scholarly journals Factors Affecting Technology Integration in EFL Classrooms: The Case of Kuwaiti Government Primary Schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Maha Bader Alghasab ◽  
Anaam Alfadley ◽  
Amel M. Aladwani
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Parental Support ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Efl Teachers

Previous Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) research has shown that technology is beneficial for promoting language learning, but some teachers neither use technology as an assisted tool nor integrate it into their language classrooms. It has also been argued that the integration of technology has been unsuccessful in Kuwait. This study aims to explore the factors influencing teachers’ use of technology in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom in Kuwaiti government primary schools. More specifically, it aims to highlight factors promoting and hindering EFL teachers’ use of technology. For the purpose of this study, 55 questionnaire responses were collected from different primary school teachers in Kuwait, followed up with 15 semi-structured interviews. The study findings show that Kuwaiti primary school EFL teachers who participated in the current study demonstrated positive attitudes towards using technology and acknowledged the implementation of some cutting-edge technologies in their classrooms. Enhancing students’ language learning, innovation and school support were the main factors that encouraged the participating teachers to use technology. Other factors hindered the use of technology; particularly those related to lack of parental support, personal expenses and health problems, teachers’ lack of skills and training, poor classroom infrastructure, and time constraints/workload. The findings also reveal that the lack of professional development training workshops provided by the Ministry of Education led the Kuwaiti teachers to rely more on informal training in which they worked and learnt together with their colleagues in small sub-groups to improve their use of technology. The study findings have implications for policymakers and other stakeholders intending to integrate technology in Kuwaiti primary schools.

Teachers' Attitudes Towards the Use of Tablets in Six EFL Classrooms

2020 ◽  
pp. 284-298
Author(s):  
Aysegul Liman Kaban ◽  
Isil Boy Ergul
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Efl Classrooms ◽  
Teachers Attitudes

This research study intends to explore teachers' use of tablets to in six EFL classrooms. The case study covers one private primary school in Istanbul, Turkey. Through the analysis of semi-structured interviews, the aim is to find out the factors affecting EFL teachers use of tablets, their attitudes towards using these devices, and the advantages and disadvantages they see in using tablets in their teaching. The study focuses on teachers' perspective as they are by and large ignored when it comes to the introduction of new technologies in educational institutions.

ESP learners’ beliefs about CALL – A qualitative perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-172
Author(s):  
Edyta Olejarczuk
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Considerable Body

AbstractA considerable body of research has grown up on learners’ perceptions of computer-assisted language learning, clearly a key consideration for curriculum designers and teachers involved in the planning and deployment of technology. This article aims to contribute to this work by focusing specifically on learners of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) (n=20) in light of their experiences with a blended learning course (classroom + Moodle). Analysis of semi-structured interviews suggests generally positive attitudes towards the experience, and yields insights into the specific aspects of the course which were valued by students and which were less so.

Factors affecting second language achievement in primary school

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriko Iwashita ◽  
Irene Liem
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Chinese Study

Abstract This study investigates achievement in second language learning (Chinese) in primary school in relation to learner variables such as amount and duration of instruction and home language background.1 Currently in the State of Victoria it is recommended that all students learn a second language from the beginning of primary school to the end of Year 10. As the majority of students in some LOTE (Languages Other Than English) classes such as Chinese are background speakers, some parents and teachers are concerned that non-background learners can be disadvantaged compared with classmates who have some exposure to the LOTE outside school. In order to examine whether home language use has any impact on achievement, we developed a test of four skills and administered it to Year 6 students in two primary schools in Melbourne. The results showed that Chinese background students scored much higher than non-Chinese background students in all four areas. However a close examination of the data revealed that other variables such as Chinese study outside school and the number of years of study at school also influenced the test scores. This research has strong implications for developing a LOTE curriculum for both background and non-background speakers.

scholarly journals Attitudes of Jordanian Undergraduate Students towards Using Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah Jamal Abed Alrazeq Saeed
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Positive Attitudes

The study aimed at investigating the attitudes of Jordanian undergraduate students towards using computer assisted -language learning (CALL) and its effectiveness in the process of learning the English language.  In order to fulfill the study’s objective, the researchers used a questionnaire to collect data, followed-up with semi-structured interviews to investigate the students’ beliefs towards CALL. Twenty- one of Jordanian BA students majoring in English language and literature were selected according to simple random sampling. The results revealed positive attitudes towards CALL in facilitating the process of writing assignments, gaining information; making learning enjoyable; improving their creativity, productivity, academic achievement, critical thinking skills, and enhancing their knowledge about vocabulary grammar, and culture. Furthermore, they believed that computers can motivate them to learn English language and help them to communicate and interact with their teachers and colleagues. The researchers recommended conducting a research on the same topic, taking into consideration the variables of age, gender, experience in using computers, and computer skills.

scholarly journals L’atteggiamento e la motivazione degli alunni della scuola primaria nei confronti della seconda lingua

EL LE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Gross
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Italian Language ◽  
Parental Encouragement ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
German School

This study surveyed primary school children’s attitudes and motivation toward second language learning in South Tyrol, Italy. Differences concerning the attended school system, the gender and the schools’ territorial position were studied by means of a modified 22-item attitude and motivation test battery with 398 grade-four students from German- and Italian-language primary schools. The significance of differences between means was analysed using Two-Sample T-tests in SPSS 24. The findings of the research reveal differences in the observed Italian and German school systems whereby children attending Italian-language primary schools turned out to score higher on motivation, attitudes and parents’ encouragement. Moreover, females show a higher motivation and more positive attitudes than male pupils. Significant results were found for nearly all observed dimensions regarding differences due to the territorial position of the primary schools (rural and urban). Students attending an urban primary school are more motivated, show more positive attitudes, desire to integrate with the target language and culture and perceive a higher parental encouragement.

Online teaching benefits and challenges during pandemic COVID-19: a comparative study of Pakistan and Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahib Khatoon Thaheem ◽  
Mohamad Jafre Zainol Abidin ◽  
Quratulain Mirza ◽  
Habib Ullah Pathan
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Research Society ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Significant Difference

PurposeThe shift from physical class to online classes in the pandemic COVID-19 situation has posited opportunities as well as challenges for teachers and students. The primary purpose of this research is to investigate challenges faced and benefits availed by the teachers at the tertiary level in universities of Pakistan and Indonesia.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the purpose a mixed-method approach is employed to answer the three research questions of the present study. The quantitative data is obtained from the responses of 66 teachers, teaching online in Mehran UET Pakistan and 102 teachers from Indonesian university. The personal, technological, and pedagogical challenges were analyzed by descriptive statistics on SPSS. Thus, the independent-samples t-test was run to test for statistically significant differences faced by teachers in both countries.FindingsThe findings revealed that there were no statistically significant differences found in personal, and pedagogical challenges faced by both countries' teachers, whereas there is a significant difference in facing technological challenges between Pakistani and Indonesian teachers. The benefits of online teaching were investigated qualitatively by conducting semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers 5 from each country. There are very positive aspects of online teaching revealed in the interviews.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper includes implications for the development of Computer Assisted Language Learning, the development of technology integrated courses, and for managing the balance between physical and online classes.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study have implications on finding out the solutions of the derived challenges, further it suggests to concentrate on students of public and private universities in Pakistan and Indonesia so that a comparison of challenges faced by teachers and faced by students can be researched and evaluated and it can generate significantly different results.Social implicationsThe implications on the research society and the teachers and designers' communities are very clear in this research because it paves the way forward towards the blending of technology in any way either synchronously/ asynchronously into education, further researches can be done on designing the new concepts, courses, instructional platforms for students and investigate the new dimensions and effects of them.Originality/valueFindings have value, because two countries' context (developing countries) with respect to the comparison of the challenges and benefits is better understood, it would have different results if had done in the developed countries.

scholarly journals The Effects of Picking Up Primary School Pupils on Surrounding Street’s Traffic: A Case Study in Hanoi

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 237-250
Author(s):  
Dinh Hiep ◽  
Vu V. Huy ◽  
Teppei Kato ◽  
Aya Kojima ◽  
Hisashi Kubota
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression Model ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Almost All

Introduction: One of the significant characteristics of schools in Vietnam is that almost all parents send their children to school and/or pick up their children from school using private vehicles (motorcycles). The parents usually stop and park their vehicle on streets outside the school gates, which can lead to serious congestion and increases the likelihood of traffic accidents. Methods: The objective of this study is to find out factors affecting the picking up of pupils at primary school by evaluating the typical primary schools in Hanoi city. A binary logistic regression model was used to determine factors that influence the decision of picking up pupils and the waiting duration of parents. The behavior of motorcyclists during the process of picking up pupils at the primary school gate has been identified and analyzed in detail by the Kinovea software. Results and Discussion: The study showed that, on the way back home, almost all parents use motorbikes (89.15%) to pick up their children. During their waiting time (8.48 minutes in average), they made a lot of illegal parking actions on the street there by, causing a lot of “cognitive” errors and “crash” points surrounding in front of the primary school entrance gate. Risky picking-up behaviors were significantly observed, i.e. picking-up on opposite side of the school, making a U-turn, backing-up dangerously, parking on the middle of street, and parking on the street next to sidewalk). Conclusion: Based on the analyzed results, several traffic management measures have been suggested to enhance traffic safety and reduce traffic congestion in front of school gates. In addition, the results of the study will provide a useful reference for policymakers and authorities.

scholarly journals Teachers’ Perspectives of the use of CLT in ELT Classrooms: A Case of Soran District of Northern Iraq

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Serwan Husein Taha SHERWANI ◽  
Mehmet KILIÇ
Keyword(s):  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Northern Iraq ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Teacher Factors ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teachers Attitudes ◽  
Teachers Perspectives

This mixed-method study aims at exploring Iraqi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ attitudes towards Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). The study was conducted in Soran town, in the northern part of Iraq. The participants of the study were 58 EFL teachers from secondary and high school classrooms. In the first phase, a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire was administered (Karavas-Doukas, 1996) to examine the participants’ attitudes towards CLT principles: “place/importance of grammar, group/pair work, quality and quantity of error correction, the role of the teacher in the classroom, the role and contribution of learners in the learning process.” The second phase of the study was qualitative and consisted of semi-structured interviews to examine the reasons behind the implementation of CLT in terms of the factors that hinder and encourage the implementation of CLT in the Iraqi setting. The results of the quantitative analysis revealed that the teachers held overall positive attitudes towards the use of CLT. The findings of the interview phase concluded that the main factors that cause the failure and success of the implementation of CLT in Iraq can be categorized under four headings: educational factors, teacher factors, student factors, and CLT factors. The results of the study suggest that the educational system and the teachers’ communicative competence are essential to promote the employment of CLT in Iraqi EFL classrooms.

scholarly journals Indonesian Teachers’ Perceived Technology Literacy for Enabling Technology-Enhanced English Instruction

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 18-35
Author(s):  
Eugenie Mainake ◽  
Shannon M McCrocklin
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
School Facilities ◽  
Technology Literacy ◽  
Teacher Preparedness ◽  
Public High Schools ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Ongoing Training ◽  
Efl Teachers

Today, technology plays a pivotal role in language teaching and many teachers are expected to integrate technology into their instruction. Although studies have shown positive results from the incorporation of technology into language learning, many studies have also raised concerns about lack of teacher preparedness to teach with technology. Grounded in the TPACK Framework developed by Koehler and Mishra (2006), the present study examines teachers’ technology literacy for supporting technology-enhanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction in Maluku, Eastern Indonesia. The participants (n=43) were EFL teachers at public high schools and vocational high schools in Maluku. The data were collected using an online TPACK questionnaire (Schmidt et al. 2009) and semi-structured interviews with EFL teachers. The findings showed teachers’ awareness of the significance of technology use in their EFL instruction. Teachers acknowledged a handful of tools already deployed to improve English skills inside and beyond classrooms, but noted needs for effective CALL enactment, such as continued training and accessible technologies. Based on the findings, recommendations include the provision of training modules for ongoing training of in-service teachers and improved school facilities.

scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF TEACHER SELF-EFFICACY ON TEACHING TECHNIQUES: TRADITIONAL OR CONTEMPORARY?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ümit Levent Değirmencioğlu
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Teaching Techniques ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teacher Self Efficacy ◽  
The Impact

There are countless factors that impact the process of second language learning and teaching in both positive and negative ways. These factors are not limited to only student-oriented factors since some of them might stem from teachers themselves as well. One of the teacher-oriented factors that shape the learning/ teaching process is teacher’s levels of self-efficacy. For decades, teacher self-efficacy has been holding its position as being one of the most popular topics of investigation. Many studies have been conducted to further understand its effect on classroom environment. These studies have put forward a great deal of invaluable findings. However, only a few examined its effects on teaching methods and techniques used in the classroom. The present study set out to investigate this issue by collecting data from 64 EFL teachers, using both quantitative and qualitative methods with a three-staged survey. The findings showed: 1) Turkish EFL teachers have moderately high teacher self-efficacy, 2) age and gender are not factors affecting teacher self-efficacy while teaching experience is, 3) teachers with high self-efficacy use more modern techniques in their lessons and 4) high self-efficacy leads teachers to more implementations of communicative and collaborative tasks. The findings have numerous implications for further research that will be conducted in Turkey as they shed light on the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and teaching methods. Teachers of foreign languages should also be aware of the teaching implications that have been suggested throughout the study and criticize their teaching techniques in terms of traditional or contemporary, by bearing in mind their levels of self-efficacy. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0796/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

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