Extensive reading activities in english language classroom through wattpad application: students perception

Wattpad application is believed to provide a lot of free reading material in various genres that can support students' extensive reading activities. Therefore, this study aims to investigate students’ perception on extensive reading activities through the Wattpad application as well as the genres and reading materials that students are mostly interested in during the activities. Descriptive qualitative was utilized by the researcher as the method of this study. Considering the research design, a case study was utilized by the researcher as the method. To achieve the objectives, the subjects of this study are 24 students of 12 grade in SMK Hidayatul Ummah Gresik who filled the questionnaire and 4 students were selected to deal with the interviews. The research findings indicated that most students have positive perception toward extensive reading on the Wattpad application which is classified based on three elements from Walgito, namely cognitive, affective and conative components. It was concluded that students mostly understand extensive reading, Wattpad application and the reading context/story line. Most students seemed to enjoy the activities and they agreed that extensive reading can be done through the Wattpad application. Moreover, most students can concentrate on the activity because they usually read in their own room. However there are several obstacles that cause disruption to this activity, such as lack of vocabulary and writing, lots of ads, several stories on the Wattpad have been deleted, and interference from the school environment. In terms of genre, romance, humor, fantasy, and classic are the most selected genres. Meanwhile, novels and short stories are mostly chosen by the students as their favorite extensive reading materials on the Wattpad application.