Learning from home environment: Academic writing course for EFL undergraduates through Google Classroom application

Abstract

Learning academic writing seems to be a great challenge for most English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in non-native English-speaking countries, including in Indonesia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue appears to be more challenging where teachers are persuaded to learn from their home environment (LHE). Several online applications are freely available, and one of the most common applications is Google Classroom. However, the use of such application towards the students’ performance and perception remains understudied. This research aimed at exploring the practices of Google Classroom in facilitating the Academic Writing course of EFL undergraduates. Engaged by 96 participants of third-year students in the English Education Program, the research conducted an explanatory sequential research design by correlating the results data on writing assignments and a set of questionnaires. The findings indicated a significant correlation between using Google Classroom and the students’ writing performance. Moreover, most students expressed their satisfaction with Google Classroom’s practical features to get involved in the academic writing course. The students were satisfied with Google Classroom’s features that were easy to be recognized and easy to be operated. The Google Classroom features also provide clear instructions, practical directions, and the most valuable feature, that is assignment reminders for the students. It can be said that using Google Classroom in the EFL academic writing course at higher education is a great experience and brings great advantages to students’ outcomes.

The power of reflective journal writing for university students from the EFL perspective

“…In these circumstances, the motivation of EFL students to write determines their academic writing performances. The more students focus on the performativity of writing (Thomas & Reinertsen, 2019), the better they become in improvement strategies namely feedback condition, reflection assignments, selfefficacy, revisions (Duijnhouwer et al, 2012), and writing assignments (Rosyada & Sundari, 2021). From this point of view, EFL students learn to write independently under the instructor's positive guidance, mentoring roles, and writing tutorials (Munje et al, 2018) resulting in academic writing products or outcomes.…”

Perceptions about Learner’s Achievement in English Major Undergraduate Online Writing Classes

“…It further concluded that the use of technology for learning writing skills was productive and suggested to continue the technology integrated writing classes in future as well. Rosyada and Sundari (2021) aimed to explore the practices of Google classroom in the facilitation of academic writing course to EFL undergraduate students. Data for this explanatory sequential research was collected from 96 participants and analysed by correlating the result data on writing assignments and use of questionnaires.…”

Foreign Language Students’ Voices on Blended Learning and Fully Online Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…(Sari, 2016;Alvarez, 2020;Mohmmed et al, 2020;Agung, Surtikanti & Quinones, 2020;Maison, Kurniawan, & Anggraini, 2021). Rosyada and Sundari (2021) add that students do not have equal digital literacy and technology support, especially in remote areas. These problems hamper learning quality.…”

“…The supporters of online teaching perceive safety as the top priority. Meanwhile, the con supporters believe in effectiveness and local variations because different institutions have different circumstances and preferences (Rosyada & Sundari, 2021). The government and educational institutions continue their pros and cons arguments in mass media to convince public opinion that their reasons are more logical and applicable.…”

“…The third option was to integrate online learning (Horzum, 2017;Anderson, 2008) into their teaching practices and make use of learning management systems (Elhawwa, 2017) such as Google Classroom and Canvas (Yundayani et al, 2019). In most countries, education has now shifted to remote teaching during the pandemic (Handarini & Wulandari, 2020;Rosyada & Sundari, 2021). Making the best decisions for education during a pandemic is not always easy, and decision-makers need to consider numerous issues such as people's digital literacy skills, their technical capabilities to access digital materials, and internet support.…”