CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Information technology has become an indispensable part of modern life. In the information age, to cultivate citizens who are equipped with information knowledge and practical capability has become one of the focuses of educational development in many countries. In these countries, in fact, a number of related projects about IT education are serving as foundation stone for their country to step into the 21st century (Ministry of Education, 2003).Governments all around the world have already recognized the need to review traditional educational practices and incorporate new technologies with a
consistent belief that information technology will increase the efficiency and quality of learning, which is of crucial importance in a learning society (Somekh and Davis, 1997).
In the United States, school district reportedly spent increasingly more budget on technology equipment and the student-instructional computer ratio as well as the student-per-Internet-connected computer ratio dropped significantly (Education Week, 2005). In Singapore, two stages of Master Plan for Information Technology in Education were launched in 1997 and 2002. While the former expected all Singapore schools to acquire and integrate technology into their curriculum, the latter provided the schools with overall direction of how schools could create opportunities offered by Information technology for both teaching and learning (Hew & Brush, 2007). In Canada, information technology has become an important feature of Canadian education landscape. Across the country, there was on average one computer for every nine elementary students. A significant majority of Canadian schools were “online” with respect to internet
connectivity. Nearly all schools, at all levels, were connected to the internet (Granger et al, 2002). In the U.K. information technology has been designated as a basic skill in their
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National Curriculum as well as in National Vocational Qualifications. In England and Wales, there are national curriculum assessment standards for information technology while in Scotland information technology serves as an integral part of the 5-14
curriculum (Somekh and Davis, 1997).
To cope with the world trend in e-learning, education in Taiwan has also gone through revolutionary changes during the past two decades. Starting from the Infrastructure Plan of Information Education, and the TANet to Junior High and Elementary Schools initiated by the Ministry of Education in 1988 to the Project of Expansion of Domestic Demand and Consumption carried out by the Executive Yuan, almost all schools in these two levels have been equipped with computers and the Internet service (Liu, 2002). In Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines in the early 2000s, with a view to cultivating students’ computer literacy and enhancing their competence in e-learning, the Ministry of Education has listed use of information technology as part of the core competence of students. Furthermore, it has been made clear that information technology, instead of being taught as an independent subject, should be integrated into the teaching of all subjects (Ministry of education, 2003). What follows are continuous efforts from public as well as private sectors in an attempt to strengthen teachers’
computer literacy and their ability to implement information technology in their teaching, including in-service training courses, seminars, workshops, teaching demonstrations, and the cultivation of seed schools and teachers, etc.
With the irresistible trend of globalization and internationalization in progress, English, similar to the Internet, has also been gaining increasing importance, whether in the field of international politics, cross-border trade, scientific research, broadcasting, academic conferencing, teenage culture or fashion (Chang, 2006). As the dominant language for information technology and the internet, which helps build up the interconnected relationship among people around the world, the significance of the
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English language as an international language for people to communicate can no longer be denied (Liao, 2004). According to a survey made by the British council, there will be two billion people learning English. Half of world’s population, which means about three billions of people, will be able to use English (Power, 2005). With the prevalence and dominance of English all over the world, the incorporation of English learning into the curriculum has aroused tremendous concern among policy makers, educators, students, and parents alike.
Meanwhile, recent research has also proved that technology offers language
learners many benefits for the acquisition of English language skills (Warschauer, 2001).
Network-based language teaching has also transformed into a new form of Computer Assisted Language Learning, which provides students with more opportunities to learn and to use the target language with a greater variety of authentic materials. In
participating in the web-based learning activities such as group discussion or collaborative learning exchange, learners are given the chances to integrate the four language skills, a fundamental goal which is hard to achieve in traditional classrooms.
With the communication goal in mind, learners become active participants in learning activities rather than passive recipients (Ting, 2007).
Under the influence of globalization and internationalization, information
technology has been regarded as one of the core competences for modern global citizens.
To better prepare the citizens with computer literacy to meet the challenges of the information age, the Ministry of Education has officially highlighted the importance of integrating information technology into curriculum in the Grade 1-9 Curriculum
Guidelines and even made information technology education one of the six critical issues in the Guidelines. With similar advantages and superiority in terms of their prevalence and popularity all over the world, computer literacy education and English learning seems to make an ideal combination as a way to cultivate students with competitive
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abilities. For some researchers, it is not easy to answer the question as to whether technology is a tool for language learning or the other way around (Warschauer, 2002).
In other words, the more educators attempt to define the role of information technology in language teaching as well as the role of language teaching in the information
technology society, the more the focus of academic research will be directed to how to promote more efficient and effective integration of information technology into English curriculum .