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Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education: Designing
Two-Dimensional (2D) Dialogic Reading Materials for Online
Classroom
Fardini Sabilah1 & Lailatul Rifah2*
1Department of English Language Education, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia
2*Department of Digital Language Learning, Bina Nusantara University, Indonesia
*Corresponding email: lailatul.rifah@binus.ac.id
Received: 20 March 2024 Accepted: 21 April 2024 Published: 06 May 2024
Abstract: Abstract: Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education: Designing
Two-Dimensional (2D) Dialogic Reading Materials for Online Classroom. Objectives: Within
the ongoing process of globalization, intercultural communication has been identified as one of the
key competences of the 21st century. In the context of Primary Education, intercultural communication
can be defined as the “ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations
based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (Deardorff, 2006). Methods: The
design of this research is Research and Development (R & D) by using 4D (Define, Design, Develop
and Disseminate. There are two kinds of questionnaire that will be used in the Define step, they are:
(1) needs analysis questionnaire, and (2) expert judgment questionnaire. Findings: The needs analysis
questionnaire is distributed to the English teachers in Primary Education to identify the target needs
and the learning needs of the students. The expert judgment questionnaire is used to evaluate the
Dialogic Reading material. The data from the needs analysis questionnaire will be analyzed using
frequency and percentage and the results are then will be used as the basis to design and develop the
materials, while the data from the expert judgment questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive
statistics. Conclusion: The integration of intercultural contents with dialogic reading with CROWD
questions formula is good online material that can boost primary school students to learn English
better. It is recommended that further researcher can create another topic of Dialogic Reading which
is more up to date, interesting in its’ illustration or pictures and more advance in the digital technology,
for example in the form of 3 or 4-dimensional animation.
Keywords: intercultural communication, dialogic reading, english for young learners.
To cite this article:
Sabilah, F., & Rifah, L. (2024). Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education: Designing
Two-Dimensional (2D) Dialogic Reading Materials for Online Classroom. Jurnal Pendidikan
Progresif, 14(1), 334-351. doi: 10.23960/jpp.v14.i1.202425.
INTRODUCTION
A primary objective of intercultural
communication is the dissemination of information
across a variety of social communities and cultural
contexts. It deals with processes and difficulties
that plainly arise within an organization or social
setting made up of people who come from varied
origins in terms of area, religion, society,
education, and professional ethics (Neuliep, 2016
; House, 2014). While, in primary school setting,
the main objective of teaching intercultural
communication is to build and improve
communicative skills in order to aid the students
in coping with the many issues that are caused by
their cultural background (Snow, 2015). In an
essence, effective intercultural communication will
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Vol. 14, No. 01, pp. 334-351, 2024 DOI: 10.23960/jpp.v14.i1.202425
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Rifah & Sabilah, Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education...
lead to the formation of excellent relationships
between people who come from diverse cultural
backgrounds and possess distinct sets of abilities,
attitudes, and levels of knowledge through
different language skills.
It is commonly held that a textbook’s status
as an institutional tool makes it a reliable truth-
teller in formal education (Weninger & Kiss,
2015) , however, it has also become the
instrument that is used to present the students with
the social ideas that need to be presented to them.
Textbooks in the primary education levels assist
students become aware of the greater social
context by exposing them to a variety of cultures
and languages from around the world (Efron,
2020) . It is not sufficient to only teach English as
a tool of communication by using a textbook;
rather, teachers should be aware of the need to
design instructional materials based on the natural
exposure that occurs in everyday activities, and
dialogic reading materials that employ
conversation as one of its approaches can be
utilized by teachers to assist students in effectively
meeting learning goals. It addressed the
fundamental theories that stated that “practices
in using language, feedback regarding language
and appropriately scaffolded adult- child
interaction in the context of picture book reading
all facilitate young children’s language
development (Zevenbergen & Whitehurst,
2003).
Facing the globalization era where
technology plays the important roles in enabling
ideas to cope with the opportunities in educational
factors especially intercultural learning, Albert
(2015), both teacher and students should engage
to achieve the goal of education. Applying
dialogic reading as one of the supplementary
sources to support the teaching learning activity
in the online classroom era has become a big
challenge, teachers need to have a good
companion where both teacher and students can
meet the goal. Technology application plays a
more and more important role in this pandemic
covid-19 era where the classroom activity moved
into the computers space. Animation leads the
changes of traditional education methods to the
modern one by showing the illustrating a topic in
the classroom activity.
Nowadays, most of the content of
animation is developed in two-dimensional (2D)
and three – dimensional (3D) technology to
immerse the environment, Xiao (2013). In
applying 2D technology for dialogic reading
material, both teacher and students will not face
10 the difficulty because 2D animation can
efficiently function in many kinds of devices. Both
teacher and students will automatically adapt
easily to the application in both the desktop and
the mobile phone. Therefore, this research will
focus on designing 2D technology to transport
the dialogic materials in the digital platform used
in the online classroom. The aim of this research
is to provide English materials for online learning
for Primary Education and to see the teachers
and students’ perception toward the effectivity
of the product.
Intercultural communication is an answer to
the communication complexity of a modern world
with a wide range of cultural characteristics. As a
relatively young topic of study, intercultural
communication is an answer to these challenges.
To achieve this goal, researchers in this discipline
have used a variety of approaches to their work.
Although it is impossible to cover all aspects of
intercultural communication in this essay, we will
outline and briefly review three key areas of
research that have been the focus of intercultural
researchers: identity, intercultural communication
competence, and adaptation. While it is
impossible to cover all aspects of intercultural
communication in this essay, it is possible to briefly
cover these three areas of research. We identify
and describe significant theories that have been
influential in the development of intercultural
communication within eac of these research areas.
336 Jurnal Pendidikan Progresif, Vol. 14, No. 01, pp. 334-351, April 2024
Teaching English in primary education
categorized as teaching for young learners aged
6 – 12 years old. In Indonesia, teaching English
is identified as teaching international language as
a local content where not all the schools include
English as subject in their school, this interpret
that the level of English language teaching in
primary schools has not been uplifted enough,
Cahyati & Madya (2019). In other hand, teaching
English in primary education become more
challenge because the teacher should introduce
the global awareness and intercultural
competences to bring more opportunities to
understand the cultural differences and show
respectful and tolerant, Cahyati & Madya (2019).
The Ministry of Education and Culture
(MoEC) officialized English as a local content
subject through the Decree No. 060/U/1993.
This means children from Grade 4 onwards can
learn English in a primary school if the society
requires it and there are qualified teachers and
proper facilities (Zein, 2017). Although, English
is not a compulsory subject in primary schools in
Indonesia, its importance cannot be
underestimated. A great majority of the 177,985
primary schools in the country offer English
instruction to approximately 26 million children
Supriyanti, (1994). This occurs amidst recent
policy changes affecting the implementation of
primary EFL.
As stated, learning materials and media
become the important factors to achieve the goal
of English language teaching in primary education.
As reported by Cahyati and Madya (2019) in
their study, choosing the appropriate teaching aids
such as textbook and media is very needed to
support the success of teaching learning activity
in primary education. The textbook pictures both
textual and visual contain should represent the
cultures, identity, and citizenship, Dendrinos
(2015). Many adults love to read to children to
expose them to books and new ideas that come
from them, but the child shouldn’t just be a passive
listener. The child must be an active participant in
the process. A technique known as dialogic
reading is particularly effective in developing early
literacy skills, Zevenbergen and Whitehurst,
(2003). As the adult and child look at a picture
book together, they actively talk about it. The
adult engages the child in the process by asking
questions and encouraging a dialogue about what
is going on in the story. What is essential to this
process, however, is that the partners then switch
roles, and the child becomes the storyteller and
the adult the active listener and questioner Ghoting
and Martin-Díaz, (2006). When an adult is
successful at keeping the dialogue and questioning
during dialogic reading within the child’s zone of
proximal development, the interactions build on
the child’s existing skills and move the child to
the next level of understanding Levine and Munsch
(2016). In addition, dialogic reading materials as
one of the tools to help the learning activity in
primary education levels need to be used to
support the English learning activities. This activity
focuses the verbal communication both teacher
and students rather than the traditional activity
where the teacher read aloud and the students
sitting and listening, Brannon & Dauksas, (2014).
Study by Jalongo & Sobolak (2011), mentioned
that students need to have a vocabulary instruction
with questioning, clarifying, repeating, pointing to
the words, an example, and using child friendly
definition to make the children understand. In this
point, dialogic reading is an activity that presents
both teacher and students to achieve the learning
goal.
Two-Dimensional Animation is a technique
that can engagingly facilitate learning by involving
students in the teaching and learning process. It
is the art of generating motion in two dimensions.
Two-dimensional animation is a design that
involves the motion of an inanimate object,
diagram, or image in an x and y environment for
the purpose of knowledge transfer to the learners
(Fitzgerald, 2019). The art of creating movement
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Rifah & Sabilah, Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education...
in a two-dimensional space is 2D animation. 2D
animation is based on the x- and y-axes, and its
use in this study is justified by its suitability for
graphical presentations. 2D animation resembles
cartoons more closely, and parents use it to
educate their children at home. As a result of the
rapid development of computer hardware and
software technologies, computer - assisted
drawing tools, such as 2D and 3D software, are
readily accessible to students and educational
institutions for graphical learning and instruction
(Wu & Chiang, 2013). It is crucial to equip
computer devices with the proper pedagogy to
facilitate graphical learning among students. On
this basis, computer software such as 2D
animation may be useful for the effective teaching
and learning of quantitative economics concepts.
Two-dimensional animation (2D) technique has
an advantage over other instructional methods
due to its interactive nature and visual persistence
during the learning process, which serve as
sources of student motivation.
With the hasty development of the science
and technology, the application on English
materials through multimedia grows and develops
time to time by the modification on audio, visual,
animations (2D & 3D) effects in the software.
The animation content in the classroom can be
classified as: Expositive where the users watch
the expository content on screen; Interactive
where the users can interact with the content; and
Quizzes where the user are tested on a specific
content, Xiao, (2013). The teachers can choose
the application to apply in the materials
development based on the students need. For
this reason, it is important for the language teacher
to be aware of the latest tools and best materials
to be implemented in teaching and learning
process, especially teaching in primary education.
(Hidayat, Tamin, Herawati, Khairul, &
Syahmaidi, 2019). Shyamlee et al., (2012)
explained the necessity of multimedia application
in English teaching; (1) cultivate students’ interest
in study; (2) promote students’ community
capacity; (3) widen students’ knowledge to gain
an insightful understanding to western culture; (4)
improve teaching effect; (5) improve interaction
between teacher and students; (6) creates a
context for language teaching; and (7) provide
flexibility to course content. Answering those
phenomena, the researcher proposes to develop
multimedia learning materials for dialogic reading
with two-dimensional (2D) applications to
foster intercultural communication in primary
education.
Several studies have investigated the impact
of computer animation on student achievement
and learning motivation that was discovered that
using simulation and animations in the learning
process was effective in engaging students in the
classroom teaching part, theological mathematics
section, and theological science section reported
that students who studied using animation
pedagogy movies were more motivated to
understand science (Ejimonye et al., 2020; Yisa
& Ojiaku, 2016; Kwasu & EmaEma, (2015)
;Rosen, (2009); Özdemir & Öner, (2015); Barak
et al., (2011)).
In the context of intercultural
communication, the most important thing to be
implemented for the students, especially in primary
education, is developing the appreciation feeling,
among others. This concept will link to the goal
of education on creating positive behavior like
empathy, brotherhood and prevent the inferior
attitude. There are some criteria in applying the
intercultural for education: (1) focus on the equity
between individual and group; (2) be able to
accept cultural and language differences and
diversity as a source of learning; (3) avoid
ethnocentrism; and (4) aim to achieve the same
opportunity and oppose any kind of
discrimination and racism (Fossard & Bailey,
2016). It links to UNESCO as one of the
international organizations which emphasize the
importance of educational curricula in all schooling
338 Jurnal Pendidikan Progresif, Vol. 14, No. 01, pp. 334-351, April 2024
levels contribute to the intercultural and peaceful
society, Deardorf (2019).
Naturally, teaching English as an
international language need a lot of sources to be
implemented by the teacher to help the teaching
and learning process run smoothly. As stated
before, learning materials and media become the
important factors to achieve the goal of English
language teaching in primary education. As
reported by Cahyati & Madya (2019) in their
study, choosing the appropriate teaching aids such
as textbook and media is very needed to support
the success of teaching learning activity in primary
education. Textbooks, as one of the important
sources, should contain the aspirations to
introduce and develop the multicultural
understanding. The textbook pictures, both
textual and visual contain should represent the
cultures, identity, and citizenship, Dendrinos
(2015). Whereas dialogic reading materials as
one of the tools to help the learning activity in
primary education levels need to be used to
support the English learning activities. Dialogic
reading is a form of reading activity that heartened
the teachers to share the reading process with
the students. This activity focuses on the verbal
communication between both teacher and
students rather than the traditional activity where
the teacher read aloud and the students sitting
and listening, Barron & Dauksas (2014). Study
by Jalingo and Sobolak (2011) mentioned that
students need to have vocabulary instruction with
questioning, clarifying, repeating, pointing to the
words, an example, and using child friendly
definition to make the children understand. In this
point, dialogic reading is an activity that presents
both teacher students to achieve the learning goal.
The development of English materials takes
an important part in the process of teaching and
learning. The appropriate material can develop
the students’ knowledge and improve their
language skills, Ramli (2014). Good teaching
material is decided as the learning material
provides the language also content situated on
the students’ need, level, and environment.
Choosing the appropriate materials can help the
students easy to learn English. Ideally, in
developing materials, teachers should create a
design which informs and stimulate the persistent
output as a language promotion to the students,
(Sunubi, 2020). Unfortunately, in this globalization
era, advancing technology begins to have
substantial factors in the educational system
around Indonesia, many technologies are applied
to switch the traditional classroom into web
classroom.
Thomson (2010) reported that online
learning is suitable for students because of its more
centered approach and more individualized.
Ahluwalia and Aggrawal (2010) also mentioned
that the internet innovation become one of the
motivational tools for language learners. In all, it
is stated that the development of web-based
learning materials improves useful and boosts the
environment of language learning. At present, most
of the study reported the positive feedback from
the use of internet language materials motivate
the learners to learn language since they can
monitor their own learning pace and can reduce
the anxiety of making mistakes in front of teachers
and friends. Otherwise, internet language
materials are also easy to be access outside the
classroom, Zamari, et.all (2012).
METHOD
Participants
The subjects of this research are fourty nine
English teachers of twenty three Primary Schools
in Malang, East Java who conduct both offline
and online teaching in their English class. The
participants were seventeen female teachers and
ten male teachers, both junior and seniors English
teachers. The subjects were selected based on
purposive random sampling technique.
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Rifah & Sabilah, Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education...
Research Design and Procedures
The design of this research is R&D
(Research and Development) by using 4D
(Define, Design, Develop and Disseminate) model
used to develop and validate educational
products. According to Borg and Gall (1983),
research and development design consist of ten
major steps. They are as follows:
Figure 1. Steps of R&D by borg and gall (1983)
1. Need Analysis
(Define)
2. Planning
3. Developing
(Design)
4. Try-out
(Testing validity)
5. Revise and
Developing
6. Dissemination
The researchers limits the development
steps into six steps, which means the researcher
used the selected process of R&D in Main
Product Revision step in order to adjust the
process to the development needs and situation.
Figure 2. Procedure of development based on
borg and gall model
(1) Need Analysis (Define) Needs analysis
involved evaluating the communicative
requirements of the learners and the methods for
accomplishing specific instructional goals. In the
present day, the process of requirements analysis
has become more intricate. Its purpose is to gather
information about the learners and to determine
the desired setting and environment for the
research participants. This stage was conducted
to gather information on the significance of
developing the product. The study involves
conducting interviews and administering
questionnaires to primary school teachers in
England. The literature review in this study focuses
on assessing the needs analysis questionnaire that
was administered to the instructors. This
questionnaire serves as a basis for understanding
the teachers’ requirements and informing the
design of the research project. (2) Planning The
literature review focuses on developing learning
materials and validation tools in the planning
context. The researcher selected a material that
is appropriate for applying the writing subject.
The researcher analysed and evaluated the
previous content to determine whether to use half
340 Jurnal Pendidikan Progresif, Vol. 14, No. 01, pp. 334-351, April 2024
of the existing material or completely redesign it.
(3) Developing (Design) after the planning
phase, the researcher developed the material by
incorporating the findings from the requirement
analysis and analysing the existing information.
The design phase will be developed with one of
the private animation studios in Malang. (4) Try-
out (Testing Validity) At this stage, the
researchers shared the materials to the
participants and asked their feedback on the
product. (5) Revise and Developing Following
the initial field test of this material model, all
gathered data was assembled and analysed
to facilitate the redesign of the material. After all
is revised, the researchers and artist developed
the materials which meets the needs of the
research. (6) Dissemination in the last step, the
researchers distributed the YouTube link to the
participants via email and message.
Instrument
There were three instruments used in this
research, they were questionnaire, interview, and
document study. the main steps that should be
considered in designing a questionnaire are
examined in the following sections based on
Hamed, (2016). There were two kinds of
questionnaire used in the Define step, they were:
(1) needs analysis questionnaire, and (2) there
expert judgment questionnaire. The needs analysis
questionnaire was distributed to the English
teachers in Primary Education to identify the target
needs and the learning needs of the students. The
expert judgment questionnaire is used to evaluate
the Dialogic Reading material. Before distribution,
the questionnaire draft was reviewed by two
English Lecturers who were the experts. The
concurrent validity of the newly adapted
questionnaire was assessed by calculating the
correlation between its scores and those from the
previous test conducted by Froman et al. (2020)
using Microsoft Excel. The correlation score of
0.81 suggests that the newly adapted
questionnaire has a relatively good level of
concurrent validity. Cronbach’s alpha was utilized
as the dependability index and calculated using
Ms. Excel. The reliability index score was 0.77,
indicating that the questionnaire was reliable.
The survey findings were quantitatively
evaluated using descriptive statistics to determine
the frequency of questions on students’ access
to, activity with, and ideas on Dialogic reading
material. The interview is used to know the
material needed by the students and the teachers.
Meanwhile, the documents is used to complete
the data used to develop the product. The data
from questionnaire, interview, and document study
will be analyzed qualitatively, on the other hand
quantitative data obtained will be analysed by
using quantitative analysis frequency and
percentage of average score and the results are
then will be used as the basis to design and
develop the materials.
To assess whether the questionnaire
is worthwhile, the percentage formula is A/B x
100, as stated by Hardiansyah & Rasia, (2022)
A represents the number of respondents who
made a specific choice, and B represents the total
number of respondents. The data were verified
by triangulation. In this research, triangulation
techniques are employed to assess the credibility
of data by applying various methods to the same
source. Using source triangulation, the
researchers interviewed English primary teachers
and the two experts. Subsequently, the integrity
of the interview data was assessed
using observation, documentation, and
questionnaire procedures.
Data Collection and Analysis
There are three methods of data collection
used in this study, they are observation, interview,
and document study. To find out the needs
analysis, the researcher will use the observations
sheet, and the interview to find out the material
needed by the students. In this study, the data
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Rifah & Sabilah, Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education...
analyzed descriptively. The data from
observation, interview, and document study
conducted in preliminary observation were
described qualitatively to know the existing
materials problem faced in real situation. While
data from the questionnaire was described
quantitatively. In measuring the quality of the
developed prototype, the data gathered through
some instruments which will be analyzed
quantitatively. The validity of the prototype was
judged by 2 experts. Here is the criteria to assess
the materials based on six learning aspects:
Table 1. Product quality interval score
Criteria Interval Score Category
X ≥ Mi + 1.5 Sdi
X ≥ 4.05 Excellent Material
X ≥ Mi + 0.5Sdi ≤ X
< Mi + .,5 Sdi 3.35 ≤ X
<4.05 Good Material
X ≥ Mi – 0.5Sdi ≤ X < Mi + 1.5 Sdi 2.65 ≤ X
<3.35 Average Material
X ≥ Mi – 0.5Sdi ≤ X < Mi – 1.5 Sdi 1.95 ≤ X <2.65 Below Average Material
X <
𝑀𝑖
– 1.5
𝑆𝑑𝑖
X < 4.05 Poor Material
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Define
The Interview Results
Based on the interview result with the
teachers through the WhatsApp call and Zoom
meeting, it can be summarized that one of the
most difficulties in teaching English at elementary
school are how to teach pronunciation skill and
vocabulary mastery. For the materials that are
taught by teachers are about the very basic
vocabulary such as something that is related with
student’s daily activities, the names of animals,
fruits, colors, family tree, transportation, public
places, and etc. Language features that exist are
grammar, vocabulary, and reading. For the
grammar section, teachers teach how to use to
be and possessive adjectives properly. In reading
text, teachers choose the simplest texts that can
be easily understood by students. Furthermore,
teachers also stated that not all students are
already familiar with English lesson since not all
of students learn about English before they come
to elementary school. Their skills are also varying,
some of students already have a basic English
comprehension but the others are not, so they
need more extra guidance from the teachers. In
addition, teachers admit that they are already using
multimedia technology such as laptops and
smartphones to improve their teaching processes.
Teachers usually give a short video animation from
YouTube platform and occasionally use a
flashcard that will assist students in learning English
because they are interested with visual medium.
Furthermore, since student have very limited
vocabulary mastery it affects their pronunciation.
They have difficulties in pronouncing the English
words/sentences since the written texts in English
are very different with Indonesian language in terms
of oral production. What they read is different
from what students must speak. Students also
have problem in answering the teacher’s question
during speaking practices since the word order
is different with Indonesian language. During
speaking practice, students are demanded to
quickly think about how to arrange the words
into sentences that will be spoken. It is still hard
for students even if they are already in 6th grade
to translate the spoken language correctly. During
this pandemic, teachers usually ask students to
send a video of speaking practice through the
Google Meet platform. The videos of teaching
processes are occasionally sent through
WhatsApp group nor Google Meet platform. In
implementing the dialogic reading, teachers first
342 Jurnal Pendidikan Progresif, Vol. 14, No. 01, pp. 334-351, April 2024
tell students a short story, then ask students to
comprehend the phrase on the materials that are
being discussed. Then students will learn how to
pronounce it and how to speak it. For the lower
classes (1, 2 & 3) teachers usually ask students
to read the text with their classmates in pairs and
for the upper classes (4, 5 & 6) teachers asks
students to write a very simple short dialogue and
then asks them to practice it. During online
learning, teachers often send a video of learning
processes related to the materials that are given
to help students understand better the topic of
materials which are being learnt. In brief, the
grammar section only exists for 4, 5 & 6 classes.
In the end, teachers use Pictionary technique to
improve student’s English glossary.
Figure 3. Printed and online materials
In the English learning process, students
need to know what their motivation in learning
English is to support their goals because their
motivation in learning will impact their process
and ability in learning English (Purwanti, Puspita,
& Mulyadi, 2019). Moreover, Sinta et al., (2020)
stated that students often think that it is difficult
to understand the English material and it makes
them do not like an English lesson. In line with
that, Kusmaryati & Amertaningrum (2017) also
revealed that students’ interest has an important
role in developing students’ thinking ability,
students’ interest can also affect students’ learning
achievement quality in some learning subject. In
addition, a study conducted by Albia &
Albiansyah (2021) shows that students are more
interested in books containing animated cartoon
and games or interactive activity for them. The
textbook that is not emphasized to the student’s
elementary school age can be an obstacle or the
difficulties for students to learn English, also
because they have very limited vocabularies
especially in reading skill.
In another hand, Clarke (2003) stated that
there is also lack of updated materials, audiovisual
equipment, and facilities. The textbook ‘imposed’
by the Ministry of Education is the main teaching
resource which plays an important role in the
learning process, as there is no available
technological equipment (computer lab, overhead
projector, internet, etc.) or other facilities (library,
lab, EFL classroom) in many state schools to
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Rifah & Sabilah, Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education...
supplement English language teaching.
Furthermore, Tzotzou (2014) revealed that there
is a mismatch between what learners aim to do
with English (e.g. to use the internet better, to
pass the English exams, to find a job) and what
the teacher or curriculum want them to attain (e.g.
to communicate with foreigners, to know other
cultures). In brief, the fact that many children are
learning English because their parents want them
to (under parental pressure), sounds alarming and
should be effectively handled.
Sisilda (2020) believed that the students
need interesting new media and materials in
learning local content subject, in this case Dayak
Ngaju language. The lack of media sources used
in SDN 8 Langkai Palangka Raya can affect the
English learning processes. The medium that is
suitable for the students’ needs is expected to
meet the goals of attracting the students and
making them learn well. They might automatically
pay attention to the teaching and learning process
if they are interested in the lesson, especially by
using the medium. In brief, Fettig et al (2018)
have found that interactive reading approaches,
such as dialogic reading (DR), can promote
literacy and social emotional learning (SEL) and
increase language and interaction opportunities
for children with disabilities, such as autism
spectrum disorder, who often exhibit social skills
delays (Fleury et al., 2014; Towson et al., 2017).
Therefore, it is flexible delivery approach lends
support for its implementation in elementary
school settings.
The Questionnaire Results
From the total of 25 questions in a survey
distributed to 49 elementary school teachers in
Indonesia, they were several important points can
be described related to the students’ English
competence, the application of the Dialogic
Reading method in learning English, as well as
the important elements that must be included in
Dialogic Reading to improve the elementary
school students’ proficiency in English lessons.
Based on the survey results, it was reported that
elementary school students had difficulty on
understanding and pronouncing English reading
text, and as many as 70% of teachers explained
that the elementary school students did not have
sufficient English vocabulary proficiency. In
addition, some students do not have sufficient
ability in their pronunciation in which it is one of
the English aspects being able to communicate in
English well. With insufficient vocabulary, difficulty
in understanding reading, and insufficient ability
in pronunciation, elementary school students in
both low level (grade 1-3) and high level (grade
4-5) do not have good communication skills. In
this survey, the researchers found how the
Dialogic Reading method is applied in elementary
English classes in Indonesia. It was found that
70% of elementary school teachers had applied
the Dialogic reading method in teaching English.
One of the reasons for using this method in the
classroom was because it was reported that many
elementary school students liked the topic of
learning English about intercultural such as
festivals, food, games, traditional celebration,
clothes, seasons and so on. 98% of the
correspondent surveys explained that Dialogic
Reading was an effective method to improve
students’ listening and communication skills using
English.
To find out how to implement Dialogic
Reading method in teaching English during this
current pandemic, 70% of correspondents
agreed that learning English using Dialogic reading
method can be delivered through online learning
by packaging it with more attractive material as
in the form of animated videos. All
correspondents agreed that 2D animation models
can be used as a tool to convey Dialogic Reading
via online. However, it should be noted that
Dialogic Reading materials must be presented with
344 Jurnal Pendidikan Progresif, Vol. 14, No. 01, pp. 334-351, April 2024
a simple text and use easy-to-understand
language, appropriate illustrations and colors,
interesting stories, and be equipped with simple
questions that can help students understand the
Dialogic Reading. In addition, the correspondents
in this survey agreed to present Dialogic Reading
material that involved students emotionally and
physically, be able to facilitate students in
conveying their attitudes and feelings towards
reading, and lastly, the text must include language
elements such as grammar, expressions, and
vocabularies related to intercultural aspect.
Planning
Based on the results of questionnaire
distributed to English for Primary School
Teachers in the Indonesian context, the results
shown that the development of dialogic reading
material for online classroom was based on the
potency of the students as well as the
characteristics of good reading material. The
developed materials will be able to boost
students’ intercultural communication. As the
results, in this planning stage the development of
materials could be summarized as follow.
Table 2. Planning the development of dialogic reading materials for online classroom
Aspects Development
Content 1) Material developed with 2-Dimentional model, interesting
colors,
simple
text,
and
images.
2)
Containing
material
with
interesting
story
and
illustrations.
3) Containing topics about intercultural study and contextual
material.
4) Using intercultural reading text types taken from many
different types of sources and compiled into one dialogic
reading.
5) Containing linguistics features which are slightly above the
le
a
r
n
er
’
s proficiency and intercultural studies.
6)
Providing
some
vocabularies
related
to
the
reading text.
Language
Used
1)
Formality
of
the
language
use
2) Easiness of students in understanding the language used in
text.
3)
Simplification
of
the
texts
and
questions addressed.
Activities
and Assessment
1) Containing the activities which include and involve students
while reading the text.
2) Providing activities which always require students to do
something mentally or physically in response to dialogic
reading
text.
3) Providing opportunities for the students to use
language
for communication
4) Including activities which involve the learners in
discussing their attitudes and feelings about the reading
text.
5)
Including
grammar
practice in the form of expressions.
6) Providing the students with some questions
related
to
the
topic/text.
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Table 3. The development of reading material by inserting local culture
Aspects Development
Content Chapter one
EID AL-FITR WITH BHRE IN INDONESIA
Paragraph1:
On the early morning of the Eid Al-Fitr or festival for breaking the fast
after 30 days, Bhre family returned from the mosque. They were very
happy because they celebrated a special day together with relatives,
neighbors, and all Moslem around the world.
On this special day, Bhre visited his grandparents, met his uncles and
aunties, and played with his cousins. Bhre’s mom also cooked many
delicious foods. We shook hands one and another and greeted “Eid
Mubarok” to all people around us.
Paragraph 2:
In the evening, before celebrating the Eid Al-Fitr, Bhre set off the
fireworks together with his father, little sister Bhriya, and friends to
welcome this special day. It was not only Bhre but many people who
also set off the fireworks even until three days. Bhre was sure that
everyone was very happy during Eid Al-Fitr. His father said that
different places have different cultures to celebrate this day.
“Moslem in Egypt also show almost the same activities. After the end
of the prayers, they release the ballons together\, welcoming this Eid
Al-Fitr day. People are also wearing new clothes and decorate their
house with Moslem attribute complete with the tasty cookies and
meals”. Bhre was handsome with his koko shirt and his skullcap. He
looked so stunning.
Language Used
Religion festival
Set off the fireworks.
Special menu
Moslem attribute
Different culture
Activities and
Assessment using
CROWD-questions
1. Eid Al-Fitr is celebrated after … fast. (Completion)
2. Bhre family prayed in the house or in the mosque in
the Eid Al-Fitr day? (Recall)
3. What are the people to do to welcome Eid Al-Fitr after
the end of the prayers? (Open ended)
4. Who helped Bhre setting up the fireworks? (WH-
Question)
5. How many days is usually the celebration of Eid Al-
Fitr?
(
D
istancing)
Aspects Development
Content Chapter two
CHINESE NEW YEAR: ENJOYING SPRING FESTIVAL
Paragraph 1:
“Xinniankuaile … Gongcifacai”, my father said to everyone in the
living room welcoming Chinese New Year. Sometimes it is also called
as Chinese Lunar new year or Spring festival as the biggest celebration
346 Jurnal Pendidikan Progresif, Vol. 14, No. 01, pp. 334-351, April 2024
as Chinese Lunar new year or Spring festival as the biggest celebration
in my hometown, China.
Then we shouted happily together “Xinniankuaile … Gongcifacai”.
Let’s go visit some relatives, neighbours, and friends, my mother
said.
Paragraph 2:
First, all the people dress up beautifully to visit their family, neighbors,
and friends to extend new year’s greetings. This spring festival lasts for
about 16 days, starting from Chinese New Year’s Eve to the Lantern
festival. “Alsa, please helped me to hang and stick this character “Fu”
on the wall, doors, windows, and other places “. Said my mom one day
before the Spring festival.
“Yes Mom”, then I helped my mom to hand and stick the character
“Fu” as the symbol of blessing and happiness everywhere. Also posted
the red posters which have poetic verses at the house gate and pictures
on the wall.
Language Used
Largest celebrations
Character “Fu”
Worship
Delicious
Sweet foods
Activities and
Assessment using
CROWD-questions
1. The Chinese new year festival is also called as … ?
(Completion)
2. Who is the main character in this story? (Recall)
3. Where is Alsha’s hometown? (Open ended)
4. Does the “Fu” symbol hang on the wall, doors,
windows, and other places? (Wh-question)
5. How many days does the spring festival last?
(Distancing)
Developing (Design)
The procedures of developing the 2D
animation video were following the steps first
wrote draft of reading text, identified the
intercultural contents, prepared dialogues of the
reading and short questions for each part of the
reading. Second, made a story board script to
arrange the composition of the story. Third,
looked for example pictures from websites to give
ideas on how the animation will be designed.
Fourth, meet the personnel of Animation designer,
Mocca Studio Malang who helped the researcher
to design and produce dimensional animation.
Fifth, recorded voice to be inserted in dialogic
text for two (2) stories. The voice was recorded
in the communication laboratory. Sixth, proceed
revisions and editing the product in terms of the
pictures’ quality, pictures’ setting, text, questions
arrangement and added missing parts of
the video. These processes took around six
(6) weeks until the video was finished. The
duration of video was 19:15 in the format of
2-dimensional animation video and ready to
be disseminated in the youtube link https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gXK-HToP
kE.
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Rifah & Sabilah, Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education...
Figure 4. Online materials in youtube
Try-out (testing validity)
In the try-out stage of the product for this
study, the researchers collaborated with several
elementary English teachers in Malang.
Researchers provided a video link dialog Reading
completed with CROWD question in it to be used
as a medium of online learning in English lessons.
Before starting to try out this product, the
researchers explained the contents and some
important parts such as CROWD questions that
can be directly tested for intercultural learning
activity in the English online learning activities. The
implementation of the try-out is fully based on
the teachers’ teaching schedule. The materials
were evaluated by administering a questionnaire
to an expert in English language education, who
provided their professional judgment. The experts
considered five aspects, including: the material’s
objectives, material composition, methodologies,
learner perspectives, language competence, and
instructional guidelines. The questionnaire
outcome is outlined below: The judge evaluated
the information using evaluation criteria provided
by the research, utilizing an instrument.
Table 4. Expert judge result
Aspect Judge I Judge II
Result Score Category Result Score Category
Material
objective
4.00 Good 4.02 Good
Main Material
4
.
17
Excellent
4
.
10
Excellent
Methods
4
.
03
Good
4
.
05
Good
Learners
4
.
04
Good
4
.
08
Good
Language
Competence
4.05 Excellent 4.07 Excellent
Instructions
4
.
00
Good
4
.
00
Good
Total Score
4
.
05
4
.
05
348 Jurnal Pendidikan Progresif, Vol. 14, No. 01, pp. 334-351, April 2024
The table shown shows expert judges’
evaluation of the product’s quality. According to
the data, the average score given by two expert
judges was determined to be 4.05. In total, the
expert judges analyzed 24 items. The maximum
score that could be assigned to any item was 5,
while the least value was 1.
According to the table 3 on expert judge
result, the average score of the generated material
was 4.05. It suggests that both judges consistently
awarded high scores to each item in the
instrument. The major score for product quality
fell inside the first criteria, with an interval score
of >= 4.05. With a main score of 4.05 from the
experts’ evaluation, the generated item was
classified as excellent, indicating its high quality.
The final stage was “disseminate”. The resources
are structured as modules and transformed into
a “Video 2D” format and uploaded as a youtube
video. The format enables the materials to be
accessed on the student’s smartphone, laptop,
ipad, computer, and others. This technique
provided the students with the opportunity to
concentrate on the process of learning.
The target teachers were provided
questionnaire in order to see their response to
the instructional material. Teachers’ responses
were processed through the following formula:
P = x 100%
P : The percentage of teachers’ response
n : Students’ score
N : Total score
After that, the data was reported into each
criterias as follows: According to the data
collected, this result of the teachers’ responses
questionnaire as follows: From the formulation
result, it can be concluded that based on the
teachers’ score and prespective that the materials
were very good and appropiate to share in the
students.
Table 5. Program of teacher’s response criteria
preliminary testing - Riduwan (2012: 89)
81
-
100
Very Good
61
-
80
Good
41
-
60
Good Enough
21
-
40
Low
0
-
20
Very Low
P = x 100%
= x 100%
= 82%
Revise and Developing
After the product try-out was carried out
by the teachers in the classroom, the next step
was the revision stage. In the try-out of this 2D
animation product, there were several points that
must be revised based on the responses of the
children in the class and from the teachers’
opinions. The revision that was made was on the
visual appearance of this 2D animation video, the
feedback given by the teacher was to highlight
the colors, animated characters, and the selection
of backgrounds that were adapted to the culture
given. In addition, revisions were also made to
the size of the writing text and font used to make
it easier for future readers. Revisions to the
question points were also made to complete the
understanding of the checking process for
students about the dialogic reading that they had
learned. And the last was a revision to the use of
audio that can help children concentrate in reading
and participate in online learning activities using
Dialogic Reading.
Distribution / Dissemination
The last process carried out by the
researcher, after conducting a try-out and
revision, was dissemination. Dissemination was
the last step in this research to introduce one of
the online teaching sources for English in
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Rifah & Sabilah, Fostering Intercultural Communication in Primary Education...
elementary school which is dialogic reading video
using 2D animations. This process was the
publication of the video results that were made,
tested, revised, and uploaded to the researcher’s
YouTube account. This process eventually
becomes a process to show the results of making
products that are expected to be used by all
parties, from parents, teachers, and students
themselves. In the final product, the Dialogic
Reading video packaged in 2D animation contains
the introduction of the book, two intercultural
topics about festivals in Indonesia and China
completed with CROWD questions.
CONCLUSION
Developing dialogic reading by integrating
intercultural contents for primary school students
need analysis and careful process to make the
results is in accordance with the students and
teachers’ need for English study. Dialogic reading
in the form of online material is badly needed
recently due to the changes from classroom
instruction to online learning instruction. The 2-
dimensional animation designed and produced in
this research is demanded material for teachers
and students in primary level since the product is
interesting, interactive, fun, and gives other
cultures contents. The animation as well as the
text is simple and suitable for the students’
background knowledge and their level of
difficulties. Careful and detailed plans before
arranging the text and creating questions are also
the important parts to be examined as well. All in
all, it can be stated that the 2-D online material
produced in this research is proven to improve
students’ communication skill since the text is
completed with dialogue and questions. CROWD
questions formula can stimulate students to speak
using target language and communicative during
reading lesson. It can be implied here that the
integration of intercultural contents with dialogic
reading with CROWD questions formula is good
online material that can boost primary school
students to learn English better. It is recommended
that further researcher can create another topic
of Dialogic Reading which is more up to date,
interesting in its’ illustration or pictures and more
advance in the digital technology, for example in
the form of 3 or 4-dimensional animation.
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