Students’ Perceptions and Practice of the Blended Learning Approach to Writing Skills: Using Google Docs

Abstract

It’s undeniable that technology has been popularly employed in the teaching and learning process all over the world in the digital era, especially in the pandemic-affected context. Specifically, the benefits of google docs as an innovative collaboration tool in writing activities have been discussed in many foreign studies such as Sholihaha & Setyandaria (2018), Mare F. & Mare Z. (2020), Nabhan & Sa’diyah (2021). However, recent studies on this field in the university domain in Vietnam are scarce, so this research was undertaken to discover the merits and downfalls of applying google docs in learning writing collaboratively. Besides, this paper aimed at tracking down students’ attitudes towards implementing google docs technology in writing classes. To obtain these objectives, two student questionnaires were delivered to 21 English-majored freshmen and learners’ writing assignments were assessed to collect data. The study result suggests there were no significant effects between google docs and students’ collaborative writing grades. However, students had positive attitudes toward employing Google docs in writing collectively. Additionally, learners, especially low-level ones, have improved their social skills and technological knowledge. Finally, the study reveals students complained about expensive costs, difficulties in processing Google documents on smartphones, and internet loafing.