A narrative inquiry of language teachers’ perceptions and experiences in using WhatsApp during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era

The purpose of this inquiry is to explore and make sense of the stories of language teachers’ perceptions and experiences in using WhatsApp during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. More specifically, the study is intended to understand the popularity and the usage of WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning. To achieve the purpose of the study, a narrative inquiry is employed. Four language teachers of SMA Maarif Yogyakarta participated in this study and shared their perceptions and experiences in using WhatsApp as learning medium during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. The online interview was used to collect information from the teachers by using Google Form. The findings of this narrative inquiry indicate that WhatsApp is a popular learning medium and the use of WhatsApp in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid19 era in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta is really effective compared to other learning media such as Google Classroom or Zoom and the language teachers give positive reactions regarding the application.


INTRODUCTION
An outbreak of extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) infection in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, occurred in December 2019 and spread across China and beyond. The WHO officially named the disease caused by the novel coronavirus as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on February 12, 2020 (Zu, Jiang, Xu, Chen, Ni, Lu, & Zhang, 2020). One of the main pathogens that mainly attacks the human respiratory system is the coronavirus. Previous coronavirus (CoV) outbreaks include Extreme Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-CoV and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV, previously identified as agents that pose a significant public E-ISSN: 2528-4479, P-ISSN: 2477 http://jurnal.unissula.ac.id/index.php/edulite DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30659/e.6.1. [55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] daily mail, (2) telecourses. This occurs when the material is transmitted via radio or television transmission, (3) CD-ROM Courses. This happens when students communicate with static machine information, (4) online learning. This arises as web-based courses that offer synchronous and/or asynchronous courses, (5) mobile learning. This happens when using particular devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and digital audio players (Ipods and MP3 players). Moreover, online teaching and learning have many benefits. These benefits include ease, better learning, playground leveling, engagement, creative instruction, administration enhancement, savings, physical resources maximization, and outreach (Stern, n.d.). WhatsApp is one of the learning media that is used for online teaching and learning. The use of WhatsApp in teaching and learning processes has been studied by several researchers. Firstly, Barhoumi (2015) explores the efficacy of mobile WhatsApp learning activities driven by Activity Theory on Student's knowledge management. The study investigates the feasibility of the use of mobile devices to support a blended learning course entitled Information Science Scientific Research Methods and is considered to be useful for exploring the usefulness of mobile technology in facilitating mixed learning courses. Secondly, as a teaching and learning instrument, Gon and Rawekar (2017) observe the efficacy of e-learning through WhatsApp. The purpose of their research is to analyze the affectivity of social media such as WhatsApp in providing information to MBBS students in the 4th semester and to compare the enhancement of knowledge acquired through e-learning and didactic lectures. At the same time, learners' perceptions of e-learning through WhatsApp are also collected. WhatsApp has become a modern and versatile platform for teaching and learning practices with continuous connectivity of facilitators and learning anywhere and anytime. Although there is no substantial difference between WhatsApp information gain and didactic lectures, the drawbacks are outweighed by the advantages. By forming small groups and using mobiles with larger displays, a few drawbacks, such as message flooding and eyestrain, can be overruled. Enabling Wi-Fi on the university can make the cost cheaper than usual. Thirdly, the influence of WhatsApp in education is discussed by Cetinkaya (2017). The research aims to investigate the implications of the use of WhatsApp for education and to evaluate students' views on the process. The study showed that in their classes, students formed positive opinions about the use of WhatsApp. They mentioned that learning could also take place unconsciously, and for their learning, the messages with images were more successful. Nevertheless, a few students have voiced negative opinions about the schedule of certain posts and the redundant posts within the community. Finally, it is proposed that the use of WhatsApp is promoted as a supporting technology in the educational process.
According to Gon and Rawekar (2017), WhatsApp is a free messaging app that operates through various channels and is commonly used to send multimedia messages such as images, videos, audios, and simple messages for undergraduate students. WhatsApp's story is an archetypal history of performance. Brian Anton and Jan Koom, both Yahoo staffs, developed the app. Backed by an investment of $8 million by Major Sequoia, one of the most trendy investor holding companies in Silicon Valley, the pair launched WhatsApp in 2009 and was very successful. WhatsApp is an instant messaging app for smartphones (from the English term "What's up?", meaning "What's new?"). It enables users to utilize their Internet connection in order to share images, videos, audio, or written messages. WhatsApp has positioned itself as a superior alternative to SMS messaging, which, due to roaming costs, can be very costly when used in foreign countries; WhatsApp, on the other hand, depends on the active Wi-Fi network. In the blended smartphone lecture, there are several benefits of using WhatsApp. For examples, (1) WhatsApp instant messaging encourages online communication and cooperation in a blended mobile lecture among online students who linked from school or home, (2) WhatsApp is a simple and free application, (3) WhatsApp gives students the opportunity to build a class publication and publish their work in the community, and (5) Knowledge and information are easily created and exchanged through WhatsApp instant messaging (Barhoumi, 2015).
WhatsApp has many features that provide communication easily. These features are (1) texts. WhatsApp instant messaging is clear and secure. Users can send free messages to their friends and family. WhatsApp uses the internet access of the phone to send messages so that they can avoid SMS fees, (2) group chat. Users can keep in contact with the groups of people who matter the most. They can exchange messages, images, and videos with up to 256 people at once via group chats. They can also name, mute or customize alerts and more for their party, (3) WhatsApp on web and desktop. Users can automatically sync all their contacts to their computer with WhatsApp on the web and desktop, so that they can talk on whatever medium is the most convenient for them, (4) WhatsApp voice and video calls. Users can speak to their friends and family for free with voice calls. Even if they are in another world, and they can have face-to-face conversations with free video calls when voice or text is just not enough. WhatsApp voice and video calls use the internet access of their phone instead of the voice minutes of their mobile plan. It means that they do not have to think about costly calling charges, (5) end-to-end encryption. On WhatsApp, some of the most intimate moments are shared, which is why WhatsApp incorporated end-to-end encryption into the app's new versions. Their messages and calls are protected when end-to-end is encrypted, (6) photos and videos. On WhatsApp, users can submit images and videos instantly. With a built-in camera, they can also catch the moments that matter the most to them. With Whatsapp, even if they are on a sluggish connection, images and videos are sent quickly, (7) voice messages. Their voice says it all sometimes. They can record a voice message with just one tap. It is ideal for a short hello or a longer story, (8) documents. Without the hassle of email or file sharing apps, users can send PDFs, notes, spreadsheets, slide shows, and more. They can submit documents up to 100 MB.
Then, many occupations are affected by the coronavirus epidemic, such as health care workers, non-profits and municipal governments, local companies, and educators. WhatsApp is, however, a very useful app that many of them employ. Firstly, WhatsApp can assist healthcare professionals to remain connected with patients, educate the community, host remote conferences, set up easy answers to commonly asked questions. Secondly, WhatsApp can assist non-profits and local governments to introduce their organizations, stay connected with their community, exchange reliable and timely data, collaborate with their team, and respond quickly to common requests. Thirdly, WhatsApp can help local businesses to stay linked with their customers, exchange current business hours, make more productive pickups and deliveries, provide daily reminders of inventory, and more. Fourthly, WhatsApp can help teachers communicate with their students, submit and receive tasks, exchange lessons in the form of texts and voice messages, and many more (WhatsApp, n.d.).

METHOD
The central focus of this study is to engage a small narrative inquiry in which we collected narrative data from a small number of language teachers' perceptions and experiences in using WhatsApp during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. In accordance with its purpose, a narrative inquiry approach seems the best match for this study as it examines human experience through life-story interviews, oral histories, photo-voice ventures, biography, autoethnography, or other narrative methods of human experience (Ford, 2020). A narrative inquiry is required to provide in-depth information about language teachers' perceptions and experiences in using WhatsApp during New Normal Post-Covid 19 era.

Research design
This study is designed by using qualitative research. According to Crossman (2020), qualitative research is a method of research in social science that gathers and works with non-numerical data and attempts to interpret meaning from these data by observing targeted communities or places to help explain social life. Suryana (2018) states that qualitative data is everything that cannot be expressed as a number and it can be called as non-numerical data. To conduct this study, we used narrative inquiry approach. It is a form of qualitative research that focuses on human stories.

Subject
There are 5 language teachers and 15 teachers of other disciplines in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta. The address of the school is at Jl. Dagen No. GT I/509, 02/XI, Sosromenduran, Gedong Tangen, Yogyakarta City, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. We chose language teachers as the subject of the study in order to emphasize only on the language field. These teachers teach Javanese, Indonesian, English, German, and Arabic. However, only 4 language teachers took apart in this study because 1 language teacher could not participate in this study. All four participants, Ryan, Sisca, Tasya, and Carlaare pseudonyms in this study. Ryan, a male, is an English teacher. Sisca, a female, is a German teacher. Tasya, a female, is a Indonesian language teacher. Another participant is Carla. She is an Arabic teacher.

Instruments
We employed an online interview by using Google Form to collect the data. Dudovskiy (2018) states that interview is a qualitative analysis technique involving "intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to examine their views on a certain concept, program or condition". Harvey (2012) explains that interview is a method of gathering data from a subject by asking questions in a face-to-face situation. In this study, we employed online interviews because it was hard to conduct interviews face-to-face in the moment of a coronavirus outbreak. According to Suryana, Asrianto, and Marwanto (2020), an online interview is a kind of interview that is committed online, not face-to-face.
In this study, we employed Google Form as medium to interview because it is easy to use. Gavin (2019) defines Google Form as a free G Suite survey tool-the full office suite of Google (Even though some people refer to it all as Google Docs). Sheets (Excel), Docs (Word), and Slides are the other key resources included in the cloud-based suite (PowerPoint). Via customized quizzes or surveys, Google Form or G-Form allows users to collect information from individuals. Users can then link the details to a spreadsheet and then fill it in real-time with the answers from the quiz or survey. This makes Google Forms one of the best ways to directly save information into a spreadsheet. While, Datascope (2018) assumes that Google Forms are commonly used to easily and quickly produce surveys because they allow users to schedule activities, ask some parties abour particular questions, and gather different types of information in an easy and efficient way. It also allows users to provide various kinds of questions, including short answers, paragraphs, multiple selection, verification boxes, pull-down, linear scale, multiple options grid, among others.

Procedures
To collect the data, analyze, and interpret them, we utilized the narrative inquiry approach systematically. Narrative investigations include retelling the life stories of the participants. There are four primary types of qualitative data collection (observations, interviews, papers, and audiovisual materials) and the most recommended type of gathering the narratives of the participants is interviews. Interviews were carried out in an informal conversational way in narrative inquiries to enable participants to reveal their individual stories.
There were several steps to use narrative inquiry approach in doing this study. These steps were identifying the topic or a phenomenon to investigate, selecting the research participants, collecting the story from the participants, restorying or retelling the story of the individuals, cooperating with the storytellers or participants, writing a story about the experiences of the participants, and validating the precision of the study (Creswell, 2012).

Data Analysis
Analysis of the data include transcribing, coding, and creating the narratives of the participants. In trancsribing, after each interview transcribing the data kept the transcripts manageable and allow us to review them for feedback on emerging themes. We transcribed each interview into Ms. Word then saving it as a file in a certain folder. All transcripts were kept in a flashdisc. In coding, each individual transcript was coded and the individual narratives were built using emerging themes. In creating the narratives of the participants, written transcripts were used in order to identify discrete experience segments of text where the partipants revealed about a single event or experience. The construction of the narrative provided a sequence of experiences that reflected

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Research findings
Within this section, we retold the stories shared by the participants regarding their perceptions and experiences in using WhatsApp during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. The narratives of each participant -including the knowledge of learning media, steps to use WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning, reasons of using WhatsApp, and the effectiveness of using WhatsApp in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid-19 erawere separately presented.

Ryan's Story: WhatsApp is the most convenient learning medium
Ryan has been teaching English in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta since March 2020. He taught English starting from X to XII class. He came from Ciamis, West Java. He told that when he decided to go to his hometown, he was confused how he delivered the materials to his students. Then, he used WhatsApp as a learning medium to deliver the materials, explain them, and send assignments to the students. He contended that WhatsApp was the most convenient learning medium to teach English during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era.

Ryan's knowledge about learning media
Ryan told that he knew about learning media, such WhatsApp, Google Classroom, and Zoom. He highlighted that WhatsApp was the only one learning medium that he knew the most because he had been familiar with WhatsApp. Before the outbreak came, he had utilized it as a tool for communication, such as sending and recieving messages. Then, he used it as a learning medium in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era.

Ryan's steps of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
Ryan stated that there were four important steps in using WhatsApp that he was always used in the process of teaching and learning. These steps were preparing the materials, uploading the materials and quizzes, asking the students to comprehend the materials, and asking them to do the quizzes and send thme to him. He recalled his experiences about the steps of using WhatsApp, In giving materials, there are four steps that I apply when using WhatsApp as a learning medium. Firstly, I prepare the materials that are appropriate with the syllabus. I also give the quizzes based on the materials. I type the materials and the quizzes in Ms. Word. Secondly, I upload them in WhatsApp group to each class. They can be for X, XI, or XII class. Thirdly, I ask the students to understand the materials and invite them to ask if there is a confusing material.
Fourthly, I ask them to do the quizzes or the assignments and ask the students to submit them through my WhatsApp number.

Ryan's reason of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
He thought that WhatsApp was easier to employ than the other learning media, such as Google Classroom and Zoom. He said that he would try Google Classroom for delivering the materials but he wondered whether the students were familiar in using it or not. He explained his reason why he used WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning, I use WhatsApp because it is easier to use for both teacher and students. I would have ever used Google Classroom, but I questioned again whether the students were familiar with Google Classroom or not. At that moment, I thought it would be a little hard for them to utilize Google Classroom so I decided to use WhatsApp in giving the materials.

Ryan's perceptions of the effectiveness of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
Ryan thought that WhatsApp was an effective learning medium to use in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. He explained that the other learning media, such as Google Classroom and Zoom were not suitable to use because the students in SMA Maarif Yogykarta were not familiar with them. He stated, For me, WhatsApp is really effective to employ in distance online learning during this New Normal Post-Covid-19 era because there is no difficulty in using it so far for both teacher and students.

Sisca's Story: By using WhatsApp, the students are easier to follow the lessons
Sisca is a German teacher in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta. During New Normal Post-Covid-19 era, she had been using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning. She thought that WhatsApp was a learning medium that really helped in delivering the materials and sending the assignments for the students. She thought that by using WhatsApp, the students are easier to follow the lessons.

Sisca's knowledge about learning media
In line with Ryan, Sisca also knew regarding learning media but she rarely learning media before the outbreak came. She told that she recognized WhatsApp, Google Classroom, and Zoom but WhatsApp was a learning medium that she utilized to teach German in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta. She did not choose Google Classroom and Zoom because she thought that it would be hard for the students to follow the lessons by using Google Classroom and Zoom.

Sisca's steps of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
Sisca provided several steps in using WhatsApp for teaching German. These steps included making a WhatsApp group, entering the students' WhatsApp numbers, sharing the materials and the assignments, collecting the assignments, and listing the students who had submitted the assignments.
She shared her experiences about the steps of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning, For the steps, I make a WhatsApp group, enter the students' WhatsApp numbers into the WhatsApp group, share the materials and the assignments, collect the assignments from WhatsApp group, and I list the students who have submitted the assignments.

Sisca's reason of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
The main reason why she used WhatsApp for teaching German was because the students were easy to follow the materials that she gave to them. She said that although the students were little shocked because the lessons were moving online, they could keep learning easily through WhatsApp in which they had become popular with the application.

Sisca's perceptions of the effectiveness of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
Sisca affirmed that WhatsApp is the most effective application to use in distance online learning during Normal Post-Covid-19 era because of its popularity of the use for the teacher and the students even before the outbreak ruled the world.

Tasya'a Story : WhatsApp is an effective learning medium to use during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era
Tasya has been teaching Indonesian language in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta since 2019. She taught Indonesian language in another school as well. She was born in Yogyakarta city and she is continuing her master degree in State University of Yogyakarta now. She told that she chose to use WhatsApp to deliver the materials because she thought that WhatsApp was an effective learning medium to use during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era.

Tasya's knowledge about learning media
She explained that learning media were media used to deliver materials for the students in the process of teaching and learning. She said that she was only familiar with three learning media. These learning media include WhatsApp, Google Classroom, and Zoom. However, she decided to use WhatsApp for teaching Indonesian language in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta because she contended that the other learning media would burden the students.

Tasya's steps of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
She explained that when using WhatsApp, there were some steps that she always did in teaching Indonesian language for the students. These steps are greeting, sharing the materials, asking the students to discuss the materials, and giving the relevant assignments. She recalled her experiences about it, First thing that I do to start the lesson is greeting. Then, I share the material, ask the students to discuss the given materials, and give them the relevant assignments for the students.

Tasya's reason of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
Tasya had a core reasin why she utilized WhatsApp for teaching Indonesian language. She said that she adjusted with the effectiveness of online learning in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta. She explained that all students in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta used WhatsApp so that they would not face any troubles in using it, including for following the lessons. She said, During the pandemic, I use WhatsApp in teaching Indonesian language because I adjust with the effectiveness of online learning in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta.

Tasya's perceptions of the effectiveness of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
In line with Ryan and Sisca, Tasya also revealed her agreement that WhatsApp is truly effective to use during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. She added that the other learning media would be not as effective as WhatsApp because of its charactertics in which WhatsApp was better known by the students than Google Classroom and Zoom.

Clara's Story: WhatsApp is easier to use than Google Classroom and Zoom
Clara is the only one Arabic teacher in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta. She is a class teacher of X class. In order to deliver her materials during New Normal Post-Covid-19, she used WhatsApp as her learning medium. She though that WhatsApp was easier to use than Google Classroom and Zoom.

Clara's knowledge about learning media
She described that she knew about learning media She provided the examples of learning media. These examples were WhatsApp, Google Classroom, and Zoom. She chose to employ WhatsApp as learning medium to share materials and give assignments for the students.

Clara's steps of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
There were three sections on how she used WhatsApp for teaching Arabic. These sections included conversation, explanation, and question-answer section. Clara recalled, There are three sections on how I use WhatsApp in teaching Arabic. These are conversation, explanation, and question-answer section.

Clara's reason of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
The only reason why she used WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning was because WhatsApp was easier to utilize than Google Classroom and Zoom. She stated, I employ WhatsApp in teaching Arabic because it is easier than Google Classroom and Zoom.

Clara's perceptions of the effectiveness of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
Clara emphasized that the most effective learning medium during New Normal Post-Covid-19 was WhatsApp because WhatsApp had many advantages that were not owned by Google Classroom and Zoom, such as its convenience.

Discussion
We have so far narrated about language teachers' perceptions and experiences in using WhatsApp during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. We used the narratives of the participants as a collective story as part of the interpretive analysis process, and discussed the interrelated themes and sub-themes that arose through a cross-case analysis technique from the stories. From the data interpretation, four prominent themes from the participants' collective story have been identified. These themes include the knowledge of learning media, steps to use WhatsApp, reasons of using WhatsApp, and the effectiveness of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning.

The knowledge of learning media
The participants stated that they have known regarding learning media. One of them defined learning media as media that are utilized to deliver materials for the students in the process of teaching and learning. This statement can be linked to Marpanaji et al (2018). They stated that learning media is a tool to convey information from the teacher to the students during the learning activities. In general, learning media is a medium used to communicate learning content and provide learners with ease in achieving learning objectives. The aim of media is to facilitate communication and learning. Dereh (2019) explains that learning media has an understanding of tools in the learning process both inside and outside classroom.
They told that the examples of learning media are WhatsApp, Google Classroom, and Zoom. This statement is affirmed by Mannong (2020). He explains that some of the learning-based applications most commonly used include Zoom, Google Meet, Google Classroom, and WhastApp. Jasrial (2019) describes that WhatsApp is now considered one of the most common messaging apps which can be accessed by the use of smartphones, personal computers and tablets. In order to communicate with others, most individuals choose to use this application. All aspects of life, especially in the field of education, have also been invaded by this application. WhatsApp enables users to use its features to text, to call, to send video, audio, location, document, and pictures.
Google Classroom is a Google product linked to gmail, drive, hangout, YouTube, and a deep calendar. Many of Google Classroom's facilities would make it easier for teachers to carry out learning practices. The expected learning is not only in class, but also outside the classroom, since by accessing Google Classroom online, students can learn anywhere and anytime. Through this application, it is easier for teachers and students to conduct the learning process more thoroughly because the application can collect tasks, allocate tasks, and review assignments (Sukmawati & Nensia, 2019). Zoom is a tool that can assist teachers and students to work together, make the process of teaching and learning easier, and provide opportunity for teachers and students to expand their knoowledge better. It combines video conferencing, online meetings, and in-conference group chat (Ramadani & Xhaferi, 2020).

Steps to use WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
The language teachers of SMA Maarif Yogyakarta have various steps of using WhatsApp in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. Generally, the steps can be summed up as follows: (1) making a WhatsApp group, (2) entering students' WhatsApp number to WhatsApp group, (3) preparing the material that is appropriate with the syllabus, (4) greeting, (5) sharing the material, (6) asking the students to discuss the material, (7) giving question-answer sections, (8) the relevant assignment, (9) collecting the assignment through WhatsApp, and (10) assessing the assignment.
These steps are supported by Jusrial (2019). He explanied that there are several steps is using WhatsApp that must be followed by teachers. These steps include creating a WhatsApp group, setting the rules, setting up for class use, and assigning the tasks. Wijaya (2018) assumes that there are some procedures of using WhatsApp in learning, such as creating WhatsApp group, setting the lecturer's role in which she or he posts articles, video, audio, documents, pictures, and links based on the lessons, provides particular instruction and announcement in the group, and provides the assessment for the students in private chat room, and setting the students' role in which each student should be active in participating the learning activities (submitting and sending the given task).

Reasons of using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
Based on the participants' stories, there are several reasons why the language teachers use WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning. Firstly, WhatsApp is easy to use for both teachers and students. This statement is affirmed by Barhoumi (2015) who states that there are several general benefits of using WhatsApp instant messaging in the process of teaching and learning. These benefits include facilitating online collaboration and cooperation among students, free application that is easy to use, sharing learning objects easily through comments, texting and messaging, providing the students with the ability to make a class publication, and easy to construct and share information and knowledge. Jasrial (2019) affirms that WhatsApp is an interesting application because it has particular features that permit the users to send, chat, speak, write, and share many things in chat room easily and WhatsApp has certain emoticons to express the users' feelings. Also, WhatsApp is easy to be used by the students anywhere and anytime. Secondly, they adjust the effectiveness in online learning in SMA Maarif Yogyakara which means WhatsApp is more popular than the other learning media. This statement can be linked to Kheryadi (2018). He states that there are many various online media but WhatsApp is deemed as the easiest, most popular, and effective tool that can be implemented by the teachers. Susilawati & Supriyatno (2020) explain that WhatsApp is regarded as a popular technology that provides potential in order to utilize as a learning tool. WhatsApp group enables the teachers to build a fun learning based on a particular topic. Wijayanti & Gunawan (2018) emphasize that WhatsApp affords the ease of communication for people nowadays. It is a popular application for freeware and cross-platform communication.

The Effectiveness of Using WhatsApp in the process of teaching and learning
All participants contended that WhatsApp is an effective learning medium in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. This statement is supported by Susilawati & Supriyatno (2020). They state that WhatsApp group is considered as the most effective application to use in and after the outbreak because WhatsApp is easy, simple, and does not need a large data credit. Through WhatsApp, learning can be done optimally because both teachers and students can communicate with each other and share learning materials in many forms, such as PowerPoint, JPG, Voice Notes, Videos, and so on. Mawarni et al. (2020) explains that utilizing WhatsApp group in the process of teaching and learning is quite effective because the students' learning outcomes after using WhatsApp group are higher than students' learning outcomes before using it.

CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced many sectors of human life, including education. People are moving to New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. Teachers and students are still facing the condition in which they run the teaching and learning process without having face-to-face interaction. That is why distance online learning happens and becomes the solution in this era throughout the schools in Indonesia, including in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta.
Based on the language teachers' stories of SMA Maarif Yogayakarta, they deliver the material, discuss it, and give the relevant assignment for the students by employing WhatsApp as a learning medium. The free and flexible WhatsApp brings potentials to help the language teachers deliver the material and keep in touch with the students in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era. WhatsApp is regarded as the most effective learning medium that is used by the language teachers in SMA Maarif Yogyakarta in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era rather than the other learning media or applications, such as Google Classroom and Zoom.
This study recommends that the teachers should pay attention on the learning media that are effective to use in distance online learning during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era, the students should keep being active and participate in each learning activity even though the process of teaching and learning is moving online, and the policy makers should regulate the suitable policy for involved parties, such as textbooks makers, teachers, students, and so on to adjust learning activities during New Normal Post-Covid-19 era.