Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 54 Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development? Imam Sudarmaji 1, Lastry Forsia 2, Indah Permata Sari Siregar 3, & Danu Yusuf 4 1 Universitas Islam Syekh Yusuf Tangerang, Tangerang, Indonesia isudarmaji@unis.ac.id ARTICLE HISTORY Received : 5 October 2021 Revised : 30 January 2022 Accepted : 11 March 2022 KEYWORDS Autonomous learning English Vocabulary Hello English Application Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) Online Learning ABSTRACT The Covid-19 Pandemic made it almost impossible for the students learn face-to-face. The demand of technology for learning online is needed in such situation. The writers chose Hello English App to find out the enhancement of the app on students’ English vocabulary development and the perceptions at the seven-grade level of private junior high school in Indonesia in academic year 2020/2021. This quantitative study with quasi-experimental design involving seventh-grade students. The researcher provided a multiple-choice test consisting of 30 students in experimental and control class respectively through pre-test, treatment and post-test. The researcher employed statistical calculation of the t-test formula with 5% significance level using SPSS 22 based on the score collected from the students’ pre-test and post-test results. It was found out that, the mean score of a post-test in the experimental class was significantly higher than the conventional class. The result of t-test indicated that Hello English has a significance impact on the development of students’ English words. Meanwhile, the questionnaire results showed that most students agreed (>80%) that the Hello English App can assist them in English learning, particularly English words They felt satisfied and enjoyed the learning process when they employed the Hello English App to acquire English words as well. As a conclusion, the app is applicable in mastering students’ English words. It is recommended for learners and teachers as an alternative way during the Pandemic. The result from this research is essential. However, limited time during treatment and participants could not make the findings generalized. 1. Introduction Online learning has been implemented during Covid-19 pandemic. Most schools have even implemented an online system, including special meetings, discussions and learning. At this time, we need the internet access and smartphones to make it easier to carry out our routine activities online. In online learning, students are taught according to the applicable curriculum to achieve learning goals and graduate competency standards (SKL). In the Indonesian curriculum, English is taught to all students in elementary, middle and high school levels because it is important as a provision and guarantee for career which is a must to master that competence in order to attain learning objectives. The English existence in the Indonesian curriculum is a guarantee that Indonesia can be accepted in the world. As stated by Ferguson (2006) that English is a factor which should be considered in language policy by all countries as a global language. According to Dimmock, the President of the Pew Research Centre, in Sukendra (2019),the internet boom shaped the lives of millennials. One of the English aspects that is usually taught from elementary to senior high school is vocabulary knowledge which is commonly tested in written tests or spoken tests. students are obliged to have big amount of vocabulary to master English skills, no matter the proficiency level they have obtained. Moghadam et al. (2012) stated that vocabulary knowledge is types of knowledge in a systematic procedure are studied until all parts of the knowledge are known for a thing. In agreement with Ozkiraz (2015) stated that no learning that are able to achieve completely if the students lack of adequate vocabulary. In relation to Hiebert & Kamil (2005), the understanding of the meanings of words is often referred to as vocabulary. That means what knowledge we are familiar with the meanings of words is called vocabulary. Moreover, vocabulary mastery means to understand the knowledge of words completely is crucial in learning a language (Tovar, 2017). Since vocabulary has a substantial role in language skill development, students should ideally possess considerable lexical knowledge to not fail the minimal requirement of class activities and assessments (Giessen, 2019; Hao et al., 2019; Nuralisah & Kareviati, 2020). With English language’s current status quo, learners who are interested in learning English are expected to have a big amount of vocabulary. The linguist David Wilkins mentioned that little is capable to be communicated without grammar; also, nothing is capable to be communicated without vocabulary https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 55 (Thornbury, 2002). It means that the vocabulary act as a core of a language which we cannot utter something without vocabulary which is fundamental base of language learning. In order to answer the first research question, it is necessary for the researchers to conduct further investigation regarding the effects of Hello English Application in students’ vocabulary mastery. Therefore, the researcher conducted a pre-observation in the school especially in the seventh grade. During the pre-observation, the researcher obtained information from the principal school (Mr. A) and English teacher (Ms. S). Based on the information gathered, the researcher found that the students lacked of English vocabulary. Some students struggle to understand the meaning of each word or text. In accordance with the observation of the researcher, few students in that school have failed to attain the minimum attainment target (KKM) for English lessons which was 75. This study noted that methods of discussion, question- answer, and speech are some of the common methods frequently applied which could be categorized as conventional methods. Besides, the classroom activity was conducted based on the textbook, which was insufficient; thus, it makes students prone to boredom during the learning process (Melati & Herlina, 2019; Sari et al., 2019; Vitasmoro et al., 2019). One of the reasons for the students’ lack of vocabulary is they felt difficult in memorizing and understanding English vocabularies (Puspitaloka et al., 2017; Vitasmoro et al., 2019). The students claimed that it is challenging to master the distinctions between written and pronounced words. Their interesting in learning English was lowered as a result of this situation (Sembiring, 2019; Vitasmoro et al., 2019). Furthermore, many teachers keep continuing to employ conventional teaching methods during the learning process (Nuralisah & Kareviati, 2020; Siregar et al., 2020) where a teacher instructs students to write down the given vocabulary at home, thus the focus is on the teacher's explanations and memorisation of the given vocabulary (Lu, 2008; Qomariyah & Nafisah, 2020). The learning process becomes monotonous as a result of this reliance on the conventional methods. Therefore, teachers must adapt their learning media to the 4.0 industrial revolution, in which automatic and digital technology pervade every aspect of life. Teachers should use innovative and engaging approaches and media to enhance students' enthusiasm and output quality especially in learning vocabulary. Today's technology has advanced at a breakneck pace, and made it indispensable in a variety of ways; also, people's ways of working, learning, interacting, and spending their time can all be affected by technological advancements. With the advancement of technology, particularly smartphone technology, which continues to expand, smartphones have become a must-have for everyone, especially students. In this study, the researchers are interested in applying Hello English Application as a way for learning English vocabulary mastery with mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) method due to the lack of similar studies that include 7th grade of junior high school especially in Indonesia. This study’s findings covered the gap from the prior studies by testing the participants with all parts of speech in the vocabulary test whereas previous studies have mostly focused on only one indicator, such as only adverbs with 64 8th grade students participated in Ginting & Fithriani (2021) and only nouns in a case study with 30 students of junior high school participated in Asyiah (2017). Meanwhile, this study used the saturated sample of seventh grade which aims to address the problem of students’ lack of vocabulary and teachers’ reliance on conventional methods to teach English vocabulary by implementing Hello English app. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Students’ Perception The perception is used to analyze information provided by others (Nelson & Quick, 1997) so the students can convey information according to what they feel. The students select, organize and interpret sensory stimulations which perceived by the senses into meaningful information (Zulhernanda, 2018)which can be formed as opinions The students’ perception in using Hello English Application is about what students think of using it. It can be discovered by employing questionnaires or interview. The students’ perception can also affect the students’ performance. Based on the findings by Ferreira & Santoso (2008) in examining the students’ perception and students’ performance that involved both undergraduate and graduate students.. It is revealed that the students’ negative perception can led to the negative performance. In addition, the students’ positive performance is affected by the students’ positive perception It is also supported by the investigation of Ma et al. (2016). The researchers used questionnaire to assess the participants’ perceptions. The results showed that the participants’ perception affects their performance. In addition, the better the perceptions, the performance can be significantly improved. However, the negative perceptions can decrease their performance. Based on the study findings above, it can be concluded that good perception is important to speed up the performance especially for students in learning English vocabulary. 2.2 The importance of mastering English words In learning English skills, vocabulary plays an essential role in EFL (Hao et al., 2019; Izah, 2019). Hiebert & Kamil (2005) stated that the understanding of the meanings of word is often referred to as vocabulary. As one of the significant elements in every language, vocabulary can help learners https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 56 understand the language in written and spoken forms. During the acquirement of English words, learners can obtain information from the text easily in a way that is based on their own vocabulary knowledge. Learners can express their thoughts and feelings in written and spoken communication when they are able to develop their vocabulary knowledge (Judy Willis, 2008). As stated by Thornbury (2002) that mastering vocabulary means students have comprehensive knowledge about a large number of words including of meanings of words in spoken and written forms, the grammatical devices, the collocations of terms, the register of spoken and written words, the connotations of the words and the word frequency. In assessing the vocabulary of students, Schmitt & Mc Charty (1997) said that productive and receptive knowledge could be the only realistic way for measuring the depth of vocabulary knowledge. In a broader of world context, the increasing importance of vocabulary has been evident not only in second/foreign language teaching and learning but also in the EFL Indonesian context (Cahyono & Widiati, 2015). The vocabulary mastery importance is used to express ideas and thoughts to comprehend what persons say. Therefore, the vocabulary importance is seen from how the language can be expressed. 2.3 Students’ Mastery Prior this Research Figure 1. The Values of English Examination of the Seventh Grade Students of Private junior high school in Indonesia of Academic Year 2020/2021 In accordance with the Figure 1, 19 (63%) out of 30 students in class A were not able to exceed the minimum attainment target which was 75. There were only 11 students (36%) who exceeded the minimum score. In addition, the lowest score from class A was 15 while the highest was 95. The same percentages are reflected in class B. However, the highest score obtained in the class was 85 and the lowest remained the same. It can be seen that more than a half amount of the students from both classes could not pass it which could be concluded that the students’ vocabulary mastery from both classes were low. Therefore, the Hello English Application is expected to improve both students’ vocabulary mastery and the students’ perception learning. 2.4 Hello English Application Hello English was released by Culture Alley in September 2014. It is the top-rated free educational app and the greatest free app for learning English and it was named as India’s Best Mobile App in 2017 by IAMAI, and Google’s Best App for 2016. Android 4.0 is required to play this application which is downloadable in Play Store. Over 50 million people use this free English learning course to improve their spoken English, grammar and vocabulary. The Hello English App contains over a hundred interactive lessons to assist users in learning grammar and vocabulary, as well as an exciting portion for each level. It provides various features that can be used by the learners especially junior high school students who wanted to improve their vocabulary mastery in fun and attractive ways namely (1) Report Card, (2) Daily Attendance Bonus, (3) Q&A Forum, (4) Dictionary which consisted of 10.000 words from various topics. (5) Various exercises such as listening, translation, arranging sentences, fill-in-the-blanks, quiz and spelling. Those features are expected to give benefits and could assist the students to improve their vocabulary. either offline or online. In short, it can encourage users to practice English in a fun and engaging way as well. Many studies have confirmed that the impact of Mobile Application such as Hello English Application has improved students’ vocabulary, such as Fathi et al., (2018); Izah, (2019); Melati & Herlina, (2019), These studies discovered that the implementation of Mobile Application such as Hello English could improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. It can be considered as appropriate learning tools for students (Bensalem, 2018; Çelik, 2017; Okumus Dagdeler et al., 2020; Shahbaz & Khan, 2021; Yuan, 2019). The investigation of Nurtriyanto, (2020) revealed that students have favourable opinions in utilizing Hello English as a medium for learning vocabulary. They agreed that using it could help them improve their English vocabulary. Castillo- Cuesta (2020) and Dore et al., (2019) said that an interactive smartphone game taught new vocabulary to two groups of students. They also demonstrated a significant improvement in their vocabulary. It is also supported by Ginting & Fithriani (2021) showed that the Hello English Application has a substantial impact on the students’ English vocabulary mastery. Hello English Application could assist students to increase their vocabulary retention online. Based on the study from Satriani et al., (2019) utilized it which resulted that the students’ focus on learning increased and improved their vocabulary. Meanwhile Siregar et al., (2020) implemented the Hello English Application which can be concluded that the students’ English vocabulary was significantly improved. https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 57 Similar studies employing Hello English Application by Puspitaloka et al. (2017) and Ginting & Fithriani (2021) claimed that Hello English had a positive impact on students’ vocabulary mastery. It can be applied in the elementary school (Puspitaloka et al., 2017) It is capable to be implemented in the junior high school of the eight grade (Ginting & Fithriani, 2021) as well. These studies recommended App of MALL as one of the suitable teaching media. In addition, the study conducted by (Ismiati & Kurniawan (2019) revealed the result from the 10th grade students in learning English vocabulary by using Hello English Application at school in Tangerang, Indonesia. There were 20 students participated included 12 boys and 8 girls. The researchers concluded that the application can help the students improved the student’s English vocabulary. The result showed that the percentage of the students who passed the minimum criteria in the first cycle was 35%. Meanwhile in the second cycle, the percentage significantly increased to 85%. A recent study by Agustiana et al. (2021) investigated the Hello English Application in learning English. The participations were the students form 8th grade junior high school. The pre-experimental design research involved 30 students which tested through pre-test and post-test. The result showed that the post-test score was194% higher than the pre-test score. Meanwhile, using a highly efficient method could speed- up the process of acquiring vocabulary (Sudarmaji & Yusuf, 2021) is important. Therefore, the researcher believed that Hello English Application is one of the most suitable ways to learn English that could be applied in online learning especially during COVID-19 pandemic. The above mentioned studies provided a strong evidence that mobile- assisted language learning such as Hello English Application could be beneficial for the students and teachers to assist online English learning especially in mastering English vocabulary. 3. Method This study employed a quantitatively quasi-experimental design which aims to find out the effect of using Hello English Application in students’ vocabulary improvement and how the application affects the students’ perception. The research was conducted at a private junior high school in Tangerang, Indonesia. The reason why the researcher has chosen the school was based on the interview from the school principal and the English teacher. After interviewing, the researcher has found a main core of the problem which is lack of vocabulary. The researcher employed the quantitatively quasi-experimental design with pre-and post- test which consisted of experimental and control group. The experimental research is used to find out cause and effect towards two variables consisting of independent and dependent variables (Creswell, 2012). Meanwhile, in this design, no groups were taken randomly, so the data analysis used quasi experiment (Sugiyono, 2019). It is supported by Sukmadinata (2017) stated that quasi-experimental design can be used if it is possible to control at least one variable in the form of matching characteristics; also, it is better if it possibly uses a random sample. The random assignment is not included in the quasi-experimental design (Fraenkel, 2012). In the end of the experimental process, the researcher gathered data of students’ perception on using Hello English Application. Then, the data were analysed descriptively. This study used two instruments consisting of vocabulary test and questionnaires. The test consisted of 20 vocabulary questions in multiple choice form which separated into five indicators namely; noun, pronouns, verb adjective and adverb with 4 questions respectively The test score classification adopted from (Wafaa, 2017) which has seven classifications. The classifications were 1. Excellent (96- 100), 2. Very Good (86-95), 3. Good (76-85), 4. Fairly Good (66-75), 5. Fair (56-65), 6. Poor (46-55), 7. Very Poor (<45) The questionnaire is used to find out the students’ perception using the Hello English App. The questionnaire used two indicators indicate the presence of the questionnaire namely: 1) The use of Hello English Application and 2) The Students’ perception when using the Hello English Application. The questionnaire consisted of seven and eight questions respectively with Likert scale measurement. The Likert scale was categorized into five classification, namely: 1 = Strongly agree, 2 = Agree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Disagree and 5 = Strongly disagree. The X variable defined as: Hello English is a suitable medium for teaching and learning English, especially English words. Meanwhile the definition of Y variable as follows: vocabulary/word is a fundamental base of English learning. The students consisted of two classes which were the VIIA and VIIB with 30 students each class. The VIIA was considered as the experimental group which the Hello English Application would be applied. Meanwhile the VIIB class was categorized as control class which applied conventional learning method. The implementation of experimental-control group was in order to find out the difference and the significance of using the application versus the conventional one. Before the instruments applied to the experimental group. The researcher tested for the validity in order to obtain the valid questions. The data reliability of the test was measured using Cronbach’s Alpha which resulted .734 (N = 40). Meanwhile the data validity showed there were 25 questions out of 40 considered to be valid. In addition, both indicators in questionnaire were tested for the validity and reliability. The first indicator resulted 7 out of 9 questions to be valid with Cronbach Alpha’s score .605. Meanwhile the second https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 58 indicator, all of the questions (N = 8) are considered to be valid with the reliability score .637. After the instruments were tested, pre-test was applied to both groups. The pre-test was used in order to find out the initial knowledge before the treatment implemented (Sudarmaji & Yusuf, 2021). The treatment from both group was conducted 6 times. Furthermore, the post-test was conducted after the treatment The post-test was employed in order to reveal the significance of the treatment that was conducted after the pre-test. After the post-test from both groups were carried out, the researcher inquired the students in experimental group to answer the questionnaire that the researcher already prepared in written form. The next step was to gather all the data obtained from the pre-test, post-test and the questionnaire to be furthermore processed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS Software version 22. Because the quantitative study deals with numeric data, the data is needed to be analysed and calculated statistically to reveal the significance of the treatment that conducted earlier which could answer the first research questions. In addition, the data result of the questionnaire was analysed by descriptive qualitative which answered the second research question. 4. Results 4.1 Pre-test & Post-test This part describes the test and the questionnaire findings. In order to reveal it, the researcher employed pre- test to both control and experimental groups which resulted the average score was 53.2 & 51.5 respectively. The pre-test score mean from both groups was not significantly different. It can be concluded that both groups have similar quality. Meanwhile, the score from both groups was categorized as Poor (46-55). It means that the vocabulary mastery from VIIA and VIIB was low prior to this study conducted. The minimum score from the pre-test of both groups was 15 & 10. The result also revealed that there were only 20% (n=6) of the students passed the minimum criteria of mastery in control group while only 27% (N = 8) of the students who passed it in experimental group. The treatment then conducted after the pre-test. The researcher taught both group in 6 meetings. The control group was taught using conventional method of learning English vocabulary while the experimental method applied Hello English to assist the students and teacher in learning English. After the treatment was done, the post-test then employed. The result from the post-test of both groups yielded significant difference. It revealed that the post-test score from control group was 62.5 while the experimental group was 76.3 which 22% higher. Moreover, only 9 students out of 30 (30%) exceeded the minimum criteria mastery in control group. Contrary to the control group, the students who passed the minimum criteria mastery in experimental group was more than twice higher (63%, N = 19). Furthermore, the minimum score from control group in post-test was 30 and 60 in experimental group which was twice higher. Below, the researcher presented the graph of the results from pre-test and post-test. Figure 1. Results of Pre- and Post-tests During the research, the researchers discovered discrepancies in the situations of the experimental and control groups. The students were engaged and enthusiastic in the experiment class. It can make learning English vocabulary are enjoyable for them, and they were curious about what the teacher would teach them. However, the students in control group were less active and felt bored. It can be seen from this study that there was a different treatment while teaching English vocabulary using the Hello English application versus without using it. Using the Hello English application is a good method of teaching that could be employed by the teachers. Furthermore, English teachers must be more imaginative in selecting the appropriate media for teaching English vocabulary to students. After ensuring that the data is normal and homogeneous for the further testing, the researcher intended to test the research hypotheses using t-test. The goal of this test was to compare pre-test and post-test score in each class which were experimental and control class that could be investigated whether there was any effect in employing Hello English application on the improvement of the students’ English vocabulary mastery. Subsequently, the range score between pre-test and post-test for both classes was determined using the mean score of each datum. The gain in mean post-test score in experimental class was 76.67, while in controlled class it was 62.50. The final t-test result on English vocabulary knowledge revealed the significant difference between experimental and control groups as following: 1 5 1 0 3 0 6 0 9 0 6 0 9 5 9 6 5 3 .2 5 2 6 2 .5 7 6 .3 P R E T E S T C O N T R O L P R E T E S T E X P E R I M E N T P O S T T E S T C O N T R O L P O S T T E S T E X P E R I M E N T Minimum Maximum Mean https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 59 Table 1. Independent Sample Test Assumption Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means F Sig. T Df Sig. (2- tailed) Mean Difference Std. Error Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Equal variances assumed .459 .501 - 4.184 58 .000 -15.833 3.785 - 23.409 - 8.258 Equal variances not assumed - 4.184 57.997 .000 -15.833 3.785 - 23.409 - 8.258 The researcher found the differences in scores between the experimental and control groups. There are significant changes between the experimental and control groups according to the alternative hypothesis (Ha). The data was calculated using a t-test, and the results were compared using a t-table. As recorded by the table above, t-count > t-table 4.184 > 2.002 with sig = 0,000 > 0,05, it is concluded that there are significant improvements between experimental class utilizing Hello English app and control class utilizing traditional technique at the seventh grade 4.2 Questionnaire Questionnaire was administered to collect information about the interests of students taught using the Hello English application. There were two indicators of question in the questionnaire as stated before, consisting of seven and eight questions respectively. The first indicator was revealing the use of the Hello English learn in vocabulary learning; the second indicator was revealing the students’ perception when using the Hello English Application. A closed-ended questionnaire was provided by the researchers. The following diagram describes the information of the questionnaire results: Figure 2. First Indicator The first indicator was “the use of Hello English Application in learning English vocabulary.” The researchers have already prepared 7 questions which marked in Qs in order to find out whether the Hello English Application can be useful. Based on Figure 2, there were four categories listed on it namely SA (Strongly Agree), A (Agree), N (Neutral), D (Disagree). The researcher did not include the SD (Strongly Disagree) on the fig. 4.2 because no students chose the option. Meanwhile, it can be seen that most of the students agreed (mean = 82%) that the Hello English Application provide assistance in learning English vocabulary. Moreover, 16% of total score was categorized as Neutral while only 2% disagreed. Figure 3. Second Indicator Moreover, the second indicator of the questionnaire was “Students’ perceptions after using Hello English Application in learning English Vocabulary” It is showed in the figure 4.2 above that, there were 8 questions prepared to find out the students’ perception after using Hello English Application. It can be seen that the majority of the students averagely 83% gave positive feedbacks which were agree and strongly disagree. Meanwhile there were 16% who chose Neutral and less than 1% who disagreed. It can be concluded that students agreed that they felt delighted and enjoyed learning process using the Hello English Application. The outline results of the questionnaire from both indicators are summarized as seen below. Figure 4. Outline of Questionnaire Results Based on Figure 4, it can be seen that 73% of the students (N = 22) agreed if Hello English Application made t them 12 1 2 9 12 8 9 14 23 23 16 12 14 17 4 6 5 5 4 7 32 1 1 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 SA A N D 10 1 7 9 18 8 2 1314 27 17 14 11 14 24 10 6 2 6 7 1 7 4 6 1 1 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 SA A N D 1 2 1 8 1 2 9 7 1 8 14 11 12 16 17 23 14 4 1 4 5 6 6 7 2 1 0 10 20 30 40 Usefulness Effective Suitable App Interesting Happier Fun More Motivated SA A N D https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 60 more motivated to learn English vocabulary. Moreover 80% of them (N = 24) agreed that the application made the situation fun and they became happier (80%, N = 24) when learning English vocabulary. It is also revealed that students found out the application was more interesting (83%, N = 25) and thought that the application was suitable for them to assist them in learning especially online (80%, N = 24). It was also discovered that 97% (N = 29) of the students agreed that the application was more effective than the conventional method. 5. Discussion The investigation of this study on the basis of the result showed that, the application of MALL is appropriate to be implemented in learning English. The questionnaire also shown that students’ responses towards the use of this application which most of them agreed that Hello English is applicable in mastering English. Employing this app can be a new solution to make a different learning model to overcome the issues identified on this study. The first research question was to find out “any effects of Hello English Application on students’ English vocabulary improvement at Private junior high school in Indonesia in seventh grade” based on the viewpoint of statistical analysis, theoretical viewpoint and related previous studies. The researchers discovered that the pre-test result from both groups was not significantly difference. In that case, all students from both groups had the same initial knowledge. As a finding of this study, the Hello English application significantly improved the students’ English vocabulary which can be indicated by the improvement of the experimental group students score which was higher than the control group. Furthermore, the findings of this study back up and examine the theory from the prior research that shown students’ perception about a strong impact of the Hello English app on improving students’ English vocabulary (Nurtriyanto, 2020). The study conducted within 4 weeks with 8th grade of junior high school participated showed that the Hello English app is more effective in helping learners improve their English vocabulary. In addition, it revealed that the experimental group’s participants who used the Hello English app on their smartphones performed better than the control group who used conventional method of teaching. Based on the research findings in the previous studies which have found the effect of Hello English application in learning English vocabulary have a significant improvement on students’ English vocabulary (Puspitaloka et al., 2017; Ginting & Fithriani, 2021). Employing the Hello English app in English learning process was regarded to know if this app can assist students in mastering five parts of speech particularly students at the seventh grade. The previous study conducted by Puspitaloka et al. (2017) took 100 students at the fifth-grade in the elementary school which separated into three classes. Each class consisted around 35 students in an experimentally design research. The score from experimental and control group were compared, and it revealed that using the Hello English application had a positive impact on students’ vocabulary development. This study findings also strengthened by the result found by Shahbaz & Khan (2021) that the use of mobile phone application has a positive impact in learning English. The most recent quantitative study done by Ginting & Fithriani (2021) took students at the eight-grade in the junior high school. There were 64 students that separated into two classes which were the experimental and control group with 32 students per class. The instrument of collecting data was multiple choice that consisted of 20 questions. After the data calculated and analysed, the result indicated that the students in experimental group have better score in the English vocabulary than the control group. In addition, the study of Çelik (2017)is validated by the the study mentioned which offered the similar results that the mobile-assisted learning improved the students’ performance significantly compared to the conventional method. It is also supported by Bensalem (2018) that mobile-assisted learning outperformed the traditional or conventional learning. Moreover, the study of Butarbutar & Simatupang (2020) investigated the impact of Hello English application in EFL classrooms. The quasi-experimental design revealed that the more than 90% students passed the minimum score criteria after using Hello English application in learning English in the post-test. However, only 60% of the students in control group passed the minimum score. The result validated the findings of this study that the Hello English application can improve the students’ English score. The findings of Fathi et al. (2018) which involved 59 Iranian students that used similar application resulted that the students’ score in experimental group was significantly improved than the control group which used conventional method in learning English vocabulary. In addition, similar application also experimented by Izah (2019) in her study which revealed that the application improved the effectiveness in learning English vocabulary. In line with the result of the study conducted by Okumus Dagdeler et al. (2020) found out that learning English vocabulary with mobile-assisted application such as Hello English app is effective. The result found by Yuan (2019) was also parallel to this study which revealed that with the assistance of mobile application in this case Hello English, the vocabulary retention was significantly improved. This part will analyse the second research question “What are the students’ perceptions when using the Hello English Application in English vocabulary learning” based on the statistical findings, theoretical viewpoint and related previous studies To answer the question, the researched https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 61 inquired students in experimental group to answer the given questionnaire. The result of questionnaire from this study validated the result from Hidayati & Diana (2019). The mixed-method- approach study involved 25 students from non-English major of the first and second-year in two universities. The study confirmed that the application made the students more active in learning. They also seemed to be more enjoy and comfortable when learning English using the application. Moreover, Melati & Herlina (2019) also found out that the wide variety of features in similar application such as Hello English can make the students more interested in learning English especially vocabulary which is advantageous in improving the students’ perception. Furthermore, several students chose to be neutral in answering the questionnaire in this study. Meanwhile only few students who disagreed and no students strongly disagreed if the Hello English Application was helpful and positively change the students’ perceptions. The results of questionnaire were supported by the prior study conducted by Rezaei et al., (2014) claimed that mobile-assisted language learning application such as Hello English Application was able to increase the development of students English words. The use of the applications improved vocabulary learning engagement as well. It revealed that is the application made easier for students to learn English and improved their learning outcomes. Employing this learning model, it can make students more motivated and increase their interest in English vocabulary learning. The extra result is regarded as the advantage of this study. Dore et al. (2019) is another study with literature review method related to the use of mobile-assisted learning application such as Hello English, where it was found that three-quarters of the students involved in questionnaire agreed that the application could increase their interest in learning English especially the vocabulary. Furthermore, the result indicated that the application was easy to use and helpful (Ajisoko, 2020). Moreover, the result from the questionnaire is similarly found by (Nurtriyanto, 2020) that conducted an interview with 5 students. Based on the interview, it was revealed that the students agreed the Hello English Application could make the learning more interesting and exciting. It was also discovered that they agreed the application was suitable because it has complete features with different level such as beginners and intermediate. Meanwhile, the students found there were no difficulties encountered when using Hello English Application during vocabulary learning. Another similar study conducted by (Satriani et al., 2018) that investigated the implementation of Hello English Application in teaching English vocabulary. There were 135 students participated in this qualitative study. It was found out that the students felt easier when using the application if they encounter unknown words which they used to find it in dictionary or even guessing it. Even though this was the first time of using the application, students felt the learning using it was running well and enjoyable. The students’ behaviour were also improved because they found the application was interesting (Agustiana et al., 2021) These results supported Puspitaloka et al., (2017); Ginting & Fithriani (2021) discovered that the Hello English App increased the vocabulary mastery of young learners. The findings are also consistent with prior studies that have found that utilizing mobile application to acquire English vocabulary have a good impact (Rezaei et al., 2014; Xodabande & Atai, 2020). And could develop students’ motivation in learning English vocabulary (Elaish et al., 2019). After many study findings are discussed above, this study is expected to provide latest findings because there was a lack of study presented in similar topic especially in Indonesia that involved the 7th grade junior high school in the pandemic situation which is important for future research. The results of this study have hopefully filled that gap and encourage future studies to provide more empirical data with students of other levels. 6. Conclusion Previous studies that employed the Hello English App to improve students’ vocabulary only focused on one of the content terms (word classes). This study closed the gap between the utilization of the Hello English app for boosting students’ vocabulary knowledge across all content words (word classes) and students’ perceptions of the app as an appropriate media for a recent learning paradigm. Findings of this study indicated that the Hello English app is applicable in mastering students’ English words. Hence, the app is recommended for learners especially the students who want to learn in fun way online. To obtain learning objectives in the teaching process, the Hello English app can be utilized as one of the recommendations as a teaching media, particularly in teaching English vocabulary especially during COVID-19 Pandemic. The researchers expect that this study can be a contribution in the development of technology particularly in the utilization of MALL applications in the education field. Even though, this study has several limitations such as a short period of time during treatment which was only a month. The study also only employed 60 students of junior high school which were limited to generalize the findings. Therefore, the writer suggested for the future researchers to employ larger amounts of participants from different area with several more additional meetings. It is also possible for future researchers to investigate the effect of Hello English Application versus similar application in improving vocabulary mastery. https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies ISSN (Online) 2684-9224, ISSN (Print): 2684-7620 Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2022, pp. 54-64 https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v4i1.8017 How to cite this article: Sudarmaji, I., Forsia, L., Siregar, I. P. S., & Yusuf, D. (2022). Hello English App for Online Learning during the Pandemic: Does it Enhance the Students’ English Vocabulary Development?. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 4(1), 54-64. 62 References Agustiana, W., Batau, S. H., & Rampeng. (2021). 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