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47 

 

 
ELT FORUM 7 (2) (2018) 

 

Journal of English Language Teaching 

 
http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt 

 
 

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LISTEN-READ-DISCUSS 

(LRD) AND GRAPHIC ORGANIZER 

COMBINATION TECHNIQUE TO TEACH 

READING COMPREHENSION OF DESCRIPTIVE 

TEXT 

 

Akhmad Maemun, Sri Wuli Fitriati, Alief Noor Farida  

 
English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia

 

Article Info 
________________  
Article History: 

Received in October 

2018  
Approved in November 

2018  

Published in January 

2019 

________________  
Keywords: Combination 
Technique, Listen-Read-
Discuss, Graphic Organizer 
Reading Comprehension, 
Quasi-Experimental 
Research.  
____________________ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract  
___________________________________________________________________ 
This paper is to investigate the effectiveness of the combination technique of LRD 

(Listen-Read-Discuss) and graphic organizer in teaching reading comprehension. I 

used quasi-experimental design in this research. The population of this study was the 

eighth year students of SMP Negeri 1 Dukuhwaru,Tegal in the academic year of 

2016/2017.  Meanwhile, the sample consisted of 70 students from two classes. The 

study was started by giving pre-test, treatments, and post-test to both groups. The 

experimental group (VIII D) was taught by LRD and graphic organizer combination 

technique, while the control group (VIII F) was taught by using conventional 

method. The data were obtained by giving a reading test to both groups. In addition, 

the questionnaire and observation were also conducted for the experimental group 

to obtain more data. The result of the study indicated that the group taught by LRD 

and graphic organizer combination technique has better score in the test than the 

group taught by conventional method. In the pretest, the mean score of the control 

group was 56.65 and the experimental group was 58.11. The mean of posttest of 

experimental group (82.05) was higher than control groups (70.11). Then, the t-test 

showed that the tvalue (5.756) was higher than ttable (1.998). It can be concluded 

that the working hypothesis is accepted. It means that there is a significant difference 

of effectiveness and reading comprehension achievement in reading descriptive text 

of students who are taught by  LRD and graphic organizer  combination  technique  

and  those  who  are  not  taught  by  using  that technique. Therefore, that 

combination technique is effective and convenient for students to improve their 

achievement reading comprehension of descriptive text. 

 
 © 2018 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

  


 Correspondent Address: ISSN 2252-6706 
B3 Building FBS Unnes  

Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229  

E-mail: amanzsyoi@gmail.com  



A. Maemun, S. W. Fitriati, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

48 

 

INTRODUCTION 

English is international language. In this globalization era, English has been scattered all over 

the world. It plays an important role in the global communication. In learning English, we need to 

have at least ability in writing, speaking, listening and reading. People learn English because they 

have their own motivation that depends on their needs, interest and sense values. In order to master 

English, people should sharpen those four basic skills. One of those skills which is primary to master 

is reading skill.  It is not simply identifying and translating written words but also understanding and 

acquiring.   

According to Finnochiaro (1984:10), „„for many students around the world, reading is the 

most important of four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign 

language‟‟.  As one of language skills, reading skill plays a central role in the teaching and learning 

process at all educational stages. Moreover, Trelease (2010:30) states reading is the key of the world 

and key of the success. He claims “The more we read, the better we get at it, the better we get at it, 

the more we like it, and the more we like it, the more we do it”. The reading skill becomes very 

important in educational field. 

The reading focused in this study is that reading descriptive text. Descriptive text is one of the 

reading materials taught at eighth grade of Junior High School. It becomes the focus of this research 

because the comprehension of students in reading is low. Based on my observation in SMPN 1 

Dukuhwaru Kab.Tegal, I interviewed the English teacher and some eighth year-student. In SMPN 1 

Dukuhwaru, a teacher especially who teaches eighth grade use conventional methods (lecturing and 

reading aloud) to teach reading. The students said that the  teacher  just  asked  the  students  to  read  

the  text  and pointed several students to read aloud.  In addition, the classroom situation was not 

alive during the teaching and learning process. Most of the students did not actively participate in 

class discussion and they were not active to respond to the teacher‟s questions. They are not used to 

facing new vocabulary and structures that are different from their mother tongue. Moreover, they  

were  afraid  to  ask  the teacher  about  the  difficulties  in  reading. Based on this preliminary 

finding, they frustrated and lose their motivation to learn reading. From this situation, the teachers 

should try to motivate the students to read and to develop skills aimed at improving their reading 

ability. I assume that by providing an appropriate reading technique to teach reading, it would be 

very useful to improve students reading comprehension. As a medium for teaching and learning 

process, appropriate techniques also make teachers have new experience in their career as a teacher.  

Based on the background above, I am interested in introducing LRD (Listen-Read-Discuss) 

and graphic organizer combination technique to the teachers to teach reading comprehension. LRD 

is a method developed by Manzo and Casale in 1985.  Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) is a 

comprehension strategy that builds students‟ prior knowledge before they read a text. During the 

first stage, students listen as we present the content of their reading through a lecture, often paired 

with a graphic organizer. Graphic organizers are visual representation of knowledge that structures 

information by arranging important aspects of a concept or topic into a pattern using labels Bromley, 

DeVitis & Modlo (1999). Their main function is to help presenting information in concise ways that 

highlight the organization and relationships of concepts. Next, students read the text and compare 

what they learned during the lecture to their understanding of reading the text on their own. Finally, 

students discuss their understanding of the text with other students in their small group or large 

group. In this study I used combination between LRD and graphic organizer technique for teaching 

English especially for teaching reading descriptive text. 

From the finding of some previous studies, L-R-D helped students to better recall and develop 

relevant background information and appropriate anticipation, both of which are of great value in 

effective comprehension. Those students lacking prior knowledge about the content gaining. During 



A. Maemun, S. W. Fitriati, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

49 

 

the listening stage, allowing them to more easily comprehend the text during the reading stage. It 

helped students comprehend material presented orally. It built students' prior knowledge before they 

read a text. It engaged struggling readers in classroom discussions.  

Therefore, using graphic organizers is effective in reading questions like (1) identifying the 

main idea, (2) finding the supporting details, (3) dealing with vocabulary and (4) fact and opinion 

and (5) making inferences. This simple, flexible strategy can be used across all curriculum areas with 

almost any text. Graphic organizer improves students‟ reading comprehension a content learning in 

both weak and proficient.  By  designing  this  study,  I hope  that  by  using  the  LRD (Listen-Read-

Discuss) and graphic organizer combination technique, students‟ reading comprehension can be 

achieved and the result of this investigation will give the answer to the problem above.  

By designing this study, I hope that by using combination technique of Listen-Read-Discuss 

(LRD) and graphic organizer, the students enjoy teaching and learning process and through the 

technique they improve their achievement in reading comprehension of descriptive text. 

METHODS 

In this study I used the form of quasi-experimental research.  In this method I divided one 

group as the experimental group and another as the control group. Both of the groups received pre-

test to obtain first data. Then, twice treatments were given to both groups. The experimental group 

received treatment while the control group received another treatment. The experimental group used 

combination of LRD (Listen-Read-Discuss) and graphic organizer technique and the control group used 

conventional method to improve students’ reading comprehension. Finally, both of the groups were given 

a post-test to obtain the second data and the results were computed statistically. The  subjects  in  this  

study  were  the  students  of  SMP Negeri  1  Dukuhwaru, Tegal in the academic year of 

2016/2017. In this study, I used cluster random sampling. This technique  needs  groups  or  clusters  

in  choosing  the  sample  based  on  the groups that have already existed in the population. The 

sample was chosen based on some considerations: (1) the students were taught by the same English 

teacher, (2) there was no superior class, the placement of the students in each class were set 

randomly without considering the level, gender, or  strata. I took two classes of eighth year students 

as experimental group and control group. The  first  group as the experimental  group  (EG) and  the  

second  one as the  control  group  (CG).  The sample  of  this  research  was the  students of  VIII  D  

and  VIII  F of  SMP  N 1 Dukuhwaru.  The total sample is 70 students.  They were divided into two 

groups.  The  first  group  was VIII  D  as the  experimental group (EG) which consisted of 35 

students, and the second one was VIII F as the control group (CG)) consisted of 35 students. In this 

study, I used some research instruments to collect the data. The instruments are:  

1.1 Test  

Based on the research problems, I used reading test as an instrument. In this study, the 

students‟ achievement in reading descriptive text was measured by using tests, namely pretest and 

posttest. The pretest was used to find out the students‟ reading achievement before  the  treatment  

and  posttest  was  used  to  find  out  the  students‟ reading achievement after the treatment. The 

instrument used in this research is a multiple choice test type. It was chosen because it made scorer 

reliability is nearly perfect. Moreover, it was easy to administer and could be scored quickly. I used 

the multiple choice test type in chosen forms of “A, B, C, D” and the total number were 25 

questions.  

1.2 Questionnaire 

This present study used two checklist questionnaires in which respondents just directly put  

check  mark  (√)  on  the  given  statement  whether  they  agreed or disagreed. The questionnaire 

was given to the students after they finished doing the post test.  There are some questions used to 



A. Maemun, S. W. Fitriati, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

50 

 

analyze the students‟ interest and achievement in teaching and learning process by using LRD 

(Listen-Read-Discuss) and Graphic Organizer technique. This questionnaire was given to the 

experimental group. 

1.3 Observation Sheet 

I used observation sheets in order to get the detail description of the study. I used three 

observation sheets which were filled by the English teacher. The observation sheets were used to find 

out the students‟ performance in the classroom, students‟ behaviors during the teaching and learning 

process, and the students‟ response in the teaching and learning process through Listen-Read-

Discuss (LRD) and Graphic Organizer combination technique. 

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 

The course of this study is to answer the research problems.  Generally, this study explains 

how effective the combination of Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer technique to 

teach reading comprehension, and the second is the description of the students‟ responses towards the 

Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer combination technique.  

 In this study, after giving the treatment by using Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and graphic 

organizer combination technique for experimental group, I analyzed the data of the post-test result. 

The post-test was administered to measure the students‟ reading comprehension after getting the 

treatment. The post test was similar to pre-test in the present study. There were 25 questions that 

related to descriptive text in this post-test. The students did the post-test in 40 minutes. The results 

showed that the total mean score of experimental group posttest (82.05) was higher than that control 

group (70.11).  Through  a  brief observation, there was a significant difference in students‟ reading 

comprehension between the  experimental  group  and  control  group  after  getting  the  treatment  

by using Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer combination technique. Based on the 

result of post-test score between experimental and control group, it can be seen that LRD and 

graphic organizer combination technique was more effective than lecturing and reading aloud 

technique (conventional method). Besides,  to  give  the  additional  proof  of  the  significant  

difference  in  the experimental and control group post-test score, if tvalue was higher than ttable,  it  

indicated  that  there  were  significant  differences  between  the  result  of treatment  in  control  and  

experimental  group. Before that, I determined the score of df (degree of freedom).  The number of 

participants in each group were 35, so df = 35 + 35 – 2 = 68, with the level of significance (α) = 5%. 

Then, I got the ttable 1.996.  Based on the paired sample test result, tvalue was 5.756, it  showed  that  

there  was  a  significant difference  on  post-test  result  between  experimental  and  control  group  

because tvalue  was higher than ttable (5.756 > 1.996).  Since tvalue > ttable, the null hypothesis (Ho)  was  

rejected  and  the  alternative  hypothesis  (Ha)  that  stated, There  is significant  difference  of  

reading comprehension in descriptive text of students who are taught by using  Listen-Read-Discuss 

(LRD) and graphic organizer combination technique  and  those  who  are  not taught  by  using  

that technique was accepted.   Finally  after  analyzing  all  of  the  results  of  t-test  calculation,  it  

can  be concluded  that  teaching  reading  descriptive  by  using Listen-Read-Discus (LRD) and 

graphic organizer combination technique is more effective to improve  reading comprehension of  

the  eighth  grade  students  of  SMPN  1  Dukuhwaru, Tegal  in  the  academic  year  of  2016/2017.  

The questionnaire was given to the students of the experimental group after giving treatments. 

It was given after the students had the post-test. There were nine questions related to English and the 

treatments which they had got. The questionnaire was written in Bahasa Indonesia in order to help 

the students understand in responding to the questions. Furthermore, the observation was 

undertaken for the purpose of getting supporting data for the primary data of the study. Observation 

in this study was held on each treatment in the experimental group. Then, the English teacher 

played role as an observer, the job of the observer was to observe the students‟ performance in the 



A. Maemun, S. W. Fitriati, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

51 

 

classroom, students‟ behaviors during the teaching and learning process, and their responses in the 

teaching and learning process through Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) technique. The observer only 

gave checkmark in the observation sheet.  

The result of the questionnaire and observation were described and analyzed. I divided into 

four aspects to describe the result of questionnaire and observation. The aspects are suitability, 

enjoyment, responsibility, and improvement. Those aspects are representative of the students‟ 

response towards the teaching and learning process using combination of Listen-Read-Discuss and 

graphic organizer technique to teach reading comprehension of descriptive text for the eighth year 

students of SMP N 1 Dukuhwaru, Tegal in the academic year of 2016/2017.  The analyses of the 

result could be shown as follows: 

1) Suitability   

All the students of experimental group agreed that Listen-Read-Discuss and Graphic 

Organizer are suitable for teaching reading. (Questionnaire, 14 November 2016). The students 

seemed enthusiastic about the researcher‟s instruction. The result showed that from two meeting 

were high see appendix 18. Almost all students paid attention when I gave instructions. I guided the 

students to follow the steps of LRD technique in reading descriptive comprehension, they obeyed 

the instruction carefully. (Observation sheets, 7 and 9 November 2016) 

2) Enjoyment 

33 from 35 students chose yes which meant almost all the students enjoyed learning process 

about descriptive text material using Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer combination 

technique and they agreed by using Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) technique learning process about 

descriptive text became more fun. (Questionnaire, 14 November 2016). Most the students showed 

initiative during the teaching learning process when I was treating them using LRD technique. For 

example when the students found a new word in reading, they immediately tried to find the meaning 

on the dictionary without the researcher asked. They showed good response towards the learning 

reading descriptive text that I did. (Observation sheets, 7 and 9 November 2016). 

3) Responsibility  

Almost all the students did not experience difficulties in learning reading descriptive text using 

LRD and graphic organizer combination technique. They followed the steps of LRD technique 

carefully. (Questionnaire, 14 November 2016).  Based on observation which done by the English 

teacher, they followed my instruction. I asked the students to write down what they got in graphic 

organizer while I was reading the descriptive text. Then, the students were asked to compare their 

work with the descriptive text that I gave after listening step. In doing those activities, Almost all 

students did their work appropriate with the instruction. (Observation sheets, 7 and 9 November 

2016). 

4) Reading comprehension improvement   

34 from 35 students chose yes column which meant there was any improvement about their 

reading comprehension in descriptive text after Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer 

combination technique being applied in their class. (Questionnaire, 14 November 2016). 

 The objective of this study was to find out whether the Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and 

graphic organizer combination technique was effective to improve the students‟ reading 

comprehension of    descriptive text or not and to identify and explain what the student‟ responses 

towards Listen-Read-Discuss and graphic organizer combination technique at the eighth year-

students of SMP N 1 Dukuhwaru,Tegal to master reading comprehension.  



A. Maemun, S. W. Fitriati, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

52 

 

First, I would like to see the quantitative data analysis.  The quantitative data analysis showed 

the score of students‟ reading comprehension improved after they got the treatment.  In  the  pre-test  

both  of  groups  got average  scores  which  were  not  quite  different.  It was 58.11 for experimental 

group and 56.65 for control group. The average score of both groups score was slightly different and 

not too significant. It could be said that both of the groups had almost same ability in reading 

comprehension of descriptive text before the treatment. 

 Then, after the students received treatments, the average scores of the two groups were 

increased. Nonetheless, the mean score of experimental group post-test was higher than the control 

group.  The experimental group post-test score was 82.05 meanwhile the control group was 70.11.  

The percentage of students‟  improvement  in  experimental  group  was  41.30%  and  in  control  

group was  23.86%.  The  score  showed  that  after  getting  a  treatment  by  using  Listen-Read-

Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer combination technique,  the  experimental  group achieved a 

better score than the control group.  

 Then, to determine the significant score between the two groups, I calculated the scores 

using t-test. The result showed that the score of tvalue 5.756 was higher than ttable 1.996 and   sig.  (2 

tailed) value 0.000 was lower than 0.05.  It was proven by using SPSS.  In  line  with  the  

computation  above,  it  can  be  concluded  that  there  is  a significance  improvement of the 

students‟ achievement dealing with reading comprehension mastery after receiving the treatments by 

using Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer combination technique.  

 The next was the result of qualitative data analysis which was the result of observation sheet 

and questionnaire. While teaching reading comprehension of descriptive text using Listen Read-

Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer combination technique, the students showed positive 

behaviors. Their motivation in the first meeting and the second meeting showed the improvements 

on every indicator. The students also enjoyed the activities that made them love the reading 

learning.  It can be proved by the positive responses that they had given along the study.   

From the questionnaire given, the data showed that most of the students in experimental 

group enjoyed the process of the study.  They were really enthusiastic with the Listen-Read-Discuss 

and graphic organizer combination technique and expecting to get the similar technique for the 

other subject. Overall, there were improvements on student‟s motivation using Listen-Read-Discuss 

and graphic organizer combination technique as an appropriate technique to teach reading 

comprehension of descriptive text. Listen-Read-Discuss is a strategy that helps students comprehend 

text by building their prior knowledge of the topic in advance to reading the text, moreover Listen-

Read-Discuss and graphic organizer technique is good alternative technique for teaching reading. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Based on the analysis, I make some conclusions. First, the  prominent  objective  of  this  

study  was  to  find  out  whether  or  not  the Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and graphic organizer 

combination technique was significantly effective to improve the  eighth year students‟ reading 

comprehension of descriptive text .  The result  showed that  the  mean  scores  of  the  experimental 

group  pre-test  and  post-test increased significantly from 58.11 to 82.05. It increased 41.30%, while 

the control group which was taught by conventional method increased only from 56.65 to be 70.11. 

It increased 23.86%.  

 Second, there is a significance improvement of the students‟ achievement dealing with 

reading comprehension mastery after they received the treatments by using the Listen-Read-Discuss 

(LRD) technique. It is showed in the calculation by using t-test in SPSS 16.0 program.  The result 

indicated that the score of tvalue (5.756) was higher than ttable (1.996). Then, the result from 

independent t-test showed that sig. (2 tailed) value 0.000 was lower than 0.05. Therefore, the use of 



A. Maemun, S. W. Fitriati, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

53 

 

Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) technique is effective for teaching reading and improving students‟ 

reading comprehension of descriptive text. 

The findings of questionnaire and observation also indicated the Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) 

and graphic organizer combination technique can be applied in teaching reading comprehension of 

descriptive text to the eighth grade of junior high school students.  Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) and 

graphic organizer combination technique made students interested in learning reading descriptive 

text. In addition, using  this technique to teach reading comprehension made the students enjoyed 

more and facilitated their tasks associated with the reading materials because they learned not only 

individually but also in group.  

From the analysis result in the previous chapter that the students‟ motivation on reading 

comprehension was excellent. It is shown by the students‟ behavior while learning. According  to  

the  questionnaire, most of  the students in the experimental group  felt  that  the Listen-Read-

Discuss technique were  interesting,  so it can be conclude that LRD technique improves their 

motivation to learn reading comprehension of descriptive text. 

REFERENCES 

Bromley, K., DeVitis, L. I. and Modlo, M. (1995). Graphic Organizers: Visual Strategies for Active Learning. 

New York: Scholastic Professional Books. 

Finnochiaro, M. (1984). English as a Second Language from Theory to Practice. New York: Regent Publishing 

Company. 

Manzo, A. V., & Casale, U. P. (1985). Listen-Read-Discuss. A content reading heuristic. Journal of Reading, 

28: 372-734. 

Trelease, J. (2013). The Read-Aloud Handbook : Seventh Edition . New York: Penguin Books. 


