Developing Vocabulary Learning Materials Using the Theme- Based Approach for the Third Grade Students of the Elementary School

Abstract

The objectives of this research are: (1) to find out the target needs of the third grade students in learning vocabulary; (2) to find out the learning needs of the third grade students in learning vocabulary; and (3) to develop the appropriate theme-based vocabulary learning materials for the third grade elementary school students. The materials developed were designed based on the children’s needs. The materials developed provide the integrated skills presented into two cycles, spoken cycle and written cycle. This research is categorized as Research and Development (R&D). The subjects of this research are the third grade students of SD N 2 Adisucipto. This research adapted the steps of materials writing proposed by Jolly and Bolitho (1998). They are conducting needs analysis, developing the course grid, developing the first draft of the materials, getting the materials evaluation by the expert, and  revising  the  materials  and  developing  the  final  product.  The  data  was  collected  by  distributing  the questionnaire to the third grade students and conducting interviews with the English teacher and students. Two types of questionnaire were used to collect the data. The first questionnaire was made to obtain the data for the needs analysis and the second questionnaire was used to obtain the data for the materials evaluation through the expert judgement and the evaluation of the guide book appropriateness from the respondents. The data from the questionnaires defining as quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the data from the interviews were analyzed using qualitative data analysis model proposed by Miles and Huberman (1994). The final products of this research are a book of theme-based vocabulary learning materials for the third grade students and a guide book for teachers. There are three units provided reflecting the different themes related to the students’ daily life. Considering the students’ learning needs, the input provided is in the form of pictures, conversation, texts, and songs (provided in Let’s Sing a Song part). Based on the analysis of the data from the expert judgement, the mean score of all aspects of the appropriateness is 3.77. This value is in the range of 3.25 < X ≤ 4.00 which is categorized as “Very Good”. Furthermore, it is concluded that the developed theme-based vocabulary learning materials are appropriate for the third grade elementary school students.

Keywords: vocabulary learning materials, theme-based approach, elementary