lessons become interesting, lively and fun. They also can improve the
children’s communicative competence and social interaction. As the expectation, the
collected data proves that the material qualities are good and durable. d.
The media are colorful and attractive From the reflective field notes stated in the appendix, it can be seen that
the materials successfully attracted the children’ attention during the lesson. The
materials are supported by interesting media, colorful pictures, animations and real objects that make them curious and attract their attention to know more about
the topics. To maintain the children’s attention span and focus towards the materials, the materials are delivered by using various activities in each topic.
e. The activities are various and fun
From the reflective field notes, it can also be seen that the children followed the lesson enthusiastically. It can be described from the learning
processes that ran well and were fun. All children stayed focused on the learning activity. They were active, wanted to join every activity and did the tasks
excitedly. The use of various games, songs, stories and arts effectively attracted them to learn the materials.
2. The Developed Theme-Based Materials for L1 Children of EFH Program
The researcher developed the materials based on the characteristics, theories and the needs of both the teachers and children. The materials were
arranged under the EFH goals that offer cheerfulness, friendliness, care and
establish relationship among children. Moreover, this program also serves environments and activities in English atmosphere with different themes every
year. EFH is created to facilitate learners’ interest and enthusiasm in learning
English in fun ways. Therefore, the topics being developed are adjusted to those criteria.
In general, there are nine different topics for a nine-day teaching-learning process in L1 class of EFH. The topics are related to each other and have their
own aims. The first topic is about introducing self and others. It is due to the reason that in the first meeting, many of the children are not known each other yet.
Therefore, the activities are in the form of introduction games that can encourage the children to get acquainted to each other actively. In the second topic, there is
an outdoor activity, i.e. Campus Grand Tour. In this topic, the materials are developed with sub topic of public places. Here, the children are introduced about
many public places around the campus. Related to the second topic, the third topic is about building, i.e. a house, where the children are familiar with. They are
introduced about parts of the house and its furniture. The fourth topic is an outdoor activity, i.e. Barbecue. Here, the researcher
developed the sub topic about food and beverages. Children are introduced about many kinds of food and beverages and about Barbecue. The fifth topic is about
family. In this topic, they have to introduce their family to their friends by showing their family photograph. In the sixth topic, there is an outdoor activity,
i.e. field trip. In this topic, the sub topic been developed is about shapes. It is due
to the reason that in field trip, children will see many objects in many shapes. The seventh topic is about stationery, since it also consists of many shapes, so it still
relates to the previous topic. The eight topic is about animals and colors. The two topics are made due to the reason that children usually find animals in many
colors in their environments. The last topic is about daily routines that the children usually do in their daily lives.
Based on the implementation, the children were fond of the materials. It can be proofed that they were excited to present to the class and to join the class
activities with their friends. They showed great enthusiasm and interest in each material, task, activity and the media. They also showed significant changes
during the lesson. They gave positive responses by contributing actively in each activity in the given topic. They also braved to speak and showed longer
concentration towards the materials. Since those materials have accommodated their needs, it can be concluded that the theme-based materials has already
appropriated to be used as instructional materials for teaching English to L1 children of EFH.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
The purpose of this research is to develop appropriate materials for L1 children of English for Holidays EFH program, held by English Education
Department, Yogyakarta State University. The program is an annual program that focuses on the children’s English competence but in the fun atmosphere of
holidays. It is done to solve the problem in the teaching-learning activities. It is because there are no standard materials to be used during the teaching-learning
activities for each year although the program has been held for 16 years. Based on the research findings and discussions, the conclusions are explained as
follows:
1. The Development of Theme-Based Materials for L1 Children of English for
Holidays Program In order to design appropriate theme-based materials, the materials were
developed by considering the theories and the analysis of the needs surveys and were revised through the result of evaluations. The product is formulated into
course grid, lesson plans and a teacher’s manual book as the teacher’s guideline
that contain the developed materials. The materials in the teacher’s manual book
consist of nine units with nine different themes. The themes for nine units are: “Hello My Friends”, “Let’s Go for a Walk”, “Welcome to My House”, “Do
You Like Satay?”, “This is My Family”, “Let’s Have a Trip”, “Do You Have a
Pen?”, “The Ducks are Yellow” and “What is He Doing?”. Each unit consists of some stages:
“Get Ready”, “Let’s Start”, “It’s Your Turn”, “Let’s Have Fun” and
“Let’s Take a Break”. Each stage consists of activities that are arranged orderly through Presentation, Practice and Production methods to stimulate the
children’s awareness of what they are learning. The materials are delivered to the children in the form of songs, games, stories and supported by interesting media,
based on their developmental stages. Based on the findings, the various integrated learning activities from the
themes could maintain longer children’s attention span, curiosity and interests to
the materials. Children could learn English in fun and enjoyable ways that in line with the purpose of EFH. These activities also encouraged them to be brave to
communicate in English and increased their self confidence in learning English. Moreover, since they felt positive outcome after learning English with the
developed materials, almost all the respondents said that they want to join EFH program next year.
2. The Characteristics of Appropriate Theme-Based Materials for L1 Children
of English For Holidays Program The appropriate theme-based materials that can be used to in the teaching-
learning process for L1 children of English for Holidays should have the following criteria:
a. The materials should be appropriate for the instructional aims.
b. The materials can facilitate the teaching and learning process.
c. The quality of the materials is good and can be used for many times.
d. The media are colorful and attractive.
e. The activities are various and fun.
B. Implications
Based on the result of the study, there are two implications that can be drawn below. First, the theme-based materials for L1 children of EFH were
designed based on the needs analysis obtained from observation and interviews. The observation was conducted in Fun English Club FEC program by observing
its teaching-learning process. The interviews were conducted by interviewing the L1 teachers of FEC, whereas in EFH program by interviewing the previous
teachers of L1 class. The final product was designed by considering the assessment from the experts’ judgments and from the interviews to the children,
the parents and the teacher of L1A class of EFH 2013. Moreover, the average score based on the asses
sment from the experts’ judgments implies that the instructional materials are very good and feasible to use in English instruction.
The results of the developed theme-based materials after the implementation and evaluation imply that the materials are appropriate and feasible to be implemented
in the teaching-learning process to L1 children of EFH. Second, the research findings show that since the materials fulfill the
characteristics of appropriate theme-based materials for L1 children of English for Holidays, they can stimulate
the children’s awareness and attention towards the given materials. It shows that children’s interests to English are higher than
before. It can be concluded that when teachers want to create instructional materials, it is suggested that shehe can use theme-based approach to increase
children’s awareness towards the materials. Yet, they also have to fulfil the characteristics of appropriate theme-based materials. The implications of these
findings are that the teachers and other researchers can create appropriate theme- based instructional materials for their learners if they consider about the
characteristics of their learners ’ needs.
C. Suggestions
Based on the conclusion and implication, some suggestions are offered related to this research study. The suggestions are addressed to the English for
Holidays teachers, to the other researchers who are interested in this field, to materials developer, and to English Education Departments Students of
Yogyakarta State University. These are presented below.
1. For the English for Holidays teachers
It is expected that by using the developed materials, the L1 teachers can teach their young learners appropriately to support the teaching-learning process
in EFH and to fulfil the goal of EFH, i.e. to make the children more interested in English instructional process. Moreover, it is expected that the other teachers in
the EFH who want to create other theme-based materials for their young learners, consider the characteristics of the appropriate theme-based instructional materials
for the children.
2. For the material developers and other researchers
The other researchers who have any interest in developing materials in the same field can make reference to this study by creating different themes and
activities. They are expected to consider the characteristics of the children in their class. They should provide appropriate activities that meet the chil
dren’s characteristics by analyz
ing the children’s needs and by understanding the related theories. Therefore, the result of this study can be used as a beneficial reference
for them who want to conduct a similar study.
3. For the English Education Department Students of Yogyakarta State
University
The other English Education Department students can conduct the same study in different schools or programs with different topics and materials.
However, they should consider the characteristics of the appropriate theme-based materials for the children before they develop the materials by having deep need
analysis and observation to meet those characteristics.
