Developing Digital Comic As Supplementary Reading Materials On Narrative Texts For Eighth Graders Of Junior High Schools

ABSTRACT Mahmuda, Hafidatul. 2016. Developing Digital Comic as Supplementary Reading Materials on Narrative Texts for Eighth Graders of Junior High Schools. Thesis, English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisors: (I) Nunung Suryati, M.Ed., Ph.D., (II) Prof. H. Moh. Adnan Latief, M.A., Ph.D.Keywords: digital comic, supplementary materials, reading comprehension, computer-basedReading is one of skills that should be mastered by junior high school students. However, the students’ ability in reading comprehension is still low since there are some problems regarding several aspects like lack of vocabulary, and lack of interest and motivation which were caused by lack of interesting materials and media for reading. The aim of the study was to develop supplementary reading materials in the form of digital comic for the eighth graders of junior high school. The digital comic was created in order to be the aids of the students to improve their reading comprehension and increase their motivation in reading English texts.This study adapted a research design by Borg & Gall (1983) and was conducted in six steps: (1) needs analysis, (2) materials development, (3) product development, (4) theoretical validation, (5) empirical validation, and (6) final product. The digital comic application was validated by two experts on media and materials: a lecturer of State University of Malang and an English teacher of SMPN 1 Kalisat. Then, the product was tried out to 12 students of VIII F SMPN 1 Kalisat as the sample. The product was revised based on the experts’ judgements and the students’ feedback. The final product of this study is a digital comic named DIGICOM in the form of an application. It has 100 MB of size and it is compatible with all types of computers. The application provides four kinds of narrative texts i.e. two legends, one fable, and one fairy tale. Each story consists of three stages: (1) Warm-up, (2) Story, and (3) Mini-quizzes. The additional features provided in the product are the audio, the glossary, and the pop-up words related to the use of past simple verbs. In addition, there is “Read me” part as the guidance for the users to know the learning objectives and how to operate the product. “Read me” part includes 5 aspects: (1) About DIGICOM, (2) Basic Competence, (3) Objectives, (4) Direction of Icons, and (5) Bibliography.The result of the study was obtained from the experts’ judgement and the students’ attitudes toward the product. According to the experts’ judgement, the application is considered feasible to be used as supplementary reading materials for eighth graders. In addition to that, the students gave positive feedback by stating that the application was very interesting. They also stated that the application could increase their interest and motivation in reading English texts. The product is recommended to be used for the students as self-study materials outside the class. In helping to create joyful teaching and learning process, teacher can also use the product inside the class since the materials were already adjusted to the materials recommended in KTSP 2006. Future researchers can develop similar product by changing and adding more sophisticated features that can help the students feel pleasant while learning English