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● Storybooks add variety, provide a springboard for creating complete units of work that constitute mini-syllabuses and
involve pupils personally, creatively and actively in a whole curriculum approach.
● Storybooks offer positive concrete outcomes in the form of games, competition, quizzes, drama, songs, projects, book
making, etc. ● Learning English through stories can lay the foundations for
higher levels of school in terms of learning basic language functions and structure, vocabulary and language-learning
skills.
The ”When English Rings A Bell” textbook provided by the government for Grade VII students of the junior high school, however, is
considered lacking in reading materials. Therefore, by conducting this research, a theme-based storybook is chosen as a medium accompanying the
textbooks which contains a variety of reading activities followed by vocabulary and comprehension exercises. These can then be supplemented
with additional information from the internet, newspapers and other sources. However, another approach is to use specially constructed resource books
which contain collections of authentic materials or simplified versions. These can be about a particular theme such as drug use or care of the elderly, or
about more general topics. It is possible to create some really interesting classroom materials as long as the need for comprehensibility is not forgotten.
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B. Relevant Studies
A theme-based storybook as a medium in developing English reading materials is not a new thing. Several studies have been conducted regarding
this matter. Rather than the usual printed storybooks, Ertem 2009 investigated the use of electronic CD-ROM storybooks and traditional printed
storybooks on reading comprehension of fourth grade struggling readers. The result showed that struggling readers who read the electronic CD-ROM
storybooks had higher scores as measured by multiple choice comprehension tests than those who read the traditional printed storybooks. Although the
findings pointed out the significances of using the electronic CD-ROM storybooks instead of the traditional printed ones, it still proved that the
traditional printed storybooks could inc rease the students’ abilities in reading
comprehension. Furthermore, another impressive result of theme-based storybooks is
reflected in the study conducted by Hung 2014 in Taiwan. She developed and implemented a theme-based English literacy curriculum at the elementary
school. It was a quasi-experimental research which involved five classes of Grade III students as the participants. The result showed that the theme-based
English literacy curriculum developed in this study significantly increased the English literacy proficiency of the participants. Materials developed in this
study covered four themes in which each theme includes picture storybooks as one of the media besides songs, poems, and short essays.
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C. Conceptual Framework
Reading materials in the “When English Rings A Bell” textbook for Grade VII students of SMPMTs is necessary to be developed. One of the
useful methods to develop it is through a theme-based storybook which meets students’ needs and interests. The theme-based storybook is purposely
developed as an additional medium of reading materials to the textbook. It is for assisting Grade VII students in reading comprehension. Later, the
storybook provides some sort of various activities that foster their reading comprehension. For Grade VII students who are still categorized into young
learners, the theme-based storybook for reading comprehension is regarded as an interesting medium which provides just enough materials at their language
levels of proficiency.
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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Type of the Research
Developing English reading materials using a theme-based storybook for reading comprehension of “When English Rings A Bell” textbook for
Grade VII students of SMPMTs was the aim of this study. Therefore, this study was included into Research and Development R D. According to
Richey, Klein, Nelson in Richey and Klein 2005 there are two categories of developmental research, referred to as Type 1 and Type 2. They vary in
terms of the extent to which the conclusions resulting from the research are generalizable or contextually specific. Type 1 developmental studies focus
upon a given instructional product, program, process, or tool. They reflect an interest in identifying either general development principles or situation-
specific recommendations. Typically Type 1 studies address not only product design and development, but evaluation as well. At times they may validate a
particular design or development technique or tool. Type 2 studies, on the other hand, focus upon a given design, development, or evaluation model or
process. They may involve constructing and validating unique design models and processes, as well as identifying those conditions that facilitate their
successful use.
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Gall, Gall, and Borg 2003 state that educational research and educational research and development is an industry-based development
model whose findings are used to design new products and procedures, which are then systematically field tested, evaluated, and refined until they meet
specified criteria of the effectiveness, quality, or similar standards. Due to the limitation of time, this study trimmed the field testing. It was eventually
evaluated only by an expert judgment. At the end of this study, a theme-based storybook for reading comprehension was produced.
B. Research Setting
The setting of this research was at SMP Negeri 15 Yogyakarta. The school is located at Jln. Bangirejo, Yogyakarta. The research was completely
conducted in August, 2015.
C. Research Subjects
The subjects of the research were Grade VII students of SMP Negeri 15 Yogyakarta in the academic year 20152016. The researcher drew the
needs analysis questionnaires data using the students of Classes VII-E and VII-F as population samples. Each class consisted of thirty three 33 students
with almost equal distribution of male and female students. Therefore, the number of the questionnaires assigned was sixty six questionnaires.
