The Use of Canva in Teaching Writing

Published: March 9, 2022 This study aims to investigate teacher's and students' perceptions on the use of Canva in teaching writing. The descriptive qualitative method was used in this study. An English teacher and four students from SMPN 2 Kesugihan, Indonesia, participated in this study. The teacher was selected based on the consideration that she had implemented Canva in teaching writing. A semistructured interview with an interview guide was used as primary data, and the secondary data was from documentation to collect the data. To crosscheck the teacher’s data by conducting interviews with the students. The data is analyzed in several steps, including data reduction, display, verification, and conclusion. The study reveals that Canva can improve students’ critical thinking and creativity in writing procedure text. The editable template in Canva helps students generate ideas, writing context, and structure. On the other hand, internet quota and device problems become the students' challenges in using Canva. This study highlights the use of Canva in teaching writing, but this study did not observe students’ writing activities in using this application.


INTRODUCTION
Learning has shifted from offline to online in the pandemic era. Online learning takes place over the internet, enabling students to access their resources at any time. As a result, teachers should not be left behind in terms of ICT. ICT offers students with digital-age literacy, creativity, higher-order thinking skills, effective communication, and high productivity [1].
Teachers must do more than simply teach; they must also make learning fun for their students. Teacher should shift their role from knowledge provider into facilitator. The main responsibility of a facilitator is to ensure that their students have access to learning resources and that their learning is scaffolded [2]. Teachers can use learning media to engage students. This media encourages active participation, individual learning, social interaction, and immersion, and is highly flexible and collaborative [3]. This media offers a learning experience that matches the digital native student's personality.
Canva is a free visual design tool that can be used individually or collaboratively. It is accessible through computers, tablets, and smartphones. It enables simple picture editing and project-based learning. There are over a million pictures, graphics, and fonts available. Canva may help students improve their writing skills while having fun [4]. Canva is an effective media for facilitating students improve their writing performance [5].
Regarding the situation above, the implementation of Canva evoked diverse reactions from teachers and students. In this study, the researchers explored teacher's and students' perceptions on the use of Canva in teaching writing procedure text in SMP Negeri 2 Kesugihan in the academic year 2021/2022.

RESEARCH AND METHOD
In this study, the researcher used a descriptive qualitative design to explore the perceptions of teachers and students on the use of Canva in teaching writing. An English teacher and four students from SMP Negeri 2 Kesugihan, Indonesia, participated in this study. The teacher was selected based on the consideration that she had implemented Canva in teaching writing.
A research instrument is a tool that is used to collect data [6]. Collecting data is a method of gathering, accumulating, obtaining, or finding research data [7]. A semi-structured interview with an interview guide was used as primary data, and the secondary data was from documentation. An interview is one of the most common and practical techniques for gathering qualitative data, and it is used to collect information from people's thoughts, beliefs, and feelings about situations in their own words. [8]. To cross-check the teacher's data by conducting interviews with the students and checking the documentation. The data were analyzed with the steps: data reduction, data display, data verification, and conclusion. [9]

RESULT AND DUSCUSSION
The interview was conducted face to face in the school. Students were interviewed in the library, while the teacher was interviewed in the teacher's room. The fourth students are from different classes. The study's findings are divided in two parts: teachers' perceptions and students' perceptions on the use of Canva in teaching writing.

Teacher' Perceptions on the Use of Canva
Teacher was asked to elaborate on how her perceived about the implementation of Canva in teaching writing and its challenges. Additionally, she was also asked whether Canva improves students' critical thinking and creativity. Based on the interview results, the teacher implemented Canva as media for project-based learning in writing procedure text.
"It is the first time for me to implement Canva as media for students to practice writing. However, there are few students has used this application before. They help me in sharing his experience in using this application to his friends. Since the basic concept of this application is drag and drop so most of students did not find any difficulty. Yet, I give the time for them to practice and familiarize with this application before they use it as media for writing procedure text. Since, the students are studying in limited face to face so I decided to implement project-based learning in writing procedure text. They are given two weeks to finish their project and post or publish it in their social media." Teacher gave positive perception on the use of Canva in improving students critical thinking and creativity in writing procedure text. "Of course, this project will enable them to develop their critical thinking and creativity." Students can use the Canva template, but they must adapt their idea to fit the template. They should consider what kind of recipe they want to write. They will check the generic structure of the text as well as the language features. In sum, they should concept their idea, reread, revise and edit before posting on their social media. It also boosts their creativity since they may design their work based on their interest. They can choose either any font, image, or animation and save it in any format." The following documentation supported the teacher's information.
ISBN: 978-623-5729-30-5 Based on student work documentation, it is proven that Canva improves students' critical thinking and creativity in writing procedure text. The two pictures reflect that each student has different content and creativity in producing the text, and the final product of writing has the correct component or structure such as goal, ingredients, and procedures.
However, teacher exposed that the challenges are come from students' motivation.

Students' Perceptions on the Use of Canva
Based on the interview, most students give positive perceptions on the use of Canva, especially in generating ideas, writing context, and structure. On the other hand, internet quota and device problems become the students' challenges in using Canva. Student 1 stated that Canva template helps him design the text, yet it takes time to use his picture since it should be saved to drive first. Moreover, he needs to retype his work. He said " I enjoy Canva because it helps me get a sample of text by just typing it into the searching template. After that, I edited and added some images. Because my procedure text about food recipes is different from the recipe in the template, I must type my recipe and double-check the spelling. Furthermore, I need to upload the picture to my drive before using it, which will take a bit longer. However, I like this application." Canva provides any format choice in project saving. It also helps students in finding the idea. However, some features should pay. As Student 2 said, "It's my first time using Canva, and I enjoy it. I can save my project as a video, and this application helps me generate ideas since I can see an example from the template. The template is matched with procedure text structure such as goal, ingredient, and method. But I cannot use some of my favorite images because they are locked." Student 3 explained that she has a problem with device storage in installing Canva; moreover, it is an online application that needs a quota to use it. Yet, she agrees that Canva provides many fonts, pictures, and templates. She said "I should remove some applications first before installing Canva, and it becomes a problem for me. My teacher says that this application is free, but I need an internet quota to use it. I can't use it offline. Based on the responses and documentation of the teachers and students, it was found that they have a positive perception of the use of Canva in writing procedure text. Canva's feature supports students in designing the text. The template helps them to get the ideas of writing. The editable template enables them in developing content and the structure of the text. Canva also helps students improve their critical thinking and creativity. However, the challenges come from the phone problem and quota.

CONCLUSION
Canva is a free visual design tool that can be used individually or collaboratively. Canva is accessible on both Android and desktop computers. The used Canva in teaching writing can improve students' critical thinking and creativity in writing procedure text. The editable template in Canva helps students generate ideas, writing context, and structure. On the other hand, internet quota and device problems become the students' challenges in using Canva. This study highlights the use of Canva in teaching writing, but this study did not observe students' writing activities in using this application.