Page 218 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education
P. 218

Prospective EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Using CALL in the Classroom




                   their teaching skills at state-run schools from all levels of proficiency. PTs with an age range of 19 to
                   24 enrolled in the study. The participants formed a homogeneous group in terms of attending the same
                   program and taking the same courses with the same pre-service instructional experience in their initial
                   teacher education program.

                   Data Collection Tools


                   The survey adapted from Sadaf, Newby & Ertmer (2012) was used in the first phase of data collection.
                   The survey had have three sections: (a) demographics of the participants, (b) PTs’ attitudes towards
                   using CALL and perceptions of using CALL resources in their teaching practices, and (c) the adapted
                   version of the DTPB (Sadaf, Newby & Ertmer, 2012) survey. Due to the fact that the participants of
                   the study are PTs who do not have any actual teaching experience in real school setting, the wording
                   of the survey was modified and adapted to reflect on the practices of the PTs and to avoid any possible
                   misunderstanding due to technical wording. For instance, the following statement “I feel that using Web
                   2.0 will help my students learn more about the subject” was rewritten as “I feel that using technology
                   will help my students learn more about English”.
                      The DTPB (Sadaf, Newby & Ertmer, 2012) survey was composed of three subscales in the original
                   version; attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior. In the attitude subscale, PTs’ perceptions
                   of usefulness, ease of use, and compatibility were addressed. In the perceived behavior subscale, self-
                   efficacy, facilitative conditions in terms of technology and resources were addressed. Due to the fact that
                   the study in hand focused on addressing PTs’ perceptions using CALL in their classrooms, the second
                   subscale, Subjective norm, was eliminated. The subjective norm subscale was designed by Sadaf, Newby
                   and Ertmer (2012) to address the influences of student, peer and Superior. However, in the context of the
                   current study, PTs are not offered a course on CALL resources; thus it is assumed that their perceptions
                   should be considered on a personal basis. Therefore, the items of the subscale were eliminated in the
                   analysis. As the researchers eliminated the subjective norm subscale, due to the lack of courses offering
                   CALL applications in the department, 10 items (i1, i15, i17, i18, i19, i22, i23, i24, i25, i26, i27) were
                   eliminated from the analysis.
                      In addition to the scale items, PTs were asked to reflect on the level of confidence in using comput-
                   ers. PTs were asked three additional open-ended questions to reflect on their description of technology,
                   ways of using technology in English language classrooms, and their readiness to use technology in their
                   future teaching practices. The open-ended questions asked to the PTs were


                   •    What does “technology” mean to you?
                   •    How would you use technology in an English language classroom?
                   •    Are you ready to use technology in your future classes?


                      The interview protocol of the study was mainly based on the attitudes and perceptions of the PTs’
                   use of CALL and gaining further insights to address their needs and intentions of using CALL in their
                   future classrooms. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 PTs. The interview partici-
                   pants were randomly selected from the group of participants who attended the survey part of the data
                   collection. The duration of the interview was approximately 15-20 minutes. The participants who were
                   selected to participate in the interviews were asked for their consent to participate.




                                                                                                          199
   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   223