The Perspectives of Iranian EFL Teachers on the Integration of ICT into their Teaching Practices

Introduction

The expanding presence of information and communication technology (ICT) has influenced various aspects of the twenty-first century life and has altered the nature of communication and communicative competence. The new technologies have created new communities and new competencies. Competencies that people need to develop in the era of information and communication technology include functional technology literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, interaction and co-construction and negotiation of knowledge in virtual environments and to be able to communicate with others in processes of reading, writing, browsing, sharing, posting, commenting, and editing (Black, 2008; Duff, 2012).

The significant role of technology as a powerful teaching/learning tool in foreign language education (FLE) has been highlighted (Littlemore & Oakey, 2004; Davies et al, 2005; Blake, 2008; Muttaqin, 2010; Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011). It has been argued that even in the English as a Foreign language (EFL) classrooms with the most communicative approaches, given the limited time available (this was generally around 2-3 hours a week in the schools in the present study), students have little opportunity to interact in English (Demo, 2001; Blake, 2008). Also due to the lack of exposure to authentic language and contexts, second or foreign language classrooms are unlikely to develop learners’ communicative skills in the target language (Demo, 2001). Technology and multimedia have the capacity to provide increased exposure to authentic language and to enhance learning by providing opportunities for developing communication skills (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011). Technology has the potential to provide opportunities for students and teachers to communicate within their own community or with the outside world beyond the restrictions of time or place through tools such as social networking websites, emails, online discussion rooms, wikis, and blogs (Blake, 2008; Larsen-Freeman &Anderson, 2011).

With the increasing importance of English as the language of international communication and a growing recognition of the challenges and realities of information age, the necessity to improve the preparation of students to meet the challenges of the 21st century has been emphasised in Iranian educational objectives at the macro structure level. In the Iranian ‘National Curriculum Plan’ (2007-2013), the importance of a communicative approach to foreign language teaching and the use of ICTs to improve teaching and learning in schools have been highlighted. Moreover, the ‘Fundamental Change Document’ in addition to trying to meet new educational demands, seeks the integration of ICT as an essential element of school educational activities. The importance of the study reported in this chapter comes from the fact that despite such enthusiasm in the objectives, recent studies indicate that in practice there has been little progress in the integration of ICT into Iranian EFL education at school level (e.g. Shahamat & Riazi, 2009; Rahimi & Yadollahi, 2011; Dashtestani, 2012). The chapter seeks to answer the question of why, considering a range of individual, pedagogical, contextual, and sociocultural factors, the ICT usage of Iranian EFL teachers appears so limited. What is amiss?