Abstract
During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a very significant change in student teaching and learning methods.The government policy requires that almost all activities including learning activities at school be eliminated and replaced with online schools. One of the most used applications for learning in this pandemic era is WhatsApp. The general objective of this research is to conduct a comparative study on the use of the WhatsApp application as a learning application during the Covid-19 pandemic in elementary and junior high school students in English. While the specific purpose of this research is to find out the strengths and weaknesses as well as the constraints of using WhatsApp as a learning application. The research method used is through field observations using qualitative descriptive methods and also interview techniques to several elementary and junior high school students in the research environment. This is interesting to research further based on direct observations of researchers on the use of WhatsApp on school students directly. This study assumes that the advantages and disadvantages of the learning process using WhatsApp will be found for both elementary school students and junior high school students. That elementary school finds difficulty in using WhatsApp for learning. Because some of the elementary students are still not fluent in reading. Junior high school learners assume that learning by WhatsApp is efficient but still not comparable to face-to-face meetings. The research implications are as follows: that the students would be able to learn easily by using WhatsApp as a learning application. The teacher Would find another method that enhances the understanding of the students besides using WhatsApp by necessity.
Highlights
Online media is an alternative in the world of education at this time when the whole world is facing the Covid-19 pandemic (Abidah, 2020)
AND DISCUSSION Based on the interview of participants’ responses we were able to divided into three main themes; the usage of Whatsapp as a learning application during the Covid-19 Pandemic, The hindrances of using whatsapp as learning application during Covid 19 pandemic, and The solutions to overcome the hindrances during online learning by Whatsapp application
WhatsApp is the easiest application to use by junior high school students
Summary
Online media is an alternative in the world of education at this time when the whole world is facing the Covid-19 pandemic (Abidah, 2020). Agree with what has been stated by Watie. The majority of Indonesians use WhatsApp as one of the instant messenger platforms to communicate with other people. Napratilora et al, (2020) and Gon & Rawekar, (2017) mention that Whatsapp makes it easy to interact with other people and a convenient tool for teaching and learning through messages, pictures, audio, documents, and having group discussions. Firman dan Rahman (2020) stated that distance learning carried out was lacking in terms of interaction, teachers were unable to directly monitor the learning process and limited ability to receive material delivered online with the WhatsApp application. Online learning has a direct impact on students including the availability of inadequate facilities and infrastructure, differences in the atmosphere when studying in class and studying at home so that it affects student learning motivation, and the tendency of students' visual or written learning styles (Satrianingrum & Prasetyo, 2020)
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