DESIGNING A COMIC BOOK FOR EXTENSIVE READING MATERIAL FOR THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 2 PIYUNGAN

Abstract

The aims of this study were: (1) to find the target needs and reading needs of Grade VIII students at SMPN 2 Piyungan, and (2) to design a comic book as an extensive reading material for the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Piyungan.

            This study was classified as a research and development (R&D) study. The subject of this study was grade VIII students of SMPN 2 Piyungan class VIII-F which consisted of 25 students. The research procedure was adapted from the ADDIE concept proposed by Branch (2009). The first step was conducting the needs analysis by distributing questionnaire to the students. The data gained from the needs analysis were analysed quantitatively using frequencies and percentages. The second step was designing the course grid based on the  Curriculum 2013. The next step was developing the first draft of the extensive reading materials. The last two steps were evaluating and revising the final draft of the materials. The result of the evaluation was analysed using descriptive statistics.

Based on the results of the needs analysis, it was found that grade VIII-F students of SMPN 2 Piyungan wanted to get equipped with sufficient English ability and learn some English expressions. This study was intended to design a comic book as an extensive reading material based on the needs of Grade VIII students of SMPN 2 Piyungan. There are three chapters of the materials that were developed in this research. The story is about a daily teaching and learning process situation in “FINITE class”, one of the eighth grade classes in “La FINITO” Junior High School.The first chapter, “Birthday Fail”, disscuses greeting and giving compliments. The second chapter disscuses recount texts entitled“Magic Mom”. The last chapter disscuses narrative text and understanding a song lyrics. The title of Chapter 3 is “I have a Dream” which is adapted from Westlife’s song entitled “I Have a Dream”. The contents of the developed materials were appropriate based on the results of the research finding by the expert. The mean score of all aspects of the developed materials was 3.47 which was categorized as very good.

Keywords: comic book, reading, extensive reading.