Students’ Perception of Schoology Discussion Forum in Writing Class at Students of Uhamka

Abstract

The aim of this study was identified the students' perception of Schoology Discussion Forum (SDF). The aspects that were studied are cognitive, affective, and conative. This research used a qualitative method covering questionnaires and interviews as the instruments. The participants were 31 students of the Muhammadiyah Prof. DR. HAMKA University which taking Essay Writing 1 subject in class 4B. They were asked to fill the questionnaire, and six students were selected to get further interviewed by telephone. The data from questionnaire are tabulated and transcript interview were analyzed. The study revealed that 70.96% of students agree which the SDF was useful to improve their writing skill. Besides, there were 45.16% of students still nervous when using English in the discussion forum. Then, 67.74% of students were prepared themselves before the discussion begin. Therefore, this research could be used by English teachers as a reference in teaching writing skill. Not with standing, this work is an early attempt to study this area and should be followed by further research to gain more general perspective of this issue.