Gaining Knowledge of Some Inputs

a. Gaining Knowledge of Some Inputs

Gaining knowledge of some inputs was conducted to find the learners’ needs by distributing questionnaires and conducting interviews. The findings are explained in two parts. The results of the questionnaires and the interviews are presented as follows: 1 The result of the questionnaires The questionnaires were distributed to the forty-six students of Catur Tunggal IV Depok Elementary School. All of them are the sixth grade students of elementary school. The questions were about the students’ needs or interest in English teaching-learning activities, the students’ difficulties and the story topics that the students mostly like as the material discussed in the design. The first question of the questionnaire was about the difficulties of reading activity in learning English for the sixth grade of Catur Tunggal IV Depok students. About 82.35 of the participants stated that they have difficulties in learning English using reading materials. The second question of the questionnaires was about the point of the students’ difficulties in doing reading activity in learning English. About 97.06 stated that they had difficulty in finding the words meaning of. About 47.06 of the participants stated that they had difficulty in pronouncing some words in reading materials. In addition, 32.35 of respondents stated that they had difficulty if the reading materials are too long. Only 14.70 of the participants had difficulty in reading activity if the materials were not interesting. The third question of the questionnaires was about whether the reading materials using short stories they had, were sufficient or not. About 58.82 of the participants stated that they had enough reading materials using short stories. Furthermore, about 41.18 stated that they had not enough reading materials using short stories. The fourth question of the questionnaires asked about the relationship between the materials using short stories and the students’ interest in learning English. The results showed that 76.47 of the participants stated that learning English using short stories was interesting and the rest 23.53 stated that learning English using short stories was not interesting. The fifth question dealt with short stories materials and students’ abilities in understanding the value that the stories want to say. About 85.29 of the participants stated that through short stories the students were easy to understand the value that the stories were talking about. And 14.69 stated that short stories did not help the students to understand the values that the stories were talking about. The sixth question dealt with the character in the short stories and how the characters in the story influence the students. Based on the result, 88.24 of the participants stated that they usually make the character in a story as the figure to imitate. And the rest 11.76 stated that they did not imitate the character in a story in their daily life. The seventh question of the questionnaires dealt with what kind of topic that the students like in a short story. The result of the questionnaires concerning with the reading topic chosen is discussed as follows: About 85.52 of the participants chose family as the topic discussed in the design. The number of the participants who chose happiness as the topic was about 79.41, dream was about 88.24, friendship was about 91.18, face some feelings was about 61.76, morality was about 55.88 and I my self was about 88.24, hero was about 88.24. Since culture and life and death received the smallest score, both of them will not be discussed as the topic in the design. The complete description of the topic chosen can be seen in the following table: No Topics x the score in number n the score in the percentage 1 Friendship 31 91, 18 2 Dream 30 88, 24 3 Hero 30 88, 24 4 Family 29 85, 29 5 Happiness 27 79, 41 6 Self concept 27 79, 41 7 Face some feelings 21 61, 76 8 Morality 19 55, 88 9 Culture 18 52, 94 10 Life and death 16 47, 06 Table 4.1. The Description of the Topic Chosen The eighth question of the questionnaire was related with the activities that the students like to do in English teaching-learning activities. About 96.76 of participants stated that games were the most interesting activities in learning English. About 76.47 of participants chose listening and discussing the stories, about 64.70 of the participants preferred sing a song in learning English, about 70.58 of participants chose making a story using pictures. And about 50 of participants chose writing their own story and reading and answering the questions related to the story. And about 55.88 of participants chose translating, doing drama 70.58, and about 23.52 chose filling the blanks sentence in the story. The complete description of the teaching-learning activities chosen can be seen as follows: No Activity x the score in number n the score in the percentage 1 Games 31 96,76 2 Listening and discussing the story 26 76, 47 3 Make a story using pictures 24 70, 58 4 Doing drama 24 70, 58 5 Reading and answering the questions related with the story 23 67, 64 6 Sing a song 22 64, 70 7 Translating the story 19 55, 88 8 Writing own story 17 50 9 Story telling 17 50 10 Filling the blanks sentence in the story 8 23, 52 Table 4.2: The Description of Teaching-learning Chosen 2 The results of the interviews The interview was conducted to get the information about learners’ needs. The participants of the interviews were two English teachers of elementary school. There were 14 questions to ask. The results of the interviews were as follows: No Question Participa nts Answers 1 Are the students interested in English especially in reading? If not why? 1 2 Yes Yes 2 Do you have any problems in teaching English through reading material? If yes what are they? 1 2 Yes, most students have problem in vocabulary mastery. Yes, it was hard to present the story in an interesting way. 3 What is the solution you use to solve the problems? 1 2 Give them the vocabulary list used in the story. I learn how to tell the story in interesting ways, for example by giving the introduction of the story. 4 In general, what is the reading ability of the students of all classes that you teach so far? 1 2 Average Average 5 Are the students on the same level? 1 2 No, I teach class 5 and 6 No, I teach class 3 and 4 6 What is your opinion on materials developed for reading skill in textbooks used in your school? 1 2 Good enough, but some are not interesting. The theme, the qualities of the picture and the story topic need to improve. 7 Do the materials influence the activities? If yes, in what way? 1 2 Yes, in helping the students to understand the teaching materials. Yes, they make students enjoy the teaching-learning activities. 8 What kind of activities do you use to improve the students’ reading skill? 1 2 Story telling, answer the question according to the story they have read, drama. Answer the questions related to the story, retelling the story. 9 Are those activities effective? 1 2 Yes, sometimes Yes 10 Have you ever used short stories in teaching English? 1 2 Yes, I have Yes, I have 11 How often do you use them? 1 2 2-3 Stories each semester 3-4 stories each semester 12 Do you agree that using short stories could help your students to promote their value of life? 1 2 Yes Yes 13 What kind of value that you think your students need to improve? 1 2 Friendship, love, hard work, honesty, cooperation, nationalism. Friendship, Tolerance, Peace, Respect, self perception. 14 What is your opinion about the design of supplementary English instructional materials using short stories to promote the students’ values of life? 1 2 It will be good for my students to improve themselves. That is a good idea. Table 4.3: The Description of the Result of the Interview. The results of the questionnaires and the interviews then were used by the writer to design the instructional materials in which the design is hoped to help the sixth grade elementary school students improve their English ability and also help them to promote their value of life. There were some steps conducted after gaining the information of the learners’ need. The next step will be discussed below:

b. Determining Goals, General Purposes, and Topics