Iranian EAP Practitioners' Attitudes toward and Familiarity with CALL: A Case at Guilan University

Abstract

In recent years, the field of foreign language teaching and learning has witnessed increasing interest in the use of computer in education. Among various factors affecting the successful implementation of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in the educational contexts, teachers' attitudes and familiarity with CALL plays indispensable role. Hence, the present study tried to shed some light on these issues and reveal potential barriers for such implementations. To this aim, a questionnaire and a semi–structured interview were developed for the 20 EAP practitioners at Guilan University in Iran. The results indicated that, in general, there were positive attitudes regarding computer technology but the practitioners' familiarity with the technology was a bit unsatisfactory. Moreover, some problems on CALL implementation were identified and possible solutions were suggested . One of the principal problems detected was the inadequacy of teacher training programs in Iran. .It was suggested that implementing CALL successfully not only requires a paradigm shift in the teacher training programs but also demands the incorporation of policy makers and the governors for such implementation.