Prospective EFL Teachers' Perceptions of Using CALL in the Classroom

Introduction

In the field of English as a foreign language (hereafter, EFL), computer-assisted language learning (hereafter, CALL) has received a lot of attention, and the uses and effectiveness of integrating CALL practices have been addressed in the current literature (e.g., Brown, 1997; Garcia & Arias, 2000; Kilickaya & Krajka, 2010, 2012; Stokes, 1997). Within the current context of EFL classrooms, CALL has been addressed from three perspectives; one is the theoretical foundations and proposed applications of CALL (Chapelle, 2001; Levy & Stockwell, 2006), the second is the use and effectiveness of CALL practices in the language classrooms as well as using CALL as a language teaching tool (Blake, 2005; Hubbard, 2004); and finally the perceptions of the stakeholders (i.e. Teachers, students and developers) (Jamieson, Chapelle, & Preiss, 2005; Wiebe & Kabata, 2010).

A number of technological learning theories have been used in the literature to define the intentions and perceptions of the subjects’ ways of using technology in a teaching context. One of the comprehensive studies on the theoretical frameworks of using technology in teaching, Lee (2010) examined four main theoretical frameworks; the expectation-confirmation model (ECM), the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and flow theory (Koufaris, 2002) to propose a theoretical model to predict the participants’ intentions to continue using computer-assisted learning tools in the teaching practices after graduating from the teacher education programs. On the other hand, Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) developed by Taylor and Todd (1995) drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) offers a focus on the attitudes, subjective norms and behavior control to examine the perception of the proposed behavior and in return predict one’s actions or future plans to implement. The proposed attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control are explored through decomposing the frameworks of existing beliefs into belief-based indirect measures (Sadaf, Newby, & Ertmer, 2012).

Although current studies in the literature address the issues of using CALL in the language classrooms from tripartite perspectives, the perceptions of the prospective EFL teachers (hereafter, PTs) and the processes they are going through during their professional learning experiences within the teacher education programs have not been addressed in an EFL teacher education setting.

Moreover, governments usually ignore the training of pre-service teachers while trying to implement some programs to provide the educational institutions with technological devices. As an example, to these projects, one of the high-cost projects started to be put into practice in 2012 in Turkey, and it is still in progress. The aim of this project is to provide ICT equipment to classes in order to achieve the ICT-supported teaching until the end of 2013, in relation to the goals that were addressed in the Strategy Document of the Information Society, the Development Report, the Strategy Plan of our Ministry and The Policy Report of ICT that have described all activities of our country in the process of being an information society and have been formed within the scope of the e-transformation of Turkey (MoNE, Fatih Project Web, 2012).

Although the project seems ground-breaking, the training of the pre-service teachers was ignored. In-service training was included in the project, but the curriculum of the pre-service teachers of English remained the same.

Hence, the study in hand is designed to examine PTs’ perceptions of using CALL in language teaching, their skills and priorities as well as their reflections on integrating CALL resources in their teaching practices. In addition, a basis for a needs assessment of integrating CALL courses in the curriculum of EFL teacher education programs will be addressed.