STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE USE OF PADLET IN LEARNING ENGLISH WRITING SKILL AT ELEVENTH GRADE OF SMAN 7 PADANG

Abstrak

INTRODUCTION Mastering English is one of the essential aspects of the social environment, and it is an international language used as the official language of many countries around the world. Furthermore, English is one of the subjects taught at various levels of education, from elementary school to university level. Therefore, students are required to be able to master English. Four language skills that need to be learned in English: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These skills can help students generate their ideas into spoken or written forms, listen to and understand the information they receive. Writing helps the students put their ideas or thoughts into words in a meaningful form [1]. The act of writing requires the students to formulate ideas, organize, select vocabulary, check grammatical correctness, spell words correctly, punctuate and write legibly. In addition, students must create words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs simultaneously [2]. Therefore, writing is the most challenging skill to master [3]. Moreover, the students struggle to express their thoughts in writing because they need to understand grammar, structure, linguistic content, and meaning. Not to mention that they have limited vocabulary knowledge that is leading them to use the exact words repeatedly [4]. Furthermore, some English teachers focus on delivering the material as detailed as possible and ignore what students feel and want in a learning activity. Ultimately, students feel unenthusiastic in learning English, and teachers cannot gain the students’ interest or participation. Implementing media in the classroom is essential to help teachers facilitate engaging language learning for students. The combination between English language learning and the technology or application can bring tremendous impacts because it gives students the opportunities to be involved in fun learning and develop English language skills [5]. To help students improve their writing, teachers can use several media and integrate the technology in their teaching and learning activity. Based on the researcher’s teaching experience at SMAN 7 Padang, some teachers used teaching media from the internet such as Google Classroom, Quizziz, Jamboard, Worksheet, Tamplet, or Padlet to support their teaching activity to improve students’ experiences in the classrooms and to make learning fun, engaging and relevant. Language learning applications can improve the quality of education by developing students' abilities in learning activities. It does not only increase their creativity and skills but can also increase their motivation and interest in certain subjects [6]. Especially for Padlet, when teachers use Padlet in a learning activity, they can create creative learning material with Padlet’s features to attract students’ attention, gain students’ interest and enhance their writing skill in learning. Padlet can be a better alternative to improve the students’ interest in writing and motivation to follow the learning activity. Padlet is a free social networking site where people can argue or discuss specific topics. It enables students to upload images, videos, documents, and PDFs, share links, comment on each other‘s posts, make public or private walls, and exchange information [7]. In accordance with the phenomena above, the researcher conducted a study to find out the students’ perception towards the use of Padlet in learning English writing skill at grade eleventh of SMAN 7 Padang. METHOD This study belongs to descriptive research, and it is designed to describe the phenomena as accurately as possible and tell the way things are [8]. The study was conducted at SMAN 7 Padang. The population of the study was the eleventh grade students that consist of 413 students who were divided into two majors; natural science and social science. Due to the large members of the population, the researcher used sample. The sampling technique used in the study was stratified cluster random sampling. Stratified sampling is the process of selecting a sample in such a way that identifies strata. Cluster sampling was used because the members of population were distributed in groups or classes. Random sampling was used because all members of all groups were homogeny [9]. The classes selected as class sample were XI IPA 7 and XI IPS 3. The number of the sample members was 75 students. Instrument for collecting the data was questionnaire, and its reliability index was 0.836 (very high reliable). It means the questionnaire was reliable. The obtained data from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics with four classifications. Table 1 shows the criteria to determine the classification of perception of the students [10]. Table 1. The Classification of Perception No Criteria Formula Classification 1. ≥ (M + 1,5SD) Very Positive 2. (M + 1,5SD) – M Positive 3. M – (M - 1,5SD) Negative 4. < (M - 1,5SD) Very Negative Where: M = Mean SD = Standard Deviation FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS Students’ Perception towards the Use of Padlet in English Learning Writing Skill The researcher found the mean was 77.27 and the standard deviation was 7.5. Regarding the data analysis of students’ perception in general, 6 (8%) students had very positive perception, 35 (46.7%) students had positive perception, 31 (41.3%) students had negative perception, and 3 (4%) students had very negative perception. Thus, the students’ perception towards the use of Padlet in learning English writing skill was positive. It can be seen in Diagram 1. Diagram 1. Students’ Perception towards the Use of Padlet in Learning English Writing Skill This finding showed that eleventh grade students agreed that Padlet could be used as a tool to improve their writing skill. It was supported by Fadillah (2020), who states that students show positive perception because, with Padlet, they could share their ideas among themselves [11]. It was also in line with the newest research conducted by Nuramdaeni et al., (2021), they stated that students show positive responses towards the use of Padlet because it positively affected their ability to communicate their ideas, explore new knowledge and vocabularies, and motivate them to develop their writing [12]. This result supports the values of using Padlet in learning English writing skill, in which it has proven its effectiveness in enhancing students’ writing performance. However, the teachers should keep an eye on students' challenges when using Padlet so that it is not affecting the effectiveness of the learning activity and Padlet can significantly advantage the students' writing skill. Students’ Internal Perception towards the Use of Padlet in English Learning Writing Skill The researcher found the mean was 39.12 and the standard deviation was 4.3. Regarding the data analysis of students’ internal perception, 10 (13.3%) students had very positive perception, 31 (41.3%) students had positive perception, 31 (41.3%) students had negative perception, and 3 (4%) students had very negative perception. It can be concluded that the students’ internal perception was positive. It can be seen in Diagram 2. Diagram 2. Students’ Internal Perception towards the Use of Padlet in Learning English Writing Skill The finding showed that students had positive perception on the use of Padlet in learning writing skill. In line with their improvement in writing skill when using Padlet, it also benefits students to assist them in improving their motivation to write, doing the assignment, and communicating with friends. The students’ internal perception covers feeling, motivation and anxiety. The classification of students’ perception in the three indicators was presented in Table 2. Table 2. The Percentage of Indicators in Internal Perception Dealing with feeling, which covers the students’ feel towards the use of Padlet. The finding of this study shows that 53.4% students had positive perception. It can be concluded that the students had positive feeling towards the use of Padlet in the classroom. It was supported by Dianati et al., (2020), who states that students found Padlet as a helpful technology because it impacts their interest and motivation to learn [13]. Motivation deals with whether Padlet improve the students’ motivation or not. Relating to this, Table 2 shows that 60% of students had positive perception. It concluded that the students agreed that Padlet could improve their motivation to learn English writing skill. Anxiety is concerned with whether Padlet could lower students’ learning anxiety or not. Table 2 presents that there were 70.7% of students who had positive perception. It means the use of Padlet can reduce the students’ learning anxiety. It was supported by Rony (2021), who states that students are less anxious because they tend to work in a group using Padlet and feel less anxious when the teachers check their work on Padlet. Therefore, the students’ learning anxiety can be reduced when using Padlet [14]. Students’ External Perception towards the Use of Padlet in English Learning Writing Skill The researcher found the mean was 38.17 and the standard deviation was 4.4. Regarding the data analysis of students’ external perception, 5 (7%) students had very positive perception, 36 (48%) students had positive perception, 29 (38.7%) students had negative perception, and 5 (6.6%) students had very negative perception. It can be concluded that the students’ external perception was positive. It can be seen in Diagram 3. Diagram 3. Students’ External Perception towards the Use of Padlet in Learning English Writing Skill Students’ external perception covers the collaboration, skill development, and challenge. The classification of students’ perception in the three indicators was presented in Table 3. Table 3. The Percentage of Indicators in External Perception Collaboration deals with whether Padlet could enhance the students’ collaboration in writing or not. The finding shows that 58% students had positive perception. The students’ response showed that Padlet could enhance their collaboration in English writing activities. Their collaboration improves because, in Padlet, they need to collaborate with friends to finish the assignment. They can also give comments or feedback on their classmates’ posts. Skill development deals with whether Padlet could improve the students’ skill o or not. Relating to this, Table 3 shows that 77% students had positive perception. The students’ response showed that Padlet manages to improve their skill. Challenge deals with whether students face the challenges when they use Padlet in their writing classroom. Table 3 shows that 55% students had positive perception. The students’ response showed that they encountered challenges when they use Padlet in their writing activity. The challenges are the lack of interaction between teacher and students, and finding a secure internet connection. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Based on the findings and discussion, it can be concluded that the students’ perception towards the use of Padlet in learning English writing skill at eleventh grade of SMAN 7 Padang was positive, and Padlet gives several benefits as well for the students such as improving their interest, motivation, collaboration, skill development, and lower their learning anxiety. In a word, Padlet can be used a tool in learning writing skill. Dealing with the conclusions, it is suggested to the English teachers to deliver the teaching materials by using in interesting and creative media such Padlet to attract the students’ interest in the classroom. Keywords: Padlet, learning, writing, perception. THANK YOU NOTE In the process of writing this thesis, many people have supported, motivated, and helped the researcher. She realizes that without their support and help, she could not finish her thesis. Therefore, she would like to express her deepest honor and gratitude to Drs. Khairul, M. Sc. as her advisor who gave valuable advice, suggestions, support, and time in the middle of his schedule. Moreover, her deepest gratitude is addressed to her beloved parents, Purwadinata and Yeni Febrianti for their endless love, motivation, support, and prayers.