THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTEGRATED THEMATIC LEARNING DEVICES BASED ON INTERACTIVE COMPENSATORY MODEL TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION IN ISLAMIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

This study aims to examine the effect of using interactive compensatory model (ICM)-based integrated thematic learning tools to improve students’ reading comprehension of information text comprehension for fifth grade elementary school. This research was conducted in three stages. The first phase of the preliminary study included a literature study, field surveys and expert-validated initial product preparation. The second stage of development included limited trials and extensive trials through experimental methods. The third stage was product testing and socialization of the results to try out its efficacy. Data were obtained through observation, interviews, questionnaires and test (pretest and post-test). This study used a sample of 504 grade fifth students in 12 elementary schools in Bandung Regency. The results of this study indicate that the use of ICM-based integrated thematic learning tools has a significant effect on students’ improvement for reading comprehension on information text for fifth grade elementary school. This is evidenced by the difference in students’ reading comprehension ability before and after learning using ICM-based integrated thematic learning tools. This research has implications for the ease with which teachers can achieve learning objectives with the support of teaching materials, media, worksheets and interesting and practical activities that can stimulate students to improve their reading comprehension skills.


INTRODUCTION
Reading comprehension is an essential language skill that should be mastered by elementary school students. Good reading skills will also open up new worlds and allow students to gain new knowledge, enjoy literature, and carry out daily activities that are an integral part of students' life .
Students in real-life experience problems when it comes to learning reading comprehension, especially in elementary schools. In Bandung regency, teachers face students' problems from high-class in Madrasah Ibtidaiyyah (MI) and its counterpart (Islamic elementary schools) regarding their students' abilities to perform reading comprehension, especially in terms of understanding the information text. They found that their students could not understand the meaning as well as important information. Furthermore, the students fail to analyze evaluate, and apply the information they understood and the teachers express their concern for these students. Based on the preliminary observation results, researchers found that some teachers from MI were able to develop learning devices, significantly to develop their ability to read informational texts. In the learning process, teachers only implement the devices provided by the school and recommended by the curriculum 2013.
Researchers have reported students' reading comprehension problems and the teachers' efforts to solve them (Silinskas et al., 2013;Alivernini & Manganelli, 2015;Kikas et al., 2016;Puspita, Sunendar, Musthafa, & Agung, 2017;Dharamshi, 2019). In general, in their findings, they explained that students could increase their reading comprehension. Other efforts include the students in their reading comprehension applied their cognitive strategies and graphs as a constructivism approach (Yussof et al., 2012). Teaching reading for children should apply reading skills in the first class with positive and negative association patterns and predictors (Silinskas et al., 2013). Another strategy, students' reading comprehension can be improved through learning task design based on the KWL worksheet  and various other methods that can be applied (Alivernini & Manganelli, 2015;Kikas et al., 2016;. Several models can be offered in teaching and learning reading comprehension to solve those students' problems. One of the models to improve reading comprehension is Interactive Compensatory Model (ICM). This model is a basic form to develop integrated thematic learning devices, particularly to enhance comprehension reading skills. Some research related to this Interactive-Compensatory model has been conducted by (Stanovich, 1980;Stanovich, 1984;Simpson et al., 1983;Rieben & Perfetti, 2013;McNeil, 2012;Amiryousefi, 2014;Ismail et al., 2015;Tracey & Morrow, 2017). In general, they stated that to improve students' reading comprehension to read informational text, ICM can be applied. In the Indonesian Islamic elementary school context, integrated thematic learning has been proven effective to enhance students' overall cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills of elementary school students (Munawaroh, 2010;Masdiana et al., 2014;Setyawan & Mustadi, 2015;Waridah & Aman, 2015;Setiawan et al., 2017).
There is little information on ICM-based Integrative Thematic Learning to improve students' reading comprehension in the Indonesian Islamic elementary school context. This study tries to fill the gap. This research was aimed at investigating the development of learning devices based on specific learning models to improve students' reading comprehension on information text for 5 th -grade in MI, Islamic elementary schools, and their counterparts.

METHOD
This study applied R&D. It contained several steps proposed by Borg and Gall and were modified (Sukmadinata, 2005). This modified model consists of three practical steps. First, it included literature study, field survey, initial product, and drafting of learning device which were ready to be validated by experts and users. The second stage entailed learning device development focusing on two trials -limited and broader trials -through experimental methods resulting in a proven learning tool. The last stage represented product testing and socializing. At this point, the resulting product was socialized and tested its efficacy through experimental methods.
This research was conducted at 12 schools ranging from MI, Islamic elementary schools and state elementary schools in Bandung regency. The research was 5th graders at Elementary School, both males and females, with an average age of 10-11 years. The samples used were 504 students from 18 classes and 18 classroom teachers. The limited test involved three experimental classes with 58 students and three control classes with 78 people. The extensive test involved 9 experimental classes with a total of 259 students and three control classes with 109 people. Sampling techniques were carried out randomly to select elementary schools with the category of types of access to information, including easy access, medium ease of access, and difficult access to information. Indonesian subject learning objectives that were currently implemented in Grade 5 elementary School in Bandung district were obtained through interviews and observations. They were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Design of analysis Data of ICM-based integrated thematic learning device were obtained through questionnaire and analyzed qualitatively. Data effectiveness development of ICM-based integrated thematic learning devices were developed through pretest and posttest and were analyzed quantitatively with t-test. Students' reading comprehension was analyzed qualitatively.
The observation guidelines were made with the contents of the list of activities that would be observed. Interviews were conducted to teachers and students to get objective data related to integrated thematic learning devices-based on ICM and students' reading comprehension ability on informational text. A Questionnaire was given to experts, practitioners, and parents. A questionnaire for parents aimed to investigate what parents at home were doing to improve their children's reading comprehension. The questionnaire was developed regarding the objectives of learning (Akbar, 2013). Documentation was conducted by studying the book of integrated thematic materials, KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan/School-based Curriculum) teaching materials book, 2013 curriculum documents, and other supporting books.
The objectives to measure in students comprehension of information text were as follows: to understand the meaning of words according to usage in the text, to recognize the relationship between parts of the paragraph in the text, to reveal the points of thought revealed in the text, to answer questions whose answers are explicitly stated in the text, to mention the keywords available in the text, to retell the text content in their own words, to withdraw inference about the text content, to distinguish fact-based statement with the opinion-based statement, to elaborate text content in the form of concept maps, to understand the author's message as part of an understanding of text content.
The validity of every item of reading comprehension was used in this study. It was tested using the Pearson Product Moment correlation, then calculating the value of the tcount. In detailed, it can be described in Table 1. Based on the above data, the instrument item for reading comprehension was considered valid 11 items. Alpha Cronbach's capability of the reliability test was applied. The value was obtained at 0.834 for reading comprehension, and it was greater than 0.05. Thus the research instrument was considered to be reliable.
The learning condition was collected through interviews and observations. For interviews with teachers and students, data were processed qualitatively. They were qualitatively processed by coding, field notes, field record analysis (data reduction, data presentation, inferring, and verification), data validity testing (triangulation, extended observation). The data obtained from the field were being used and then tested using the difference test. The data was expected to be distributed normally. Data were analyzed through determining the average standard deviation score on the initial test and final test, determining speaking and writing skills both in experimental or control class, applying normality test, applying homogeneity test, and applying two-average difference test. The level of the Gain category is if G > 0.7, then the level of significant gain is expressed in the high category, if 0.03 ≤ g ≤ 0.7 then the gain level is expressed in the medium category and if G < 0.3 then the gain level in the category is low (Borg&Gall, 1983). This study applied the normality test and data homogeneity to examine testing instruments, prove the validity and measure the reliability of the instrument and analyze the data. It also tested the difference of two average processed using SPSS version 18.

RESULTS AND DISSCUSSION
In this section, the findings of this study will be organized and described into two: (1) the development of ICM-based integrated thematic learning devices to improve students' reading comprehension ability to read informational text and (2) the effect of ICM-based Integrated Thematic Learning Devices on students' reading comprehension on information text. After describing two findings, this study provides relevant literature to the findings.

Students' Reading Comprehension Ability to Read Information Text Preliminary Study
At this stage, researchers worked with practitioners to define the requirements needed for learning. The steps taken at this stage were: conducting literary studies, implementing field surveys to analyse students, distributing assignments and the material, and formulating learning assignments. The first step was to develop ICM-based integrated thematic learning devices. It was aimed at investigating students' reading comprehension ability by conducting observation and interviews with some teachers of Grade 5 teachers. Early observations were conducted on Grade 5 students at two elementary schools. In addition, the interview was conducted with the teacher of Grade 5. In this preliminary study, the initial instrument design was tried out in one primary school. The results are described in the following table 2.  Table 2 portrays a significant difference between the average post-test score of the experimental class and the control class in students' reading comprehension ability at the 95% confidence level. Moreover, this study found that the learning devices were needed to improve students' reading comprehension ability. After reviewing the learning devices, the researchers examined the 2013 curriculum to develop a syllabus, lesson plan, and design integrated thematic instruction materials. The process of review involved core competencies, basic competencies and indicators that can be developed and improve their reading comprehension of informational text. Also, it reviewed a variety of integrated thematic teaching materials that would be adapted to the development of syllabus and lesson plan development. A relevant theme for the teaching materials was developed. At this stage, the researchers produced an initial draft of ICM-based integrated thematic learning devices to propose to experts and practitioners to be validated.

Development Stage Expert and User Testing
This study involved experts and practitioners in conducting testing for the draft ICMbased integrated thematic learning devices. Three experts and three practitioners tested the instruments which were adopted from Akbar (2013).
After the test, the expert provided several feedbacks. (1) Learning devices must be fully developed (i.e., syllabus, lesson plan, model/method, teaching materials, learning media, worksheet, and evaluation) regarding curriculum 2013. (2) The developed learning Model must be precise and suitable for students' reading comprehension for Grade 5 elementary school.
(3) The use of sentences, spelling, writing, and language manners should be sufficient. (4) The discourse used should be tested using the Fry chart. The results of expert and practitioners' validation for Integrated Thematic based on ICM are described in Table 3. From the table above, it can be concluded that the developed learning tool could be used. To follow the feedback, the researchers revised the learning tools, especially the syllabus and teaching materials, following oral and written input from experts and users/ practitioners. Based on qualitative data analysis results, an ICM-based integrated thematic learning development pattern can be presented in Figure 1. Figure 1 describes how the ICM-based integrated thematic learning device development pattern took the shape of a cone. The development of a model played an important role and became a reference for evolving other tools such as syllabus, lesson plans, learning media, worksheets, and evaluation tools. Further, the draft of the validated learning device was feasible to be tested in a small and large-scale trial.

Small Scale Trial
The difference in the increase (gain) of students' reading comprehension between experimental classes and control classes will be shown in Table 4.  Table 4 explains a considerable increase in students' reading comprehension ability on information text for the experimental class compared with the control class. In the experimental class, the highest increase is in the first indicator of their ability to understand the meaning of words that correspond to their text use. The lowest increase is on their ability to understand the author's message or reveal implied meanings.

Large-Scale Trial
The large-scale trial was conducted with a more significant sample consisting of 259 students Grade 5 as an experimental class and 109 students as a control class in an elementary school located the Bandung Regency area. According to the school selection criteria, they were classified into three groups: Group one with easy access to information, Group two with medium ease of access to information, and Group three with difficult access to information. This large-scale trial was done in two stages, first, pretest. These pre-test tests were given to experimental classes and control classes to determine their initial reading comprehension ability. Second, the post-test. They were given to experimental classes and control classes to investigate ICM-based integrated thematic learning devices' influence on students' reading comprehension.
The average percentage of difference in gain for students' reading comprehension ability between the experimental and control class is described in Table 5. The above table explains that in experimental classes in groups one, two, and three experienced an increase in each indicator (i.e., students were able to read information text better when compared with their reading comprehension ability in the previous meeting). Their increase in achievement is varied. There is a difference in the percentage of students' reading comprehension ability to read information text after they learned using the learning devices. A considerable increase in percentages was achieved by the Group one experiment class (i.e., the elementary school group with the easy category of information access). The increase was also experienced by elementary schools in groups two and three, but the group three achievement is smaller than groups one and two. Group three refers to elementary schools with difficult categories of getting access to information, and group two elementary school with medium ease of access to information.

The effect of ICM-based Integrated Thematic Learning Devices on Students' Reading Comprehension on Information Text
Based on the findings in this study, it can be explained that the result of the implementation of the ICM-based Integrated Thematic Learning device varied. That is to say, the category of high achievement for reading comprehension from each school showed varied values. Similarly, the category of intermediate and low achievement for reading comprehension showed varied values. The head of the class 1 and his classmates had the agility and accuracy in writing the information expressed, writing down important information, determining the point of view, searching for keywords, retelling the text content in their own words, creating a concept map, and understanding the author's message. The head of the class 7 and his classmates had the same ability as the head class 1 and his classmates, but they were not as precise as the head class 1 and his classmates. Students with the reading comprehension ability of intermediate levels; in this case, students could only understand to C5 level. Their ability at this level also varied. At the same time, students at low proficiency levels could understand to C4 level. The ability at this level is also different. The results can be seen in the Table 6.
MR (20) AM (25)  2 SN (23) FNF (4) ES (3)  AN (1) MRF (9) MI (8) FS (5) ND (31) SS (21)  3 Y (1) NS (4) HAH (24) MD (2) HNF (12) RRP (26) FA (6) A (13) RM (3)  4 AL (1)  Description: 1, 2, 3: School code with easy access of information 4, 5, 6: School Code with medium ease of access of information 7, 8, 9: School code with difficult access of information (1), etc.: Student attendance Number C1: Ability to recall explicitly stated meaning C2: Ability to understand information C3: Ability to apply implicitly stated meaning C4: Ability to analyse information C5: Ability to evaluate information received C6: Ability to make planning and activities based on information they understood Based on the above findings, there are several points to discuss. First, this study applied the category of information access for students in their school to consider their reading comprehension ability. Access to information in this study refers to information from electronic media or internet access, and elementary school students much need the availability of reading books in the school for students. Easy access to information dramatically affects students' reading comprehension ability on information text. Their knowledge assists them to perform better reading comprehension. When the context is sufficiently adequate, skilled readers utilize contexts to facilitate word recognition (Stanovich, 1984). Reading activity usually consists of three phases: before-reading, during-reading, and after-reading activity.
Second, using the Islamic perspective, integrated thematic learning devices can be viewed from some verses in surah Al-Alaq. In general, the verses send the message that people should read the signs that are available in this nature either by searching, studying, and criticizing. In a broad sense, the meaning of writing can be interpreted as documenting, photographing, recording, and so on. Reading and writing is a basic part of the education process that can be interpreted as the ability to conduct scientific activities (Sholichah, 2018). This study focused on students' reading comprehension, which is crucial for students to conduct scientific activities. According to QS. Al-Alaq (96):1-5, students are expected to develop their ability to perform scientific activities.
Third, in this study, the curriculum design applied the Webbed model. This model is an integrated learning model that uses themes as the basis for learning. It combines multidisciplines or various subjects which are integrated by one theme (Forgaty, 1991). For Forgaty, teachers with students or fellow teachers can set themes. Once the theme is agreed upon, it follows selecting a sub-theme by noting the relation with other subjects. For that reason, the main theme must have a broad scope of material and provide students with further study. Webbed models emphasize more on student engagement in learning so that students can gain direct experience. Through direct experience, students will eventually understand the concepts they have learned and fill them with other concepts.
Fourth, this study promoted constructivist theory. The learning model emphasized the process of reading comprehension learning. It is based on the theory of Constructivist learning (Vygotsky, 1930;Piaget, 1965;Bruner, 2009). Students themselves should build knowledge, and they cannot rely on the teacher's explanation. They should actively construct their knowledge so that there is always a change in scientific concepts. On the part of teachers, they help them by providing advice and support to allow the scientific construction process to happen in the classroom. They solved problems that were relevant to the students and adapt the curriculum to respond to student need. This is to say that students' need are taken into consideration when deciding the learning model to be implemented.
Fifth, this study applied Taxonomy Bloom to reading comprehension learning. The ICM-based integrated thematic learning aimed to improve students' cognitive, knowledge base, strategy, metacognition, and motivation (Schraw & Gutierrez, 2015). It is galvanized by Taxonomy Bloom hierarchy, which includes remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating (Krathwohl & Anderson, 2009). This Bloom hierarchy is the core competencies that will be derived into basic competencies adapted from the notion of reading (Nuttall, 2015;Tollefson, 1996). The basic competence is derived from the indicators adapted from the 2013 curriculum to determine the operational verbs referring to the Taxonomy Bloom.
Sixth, in this study, a lesson plan (LP) was developed by referring to the integrated thematic curriculum 2013. Core competencies, basic competencies, indicators, and learning objectives refer to the development of the syllabus. In learning activities, the LP steps of the 2013 curriculum were applied, but its scientific measures were replaced with ICM learning steps. They did not change their scientific significance. In the observation step, students' activities included listening to the teacher's story related text and observing the image related to the text. The development of teaching materials followed the development of syllabus and LP. The teaching materials were selected to comply with the learning objective of using ICM adjusted to the students' age. In other words, the text corresponded to the students for grade 5. Readability level was done through the Fry graph readability test (Fry, 1977). The topics were selected based on its proximity to the student's life to understand them easily. This teaching material was chosen to stimulate students to be active, create a pleasant learning atmosphere, provide holistic knowledge, and give students a direct experience (Prastowo, 2013).
Seventh, in this study, the purpose of learning using ICM-based integrated thematic learning devices is aligned with the purpose of constructivism learning theory, which is to produce individuals or students who can solve each of the problems they faced. The curriculum is designed so that there are situations where students can construct knowledge and skills. In particular, solving problems is often done through learning groups by analyzing problems in everyday life, and students are always expected to be active and can find appropriate learning ways for them. Teachers only serve as mediators and friends who make the situation conducive to constructing knowledge in the students. Thematic integrated learning offers learning models that make learning activities relevant and meaningful to students, both formal and informal activities, including active inquiry learning to passive absorption of knowledge and facts, by empowering students' knowledge and experience to help them understand and understand the world of his life (Kadir & Asrohah, 2015).
Eighth, in this study, the development of learning media refers to the students' needs and considers the learning objectives of reading comprehension using ICM-based integrative thematic devices. The selected learning Media covered images related to text and themes. They were selected to meet the criteria: easy-to-use, easy to make, attractive, and effective for students. The worksheets were developed based on the learning steps applied in the LP. They were inspired by the framework of KWL table (Know, Want to Know, Learn) (Ogle, 1986). The steps were modified and adapted to the indicators of learning objectives for reading comprehension using ICM developed in the syllabus. The assessment tools were developed based on the indicators set in the syllabus. Also, they covered an authentic judgment of assessments that reflect real-world problems, not the school environment. They used various holistic ways and criteria (a whole competency reflects knowledge, skills, and attitudes). An assessment scale of the 2013 curriculum with a value range of 1-4 was adopted.
Ninth, in this study, the learning process was conducted using interactive reader theory that combines both the top-down and bottom-up reading theory. In interactive reading theory, the reader adopts a Top-Down approach to predict meaning, then switches to the Bottom-Up approach to verify whether the author actually states it. Both models occur to stimulate students in their reading process. This theory states that reading is an interaction between the reader and the text. That is to say, when students interact with the text when they read, they manage their efforts to master, store information, and use the knowledge they have in their schematic format (Puspita, 2017).
In addition to the nine aspects above, there are some points to discuss in an attempt to understand the findings of this study. When it comes to the reading process performed by students, they reconstruct ideas, meanings, the structure of the story, and application. When reading the text of information, students think critically and creatively, see, and compare reality with the schematic and other reality in which it forms observations and spawned new understandings. However, the understanding level depends on basic cognitive knowledge, previous knowledge, vocabulary command, concept knowledge, and knowledge of the language (Hamra & Syatriana, 2012).
In this study, students demonstrated how they construct the process and solve the problem when they read the text. They predicted text information related to the text that has been read through solving the problem. This acquisition of knowledge is used as a provision for writing activities. In that process, students parse the written code to obtain meaning. They perform an interactive process with texts directed by the knowledge (schematic) and previous experience. In this case, the schematic is a series of ideas arranged in a framework to understand a new piece of information. If students know the skeleton, then the various information that comes directly can be compiled, understood, and stored in memory to be reused at the time required (Tompkins, 1998).
Students themselves build actual knowledge, and knowledge cannot be transferred from the teacher to the students. It requires the activation of students themselves to determine the knowledge building. Students actively contract so that there is always a change in scientific concepts, and teachers help provide advice and support situations for the construction process to run smoothly. Teachers help students face their problems. The structure of learning about the main concept can be done through seeking, assessing, and adapting the curriculum to respond to student need. Apart from teachers who play a role in building student knowledge, parents also play a role to help improve the students' reading comprehension ability on information text (Silinskas et al., 2013).
Content of QS. Al-Alaq (96):1-5, informs that people read the signs of this nature by researching, searching, studying, exploring, and criticizing. The meaning contained in the letter of Al-Alaq is to memorize, translate, understand, and practice so that there is perfection between the words and behaviors in everyday life (Sholichah, 2018). It corresponds to the syllabus, which is compiled based on the revised Bloom taxonomy by referring to ICM. Bloom's taxonomy stages are considered relevant to develop the ability to read understanding informational text. The taxonomy features the C1 stage considering, C2 understanding, C3 applying, C4 analyzing, C5 evaluating, C6 creating. This stage is adjusted to the level of understanding of students, namely for C1 (understanding the expressed meaning given), C2 (understanding the information), C3 (applying the information understood), C4 (analyzing information), C5 (evaluating the information understood), C6 (planning and setting up activities of the information understood) (Krathwohl & Anderson, 2009). In every sixth meeting, these abilities must be mastered by the student as a whole.
The teaching materials are based on the need to apply ICM. In this case, researchers refer to the QS. Al-Anbiya (21): 30-31, meaning that there is a natural phenomenon related to life, in which there is a subject matter related to nature and science (Sholichah, 2018). According to the meaning of QS. Al-Anbiya (21): 30-31, this study developed a learning model for reading comprehension for information text for science-based and social studies.
The analysis results of the above opinion can be explained that the learning device based on the arrangement using ICM used in learning to read understanding of the informational text in Grade 5 students elementary school has a significant influence to improve students reading comprehension on information text. In learning to improve reading comprehension of the information text using this learning device, teachers should strictly follow the syntax and guide them from the first step to the last step. Teachers should motivate students to build their knowledge with teaching methods that make the information very meaningful and highly relevant to students. Students should be allowed to discover or implement their own ideas and invite them to realize and use their strategies to learn. Teachers can provide techniques to students whose techniques can help them achieve the level of discovery. According to the meaning of QS. Al-Anbiya (21): 30-31, this study developed information text for science-based and social studies. This idea is supported by the opinion of Al-Ghazali in Hermawan (2014), which states that if a teacher can have the spirit of jihad in teaching by carrying out professional requirements, then a teacher will succeed in providing what students want. They can meet the need of students' knowledge, skills, and experience in shaping their personality for provision of their life in the future. In learning that has been expressed by previous scholars such as Al-Ghazali, which focuses on the relationship between teachers and students and the learning and teaching process carried out by the teacher and students above is based on behavioristic theory, seeing that knowledge is objective, certain, fixed, unchanged. Knowledge has been neatly structured so that learning is the acquisition of knowledge, while teaching is transferring knowledge to the person learning or students. Students are expected to have the same understanding of the knowledge taught. That is to say, something that is understood by the teacher must be understood by students (Hermawan, 2014).
The analysis results of the above opinion can be explained that the learning device based on the arrangement using ICM used in learning to read understanding of information text in Grade 5 students elementary school has a significant influence to improve reading knowledge of the informational text. In learning to read the information text understanding using an ICM-based integrated thematic learning device, teachers must thoroughly follow the syntax and guide them from the first step to the last step. Teachers should motivate students to build their knowledge with teaching ways that make the information very meaningful and highly relevant to students by allowing students to discover or implement their ideas and invite them to realize and use their strategies to learn. Teachers can provide techniques to students whose techniques can help them achieve the discovery level (Vygotsky, 1930). In this study, the knowledge base of students, the availability of textbooks, and the supporting books for students both at school or at home greatly influenced the success of improving the ability to read the learning information text of Grade 5 students in elementary school .
The ICM-based integrated thematic learning device can achieve the objectives of learning well not apart from other supporting factors, namely the teachers' performance, supporting books at school and home, and supporting parents in providing literacy artifacts at home. This study takes into consideration the school Literacy Movement promoted in the schools. Researchers found several students who got a score of 44, which means this student already can read a good understanding. Moreover, this is significantly supported by the support of parents at home. Another factor that affects the learning process for ICM-based integrated thematic learning devices in achieving learning objectives is habituation that students often do in the school. As is the case for frequent activities, there is a madrasah Ibtidaiyah, a conversation using English on Tuesday, a conversation using Arabic on Wednesday, and a conversation using Sundanese on Thursday. Further, once a week, there is a reading activity and a joint reading activity to the library area once every two weeks. These activities greatly affect the student's initial knowledge and their reading comprehension ability after they received treatment. This is in line with some previous research results (Amiryousefi, 2014;Ismail, 2015;Tracey, 2017). They found that during the learning process and after learning, most students in the experimental group had better reading comprehension, were enthusiastic, active, and enjoyed reading text using the ICM.
Previous studies found that several students easily understood the informational text by interviewing the students. As a result, some students who easily understand the information text, one of them, enjoy learning through their own exercises without others' help. Some students were accustomed to reading the informational texts in newspapers or reading books belonging to their father. So that the students become active when learning in class. Several students are already able to criticize the teaching materials that researchers use. They give input so that the words in the teaching materials are not too difficult to understand. Most students feel excited to learn to read the information text by being guided by the questions that are in the student's worksheet. Students argue, "with the student worksheet provided in this circumstance, I found it easy for me to focus on learning". This finding suggests that grade 5 students of elementary school already can analyze and synthesize their initial knowledge with new knowledge that they receive in learning event (Puspita & Yudhiantara, 2017).
In one of the schools, this study found students who already have an understanding of appreciation that the student can distinguish the genre, articulate his own response to the author's intention. This happens because the students often read both textbooks and literary books. The student can understand the informational text because they are supported by the initial knowledge that has been qualified. In particular, the readers' ability to understand reading materials depends on how they perceive the text. This perception can be based on previous experiences or meetings with words or ideas (Gunobgunob-Mirasol, 2015). It is reinforced with Yusuf (2015) research reporting that interactive activities will be beneficial in transforming meaning by involving students in strategic steps. Interactive activities are students' activities that demand a high level of student participation and various forms of group activities ranging from discussion to retelling. Teachers guide students to perform different learning tasks at different levels of interaction. In essence, students learn about the mental process involved in activating ideas and making connections between new and known ideas. This strategy makes students aware that three different meanings can occur, which are constructed while reading is literal, inferential, and personal. They developed an understanding that prior knowledge of readers played an essential role in establishing meaning and some meanings existed around the text (Yusuf, 2015).
The lowest improvement was experienced by elementary schools that were in the category of difficult access to information. The difficulty of accessing this information makes students had less initial knowledge due to the unavailability of books containing information text. The availability of textbooks, however, is also very lacking. Based on the observation, students were not provided with the supporting books at their school. They also found no supporting book at their homes. They only listened to fairy tales from his father or grandfather. The unavailability of textbooks and related supporting books strongly affects reading the understanding of Grade 5 students in elementary school. Another problem is the lack of motivation for reading. This is in line with the study conducted by Kamgar and Jadidi (2016). They found that 40 percent of the reader's problems were deficient, referring to a lack of motivational reading.
This ICM-based integrated thematic Learning tool can facilitate students' development at a concrete operational level of 7/8-11/12 years of age. The fundamental feature of development is that it has begun to use clear and logical rules (Piaget, 1965) in their effort to understand the text they read. The development of this learning device is based on the principles that language and the way child think about it. The way child learn is different from the way adults do. Therefore, teachers teach language according to the child's way of thinking. Next, children will learn better when they can face the environment well. Also, teachers must help children to interact with the environment as well. Finally, materials that children learn should be felt new but they find it familiar at the same time. Teachers allow the child to learn according to their development. In the classroom, children should be given opportunities to talk to each other and discuss with friends. This is in line with Gamboa Gonzales (2017) who found that Interactive Model-based reading activities help students understand the stories they read. It allows them to interact with texts, authors, and partners to create meaning. Students can also activate their schemes using previous knowledge and experience, make predictions, confirm their guesses in reading comprehension learning.
This study classified the difficulty in reading the understanding of Grade 5 students' informational text in elementary school in Bandung Regency in three levels: low-level difficulties, intermediate difficulty and high-level difficulties. Low-level difficulties was designed for some students who were at school with easy access to information. The ability of students at this level has reached the level of understanding the ability of reorganization. Nevertheless, students still had difficulties in terms of understanding the implied meaning in the text being read. An example is that students had difficulty in taking essential benefits from the important information in the text. Students experienced this difficulty because they were not yet accustomed to determining implied meanings in the readable text. At this point, it is less precisely the design of assignments that the teacher provided at the time of learning. As for Harahap (2016), the success of being an effective reader is influenced by internal students and external motivations, such as the learning environment, home situation, teacher performance, and the method itself.
Moderate level difficulties were being experienced by students who were in the school with intermediate information access. The students' ability at this level is still in the levels of one, where students are only able to dig the information expressed in the text. Students had not been able to classify important information from the text and could not able to dig out the information implied in the text. Students experienced this condition due to the lack of their initial knowledge that they had and they did not have a proper reading or writing habit. The less availability of books they have to read also greatly affected their ability at this level. Based on previous research related to reading skills, it was found that a lack of critical skills caused poor reading performance. Their poor performance in reading made them difficult to read text efficiently (Ismail & Shah, 2019). In the same vein, some studies reported students difficulties in Norway's to perform reading comprehension (Zuhana, et al., 2014;Hellekjaer, 2009). Some schools experienced these difficulties regarding how to access the information. In this level, the students are on the level of literal understanding. In a literal understanding, students can only understand the meaning of words according to use in the text. Students experienced this because of the many factors that affected their reading performance. These factors are the lack of available literacy artifacts at their home, the lack of motivation to learn from the elderly, the lack of supporting facilities provided in the school, and the teacher's task design is less precise. Researchers analyze students' conditions at this level of difficulty. It was found that they emerged from disadvantaged families and could not afford literacy engagement and literacy support at their homes. The majority of students, at this level, were not provided support books from parents; students rarely saw their parents read books, newspapers, or magazines to get the information and listen to parents talking about what they read. Further, students did not get the motivation to learn from their parents. This is to say that most parents did not care and ask about what their children learned at schools. Musthafa (2014) explains that the lack of students' initial knowledge had made them difficult to understand the text being read. Ideally, the school leverages students' knowledge and literacy skills. The children should be promoted and encouraged to adapt to the practice of school literacy movement at school. However, the family plays a vital role in the development of children's literacy.
This ICM-based integrated thematic learning device is a proven learning tool to promote reading comprehension. It has undergone three revisions and trials in this study. This integrated thematic learning device is ready to be adopted by other elementary schools, not only in Bandung district. Researchers have already disseminated ICM-based integrated thematic learning devices in several elementary schools in Sumedang district.

CONCLUSION
Integrated thematic learning tools based on ICM are proven to significantly affect the reading comprehension skills of the 5th-grade students of MI, Islamic elementarys school and their counterparts in Bandung Regency. After experiencing learning using integrated thematic learning tools, reading comprehension of text information for 5th-grade elementary school students in Bandung Regency had increased. The increase in the level of literal understanding, reorganization, inferential, and evaluative. It is evident from the limited test results and the extensive test results that the t-test on the difference between the pre-test and the post-test which obtained p (sig. (2-tailed) = 0.000. This means that there is a significant increase.
The development of this learning tool affects students' ability in terms of expressing explicit meanings, determining main points of thought, determining keywords, concluding the contents of the text, describing the text in the form of concept maps, and understanding the author's message. However, this increase is greatly influenced by various factors, namely teacher performance, books availability, supports at school and home, and parents' carrying capacity, namely the availability of literacy artifacts at home. Further study should focus on using a curriculum design with another model, varied texts accompanied by more interesting student activities, more detailed evaluation tools, and the exciting relationship between student motivation in the informational texts. These can be done by increasing the ability to read students' understanding and using a broader and more varied sample.