The English Majored Students' Perceptions of Using Flipgrid in Online Speaking Classrooms

Abstract

In this day and age, as COVID-19 has led many schools to study online, technology plays an important role in facilitating classrooms. Speaking seems to be one of the most difficult skills to study online, as this needs direct communication among students. There has been much research on using technological applications to assist students in online learning. However, studies exploring university students' perceptions of online platforms such as Flipgrid are quite scarce. This mixed-method study aimed to explore that aspect by using questionnaires and interviews to investigate students' perspectives after a course using Flipgrid in online speaking classrooms. The participants were first-year students who studied online speaking modules in Foreign Language Department at Van Lang University. The result showed that students believed that Flipgrid created a sharing environment for them to learn from their friends and lower their anxiety as this did not bring too much pressure they have when they needed to present in front of face-to-face classrooms. The findings also revealed that there were some discrepancies in the perceptions between high and low-level students in terms of improving their pronunciation. High achievers tend to value this benefit more than their lower counterparts.