Perceived Efficacy of Google Classroom Usage in Varied English Courses

Abstract

In this disruptive era, universities in Thailand strive to implement emerging technologies in education, to innovate modern venues of learning, and develop new digital skills that are in demand in the future workforce. Therefore, the online application of teaching assistance was employed to offer students more opportunities to review and get engaged with the course materials and content in order to increase their performance, motivation, and confidence in learning. This study assessed students’ perceptions on efficacy of Google Classroom when it was used as a learning support for large classes with students enrolled in English courses in a private university in Thailand. The questionnaire survey was distributed in order to collect feedback from 211 students, and the interview was conducted to twenty students to gain more details on the use of the application. The findings revealed that the students had favorable perceptions regarding the use of Google Classroom as a tool to support English learning. When factors were analyzed to ascertain whether they had any impacts on perceptions, it was found that students with prior experience using Google Classroom had better perceptions than first-time users while male and female students did not differ in their perceptions. The result also showed that the students’ perceptions of Google Classroom efficacy were not significantly different in a general English course vs. English for specific purposes course.