Students’ Perception of the Use of Google Classroom in Flipped English Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the students’ perception of the use of Google Classroom in flipped English learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was descriptive quantitative and qualitative research. The data were collected through the questionnaire and interview. The participants of this study were 227 university students in Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia. The findings of this research revealed that the participants generally had a positive perception of the use of Google Classroom in flipped English learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the participants agreed that Google Classroom was easy to use and effective in flipped English learning. Furthermore, the participants were interested and motivated in using Google Classroom for flipped English learning during the pandemic. They felt easier to comprehend the English material in flipped learning through Google Classroom. Besides, it could increase the students’ collaborative learning and also develop their autonomous learning. However, this research also showed several challenging issues faced by the participants in flipped learning through Google Classroom, namely: the limited access to the internet connection for the participants who lived in rural areas, the lack of physical interaction, the distractions at home, the expensive cost of internet data package and the lack of compatible smartphones of the unprivileged participants in online learning during the pandemic. Nevertheless, the positive aspects of the use of Google Classroom gave a contribution to enrich flipped English learning in the emergency online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In conclusion, the use of Google Classroom in flipped learning could improve students’ interest and motivation in learning English that continued to their learning outcome during the pandemic.