Perceptions of pre-service english teachers on using information communication technologies

Abstract

As the new technologies enter our lives, they affect our thoughts, communication, learning and teaching. Thus, technology has become increasingly crucial for both teachers’ personal and professional lives, and learners are increasingly making use of this technology (Daskın, 2017). By the emergence of student-centered teaching, learning goes beyond the classrooms so Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been used intensively in education, especially in English Language Teaching by the teachers and students. These ICT tools include media sharing, digital learning materials, instant messaging, online games, social networking, blogging, wikis and collaborative editing tools. ICTs provide new mechanisms for user-generated, participatory, inquiry based and explanatory learning. Young people are not only keen on using ICTs for communicating with their peers but also for their education because they are more computer literate than their parents and teachers. Thus, they prefer to have fast and instantaneous communication and reach information quickly. The aim of this study is to find out pre-service English language teachers’ perceptions of using ICTs. The data were collected from 60 pre-service English teachers in one of the state universities in Turkey via a questionnaire that has 6 open-ended questions. The questionnaires were analyzed by finding emerging themes and then categorizing them using Constant Comparison Method. For inter-rater reliability, another rater also categorized the themes. Results of the study revealed pre-service English teachers’ perceptions on ICTs. The results showed that they use ICTs in their lessons mostly especially in practicum or macro and micro teaching sessions and they have positive attitudes on ICT use in language education. Results also revealed some problems they encounter while using ICTs in language teacher education and their suggestions on how to improve their use. Based on the results, certain implications were drawn from the study in order to organize future teacher education programs that utilize ICTs