T1__Full text Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: EFL Students’ Perceptions Towards the Use of Online Networks in the Classroom of ELEP UKSW T1 Full text

EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE
OF ONLINE NETWORKS IN THE CLASSROOM OF
ELEP UKSW

THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan

BINTANG AMELIA SANTOSA
112012125

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
SALATIGA
2017

PERNYATAAN TIDAK PLAGIAT

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or
accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my
knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any
other person except where due reference is made in the text.

Copyright@ 2017. Bintang Amelia Santosa and Dian Toar Y. G Sumakul, S.Pd., M.A.

All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education
Program, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga.

Bintang Amelia Santosa:

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PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN AKSES

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PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION

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APPROVAL PAGE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pernyataan Tidak Plagiat ....................................................................................................................... i
Copyright Statement ..............................................................................................................................ii
Pernyataan Persetujuan Akses .............................................................................................................. iii
Publication Agreement Declaration ...................................................................................................... iv
Approval Page........................................................................................................................................ v
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................. vi
List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................... viii
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1

Literature Review.................................................................................................................................. 3
Online Learning .................................................................................................................................. 3
The Importance of Students’ Perception ............................................................................................. 5
Students’ Perceptions of Online Networks in the Classroom ............................................................. 6
The Study .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Context of the Study ........................................................................................................................... 8
Participants.......................................................................................................................................... 8
Instruments.......................................................................................................................................... 9
Data Collection Procedures................................................................................................................. 9
Data Analysis Procedure ..................................................................................................................... 9
Findings And Discussion. ................................................................................................................... 10
The Accessibility .............................................................................................................................. 11
The Relation Between Online Activities, Classroom Content, and L2 Learning ............................. 13
The Student’s Interest ....................................................................................................................... 16
The Student’s Preferences................................................................................................................. 18
Discussion ........................................................................................................................................... 21
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 24
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Acknowledgement .............................................................................................................................. 26

References ........................................................................................................................................... 27
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................. 30

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. The Overall Findings
……………………………………………………….……………... 9

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INTRODUCTION
There are various online networks that are specially designed to facilitate
learning process such as Edmodo, Schoology, Quipper, and more. Therefore,
utilizing internet within a classroom is supposed to have significant impacts due to
this advancement. Trust (2016, pp. 1) asserts that online communities and
networks provide ongoing, self-directed, and bottom-up learning experience
compared to traditional ways of learning which rely on workshops and courses.
Previous study which was conducted by Sagarra and Zapata (2008) showed that
students had positive perceptions towards online networks. In addition, using

online networks in the classroom is also effective. It does not require face-to-face
meeting to complete courses, assignments, testing, or grading. Learning using
online networks cannot only provide the students with more space to learn, but
also assist the students to be an independent learner.
There have been numerous researches on the effectiveness and the benefits
of online networks to students’ achievement. However, it is also essential to find
out deeper about the students’ perceptions about the use of internet or online
networks inside the classroom. As stated by Russo and Benson (2005), students
who have positive perception about the course, topic, and instructor are likely to
complete courses, participate intellectually with the materials and their peers, and
be more satisfied in online learning. It is implied that there are significant
correlations between students’ perception on online learning and students’
attitude. Thus, examining students’ perception toward the use of online networks
is needed since it also determines the students’ performance and also determines
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the success of the learning itself. Nevertheless, in Indonesia, the growth of online
based education is still lagged behind because of some circumstances (Diki,
2013). In other word, using online networks to facilitate learning in Indonesia is
still limited. Sumakul (2013) identifies that economic condition and geographical

location may contribute to the negative perceptions toward online learning in
Indonesia. As the result, the students’ perception of the use of online networks in
teaching-learning may be different depending on their environment and their
personal condition.
The practice of online networks is applied in Universitas Kristen Satya
Wacana (UKSW). Combining face-to-face meeting and online networks in the
class is now a common practice in English Language Education Program UKSW.
However, there may have been different perceptions from the students toward this
issue since the students in ELEP possess different background of learning style,
environment, and situation. This study investigated this issue based on the
research question: “what are the students’ perceptions toward the use of online
networks as an instrument of learning in the English classroom?” It is expected
that this study would inspire teachers to consider students’ perception when
designing online activities.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
A. ONLINE LEARNING
Online learning is defined as an education in which the instructions and

contents are primarily delivered through the internet (iNACOL (2011). In other
words, it was particularly using internet as a main agent of learning between
teachers and students. However, the common practice in ELEP UKSW is more
likely to make use of online networks to assist a face-to-face meeting. The online
networks such as Schoology and Edmodo are specifically made to assist both
teachers and students in the learning process. However, with the tremendous
advancement in communication technology and social media, there are also a lot
of other internet networks that can be used within the classroom such as emails,
Instant Messages (IMs), and Social Networking sites (SNSs). It is indisputable
that online networks have increased to a higher level where it can change the role
of teachers in regular schools. By using the online networks, students do not have
to come to class and meet the teacher directly because the courses are updated
online.
There had been various studies toward the effectiveness of utilizing online
networks in the classroom which came out with some positive feedbacks
(Espinosa, 2015; Grgurović, 2011; Orawiwatnakul & Wichadee, 2016, Sagarra &
Zapata; 2008; Song, Singleton, Hill, & Koh., 2004, Sumakul, 2013). Using online
networks as an instrument in learning process could help the students enhance
their language skills as well as provide a less pressing environment.

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A study conducted by Grgurović (2011) showed that the students agreed
that online activities help them improve their pronunciation, speaking skills, and
listening skills. Teachers could give an online exercise and put in into to the
system so that the students could practice their listening skill, speaking skill, and
pronunciation. Another study conducted by Orawiwatnakul and Wichadee (2016)
also found out that online activities could also increase the students’ language
proficiency. For instance, students could make use of Facebook as an instrument
to provide online exercise that could help them increase writing skill and grammar
points. As the bottom line, online networks could provide students with various
tools that could be adjusted to their learning needs.
Hartnett (2016, pp. 1) states that online networks help students overcome
location and time restriction. In relation to that, it is also possible that learning
through online networks could extend the time for both students and teacher to
discuss lesson matters. Furthermore, Roth (2009) mentions that online learning
has a dynamic interface. They are no longer bound to time limitation in the
classroom and school. Thus, the communication that the online networks provide
is relatively flexible, unlike normal classrooms settings which particularly rely on
face-to-face communication. Therefore, involving online networks in the learning

process could provide students effectiveness and flexibility because it enables the
students to practice and do the assignment anywhere and anytime.

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B. THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION
Examining students’ perception in online-based learning environment is
important. Students’ trust on the-online based learning would determine the
success of the learning itself (Wang, 2014 pp. 346). Students who are feeling
intimidated by the use of online networks will have a negative feedback even
though studies point out that involving online learning have several positive
impacts.
There are many factors that could influence the students’ perceptions on
the use of online networks. Wang (2014) states that students might face some
problems that appear in online learning such as wasting time, disclosing sensitive
information, losing submitted work, and losing face-to-face interaction. Therefore,
the teacher who holds the highest authority in class should adjust the use of online
networks according to the students’ ability. Similarly, students who do not have
the qualities of self-discipline and initiative might prefer to learn using face-toface teaching (Bach, Haynes, & Smith; 2007). Thus, in order to produce positive
feedbacks toward the use of online networks students should have self-awareness

of the learning and motivation. A study conducted by Sumakul (2013) mentioned
some challenges that were faced by students such as having no internet connection
and having no money to go online. These problems could affect students’
perceptions on the effectiveness of online networks. In short, students and teacher
do have their own role in the succes of online-based learning. Referring to the
problems, teachers as the instructor should design the activity well so that the
problems will lessen and the students will have positive perceptions.

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C. STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE NETWORKS IN THE
CLASSROOM
A study conducted by Sumakul (2013) claimed that the use of online
networks offered flexibility and enjoyment for the students. The utilization of
social media, such as Facebook, was proven to be flexible because both teacher
and the students could do any assignments anytime and anywhere.
In other word, using online networks is flexible because students could
access it through their smartphones. Moreover, online networks could create a fun
and interesting environment for the students. By combining educational matters to
students’ social life, students would be more attracted to join online discussion or

participate actively by commenting to their friends’ work (Sumakul, 2013).
Students would be able to express their feeling more by using online networks
since they could construct and edit their words before submitting.
In addition, Sumakul (2013) asserted that the students participated actively
in online discussion. Students were more engaged in joining the online discussion
by commenting or asking question to their friends’ work. Moreover,
Orawiwatnakul and Wichadee (2016) also recognized that students felt more
motivated to learn than when in the usual classroom. The activities were able to
make the students to participate more compared to when in regular classroom
settings. The result was similar to Espinosa (2015) noticed that students actively
participated during online activities in Facebook compared to when in regular
classrooms. In regular classroom settings, it was only the most confident person

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who usually dominated the learning. This practice could be the solution to make
the students’ participation equal. Facebook is a popular website (Boyd & Ellison,
2007, as cited in Espinosa, 2014) therefore, integrating students’ exercise in this
mass social network would make them participate more because the exercise is
merged into their social life. In short, students show a high level of satisfaction
toward the use of online learning.
In contrary, Smart and Cappel (2006) obtained that the students’
perceptions on the use of online networks was only satisfactory in elective course
but it was rather low in a compulsory course. The fair result of students’
perceptions was clearly evident. Additionally, a study conducted by Barr (2004)
showed that the students preferred to use technology only if:
1. the technology offered pedagogical benefits to their learning
2. the materials were available
3. computers were part of the learning cultures
Despite all of the benefits from online networks, there were some aspects
as noted above that could influence the students’ perception. Teachers as the main
instructor should be able to design the online activities properly in order to avoid
failures. Related to the current study, ELEP UKSW now involves more online
networks in the classroom. However, the students that are coming from different
locations may not be familiar with this kind of practice, especially the first-year
students. Thus, it is necessary to examine their perceptions in order to provide the
teacher with more perspectives on how to design appropriate activities according
to the students’ need and favor.
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THE STUDY
A. CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
The study was conducted at English Language Education Program (ELEP),
Faculty of Language and Art (FLA), Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. It was
located in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. Using online networks was a common
practice in ELEP. Every course at least used one online network as an instrument
to submit assignments or to deliver materials of learning. Therefore, in order to be
successful at the learning, the students should be able to keep up with the learning
tools and learning styles. The use of online network was now integrated with faceto-face meeting. The courses were mostly using English as the main instruction in
the class. This faculty was chosen to be the object of the study because it was easy
to administer regarding to the time, location, fund, and resources.
B. PARTICIPANTS
The participants in the study were 12 students ranging from 2016 to 2013
batch. They were chosen based on convenience sampling. In order to get various
perceptions, there were three (3) participants taken from each batch. The
participant consisted of nine females and three males who ranged from 18 to 20
years old. It was essential to take samples from every batch because their
perceptions might vary depending on their lecturers and teaching styles. Lastly, all
of the participants had already experienced the use of online platform for at least
one semester.

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C. INSTRUMENTS
In order to gather information from the participants, this study used a
semi-structured interview. Interviewing is considered easy to do and user-friendly
(Griffee, 2012). It is easy to administer because it is based on humans’ need to
talk and have conversation. Moreover, it is user-friendly because it does not
require statistical analysis in which the data could be analyzed easily. There were
15 predetermined questions that were adapted from Sagarra and Zapata (2008). A
semi-structured interview was the appropriate instruments as it could explore the
participants’ responses deeper by asking follow up questions.
D. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
At first, a pilot interview was conducted with three students of ELEP. It
was necessary to do a piloting interview as it could evaluate the questions and
provide positive and negative feedbacks toward the interview (Griffee, 2012).
There were a lot of things that should be considered after conducting a pilot
interview such as the place of interview, how to record the data, and the questions
themselves. After that, another participant was contacted directly and interviewed
for at least 30 minutes. The interviewed used Indonesian, their mother tongue, so
that they could express their thoughts and feelings more accurately.
E. DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
The data were presented in clean transcription and translated into English.
The raw data from the interview were then being reviewed. It is important to be
familiar with the data to find the patterns and themes (Hitchcock & Hughes, 1995,

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as cited in Griffee, 2012). After that, the data were coded according to the themes.
This strategy was effective as it could save more time and energy.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Based on the interview from 12 participants, there were several elements
that affected their perceptions on the use of online networks in the classroom.
Their answers could be classified into four different major categories that were
adapted from a study conducted by Sagarra and Zapata (2008). The four
categories are presented in the table below:
Table 1. The Overall Findings
The accessibility

Easy

Familiar

The relation
between online
activity,
classroom,
content, and L2
learning
Online activities
help students
improve their
grammar, writing
skill, and listening
skill
Online activities
help students to
understand class
content

The student’s
interest

The student’s
preferences

Helpful

students prefer to
have a face-to-face
meeting combine
with online
activities

Fun

students like to
have more time to
do online quizzes

As can be seen from the above table, four main categories were (1) the
accessibility, (2) the relation between online activities, classroom content, and L2
learning, (3) the students’ interest, and (4) the students’ preferences.

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F. THE ACCESSIBILITY
The accessibility is important to determine the success of an online
learning as it might cause a failure to the learning when students do not have a
good access to it (Barr, 2004). Based on the findings, most participants admitted
that they could access the internet easily through their smartphones. The activities
such as downloading materials, submitting assignments, and doing online
discussion could be performed through their gadgets or laptop. When sitting in a
course, students could just open up their files and listen to their lecture without
having to be afraid of losing the printed materials. Therefore, using online
networks is accessible because students have an easy access to it anytime and
anywhere through their smartphones.
One of the examples was taken from participant 4, who said,
simple karena itu cuma pake HP, ga perlu pake laptop jadi
kita bisa… ya secara kan ya orang- orang pada pake
Gadget, kayak android ini gampang di aksesnya
simple because that only use HP, no necessary use laptop.
People nowadays already have sophisticated gadget, such
as Android so it is accessible
As it can be seen from the excerpt above, the student stated that using
online networks was not only easy, but also simple. With the advancement of
technology, smartphone nowadays could almost work like a computer. Students
did not have to come to class and carry a laptop in order to access the materials or
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do the online discussion. Thus, using online network was considered simple for
the students. Another example was taken from participant 7, who said,
gampang, penggunaanya tu gampang. Terus buat upload
apapun itu juga gampang
It was easy to use. It was also easy to upload anything on it
Participant 7 emphasized that it was easy to upload anything on it.
Regarding to the homework or assignment completion, the use of online networks
was helpful as they could find it easy to perform the tasks.
From the examples above, the result showed that the participants felt that
the access to the online networks used was easy and applicable to submit any files
on the platform. The finding corresponds with Sagarra and Zapata’s (2009) study
that using online networks was very easy to be administered. The fact that they
had already been familiar with the platform of social media also contributed to
their knowledge on how to run the particular online networks. In fact, participant
10 simply defined the platform of Schoology was quite similar to Facebook where
they could post anything and comment on her friend’s post. Therefore, most of
them probably would not have problems with the login system and the instruction.
This was also similar to Felix (2002) who claimed that online network offered an
easy access to publish student’s work. It provided a portal for students to submit
assignment and a gradebook where students could send and check through their
smartphone. From the examples above, it could be concluded that the students
already felt comfortable with the use of online network to support their learning.

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The result of this study was supported by Song et al. (2004) who asserted that
being comfortable with the online networks was one of the most important factors
to ensure the learner’s success in online course. When the learners have an easy
access to it, they would keep up with the learning better and perceive the more
benefit of the use of online networks.
G. THE RELATION BETWEEN ONLINE ACTIVITIES,
CLASSROOM CONTENT, AND L2 LEARNING
The second category focuses on whether the students recognize that online
activity designed bring any significant changes to their language learning or not.
Dempsey and Van Eck (2002), as cited in Song et al. (2004), declared that the
better the course design, the more helpful it would be to the online learning. This
is in line with Sagarra and Zapata (2008) who claim that online materials and also
the activities could enhance the students’ language skills. Similarly, this study
found that online activities helped the students improve their proficiency skills
and understand the classroom content better.
One example was taken from participant 6, who said,
Meningkatnya lebih ke writing atau reading. Tugasnya
beberapa dosen ngasih link buat dengerin video apa
nonton video. Nah nanti kayak kita kadang ada yang suruh
transkrip atau bikin summary tentang cerintanya tu kayak
apa

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It is more improving my writing and reading skills. Some
of lecturers asked to watch or listen to a given link. After
that, we have to transcribe or make summary about the
story
Based on participant 6, the activity that her classmates and she needed to fulfill
could improve writing skill as well as reading skill. From the excerpt, it was
implied that she also acquired listening skill because she had to listen to the audio
on the video in order to transcribe it or make a summary. Another example was
taken from participant 8 who claimed that using online networks could help
increasing her grammar. She said,
Iya grammar, berarti tadi terbantu itu ya … Sama pola
penyusunan kalimat gara-gara ada diskusinya.
Yes, it helps my grammar and my sentence construction
because of the discussions.
The excerpt above showed how participant 8 improved her grammar. As
asserted by Russo and Benson (2005) communication between the members
contribute to overall learning. Therefore, designing a simple activity such as
online discussion could have an influence toward L2 learning. When the students
participated in online discussion, they unconsciously constructing words and the
content at their own pace. They had the chance to proofread their own sentence
before submitting on the system. As noted from the findings, the activity could

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also help the students to understand the classroom content. Participant 4
mentioned,
Ya mesti kan ada materi yang di share gimana pendapat
kalian. Terus kita comment gitu. Kalo enggak kita nge-post
foto jadi kan kalo kemarin itu kita disuruh nyari analogianalogi tentang culture jadi kita nge-post foto tentang
culture lalu kita mention apa sih maknanya.
there must be materials that required to share or comment
about our opinion. The other day we have to look for
analogy of cultures. After that we have to post pictures
about the culture and then mention the meaning of it.
The activity that being mentioned by participant 4 required the students to
learn more on the topic they have learnt before. In order to understand the class
content, students should apply the knowledge they got from the classroom
material and link it to the real-world problem. The activity mentioned by
participant 4 enabled the students to make that connection.
Based on the examples above, using online network could help the
students improve their language skills, grammar and classroom content. However,
the role of online networks was only as a facilitator to the learning instead of
playing the major booster. It was the activity that helped the students to gain those
improvements. As stated by Trust (2016) it is important for teachers to adapt the
lesson plans, learning activities, teaching strategies, and other knowledge from

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online environment to fit the context. The role of teachers, as the main instructors
to design the activity became one of the keys to determine the advantages of
online networks.
H. THE STUDENT’S INTEREST
Regarding to the positives feedbacks from all of the previous categories,
the findings indicated that the students were most likely enjoy their learning
experience of using online networks. When being asked to mention what they
liked the most from using online networks, there were two major categories
appeared. The students were interested to its helpfulness and its enjoyment. A
study conducted by Kitchakarn (2016) found that the ease of using online
networks was the reason why the students had thought it was helpful. Students
agreed that online networks helped them to overcome problems that might appear
in regular classroom settings. In other words, they did not have to do many things
at the same time.
One of the examples was taken from participant 1, who explained,
aku suka sih kalo misalnya harus ngirim di Schoology atau
Edmodo atau Email karena menurutku lebih praktis.
Karena 1 ga harus ngeprint-ngeprint lagi. Terus yang
kedua tu ga perlu kalo misal ada deadline jam 2 dan ga
perlu harus lari-lari, harus ngeprint terus ngejar
dosennya. Jadi tinggal di kirim aja. Jadi kamu ga perlu
mandi ga perlu siap-siap ke kampus.

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I do like to submit assignments on Schoology, Edmodo, or
Email because I think it is more practical. Firstly, I do not
have to print out the materials ever again. Secondly, I do
not have to be so hectic running here and there printing
the assignment and then finding my lecture in order to
submit it on time. So, I do not have to bother showering
and getting ready to go to campus.
From the excerpt above, it could be concluded that using online networks was
practical and convenient. The students did not have to come all the way to the
campus only to submit assignments. Instead, they could simply upload the files on
the provided portal. One of the strengths of using online networks was
convenience (Song et al., 2004) because the students had the ability to work
anytime and anywhere they want and also work at their own pace (Smart &
Chappel, 2006). Furthermore, online networks were also helpful because they
were flexible. According to participant 2, when the discussion was not finished
due to the time, the lecturer asked the students to continue the discussion on
Schoology. In other words, it could minimize the drawbacks of time limitation in
class. In addition, participant 10 mentioned that online networks were organized
because there was a reminder for the upcoming task. Moreover, all of the
materials had been prepared by the lecturers in the system, so she could just
download and save it. At last, they liked using online networks because it was
paperless.

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The students mentioned that using online networks made the class more
interesting and fun. The example was taken from participant 2, who mentioned,
kayak lebih hidup… keliatan lebih kreatif aja kelasnya,
ada yg lucu-lucu gitu… Seneng yang waktu pas videovideo itu, soalnya lucu gitu. Bikin video sendiri… dan
jarang gitu lho ada dosen yang kasih kayak gitu kak.
it is more alive… the class seems more creative and
amusing. I liked it when we were asked to make our own
video because I is funny. It is quite rare for any lecture to
give such task.
The result was consonant with Sumakul (2013) that learning using online
networks provides enjoyment for students. Even though it needed a good
instructor to design the classroom activity, it was inevitable that using online
networks brought a new fresh air to the learning environment as the participants
above described it more alive and more creative. Some of the participants (1, 3,
and 12) also mentioned that the class was more modern because it integrated
technology into the learning.
I. THE STUDENT’S PREFERENCES
In spite of the positive results of using online network, the students
admitted that they needed the presence of face-to-face meeting. Therefore, when
being asked about their preferences between online course or face-to-face
meeting, most of the participants demanded to combine these practices, and the
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rest stated that they prefer to have face-to-face instruction. The result was similar
to Stepp-Greany (2002) in which the students prefer face-to-face instruction more.
Based on her study, the face-to-face practice was chosen because using online
networks in learning required high time. However, the findings in this study
showed that the main reason why the students prefer to have face-to-face
instruction was because the students desired for immediate feedback and clarity
from the lecturer.
The example was taken from participant 7, who said,
Depend kebutuhannya. Kalo misalnya tentang, kan kita
ada paper atau apa harus konsultasi kan. Kalo misalnya
lewat aplikasi itu atau lewat chat itu enggak clear atau
enggak jelas. Jadi kalo, ya depend sih antara online apa
langsung. Tapi kalo ngumpulin tugas prefer ke aplikasi.
I think it depends on the need. For tasks that require
consultation, using application or online chat is unclear.
So, it depends between online or face-to-face. For
submitting tasks, I prefer to use application.
From the excerpt above, participant 7 mentioned that she needed face-to-face
meeting and the online networks (application). It is impliedly stated that she felt
the restriction of using online networks. According to participant 7, using online
networks to facilitate consultation was unclear. Moreover, according to Russo and
Benson (2005), face-to-face practice provides students with immediate feedbacks.

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Although these two things could be seen as one of the disadvantages, most
students admitted that they needed the involvement of online networks to their
study. Based on the findings, most of the students prefered to have these practices
combined. Therefore, all participants said that they wanted to have face-to-face
meetings for lecturing and consultation, while demanded to use online networks to
submit and do assignments, providing materials, and giving announcement.
Furthermore, the students also like to have more chance and time to do
their assignment online. The students claimed that usually the online activities
gave more time for them to do the task. Unlike in class activities that required the
students to submit their work as soon as the class was over, the deadline in online
activities were longer. Students also mentioned that they could get more
feedbacks from the use of online networks.
Another example was taken from participant 2, who said,
feedbacknya lebih banyak, soalnya kalo di dalam kelas itu
kalo cuma presentasi banyak teman-teman yang malu
untuk ngomong, Nah kalo di taruh di online itu semua jadi
mau kasih feedback.
I can get more feedback. When we do in class presentation,
my classmate mostly reluctant to speak because they are
shy, but when we put the presentation online, everybody
finally wants to give feedback.

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Based on the example above, although sometime the lecturers’ feedback was
delayed in online practice, getting more feedback from the classmate could also
promote learning itself. It could be concluded that the students were more engaged
to the learning in which they did not have to do anything spontaneously. Students
had more time to construct their sentences before sending them to the platform.
By doing so, the students would feel more comfortable compared to the time
when they were asked to give comments spontaneously in the classroom. Being
comfortable with the online networks in learning will result in positive attitude
(Kitchakarn, 2016), and having positive attitude toward the online practice could
lead to success in learning.
DISCUSSION
Regarding to the fact that implementing online networks to the learning in
ELEP UKSW was considered new, this study found that most students had
positive perceptions towards the use of technology in their learning. Based on the
findings, the students perceived that using online networks was helpful as it could
break the boundaries of time and place restriction (Barr; 2004, Smart & Cappel,
2006; Sumakul, 2013). The activity involved in online networks were also seen
fun, interesting, and creative which then engaged the students to participate more.
Drennan, Kennedy, and Pisarski (2005) as cited in Cole, Shelley, and Swartz
(2012) claim that positive perceptions toward the use of technology contribute to
the level of students’ satisfactory. In retrospect, it could be concluded that the
students were quite content with the involvement of online networks to the
learning.
21

Technology indeed has the chance to improve teaching and learning
(Blankson & Blankson, 2008). However, the success of integrating online
networks to the classroom does not only rely on its benefits of the platforms. It
takes both effort on the teacher as the main instructor and also the students. The
role of the teacher is to design the activities on online networks according to the
learning goals. The teachers have to design activities that could engage all of the
students to participate actively. Maintaining communication among the students is
essential to promote dynamic in the learning (Russon & Benson, 2005).
Therefore, teachers are suggested to design the activity based on collaborative
learning practice, such as designing weekly online group discussion. Based on the
findings, the activity could promote the learning as it would not only make all of
the students participate, but also enhance their grammar and writing skill. Poorlyplanned activity might result in low students’ satisfaction (Sagarra & Zapata,
2008) and would waste the benefits of online networks. Moreover, as the learning
promotes autonomous and independency (Sagarra & Zapata, 2008), learning
through online networks requires students to be discipline and self-motivated.
Therefore, it was important to give enlightenment to the students, especially at
their first year in order to make them understand and committed to the learning.
In order to avoid bias, this study also found some problems that occurred
during the learning. Most of students mentioned that the major problem was bad
connection. The result was similar to the other studies which emphasized that
connection was the challenge in learning which involve online networks (Barr,
2004, Song et al., 2004). Regarding to the location, especially Salatiga in which

22

located around mountains, the availability of good signal was inadequate.
Therefore, some participants mentioned that the unavailability of signal was the
cause of bad connection. Because of the bad connection, students had troubled to
send their assignments and do online tests. This behavior cost them zero point on
their assessment. To minimize the damage, it was suggested that the teacher
educated the students about the online networks that was going to be used
including its accessibility, the usage, and also the problems so that the students
would take precautions in case something bad happened.
Second, the inexperience of how to use the online networks contributed to
the failure of learning. Another problems also arose from the teacher’s tendency to
always rely on online networks without giving enough teaching. These two issues
lessen the benefit of online networks. Some of the participants mentioned that
they did not feel any significant improvement between the use of online networks
and their L2 learning. When being asked to explain more, they said that the online
networks were only used to give announcements and submit assignments.
According to Blankson and Blankson (2008), integrating technology into the
learning could only beneficial if it corresponded to the learning environment and
meets the students’ needs (Barr, 2004). In order to gain the maximum benefit from
using online networks, it is necessary to design the proper activities that could
engage the students to participate and do more in the learning process.
By highlighting the positive perceptions and also the disadvantages from
the use of online networks, it was expected that teachers would see this as

23

references of how to design the course accordingly. Therefore, students will enjoy
the maximum benefits of integrating online network to the face-to-face meeting.
CONCLUSION
This study examined the student’s perceptions of the use of online
networks in learning English in ELEP UKSW. The data were collected from 12
participants ranging from the first to the final year students through semistructured interview containing 15 open-ended questions. The interview questions
were adapted from Sagarra & Zapata (2008) in order to be able to explore more
students’ perceptions in various categories. The categories were the accessibility,
the relation between online activities, classroom content, and L2 learning, the
student’s interest, and the student’s preferences.
Based on the findings, it showed that the students came up with positive
perceptions towards the use of online network in learning English. According to
the categories, students felt that the accessibility of online networks used was easy
and familiar. The platforms were more similar to Facebook. Therefore, the
students did not have any problem with its operation and its instruction. Second,
there was a relation between the online activity to the improvement of proficiency
skill and betterment of understanding classroom content. Related to students’
interest, it was found that the students like to use online networks because it was
helpful and make the learning more fun. At last, although the students had
positive experience toward online networks in the classroom, students prefered to
have face-to-face meeting combined with the online networks.

24

This study however is still on the surface. The data from participants
should be enriched in order to represent the context of ELEP UKSW. It is
necessary to add more participants from each batch in order to get more various
feedbacks. With the advancement of technology and internet connection, the
research toward this issue needed to be explored more as it will continue to grow.
It is necessary to explore more about the online activities that could promote
language learning as well as engage the students to participate actively.

25

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There are always so many people to thank after completing any project.
This paper would not have been possible without the support of people around
me.
First of all, I would like to say my deepest gratitude to Jesus Christ for all
of his blessing and joy throughout my life. Without his blessing, I would not make
it to this day. My very special thanks go to my beloved family for their endless
hard work and prayer. I also owe a favor to Fransisca Dewi Ratih and Theresia Sri
Rahayu for the financial support for my study. Without their support, I would not
be able to hold my degree.
I would also like to express my great appreciation to my supervisor, Mr.
Dian Toar Yusak G. Sumakul, M.A., for his valuable time, guidance, and patience
during the development of this final paper work. My appreciation also extends to
my examiner, Ma’am Rindang Widyaningrum, M.hum. for her willingness to read
and examine this paper.
I am particularly grateful for the prayers, support, and motivation from
Andreas Waluyojati. For my best friends Octavian Graceas, Virna Margetan, and
Brigitta Betsy, thanks for your encouragement and companion through the thick
and thin. Also to Melly Octania and Junita Purbowisanti. Furthermore, I am
beyond happy for the opportunity to learn from great lecturers in ELEP. Last but
not least, I would like to thank all of my participants in my survey for their
contribution. I would never forget your kindness. May God be with you.

26

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APPENDIX
Interview Questions adapted from Sagarra and Zapata (2008)
1. How often go online?
2. Have you ever join a class which uses online networks?
3. What kind of networks does the lecture use?
4. In what classes do you use the networks?
5. What does it usually used for?
6. From all of the networks that you have mentioned, which one do you like?
7. What do you think of the accessibility?
8. When you access the online networks, do you use laptop or your
smartphone?
9.

What do you think of the class that uses online networks?

10. What do you like the most of using online networks?
11. What do you like the least of online networks?
12. Do you think that using online networks could enhance your skills such as
writing, reading, listening, and speaking?
13. Do you think that using online networks could increase your grammar?
14. Do you think that using online networks could enhance your vocabulary?
15. From scale 1 to 10, how much do you like the use of online networks to
assist your learning?

30