EFL Students’ Perceptions of Digital Extensive Reading Program in Junior High School Level
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui persepsi siswa tentang membaca digital ekstensif dengan menggunakan aplikasi Let's Read di tingkat sekolah menengah pertama. Penelitian ini memiliki dua pertanyaan penelitian: (1) Bagaimana siswa EFL menggunakan platform membaca digital ekstensif? (2) bagaimana persepsi siswa terhadap program membaca ekstensif digital? Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif. Peneliti mengumpulkan data melalui observasi dan wawancara. Partisipan penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas tujuh dari salah satu sekolah yang ada di NTT, yang terdiri dari 28 siswa. Penelitian ini dilakukan dalam tujuh kali pertemuan. Enam pertemuan digunakan untuk observasi, dan pertemuan terakhir digunakan untuk wawancara. Semua data dianalisis secara manual. Wawancara direkam, kemudian ditranskrip dan dikategorikan oleh peneliti. Tema-tema diekstraksi dari transkripsi tersebut. Berdasarkan hasil dan pembahasan dari penelitian ini, cara siswa menggunakan platform digital: pertama, siswa membuka platform. Kedua, siswa memilih level buku berdasarkan kemampuan mereka. Ketiga, siswa memilih kategori buku berdasarkan minat mereka. Keempat, siswa memilih kebutuhan bahasa. Persepsi para siswa ada yang positif dan negatif. Hal positifnya adalah, pertama, belajar kosakata baru. Kedua, memotivasi siswa dalam membaca. Buku ini memiliki banyak cerita dan tingkatan, mudah dipahami dan mengembangkan pengetahuan. Ketiga, menyenangkan karena ceritanya pendek dan sederhana, dapat dibaca di mana saja dan kapan saja, mudah diakses, ada gambar dan audio, serta dapat diterjemahkan langsung. Sisi negatifnya adalah siswa menumukan kosa kata yang susah dan gambar yang tidak jelas. Selain itu negative tekniknya adalah membutuhkan koneksi internet, mata yang lelah, dan baterai yang lemah sehingga menyulitkan untuk membaca.
This study aimed to determine the students’ perceptions of extensive digital reading using the Let’s Read application at the junior high school level. This study has two research questions: (1) How do the EFL students use extensive digital reading platforms? (2) what are the students’ perceptions of the extensive digital reading program? This study applied a qualitative research method. The researcher collected the data through observation and interviews. The participants were the seventh-grade students of one school at NTT, consisting of 28 students. The research was done in seven meetings. The six meetings were used for observation, and the last meeting was used for an interview. All data were analyzed manually. The interview was recorded, then transcribed and categorized by the researcher. The themes were extracted from the transcription. Based on the result and discussion of this study, the way students used the digital platform was as follows: First, students opened the platform. Second, students chose book levels based on their ability. Third, students chose book categories based on their interests. Fourth, students chose language needs. The perceptions of the students were positive and negative. The positives were, first, learning new vocabulary and, second, motivating students in reading. It has many stories and levels; they are easy to understand and develop knowledge. Third, fun reading was because the stories were short and simple, could be read anywhere and anytime, were easy to access, had pictures and audio, and could be translated directly. The negative sides were that students found the difficult words and unclear pictures. Besides, the negative techniques required an internet connection, the tired eyes, and the low battery made it difficult to read.