Developing Task-Based Supplementary English Reading Materials for Grade VII Students of Junior High School

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: (1) to describe the reading target needs of Grade VII students of Junior High School focusing on descriptive texts; (2) to describe the reading learning needs of Grade VII students of Junior High School focusing on descriptive texts; (3) to develop task-based supplementary English reading materials focusing on descriptive texts for Grade VII students of Junior High School.This research belonged to research and development study. The research subjects were grade VII D students of SMPN 9 Yogyakarta. This research adapted the combination of R&D model proposed by Jolly and Bolitho in Tomlinson (1998) and Borg and Gall (1983) with some modifications which were conducting needs analysis, writing the course grid, developing the materials (designing the first draft of the product), getting expert judgment, and revision (writing the final draft of the materials). The research used two types of questionnaires: 1) need analysis questionnaire to find the students’ target needs and learning needs and 2) expert judgement questionnaire to obtain the data for the appropriateness of the developed supplementary materials. The data obtained from the needs analysis and the expert judgement were analyzed quantitatively through descriptive statistics. There were three units in the developed materials. Each unit consists of 13-16 tasks divided into seven parts: schema building, controlled practices, authentic reading practices, focused on linguistic elements, freer practices, pedagogical tasks, and reflection. Based on the results of the expert judgement questionnaire, the developed supplementary materials can be considered as “very good”.

Keywords: Task-Based, Supplementary Reading Materials, Grade VII students of Junior High School