Re-imagining Educational Technology in English Language Classrooms

Re-imagining Educational Technology in English Language Classrooms 44 th Annual TESOL Convention Boston, Massachusetts, USA March 25, 2010 (2:00 – 2:50 PM) Boston Convention Center Room 206 A Justin Shewell Arizona State Universtiy [email_address]

Overview
Rationale
Research Questions
Methods
Results
Suggestions

Rationale
Technology is an important tool in today's educational world
Teachers often do not use technology to its full potential
access to authentic content
promote higher-order thinking skills
student-centered learning
facilitates learning on many different levels

Rationale
Meskill & Mossop (1997)
surveyed ESL teachers in New York
did follow-up interviews with 56 ESL teachers who said they use technology in teaching
divided teachers into two groups:
those who felt technology was best used to supplement classroom teaching
those who felt technology was an integral part of the curriculum and used technology to stimulate students
Exploratory

Research Questions
Access
Do students have adequate access to technology in ESL/EFL settings?
Integration
To what extent is technology integrated into the curriculum?
What technologies are used in ESL/EFL teaching?
What skills or skill areas are being impacted by technology?

Research Questions (continued)
Motivation
What are teachers' attitudes toward using technology in teaching?

Methods
Participants
54 males, 115 females (Total: 169)
Ages ranged from 25 to 64 (approx.)
45 – 54 (33%)
35 – 44 (25%)
55 – 64 (23%)
25 – 34 (15%)
Other (4%)
25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64 Other

Methods (continued)
Participants
Teaching Experience
More than 20 years (32.10%)
16 to 20 years (20.37%)
11 to 15 years (19.75%)
6 to 10 years (17.28%)
1 to 5 years (8.64%)
Less than 1 year (1.85%)
Teaching Load
Majority were full-time teachers (81.33%)
Majority teach Listening, Reading, Writing, Grammar, Speaking and Vocabulary (over 80%)
Other 1 to 5 years 6 to 10 years 11 to 15 years 16 to 20 years 20+ years

Methods (continued)
Participants
Location

Access
Availability of Computers in Classrooms
78% with more than 15 students per class
31% with no computers in classroom
10% with only 1 computer in the classroom
36% with 15 or more computers in classroom
Availability of Internet in Classroom
26% with no Internet
8% with 1 connected computer
35% with 15 or more connected computers
13% not applicable

Access (continued)
Computer Labs
44% reported no time in computer lab
34% reported 2 hours or less
3 main groups
almost 1 to 1 (student to computer) – 36%
almost no access (very high ratios) – 36%
middle group (mixed access ratio) – 28%

Integration
High Access Group
Computer Usage by Students
20% reported 10 hours per week
29% reported 3 – 4 hours per week
mixed usage (low and high)
Internet Usage by Students
10% reported 10 hours per week

Integration
Low Access Group
Computer Usage by Students
17% reported less than 1 hour or none
Internet Usage by Students
25% reported less than 1 hour or none

Integration (continued)
High Access Group
Technologies Used Most (Daily or Weekly)
Computers in general (91%)
Internet (84%)
Email (83%)
Search Engines (79%)
Word Processing (78%)
Online Courseware (65%)
Technologies Used Moderately
Drill and Practice (49% daily/weekly, 30% never)
Blogs (31% weekly, 52% never)
MP3 (26% weekly, 47% never)

Low Access Group
Technologies Used Most (Daily or Weekly)
Computers in general (75%)
Internet (65%)
Email (58%)
Search Engines (52%)
Word Processing (51%)
Technologies Used Moderately
Online Courseware (45% daily/weekly, 48% never)
Drill and Practice (37% daily/weekly, 41% never)
MP3 (28% weekly, 50% never)

High Access Group
How are computers used?
Plan, draft, proofread, revise and publish written text (75%)
Organize and store information (75%)
Support individualized learning (69%)
Remediation of basic skills (64%)
Create visual displays of data or information (eg. charts, graphs, maps) (62%)
Communicate information as the result of investigations (57%)

Low Access Group
How are computers used?
Plan, draft, proofread, revise and publish written text (52%)
Organize and store information (48%)
Communicate information as the result of investigations (44%)
Create visual displays of data or information (eg. charts, graphs, maps) (41%)
Support individualized learning (41%)
Remediation of basic skills (34%)

How is the Internet Used?
High Access Group
Gather information (84%)
Authentic language input (77%)
Communicate with others (72%)
Low Access Group
Gather information (69%)
Communicate with others (49%)
Authentic language input (49%)

Integration (continued) None A little Some A lot N/A Total Grammar 1.7% 33.9% 27.1% 35.6% 1.7% 59 15.3% 30.5% 32.2% 15.3% 6.8% 59 Listening 1.7% 10.3% 25.9% 58.6% 3.4% 58 14.8% 8.2% 34.4% 37.7% 4.9% 61 Reading 3.3% 3.3% 42.6% 47.5% 3.3% 61 13.6% 15.3% 49.2% 20.3% 1.7% 59 Writing 3.3% 9.8% 37.7% 47.5% 1.6% 61 15.5% 17.2% 36.2% 29.3% 1.7% 58 Speaking 24.1% 20.7% 34.5% 17.2% 3.4% 58 27.9% 21.3% 24.6% 23.0% 3.3% 61 Vocabulary 3.3% 11.7% 33.3% 50.0% 1.7% 60 9.8% 14.8% 41.0% 31.1% 3.3% 61 Computer Usage by Skill Area

Obstacles
62% said not enough computers
55% said old or malfunctioning computers
63% said slow Internet access
53% said not enough time
51% said not enough support to fix problems
49% said not enough support from administrators

Motivation
Teachers Attitudes toward Technology
92% felt technology is an asset in accomplishing curricular objectives
82% felt Internet had a big impact on teaching
55% felt technology best at supplemental activities outside of class
55% felt technology should be totally integrated into curriculum

Professional Development
Time Spent in PD
14% reported no PD related to technology
20% reported only 1 hour per month
14% reported 2 hours per month
12% reported more than 20 hours per month
PD Activities (top 3)
80% had informal conversations with colleagues
63% attended institutional workshops
63% read journals or academic resources

Professional Development
Learning about technology
Other teachers (80%)
Exploring alone (76%)
Workshops (including conferences) (70%)

Suggestions
Low Access Group
revolving access groups
allow students to use their own equipment in the classroom
Vail, Arizona
design technology based activities to be done outside of class (perhaps at home)

Limitations & Conclusions
Survey questions confusing?
More analysis of responses
comparing sub-groups to find correlations
Conclusions
Even in high access situations, technology is not utilized fully
Access is only one predictor of integration level

Re-imagining Educational Technology in English Language Classrooms

by Justin Shewell on Mar 31, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 20

Statistics

Re-imagining Educational Technology in English Language Classrooms — Presentation Transcript

http://www.slideshare.net	19
http://bb.vle.keele.ac.uk	1