Developing English Speaking Learning Materials for SPA Therapists in Yogyakarta

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to find out the target and learning needs of spa therapists in Yogyakarta in learning English speaking skills, and to develop the appropriate English speaking learning materials for spa therapists in Yogyakarta. This research was a Research and Development (R & D) study. The procedure of this research followed Dick and Carey model in Gall and Borg (2003) with some modifications. The steps of the research procedure were conducting needs analysis, planning (writing the course grid), writing the first draft of the materials, conducting materials evaluation, and writing the final draft of the materials. This research involved 40 spa therapists in Yogyakarta as the subject of the research. The data collection instruments used in this research were needs analysis questionnaire and materials evaluation questionnaire. The data from the needs analysis were analyzed quantitatively using frequency and percentage and the data obtained from the materials evaluation were analyzed through descriptive statistics. The findings showed that (1) the spa therapists learn English mainly to improve their speaking skills, (2) they needed to master language functions that are useful for them in doing their job, (3) they considered themselves as beginner speakers lacking in speaking, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, (4) they wanted English learning materials that can help them to improve their speaking skills, pronunciation, grammar use, vocabulary, and language functions related to their job, (5) they wanted the materials to provide topics related to their job and to have clear instructions, explanations, examples, pronunciation transcripts, colorful illustrations, tips, exercises, glossary, self-check, and summary, (6) the needed inputs for the materials are dialogues, vocabulary, and languages functions, (7) the materials should cover varied activities of listening, speaking, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, (8) the materials should facilitate them to work individually and in pairs, and (9) they were expecting to have teachers who correct every mistake they make and to involve in discussions while doing the tasks. Furthermore, after writing the course grid, the materials were then developed to have three units. Each unit has different number of tasks, but has the same unit design whose components are (1) introduction (Unit Title, Learning Objectives), (2) main lesson (Getting Started, Start Talking, Listen to This, Say It Right, Focus on Grammar, Talk Some More, Work in Pairs), (3) reinforcement (Self-Check, Summary), and (4) fun part (Fun Corner). The materials were then being evaluated by experts in terms of content, language, presentation, and layout appropriateness. The results of the materials evaluation showed that the materials fell into the “very good” category as the mean value of all aspects of the developed materials is 3.44 which is in range of “very good” category that is 3.25 ≤ x ≤ 4.