<![CDATA[Reading comprehension remains one of the most persistent challenges in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction, particularly because conventional, teacher-centered techniques often leave students passive and rarely encourage them to reflect on what they read. This study examined whether the 3-2-1 Strategy could significantly improve the reading comprehension of tenth-grade students at SMAN 4 Mataram. A quantitative, quasi-experimental design employing a nonequivalent control group with a pretest-posttest procedure was used, involving 72 students divided into an experimental class (n = 36) taught with the 3-2-1 Strategy and a control class (n = 36) taught through the conventional method commonly used by the teacher. Data were gathered through a 20-item multiple-choice reading comprehension test covering identifying main ideas, finding specific information, making inferences, understanding vocabulary in context, and drawing conclusions, and were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality, Levene’s test of homogeneity, and an Independent Samples t-Test. Results showed no significant difference between the two groups at pretest (Sig. = 0.956), confirming comparable initial reading ability, whereas the posttest results revealed a significant difference (t = 4.480, df = 70, Sig. = 0.000), with the experimental class (M = 75.97) outperforming the control class (M = 62.08) by a mean difference of 13.89 points. Overall, the findings indicate that the 3-2-1 Strategy significantly improves students’ reading comprehension and offers English teachers a practical, reflection-based technique for teaching reading.]]>
