Reading comprehension is a crucial skill for students, yet many still struggle to
understand and interpret texts effectively. To address this issue, alternative teaching
strategies such as GIST are needed to help students construct meaning from what they
read. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the GIST (Generating
Interactions between Schemata and Text) strategy in improving the reading
comprehension of seventh-grade students at SMP Maitreyawira Palembang. A pre-
experimental design with a one-group pre-test and post-test was employed. The
participants consisted of 32 students. Data were collected using pre-test and post-test
reading comprehension assessments, and the results were analyzed using descriptive
statistics and a paired-sample t-test. The findings revealed that the mean post-test
score (74.14) was significantly higher than the mean pre-test score (50.23), with a
mean difference of 23.91. The t-test confirmed that this difference was statistically
significant (t = 17.876, df = 31, p < 0.001). The results also showed that students’
reading comprehension improved across all performance levels, with more students
achieving “Very Good” and “Good” scores after the treatment. The study concludes
that the GIST strategy, combined with the use of narrative texts, effectively enhances
students’ reading comprehension. It is recommended that teachers adopt this strategy
and provide ample narrative reading opportunities to foster students’ literacy
development.
Keywords: GIST strategy, reading comprehension, narrative text.