Download - Teachers’ attitudes and motivations for using call in and around the language classroom

TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TO AND

MOTIVATIONS FOR USING CALL IN AND

AROUND THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

What motivates the teachers’ use of CALL both in and around the language classroom? What are the main criticisms and doubts that teachers have? What are the institutional and social pressures upon teachers to use CALL and other multimedia in their classrooms? Are CALL applications perceived as more motivating to

students of the ‘digital native’ generation? What type of ‘motivational’ activities are being used?

Based on surveys sent to a distribution list of teachers interested in CALL, interviews conducted with teachers at a private language school in the UK and short informal observations about how CALL was being

incorporated into class, this paper aims to get an understanding of how teachers perceive CALL as a motivational factor. In particular the focus is on the young ‘digital native’ students verses the often less

technologically adept ‘digital immigrant’ teachers (Prensky, 2001) and the possible shift to a more learner centred class this facilitates.

Context

• CALL has a growing role in Language Teaching and research (Levy & Stockwell, 2006)

• Teachers are central to successful CALL application and practice (Hubbard, 2008)

So, what are teachers’ attitudes to CALL?

If the Internet is an information superhighway, then teachers just might be the road-kill on the asphalt of the information superhighway.

(Kirschner & Selinger, 2003: 5)

Research Questions

• What are teachers’ attitudes to CALL applications in general?

• Why do they use them in class?

• Is there any institutional pressure to use them? CPD for example.

• Is there any social pressure?

• Is there any pressure from students?

• To what extent do teachers feel CALL applications contribute to student motivation? Why?

Methodology

• Qualitative research to gain an insight into the multifaceted nature of CALL and motivation

– Semi-structured interviews

– Open questions in survey

• Qualitative research to examine if results are generalisable outside of context.

– Descriptive data

Data Collection

• Interviews collected from 4 teachers in a private adult English language school in London– 2 male and 2 female

– All aged between 30 – 45

– Teaching experience 3-12 years

• Questionnaires sent to several distribution lists: – TESL-L

– TESLCA-L

– IATEFL LTSIG

– King’s College ELT and Applied Linguistics MA students

– Personal list compiled of teachers known through work

Results

Gender

male

female

Respondents : 179

Respondents’ L1

English70%

Spanish4%

Chinese3%

Arabic2%

Greek2%

Korean2%

Portuguese2%

Other15%

Survey Participants’ Digital Literacy

Have you taken any courses in educational uses of technology?

Yes

No

Crosstabs

Age (50+) Crosstab Digital Literacy

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

I am very confident about my ability with most

aspects of computer use

I am confident in everyday uses of computers

I use computers but I am not really an expert

My knowledge of computers is pretty basic but I can do some things

okay

I am not at all confident with computers

50 -54

55 – 60

over 60

Gender Crosstab Digital Literacy

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

50.0

I am very confident about my ability with most

aspects of computer use

I am confident in everyday uses of computers

I use computers but I am not really an expert


okay

I am not at all confident with computers

% Male

% Female

Survey participants – digital literacy data set

Choose the statement that best describes your own level of computer literacy: Please select one for both personal and teaching contexts

Answer Options

I am very confident about my ability with

most aspects of computer

use

I am confident in everyday uses of

computers

I use computers

but I am not really an expert


okay

I am not at all confident

with computers

Response Count

For personal use 84 73 17 3 0 177

In a teaching context 61 67 36 8 2 174

Other (please specify) 3

answered question 177

skipped question 2

Definition of CALL

• Working definition: CALL is used to refer to the way teachers use computers both in and around their classrooms (Following Levy, 1997)

• For the interviews and analysis, focus was on data about the use of CALL in class and as a self-access resource.

Survey participants’ CALL usage

Survey participants’ CALL usage – data set

How would you characterise the main purpose of your CALL usage?

Answer Options Response Percent

Response Count

Using computers as a teaching tool in class 33.7% 55

Using computers as a resource for preparing lessons

45.4% 74

Using computers to refer to students for self-study 8.6% 14

Don’t know 3.1% 5

Other (please specify) 9.2% 15


skipped question 16

CALL usage – comments

Survey participants – CALL Motivating for students

Crosstabs

Older participants – CALL motivating

Low Digital Literacy – CALL motivating

CALL motivating – data set

Do you think using computer based language learning applications in class is more motivating for students than classes which do not utilise technology?

Answer Options Response Percent

Response Count

Definitely 47.2% 75

Yes, a little 29.6% 47

Neither 13.2% 21

No 6.3% 10

Definitely not 0.6% 1

Don’t know 3.1% 5

Why / why not? 50


skipped question 20

CALL motivating for students -comments

Hands Ss. more self-directed learning control & promotes independent learning within in a supportive environment.

“

”It connects to young learner's experiences with

IT in everyday life - very relevant for them.“

”


Because you can pretty much stand back and organisethemselves. And obviously PowerPoint, that’s something

they are going to have to do when they go to university. So they should be using that all the time. … so it prepares

them a bit more and makes it a bit more relevant to them.

- Matt

“

”“

”

The main advantage is that students can work at their own pace and at their own level. It's usually more motivating

than sitting behind a desk, though it should not replace the classroom entirely. The computer can be used as a self-

access tool that students can access at home in their own time.


By themselves, no… *computers+ are not a motivation, but they can be used as part of a course to facilitate motivation. By providing a

more immediate focus and then for encouraging the students to achieve that

result, I suppose.

- Daniel

“

”


They do seem to focus more, in fact I’m sure that if you compared two groups doing an open cloze CAE for example. The ones on

computers would be more focused. It’s the immediacy of the media, is what helps that.

- Daniel

“

”

Pressure

No, I don’t feel the pressure from *the students], no. But I think every teacher

wants to make their lessons interesting and relevant. And you know, you want to keep [students] motivated, happy and learning.

- Matt

“

”I hope that there is institutional

pressure for us to get skilled up on those and use them in class, that’d be

awesome. - Matt

“

”

Efficacy

I mean, in terms of skills well I think that’s development. Yeah, definitely. And I think it

adds depth to your knowledge, if you can use… it’s more tools really, more tools at your

disposal.

- Matt

“

”

Why do teachers use CALL?

[CALL] opens up a lot of opportunities for the students, you can show them different

websites where they can practice at home, and I think it’s good because it allows

them access to a lot of different paths where they can get instant access to real life

English

– Agnes

“

”


Computers are an everyday part of life and is rapidly becoming necessity in today's world. By bringing it into the classroom we can show students how to utilise these technologies in their learning.

I think the main advantage is flexibility and variety with CALL. I can save anything we do in a word document if I use the laptop +

projector at my college. I have more choice in listening texts. I have access to an online dictionary which I can then show on the board via

the laptop. If anything comes up in conversations, we can find out more information on the Internet. Honestly, I think possibilities are

endless.

“

”“

”


Students living away from English speaking countries now have the chance to interact

authentically and meaningfully with native/non-native speakers ONLY if

teachers realized of this advantage!!!

“

”


Our students will use computers in most aspects of their study/work life.

But the fact is that most of our students, or indeed any language learners will use a

computer for the majority of their communication in English. It's appropriate

that we teach in the same context.

- Kat

“

”


The reason is to give them access to a wider range of material.

– Daniel

“

”It’s good because it allows the student to take their own initiative and try and find the answers to their questions. It gives them a bit of independence.

- Agnes

“

”


Like I said before, it’s just to change things up from the day to day, to make it more

relevant to the students, because that’s something they are involved

with, technology all the time, and they’re going to be involved with technology all the

time.

- Matt

“

”

Teachers’ Motivation

• Predominantly intrinsic motivation– pressure not present or perceived as negative

• Student response to technology – Students’ expectations featured less heavily than their

response to the medium

• A tool to access resources–Variation & power of media access

– Authentic

– Autonomous

– Shift student centeredness

Discussion

• Teachers believe CALL is more motivating for students• Teachers are intrinsically motivated to use CALL

– authenticity– empowering student– Variety– Autonomy

• Efficacy is seen as important• Support, training and facilities are vital • Facilities especially are seen as vital by more skilled practitioners

Problems:• Skewered sample• Generalisable?• More detailed study into individual factors

References

• Hubbard, P. (2008) ‘CALL and the future of language teacher education’ CALICO Journal, 25(2): (pp. 175–188)

• Levy, M. and Stockwell, G. (2006) Call Dimensions: Options and Issues in Computer-Assisted Language Learning. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

• Kirschner, P. & Selinger, M.(2003) ‘The state of affairs of teacher education with respect to information and communications technology’ Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 12(1) (pp. 5 – 17) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14759390300200143accessed 10/01/2010

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14759390300200143

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