Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine student responses to the use of the google classroom application in online learning of English subjects for class VIII-C SMPN 1 Prambon. Therefore, to support the smooth process of learning activities during the pandemic, teachers are emphasized to be more creative and innovative so that learning activities remain effective even though they are carried out online. As part of supporting the teaching and learning process, teachers use online learning application media. The online learning application media currently used by teachers at SMPN 1 Prambon is the Google Classroom application media. By using the google classroom application media, teachers can share materials and assignments for students while students can access materials and assignments that have been shared by the teacher and can be done in the application provided by the teacher. In this study used descriptive qualitative research methods by conducting direct interviews. The research location is at SMPN 1 Prambon. The results of student responses to the use of the Google Classroom application in online English learning have positive and negative responses. There are benefits that are felt by students, namely saving time, being easy and practical in carrying out learning process activities and being considered effective in the current pandemic conditions. In learning English, students are more interested in paying attention to the material provided in the form of learning videos. While for the negative response, learning English using the Google Classroom application is not fun and enough to make students feel bored because students often face obstacles, namely related to poor signal constraints and limited quotas, applications that sometimes have errors and must be updated, limited cellphone storage space makes students have difficulty in downloading the material provided, lack of communication between teachers and students.

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has existed since the beginning of March 2020 and this has caused many people to complain and experience changes in attitudes and behavior in various activities and various fields, one of which is in the field of education. Therefore, the government issued a PSBB policy (Large-Scale Social Restrictions) resulting in changing learning facilities, which were initially offline to online/brave. Nowadays technology and information play an important role in life and can be used in various aspects of life, for example for today's learning media. Technology and information are considered to give a positive value in terms of time, effort and cost as a support for teaching and learning activities in schools.

Education is a powerful tool that helps change student behavior based on community needs and expectations. Student attitudes are a core part of learning, therefore attitudes must be an important component of the second learning pedagogy. Negative and positive attitudes have a strong impact on the success of language learning. Attitude is determined by the individual's beliefs about the outcome of performing the behavior, which is measured by evaluating the outcome. The concept of attitude can be seen from three dimensions, namely behavioral, cognitive and affective which have different characteristics to produce language results, both positive and negative results. Teaching and learning activities are the process of forming students' self-understanding of science and its development both in terms of knowledge, psychological and social. Learning is assistance provided by educators so that the process of acquiring knowledge and knowledge, mastering skills, character, and forming attitudes can occur in students. Learning is a special aspect that comes from human activity, and something that cannot be fully explained[1]. Learning can be interpreted as a means of continuous interaction between development and life experience. Learning in a special sense is a conscious effort of an educator to teach his students (directing student interaction with other learning resources) to achieve the expected goals.

Learning is everything that can bring information and knowledge in the ongoing interactions between educators and students[2]. There are several characteristics of learning, namely (1) attracting attention so that students are ready to receive lessons, (2) informing lesson objectives, (3) stimulating memories of previous teaching, (4) presentation of teaching materials and learning aids (5) providing learning guidance, (6) generating the emergence of work in learning, (7) providing feedback, (8) assessing work, and (9) strengthening retention and transfer of learning[3].

Language is a communication tool. One example is English which is used by someone for international communication as an international language, so that in education in Indonesia, the ability to speak English is one of the skills that must be mastered by students. English is an international language used to communicate between countries and to deepen and develop knowledge, because as we all know most science books are imported from abroad[4]. English in Indonesia is generally taught as a foreign language. The term 'foreign language' in the field of language teaching is different from 'second language'. A foreign language is a language that is not used as a means of communication in a particular country where it is taught. While the second language is a language that is not the main language but is one of the languages used in general in a country. Meanwhile, foreign languages are usually taught as one of the subjects in schools with the aim of basic communication and mastery of 4 language skills (listening, reading, writing, speaking) in that language within certain limits.

In this pandemic condition, one of the alternative means of learning during this pandemic is through online learning. The use of appropriate learning media used by teachers will make it easier for students to learn the language. Learning strategy is a method or method used by educators to students in an effort to change cognitive, affective, and motor aspects[5]. The objectives of the learning process include various aspects that are determined as a result of the learning itself, one of which is the cognitive aspect. Cognitive aspects are students' intellectual abilities in critical thinking patterns, knowing and solving problems. The cognitive aspect has a goal domain consisting of six parts, namely knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation[6]. This is what encourages application makers to create innovations in the use of appropriate technology by creating mobile- based applications that can be downloaded via smartphones through the Google Playstore.

As online learning, the implementation of the use of the Google Classroom application at SMPN 1 Prambon begins with the implementation of work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The material provided in this google classroom application is in the form of powerpoints which are converted into PDFs (Documents) and short videos. So that in the implementation of online learning, this research needs to be carried out so that the authors know Student Responses to the Use of Google Classroom Application Media in Online Learning in English Subjects Class VIII-C at SMPN 1 Prambon.

Methodology

The method used in this study is a descriptive method with a qualitative approach. Descriptive method is a method in examining the status of a group of people, an object, a set of conditions, a system of thought or a flash of events in the present[7]. Qualitative research is a research method based on the philosophy of post-positivism, which is used to examine the state of natural objects, where the researcher is the key instrument[8]. Sampling of data sources was carried out purposively and snowball, the collection technique used triangulation (combined), data analysis was inductive or qualitative with qualitative research results that emphasized meaning rather than generalization.

To find out this, the data collection technique used by the researcher is to prepare structured questions to conduct direct interviews with class VIII C students as respondents. Why structured interviews? Because by designing in advance the questions and alternative answers that students might ask, the interview will produce the expected data in an optimal and coherent manner. In this study also used unstructured interviews, to increase intimacy between researchers and resource persons, the questions asked were also not based on a written plan, but still asked about student responses to the use of Google Classroom learning media as a learning tool due to the COVID-19 pandemic at SMPN 1 Prambon.

Result and Discussion

SMPN 1 Prambon has implemented an online learning process since there were circulars from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religion regarding learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online learning at SMPN 1 Prambon aims to participate in breaking the chain of the spread of the corona virus in Indonesia. The method that is applied and used as one of the supports for the learning process of teachers and students is to use the Google Classroom application media which can only be accessed by teachers and all students of SMPN 1 Prambon. The Google Classroom application can facilitate teacher and student communication during the learning process such as providing materials and assignments, learning videos, and online attendance. In the implementation of online learning there are obstacles, barriers and different student responses because usually learning is done offline and has now turned into online learning.

The author distributed direct interviews to 15 respondents from class VIII C, then rearranged the answers. This direct interview was conducted to determine student responses to the use of the genius Google Classroom application media in online learning of English subjects. The results of the student responses will be used as evaluation material in the implementation of the learning process. The student's response can be seen from the answers to interview questions that were posed directly to class VIII C students of SMPN 1 Prambon.

The result of the answer to the first question about difficulties in accessing the Google Classroom application is that most students have no difficulty logging in or accessing the Google Classroom application during online learning. the use of the Google Classroom application is very helpful in playing a role in the current pandemic situation which requires educational institutions to carry out the online learning process. In general, it can be concluded that in the opinion of class VIII-C students of SMPN 1 Prambon the use of the Google Classroom Application as an online learning medium is quite helpful and is one of the most accessible applications for all school members. , both teachers and students so that learning activities can still be carried out in emergency conditions such as during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The results of student responses to the second question about how the process of learning English online when using the Google Classroom application is that all class VIII-C students respond the same way, namely when the process of learning English using the Google Classroom application begins with the teacher providing information in groups. whatsApp material is available in Google Classroom, after sharing the material in the form of PPT, PDF, Word will then be given a link to a learning video from YouTube, whether the video was made by an English teacher or someone else's video, then given assignments or practice questions provided in the column assignments on the Google Classroom app. The conclusion from the second question is that the process of online English learning activities is very different from the offline learning process. the online learning process using the Google Classroom application is quite short, only limited to materials and assignments. In this case, it can be seen that some of the learning characteristics points proposed by Gagne and Briggs in Brown's book (1994:9-10) have not been applied in online learning using the Google Classroom application.

The results of students' responses to the third question regarding the learning materials that have been distributed, whether further explanations were given through virtual meetings, such as using zoom meetings or maybe something else, namely all VIII-C class students answered that during online learning they never had virtual meetings at all through the Zoom Meeting application or others. The conclusion from the answer to the third question can be seen that the online learning process at SMPN 1 Prambon is very monotonous and only relies on the Google Classroom application so that students feel bored.

The results of student responses to the fourth question about always reading or studying every material that is shared through the Google Classroom application, namely that most students in class VIII-C SMPN 1 Prambon when given material through the Google Classroom application are rarely studied. there are those who only study the material given when they have difficulty in doing the task, there are also those who only download the material but do not read it. as for those who skimmed the material provided and reread it in detail when they had difficulty in doing the task. the conclusion from the responses to the fourth question, according to the responses of the class VIII- C students of SMPN 1 Prambon most of them did not care about the learning materials that had been distributed in the Google Classroom application.

The results of students responses to the fifth question about how they know whether there is an assignment given by the English teacher in the google classroom application, namely all students in class VIII-C respond in the same way, namely if there are assignments that are distributed through the google classroom application, they will get notifications from that app. so the conclusion from the results of student responses is, during online English learning there is no communication between teachers and students. In the process of learning English online, there are no opening, stimulating, or closing parts. so all learning and communication processes are only through the Google Classroom application.

The results of the student's response to the sixth question about the difficulty in doing the given English assignment were that almost all students of class VIII-C experienced confusion and difficulty in understanding the instructions for doing the assignment due to the lack of explanation from the teacher. Based on these responses, it can be concluded that students need further explanation regarding the instructions for doing the given task. If they only see ppt then students will be confused about doing assignments.

The results of the student's response to the seventh question about the deadline given by the teacher in doing the assignment, all students responding were given a deadline of one week at most. From this response, it can be concluded that during online learning using the Google Classroom application, class VIII-C students get a lot of time tolerance in collecting assignments.

The results of student responses to the eighth question about how to collect assignments through the google classroom application, namely by uploading photos of the answers to the assignments given in the assignment collection column in the google classroom application. From this response, it can be concluded that how to collect assignments in the Google Classroom application is very easy and can be done by all students of class VIII-C. The results of student responses to the ninth question, namely about the obstacles that are often faced when learning English online using the Google Classroom application, it can be concluded that the obstacles that are often faced are related to internet connections and quotas, insufficient mobile phone storage capacity so that it is difficult to access learning materials. The results of student responses to the tenth question about the perceived benefits of learning English online using the Google Classroom application, it can be concluded that using the Google Classroom application can access learning anywhere and anytime and is very practical to use. The results of student responses to the eleventh question about the chosen English learning system, online or offline classes. From the responses of class VIII-C students, it can be concluded that students are more comfortable doing the offline learning process in class, because they can meet directly with teachers and classmates.

Based on observations, it also shows that students can understand the English subject matter a little better when the teacher provides material through the Google Classroom application in the form of a learning video link. where in the learning video the teacher explains the content of the ppt which has also been shared in the google classroom application. such as when studying English chapter 4 material about "you are invited" in the material the teacher provides a learning video link so that students are interested and enthusiastic to listen and see the video. this has an impact on students' creativity in making greeting cards. that way students can develop writing skills and explore new vocabulary in English.

The results of this study show that the use of the Google Classroom application in online English learning has received both positive and negative responses. The Google Classroom application is an online learning application that is easily accessible by all groups, both teachers and students. as stated by Laili (2020) in his research which states that "The Google Classroom application is quite easily accessible to students even though they have not adapted well to the application"[9]. The use of the Google Classroom application in online learning also has benefits. As we know during the Covid-19 pandemic the learning process is carried out online, therefore the use of the Google Classroom application during the pandemic is also very helpful in facilitating teaching and learning activities between teachers and students. as said by Ambarwati (2021) who said that "Google Classroom is very helpful during the Covid 19 pandemic"[10].In addition, the use of Google Classroom in online English learning is very flexible. This is also revealed in Laili's research (2020) "Google Classroom makes it easier for students to complete and collect assignments without being bound by space and time"[9]. in his research Hidayah (2020) also revealed that "the use of the Genius application in online learning saves time and is more practical"[11]

In the online learning process, the use of the Google Classroom application in learning English is less effective. the lack of direct communication with the teacher, the absence of virtual meeting facilities by the teacher, internet connection problems, make learning quite boring and students also do not understand the material provided through the Google Classroom application. Hidayah (2020) also stated in his research that "online learning using the Genius application is less fun, due to internet constraints and the lack of guidance from teachers"[11]. where the Genius application and the Google Classroom application are two applications that have the same features and the same access method.

Conclusion

The conclusion of students' responses to online learning using the Google Classroom application media in online learning of English subjects reaped both positive and negative responses. The Google Classroom application is a learning application that is very easily accessible to all levels of education. Most of the class VII C students of SMPN 1 Prambon have no difficulty logging in to the Google Classroom application. However, there are some students who have difficulty carrying out the online learning process using the Google Classroom application. Some of them are less effective in the learning process because students have difficulty understanding the material given by the teacher, limited signals and internet quotas, and lack of guidance from the teacher. In addition, most students prefer offline learning compared to online learning using the Google Classroom application, because they can meet and discuss directly with friends and teachers. Thus making the learning process more efficient. But some students stated that the benefits of online learning by using the Google Classroom application can save time and are much more practical.

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