DEVELOPING ENGLISH READING MATERIALS IN DESCRIPTIVE TEXT FOR TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OFNURSING ASSISTANT AT SMK KESEHATAN HAFSYAH MEDAN

This study aimed to develop suitable English reading materials on descriptive texts for tenth grade nursing assistant students at SMK Kesehatan Hafsyah Medan, since their existing reading materials only cover general topics, such as Lake Toba. The research followed Research and Development (R&D) by Borg and Gall’s theory (2003) and went through six stages: (1) Gathering the data and information, (2) Analyzing the data and information, (3) Designing new reading materials, (4) Validating new reading materials, (5) Revising new reading materials, (6) final product. The data of this research was the existing Descriptive Text and the sources of the data were the English textbook entitled “English for SMK 1”, the 10th grade students consisted of 32 students, and the English teacher. The instruments for collecting data were interview, questionnaire, and document. Data collection techniques involved conducting interview with the English teacher and distributing questionnaires to students. Both questionnaire and interview confirm that students required English reading materials that cover relevant topics related to the nursing assistant major. The developed reading materials consist of 3 units related to the nursing field. Those materials were developed using a scientific approach that comprised observing, questioning, experimenting, associating and communicating. The developed reading materials were validated by experts with average scores of 4.6 from an English lecturer and 4.7 from an English teacher. This indicates that the developed reading materials are appropriate and relevant resources for tenth grade nursing assistant students. The result of the study shows that the development of reading descriptive text materials is in the “very good” category, signifying that the developed material is suitable for use.