Abstract
Although there is a rich body of literature about the implementation of ICTs in foreign language learning, none has investigated the technological attitudes and digital skills of pre-service teachers thanks to the adoption of a Project-Based Learning (PBL) methodology. This study analyses the attitudes and digital skills of pre-service teachers through the implementation of ICT-based projects in the EFL classroom. For this purpose, 120 teacher candidates at the University of Alicante (Spain) participated in this experiment. First, all students were administered a pretest to measure the degree of technological affinity and digital skills. Then, they were divided into smaller groups (cooperative learning) in order to design and create several ICT-based projects aimed at teaching English as a foreign language to children and young learners. All the participants later presented their projects and evaluated the results (peer-evaluation) from a technical and pedagogical perspective. Finally, they completed a post-test based on their self-perceived learning outcomes in relation to ICT integration. The results revealed significant learning gains in digital and higher-order thinking skills (create, analyse, evaluate). Teaching candidates show a positive attitude towards the integration of ICTs in the EFL classroom but demand better training as regards the adoption of new technologies, particularly given the current situation and the need for increased on-line teaching.
Highlights
The implementation of ICTs in foreign language learning has been the object of study in several publications over the last years thanks to the constant emergence of web-based programs, serious video games and mobile applications (Zhao, 2013; Anas & Musdariah, 2018; Ngo & Eichelberger, 2019)
The findings revealed that pre-service teachers clearly show a positive attitude towards ICT integration in foreign language learning
Participants’ technological beliefs scored higher at the end of the course, those items associated with their interest in becoming more familiar with ICTs to help them learn and teach better in their future careers
Summary
The implementation of ICTs in foreign language learning has been the object of study in several publications over the last years thanks to the constant emergence of web-based programs, serious video games and mobile applications (Zhao, 2013; Anas & Musdariah, 2018; Ngo & Eichelberger, 2019). The widespread use of smartphones and the growing number of educational apps have brought about significant changes in this field (Godwin-Jones, 2011; Traxler & Kukulska-Hulme, 2015; Wrigglesworth, 2019) While some of these articles examined the benefits of using ICTs in the language classroom, as regards student motivation (Kenning, 2007; Men & Noordin, 2019), others analysed the integration from the in-service teachers’ perspective (Nim Park & Son, 2009; Yang, 2019) but little research has comparatively focused on the technological and teaching skills of digital native students as future instructors (Hong 2010; Schmid & Hegelheimer, 2014; Yet and Noordin, 2017; Guillén-Gámez et al, 2019). PBL is short for Problem-Based Learning, a teaching pedagogy originated a few decades later in the 1960s, which some authors consider a subset of project-based learning, while others believe them to be two different methodologies (de Graaff & Kolmos, 2007). Roessingh and Chambers (2011) explained and illustrated some of the guiding principles of PBL, such as the explicit teaching and learning objectives, authentic and engaging learning tasks, mediated and integrated instruction, promotion of higher-order thinking skills, continuous assessment and monitoring of the learning process
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