600 EEJ 11 (4) (2021) 600-607 English Education Journal http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej HOTS in Reading Activities of Modules 1 to 5 Easy English for Package B Fitria Uswatun Azizah1, Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati2 1. PKBM Bagus Wandira, Indonesia 2. Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia Article Info ________________ Article History: Recived 29 July 2021 Accepted 6 November 2021 Published 23 December 2021 ________________ Keywords: higher-order thinking skills, modules, package B, reading activities ____________________ Abstract Package B uses a flexible learning principle. The learning process uses a modular learning system. Learning used the latest modules based on the 2013 Curriculum Equivalency Education. This study belongs to qualitative research. The research method is content analysis. This study attempts to analyze the incorporation of analyzing level and evaluating level in reading activities presented in Modules 1-5 Easy English for Package B by referring to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. The research participants are three English Tutors of Package B. From 168 reading activities, there are 164 LOTS reading activities or 97% and only 4 HOTS reading activities or 3%. The detail is one analyzing reading activity in Module 3, one evaluating level reading activity in Module 1, one evaluating level reading activity in Module 2, and one evaluating level reading activity in Module 3. The knowledge dimensions found in HOTS reading activities are factual and conceptual. The details are a factual knowledge reading activity in Module 1 and three conceptual knowledge reading activities in Module 2 & 3. The result of this study is expected to benefit English tutors to improve or add supplementary materials and reading activities from other sources, the module's author to develop HOTS reading activities in the module, and further researcher to conduct research related to the effectiveness and development of reading activities. Correspondence : Jalan Ahmad Yani No. 35 Sumowono, Kecamatan Sumowono Kabupaten Semarang, Jawa Tengah E-mail: fuazizah@gmail.com p-ISSN 2087-0108 e-ISSN 2502-4566 Fitria Uswatun Azizah & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati/ English Education Journal 11(4) (2021) 600-607 601 INTRODUCTION One of non-formal education in Indonesia is equivalency education. Package B is equivalent to junior secondary school (SMP/MTs). Equivalency education uses flexible learning principles, so the learning process uses a modular learning system. Equivalency education competence equals formal education because the equivalency education curriculum was referred to as the 2013 Curriculum (The Ministry of Education and Culture, 2017). Learning used the latest modules based on the 2013 Curriculum Equivalency Education. Hopefully, the students are enabled to learn and evaluate independently. This research focuses on Modules 1-5 Easy English for Package B used by Level III students (equivalent to Grade VII to VIII). Based on contextualization of core and basic competence of equivalency education curriculum, contextualization of curriculum competence carried out by the challenges of equivalency education without changing or reducing the quality standards or competency of graduates to be achieved as well contained informal education. It means that equivalency education students are expected to have the ability as formal education students. Modules have a significant role as a source in the modular learning system. I am interested in explaining the incorporation of higher-order thinking skills in reading activities according to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy because the activities in the modules focus on reading activities so students can evaluate themselves independently. I apply Revised Bloom's Taxonomy to analyze the cognitive domain in the reading activity presented in modules. Bloom's Taxonomy was formed in 1956 to promote higher forms of thinking in education. The cognitive domain consisted of six major categories: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956). In 2001, Lorin W Anderson and David R. Krathwohl released a revised version of Bloom's taxonomy titled A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The six cognitive processes were changed from noun to verb form. Knowledge was changed to remembering, comprehension became understanding, and synthesis was renamed creating. Creating became the highest level, switching was replaced by evaluating. The new order is remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating (Anderson et al., 2001). Six cognitive domains are classified into two categories, i.e., higher- order thinking skills (HOTS) and lower-order thinking skills (LOTS). Remembering, understanding, and applying includes lower- order thinking skills includes analyzing, evaluating, and creating includes higher-order thinking skills. The knowledge dimension of Revised Blooms' Taxonomy contains four categories: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive (Anderson et al., 2001). Factual knowledge is knowledge based on fact. The essential elements that students must know to solve the problem. It refers to essential facts, terminology, details, or elements that must be known. Conceptual knowledge includes knowledge of categories and classification relationships between concepts more complexly and forms an organized knowledge. Procedural knowledge is knowing how to do something. Procedural knowledge covers the steps or stages that must be followed in doing or creating something. Metacognitive knowledge means knowledge about general thinking and knowledge about thinking by students' cognition. Higher-order thinking skill means using a broader mind than lower-order thinking skill and stimulating thinking skill (Rajendran, 2010). Reading is an essential skill in language learning. Reading includes receptive skills. Receptive skill is the ability to extract meaning from language (Harmer, 2007). Reading is a process of combining information from the text and readers' background knowledge to build meaning (Nunan, 2003). Reading skill is not only o the development of knowledge and relates to people's ability (Harrison, 2004). Reading can reinforce students' creativity and critical thinking (Richard & Renandya, 2020). The cognitive levels Fitria Uswatun Azizah & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati/ English Education Journal 11(4) (2021) 600-607 602 included in HOTS for reading are analyzing (C- 4) and evaluating (C-5). Creating (C-6) is the ability to arrange or organize a new pattern from the obtained information in reading activities. It means that creating a level is included in productive skills. The reading questions must be relevant to higher-order thinking skills to increase students thinking skills. I focus on reading activities in modules 1- 5, Easy English for Package B. The application of learning principles uses a modular learning system. It means that modules have a significant role in the learning process. Research about reading activities in modules is necessary because modules are the primary sources in teaching English for equivalency education. There has been no research discussing reading activities in Package B module because previous studies discussed reading activities presented in textbooks and tests. The result of this study is expected to benefit English tutors to improve or add supplementary materials and reading activities from other sources, the module's author to develop HOTS reading activities in the module, and further researcher to conduct research related to the effectiveness and development of reading activities. METHOD I assumed that higher-order thinking skills are incorporated in reading activities of Modules 1-5 Easy English for Package B. Higher-order thinking skills in reading questions play a significant role in promoting students' higher- order thinking skills. This study belongs to qualitative research that uses content analysis as a research method. Content analysis is known as a method of analyzing documents. This study attempts to analyze the incorporation of higher- order thinking skills in reading activities presented in Modules 1-5 Easy English for Package B by referring to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. The object of this study is reading activities presented in Modules 1-5 Easy English for Package B. Modules 1-5 are for Level III (equivalent to Grade VII to VIII). These modules consisted of: Module 1 (Getting Acquaintance), Module 2 (Let's Start the Day), Module 3 (My Lovely Friends), Module 4 (I See a Wonderful Village), and Module 5 (Attention Please). Three English Tutors of Package B are involved as research participants. They are Tian, Dewi, and Sari (pseudonym) from three different learning centers (Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat/PKBM) in Semarang regency. The unit of analysis in this study is higher-order thinking skills' reading activities presented in Module 1 to Module 5 Easy English for Package B. I am the main research instrument to collect and analyze the data. I also have a role as a planner, collector, and analyzer. I collect and analyze the data by referring to Revised Bloom's taxonomy. I also interviewed English Tutor to gain more information. I used documentation and interview to collect the data. A form of checklist and interview guidelines is used to collect the data. The form is a checklist to classify reading activities by referring to higher-order thinking skills according to Blooms' revised taxonomy. Second is interview guidelines to collect additional information from research participants. The data in this study were collected from documentation and interview. Expert' judgment will triangulate the data obtained from the study to avoid the researcher's subjectivity. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Reading activity presented in Module 1-5 Easy English for Package B is 168. The details are 45 reading activities in Module 1, 41 reading activities in Module 2, 34 reading activities in Module 3, 14 reading activities in Module 4, and 34 reading activities in Module 5. Then, reading activities are analyzed based on higher-order thinking skills according to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. The finding indicates four higher- order thinking skills in reading activities. The details are 1 HOTS reading activities in Module 1, 1 HOTS reading activities in Module 2, and 2 HOTS reading activities in Module 3. In Module 4 and Module 5, HOTS reading activities are not found. The detail is an analyzing reading activity in Module 3, one evaluating level reading activity in Module 1, one evaluating level reading activity Fitria Uswatun Azizah & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati/ English Education Journal 11(4) (2021) 600-607 603 in Module 2, and two evaluating level reading activities in Module 3. The Incorporation of Analyzing Level in Reading Activities Based on the reading activities of Modules 1-5 Easy English for Package B, I found 1 reading activity of analyzing level in Module 3. To complete the reading activity, students should break the concept into parts and determine how the parts relate to other parts or overall structure. Further details are explained below: Figure 1. HOTS Reading Activity in Module 3 The reading activity is presented in Module 3 (My Lovely Friends), page 18. The reading activity is talking about family. A short passage and an empty family tree are presented. The direction is "complete the family tree based on the text!". The direction is clear. Students are asked to fill the family tree according to the information in a short passage. Based on the short passage, students position themselves as Bowo, the subject in the passage. Students must fill in the name of Bowo's family members. They are Mr. Ahmad, Mrs. Aminah, Mr. Yusuf, Mrs. Yusuf, Mr. Arifin, Andini, Arini, Wisnu, Anita, Mustika, and Malika. To fill correctly, students must analyze the names of family members and their relationship to Bowo. Then, students fill the family tree based on their understanding and analysis results. This reading activity includes the analyzing level because the students determine the family member to fill the blank charts in the family tree. According to the knowledge dimension, the reading activity above is conceptual. Because students need knowledge of the family relationship, they relate their knowledge and information in a short passage to correctly fill the family tree. Three respondents stated that the reading activity in Module 3 about the family tree was included in the HOTS activity. The reading activity above is analyzing level. It is appropriate with HOTS according to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Students are asked to search for relationships based on the text. First, students read the text to know the name and relation. Then, they complete a family tree based on their result analysis. The Incorporation of Evaluating Level in Reading Activities I found three reading activities that include evaluating level (C-5), one reading activity in Module 1, one reading activity in Module 2, and one reading activity in Module 3. In evaluating the level, students judge based on the criteria and standards. Three reading activities that I found in modules require students to judge whether it is true or false. The details are described below: Figure 2. HOTS Reading Activity in Module 1 The reading activity is presented in Module 1 (Getting Acquaintance) page 09. This reading activity is about the expression of greeting. According to Taxonomy Bloom, the operational word "write" is included in creating level (C-6). However, based on the instruction and question form, the reading activity above is evaluating level (C-5). The activity includes evaluating the level of HOTS. Four pictures are related to time. Each picture is annotated with an expression of greeting. Students are asked to determine whether the greetings match the pictures or not. If it is matched, students can write Fitria Uswatun Azizah & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati/ English Education Journal 11(4) (2021) 600-607 604 true (T), and if it is not matched, students can write false (F). The answer to all statements is false because greetings are not appropriate with all pictures. Students need the ability to make a judgment between pictures and greetings. Based on the knowledge dimension, this reading activity includes factual knowledge. Because students need knowledge of the expression of greeting, students relate their knowledge and pictures before they determine whether the pictures and expressions of greeting are true or false. Three respondents stated that the activity included evaluating the level of HOTS. The operational word "write" is less suitable for reading activities. The suitable operational word is "choose" or determine." Students are asked to observe each presented picture and greeting. Students choose a true or false statement based on the suitability of the pictures and greeting. This reading activity is the following evaluating the level of Bloom's taxonomy. The second is a reading activity presented in Module 2 (Let’s Start the Day) page 28. Figure 3. HOTS Reading Activity in Module 2 Five simple present tense sentences are provided in the reading activity. It is the same with the previous reading activity that the operational word is "write," but the point of the reading activity is to justify the sentences. Students are requested to determine whether the subject and verb are appropriate or not. If subject and verb are appropriate, students choose T (true), while subject and verb are not appropriate, students choose F (false). According to the knowledge dimension, reading activity is conceptual knowledge. Students must understand the simple present tense concepts and patterns, specifically in writing verbs. Subject I, you, we, they or plural form use an actual verb. While the subject is third person (he, she, and it), the suffix –s or –es is added to the verb. Then students can determine whether the sentence is true or false according to the concept and pattern they already understood. The answer of the first sentence is true, the second is true, the third is true, the fourth sentence is true, and the fifth sentence is false because the verb is not appropriate with the subjects. The subjects are I and my uncle, and the correct verb is "buy" without the suffix –s. Question and cognitive level are appropriate. For package B students, learning the simple present tense by correcting sentences is included in the HOTS question category. Based on the interview result, this activity is included evaluating level. Students are asked to compare the statement to know whether it is true or false. The is material about simple present tense. Question and cognitive level are appropriate. For package B students, learning simple present tense by correcting sentences, whether correct or incorrect, is included in HOTS. The third is a reading activity found in Module 3 (My Lovely Friends) page 20. Figure 4. HOTS Reading Activity in Module 3 The primary material of the reading activity above is descriptive text related to humans. Each number consists of two sentences related to the hobby. It is also the same as the previous reading activity. However, the Fitria Uswatun Azizah & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati/ English Education Journal 11(4) (2021) 600-607 605 operational word is "write," but the actual meaning is to justify the sentences by writing T (true) or F (false). The first sentence is about an activity related to a hobby and the second sentence is the name of the hobby. Students are asked to judge whether the activities related to the first sentence match the second sentence. Based on the knowledge dimension, the reading activity above is conceptual. Students should understand the message of the first sentence. The first sentence contains a clue about a place related to a hobby. Football yard relates to playing football, the gym is related to gymnastics, new places relate to traveling, karaoke relates to singing, and sea relates to diving. After they get the message of the first sentence, they can relate the first and second sentences. The answer of number one is true because football yard relates to football. The answer to number two is false. After all, the gym does not relate to dancing. The answer of number three is false because new places do not relate to collecting stamps. The answer to number four is false. After all, karaoke does not relate to dancing, and the last answer is true because the sea relates to diving. Three respondents showed that this reading activity is HOTS, evaluating category. Students are asked to determine actual or false between two sentences about places and related hobbies. This activity follows the provisions of HOTS, evaluate. Sari adds that students can use a dictionary to better understand the meanings in the sentences. It can add their vocabularies too. This study found 168 reading activities presented in Module 1-5 Easy English for Package B. The details are as follows, 45 reading activities in Module 1 (Getting Acquittance), 41 reading activities in Module 2 (Let's Start the Day), 34 reading activities in Module 3 (My Lovely Friends), 14 reading activities in Module 4 (I See a Wonderful Village), and 34 reading activities in Module 5 (Attention Please!). According to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy (2001), four reading activities follow higher-order thinking skills. The details are HOTS reading activities in Module 1, HOTS reading activities in Module 2, and 2 HOTS reading activities in Module 3. In Module 4 and 5, HOTS reading activities are not found. From 168 reading activities, there are 164 LOTS reading activities or 97% and only 4 HOTS reading activities or 3%. The detail is an analyzing reading activity in Module 3, an evaluating level reading activity in Module 1, an evaluating level reading activity in Module 2, and two evaluating level reading activities in Module 3. It means that Module 1-5 Easy English for Package B are dominated by LOTS reading activities. The finding indicates that this study has similar results with previous studies. The frequency of HOTS reading activities or questions is low because it is dominated by LOTS (Kasim et al., 2017; Mizbani & Chalak, 2017; Narwianta et al., 2019; Olimat, 2015; Putri & Komariah, 2018) Based on the findings above, analyzing the reading activity is presented in Module 3. The reading activity is about the family tree or family member. According to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy, analyzing includes HOTS (Higher- Order Thinking Skill). Three respondents, i.e., Tian, Dewi, and Sari, stated that the reading activity in Module 3 about the family tree is included in the HOTS activity. Analyzing also is known as cognitive level 4 or C-4. Students should break the concept into components and determine the relation of each part. In doing a reading activity about the family tree, students are asked to read passages, detail each name and position in a family, search the relationship between family members, and then write it down in a family tree. This activity complies with analyzing rules in Bloom's taxonomy. The researchers found analyzing level in reading activities on their research' object. In percentage, analyzing level in this research shows the least amount because only 1% of the total reading activities. Atiullah et al., (2019) and Dewayani et al., (2020) stated that analyzing level reading activities are still available even though the percentage is low. Reading activities that include evaluating level (C-5) are presented in Module 1, Module 2, Module 3. According to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy, students judge materials based on criteria or standards to evaluate reading activities. Fitria Uswatun Azizah & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati/ English Education Journal 11(4) (2021) 600-607 606 Three evaluating reading activities in modules are in the form of true or false questions. Arvianto & Faridi (2016) and Febriyani et al., (2020) stated in their research that evaluating reading activities contained in the objects they studied. The first is the reading activity presented in Module 1 (Getting Acquittance) on page 09. The reading activity is about greeting. There are four pictures presented that are related to activities and times. Below the picture is presented greeting and true or false choices. Students are asked to determine whether the greetings match the pictures or not. Students choose true (T) if the picture and greeting are matched; otherwise, students choose false (F) if the picture and greeting are not matched. The second is a reading activity presented in Module 2 (Let's Start the Day) page 28. There are five sentences about simple present tense. Students are asked to determine whether the subject and verb are appropriate or not by choosing "true (T)" or "false (F)." The answer numbers 1-4 are true, and number 5 is false. The third is a reading activity found in Module 3 (My Lovely Friends) page 20. The reading activity is about people's hobbies. Each number consists of two sentences. The first sentence is the place to do a hobby and the second sentence is a hobby. Students are asked to determine first and second sentences are related or not. If the first and second sentences are matched, students choose "true (T)"; otherwise, if the first and second sentences are not matched, students choose "false (F)." CONCLUSION 168 Reading activities are presented in Modules 1-5 Easy English for Package B. According to the analysis of reading activities based on Revised Bloom's Taxonomy, there are 164 or 97% Lower-Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) reading activities and 4 or 3% Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) reading activities. The detail is one analyzing reading activity in Module 3, an evaluating level reading activity in Module 1, an evaluating level reading activity in Module 2, and an evaluating level reading activity in Module 3. It can be concluded that reading activities in Module 1-5 Easy English for Package B are dominated by LOTS reading activities. The knowledge dimensions found in HOTS reading activities are factual and conceptual. The details are a factual knowledge reading activity in Module 1 and three conceptual knowledge reading activities in Module 2 & 3. For equivalency students, modules are the primary source to learn and evaluate independently. Some suggestions are presented as the contribution in teaching English for Package B. First; the author must apply six cognitive levels, i.e., remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating in designing suitable reading activities. Second, the English tutors of Package B should improve or add supplementary materials and reading activities from other sources. Third, I hope that further study can discuss the effectiveness of using reading activities in modules of Package B in the learning process. Furthermore, the result of the study can be used as a reference in developing reading activities in learning English, especially for Package B modules. The result shows that reading activities are dominated by LOTS reading activities. 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