Developing Interactive Multimedia to

Improve Language Literacy in Early Childhood

Sri Sumarni

, Susi L. Fitri

Department of Early Childhood Education, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indonesia

Department of Educational Technology, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Interactive Multimedia, Animation, Language Literacy

Abstract: The development research aims to produce interactive multimedia products that recognize animated letters in

Kindergarten are valid, practical, and have effectiveness to learners' learning outcomes. The research is

conducted at TK Negeri Tanjung Lago Banyuasin, South Sumatera. The Allesi and Trollip Model, consist of

learning, planning design, and development steps, was chosen to develop the multimedia. Three tests, alpha

test, beta test, and effectiveness test, are administered to assess the validity, practicality and effectiveness of

the multimedia. The average result of the expert's assessment is 0.81from the design expert of the learning,

0.94 from the material expert and 0.94 from the media expert so that the interactive multimedia of the material

recognizes the developed letters is stated very high. The result of practicality is obtained through the Betha

Test using guided interviews average V is the high category of practicality. Field test results showed that the

learning outcome increased 38.6 with an average pretest score of 42, while the post test score was 80.6 with

N-gain score of 0.70 in the moderate category. Interactive multimedia products recognize letters that use

animations that are interesting to provide information that will be delivered more easily understood, attractive

appearance certainly does not make users become bored quickly, and can facilitate the user in learning the

content and materials so that it can be used in the field of education such as interactive learning.

1 INTRODUCTION

Kindergarten age (4-6 years old) is a sensitive period

for children. The sensitive period begins to mature

their physical and psychological functions that are

ready to respond the stimulation provided by the

environment. This period is the first time for

developing all the basic abilities of cognitive,

effective, psycho motor, social emotional, moral and

artistic language of children.

According to Montessori, there are 6 (six)

integrated development aspects which include:

religious and moral, physical, cognitive, language,

social emotional and artistic values. Standard level of

achievement of child development covered language

development for children aged 4-6 years old on basic

competencies 3.12 concepts of early literacy such as

recognizing and mentioning letter symbols, spelling

letters, connecting sounds and letters, reading their

own names, but that are still basic concepts such as

introduction simple letters. Based on preliminary

observations to students of Tanjung Lago Banyuasin

State Kindergarten on the development report of the

students in the even semester of 2016-2017 school

year on aspects of language development, the

students have difficulty in showing and mentioning

the letters of the alphabet such as distinguishing

letters b and d, connecting images with words,

mention the initial letter of the image name. This is

reflected in the results of the child development

assessment report with only 23.5% developing very

well.

After conducting an interview with one of the

teachers, it shows that the learning media which was

used only in the form of textbooks for kindergarten

children learning, monthly magazines, letter cards

and one-way learning delivery, from teachers to

students through the blackboard. The use of

textbooks, magazines is less effective and varied

therefore students are bored, less active in learning,

and less attention in learning. Other causes are some

teachers who are not in accordance with the teacher

competencies for kindergarten children, therefore

teachers have not been able to develop learning media

that can make students more active in the learning

process. The rapid development of the times and

Sumarni, S. and L. Fitri, S.

Developing Interactive Multimedia to Improve Language Literacy in Early Childhood.

DOI: 10.5220/0009995900002499

In Proceedings of the 3rd Sriwijaya University International Conference on Learning and Education (SULE-IC 2018), pages 155-160

ISBN: 978-989-758-575-3

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

155

technological advancements provides convenience

for someone in packaging and presenting information

which later on it will continue to be an integral part of

classrooms and everyday life. Based on Keengwe's

study (2009) entitled A Technology Interaction

Professional Development Model for Practicing

Teacher shows that using technology can help early

childhood to communicate, practice the life skills and

get better understanding concepts. One technology

product that can be used as an innovation in learning

is computers. Computer-assisted learning can

improve cognitive, emotional linguistic skills and

literacy skills in preschool children. In line with that,

Vernadakis (2005) states that computer programs

might never be able to replace books and blackboards,

but people must realize that computer programs are

more accessible to children who can learn better by

using pictures and sounds, and the proper use of the

right programs can make a big difference.

Multimedia today is one of the alternative

learning media for early childhood that can stimulate

some children's intelligence. One of them is language

intelligence, especially the introduction of early

literacy. Multimedia can make the students learn

more deeply about the materials that they want to

learn (Mayer, 2003). Multimedia is expected to

deliver more enjoyable learning materials, therefore

the material presented can be well-received. The

appearance of colorful images can move together

with sound effects from audio devices and it will

make the children get meaningful and enjoyable

experiences. According to Argawal (2015),

multimedia which is used in the right direction also

can succeed the development of psycho motor and

strengthen the visual process of the users. Multimedia

is chosen as media that can help children recognize

the initial literacy/letters, because it can unite several

elements of the media to convey the material and

attract students' attention. The use of interactive

multimedia for early childhood can improve

children's learning interest and it has been explained

that children in the 21st century are familiar with

computer technology Liu Min (2009).

2 METHOD

This study referred to the development Model of

Alessi and Trolip. Researchers used this development

model because this model was specifically devoted to

developing learning multimedia. The stages carried

out of this study including: planning, designing, and

developing (Alessi & Trollip, 2001). Research used

planning, design and development. Testing in this

study was used to assess the feasibility of products

consisting of alpha and beta tests. In collecting data

of interactive multimedia aspects of language

development, the researchers used questionnaire

techniques, interviews, and observations.

The questionnaire was carried out at the time of the

alpha test which included material experts, learning

to design experts, and media experts directly.

Researchers’ questionnaire was validated by the

experts. Interactive multimedia validation was carried

out to experts based on material aspects, learning

design, and media aspects by providing input in the

form of suggestions and comments to be used as

references in revising the product to be developed.

Interviews were conducted to six students at the trial

level. Interviews were conducted to gather and know

the students' responses to the use of interactive

multimedia. The questions included habits in

learning, students 'responses to the appearance of

interactive media and students' feelings during the

learning process. Observation techniques allowed

researchers to study more deeply about the subject of

the study because they directly observe what the

samples of the study were doing. Observations were

done during the planning and testing. At the planning

stage, researchers observed school facilities and

infrastructure in the form of existing learning media.

The observer which was used as many as two people

observed the learning activities of the students seen

by the observer and assessed on the prepared

observation sheet. Data collection and analysis

techniques that had been carried out in developing

and creating valid, practical and effective interactive

multimedia-based teaching materials, there are: (1)

walk through; (2) interviews; (3) questionnaire; (4)

test of learning outcomes; and (5) observation.

In the Alpha Test and Beta Test, beside comments

and suggestions from experts and respondents,

quantitative assessments of interactive multimedia

based teaching materials were developed too.

Alternative assessments on questionnaire instruments

developed in The Likert Scale of 5 levels of

assessment which can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1: Alternative assessment of interactive multimedia

in questionnaire instruments

Score Cate

5Ver

Goo

4 Good

3 Avera

2 Poor

1 Ver

poor

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Quantitative assessment is the score calculated by

its mean then categorized as the level of validity and

practicality. The results of the validation and

respondent was searched using the following Aiken's

V formula V = Σ s / [n (c-1)] Categories of level of

validity and practicality of interactive multimedia are

seen in Table 2

Table 2: Categories of levels of validity and practicality of

interactive multimedia

Average Interval Categor

0,8

–

1,000 Ver

0,6

–

0,799 High

0,4

–

0,599 Avera

0,2

–

0,399 Low

<0,200 Ver

Low

In try out, the students' learning outcomes were

tested to test the effectiveness of interactive

multimedia-based teaching materials on student

learning outcomes.

Table 3: N-Gain score category

Criteria for N

ain values Cate

ain ≥ 0,7 Hi

0,7 > N

ain

≥ 0,3 Avera

ain

<0,3 Low

Observation was used to see the activities of

students during the learning process. The activeness

of students during the learning process were observed

by looking at the percentage of activity in each

descriptor that was visible to students. The

determination of the observation value of student

learning activities expressed in the activeness

assessment category that can be seen in Table 4.

Table 4: Students’ activism category

Avera

e Cate

85 - 100% Ver

Goo

65 - 84% Goo

55 - 64% Enou

0 -54% Deficien

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Interactive multimedia applications recognized

animation-based letters developed using Adobe Flash

Professional CS6. The material presented in this

multimedia was recognized letters A to Z with

various instructions, namely material recognizing

letters A to Z, video, and animation. In addition, here

are also puzzles as letter and game exercises as

evaluation tools. Interactive CD is used in this

research where it provides two options of the

activities using animal as the theme. The first activity

is to introduce the alphabets A to Z and fill the words

in Indonesian using the alphabets provided. In this

activity, it provides a picture of animals on the

desktop, for example a picture of a cow. Whenever

the kids click that picture, so automatically the sound

of cow will come out. After that, children must fill in

blank word under the picture of the cow, for

example S A I . On the left side of the desktop,

it provides the chosen alphabets like (K, M, N, R, and

P) which can be used by the children to fill the word.

After they click the alphabet, they will get a feedback

to make sure whether they can fill it rights or wrong.

In this case, if they can fill the word using the right

alphabet, they will get smile animation and the word

“next” will come out which means they can continue

to fill other words. In contrast, if they can't, they will

get sad animation and the word “try again” will come

out.

Figure 1: Screen shoot of fill in blank games activity

The second activity is puzzling. In this game, a

picture of alphabet A will be on the desktop and the

kids will be asked to click the pieces of puzzle

pictures to unite the picture. The second activity is

really essential for the kids to enhance their language

ability.

Figure 2: Screen shoot of puzzle games

Developing Interactive Multimedia to Improve Language Literacy in Early Childhood

157

The interactive multimedia developed was validated

by media, material and learning designs to determine

the level of feasibility before beta testing was done to

users. Expert validation was alpha testing. Media

expert validation was done to determine the

feasibility level of applications developed in terms of

media. From the results of the validation of the

Learning design experts, a total score was 0.819 that

categorize as Very High score. The total rating of

media experts was 0.944 with a Very High

assessment category. Validation of material experts

was conducted to determine the feasibility level of

applications developed in terms of content. The

validation of material was conducted by two material

experts, the total score was 0.944 categorize as very

high level.

In Betha observation with 6 (six) respondents,

there were 3 levels of practicality categories, namely

very high, average, and high. The highest validation

coefficient was in the high category with score 1 for

very high criteria and the lowest validation coefficient

was in average category with 0.58. The indications

which included in the category of very high

practicality were interested in music and animation.

After the learning application was revised, it was

done to the sample. The study was conducted at

Tanjung Lago State Kindergarten with 6 students.

The observation was beta testing. From the result, the

average student who answered yes was 93% which

means that the feasibility of the learning media

application is close to 100% and is very feasible.

Results was shown that interactive multimedia with a

basis provides benefits to the student learning process

and it can also be used, this can be seen from the

unique 100% participant learning outcomes. This

result is supported by the opinion that interactive

media allows contingent responses to children's

actions and thus facilitates more retention of

instructional materials (Radesky, Schumacher, and

Zuckerman, 2014).

The importance of these findings is to improve the

learning outcomes of students on aspects of language

development, especially material recognizing

animation-based letters, it also gave influences to

educators in displaying interactive multimedia

recognize letters easily and that has been more

quickly understood by students. Interactive

multimedia recognized animation based letters that

researchers develop was given a pleasant impression,

it can help the learning process and remember the

form of letters. Relevant parts and contemporaries for

the community. Many different roles of a teacher and

the importance of each one; each role serves as a

means to achieve learning outcomes (Strauch and

Omar, 2014).

Test instrument like alphabet cards which are

given to the kids where they are asked to guess ten

alphabet cards. In this case, each right answers will be

scored 10. In the end of the game, we can get the

comparisons of the children from pretest and post test.

Based on the result, 33% are categories high, 25% are

categories moderate, and 42% are categories low. The

descriptions can be seen in the figure below:

Figure 3: The diagram of students’ assessment comparison

regarding to n-gain criteria

Based on the research, there was a significant

increased in learning outcomes. The interactive

multimedia that was developed also shows the

activeness of students in learning and makes a

teaching approach used in the learning process so that

learning becomes creative, innovative, creative,

effective and fun. The meaning of Interactive

meaning is learning process for students to control the

learning environment. In this context, the learning

environment in question is learning to use computers.

He interactive classification in the scope of

multimedia learning is not located in the hardware

system, but rather refers to the characteristics of

students in responding to the stimulus delivered on

the computer monitor screen. The development of a

planned and structured multimedia learning projects

can meet the needs of students and change students

from before by changing the method used so that it

becomes effective therefore it becomes one of the

solutions in solving problems in learning. In addition,

the learning process looks fun with real media and

active students, enthusiastic who want to always try

until it works. Thus, learning through play can be

used by teachers to improve children's intelligence in

kindergarten. The development of interactive

multimedia can be an alternative in helping early

childhood in understanding material recognizing

letters and being an educational tool for teachers and

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parents, development. The final result was a product

in interactive multimedia form.

Then it can be concluded that learning used

attractive media, such as: color, design, shape, sound,

music and started with moving drawing techniques,

can develop aspects of early childhood abilities

especially language aspects. Some advantages of

interactive multimedia have developed, such as: (1)

Interactive multimedia developed through many steps

of processes and it also has been tested for validity,

accuracy and effectiveness. (2) Interactive learning

multimedia have been packaged in CD form therefore

students can use them at school and home. (3)

Interactive multimedia that have been developed and

it consists of material recognizing letters A to Z,

games and puzzle. (4) In interactive multimedia such

as: animation, moving pictures, music, and videos

that motivated and provoked students' activeness in

the learning process, therefore it produced interactive

and enjoyable learning processes. (5) Learners can

replay multimedia until they understood without feel

bored with it. Surely, interactive multimedia learning

have disadvantages, such as: (1) Interactive

multimedia has been developed only one theme,

animal theme (2) Preschooler needed a long time to

understand how using media. (3) Preschooler needed

teacher guidance (4) Limitations of supporting

resources when developed interactive multimedia

learning.

Other research was tested the reading intervention

module (MIM) among preschoolers in Malaysia. The

MIM was developed based upon module

development approaches (Majzub & Buang, 2010).

Certainly the product of that research like module

while product of this research was Cd’s form. More

over, language ability was developed of that research

like reading comprehension, while language ability of

this research was focused about recognized alphabets

from A until Z. Although both of research was

different, but they have developed same aspect which

appropriate language characteristic of early

childhood. As revealed by Burger (2010) states that

early childhood language development, especially

kindergarten children has their own characteristics,

there are: (1) Children can already express more than

2500 vocabulary words. (2) Scope of vocabulary that

can be spoken by a child such as: color, size, shape,

taste, smell, beauty, speed, temperature, difference,

ratio of distance and surface (rough-smooth). (3)

Children aged 5-6 years can perform a good listener

role. (4) The child can participate in a conversation,

the child can listen to other people speaking and

respond to the conversation. (5) Conversations

conducted by children aged 5-6 years have involved

various comments on what is done by themselves and

others, and what they see. Children at the age of 5-6

years can already do self expression, writing, reading

and even poetry.

Other study combined gesture-based computing

technology and a game-based learning model to

develop a gesture interactive game-based learning

(GIGL) approach that was suitable for preschool

children. The goal of the study was to implement the

GIGL approach to improve the learning performance

and motor skills of the participants. (Hsiao & Chen,

2016). The prominent difference from these research

is the dependent variable. If the research has focused

on physical and motor aspects, while this study has

focused on language aspects.

Based on other research, several advantages and

disadvantages of interactive multimedia have been

developed, are expected as reference for other

researchers which other interactive multimedia

developed, therefore it could produce better and

quality interactive multimedia.

4 CONCLUSION

Based on the results of research conducted on the

development of interactive multimedia on aspects of

the development of material language recognizing

animation-based letters can be summarized as

follows: (1) The process of developing Interactive

Multimedia so that it can produce material learning

media material recognizes animated letters based on

three stages, namely (a) the planning stage, (b) the

learning design stage, and (c) the learning application

development stage. In these applications there are

introductory videos of letters A through Z through

songs and three main menus, namely ABC material

to introduce alphabet letters A to Z that are equipped

with animated images of animals and their letters,

puzzle games as a letter recognition exercise and its

form, and Games as an assessment or training for

measuring the ability of learners to use interactive

multimedia products to recognize letters.

(2) The alpha test results from the experts are in the

form of comments and suggestions that the

researchers make reference to revise the interactive

multimedia products developed. Quantitative study of

interactive multimedia that was developed that is

obtained through the mean of the assessment results

of the experts obtained a number of 0.94 from media

experts, 0.94 from material experts, and 0.81 from the

expert learning design, with a very high category of

validity level, so Interactive multimedia developed is

declared valid and can be tested in terms of range.

Developing Interactive Multimedia to Improve Language Literacy in Early Childhood

159

The results of the Beta test were obtained from

comments and suggestions from respondents

regarding interactive multimedia from students. In the

Betha test, there were 6 (six) students. The average

results of the quantitative respondents' assessment of

interactive multimedia recognize the letters

developed by 0.61 and categorized as high

practicality for using in research. (3) Interactive

multimedia developed has the effectiveness of

learning outcomes of participants. This can be seen

from the post test results of students on product

testing in the field. The average learning outcomes of

students at pretest amounted to 42 while the average

learning outcomes of students at the time of post test

was 80.6 and an N-gain score of 0.61 was obtained

which included the medium category.

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