The Effect of Story Mapping On Reading Comprehension of Eleventh-Grade Students

Abstract

Reading comprehension remains a persistent challenge in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction, particularly when secondary learners engage with complex expository genres such as analytical and hortatory exposition. Although story mapping strategies have been extensively validated within narrative reading context, their pedagogical efficacy in structuring expository text comprehension remains underexplored. This pre-experimental study investigated the effect of the Story Mapping strategy on the reading comprehension achievement of eleventh-grade EFL students at MAN 1 Pekanbaru, Indonesia. Utilizing a one-group pretest-posttest design, thirty-two students selected via cluster random sampling participated in a four-session instructional intervention integrating graphic-based story mapping techniques. Data were collected using a validated 32-item multiple-choice test evaluating five comprehension dimensions: main idea identification, detailed information extraction, reference recognition, inferential reasoning, and vocabulary in context. Non-parametric analysis using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test revealed a statistically significant improvement in reading performance from pre-test (M = 31.15, SD = 6.42) to post-test (M = 54.59, SD = 12.18), with Z = -4.791 and p < .001. Normalized Gain analysis (N-Gain = 0.33) demonstrated moderate pedagogical effectiveness. These findings confirm that adapting story mapping as a structural visual organizer significantly facilitates schema activation and text-base mental model construction in expository reading.