AN EVALUATIVE ANALYSIS OF MULTIMODAL NEWS TEXTS IN GRADE VII JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT TEXTBOOKS BASED ON STRENGTHENING CRITICAL LITERACY CULTURE

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the quality of multimodal news texts in the Grade VII Indonesian Language textbook under the Merdeka Curriculum, focusing on how verbal and visual elements are integrated and the extent to which the accompanying assignment instruments foster students' critical literacy. Using a qualitative descriptive approach grounded in text evaluation theory and cognitive-level taxonomy, this study analyzed multimodal news texts and their accompanying assignment instruments in the Ministry-published Grade VII textbook, examining verbal-visual integration and classifying tasks into LOTS, MOTS, and HOTS categories. The textbook presents news texts through three media types (print, digital, and audiovisual), but no activity requires students to compare the same event across these media. Of the accompanying tasks, 50% fall under LOTS, 37.5% under MOTS, and only 12.5% under HOTS, with the sole HOTS activity centered on distinguishing hoax from factual news. Unlike prior studies that focus on developing new multimodal media or applications, this study offers an evaluative mapping of existing textbook material, showing that multimodal richness does not automatically translate into critical-literacy-oriented tasks and pointing to the need for closer alignment between media variety and higher-order thinking demands in future textbook design