September 2009 home | PDF |
Title
The Place of Information Technology in Second
Language Teaching in Girl's High Schools and
Private English Institutes in Shiraz
Authors
Fatemeh Shahamat (M.A.)
Shiraz University
Abdolmehdi Riazi, (Ph.D.)
Shiraz University
Bio Data
Abdolmehdi Riazi, Ph.D. in Teaching English as a Second Language from the OISE/ University of Toronto. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics of Shiraz University. His areas of interest include academic writing, language learning strategies and styles, and language assessment.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of educational technology in Iranian schools and language institutes to see how frequently different means of educational technology are used at both places. Also, to see whether there are any significant differences across the three levels of proficiency at different language schools in terms of using educational technology. The participants of the study were 700 EFL female students both in schools and in language institutes. Of this sample, 391 were 3rd grade students of eight public schools of the four main educational districts in Shiraz, Iran. The other 309 participants were from private language institutes. From each language institute three classes of elementary, intermediate and advanced levels were randomly chosen. The participants, age ranged from 16-40 for language institutes, and was 17 for high schools.
To gather the data a questionnaire based on previous research was modified and used. The modified questionnaire had 24 items on a five-point Likert scale. The data were collected during March, 2008. Results revealed that use of educational technology at high schools is much lower than that of language institutes. And that technology use at different proficiency levels differed based on the type and frequency of means of technology. It is hoped that teachers, students and language planners can benefit from the findings of this study.
Key Terms: Information technology, High school, Private school, Second language learning
|
