and Intuitive Styles
effective in helping the students achieve The result of the second hypothesis testing
better comprehension compared with showed that there was no statistical
translation and reading aloud strategy but difference in the reading comprehension of
the result did not show the optimum students with different personality learning
criteria of effectiveness. It could be seen styles taught by using the PQRST strategy
from the mean of the posttest of the and the translation and reading aloud. It
experimental group which was 61.67. means that the strategy was not effective in
However, the mean obtained was still on making the quality of students‟ with
sensing learning styles significantly

134
different compared to those with intuitive result of this study as probably there were
learning styles. some of the students having other learning
The literature on learning styles uses styles other than sensing and intuitive and
the terms learning style, cognitive style, these could not be controlled during the
personality type, sensory preference, study. In addition, the various students‟
modality, and others rather loosely and learning style could be one of the factors
often interchangeably (Ehrman, et al., that did not support the findings as some
2003:314). There are many findings related students could have more than one
to learning styles and students‟ reading combination of the types of learning styles.
comprehension. Those findings show Third, the students‟ English
different results and in relation to this proficiency was low. It was shown by their
study, some support the findings of this difficulty in grasping the idea of the
study while some others do not. passages due to the lack of the components
The finding of the present study of language knowledge mastery
about an insignificant relationship between (vocabulary, morphology, phonology,
personality and reading comprehension is syntax, and discourse.
in agreement with the findings of Erton However, attempts were carefully
(2010), Bagheri & Faghih (2012), and made to control some variables that might
Naveh et al., (2011) which showed that interfere with the students‟ learning during
there is not a significant statistical the experimentation process. Some of the
difference between personality traits (in attempts were as follows: choosing the
this case the observed personalities were subjects that had about the same language
extrovert and introvert) of the learners and proficiency and studied at the same
their reading comprehension. On the other department, teaching the two groups on the
hand, the results are in contradiction with same day and one after another,
studies conducted by Riding & Cowley implementing the same lesson plans, and
(2011) who found out that there was a giving the two groups the same learning
significant relationship between personality facilities. There might be some factors that
(extroverts and introverts), sex, motivation, could not be controlled in the present study
and reading comprehension. such as the students‟ motivation in
The insignificant result might derive studying in the department, background
from several reasons. First, the students knowledge, and emotional maturity.
might be accustomed to having lectures
from their previous English sessions such Interaction between the Teaching
as using translation and reading aloud Strategy and the Students’ Sensing and
strategy that might affect the application of Intuitive Styles
the PQRST strategy in addition to spending The result of the third hypothesis testing
little time for reading and doing their tasks showed that there was no interaction
during the period of learning. It can be seen between the PQRST strategy and the
from the process of treatment in the students with different personality learning
experimental group. Some of the students styles. As mentioned previously, the
like being taught by using the translation strategy was effective in making the quality
and reading aloud strategy when they are of students‟ reading comprehension
learning. significantly better than those who are
Second, there are eight different types taught by using the translation and reading
of personality learning styles, and only two aloud. The result of the data analysis
of them covered in this study, which are showed that the mean of the students‟
sensing and intuitive. The other personality posttest score in the experimental group
learning styles were presumed to affect the was 61.67while in the control group was

135
 Miqawati & Sulistyo, The PQRST strategy, reading comprehension, and learning styles

52.00. However, the mean scores of the made, there might be some factors that
reading comprehension of the students with could not be controlledin the present study
the sensing learning style and intuitive such as the students‟ motivation in
learning style taught by using the PQRST studying in the department, background
strategy were not significantly different. knowledge, and emotional maturity.
The posttest score mean of the students
with the sensing learning style was 63.08 CONCLUSION
while with intuitive learning style was The findings of this study show that the
59.38. It meant that there was no difference PQRST strategy was effective in the
in reading comprehension score between teaching of reading comprehension in that
students with the sensing and intuitive students who were taught by using the
learning style taught by using PQRST. PQRST strategy achieved better scores in
This finding did not support the reading comprehension than those taught
existing theories and the result of previous using translation and reading aloud. But, it
studies. Theories and studies agree that was also found that there was no difference
earning styles and learning strategies are in the reading comprehension of students
often seen as interrelated. Styles are made with different learning styles taught by
manifest by learning strategies (Ehrman et using the PQRST strategy and translation
al., 2003-315). Oxford (2003:1) also notes and reading aloud strategy. Students with
that language learning styles and strategies different personality learning styles who
are among the main factors that help were taught by using the PQRST strategy
determine how –and how well–students did not achieve better scores in reading
learn a second or foreign language. A study comprehension than those taught using
by Al-Hajaya & Al-Khresheh (2012) translation and reading aloud. The last
supported the theory that the instructional finding showed that there was no
strategies influenced the achievement of interaction between teaching strategies and
students with different learning styles. personality learning styles. Thus, the
The insignificant result of the significant achievement gained by the
interaction between the PQRST strategy experimental group was only attributed to
and students‟ personality learning styles by the teaching technique implemented,
(sensing and intuitive) might derive from which was the PQRST strategy. In
several reasons. First, the students might be addition, empirically the students‟
accustomed to having lectures from their personality learning styles played no role in
previous English teachers, such as using affecting the students‟ reading
translation and reading aloud strategy that comprehension.
might affect the application of the PQRST Based on the findings, the findings of
strategy. Second, there are eight different this study have both theoretical and
types of personality learning styles, and practical contributions to be considered as
only two of them covered in this study, alternative and effective strategies to
which are sensing and intuitive. There were develop the teaching and learning of
probably some of the students having other English. Theoretically, the findings reveal
learning styles. Finally, the students‟ that this study is valuable in examining the
English proficiency was low. It was shown effectiveness of the PQRST strategy on
by their difficulty in grasping the idea of students‟ reading comprehension. The
the passages due to the lack of the findings give more additional theory
components of language knowledge related to the use of the PQRST strategy in
mastery. Athough attempts to control some the area of reading comprehension.
variables that might interfere during the Furthermore, the findings of this study
experimentation process were already practically contribute to English

136
teachers/lectures, and future researchers. In Al-Hajaya, N. & Al-Khresheh, T. (2012).
the first place, for the English teachers and The effect of cognitive learning style-
lectures, in the teaching of students of non- based reading program on the
English Department, they need to consider achievement of Jordanian freshmen
applying the PQRST strategy because the English majors. International
strategy has been shown to be effective in Education Studies, 5(3), pp. 235-246.
helping students achieve better reading Aniroh, K. (2009). From English as a
comprehension. general school subject onto english as
Secondly, teachers who teach reading a medium for learning specific
comprehension should draw their attention subjects: The need to shift in the
on students‟ individual differences and teaching orientation. TEFLIN Journal,
uniqueness especially from personality 20(2), pp. 169-179.
type‟s point of view and their learning Arsana, I.W. (2012). Pengaruh strategi
styles. Teachers should also consequently pembelajaran terhadap hasil belajar
be equipped with practical knowledge of pendidikan kewarganegaraan siswa
learning styles. By knowing the learners‟ kelas V yang memiliki kecerdasan
learning style, it is expected that teachers emosional dan gaya belajar yang
can accommodate the learners in their berbeda di Kecamatan Rendang,
learning process. Karangasem, Bali. Unpublished
Finally, the findings of this study Dissertation. Malang: Graduate
recommended that further research is Program of State University of
warranted. The number of participants in Malang.
this study was not large enough to draw Bagheri, M.S. & Faghih. M. (2012). The
conclusive results and more participation relationship between self-esteem,
would provide a broader review of the personality type and reading
effectiveness of the PQRST strategy and its comprehension of Iranian EFL
interaction with students‟ personality students. Theory and Practice in
learning styles. Furthermore, this research Language Studies, 2(8), pp. 1641-1650
study only took into account one dimension Brown, H.D. (2007). Principles of
of learning style, sensing and intuitive. language learning and teaching (5th
Therefore, further studies on other types of Edition). White Plains: Pearson
learning styles are highly recommended to Education.
provide additional knowledge regarding the Cohen, A.D. (1996). Second language
effectiveness of certain learning strategies learning and use strategies: clarifying
and factors influencing the learning itself. the issues. A revised version of paper
Besides, there is also a possibility to presented at the Symposium on
investigate the effectiveness of the use of Strategies of Language Learning and
the PQRST strategy in different areas of Use, Seville, Spain, December 13-16,
subject matters or courses and in different 1994. (Online),
levels of study. (www.carla.umn.edu/strategies/resourc
es/sbiclarify.pdf), accessed on December
REFERENCES 17, 2012.
Ary, D., Lucy, C.J., & Sorensen, C. (2006). Ehrman, M.E. & Oxford, R. 1990. Adult
Introduction to research in education Language Learning Styles and
(8th Edition). Belmont: Wardsworth. Strategies in An Intensive Training
Ahuja, P. & Ahuja, G.C. (2007). How to Setting. Modern Language Journal, 74
read effectively and efficiently. New (3): 311-326.
Delhi: Sterling. Ehrman, M.E., Leaver. B.L, & Oxford,
R.L. (2003). A brief overview of

137
 Miqawati & Sulistyo, The PQRST strategy, reading comprehension, and learning styles

individual differences in second An overview of research for LT

language learning. System, 31, pp. Scotland. (Online),
313–330. (http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/
Erceg-Hurn, D.M & Mirosevich, V.M. Images/overview_of_researchv2_tcm4
(2008). Modern robust statistical -285566.pdf), accessed on February 5,
methods: An easy way to maximize 2013.
the accuracy and power of your Lightbown, P.M., & Spada, N. (1993).
research. American Psychologist, How languages are learned. Oxford:
63(7), pp. 591–601. Oxford University Press.
Erton, I. (2010). Relations between Marrapodi, J. (2004). MYERS-BRIGGS
personality traits, language learning Type indicator in education:
styles and success in foreign language implications for adult literacy
achievement. Hacettepe Üniversitesi learners. A Paper Presented in Partial
Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi (H.U. Journal Fulfillment Of the Requirements of
of Education), (Online) 38, pp. 115- Directed Study: MBTI in Education,
126 June, 2004. (Online),
(http://www.efdergi.hacettepe.edu.tr/e (www.applestar.org/capella/MBTI%20
nglish/abstracts/38/pdf/%C4%B0SMA in%20Education.doc), accessed on
%C4%B0L%20ERTON.pdf), accessed December 14, 2012.
on February 5, 2013. Miswadi, S.S., Wijayati, N., & Farikhat,
Fahim, M. (2012). Effects of critical L.I. (2010). Pengaruh penggunaan
thinking strategy training on metode preview, question, read,
male/female EFL learners‟ reading summarize, and test melalui
comprehension. English Language pendekatan contextual teaching and
Teaching, 5(1), pp. 140-145. learning terhadap hasil belajar kimia
Felder, F.M. & Soloman, B.A. (1991). siswa SMA. Jurnal Inovasi Pendidikan
Index of learning styles. North Kimia, (Online) 4(1), pp. 557-565
Carolina State University. (Online), (http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.ph
(www.ncsu.edu/effective_teaching/ILS p/JIPK/article/view/1313), accessed on
dir/ILS-a.htm), accessed on January February 5, 2013.
3rd, 2013. Nation, I.S.P. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL
Haeriyanto, A.I. (2012). Improving the reading and writing. New York:
reading comprehension skills of the Routledge.
eleventh graders of MA Nurul Jadid Naveh, M.H., Kafipour,.R., & Soltania, R.
Paiton Probolinggo through the (2011). The relationship among
PQRST strategy. Unpublished extraversion tendency, vocabulary
Magister Thesis. Malang: Graduate learning strategies, and reading
Program of State University of comprehension of EFL undergraduates
Malang. in Kerman Province. Studies in
Hamra, A. & Syatriana, E. (2010). Literature and Language, 3(2), pp.
Developing a model of teaching 104-110
reading comprehension for EFL Oxford, R. L. (2003). Language learning
students. TEFLIN Journal, 21(1), pp. styles and strategies: An overview.
27-40. learning styles and strategies. Oxford,
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). GALA. (Online), pp. 1-25
English for specific purposes. New (http://files.fernandamunoz.webnode.e
York: Cambridge University Press. s/200000040-
Johnston, B., & Anderson, T. (2005). 1816e19114/_2003_Oxford_R._Lang.
Information literacy and study skills:

138
 _learning_tyles_and_strategies.pdf), Sulistyo, G.H. (2012). Pemetaan
accessed on January 2, 2013. kemampuan membaca pemahaman isi
Pfister, A. (2000). The effect of personality teks akademik berbahasa Inggris
type of bilingual students on English mahasiswa program studi non bahasa
reading performance in a computer Inggris. Unpublished Research Report.
driven developmental reading Malang: Faculty of Letters of State
laboratory: Implications for University of Malang.
educational leaders. Boston: The Taber, J. (2006). A brief history of ESL
University of Boston. instruction: Theories, methodologies,
Riding, R.J., & Cowley, J. (2011). and upheavals. (Online),
extraversion and sex differences in (http://papersbyjoantaber.blogspot.com
reading performance in eight-year-old /2006/05/brief-history-of-esl-
children. British Journal of instruction.html), accessed on January
Educational Psychology, 56, pp. 88- 7th, 2013.
94. Williams, M., & Burden, R. (1997).
Robinson, P.C. (1991). ESP today: A Psychology for language teachers.
practitioner s guide. New York: Cambridge: Cambridge University
Prentice Hall Press.
Ronald, S. (2012). Breaking poor reading Wilson, K. (2010). Reading aloud in class
habits. (Online), is a complete waste of time. (Online),
(http://www.rocketreader.com/whitepa (http://kenwilsonelt.wordpress.com/20
per/Breaking_Poor_Reading.php), 10/10/14/reading-aloud-in-class-is-a-
accessed on January 7th, 2013. complete-waste-of-time-discuss/),
Sadeghi, N., Kasim, Z.M., Tan, B.H., & accessed on January 7th, 2013.
Abdullah, F.S. (2012). Learning styles, Winarni, I., Setijono, P., Tabiati, S.E.,
personality types and reading Ratnawati, R., & Sadtono, E. (2005).
comprehension performance. English English for non-English Departments
Language Teaching, 5(4), pp. 116-123. at Brawijaya University: How
Sulistyo, G.H. (2011). Reading for Essential? TEFLIN Journal, 16(1).
meaning. Malang: Pustaka Kaiswaran.

139