Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 82
Ninth International Conference on Applied Linguistics (CONAPLIN 9)
Teachers’ Perception towards the Use of
Quipper School in Teaching English
Dewi Amalia Saptani
Universitas Negeri Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia
[email protected]Abstract - Rapidly developing technology plays an important not have. First, QS does not require installation on an existing
role in the innovation of education. Learning Management hosting site. It provides teachers and students with a ready-to-
System (LMS) websites are one of the most recent innovations. use web-based learning application. Secondly, QS provides
This study investigates teachers’ perception towards the use of teachers with virtual storage that allows them to upload and
Quipper School (QS), one of popular LMS websites in teaching
keep their teaching materials and media such as PowerPoint
English. A semi-structured interview was designed to find out
how three English teachers in Indonesia perceive the use of the presentations, PDF files, pictures, and videos. Thirdly, the
media. To analyze the obtained data from the interview, storage available on the website helps the teachers to
qualitative content analysis was used. The results show that the maintain their teaching and learning activity records, thus
participants have positive attitude towards the use of QS. they can monitor students’ learning activity. Having those
Technically, QS is perceived to be a good and motivating ELT excellent features, QS is gaining huge popularity among
media. However, QS has not been designed to facilitate the teachers and students. However, the use of QS has not been
teaching of speaking. as popular as it is in other countries such as United Kingdom,
Philippines, and Mexico.
Keywords: Innovation, QS, English Language Teaching,
Content Analysis
In terms of English Language Teaching, Chapelle
(2003) suggests three conditions of CALL pedagogy that
1. INTRODUCTION English teachers should take into consideration when
As Information and Communication Technology incorporating technology into language learning classrooms;
(ICT) is advancing rapidly, new technology and innovation in they are the availability of L2-input exposure, interaction and
teaching and learning have developed accordingly. Joe and linguistic production. Regarding the availability of L2 input,
Chol (2002) argue that new technology systems and Chapelle (2003) further suggest that the use of computer
instruments are becoming more and more common and being technology in the classroom should bring benefit to learners
used for the benefits of educational activities The innovation through enhanced linguistic input. The three types of
concerning educational activities brings about opportunities language input suggested by Chappelle are salience (e.g.
for teachers and students to experience teaching and learning interaction with a grammar application), modification
beyond traditional classrooms, that is through Computer- (providing any means that help learners to arrive at the
Assisted Language Learning (CALL). One of the most well- meaning, such as through images), and elaboration (providing
known CALL media is Learning Management System explanations). QS provides these three types of enhanced
(LMS). learning input.
Learning Management System (LMS) is describes as As a web-based learning platform, QS offers learners
an online learning platform or software that is devised to multimodal exposure (written, aural and visual) for foreign
organize and manage learning (Anderson, 2008; Paulsen, language input. For example, teachers can develop learning
2003). Further, Paulsen (2003) describes three fundamental materials that are enriched by visual and audio media, such as
features of an LMS namely the creation of course tools, text with illustration, images, videos or other multimedia
teacher and student support tools, and administrative system. resources. Unfortunately, QS is not enhanced with a speech
The creation of course tools are features that enable the users recognition technology, a technology that can identify or
of LMS to create learning materials, develop learning recognize words or spoken expressions. Such an absence
modules, and arrange group works. Teacher and student reduces an opportunity for the students to interact with the
support tools provide access to learning materials and computer verbally, thus, the learning of speaking is not
facilitate teacher-students and student-student feasible for the students.
communication. Administrative system includes features for In terms of interaction, QS gives teachers and students
registration, course enrollment, and grouping students. an opportunity to get engaged into interpersonal
One of the most recently established and popular LMS communication. The ‘message’ and ‘announcement’ features
is The Quipper School (henceforth QS). Quipper School is a help teachers to interact with colleagues and students. In
web-based online learning website and application that is addition, teachers can work collaboratively with their
originally developed by Quipper Ltd. in London and colleagues when developing a learning curriculum, or can
available online at http://school.quipper.com. QS has been design lessons (assignments) for the pupils together. To do
widely used by teachers and students around the world this, teachers initially need to invite colleagues into their
including those in Indonesia. A research investigating the classroom through the Teacher Page, via email or on the
affordability of QS reveals that QS has at least three features Class Page.
that other LMS platforms such as Moodle and Claroline do
Copyright © 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. 233
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 82
Concerning the language production, in QS, students’
linguistic production is facilitated through the assignment 3.1 Features of QS
feature. Unfortunately, production is limited to aspects of First part of the interview focuses on investigating
students’ writing skills such as vocabulary and grammar. teachers’ knowledge and ability in using technology,
Question types in the QS assignment system include a single especially those used for teaching. The obtained data suggest
answer, multiple answers, correct values, correct order, and that the participants use computer-assisted media in their
categorize answer questions teaching process frequently. To all participants generally,
However, even though technically QS is considered there are several factors to consider in using computer-
beneficial for English Language Teaching, the real assisted media namely the material being taught and school
implementation of the media has not been revealed, policy on the use of such media. Almost all topics of English
especially in Indonesian context. This study is designed to in every level of education can be presented through
explore how English teachers in Indonesia utilize QS as one computer-assisted media. One of the participants says that
of their teaching media and reveals their perception towards she thinks it is helpful to use such media in helping students
the use of the media. Thus, the objectives of the study is to to comprehend the material, she uses the media. Another
explain Indonesian English teachers’ perception towards the participant implies that the school where she works for is a
use of QS in the process of teaching and learning English. sufficiently equipped school, therefore she is strongly advised
to use computer-assisted media.
2. METHODOLOGY QS as one of computer-assisted media has gain a huge
2.1 Research Design popularity among educators and students. The participants
To answer the formulated research question, this study commonly know QS from their fellow teachers. Regarding
employs case study research method. Cohen (2007) describes the frequency of using QS, G\generally, the participants use
case study as a research method that focuses on individual QS whenever the internet connection is available for the
actors or group of actors and seek to understand their students and most of the time outside the class. A participant
perceptions of events. This is in line with the objective of adds that whenever she could not come to the class, she asks
current study, that is to explain teachers’ perception on the her students to read materials from the website or application
use of Quipper School in teaching English. and do the exercise available there. Participants use QS to
enrich and vary their teaching materials and teaching
2.2 Site and Participants assignments for the students
The study was conducted in Semarang, Central Java, To use QS in teaching and learning process, users
Indonesia involving three English teachers. Regarding the need to choose role in the time of account registration
selection of participants, the study use purposive sampling. whether they are teachers or students. Different roles provide
This sampling strategy is used in which the selected different access to QS fearures. The ‘teacher role’ enables
participants need to meet a particular characteristic, that is teachers to have full access to QS’s three main features
they use QS as one of their teaching media. namely ‘creation’, ‘assessment’, and ‘learning’. The role also
grants teachers access to ‘overview’, ‘assignments’,
2.3 Data Collection and Analysis ‘curriculum’, ‘message’ and ‘manage’ menus. The
To collect the data needed to answer the research ‘overview’ menu provides brief information about active
question, the researcher used observation and interview. The assignments submitted by the students and students’
observation was done once for every teacher to see how they individual performances. The ‘assignment’ menu allows
use QS as their teaching media. The researcher took some teachers to create new assignments, distribute them to
field notes during the observation. The interview was students and monitor their progress. The ‘curriculum’ menu
administered to explore teachers’ perception on the use of offers two options for teachers regarding the learning
QS. It included 16 open-ended questions focusing on materials; they can either use the materials available on QS
participants’ experience in using QS. The whole data of the database, or they can develop their own materials and use
research are in the form of words. This is in line with Robson them to teach their students. The ‘message’ menu has two
(2002) as cited in Cohen (2007) that stated that case studies functions; firstly, it facilitates teacher-student
opt for analytic rather that statistical generalization. Thus, the communication, and, secondly, it allows teachers to distribute
obtain data then analyzed in the form of descriptive notes to all students. Finally, the ‘manage’ menu allows
explanation. teachers to select course participants, group the students, and
invite other colleagues to teach collaboratively within the
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION virtual classroom.
Content analysis was employed to analyzed and Given access to those five features of QS, the three
evaluate the data gained from the interview of the three participants argues that the most useful feature of QS is the
teachers. Two themes were developed based on the content of Assignment menu, since it provides a lot of exercises for the
the interview namely feature of QS and QS in teaching students to practice. In addition, concerning the teaching
English. materials, teachers can either use the available materials
provided by QS or develop or upload their own materials.
234
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 82
Having provided the materials by the website, the participants facilitate the teaching of speaking. Further research can focus
say that the materials are good and helpful. However, on the effectiveness of QS in teaching writing.
sometimes they combine the available materials with those
they make to enrich and vary the materials. REFERENCES
When asked how QS is suitable to use as teaching Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online
media with students nowadays, the participants have similar learning. Edmonton: AU Press
idea that this technology suits the students in this modern era Chapelle, C. (2003). English language learning and
in two ways. First, students are familiar with the use of technology: Lectures on Applied Linguistics in the Age
smartphones and personal computers. They are skillful of Information and Communication Technology (Vol. 7).
enough to work with such media. Therefore it is feasible for Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.
them to use QS. Second, engaging students with online Cohen, L. et. al. (2007). Research method in education. New
learning will increase their motivation, since learning through York. Rouledge.
QS allow them to use tools that they generally like i.e. Joo, Y, J. Bong ve H.J. Chol (2002); Self-Effiacy for self-
smartphones and computers. Regarding the most suitable regulated learning,academic self-effiacy and internet
students’ level to implement QS with, the participants selfeffiacy in Web based instruction.
commonly suggest that the most appropriate learners to work ETR&D,Cilt.48,No.2, 2000, 5-17.
with this application are those in senior high school and Paulsen, M. F. (2003). Experiences with learning
university level. In terms of students’ observed response management systems in 113 European institutions.
towards the use of QS, the participants say that their students Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 6(4),
are interested and enthusiast in using the media. 134-148.
Drawing on their experience of using QS, the teachers
commonly summarized three drawbacks of QS. Firstly, QS is
an internet=dependent media. Thus, Internet connection is the
main problem in utilizing the media. Secondly, extended use
of online class reduces students’ actual interaction both with
teacher and their peers, in other words, the students interact
only with gadgets. Finally, On one hand, QS provides a wide
range of teaching materials and becomes potential alternative
teaching media. On the other hand, to use this media, teachers
and students need smartphones or personal computers which
are not always available.
3.2 QS in Teaching English
The three participants agree that the most feasible
language skills to be improved using QS are reading and
writing. This is in line with the fact that QS is not equipped
with voice recognition technology, thus it could not facilitate
the learning of speaking. However, the platform provides the
students with an enormous amount of materials to practice
their skill of reading, writing, and even listening. In addition,
it exposes the students to a wide range of English
vocabularies. In addition, QS allows interactions both
between teacher and students and among students in which
they can communicate using English. So, technically, QS is
perceived to be a good media in teaching English.
4. CONCLUSION
This study aims to explain English teachers;
perception towards the use of Quipper School in teaching
English. The results of interview data analysis show that the
participants commonly agree on and encourage the use of QS
in teaching since it provides a great amount of alternative
material, promote interactions and increase students’
motivation. However, QS is an internet-dependent media.
Thus, itcould not be use with the absence of internet
connection. More importantly, it has not been design to
235
