Developing Comic Media for Reading Comprehension Ability of Historical Texts in Elementary School Students

_______________________________________________________________ Students' reading comprehension skills were still low since the existing media only relied on teaching materials in schools such as books and worksheets. Thus, it has not been able to make effective learning. This research and development aimed to produce comics learning media for historical text narrative to read and understand Indonesian language learning for fifth-graders of elementary school. Comics are information presented through conversation by pictures, arranged conceptually and interestingly to make it easier to understand the information. This comic was developed to be used in learning and improving reading comprehension skills. This research and development used ADDIE development procedures including (1) Analyze, (2) Design, (3) Development, (4) Implementation, and (5) Evaluation. The subjects of the one-to-one trial were three students, the small group trial subjects were six students, and the implementation subjects were 15 students. The results showed that the comic media was feasible with an average percentage of 81.7% from the experts in the appropriate category. The average student responses indicated that students were happy to read comics as a learning medium in the learning process with a percentage of 95%. Based on the pretest and the posttest results, the developed comic media had increased the learning outcomes of fifth-graders at the Elementary School of 22 Palembang by 0.42 with a moderate improvement category according to the N-Gain scale. Thus, it can conclude that the development of historical text narrative comic media was appropriate for the reading comprehension ability of fifth-graders of the Elementary School of 22 Palembang.


INTRODUCTION
Reading is the most important thing in learning; the students will get not yet known information.According to Tarigan, the primary purpose of reading is to seek, explore, and understand the information included in the reading.Reading cannot be separated from the world of education because it is indispensable.(Herlinyanto in Qur'ana et al., 2020) states that the reading process is carried out to understand and find the meaning contained in the reading material.Without reading, students will not be able to understand the material.The learning process will not be able to run efficiently.Thus, reading must be a fundamental skill that must be mastered by students, especially reading comprehension.Reading comprehension is an activity carried out to deepen the understanding of the reading content.There are four types of levels in reading comprehension.According to Burns et al., levels of reading comprehension are literal level, interpretative level, critical level, and creative level (Lahagu et al., 2020) Reading comprehension plays a role in elementary school learning because reading comprehension is always present in every learning theme.Most of the knowledge that students gain comes from understanding.Dickinson et al. (in Budiarti & Haryanto, 2016) stated that "Reading comprehensions are critical for long-term academic success and are dependent on language abilities that emerged early in life."Understanding as a basis for determining the success or failure of learning carried out by students at school.However, there are still many students who have not achieved this.It is evidenced by the frequent finding of students who can read but do not understand the reading contents.Based on a preliminary study, the State Elementary School of 22 Palembang found similar problems.The fifth-grade teacher interview results explained that the student's reading comprehension ability was low.It is evidenced by the score of the Indonesian Language, which is included in the predicate value of C (enough).
Students have difficulty understanding the contents of the reading, have difficulty answering questions from the reading, and retell what they have read.In addition, from the interviews, it is known that teachers in learning to read still use conventional methods and only rely on teaching materials at school.Thus, it made the learning to be ineffective.Especially with online learning because the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a lack of interaction between teachers and students.Thus, students increasingly have difficulty understanding learning, especially understanding the content of the material read.Teachers generally assume that learning to read only emphasizes reading aloud and fluently.Even though reading is not only expressing language sounds or looking for difficult words contained in the reading text.Reading also involves understanding what is read.It causes students not to be motivated to understand the contents of the lesson.From these problems, it needed for a solution that could improve the students' reading comprehension skills The purpose of this study was to produce comic media that are appropriate for the ability to read and understand historical text narratives for fifth-grade elementary school students.The use of comics was expected to provide new experiences in learning.It can help students understand reading comic media more efficiently, which was developed and designed according to pictures, colors, illustrations, and stories with historical backgrounds and adapted to the lives of elementary school students.This comic product was tested at the State Elementary School of 22 Palembang.
Learning media is helpful to make teaching more attractive.Thus, it can lead to learning motivation, clarify the meaning of teaching materials, make students more involved, and make learning methods more varied (Suryani et al. in Sukandi, 2020).Comics are one of the print media that contain readings and illustrated stories.Budiarti & Haryanto (2016) explained that the central role of comic media in learning is the ability to generate learning motivation in students.In addition, comic media also does not need the help of other tools in its application.(Nugraheni, 2017) Media and Its Development].Comics are tools used in conveying information through picture illustrations that aim to make the reader better understand the information conveyed by the author (Kustandi & Darmawan in Wulandari et al., 2021). Furthermore, Sudjana & Rivai (in Musfiroh, 2018) explain that comics are cartoon illustrations that depict characters through narratives that are connected with image illustrations.Daryanto said in Media Pembelajaran [Learning Media] that the types of comics are divided into two, namely: 1.Commercial Comics presented personally discuss humor, are packaged in conversational narratives using familiar language, have a simple spirit and morals, and involve a comprehensive environment for hero appreciation.2. Educational Comics contain informative elements.This type of comic is usually published by health and education institutions.
The advantages of comics can increase students' reading comprehension and word mastery (Daryanto in Panjaitan et al., 2020).In addition, Saputro & Suharto (2015) stated the advantages of comics as a learning medium, and comics contain solid visual and story elements.The visualized expression makes the reader emotionally involved to make the reader continue reading it until the end.Thus, in addition to increasing students' reading interest, comic media are also very effective in the understanding process because there are characterizations in comic stories (Maulidah & Wulandari, 2021).Comics can trigger students' creativity and as educational aids that can convey information effectively and efficiently (Waluyanto, 2005).In addition to the advantages of comics, it also has disadvantages.Danaswari et al. (2013) opined the lack of comics as a visual medium will not look effective if used for students who cannot learn with visual media because every student has their style of learning.In other words, the media must adjust the learning style of each student.On the other hand, the comics that are currently developing are mostly comics that prioritize the entertainment aspect, where the comic contents are not suitable for use in learning.
The development of comics has a systematical technique, as mentioned by Gumelar in Comic Making, namely: (a).Traditional is the technique of making comics using conventional tools such as pencils, pens, drawing pens, small and large markers, drawing paper, HVS paper, cutter, and hairdryer as a dryer.(b).Hybrid is a comicmaking technique that combines traditional and digital techniques.In this type, digital methods are needed, such as scanners, computers/laptops, and page layout software combined with conventional techniques as described above.(c).Digital is a technique of making a comic that is wholly digitalized without the help of traditional tools and materials.Digital techniques were drawing using tablets, laptops, computers, and Graphic tablets.So all processes are carried out purely digitally.The development of comics uses a hybrid comic-making technique that combines traditional and digital in the manufacturing process.For drawings using traditional tools and materials such as HVS paper, pencils, and drawing pens, after the picture is complete, perform digital techniques using a scanner, laptop, and Adobe Photoshop application to give a touch and emphasize the colors in the comics.
Tarigan (Putri et al., 2019) argued that reading comprehension is a reading activity that aims to understand the value of literature, written drama, critical reviews, and forms of fiction.According to Suyanto (in Muhafidin, 2016), reading comprehension ability is the ability to understand accurately, completely, and in detail based on facts, ideas, opinions, experiences, and messages contained in the reading.Anderson as mentioned by Herlinyanto in Membaca Pemahaman dengan Strategi KWL [Reading Comprehension with KWL Strategy] argues that reading comprehension aims to obtain details or facts, get the main idea, know the structure and organization of the story, conclude, read inferences, classify, classify, assess, evaluate and compare as well as contradicting.This comic product was tested at the State Elementary School of 22 Palembang.The comic product was designed to be used both in terms of material and attractive appearance for learning.

METHODS
The research method used is the type of research and development (R&D).The research and development method is a method that aims to produce specific products and test the effectiveness of the product (Sugiyono in Zulaiha, 2020).Research and development systematically investigate the field of science that is carried out with facts, which is developed step by step until it is perfect (Hanafi, 2017).The development step used was the ADDIE model, which uses five steps.Analysis Phase, observing the potential and problems at the preliminary study stage by conducting interviews with the fifth-grade teacher of State Elementary School of 22 Palembang to identify potentials and problems and analyze needs.Design Stage, after conducting the analysis, then proceed to the design stage.This stage is carried out to be able to design the expected learning media and appropriate testing methods.The comic design stage consists of three steps.They are (1) preparation of media content outline (GBIM), (2) writing scripts, and (3) making comic illustrations.Development Stage.This development stage is a media development process that creates an initial draft of comic media ready to be validated by (1) media, language, and material experts (2nd prototype), (2) One-to-one trial (3rd prototype), and (3) Small group trial (4th prototype).Implementation Phase (Field Trial), the implementation phase is the final stage in development.At the implementation stage, tests with pretest and posttest techniques were applied to determine the effectiveness of comic media in overcoming problems in reading comprehension skills.Evaluation Stage.This evaluation stage analyzes data acquisition from pretest and posttest using the N-Gain formula, which aims to assess the quality of the developed comic media related to the learning process and results, both before and after implementation.
The object of this research was the ability to read comprehension on the basic competence of narrative text history of fifthgrade students of SD Negeri 22 Palembang.Data collection techniques were done through tests, interviews, observations, questionnaires, and documentation.In this study, the data instruments were observation guide sheets, media, language, and material expert questionnaires, questionnaires for students, and reading comprehension skills questionnaires.This study's data analysis techniques are techniques for checking the feasibility of comics media and testing reading comprehension skills.The use of comics is expected to provide new learning experiences and help students understand reading more easily.The comics media that will be developed are designed with pictures, colors, illustrations, and stories with historical backgrounds and are adapted to the lives of elementary school children.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
At the production stage, the researcher wrote a script adapted to the material selected, and the ideas collected were then compiled into a draft.It aims to facilitate production activities.The initial step taken is to design or assemble a draft of Indonesian comics according to the characteristics of making comics.This step aims to make it easier for researchers to make comic layouts for Indonesian learning about storytelling.The material compiled comes from relevant books and follows the needs of the school curriculum.The writer was creating illustrations adapted to the script of the story that had been prepared.This stage is accompanied by illustrated story scenes, drawing angles, types of drawings, story settings, visual sources, characters.
The first stage in making comic illustrations is sketching and coloring.The comic was developed using Hybrid comicmaking techniques, namely a combination of traditional techniques and digital techniques.Making sketches and coloring comics is done using traditional techniques using tools such as HVS paper, pencils, rulers, erasers, sharpeners, drawing pens, and colored pencils.The second stage of the editing process uses digital techniques.Previously, the images that have been created and colored are scanned first and then proceed to the color contracting stage, panel creation, sketch selection, and adding text to each image using the photoScape application.The third stage is the comic product development stage.The comic assessment was carried out in 3 stages at this development stage: validation of media, language, and material experts, and one-to-one and small group field tests.This assessment aims to measure the quality of the product developed before being used on students.The media can be feasible if it reaches 80%-100% at the assessment stage carried out by experts and field tests using instruments in the form of questionnaires and interviews.The data and suggestions provided will be used as material for the improvement of the comic media developed.
The first comic media prototype was assessed by the researchers themselves, which was called self-evaluation.It aims to minimize errors in the illustrations, images, writing, and material presented.The comic media prototype developed according to the assessment is quite good.Then proceed to the validation assessment stage by an expert review and field testing at the one-to-one stage and a small group to help identify the feasibility of the developed comic media while reducing errors that exist in the comic media.
The results of the data analysis can be concluded that the comic media gets a score of 87%, which means it is included in the "Eligible" criteria for category A implementation qualifications.The results of the validator's assessment suggest several things that must be improved, such as replacing the red background on page 44 with softer color and mentioning that the source of the image is not your work.Then proceed to the validation assessment stage by an expert review and field testing at the one-to-one stage and a small group to help identify the feasibility of the developed comic media while reducing errors that exist in the comic media.After revising the product according to the suggestions of the subsequent media validator, validation was carried out with material experts by Mrs. NA, a fifth-grade teacher at State Elementary School of 22 Palembang.Material expert validators carried out three aspects, namely material, learning, and reading comprehension aspects.Material experts provide assessments through questionnaires and provide suggestions for improving the media.From the results of the data analysis, it can be concluded that comics media get a value of 82.4%, which means that they are included in the "Eligible" criteria for category A implementation qualifications.The results of the validator's assessment suggest it is feasible without revision.
The comic product can be continued on the assessment of the linguist validator, which was carried out by Mrs. MR, a sixth-grade teacher at State Elementary School of 22 Palembang.The instrument for the linguist validator uses nine aspects.They are (1) the overall language aspect of comics, (2) the language used of students' thinking level, (3) easiness for students to understand the message conveyed, (4) the language used motivates students to respond, (5) writing people's names correctness, (6) the correct punctuation, (7) symbols/images suitability, (8) suitability of comic illustrations with dialogue, and (9) storylines suitability.In measuring the suitability of the comic storyline, the linguists provide assessments through questionnaires and provide suggestions for improving the media.
Comic media scored 75.6%, included in the "Eligible Enough" criteria for partial revision qualification category B. The results of the validator's assessment suggest several things that must be improved, such as improving the proper Indonesian grammar and writing the names of places, characters, and events.Based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that the overall validation of comic media gets a value of 81.7%, which means it is included in the "Eligible" or category A in implementation qualification.With improvements made according to expert validators' suggestions, the initial product is declared feasible and subsequently becomes prototype 2.
The one-to-one field trial phase used interview instruments as a guideline to assess the quality of the media with 12 aspects of the questions asked, including (1) clarity of media instructions, (2) font size, (3) colors used, (4) images displayed, (5) location of images, (6) language used, (6) material used, (7) material presented, (8) material understanding, (9) learning enthusiasm, (10) desire to have more curiosity, (11) pleasure in learning using media, and ( 12) enthusiasm for reading.
The results of one-to-one interviews that have been given to students can be described as follow.At the interview stage with three students, it was found that students gave positive responses to questions using the comic of Proklamasi Indonesiaku.100% of students agree that the overall appearance of the comics developed is attractive and motivates students to learn, and can help students overcome problems in reading comprehension skills.
Based on the results of data analysis on the 3rd prototype, it can be stated that the product is feasible so that no revision is needed and can be continued to the 4th prototype.The recapitulation of the student response questionnaire results showed that the comic media developed is feasible to use.The average score of student responses indicated that students are happy to read comics as a medium of learning in the learning process.The 3rd prototype does not require revision.Furthermore, 4th prototype becomes the 5th prototype which will later be used as learning media at the field test stage.The implementation phase aims to determine the ability to read comprehension (prototype 4), which is feasible to be implemented by preparing a learning environment and student involvement.Researchers tested the historical text narrative comic media with the history of the proclamation materials to 15 students of class 5C.The students who did the implementation stage had varied abilities ranging from low, medium, and high.
The evaluation phase aimed to assess media quality in learning processes and outcomes before and after implementation.The results of the comic media application at the implementation stage to the fifth-grade students of State Elementary School of 22 Palembang showed that comic media was effective for reading comprehension skills.It can be seen from the results of the pre-test and post-test changes.
The pretest results were as many as 12 students who had not achieved the minimum score criteria (KKM), and only 3 students completed the KKM with an average value of 58.After the posttest, 11 students reached the KKM, and only 4 did not match the KKM with an average score of 75.66.It means there is an increase in students' scores before and after the application of comics media (by 18% of 15 students).Pretest and posttest values can be obtained N-gain 0.42, and this is following the classification table for the category N-gain 0.30 G < 0.70 or included in the moderate increase category.It showed that the narrative comic media of Indonesian language learning history developed can potentially affect students' learning outcomes in reading comprehension skills.

Discussion
The research was in line with Budiarti & Haryanto's (2016) regarding comic media to increase fourth-grade students' learning motivation and reading comprehension skills.The results of the study indicated that learning comic media was feasible to use in learning.Those two pieces of research both produce comics.The difference was that the recent research was to increase learning motivation and reading comprehension skills for sixthgrade elementary school students, while the study conducted by researchers was to improve the narrative understanding of historical texts for fifth-grade elementary school students.
Researchers conducted a feasibility assessment by an expert validator and obtained data from the questionnaire given.Validation from media experts got a score of 82 out of 100.The evaluation by the language validator scored 34 out of 45 with a percentage of 75.6%.At the same time, material validation scored 65 out of 80.The media scored 183 from 225 in all criteria or 81.7%, which is categorized as A or eligible criteria.The effectiveness of comics media is shown by the results of student response questionnaires obtained with a score of 90% and teacher response questionnaires got a score of 82% with an excellent category.
The third stage is a small group with data collection techniques in the form of a response questionnaire at the group stage of field trial subjects as many as six fifth-grade students with a percentage gain of 100%.It is slightly different from the results of Untari & Saputra's (2016) and Saputro & Soeharto's (2015) studies.These results raise doubts for the researcher.The researcher took the initiative to retrieve data from different classes, and the data was retrieved with a percentage of 95% feasible.These results indicated that there was no significant difference between 5C and 5D classes.However, the 5D class scores 50% on the attractiveness of color indicators in comics and 83% on the easy use of comic media.Even so, from the results of the comic analysis, it is feasible and can be continued to the implementation stage (field test).The result states that there is no significant difference between 5C and 5D classes.However, the 5D class scores 50% on the attractiveness of color indicators in comics and 83% on the easy use of comic media.Thus, from the results of the comic analysis, it was feasible and could be continued to the implementation stage (field test).
The findings showed (1) the results of the validation of media, language, and material experts obtained an average of 81.3% feasible; (2) the results of field trials of one-to-one and the small group of comic media developed are appropriate to be shown based on the results of student responses, most of whom agree that the overall appearance of comic media is attractive and fosters student motivation to learn with a percentage of grades at the one to one stage 100% and small group 95%; (3) the results of the pretest and posttest showed that the developed comic media had improved the reading comprehension ability of fifth-graders at State Elementary School of 22 Palembang by 0.42 with a moderate improvement category according to the N-Gain scale.

CONCLUSION
Based on the research and discussion above, it can be concluded that the development of historical text narration comic media is appropriate for the reading comprehension ability of students in State Elementary School of 22 Palembang.The feasibility assessment by media and material experts obtained 82% and 84% (appropriate implementation qualification).While feasibility assessment and language obtained a score of 76% (worthy of partial revision qualification).In the one-to-one field test stage, 100% of students agreed that the overall appearance of the comics developed was attractive and motivated students to learn and could help students overcome problems in reading comprehension skills.In the small group field test stage, seen from student responses, the average student was happy to read comics as a medium of learning in the learning process with a percentage of 95%.Based on the results of the pretest and posttest, it was found that the comic media developed had increased the learning outcomes of fifthgraders at State Elementary School of 22 Palembang by 0.42 with a moderate improvement category.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Product after Color Contract (a) and Product after Texting (b)

Figure 2 .Figure 3 .
Figure 2. Product before Revision (a) and Product after Revision (b) with Softer Color

Figure 4 .
Figure 4.The Final Product Developed