EXPLORING STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CANVA USE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING
Keywords:
Media in ELT, Digital Media , Students’ perceptionAbstract
The integration of digital technology into English language teaching has created opportunities to present learning materials in interactive and visually engaging ways. Canva is one platform that enables users to create presentations, posters, infographics, videos, and other multimodal materials. This study explored students’ perceptions of using Canva for classroom English-learning activities. It employed a descriptive qualitative design involving seven students from the English Education Study Program, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, State Islamic University of Raden Fatah Palembang, Indonesia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and students’ Canva products, and were analyzed thematically. The findings were organized into six themes: ease of use, visual attractiveness, creativity, classroom engagement, support for understanding learning materials, and technical and practical challenges. Participants generally perceived Canva as accessible after initial practice and valued its templates and visual features for presenting ideas, collaborating, and organizing English content. They also described limitations, including unstable internet access, restricted premium features, unfamiliarity with some functions, and the risk of spending more time on visual design than on English-language content. These findings suggest that Canva may support English-learning activities when tasks have clear language objectives and lecturers provide appropriate guidance. Because the study involved seven participants in one context, the findings offer a context-specific account rather than a basis for generalization.
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