The Development of Web Applications on Communication Competency in English Subject for High School Students

Abstract

This study aimed to: (1) develop a web application to enhance English communication competence among upper secondary school students and to achieve the 80/80 efficiency criterion; (2) compare students’ English communication competence before and after learning through the web application; and (3) examine students’ satisfaction with the web-application-based instruction. The research employed a Research and Development (R&D) approach, integrating User-Centered Design and an iterative development process. The participants were purposively selected upper secondary students. Research instruments included the web application, an English communication competence test, and a satisfaction questionnaire. All instruments demonstrated high quality, with IOC values ranging from 0.90 to 1.00, KR-20 = .90, and Cronbach’s alpha = .92.

The results revealed that the developed web application achieved an efficiency level of E1/E2 = 80.61/82.59, surpassing the 80/80 criterion. This indicates that the application was effective in terms of content structure, learning process design, and interactive usability. The comparison of pretest and posttest scores showed a statistically significant improvement at the .05 level (pretest  = 26.20; posttest  = 32.31), confirmed the effectiveness of the application to enhancing students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Students’ satisfaction with the instruction was rated at a “high” level (  = 3.93, S.D. = 0.82), particularly regarding content quality, learning activities, multimedia elements, and assessment procedures.

In conclusion, the developed web application demonstrates strong potential as an effective digital learning innovation for enhancing English communication competence among upper secondary school students and can be applied in various technology-integrated educational contexts.