台灣地區國小教師資訊融入英語教學現況調查研究

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(1)國立臺灣師範大學英語學系碩士論文 Master’s Thesis Graduate Institute of English National Taiwan Normal University. 台灣地區國小教師資訊融入英語教學現況調查研究 A Survey Study on English Teachers’ Use of Technology in Elementary Schools in Taiwan. 指導教授：林至誠博士 Advisor: Dr. Chih-Cheng Lin 研究生：張淑芬 Shu-Fen Chang. 中華民國一 O 三年一月 January, 2014.

(2) 中文摘要本調查研究旨在探討台灣地區國小教師資訊融入英語教學的頻率與模式，以及他們感知資訊融入英語教學對於教師教學、學生學習與課程設計方面之效能提升，並且進一步探究影響國小英語教師資訊融入課程決策與做法的主要因素。在量化研究部份，來自全台各地共 1,550 名國小英語教師參與問卷調查，問卷主要希望得知他們使用資訊設備的頻率，使用的資訊設備器材種類、以及其所感知資訊融入教學之效能。關於質性研究部份，來自台灣各地區共 15 名國小英語教師接受個別訪談，訪談旨在收集更多關於他們英語課程中使用資訊設備資源的詳細資料。量化數據以描述統計呈現，而質性研究的訪談則經由錄音、謄寫逐字稿、編碼等程序後加以分析詮釋。量化及質性研究結果均顯示大部分的國小英語教師至少每周使用資訊設備一次以上，而相當高比例的教師認為不論在一般班級教室或在專科英文教室中，電腦和投影機皆屬基本必要資訊設備。其次，大多數的問卷作答者與受訪教師皆同意資訊融入英語教學對於教師教學、學生學習與課程設計均有助於提升效能。最後，影響國小英語教師使用資訊設備的主因之一是他們能否有權使用專供英語課程且配備有電腦與投影機的英語專科教室；此外，國小英語教師所感知資訊融入教學之效能亦會形成教師將資訊科技融入教學之喜好；其他諸如政府教育主管機關補助推動之專案計畫、學校行政體系提供之經費與心理層面的支持、教職同仁之間的團隊精神與團隊合作、以及學校中資訊專家的指導與專業協助，均被視為鼓勵教師使用資訊設備教學之影響因素。關鍵字：資訊科技使用、資訊科技融入教學、國小英語教師、以英語為外語之教學. i.

(3) ABSTRACT This survey study was intended to investigate into the frequency and patterns of IT use among elementary school teachers in their EFL classrooms and their perceived effectiveness of IT integration into their instruction on teachers’ teaching, on students’ learning and on the curriculum design. It was also aimed to explore further into the major factors affecting their decision making and practices in IT integration into curriculum. For the quantitative research, 1,550 EFL teachers in elementary schools from all over Taiwan were recruited for responding to the questionnaire aimed to find out the participants’ frequency of IT use in English instruction and the IT facility they used as well as their perceived effectiveness of IT integration into instruction. As for the qualitative research, 15 EFL teachers in elementary schools from different parts of Taiwan were interviewed individually in order to collect more detailed and realistic data about their actual use of IT resources in their English instruction. The quantitative data was analyzed with descriptive statistics while the interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and further analyzed and interpreted. The results of both the questionnaire survey and interview sessions indicated that that the majority of participants used IT resources at least once a week. What’s more, a large proportion of them considered computer and projector basic and essential IT facilities whether in an ordinary homeroom classroom or in a special classroom. Next, most of the respondents and interviewees agreed on its beneficial effect whether on teachers’ teaching, on students’ learning, or on curriculum design. Finally, one major factor influencing EFL teachers’ IT use was whether they had ready access to an English classroom exclusively for English courses, which was equipped with a computer and projector. In addition, these teachers’ perceived effectiveness also led to teachers’ preference in integrating IT into English instruction. Other factors such as promotion projects sponsored by government education authorities, financial and mental support from school administration, great team spirits and teamwork among teaching staff, guidance and professional support from IT expertise in school, were all regarded as influential factors which would encourage teachers to make use of IT in their instruction.. Keywords: IT use, technology integration into instruction, English teachers in elementary schools, EFL instruction. ii.

(4) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For me, this project is not only a pursuit of academic excellence but also a challenging test for my physical strength and mental toughness. More importantly, it offers me a precious opportunity to realize how blessed I have been to have so much love, support and assistance from people around me along the journey of life. First of all, I would like to thank all the people who have helped me with the thesis project, including all of my participants, contacts, relatives and students. Thanks to this demanding task, I have been granted a precious chance to reflect upon my interpersonal relationship and amazingly receive help and assistance from so many people. Not until then did I realize the true meaning of friendship and family love. To repay them their love and kindness, I will strive to be a better friend and family member to my beloved friends and family. Next, I would like to give my sincerest gratitude to Dr C.C. Lin for his academic instruction, professional guidance in thesis project, and continuous encouragement. Without his patience and support, I couldn’t have gone this far. But for his insight into the project as well as his strong faith in me, I wouldn’t stand a chance to complete it at all. Thirdly, my appreciation goes to the other two committee members, Dr. X.Y. You and Dr. Y.C. Lee, who had demonstrated great expertise and patience in reading my thesis and offered me insightful and inspirational suggestions. There is no exaggeration to say that my thesis would not be complete without their professional and enlightening opinions. Finally, I want to attribute the completion of my thesis to my parents and family. But for their unconditional love and selfless support, I couldn’t have devoted myself fully to the thesis project. Last but not least, I would like to express my appreciation for all the faculty and staff members of English Department in NTNU. Being able to study further in my alma mater, English Department of NTNU, has always been one of my ambitious dreams. Thank you all for helping me make my dream come true. Special thanks to: Mom, Dad, Maggie, George, Champion, Yo-yo, Rainie, RICHER, and my dearest students in 1625 and 7501. Thank you so much! I love you all!. iii.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS 中文摘要............................................................................................................................. i ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Motivation ............................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................ 5 1.4 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 7 2.1 IT Integration into Core Curriculum .................................................................... 7 2.2 Issues Concerning IT Integration into Curriculum .............................................. 8 2.2.1 Concepts and goals ................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Modes and levels of IT use ..................................................................... 11 2.2.3 Problems and difficulties ........................................................................ 17 2.3. Literature Review on IT Integration into Instruction ........................................ 19 2.3.1 Previous studies on IT integration into EFL classes in elementary schools .................................................................................................................................. 20 2.3.2 Contributing factors in teachers’ IT integration into curriculum ............ 23 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY ....................................................................... 31 3.1 Research Design................................................................................................. 31 3.2 Participants......................................................................................................... 31 3.2.1 Target population .................................................................................... 32 iv.

(6) 3.2.2 Sampling criteria for questionnaire......................................................... 32 3.2.3 Sampling criteria for interview ............................................................... 32 3.3 Instrument .......................................................................................................... 33 3.3.1 Questionnaire .......................................................................................... 33 3.3.2 Interview ................................................................................................. 34 3.4 Data Collection and Procedures ......................................................................... 35 3.4.1 Administration of questionnaires ............................................................ 35 3.4.2 Procedures of conducting interviews ...................................................... 36 3.5 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................... 39 4.1 Results of Quantitative Data .............................................................................. 39 4.1.1 Demographic information about the participants ................................... 39 4.1.2 Frequency and patterns of IT use in English instruction ........................ 44 4.1.3 Perceived effectiveness of IT integration into English instruction ......... 47 4.1.4 Major factors ........................................................................................... 50 4.1.5 Discussion ............................................................................................... 52 4.2 Results of Qualitative Data ................................................................................ 55 4.2.1 Frequency and style of IT use in English instruction ............................. 55 4.2.2 Perceived effectiveness of IT integration into instruction ...................... 56 4.2.3 Contributing factors ................................................................................ 61 4.2.3.1 Environmental factors .................................................................. 62 4.2.3.2 Personal factors ............................................................................ 64 4.2.3.3 Social factors................................................................................ 66 4.2.3.4 Curricular factors ......................................................................... 69 4.2.4 Discussion ............................................................................................... 70 v.

(7) CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION................................................................................... 77 5.1 Summary ............................................................................................................ 77 5.2 Improvements .................................................................................................... 79 5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research ............................................. 81 References ........................................................................................................................ 83 Appendix A Technology Integration Questionnaire......................................................... 91 Appendix B Outlines for the Interviews .......................................................................... 97. vi.

(8) LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Evolving Versions of Levels of IT Use in Instruction.............................. 15 Table 4.1 Gender of Respondents ............................................................................ 39 Table 4.2 Age of Respondents ................................................................................. 40 Table 4.3 Respondents’ Years of Teaching ............................................................. 40 Table 4.4 Position in School .................................................................................... 41 Table 4.5 Highest Education .................................................................................... 42 Table 4.6 School Size ............................................................................................... 43 Table 4.7 Location of School ................................................................................... 43 Table 4.8 Groups of School ..................................................................................... 44 Table 4. 9 IT Use Frequency .................................................................................... 44 Table 4.10 IT Facility Available in School............................................................... 45 Table 4.11 IT Facility in Use.................................................................................... 47 Table 4.12 Perceived effectiveness of IT integration on teachers’ teaching ............ 48 Table 4.13 Perceived effectiveness of IT integration on students’ learning............. 49 Table 4.14 Perceived effectiveness of IT integration on curriculum design ............ 50 Table 4.15 Relationship between IT facility accessibility and the frequency of respondents’ expressed use of IT integration into instruction.......................... 50 Table 4.16 Reasons behind None-Use ..................................................................... 52. vii.

(9) 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 1.

(10) 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 2.

(11) 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 3.

(12) 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 . 1.2 Motivation As a result of the vast budget and expenditure to equip schools with computers and information related technology at regional, national or even international level, student-to-computer ratio has been significantly improved and students’ connectivity to the Internet has accordingly increased. However, the generous financial investment in large scale infrastructure does not guarantee a thorough change regarding the integration of technology in classrooms (Barron, Kemker, Harmes, and Kalaydjian, 2003). As Cuban (2001) has pointed out in Oversold and Underused, those who intend to reform school instruction through information technology hold the optimistic opinion that the increased availability of technology in classrooms will lead to successful integration of information technology into curriculum. According to the result of Cuban’s research, not only do relatively few teachers actually apply information technology into their instruction, but there seems to be little change in their teaching pedagogy (Chang, Chu, and Shih, 2007). Not surprisingly, the aforementioned phenomenon can also be held true in large parts of the educational environment in Taiwan. Fortunately, there have been series of academic research devoted to a better understanding of the real situation concerning IT integration into curriculum. Some of the researchers conducted a survey of overall status quo in only a local city or county (Chang and Weng, 2006; Cheng, 2008; Yuan and Lin, 2008; Teng, 2004). Others focused on IT integration into separate core subjects (Shyu and Wang, 4.

(13) 2004; Chen, 2005). Still others did pay special attention to the investigation of IT integration into English instructions but at junior high school or higher levels (Shyu, 2009; Chang et al, 2008; Hu, Yueh, & Chang, 2012). Finally, some of them even placed emphasis on studying stage of concern, collaborative learning and other related education theories in interaction with IT integration into curriculum (Huang, 2003; Huang 2007 ). Relatively fewer studies were aimed at a large scale survey of the present situation of elementary teachers’ IT integration into English curriculum in Taiwan. Therefore, the study is intended to investigate the issue by conducting an island-wide survey so as to better understand the current situation in elementary schools in Taiwan in terms of teachers’ real use of information technology related teaching resources in their instruction. 1.3 Purpose of the Study In order to form a general picture of how information technology are implemented in the curriculum of one of the most concerned core subjects, English, the present study attempts to carry on a large scale survey, in which the subjects are elementary school teachers all around Taiwan and the instruments include a questionnaire and interviews. With this survey study, the researcher intends to form a more realistic and complete description of the scenario in question. Most importantly, the study may generate pedagogical implications for the educational authorities concerned, schools, and educators as well as insights into future development in this field. 1.4 Research Questions In the present study, the following research questions will be addressed: 1. How often and how do elementary teachers use technology in their EFL classrooms? 2. For EFL teachers in elementary schools in Taiwan, what is their perceived effectiveness of IT integration into instruction on teachers’ teaching, on students’ learning and on the curriculum design? 5.

(14) 3. For EFL teachers in elementary schools in Taiwan, what are some of the major factors affecting their decision making and practices in IT integration into instruction?. 6.

(15) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW. This chapter includes three major issues concerning IT integrating into EFL curriculum: general introduction to IT integration into subject instruction, a detailed description and analysis of IT integration into curriculum, and literature review on previous studies. In the first part, the researcher will provide a general introduction of technology use in core subject teaching. Next, through reviewing former studies and research, the researcher will make attempts to define the essence and meaning of IT integration into curriculum, or E-learning in a broader sense, give a clearer picture of the modes or patterns of how information technology can be applied in core subject curriculum and then present the problems and difficulty frequently mentioned or discussed in the field of IT integration. Finally the focus will be shifted to a more specific literature review on previous studies regarding IT integration into English instruction as well as research into contributing factors affecting teachers’ IT use into curriculum.. 2.1 IT Integration into Core Curriculum The emergence and rapidly evolving nature of information technology has changed the human communication landscape by enabling new forms of discourse, authorship, and new ways to create and participate in communities (Kern, 2006). Along with language, writing, and print, information technology has been considered the most influential inventions in human communication, all of which have radically altered the way human beings lived, worked, learned, and produced. Compared with the other three human developments, the internet, with its incredibly rapid spread, has been bringing 7.

(16) about more revolutionary changes (Warschauer, 2001). With its global, irreversible advancement, information technology has become more than an optional tool for living (Warschauer, 2002), but rather an essential medium for individual and social development, literacy and language use, and will continue to transform human lives individually, socially, and economically (Azari & Pick, 2005). According to the researchers (Davis, Desforges, Jessel, Somekh, Taylor, & Vaughan, 1997), traditional classrooms in mass education systems are not an ideal learning environment for students, where teachers tend to fail to meet all students’ demands for short of space and time. In their beliefs, with information technology, teachers’ presentational and organizational roles in traditional classrooms have been changed. By providing an alternative source of knowledge and information, IT integration into curriculum can reduce students’ dependence on the teachers, which allows the teachers more time and mental space for quality teaching and learning activities. To a greater extent, it may even shift the responsibility of learning from teachers, as presenters of ready-made materials, to students, as active learners and creative problem solvers. In conclusion, use of IT in classrooms does open up new learning opportunities in education. By means of information and communication technology, the present Information Society can eventually be transformed into a Learning Society (Davis, 1997).. 2.2 Issues Concerning IT Integration into Curriculum 2.2.1 Concepts and goals Concepts With the integration of information technology now being the mainstream trend in education, it is often simplified, narrowly or even mistakenly interpreted as teaching with computers. However, as one of the major arguments for researchers and scholars studying IT use into instruction, the use of information technology in teaching and 8.

(17) learning does not necessarily equal to IT integration into curriculum, which largely depends on how information technology is used to assist, support and enhance the quality of teaching and learning (Garrett, 2009). As a matter of fact, there have been a number of previous studies intended to define the essence of IT integration into curriculum. Some stressed the importance of total combination of IT and teaching by defining IT integration as integrating IT into syllabus, materials and teaching. That makes it an indispensable tool for teaching and learning, an essential part of daily classroom activities, and better yet, a method or a process for teachers and students to find solutions to a question (Chou, 1990; Hang, 1998; Wang, 2000; Weng, 2003). Others tended to put emphasis on its effective enhancement function and regard it as the use of information technology in teaching and learning activities to effectively enhance teachers’ teaching outcomes and teaching efficacy as well as to promote students’ interest in learning (Lin, 1999; Kuo, 2003). Still others highlighted the cultivation of problem solving capability while viewing technology as an important tool in the design of curriculum, intended to help students solve problems and thus have deeper understanding of the subject to ensure higher level of learning results (Jonassen, 1996; Sprangue and Dede, 1999). Goals In addition to the above overall description of IT integration into curriculum, there are also more detailed and refined definitions given to this term. While examining the American experiences and reflecting on Taiwan’s own development regarding this field, Sung, Chang, & Hou (2005) divided the goal of IT integration into instruction into two levels: computer-supported instruction and computer-enhanced instruction. The former referred to IT serving as tools in supporting teachers in dealing with routine work at teaching, including preparation and presentation of teaching materials, conducting teaching activities, collecting assignment or keeping records. And the latter focused on the innovative nature of IT and its impact on teachers and students, which could be 9.

(18) evaluated through the teachers’ positive adjustment in teaching methods, and, more importantly, students’ increased interest and motivation in learning and eventually the better result of their learning achievement. The main difference lied in the fact that computer-supported instruction helped increase efficiency while computer-supported instruction facilitated to improve quality in teaching and learning. In Wang’s (2000) observation, the goals of integrating information related technology into instruction fell into three categories. First, since computer science was no longer designated as an independent subject in the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines, IT integration into each core subject turned out to be the only channels for students to cultivate students’ computer literacy. Second, listed as one of ten basic competences of junior high school graduates, another goal of IT integration should be developing students’ capability to use information related technology. Third, the eventual goal was to both innovate teachers’ teaching strategies and enhance the quality of instruction, which in turn would maximize students’ learning effect. Last but not least, in Chang and Weng’s (2006) study, they paid special attention to another two core concepts of IT integration: teaching pedagogy and learning achievement. According to them, it was the strategies to help present knowledge, to provide opportunities to practice, and to guide learners in learning that mattered, rather than the mere presentation information. Likewise, the ultimate goal did not point to the learning of pure information technology, but concentrated on the process and result of students’ subject learning. Computer Assisted Instruction V.S. IT Integration. In order to help distinguish between such similar terms as Computer Assisted Instruction and IT integration, researchers (Wang ,2000; Chang, 2002; Kuo, 2003) pointed out the major differences between the two terms in their studies aimed at defining the essence of IT integration. Strictly speaking, CAI should be considered a part of IT integration. Unlike CAI, which was seen as the use of a set of specially designed software 10.

(19) to assist teachers’ in teacher-centered teaching, IT integration referred to a thorough integration of IT into curriculum, which helped teachers engage students in student-centered learning activities, improve teaching effectiveness, motivate students’ learning interest and enhance students’ learning achievement. In other words, CAI offered a learning environment for students to learn with the computer while IT integration created opportunities for students to learn from the computer. More importantly, while CAI may only be treated as packaged software to help with teachers’ knowledge presentation and students’ learning practices, IT integration could not only facilitate students’ knowledge construction but also cultivate their computer literacy and IT capability. To be more specific, CAI and IT integration basically played two distinctive roles in the process of teaching and learning. As for CAI, as one of the assisting media or tools for teaching and learning, it was often only used in part of the class hours by offering mechanic learning drills and practices. By contrast, in an IT integration instruction, information technology had to be constantly incorporated into syllabus and thus served as an indispensable tool, a method for teaching and learning during the students’ knowledge exploration and construction process. Compared with CAI, which might be easier for teachers to carry out for the limited partial class hours it took, IT integration appeared to be more demanding for teachers since it required teachers’ rearrangement and innovation in the whole curriculum for the subject. In the present study, the researcher attempts to investigate on elementary school English teachers’ use of IT to enhance the quality of teaching effectiveness and learning achievement and therefore decide to target on IT integration. 2.2.2 Modes and levels of IT use Modes As the internet began to spread through common classrooms, traditional modes of education are under great challenges and destined to be changed and innovated, paving 11.

(20) the way for the emergence of IT integration into core subject curriculum. A substantial amount of research has been conducted to further explore and analyze the modes of how information technology can be applied in classrooms using a variety of discriminating factors. Both Lin (1999) and Chang (1999) believe that ways of integrating IT into curriculum can be classified into three distinctive modes based on the teaching and learning activities. In Lin’s classification, in an IT integrated class, students could search for needed information from available resources so as to make an IT presentation of the assigned topic, work with their peers in order to surf the Internet, searching for answers to the series of more complicated and sophisticated questions designed by their teachers, or work with members from other groups either as a new group or as individuals. As for Chang’s theory, the activities in IT integrated courses, teachers should search for all kinds of proper and useful information and carefully integrate it into their lesson plans. They also encourage students to make multimedia presentation in a meaningful way, and build a virtual learning environment for students to do simulation exercises while facilitating students' comprehension by visually presenting abstract ideas or concepts. In addition to describing IT integration in terms of the activities to be conducted in class, Weng (2003) went on to put them into ten different categories, including record keeping, teacher-parent communication, teacher-student interaction, making teaching outlines, outside materials, students’ self-learning materials, and most importantly, creating a virtual classroom for students to do on-line learning activities, assignment, and assessment. With the large variety of activities, Weng believed that teachers would have better management of students data and teaching materials, students could engage themselves in problem solving process and on-line discussion, and the communication and interaction among teachers, parents and students would be significantly promoted. Similar to Weng's categorization, Liu (2002) decided to analyze IT application modes according to the teaching process with specific teaching and learning procedures 12.

(21) and examples of the software being employed. As stated by Liu, in a typical IT integrated class, teachers start with preparation before class and presentation in class, use IT tools to facilitate students' learning, and then set up virtual learning websites for teachers and students to interact with one another through web-based activities like videoconferencing, social network learning, and even collaboration project learning. Apart from the activities and methods mentioned by Weng (2003), Liu extended the list by adding the following: students exploring learning by operating browsers, digital cameras, or microscopes, synchronous teaching or interactive learning across schools or countries through internet videoconferencing and multiple assessment approaches such as self evaluation, peer evaluation, and profile assessment. While further analyzing the function of IT integrating into curriculum, Chang (2002) then discovered that IT could play four diverse roles in the integration process. With ready-made multimedia presentation software and on-line resources, IT integrated instruction could facilitate students in knowledge construction by assisting them to express their newly learned knowledge, achieve meaningful learning and strengthen their achievement through reconstruction of concept, theories, and beliefs. Moreover, it could also aid students in knowledge exploration by offering opportunities for them to make hypothesis, search for evidence with available resources on the internet, and finally learn to carry out knowledge exploration and to collaborate peers in their quest for the solution to a designed question or problem. Meanwhile, IT integrated instruction also played the roles of helping students learn by doing and through collaborative learning with all sorts of online communication systems and interactive websites. By involving themselves into these web-based resources, students learned to construct their knowledge through constant operation and practice instead of from the knowledge delivered by the teachers. In this instruction style, teachers played the role of coaches to guide students during the. 13.

(22) process whereas students either worked together as partners or groups, or interact with one another to achieve a task assigned by their teachers. After studying different information processing theories, Roblyer (2003) identified two contradicting educational stands taken by experts in this field: Directed Instruction and Constructive Instruction. According to the researcher, in the theory of Directed Instruction, the teacher played the role of a delivery person of knowledge while the student played the role of a passive information recipient, which made the process of learning the delivery of knowledge. In the theory of Constructive Instruction, however, the teacher functioned as a guiding mentor while the student work as an active individual learner, which treated learning as the construction of knowledge. Namely, students under DI (Directed Instruction) mastered learning within limited realm of the subject but grew to have independent capability through CI (Constructive Instruction). Further examined in terms of teaching and learning activities and strategies, DI contained activities such as lectures, demonstration, exercises, and tests with its focus on individual learning and traditional teaching and assessment. On the other hand, CI consisted of group projects, real exploration and work development with special attention given to group learning, liberal exploration of open-ended question, and cultivation of students’ problem-solving ability and research skills. With these carefully analyzed information, researchers were attempting to point out a more practical or applicable direction for educators and teachers to follow if IT integration into curriculum is to be actually implemented in daily classrooms in the nearest future. To expect to be able to elicit results and conclusion that can make real contribution to improve IT use in EFL class in elementary schools in Taiwan, the researcher of the present study made the decision to define IT integration into instruction as a student-centered teaching approach in which teachers, as believers of Constructive Instruction, make deliberate and purposeful use of all sorts of information technology. 14.

(23) The teachers will better prepare teaching materials and class presentation, promote students learning interest by engaging them in active learning activities in an IT environment, and thereby facilitate teachers’ teaching as well as enhance students’ learning achievement. Levels In addition to studies focusing on the general concept or goals of IT integration into curriculum, another way to analyze teachers’ actual use of IT in core subject instruction is to set distinctive standards for different levels of IT use, which makes it easier to identify a teacher’s IT use behavior simply with a general description of frequency of use and manners of applying the technology (Barron, Kemker, Harmes, & Kalaydjian, 2003). Over the past decades, researchers ( Hall & Loucks, 1977; Apple Computer, Inc., 1995; Moersch, 1999; Wang & Li, 2000) have made continuous efforts to conduct series of research and have thus developed such a system to measure how exactly teachers have been using information technology in the classroom (See Table 2.1). Table 2.1 Evolving Versions of Levels of IT Use in Instruction Researchers. Levels of IT Use in Instruction. Hall & Loucks (1997) LoU. Level 1 (Nonuse) Level 2 (Orientation) Level 3 (Preparation) Level 4 (Mechanical Use) Level 5 (Routine) Level 6 (Refinement) Level 7 (Integration) Level 8 (Renewal). Dwyer, Rinstaff, & Sandholz (1995) ACOT. Level 1 (Entry) Level 2 (Adoption) Level 3 (Adaptation) Level 4 (Appropriation) Level 5 (Invention) (table continues) 15.

(24) Table 2.2 (continued) Moersch (1999) LoTi. Level 0 (Non-use) Level 1 (Awareness) Level 2 (Exploration) Level 3 (Infusion) Level 4A (Integration)(Mechanical) Level 4B (Integration)(Routine) Level 5 (Expansion) Level 6 (Refinement). Wang & Li (2000). Level 0 (None) Level 1 (Separate) Level 2 (Additional) Level 3 (Supportive) Level 4 (Integrative). As listed in the above table, the higher the level, the more the teacher tends to integrate information technology and also moving from teacher-centered instruction toward more student-centered activities. At level 0 to level 1, teachers don’t use IT in classroom and still depend on traditional teaching approaches such as one-way lecturing. Moving toward level 1 to level 3, teachers are beginning to include the element of IT in their instruction with an increasing frequency and proportion. As teachers gradually get used to using IT in the classrooms, they are stepping into level 4 to level 8. It means that they not only engage the students in IT related activities but help enhance students’ capability to use IT to find answers, solve problems, finish tasks, and eventually construct their own knowledge system (Barron, et al., 2003; Chang, Chu, & Hsu, 2007). In the present study, the researcher intends to gather information with the instruments of questionnaires, semi-controlled interview. Nevertheless, with the diverse and ambiguous definitions given to levels of IT use by different researchers and scholars, it will be difficult for participants to make a decision on their own perceived level of IT use in the questionnaire. Therefore, if the present study is expected to give an overall generalization 16.

(25) of about real IT use in EFL instruction among teachers in elementary schools, the researchers needs to pay special attention to teachers’ level of IT use during the process of interview and . 2.2.3 Problems and difficulties With the rapid advancement of information technology, combination of IT and language teaching has become an inevitable track that language teachers cannot but go on if they expect to increase students’ motivation in learning and enhance their learning outcome (Tai, 2006). However, despite the continuous huge budget invested in computers and information related technology around campus, the government’s effort in promoting IT integration has not yet resulted in significant improvement in terms of both teachers' instruction and students’ learning (Barron, et al., 2003). Why don’t teachers want to practice IT integration into their instruction although it has been widely established to be beneficial to students? What are the problems, difficulty teachers are faced with? What future challenges do teachers have to overcome before they can successfully implement information related resources in the classroom? A number of previous studies (Li, 2000; Kuo, 2003; Sung, et al, 2005; Chang & Weng, 2006) conducted to investigate these issues have come up with pretty much similar conclusions with most of the present problems and difficulty of IT integration falling into to the following categories: socio-political, curricular, and personal. Sociopolitical After the Ministry of Education officially designated IT literacy to be integrated into core subject curriculum in the Grade1-9 curriculum guidelines, it has been falsely taken for granted that students can learn information technology without any basic computer literacy (Sung, et al, 2005). Without adequate background knowledge about this issue, it is hard for the authorities concerned as well as school administration to help promote computer education in schools. On top of that, the society’s neglect of computer class, 17.

(26) one of the so-called “non-academic subjects,” resulting from the long prevailing social fanaticism, has also contributed to the slow progress in IT integration into instruction (Li, 2000). Without students’ learning motivation, parents’ expectation and schools’ support, many teachers fail to be aware of the urgent need to implement IT integration. Finally, Kuo (2003) made the observation that an apparent digital divide between urban and rural areas in Taiwan still counts as a major impediment in actualizing thorough IT integration in classroom, the schools in remote areas, in particular. According to him, in spite of the aforementioned large scale national infrastructure plan starting 1998, which indeed shortened the digital divide between cities and countries, schools in rural areas are still lacking in resources for hardware maintenance, teacher training, and instruction design. What’s worse, there are only few computer labs in one school, which significantly reduces the average hours of access to information technology for each student (Li, 2000). These factors altogether necessitate the government’s continuous concerns, efforts, and substantial support to promote IT integration in all classrooms around Taiwan. Curricular According to the Curriculum guidelines, computer literacy should no longer be taught as a single subject, but is required to be integrated into the curriculum of each core subject. To be able to fulfill the goal, teachers of all subjects need considerable amount of training courses so as to upgrade their own computer literacy, adapt their teaching instruction, and even to research and develop suitable teaching and learning materials, let along to spare time for preparation for their core subject and class management. With such heavy burden on teachers’ shoulders, it is almost impossible for elementary teachers to afford the time and energy to improve the capability of implementing IT integration. Designated as one of the important issue in the Grade 1-9 curriculum, no textbooks are especially written and designed to integrate IT into that subject for the benefit of teachers and students. Under the circumstances, enthusiastic teachers will have be exhausted to 18.

(27) create their own multimedia materials, and C.A.I. software or even to set up their own website and blogs in order to put IT integration into ideal practice. Without successful teaching experience in IT implementation, few teachers will have confidence and willingness to make further efforts. Gradually, it falls into a vicious cycle (Kuo, 2003; Chang & Weng, 2006). Personal Success of such an ambitious educational reform as IT integration into curriculum depends largely on the teachers’ positive attitude toward it. According to previous survey studies about teachers’ perception of IT integration, more than 80 percent of teachers express their positive attitude toward the new direction in education policy (Li, 2000). Surprisingly, only a relatively lower percentage of them have confidence and willingness to carry out the plan. With a view to having a deeper understanding about the factors affecting teachers in IT integration, it is necessary for scholars and researchers to do survey studies. More detailed description about these contributing factors will be presented in the following section. One of the purposes of the present study is to contribute to IT integration into EFL instruction in Taiwan's elementary schools by making pedagogical implementation and practical suggestions. With this in mind, the researcher hopes to compare the results of the study and the aforementioned problems and difficulties so as to know whether the present situations has been improved and what problems still needs to be attended to and dealt with. What’s more, if there are any inconsistency between them, further studies might be indispensable in order to clarify the issue.. 2.3. Literature Review on IT Integration into Instruction In this section, the researcher will present a brief introduction of a number of previous studies investigating IT integration into EFL instruction in different parts of 19.

(28) Taiwan and make comparisons and contrasts among them in the first half. In the second half, the researcher will report on a specific literature review on the contributing factors affecting teachers’ IT integration into curriculum, since any study on IT integration into instruction will be incomplete without discussing this issue.. 2.3.1 Previous studies on IT integration into EFL classes in elementary schools In their process investigation into how an English teacher in an elementary school in Taipei applies technology into her teaching, the researchers (Huang, Liu, Li, Lin & Cheng, 2006) made some interesting statements from their observation. First, the school’s policy to set IT integration as their priority plays a major role in her decision to integrate technology into her English classroom. In a school where English teachers can have her own computer classroom, well equipped with information technology, which can be a rare case in Taiwan, the teacher has great confidence in devoting herself to IT integration into her English instruction. For her, on the one hand, technology can facilitate her teaching by increasing students’ motivation in participating in class activities with its multimedia effect, offering the students greater opportunities to do self-learning and repeating drills, and serving as ideal media for remedial teaching. On the other hand, technology’s failure to meet each individual student’s learning need is one of her concerns when using technology in class, especially for classes with struggling students who have little access to IT at home or the physically challenged. In her opinion, unlike the cases in other core subjects taught mostly through the students’ native language, Mandarin, it is difficult to ask elementary students to do project exploration or net-surfing in English classes since the task requires a larger English vocabulary. With the bipolar phenomenon turning increasingly serious in elementary English classroom, teachers will have a tougher time designing suitable learning materials to fit individual needs, not to mention creating multimedia ones. 20.

(29) Hsu and Huang (2006) conducted an action research in an attempt to understand the students’ attitudes toward digital teaching materials and to discuss the students’ opinions and the teachers’ introspection upon the teaching instruction. According to the teachers interviewed in the action research, digital English learning materials acquaints the students with IT use and works as tutor in facilitating students’ English learning. During the process of using digital learning materials, the roles of teachers have move from an instructor to a facilitator, which means the teacher-centered instruction into their English classes has shifted to student-centered learning. To these teachers’ surprise, with the help from digital learning materials, they report to have better achievement in class management and discipline. Nevertheless, the problems concerning the time-consuming characteristics of the production of digital learning materials and uneven computer literacy levels among students deserve more attention from schools and teachers. Considering IT integration into core subject curriculum has been recognized as the road all teachers in modern society have to take, more and more research efforts have been made to have better understanding about the status quo in schools of all levels in Taiwan. Since the focus of the present study is on the current IT integration in elementary English classrooms, a review on such studies done in the past proves to be beneficial. Through a series of comparisons and contrasts made among the three studies (Teng, 2004; Huang, 2007; Cheng, 2008) with similar focal points on elementary English teachers’ use of IT in their instruction, certain insights can emerge as the basis for the design of the present study. Based on the above comparisons and contrasts made among three recent studies on Taiwanese elementary school English teachers’ IT integration into curriculum conducted in different local areas, both similarities and differences can be found among them, which serve as significant basis for the present studies. To begin with, most of the 21.

(30) researchers preferred to do quantitative research by employing a variety of questionnaires, with two of them having qualitative data as triangulation. Next, all of them reported subjects’ positive attitude toward IT integrating into English instruction and its effectiveness in enhancing student’ learning outcomes. When it came to the pedagogical implications, both Teng and Huang put extra emphasis on the optimistic impact of IT integration accompanied by collaborative learning strategies, which were believed to significantly increase students’ confidence by giving them positive reinforcement for their growth and improvement in a cooperative learning environment. Agreeably, all of the studies proposed the same suggestion that authorities concerned and schools should make continuous efforts to support IT related facilitation as well as to host more inspiring and practical training courses for in-service teachers if the goal of IT integration into curriculum were to be achieved. To ensure success in integrating IT into English instructions, English teachers were advised to improve their computer literacy, make flexible use of on-line resources, create digital or multimedia teaching or learning materials through individual effort or collaboration among colleagues, and, most importantly, have confidence and patience during their attempt to integrate IT into instruction. As for their suggestions for future research, both Teng (2004) & Cheng (2008) advised that a closer observation and more qualitative reports need to be carried out so as to generate more fruitful results, which were sure to bring about positive impact on English education in this field. As was often the case with most quantitative research, a larger sample size is always recommended, which motivate the researcher of the present study to conduct a large scale survey study using teachers around Taiwan as subjects. Yet, it was a pity that few of them addressed the issues of participants’ thoughts about specific details regarding successful IT integration experiences, such as whether teachers perceived IT integration into instruction to be able to make the content of instruction more diverse, increase interaction among teachers and students, or affect 22.

(31) students’ concentration in class, etc., which deserve further clarification in the present study. Following the above implications and suggestions, the researcher of the present study plans to use questionnaires to gather quantitative data, conduct semi-controlled interview to get more detailed statements about teachers’ perceptions about their use of IT in class so as to confirm or to clarify some the confusing results found by means of questionnaire and interviews. What’s more ambitious would be the huge sample size of participants invited to answer the questionnaires, designated to be distributed to EFL teachers in elementary schools all around Taiwan, at least one participant in each of the Taiwanese elementary schools. However, further efforts need to be made to give more explanation and interpretation to whether and how certain factors significantly contribute to the success of teachers’ use of IT in instruction while others don’t. Moreover, most items in the questionnaires focused on identifying influencing factors affecting teachers’ decision making of integrating IT into instruction. As a result, the researcher intends to dig into the issue of contributing factors in teachers’ IT integration into curriculum through literature review. 2.3.2 Contributing factors in teachers’ IT integration into curriculum As can be observed from recent regional, national or even global initiatives taken to increase students’ access to information technology over the past few years, large-scale infrastructure plans around the world has astronomically upgraded IT related resources for educational purposes (Hennessy et al. 2005). Disappointingly, despite these initiatives which have been expected to bring about significant changes in the technological pedagogies in core subject curriculum, the actual practice of IT integration into instruction “has been less than successful.” (Zhao & Frank, 2008) With a view to improving IT use in educational settings, tremendous efforts have been made to research on the exemplary practices to enhance student learning with IT. However, 23.

(32) these strategic suggestions do not guarantee successful IT integration without teachers’ actual implementation in class. Therefore, an attempt to look into the reasons behind the slow uptake of IT use in schools necessitates the need of a careful investigation to the major factors influencing teachers’ IT integration into instruction. Research findings over the past decades have revealed a number of factors which influence teachers’ decision to use information technology (or not) in their classrooms with diverse approaches, including literature review (Ertmer, 2010; Mumtaz, 2000), quantitative research (Hermans, Tondeur, Braak, & Valcke, 2008; Inan &Lowther, 2010; Muller, Wood, Willoughby, Ross, & Specht, 2008; Paraskeva, Bouta, & Papagianni, 2008; Petko, 2012; Teo, 2009; Wozney,Venkatesh, and Abrami, 2006), qualitative studies (Donnelly, Mcgarr, & O’Reilly, 2011; Granger, Morbey, Lotherington, Owston, & Wideman, 2002; Hennessy et al., 2005; Zanial, 2012), or mix-method approaches (Baek, Jung, & Kim, 2008; Baylor & Ritchie, 2002; ChanLin, Hong, Horng, Chang, & Chu, 2006; Drent, & Meelissen, 2008; Sugar, Crawley, & Fine, 2004; Zhao et al., 2008;). Since the purpose of the present study is to gain an overall understanding of the status quo of IT integration among EFL teachers in elementary schools around Taiwan, a quantitative research using questionnaires is indispensable for it is impracticable to deal with qualitative data on such a large scale. However, in line with many of the researchers who adopted a mix-method approach, the researcher of the present study also decides to include interview as triangulation for the results generated from the quantitative data. In Mumtaz’s (2000) article reporting on literature review associated with teachers’ perception of information and communications technology, he discovered that access to resources, quality of software and hardware, ease of use, incentives to change, support and collegiality in school, school and national polices, commitment to professional learning and background in formal computer training are all having certain impact on 24.

(33) teachers in their tendency of IT use in teaching. On the other hand, according to his review on earlier studies ( Rosen & Weil, 1995; Winnans & Brown, 1992; Dupagne & Hredl, 1992; Hadley & Sheingold, 1993) investigating factors preventing teachers from IT use, a list of discouraging factors emerged, including lack of financial support, computer availability, IT-related teaching experiences, on-site support for teachers using IT or specialist teachers to teach students computer skills, and, most importantly, insufficient time required for successful IT integration into the curriculum (Mumtaz, 2000). With a close examination of an extensive review of previous studies (Chiang, 2002; Wu & Wu, 2002; Chang, 1999; Tsai, 2000; Liu, 2001; Wang, 2000, Hsu, 2002; Huang, 2002; Chen, 2000; Wu, 2002) conducted in Taiwan, the researchers (Chang and Wang, 2006) made the conclusion that factors influencing IT integration into curriculum could be analyzed into the following : teachers’ background, computer literacy, and their attitudes, administrative support from schools, professional technical personnel, and colleagues, the computer hardware in schools, the degree to which materials were infomationalized, external environment, student-related factors, and time constraint. During the quest for the factors affecting teachers’ IT use in instruction, scholars and researchers have come up with an incredibly long list of variables that might play an important roles in teachers’ decision-making process. Invariably, most researchers tended to categorize the influencing factors into different groups in order to facilitate them in interpreting the research results. In the study (ChanLinet al., 2006) intended for teachers’ reaction towards integrating technology into creative teaching, the researchers concluded that most of the identified factors can be classified into four categories: environmental, personal, social, and curricular. Among the environmental factors, computer facility related issues are the most frequently mentioned. Teachers are also concerned about the available support and management of resources and manpower 25.

(34) offered by the school administration. As for personal factors, a teacher’s personality and attitudes are believed to have certain impact on teachers’ use of IT in creative instruction. When it comes to social factors, some of the teachers felt that they would have done a better job if they had had supportive companions as well as positive reinforcement from students’ achievement, parents’ encouragement, and resource support from the community. With regard to the curricular factors, the issues are mainly involved with the goals and instructional setting within a particular subject. Furthermore, considerations about the skills and literacy required from in-class activities and the ways how they should be assessed were also of the great concern. With the aim of understanding what exactly contributed to teachers’ successful IT integration, Granger et al. interpreted the perceived factors as belonging to environmental factors, personal characteristics, and ways of learning. Similar to the previous two categorization systems was another way of classifying the determining variables into personal, normative, and contextual factors, which was proposed by Sugar et. al. (2004). Viewing teachers’ beliefs about technology adoption as a reasoned and intentional decision-making process, the researchers found that the decisions were mostly influenced by teachers’ individual attitudes toward technology adoption while external support from key persons and contextual resources playing insignificant roles. On the other hand, instead of attributing the influencing effect mainly to teachers’ individual attitudes, Mueller et al. concluded that four out of the six predictable variables that discriminated teachers who integrated technology into instruction and those who did not had to do with teachers’ computer-related experiences such as comfort with technology and positive teaching experience with IT use. By conducting an explorative path analysis and case studies, Drent and Meelissen named teachers who made innovative use IT as personal entrepreneurs, described as teachers who were willing to keep regular contact with colleagues and experts in the field of ICT, and saw 26.

(35) and experienced the advantages of the use IT in curriculum instruction with IT competence complying with their student-oriented pedagogical approaches. Finally, in addition to discovering six factors influencing teachers’ use of IT in class such as adaptation to external requests and others’ expectation, Baek et. al. deduced that many experienced teachers adopted IT use because of external forces while novice teachers were more likely to apt for IT integration out of their own will. While reviewing previous literature on surveying influential factors in teachers’ IT integration into curriculum, special attention needed to be drawn to the invariable conclusion that the teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward using IT in instruction and their willingness to try innovative teaching approaches did play a crucial role. Consequently, in a number of studies, more efforts were recommended to address the issue on how to lead to positive changes in teachers’ beliefs about IT integration if maximal effects were to be observed in teachers’ IT use in class. To begin with, with their thoughtful concern that comprehensive IT integration could impose too much burden and thus prove to be an overwhelming task for teachers, Sugar et. al. (2004) suggested that school administrators make more efforts to address teachers’ needs and concerns about IT adoption as well as offer considerable amount of personal support and IT resources. Based on the results of a survey study conducted by Paraskeva et al. (2008), individual factors related to teachers’ personality, such as computer self-efficacy, self-concept, attitudes, motivation and needs were all regarded as crucial predictors in predicting teachers’ IT integration. Nevertheless, researchers like Chen (2008) expressed concern about the difficulty in changing teachers’ belief, which were often resistant to change since it might involve challenging their fundamental or long-established core values or considerable reconsideration and rearrangement of their teaching pedagogies, which demanded time and energy. Among such a large number of previous studies on contributing factors in teachers’ IT integration into instruction, the 27.

(36) most brief and straightforward analysis might be literature review paper written by Ertmer and Ottenbreit-Leftwich (2010), in which the researchers discussed the variables four groups: knowledge, self-efficacy, pedagogical beliefs, and subject and school culture. Most importantly, they proposed that IT use should not be treated as an add-on option and that teachers should change their mindsets to include the core belief that teaching would not be effective without successful IT integration into instruction. To help teachers with appropriate IT use in class, more emphasis should be placed on providing teachers with more examples of good practices of IT integration and allowing more time, space, and resources for teachers to try out innovations. In the present study, considering that environmental, contextual, or cultural factors might be more difficult to describe or expressed with questionnaires using Likert scale and that teachers’ beliefs are concluded to be stronger predictors in their decision-making on IT integration, the items designed in the questionnaires will mainly be focused on individual beliefs about IT use in class, which can be answered according to the participants’ own perceptions. When discussing factors having an impact on Teachers’ IT integration, it was not uncommon for researchers to adopt a specific perspective or model in order to provide a more powerful analytical framework (Zhao et. al., 2003) in which the relationship and interaction between or among interlocking influencing factors can be examined more closely. For example, Zhao and his partner decided on taking an ecological perspective in their search for a unified framework to explain why teachers did not us IT in class. Through the ecological metaphor of the zebra mussel invading in the Great Lakes, the researchers established four equivalents in IT integration cases, comparing schools as ecosystem, computer uses as living species, teachers as members of a keystone species, and external educational innovations as invasions of exotic species. With this ecological perspective, the researchers called for an evolutional approach to change in IT use by going beyond simple identification and correlating factors and focusing more on 28.

(37) interactions, activities, process and practices. In addition to taking a different perspective in investigating factors affecting teachers’ IT integration, a number of researchers drew on a specific model or well-established theoretical framework to analyze the factors. Petko (2012) used the ‘will, skill, tool’ model to account for the variables in IT use and reported that computer and internet appliances were more often used by teachers in class when the teachers had greater IT competence, employs constructivist teaching approaches, and were more convinced of the enhancing effect IT use had on students’ learning. To examine the factors affecting teachers’ integration of laptops into classrooms, Inan and Lowther developed a hypothesized path model and found that teacher level factors such as teacher readiness and teacher beliefs were strong predictors in successful laptop integration, with all school level factors also having significant indirect impact. Through a qualitative research method including interview and case studies, Donnelly et. al. developed a working framework to categorize teachers’ levels of IT integration into four distinctive types, including contented traditionalist, selective adopters, inadvertent users and creative adopters according to their relative positions in the two intersecting continuums. In a study conducted by Wozney et. al.(2006), the researchers designed a Technology Implementation Questionnaire consisting of 33 belief items falling under three broad motivational categories: perceived expectancy of success, value and cost of IT use. They discovered that expectancy of success and perceived value of IT use were the most influential variables in contributing to teachers’ different levels of IT use. What’s more, they even reduced their model of IT use in class to a simple teacher motivation equation: (.39 x Expectancy) + (.15 x Value) – (.14 x Cost) = Technology Use. Unlike the aforementioned studies which had a relatively smaller sample size, the present study is intended as a large scale survey and is thus expected to generate a clearer profile of IT use among teachers around the island rather than a carefully tested 29.

(38) model or well-thought-out perspective which seems more practical in a study on a smaller scale. Convinced of the predictive power of the above teacher motivation equation, the researcher of the present study will develop questionnaire items aimed at eliciting teachers’ personal attitudes toward the effectiveness of IT integration on their teaching (Expectancy), their perceived effectiveness of IT use on students’ learning (Value) and concern about whether IT integration can be effectively integrated into curriculum design (Cost). Therefore, the three dimensions including teachers’ perceive expectancy, value and cost of IT implementation will form the basis of the design of the questionnaire employed in the quantitative data collection.. 30.

(39) CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY This chapter describes a mix-method approach employed in the present study. The research design will be explained first. In the next section, the target population, the reasons for selecting it, the background information of the participants, and the sampling criteria will be offered. Third, the procedures of data collection, including the distribution of questionnaire will be described. In the fourth part, the instrument including one questionnaire for teachers, individual interviews will be briefly stated. Finally, the procedures of data analysis will be presented.. 3.1 Research Design This study primarily involved a survey, comprised of a questionnaire concerning elementary English teachers’ personal background information and their expressed use of IT in English instruction and their personal beliefs about IT integration into instruction. Moreover, in order to probe more deeply into their attitudes and beliefs about IT integration into instruction and gain more specific details about their thoughts on this issue, interviews with individual participants will be conducted as triangulation for the quantitative results.. 3.2 Participants In this section, a brief description of the target population and sampling criteria for the survey in the present study will be offered.. 31.