Copyright©2019 P-ISSN: 1978-8118 E-ISSN: 2460-710X 209 Lingua Cultura, 13(3), August 2019, 209-216 DOI: 10.21512/lc.v13i3.5969 STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE OF GOOGLE DOCS AS AN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE TOOL IN TRANSLATION CLASS Winny Nur Ardy Sudrajat1; Pupung Purnawarman2 1, 2,English Education Department, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Jl. Dr. Setiabudi No. 229, Isola, Bandung 40154, Indonesia 1winnynurardy@gmail.com; 2purnawarman@upi.edu Received: 08th July 2019/Revised: 18th July 2019/Accepted: 25th July 2019 How to Cite: Sudrajat, W. N. A., & Purnawarman, P. (2019). Students’ perceptions on the use of Google Docs as an online collaborative tool in translation class. Lingua Cultura, 13(3), 209-216. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v13i3.5969 ABSTRACT The research aimed at investigating students’ perceptions and experiences of using Google Docs in the translation class. Google Docs provided characteristics that can be used to promote peer interaction. However, the use of Google Docs as teaching and learning media was rarely conducted and still limited to teaching writing in Indonesia. Google Docs was commonly used by the translator to translate collaboratively, so the students worked together in a small group to solve and discuss the translation assignment by using some features through Google Docs. These activities were expected to enhance collaboration among them. This research employed a qualitative descriptive study as the research design. The questionnaire was used as the instrument to collect the data that involved fifty students (N = 50) as the participant. The results of this research show that students have a positive response to the use of Google Docs in translation class. It indicates that Google Docs is a suitable tool that can be used for educational purposes. Keywords: student perception, google docs, online collaborative, translation class INTRODUCTION The traditional method of teaching refers to the ways of teaching which apply or use pencil-paper based system. Teaching translation using a traditional method could make students bored (Hartono, 2015). It seems that the monotonous system of a traditional method causes the students’ boredom. Today, technology offers teachers to make teaching and learning activities in translation class more attractive. Google Docs is one of the media which can be used to make teaching and learning activities in translation class more interesting. It is created by Google, which provides four main alternatives; Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, Google Presentations, and Google Drawing; all of which share features comparable to those found in the Microsoft Office apps (Jannah, 2017). One of the online translation tools commonly used in Indonesia to assist students in learning translation is Google Translate. Google Translate can assist students in translating the text. Most of the students are familiar with this tool. However, there are some positive and negative effects for the students regarding the use of Google Translate. According to Kusmayadi (2014), the adverse result of using Google Translate is that learners depend too heavily on it. However, they do not learn much as Google Translate translation method is very instantaneous. Features on Google Translate are also useful in assisting students to solve translation problems. Recently, there is another online tool which also used in translation class, namely, Google Docs. However, it is still less familiar to apply Google Docs in translation class. For those reasons, this research will discuss the use of Google Docs in translation class. While Google Docs has no characteristics to translate a document as Google Translate can do, it is common for translators to use Google Docs to translate a document collaboratively. Dekeyser and Watson (2006) have suggested using Google Docs as a collaborative tool as it is a lightweight application, supports simultaneous editing job, and enables various editors. They use Google Docs to cooperate on the present paper, as well as on other papers, and slides. They state that Google Docs is an excellent platform for collaboration. Since the research was conducted in 2006, they have mentioned several limitations of Google Docs, such as Google Docs do not support offline document editing, mathematical formulae, citations, figures, tables, and a bibliography; do not restrict access to files; do not build HTML. Meanwhile, today, there are some improvements that have been made to the platform. It promotes offline document editing, mathematical formulas, quotations, numbers, tables, and bibliography, limits document access, and builds HTML. The use of Google Docs as teaching and learning media is rarely conducted and is still limited to teaching writing in Indonesia. Research by Jannah (2017) is conducted 210 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 13 No. 3, August 2019, 209-216 in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia shows by integrating technology such as Google Docs into a learning process that can help improving students’ writing skills. However, to the best of the knowledge, there almost no single research has been reported on the implementation of Google Docs in translation class. For that reason, this research is going to discuss the use of Google Docs as an online collaborative tool in translation class. Based on the previous explanation, this research attempts to find the responses of the students toward the use of Google Docs in the classroom. This research will be conducted to undergraduate students of an English Literature Department in one of the universities in Bandung who take Translating Specific English Texts. The lecturer has been using Google Docs in translation class since 2017. Besides, as a lecturer, she is also a translator. She introduces the platform to the students since she has some experiences in working collaboratively with other translators using Google Docs. She realizes that introducing computer-assisted tool software will train the students to become professional translators. According to Sofyan and Tarigan (2016), today, professional translators should be able to understand and use technology to the maximum advantage. Using the internet and computer are technical skills that are giving an introduction of Google Docs to the students is needed. So, they will know how to utilize it appropriately. Google Docs is another digital tool that includes blog and wiki functionality that also has the potential to promote collaboration. It is a free web-based application in the Google Docs suite that enables users to create, share, and edit online files, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms (Chu & Kennedy, 2011). Google Docs allows its users to work on collaborative projects by effectively and flexibly importing existing documents or creating new documents. The users can edit and view the changes made by others when they are online at the same time (Yang, 2010). There are three kinds of participants in Google Docs, namely document owner, viewer, and collaborator (Mansor, 2012). Document owner is the one who creates a document. The owner can invite the viewers to view and collaborators to edit the documents. To get started with Google Docs, users must first create an account and then a document. They must first create an account and then a document to get started with Google Docs. They may invite others to work with, update, or edit the document. Changes to a document are downloaded and saved to the server automatically. Google’s server also maintains extensive revision history, and writers can view the article as it appeared in the past at any moment. The first step to begin using Google Docs is by creating the Google Docs account. In order to create Google Docs, the users need to have a Gmail account first then can sign in to utilize all Google tools. The way to sign in and sign up can be seen in Figure 1. The second step is creating the document. To create a document, users can click the file menu and choose Docs to begin the document. This step can be seen in Figure 2. After that, the users need to click the blank document to start it that can be seen in Figure 3. Once the users have selected the blank document, an untitled document will appear that can be seen in Figure 4. Then, the untitled document can be renamed by just clicking it. It can be simply organized the document according to the users’ need. The example of the paper outline can be seen in Figure 5. The document is ready to be used. Figure 1 Google Docs Sign In Page Figure 2 How to Create a Document Figure 3 Choose the Blank Document 211Students’ Perceptions on the .... (Winny Nur Ardy Sudrajat; Pupung Purnawarman) Figure 4 The Untitled Google Document Figure 5 The Paper Outline The third step is share the access to collaborators. The users can share the document to others with three options such as can edit, comment, and view. ‘Can edit’ means that the people who are invited will be able to write, edit, give comment, and reply on the document. If the option is ‘can comment’, they will not be able to edit or write, only give comments on the document. “Can view’ means that they will be able to see all the activities happens on the document, but they will not be able to write, edit, give comment, or reply it. These three options can be seen in Figure 6. Figure 6 Three Options of Sharing In the context of collaboration in translating, the document owner needs to add the editors by adding their e-mail addresses. By clicking send, the access to the document is granted to other editors. The way to invite the editors can be seen in Figure 7. After these steps, these users are ready to collaborate. The collaborators can edit the document anytime and anywhere, as long as they have an internet connection. Figure 7 Inviting Other Editors The fourth step is to download options. The document can be downloaded into pdf, Word, HTML, and other formats, as shown in Figure 8. The users can download the document according to their needs. If the users are invited as the editor, all the activities shown in the Google Docs will be seen in the downloaded document. Figure 8 Download Options Google Docs promotes features that can be used to collaborate with others. After creating the documents and inviting others to the document, it is ready to be utilized; the example of the document after inviting other editors as in Figure 9. All the activities in the document are automatically saved in the drive, the document owner and other editors can track it easily. It is as in Figure 10. 212 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 13 No. 3, August 2019, 209-216 Figure 9 Example of Document Figure 10 All Changes Saved in Drive ‘Add comment’ is one of the features in the document that all the editors can utilize this feature. The comment will show up in the right bar of the document. It supports peer editing among the editors since all the comment will be seen by everyone. It can be seen in Figure 11. Figure 11 Feature ‘Add Comment’ The editors also can use this feature to discuss with others in the document. They can ask questions or give feedback to other editors who are typing. They can use this feature by clicking ‘chat’ in the right column of the document. The ‘chat’ feature can be seen in Figure 12. Figure 12 ‘Chat’ Feature Collaborative learning is a learning that resulted from the interaction of peers involved in a common task. The completion of a group project is one of the aims of collaborative learning. It is possible to form collaborative learning groups to engage students with the subject matter. In this research, collaborative learning groups help students to solve the translation problems in the classroom through the use of Google Docs as learning platforms. Collaboration discussed in the research can also be considered as a collaborative translation which refers to the activity of producing a translation between students in the classroom. The term of collaborative translation can be defined as working together between students to solve translation problems. Every student in the classroom has access to the same document posted in Google Docs by the lecturer. They need to translate a short story by working in a small group. The tasks from the lecturer for the students are translating the story and editing their peer’s translation work. Computer use is commonly recognized as its elevated effect on teaching and learning activities. The computer also works as an instrument for supporting the learning process as well as a platform for providing instructional materials. The development of Information Communication Technology (ICT) gives an advantage to education, particularly in the implementation of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Collaborative learning is a learning process among students that has been confirmed to achieve particular instructional objectives. It is rooted in the constructivist concept of learning which is introduced by Vygotsky in 1978. Vygotsky (1978) has stated that when students enter the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), where they build understanding by exchanging data in a social context, they will maximize learning. CSCL offers learners and educators with a flexible online collaborative teaching setting. According to Liu and Lan (2016), students will be more able to think critically when they are working collaboratively. So the usage of Google Docs has an important role in promoting collaborative learning, which in turn increases students’ motivation and engagement in learning. Balakrishnan (2014) has stated that the growth of Web 2.0 technologies locate the route for the use of this latest web technology in CSCL. Google Docs enables its users to work on collaborative projects by efficiently and flexibly importing currents documents or producing new documents. Because of its characteristics, this application promotes collaborative learning. 213Students’ Perceptions on the .... (Winny Nur Ardy Sudrajat; Pupung Purnawarman) According to Larson (1984), translation is basically a change of form. The form of target language replaces the form of the source language. The translation is a process of changing language, both oral and written from a source language into the target language by keeping the original content. The translation is a process of delivering the meaning of a text from the source language into the target language (Newmark, 1988). Moreover, Newmark (1988) has stated that the translator must study the text not for himself/herself, but as something that might have to be reconstituted for a distinct readership in a distinct culture. Regarding the technology, Newmark (1988) has mentioned that translation is co-extensive with the rise of technology. He names it as technical translation. Technical translation is one part of specialized translation. It could be defined as the non-cultural translation because there will be no cultural differences on terms from the source language to the target language. The major obstacle in technical translation is that each field of technology has a particular technical term. Technology is the field where students have to be most up to date. By implementing Google Docs in translation class, it could be very useful to assist students in getting closer to be a technical translator. An amount of research has been conducted by teachers and educational experts to see the use of Google Docs as blended learning platforms, the benefit, and the implementation of Google Docs. Research by Ebadi and Rahimi (2017) have revealed the impact of online peer- editing using Google Docs on EFL learners’ academic writing skills. They assessed the learners’ academic writing skills and conducted a semi-structured interview to gain the learners’ perceptions toward the impact of online peer- editing using Google Docs. The findings have stated that online peer-editing using Google Docs can improve the learners’ academic writing skills. From the interview, most of the learners have positive attitudes and perceptions towards using Google Docs. Another research with similar results is also conducted by Alsubaie and Ashuraidah (2017) to explore the effectiveness of using Google Docs in students’ writing skills. They have stated that Google Docs enhanced the students’ writing ability. Zhou, Simpson, and Domizi (2012) have evaluated the effectiveness of using Google Docs in an out-of-class collaborative writing activity for an introductory psychology course. They teach students to work collaboratively through writing. The results of the research have suggested that Google Docs is a promising tool for collaborative writing and influenced student learning. Suwantarathip and Wichadee (2014) have conducted research that compares the writing abilities of students who collaborate on writing assignments using Google Docs with those working in groups in a face to face classroom. The results indicate that students have a positive attitude toward collaborative writing activity using Google Docs. Students in the Google Docs group gain a higher mean score than those working in groups in a face to face classroom. They perceive that Google Docs is easy to use in the learning activity. Jannah (2017) has conducted research that aims to find out the process of collaborative writing using Google Docs and to analyze the development of students’ writing skills through it. This research is conducted in one of the state polytechnics in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia. The participants of the research are one lecturer and six students. The result of the research shows that collaborative writing using Google Docs can be an alternative way to develop students’ writing skills, although there are several numbers of obstacles stumble upon a collaborative writing process using Google Docs. Considering that Google Docs have some features which can support students to collaborate with others, it is assumed that the use of Google Docs is able to ease the students to do the translation assignments in the group. To investigate how the students perceived the use of Google Docs in translation class, this research aims to examine the students’ perception of Google Docs usage in translation class. METHODS The research uses a qualitative approach since this research is aimed to answer the proposed research question: What are students’ responses towards the use of Google docs in the translation class. Generally, the data will be taken from Translating Specific English Texts classes in one of the universities in Bandung. The data collected will be in the form of students’ responses related to students’ opinion about the use of Google Docs in translation class. The online questionnaire is used to collect data in this research. The questionnaire is adapted from similar previous researches by Reyna (2013); and Woodrich and Fan (2017). The questionnaire consists of 15 closed-ended questions using a four-Likert scale. The questionnaire is administered to find out students’ perceptions on the use of Google Docs in the classroom. Data from students’ closed-ended online questionnaire are collected from Google Drive. The percentage of each statement is computed by Google Drive; then it is interpreted descriptively. The data from the questionnaire are used to provide a description of students’ perceptions on the use of Google Docs as an online collaborative tool in translation class. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The lecturer starts to applicate the Google Docs in the translating process in the last four meetings out of twelve meetings at the end of the semester. The lecturer introduces the students to use Google Docs in the classroom. The first session of the implementation of Google Docs is started by inviting the students via e-mail in order to have access to the document shared in Google Docs. Then, the lecturer explains the use of Google Docs in the learning process. Most of the students are familiar with the use of technology in the classroom since they have used Google Docs for certain subjects. Google Docs is simple to use that does not require knowledge of special commands (Dekeyser & Watson, 2006). In other words, the students involved in this research are accustomed to the technology- based learning environment. The learning process at that time focuses on the use of Google Docs, so the lecturer starts the class by posting the assignments to do for the following week. The students should do the assignments in the group. Each member of the group is required to translate 3-4 paragraphs of the texts. In addition, the students have to give their opinion or reason for their own translation. If they have finished their individual tasks, they have to give their comment or edit in their peers’ translation works. Thus, this section presents and discusses the findings related to the research question proposed in this research. 214 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 13 No. 3, August 2019, 209-216 The results of the research are obtained from 50 participants of three classes of Translating Specific English Texts. Table 1 presents the results of questionnaire which are related to students’ perception of using Google Docs in general. Table 1 Students’ Perceptions of Using Google Docs No Students Perceptions of Using Google Docs Questions SA A D SD 1. Google Docs application is easy to use 26% 68% 6% - 2. Google Docs interface is intuitive and easy to follow 18% 78% 4% - 3. Working with Google Docs makes my learning experience more engaging 14% 74% 10% 2% SA (Strongly Agree) A (Agree) D (Dissagree) SD(Strongly Dissagree) Table 1 shows that most respondents are strongly agree (26%) and agree (68%) that Google Docs application is easy to use in their translation class. 6% of students vote to disagree with that statement. The students are strongly agree (18%) and agree (78%) that Google Docs interface is intuitive and easy to follow. Only 4% of students think that Google Docs is not intuitive and easy to use. Some students are disagree (10%) and strongly disagree (2%) with the questions number 3. It states that working with Google Docs make their learning experience more engaging, while 14% chose strongly agree, and 74% chose to agree. Table 2 Student Experience of Using Google Docs No Students Experience of Using Google Docs Questions SA A D SD 1. Google Docs makes me more productive 16% 48% 32% 4% 2. I do not have any issue using Google Docs 10% 66% 22% 2% 3. I would like to use Google Docs in future learning 32% 54% 12% 2% 4. Overall my experience using Google Docs is good 26% 68% 6% - Table 2 shows the students’ response to their experience of using Google Docs. It shows that 16% of the students strongly agree, and 48% of them agree that Google Docs makes them more productive. While 32% disagree and 4% strongly disagree with the question that has stated in number 4. Some of the students strongly agree (10%), and agree (66%) that they do not have any issue in using Google Docs. However, 22 % of students chose to disagree, and 2% of them strongly disagree. Majority of the students strongly agree (32%) and agree (54%) that they would like to use Google Docs in future learning. Moreover, there are students who strongly agree (26%), and agree (68%) that they have good experience using Google Docs. Table 3 Student Attitude toward Collaborative Translation Using Google Docs No Questions SA A D SD 1. I like to see my peers interact with the content I have posted on Google Docs 10% 84% 6% - 2. I feel comfortable to see other students edit the content I have posted 10% 70% 20% - 3. My group is able to come to an agreement by using Google Docs 14% 70% 16% - 4. The feedback and editing from peers are useful in improving my translation skill 14% 76% 8% 2% As could be seen from Table 3, the majority of the students have a positive attitude toward collaborative translation using Google Docs. Hence 94% of the students (the aggregated result of ‘agree’ and ‘strongly agree’) agree that they like to see their peers interact with the content they have posted on Google Docs, while 80% agree that they feel comfortable to see other students edit the content they have posted. Moreover, 84% of the students believe that their group is able to come to an agreement by using Google Docs. Also, 90% of the students agree that the feedback and editing from peers are useful in improving their translation skill. Table 4 Student Attitude toward Collaborative Translation Using Google Docs (Continued) No Questions SA A D SD 5. Google Docs help me share ideas with the other students 20% 70% 10% - 6. The use of Google Docs promotes knowledge information 10% 72% 18% - 7. The use of Google Docs increases interaction with other students 10% 68% 22% - 8. The use of Google Docs promotes collaborative learning environment 16% 74% 10% - The findings of the research, as presented in Table 4, reveal that students have a positive attitude toward collaborative translation using Google Docs. 90% of the students have stated that Google Docs helps them share the ideas with other students, 82% agree that the use of Google Docs promote knowledge information, 78% believes that the use of Google Docs increases interaction with other students, while 90% of them considers that the use of Google Docs promotes collaborative learning environment. Based on the results of the survey, the students believe that the use of Google Docs in translation class 215Students’ Perceptions on the .... (Winny Nur Ardy Sudrajat; Pupung Purnawarman) is useful to them. It can be seen from the high percentage of the students who choose ‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’ of each statement in the survey. The findings indicate that the implementation of Google Docs in translation class could bring benefits for students to work collaboratively in translating the texts given by the lecturer, and could increase the interaction between students like what Kessler, Bikowski, & Boggs (2012) have said. The findings of this research are also in line with the results reported by the previous research by Jannah (2017) in which the use of Google Docs is a useful tool for collaborative learning and influenced student learning. CONCLUSIONS By implementing Google Docs in translation class, it could be a useful tool to promote collaboration between students. The results have been corroborated by other researches. They could utilize features in Google Docs to interact, edit, and have an agreement with other students. Since the students have a positive response to the use of Google Docs in the classroom, this can be concluded that Google Docs is a potential tool to enhance students’ interest in learning. Google Docs could be implemented to make teaching and learning activities more attractive. Moreover, Google Docs is a suitable tool for educational uses. Hopefully, the implementation of Google Docs, especially in translation studies, will trigger students’ productivity and collaboration in order to enhance the quality of their translation work. All educators need to improve their teaching method by implementing suitable technology to create a positive atmosphere in the classroom. This research has several limitations when the results are interpreted. The first limitation is derived from the small number of students involved in this research. Further research with a larger population probably contributes to obtaining more statistically significant results and analysis. Another limitation is derived from the observation conducted in the classroom. The researcher is invited as a viewer in the Google Docs; therefore, not all the activities can be captured during the implementation of Google Docs in the classroom. The research shows the descriptions about the implementation of Google Docs as an online collaborative tool in translation class. Based on the findings and conclusions, this research offers the suggestion that can be useful for further researchers who are interested in analyzing the use of Google Docs in translation study. Future studies might explore and compare the learners’ attitudes and perception towards the use of Google Docs in the classroom in both Google Docs and traditional classroom. Moreover, research on the effectiveness of using Google Docs in the classroom might also be explored to find out in what aspects Google Docs that improves students’ translation skills. REFERENCES Alsubaie, J., & Ashuraidah, A. (2017). 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