DEVELOPING READING KITS USING FLANNEL BOOKS FOR THE FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

The objective of this study was to develop a set of reading kits using flannel books for the fourth grade students of elementary schools. The study focused on how to provide suitable reading kits using flannel books for the English teaching and learning process in elementary schools. This study was Research and Development (R and D). The subjects of the study were the fourth grade students of SD N Grogol. The instruments of the study were an interview guideline and questionnaires. The data obtained from the interviews were analysed qualitatively, while the data from the questionnaires were analysed quantitatively. The steps of this study were conducting needs analysis, writing the course grid, developing reading materials using flannel books, evaluating and revising the first draft of the developed materials, trying out the second draft of the developed materials, evaluating and revising the second draft of the materials and writing the final draft of the reading materials using flannel books. The products of the study are reading kits using flannel books, teachers’ guide and worksheets. The reading kits using flannel books are presented in three units. They are “A Very Hungry Caterpillar”, “My New Friends” and “Going to the Farm”. Each unit consists of four parts with different genres of texts. Based on the results of the evaluation questionnaires, the developed reading kits were categorized as good and very good since the mean scores ranged from 3.10 to 4.00. The suitable reading kits using flannel books for the fourth grade students have some characteristics such as being relevant with the goal of the lesson, providing appropriate input for the students’ needs and characteristics, promoting interesting activities which are designed from easy to difficult, being presented in interesting and effective ways and also providing clear and understandable instructions