Secondary School Teachers’ Practices towards the Use of Computers in Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Algeria
Keywords:
Computers, EFL, ICT, integration, technologiesAbstract
New technologies are breaking down borders and barriers at a faster rate and have made the 21st century society technologically more dependent than ever. Unexpected encounters with other languages and cultures confront the new society with new choices, opportunities and challenges. Therefore, it has become a common trend that educational policy makers require the implementation and integration of new information and communication technological gadgets like computers across curricula in order to enhance teaching efficiency. This paper aims to examine teachers’ practices towards computer use in teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in some secondary schools in Algeria. The study was carried out by using a qualitative method: semi-structured interview protocols, discussion and practical observations as instruments for data collection. The objective was to investigate teachers’ knowledge on the use of computers in teaching and learning and to examine their performance in classrooms. Accordingly, a total of 43 teachers from 11 secondary schools in the case study town offered their thoughts on the subject. Findings from the study showed that most secondary school teachers lacked the proper knowledge of using computer facilities in teaching and learning English. Besides, they faced many challenges that demotivated them from using computers. Although there were few facilities in the visited schools but they were not used by all the presented number of teachers. The study concludes that, the effective use of computers in teaching and learning English in secondary schools can be achieved through training especially to promote teachers’ knowledge on the use of ICT facilities that should be provided adequately.
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