Big Books: Big, Bold, and Beautiful with Impacts

Abstract

Some Indonesian elementary schools include English as a local content subject. However, one aspect that is often missing in the process of teaching and learning is supporting teaching media. This is often found in schools based in remote areas, including the one at SD Negeri 6 Tambak Ukir, which is included in this study. The teaching and learning at this school is not fully accommodated because of the unavailability of teaching media. The students are not fortunate enough to afford commercial learning media. The problems worsen with the fact that the teachers have never been professionally prepared and trained to teach English. Such problems lead to meaningless learning. Concerning the issues, we developed five big books to be used by English teachers and students of SD Negeri 6 Tambak Ukir with the aim to provide supplementary learning media for the students, particularly in learning English vocabulary. The research adopted the development model proposed by Gall, Gall, and Borg (2003). There are four simplified stages in this development process: problem analysis, product development, product trials, and product revisions. In the first stage, the researchers planned to develop 10 books, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, only five books (including a manual user) could be developed. The topic covers numbers, colours, alphabets, animals, and the human body. The provision of the books helped the teachers in delivering the topics. The books could also create a new learning experience for the students. Besides, the students also felt that they could get closer to their friends because they could learn together and felt extra motivated. In other words, having been validated and tried out, the books were proven to be valid, effective, and practical. They were valid as they were developed based on strong theories, effective as they can fulfil students’ needs, and practical as they can facilitate both teachers and students during the teaching and learning process. Briefly, the big book can describe itself well. It is big, bold, and beautiful with impacts.
 Keywords: big book, English teaching medium, research and development, SD Negeri 6 Tambak Ukir