The Development of a Supplementary Reading Material for Architecture at National Institute of Technology Malang

Abstract

Teaching material is one of the important components in the process of teaching and learning. The demand to achieve the success in obtaining the maximum input of knowledge in terms of learning language requires the teaching material used must be contextualized with the learners‟ needs. It is done to ignite the students‟ productivity in using language. By fulfilling the learners‟ needs, learning becomes meaningful and purposeful. The main reason for designing a teaching material in this study is to empower the students of architecture with reading material which underlay English for specific purpose. It is also completed with exercises which include speaking so that the learner can activate their oral communication. The instructional design models used in this designing of teaching material are adopted from those of Dick and Carey (2005) as well as Borg and Gall, (2003) involving 10 steps of material development. Those 2 models are simplified by the researcher to be 6 steps covering; 1) needs analysis and proof of concept, 2) product planning and design, 3) prototype development, 4) expert validation, 5) field testing/try out, 6) product revision. The simplification is carried out due to a time constrain, and academic constrain, research needs and a financial constrain. The result of teaching material development has specification as follows: The topic in every unit is set in chronological order based on the procedures of architecture work moreover the topic in every unit is integrated to discuss in every sub-unit. The activity in every sub-unit is oriented for reading comprehension and vocabulary mastery. Such mastery is intended to support the students‟ oral communication. The speaking activities are supported by some learning theory such as behaviorism and constructivism. Therefore, the final teaching material is reasonably successful, for this teaching material has filled the current gap of English speaking learning needs of architecture students with various models of speaking practice. This teaching material is also designed based on the actual work of an architect at which later on it can assist the architect students who are projected to work at architectural field in local or foreign countries. Aside from the strengths above, this teaching material has some limitations. The weak point is that this teaching material is not completed with the leveling and assessment procedure. In fact, such aspects are essential for teaching material. For further researchers, it is suggested to design English teaching material for architecture students focusing on oral communication with leveling and assessment procedure.