Research Article
Yuncai Liu, Fahainis Bt Mohd Yusof
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 18, Issue 2, Article No: ep655
ABSTRACT
Despite extensive promotion of digital technology as a driver of educational reform, its effective integration depends on teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. However, the beliefs influencing English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ utilization of technology, and the factors underlying them, have not been sufficiently examined, particularly in the Chinese context, where national policies strongly promote the adoption of technology. This qualitative case study, guided by the Pedagogical Beliefs-Technology (PBT) model, examined teachers of College English from four Chinese universities via in-depth interviews. The findings reveal that EFL teachers displayed both teacher-centered beliefs, which perceive technology as a supplemental tool helping alleviate workload and enhance classroom engagement, and student-centered beliefs, which employ it to enrich and update the curriculum, indicating the multidimensionality of pedagogical beliefs. Moreover, individual, institutional, and policy factors further influence these beliefs. This study reveals the interaction between teachers’ beliefs and teaching contexts, further supporting and extending the applicability of the PBT model in exploring technology integration and teacher beliefs. It provides empirical evidence for future research and supplies practical insights for technology integration in EFL higher education.
Keywords: technology integration, teacher beliefs, EFL context, PBT model
Research Article
Graham Howlett, Zainee Waemusa
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 9, Issue 4, pp. 374-389
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine how Thai EFL high-school teachers view and use mobile devices (such as smart phones) in educational settings, and if the age-based digital native/digital immigrant divide would highlight any differences in responses. The participants were 55 Thai EFL teachers in 8 schools of different sizes in Southern Thailand, who were split into digital-native and digital-immigrant subgroups during data analysis. Participants completed a 35-item Likert-type scale covering a range of topics related to mobile devices in the EFL setting including their ability, experience, school/personal policy, instructional utilization, and whether they supported mobile devices as a learning aid. The results showed that while digital native teachers consistently responded more positively towards the benefits/uses of mobile devices in EFL teaching/learning than the older digital immigrant teachers often at a significant level, all teachers -regardless of age- agreed on the benefits and promotion of mobile devices as EFL learning aids. Results of this study expand the knowledge base of EFL teachers’ mobile device experiences and practice while raising awareness of significant differences between digital natives and digital immigrants, and recommendations are made for policymakers, schools, and teachers.
Keywords: Mobile devices in EFL context, Mobile assisted language learning, Digital native, Digital immigrant, Bring your own device, Mobile learning