Development and Acceptability of Supplementary Technologically-Mediated Learning Materials in English Story Mapping for Grade 7 Students in the Philippines

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Reading skill is essential to triumph in school and in daily life activities (Teologo, 2004). Students having difficulties and disabilities on this present serious and potentially lifelong challenges (Connor, et. al.: 2014), such as low grades, behavior problems, juvenile delinquency, truancy, unemployment, jail time and substance abuse (Arvans, 2009). Nurhikmah (2011) relates that using story maps as graphic organizers for understanding short stories was found to be of great importance and using computer-aided instruction in the classroom increases student motivation, develops curiosity and makes learning experiences memorable. For this reason, this study intends to develop validated supplementary materials using technologically-mediated materials in English story mapping for students with low reading skills.

METHODS

Descriptive research design through validated evaluation tool to assess the appropriateness, clarity, usability, comprehensibility, completeness, and accuracy of the technologically-mediated supplementary materials in English story mapping utilizing acceptability rating, the rating is given by fifteen (15) English teachers and fifty (50) students in the pilot implementation were gathered and treated through mean, percentage, ranking, and t-test.

RESULTS

Findings of this study showed (1) that based on the baseline data, five difficult stories in Grade 7 Curriculum Guide were identified by the language teachers: The Centipede by Rony V. Diaz, The Mats by Francisco Arcellana, The Wedding Dance by Amador T. Daguio, The Baby in the Bottle by Benjamin Bautista, and Children of the City by Amado Ma. Guerrero was the basis of the development of the supplementary technologically-mediated learning materials using story mapping; (2) the most preferred format for the supplementary technologically-mediated learning materials development in English 7 using story mapping was Nunan's model. This is composed of the following parts: Objectives, Preview, Reading Text, Practice Tasks, and Feedback; (3) the teachers and the student respondents evaluated the developed supplementary technologically-mediated learning materials in English using story mapping for Grade 7 Students as Very Acceptable (VA), and (4) there is no significant difference between teacher and students acceptability.

DISCUSSIONS

The supplementary technologically-mediated learning materials using story mapping is not free from its flows even though it rated "Very Acceptable", the teachers and the student respondents offered suggestions to further improve such as (a) more pictures should be included, (b) pictures should clearly explain the story, (c) maps should be simple and clear, (d) different kinds of story maps, and (e) maps should be easy to understand. Hence, a follow-up research project on the use of supplementary technologically-mediated learning materials using story mapping to other grade level is hereby posted.