The Effectiveness of Canva in Enhancing Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking Skills among Secondary School Students: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study

Masruroh Insani Rahim; Agus Sholeh; Siti Mafulah

doi:10.21107/edutic.v13i2.35151

The Effectiveness of Canva in Enhancing Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking Skills among Secondary School Students: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study

Masruroh Insani Rahim, Agus Sholeh, Siti Mafulah

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of Canva in enhancing secondary school students’ reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, quantitative data were collected from 36 eleventh-grade EFL students at SMA Negeri 3 Lumajang, selected through purposive sampling, through a 20-item integrated reading test administered before and after a four-session Canva-based intervention, while qualitative data were obtained from classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. A repeated measures ANOVA showed a statistically significant improvement in students’ scores across the testing periods (p < .001), with reading comprehension increasing by 26.11 points and critical thinking by 25.67 points from pretest to final posttest. These quantitative gains were corroborated by the qualitative findings, which showed that students perceived Canva as an engaging and participatory medium that helped them understand text organization, process information, and evaluate ideas more effectively, alongside greater motivation and classroom participation. Unlike prior studies that examined Canva within specific instructional approaches such as the Genre-Based Approach or blended learning, this study isolates Canva as an independent instructional medium while simultaneously measuring its impact on both reading comprehension and critical thinking, offering clearer evidence of its distinct pedagogical contribution. The findings suggest that Canva can strengthen EFL learners’ literacy and higher-order thinking skills in secondary education.

Keywords

Canva; reading comprehension; critical thinking skills; mixed-methods research

Full Text:

PDF

References

Afflerbach, P., Pearson, P. D., & Paris, S. G. (2008). Clarifying differences between reading skills and reading strategies. The Reading Teacher, 61(5), 364–373.

Alderson, J. C. (2000). Assessing reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Al-Jarrah, T. M., & Al-Ahmad, S. (2022). The impact of vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension among EFL learners. International Journal of Instruction, 15(3), 345-360.

Al-Jarrah, T. M., Mansor, N., & Rashid, R. A. (2019). Reading difficulties among EFL learners: A systematic review. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(4), 128-142.

Bailin, S., & Siegel, H. (2003). Critical thinking. In N. Blake, P. Smeyers, R. Smith, & P. Standish (Eds.), The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of education (pp. 181-193). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Belinda, & Syafei, A. (2023). Students' difficulties in reading comprehension at senior high school. Journal of English Language Teaching, 12(1), 45-56.

Brookfield, S. D. (2013). Teaching for critical thinking: Tools and techniques to help students question their assumptions. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.

Chust-Pérez, H., d'Amorim, M., & García-Sánchez, S. (2025). Developing ESL reading skills and learner autonomy through Canva-based blended learning environments. System, 128, 103–115.

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Facione, P. A. (2015). Critical thinking: What it is and why it counts. San Jose, CA: Insight Assessment.

Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2016). Visible learning for literacy, grades K–12: Implementing the practices that work best to accelerate student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Fitra, A. (2023). Navigating the challenges of high-stakes reading assessments in secondary education: Analytical thinking under Indonesian curriculum reforms. Journal of Asia TEFL, 20(2), 415–429.

Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (2019). Teaching and researching reading (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Koda, K. (2005). Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kohnke, L., & Moorhouse, B. L. (2021). Using mobile messaging applications to teach English. RELC Journal, 52(3), 579–586.

Kurnia, D. (2024). Assessing higher-order thinking skills in Indonesian high-stakes literacy examinations: A critical discourse analysis. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(3), 612–624.

Mayer, R. E. (2021). Multimedia learning (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Millah, S. (2017). Students' problems in finding main idea of reading texts. Journal of English Education, 5(2), 89–98.

Oktavia, W., & Sari, F. M. (2021). The effectiveness of digital media in improving students' reading comprehension. Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics, 6(2), 327–340.

Palincsar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1(2), 117–175.

Payana-Sangurima, R. C., Payana-Sangurima, Z. M., & Vera-Mosquera, J. F. (2025). Cognitive skills of reading comprehension through Canva as digital strategies in middle school students. Cienciamatria, 11(21), 122–139.

Resmini, S., Satriani, I., & Rafi, M. (2021). Infographics in EFL classrooms: Utilizing Canva to foster students' reading comprehension. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 345–356.

Schnotz, W. (2014). An integrated model of text and picture comprehension. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (2nd ed., pp. 72–103). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Septiari, A. S., & Ayu, M. (2026). Integrating Canva with Genre-Based Approach to enhance secondary school students' reading comprehension. Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics, 11(1), 45–58.

Snow, C. E. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.

Thongthep, P., Namwong, A., & Robillos, R. J. (2025). The impact of Canva-supported instruction on EFL learners' reading achievement and learning satisfaction. Computer-Assisted Language Learning Electronic Journal, 26(2), 112–129.

Yubi Palacios, R., González, M., & Fernández, L. (2025). Canva as a tool for enhancing textual comprehension and critical thinking in EFL classrooms. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 28(1), 45–58.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21107/edutic.v13i2.35151