The Implementation of Venn Diagram as a Strategy in Teaching Reading Analytical Exposition Texts to the

Eleventh Graders in SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Taman

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF VENN DIAGRAM AS A STRATEGY IN TEACHING READING

ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION TEXTS TO THE ELEVENTH GRADERS IN SMA
MUHAMMADIYAH 1 TAMAN

Desti Aisyah Fauziah

English Education, Languages and Arts Faculty, State University of Surabaya
destiaisyahf@gmail.com

Dra. Theresia Kumalarini, S.Pd., M.Pd.

English Education, Languages and Arts Faculty, State University of Surabaya
kumala_rini@yahoo.co.id

Abstrak

Membaca merupakan salah satu dari empat keterampilan yang harus dicapai oleh siswa dalam
pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing. Siswa diharapkan mampu memahami teks bacaan serta
mampu menguasai tujuan, konteks, jenis, dan seluruh informasi yang terdapat dalam teks dalam kegiatan
membaca. Namun, beberapa siswa masih kesulitan memahami teks dalam kegiatan membaca. Hal ini
dikarenakan para guru lebih sering meminta siswa untuk membaca kemudian menjawab pertanyaan-
pertanyaan yang telah tersedia daripada memberikan strategi membaca yang dapat membantu siswa untuk
membaca dan memahami teks. Terdapat banyak sekali strategi membaca yang dapat digunakan oleh para
guru. Salah satunya adalah Venn diagram yang dapat membantu siswa dalam mengorganisir pikiran
mereka saat membaca melalui persamaan dan perbedaan sehingga mereka dapat menangkap informasi
yang ada dan membantu mereka memahami teks bacaan dengan mudah. Sehingga, studi ini bertujuan
untuk melihat penerapan Venn diagram sebagai sebuah strategi pengajaran dalam kegiatan membaca teks
eksposisi analitis dan respon para siswa terhadap penerapan Venn diagram. Metode penelitian yang
digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Subjek penelitian dalam studi ini adalah guru Bahasa Inggris dan 46
siswa kelas 11 di SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Taman. Dalam pengumpulan data, daftar periksa observasi dan
kuesioner digunakan sebagai alat bantu dalam penelitian ini. Kemudian data dianalisa dengan
mendeskripsikan dan menginterpretasikan secara kualitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Venn
diagram dapat diimplementasikan dengan baik oleh guru. Strategi ini dapat membantu siswa memahami
teks dengan berfokus pada ide-ide yang dibandingkan. Hasil dari kuesioner menunjukkan bahwa Venn
diagram telah berhasil membantu siswa dalam memahami teks bacaan eksposisi analitis.

Kata Kunci: Membaca, Pengajaran Membaca, Analytical Exposition Texts, Venn diagram.

Abstract

Reading is one of the four important skills that should be gained by the students while learning English
as a foreign language. In a reading activity, students are expected to understand the text. They should be
able to comprehend the purposes of the text, the context, the nature of the text, and all of the information
provided in the text. However, most of the students still get difficulties understanding the text whenever
the reading activity is held. It happens because the teachers only ask the students to read and answer the
questions rather than giving a reading strategy that can help students read and understand the text deeply.
There are a lot of strategies which can be used by teachers. One of them is Venn diagram that helps
students organize their thought through comparison and contrast. Thus, this study aims to see the
implementation of Venn diagram as a strategy in teaching reading analytical exposition texts and the
students response towards it. This study uses descriptive qualitative design and the subjects are an
English teacher and 46 eleventh graders of SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Taman. To collect the data, the
observation checklist and a questionnaire and they are analyzed descriptively in the form of words. The
results show that Venn diagram can be implemented by the teacher. It also helps students to focus on the
terms being compared and contrasted. Moreover, the results of the questionnaire show that Venn diagram
can be used to help students understand the analytical exposition texts.

Keywords: Reading, Teaching reading, Analytical exposition texts, Venn diagram.

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 RETAIN. Volume 05 Nomor 03 Tahun 2017.226 - 233
INTRODUCTION
Reading is one of important skills that should be
learned by the students while learning English as a
foreign language. Cline et.al (2006: 2) explains that
reading is an activity of decoding and understanding the
texts. In a reading activity, students are expected to be
able to decode and to understand the texts that are given
by the teacher. Moreover, reading demands the students
not only read the text, but also understand the writers
ideas and various kinds of information containing in the
text. William (1984) agrees that the students, when read a
text, should not only look at the text but they should also
understand what has been written. If the students are
successful to understand the text, they will automatically
get the new information from the text. Brunan (1989)
defines reading as a two-way interaction in which
information is exchange between the reader and the
author". It means that the interaction that happens in
reading is not only read the words or sentences, but also
transfers the authors ideas to the readers.
In the syllabus of 2013 curriculum in Senior
High school, students are expected to be a good reader in
reading texts. One of the texts that should be learned by
the eleventh graders is analytical exposition texts. It is a
type of argumentative text which contains the authors
ideas about phenomenon surroundings. This text provides
a point of view, ideas, thoughts, issue or problems that
need to get persuade the reader that the idea is important
matter (Djuharia, 2007). Mali-Jali (2007) explains that
the purpose of analytical exposition text is to argue and to
give reasons for particular point of view of the issue. By
reading analytical exposition texts, students will get more
information about the topic from different perspectives.
The perspectives that are included in the texts might be
pro and contra so that the students need a logical and
critical thinking while reading analytical exposition texts
(Simbolon, 2013).
However, Osborne (2010) sees that most of the
students still get difficulties on understanding a text.
Most of the students tend to find the meaning of each
word rather than understand the ideas of the text. If this
happens, the students will not get the information that
have been written on the text. On the other hand, the
strategies that are used in a reading activity are
monotonous. In fact, the teachers only asked the students
to read the text and to answer the questions that are given
to the students. If this way of teaching applies in every
reading activity, the students will less interest and do not
have any motivation to be successful in a reading activity
so they will not understand the information that had been
written on the text. Furthermore, in reading analytical
exposition texts, the students are expected to think
critically toward the phenomenon (Simbolon, 2013).
They are also expected to understand that different
perspectives are important matter so that they will
become an open-minded reader. Because of this fact, the
reading strategies are needed to help the students to think
critical while reading analytical exposition texts.
Brown (2007) defines strategy as a specific
method that can be used in approaching a problem or
task. This strategy can help the students in understanding
the texts. OMalley and Chamot (1990) defines three
categories of language learning strategies; (1)
Metacognitive strategies, (2) Cognitive strategies, (3)
Social-affective strategies. Since reading is an activity of
understanding the texts, the cognitive strategies are
needed. Cognitive strategies are the methods that are used
to help students in learning problems, such as
summarizing, making mental images, and relating new
information with their prior knowledge. In the cognitive
strategies there are seven things of the effective readers
which are Acivating, Inferring, Monitoring-Clarifying,
Questioning, Searching-Selecting, Summarizing, and
Visualizing-Organizing (McEwan, 2007).
Moreover, Adler (2001) mentions there are
seven strategies in teaching reading the texts to the
students. They are monitoring comprehension,
metacognition, answering questions, generating
questions, recognizing story structure, summarizing,
semantic and graphic organizers. Furthermore, Venn
diagram is one kind of graphic organizers that is
discussed in this study.
Venn diagram is a kind of graphic organizers
that allows the students to see how two or more people,
places, events, or ideas are alike and different (Manzo &
Manzo, 1997). It is composed by overlapping circles to
represent similarities and differences of the texts. Booth
(1998:81) states that Venn diagram is an effective
strategy and concise graphic tool employed in post-
reading context. It assists spatial and visual learners by
transforming complex information into visually
comprehendible charts. (Peregoy & Boyle, 2001). Venn
diagram can help the students to organize the students
The Implementation of Venn Diagram as a Strategy in Teaching Reading Analytical Exposition Texts to the
Eleventh Graders in SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Taman
thought so they can understand the text by using
comparison and contrast. It also helps the students to
extend their thinking and apply the information by
comparing and contrasting. Using Venn diagram in
reading analytical exposition texts will help the students
to understand that the different perspectives from the
different authors are important matters.
Picture 1.1 Venn diagram
The effectiveness of using Venn diagram
strategy in teaching reading has been asserted by several
studies. Jacobucci et. al (2012) found that Venn diagrams
encouraged the students to compare and contrast the
information for reading analysis. This study believes that
Venn diagram helps the students on understanding the the
texts better. The study from Samosir (2012) found that
Venn diagram helps the students to understand the texts
because it helps them to be focused on the terms that
should be compared and contrasted. Moreover, the study
from Neri (2013) found that the combination of Venn
diagram and mental imagery motivate the students in
reading a text.
From those studies, the researcher would like to
investigate the implementation of Venn diagram as a
strategy in teaching reading analytical exposition texts to
the eleventh graders. Also, the researcher would like to
describe the students response after being taught using
Venn diagram in reading analytical exposition texts.
Those three studies prove that Venn diagram in a reading
activity help the students understand the texts through
comparing and contrasting. Thus, the researcher expects
this strategy is useful for the teacher in the teaching
reading activity to the students, especially in teaching
reading analytical exposition texts.
According to the background study above, there
are two research questions that will be discussed in this
present study.
3
1. How is the implementation of Venn diagram as a
strategy in teaching reading analytical exposition
texts to the eleventh graders in SMA Muhammadiyah
1 Taman?
2. How is the students response after being taught using
Venn diagram as a strategy in teaching reading
analytical exposition texts?
RESEARCH METHOD
The research design that used in this study was
descriptive qualitative and focused on the implementation
of Venn diagram as a strategy in teaching reading
analytical exposition texts. Descriptive qualitative
research uses words and pictures rather than numbers to
express what the researcher has found about the
phenomenon (Meriam, 1998).
In this research, the researcher focused on how Venn
diagram is implemented for teaching reading in the EFL
class of the eleventh grade and would like to know on the
students responses after the strategy was implemented in
the class. The subjects of this study were the teacher and
the 46 eleventh graders in SMA Muhammadiyah 1
Taman. In deciding the subjects of the study, the
researcher used random sampling.
In collecting the data, the researcher did a non-
participant observation as a technique to collect the data
which were needed to answer the research questions. Non-
participant technique was a technique which the
researcher did not involve in the teaching and learning
process (Susanto, 2012). During the teaching and learning
process, the researcher only observed the activities on
how the teacher implemented Venn diagram as a strategy
in reading analytical exposition texts. The data were
collected from the observation checklists and the
questionnaire in the form of words. The observation
checklists were used to answer the first research question
about the implementation of Venn diagram as a strategy in
teaching reading analytical exposition texts. While the
questionnaire was used to answer the second question
about the students responses after being taught using
Venn diagram as a strategy in reading analytical
exposition texts.
In doing the research, the researcher conducted two
meeting observations and was done once a week. The
researcher gained the data from the teaching and learning
process. The researches were conducted by filling the
 RETAIN. Volume 05 Nomor 03 Tahun 2017.226 - 233
observation checklists and took a note on every meeting
that had been held. After the program of the second
meeting, the questionnaires were distributed to the
students. It is used to know the students responses after
being taught using Venn diagram in reading analytical
exposition texts.
The data collection was selected and analyzed
descriptively using the theory from Ary (2006). There are
three stages of analyzing the data in descriptive qualitative
design. First, the data should be familiarized and
organized by reading and understanding the data. The data
that firstly analyzed were the results of the observation
checklists and the results of the questionnaire. Then the
data was sorted into some categories and was reduced in
order to get the data that are needed to answer the first and
the second questions. After that, the data was interpreted
and represented in the form of words in order to describe
the data.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The researcher presented the results and
discussion of the data that were obtained during the
research in SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Taman. The
observations were conducted in two meetings to find out
the description of the implementation and the results of
the questionnaires.
The Implementation of Venn Diagram as a Strategy in
Teaching Reading Analytical Exposition Tetxs
The results of the observations showed that the
teacher had implemented Venn diagram strategy in
teaching reading analytical exposition texts. The activities
that had been implemented by the teachers were
conducted based on Curriculum 2013 and used scientific
approach combined with the theory from Dreher & Gray
(2009). There are three activities in a reading activity
which are pre-reading activity, whilst reading activity and
post-reading activity. The scientific approach was used in
twhilst-reading activity. There are five stages that used in
the scientific approach which are observing, questioning,
exploring, associating, and communicating.
There were two meetings that were observed by
the researcher. The first meeting was held on February, 3rd
2017. In this meeting, Venn diagram was implemented
successfully by the teachers. The teacher began the
implementation by brainstorming the students in the pre-
reading activity. It is used to prepare the students and to
activate the students prior knowledge before the lesson
was begun (Grabe & Stoller, 2001). The teacher asked the
students some questions related to the topic. The questions
were about smoking and the teacher asked the students
opinions about it. After that, the teacher moved to the
whilst reading activity. The first stage of this activity was
called observing. In the observing, the teacher distributed
the texts and a blank Venn diagram to the students. Then,
the teacher became a model on the application of Venn
diagram to the students. This activity was in line with the
theory from Dreher & Gray (2009) which states that
introduction and teachers modeling of Venn diagram was
needed in order to show the students on how to compare
and contrast the information such as the main idea, social
function, the implicit and explicit information, and the
authors opinions related to the issue before the students
can do it by themselves. Then, the teacher gave an
opportunity for the students to ask on how is the
application of Venn diagram in reading analytical
exposition texts so that the students will get the clearer
understanding from the teacher. This stage was called
questioning of the scientific approach. In this stage, some
of the students asked the teacher about what should they
wrote in the diagram and what kind of activity that will be
done. The teacher answered that they should write the
information, main idea, social functions, and the authors
opinion which are similar or different. After that the
teacher asked the students to read the texts and completed
the diagram. The teacher also gave the students some
minutes to complete the diagram so that they can compare
and contrast the ideas confidently (Cambria, Coddington,
Guthrie, & Wigfield, 2010). After all of the students
completed the diagram, the teacher and the students
discussed it together. In this stage, the teacher called the
students one by one and asked them to read one of their
answers. The teacher also asked some questions related to
the texts and the diagram that had been completed. The
teacher asked the students about the main idea of Text 1
and Text 2. A student raised his hand and answered that
the main idea of both texts were different. The main idea
of Text 1 was the smokers died because of diseases
caused by smoking, while Text 2 showed that smoking in
the public should be prohibited. Then the teacher asked
another question about the function of the texts. All of the
students answered that both of the texts had the same
function that is to persuade the readers not to smoke the
cigarette because it will bring diseases and death. For the
last question, the teacher asked the students whether the
authors of the two texts were having the same opinion or
not. All of the students agreed that the authors had the
same opinion that smoking is not good for health.
The Implementation of Venn Diagram as a Strategy in Teaching Reading Analytical Exposition Texts to the
Eleventh Graders in SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Taman
In the first implementation, the result showed
that the students still got difficulties in reading the texts
and applying Venn diagram. Most of the students
preferred to translate the text word by word to understand
the text rather than finding the important keywords that
represented the differences and the similarities of the two
texts. Unfamiliar with Venn diagram in the reading
activity made the students still confused to use it.
At the end of the first meeting, the teacher made
a reflection on the teaching and learning process. The
teacher explained the purposes in using Venn diagram
and reminded the students to try to apply Venn diagram
at home. Then the teacher reviewed briefly the analytical
exposition texts and told the students that they still had
the same activity on the next meeting.
The second meeting was held on February, 10 th
2017. The activities were similar to the first meeting. The
teacher began the class by brainstorming the students and
reviewing the previous lesson on the last meeting. In this
meeting, the teacher did not become a model of Venn
diagram application and all of the students understood the
application of Venn diagram in reading analytical
exposition texts. The teacher only asked whether the
students have a question about Venn diagram or not.
Then the teacher gave the other texts which have a same
title but have a different content on each. The topic that
was given to the students was familiar to them. It is in
line with the statement from Pintrich (2000) that
choosing familiar topic to the students will lead them to
understand the texts deeply. It also motivated the students
in a reading activity and made them enjoy the activity
without feeling bored. The result of the second meeting
showed that all of the students completed the diagram
successfully and they understood on the application of
Venn diagram in the reading activity of analytical
exposition texts.
In the implementation of the strategy, it can be seen
that the teacher would like to give a new way to motivate
the students in a reading activity. The students could
understand the texts through comparing and contrasting in
Venn diagram. Using Venn diagram could motivate the
students to enjoy the activity of reading analytical
exposition texts which have rich contents and ideas.
Besides that, the teacher also motivated the students in the
discussion session by giving the questions related to their
work and the topic that had been discussed.
5
Students Responses toward the Implementation of
Venn Diagram Strategy
After the program was done, the questionnaire
was distributed to the students. There are eight questions
that should be answered by the students. They are asked to
choose agree or disagree with the questions of each
number. In the first question, all of the students agreed
that Venn diagram was really helpful to understand the
texts through comparing and contrasting the information.
Moreover, most students would like to apply Venn
diagram in reading the other texts because they felt that
there was a difference in reading with and/or without
using Venn diagram in a reading activity. Using Venn
diagram helps them to be focused on the terms that should
be compared and contrasted. However, some of the
students believed that Venn diagram was not really
helpful to find the information in the texts and more than
15 students stated that they still confused in applying
Venn diagram. At least 15 students stated that the texts
were difficult because there were some of difficult words
in the texts that made the students fail to catch the ideas of
the texts.
From those results, the students responses
showed that Venn diagram was really helpful in making
them to understand the texts and to find out the
similarities and differences of the information that
containing in the texts. The students agreed that Venn
diagram helps them to understand the text better because
they directly know the information in the texts by
applying Venn diagram. Although some of the students
felt that the texts were difficult because they had many
difficult words, but all of the students were agreed that
they can understand the ideas of the texts through Venn
diagram.
Based on the analysis above, it can be seen that Venn
diagram can be implemented as a strategy in teaching
reading analytical exposition texts because it could help
the students to understand the texts better through
comparing and contrasting the ideas or the information
containing in the texts.
 RETAIN. Volume 05 Nomor 03 Tahun 2017.226 - 233
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
Conclusion
From the results and discussion it can be found
that the teacher used scientific approach and the
combination of theory from Dreher & Gray (2009) in the
implementation of Venn diagram in teaching reading
analytical exposition texts. There are two meetings that
had been conducted by the teacher. The meeting was
started by greeting and preparing the students before the
students joined the activity. Then, it continued to the
brainstorming session which is used to stimulate the
students to have a basic knowledge about analytical
exposition texts. In the implementation of Venn diagram,
it can be seen that the students were easily to understand
the application of Venn diagram in reading analytical
exposition texts even though they were get confused to
apply it in the first meeting. It happened because the
teacher firstly became a model when she explained how
to use Venn diagram in order to give the clearer
explanation to the students. The teacher also used
questioning strategy. Firstly, the teacher asked the
students whether the students understand or not with the
application of Venn diagram. In this session, only a few
of the students asked to the teacher. The questioning
session helped the students to get the clearer
understanding about the strategy so that they will be
successful in applying the strategy to read the analytical
exposition texts. After the questioning session, the
students were asked to complete the diagram with the
ideas or information such as the main idea, the subjects of
the text and other information which had some
similarities and differences.
In the discussion session, the teacher asked
some questions related to the diagram that had been
completed by the students, such as the main idea, the
subjects of the texts, the causes and the effects of
smoking and flood, and the other information which were
given in the texts. The teacher also asked the students to
summarize the writers opinions about the issues which
were written in the texts.
Furthermore, the researcher concludes that Venn
diagram was really helpful in teaching reading analytical
exposition texts. Venn diagram helps the students to
understand the text through comparing and contrasting
the ideas such as the main idea, the information that are
provided in the text, and also the subjects of the text.
Comparing and contrasting the ideas made the students
looked deeper to the texts so that the students will
directly understand the texts without translating the texts
word by word.
Furthermore, the results of the questionnaire
showed that Venn diagram could be helpful in reading
analytical exposition texts. Students believed that Venn
diagram could help them to understand the text through
similarities and differences. Because it helped the
students in reading, it can motivate the students to read
analytical exposition texts in a classroom.
Suggestion
From the conclusion above, the researcher would
like to formulate some suggestions to the teachers and to
the next future researcher.
a. To The Teachers
Since this study proves that Venn diagram helps
the students in a reading activity, the teachers can use it a
strategy in a reading activity to help the students on
understanding the texts. Before the teachers would like to
conduct the reading activity, they need to consider the
texts that are chosen to be given to the students. The texts
should have rich contents and the topics should be
familiar to the students so that the students will have
background knowledge of the topic before the
implementation is begun. In a reading activity, the teacher
should change the habit of translating the text word by
word to predicting the texts by using keywords. This
activity will help the students become an active reader and
comprehend the texts better. Teachers should be aware
with the words, phrases, and sentences that were written
in the texts. Make sure that the words, phrases, and the
sentences were suitable to the students English level. The
texts should not be too easy or too hard to the students so
that they will have a motivation to read the texts in the
teaching and learning process. Teacher can modify the use
of Venn diagram in the reading activity. It is not only
comparing and contrasting the ideas or information, but it
can also be used to comparing and contrasting the
structures, language features, or social function of the text.
b. To The Future Researcher
To the future researcher, some modifications and
improvements are possible to do in conducting the
strategy in the teaching and learning process of EFL
classroom. Since Venn diagram could help the students in
The Implementation of Venn Diagram as a Strategy in Teaching Reading Analytical Exposition Texts to the
Eleventh Graders in SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Taman

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