were appropriate for the learners to develop their comprehension skill. The learning activities were remembering details, identifying main ideas, discovering
cause and effect relationships of the text, discovering author’s purpose, drawing conclusion, and summarizing.
To maintain the learners’ interest, the exercises might be different in each unit as long as they were aimed for comprehension. The reading exercises in the
designed materials were presented below. • Answering questions about specific details
• Stating whether some statements were true or false • Finding main idea of a paragraph or a whole text
• Finding the meaning of words used in the text and making sentences using those words
• Matching some words used in the text with the meanings • Finding synonyms and antonyms of some words in a text
• Matching some words with the synonyms • Completing table with some important points of a text
• Listing some important points of a text • Giving comments to a text
• Relating a text to real life PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
It was required that the learners used reading techniques. According to Cushenbery 1985:87-91, there were four basic reading techniques, namely
detailed reading, average rate, skimming, and scanning. The techniques were utilized when they met the appropriate tasks. By practicing a lot, the learners
would be accustomed to utilizing the techniques. Here, the learners would do the exercises in a pair or in a group.
In this section, there was a sub-section named challenge yourself. In challenge yourself, the learners were demanded to relate the given texts to their
own lives. The tasks were open-ended questions which gained the learners’ opinion, their attitude towards problems, their analytical thinking in discovering
the cause and effect of something. Thus, the learning would be worthy not only for the learners’ reading comprehension but also for their real lives. Beside
challenge yourself, there was also a sub-section which examined the learners’ understanding about some words used in the given texts. The vocabulary
understanding was purposely placed after the reading texts in order the learners could guess the meanings by reading the texts.
The learning activities represented the second stage of teaching reading, namely question or purpose stage. It was shown by the questions that were
developed based on Cushenbery’s four basic levels of comprehension 1985:58- 61.
3 Grammar Battle PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
The section was aimed at giving the learners opportunity to work with the language. It provided the learners with the theory of English structures. Its
purpose was to help the learners constructing good-ordered sentences andor texts in the future. This section was equal to the language focus proposed by
Hutchinson and Waters 1987:108-109. 4 Completing Mission
Here, the learners were also presented with a reading text. It functioned as the reinforcement in establishing comprehension skill. Here, the learners
demanded to do the exercises individually. And, it was expected for the learners when answering questions they constructed the sentences correctly since they had
learned English structure in the previous section. This section referred to the post- reading activities suggested by Wallace 1992:114-122 which had purpose to
enhance the learners’ awareness of the given topic. b. Time Allotment
There were sixteen meetings to complete eight topics of the designed materials. Each topic was utilized for two meetings. The contact hours for each
meeting were 90 minutes.
8. Developing the Materials
In addition to the combination of materials design models, the writer also utilized Tomlinson and Masuhara’s materials adaptation 2004:15-16. One of the
techniques of Plus Category called addition was employed here. The writer added PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
some activities, some exercises and some pictures to facilitate the learners with interesting materials which could help them developing their reading skills. The
writer also utilized one of the techniques of Minus Category called reduction. Here, the writer reduced the length, the depth and the difficulty of the reading
texts. This was carried out to obtain the appropriate reading materials for the learners. Additionally, the writer employed one of the techniques of Zero
Category which was reorganization. This technique was to make the designed materials more interesting by changing the positions of texts and illustrations.
The writer developed the materials based on the plans which had been organized into a syllabus. Although the writer focused the designed materials on
reading skill, she integrated the reading skill with writing and speaking skill. It emphasized on the learners’ responses towards the given topics and the language
use as well.
9. Evaluating the Designed Materials
After finishing the process of developing materials, the writer conducted the evaluation step. This step was to evaluate the designed materials so that it
could be measured whether the designed materials were applicable and appropriate for the learners which were Biology teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta
or not. The writer evaluated her materials by conducting expert validation and learners’ evaluation.
a. Expert Validation PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
The writer distributed the designed materials to some respondents who were considered as experts in the designing English materials. The respondents
consisted of two lecturers of English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University and an English teacher of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. In conducting expert
validation, the writer distributed the evaluation questionnaires and interviewed the respondents as well. The evaluation questionnaires contained open-ended
questions, while the interviews were unstructured interviews. The interviews were conducted when the writer needed more information related to the questions
in the evaluation questionnaires. The questions were about the contents, the learning activities, and the arrangement of the designed materials. Besides, the
respondents were also asked to give their opinions, the strengths and the weaknesses of the designed materials. The results of the expert validation both
from evaluation questionnaires and interviews were presented on the following page.
Table 4.8 Results of the Expert Validation
Respondents
No
Aspects The English teacher of
SMAN 3 Yogyakarta The lecturers of English
Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma
University
1
Contents
a.
Topics
¾
The topics were well- selected.
¾
The topics were various and interesting
¾
The topics were appropriate for the
learners’ needs.
•
The topics were well- selected.
•
The topics were various and interesting.
•
The topics were suitable for the learners
who studied English in the content area.
b.
Texts
¾
The texts were little bit long, but they were
appropriate for the learners.
¾
The contents of the reading texts were
challenging for the learners to understand.
¾
The texts were sufficiently interesting and authentic.
¾
The vocabulary used in the texts was neither too
difficult nor too easy for the learners.
¾
The use of grammar in the texts was not really easy
to understand.
•
The texts were suitable for the learners.
•
The texts were sufficiently challenging
for the learners.
•
The texts were interesting and
authentic.
•
The reading texts were not too easy to
understand.
c.
Illustration The illustration was
interesting and colourful. The illustration was
interesting, but the writer needed to avoid the use of
unnecessary pictures.
d.
Reading skills and the
components developed
The materials as a whole could help the learners
developing the learners’ reading skills
The designed materials were able to develop the learners’
reading skills if the learners read the texts carefully and
studied the vocabulary and the contents.
Respondents
No
Aspects The English teacher of
SMAN 3 Yogyakarta The lecturers of English
Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma
University
2
Learning Activities
¾
The learning activities were various and
interesting enough.
¾
The learning activities were well-established and
enabled the learners to achieve the learning goal.
¾
The activities were little bit hard for the learners.
•
The learning activities were various and
interesting enough.
•
The learning activities were not really well-
established since the learning activities
related to comprehension were
not well-developed.
•
The activities were easy to understand.
3
Arrangement
a.
Topics The topics were well-
arranged. The topics were well-
arranged.
b.
Learning Activities
The arrangement of the learning activities was good,
but the aim of each activity needed to be stated clearly.
It was better to rearrange the learning activities from easy
to more difficult ones.
a.
Layout The layout of the materials
was good enough. The layout of the designed
materials was interesting enough, but it was better not
to use many different font types and size.
