University Students’ Perceptions of Google Tools in Learning English Courses Online

Abstract

The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic stimulated the utility of the technological tools for online language learning at the tertiary level in Vietnam. Many universities chose Google digital tools as a technological solution for online instruction. However, there is still a scarcity of studies on university students’ perceptions of using Google tools in the context of online English learning. This study aims to explore university students’ perceptions of the efficacy of using Google tools (namely, Google Classroom, Google Forms, Google Meet, and Google Sites) as a combined technological solution for online English learning in the last phase of the pandemic at a university in northern Vietnam. The research was carried out in the academic year 2021–2022, with 128 non-English majors taking General English courses online. A Likert-scale questionnaire created by Google Forms was distributed to gather feedback from the students, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven students to gain more in-depth data. The results overall demonstrated that the students favorably perceived the applied Google tools as effective tools to support online English learning. It was also found that females had higher perceptions than males regarding the ease of the tools. Furthermore, first-year students agreed more than second-year students on the effectiveness of the tools in increasing engagement in learning.