Factors Affecting Technology Integration in EFL Classrooms: The Case of Kuwaiti Government Primary Schools

Abstract

Previous Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) research has shown that technology is beneficial for promoting language learning, but some teachers neither use technology as an assisted tool nor integrate it into their language classrooms. It has also been argued that the integration of technology has been unsuccessful in Kuwait. This study aims to explore the factors influencing teachers’ use of technology in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom in Kuwaiti government primary schools. More specifically, it aims to highlight factors promoting and hindering EFL teachers’ use of technology. For the purpose of this study, 55 questionnaire responses were collected from different primary school teachers in Kuwait, followed up with 15 semi-structured interviews. The study findings show that Kuwaiti primary school EFL teachers who participated in the current study demonstrated positive attitudes towards using technology and acknowledged the implementation of some cutting-edge technologies in their classrooms. Enhancing students’ language learning, innovation and school support were the main factors that encouraged the participating teachers to use technology. Other factors hindered the use of technology; particularly those related to lack of parental support, personal expenses and health problems, teachers’ lack of skills and training, poor classroom infrastructure, and time constraints/workload. The findings also reveal that the lack of professional development training workshops provided by the Ministry of Education led the Kuwaiti teachers to rely more on informal training in which they worked and learnt together with their colleagues in small sub-groups to improve their use of technology. The study findings have implications for policymakers and other stakeholders intending to integrate technology in Kuwaiti primary schools.