In this chapter, the results of this study are presented. Respective teacher‟s teaching beliefs and beliefs in technology are first described. Second, their
instructional practices are also presented, and finally, some contextual factors to their teaching and technology integration are also reported.
Case One: Teacher A Teacher A’s Teaching Beliefs
Teacher A’s teaching beliefs in general
During the data collection time (from Spring semester to Fall semester, 2009), she had three classes at hand accounting for 18 teaching hours in total; her students also crossed from 8th grade to 9th grade. As an English teacher, Teacher A held several beliefs regarding how English could be taught and delivered in ways
appropriate that best meet her desired goal of teaching. This included her preference for reading and writing over speaking, her stress on providing students multiple possibilities of learning English, and also her disregard for test-oriented instructions.
First of all, Teacher A believed that reading should be the predominant area for her English instructions. According to her, while language educators have long been advocating the benefits of communicative approach, she did not believe it to be necessary. That was because her students, situated in an EFL setting such as Taiwan, did not actually have many chances to speak. They, however, definitely would have lots of exposure to written English and the chance to read. When she went abroad to travel or give presentations in other countries, such overseas experiences also
convinced her that simple English speaking skills were sufficient when going abroad.
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In addition, as the communicative approach mostly emphasized on students‟ oral fluency, Teacher A felt that it would take up lots of time to achieve fluency. Given her immediate need to meet the curriculum schedule, she admitted that reading would in fact be a lot easier to attend to than speaking. Thus, Teacher A reflected that she would leave communicative approach aside and put her primary focus upon training
students‟ reading abilities, because she believed that reading was more of an applicable and useful skill in daily life.
Second, Teacher A considered it of primary importance to give students multiple avenues to learning English. Thus, in her instructional practices, textbooks were not regarded as the „Bible‟, but would be treated as the framework of teaching, and she preferred to provide additional materials for the students. She reported that what she could do the least is that students would not dislike English because of her. Using the metaphor of ordering in a restaurant, she commented,
“[…‟] It‟s like, not everyone would order the same dish; some [students] might not be good at textbook-learning, but it‟s possible that they might excel in other areas. […] What I could do is to let them discover that there are actually so many ways of learning English, so many possibilities. Even if they didn‟t learn well, that‟s okay too, maybe some time in the future they would suddenly be
enlightened or have the interest, then they could follow the little sprout I planted for them, that computers could be used this way to learn English…yeah to help the sprout grow, that‟s what I hope for, to say the least.” (interview #3, Sep. 07, 2009)
Third, she did not value test-driven teaching approach, which she believed would not lead to students‟ better performances. During her initial teaching experiences she would focus primarily upon textbook and give students many tests. However, later when she found that the results were all the same regardless of how many times the students were tested, she started to question that multiple tests were in fact a waste of time. She also recalled several exchanges she had with other middle school English teachers, in which she asked them about the outcome of having extra subsidiary
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classes and self-study time during nights. While those study-hours were designed to reinforce students‟ English abilities, those middle school English teachers admitted frankly that such effort did not appear to take effect. As a result, Teacher A preferred to offer students supplementary materials outside of textbooks instead of giving them repetitive tests over and over again.
Teacher A’s beliefs in technology integration
With regard to technology integration, Teacher A had her own definition, and it was described in terms of the ideal goal she would like to achieve. She hoped that through the integration of technology, she could cultivate students‟ autonomy. In other words, students would be given many chances to use English and eventually be equipped with the ability to plan and monitor their own learning, using resources in technology to locate what they want. Instead of repetitive and continues lectures, teachers in this sense would only guide students through the learning process.
Having stated her ideal goal for technology integration, however, Teacher A held somewhat mixed attitudes toward computer technology. First, she acknowledged that technology could attract students‟ attention; nonetheless, without proper supervision, it could also lead to a chaotic classroom where students might “run wild”. Second, while all the visual as well sound effects embedded within technology resources could strengthen students‟ impression of learning, they might also result in students
overlooking what they ought to learn. Third, even though technology could present students with various learning resources, it might also increase teachers‟ work load in preparing and making sure that computer glitch would not get in the way. Because of such mixed review of technology, Teacher A started to reflect upon the necessity of computer technology in teaching. From her point of view, if the use of technology was only to achieve those that could simply be achieved through handouts, there would be no point in spending all the time and effort in adopting technology.
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In a similar vein, Teacher A‟s being flunked in her thesis and exchanges she had later with a group of teachers who conducted project-based learning also led her to reconsider the role of computer technology in English teaching. From these
experiences, she learned to reorient herself and understood that technology served only as an assisted role, the purpose of which was to enhance and enrich her instructions. As she reflected in the interview, “…as I see English as a subject, do I really have to work with that [computer technology]? And I started to give it a question mark. […] I should set out from the point of English teaching itself.”
(interview #1, May 20th, 2009) In another interview, Teacher A restated that her major purpose was to teach English rather than to teach computer, and the latter was used as facilitative element to help the former. She also coined the term „integrating
technology with ease‟, stressing particularly that teachers needed not be competent in computer skills. Quite conversely, basic computer literacy would be enough, provided that teachers could use it with ease.
Despite the above-mentioned mixed viewpoints toward computer technology, Teacher A still believed that technology still carried certain benefit and potential that the traditional textbook could not provide. From her perspective, one of the greatest values of computer technology resided in its ability to offer students various English learning experiences and, more importantly, to cultivate students‟ global vision. She believed that through its help, students could experience the entire world, which traditional textbooks or teaching alone failed to furnish. Corresponding to her preference for providing students with manifold approaches to learning English, she believed that the use of computer technology could open up the possibilities of English learning as well. Referring back to the time when she conducted computer project-based learning, she recounted moments where her students‟ feedbacks became driving forces that stirred on her technology integration:
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“…initially the low-level students all felt it unnecessary for them to learn English, that it‟s grown-ups claiming that English is important. But after the projects some began to change […] For them it‟s really encouraging because by learning English, they could one day communicate with others; even if it‟s not
communication, through this chance [PBL] they got to know the world more, and they began to have the dream of wanting to go outside. […] They were also amazed [as described in students‟ reflections] that there were so many different countries out there, that one day I would like to see it myself too. They [the low-level students] started out from denying English and themselves, to finally – I was so touched that I almost cried – wanting to go abroad for sure. They mostly came from families of working class and they dared not to have such dreams… ” (interview #2, Jun. 15th, 2009)
For Teacher A, one great treasure of technology was that students were finally given the chance to face the world. Had they been given instructions relying solely upon textbooks, they probably would still be reluctant to dream and negate the purpose of learning English even after years of learning.
Teacher A’s Instructional Practices The spring semester of 2009
In the spring semester of 2009, Teacher A was teaching the 8th-grade students, and she was assigned a one-hour computer class to couple with her regular English classes. During data collection time, Teacher A used the computer class at hand and integrated technology through two different computer projects in addition to teaching from the textbook. These projects were called My School, Your School project, and Magic Moments around the World, which functioned as the mediations that Teacher A used to reach her goal of teaching.
Hosted through the IEARN platform, My School, Your School was a
cross-cultural learning project, the purpose of which was for students to get to know lives in other schools and to introduce their school from various aspects. Magic Moments around the World was a website where people from different countries shared their special and unforgettable moment they experienced in their life. Through
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implementing these projects in her teaching, Teacher A hoped that she could not only train students‟ English abilities but also “scaffold students through the process of knowing how to locate information”. Students could also cultivate their global vision, so that they could know more about and face the world on their own.
My School, Your School project
For Teacher A, this was her second time to conduct My School, Your School in her teaching, and her previous experiences helped her with its implementation this year. She was able to improve and further enhance certain aspects that were
unsatisfactory the last time this project was carried out. Prior to the implementation of this project, in the previous semester Teacher A had already trained students the prerequisite skill of basic writing. Students were equipped with the ability to do basic paragraph writing, thus laying the groundwork for this cross-cultural project. The following summary reflected how Teacher A integrated technology through My School, Your School project.
When the project began, Teacher A first guided students through reading from the Internet, directing them to get to know schools in other countries and to decide the themes students (in different heterogeneous groups) wanted to work on. Then at the next level, they were asked to write self-introduction. When students were familiar with certain writing patterns required in an introduction, they began the process of writing about their school from the theme they had chosen. During the initial process of forming ideas and drafting sentences, Teacher A would provide examples of website links4, which the students could then draw as references to see if there were any useful words and sentences they could learn from. She also guided them to learn, step by step, some of the basic computer and Internet searching skills needed for
4 Teacher A kept a teaching blog where she would record down steps, website links, and files for students to download and follow. This blog served the purpose of accompanying her classroom instructions and references students could draw upon when completing their assignments and projects.
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writing completion. When the students completed their final draft of introducing their school, Teacher A compiled their work together, and through students‟ example paragraphs, she led them to sort through some common mistakes they made in their writing. Finally, students were asked to discuss in groups and revise their final product. Figure 4.1 presents the homepage screenshot for My School, Your School platform.
Figure 4.1 Screenshot of My School, Your School project
Teacher A also used My School, Your School as the mediated platform to teach students related grammatical concepts. Nevertheless, Instead of confining herself to the textbook and teaching 8th-grade grammar in particular, she would teach students any sentence patterns and grammar required for project completion. In recollecting her experiences doing My School, Your School project, she said,
“…at this point [when students started writing] you couldn‟t really control what kinds of sentences they should have; […] so it‟s only after they started writing that you came to find where their common problems lied […]. For this year students generally did not know how to use conjunctions appropriately, so I purposely did a lesson for them on conjunctions, where they would learn all about coordinate conjunctions and subordinate conjunctions. Some of them would be
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taught in 9th grade and even in senior high level, and I just taught them all during that time.” (interview #4, Jan. 28th, 2010)
Thus, in the end students were both reviewing grammatical concepts and previewing those that would be learned in the future at the same time. From Teacher A‟s point of view, the 8th grade was the crucial time period where a majority of emphasis was put upon learning grammar. Even though it would be hard work when students were in the 8th grade, Teacher A reassured them that by the time they became 9th graders, they would be able to “lie down while learning English”. In other words, students could easily learn English in an effortless fashion.
Magic Moments around the World project
Near the end of the semester, Teacher A received invitation from IEARN to conduct another project: Magic Moments around the World. This was a relatively small project, and it only took place for one class period. In this project, people from different countries would post their short moments that struck them as memorable and remarkable. Students were first asked to briefly introduce what this project was about by visiting its website (Figure 4.2), and they were then given an online compilation of short stories that people shared (Figure 4.3). With that compilation, students were assigned one story written by people from a certain country. They were asked to find the location and basic introductions of that particular country, as well as their
reflections of the stories on the personal blog5 they were keeping. Similar to My School, Your School project, Teacher A would also provide links of related websites as references for students to look up.
When implementing Magic Moments around the World project, Teacher A‟s professional knowledge and skill in computer would enable her to solve some technical difficulties that students might encountered during the process of project
5 Students were asked to keep personal blogs, and it was a space for them to post their assignments (English or computer assignments alike).
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completion. For instance, once in the observed class students reported not being able to open the PDF file of the online book. Teacher A, however, seemed familiar with the problem and was able to provide alternative solutions and kept the class going
Figure 4.2 Screenshot of Magic Moments around the World platform
Figure 4.3 A compilation of stories in Magic Moments around the World
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Setting of the two projects
When conducting these two projects, students were taken to the computer lab. In this classroom, the number of computers exceeded that of the students, so each student had one personal computer for their own disposal. For both projects, students were given total control to use the computer and complete their projects during most of the class hours; Teacher A only worked as a facilitator that guided students through the process, walking here and there to check students‟ progress. Thus, it was more of a student-centered classroom.
When first having the computer class, students were reported as feeling excited, because they were under the impression that they „were there to play‟, and learning English never occurred to them. Such attitude was confirmed in the interview with students, as they recalled their computer class back in the 7th grade:
“Our computer class at 7th grade was not like this at all. We‟re just playing and fooling around, and the teacher just told us when we needed to hand in which assignments […] the teacher basically wouldn‟t control us that much. But then all of a sudden in 8th grade it became this [use computer to learn English], [we‟re]
not used to it, and everyone all felt troublesome that we‟re practically still
learning English even at computer class, and with all that assignments to hand in, plus the grading proportion was heavy…” (interview with two students, Jan. 29th, 2010)
To prevent students from creating such false expectations of computer class, Teacher A was clear from the beginning that she was teaching them English rather than computer. She also established clear rules,
“[…] when I first began, students were all going crazy and complained why the rules were so strict; [there were times when they misbehaved] the entire class were all driven off from the classroom […] and [I] just conducted class directly from within the classroom, with them standing outside listening…” (interview #2, Jun. 15th, 2009)
Teacher A also made use of the broadcasting function6 to monitor and inspect if any
6 The broadcasting function was built in the teacher‟s computer in the computer classroom. Teachers
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students were doing things unrelated to the project at hand. With such clear rules established, the students learned to stay concentrated in the computer classroom, and it allowed the computer projects to successfully take place.
The fall semester of 2009
In the fall semester, 2009, her students turned 9th grade. Her total teaching hours remained the same, but there was no more computer class assigned to her.
Consequently, Teacher A was no longer able to integrate technology through computer projects but to pull her students back to regular classrooms, where she would mostly adopt traditional teaching approaches. Contrary to the previous semester, such instructions however caused changes in the relationship between the teacher and the students. It was more teacher-centered, with the teacher exerting total control and giving lectures exclusively to the students.
As Teacher A‟s students were at their last year of school, they would soon face the Basic Competence Test (hereafter referred to as BCT)7. Thus, the teaching focus was primarily on training students‟ test-taking skills, and in most of the observed classes Teacher A was preparing students for this upcoming test. She would quickly go over the textbook and have students do test booklets and papers, which she would then review. It was observed, however, that when going over certain grammatical concepts from time to time, Teacher A would mention they had already covered this during 8th grade. As she explained,
As Teacher A‟s students were at their last year of school, they would soon face the Basic Competence Test (hereafter referred to as BCT)7. Thus, the teaching focus was primarily on training students‟ test-taking skills, and in most of the observed classes Teacher A was preparing students for this upcoming test. She would quickly go over the textbook and have students do test booklets and papers, which she would then review. It was observed, however, that when going over certain grammatical concepts from time to time, Teacher A would mention they had already covered this during 8th grade. As she explained,