6/14/19

Ngadanese Local Culture-based English reading materials for Junior High School students: as breakthrough to preserve the local genius

VOXRATEWATI.Com. By Wara Cypriano

Ngadanese Local Culture-based English reading materials for Junior High School students: as breakthrough to preserve the local genius
Siprianus Wara*, I Ketut Seken, and I Gede Budasi
English Education Department, Postgraduate Program, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Singaraja Bali Indonesia
Abstract. This study aimed to find out the material needed to be developed, identify how to develop Ngadanese local culture-based English material, and to analyse the quality of the local culture-based supplementary English reading material for the eighth grade students of Junior High School. The material development followed Research and Development design model. The first finding, the identification of the material was through need analysis by classroom observation, interview, questionnaire, and the document study. The teacher of the school and the students agreed that the supplementary English reading material to be developed based on Ngadanese local culture. Second was the material has fulfilled the aspects of good material: content, language used, activities, and the assessment. The third was the quality of the prototype categorized as having good material and the excellent material. In addition, the eighth grade students of Junior High School gave big positive agreement toward the product. The good material: attractiveness, simplicity, practicality, usefulness, clarity and detail. The implication of the study, the product can be used as the supplementary English reading material not only for the eighth grade of Junior High School students in Soa district but also for the Junior High School Students in Ngada Regency.
Keywords: Reading Material, Local Culture, Research and Development  


1 Introduction

Learning material plays an important role as the source of learning.  The material can influence learners’ interest, attention, and understanding of what they learnt in leaning process [1]. One aspect of authentic material is students’ local culture [2]. The English teacher can develop the supplementary material related to the local culture. English was the first world’s language has certainly made people aware to learn it for different purposes. English is prioritized over other foreign languages and is taught as a compulsory subject in junior and senior high schools as determined by central government policy since Indonesia gained independence in 1945 [3].  In Indonesia, English is taught based on School-Based Curriculum (SBC) meanwhile some schools implement curriculum 2013. The SBC is developed based on educational unit, school potential, characteristics, social cultural aspects, and the students’ characteristics [4].

Corresponding author: joelodo1205@gmail.com

In an effort to maintain the local culture values, activities, and the artifact as related to cultural heritage aspects, the researcher developed Ngadanese local culture-based English reading material for the eighth grade of State Junior High School students (Sekolah Menengah Pertama)  in Soa district of Ngada Regency. The study was conducted in this area because Ngada is one of the regencies in Flores island of East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia which has beautiful nature and magnificent sceneries. According to UNESCO [5] East Nusa Tenggara province is associated with backward region and poverty but owns rich nature and culture resources.  One way to make all the local potencies survive is by basing English teaching and learning materials on local culture related to the students’ needs and also learning needs. Relation to the cultural heritage matters to individuals, ethnic groups, nation and international community [6].
The heritage of tourism in East Nusa Tenggara contributes to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) [5]. The potencies of the East Nusa Tenggara especially in Ngada Regency should be developed.  After inventorying all potencies and the problems, the researcher conducted the preliminary observation in the classroom at state Junior High School in Soa district of Ngada Regency. The study found that the teacher did not have enough English reading materials and the existing English reading materials did not contain local culture aspects. Based on the problems found, the researcher tried to develop the local culture-based English reading material. Generally, the manifestations of culture are distinguished into three categories as 1) manifestation of culture as a complex as ideas, values, norms, rules and so forth, 2) manifestation of culture as a complex pattern of activities and actions of human being in a society, 3) manifestation of culture as objects of human works (artifacts) [7] . This study focused on the manifestation of culture as complex pattern of activities and actions of human being in local ceremonies such as: reba ceremony, sagi ceremony, and also rori witu ceremony. Besides is also focused on the manifestation of Ngadanese local culture as the objects of human work (artifacts) such as Bena traditional village, Ngadanese traditional costumes, ja’i dance, dero dance, local food and beverages like bogi or sui wu’u, tua ara, tua bhara, and Ngadanese folklores or folktales etc. Developing culture-based an English material model for elementary schools in Bali. The material constructed in themes based [8].  
The material was developed based on the local culture as directed by the School-Based Curriculum. The first thing done in data collecting in the research was the preliminary observation. The data were collected by using the classroom observation, teacher’s and the students’ interview, questionnaire and also the scoring rubric. The development of the material design model which is elaborated into eight steps namely 1) need analysis, 2) data collection, 3) design product, 4) product validation, 5) product revision, 6) user try out, 7) product revision, and 8) final product [9].  
The material development was done based on the School-Based Curriculum (SBC) because the school still uses that curriculum. The SBC is developed based on the educational unit, school potential, school characteristics, social cultural aspects, and the students’ characteristics [4]. Reading comprehension is the result of interaction between thought and language, and the evaluation of success in comprehension is based on the extent to which the readers’ reconstructed the massage agrees with the writer’s intended massage [10]. The framework of the textbook follows the four elements of the material namely input, content, language focus and the task or assessment [11]. Reading activities that have a long text or the large quantities for general understanding that the learners are free to choose topic what will they read or discussed. It means the teacher must provide the reading sources in form of authentic reading material.


2 Method
This study used Research and Development (R&D) in design since it was basically focused on developing the instructional material for used at Junior High School. Therefore, a design model was adapted. The phases of this study mainly design model which is elaborated into eight steps namely 1) need analysis, 2) data collection, 3) design product, 4) product validation, 5) product revision, 6) user try out, 7) product revision, and 8) final product [9].
The study started with the need analysis. It was conducted to obtain as much information as possible through classroom observation, questionnaire, interview, and document study. The next step was data collection. The information from the English teacher and students is surely needed as the basis to develop suitable materials for the eighth grade of Junior High School Students. The sample class consisted of 34 students. The designing of the product used the framework of the [11].  Further step was product validation. This phase is related to the experts’ judgment for improvement of the product. The product validation was conducted by two lectures of English Education Department at Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha whose are expertise in English reading material. The validation process consisted of some components: the content of the material, language used, task and assessment [1]. The next step was the revision of the product based on the suggestions of the experts. After that administered the user try out. The product was evaluated by two English teachers and also the eighth grade students. To improve the product the revision was done based on the suggestions from the users. Finally, the product became the final product. In the data analysis and also the product evaluation the formula [12] which can be seen on table 1 was used the scoring rubric used a Likert scale instrument where score 5 was excellent, 4 was good, 3 was average, 2 was below average, and 1 was poor material. The category of good material formula can be seen on table 1.

Table 1formula category of good material
Score
Criteria
 Mi + 1.5 Sdi
Excellence material
  Mi + 0.5 Sdi   < Mi +1.5 Sdi
Good material
  Mi – 0.5 Sdi < Mi + 0.5 Sdi
Average material
 Mi – 1.5 Sdi  <  Mi – 0.5 Sdi
Below Average material
< Mi – 1.5 Sdi
Poor material


3 Results and Discussion

The following section discusses the results of the research during the development of the product and its discussion as the special merit of the study. The result of the study consists of the description of material needed to be developed, the way how to develop the material and also analyze the quality of the material. First was the analyzing of material to be developed by using students’ questionnaire, the interview to the English teacher and also the eighth grade of Junior High School students. The result showed that 100 % or 34 students gave a big positive agreement that the supplementary English reading material to be developed based on Ngadanese local culture. In relation to the material that needs to be developed, the English teacher stated that the teacher and institution gave a big appreciation for the project to develop local culture-based supplementary English reading material Moreover, the way of how material to be developed, the researcher used the research and development (R&D) material model design [9]. The design model was elaborated into eight phases. The phases of the study started with need analysis, data collection, design product, product validation, product revision1, user try out, product revision 2, and the final product.
Furthermore, the quality of the product was analyzed based on the result of the scores given by the expert judges, the English teachers, and also the interview result of the eighth grade of Junior High School students in Soa district of Ngada Regency. The result from the two experts judgment of the product evaluation showed that the material was categorized into good material as indicated by the experts’ mean score of 4.2 < 4.5. Meanwhile, the result of the two English teachers evaluation of the material was the excellent material as indicated by the teachers’ mean scores of 4.65  4.5. The result is shown on table 2.

Table 2 result of the calculation converted into the criteria of material

Score
Criteria
 4, 64  4.5
Excellence material
  3.5   < 4.5
Good material
  2.5 <  3.5
Average material
 1.5  <  2.5
Below average material
  < 1.5
Poor material


In addition, to know the users feedback toward the product, the interview was done to the representative of the 34 students were 6 students were chosen in conducting the interview. The result of the eighth grade students’ perceptions toward the product showed that the English reading material had met the aspects of attractiveness, simplicity, practicality, usefulness, clarity and detail. Based on the result of the expert judgment, the English teachers and also the students’ interview result, the researcher concluded that Ngadanese local culture-based supplementary English reading material could be applied as the supplementary English reading for the Junior High School students and the other schools in Ngada Regency.
The final product of the study was Ngadanese local culture-based supplementary English reading material for the eighth grade of Junior High School students in Soa district of Ngada Regency in academic year of 2016/2017. The product was in a textbook form used as the supplementary English reading material. The product which has been developed fulfilled the criteria of good material as proposed by Tomlinson [2] which has some aspects namely the content of the material, language used, the activities and also the assessment of the material. The content of the material based on the manifestation of culture distinguish the three manifestations of cultures: 1) culture as complex of ideas, values, norms, rules, and so forth, 2) culture as a complex of activities and actions of human being in society, 3) culture as objects of human work (artifacts) [7].
Dealing with the manifestations of culture, the two were used in this study related to Ngdanese local culture such as: 1) manifestation of culture as a complex of activities and actions of human being in society presented in Ngadanese traditional ceremonies like Reba ceremony (thanksgiving festival), Sagi ceremony (traditional boxing), Rori witu ceremony (traditional hunting), 2) the manifestation of culture as a complex of activities and actions of human being in society presented in Ngadanese local culture in Bena traditional village, traditional house (Bhaga and Ngadhu), traditional costumes (Sapu Lu’e and Lawo Butu) and also the nature, marine and other local potencies.
The implications of this study are firstly, the English teacher of the eighth grade students can use Ngadanese local culture-based supplementary English reading material to improve the English reading skill in teaching and learning activities. The second, the students can learn their local culture through reading class activities by using the local culture-based English reading materials. The third, the material cannot only be used for the eighth grade of Junior High School students in Soa district but also for all the Junior High School students in Ngada Regency.

4.Conclusion

As is clear from foregoing discussion, the developing local culture based supplementary English reading material is must to preserve the local culture through English learning activities. By using local culture based English reading material the students are more interested with the text or the materials provided as the source of learning. Familiarity of the reading material boosts students’ interest and motives them to read. Besides, the use of local culture-base English reading material will be effective for the students’ learning because they have prior knowledge about the topic which can trigger them to be more active in reading class. In another word, using local culture-based English reading material is more understandable as the authentic material to improve the students reading skill. It also gives the appropriate culture for the students as related to their real life. Considering the advantage, it suggested for the English teachers to either adapt or develop of local culture reading materials that match students’ interest and fulfill pedagogical goal. Therefore, the use of local culture-based English reading material in reading class is very useful.


Acknowledgment

The paper was supported by the two supervisors: I Ketut Seken and I Gede Budasi as the lectures of English Education Department, Post Graduate study program of Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha Singaraja Bali Indonesia.


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