The Effectiveness of Using Wattpad Application to Increase Students’ Reading Skills

: As technological advances develop in increasing students' interest in reading, the Wattpad social media application emerged as an effective media for providing learning materials, channeling creative ideas in writing, based on the complexity of the problem and the students’ apparent lack of interest in reading, technology utilization is required as a solution, including using Wattpad as a learning media. The purpose of this research is to ascertain whether using the Wattpad application to increase students' reading skills. In this research, researchers used quantitative methods with pre-experimental research in the form of one group pretest-posttest. The sample used consisted of 25 students from class VIII with purposive sampling type. Multiple-choice test is the method utilized to acquire the data. Based on the statistical statistics, the average pretest score was 59.00, while the average posttest score was 73.20. And to the paired sample t-test analysis results, Sig (2-tailed) < 0.05 (0.001 < 0.05), rejecting H 0 and accepting H a . This indicates that the Wattpad application is an effective media to increase students' reading skills. The use of wattpad is useful for increasing students' interest in reading through available technology and as an additional learning media so that students do not feel bored.


INTRODUCTION
The relationship between technology and education in this era is developing very rapidly.Technology in learning can be used as a learning media for students.Various applications are available that can be utilized optimally by teachers to deliver material, especially for developing students' reading skills.There are applications such as Wattpad, Blogger, Pinterest, WordPress, Tumblr, Fizzo Novel, webtoon, and etc (Bal, 2018).Wattpad was chosen as the media in this research, because the existence of Wattpad currently has an attraction for enthusiasts, especially among students.Those who enjoy reading can read thousands of books on Wattpad, an eBook platform (Suhaeni, 2023).Wattpad was created in Toronto, Canada in 2006 by Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen with the aim of reading and writing online (Reid, 2016).Wattpad has more than 65 million users from all over the world.As users increase every day, Wattpad offers free features, explore hashtags, reading lists, feedback, and notifications to enhance one's writing and reading experience (Ramdarshan Bold, 2018).The genres displayed are also varied, such as action, general fiction, paranormal, mystery/thriller, spiritual, horror, werewolf, fantasy, humor, young chick lit, romance, classic, vampire, science fiction, adventure, teen fiction, fandom, fan fiction, historical fiction, and nonfiction according to readers' needs.Wattpad is an application that is quite popular and efficient for literacy lovers, and every story can be commented on by anyone who reads it like other social media.Currently there are new features that make Wattpad even more interesting, such as payment for every reading completed by readers.Wattpad will give coins to each reader if they have reached their reading target, then these coins can be exchanged via digital money.Available for free on the Apple Store and Google Play Store, Wattpad is a website and application platform providing read-write media (Pido, 2022).
Wattpad can be a place for beginners to start reading and develop a love of literacy.
Through Wattpad, you can also exchange ideas regarding the points of view resulting from the reading.Wattpad is aimed at teenagers and adults, it is not uncommon for people to prefer reading on mobile phones rather than books.Apart from the fact that the price of books is currently quite expensive and bookstores are difficult to reach, another reason is that by using a mobile phones, whatever we want to search for can be easily accessed.There are other advantages to Wattpad, including that the stories on Wattpad can now be read, not necessarily through the application but via Instagram and Twitter.However, more studies continue to show how utilizing Wattpad, for instance, can enhance literacy abilities.Apriyani (2020) demonstrated in her research that kids might improve their literacy skills by using the Wattpad application.Tirochi (2018) says that Wattpad is an incredibly fascinating digital environment with a ton of learning and educational possibilities.As a result, students' reading skills can be positively impacted by the Wattpad application.
Based on research in Türkiye, Junior High School students have a preference for science fiction, criminal stories, humor, emotion, and adventure.Writing and reading exercises are categorized as belonging to this genre on Wattpad.Finding out how students use these applications can help them understand how the two reading and writing assignments at school and outside of it relate to one another.(Deniz, 2015).with the aim of someone getting information from every piece they read.According to (Tahmidaten & Krismanto, 2020), reading ought to be closely associated with the adolescent environment, particularly for students.Early reading encouragement can assist students constantly have books open as a source of knowledge for their future.A person needs to develop the habit of reading now in order to have easy access to all knowledge (Saepudin, 2015).Reading is a process of quickly interpreting written words and symbols by looking at them.Reading is not a passive skill as a result.Reading is a way of understanding; reading has no purpose without comprehension (Adhikary, 2020).Students who read academic texts online these days often struggle with reading comprehension.
According to Käsper (2018), reading interest is the most crucial component of text comprehension since it encourages students to read for pleasure.Some students still experience difficulties in learning to read in a foreign language because according to them a foreign language is a new challenge and requires a different things outlook.Pang (2003) defines reading as understanding written text.Reading is a complex activity involving perception and thinking.The objective of the present research is to determine the effectiveness of using wattpad application to increase students' reading skills.teachers and students can utilize wattpad as a learning media anywhere and anytime.Besides that, readers can also modify their approach based on the information obtained from this study.In accordance with its purpose, this study aims to answer the question "How is the effectiveness of students' ability between students who are taught by using Wattpad as media and students who are not taught by using Wattpad as media?".Vol 7 Issue 2 Tahun 2024

RESEARCH METHOD
This research uses quantitative research.This study aims of this study is to investigate the effect of using the Wattpad application on students' reading skills.A preexperimental study using one group pretest-post-test design.Learning measured before and after treatment.In this way the results of the treatment can be achieved known to be more accurate because it can compare with the previous situation given treatment (Sugiyono, 2014).
The The first meeting before giving the pretest, the researcher introduced himself to the students and the students introduced themselves.Then the researcher gave the pretest questions to the students.Students were asked to read the test carefully before answering.The pretest consisted of 20 questions in the form of multiple choice on a paper.After doing the pretest, the researcher explained the purpose of the test was made.
The second meeting the researcher gave the treatment.Starting with checking the attendance list of students to find out which students were present and who were absent.In this meeting, the researcher explained about Wattpad using infocus and distributed students a text containing stories contained in Wattpad.There are 3 short stories that they can read including "My Sin", "The Ant and Grasshopper", and "The Frog Prince".The researcher explained the story about "My Sin" and gave questions and answers to students.At the end of the meeting, the researcher gave a conclusion to the material that had been explained.
The third meeting, starting with checking attendance list of students and providing motivation to students.Then continued with material where the researcher explained a story about "Ants and Grasshoppers" and after that gave questions and answers to students.This meeting was not much different from the previous meeting.The researcher concluded the session by summarizing the material and the end to the class.
The fourth meeting was the final meeting to collect data.The researcher offered the students a post-test to finish at this meeting after they received treatment at the prior one.The post-test lasts 50 minutes and consists of 20 multiple-choice questions.This post-test is intended to evaluate how well students are utilizing the Wattpad app to learn to read.The researcher thanked the students for their time and chance to participate in this study after gathering the post-test.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Researchers have conducted data collection to ascertain the effectiveness of using Wattpad application in increasing students reading skills.Presentation aims to reveal students' reading skills, can be observed in the following analysis which is grouped into two part, including presentation of pretest data and data posttest.
Pre-test.This section shows the total score obtained by students in the reading skills pre-test (correct answers), the average score, and the percentage score.The data is processed using SPSS 29 which is listed in a table containing student reading skill score data.As for the categories of students' pre-test results before being given treatment using the Wattpad application or pretest scores that describe student scores can be seen at following table: Following the use of the Wattpad application as a media to increase the reading skills of students, the following statistical findings were obtained: Based on the table, the significant scores of the pretest is 0.525 and the post test scores is 0.170.This shows that the scores obtained is greater than the significant level (α = 0.05) that has been determined.Thus, it may be determined that the data has a normal distribution and that the results of the normality test fulfill the requirements.The usage of Wattpad has an impact on students' learning outcomes if there is a difference between the average pretest and post-test scores on the application's use for increasing reading skills.Furthermore, data analysis using the paired sample t test with the aid of SPSS version 29 is required to ascertain if H0 is accepted or rejected.After the normality test is finished, the hypothesis test is carried out using the paired sample t-test method.The information is known as follows, based on the statistical data that was collected.In making decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of hypothesis testing is carried out at a significant level of 5% or 0.05.Then the results of hypothesis testing using SPSS version 29 with the paired sample t-test analysis data technique have obtained a significance of 0.001 which is 0.001<0.05so that H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted.It may be inferred that utilizing the Wattpad application for increasing students' reading skills is helpful because there is a difference in the average scores of students before and after treatment.
The researcher found that teaching reading skills to students using the Wattpad application was effective.Based on the results of descriptive statistical analysis, the pretest and post test data obtained had a number of differences.This aligns with previous research showing that learning using Wattpad can improve students' reading skills (Apriyani, 2020).
Every students' may modify their skill development to their areas of interest.Tirrochi (2018), who argued that Wattpad existence is incredibly fascinating and has enormous learning potential.Thus, students' can acquire reading skills by being given short stories that they understand.Students' reading skills are more likely to improve when they read stories that are engaging to them.Every reading, according to Rintaningrum (2019), advances one's professional and personal development, problem-solving abilities, sense of self, language proficiency, knowledge of science and information, and academic achievement.
Even though basically every students' does not have the same interests and even reading is not the main choice, every teacher can try new things in learning.Using Wattpad in learning is the best choice because it is considered a place where readers can express themselves comfortably through a story.Existence of Wattpad has many features that make it easy for teachers to select a topic using the app, making it a useful teaching tool.Apart from that, Nanda & Azmy (2020) have identified a number of causes, effects, and solutions for the reading difficulties.Their research also demonstrates that low motivation, inadequate prior knowledge, and insufficient vocabulary competence to effectively engage with the text are the main causes of reading difficulties among students'.
Regardless of the gap with previous research, according to Denis (2015) explains that each students has their own interest in a story, be it humor, adventure, action, etc.All these stories are now available on the Wattpad application and can be read for free.So teachers can filter which stories are good and still complete to find out how students can understand the 478 Vol 7 Issue 2 Tahun 2024 reading assignments given based on stories from Wattpad.Overall, this research shows that each development of learning technology has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on how someone uses it.Teachers can use any application to increase students' reading skills, including the Wattpad application.Because based on this research the Wattpad application is effective enough to be used in the learning process, especially reading.In the future, this research can be useful for teachers to determine which applications are appropriate for improving students' reading skills.

CONCLUSION
The researcher can draw the conclusion that students who used the Wattpad application for learning got better scores than students who don't use it.The t-test findings for the hypothesis, which show that 0.001 < 0.05 indicates that H0 was rejected and Ha was accepted.Students' find that using the Wattpad app, particularly for reading, is highly beneficial, does not cause boredom and students can enjoy learning to read in a different way.
By accepting current technology, teachers can also employ additional reading applications as educational resources to facilitate the teaching and learning process for both students and teachers.Thus, the researcher can conclude that using the Wattpad application to increase students' reading skills is effective based on the final results collected.Based on the research that has been done, the researchers hope that teachers can use wattpad properly according to the material to be taught.for students to be able to improve their reading skills with wattpad wherever and whenever.then for readers and further researchers can modify the approach they want based on this research, and the scope used is not only for high school students.

Teenagers in Indonesia are said Jurnal Simki Pedagogia, Volume 7 Issue 2, 2024, Pages 470-480 Gita Dwi Arimbi, Ernita Daulay https://jiped.org/index.php/JSP/ 472 Vol 7 Issue 2 Tahun 2024 to
be especially fond of the Wattpad application.This is demonstrated by the wording used in the forums and comment sections as well as by the quantity of readers registered for every

Table 1 .
Jayantika, 2018)is study was class VIII Mts students and the sample used in this research was class VIII students consisting of 25 students.The research sample was selected using a purposive sampling technique.Purposive sampling is a sample determination technique with specific concerns.Sample selection is based on characteristics certain things that are considered to be relevant closely related to the characteristics of the population already known beforehand (Payadnya &Jayantika, 2018).This research design can be described in the following table.One group pretest-post test research design X : Treatment in pre-experimental O2 : Post test score after treatmentThe data collection technique used was a reading test (pretest-post test).The test is a research instrument to measure students' abilities on the questions given.The test is given in multiple choice form consisting of 20 pretest questions and 20 posttest questions.These questions are taken from stories found on Wattpad.The aim is to assess whether the Wattpad application is useful or not in increase students' reading skills.Researchers collected data in 4 meetings to obtain the desired results.

Table 2 .
Students' pretest scores https://jiped.org/index.php/JSP/It is known from the results of the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)version 29 test that, for the 25 samples, the minimum score was 30, the maximum score was 80, the sum was 1475 and the mean score was 59.00.The mean is the average score of students before being given treatment.Then the standard deviation is 12.416.Deviation is the average scores obtained during the calculation process.Post test.The student scores based on the post-test results were found to be as follows for the student score categories after treatment via the Wattpad application to increase students' reading skills:

Table 4 .
Students' post-test scores Additionally, the number of students who received a score of 70-79 increased to nine students who were classified as good, and nine students who received a score of 80-100 or very good.Vol 7 Issue 2Tahun 2024

Table 5 .
Post-test descriptive StatisticsBased on the results of the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 29, it is known that the student scores after being given treatment (posttest) of 25 students got a minimum score of 35 and a maximum score of 100, got a sum of 1830, the mean students score was 73.20, and the standard deviation was 15,604.It is necessary to know whether the normality test data is normal or not with the test criteria based on the significance that has been obtained.In testing the normality of the data, use of SPSS version 29 is made at the 5% or 0.05 significance level.If the significance score is greater than 0.05, the data is known to be normally distributed; if the significance is less than 0.05, the data is known to be not normally distributed.The results of data analysis obtained from the Shapiro Wilk data normality test are as follows.

Table 7 .
Paired sample t-test