PERCEPTIONS AND CHALLENGES OF USING WHATSAPP FOR LEARNING WRITING: A STUDY OF TENTH-GRADE EFL STUDENTS AS SMAN 1 KURIPAN

Abstract

This research aims to explore  students' perceptions and challenges  of using the WhatsApp  application as a learning tool in improving writing skills at tenth grade students’ of SMAN 1 Kuripan. The research method used is Mixed method, with data collection techniques through interviews and questionnaires. Students’ consisted of students who actively use WhatsApp  in learning context . The research results show that the majority of students’ feel comfortable using WhatsApp  to communicate with teachers and classmates. This shows that WhatsApp  is considered a convenient communication platform in educational context . Students’ also felt enthusiastic about learning to write English using WhatsApp , indicating that WhatsApp  is considered an interesting tool for learning and feel that the quality of their understanding through WhatsApp  in learning to write English has improved, indicating that WhatsApp  is effective in improving understanding of the material. There are also challenges such as interruptions in internet connection or application problems when using WhatsApp  to learn to write English as well as challenges experience  by students who rarely pay attention to spelling, punctuation and capitalization when writing through WhatsApp . These findings indicate that although WhatsApp  has great potential as a learning aid, it is important to manage its use to be more effective in improving students' writing skills and this research suggests integrating learning strategies that utilize WhatsApp  in a more targeted manner to achieve optimal results