Abstrak
ABSTRACT This thesis is entitled "Developing ADJACOMIC: A ChatGPT-Assisted Comic-Based Learning Material for Teaching Adjacency Pairs in Junior High School EFL Speaking Activities", written by Yuyud Andam Mellian, Student ID 20224005, submitted to the Master's Program in English Education, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, State Islamic University (UIN) Sjech M. Djamil Djambek Bukittinggi. This study was conducted at SMP Negeri 7 Payakumbuh, West Sumatra, Indonesia. It aimed to identify the learning needs of Grade VII students and English teachers, develop ADJACOMIC, a ChatGPT-assisted comic-based learning material for teaching adjacency pairs in EFL speaking activities, and evaluate its validity, practicality, and effectiveness. The study was motivated by students' difficulties in producing appropriate conversational responses and the limited availability of instructional materials for teaching adjacency pairs. This study employed a Research and Development (R&D) design using the Four-D (4D) Model. The needs analysis involved 80 Grade VII students and two English teachers. The product was validated by three material experts and three media experts, while its practicality and effectiveness were evaluated through a try-out involving 20 Grade VII students and one English teacher. Data were collected through observations, interviews, questionnaires, validation sheets, and speaking performance tests. Qualitative data were analyzed descriptively, while quantitative data were analyzed using percentage analysis and inferential statistics with IBM SPSS Statistics. The needs analysis indicated that students and teachers required contextualized, communication-oriented instructional materials for learning adjacency pairs. Based on these findings, ADJACOMIC was developed and obtained an overall validity score of 95.50% (Very Valid) and a practicality score of 91.05% (Very Practical). Students' mean speaking score increased from 60.00 in the pre-test to 81.20 in the post-test. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test using IBM SPSS Statistics confirmed a statistically significant improvement (Z = −3.963, p .001). Therefore, ADJACOMIC is valid, practical, and effective for improving Grade VII students' interactional competence in EFL speaking activities.