Task 2: Article Review

TITLE:

EFL Teachers' Perceptions and Perspectives on Internet-Assisted Language Teaching

JOURNAL:

Vol. 8, No. 2, January 2007

AUTHOR:

Hee-Jae Shin, an EFL teacher at Buyeo Girls' High School in Chungnam Province, Korea and Jeong-Bae Son, an educator in applied linguistics, Faculty of Education at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.

LINK:

Journal

OVERVIEW

The Internet is defined as a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is one of the most popular technologies being used widely throughout the world. The Internet can now be accessed almost anywhere by numerous means, especially through mobile Internet devices. Mobile phones, datacards, handheld game consoles and cellular routers allow users to connect to the Internet from anywhere there is a wireless network supporting that device's technology. The usage of Web browsing has reached to the point of where it is used widely even in the Internet-Assisted Language Teaching all over the world.

SUMMARY

AIMS OF THE RESEARCH

The general objective of the study is simply to study the Korean secondary school EFL teachers’perceptions and perspectives on the use of the Internet. It also focuses on the barriers that stand in the way of applying the method in classroom teaching.

METHODOLOGY

The data of this study was collected using questionnaires to document Korean secondary school EFL teachers’perceptions and perspectives on the use of the Internet for English language teaching purposes. The questionnaires were distributed on-line and off-line to 150 Korean secondary school EFL teachers in Kyungki and Chungnam provinces in Korea but only 101 respondents had completed the questionnaires and returned them within a two months time. All the data collected were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively by the researchers.

POPULATION AND SAMPLE

The subjects of the research are among 101 Korean secondary school EFL teachers consisting 52 males and 49 females’ teachers. The range of age among the respondents was from 23 to 60 years. While their teaching experience ranged from less than five years to more than 25 years.

FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH

The results have shown that majority of the EFL teachers actually used the Internet for their teaching purposes. However, the teachers used the Internet more for the preparation of teaching materials rather than using it directly with students in the classroom during the teaching sessions. In Figure 1, teachers tended to use more than one Internet activity in their classrooms and among the types of Internet activities, Web surfing activities were employed most often in their classrooms. Figure 2 on the other hand shows reasons for preventing Internet use where 50 of the respondents gave the reasons for not using the Internet in the classroom.

CONCLUSION

The study has demonstrated that teachers have positive views on the use of the Internet for teaching EFL while they have difficulties in finding appropriate teaching materials and in integrating Internet resources into their curriculum. There are two problems identified which are the huge amount of information available on the Internet and limited time to seek useful information and the organisation and management of IALT classes. If all EFL teachers undertake well-planned training courses to gain and improve their Internet skills, EFL instruction using Internet resources could be enhanced more actively, collaboratively and consistently across the school system.

REFLECTION

An interesting research topic, especially when it covers one of the arising issues in education nowadays. I have noticed that some of us are so left-behind not only when it comes to technologies but their mind set as well. Teachers for example should try their best to move alined with the others because teachers are the ones that are shaping the future leaders. Trainings and courses have been provided by the government in order to keep up with time however, the efforts would be wasted if the people involved do not make a full use of it. Logically, when we say “we cannot do it”, automatically our body follows it as well. This is what I meant by mind set. We usually believe what we told ourselves to believe. There is no harm done if we try.

Furthermore, we should know better the importance to cater the needs of our students. If the environment need us to keep ourselves updated, than that is what we must do. Internet is a very useful tool since everything is at the tip of our finger. I understand that maybe some of us do not have the access at home, but that should not stop us especially when the government have provided the facilities in school. We can show our appreciation when we make full use of the facilities given. As the researchers have said, in IALT, teachers can use different types of teaching methods on the basis of their students’ interest or needs. The use of the Internet supports the shift from the traditional teacher-centred classroom to the learner-centred classroom that is a current pedagogical preference in EFL teaching. Internet-Assisted Language Teaching actually helps to reduce teachers’ workloads. We can simply browse through the internet and search. It is as easy as one two three. Furthermore, by applying the method in class would benefits the students since the amount of exposure they receiced would broaden their views on using the internet usage.

In conclusion, i agree that IALT is an important component that should be included in the curriculum and practiced by lessons conducted in classrooms. I am sure with the suitable number of students in class, it would be easier for the teacher to manage the classroom and any other barriers.

REFERENCES

http://callej.org/journal/8-2/h-js_j-bs.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet