Exploring EFL Teachers' Perception on Readiness to Use Smartphones for Teaching Oral English Communication Skills at Tertiary Level

Abstract

his study aims to examine the EFL teachers’ perception of their readiness to use different smartphone applications for teaching oral skills at the tertiary level in Bangladesh and compares this to the relevant demographic factors. To reach these objectives, a mixed method research design was implemented: A survey questionnaire was answered by 46 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers from twelve different universities in Bangladesh and a semi-structured interview was conducted with five of these teachers. The results showed that these EFL teachers had a high degree of readiness to use smartphones for teaching oral skills. The teachers agreed that smartphones could help them to deal with the problems like a large class size, a lack of authentic materials, learners' inactiveness, as well as a lack of an oral practice environment inside and outside the classroom. Moreover, there was no statistically significant relationship between the EFL teachers' demographics and their readiness to use a smartphone. The results suggest that smartphone applications have certain potentials/benefits for the university teachers, and that a smartphone-based teaching method for developing EFL learners’ oral skills should be promoted in an EFL context like Bangladesh.