Developing the Cross-Cultural Understanding Course Materials for the English Major Students

Cross-Cultural Understanding (CCU) is one of the compulsory courses required of all six-semester students at the English Literature Study Program of Universitas Khairun. This course provides the students with an awareness of cross-cultural concepts. The problem is that the teaching and learning process of the CCU course in the English Literature Study Program has not been optimal in recent years. One of the reasons is a lack of teaching material to meet learning objectives. This research aims to create a technology-based CCU textbook that contains appropriate teaching materials for students. It is intended that the contents in the CCU textbook to be developed align with the curriculum and Semester Learning Plan (SLP) of the CCU course. Preliminary research as part of three phases of development research design was carried out. A need analysis was conducted to identify students' needs for teaching materials, learning methods, and assessment. A need analysis was conducted with questionnaires via Google form to collect data, involving 43 six-semester students at the English Literature Study Program of Universitas Khairun. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was found that more than 97% of 43 students involved in the study strongly agreed and agreed that a technology-based textbook for the CCU course should be made available. In addition, the textbook of the CCU course should contain materials from online articles, YouTube videos, and links to online English newspapers as well as Indonesian online publications. It was also found that the learning activities reflected in the CCU course should include a discussion, a lecturer explanation, group presentations, individual assignment activities, and group assignment activities. Students' proficiency in the CCU course can be assessed using a variety of methods, including paper writing, projects, and exams.