Needs Analysis and Conceptual Design of ROFADI (Interactive Wheel and Flashcard) for Descriptive Text Writing in Grade III Elementary School

Abstract

Elementary students often experience difficulty generating ideas, selecting descriptive vocabulary, and organizing coherent sentences when writing descriptive texts. The source study at SDS Yasporbi III Pasar Minggu also documented limited classroom media interactivity, creating a need for concrete and engaging writing scaffolds. This study aimed to describe the writing difficulties and learning-media needs of Grade III students and to formulate the conceptual design of ROFADI, an Interactive Wheel and Flashcard medium, as a response to those needs. A descriptive qualitative approach was used by reorganizing data from classroom observation, one-on-one interviews, teacher responses, and learning-document analysis collected during January-July 2026. Data were reduced, categorized, compared across sources, and interpreted according to recurring themes. The findings show seven interconnected needs: idea generation, vocabulary enrichment, descriptive detail, grammatical accuracy, sentence coherence, paragraph unity, and learning motivation. ROFADI addresses these needs by combining a random thematic stimulus from a rotating wheel with visual and lexical prompts from flashcards. The study's novelty lies in mapping specific writing problems directly to complementary functions of two integrated media. The findings support ROFADI's pedagogical relevance, although its effectiveness requires separate classroom testing.