Abstract

The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education has provided more variation in the process of teaching and learning. The function of ICT in systematic teaching and learning in English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom is to achieve the objectives of language teaching and learning. The aim of this study is twofold: (i) to investigate how secondary school English teachers perceive the future of ICT as a pedagogical tool and (ii) to discover what they think the impact of ICT will be on the future of the teachers. This study is a qualitative research in nature because a semi-structured interview was used to examine the teachers’ perceptions of the future of ICT as a pedagogical tool and the impact of ICT on the future of the teachers. Overall, a total of 25 secondary school English teachers were interviewed. The teachers were pragmatically and purposively selected from four different areas of Malaysia, 8 teachers from Tawau, 7 teachers from Alor Setar, 6 teachers from Tuanku Jaafar and 4 teachers from Kuala Lumpur, respectively. The interviewees were selected based on three criteria which are the willingness to participate and cooperate, capability of giving effective responses to the interview questions and lastly having teaching experience of at least 1 year. The findings of the study showed that ICT has the potential to give great impact on the future of teachers in terms of the role of the teacher, the methods of instruction and the methods of assessment. It was also concluded that, in the future, the role of the teacher will be changed from the sole knowledge provider to a facilitator or moderator; the methods of instruction will be changed from conventional discussions in the classroom to the use of online forums with the students; and the medium of assessment will be changed from printed ones to e-assessment.

Keywords:

English as a Second Language (ESL), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), learning, reading, teaching, writing,

References

1. Considine, D., J. Horton and G. Moorman, 2009. Teaching and reading the millennial generation through media literacy. J. Adolesc. Adult Lit., 52(6): 471-481.
   CrossRef    
2. Devaney, L., 2010. Six Technologies Soon to Affect Education. eSchool News, 15 April. (19 November 2012).
   Direct Link
3. Larson, L.C., 2008. Electronic reading workshop: Beyond books with new literacies and instructional technologies. J. Adolesc. Adult Lit., 52(2): 121-131.
   CrossRef    
4. Lenhart, A., S. Arafeh, A. Smith and A.R. Macgill, 2008. Writing, Technology and Teens. The Pew Internet and American Life Project, Washington, DC.
   
5. Lewis, R., 2003. Editorial: Changing time. J. Comput. Assist. Lear., 19: 399-400.
   CrossRef    
6. Melor, M.Y., 2007. Malaysian ESL teachers' use of ICT in their classrooms: Expectations and realities. Eur. Assoc. Comput. Assist. Lang. Learn. ReCALL, 9(1): 79-95.
   CrossRef    
7. Mullamaa, K., 2010. ICT in language learning-benefits and methodological implications. Int. Educ. Stud., 3(1): 38-44.
   CrossRef    
8. Nordin, N., M.A. Embi and M.M. Yunus, 2010a. Mobile learning framework for lifelong learning. Proceeding of the Social and Behavioural Sciences, International Conference on Learner Diversity, 7: 130-138.
   CrossRef    
9. Nordin, N., M.I. Hamzah, M.M. Yunus and M.A. Embi, 2010b. The mobile learning environment for the in-service school administrators. Proceeding of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 7: 671-679.
   CrossRef    
10. Oakley, G. and J. Jay, 2008. Making time for reading: Factors that influence the success of multimedia reading in the home. Read. Teac., 62(3): 246-255.
    CrossRef    
11. Roland, J., 2006. Measuring up. Learn. Lead. Technol., 34(2): 12-17.
    
12. Salehi, H. and Z. Salehi, 2011. Washback effect of high-stakes tests on ICT usage: Teachers' perceptions. Aust. J. Basic Appl. Sci., 5(12): 1976-1984.
    
13. Salehi, H. and Z. Salehi, 2012. Integration of ICT in language teaching: Challenges and barriers. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning (IC4E, 2012), IPEDR, 27: 215-219.
    
14. Sweeny, S.M., 2010. Writing for the instant messaging and text messaging generation: Using new literacies to support writing instruction. J. Adolesc. Adult Lit., 54(2): 121-130.
    CrossRef    
15. Tu, C.C., P.C. Chen and M.Y. Lee, 2007. Fostering EFL learners' writing competence through web-based guided writing. WHAMPOA Interdiscipl. J., 53: 225-244.
    
16. Yunus, M.M. and H. Salehi, 2012. The effectiveness of Facebook groups on teaching and improving writing: Students' perceptions. J. Educ. Inform. Technol., 1(6): 87-96.
    
17. Yunus, M.M., M.A. Lubis, C.P. Lin and I.S. Wekke, 2009. Language learning via ICT: Students' experience. Proceedings of the 5th WSEAS/IASME International Conference on Educational Technologies (EDUTE' 09), pp: 136-142.
    
18. Yunus, M.M., P.L. Chua, A.L. Maimun and R. Rizauddin, 2010. Evaluation of ICT usage for General or English Learning Purposes. pp: 205-211.
    Direct Link
19. Yunus, M.M., H. Salehi and C. Chenzi, 2012. Integrating social networking tools into ESL writing classroom: Strengths and weaknesses. Engl. Lang. Teach., 5(8): 42-48.
    CrossRef    

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.