Level of Information &amp; Communication Technology (ICT) Usage Among ESL Teachers in Malaysia

Niyosha Morshedi Hendehjan,Nooreen Noordin

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.1n.1p.7

Abstract

The current study attempted to identify the level of (ICT) usage among ESL teachers, the difference between the level of ICT usage based on gender and age, the teachers’ perception towards ICT usage and the barriers faced by teachers. This study was a quantitative study using the descriptive survey approach. The total number of participants was 90 ESL student teachers. Data collection involved the use of a questionnaire and the results were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings showed that the level of ICT among teachers was moderate to high. The findings also revealed that females used ICT more than males and younger teachers used ICT more than older teachers. In addition, the level of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness was moderate to high and high respectively. The findings also indicated that the level of barrier among teachers was low.

Highlights

With the idea of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020, Ministry of Education Malaysia (2001) applied several ICT programs in schools nation-wide in order to bring technology into the classrooms starting with programs such as Computer in Education, Computer Literacy Pilot Project, Computer Aided Instruction and Learning, National asserted that a lot of efforts made by the Malaysian government to use ICT, but, modern technology have had very little impact on educators’ conceptions of teaching and learning
The results showed that there is a statistical difference between level of ICT usage among teachers who are less than 25 years old and more than 35 years old (Mean Difference= 12.7, Sig=0.020) and teachers within the age range of25-35 years old use more ICT than those in the 35 years old age group (Mean Difference= 16.7.7, Sig=0.002)
There was a similarity between the results of this study and the findings of the study by Hassanzadeh, Gholami, Allahyar and Nooreen, (2012) who reported that teachers have high (M=3.63, SD= .46) levels of ICT usage

Summary

Introduction

With the idea of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020, Ministry of Education Malaysia (2001) applied several ICT programs in schools nation-wide in order to bring technology into the classrooms starting with programs such as Computer in Education, Computer Literacy Pilot Project, Computer Aided Instruction and Learning, National asserted that a lot of efforts made by the Malaysian government to use ICT, but, modern technology have had very little impact on educators’ conceptions of teaching and learning. ICT usage level among teachers is found to be still quite low (Robiah Sidin, Juhana Salim and Nor Sakinah Mohamed, 2003; Educational Technology Division, 1999; Norizan and Salleh-Huddin, 1997). Factors considered as barriers to teachers integrating ICT in their teaching include lack of knowledge, negative attitude, perception and beliefs (Dusick, 1998), age, gender and experience in using ICT (Wong, 2002), little experience in ICT training, limited access to computer, and lack of support (Norizan Abdul Razak, 2003). The teachers’ perception is certainly important for a successful usage of the technology (Carlson and Gadio, 2003)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion