A READING MATERIAL EVALUATION OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR 8TH GRADE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The study deals with reading materials in English in Mind Second Edition which was used at Santo Thomas 1 Junior High School. The purposes of the study were to find out level of conformity between reading materials provided in the textbook with the needs of KTSP syllabus and whether the textbook fulfilled Indonesian students needs and interests. The research was conducted by using descriptive qualitative design. The source of the data was English in Mind Second Edition textbook. The data were the reading materials which were provided in the English textbook itself. Then, all the data were analyzed based on document analysis. The result showed that the reading materials which were in conformity with the needs of KTSP syllabus only provided in 13 out of 32 texts (40,62%) in the textbook, and the most dominant text of them was recount text. Even though the textbook did not contain quite enough quantity for descriptive, narrative and recount text, the indicators which were developed in the textbook itself were considered as “good” since they fulfilled 12 out of 16 indicators (75%) which were needed in KTSP syllabus. Based on the range of percentage above, the writer concluded that the textbook was still quite good to be used in Indonesia even though the lack of genres that was actually required in currently implemented curriculum (KTSP) needs. Furthermore, all English teachers are suggested to be more careful and selective when they are in the process of selecting and deciding the textbook which will be used for teaching - learning process. Later on, the textbook itself is also recommended to revise its contents and add more materials (genres and social culture contents) which go along with the materials needed in curriculum