DEVELOPING ENGLISH WRITING MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 6 YOGYAKARTA IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2012/ 2013

The objectives of this study are to identify the learners’ needs of the eighth grade students of SMP N 6 Yogyakarta in learning writing and to develop writing materials that are appropriate for the students. This study is categorized into Research and Development (R&D). The subjects of the study are the eighth grade students of SMP N 6 Yogyakarta in the academic year of 2012/ 2013. The instruments of the study are questionnaires and interview guidelines. The data from the questionnaires was analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics while the data from the interviews was analyzed qualitatively using the data analysis model proposed by Miles and Huberman in Sugiyono (2012) that are data reduction, data display, and making conclusion. This study was conducted by following the model of Research and Development stages by Gall, Gall and Borg (2003) combined with the stages of materials development by Jolly and Bolitho in Tomlinson (1998) with several modifications. The steps of the study were identification of needs for materials, planning, developing the materials, reviewing the materials, evaluating the materials, conducting a try-out, and writing the final draft of the materials. There are two findings obtained in this study based on the research questions. First, based on the result of needs analysis, the students need writing materials that cover process-based approach activities and meet their needs. Second, there are three units that were developed in this study. The developed materials are considered applicable and appropriate since the mean scores of the evaluation questionnaire range from 2,94 to 3,39 (four point likert scale) that are categorized as good and very good